Chapter 128: Destiny (VI)
The Dragon’s Holy Land - Silver Flower Castle.
A silver-haired man swiftly crossed the hallway that sparkled with light. He walked furiously, gnashing his teeth before flinging open a door.
“Genelocer!”
It was Carlos, the father of twins.
Genelocer had been focused on some documents but sighed at his father’s abrupt appearance.
”…What is it?”
“I can’t take this anymore! Let’s quit right now!”
”…What seems to be the problem this time?”
“Well, you see, that old codger…” Carlos rambled incessantly as if unloading pent-up frustration from within him. His voice boomed loudly and rapidly like machine-gun fire.
Despite Carlos’s rambling monologue, Genelocer demonstrated remarkable concentration on his paperwork. This was understandable; this wasn’t the first time Carlos had launched into such a tirade.
It would be about why he should inherit not as an elder but as a slave. Or how the elders exploited him using inheritance as an excuse. Or how he was constantly criticized for being incompetent at work. For two years now, Genelocer had been subjected to various grievances from Carlos. He’d reached the point where he could tune out most of what Carlos said while pretending to listen.
After blabbering incessantly for quite some time, Carlos finally stopped talking and shot an annoyed glance at Genelocer.
“Genelocer.”
“Yes?”
“Are you listening to me?”
“Yeah.”
Genelocer responded promptly with a simple ‘yes’ while never once looking up from his paperwork.
Noticing this, Carlos cautiously approached him again.
“Hey, Genelocer.”
“Yeah?”
“You’re not busy, right?”
“Nope.”
“So could you take a look at my files too?”
“Sod off.”
”…What a bastard.”
Carlos slumped his shoulders after being bluntly rejected when trying to subtly shift some work onto Genelocer. Then he spotted the mountain of papers on Genelocer’s desk and couldn’t help but ask:
“Just wondering… Did you really handle all those documents on your desk today?”
“Yeah.”
“For real?”
“Mm-hmm.”
”…Incredible,” Carlos muttered, shaking his head in disbelief.
Amidst it all, Genelocer added yet another sheet of paper to the towering stack on his desk.
Watching this, Carlos shuddered as if witnessing something horrifying.
“This is insane!” he exclaimed. “Why are there so many succession documents?! Did you know I’ve seen more paper in these past two years than in my entire life before now? How many more years will we have to endure this madness?”
Finally, Genelocer raised his head at Carlos’ grumbling, shooting him a look that said, Is this really worth your whining?
“Well, why don’t you put your money where your mouth is and add one more page?” suggested Genelocer sarcastically.
“Yeah, right! As if doing that would make any difference! There’ll be just as much work tomorrow!”
“Ah, but thanks to us raising these children, we’ve managed to reduce ten years’ worth of paperwork, you know.”
“I simplified ten years’ worth of succession tasks, yet there’s still this much work? How many were there originally?”
“Grumbling to me won’t change your workload.”
“Darn it all!” Carlos muttered before suddenly clinging to Genelocer’s desk with a pitiful expression. “My friend…”
“No way.”
”…Do you know what I’m going to say?”
“It’s obvious that once I finish my part, you’ll ask for help with yours.”
“Well, at least you’re aware…”
“Go away. I have plenty to do myself. After finishing all this, I’ve got tomorrow’s work to tackle too.”
“You’re just as bad as I am,” Carlos shook his head ruefully.
As someone who had been through the same succession process as Genelocer, Carlos knew how hard his colleague worked each day. There could only be one reason for such dedication:
“You miss Louis that much?”
“Of course! It’s obvious!” The usually indifferent tone in Genelocer’s voice now brimmed with life.
His gaze fell upon a video screen on his desk. Within it, their young son sat stubbornly pouting. Whenever he felt drained, Genelocer would look at this image of his child to find strength.
Our son is just too adorable!
At that moment, Carlos’ voice interrupted what was Genelocer’s only source of energy recharging time.
“I really won’t help you?”
“Yeah.”
“For real though?”
“Would you just shut up already?”
“You workaholic bastard.”
“Yeah.”
“You incompetent fool!”
“Huh, that’s not an insult, it’s a compliment!”
“Oh, for crying out loud! Help me!”
“Don’t you know the saying ‘do your own work’?”
“I don’t think I’ve heard of that one before,” Carlos retorted. “But I do know the saying ‘help each other with hard tasks’.”
“Well, I’m hearing that one for the first time too.”
”…What a jerk.”
Seeing that Genelocer was determined not to help, Carlos’s frustration began to boil over again.
“I swear, if this keeps up, I’ll die buried in paperwork!”
“You won’t die.”
“In the Silver Flower Castle, which is supposed to be the embodiment of sacred scriptures—of all places—and from dragons, who are supposedly the masters of those very scriptures—to see them using documents to determine succession?! How utterly outdated is this way of thinking?!”
