“That’s not true. I mean, you have mysticism and celestial mysticism, right?” Zagan rebutted. If it came down to a fair fight, especially in an environment with trees and rivers where she could borrow nature’s power, Nephy could currently rival even an Archdemon. Though, if they actually fought, someone like Nephteros could probably have defeated her due to their gap in experience, but that was another matter entirely.
“That... isn’t something I attained through my own efforts. I feel like I’m the only one who cheated when everyone else worked themselves to the bone to grow stronger, and I don’t like it,” Nephy said as she shook her head at his response. Mysticism was a power she was born with, and celestial mysticism was something she learned by seeing once. It took great talent to perform either of those feats, but it seemed that it was still difficult for Nephy to accept. That was why she could relate to Foll.
But if she could use her draconic powers better, she would grow far stronger... Unfortunately, Foll seemed fixated on improving her sorcery instead. It somewhat narrowed her vision, but it could also be said that gaining power a dragon did not normally possess was better for them in the long run. Zagan wasn’t quite sure he agreed, but he couldn’t refute the idea either.
“Do you understand now, Master Zagan? If you do, then please don’t scold Foll,” Nephy begged as she looked up to Zagan as if appealing to his kind heart.
“Like I’d ever scold her. I said I’d put up with her temper tantrum, didn’t I?” Zagan responded with a laugh, but nevertheless, his words were filled with sincerity.
Did I react poorly earlier...? Foll’s desire to become stronger was something he had known since they first met. And looking back on that, Zagan realized ignoring that facet of her completely and telling her to act the part of an innocent child was utterly selfish of him. Having said that, he still didn’t think it proper to grant her access to a destructive power like Heaven’s Phosphor.
“It’s not like I haven’t thought of what kind of power to grant Foll, though...” Zagan muttered with a groan. That was precisely why he created Snowfield, but unfortunately, that didn’t seem to be what Foll wanted.
“Wait, what were you planning on granting Foll?” Nephy asked, sounding rather surprised. It seemed Nephy wasn’t told about that part, as she stared back at Zagan with a blank expression on her face.
“Oh, about that... It’s still incomplete, but...” Zagan raised his hand as he trailed off and activated Snowfield. In the blink of an eye, specks of light enveloped the area like stardust, and Nephy let out a sigh, completely entranced by the sight.
“How beautiful.”
You’re far more beautiful... Those words made it all the way up to his throat, yet he didn’t dare voice them. Zagan came to a stop, and then demonstrated what happened when a mass of mana collided with Snowfield’s lights.
“It’s more than sturdy enough, but its far too complex to manipulate freely and it also forces the user to stand still.”
“Is that really an issue when you’re using it to defend against projectiles...?” Nephy asked. However, a moment later something dawned on her and she said, “I see... This is just practice for what you plan on teaching her next, right?”
“You really do have a good sense for sorcery, Nephy,” Zagan replied. He was shocked that she managed to figure out his intentions even though he hadn’t explained anything to her at all.
Nephy remained silent for a moment, gazing quietly at the snowy lights in the air before deciding to speak to him.
“It’s all a bit of a haze, but I do remember it. You once used sorcery to create an enormous light, Master Zagan. This Snowfield has the same color,” Nephy stated. Then, she suddenly thought of something and asked, “Master Zagan, are you controlling all of these Heaven’s Scales individually?”
“No, there’s nearly a thousand of them here. They’re set up to move about on their own and are attracted to nearby outbursts of mana,” Zagan replied. He was perfectly capable of controlling them all individually, but this had been designed with Foll in mind. There was no meaning in creating something she was unable to control. Though, in that case, it was possible to give it to her in an even more simple form...
“It seems the same circuit has been placed into each Heaven’s Scale, so would it be possible to control them in clusters?” Nephy inquired as she continued observing each and every speck of light that formed Snowfield.
“In clusters?”
“Yes. Controlling them by splitting them into grouped clusters. Wouldn’t using circuits to unify nearby Heaven’s Scales around one leader work? That way, you could manipulate all of them just by controlling a few select clusters.”
