The Emperor Who Was Chapter 90 : Chapter 90

Chapter . 90

"I don't know. Because no one has tried."

Michelon said coldly.

"And no one should try. If they did, it would only expose this place to the Emperor."

"...So you are the first dragon to enter here?"

Since Calamitia?

"Perhaps."

When I didn't know what more to say, Michelon reached out and pointed ahead.

"Whatever we say here is just conjecture anyway; now is the ti to move forward."

Thus we went inside, deeper and deeper. The cave beca larger and higher the further we went.

Could this even be called a cave? A massive temple built of ice and snow existed within the mountain. No, perhaps the mountain itself was a temple, and its exterior was rely disguised as a forest.

"It's like a crystal palace, truly beautiful."

I said, srized without realizing it. Michelon looked at

with white eyes, then strode over and took my hand.

"Close your eyes and open them. Focus on the mark."

In a daze, as soon as I opened my eyes again, I ended up closing them. Because it was so blindingly bright.

This massive palace was not an ice palace. It was a golden palace. Everywhere, the walls, floor, and ceiling were all gold. Discovering a re gold mine would be enough to make one faint, but this was a golden palace built entirely of refined pure gold. Or a temple. A temple of wealth.......

Could this simply be called dragon's gold? It was a dragon's golden palace!

"Th-this is all......."

"Now you see it, right? As my contractor, you share what I see."

Michelon said triumphantly.

"It's too impressive to be just an illusion magic? What on earth did you do?"

"...Is that important right now? Look at the gold, not the magic! Do you even realize how imnse this amount is?"

"To , there actually is ice. The golden walls inside the ice are real, but they are screened by ice. Both the ice palace and the golden palace really exist, but the golden palace is visible only to its owner!"

"That's exactly what I'm saying! This golden palace is my palace! I am the owner of the gold! Do you even know what that ans?"

"Yes, it's truly amazing! Such a large scale, yet the principle is simple enough to be beautiful!"

"Stop talking about magic and focus. With this much funding, we are the richest in the battle for succession! You are no longer the poorest prince! You can splash this gold around to raise an army! Buy rcenaries! Build castles! Build palaces! Build ports and buy warships! Plaster your room walls with it! Cover my bed with it!"

Michelon's eyes were literally flashing like gold.

"But this gold is yours."

Michelon froze with his mouth open, just as he was shouting.

"Michelon?"

"...Y-yeah. This gold is mine!"

Then he hurriedly added.

"Just because I'm your dragon doesn't an my gold is yours too!"

"Why bother stating the obvious?"

"...Before Calamitia died, she told Balaska that if he spared her, she would give him the famous dragon's gold. The imnse gold handed down from dragon to dragon, accumulated by all those dragons. But if he refused, the dragon's gold would disappear forever once she died. Where it was, no one would ever discover."

"I know. And Balaska refused. Saying that the dragon's gold would only corrupt his descendants as well."

Although they beca corrupt even without the dragon's gold.

"...Successive Emperors stopped at nothing to find that gold. Think about it. That imnse gold disappeared with Calamitia's death; could they stay still?"

The dragon's gold that disappeared long ago was never forgotten. There were legends that dragon's gold was hidden in every wondrous place in the world, not only Mount Petrafis but also the deepest parts of the sea, the deepest forests, and the largest caves. Although so died searching for it, explorations to find the dragon's gold never ceased.

'It's also a popular subject for art.'

Stories of knights who set out to find the dragon's gold but never returned, and lovers who waited forever for those knights, appeared frequently in songs and plays. There was even an expression for being rich, 'like one who discovered dragon's gold'.

"But if no one discovered it, in the end, the dragons kept their silence. Protecting their gold as well."

"Yes, that's right! If the Emperor commands a dragon, it must obey, but since the command to hand over the gold contradicts the will of the first contractor Balaska, the dragons could resist!"

"But even if they could resist, resisting the command of an Emperor who stopped at nothing wouldn't have been any less painful."

Michelon stared at

piercingly without a word. Wondering why he was doing that, I suddenly realized sothing and asked back.

"By the way, why did you show

the dragon's gold? Shouldn't you have kept it hidden like before?"

"...But you... said it was mine. That the dragon's gold belongs to the dragon, not the Emperor."

"Because it is yours."

"......."

"Aha, was it so kind of test? You wanted to check if I would covet this gold upon seeing it or say it was yours?"

Michelon remained silent again, then smiled brightly.

"...Haha, yes, it w-was a test! I tested you to see if you would still say it was mine even after seeing the gold! It wasn't just sothing I blurted out thoughtlessly in front of your dumbfounded face! And you passed the test very well! Kuhahahaha!"

He laughed with his mouth open so wide that the corners of his mouth seed on the verge of spasming. As if he were terribly happy to have discovered the gold.

"Hahahaha!"

"Hahaha!"

It was a bit noisy because he laughed so loudly, but thinking he must be that happy, I laughed along. Then, suddenly rembering sothing, I said.

"Still, thank you very much for saying you would buy an army, even plaster my room walls, and share the gold with . But don't decide right away as soon as you discover it like this; think more carefully before deciding. For now, I'll gratefully accept just the thought. Even just the words are enough thanks."

