Chapter 337

By the time Lance arrived at the rear of the non-fair, members had already gathered.
Below the railing, the cloudy water was moving fast.
Accessible only through the room’s side door, the narrow balcony was the perfect place to hold a skirmish.
Lance said cautiously.
“So, you really didn’t get to see Mr. Navarordze?”
“Yep. I’m sure.”
The boys giggled at Lance’s question.
Wilumph the Spectacled and Sensen the Spearman.
He and his like-minded friends from the martial arts program.
Each one of them looked like they were about to go to war.
Wilumph, scanning his surroundings like a meerkat, said.
“I overheard the professors talking in the hallway. They’re going to cancel Alchemy for some reason. Damn it!”
“Hah–I was hoping it was wrong.”
Lance sighed heavily.
If this happened, I would eventually have to execute the operation.
And a very risky one at that.
Sensen, seeing his troubled face, urged him on.
“Lance. What’s the big deal? This opportunity never comes around again.”
“Yes! Do you think you’ll ever come to Adren? I don’t know about you, but this is the last time we’ll be here!”
It was more of a plea than a request.
Coming to Adren was a big deal, even for a Phileon Academy student.
It’s just that they’re being given an opportunity in the form of a school trip that others may never get.
Only Ronan’s blood, Lance, was free to visit Adren.
“Lance. No, Lance. Please!”
Creepy Wilumph grabbed Lance’s crotch.
Sensen knelt behind him and began to stretch and squeeze his head.
I would have thought that people rescued after being lost in the desert would be less desperate than this.
Lance’s eyes narrowed as he looked at his friends in despair.
“—OK, let go of this for now.”
“Oh, yes, it’s Lance!”
“Son of a Hero!”
Dawn dawned on the boys’ faces.
I was so emotional that I was almost embarrassed.
As someone who was actively in favor of the plan, I had nothing to say.
“So you brought the right stuff, right?”
“Sure. Look at this.”
Wilumph smirked.
He pulled a small mechanical device from his inside pocket.
The hexahedron fit in the palm of my hand and had a round lens attached to it.
“I commissioned this ultra-lightweight camera directly from the Didikan workshop. It’s light as a feather and silent, so you won’t get caught. Isn’t it great?”
“Just out of curiosity, you don’t normally do voyeurism, do you?”
“What the fuck do you think I am? This thing was made for today only. The only subject it can hold is the Mother of Fire.”
Wilumph growled.
The way he lowered his glasses and made a face was proof that he had become extremely serious.”Lance waved his hand.
“I’m sorry. It was my fault, calm down.”
“Yes. You can’t doubt my sincerity. I still haven’t forgotten the picture I saw when I went to your house. The Mother of Fire standing there with Ronan was–wonderful.”
Sensen, next to him, giggled.
He was referring to Ronan’s graduation photo.
His eyes sparkled as he reflected on Navarro’s form, like a child seeing the sky or the sea for the first time.
It was a pathetic scene that, if seen by a third party, would be tempting to encourage suicide, but Lance couldn’t bring himself to do it.
Because he had the same dream as both of them.
Lance said.
“Okay. Here’s the plan. First, we’re going to sneak into the flame palace in the center of the city. We’ll use a secret passage, so we shouldn’t have to worry too much, but we’ll have to be good at fooling the professor and our friends.”
“This is accurate, right? It’s not that I don’t believe what Ronan said, but—.”
“I’m drunk, so I’m absolutely certain of it. I’m going to swallow an invisibility potion as soon as I get into the palace. Sensen, did you pack the de-awareness scroll?”
“Sure.”
Sensen pulled three scrolls from his pocket and waved them around.
The Acalusia family’s Cognitive Disruption Scroll was a luxury item that cost him half a year’s pocket money.
I’m sure the dragons won’t even notice.
“Great, but don’t use it until I give the signal, because the cognitive disruption is short-lived. Best case scenario is that it triggers when you take the photo and lasts until you’re out of the palace, but I’m not sure that’s going to work. Do you remember my emphasis?”
“Yes, sir. You said to bring him in front of Mr. Navarordze at all costs.”
“Right, because they’ll most likely forgive you, and then you’ll have a second chance if you fail to take the picture. Take out your camera and ask him if he’d like to take a picture of you, just once, as a sign of respect, as pathetic as possible. He probably won’t say no because of his personality.”
“Well, that’s a–a descendant of a hero.”
Wilhelm and Sensen are impressed.
A bastard is a bastard is a bastard.
Lance came up with a plan that was too good to be true for a guy who had just been left out.
Suddenly, his lips twisted as he remembered another variable.
“Just don’t get caught by Sechika.
I shuddered just thinking about it.
Frankly, Sechika had a significant stake in Lance’s will.
When the plan was uncovered, she telekinetically pummeled Lance and the rest of the ringleaders.
Even if you survive a witchcraft beating, you’ll be looked at with the same disdain as a bug.
Lance had been telling himself it was okay.
“Interesting, the name Navarrozze made me think of some sort of conspiracy.”
“Who, who?!”
Suddenly, a familiar voice rang out overhead.
The boys looked up, frozen in place.
A coppery-skinned girl perched on top of the cabin.
“Me, me, me? How did I get here—!”
“I heard it all. You monkeys.”
