The Emperor Who Was Chapter 89 : Chapter 89

Chapter . 89

"They may have felt it, but they wouldn't have known where it was. They've never actually seen it either."

At his unexpected words, we all looked at Michelon. Michelon looked only at .

"Just the two of us are going."

At Michelon's words, Yolande and Vincent jumped in surprise.

"We must go too!"

"Why do you say that?"

Jero said to Michelon as if he really didn't want to object but had no choice.

"Without , you will get lost in the mountains."

"No."

But Michelon spoke firmly.

"Everyone go down. Wait for us at the foot of the mountain."

I smiled at the people and spoke. I was about to take Michelon aside for a talk anyway, suggesting we take a break since his nerves were getting sharper.

The people said they would wait and rest at Harald's hideout, but I ordered them to go down the mountain and wait in the village below. I had a bad feeling. Everyone hesitated, but they seed relieved when I cast a magic spell on Yolande's staff that would detect my location.

"What about that guy?"

But just as we were about to part ways, Jero cast an unkind look at the hawk. I raised the arm of the shoulder where the hawk was sitting and pointed to a nearby tree. Usually, when I did that, it would fly down, but this ti, I felt its claws digging into my shoulder with force. If I hadn't been too lazy to wear protective gear and cast magic beforehand, the claws might have dug into my flesh.

"Good boy, listen to ."

I tried to soothe it by stroking its feathers, but Michelon had no intention of waiting for the hawk to listen to . He reached out with one hand, grabbed the hawk's ankle, and regardless of whether the hawk flapped its wings or not, he tore it off my shoulder and flung it into the sky. Like a farr's wife flinging a chicken to catch it. The difference this ti was that the hawk was thrown to the top of the sky and turned into a distant dot.

"Truly an excellent stone throw. I am greatly moved."

Jero praised Michelon. Without a hint of flattery.

"Usually, a hawk aims for a chicken from the sky and strikes like lightning, but isn't this the opposite? It was truly a sight to behold."

"No, what if we lose Harald because you just threw him away?"

"Then he'll live as a hawk for the rest of his life. Isn't that better than staying by your side, turning back into a human, and living as a madman again?"

Michelon, who retorted to my words, imdiately turned his back and strode ahead. I nodded to everyone looking on in surprise, then followed him.

For a while, we walked without speaking. The deeper we went into the mountain, the quieter it beca. Even if human traces disappear, animals are usually more active, but that wasn't the case either. It was so quiet that it was hard to bear, yet I also wanted to let go of everything and sink into that silence. Perhaps the ecstasy people feel when drunk is this very feeling.

At that mont, Michelon stopped.

"Is it here?"

But he shook his head.

"I am also just finding the way relying on my instinct. And that path is never straight."

He held out his hand.

"Use flight magic. Let's go up from here."

I took his hand. My magic made us fly up, but he was the one controlling the direction. I recalled the first ti I flew on his back before the regression.

I had never flown on a dragon before that, but at that ti, it felt only natural. Thinking about it now, even though I hadn't told him what I was plotting, he had moved in such harmony with .......

'I hadn't even dared to hope.'

We stopped. I rembered that we moved only after stopping. When I opened my eyes that had closed without

knowing, it was empty air.

...Of course, there was ground, no, snow beneath my feet. But it just felt that way. It was all sky. As if the sky had co down right before my eyes, as if it were besieging

from all sides.

I lost the sense of stability of standing on the ground. Even if it was the peak of the highest mountain, it was naturally vast to a human. Nevertheless, my body trembled as if I were standing in the middle of the sky, not on the ground. Goosebumps rose on my spine.

"You're probably the first human to co here."

Michelon said. No words ca out.

Everything around was white, and even the sky above our heads looked white. I closed my eyes as the snowfield reflected the sunlight that seed even closer. Yet, that pure white light seed to pierce through my closed eyelids.

Michelon pulled .

"It's this spot."

I opened my eyes again and looked around.

"It's all just snow?"

"I can't use magic. But you can. Use teleportation magic. Focus on the mana I send and its direction."

"It's not even a battle; do you need that much mana?"

Usually, my own mana was sufficient, so I was surprised by Michelon's words.

"Because it must be dragon's mana."

I didn't ask further. I placed my hand on the mark on Michelon's chest, drawing in mana while simultaneously manifesting magic. Focusing on his mana instead of mine.

Nothing happened. Everything was just silent. It was as empty as that quiet silence. No power flowed, nothing was there. That emptiness was terrible.

I regretted it for the first ti.

But it was too late. It had already begun. A vortex, chaos, swirled and swallowed . Sharp teeth like hooks dug into my body—

***

"Wake up!"

Soone was slapping my cheeks. It was annoying.

"Wake up! Wake up, I say!"

If that voice hadn't been so full of fear, I might have thrown a fireball.

Barely opening my eyes, Michelon's face ca into view.

"Get up! Get up!"

Now he was even grabbing my shoulders and shaking .

"...Stop it. I'm awake."

At that, Michelon grabbed my shoulders even tighter and got angry.

"Do you know how long you've been unconscious? I thought you were dead!"

"It's not like I fainted because I wanted to—"

"You're a weakling! Weak as a kitten! Weak!"

