Little Pink Starfish

Everything had been strange up to this point.

When a human mage dies, a certain amount of mana remains in their body.

It varies from person to person, but the residual mana can linger for as little as a week or as long as three months, preventing the corpse from decaying.

However, the dragon corpses that had been discovered so far were always found in a state where decay had already set in.

Even if the heart—the source of their mana—was missing, the mana that had spread throughout the body should have remained, yet they still decayed.

So at first, like Kayedel had suggested, it was thought that the dragons had died long ago, and the mana within their bodies had been fully depleted, thus allowing decay to proceed.

But today, this dragon corpse proved that theory wrong.

Because all the mana, including that in the heart, had been extracted from the dragon’s body, it was decomposing rapidly—even though it had only died recently.

“What kind of race could it be?”

To subdue a dragon so easily and absorb every last trace of its mana—he couldn’t even imagine it. The lack of surrounding evidence suggested the attacker was highly intelligent.

His heart trembled. Ishar placed a hand over his chest. The racing beat beneath his palm was palpable.

At first, he thought it was a physical reaction caused by fear, but he soon realized it wasn’t that.

It was a lighter, more exhilarating feeling. After reflecting several times on the tingling, fiery tremor coursing from his head to his toes, he recognized it: this sensation was excitement—and he chuckled quietly.

Until now, Ishar had never met an opponent worth fighting with his full strength. No, they had existed—but after receiving the title of “Wizard” and reaching the realm of Swordmaster, even those no longer posed a challenge.

Neither humans, beasts, nor monsters could stand against him.

From the moment he was chosen by Eoris, Ishar instinctively knew that no one on this continent could defeat him at full power.

And yet, now, Eoris had turned away from him, and a being had emerged that could rip out a dragon’s heart and absorb its mana.

The mysterious entity he was pursuing might be the first—and last—opponent he could go all out against. The mere possibility stirred him with excitement.

“Like a beast,”
Ishar muttered in self-derision. To walk the path of a beast after living as a human—he felt more vulgar than any creature.

He’d once told the young Veloan not to behave like a beast, and now he found himself laughable. If Veloan were still alive, Ishar would’ve been ashamed to face him.

The moment he thought of Veloan, the excitement that had stirred within him vanished without a trace.

He bit his lip. If only he hadn’t hesitated with Clodonne, if he had captured Jishka and extracted her mana, or at the very least, given all of his own mana without leaving a drop…

Would that child have avoided falling into the Abyss that day?

Ishar clenched the necklace hidden under his clothes—the one that had belonged to Veloan. Only then did he feel like he could breathe again. As he took a deep breath, the scent of true death filled his nose.

“Ah…”

The dragons left corpses on this land, and yet his precious disciple hadn’t even left behind a body.

As he recalled that truth, the breath he’d finally managed to take was choked off once more.

The splitting headache that followed made it impossible for Ishar to maintain the magic that kept him afloat, and he descended to the ground.

Just as he was about to take out a painkiller from his cloak, Rekayan appeared.

“Your Majesty, if you take that now, your stomach will be ruined. You haven’t eaten anything today.”

Despite the crushing headache and shortness of breath, Ishar turned his head out of habit—and the sight of Rekayan briefly made him forget his own condition.

“You… what the hell happened to you…”

“There was a Kurna tree nearby. The fruit was ripe, so please eat this before you take the medicine.”

Rekayan, with a large bag fashioned from his cloak slung over his shoulder, crouched down and handed Ishar a Kurna fruit.

“No need.”

His body was stronger than a human’s, so it didn’t matter what he ate on an empty stomach.

In fact, until he brought Veloan to the imperial palace, Ishar rarely ate. He hadn’t needed food to maintain his body.

It was only because of Veloan that Ishar began eating regularly—even indulging in snacks now and then—just to spend time with him.

Damn it…

He tried not to think of Veloan, but it was harder than holding his breath.

Images of Veloan began to rise in his mind.

The scrawny, little boy who devoured potatoes in a hurry.

The way he would stuff his cheeks full of the food he liked, regardless of table manners.

The way his eyes lit up like grapes whenever he tasted something he enjoyed—so adorably and lovingly.

The sensation of the boy’s small, barefoot steps as they ran through the dining hall… when Ishar had held them in his hands, it all came rushing back, leaving a weight like a stone in his gut.

Seeing his lord hurriedly chewing the medicine, Rekayan let out a long sigh, the kind that made you want to smack someone.

“Then please tell me when you feel like eating.”

He took a big bite out of one of the Kurna fruits he’d picked and began chewing—but then flinched. His expression gradually twisted, and Ishar, puzzled, asked,

“Is it poisoned?”

“No. I ate an unripe one.”

Covering his mouth, Rekayan answered while chewing slowly—like he was gnawing on straw.

Even though he could’ve just thrown it out, he stubbornly kept eating it. Ishar thought he was just like his mother that way.

Once she took someone in, she stuck with them to the end—whether they were poison or just a bitter Kurna fruit.

Watching this idiot eat actually calms me down a little.

Was it thanks to Rekayan for distracting him? Or was it because the medicine was stronger this time? The pain subsided, and breathing became easier.

“Any results?”

“None. I mean—Your Majesty, I did pick all this fruit, but I wasn’t just playing around. I checked everywhere I could and even examined the soil for any residual traces. But nothing definitive turned up.”

Ishar nodded, and Rekayan, visibly relieved, finished off the last of his Kurna fruit. Despite its bitterness, he pulled out another and started eating.

By the time Rekayan had devoured his fourth Kurna fruit, Kayedel returned from his investigation.

As expected, he had found nothing either—but the trip back wasn’t entirely fruitless.

---

Upon returning to the imperial palace, Ishar was met with unexpected news.

Or rather—could this even be called news?

To hear the name he had desperately tried to bury…

“Say that again.”

“Sir Pezette of the Second Battalion stationed in the Abyss reported seeing someone today who closely resembles Lord Veloan.”

The head of Ober spoke as he placed the witness statement in front of Ishar.

Though it was just a single sheet of paper, it was packed with detail. It was so specific that it surpassed even the narration of a novel.

A knight stationed in the Abyss was in the middle of battling a flying-type monster when he was seized and carried off.

With his sword lost and his arm broken, he was ready to die with a mana bomb—when a man suddenly appeared and rescued him.

The man killed the flying monster in one blow and walked off toward the Void without saying a word.

The knight’s description of the man followed.

Blond hair, red eyes. Estimated height of over 185cm. Though he wore a hood, the knight had looked up at him and could clearly see his face—describing him as an exceptionally handsome man.

“……”

Maintaining a neutral expression was the most Ishar could manage.

His purple eyes traced the final line of the testimony before jumping back to the first.

It occurred between 8 and 10 a.m.—while Ishar had been at Mount Batern investigating the dragon corpse. The current time was 1 p.m.

“Fifteen knights, ten squires, and one mage from the Cloven Magic Corps witnessed Sir Pezette being dragged off. His arm was indeed broken, but he was not in a hallucinatory state. His drug test came back clean.”

“…Understood. You may go.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Left alone in the audience chamber, Ishar stared at the report with trembling eyes.

Veloan…

If this report was to be believed, the man the knight saw was almost certainly Veloan.

Blond hair and red eyes weren’t exactly common.

And someone capable of killing a flying-type monster in one strike and rescuing its captive unscathed? That kind of skill was even rarer.

It must be Veloan. It has to be him. Or maybe… maybe not. Maybe it’s all just a coincidence. Blond hair and red eyes—you could probably find others like that if you searched. But… if it really is him?

Would you like the next episode translated as well?