The Hero’s Disciple Has Returned

First, William’s prediction was wrong.

But it wasn’t completely wrong either.

‘…Ygraine’

As William predicted, Sera became very upset and even emitted killing intent when she heard the report about the dragon egg (William had to endure by drawing on his magical power, and Riel took the foaming and unconscious Leo away to create some distance). However, this was not because she felt anxious that the dragon egg might take her place, but because she was entangled in a ‘bad relationship’ with that dragon egg.

‘Red Dragon’ Ygraine

It was because one of the Four Heavenly Kings who swore loyalty to the Demon King and commanded the Demon King’s army right under the Demon King was this dragon that shouldn’t have existed in this world.

At first, she thought it was a dragon that had survived in the demon realm, but after repeated regressions, Sera learned that Red Dragon Ygraine was not a being from the demon realm.

The great magic that the last Dragon Lord had set to activate when a suitable person to take care of that dragon appeared, along with time-stop magic, the dragon egg that was protected in a time-stopped state within it, that was Ygraine’s true identity.

Sera was able to reach the truth after long investigations through multiple regressions. If she had been a being of this world, she wouldn’t have been able to sense the existence of that great magic, but unfortunately, the demons from another dimension sensed the existence of that great magic and spent time forcibly tearing it apart to steal the dragon egg. No matter how much it was dragon magic, once the caster had died, such magic inevitably had gaps, and in the end, the last dragon was taken by the Demon King’s army. That’s how the Four Heavenly King Red Dragon Ygraine came to be born.

Naturally, Sera wanted to recover that dragon egg somehow. But Sera, being a being of this world, couldn’t sense the existence of that great magic no matter what she did. She even tried to track it by capturing and threatening demons, but the great magic rejected Sera to the end. As a result, Sera always had to die and kill in bloody battles with Red Dragon Ygraine.

But who would have thought that Ygraine’s dragon egg would appear to Master?

‘…That dragon egg is no longer the Ygraine I know. But I can’t be relieved either.’

She could trust Master, of course. Would that person use a child he raised for his own desires? If he had been that kind of person, he wouldn’t have given his aura heart that he had built up over a lifetime for a child who wasn’t even related by blood, even if she was his disciple. Therefore, a hellish demon like the Four Heavenly King Ygraine couldn’t possibly be born under Master. Rather, the exact opposite kind of being would be born. Because it’s Master! Sera had no doubt about that at all.

However…

It wasn’t an easy problem for Sera.

It wasn’t something she could easily overlook, saying “Because the guardian has changed, there’s no way it will become such a monster anymore” about an opponent she had fought madly countless times, dying and killing. Rather, even if it’s Master, he might not be able to change that monster and it might harm Master. Just the thought that it might happen shook her head and heart.

‘I should check.’

♧♧♧

“Mmm…”

If possible, she wanted to visit during the day, greet Master, and talk directly. Sera had been dominated by such desires but… She overcame her desires and infiltrated secretly at night. Although she had grown tremendously compared to when she parted with Master, to the point where there was no comparison, she was still far from looking like a woman.

As Master strongly recognized her as his disciple and a kid, to break away from that, she judged that building a new relationship line by showing a completely new appearance that didn’t remind him of her previous appearance was the path that gave her some hope. So Sera painfully overcame her desires.

‘I thought controlling my emotions had become easy now… But when it comes to issues related to Master, I can’t do that.’

There’s nothing more troublesome than a hero swept away by emotions. That’s why Sera had to master the method of controlling emotions first, and as a result, there’s probably no one in this world who can control emotions better than her now, to the extent that she has mastered the skill. Even with such superhuman-level emotion control skills, the emotion of love couldn’t be suppressed. While thinking it was truly troublesome, she also felt good because it meant her feelings for Jade were that strong… Sera had to feel complicated emotions.

‘Is this enough?’

She plastered the place with all sorts of magic so as not to disturb Jade’s sleep. Probably even if she shook him awake, he wouldn’t come to his senses.

Tap!

“……?!”

When she came to her senses, Sera was surprised to find herself touching Jade’s cheek without realizing it. She was the one who had effortlessly beheaded the Succubus Queen and Incubus King even when they launched a seduction attack together… Yet she was so easily seduced like this. Sera couldn’t help but be amazed at Jade’s special ability(?). Or did the World Tree bestow some kind of seduction blessing on Jade? Even knowing that only elves could receive blessings, Sera was sitting there making ridiculous imaginations.

Sera completely blocked off the distance between her and Jade by casting a physical barrier magic. For her, it was an action that made her feel ‘too wasteful’, but the most important thing was Jade’s safety. She needed to quickly check if that dragon egg was really not a problem.

The target dragon egg was at a close distance to the sleeping Jade.

‘I’m jealous.’

Sleeping in the same room as Jade. How enviable…

Sera sincerely thought so.

Because she had never experienced it herself.

When she came, Jade had made a separate space for her to stay… If only she had said then that she didn’t mind staying together… No, given Jade’s personality, he would have definitely made it saying a girl needs her own space to stay alone.

In other words, this was a privilege(?) that only this dragon egg could enjoy, so Sera was feeling very genuinely envious even though the other party was just an egg.

“…First, I should try to communicate.”

Dragons are perfect beings.

To be called perfect, one must be perfect. If there’s even a slightly imperfect part, or even a slightly imperfect moment, it can’t be called perfect. A perfect being must be perfect at all times, everywhere, at every moment. Only then is it possible to perfectly exist as a perfect being.

In other words, dragons are perfect beings in a perfect state of existence even before birth. This means that even in the state of a dragon egg, a dragon perfectly has self-awareness. And it can use magic even in that state. Since it’s still in the egg, it can’t use high-level magic (by dragon standards), and forcibly using magic in that state would adversely affect the body inside the egg, so unless it’s a really urgent situation, it doesn’t use magic.

