“Rest in peace... and I’ll be using what’s left of your body.”
As I lightly made the sign of the cross, perhaps curious about what I was doing, Helena, who had been watching me quietly unlike the other magicians who were busy snooping around, approached.
When she saw the contents of the coffin, her mouth fell open.
“B-Brother, are these... Fafnir’s children?”
“They’re something similar.”
“I see... It’s said that during the early stages of the War of the Gods, dragons showed incredible might. Because of that, they were targeted first, and even the hidden hatchlings were all slaughtered. Perhaps Fafnir was always so enraged because he lost his children.”
“Oh, no, that’s not it. These three were created by Fafnir after the war, when he was the last dragon left, trying to continue his lineage by cloning himself.”
“Huh?”
Helena tilted her head, confused.
Now that I think about it, aside from the fact that my soul came from Earth, there wasn’t really anything I couldn’t reveal anymore, right?
I didn’t regret deceiving everyone, but that didn’t mean I felt no guilt at all.
There was a bit of a sense of responsibility lingering in the back of my mind. Maybe I could clear half of it now.
Opening the other two coffins and making the same sign of the cross, I added,
“And they’re my brothers, too.”
“...Huh?”
“I mean, I was created by Fafnir as well. I was born in that tank over there.”
“Wh-What?!”
Helena was so shocked she jumped up from her spot. When she landed, she wobbled for a moment, and then lion ears popped out of her head.
“What?! Yandel! What are you saying?!”
“It’s been a while, Solari. First time since that night, huh?”
“‘It’s been a while’... No, this is no time for casual greetings! Everyone! Gather around! This is important!”
Solari’s voice roared like a lion.
The others, who had been curiously fiddling around with the laboratory, were startled and rushed over.
Iona, who arrived first, blinked her blood-red eyes.
“What’s going on, Helena... oh? Righteous Radiance?”
“Yes! It’s me! But that’s not the point right now!”
“Eh... what could be more important than a god descending...?”
“Yandel was born without a mother!”
“...That’s a bit of a blunt way to put it.”
Iona, looking slightly serious, took a step back, and Solari shook her head as she continued,
“No! I mean it! He says he’s a human created by Fafnir!”
“Huh? Master is...?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Master? I only just arrived and couldn’t hear everything, but what does this mean?”
The rest of the party, who had arrived a little later, widened their eyes in surprise and asked in unison.
Solari, still in shock, began to ramble, trying to explain what had just been revealed.
“Uh... so, Yandel is a chimera? Or a homunculus? Something like that. And these are his brothers, and they’re also Fafnir’s children, and so... and so...”
As if she couldn’t bear to watch Solari struggling anymore, Clara emerged from the medallion and took over the explanation.
-Lady, please calm down for a moment. You’re not explaining things well at all.
“Calm down, calm down... right! I’m calm!”
“Anyway, is there anything else you want to ask?”
“No, no. Whether you were born from a human or a dragon, it doesn’t change anything, right? The Yandel who threw his life on the line to save me that day is still the Yandel standing before me now, and that’s enough for me!”
“Professor Iona...”
For a moment, I was touched by Iona’s sparkling gaze.
But that was quickly cut short.
“More importantly, more importantly. You said you can use Dragonification now, right? Could I maybe... drink your blood while you’re in that form?”
“...That’s fine.”
Give me my touching moment back!
Now it just sounds like you’re hanging around with me for the sake of drinking my blood!
A sigh rose to the tip of my tongue but faded away. In its place was a dry chuckle.
Despite the gravity of the situation, they were acting just as noisy—no, even more so than usual, as if to ease my mind.
I did feel a sense of relief from finally revealing what I’d been hiding, but there was also a part of me that had worried about how they might react, being a chimera and all.
That concern must have been evident on the surface.
“Thank you, everyone.”
“Hmph, it’s good that you understand, Master. But by the way, where is this treasure you said I’d like so much? There’s a lot of interesting things here, but nothing that particularly stands out to me.”
“Oh, it’s this.”
I gestured toward the three coffins at my feet, inside of which were the small, neatly preserved dragon corpses.
They were about the size of large dogs, their black scales shining like obsidian—just like Fafnir’s clones.
Iris looked down at the dragons with a puzzled expression and tilted her head.
“Aren’t these the ones you said are like your brothers?”
“I got permission to use them. They said it’s fine.”
I laughed as I saw Iris staring at me as if I were some sort of madman.
“What? Don’t like it? Even though they’re small, just consuming one dragon heart would bring you that much closer to becoming an archmage.”
“...I never said I didn’t like it.”
Iris quietly approached and rubbed her forehead against my shoulder. So straightforward.
If it had been a set of dragon materials, Faye would’ve liked it even more than Iris. But this wasn’t the real treasure.
Thud.
I used telekinesis to open a drawer a little further away.
Inside was a stack of paper, thicker than any encyclopedia.
I brought it over with telekinesis and skimmed through it before handing it over to Iris.
“Here.”
“Huh?”
Iris, who had been burrowing into my shoulder, finally separated from me and looked down at the papers.
“These are Fafnir’s final magical notes, containing all the research records he absorbed from the Dragon Council elders and reorganized himself.”
“...What?”
“I’m giving them to you, Iris. Once you’ve read and understood them, let us know.”
Iris silently held the papers to her chest. She looked at me, then back at the papers, and then...
Thunk.
She fainted on the spot.