Chapter 199 - A Mirror Reflected in a Mirror (1)

1

“Uburka...”

“This is the first time in my life I have felt such an emotion. My heart is pounding.”

“I-is that so?”

My lips moved, but I couldn't think of anything to say.

[The constellation ‘Muscle Pig Who Dreams of Defying His Father’ marvels at the sweetness of love.]

This was awkward.

‘What do I do about this?’

Should I give my blessing to a child experiencing his first love hundreds of years after his birth?

But the Black Dragon leader was a colleague who had become one of my closest friends. Cheering on my son unconditionally behind her back pricked my conscience.

“Well, congratulations on falling in love, son. True love changes a person. It helps you move forward in all sorts of ways...”

“You called her the Black Dragon leader.”

Uburka clamped a hand onto my shoulder.

It was heavy.

One of his palms was as large as my entire head. Looking into those sparkling eyes right in front of my nose was a little, well, a lot to handle.

My boy sure had some damn pretty eyes.

“Is that her real name?”

“No... She doesn't like being called by her real name. ‘Black Dragon leader’ just means she's the head of the Black Dragon Guild. You could probably count the people who know her real name on fewer than five fingers...”

“Oh! I see!”

Uburka was impressed.

“She does not readily permit even the use of her name! Excellent. Only the brave and capable earn the right to stand beside someone worthy of them. I sense an uncompromising character.”

“Uh...”

The Black Dragon leader wasn't really the type to test the courage of people who approached her...

If anything, she was closer to the exact opposite.

She expected almost nothing of the world.

“What flowers does she like?”

“Uh, lavender and alliums...”

“Flowers I do not know. What music does she like?”

“She likes piano music... Melodies like drops of sound falling onto a sheet of white drawing paper, I guess... Surprisingly, she enjoys jazz too.”

“How refined and elegant!”

“Yeah. She's a wonderful person...”

More importantly, was it okay to tell him all this?

My heart clenched, and my guilty conscience grew worse by the moment.

But Uburka didn't care how I felt. He only gripped my shoulder harder.

“Her hobbies? Her favorite food? What does she usually do with her time? Her birthday?”

Son.

Has love blinded you so thoroughly that you can't even see your own father?

I've fallen in love for the first time myself, so I understand, but Daddy's shoulder is really starting to hurt.

“Her hobby is reading romance novels... You little brat, find these things out yourself!”

I shook off Uburka's hand.

“Why are you asking me in the first place? You can tell what the person you love likes just by looking into their eyes. If you're really not confident, prepare everything they might like and give it to them.”

“Ugor? Is that how it works?”

“Yes. But the Black Dragon leader has very clear boundaries. Don't use your feelings as an excuse to cross them however you please. Be as polite as possible. As though you're asking permission. Do you understand what I mean?”

“That is difficult...”

“What's difficult?”

Both of us froze in shock.

When we turned our heads, we found that the Black Dragon leader had returned without our noticing.

She looked at us with a slight frown.

“Why are you so startled? You look as though you've seen a ghost.”

“I-it's nothing. We were just saying that dealing with the dream demons would be difficult.”

“Hmm... Well, all right.”

The Black Dragon leader shrugged. Fortunately, she didn't seem suspicious of us.

Of course. It would be hard to imagine that a Hobgoblin constellation had fallen head over heels for her.

“I took a quick look around the other villages.”

“How were they?”

“The same. Everyone was asleep. But it wasn't a fruitless trip.”

The Black Dragon leader gathered aura at the tip of her index finger. Black aura flowed smoothly through the air like strokes of ink.

“I found a map in the village chief's house. I searched the other villages too, and their maps were largely identical. That's proof that the villages were sharing information about the new continent. We can also use this to infer the settlers' routes...”

She drew the map with utterly serious eyes.

I could see her determination to save the children held in the grip of sleep, no matter what.

Stealing a glance at her profile, framed by her falling long hair, I understood Uburka's feelings perfectly.

‘No wonder he fell for her.’

She was a beautiful person.

