He thinks he’ll always miss Helheim—picking up little seashells by the azure shore, rolling back and forth on the soft grass, and, after the rain had cleared, gleefully holding his best friend’s hand as they went to stomp in the little puddles outside the gate…

—From *My Holy Nephew* by Job Pons de Leon.

Whether the Holy Son, Eli, possessed the literary flair and romance described by his uncle Job when he left Helheim’s Tooth all those years ago is anyone’s guess, but one thing is certain: his best friend, Esther, certainly did not.

This carefree little white-haired kid was currently munching away on snacks right under his buddy’s nose.

Of course, he didn’t think he was sneaking a snack.

He just hadn’t gotten permission from Dragon Dad, Lich Uncle, or Big Brother Eli. Esther nodded, as if to affirm his own reasoning and give his twisted logic a boost. Dad was out there doing something—well, he’d only muttered a single sentence that the little kid hadn’t understood at all—and Esther had no idea what he was experimenting with. Anyway, Uncle Lich was definitely with him, so he hadn’t had a chance to tell them about it. Since he couldn’t tell them, he obviously couldn’t get their permission.

As for Eli…

Esther glanced at his best friend, who was still lost in thought, and silently sped up his chewing again. Big Brother Eli was right there in front of him, holding his bowl—he hadn’t said no, so that meant yes!

A genius of sophistry was rising on the Endless Sea.

And he began to push his luck.

At first, Esther had merely stood across from Eli, but now he’d somehow slipped right beside him. After settling down next to his best friend on the crimson sofa, he leaned in softly and warmly, as if he had no bones, adopting a lopsided little seal pose as he continued to munch away.

There wasn’t a trace of awkwardness between them, just as it had been back in Helheim.

The little Holy Son was stiff all over, yet he couldn’t bear to let go of this warmth. Over the past few days, he had prayed countless times that if only El could pass his fever on to him. Because when he was a child, he had heard the family maid say that a fever was the seed of the devil, and if passed on to someone else, the sick person would be cured. He wished he could take El’s place in sickness, just as His Dragon Highness would have given his own life for his son.

Such tender moments were something Eliadeos had never dared to imagine after confiding in his best friend—but…

“You’re eating too much.” Before he knew it, half the bowl was gone, and Eliadeos could think of nothing else.

Though he cherished the closeness with El and felt deeply guilty toward his best friend, for the sake of the other’s health, he simply could not turn a blind eye—even if it might make El like him more, it was out of the question! His Highness the Holy Son was filled with a sense of tragic resolve, acutely aware of the weight of his responsibility.

But Esther simply burst into laughter, his golden eyes crinkling into crescent moons.

That’s more like it—that’s my big brother Eil!

Watching his best friend perk up and “return to normal,” Esther finally let out a deep sigh of relief. It would have been perfect if Big Brother Eil could just pull his hand out of the punch bowl.

“What are you doing here?” Eliadeos finally voiced his confusion, also trying to divert El’s attention away from the snacks. “Are you better now?”

It had to be said, this little curly-haired boy’s attention was incredibly easy to divert. Having had his fill of the treats, he obediently shook his head.

He wasn’t fully recovered yet, but he had much more energy than he did this morning. At least his fever had broken, and he could finally hear what Brother Eliadeos was saying clearly. However, the other’s first question left him a bit bewildered. In a voice that had become thick and slurred since he’d fallen ill, he said, “Didn’t we agree to go play with the humans together?”

Eliadeos: “…What exactly did Lord Nidhogg tell you? Do you remember?”

El nodded. Of course, he remembered—he had a great memory.

The little one held up one hand to represent himself and the other to represent his dragon dad. He even thoughtfully curled his right index finger and pinky together to represent his dad’s dragon horns. Then, he began to act it out vividly.

Daddy Dragon asked, “Do you want to take a boat with Eli right now, or wait until you’re better and fly to the Central Realm later?” The little one replied, “Of course, right now! I can’t wait to go out and play!”

Of course, it would also be fine to wait until he’s better and have Uncle Byron open a portal to teleport them directly. But the little boy is still growing, so such long-distance teleportation isn’t really suitable for him. At the very least, the dragon felt his son would be uncomfortable. Besides, Byron’s spatial gates can only open to places he’s been before. Just like when the Church of Light came to fetch the Holy Son, since they couldn’t land on the island and lacked precise spatial coordinates, they couldn’t use the teleportation array and had to come by ship instead.