Zagan stared back at her in wonder. He was completely taken aback by her brilliant idea.
“I see. In that case, controlling it would certainly be simple, and it would make it easy to move around while using it... Good job, Nephy.”
“I’m just glad to be of help.”
“You always are... Still, I can’t help but be surprised that you thought of that,” Zagan said in a tone laden with admiration, which made Nephy cast her gaze to the ground shyly.
“I only thought of it because some celestial mysticism I used before worked like that. Plus, I could never hope to control a thousand Heaven’s Scales at once, so my mind moved to figure out ways for me to use them.”
Guess that means there are some things that are easier to figure out because you have trouble with them, huh? That fact left Zagan astonished. He was capable of individually controlling all one thousand Heaven’s Scales, which was precisely why he was unable to think of a solution from the perspective of someone who couldn’t. Nephy, on the other hand, lamented the fact that she was weak, but she was able to come to a conclusion that was foreign to him because of her weakness.
“It’s those parts of you that best serve me, Nephy, so have more confidence in yourself,” Zagan was delighted by her discovery, which made him press his face lightly against Nephy’s cheek as he said those words.
“Wawawa?” Nephy exclaimed. And within Zagan’s mantle, Nephy’s ears quivered up and down violently. That made him think he had made some sort of mistake again, but he decided to put such thoughts aside for now.
After that, Nephy continued to make completely incomprehensible noises, but before long, she settled down and nodded resolutely. And then, she spread her arms out in front of Zagan and kicked off the ground. When she reached his neck, Nephy wrapped her arms around it and embraced him tightly.
“O-Oh?” Zagan muttered. This time, he was the one whose eyes were left darting about, since Nephy was clinging to him extremely tight. It was extremely unusual for Nephy to take such a bold course of action, but it was more than welcome nonetheless.
What is this...? It’s really soft and warm... I swear, this is the first time Nephy’s expressed her love directly. I’m so happy that my heart might just jump out of my chest! Zagan happily returned the hug despite his nerves getting the better of him. The way Nephy’s bright red ears twitched about as she hugged him reminded Zagan of when Nephy turned into a child, which made her utterly irresistible.
It may have been that turning into a child helped Nephy regain her original personality. And if that was the case, Orias’ actions were more than justified. After all, there was no way the usually reserved Nephy would perform such a bold expression of her love without something changing within her.
“Um, Master Zagan,” Nephy mumbled as she basked in the joyous moment.
“What is it?”
“I’m, um, extremely happy that we were able to go on a walk together like this late at night. Is that thing called a date... something similar?”
“Huh? Uh, I wonder...?”
This was a first even for Zagan, so he didn’t know what exactly a date entailed. But at the same time, he felt that it had to have been something quite similar.
“Well, I’m sure it’s like this, but even more amazing! We’ll go to shops and streets we don�
�t usually go to, dress up, walk around, and do something special!” Zagan proclaimed. By something special, he of course meant handing the pendant over to her.
At that, Nephy’s pointy ears quivered with a twitch, and in an unusual turn, she formed a grand smile.
“Okay. I’m looking forward to it.”
Zagan felt that he had just unnecessarily raised the bar, but he decided not to worry about it. Nephy seemed overjoyed, and in the end, that was all that mattered. Unfortunately for him, he had no way of knowing what calamity would befall him the very next morning...
◇
“Zagan, I wanna get bigger.”
The next day, Foll stopped by the throne room before breakfast. Behind her was Gremory, in the form of an old woman, with sweat pouring down her brow.
“Hm... Go on. Let’s hear it,” Zagan scratched his jaw and nodded as he gave her his reply.
“L-Lady Foll. I don’t believe this is something we have to bring up to our liege all of a sudden. I mean, don’t you think fools like Kimaris or Purgatory could lend us a hand instead as long as certain conditions are met?” Gremory whispered to Foll from behind in a flustered voice, clearly worried about Zagan finding out about her dastardly schemes.
