Glenn was taken to a private room in the duke's mansion and has yet to regain consciousness.
The black shadow that clung onto his body had stopped moving after the defeat of the Green Dragon, the source of the curse. However, its remains had not completely disappeared and left bruise-like patches on his body. It looked as if he was being coiled by a giant snake.
Sometimes he would let out an agonized moan or two, but even those voices were too faint to be heard. Anyone could see that the light of his life was almost extinguished.
Besides Glenn, Monica and Nero were present in this room. Since there was a possibility that the curse remaining in Glenn's body might move and attack people, she had prohibited the servants from entering and leaving the room.
As Monica observed the shadow that remained on Glenn's body, she muttered.
"Nero… The last words of that Green Dragon… you heard them, right?"
"Yeah."
The high-ranking dragons do understand human ‘words'. However, due to the structure of their vocal organs, they have difficulty expressing themselves in human language, so most dragons speak spirits language.
Since Monica had learned spirits language during her time in Minerva, she was able to understand some of it.
——Unforgivable. Unforgivable. I will never forgive that human being.
That Green Dragon clearly loathed humans. A person… to be specific.
"That Green Dragon was quite weak by the time I detected it. That explains why I couldn't sense its presence right away."
In normal cases, Nero's sensing ability should have caught it immediately, since a high-ranking dragon has mana as strong as a spirit or even stronger. However, because of its weak presence, Nero's sense was unable to detect the Green Dragon immediately.
"What my sense perceived was cursed-like mana shaped like a dragon. Since that wriggling snake-like thing was about the size of a dragon, I thought it might be a dragon. And I was right."
The curse probably had weakened the Green Dragon.
However, Monica had no idea where the curse originated in the first place. Nor did she know how to break the curse that was eating away Glenn.
Is having to defeat the Green Dragon, the source of the curse, not enough? If Glenn is engulfed by the curse at this point… what will happen to him?
Pouring a large amount of mana into Glenn might be able to help him repel the curse. But it would only have a temporary effect, and if it was done poorly, Glenn would become poisoned by mana.
The curse might be able to be removed by force, but she had no idea if Glenn's body would be able to withstand the process.
Too little information related to the curse for her to be able to break the current situation. For now, all she can do is wait for the specialists to arrive.
I'm sorry I couldn't protect you, Glenn.
Despite being one of the Seven Sages, the greatest magicians in the kingdom, Monica could do nothing in front of her friend's suffering face.
As she bit her lip in helplessness, a discreet knock came on the door of the room.
After confirming that Monica had promptly placed her hood over her head, Nero opened the door slightly.
"Who's there?"
After looking through the doorway, he found Eliane standing there.
With teary, swollen eyes, Eliane tiptoed onto her feet, tried to peer over Nero's shoulder into the room.
"Um, how's Lord Glenn's condition…?"
"You were not supposed to come near this room."
As Nero proceeded to close the door, Eliane hurriedly stuck her hand in the gap between the doors.
"Can Master Glenn be saved? He can be saved, right? I mean, there's a Seven Sage in this room…"
"Curses is different from regular magic. You need a specialist to handle it."
Even after hearing Nero's plain statement in annoyance, Eliane still stubbornly persisted.
"But, didn't Lady Silent Witch just repel the curse with her barrier? If she uses the same method to remove Lord Glenn's curse maybe…"
"There's a difference between warding off a curse and lifting it. The shock forcibly pulling off the curse would only speed up his death."
Hearing Nero's words, Eliane gasped with a shocked look on her face.
Eliane also felt responsible for this, because Glenn suffered the curse after protecting Eliane and a servant named Peter.
The face of the beautiful girl, who always smiled so dainty, now looked like a wilted flower.
"… I apologize… for disturbing you."
Eliane apologized in a shaky voice and quietly closed the door.
The sound of sobbing could be heard from the other side of the door afterward. Seeing that it was getting further away, Nero let out a sigh with a troublesome look on his face.
"Good grief. Do they all think that the Seven Sages can fix everything?"
However, that was not unreasonable. To common people, magic and witchcraft probably don't look much different. That's why they assume that the Seven Sages, the greatest magicians in the kingdom, would be able to deal with curses.
As a matter of fact, witchcraft itself is extremely uncommon. Moreover, since it is treated as a quasi-prohibited art, opportunities to learn it are fewer and farther between, with only the families that specialize in it having access to it.
Monica had improvised a protective barrier against the curse based on what little she had learned from the book and Glenn's symptoms, and it was not something that anyone should be able to do.
Even so, Monica couldn't help but blame herself. She wished she could have done better.
"A cursed dragon is a legendary disaster that even I've never seen before. It's a miracle there were no other casualties."
"But I couldn't save Glenn… and I don't know what to say to Louis…"
It was then that Glenn, lying in bed, moaned in pain. Reflexively looking at the bed, Monica was startled.
"Get away from him, Monica."
Nero dragged Monica off the bed and stared at the curse eating away at Glenn.
