When Lucian stepped inside the shack, his first impression was suffocation.
Oppressively heavy magic power pressed down on his entire body, making him feel weighed down.
I could feel it even outside, but it's much worse in here.
Lucian exhaled deeply, as if breathing underwater, then lifted his head.
Because the interior was so cramped, it didn't take long to find what he was looking for.
At the center was a red stone, connected below to a bizarre device.
It was unmistakably the Dragon's Heart and the artifact he had heard about beforehand.
Huh. They called it a heart, so I expected it to be throbbing. It looks surprisingly intact.
The Dragon's Heart was closer in form to a smooth stone than to the heart of a living creature.
It resembled ore, yet it brimmed with vitality that could never be found in ordinary minerals.
If life could dwell within stone and breathe, perhaps this was what it would feel like.
I'd like to observe it a bit more if possible, but there's no time. I'll do that later.
For now, absorbing the power dwelling within the Dragon's Heart took priority.
Lucian recalled Marius's words and lowered his gaze to the base of the pedestal.
First, just as he'd been told, he needed to adjust the artifact—only then would absorption be possible.
As Lucian bent down to manipulate the device, he flinched instinctively.
"…Isn't this exactly like the White Citadel's defensive apparatus?"
The outward appearance was slightly different, but the core structure—spherical in shape, with multiple patterns fitted together like puzzle pieces—was the same.
Even the markings differed only in minor details, to the point that similar symbols could likely be matched up with one another.
If that was the case, then this artifact's method of operation was probably similar to the White Citadel's defensive device as well.
If I play my cards right, couldn't I even detach the Dragon's Heart and use it somewhere else?
Even for an artifact, keeping the Dragon's Heart permanently attached when it wasn't actively being used was little more than waste.
They had likely left it as it was because they didn't know any other way to use it—or even how to detach it in the first place.
But what if Lucian could remove the Dragon's Heart and attach it to another device whenever needed?
Handled properly, it might not end as merely a powerful weapon, but be put to use in far more varied ways.
Once I take control of this tribe, I should call Colin over and have him research it.
Calming his rising excitement, Lucian began to carefully manipulate the artifact's control mechanism.
Moving the device in the sequence Marius had taught him, a faint light flickered from the artifact.
At the same time, the Dragon's Heart—connected atop the artifact—began to rotate slowly.
Taking one deep breath, Lucian grasped the Dragon's Heart with both hands.
Fwoooosh—
His eyes flew open as a torrent unlike anything he had ever experienced before surged into him.
"Why did they have to build that damned sacred ground in a place like this, making an old man suffer?"
Marius headed toward the sacred ground a beat later, thumping his lower back as he went.
From the start, he had deliberately lagged behind—if he'd gone together with the others, Chieftain Ivar would have kept a wary eye on him.
Once Lucian succeeded and came out, Marius planned to set the mood with talk of prophecies and such.
"Hoo… climbing hills at my age really makes my joints ache."
Even as he continued grumbling, a deep smile never left Marius's lips.
Now that Lucian had decided to absorb the Dragon's Heart, everything would unfold exactly as Marius intended.
For a while there, I wasn't sure how things would turn out, but thankfully it all worked out. From here on, whether he likes it or not, he'll have no choice but to follow my words.
He knew full well that the backlash wouldn't be trivial.
Once Lucian realized he'd been deceived, he would be furious—desperate to kill Marius if he could.
But to Marius, who already stood before death, Lucian's anger was a trivial matter.
What truly mattered was fulfilling his dream before he died, and seeing that sight with his own eyes.
I only need to establish it once. Even if it begins as coercion, once its usefulness is understood, it will never be torn down again. Above all, if he wants to survive, he'll have no choice but to value future generations of mages…
"Something good got you in such high spirits, old man?"
Lost in his fantasies, Marius flinched.
When he lifted his head, he saw Raymond—one of Lucian's close aides—looking down at him from atop the hill.
Curling his lips in a mocking smile, Raymond spoke.