Honestly, it would naturally be good to have such gold, but not having it didn't an I couldn't win. I had also thought that refusing the dragon's gold was the coolest part of Balaska's legend.

"...But you like money. You always go around singing, 'The treasury will burst, the treasury will burst'."

"I never sang. I only conceived policies for the future of the country."

"Don't speak so stiffly again."

"You are the one who likes gold."

"I am, you see... investing in you. Bankers invest in Emperor candidates too, you know. Saying they'll lend money, so pay it back with mines when you beco Emperor."

"Yes, thank you. But it's really okay. Even now, I'm making a decent profit from investnts."

Investing was also advantageous because of mories from before the regression. By investing little by little since money first ca in, I had assets that wouldn't arouse suspicion.

"That paltry sum! Compared to my gold, it's peanuts!"

"Compared to your gold, anything is. Anyway, when we co of age and it is revealed that you are my dragon, not only bankers but people from all over will co carrying money."

"Why would you borrow money from other guys leaving

aside? Borrow from ! Only accept my investnt!"

"Alright, alright."

"I'm going to buy a bank too! I'll just buy that thing!"

"Okay, okay."

Once the shock of not just discovering dragon's gold but standing in the middle of it subsided, I wanted to look around a bit more.

"Is this the end?"

"Why do you ask that?"

"You called this place the Dragon's Grave. Not the Dragon's Treasure House."

Michelon smirked and looked at

for a mont.

"Hmph, since you won't rob graves, I suppose I can tell you."

Then Michelon placed his hands on the floor. No, he lay flat on his stomach. With his whole body against the floor.

"Shall I help?"

"I'll do it alone."

Since I am the hand, I followed the master's will. Light slowly spread out from beneath Michelon's prostrate body. roundly, obscured by Michelon's body so not clearly visible, but sohow familiar.......

It was then. Suddenly, sothing shook. Right beneath my feet!

"Michelon!"

Michelon, lying on the floor, was tilting along with the floor itself. Without ti to think about what was happening, I blindly threw myself at Michelon, grabbed him, and flew up just like that.

"No, I'm fine!"

"That's sothing even you wouldn't know!"

We, who flew up shouting like that, soon shut our mouths. Because the floor was sinking.

"You... what on earth did you do? Did you collapse your house with your own hands?"

"I didn't!"

But Michelon also looked tense and flustered. As I was about to say sothing more, a wall rushed towards us as if to engulf us, literally like a wave.

"Ack, let's dodge!"

Even though we had ascended quite high, it wasn't nearly enough. Only after ascending frantically until we were practically sticking to the ceiling could we barely grasp what was happening.

"It wasn't a wall......."

"The floor is flipping over."

The floor was flipping over, one side going down and the other going up. And as the raised floor flipped upside down so the bottom surface ca up to the top... sothing ca up with it. A massive dragon.

"Aaaaaah!"

"Ack!"

We hugged each other tightly and flew up frantically, only managing to calm down after bumping our heads on the ceiling. Tears welled up, but there was no ti to feel pain.

A dragon, a dragon was beneath our feet. The dragon that ca up from below as the floor flipped. Enormously massive, dazzlingly flashing, yes truly flashing to the point of gaudiness.......

"...Is it jewelry?"

"Let's go down."

We slowly descended. Looking as we went down, the dragon, which looked even bigger, was encrusted with jewels all over its body. Sapphire, ruby, pearl, erald, diamond.......

"It's all jewels!"

"It's a dragon's treasure house; did you think there would be only gold?"

Michelon spoke proudly, but I was dumbfounded.

"That's also magic! That statue wasn't just made! It was made with magic! Sothing that massive!"

When I shouted wildly, Michelon grinned, let go of my hand, and jumped down even though we were still quite high up. Then, before I could land beside him, he grabbed my hand and pulled.

"Look."

Even without being told, I couldn't take my eyes off it.

The dragon statue, no, the jewel statue, was amazing in its majesty, but it was truly resplendent as it flashed with the colors of various jewels.

"So they made this massive statue with jewels."

"This is not just a statue."

Shaking his head, Michelon said.

"It's a dragon's coffin."

"What?"

"Listen carefully. If I die before you, bring my body here. Then that coffin will appear and open by itself. Put my body inside it. That is a dragon's funeral."

I couldn't say anything.

"So this is the Dragon's Grave. Where the most splendid coffin is."

The boy who was my friend spread his arms and spoke proudly.

"You won't die. I won't let that happen."

"Just don't die before ."

Michelon answered calmly.

"If you die, don't I die too? Then even though I found the dragon's house and grave after all this trouble, there will be no one to hold a dragon's funeral for ."

"Our contract... as I said before, we still don't know how much it replaced the existing contract."

I explained with a heavy heart.

Replacing the original contract itself was a miracle. The contract established by the Founding Emperor to prevent the dragon's curse while killing the last dragon.

Many parts of it remained a mystery, and even I, who made the contract directly, didn't know how it was possible. Honestly, the replacent contract also relied heavily on the instincts of the contractor and mage.

"However, it is too early to conclude yet. For now, even if I die, I never wish for you to follow

in death."

"So?"