“You said you can’t do it, Gremory, so it’ll be the same for everyone else. Zagan’s the only one we can ask,” Foll replied resolutely.
“No, well, you might have a point, but...” Gremory trailed off as she continually stole glances over at Zagan with a completely pale face.
The fact that Foll could speak frankly meant she trusted Gremory a fair amount. Zagan, personally, would have preferred it if they stayed farther apart, since Gremory could only ever be a bad influence on his daughter. Still, he did rely on Gremory and considered her his trusted retainer, so it would have been strange if he told Foll to avoid her.
In any case, she wants to get bigger... not stronger...? That could probably be done with the help of Gremory’s sorcery, which manipulated one’s age, but from the looks of things they hadn’t succeeded yet. In that case, what exactly was the purpose of them telling Zagan everything? That wasn’t a very hard question to answer, but Zagan decided to wait for his daughter to continue explaining herself as he stared at her. And before long, Foll gathered her resolve and opened her mouth to speak.
“Zagan, you think I’m too small to grant power, which means I just have to get bigger!”
“I see your point. And?”
Foll was a girl who liked to take action. If she had come to that conclusion, then she would make her idea come true and show off the results to Zagan. The fact that she hadn’t already done so meant there was a reason she couldn’t. And, as Zagan urged her to continue, Foll bit down on her lip in humiliation.
“But... it didn’t work with just me and Gremory.”
“I see. I’ve heard that dragons have tremendous resistance against sorcery. Sorcery meant for humans must not have been good enough,” Zagan remarked. An ancient dragon’s scales were said to be able to naturally repel sorcery, and even a masterwork sword couldn’t leave a single dent on them.
Even putting that aside, dragons were incredibly powerful. Their speed and strength was unmatched, to the point where even Kimaris, who was known as the fastest being in the world, couldn’t keep up with Foll while carrying people like she could. This especially applied to Foll, as she was a descendant of the legendary Wise Dragon Orobas. Frankly speaking, her latent potential easily dwarfed both Zagan and Nephy. And that was why, even though she was still a young dragon, it wasn’t all that simple to manipulate her body. It wasn’t the least bit surprising that it was beyond Gremory’s capabilities.
“Help me, Zagan. I need to get bigger,” Foll looked up at Zagan’s face with a pleading look as she said that.
“...And once you’re bigger, you want me to teach you Heaven’s Phosphor?” Zagan asked.
Foll understood the reason Zagan wouldn’t grant her power, failed in an attempt to overturn his decision, and still came to Zagan for help. That may have seemed silly to most, but Zagan didn’t think her actions were at all unreasonable.
I guess this would be a good compromise... Foll found a means to gain Zagan’s approval on her own. And after choking down her pride, she even went as far as to plead with Zagan for help. How could he possibly deny his daughter when she was working so hard?
Nephy’s words from the night before rang through his mind, urging him on. “However, I understand Foll’s feelings as well.”
Zagan thought he understood Foll’s feelings as well, so he had to respond appropriately. After being asked by both his bride and daughter, there was no way he could refuse. And so, Zagan returned a steady nod.
“...Very well, then,” he declared.
“Really?” Foll asked as her amber eyes began sparkling.
“However, I have one condition. This is Gremory’s sorcery, so the effect is temporary, right? I will decide when it is fine for you to become bigger. I forbid you to do it without my permission.”
“Okay,” Foll replied without a hint of hesitation in her voice. She had likely already predicted that such a condition would be attached. At this point, Zagan’s expression finally loosened up.
“If you promise to keep to your word, then I’ll teach you the ‘Heaven’s Phosphor’ that burns all life.”
Foll’s eyes sparkled even brighter, and at that point, she leaped up and hugged Zagan’s neck.
“Thanks! I love you, Daddy!”
“Ah!” Zagan let out a yelp in surprise. Foll’s words made him so happy that he felt ready to keel over and cough up blood, but at the same time, he could tell that Foll had been brooding over the matter for quite a while, which made him hold it in.