"Having a pleasant dream? I was staring right at you, yet you didn't even notice. Or is it that mages, unlike knights, are dull to presences no matter how high their level?"
"Watch your mouth, snot-nosed brat. I'm not in a position to be called 'old man' by the likes of you."
Marius's eyes flashed coldly.
If he were to use magic in earnest, Marius was someone who could reduce a knight like Raymond to ashes in an instant.
Lucian, as the other party to their deal, was one thing—but being treated as an equal by a mere knight was an insult to his pride.
Yet despite the killing intent radiating from Marius, Raymond only snorted.
"For an old geezer who tried to claim His Majesty's life, you sure ask for a lot. You'd do well to shut your mouth and nod while I'm still showing you a shred of respect. Keep acting like that, and I'll start calling you an old bastard instead."
"What are you talking about!? Why would I go after his life!?"
"Ah, my mistake. Strictly speaking, it wasn't his life you were after—you were trying to seize control over whether he lived or died. That's even more of a bastard move, so I'm not sure there's much point correcting myself."
Struck right at the core, Marius froze in place.
A true schemer would have continued protesting his innocence, but Marius wasn't that seasoned.
Having gained his certainty, Raymond continued with a chilling smile.
"You stuffed an amount of magic power far beyond what a human can handle—dragon magic, no less—into His Majesty's body. What did you plan to do after that? Were you thinking you'd say, 'I'm the only one who can stabilize your magic power while you suffer under this excessive strength, so listen to me'?"
"It's a misunderstanding!"
"Well, whatever. Whatever your intentions were, thanks to it, His Majesty will be able to wield the dragon's magic power freely."
Marius stared blankly at Raymond.
He'd had a rough idea of what would happen if dragon magic were forced into a human body—yet they were saying they would use it without hesitation?
With the conversation taking such abrupt turns, he couldn't collect his thoughts.
"What are you even saying? Do you trust my words, or do you not?"
"No need to hide it anymore. His Majesty was born with a unique constitution. From birth, his pathways for magic power were wide open. No matter what elixir he took, he never suffered side effects—and even amounts that would have torn an ordinary person apart, he absorbed without issue."
The problem was that those pathways were too wide.
Because the magic power couldn't be contained, the moment the vessel overflowed, he couldn't retain it all, and it leaked out endlessly.
Of course, if magic power was leaking out of the body, it meant it had accumulated far beyond what his current level could properly handle.
By leaving behind only the amount of magic power appropriate to his current level and expelling the rest, it was—seen one way—also a beneficial function that mitigated side effects.
"But from a knight like me, that just seemed like such a waste. Level or no level, if you can accumulate magic power without side effects, there's no downside to having more. If possible, I wanted to keep that constantly leaking magic power inside His Majesty's body."
Naturally, there was no such method.
Or rather, no one had ever researched it.
Harboring magic power beyond one's limits was practically a form of self-harm—who would seriously study how to harm themselves?
"So both I and His Majesty had more or less given up… but then the old man told us a truly astonishing method."
"Using an artifact to compress the dragon's magic power into a mass and store it inside the body. I don't know how shocked I was when I heard that. If such a thing were possible, His Majesty would be able to draw upon tremendous power at will."
It felt as though an icicle had been driven into Marius's spine.
A unique constitution? Born with his magic pathways wide open?
He had even already experienced absorbing excessive magic power and expelling it without any side effects?
"Did you think we were greedy fools who would charge in blindly without thinking things through?"
"L-listen—"
"Did you think His Majesty would suffer once he swallowed the bait and be tormented by the dragon's magic power? That he'd come crawling back, begging for your help to stabilize it?"
"Listen to me, listen!"
"There's no problem. None at all. Even if the dragon's magic power bursts out all at once, he's perfectly fine. I've seen a similar sight with my own eyes, so you can believe me."
Thud.
Marius's legs gave out, and he collapsed to the ground on the spot.
He had never intended to kill Lucian, nor had he lied about how to operate the artifact.
But dragon magic was on an entirely different scale—no matter how thoroughly it was sealed, it was bound to leak out bit by bit.
