Chapter 147

"Shinsurial?"

Asad frowned. Before making any conjectures or judgments, he had a bad feeling.

After sending the doctor out, Asad closed his eyes and immediately used magic. The wave of magical energy that emanated from him swept through the entire dragon palace. However, Shinsurial's presence couldn't be found anywhere. Asad spread his magical energy even further. Wider and wider. Until he had swept through all four directional territories of the spirits.

After some time passed, Asad opened his eyes again. Jet, who had been anxiously waiting for Asad, gulped.

"Did you find him?"

"No."

At Asad's answer, Jet's complexion darkened further.

"Could it be that the intruder harmed Lord Shinsurial as well?"

There was only one way to hide from a dragon's eyes in the spirit realm. To no longer be alive.

"I'm not sure."

Asad approached Targan. The horn of the horned tribe, as hard as iron, was cleanly cut in two as if sliced with a knife. Life force was rapidly draining from the broken horn, and at this rate, he wouldn't last more than three days even if he held out.

Asad carelessly stroked the broken horn. Though very faint, it was clearly perceptible. The energy of impure magic, named demonic energy.

However, such clean work wasn't the doing of a magical beast, which was little more than an irrational animal. It was the work of someone who knew how to use demonic energy precisely as a weapon.

"...Black magic, huh. This is starting to get annoying."

Despite his fierce muttering, a pure white light emanating warm energy burst from Asad's hand.

When the light disappeared, Targan's horn had returned to its complete form without any trace of being broken. However, it was now slightly larger than before and had changed to a brighter silver color.

"Stop sleeping and wake up."

Snap!

The moment Asad snapped his fingers next to Targan's ear, his closed eyes flew open.

Targan looked around with bewildered eyes, like someone who had been suddenly awakened from sleep.

"...Where is."

"Targan!"

Targan's words were cut off by Jet, who embraced him while calling out his name.

"Oh my goodness, you're alive! You're alive!"

Jet was shedding tears he had been holding back. Targan slowly patted Jet's back while looking at Asad.

"Lord Asad..."

Having confirmed the dragon's return, Targan got up and bowed his head.

"I'm sorry. I failed to follow orders."

"Did Shinsurial attack you?"

"Yes."

"...What?"

Among the three, only Jet was surprised. Targan was generally not one to show his emotions, and Asad had somewhat anticipated it, so he wasn't surprised. In contrast, Jet, who had no information, was so shocked that he even staggered.

"W-why would Lord Shinsurial attack Targan?"

Shinsurial was a great spirit who had existed since the appearance of Maira, the first dragon. All spirits of the current era knew Shinsurial and respected and revered him. The same was true for Jet.

"I guess he's gone senile from living too long. I should have cut his neck instead of his arm back then."

Looking at Asad, who clicked his tongue, Targan calmly began to explain the situation before he was attacked.

Shinsurial had been imprisoned in the underground prison of the dragon palace, and Targan had been assigned the role of watching to ensure he didn't escape. Until yesterday, Shinsurial had been docile.

No, more than docile...

"He seemed deeply asleep."

He had closed his eyes and hadn't moved from that spot. That's why Targan had let his guard down to some extent. Until something cut his horn in two.

Though critically wounded, he had tried to pursue Shinsurial, but eventually lost consciousness and collapsed in the corridor.

"I failed to respond to the surprise attack due to my carelessness. I apologize."

"Even if you hadn't let your guard down, you couldn't have won. Rather, you're alive because you were an easy opponent."

"B-but isn't Lord Shinsurial similar to other scaled tribe members in terms of physical strength? Then how could he..."

Jet asked with a confused face. Naturally, an ordinary scaled tribe member couldn't defeat a horned tribe member by force. Moreover, Targan was one of the most skilled fighters among the horned tribe's warriors.

But Shinsurial wasn't an ordinary scaled tribe member. Didn't he possess abilities that other scaled tribe members didn't have?

What everyone had missed while focusing on his purification power was that Shinsurial was the only spirit who could handle demonic energy.

