Eugene hesitated.
If you turn on the map, dragons will attack the imperial palace.
I didn’t know what those rogues would do to find him.
“If you do, the dragons will invade the palace, Your Highness.”
The palace will burn and he will disappear with his memories stolen.
That fear lingers even now, ten years later.
It was a primal fear that Epic owners had no choice but to have.
“Don’t worry, a few of those dragons won’t be able to take over the palace.”
Of course, it’s not that he doesn’t know about Eugene’s worries.
But this is the imperial palace. It is the heart of the empire.
Even the dragons of the past could not openly attack the empire.
Even at the time of conquering half of the continent, I, the emperor, did not know about dragons.
Not only Epic, but also dragons are extremely reluctant to be exposed.
‘It’s easy to be targeted if your face is exposed.’
A dragon is not invincible.
Guys obviously die too. I proved him through the dragon of the Holy Land.
‘If I could only know the dragon’s face, I might be able to prepare.’
The dragon was made by the Twelve Lords after their own faces.
Malfiel and the dragon of the Holy Land had the face of the second god, Beta.
Likewise, other dragons will also have the faces of the gods they follow.
If you can only identify twelve faces, you might even be able to take out those hiding and attack them.
‘There was no data on the faces of the other dragons. The dragon of the Holy Land had no interaction with other dragons.’
Although born in the world tree of the same Eden, the dragon in the Holy Land did not know the face of the other gods or the face of the dragon.
Dragons are few in number, but they are all competitors.
Perhaps, from the time of its creation, it was intentionally kept from recognizing the faces of other dragons.
It is probably because of the establishment of a fair competitive relationship of its own.
Still, dozens at most.
It would be an easy win if there were no monsters like Malfiel.
Of course it’s a gamble.
The mad dragons could have turned the palace into a mess as they frantically sought the Epic Detector.
There was no monster like Malfiel, so he couldn’t nail it.
The Dragon of the Holy Land completed 10 trials, but its power was almost damaged by the demon king Garf. The lower half of the body was cut off and emitted radiation, the source of power for a thousand years.
Eugene said, trembling with fear.
“That’s because Your Highness doesn’t know the fear of dragons.”
“I already killed him.”
“······ Yes?”
“Have any dragons seen in the village had a face like this?”
[Import the image of ‘Dragon’.]
[Launch the hologram.]
Swoop.
The face of the dragon he had seen in the holy ground appeared before his eyes.
All the data about him was compressed. If you wanted, you could float it as a hologram like this.
Seeing this, Eugene’s pupils widened.
It’s not magic.
The Epic in his head could cause a similar phenomenon, but he never dreamed that Reinhardt would do it.
“Have you seen it?”
“I do not know. All the dragons were wearing masks.”
Yujin shook her head and replied.
Wearing masks even when dragons gather together?
The dragons are reluctant to even know each other’s faces.
It does not appear in human society unless it is a crazy attention seed like Malfiel.
If revealed, it would be to hunt epics or accomplish feats.
“How many dragons were gathered in the village the last time you turned on the map?”
“It was six.”
“Where did you first turn on the map?”
“…Since I was an imperial palace wizard, of course I was in the imperial palace.”
“The dragons did not appear in the palace and appeared when you turned them back on near the village. And that was only six of them. Do you know what that means?”
Eugene nodded.
I knew. However, this was not 100% certain information.
“A dragon cannot invade the palace… is that correct?”
“hit. And even if you turn on the map, you can only notice nearby dragons. It also seems to happen with a considerable time lag.”
They are so strict about their own security that it is taboo for dragons to see each other’s faces.
There was no way he could enter the palace, and even if he did, he wouldn’t be able to enter while wearing a mask.
To sneak in, you had to break the palace barrier, but unless you were a monster like Malfiel or someone who knew the barrier’s weakness, you could never sneak in.
Right after I rode the bone dragon and broke into the palace pretending to be a divine lord, I know that weakness was somewhat supplemented.
So if you want to come in, you have no choice but to come in proudly revealing yourself.
Besides, even if I turned on the map, I wasn’t immediately attacked.
By turning on the map several times, Eugene informed the dragons of his location.
Thanks to this, the dragons that had gathered the last time they turned on the map near the village gathered at once.
Even that was all six.
“It’s all speculation, you can’t be sure, right?”
“Don’t you want to avenge Bella?”
“…”
Yujin kept her mouth shut.
Would. Bella was the salvation for Eugene, who lived a life of lies. It was a companion that helped you to be yourself.
Wouldn’t you want to take revenge on him?
But I didn’t want the dragons to take away my happy memories with Bella.
It is better to die quietly than to have those memories ridiculed by them.
“I will help you. your revenge.”
that’s a crazy statement
······ It sounded like the mad prince, Reinhardt.
He has been imprisoned in the Yellow Dragon Palace since he was a child.
Even during his days as an imperial palace wizard, he rarely had a chance to see Reinhardt.
Deus did not show Reinhardt to anyone after Reinhardt’s mother died.
However, Eugene knew quite well about Reinhardt’s mother.
‘He was beautiful, kind, and wise.’
Eugene had never seen anyone like her in his life.
She sincerely gave and received love from everyone.
He was so beautiful that I wondered if he might be an angel who lost his wings and fell.
Also, she was able to see through her own lies.
A life filled with lies. He was admired by imitating the archmage, but in fact he was aware that he was empty inside.
-Eugene. It means ‘noble’ in ancient language. Did you build it yourself?
Eugene is an orphan. In order to pretend to be a wizard, he carved the word ‘Eugene’, which he learned while studying ancient languages, into his name.
No one knew about it because it was a forgotten ancient language, but only she recognized it at once.
It was the first day of being appointed as the Imperial Palace Wizard.