"…the Loud Boy's mana is decreasing… no, it's… being sucked out?"
However, despite having absorbed Glenn's mana, the movement of the shadow didn't seem to have become much more active.
——Where did the magic that it sucked out of Glenn go?
Nero and Monica came up with an answer at the same time and looked up.
"Could it be it went back to the cursed dragon's place?"
"It's not impossible. Some part of the curse sucks out the mana from the prey and sends it to the main part of the curse in the dragon."
Approaching the window, Nero directed his gaze in the direction of the hunting grounds.
The sun had already set, and outside the window was a star-filled sky and a dark night that stretched far into the forest. Even without light, Nero can sense what is in the depths of such darkness.
It was then one of his jutted black hair twitched like a cat's tail.
"It looks like our prediction was correct. That curse is approaching closer by the minute."
"!?"
Nero and Monica have made sure that no sign of life was detected in the cursed dragon. The dragon was definitely dead.
But now he said he sensed it was approaching, which that meant…
"The dragon may be dead, but the curse is alive…? Anyway, we need to do something about the source of the curse immediately."
"Want me to take care of it?"
At Nero's proposal, Monica pondered for a few seconds and shook her head.
"Let me take care of it first. But can you… come with me?"
Lifting the corner of his mouth and showing his sharp teeth, Nero smiled, "Of course!"
＊ ＊ ＊
After the dinner with the envoys of Falforia, Felix returned to his room, loosened the tie around his collar, and exhaled.
Neither the Silent Witch nor her attendant was present at the dinner party today. Both of them were taking care of Glenn Dudley, who had been affected by the curse. Calling it nursing may sound nice, but in reality, it would be more accurate to call it watching over.
Many were concerned that the curse that was eating away at Glenn would attack other people. Some people even considered that it would be better if he could be killed right away.
Of course, in order to prevent this from happening, Felix isolated Glenn as soon as possible and put him under surveillance.
… ironically enough, this incident received no bad response from Falforia's envoys.
The people of Falforia, especially the narrow-minded Count Marre, gave much consideration to the Silent Witch had prevented the curse and minimized casualties, and also to Felix, which had put an end to the cursed dragon with his sniping.
At the dinner table, Count Marre seemed not to be displeased as he praised Felix's skill with a gun. Maybe having experienced the threat of a dragon firsthand has given him a certain understanding of the matter of the Dragon Knights garrison.
Above all, the fact that he was able to survive a legendary disaster provides him with an opportunity to be talked about—basically it becomes his heroic story.
Once the envoys of Falforia return to their home countries, they will surely spread the word about how terrifying the dragons were. While conveniently ignoring the fact that they were helpless to do anything about it and act like heroes who survived the dragon threat.
At the same time, Duke Rehnberg and his wife would praise Felix as a hero. Before long, word will spread throughout the kingdom that the second prince, Felix Ark Ridill, has defeated the cursed dragon.
A heroic story of a prince who slew the dragon foretold by the Star Oracle Witch just sounds like…
…well played scenario.
With his darkened eyes, Felix looked at the envelope he had thrown on his writing desk. An envelope bearing the emblem of a two-headed dragon had been sent to him by Duke Crockford. The letter, which was handed to him upon his arrival at the mansion, briefly stated.
His Majesty the King is showing signs of illness. Handle the situation without fail.
To the unaware party, it could be read as, ‘As His Majesty, the King is not in good health, make sure to handle everything without fail so as to relieve the burden on the King.'
However, Felix could see Duke Crockford's true intentions very clearly.
——The king is nearing the end of his life. Do everything in your power to become the next king.
This incident is also one of ‘preparation' for that.
Staring at the letter gravely, Felix lifted the edge of his mouth.
"…how annoying."
Muttering lowly, he placed the envelope in the fireplace.
The emblem of Dukes Crockford—the two-headed dragon—was turning to ashes.
Felix couldn't help but think that the ‘calamity' that the Star Oracle Witch had foretold was not the cursed dragon, but the two-headed dragon that undermines the country.
As he shoved the ashes of the letter further away, a white lizard, Will, slithered out of his pocket.
"Your Highness, I have terrible news. The cursed dragons from daytime are approaching this mansion."
"Oh, really? I thought I pierced its eyebrow, but it's still alive? It sure has a lot of life force."
After throwing a remark without changing his facial expression, Felix grabbed his hunting rifle that was propped up in the corner of the room.
Despite having the typical expressionless face of a reptilian, Will was still perplexed as he looked up at Felix.
"Um, Your Highness? Have you reported it to the duke's household and Lady of the Seven Sages?"
"‘Handle the situation without fail,' that's what that man had ordered."
All Felix's expression vanished from his face.
When the gentle smile disappeared from his well-formed face, a chilling air took over the young man, making him seem somewhat hollow, yet chilling to the viewers.
"As Duke Crockford's puppet, let's deal with whatever comes out of that man's mouth, shall we?"
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