Chapter 28

“I wonder what kind of backing you have to not tremble before me, Jeberk.”

Jeberk opened its beak.

“Alright, spit it out!”

Its scales glinted, releasing power.

The frozen atmosphere turned into sharp awls.

They gathered densely around me, threatening my life.

Blood flowed from the parts not covered by the shadow armor, Valziart.

“Even if it's a secret, it can't be much, you imperial brat.”

“Then come here. Put your ear this way.”

Even while surrounded by hundreds of awls, I was unshaken.

Still playfully, still leisurely, I snickered.

“It's a secret I can't tell anyone else. You have to keep it a secret after you hear it, too.”

“You have a lot of demands.”

“Don't want to hear it? Then I can't help it.”

“Hmph! You know how to keep me in suspense. I'll fall for it. Hurry up and tell me!”

Jeberk, though puzzled, brought its head closer.

It was naturally curious.

I already knew that.

I whispered softly into the ear of the mythical beast that had come close.

“The name of my soul is Shion.”

What I uttered was a name that should not exist.

“Shion, Pollinglight.”

“What……?”

The Great Witch's familiar's eyes widened in astonishment.

It was because it knew what my words meant.

Unable to believe it, it could only open its maw.

I found its appearance amusing and whispered with an even wider smile.

“The one and only disciple of the Great Witch of the North, Beluchian Pollinglight.”

***

“Ah……”

After a moment of silence, Jeberk opened its beak and laughed.

“…You're saying something very funny!”

Jeberk laughed heartily.

The building shook with the giant bird's laughter.

If Leniar hadn't put a barrier around the dining hall, the laughter would have echoed all the way to the main palace.

“It was such an absurd lie that I almost fell for it!”

“Why do you think it's a lie?”

“Ha! Then is it the truth? A story that I, Jeberk, the familiar Beluchian, have never heard of!”

The king of the scaled birds, Jeberk, was almost dumbfounded.

The kid in front of him had received the Pollinglight surname?

The Great Witch Beluchian Pollinglight was not such a person, and even if she were, there was no way he wouldn't know.

“Why are you getting so angry, Jeberk? What is it that you haven't heard?”

“I don't like unfunny jokes, kid!”

Thinking about it again, it was even a little offensive.

He was the Great Witch's disciple?

Did he think that he, Jeberk, was so simple-minded that he could be tricked by such a lie?

Jeberk flew into a rage and raised its claws.

Even in front of that sharpness, I spoke without losing my smile.

“Really, is the name of ***** a joke? To think that he is the of *, what nonsense… huh?”

Jeberk tilted its head.

Then it grabbed its own jaw and moved its mouth.

It had tried to say 'Shion Pollinglight, the Great Witch's disciple'.

But what came out was only a strange silence like ‘** *****, the of *’.

As if a lock had been placed on it, its tongue would not obey.

“…You.”

The giant bird shouted abruptly.

“**! What did you do to me?”

“What did I do? You promised to keep a secret. So your tongue must be keeping my secret.”

“So, why is my tongue listening to you, you brat……!”

I clicked my tongue, tsk, tsk.

“Why would your tongue listen to my command?”

My eyes were those of one looking at an utter fool.

“You should know by now. I've already told you everything.”

“…That can't be! No, if that's the case……”

Only then did Jeberk realize.

“…You, really……”

He was the king of the scaled birds.

A mythical beast that had lived since the age of mystery.

The only power that could make him obey with just a few words was the name of Pollinglight.

Jeberk's eyes were colored with fear.

“Are you the of *!?”

Even if it couldn't be heard, the meaning could be understood.

Jeberk asked again if I was the Great Witch's disciple.

Leniar and Yosef, unable to understand their conversation, just rolled their eyes, full of questions.

I smiled in satisfaction that the secret had not leaked.

“You received the surname of *****!?”

“I told you I did.”

“Impossible! I've never heard of it!”

That the Great Witch had taken a disciple, he had always served by her side, but there had never even been a similar rumor.

“It's impossible!”

Wasn't it strange?

How could such a thing be possible?

As questions arose, so did shock and bewilderment, naturally.

The mythical beast's eyes trembled.

“There are times when the impossible happens.”

“H-how on earth!?”

The name of Pollinglight, engraved on my soul, had crossed time with me.