-You are the one who created your own personality. It’s a very rare and pretty name. Eugene.
It was seen through, but on the contrary, it was praised and praised.
It seemed like she knew why the blunt emperor Deus fell for her.
Due to the emperor’s duty, he had no choice but to have another empress, but at least when she was alive, Deus only looked at her.
As the mother of the 1st Empress, Launel, she hated the empress.
Similarly, Reinhardt was also hated.
“… except for the face, you don’t resemble the empress.”
“It’s a phrase I’ve heard often.”
“You don’t even look like His Majesty the Emperor.”
“That’s something I’ve heard often.”
I laughed lightly.
The empress and I have nothing alike except for our faces.
It was a word I had heard until my ears were worn out.
Although he had never seen his mother before he was alive, there were many well-known anecdotes about her personality.
Her influence must have been great for Emperor Deus to leave me locked up and unable to do anything about it.
Maybe the reason why her family collapsed when her escort scratched me at a luncheon with Isabella in the past was because I remembered the past when I saw myself, who resembles an empress, get hurt.
It is a kind of love-hate relationship.
“All right. I will turn on the map.”
After thinking about it for a long time, Yujin finally made up her mind.
The prince knew more about dragons than he did.
If revenge is really possible, you can’t just stay hidden.
Eugene’s hand moved busily.
He pressed something hard in the air, and soon a huge map opened up in front of his eyes.
It also appeared to me.
There are red dots all over the map.
‘Zero.’
[The map has been imaged and saved.]
Saved. to view anytime, anywhere.
Of course, those dots would move in real time, but we couldn’t tell Eugene to keep the map turned on.
‘There are more than I imagined.’
There seemed to be five hundred red dots.
“Ummm…?!”
At that time, Eugene was greatly surprised and groaned.
“There’s no way this can’t happen…”
“What is it that can’t be like this?”
“That, that.”
Eugene looked at me in disbelief.
Then he looked at the map again and tilted his head.
“The location of all epics should appear, but the location of the electric charge does not appear on the map.”
There is only one red dot on the palace.
It was Eugene’s.
If it works normally, there should be two.
It’s because Zero is also an epic.
“Then you probably won’t be able to know all the epics.”
“no. I checked several times… Ah.”
Eugene swallowed his saliva.
Epic locations are all marked on the map.
If it wasn’t revealed, it was only a dragon.
Only dragons could evade detection.
‘no way?’
Is it the dragon that imitated Reinhardt and approached?
Come to think of it, the movement of mana is somewhat similar to that of a dragon.
The magician of nothingness can feel and control mana. All mana controlled by humans tends to gather in the heart, but Reinhardt’s mana was spread evenly throughout his body.
As if every part of the body had the ability to store mana.
Only dragons could do this.
It is because of the mana that even Eugene, the magician of nothingness, has accumulated in his heart.
“Take it.”
“What is this?”
“It is a potion. It will reconnect the severed tendons.”
A potion that healed phantom thieves.
We already know about its usefulness.
This potion was also a treasure that royalties did not have.
Even the severed tendons are connected.
However, the thief healed, pursued and killed him.
Could it be that the prince was planning to kill himself as well?
“Be prepared. You never know when and where a dragon will appear.”
“ah······.”
“You can’t fight with that body, can you?”
“Thank you, Your Highness.”
Upon hearing that, Eugene threw away all doubts.
As the saying goes, in order to get revenge, the first priority was to heal the body.
Above all, Reinhardt is human. He was also a human who ruled Epic like himself.
However, his words sounded heavy for some reason.
‘One of the strange atmosphere of the empress is exactly the same.’
Their actions, eyes, and tone of words were all different, but when they put them together, they felt a strange resemblance.
Is this what blood ties are? It was a strange thing.
*
To retrieve the bone dragon to subspace and to check the performance of the winter bow, I took Arel out of the palace.
Since the dragons won’t attack right away, I thought I’d do what I had to do in the meantime.
―It is said that there was no special point of contact.
Karbal reported the mission to me through Izar.
The expensive mission to keep an eye on Arel chasing the phantom thief was completed with just one word.
However, to the extent that Karbal said ‘there is no special contact’, it was that Arell did not convey my information to the Archduke of Persephone.
“You speak better than I thought.”
“Animals are . . . . well handled.”
Arell said while driving the wagon.
It felt like the horses would take care of themselves as long as they were properly positioned.
Since I couldn’t show Croft or Germin the bow of winter right away, I was heading to my destination with only Arel in a hurry.
“Stop. That’s enough.”
“Yes.”
After leaving the island and crossing the forest, I saw a huge mountain range.
The Rockari Mountains pass through the north.
And at the entrance to the mountain range, there was a famous gang of bandits.
‘Was it the Red Hood bandits?’
A band of bandits who bully nearby merchants.
It is not easy to wipe out as it is hidden in the mountains.
They were so persistent that the Empire had let go of them.
‘There is an epic in the headquarters of the Red Hood bandits.’
What’s more unfortunate is that a red dot was manifesting in the stronghold of the bandits.
Possibly Zile deeply involved with the Red Hood bandits.
I took out the bow of winter.
Since it was said to fly in a radius of several tens of kilometers, it was obvious that the destructive power would be considerable.
‘First of all, I’ll have to check how far it flies.’
I put the bow string on my hand.
Then there was a strange feeling in the fingertips.
When I pulled the bowstring, the nanomachines began to be sucked in rapidly.
“Well!”
consumption is enormous.
I felt like I would burn out if I continued to draw the bowstring like this.
I had no choice but to point my bowstring towards the mountain where the Red Hood bandits were to be.
And.
aaa!
“…”
“…”
＜ The Power of the Three Gods ＞ End