Chapter 13: Khan and Kani (2)

“Ohhh…” Over the past few days, Louis had been sighing more often than usual.

“Sir Louis… Please hang in there.”

“How would you feel if you were in my shoes?”

“…”

Fin’s wings drooped after his attempt at comforting Louis was met with rebuke.

Louis trembled and eventually erupted in anger. “Why are those brats causing trouble here instead of staying home?!”

It had already been a week since the Troublemaker Twins refused to leave Louis’s residence. Despite being young, Louis’s blood pressure skyrocketed from all this stress, and he rubbed his stiff neck.

“Ahhh…”

The nicknames Louis bestowed upon them were Troublemaker No. 1 and No. 2, as they required constant attention.

For instance…

“What’s this, Louis?”

“…How old are you now? And you still don’t recognize ancient Roperthian script?”

“My dad didn’t tell me about this.”

“You idiot! This is—”

They would constantly interrupt Louis while he was reading to ask questions about things they didn’t understand.

Clang!

“Ack! I spilled it!”

“Hey, you clumsy oaf! What have you done?!”

Or they’d knock over their shaved ice dessert meant for snacking.

“Give it back!”

“No way, it’s mine!”

“It’s my turn!”

Rrrrip.

“Oh no… It tore.”

“Louis will be mad at us…”

At other times, they’d fight over who got to read a book and end up ripping its pages. And Louis had to deal with all these messes.

As memories of the past few days flashed through his mind, Louis involuntarily shuddered.

Just then…

“I’m hungry, Louis!”

“We’re hungry!”

The two troublemaking fodder beasts whined for food.

“Hey! Am I your nanny?! Go home already!”

“Whinny!”

“Waaah…”

Seeing their pitiful expressions, Louis couldn’t help but sigh.

Oh boy… What did I do in my previous life to deserve this…? I can’t even scold them properly.

Despite being two hundred and fifty years old, these hatchlings still acted immaturely. However, it was understandable, as dragons didn’t fully mature mentally until after their second hibernation period. With few exceptions like Louis, most hatchlings had the cognitive abilities similar to that of their transformed human age. In other words, the twins’ mental ages were akin to eight- or ten-year-old children.

Although, they seem even younger than their physical appearance suggests. But wait… Uncle left them alone…alone?!

Louis abruptly yelled at his realization.

“Troublemakers No. 1 and 2!”

“What?”

“Huh?”

The twins rushed over to Louis, who glared at them.

“Did your uncle assign you guardians?”

“Yes!”

“Where are they now?”

The twins casually answered his question.

“He fell asleep!”

“We were playing with him because we were bored, but then he suddenly passed out!”

Louis’s eyes narrowed at their response, and he quietly asked in a low voice…

“…Did you hit him?”

“Yeah… A little bit?”

“It wasn’t me! It was Kani!”

“And Khan, too!”

Watching the bickering siblings rendered Louis speechless.

They broke their guardian?!

Their father knew all too well that no living creature could withstand his children’s wild temperaments. That’s why he had chosen a golem as their guardian, but even it couldn’t last more than a few days without its creator nearby.

As Louis pondered his predicament, the twins started whining again.

“Louis, I’m huuungry.”

“I’m hungryyy toooo.”

”…”

Listening to their complaints, Louis wondered if perhaps they had come to him because there was no one else to feed them.

“Sigh.” Resigned, he let out a big sigh and moved to nourish these two bottomless pits.

Just as he was about to start preparing their meal, Louis’s hand froze.

“Hold on. Why am I wasting my time taking care of these troublemakers?”

Despite having memories from his previous life, Louis was currently just another hatchling. Physically, he was even younger than the twins by about a month. Yet, there was a reason he couldn’t refuse their requests.

“You sneaky little things! I can’t say no when you give me those kitten eyes!”

Despite being taller than Louis, Khan and Kani still had the bodies of children—quite adorable ones at that. With their fair skin, silver hair, and clear blue-green eyes, Louis’s heart melted whenever they looked at him with such innocent hopefulness.

However, there were limits to his indulgence.

“I won’t be able to live my life if this continues! It’s all because Uncle kept spoiling them! I’m going to turn these dragons into proper hatchlings!”

From that moment on, Louis resolved to take charge of educating the twins, even though their own father had given up on it.

And so, starting from that day, Louis began changing his approach.

“Louis…what’s this?”

“Look it up here.”

“Can’t Louis just tell us?”

“Nope, not gonna happen.”

When Kani asked Louis for help with his studies, he firmly refused and instead tossed him some books to look up answers on his own.

“Louis, you spilled something…”

“There’s a rag in the kitchen. Clean it up.”

“Can’t you do it?”

“Khan, listen carefully. Your hands aren’t just for shoveling food into your mouth. Get the rag and clean that mess now!”

“…Yes, sir.”

Louis had transformed from a nanny to a strict disciplinarian overnight. After several days of this new regime, the twins gradually began changing their behavior. They started acting more independently rather than relying solely on Louis for everything.

“Mmm, good job, well done.”

“Sir Louis… You’re amazing.” As Louis basked in satisfaction over his achievement, Fin couldn’t stop gushing praise beside him. “To think you could transform those layabouts—no, my lords—so drastically!”

“It’s nothing.”

“You’re truly the best, Louis!”

“Ha-ha-ha!”

