The World After the Bad Ending - Chapter 80



79 – Let’s Handle the Magic of the Ancient Dragon

Autumn had ripened before they knew it.

For the first time in a while, the atmosphere at Jerion Academy was bright and bustling.

The Founding Festival of the High Sirion Empire.

A regular holiday and festival day for the empire.

On this day, the royal family personally organizes the festival, inviting all citizens to rest together.

As such, resting today is a duty for the people of the empire.

This also applies to the students of Jerion Academy.

Even the professors take a leisurely break today.

However, the organizers of the Founding Festival at Jerion Academy.

The teaching assistants and the student council are a different story.

The teaching assistants run around busily to prepare a party that the students can participate in.

Even the maids who usually worked in the dormitories helped them.

Jerion Academy is an academy that trains heroes to prevent the Demon Palace.

Although they couldn’t make it as grand as the main country.

Jerion Academy couldn’t neglect preparations for the young heroes.

“Ugh, I’m dying.”

A member of the student council, who had been running around tirelessly, couldn’t endure it any longer and sat down.

Having faced the bomb of the Founding Festival along with Nikita’s work, the student council was suffering from an unexpected work hell.

“Hang in there a bit more.”

“How does Senior Hannon endure this??”

“Stamina is national power.”

I, a first-year student and second in martial arts, Midra Penin, answered the groaning and walked briskly.

I was used to being mobilized for hellish training with Aisha every day.

Moving festival supplies was nothing.

“Hannon, it looks fun.”

As I was running with several supplies in hand, a voice came from ahead.

As I moved my gaze between the supplies, there was Sharin.

“So, do you want to do it too?”

“I’ll do something more fun.”

Sharp as ever.

“Then go ahead. Don’t get in the way.”

“It’s hurtful to be treated as an obstacle when I came to check on the ancient dragon’s magic state.”

That’s an important task.

I put the supplies down in the corner.

“Sit down.”

As I leaned against the wall as Sharin said, she pried open my right eye with her index finger and thumb.

Then, a galaxy began to swirl in Sharin’s eyes.

Sharin stared intently into my pupil.

I was also staring with my eyes wide open.

Every time I see Sharin’s galaxy, it’s beautiful.

The sight of a galaxy flowing in her eyes always leaves me in awe.

After staring into my eye for a long time, she soon stroked her chin.

“Hmm, it seems your right eye might go blind.”

“…Don’t say that even as a joke.”

“I thought it was a funny joke.”

When Sharin says it, it doesn’t sound like a joke, which makes it scarier.

“You said you used the Flame of Fire.”

“Yes.”

“At that time, the Flame of Fire permeated the steel skin and completely enveloped the remnants of the ancient dragon like an egg. The remnants of the ancient dragon don’t seem to mind it much and have settled in.”

Somehow, I ended up trapping the remnants of the ancient dragon.

“Is there a possibility of it going berserk?”

“We took measures last time, so not for now. It was about time for it to go berserk anyway.”

So she came to check on me on purpose.

Anyway, I owe Sharin every time.

“Then, that’s a relief.”

“Is it really a relief?”

“Is there another problem?”

In response to my question, Sharin swiftly drew out a staff.

Then, with a single swing of the staff, a small breeze began to blow.

“Roll up your sleeve.”

Following Sharin’s words, I rolled up my sleeve, revealing my skin.

“This might sting a little.”

The magic Sharin cast turned into a blade and touched my skin.

My body now had steel skin, becoming a body of steel.

Because of this, Sharin’s magic couldn’t easily cut through.

Considering this, Sharin increased the intensity a bit more.

*Swish!*

Then, my skin was cut, and blood began to seep out.

At that moment.

*Whoosh!*

A pure white chill burst out from between my skin.

The chill froze Sharin’s wind as well.

It all happened in an instant.

Seeing this, my eyes widened.

“This is…”

“The inside of Hanon is now entirely imbued with the remnants of the ancient dragon. So, if there’s an external wound, this happens.”

Sharin, with half-closed eyes, looked at my skin.

“This means… you’re practically a walking ice bomb.”

“…If I get seriously injured.”

Sharin raised the corners of her mouth.

“The entire area would freeze over with the remnants of the ancient dragon.”

It’s a very troublesome story.

I have become an ice bomb.

‘In a way, it’s not necessarily a bad thing, is it?’

This too, if used properly, could be useful.

“Just so you know in advance.”

Sharin tapped on my skin, frozen solid.

“If it bursts like that, Hanon will also be trapped by the dragon’s magic.”

That’s a problem.

I know best the power of dragon magic from my experience with Nikita.

If that happens, it will surely be farewell to this world.

“We need to find a solution.”

“Yes, so I thought of one.”

“Sharin, is she a god?”

Sharin puffed out her chest and snorted arrogantly.

When I urged her to explain, she started to laugh suspiciously.

“Let’s learn the fire dragon’s magic.”

And then she said something truly absurd.

“Are you sane? The dragon’s magic is…”

“It’s forbidden magic in the Empire.”

As she said, the Empire had designated the dangerous dragon magic as forbidden magic.

This naturally meant that dragon magic could not be researched.

“But not in the form of a magic engraving.”

Magic engraving.

It’s the magic that Sharin and I researched.

“Hanon, what resides in your body is the remnant of the ice dragon.”