“Anyway, I don’t want to wait a single moment longer.” Esther emphasized to his best friend with a serious expression, “Because I’ve never been out to play before. Even just sailing on the sea is part of playing.”

The orphanage had organized quite a few outings, but Esther had been sick on and off, missing many opportunities. And just before the botanical garden outing—the one he was most likely to attend—he fell completely ill and never saw the world beyond the sterile room again.

But it didn’t matter—now his dad was making it happen for him!

His dad was truly amazing! Just as amazing as he was!

Eliadeos gently guided his friend, repeating everything His Lordship the Dragon had said that morning. Combining that with what he’d learned from the Lich teacher, he finally pieced together the rough truth of the matter.

The dragon wasn’t planning to take his young one out to play; he was preparing to take him to attend school among the humans.

The Magic Academy under the jurisdiction of Sky Fortress had already been swiftly established, with its location set right next to the main campus. And the main campus of Sky Fortress was situated within the human territories of the Central Realm.

If Nidhogg wanted his son to attend the academy at Sky Fortress, naturally, the two of them would have to travel to the human realm together.

However, the Dragon Clan had solemnly pledged to the outside world that they would never be the first to deploy such a heavyweight “weapon” as an Ancient Dragon. Without a special reason, it would be very difficult for Nidhogg to enter human territory without cause.

Of course, if he insisted on going, no one could stop him.

But after all, he was no longer a lone dragon; he was going to accompany his child to school, not to wage war against the human race.

The headmaster of Skycastle, Hypatia, is a textbook example of a human.

So, Elder Byron came up with a plan for Nidhogg: to have him serve as the Dragon Clan’s ambassador, stationed permanently in the Central Realm.

In Faires, most races maintain embassies with resident envoys who are fully responsible for relations between the two sides. Even the Dragons and the Elves, who are such bitter enemies, maintain embassies in each other’s capitals. Though the role of these embassies has largely been reduced to lodging protests and exchanging insults.

It goes without saying that ordinary humans couldn’t handle an ambassador like an Ancient Dragon. Is this person here to foster peace, or is he preparing to conquer from within by force?

Getting the humans to accept this wasn’t easy.

However, the Church of Light—due to Nidhogg’s earlier alignment in Valhalla—has already made it clear that it will not interfere with the Dragon Clan’s decision. Moreover, among the two major human factions, the Glorious Empire follows the Church of Light’s lead, while the Upper Pannia Federation… has just incurred a massive debt of gratitude to the Dragon Clan.

The outcome is predictable: Nidhogg is about to become the brand-new Dragon Clan ambassador.

Of course, things won’t happen that quickly.

The public school in Skycastle isn’t finished yet.

Esther’s presence on the Church of Light’s great ship is because his dragon father brought him there early to scout out a home near the school. Of course, it’s also a chance to take the child on a tour of the human settlements in the Central Realm to see if he can adapt to human life.

From the dragons’ perspective, humans are truly a strange species in every way.

Nidhogg is very afraid his son won’t be able to adapt. If it really doesn’t work out, then he…

“Find your son a new school?” the old fossil interjected.

“Of course, I’d suggest to Principal Hypatia that she build the public school on Dragon Island.” If a verbal suggestion didn’t work, he’d probably have to resort to a physical one. The ancient dragon’s politeness was limited to always adding the honorific “Principal” before the other person’s name.

In other words, while Eliadeos was still eagerly waiting for his friends to come see him one last time, his friends had actually already been whisked away by his dragon father onto the Church of Light’s great ship.

This ship was so comfortable. Esther fell in love with it instantly, but then his dad said something like, “Savvy is right. Sooner or later, you’ll have to get used to us being apart all day while you’re at school. Since the ship is out at sea right now, looking just like a deserted island, why not take this opportunity to get a head start on getting used to being a little bit apart?” And then he left.

Esther didn’t know if his dad had adjusted yet, but he certainly had—after all, that’s how it was in Helheim, where he had to be apart from his dad every other day. He’d adjusted just fine! He stood there proudly, hands on his hips.

Dad Dragon was adapting pretty well, too. At first, he’d just retreated to the next room, but after Eliadeos accidentally wandered into their room (the protective barrier set up by the dragon allowed Lich and Eli to enter), he began trying out a “separation” over a greater distance.

For instance, while his son was in his room on the top deck of the ship, he was in the third-floor reception hall, exchanging pleasantries with Lucius, the Holy Son of the Church of Light, in his capacity as the Dragon Ambassador.