Louis even appreciated Fin’s flattery, which normally annoyed him.

However, not all changes were positive.

“Louis, did you see how well I cleaned this up?”

“Yes, very good job!”

“Louis, I put these back where they belong! Did I do well?”

“Oh, absolutely!”

“Louis, look at me returning everything to its place! Can you praise me?”

“…Sure, well done.”

“Louis, today I didn’t break anything! Am I doing great?”

“Yes…”

The twins constantly sought his approval for every action by nudging their heads toward him. Each time, Louis stroked their hair and praised them accordingly. However, as it continued, he began feeling uneasy.

“Are we raising dragons or puppies?”

Louis’s actions reminded him of training his dog in the past. The thought intensified when he rewarded them with treats while praising them. If not for their human forms, would they have wagged their tails enthusiastically like dogs? Louis chuckled at this absurd notion.

“Well, regardless, as long as it gets results, right?”

Indeed, thanks to these efforts, Louis significantly reduced the time needed to monitor the twins. Satisfied with having more personal time, he ventured outside for some training.

“Come on, let’s go together, Louis!”

“Go with Louis!”

“Take us along too!”

As Louis stepped out, Fin and the twins eagerly followed like puppies chasing after their master. It was another peaceful day, and Louis believed this tranquility would continue indefinitely—until that fateful day arrived.

A month had passed since the two Troublemaker fodder beasts settled at Louis’s residence. Satisfied with how smoothly things were progressing, Louis immersed himself in his training.

My own unique holy magic…

He relentlessly worked to elevate his mastery of spatial attribute power to its highest level. The results from his past 150 years of cultivation were quite impressive—first-tier proficiency in space manipulation. Considering that even talented humans often failed to reach third tier despite dedicating their entire lives to training, this was remarkable.

However, he couldn’t claim full mastery of first tier yet.

‘It’s indeed not easy.’

The method for distinguishing tiers was straightforward:

Fifth tier involved sensing, absorbing, and accumulating Attribute Power within one’s body.

Fourth tier focused on controlling the Attribute Power stored within oneself.

Third tier surpassed control, allowing manifestation of Attribute Power outside the body.

Tier 2: Coalescing Attribute Power into tangible forms

Tier 1: Freely transforming these tangible forms at will

Among them, to be recognized as a true Tier 1, one must not rely on someone else’s holy magic but create their own unique and flawless version by manipulating attribute power. Only then could they face the barrier towards becoming the pinnacle of tiers.

Hence, Louis had pondered this for quite some time.

As a dragon, shouldn’t I be able to craft spells myself?

Louis had been pouring immense effort into creating spatial holy magic, dedicating most of his past several decades to it. Of course, he didn’t neglect other attributes either.

Strength Attribute - Tier 2

Time Attribute - Tier 2

lightning attribute: Tier 3

Louis had consistently worked hard to improve his other attributes as well. Reaching tier 3 in Mind was particularly significant progress, considering he initially struggled with it.

I never thought reading philosophy books for fun would be so helpful.

After being possessed by a dragon’s soul, Louis developed a hobby of reading and consumed various genres indiscriminately. By chance, he discovered that philosophical texts resonated with his lightning attribute. Realizing this, Louis embarked on a journey of self-reflection while devouring numerous philosophical works. The result was achieving Tier 3 in Mind.

“Sigh… This is tough. Should I swing my dagger instead?” Struggling with writer’s block, Louis took a moment to breathe deeply and regain composure.

Soon, a small but sharp dagger materialized in his hand.

Despite being called a dagger, it was quite long for Louis’s stature.

“I wonder when I’ll grow tall enough to become a magic swordsman…”

Louis had always dreamed of mastering both holy and black magic simultaneously, but his physical limitations dashed that hope. With his frail limbs, he lacked motivation to learn black magic. Thus, he decided to focus on honing his skills with holy magic instead. However, not wanting to lose touch completely, he occasionally practiced black magic, especially since exercising his body helped clear his mind.

Just as Louis began stretching…

Clang, clang!

“Huh?”

The sharp metallic sounds drew his attention toward the twins fiercely sparring against each other.

“Haah! Die!”

“You first!”

The twins were sparring so fiercely that Louis couldn’t help but marvel at them.

“Those two… Do you think they were mortal enemies in their previous lives before being reborn as siblings?”

Their training was incredibly intense, to the point where it seemed dangerous and prone to accidents, yet the twins appeared to be enjoying themselves. The smiles on their faces proved this; combat practice seemed like playtime for them.

Louis quietly observed their match.

“As expected… They’re quite good. Despite still being adolescents, they certainly live up to their dragon heritage.” He watched with admiration.

Although slightly taller than him, the twins wielded their weapons effortlessly.

Kani, the elder twin sister, wielded both a rapier and short sword, while Khan, her younger brother, handled a bastard sword almost as tall as he was. The twins’ impulsive nature made them perfectly suited for black magic combat. At a glance, they appeared to be on par with tier-2 warriors.

As Louis watched their sparring session, he murmured enviously:

”…Once I’m a bit older, I should learn black magic too.”

After observing them for some time, a thought struck him.

“Come to think of it… Why can’t I spar with these two? After all, I need practical experience.”

It had been a month since Louis reluctantly took in the Troublemaker siblings. Finally, he realized how best to utilize them.