Dragon magic is not just one kind.

Fire dragon, ice dragon, earth dragon, sky dragon.

Basically, there are four main types.

The remnant connected to Nikita’s body is the ice dragon among the dragons.

“If we engrave the fire dragon’s magic as a magic engraving, it can offset and control the remnant of the ice dragon residing inside.”

Magic engravings have lower performance compared to existing magic.

Sharin intended to use this point.

The power weakens as much as it is engraved as a magic engraving.

Accordingly, the probability of acceptance also decreases sharply.

Moreover, the dragon’s magic engraved as a magic engraving and the remnant of the dragon residing in my body can offset each other, allowing us to handle a controllable level of dragon magic.

“Is that even possible?”

“Am I Sharin?”

It was a story proposed by the once-in-a-lifetime genius, the top of the magical studies.

Indeed, it was meaningless to doubt her words.

“Above all, the remnants of the ancient dragon are like a ticking time bomb that could explode at any moment, even though we’ve managed to suppress them to some extent.”

Eventually, it will explode, but no one knows when.

That’s what Sharin said.

“I think it’s right to add at least one more safety device.”

As she said, living with a self-destruct bomb attached to your body is not an option.

Sharin said that with a suspicious smile.

“Besides, the magic of the ancient dragon is the magic that the transcendent sage Jerion handled. I’m interested too.”

Jerion, the founder of Jerion Academy and the transcendent sage.

As she said, Jerion was the only one who handled the magic of the ancient dragon without any accidents.

Sharin has a high thirst for magical knowledge.

It seems she wants to surpass even Jerion someday.

“Alright. If that’s the case, I’ll have to ask for your help.”

Sharin thought of me and found out directly.

I feel like giving her a flick on the forehead because I can sense her desire to test it beyond those eyes.

I can’t just leave the remnants of the ancient dragon alone either.

“Yes, if something goes wrong with Hanon, it would be troublesome for me too.”

That’s a bit touching.

“Isabel can’t do without Hanon right now.”

So it was because of Isabel.

I wish she would return the favor.

“Isabel’s brightness is largely thanks to Hanon.”

For me, the current Isabel is quite unsettling too.

In the past, it was enough for her to be just an object of anger as a rival, but now she has become a mix of love and hate, and I don’t know how to control her emotions.

“And I also hope Hanon stays safe.”

Sharin gave the answer I expected and smiled slyly.

Like a fox.

I gathered the supplies I had left in the corner.

“Thank you. I’ll be careful not to get hurt for a while.”

With that, Sharin waved her hand and left.

Anyway, she has an unpredictable, capricious personality.

The day the Founding Festival begins.

I decided to work hard until then, as I would be the saboteur of the student council.

* * *

On the day of the Hyserion Founding Festival.

Iris was quietly looking out the window.

As the Founding Festival is a regular celebration of the empire, everyone is excited.

However, among them.

There was one person who could not be excited.

She was also the one who became particularly gloomy on the day of the Founding Festival.

The 3rd Princess, Iris Hyserion.

The reason she became gloomy was simple.

The day of the Founding Festival.

It was the day her mother passed away.

Her cause of death was nightmare disease.

A peculiar illness that even modern healers could not cure.

Iris’s mother was trapped in her dreams and never returned.

And from that time on, Iris began to have nightmares.

Children excited by the Founding Festival chatted brightly here and there.

Watching them, Iris quietly wrapped herself in her arms.

For some reason, today felt particularly cold.

“Lady Iris.”

At that moment, Iris turned her head to the voice calling her.

There stood Hania.

“The preparations are complete.”

Today was the day the student council boycott group would move.

It was also the day to carry out the orders of the Duke of Roblia.

To tarnish the name of the Duke of Drapen, the student council president and the youngest of the duke’s family, Sylvester, must be brought down.

On the glorious day of the founding festival.

An incompetent student council president who couldn’t handle a single commotion caused by the students.

This is the day to impose that image on him.

Iris exhaled with a displeased face.

Sylvester is an incompetent person.

He can’t be said to have a particularly good character, but neither is he an overly arrogant person.

Gray between black and white.

He is just a person who exists in between.

If there is one flaw, it is that he lacks great ambition in his life, but he was not someone to be sacrificed in this way.

Iris knows what kind of treatment he will receive from the Duke of Drapen because of this incident.

It would be fortunate if he is not expelled from the family.

But Iris raised her head and revealed the dignity of a princess.

She had already sacrificed countless people to get here.

Even if it was the will of the Duke of Roblia, the things she had done would not disappear.

She is the ultimate villainess.

Someday, she will become the third princess to ascend the throne.

“Begin.”

“Yes.”

As soon as she conveyed the words to Hania, she quickly disappeared.

Iris, who was looking at the vanished Hania, stared blankly out the window.

Today, for some reason, she felt extremely lonely.

Since her mother’s death, Iris had not felt the warmth of family.

Around her were only those she used or those who tried to use her.

Except for Hania, there was no one.

That fact made her feel deeply lonely.

‘Family.’

At that moment, a person flashed through Iris’s mind.

A boy with the same black hair and red eyes as her.

Although their faces were different, they had many similarities when examined closely. He was her cousin.

Even while showing signs of dislike, that child would always comply when asked.

It was Iris, whose warmth was particularly memorable.