I Married the Dragon I Killed

Vernell was completely exhilarated.

He had consumed so much coffee and so many stimulants that it seemed as though caffeine, rather than blood, was flowing through his veins.

After wandering around naked like a madman and recovering enough sanity to put on some clothes, he appeared before Perda.

Erika was beside him as well.

“Didn’t I disassemble and study living monsters in the past?”

“That’s right.”

“Then I discovered something. I managed to identify the nervous signals used for monster body regeneration.”

Those nervous signals were documented across more than a hundred pages.

Naturally, Perda did not even pretend to read them.

“Explain it to me.”

“That is to say, that is to say… just imagine that we’re not talking about contaminated water inside a container, but the inside of a monster’s body!”

He desperately tried to explain it with gestures of both hands and feet.

“A monster gets injured. Then it has to repair the damaged part, right?”

“Correct.”

“To do that, it has to send a signal to the injured area and concentrate its regenerative ability there, right?”

“Correct.”

“When it sends that signal, the Junk Mana flowing through its blood moves toward the wound. That’s how it stops the bleeding and regenerates the tissue. What I want to do is apply that same principle to a container of water. If we send a ‘damage’ signal to a material that imitates a living body…”

Erika understood his explanation and summarized it.

“Then, according to what you’re saying, the Junk Mana will concentrate at the location toward which the signal is directed.”

“Exactly!”

Vernell answered with a voice full of joy.

He seemed incredibly happy simply because someone had understood his explanation.

“So you plan to purify the water that way?”

“Purify it? Haha! If that were all, Vernell’s excitement would be worthy of an amateur! This isn’t simply purification!”

He raised his voice again, unable to contain his excitement.

“Lord Regent! Haven’t I told you over and over that we need magic stones? This technology literally condenses masses of Junk Mana to create them! The amount we’ll be able to obtain will be incomparably greater than what we get by extracting materials directly from monsters!”

Not only would they purify the contaminated water.

They would also obtain materials to manufacture magic stones.

It was like killing two birds with one stone.

“Now I understand why it took you four days.”

“Actually, I discussed this idea with Rector Bernard and reached the correct conclusion on the second day.”

“You discovered it in only two days?”

“Then why didn’t you report it sooner?”

“Because even if I had the theory, I still had to create a device capable of applying it. If I had only said that I had a theory, nobody would have believed me.”

Perda nodded.

He had already heard enough endless theories from Vernell.

“That’s why I spent two more days creating a practical application. And this is exactly that!”

Vernell pulled out an object he had hidden behind a chalkboard.

It was a kind of weight attached to a chain.

The chain had been treated to function as a mana conduit.

Complex magical formulas were engraved onto the weight.

Seeing it, Perda felt somewhat uneasy.

“Can a low-circle mage activate this magic circle?”

“A Third Circle mage who knows how to activate magic circles is enough. I did it myself without any problems. As long as they can channel mana, that will suffice.”

It was obvious that Vernell had already considered that issue.

Third Circle mages were on the same level as the communication mages accompanying the young nobles.

It posed no inconvenience.

“And does it actually work?”

Erika asked while examining the weight.

Even Vernell, who had been beside himself with excitement, calmed down at that moment.

“Now we’re about to find out.”

No matter how excellent a theory was.

No matter how perfect a design seemed.

It was very common for an invention to simply not work.

For academics and inventors, it was the most painful moment of all.

And the time had come to test it.

***

Isabella had water brought to the castle from the streams originating in the Demon Land.

It was the first time Perda had seen that water up close.

It gave off a metallic smell and had a reddish tint.

It looked like water mixed with rust scraped from a piece of iron.

But unlike rusty water, this was lethal.

One should not even touch it with bare hands.

“S-So then… let’s begin.”

Vernell lowered the weight into the vat.

When it reached approximately halfway down, he injected mana into the chain.

Bzzzzz—

A vibration ran through the water.

The mana had activated the magic circle.

Everyone present watched nervously.

No one wanted the result of four days of work to end in failure.

Before long, the murky water gradually began to clear.

At the same time, a red crystalline mass started condensing around the weight.

Vernell carefully lifted it out.

The red crystal had adhered to it as though it were living flesh.

And the water had become so transparent that it was unrecognizable.

Normally, simply looking at it would not be enough to determine whether it was safe.

But this time was different.

The change was obvious.

“My goodness…”

“So it was possible.”

Neither Isabella nor Erika could hide their astonishment.

“What do you think?”