However, becoming the Great Witch's disciple was an event that had not yet happened.

Jeberk's bewilderment was also natural.

“It's a secret.”

But I had no intention of answering.

If I were to face the Great Witch herself, maybe, but it was too deep a secret to tell that noisy raw chicken.

“There is no reason at all for me to tell you.”

“U-ugh……!”

Jeberk realized.

My blue eyes, seven flames were burning within them.

It had no choice but to realize.

I, Shion, was truly the disciple of the Great Witch Beluchian.

I am the one who had inherited the Pollinglight surname.

“But Jeberk, you know what you have to do now, right? Without needing a reason.”

“…U-ugh.”

He was the Great Witch's familiar.

A servant who obeyed the name of Pollinglight.

A servant does not need to know the reason.

They just obey their master's command.

I said so and Jeberk understood.

“…Speak, I will listen.”

The giant bird slowly kneeled.

The blue, halo-like aura disappeared and it returned to its comical raw chicken form.

At the sight of the Great Witch's familiar kneeling, Leniar and Yosef's eyes shot open in surprise.

I accepted it as a matter of course.

“You have the cure, don't you?”

“…Yes.”

“To its rightful owner.”

“…Please accept it, Your Highness Leniar.”

The raw chicken rummaged through its belly and took out a small glass bottle.

Leniar hesitated and I gestured with my chin as if to say, 'what are you doing'.

Leniar felt as if this situation were a dream.

But the cold touch of the glass bottle told her it was not a dream.

“Return the tributes you've siphoned off until now as well.”

“I will send them to Volmark.”

“Good.”

I smiled.

I wanted to make him work more, but it was too dangerous.

Jeberk was not tight-lipped.

It was better to send him away before he spouted any unnecessary words.

“Jeberk, today's events are a secret. You can't tell Beluchian either, unless she asks first. I plan to surprise her.”

“…Yes, I understand.”

“Now you're trustworthy.”

Looking at the prostrating mythical beast, I gestured.

“Then you may disappear.”

***

The Great Witch's familiar left abruptly.

“Now, sister. Just as I said, right?”

“……”

Leniar answered with eyes full of questions.

I did not avoid those eyes and showed a bright smile.

“Why aren't you happy? Prince Etsi's illness will be cured in an instant now.”

“You……”

The silver-haired princess barely parted her lips.

At a few of my words, the Great Witch's familiar had prostrated itself.

She couldn't understand.

What secret had I whispered to make the Great Witch's familiar obey.

“…Zionis, you are……”

Questions, all sorts of questions.

So tangled up that she didn't know where to start unraveling them.

A lump of questions was stuck in her throat and wouldn't come out.

No matter how sharp her intellect, it was too much to pierce through in an instant.

“…What are you?”

How did an eleven-year-old kid come to know the Great Witch?

Was he really that Fifth Prince Zionis, her half-brother?

Why had he approached her?

Why, why, why?

“I am Zionis.”

She asked a deep secret, but I had no intention of answering.

“Your half-brother.”

“That's not what I'm talking about. I don't think you're so dense as not to know that much.”

The silver-haired princess, her voice was fierce.

Yosef Haider was suddenly close by.

That old man was a monster no less than the king of the scaled birds.

And he would not obey the name of Pollinglight.

“Answer me, Zionis. What relationship do you, a prince of Cordis, have with the Great Witch? And what is your motive for not hiding it from me?”

“Motive, it's simple.”

I shrugged my shoulders.

“I'm not the only one with the blood of Cordis who has had contact with the Great Witch, so why would I bother to hide it.”

“……”

“I know Prince Etsi and how much you cherish him, sister.”

Looking at the silent Leniar, I raised a finger to my lips.

“It's a secret, sister.”

Her features were like a girl's, her smile as innocent as a child's.

That's what made it eerie.

“Nothing happened. I came today as brother Secundus's envoy, and just had a delicious fish dish.”

“…Don't ask any further.”

“Let's call it respect, since we both have secrets.”

“……”

Leniar once again chewed on the silence.

She had no choice.

Their conversation had been within my plan all along.

“…I was completely played. I shouldn't have welcomed you……”

I, Shion Pollinglight, did not want to reveal my relationship with the Great Witch.

