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“Is what the Dragon said true? Is Ayla really the Blanche Noble house's biological daughter?”
“What’s going on…?”
Ayla looked momentarily embarrassed, but she didn't panic or deny it after hearing Debens's words.
It seemed she was already well aware that she was the Blanche Noble house's biological daughter.
“That power, you’d better use it carefully. Strong power always comes with a price.”
Debens passed her with a cool smile.
He approached Piyo in its cocoon state, completely unconcerned about the confusion of the humans around him.
“This little one, is it?”
Ayla, belatedly regaining her senses, hurriedly approached him.
“Ah, yes. It’s Piyo.”
Debens's brow furrowed at her answer. He looked displeased.
‘Why that face…? Is there something wrong with Piyo?’
Ayla asked cautiously.
“Is Piyo’s condition very serious?”
At that, Debens let out a short, dumbfounded laugh.
“Calling a Black Dragon ‘Piyo’… who named it?”
Ayla flinched at his openly mocking expression.
“I, I did?”
Is there something wrong…?
Ayla trailed off awkwardly, and Debens looked speechless.
“Are you going to call him Piyo even after he’s all grown up? Do you know how big a Black Dragon can get?”
“Yes… isn’t it cute?”
“……”
Debens was silent for a long time at Ayla’s answer.
“Yes… cute.”
The atmosphere became momentarily awkward, but Ayla quickly perked up.
“Then is Piyo okay now?”
“…Don’t worry. The Shedding is progressing normally.”
At his words, Ayla quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
Debens bent his knees and placed his hand on Piyo in its cocoon state. He seemed lost in thought for a moment, then continued in a low voice.
“Thanks to you having strong Dragon's power, Mana is being supplied sufficiently. At this rate, the Shedding will be over soon.”
“Really? How long do I have to wait until soon?”
“It looks like it will be back to normal in about a week.”
Debens slowly took his hand away and stood up.
“After the Shedding, the Dragon's growth is terrifying. It will quickly grow to the size of a house in just a month. So you need to make sure it gets enough nutrition right after the Shedding… what are you doing now?”
Debens frowned, one eyebrow raised, as Ayla took out a notebook and began scribbling busily.
But whether he did or not, she was busy asking questions.
“Is there anything else I should pay attention to besides that?”
“…After the Shedding, the Dragon will be able to handle Magic, so if you want it to get along with humans, it will need training.”
“What kind of training, for example?”
Debens, relieved of his doubts by her enthusiastic response, answered diligently.
“First of all, you’ll need to learn Polymorph Magic. The smaller the body, the easier it is to control Mana. Oh, and periodically release the transformation to supply natural Mana…”
Ayla meticulously wrote down all the advice he gave.
“Is there anything I can do right now?”
“Right now? Hmm… just do what you did when this one hatched. Give it plenty of light, stay by its side and steadily supply Mana, and keep the temperature constant.”
“Yes, I will keep that in mind.”
Ayla clenched her fist and answered.
She was pleased to have finally found a clue after failing to obtain any useful information even after gathering the empire’s leading scholars.
Debens looked at her for a moment, as if admiring her, then shifted his gaze to Piyo and continued.
“And there’s something even more important.”
“…Something important?”
“Dragons are very sensitive to their owner’s emotions. So it’s most important for the owner to have peace of mind and not be anxious.”
“……”
At that, Ayla quietly sighed and muttered in a slightly subdued voice.
“I’m so glad I came to see Red Dragon. Otherwise, I would have continued to be anxious and only had a bad influence on Piyo.”
“Debens.”
“Yes?”
“My true name is Debens.”
Debens said so and carefully stroked Piyo’s head.
Was it just her imagination? Piyo’s expression in the cocoon looked utterly peaceful.
“This child seems to like you very much.”
“Really?”
“Yes, if you continue to pour affection into it like this, it will grow up safely. Dragons are originally a race that likes humans.”
Ayla pressed her lips together and looked at Piyo.
‘Piyo likes me….’
She already knew, but hearing it directly from Debens made her heart feel strangely touched.
And soon, a small question arose.
‘But… did he just say that Dragons are a race that likes humans?’
That was somewhat different from what she had seen, heard, and learned.
‘Even Duke Felix said that Debens hates humans….’
Then why did he come to hate humans? She couldn’t help but tilt her head.
At that moment, Debens muttered with a look of regret.
“It’s been a long time since a new Dragon was born.”
“……”
As he said, the Black Dragon had not appeared for a long time, as if it had become extinct. The same was true for other Dragons.
‘That’s why the imperial palace was so interested in Piyo’s appearance.’
Unable to overcome her rising curiosity, Ayla cautiously asked a question.
“Debens, there’s something I’m curious about.”
“What is it?”
“I’ve been looking through records about Dragons while taking care of Piyo. And it seems that a long time ago, Dragons lived quite closely with humans.”
“…That’s how it was.”
“In contrast, why have all the Dragons disappeared now? And what’s even stranger is…”
Debens was listening to Ayla’s words with a stern face. Ayla, carefully choosing her words, continued.
“There’s too little information about Dragons. So little that it’s hard to imagine that they were once a race that mingled intimately with humans.”
“……”
“It felt like someone had deliberately erased it.”
“You think someone concealed the records about Dragons?”
“Yes, that’s how I felt.”
Debens did not refute that. Instead, his expression turned icy.
“It’s all… because of human greed.”
He stopped stroking Piyo’s head and slowly stood up.
At that moment, the surroundings became heavy. An oppressive force spread out, stiffening even the Kistar Knights.
Sensing the unusual energy, Felix reflexively pulled Ayla’s hand toward him.
Debens, staring at the empty air with eyes blazing with anger, opened his mouth after a long time.
“Greedy humans who covet the Dragon's power. Because of them, we came to distance ourselves from humans. It’s all the humans’ own doing.”
“…Humans coveted the Dragon's power?”
A cold smile spread across Debens’s lips.
“It seems there were no records about them left in the humans’ heritage?”
“……”
“Now that I think about it, perhaps you too have suffered great damage because of those humans.”
“Me? What do you mean…”
His yellow eyes gradually took on a dark light.
“I can’t say now. But someday, when you regain your place, you will know then. What I meant.”
Ayla swallowed hard. Each of Debens’s words contained something that could not be easily dismissed.
“…Is it something I shouldn’t know now?”
Debens nodded after a long silence.
“Tampering with causality recklessly is not easy, even for a Dragon.”
Ayla frowned and looked at Debens.
He still had an inscrutable, expressionless face.
‘Causality….’
Debens said that someday, when she regained her place, she would know what his words meant.
Does that mean… the day the truth that Rosia is a fake is revealed, and she proves that she is the real bloodline of the Blanche Noble house?
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