Chapter 71
Complete Translation
‘Until now I hadn’t given the full recipe, just in case of any possible information leaks.’
Perhaps because Hebaro had a vague sense of my personality, he had never once asked for it.
But watching how things unintentionally unfolded and having observed Hebaro for a long time, I judged that sharing the recipe was probably safe.
‘It was a big decision for me, too.’
So what now? It had been pointless to tell him if it wouldn’t pay off.
‘I really didn’t expect that red flower to actually work.’
No — honestly, I had known all along that the flower was unusual.
That’s why I’d copied it and kept an extra specimen besides the one I’d passed to Hebaro.
Just then Dimodi and Marin, who had gone to check the flowers, returned.
[Master~ We checked them out~.]
“Really? Do you know what the flower is called?”
At my question Dimodi nodded vigorously.
[It’s an old flower, used with ancient plants! Not only ancient plants — it greatly increases the effects of all herbs!]
[It matches the red flower in the records~.]
[Heh! As expected, Master’s instinct was right!]
[Great! With this, we can make even more medicines!]
“Exactly.”
It had only been a device to fool the emperor’s eyes, but could it have fitted the situation any better?
Using that flower, I could maximize the effects of the ancient plant I was currently cultivating — the Gram.
Praising Dimodi a lot, I asked gently.
“By the way, what’s the flower’s name?”
[Right? I’m curious too!]
[I thought I knew the names of every plant~]
[Hmm, why is it that only this one doesn’t come to mind?]
The spirits blinked, and Dimodi answered slowly.
[Oarett.]
I couldn’t help freezing at the unexpected name.
“Oarett? Are you sure?”
Dimodi nodded resolutely.
[Yes, Oarett! That’s the flower’s name.]
[Oarett! I’ll never forget now!]
[But~ that name seems familiar somehow~?]
[Oarett, Oarett…]
“…Familiar, huh.”
Because that was the name of the first emperor who unified the old Lornod Kingdom into the current empire.
‘Oarett Telum Lornod.’
The conqueror-king who reveled in blood and slaughter.
The flower’s name was exactly the same as that emperor’s?
‘…Coincidence?’
That felt off — the spirits’ reactions were also unsettling…
It bugged me in many ways, but I had mountains of work to do, so I didn’t dig into it deeply.
Since the topic of ancient plants had come up, I asked Dimodi one more thing I’d been curious about.
“Did you check the Gram next to it? That’s the most important one, but it’s not responding like I want it to.”
[Gram needs a special power.]
“A special power?”
[To grow ancient plants, divine power (sacred power) is most important. Master, since we’re with you, you probably used sacred power without realizing it!]
[Indeed, spirit energy is a concept higher than sacred power.]
[We should have told you sooner~ It’s too late now~?]
[But! Now that the four of us are together, we finally remembered!]
At Modeway’s last remark, I tilted my head.
Maybe because I’d contracted with Dimodi as well, the spirits’ memories were being unlocked one by one.
Until now, it had been as if they were sealed.
‘That’s to my advantage.’
Thanks to that, I was hearing crucial information right when I needed it.
I stroked Modeway’s head out of habit.
Dimodi continued eagerly.
[But besides sacred power, you can grow ancient plants using other kinds of power!]
“Other kinds?”
[Dragon power — mana of dragons!]
[Right~. The records Master often read say only sacred power is needed, right?]
[But you can also grow ancient plants with dragon mana.]
[It’s not as good as sacred power! This is something nobody knows!]
‘Is that so.’
Surprising.
I’d expected ancient plants — grown on soil blessed by gods — to be antagonistic to dragon power.
[Among them, Gram is the pickiest! It needs both sacred power and dragon mana at the same time!]
That statement wasn’t shocking to me — I already knew something about Gram’s effects.
‘A toxin that suppresses dragon power.’
An ancient plant that could be a weakness for the Lornods.
For that reason the Lornods had wiped out not only the Gram itself but even the slightest records of it, going as far as to start wars to do so.
‘I only learned Gram’s effects after reading Mother’s journal, so it’s no wonder.’
Since it had already been driven to extinction, having Gram felt nearly impossible.