"Shinsurial is using black magic."

"B-black magic, you say?"

Even Targan, who had maintained a calm attitude despite having been on the brink of death, showed agitation at those words.

"Traces of demonic energy remained on your horn. I'm not sure if he left it by mistake or if he no longer intends to hide it."

Come to think of it, Shinsurial had once told Asad:

'This isn't a great spirit's ability. This power is something I honed over a very long time. For my old friend, Lady Maira.'

If that ability referred to black magic, it was more plausible that Shinsurial no longer intended to hide his abilities.

But Asad still couldn't grasp what Shinsurial's purpose was.

Shinsurial had said that what he wanted was for Asad to become a 'perfect' dragon. Asad had thought this meant him taking a mate and becoming full-grown. Since that desire itself wasn't different from what he wanted, he had left it alone.

But it seemed that the 'perfection' Shinsurial spoke of might be different from what he thought.

"First, capture the scaled tribe's bride candidate for interrogation. There's a high possibility she knows something. And we need to find out what happened between Shinsurial and Maira..."

His trailing words became indistinct.

"Lord Asad, what's wrong?"

"...It wasn't Nine who did it."

'...It's not a lie.'

The voice that had been faint, as if about to break, came to mind.

Nine had said it wasn't him who killed the gatekeeper, but Asad hadn't believed him.

Asad's expression hardened in an instant.

"I'm returning to the human realm."

At this sudden declaration, Jet and Targan looked at each other. But soon Jet nodded as if he had some idea.

"I see! The conditions for not being detected by Lord Asad's tracking magic are either that the target is dead or not in the spirit realm. If Lord Shinsurial isn't dead, then he's most likely in the human realm!"

Jet was right. Shinsurial would have headed to the human realm. Though the reason was unclear, Shinsurial had been targeting Kinaine all along.

However, Asad vaguely felt that the chill in one corner of his heart wasn't just because of the thought that Nine might be in danger.

* * *

The king of the Kingdom of Hairak had given the separate palace, which was only opened for the most important guests, to the dragon. However, unfortunately, even the separate palace, which boasted the epitome of splendor, was just ordinary in the eyes of the dragon who treated all the treasures of the spirit realm like pebbles, and thus didn't give him any particular impression.

The one who actually got to enjoy the benefits was Kinaine. The environment of the separate palace, prepared for distinguished guests, was naturally incomparable to the prison. Above all else, the best part was that a bathroom was provided for Kinaine to use.

"Go in."

Thanks to Tiron, who had spoken to the servants in advance, the bronze bathtub was already filled with warm water. Until then, a few splashes of cold water had been all he got, so the warm water he encountered after a long time gave him a fresh sense of appreciation. Even though his senses had dulled considerably, he could still distinguish between cold and warm water.

Kinaine, who was about to take off his top while turning away from Tiron, suddenly stopped his movement. Then he asked Tiron, who was standing behind him.

"Are you going to stay there?"

"How can I leave you alone when I don't know what you might do? I'll stay here, so wash up on your own. Surely you don't need a bath attendant."

Kinaine shrugged and took off his clothes. Of course, he didn't want a bath attendant, and he had no aversion to others seeing his naked body. He just thought it might be uncomfortable for Tiron to see his body.

Since the clothes had no buttons, undressing wasn't difficult. The problem was the bandage wrapped around his leg. It had been wrapped so tightly that it wasn't easy to untie with his eyes closed.

Eventually, a complaint escaped Kinaine's lips.

"Why on earth was the bandage wrapped like this? Only the sole of my foot was injured."

"It wasn't me, it was the dragon who did it."

"......"

Kinaine stopped grumbling and began unwrapping the bandage again.

"It's natural that Lord Asad doesn't know how to wrap bandages properly. Since he doesn't get injured, how would he know how to apply bandages?"

It's normal for anyone to be unskilled at something they've never done before, and this could be considered quite well done.

Because his eyes were closed, Kinaine didn't notice Tiron's bewildered gaze directed at him.