Translator: Nox

I Married the Dragon I Killed

Chapter 18

Ferda climbed to the top of the lonely mountain.

When he asked Ruri to help him ascend the peak, he had only one purpose.

It was to watch Valdrova fight.

—Krowaaaaa!

A thunderous roar overturned heaven and earth.

Today, she had halted the march of over a hundred monsters.

In the past, the mere timing of it would have left him breathless, but now he was as serene as if he were gazing at a distant mountain.

‘The effects of that wine are certainly potent.’

His fear of dragons had vanished, and even the Fear they radiated could no longer significantly interfere with Ferda’s body.

While he was impressed, he also found himself curious.

“How do others endure this? Living within the castle must be no small feat.”

“There are artifacts.”

Ruri said, lifting a ring from within her skirt to show him.

It was an ordinary ring made of silver, but characters were inscribed inside it.

Ferda could not read those characters.

“It is an item that tracks the locations of the castle employees and mitigates their fear of dragons. It allows up to a hundred employees to live within the castle without any issues.”

“Is the effect similar to what I drank?”

“It is inferior. Fear of the dragon still remains in their hearts.”

“Still, a lot of preparations were made.”

“Uselessly many preparations, indeed.”

“Hmm….”

Ferda pondered this for a moment before turning his head again.

“You said there are a hundred of those?”

“That is correct.”

“Then couldn’t I have worn one from the beginning?”

“That is correct.”

“Then why didn’t you give me one?”

Ruri’s pupils slowly rotated once before she shrugged her shoulders.

“You never asked, did you?”

He could feel just how much Ruri had disliked the Ferda from before he became the fiancé.

‘Though she seems to dislike me even now.’

But what use was there in dwelling on the past?

Ferda turned his gaze back down toward Valdrova.

If there was one thing different from before, it was that she did not return immediately after finishing her task; instead, she turned her gaze toward him.

A pair of horns jutting forward and another pair soaring toward the sky.

Her majestic appearance, worthy of the word ‘tyrant,’ was clearly visible.

He felt that even those golden eyes were meeting his own.

‘I can feel it.’

Ever since he had downed the Engagement Wine, he felt as if an invisible thread connected him to Valdrova.

Whenever that happened, a smile would unconsciously spread across Ferda’s face.

And Valdrova would avoid that gaze and return to her Lair.

‘Have I made things difficult for her again?’

Though he had become her fiancé, he had never actually spoken with her.

Whenever he tried, she only showed signs of avoidance, and watching her was the most he could do.

‘Social anxiety… I see.’

Looking only at how she tore and mangled monsters, she seemed like a barbarian through and through, so it was hard to believe.

However, in Ferda’s mind, her lips naturally came to him first.

‘She is a woman with a talent for making one truly anxious.’

An oasis rising in the middle of a parched desert.

The warmth of a faint blue flame burning within the permafrost.

To think that watching from afar was all he could do when she was so close.

He felt like a sinner suffering the agony of hunger and thirst, with an apple before his eyes that he could never eat and water he could never drink.

If only they could at least face each other and talk.

“Does she still say talking is not allowed?”

“Yes. Her instructions are to wait until the time is right.”

“It has been over a month.”

“Compared to the years she has lived, it is a time as brief as the blink of an eye.”

The time of an immortal and a mortal differ.

Impatience began to seize Ferda’s heart.

‘Waiting until she composes her heart must also be the duty of a husband.’

He decided to have patience.

Ferda still had plenty of time left to live, after all.

Ruri, who had been watching all of this, looked elsewhere and spoke.

“Ferda-nim.”

“What is it?”

“A guest has arrived.”

Below the area Ferda could see.

He could barely make out something like a long line standing before the castle.

Ruri, who was watching as Ferda’s eyes, said this:

“It appears Bernel Marquis has arrived.”

---

Bernel Marquis.

When they reunited, he was in an even worse state.

His debts had been repaid, and the troublesome gangs no longer bothered him, but that didn’t mean his livelihood had improved.

“Um, I’ve been thinking….”

“Tell me only the conclusion.”

Ferda spoke sharply.

“I am currently in a state of urgency, so I have no patience for talking in circles.”

It was partly to leave no room for Bernel Marquis’s whims, but also because the Red Circle was spinning rapidly within Ferda’s dantian.

He didn’t want to lose that sense of heightened tension because of Bernel.

“As you said… I have come to think that it is good to create weapons.”

“Have you bent your convictions?”

“Of course, I haven’t bent my convictions. I simply realized that, as you said, creating weapons is also a way to maintain peace. I was just afraid of the criticism.”

Bernel Marquis spoke while looking at the appointment letter in his hand.

“I will create weapons. To clear out the monsters in the Far East. But it is my hope that those weapons will not be used in human wars. At least while I am alive.”

“I cannot promise that.”

Instead of lying, Ferda told him the reality.

