Volume 4 - CH 5

Proto Asta was a bustling but historical city.

Unlike Rodnea, where development is relatively new, or the Imperial City, which had been burned down in a large fire in the past, there were many old buildings remaining.

I wanted to do some sightseeing, but I was too tired to do so that day.

There was no dinner. The prince also didn’t take care of the political affairs that had accumulated and said he would take a rest soon.

Well, that’s understandable.

******

The next day.

Me and Ifa came to the library that had been built in the old castle.

The purpose, of course, was to look up dragon records.

I thought we would be able to find more documents in this city than we could in Rodnea, but we were surprised to find a library that was more magnificent than we had expected. It’s said that most of the books in Astilia are copied and collected here.

It’s very difficult to find documents in Astilia because of this.

However, because of that, I was able to find more materials than I expected.

We are now examining the contents of the books.

Ifa is also helping me. But she can’t read the ancient language, so it’s not going as smoothly as I’d hoped.

“Where did you learn such a thing, Seika-kun?”

“In the library of the mansion.”

It’s one of the different languages I learned as a child.

I can’t speak or hear, but I can read and write with no problem.

Although the official language of the empire is used in Astilia now, there was a lot of archaic material when it came to records from over a hundred years ago.

And the older the books, the more unknown information is written.

Some of them seemed important.

“Seika-kun……I’ve finished my part. Did you find anything?”

Ifa, who looked tired, walked up to me.

There were quite a lot of documents in the official languages alone. But, from the looks of things, I guess she didn’t find anything.

I nodded and answered.

“Yes. It seems that something similar to the current situation occurred about 150 years ago.”

There’s no clear record of the birth of the Astilian dragon, since it happened several hundred years ago.

It is said that he was hatched from an egg by the queen, but this is not certain. What is certain is that for several hundred years after he became an adult, he lived together with the residents of the city in their territory around the mountains.

This changed a little over 200 years ago.

One day, another dragon arrived on their territory.

At first, Astilia’s dragon chased the unwanted intruder away, but eventually they came to live together in the mountains.

The Astilian dragon was a male, and the new dragon was a female.

After both dragons became mates, they stopped showing interest in the people of the city.

The residents, who had been afraid of the dragon at first, gradually began to accept her, and life returned to the town as it had been before.

However, about 50 years later, the dragons changed again.

Both dragons became more cautious, attacking stray livestock and threatening people who came from outside.

Just like now.

That was 150 years ago.

At that time, we soon found out why.

One day, about a year after the strange behavior, a baby dragon began to be seen on the mountain where they lived.

“Oh, so you mean they were trying to raise a baby?”

“That’s what it must have been.”

It’s not unusual for creatures to become ill-tempered before spawning or while raising their young.

It may be that they were attacking livestock and couldn’t build up their strength with the magic of the land alone.

The little dragon grew up well.

It’s said that spawning took place several times at different times, with the first-born offspring taking care of the later-born.

When the young dragons grew up, they left the nest.

There’s no record of where they went. However, it’s certain that they went to faraway places anyway.

After all the young dragons had left the nest and after nearly fifty more years had passed, the —- female dragon died.

The record says she died of natural causes.

I don’t know if monsters have a life span. However, even among the yokai, such as nine tailed foxes, they eventually die after mating and giving birth to their offspring. Perhaps it was something similar to that.

After that, the dragon of Astilia became very quiet.

Their territory became much smaller and their aggression toward the city’s enemies and monsters had completely disappeared.

This was about a hundred years ago.

This was the reason why Astilia became a vassal state of the empire in the first place.

At that time, the demon tribe was showing signs of invasion.

Astilia, which had lost several of its forts and could no longer rely on the dragons that had been the absolute guardians of the capital, entered into a relationship of kinship with the imperial family and came under their protection by inviting their army into the country.

Although Astilia was effectively ruled by the imperial family, it was probably unable to turn its back on them.

Perhaps because of this, the demon tribe’s army gave up further invasion and retreated.

Soon after, the capital was relocated for administrative reasons and this city became the former royal capital.

Even today, the land is owned by the king and it is customary to have a chief elected from the royal family to rule. Right now, Prince Cecilio is it.

The dragon of Astilia must have been quietly watching the various changes in the city for a long time.

Until recently.

“I know that’s the case…… but I don’t think it has much to do with what happened here.”

Ifa said.

“Right now, there’s only that one dragon, right?”

“Yes. The one they have now is a male. I don’t think he’s raising a child. But…”

I can’t believe that they are not related.

It’s just a hunch, as usual.

In times like this …… I guess I’ll have to take action.

“I’m going to climb the mountain.”

“Eh? You don’t …. mean the mountain that’s inhabited by the dragon?”

“Yes.”

The best way to find out is to visit the area and actually see the dragon up close.

Observation is important in both biology and yokai research.

Ifa said, stunned.

“It’s dangerous. No matter how much strong you are, Seika-kun, you’re no match for a dragon……”

“I don’t intend to fight. If he sees me, I’ll just run away. It might be impossible to win, but running is not that hard.”

In fact, it is much easier to just beat him.

“If that’s the case, I’ll go too.”

“No, you’ll have to wait for me. It’s probably not going to last more than a day and it’s dangerous.”

I might have to use some arts and yokai that I don’t want to show too much.

The situation was indeed different from when I went into the mountains to search for magic stones in the territory.

“Ah, you’re right …..”

I smile and say to Ifa, who looks a little depressed, as if she’s worried about what will happen when I get angry.

“You don’t have to worry about it. I haven’t thought about taking you to the mountains from the beginning. You originally had a summer vacation, so take it easy.”

“…… yes.”

Ifa nods dejectedly.

Hmm…… I may have said a little too much yesterday.