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Chapter 182
Arsha would not have survived either.
In other words—
“Father ran into certain death to save Arsha.”
Mother must’ve tried to help him too.
From the start, this was a disaster.
But would that matter to Arsha?
Even if it wasn’t her fault, the last words she said to her parents were childish complaints that must’ve pierced their hearts.
“Librarian.”
[Confirmed.]
“Don’t you think this is a bit too much for an eleven-year-old to bear?”
[That is the assessment.]
“So what do we do.”
As I pondered, I asked,
“What do you think is the right thing to do?”
I addressed the mark engraved on the back of Arsha’s hand, but I wasn’t really expecting an answer.
Even if it's the King of Forbidden Territory, it’s still a magical beast at its core.
And what would a beast know of human emotions?
In truth, the mark didn’t do anything in particular—it acted as if it had done its part simply by showing Arsha a dream a moment ago.
If we’re using a child’s perspective… then the only option is to fill that child’s world with enough new and fun experiences to bury the painful memories.
* * *
Luna, to Melissa and me, was a familiar figure—but to Arsha, she was nothing more than a beautiful stranger who had suddenly appeared.
Clinging to my leg and peeking out timidly from behind me, Arsha looked wary, even as Luna silently took ice cream from the fridge and offered it to her.
She still seemed hesitant around strangers.
So Luna used food to coax Arsha, gradually easing her guard.
“Listen well. I am to be Leon’s consort.”
“C-Consort… marriage?!”
Arsha’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Which means you and I will soon be family.”
“W-Wow…”
Blushing softly and letting out a faint gasp of wonder, Arsha responded with the innocent admiration only a child could give.
“A pretty big sister… with my big brother…”
“To our adorable Arsha, shall I tell an old tale?”
“A-A story… from the old days?”
“A tale from long, long ago.”
Even I had never heard it before. Luna, though sealed away for a long time, had lived through ancient times—so her stories were practically history books in themselves.
“W-What kind of story is it?”
“Hmm…”
After a short pause, Luna spoke.
“A tale about a hero who slayed a dragon to protect their kingdom.”
“I wanna hear it!”
Arsha’s eyes sparkled instantly at those words.
Was there really such a story?
“I heard it from someone a long time ago,”
Luna said calmly, as if reminiscing.
Now that I was seeing it, Luna was surprisingly good with children.
Archangels are beings without a sense of self.
Since I learned that Luna was an archangel, it explained why her speech felt unnatural and her emotional expressions were so muted.
That gave her a childlike aspect at times.
Maybe that’s why she got along with Arsha so well.
In any case, Luna’s old tale turned out to be surprisingly detailed, and it captivated Arsha's attention thoroughly.
Watching Arsha holding her ice cream and becoming immersed in Luna’s storytelling, I felt a bit of relief.
Leaving her focused on Luna, I stepped out into the estate’s wide garden grounds.
Alright, time to get back to what I was originally doing.
In the center of the open area, I opened a subspace and retrieved the heart of the dragon, Baril, which I had brought from the Holy Kingdom.
The black heart, about the size of a human torso, was still faintly beating despite its owner’s death.
Baril’s body had been completely purified by Luna’s divine power, and the black flames that had clung to it had been extinguished.
As a result, much of the demonic dragon energy in the heart had faded, but potent mana was still circulating within it.
A Dragon Heart.
A Dragon Heart is both a massive mana reservoir and a self-contained energy cycle.
It also serves as the data core that constructs a dragon.
After placing the heart in position, I took out the highest-grade mana stone I had received from a former elder of the Gaifen Magic Tower.
Baril’s heart is corrupted.
Luna’s divine power would only destroy it, not reshape it into the form I needed.
In this state, it was useless even as an undead core.
So the only option was to modify it.
Activating the heart of the Machine God, I began to resonate Baril’s heart with the top-grade mana stone.
Soon, the mana stone started to liquefy, shifting like droplets and slowly seeping into the heart.
The highest-grade mana stone and the Dragon Heart.
As soon as the two were forcibly fused, the heart began violently rejecting it.
The resulting shockwaves spread outward.
Not good.
I can't let this precious energy scatter.
I activated all seven rings rotating around my own heart and deployed a massive containment magic circle.
Mana burst forth from Baril’s heart in a powerful reaction, trying to scatter in all directions, but was trapped inside the magical barrier I had created, reacting violently within it.
Like a slow nuclear fission, the pressure grew steadily, but I suppressed it with mana even greater than what the heart contained.
Normally, processing materials this way is reckless and foolish.
Most mages or necromancers don’t have this much mana.
To do this, you’d need the ability to suppress such extreme reactions and a space that could withstand it.
But none of that applied to me.
I covered my lack of defenses with pure mana and sealed any escaping energy with overwhelming force.
It was closer to elemental magic than necromancy.
And for good reason—
What I was doing wasn’t typical necromancy, but a spell that replaced the base material for the undead entirely.
Even though the energy stored in the highest-grade mana stone was substantial, it was still a mere drop compared to Baril’s heart.
But just like a car engine only needs a small spark to start, a top-grade mana stone was enough to trigger a reaction in the twisted structure of Baril’s heart.