“Just as you said, it removed the Junk Mana contained in the water.”

“Of course, it doesn’t remove it completely. Trace amounts of mana still remain, but they’re within levels safe for the human body. In fact, it’s less dangerous than drinking groundwater.”

Those words filled Vernell with pride.

This was not merely a matter of receiving academic recognition.

What truly mattered was that those words had come from a descendant of Lorga, the Authority of Water.

Perda clenched his fist as well.

‘This was the answer.’

Not only had they found a source of potable water.

They had discovered a new path for the territory’s development.

‘So it’s true that war advances technology.’

The path he was walking did not lead to an exit.

It led him deeper inside.

Toward the immense treasure hidden within the labyrinth.

Perda patted Vernell on the shoulder to congratulate him on that extraordinary achievement.

“Good work.”

At that very moment, Vernell staggered violently and collapsed to the ground.

It was the consequence of spending four entire days researching and inventing without sleeping properly.

Erika seemed to have noticed as well, but she still commented,

“So when a dog is no longer useful, you simply kill it… is that it?”

“…That’s not it.”

***

Under the direction of the descendants of Lorga, a water source originating from the Demon Land was temporarily diverted.

Since the water originated in the Demon Land, it was kept away from Hestia Village, and a system was organized to transport it from there.

Isabella announced to the people that this would serve as an alternative source of drinking water to deal with the current crisis.

“Isn’t it dangerous to drink water that comes from the Demon Land?”

“I’m pretty sure I heard that if you drink contaminated water, you can turn into a monster…”

“Even so, what other choice do we have? It doesn’t look like it’s going to rain anytime soon.”

“If the great rulers of water approved it, I suppose it’s safe to drink.”

Although there was resistance, the people also understood that they had no alternatives.

And because they trusted the authority of those who endorsed it, the transition proceeded smoothly.

The problem, as expected, was the nobles.

The ones responsible for announcing it there were Perda and Erika.

“You expect us to drink water brought from the Demon Land?!”

“No matter what you say, that’s unacceptable! You’re practically telling us to die slowly!”

As nobles raised in luxury and refinement, they reacted with outrage and declared that they would only drink groundwater.

Perda even gave a demonstration and drank a glass of purified water in front of everyone.

Nothing seemed to happen to him.

But even so, it was difficult to calm the atmosphere.

“No matter how great a regent Lord Perda is or how legendary the adventurer Eri may be, we can’t drink something like that.”

“And what happens if we turn into monsters later? Will you take responsibility?”

They were spreading conspiracy theories to the point of bordering on insolence.

Erika asked through mental transmission.

— Should I just tell them to go die?

She did not say it aloud, but Perda agreed.

These were exactly the type of people who responded better to a short, blunt sentence than to a long, academic explanation filled with intellectual arrogance.

Those pride-filled faces would surely change in less than a day.

And the thought of seeing them then was rather satisfying.

Olivia approached Perda and asked,

“Is it really safe?”

She looked back and forth between Perda and Erika.

Erika replied,

“The leader of Lorga herself has certified it.”

“That is a fairly trustworthy guarantee.”

Olivia also picked up a glass and drank without hesitation.

“Mmm, it has quite a clean taste.”

Then she smiled elegantly, conveying confidence and settling the matter.

Only then did the nobles stop behaving like children and begin drinking the purified water.

‘How strange.’

When I drank it, they acted as if I were dying.

But when Olivia drinks it, they happily swallow it down.

It irritated him.

He discreetly looked at Erika.

Their eyes met.

It seemed they were thinking exactly the same thing.

Without saying a word, they simply nodded.

In any case, the issue of drinking water among the nobles was also resolved.

‘And the problem of the magic stones as well.’

In fact, collecting them turned out to be far easier than extracting them from monster corpses.

According to Vernell, the production process had been reduced by two-thirds.

The manufacture of ammunition-grade magic stones had accelerated to twice the previous speed.

With that, they could continue preparing for another month.

Perda also decided to begin properly organizing his own abilities.

‘A 4-star Red Circle and a 1-star Shadow Circle.’

If only the amount of mana was considered, it was equivalent to five stars.

‘But I’m not truly five-star.’

He could not use Fifth-Tier magic.

The correct assessment was that he simply possessed a much greater quantity of mana than other Fourth Circle mages.

That could serve as a hidden card.

‘Besides, the Shadow Circle just looks like a shadow if observed superficially.’

It was not composed of blue mana, but black mana.