I kind of wanted her to remain my little daughter for a while longer, though... Still, he knew that wasn’t for the best. After all, what kind of parent would he be if he wasn’t happy about his child’s growth?
Thus, though they had yet to have breakfast, Zagan headed over to Gremory’s lab.
◇
“What do I need to do here, exactly?” Zagan asked as he walked into Gremory’s lab.
A section of the castle had been allocated to Zagan’s trusted retainers like Gremory and Kimaris. These rooms were generally used as labs where the sorcerers performed experiments and furthered their research. The castle was actually large enough to allocate rooms to all his subordinates, but most of them were using Zagan’s other base, Archdemon Palace. He had suddenly gained around thirty subordinates at once, so managing all that was getting out of hand.
After arriving in Gremory’s lab, he found a large magic circle that had already been prepared. Sorcery was something that differed in shape with infinite variations, but the fact that the magic circle was fully drawn out told Zagan that the sorcery itself had been perfected. However, that also meant that they didn’t require Zagan’s knowledge, which greatly confused him.
Taking in his astonishment, Gremory tapped the edge of her large scythe against the magic circle and began laughing creepily.
“The structure of the sorcery is complete. Plus, I’ve thoroughly investigated the optimal flow of mana through it, so there’s no need to add any more circuits.”
“I can tell.”
Magic circles were woven together with crests called circuits, and Gremory’s magic circle had over ten thousand of them crammed into it. Zagan didn’t even know if he could put together such a delicately assembled magic circle himself, and that wasn’t just because this sorcery was outside his area of expertise.
“Keeheehee, I see there’s no need to explain my sorcery to you, my liege. What’s lacking here is the mana necessary to surpass a dragon’s resistance to sorcery. That is to say, we need power around the level of an Archdemon,” Gremory said as she squinted her eyes in a pleased manner.
“That much, huh...?”
Honestly speaking, Zagan was taken aback. He thought he understood the power of dragons already, but it seemed they surpassed even his
wildest imagination. She really was the legendary Wise Dragon Orobas’ daughter.
In other words, they want me to use the Sigil of the Archdemon... It wasn’t like Zagan’s own mana surpassed theirs by a significant amount. The sigil on his hand was proof that he was an Archdemon, but in truth, Zagan didn’t really find it desirable. That was why he only used it when needed.
It was borrowed power, a dangerous sigil that could turn its fangs against him at any moment. He did use it as a means to seal the sigil of another Archdemon, but he had no intention of relying on it for much more than that. However, it was also true that it was basically a container filled with a preposterous amount of mana.
Well, I guess it isn’t a problem. I’ll just be using it to amplify Foll’s mana here...
“Let me get this straight. All you need is for me to send the mana from the sigil over to Foll, right?” Zagan asked.
“Exactly,” Gremory replied.
“Fine. Then I’ll just supply her with... huh? Hold on! You want me to supply her with mana!?” Zagan roared, clearly flustered. Some sorcery could steal mana from others, but from what he could see, Gremory’s magic circle included nothing of the sort. Including such a needless feature in such a delicately put together magic circle was something only an Archdemon could do, so that made sense. However, that meant he had to supply mana to her in a primitive way that wouldn’t interfere with the sorcery...
Are you telling me to kiss or have intercourse with my own daughter!? Sex was obviously out of the question, so that just left kissing. Still, there was no way he could do that.
I mean, I haven’t even kissed Nephy yet!
“Zagan, what’s wrong?” Foll tilted her head to the side like she couldn’t really understand what was going on as she asked him that question.
“No, it’s just that the means of supplying mana is...” Zagan faltered. There was no way he could explain such a thing to his young daughter. However, he had already promised to cooperate with Foll’s desire to become bigger. And above all else, he wanted to help his daughter who was earnestly trying her best. Having said that, straight up kissing her without explaining anything was completely out of the question.
An Archdemon's Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride: Volume 6 Page 4