No, saying it was enough might be wrong—it was almost too much, unnecessarily so.
In any case, the consumption of mana was far greater than expected, but I could see Baril’s heart, resonating with the mana stone, slowly diminishing.
Its very form was changing.
The twisted heart of the dragon-human hybrid, the Demonic Dragon, mixed with pure mana and turned into something eerily similar to a dragon heart—but still something entirely different.
“I never thought something like this could be created outside the Labyrinth.”
The massive magic circle that had been isolating the area disappeared, along with the numerous other circles used to transform the heart.
“You… what exactly are you doing?”
Even though I had tried to suppress it, the power held within the Demonic Dragon’s heart must have been too overwhelming.
I could feel everyone in the mansion staring at me.
“B-Big Brother…”
That’s when I saw Arsha, looking at me with a terrified expression.
“Arsha.”
I reached out to her, but she instinctively hid behind Luna.
Had they grown that close already?
Her wariness was gone, and this situation was… a bit shocking.
“Arsha?”
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[Translator - Night]
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“Huuh…”
Arsha was visibly trembling with fear.
As if she had sensed the massive current of mana that no one else could feel.
[Arsha Cascadia is contracted with the King of Forbidden Territory. Her senses may be sharper than others’...]
“Ah!!”
Only then did I realize why Arsha had suddenly been so afraid of me.
This wasn’t a good outcome.
Shaken to the core, I called her again.
“Arsha, are you afraid of Big Brother?”
“…I-I’m sorry.”
“Ah…”
“Idiot.”
Melissa shook her head.
I couldn’t let it end like this.
I started thinking.
Kids like dinosaurs, right?
Yeah.
Since it’s come to this, maybe showing her the finished product would help.
“Arsha, don’t be like that. Let me show you something cool.”
With that, I grasped the now palm-sized heart in one hand.
It pulsed faintly, but this wasn’t something alive anymore.
It was a massive power source, practically a living being in its own right.
[Wraithification]
Then, I turned it into an undead.
Immediately, the heart resisted fiercely, trying to interfere with my magic.
But the resistance didn’t last long.
My Deathlord-level domination was no ordinary force.
Soon, black mist began to billow from the heart.
I had already stored the form.
The mass of mist gathered, and a massive being made of black fog slowly began to lift its head.
“W-Wow…”
Arsha let out a soft gasp.
Like my other undead, its form was shrouded in black mist, but it didn’t resemble the Demonic Dragon at all.
Instead, it overflowed with pure elemental mana—it had become something completely new.
I had customized it extensively, layering countless tweaks and adjustments, so the result was more fun than I expected.
Normally, other wraith-type undead might shift form, but they never change in nature unless I intervene directly.
But what I had created now, based on my own experience and knowledge, was fundamentally different.
Not just in shape—but in essence.
A Shadow Dragon.
As the massive dragon slowly grew in form, Melissa recoiled in shock while Luna watched with intrigue.
“This is the first time I’ve seen a dragon constructed like this. Where’d you get it?”
“I made it with Baril’s heart. Tweaked it a bit, of course.”
Strictly speaking, this undead was more of a chimera.
I tore apart so many dragons in the Labyrinth to make this.
Back then, it was only theoretically possible.
Each Hall couldn’t use the power of another Hall, after all.
But it’s different now. I’ve gained access to a wide enough range of abilities to make theory reality.
Then it happened.
“Ah—aaah!”
Arsha, terrified, fell back onto her rear.
She was trembling—clearly more scared than I anticipated.
Damn.
At my gesture, the shadow rapidly compressed.
Then, revealing itself from within the mist, a pure white dragon’s skeleton emerged.
And then—crack!
The bone let out a strange noise, then began to melt like liquid, rapidly shrinking.
Its final size was no bigger than a cat.
The once-massive being had now transformed into a small, cat-sized dragon, still shrouded in black mist.
“Ah! S-So cute…”
Arsha, who had just been frightened, couldn’t take her eyes off the newly transformed creature.
She had always shown a lot of interest in cats and dogs, hadn’t she?
“Arsha, want to give it a name? It was just born.”
All of the creature’s undead information would be stored in my circle.
Like uploading data to a computer.
Arsha looked surprised and stared at me.
“I get to name it?”
“Yeah. This little guy says he wants you to.”
At that, the newborn Shadow Dragon looked at me.
I never said that.
Act cute or die.
If Arsha stays scared of you, I’ll just reset you.
Maybe it caught the intent in my eyes, because it whined softly and nuzzled up to Arsha’s hand.
Undead wraiths don’t have wills of their own—they just follow commands.
But we’ve already confirmed that some named entities, like Death Knights or Shadow wraith, do have individual wills.
Arsha, though hesitant at first, gradually began to pet the creature.
Tch.
Is that all you’ve got?
Seeing my expression, the Shadow Dragon suddenly flopped over and showed its belly.
“Kyaahaha!”
That must’ve been too cute for Arsha—she burst out laughing.
Well done.
You just earned your life back.
Sensing my approval, the creature doubled down on its cutesy antics.
Just then—
“Master!! A summons from the royal palace has arrived!!”
One of the maids came running toward me in a panic.
The royal palace?
Why are they summoning me?
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[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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