Lance’s face went white.
Nabirozé landed gracefully on the balcony.
Despite being quite tall, I didn’t hear any footsteps.
She looked at the boys’ faces and sighed.
“Males are so hard to understand. To come all the way to Adren to grope my breasts—for the first time in my life, I doubt my job.”
“It’s not a chest, it’s a firebag.”
Suddenly, Wilumph lowered his glasses and snapped.
He looked like a revolutionary fighting against human rights abuses.
Nabiroze frowned.
“What?”
“And I’m not peeking, I’m trying to etch history with unprecedented beauty. What do you think a wasteland like you knows?”
His index finger lingered on Nabiroze’s chest.
Her brow narrowed at the insult she’d never heard before.
“—Wasteland?”
“I see. You seem pretty confident, too, but you’re nothing compared to the Mother of Fire. I don’t know where she came from out of nowhere, but don’t you dare put fire in a man’s dreams on a woman’s subject!”
“You’ve lived long enough, you’ve heard it all——. I’m going to give you a special pass for your courage, so you’re going to have to back off your plans.”
“Nonsense! You swear to me that you won’t tell anyone what you’ve seen and heard here, and I’m not considered Master Navarro’s nephew.”
With that, Wilumph pulled a scroll from his pocket.
The rolled paper was imprinted with magic in case things went wrong.
Nabiroze laughed at the look in his eyes.
“Why don’t you take your classes a little more seriously, Willumph.”
“What? How did you get my name—”
“No oaths. Consider this a substitute for discipline.”
Wilumph was about to say something.
Nabiroze’s form disappeared and reappeared behind him.
Bam!
With a loud crack, Willump’s eyeballs flipped over.
“Boom!”
Wilumph collapsed, his eyes rolling back in his head.
His forehead should have been cracked, but Nabiroze caught him before his body hit the ground.
“Wilumph! What the—!”
The boys were stunned.
Sensen didn’t even realize what had happened.
The two overlapped, and suddenly Wilumph fainted.
“Don’t be ridiculous—.”
The only one who noticed was Lance.
He closes the distance and barely catches Nabiroze’s movement as he slams his blade into Wilumph’s back neck.
Lance was so terrified that he couldn’t move.
We realized there was a gap we couldn’t close.
Sensen, on the other hand, who hadn’t seen anything, was screaming and charging.
“How dare you call my friend a—! I will not look the other way because she is a lady!”
“The behavior is still stiff. Sensen.”
Of course, it was more reckless than a moth to a flame.
Nabiroze watched him run, hands in his pockets.
Lance tried to shout caution, but the game was already over.
Puck!
With a lazy jolt, Sensen’s body jerked forward.
“Whatever.”
Nabirozze clicked his tongue.
I felt as self-conscious as I did when I was in uniform.
You’ve just stunned the disciples you were teaching.
“What the hell am I doing.
I was tempted to stun Lance and toss him to my new “friend,” but decided to hold off.
Not being able to recognize Navardoze was quite a shock to her, too.
She laid Sensen on the ground and looked back at Lance.
“Lance.”
“Why, what’s wrong?”
“There’s only one way to keep what happened today a secret.”
“That’s–what is it?”
“Instead of these guys, take me.”
“——what?”
Lance blushed with embarrassment.
Nabiroze had already packed up Wilumph and Sensen’s things.
She was the one who had to know Navarordje at all costs.
I went through this ordeal to get to Adren, and it never made sense to me that it was officially banned.
Aimed at Wilumph and Sensen, Nabiroze tore a scroll.
Saaaah—>.
The fog that rose through the cracks in the paper seeped into their noses and mouths.
“It’s a good thing I bought the expensive one, it won’t have any side effects.”
Nabiroze said to himself.
It was a mute scroll that Wilumph held up.
The fog was a combination of piecemeal memory erasure and sleep magic.
Lance’s answer hadn’t come yet.
Nabiroze, having finished cleaning up, looks up.
“Why no answer, is it because you don’t like it?”
“Hey, I don’t understand. Why are you going? It’s very–it could be dangerous.”
“I don’t want to hear it from the guy who tried to hide in a flamethrower for a photo shoot.”
“That, that’s—!”
Lance’s face flushed.
Fortunately, there seemed to be a sense of shame.
Nabirozé suddenly realized that his face was a mask.
The most accomplished apprentice among the current horsemen.
The upturned eyebrows, long lashes, and glowing eyes were Ronan and Pan Bak’s.
If only the resemblance in face and talent were enough.
“You look so much like Ronan, it’s amazing.”
“Ooh, do you know my dad?”
“Aldamada. I’ve learned that taste is genetic. Bigger is always better, anyway.”
“Huh—?”
Lance smirked, but Nabiroze didn’t answer.
Reaching out suddenly, she grabbed Lance’s ear and twisted it.
“Ahhhh! W-What are you doing?!”
“It’s noisy, we’ll be landing soon, follow me.”
“Ears! Get off my ears!”
“You’ve got a good hand, even this looks like it.”
Nabiroze laughed.
It was like I was back in the days of teaching Ronan over a decade ago.
She dragged a screaming Lance back to the deck.
Beneath a glorious full moon, the dragon city floating in the sky seemed to grow ever closer.