“Is… that so?”

Bernel wasn’t overly disappointed either.

Though he was a frog in a well, the place he inhabited was strictly a society, so he knew how things worked.

In weapon development, the tide of war turns based on who gets ahead first.

In such a field, magical engineering would become an innovative technology and accelerate.

“There is no need to be so seized by guilt. Just think of it like this. If a sword is made, what must be used to block it?”

“If a sword is made…. A shield and armor are made to block it.”

“A sword that pierces even that armor and shield has been made. Then is it right to simply give up, stand still, and watch the destruction?”

Only then did Bernel understand.

“No. One must create even better armor and shields.”

“You are making weapons, but at the same time, you are making shields. If you want to prevent war, you must continue to develop. If you stop….”

“The opponent will get one step ahead.”

It was the start of a never-ending race.

The reality Bernel hadn’t wanted to imagine took shape.

A lingering scent remained in his nose.

Coffee, black tea, and ink.

He missed Escoleia so much.

At least there, his tiny room had been his entire world.

‘But I can’t go back.’

Magical engineering was a dream he desperately wanted to achieve.

“Of course, if there is leeway later, I will permit research so it can be used in other fields. For now, the top priority is a tool that can push back the front lines in the Far East. If you develop that first, I have no intention of nitpicking your work.”

“U-understand.”

“I think that’s enough talk for now….”

Ferda began to speak in earnest about Bernel’s research.

“Tell me what you need first for the research you are starting.”

“Rather than tools, I first need the corpses of monsters.”

“Monster corpses?”

“I must observe them first. Tools come after that.”

Bernel scratched his head and gave an awkward laugh.

“Actually, if they were alive, the progress would be much faster… but capturing a monster alive isn’t easy, haha!”

Ferda, who had been listening quietly, nodded.

“I see. So we just need to capture them alive?”

“Yes, live capture… uh… wait a moment, are you planning to capture them alive?”

Bernel asked in surprise.

“Shouldn’t we do so to increase the progress? We still have a long way to go, so shouldn’t we take a big first step?”

“It will be quite difficult… I understand. Thank you very much. Um… Your Highness.”

“Call me Regent. Since that has become my official title. And there is no need to thank me.”

Ferda stood up and put on his coat.

“We will depart within three days, so be prepared.”

“Pardon? To where?”

“How can you say such a thing after what you just said? We have to go capture them alive.”

“W-we are??”

Bernel’s eyes went wide.

His pupils looked ready to shrink into dots.

“Then did you plan to just sit here and wait until they were captured and brought to you?”

“Uh…. Most people… do that, don’t they?”

“What a ridiculous joke. How could I just watch while dozens of people die for the sake of a single scholar’s greed? In times like this, one must move personally.”

Ferda spoke while patting Bernel on the shoulder.

“Is it not the conviction of scholars that truth sets humanity free?”

“T-that is true, but….”

“You shouldn’t expect truth to fall into your mouth while you’re sitting still. You’ll have to work your body a bit.”

“Uuuugh….”

“Prepare yourself well until then. You need to be in peak condition.”

Bernel’s complexion turned pale and stiff.

‘I-I shouldn’t have come!’

There was no turning back now.

---

Ferda and Bernel rode horses to a certain location.

As they moved along the path, they saw a group of people waiting at the crossroads.

Thirty subordinates were lined up in an orderly fashion, and the man at the front was on horseback wearing half-plate armor.

He was the guide waiting for Ferda.

Arwen dismounted and gave a polite greeting.

“I greet the husband of the Dragon King Valdrova, Regent Ferda Valdrova. I am Arwen. I have come to serve you by the order of Count Consilus.”

“Glad to meet you. Were the orders properly delivered?”

“Yes. I heard you are hunting monsters.”

Ferda corrected those words.

“Not hunting, but live capture. We are going to capture monsters alive.”

“I apologize. It seems I misread the official document that arrived.”

In fact, he hadn’t misread it.

It was such an absurd statement that he had simply corrected it himself and asked back.

“It’s fine. Where is the monster located?”

Arwen turned his head and pointed somewhere.

“I received a report that a monster’s unique energy is emanating from that direction.”

“The number?”

“Considering the range it has spread recently, it is likely just one.”

“I see. Then capturing it alive should be easy.”

“The thing is….”

Arwen continued his report with a serious voice.

“The size of the individual is estimated to be larger than a grizzly bear. It is a size that would be difficult even for us to kill.”

Therefore, capturing it alive would be difficult, was what he was saying.

Of course, those words did not work on Ferda.

“The bigger the size, the better. We must capture it alive.”

Ferda spoke while patting Bernel, who was beside him, on the shoulder.

“It seems it will be helpful for your research.”

“Haha… I-I see.”

Bernel, laughing awkwardly, screamed internally.

‘Don’t say that!!’

Bernel’s eyes flickered toward the soldiers.