If someone did not pay close attention, they would not even notice that he possessed another circle.

And above all, Perda was a Red Circle mage.

No one would imagine that a mage of his level had developed a secondary circle.

‘I’ll use lightning with the Red Circle and shadow magic with the Shadow Circle.’

After determining how he would manage his mana, Perda focused on another matter.

He needed a tool to face them.

And now he possessed exactly that.

‘Jibeol.’

The gift Lucy Philiaz had given him.

He called it that because it was not a punishment descending from the heavens, but one rising from the earth.

At first glance, it was nothing more than an ordinary staff.

No one would imagine it was a treasure bestowed by Lucy Philiaz.

‘Now that I think about it, she said it absorbed the power of branches struck by lightning.’

Perda took out the branch Ahmed Hashim had given him as a symbol of friendship.

He brought the branch close to the staff.

Then he could clearly see hidden particles within the branch of the World Tree flowing into the staff.

Shhh.

The staff absorbed absolutely everything.

And something astonishing happened.

All magical traces remaining in the branch disappeared, turning it into nothing more than an ordinary branch.

Even more surprising was that despite absorbing all that energy, the staff still emitted no magical sensation whatsoever.

Just in case, he channeled mana into it as he had done before to test its power.

Crackle!

There was no doubt.

It was stronger and more stable than before.

‘It was already stronger than Dark Bolt…’

He even began to think that Reverse Lightning Bolt might reach a level of power comparable to Lightning Spear, an original Fourth-Tier spell.

An artifact capable of increasing the power of spells by an entire tier without side effects was a treasure whose value was impossible to calculate.

‘With this, I’ve gained another resource.’

Reverse lightning capable of surpassing even darkness, the most destructive force.

And shadow arts capable of deceiving and surprising the enemy.

“Hmmm…”

Now he had to think about how to use that tool.

Perda’s battles always began with a display of power and ended the same way.

But he could no longer act as before, relying solely on overwhelming superiority.

He needed a strategy worthy of a mage.

At the very least, one that would allow him to deliver a decisive blow when the time came to face that man, Gokma.

Perda began his research.

***

One month after the incident.

A colossal army of no fewer than twenty thousand creatures had gathered around the mother monsters.

Of course, not all of them were deadly monsters.

Half were like slow Melteds with incomplete forms.

The other half resembled monsters or dangerous beasts.

Even among the latter, the large bear-like monsters numbered only around two hundred.

Even so, if they all charged at once, it would be impossible to stop them.

Erika judged that the assembled forces were finally ready to move.

Olivia summoned all the officers to hold the final strategic meeting before the decisive battle.

Perda participated as well.

While listening to the plans for the castle’s defense, he asked Count Consilus about the situation.

“Count, how are things over there?”

— There is nothing to say. I have waited for precisely this moment my entire life.

“Are you having problems with water?”

— No, my lord. Thanks to the equipment brought by the Blue Eyes people, we can endure for at least another week.

Although they were technically receiving outside assistance, there was a legitimate justification.

Vernell had shared the technology.

And under the pretext of “testing some prototypes,” several units had been provided to them.

Since they were materials intended for the conquest of the Demon Land, they were simply fulfilling their obligations as allies.

— Lord Regent.

“What is it?”

— Allow me to say this in advance. It has been an honor to serve you, even if only for a short time. I wish we could have met sooner.

Perda frowned.

Those words sounded like the last words of a knight marching to his death.

And that irritated him.

“Don’t talk nonsense. If the situation turns unfavorable, you will retreat to Hestia immediately.”

— If this castle falls, my bones will be buried here. To save a hundred people, a knight must kill one more beast. I will kill a hundred more and save ten thousand lives. Therefore, I ask you to protect the people of this Royal Principality.

“…Understood.”

There was no guarantee that he would die.

But even so, Perda decided to remember those words.

At that moment, Isabella burst into the room.

“The demon army has begun to move!”

Has the time finally come?

Perda immediately stood up.

But Isabella had not finished.

“But they’re moving in a different direction than expected!”

His body froze.

“What do you mean?”

“The thousands of monsters are not moving toward us!”

“Then where are they headed…?”

“They’re moving toward the Imperial Capital!”

A situation completely opposite to every prediction.

Before he could even ask whether it was true, his communication crystal began to vibrate.

He never imagined that greasy voice could sound so welcome.

— R-Regent! Something terrible has happened!

It was Crown Prince Alexander Arken.

And he spoke with the urgency of someone who had just seen a spark fall at his own feet.