The crazy dragon brat scread at the top of his lungs and cursed.

"Compared to you, any human is a weakling—"

"You're especially weak! You're the weakest among your brothers!"

"I am the strongest in power!"

"Even though your body is weak as hell!"

"Shut up! I fainted because of you!"

"I didn't know you'd faint for so long! I didn't know you were this weak!"

"Ah, really, are you disappointed? Should I show you how strong I am?"

Even if he is my only friend, a comrade who shared my fate, there are things that should be said and things that shouldn't. Attacking a friend's weakness is crossing the line.

Especially lying is bad. I beca healthier than before the regression, and I would beco even healthier in the future. When I co of age, not only my height but my body will surely grow larger. My neck will get thicker, my arms thicker, my chest and thighs thicker—

"Try it, you weakling!"

If one is a true friend, one shouldn't let a friend tell lies.

I imdiately summoned a fla.

"If I throw this at you like this, you'll realize how strong I am."

"Try it!"

"Think I can't?"

"I said try it!"

"Don't be childish!"

Then Michelon thrust his hand right into that fla. It's not like he wants to undergo a holy trial alone suddenly, what on earth is he doing—

"You crazy bastard!"

I imdiately extinguished the fla and cast healing. Although Michelon healed faster than humans even after becoming human, a large burn mark still remained. Even with healing magic, it would take so ti for the mark to disappear.

"What are you doing! Doesn't it hurt?"

Michelon only shrugged his shoulders.

"The one hurting is you who faints all the ti. This much doesn't even feel like pain."

"Stop talking crazy. Why are you doing this?"

"Wasn't it magic you intended to throw at

anyway? I took the hit myself, so what does it matter?"

"I only intended to threaten you!"

"Think I don't know? You're the idiot who didn't attack those pure white virgins still sucking Saint Romola's milk even when you're all grown up. Even if you raise a fla, could soone like you threaten anyone? Especially ?"

I looked at him blankly. There was no way Michelon was still angry about

not attacking the Knights of Saint Romola. Then actually... even while doubting, my mouth moved on its own.

"...Is that why you put your hand in? Because you thought I would just threaten you and stop?"

"I did it because you were whining and couldn't even threaten properly. Pathetic."

How should I teach this brat clicking his tongue? I thought he grew up well, but maybe I actually gave up on raising him?

"...Michelon... if you're sorry, just say so. Don't get angry."

"I'm not sorry!"

"...You shouldn't hurt yourself just because you made

faint."

"I said I'm not sorry!"

The dragon brat breathed fire from his eyes and mouth.

"...I'm sorry."

My nanny didn't raise

like that, but I raised Michelon like that.

"Of course! Don't faint like that again!"

"Okay, I'm sorry for everything."

I got up first and looked around. Everything was ice. It was all snow earlier, but it seed to have frozen over while I lost consciousness.

Surely, it doesn't an a hundred years passed while I lost consciousness.......

"Where is this?"

Michelon answered in a cold tone.

"Dragon's Grave."

"What?"

Startled, I examined the surroundings closely; it was indeed an enormously large cave. Just all frozen over.

"Don't look around like that, heal the wound on your shoulder first."

Looking at my shoulder at Michelon's words, it was wrapped in a handkerchief. It seed Michelon did it while I lost my mory.

Unwrapping it, the bleeding had stopped but claw marks remained. The fabric in that part was torn too. While healing, I said.

"Ah, co to think of it, sothing bit !"

"You rember quickly."

Michelon sneered but didn't say more. Whatever that beast was, Michelon seed to have knocked it down, and there was sothing more important right now.

"Did you co knowing this was the Dragon's Grave?"

It was the first ti I heard such a thing since coming here. I was the one who suggested coming here after doubting Harald's words. Did Michelon not even dare to co before Petrafis beca my territory?

"Just drink the magic potion."

He seed unwilling to answer before I did, so I drank it obediently. He's a guy who forces

to drink it even though he hates the taste and doesn't drink it himself.

Only after I drank the potion did Michelon open his mouth.

"I couldn't know either until I ca and felt it myself."

Michelon said, lost in thought.

"Not all knowledge is left only in language. Sotis, the most secret mystery is a riddle that even I have to solve personally."

At those words, sothing suddenly occurred to .

"...Harald couldn't enter this space, but he had the sensitivity to feel the mana of this space. So his mana and potential must have gradually developed."

At my words, Michelon crossed his arms and tilted his head crookedly.

"But he ca here not because he felt that power from the beginning, but to chase Jero who was originally capable of transformation. Jero didn't leave this place enough to earn the notoriety of the Wolf of Petrafis even though he doesn't believe in that power unlike Harald. Even though Harald stays here too."

"Those guys don't know anything. They only have gut feelings."

"What I an is, Jero and Harald beca clues for you to solve the riddle of the knowledge you inherited in an unclear form."

"What are you going to do with just clues?"

Michelon snorted.

"Clues are enough even if only fragnts of mories inherited through generations remain. But what if I ca to Petrafis? Without your magic, I couldn't have even co this far."

"...If you were an adult dragon, you could have entered alone."

"A dragon is branded as soon as it grows up. Unless it's branded before that."

"...Can a branded dragon not enter here?"