Leniar de Volmark did not want it to be known that her sickly younger brother was of the Great Emperor's bloodline.

Then they would just keep each other's silence.

They would just pretend not to see the secret even after seeing it.

“Now, sister, be happier. Your younger brother's long illness will be cured.”

“…If it's not effective, Yosef will come looking for you.”

“The Great Witch made it, so why me? Though of course, there's no way it won't be effective.”

I snickered.

I handed over the cure.

And I extended my hand towards Leniar.

“The silver dragon's scale is mine now, isn't it?”

“Take it. I suppose where you'll use it is also a secret.”

“Of course.”

The smile continued.

It showed no sign of ending.

Leniar was dissatisfied with it, but she couldn't say it out loud.

That was the situation.

She had been in the palm of my hand all along.

“Just as I don't know where you will use that cure, sister.”

“…Let's call it a good deal.”

“Thank you for saying so. Though I've already forgotten what deal you're talking about.”

My attitude of bowing my head in feigned modesty was annoying.

But she couldn't say anything.

Leniar had also profited from this deal.

“Now, sister.”

I snickered.

Like a child, like one who hides a secret.

“I'll see you at the Grand Convergence.”

“Yes, we shall see each other at the Grand Convergence.”

They faced each other.

Leniar and Shion, they were siblings.

Though they were not from the same womb, they were of the same blood.

But their faces were full of the smiles of liars who didn't look like that at all.

“Not as an ally.”

“Nor as an enemy.”

***

‘Since I mentioned Etsi's name, there's no worry of the secret leaking. Leniar holds Etsi dearer than her own life.’

I was in the basement of the library.

‘There might be some suspicion, but if I got the silver dragon's scale for that much, it was a very cheap price.’

It was the same place where I had once obtained Valziart.

A secret place where no one's gaze could reach.

‘The Great Witch of the Silver Dragon Magic Kingdom, Beluchian Pollinglight.’

The face of the woman with flowing white hair came to mind.

It was a long time ago, and it had not yet come.

‘My master, who planted the seven secrets in me.’

She would not know me.

It was natural, as I had crossed 19 years of time.

But the secrets she had given me were engraved on my soul under the name of Septem Arcana.

The surname Pollinglight was also the same.

‘If it's a scale containing her power, then the second secret too… as expected.’

I gripped the silver dragon's scale tightly.

The silver light that melted out from it.

The power of Beluchian Pollinglight.

To me, who was thirsty for the power to unlock the secrets, it was sweeter than anything.

It was opening, it was opening.

I gave a faint smile.

Power was welling up.

I felt the firmly locked doors opening and life returning to my parched soul.

Invisible hands floated about.

‘Fantasy Finger’, the first secret.

Dozens of hands floated about as if dancing, welcoming the second secret.

My soul had regained another secret.

“It seems it was a better deal than I thought.”

There were still a few traps operating in the basement of the library.

That was the reason I had headed there.

Among the traps I hadn't touched then, there was also a hole from which snakes and the like poured out.

I didn't know what they had subsisted on for 400 years, but a tremendous number of snakes swarmed towards me.

A hissing sound.

A swarm of thousands upon thousands of vipers.

My body was that of an eleven-year-old kid.

I had neither clad myself in Valziart nor drawn out my ‘Fantasy Finger’.

Instead, I summoned my second Ars.

“My second secret, my second Ars……”

The snakes stopped.

As if caught in mid-air.

It was not the work of the Fantasy Finger.

Those things just couldn't be reached.

I hummed a tune and welcomed my Ars.

Nothing with a will could reach me.

Its power ran out at a distance.

The distance was probably about nine steps.

Amidst the fire, arrows, and blades, I smiled brightly.

“Welcome, my secrets.”

I was regaining it, the power from the time when I was called a hero and commanded the battlefields.

And the Succession War was also reaching its climax.

“Ferbias has run rampant and Leniar and Secundus have made a promise. I've also confirmed Nebulo's secret. I'm finally ready.”

A fight waged by eight siblings.

This Succession War for the Imperial Throne.

“It's finally time for the Grand Convergence.”

Shion Pollinglight, the returned hero, had been looking towards the end of this fight all along.

My eyes sank colder and colder still.

“It will soon be Pollinglight's time.”

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