All sorts of resentful gazes began to pour toward Bernel.

‘So this bastard was the culprit.’

‘It’s hard enough just to kill a monster, but what? Capture it alive?’

‘Don’t you dare die while catching it. I’ll make your dreams haunted until the day you die!’

That curse seemed to echo dizzily in Bernel’s head.

“Hahaha….”

Bernel laughed.

He had to laugh while he still could.

---

Arwen took the lead and began to move.

Naturally, the horses had to be left behind.

This was because they could become a factor that provoked the monster.

“What level have you reached in magic?”

Ferda, who was following behind Arwen, asked Bernel.

Bernel replied.

“The 3rd Circle is my limit.”

“The Blue Circle?”

“Yes. Naturally, if one is a mage, the Blue Circle… wait, are you in the Red Circle?”

“Yes.”

Bernel covered his mouth.

This damn mouth of his was always so impulsive.

“Ah, I-I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have said….”

“It doesn’t matter. You said the 3rd Circle?”

The title for the 3rd Circle was Magic Worker.

Many mages who failed to break through the wall of the 4th Circle disliked the term Magic Worker.

In particular, if a mage of the 4th Circle, a Mage or higher, called someone a Magic Worker, it was the same as asking for a life-or-death duel.

“Can you use Magic Shot?”

“Yes. I can manage sphere creation and launching, but the effective range is—”

“You only need to know how to create them. How many can you do?”

“Uh… twelve.”

“If you make them large?”

“If I make them large, I can do four.”

The average for the 3rd Circle was fifteen Mana Shots.

“You fall quite short compared to an ordinary 3rd Circle.”

“Haha… that’s true.”

It was a painful yet funny story.

This was because Bernel’s first dream had been to be a mage.

‘In the end, all I could do wasn’t magic, but studying.’

And even that study had been ruined by dreaming an absurd and nonsensical dream.

“That alone is sufficient. You just need to support me well.”

“S-support?”

“I will handle everything myself. You just need to perform simple tasks according to my instructions. Do you understand?”

“S-support, you say. How….”

“I will make it simple. It’s a task so simple even a three-year-old child could understand, so don’t worry too much.”

He had no idea what Ferda was planning to do.

Bernel asked him just in case.

“I apologize, Regent-nim. By any chance, what circle are you?”

“Me? I’m 2nd Circle.”

“2-2nd Circle?!”

“What is it? Is it surprising that I’m below you?”

“It’s surprising if it’s surprising, but that’s not what I meant….”

Bernel couldn’t understand.

‘The mana I saw was just as it appeared?’

Bernel had thought Ferda had just been hiding it well until now.

But he was only a mere 2nd Circle.

‘What can a 2nd Circle possibly do…?’

He couldn’t grasp Ferda’s plan at all.

Just then, Arwen raised his hand.

“I’ve caught the creature’s presence.”

“Is that so? Good work. I will call you just before the capture. Stay on standby.”

“Pardon?”

Arwen asked again, thinking he had misheard.

Ferda frowned.

“Find the person who read that official document and reprimand them. I said I only needed soldiers to help with guidance and capture. Do you want to be the ones to capture it?”

“Shouldn’t we be the ones to do it? Naturally….”

“A knightly attitude full of spirit, indeed.”

Ferda patted Arwen on the shoulder and passed him by.

“Do not hold your life lightly. You are a knight of Count Consilus, and furthermore, a precious knight of the Dragon King’s territory.”

Ferda put on the leather gloves he had kept in his pocket.

“Let’s go. Bernel, be ready to capture it as soon as I give the signal.”

“Y-yes!”

Ferda walked leisurely with his hands behind his back.

His posture was so noble that one wouldn’t think he was a person walking into a death trap.

‘Aaaaah, I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die!’

On the other hand, to Bernel, Ferda was nothing more and nothing less than a grim reaper leading him to his death.

---

After walking through the deep forest for about ten minutes, Ferda and Bernel finally discovered the monster they had been reported on.

‘It’s a Contaminant.’

A monster in the form of something overlaid onto an animal, rather than a bizarre creature that occurs naturally.

It had originally been a bear, but it was now mangled to the point where it could only be called ‘what used to be a bear.’

A creature for whom being alive was irrational.

That was what its appearance seemed to say.

“Ugh….”

“Don’t throw up. It’ll be troublesome if it notices us.”

“Mmph, mmph….”

Bernel nodded repeatedly, and Ferda fixed his eyes on the target.

“Now, manifest Mana Shots on your fingers.”

“Yes.”

Bernel, swallowing his nausea, created pure mana spheres as told.

“And according to my instructions, toss them lightly to me one by one.”

“Pardon?”

To the Regent, not the bear?

“To you, Regent-nim?”

“Yes. Toss them.”

Bernel closed his eyes tight and tossed one as he was told.

“Huh?”

At that moment, an amazing thing happened.