The Black Dragon leader rarely talked about herself. Sometimes she brought up the old days, but those weren't stories about her as an individual. They were only [the past she had shared with her comrades].

People who have built painstaking walls around their hearts always look beautiful to me.

Those walls are traces of something they once tried to protect.

“... Death King, are you listening to me?”

“Of course. I'm listening very carefully.”

I nodded enthusiastically.

“Senior, the invasion of our continent isn't our only problem. In just a few more days, the children weakened by this sleep will start dying en masse. We really don't have much time left.”

Less than a week, at best.

Her expression hardened at my observation.

“You're right... Is there a good way to handle this?”

“The dream demons live in dreams, not reality. Whether we persuade them or force them to submit, we need to enter their dreams.”

There was one catch.

“Persuading the dream demons one at a time would take forever. It would take far too long, and meanwhile, more and more children would die of exhaustion. Our only option is to persuade the entire race at once.”

“All of them at once...? How?”

“Instead of seeking them out individually, we have to [invite] the dream demons as a group.”

I turned to Uburka.

“Here's my plan. First, we draw as many dream demons as possible into Uburka's dream. Then you and I enter his dream too, Senior, and settle things with them.”

“Uger.”

For some reason, Uburka blushed and hunched his shoulders.

Put simply, he wriggled his entire body like an earthworm.

“You mean Father and Father's colleague will enter my dream? Th-that is rather embarrassing. It feels as though I am throwing wide open a secret that should not be shown so readily.”

“...”

What's embarrassing about it?

You've already had plenty of special training from me in your dreams.

Your father finds this coy act of yours deeply embarrassing.

“... I'm sorry I can't protect your privacy. But we have to prevent a massacre, don't we, Uburka? I'd like my son to make a firm decision here.”

Uburka glanced at the Black Dragon leader's expression.

“Understood. Ugor. I will gladly offer my mind for the greater good! After all, nothing is more important than preventing innocent lives from being lost!”

Good grief.

That line couldn't have been more transparent.

His desire to impress the Black Dragon leader wasn't merely peeking through—it was blazing down like direct sunlight. I squeezed my eyes shut, wanting to deny that this boy was my son.

“...?”

Unfortunately, the Black Dragon leader noticed nothing. She tilted her head once, then went straight back to the matter at hand.

“All right, Death King. Your proposal seems like the quickest solution. How are you planning to invite the dream demons?”

“Oh, first I'll use [Appear in a Dream] on a few people to get inside. If I beat up every dream demon I meet, word about me should spread among them right away. I'll tell them to come to Uburka's dream if they have a problem with it.”

“Yes. Understood.”

The corners of her mouth lifted.

“You're so dependable. I'm glad I teamed up with you for this stage.”

“Aw, it's nothing. This is just what I always—”

It happened then.

Just as I was about to smile back at the Black Dragon leader, I felt an extraordinarily intense gaze.

“...”

Uburka was glaring fiercely at me.

Calling it a gaze was far too mild. Even ‘eyeballs’ seemed inadequate; only ‘goddamn eyeballs’ could do justice to that glare.

In short, Uburka was looking at me as though I were his greatest enemy in life.

[The constellation ‘Muscle Pig Who Dreams of Defying His Father’ considers you a thorn in his side.]

What?

[The constellation ‘Muscle Pig Who Dreams of Defying His Father’ suspects you may be a romantic rival.]

No.

Hey.

Hey! You lunatic!

‘Your father and the Black Dragon leader are friends! Best friends!’

I secretly wrote the words on Uburka's forearm.

Uburka pouted.

‘Are you not a male too, Father? I am suspicious.’

‘Your father is already taken! Wow, what you're saying could get me into serious trouble.’

‘What if your world permits multiple husbands and wives?’

That was offensive!

He was my son, but right now he was really pissing me off...!

‘Shut up! Don't even mention that! I'll chop your head off for blasphemy.’

‘If it is not true, then it is not true. Why deny it so vehemently? Such forceful denial makes you even more suspicious. Are you genuinely interested in her?’