Sera, who had tried everything to get her hands on Ygraine in the dragon egg state, had investigated all of this and stored it in her memory. In the end, although Sera had never managed to get her hands on the dragon egg even once, even as an infinitely regressing hero, she couldn’t have predicted that the day would come when this information would be used effectively.

That dragon egg is a barrier magic. The body inside the dragon egg hasn’t really done anything. It’s just doing it out of protective instinct. It’s unimaginable for humans, but befitting a perfect being, it’s performing tremendous magic with just protective instinct. Therefore, connecting with the body inside through communication magic would normally be an extremely difficult task, but this didn’t apply to the infinitely regressing hero.

‘Connection complete’

Finally, she could talk with the body inside the dragon egg.

At that moment, Sera’s mind was filled with memories of her fierce, bloody battles with Ygraine. The Four Heavenly King Red Dragon Ygraine, whose mind was polluted by the Demon King, living only for destruction, craving only destruction…

She had fought countless battles with her over a long time, but never had a proper conversation.

No, there was one time when a conversation that wasn’t really a conversation took place.

‘…It’s quiet.’

That was Ygraine’s answer when Sera asked, “Do you have any last words?” as her time of death approached. Since Sera didn’t understand its meaning, it couldn’t be called a proper conversation.

Anyway, since she had never had a truly proper conversation even in her infinite regressions, this was really the first time it was happening.

So Sera was slightly on guard.

Because she didn’t know what nonsense might be said out of the blue.

Yes, she was on guard.

-Mom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It’s Mom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

…But since the infinitely regressing hero hadn’t expected to hear such words at all, it was inevitable that she became uncharacteristically flustered.

♧♧♧

The dragon egg knew immediately after it was born. That it had been abandoned. The two dragons that gave birth to it had no intention of shouldering the responsibility as parents. They had matched eyes when they were bored and that’s how it was born. But their boredom wasn’t resolved at all. So they wanted to cease to exist. Despite having a child like itself… Therefore, the dragon egg judged that those two were not parents to it. It had no choice but to come to that conclusion.

-Then you can choose your own parents.

The Lord, who was the only one who cared about and showed interest in it, said so. It wasn’t such a strange thing, he said. Dragons falling into the hell of boredom and showing no interest in the dragon eggs they laid had already been happening like an everyday occurrence for a long time. So dragon eggs naturally came to regard beings who cherished them, rather than those who gave birth to them, as their parents, he said. So the dragon egg tried to choose the Lord as its parent. But the Lord shook his head.

-I’m sorry. I don’t think I can because I don’t have much time left. I’d love to make you my child, such a cute child… I’m really sorry.

Instead, the Lord gave a special gift. It was great magic. Great magic that would put it in a time-stopped sleep state and deliver it to a suitable person to become its parent when they appeared. The dragon egg was grateful for the Lord’s special gift.

So the dragon egg fell asleep.

When it regained consciousness…

It could instinctively know that a very long time had passed.

And it could also know that it was in the hands of a human male.s… They were unknown to the dragon egg. It wasn’t that it didn’t know about the existence of humans. Beings with short lifespans, foolish, and yet overflowing with desires despite that. But despite that, a race that has never gone extinct in the world. To the dragon egg, humans were an interesting subject. To the extent that it had put “observe closely” on its life goal list if it ever got out of this egg.

And to think that the Lord’s great magic had chosen a human male as the parent to take care of it… The dragon egg couldn’t help but be interested.

As a result, the dragon egg liked this human male. Although it was frustrating that communication wasn’t possible because he wasn’t proficient in magic, it could still be felt. His warm embrace, his touch, his soul… The dragon egg could tell without experiencing it for long that this human male taking care of it was clearly a special human, deserving to be chosen by the Lord’s great magic.

Therefore, the dragon egg acknowledged the human man who was sincerely taking care of it as ‘Dad’.

So the dragon egg wanted.

Dad was nice because he was warm, but it was still frustrating that communication wasn’t possible. So it thought it would be nice if ‘Mom’ was someone who could communicate.

But no matter how it looked, there didn’t seem to be a ‘Mom’.

So while it was feeling disappointed…

The dragon egg sensed the intrusion of a human woman. If she was targeting itself or Dad, it was thinking of using magic to attack no matter how much side effects it would have. Dad was already family that needed to be protected, so it could have such determination. But it soon dropped its guard. Because in the eyes of that human woman looking at ‘Dad’, there was overflowing affection, and it could feel her treating ‘Dad’ carefully. It was very similar to the warmth felt when ‘Dad’ took care of it.

So the dragon egg could realize.

It’s Mom!!!!

Mom has finally appeared!!!!

So when the person who seemed to be ‘Mom’ connected with it through communication magic, the dragon egg shouted without hesitation.

-Mom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

…That is.

‘Mom’, who seemed flustered for a moment…

Soon regained her composure and asked it.

“If I’m Mom, then Dad is… that sleeping person over there?”
-Yes!!! Dad! And Mom!!
“……”

‘Mom’ looked at the dragon egg with a face full of thoughts and then

“…Would you like me to apply some holy water?”
-Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The dragon egg thought it was really lucky. It felt that ‘Mom’ seemed to know better than ‘Dad’ what the dragon egg liked. And it couldn’t help but be truly grateful to the Lord who had cast the great magic for it to become like this.

‘Grandma, thank you!!!!!!!!’

To her, the last Dragon Lord Roael was her chosen maternal grandmother.

…In many ways, it was a scene that couldn’t help but evoke the impression that “a perfect being had perfectly existed.”