520,

The Great Dragon refers to the strongest dragon of the present age.

During the Great Dragon Festival, people offer the world’s finest foods to the unborn Great Dragon hatchling while its mother is pregnant. They pray for its blessings and hope to enjoy an age of peace and prosperity.

But in King Kakarl’s words, the Great Dragon was no longer a sacred creature.

It was a weapon—a weapon powerful enough to reclaim Kakarl.

“No, no way?!”

The maid cried out.

But King Kakarl already understood the relationship between the four of them. He chose to ignore the one with the lowest status.

“About obtaining the Great Dragon… Could you be a little more specific?”

Onigashima asked. Her appearance was casual, but her thoughts were anything but careless.

“Right now, the Water Shrine’s support among the people is growing stronger by the day. I need power capable of breaking that support.”

As he answered, King Kakarl swept his gaze across the group.

“I intend to use the Great Dragon’s power to destroy the Water Shrine’s buildings.”

“If it’s destruction you want, you don’t need the Great Dragon for that~”

“No. The Great Dragon is the only choice.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Because only the Great Dragon can destroy it and make the Water Shrine look like the villain.”

The final sentence didn’t come from King Kakarl.

Sophiel answered instead.

After seeing through King Kakarl’s thoughts, she calmly explained the plan.

“The Great Dragon couldn’t stand the Water Shrine’s evil ways. It decided to punish them personally.”

“If we make that happen, then no matter how deeply the people of Kakarl trust the Water Shrine’s justice, their faith will collapse in an instant.”

They would use the uncontrollable Great Dragon to stage a heavenly judgment.

That was precisely why nothing but the Great Dragon would do.

“C-Could you really pull something like that off?”

The maid questioned the plan, cold sweat running down her face.

King Kakarl merely gave a faint smile.

“Isn’t making something like this happen your job?”

King Kakarl took out a sheet of paper and immediately set it ablaze before everyone’s eyes.

“Don’t tell me that was…?!”

The maid asked in shock.

“Exactly. It contained the spell for the ‘Soul Attachment’ you wanted.”

“Ooh~”

Marcina suddenly stepped forward, her voice filled with excitement.

“Interesting~ You didn’t simply burn it. Before doing so, you used magic to rewrite it through spatial translation, changing the positions of the ink~ Haha~ That’s a great idea!!”

King Kakarl flinched and took a step back when Marcina approached.

“Amazing~”

Marcina’s eyes sparkled as she stared at the ashes on the floor.

King Kakarl swallowed nervously.

A flash of magic burst forth, and the ashes slowly gathered into the shape of a sheet of paper.

“Hahaha~ It really is like that! Even after restoration~ it’s still in the rewritten form!”

“The target you destroyed wasn’t the paper. It was the ‘spatial translation magic’ that rewrote the text~”

For an ordinary person, restoring burned waste to its original form would take weeks, or even months, of painstaking effort and concentration.

Yet beside him, the grand mage Marcina restored the ashes casually in less than five seconds.

Fortunately, he had followed the advice of several mages.

First, they had rewritten and encrypted the spell with another type of magic. Only afterward had they destroyed it.

“Now, there’s only one way for you to learn what was written on this paper.”

As he spoke, King Kakarl naturally glanced at Marcina.

But the moment he did, Marcina’s gaze locked onto him.

She was staring straight at him, as if peering into his mind.

Stay calm. Her magic was beyond ordinary understanding, but that didn’t mean it was impossible to predict.

Marcina couldn’t read his thoughts. She couldn’t extract information from his brain, either.

If she could do that, she wouldn’t constantly offend people by saying exactly what she thought.

“Mm…”

With Marcina’s gaze fixed on him, King Kakarl began to sweat as well.

At that moment, Sophiel started walking over.

“Since you put it that way, you should know where we can find the Great Dragon, right?”

For the moment, King Kakarl set aside Marcina’s stare and turned his attention back to Sophiel.

“Of course. We gathered several prophets and calculated the approximate time and location long ago.”

Then King Kakarl revealed a sly grin.

“Still, if your elder sister lends a hand, I’m sure finding an even more accurate future won’t be difficult~”

“…”

Sophiel ignored King Kakarl’s teasing.

“Letting the Great Dragon destroy the Water Shrine’s territory, then driving it away afterward… That’s what you intend to—”

“Aren’t you the king of Kakarl? Why choose the method that puts your people’s safety at the greatest risk?”

Marcina tilted her head slightly and asked with curiosity.

Pressure surged through King Kakarl’s chest.

Even so, he stepped forward.

“For Kakarl’s future, this small sacrifice is worth it.”

“If we can’t drive the Great Dragon away, your Kakarl could be destroyed, you know?”

“Great undertakings always carry some risk. Don’t forget, I am King Kakarl. As long as I—”

Sophiel turned away from him.

“You don’t need to say it. You’re the king. I understand that perfectly well.”

With that, Sophiel turned and walked away.

“Tell that maid the time and location.”

“Of course… I can do that.”

With King Kakarl’s final words, Sophiel and the others gradually disappeared into the forest.

***