‘The Black Dragon leader and I are comrades who have shared life and death! We're friends! Of course we can smile at each other—we feel friendship!’

‘What? You shared life and death? Uger. Does that not mean you wish to be together from birth until death? I never realized Father was such a promiscuous human. I am deeply disappointed.’

‘This kid is driving me nuts!’

The Black Dragon leader watched father and son make fools of themselves side by side, looking utterly bewildered.

“... What have you two been doing all this time?”

“Father was briefly offering me encouragement. Ugor.”

Uburka put on a hearty smile.

“Father's problem is that he worries far too much for no reason. Despite appearances, I have reigned as the strongest in all thousand years of Earth Spiritfolk history. He is excessively doting.”

“Oh?”

The Black Dragon leader looked interested.

“Is that how he acts when it's just the two of you?”

“Indeed. You may not know it, but Father is quite a nag once you get to know him. In private, he is extremely noisy.”

“Really?”

For the first time, Uburka carried on a pleasant conversation with the Black Dragon leader.

Suddenly, he glanced at me with smiling eyes.

[The constellation ‘Muscle Pig Who Dreams of Defying His Father’ is keeping you in check.]

This brat?

“Did you do your dawn training? Have you refined your aura control? Have you deepened your understanding of the Divine Art of the Demonic Heaven? There is not a single thing he does not meddle in. He is a good father at a suitable distance, but the closer we are, the more tiring he becomes.”

This little punk?

“I wish he would gradually become independent of his son. I cannot look after Father forever, can I? He is so starved for affection that he clings to whoever is nearby at the slightest excuse. It is tiresome. You saw it just now, did you not? Writing on my forearm to exchange secret messages... Frankly, it is creepy.”

This little bastard?

‘You ungrateful wretch!’

I trembled.

The bond between father and son was utterly worthless in the face of romantic love!

Was this why people said raising a son brought nothing but regret?

“Aha.”

The Black Dragon leader covered her mouth with the back of her hand and chuckled.

“You two really are close.”

Her eyes were filled with warmth.

It wasn't attraction, but goodwill.

“Complaining with a smile means you're that comfortable with each other. When you first declared you were going to raise goblins, I wondered what on earth you were thinking, but I was worrying for nothing after all. Death King, you'll be a good friend to the children.”

And that goodwill was directed at me, not Uburka.

“Uh... Yes, thank you...”

“Not at all. I do give praise when it's deserved.”

A warm atmosphere settled between the Black Dragon leader and me.

“...”

Uburka's face soured.

[The constellation ‘Muscle Pig Who Dreams of Defying His Father’ deeply resents you!]

This was driving me crazy.

The Black Dragon leader had watched my romance with Raviel on a live feed, and she knew there wasn't a man in this world more harmless than me. There was only Raviel for me. She was certain that, however close we became, romantic feelings would never blossom between us.

‘That's why we're just comfortable with each other, but this son of mine!’

What could I do?

As his father, I couldn't interfere with my son's love life.

Holding back the feeling that my chest was about to burst, I quietly stood up.

“I'll... go threaten the dream demons. Black Dragon leader, please wait here with Uburka...”

“Oh? Will you be all right? [Appear in a Dream] costs a whole 100 points each, you know.”

“It's fine. I can always earn more points later...”

“I really do have a wonderful junior.”

She smiled and patted my shoulder.

“I'll look for a way to address the sleeping children's malnutrition. Hurry back, Death King.”

She gave my shoulder a couple of pats.

Her touch overflowed with friendship.

Friendship was a kind of affection too, so there was no reason not to call that gesture affectionate.

“...”

I stole a glance at Uburka's face.

[The constellation ‘Muscle Pig Who Dreams of Defying His Father’ explicitly recognizes you as an enemy!]

Sure enough.

Uburka was glaring at me, blood-red aura pouring from his entire body.

Unless I was mistaken... that was murderous intent.

[The constellation ‘Muscle Pig Who Dreams of Defying His Father’ resolves to commit patricide!]

This bastard was really living up to his name.