Then relatively recently, thanks to Hist, I’d managed to secure a seed.
‘Given this plant, it makes sense that it grows via dragon mana.’
I hadn’t expected that to apply to other ancient plants, though.
The problem was that I couldn’t handle dragon mana.
I lowered my head and looked at my fingers.
Then, with my eyes closed, I traced the scene I had seen earlier.
Vrrrr—
[Oh! Mana!]
[Master~ Now you can use mana too~.]
[Wonderful! You copied Hist’s technique in that short time!]
[Your mana volume is huge…!]
As the spirits marvelled, mana swirled around my fingers.
Sharp, like how Hist had exhibited it.
‘Following that isn’t hard.’
It wasn’t complicated calculations — it was simply feeling the aura called mana and gathering it.
Compared to before when I’d known nothing of mana, my growth was remarkable, but it wasn’t enough.
‘Dragon mana, huh.’
I turned my gaze to the small glass bottle on the table.
The viscous liquid that had splashed with Dimodi’s seal, collected by Hista.
I stared at the unsettling reddish-brown solution and tilted my head slightly.
‘As expected — blood.’
Not ordinary blood.
Blood filled with a strange energy.
Now that I could feel mana, I could perceive that this alien energy was dragon mana.
‘And it’s so full of it.’
That made it highly likely to be blood of Lornod direct descent — possibly even the emperor’s blood.
‘Maybe they needed the person’s blood to seal Dimodi?’
I concentrated fully to move the dragon mana contained in the blood.
Unfortunately, nothing special happened.
Unlike the ordinary mana that moved easily, the dragon mana refused to budge.
“You’re the child of a god, so I had hopes…”
Even if I had contracts with all the spirits and had awakened power, handling dragon mana seemed impossible.
When I showed disappointment, the spirits quickly tried to console me.
[Just sensing dragon mana is amazing!]
[Right! Most magicians can’t even sense dragon mana!]
[Master, you’re truly the best~.]
“Thanks for the encouragement, guys.”
I said that, but I couldn’t hide my regret.
‘If I could wield dragon mana myself, I could create the most efficient setup.’
Moren naturally came to mind.
Unlike me, Moren, who had Lornod blood, should be able to manipulate dragon mana.
But there wasn’t time to ask my brother for help right now, and actually it was better that Moren wasn’t in the capital.
‘He’s probably busy strengthening ties with the Telum Dukes’ retainers.’
Besides, his teacher Hist was there too.
While I was drawing everyone’s attention in the capital, Moren needed to focus on building his base.
‘I’ll leave Gram to be handled after Moren returns.’
What I regretted was—
At that moment Marin slid close and whispered.
[But Master~ I’m curious~]
Leaning in quietly, Marin kept tilting her head.
[You said the emperor is wary of the child of a god~? And Master revealed to get out of the capital that you were connected to a god~.]
[Yes. Through that old man Hebaro’s mouth, such a nuance was conveyed.]
[Gasp! But the Oarett flower worked! Then the emperor will suspect Master even more! What are we going to do?!]
“Drawing the emperor’s suspicion was expected. At that moment, timing the move to the Telum Duke’s house was the most important thing.”
If I hadn’t used this method, he would never have allowed Hebaro’s request.
‘I anticipated shouldering a certain level of risk from the start.’
It had prevented the worst disaster and secured the Telum Duke’s house — not a bad deal.
Above all, the emperor couldn’t do anything to me right now.
‘At least until Hebaro finishes developing his new drug.’
I was someone who could grow the flower that was the key ingredient for their new drug. And yet there was no adequate substitute so far.
Acting solely on suspicion to remove someone like me would be premature.
‘The emperor has already lost a wife. He won’t easily give up on his heir.’
“First, I’ll use information from the original story to fool the emperor.”
Among the original story’s details, there were several dragon relics sleeping in this imperial palace.
Like the mirror that Gobad had found.
I planned to use one of those treasures to buy time.
‘Honestly, it’s not a treasure perfectly matched to this situation…’
“But it should be enough to at least cloud the emperor’s eyes for a while.”
Then Nesgal spoke in a calm voice to warn me.
[Hmm, a dangerous method.]
