Black Iron Magician

「The world is surprisingly small. I didn’t expect to see the white wolf at that time in Elderado.」

「It was also surprised. I didn’t expect Deris to have such a silly past.」

「Hey, stop making fun of me…!」

「It’s your fault, Deris. It won’t be a problem if you just stay still like Nell. Don’t you think so, Nell?」

「………」

Nell didn’t react to Vakala’s words. She just kept staring at the image of the laboratory that’s displayed by magic.

「Wait, Vakala. Don’t talk to Nell right now. She has her own thoughts.」

「Hmm, is that so? Well, it can’t be helped. Still, I didn’t expect to see 『Peerless』 in a place like this. I was really surprised.」

「Peerless? Are you talking about that white wolf?」

「What? Deris, you don’t know her name?」

「She left immediately after leaving Nell to us, so I don’t even know her name. We didn’t have time to introduce ourselves to each other, or rather, we didn’t make time for that. Nell couldn’t understand words at that time, so she didn’t know the name of the white wolf, let alone her background. And from what I heard from the white wolf’s story, she had been out of the public eye since then, right? There was no way to find out about her. In fact, I tried and didn’t find out anything.」

In the past, Deris had investigated the white wolf on the continent of Dai. The information that he got was only rumors, and there was no traces of her involved in something important. Even the old-timers of the Great Eight Demons didn’t talk anything about the white wolf. When the three seats of the Great Eight Demons were vacant, her name didn’t come out as a candidate. Then, Deris stopped his investigation, thinking that it would be best not to go any deeper.

「I see. Well, I guess that’s natural. After all, she has a tragic incident in her past that even the free-spirited Maria would never talk about it. It’s the same for me.」

「Incident? What the hell happened in the past?」

「…… You guys are related to her, so you have the right to know who she is and what happened in the past. But are you sure? The way you look at her might change 180 degrees, you know?」

「I don’t mind. Tell me.」

「Nell….」

Before he knew it, Nell was standing next to Deris. She was looking at Vakala with eyes filled with determination, as if saying that she would accept whatever the truth is.

「It seems that you’re determined. Fine, I will tell you. You see――」

Deris gulped his saliva. The truth of the incident, which caused Maria to keep her mouth shut and Vakala to hesitate to speak about it, is about to be revealed.

「――A few centuries ago, she was rejected by Rimudo. It was a stunning rejection…!」

「「…… Ha?」」

After a pause, Deris and Nell’s voices overlapped.

「Ah, right now, you guys thought that it was very different from what you imagined, right? You definitely thought that, didn’t you?」

「Well, I mean, you know.」

「…… It’s certainly a sad thing that mom was rejected by Rimudo. But why does she have to drag it out so far? I mean, love affairs are something ordinary.」

「Sigh, you guys don’t get it at all.」

Vakala exaggeratedly shook his head and explained again the tragedy of the incident.

「Listen, okay? This is a story from when Rimudo was still unmarried. He was powerful, a man of character, and a high-ranking dragon. As a bonus, he had that nice guy look on his face. It is not difficult to imagine that there were many women who would like to be his wife. However, from the beginning, only two dragons stood in this battlefield. One was the 『Dragon Queen』 Satella, Rimudo’s current wife who had been secretly dating him even before they were engaged. And the other one was the 『Peerless』 Freya, who was said to be the strongest and the most beautiful dragon among the dragons.」

「Freya… that’s mom’s name, huh?」

「Oh, and then things got a little intense, I guess?」

「It wasn’t a little. At that time, Freya was said to be the only one who was as strong as Rimudo. To be specific, she was as powerful as the current Deris and Nell. On the other hand, even though Satella was inferior to Freya, she was still powerful enough to be in the lower rank of the Great Eight Demons. If these two dragons got really angry and tried to kill each other seriously… Deris, what do you think would happen to the surrounding environment?」

Deris pondered when asked so. If Nell (level 11) and Lilyvia (level 10) were to develop into such a situation, what would happen? In terms of combat power alone, Nell, who has a higher level and specializes in fighting, would have the upper hand. However, this is an all-out war where anything goes. If Lilyvia makes full use of her Unique Skill 『Morpheus』 to deceive others, everyone will become her ally. The point is, instead of fighting head-on, she will focus on technical battles where she will completely work behind the scenes. If that happens, it will become a protracted battle against the super firepower, and as a result, the continent will sink.

(Perhaps the battle between Freya and Satella was similar. Freya is clearly powerful, but Satella is a master of wind magic. She would fight with a nasty way of fighting using her teleportation magic. Yeah, I would do that if it were me. It would be better if the battle ended only in their own territory, but if the battle spread to the territories of the other Great Eight Demons, that would be the beginning of a great battle of monsters.)

Thinking done. While scratching his head, Deris opened his mouth.

「Yeah, that’s certainly a dangerous development. In the worst case, the world is in danger.」

「Right? It was so bad that it was written in the books like some kind of myth by the people living around that time. Well, even Rimudo thought that this development was dangerous, so he declared that he would marry Satella and stopped the fight. Satella had heart marks in her eyes, and Freya was speechless. After all, she’s peerless!」

「「………」」

「Hey, can you stop with the silent and expressionless response? You’re hurting me, you know?」

「So, what happened to Freya?」

「Wow, you ignored me…. At that time, Freya was so confident that she thought she was the most beautiful in the world. That’s why she was so heartbroken and left her clan. It’s just my guess, but after that, she found Nell and her maternal instincts kicked in. Then, when she left Nell to be independent, her anger of being rejected came back. So, she was sulking again and went into long sleep called hibernation.」

「Mom, what are you doing….」

Nell had mixed feelings about it.

「Hm? Wait a minute. Freya certainly has dragon scales, but her appearance is far from a dragon, right? Why does she look like a wolf?」

「According to one theory, Freya despaired of her own appearance after being rejected by Rimudo. Her strong wish to let go of her ugly appearance and become a different species probably kicked in when she evolved. That’s why she has a wolf figure even though she’s a dragon.」

「「………」」

After hearing the tragic incident, Nell strongly thought to be filial to her parent.