He had planned to exploit that fact, knowing that the strain placed on the magic pathways could only be soothed with magic—
and that was where he would step in.
"I… I…"
KRAAANG—
Just as Marius was about to speak with his parched lips, a thunderous boom echoed from atop the hill.
At the same time, magic power in the form of enormous, blazing blue flames surged high into the sky.
At the sight of the endlessly flickering blue fire, Marius found himself unable to say a single word.
So it was real…!
Even if it weren't dragon magic, that sheer amount of power going berserk would be more than a human body could endure.
Normally, the body would be torn to shreds, and the remaining magic would explode outward in all directions.
Yet those blue flames flowed with a clear sense of direction, continuing steadily.
It was proof that the owner of the magic was maintaining their physical body intact while continuously releasing it.
Ah…
Despair clouded Marius's eyes.
Not only had all of his schemes been completely seen through—he had been used in return.
Even the last scrap of usefulness he'd clung to had been exhausted.
No matter how powerful a mage he was, to Lucian's eyes Marius would now be nothing more than sour grapes, swollen with delusion.
Lucian might make use of Colin and Helen—but Marius would never be allowed near him again.
"If you're done confirming things, go back down. As His Majesty said himself, you're now a useless existence."
Raymond barked coldly as he rose to his feet.
As Raymond turned to leave at once, Marius suddenly dropped to his knees with a thud.
"To you, a noble lord, this commoner Marius humbly begs leave to speak. If you would take pity on this old man, please—just stop for a moment and hear me out."
"…What?"
Startled by the way Marius suddenly behaved like an old peasant, Raymond hesitated.
Seizing that moment, Marius slammed his forehead into the snow and spoke.
"Please grant me just one more audience with His Majesty. I beg you, sir."
***
The tribespeople stared blankly at the blue flames flowing from Lucian's body.
If the two men before had been heroes chosen by the dragon, then what stood before them now was closer to the dragon's rebirth itself.
Faced with that overwhelming disparity, no one could bring themselves to speak—until Lucian raised one hand high.
"Behold. This is the Dragon's Heart."
Startled, the tribespeople fixed their gazes on the Dragon's Heart held aloft by Lucian.
It looked like ore, yet it radiated a sense of living vitality, unmistakably extraordinary even from afar.
Recognizing that what Lucian held was truly the Dragon's Heart, Ivar screamed in disbelief.
"How is that possible?!"
How Lucian had separated the artifact connected to the Dragon's Heart was baffling enough—but even more shocking was the fact that he was holding the Heart with his bare hands.
Without relying on the artifact's power, anyone should have burst apart the instant they touched it. How was this possible?
As Ivar remained trapped in his shock, Lucian's voice reached his ears.
"As you can see, the dragon chose me. It said that the very reason it lingered in this frozen land for so long was to meet me—that it was glad to finally fulfill its duty. As the rightful owner of the Heart, I now claim it."
"Ohhh…!"
Bullshit. Absolute bullshit! Every last word of it is bullshit!
Ivar barely managed to swallow the curses that surged up to his throat.
No one knew better than he did that the Dragon's Heart had no will of its own—yet such blatant lies.
What infuriated him even more was the sight of the tribespeople, their eyes shining as if they were genuinely moved by those words.
He wanted to shout at them not to believe such nonsense, but there was nothing he could do.
After all, it was Ivar himself who had declared that the Dragon's Heart possessed a will.
Just as he clenched his teeth, thinking he was about to lose that sacred relic without resistance—
"But even if all of this is my rightful claim, it was the chieftain who has protected the Heart until now. Therefore, he too should be given the same opportunity as I was. Especially since he was once chosen by the dragon himself."
At Lucian's words, an inexplicable sense of unease crept over Ivar.
What in the world was he getting at?
Then Lucian turned toward Ivar with a broad grin.
"Come, Chieftain! Take hold of the Dragon's Heart here! If the dragon chooses you once more as it did in the past, I will relinquish the king's seat to you without a single regret!"
At that completely unexpected declaration, Ivar's face drained of all color.
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