”…”
“It’s all because of those old geezers! They established this ridiculous system when they were in charge, and it’s still being used today? This is clearly a scheme by the damn elders to break in new members! We must abolish this evil tradition! Those damned old men!”
”…”
“In any case, I’ll be the first dragon in history to die buried under a mountain of paperwork.”
“That won’t happen, will it?”
“No, I’m certain I’ll die from being crushed by files.”
“That can’t happen. You’d die before that even happens.”
”…What do you mean?”
No sooner had Carlos finished speaking than his shadow fell across his back.
At the same time, a hand grabbed his ear.
“Carlos!”
The one who had grabbed Carlos by the ear was an elderly man with a grand physique.
Carlos screamed as his ear was yanked. “A-agh! P-President!”
“Weren’t you supposed to be working instead of loafing around here? And what… those damned old geezers?”
“T-that’s not it.”
“Come with me!”
“Gah! C-can you let go of my ear first…? P-please spare Genelocer!”
“Spare him if you must, President.”
“Yes, keep up the good work.”
“M-my son betrayed us… Aaaaargh! President, my ear is coming off!”
As Carlos was dragged away by his ear, his screams echoed down the hallway.
After Carlos disappeared, a hard-won peace settled in. Genelocer gazed once more at the video screen on his desk.
His son’s adorable face puffed out in anger - that gave Genelocer strength. He renewed his vow:
“My son… Daddy will be there soon. Just wait a little longer!”
Genelocer compressed time itself, accomplishing days’ worth of work in mere hours. Inspired by the sight of his son, he threw himself back into the paperwork.
Thanks to Page and Pablo, Louis learned of the existence of motion crystals that could teleport between continents. He began visiting the underground cave daily.
Each day, he extracted spatial energy from the Dragon Heart, filling the crystal to its brim despite causing it such strain it screamed in pain. Meanwhile, Fin was dragged along by Louis due to his progress with mastering space attributes, and he too had to squeeze every last drop of attribute power until he was utterly drained.
It felt like pouring water into a bottomless pot; for two whole days, the space teleportation crystal remained unresponsive. Yet on the third day, something finally happened.
Louis, at tier 1 in spatial attributes, and Fin, at tier 3—despite both pouring everything they had into it—the crystal only now showed signs of life. Louis couldn’t help but marvel at this revelation.
Still, Louis poured more effort into his work, buoyed by the hope of activating the space teleportation crystal.
Yes, yes! Next, I should…
In parallel with activating the space teleportation crystal, Louis had been meticulously fine-tuning its coordinate values. He delved deep into understanding the crystal’s functionality.
The fact that it was created by someone beyond his current realm made it an excellent learning tool for Louis. After several days dedicated to mastering the space teleportation crystal, he finally achieved the desired results.
I’d like to increase the range further, but… this seems to be the limit of my ability. I suspect this is also the boundary of what the crystal can handle.
Louis had pushed the performance of the magic circle to its absolute limit through a process he called “overclocking.” Originally, “overclocking” referred to the practice of increasing a computer hardware component’s performance beyond its designed specifications. Louis applied this concept to enhance the crystal’s capabilities.
Although his limited cultivation realm prevented him from understanding how space-transferring motion crystals were crafted, he managed to tweak certain elements, coaxing more power out of them than intended.
With these modified crystals, I should just barely reach the Spring Continent…
While Louis dreamt of arriving home in one fell swoop, the crystals’ range would only get him perilously close to the Spring Continent.
Of course, that alone was more than enough reason for excitement.
The Frenche Kingdom lay on the eastern edge of the Summer Continent, and reaching the Spring Continent meant traversing the entire summer landmass and then crossing the sea. If they could shorten this distance, it would save them nearly a year of travel time.
With these thoughts in mind, Louis focused on completing his ‘overclock’ work and charging the elemental stones with power.
Ten days had passed since he first discovered the existence of the magic circle.
Tink-tink-tink.
Louis beamed at the sight of the brilliantly glowing crystal.
”…It’s done.”
He could almost smell spring in the air already.
The next morning, several people gathered in front of a softly glowing crystal that allowed for spatial teleportation: Pablo and Page, the king and Greg. They had assembled early in the day to see off Louis and his twins with visible reluctance.
Pablo and Page were particularly disappointed.
“Are you really leaving already?”
“Can’t you stay at least until our wedding…”
“We’re not getting married anytime soon anyway. The wedding will be after the kingdom has stabilized somewhat… Are you asking me to wait all that time?”
“But still…”
“Forget it. Since I’m leaving anyway, better to go now.”
Louis’s firmness made Pablo look dejected.
Over the past two years, Pablo had been Louis’s lackey in every sense of the word. But looking back, everything had ultimately benefited him. Despite how mean and nasty Louis could be at times, he’d always taken care of his young charge. That was why Pablo felt so sad about their parting now.
Seeing Pablo’s dejection, the twins approached tearfully.
“You big lummox… You gotta take care of yourself,” one sobbed.
“We’ll miss you…” The other echoed sadly as they clung to each other after losing a beloved friend.
Fin peeked out from where he was nestled against Louis and wiped away his tears with a small handkerchief.
Pablo nodded, fighting back his own tears. “O-of course! I’ll never forget any of you!”
Beeep…
Honk…
Seeing the twins on the verge of tears, Louis hastily interjected.
“Let’s not part with such sorrowful farewells. It won’t be forever.”
“When will we see each other again?” Pablo asked.
Louis flinched slightly at his question.
“Well…”
He hesitated unusually for him, unable to give a straightforward answer. Honestly, even he couldn’t promise when they might meet again. After all, once he got home, he wouldn’t emerge until after completing his second sleep cycle.
But…
We’ll cross paths someday, Louis thought slyly. Whether it’s with Pablo himself or perhaps his descendants.
With this cunning grin playing across his mind, Louis looked at Pablo and deliberately adopted a stern tone:
“Well, I’ll see you around someday. If you try to ignore me later when we meet again, though, I will kill you.”
“No worries!” Pablo nodded enthusiastically, never realizing those words would become another shackle on his tongue.
Louis seemed satisfied with this answer and turned away from him.
“Hey, old man King.”
“What is it?”
“Do your best this time. Don’t ruin the country again. If I come back later and find things in a mess, I’ll overturn everything.”
“Heh-heh, understood.”
“You wimpy old man.”
“I am not wimpy!”
“If you don’t like being called weak, then train harder.”
Sniff! Greg made an annoyed noise through his nose.
After exchanging final farewells, Louis took his twins’ hands and stepped onto the magic circle. He turned to Pablo and Page for one last word:
“I’m off. Stay safe.”
As he finished speaking, the crystal emitted a brilliant light that filled even the darkest corners of their underground cave with its glow. Louis smiled as he saw those watching him from beyond the blinding brightness.
Finally… I’ve reached the continent of spring.
Winter, autumn, summer—the memories of his journey thus far flashed through his mind, overwhelming him emotionally. He had truly arrived at his destination; all that remained was this spatial transition.
Just as the radiant light reached its peak intensity…
Rrrumble!
Without warning, the subterranean chamber began to quake violently.
“Wh-what’s going on?!”
“It-it’s an earthquake!”
Startled by the sudden tremors, everyone panicked and scrambled about frantically.
Louis was equally astonished. He felt relieved when he saw that his magic circle continued to emit light without any issues.
It seems fine. The crystal hasn’t been affected by whatever just happened.
Having personally modified the crystal, Louis knew well that it had superior durability. A simple tremor wouldn’t have much impact on an already operational magic circle—provided nothing else occurred.
Click.
“Huh?”
The sudden vibration caught Louis’s attention, drawing his gaze to something peculiar.
Click-click.
Taking advantage of the cave’s tremors, a black rat had snuck up near the magic circle.
“What?”
Louis’s eyes widened at the sight. Not only was it surprising for a rat to appear out of nowhere, but its appearance was also quite unique. It looked as if someone had simply attached ears to a round sphere.
The tail ignited quickly and vanished. Observing this, Louis had a sudden thought:
A bomb… in the shape of a mouse?
It was indeed a bomb shaped like a rodent. Strangely, it rolled on its hind legs until it came to an exact stop at one corner of the magic circle. Louis tilted his head, bewildered by this unfamiliar sight.
And for good reason…
Ch-chk!
“Did it just smile…?”
The corners of the mouse’s mouth curved upwards slightly.
A smiling bomb?
Realizing something was amiss, Louis tried desperately to react, but it was already too late.
Boom!
With a peculiar sound, the explosive mouse detonated. Black lines scattered wildly through the air before seeFing into the magic circle.
Louis was utterly astonished.
…Are you kidding me?!
As the black lines reached it, part of the magic circle began to change.
“You little rat…!” Louis cried out in surprise and desperation, but it was too late—the light had already peaked, completely engulfing him and his companions.
Drummm…
The vibrations that shook the cave finally subsided.
Zzzz… Shhhf.
Simultaneously, the glow from the crystal vanished entirely, and Louis and the twins could no longer be seen above it.
Pablo, who had been startled by the earthquake, found some peace as he stared at the empty crystal and muttered:
“They’re… gone, aren’t they?”
”…I suppose so.”
It was a farewell that left an unsettling feeling behind.
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