To be honest, aside from being a bit boring, this job is passable enough.

Lich Savvy: So you’re not bored? I’m the one who had to do all the talking with Job! Do you have any idea how clueless and annoying the Church of Light people are?!?!

These extreme fanatics of the Light faction are truly hostile toward creatures of the Dark side. At the very least, the way the people on Saint Lucius’s side look at Lich Savvy is as if he were some blasphemous trash—and, of course, they look at Job the same way.

Yes, Job and his giant friend Dominic are also on this Church of Light ship, because Young Master Job has received the treatment reserved for the immediate family of every Saintess and Holy Son—becoming their first-generation attendant.

Given that the Saintess and the Holy Son were found by the Church at such a young age, and that most of them did not come from distinguished backgrounds in this random selection process, this arrangement greatly alleviates the pain of separation from their loved ones and resolves the dilemma of having no trustworthy aides by their side. Much like the court ladies attending a queen, this was not an insult, but rather an honor reserved exclusively for the daughters of nobility.

These attendants served more as personal advisors, assistants, and secretaries to the Holy Maiden and Holy Son; at times, they could even offer a degree of counsel regarding Church policy. Especially when the Holy Maiden and Holy Son were still young, the attendants held even greater authority.

Those loyal to Prince Lucius could never look favorably upon those aligned with Prince Eli.

Job’s temperament was actually ill-suited for this position, but given his older brother’s beastly and greedy nature, no matter how unsuitable he might be, Job had no choice but to step up to the plate.

When his young nephew boarded the ship, he was accompanying the dragon on behalf of the Church of Light. This was because, after surveying the entire Church of Light, Nidhogg had chosen him—and him alone.

This nearly made Cardinal Rowen, who served the Holy Son Lucius, grind his back molars to dust.

Cardinal Rowen was the Holy Son Lucius’s uncle, a man who had risen from the rank of a lowly chamberlain all the way to the position of cardinal.

Job had already heard of Cardinal Rowen’s reputation back in the Glorious Empire.

Cardinal Rowen had also heard of Job, but he didn’t think much of this spoiled brat. He merely intended to use him to find dirt on the Holy Son Eli, hoping to crush his nephew’s formidable rival in the cradle. Along the way, he had set countless traps for Job—both overt and covert—all to provoke his anger and humiliation, hoping to drive him to complain to the Holy Son, Eli.

Even during this reception for the Holy Son, Eli, he had arranged a “prime” spot for him, convinced that a spoiled heir like Job would surely be enraged.

In the end, this playboy whom Bishop Rowen looked down upon so deeply was personally selected by the Ancient Dragon to serve as an attendant, stealing the show.

But how could this be?

Unlike Saint Lucius, who had revised his opinion of Saint Eli due to the Divine Fire of the Tower of Babel, Bishop Rowen could not allow anyone to threaten his family’s standing within the Holy See. If they couldn’t crush the Holy Son Eli from the very beginning, they would eventually have to share power with a mere child within the Holy See—on what grounds?!

Bishop Rowen was frantic with anxiety and began to consider: since he couldn’t strike at Job, what about the Lich Savvy? Who didn’t know how much the Church of Light despised the forces of darkness?

It was at that very moment that a surge of overwhelming dark magic emanated from the suite on the top deck of the great ship—the direction of the room where the dragon father and son, along with the two Holy Sons, were staying.

Nidhogg and Holy Son Lucius sprang to their feet. In their minds, this signaled danger—or perhaps an intruder. Regardless, rescuing the child was the top priority!

Bishop Rowen’s eyes, however, lit up instantly. It was as if his wish had come true. If the Holy Son Eli could simply die, that would be ideal. If not, how could he link this dark magic to the Holy Son Eli? The Church of Light would never tolerate darkness!

Only the Lich Savvy and Job exchanged a subtle, knowing glance.

Job: Is it Eli?

Lich: Nine times out of ten.

Lich Savvy was all too familiar with the dark power within his disciple—a force nearly equal to the power of light. Even though he had already sealed and suppressed it, the truth was, if this power were that easy to contain, it wouldn’t have caused the Old Duke of Ponce de Leon such a headache, forcing him to keep his grandson by his side and care for him personally all this time.

At that moment, Eliadeos didn’t actually know what was happening. He only felt that he had finally opened up to El, that they were still good friends—and he was truly, truly happy. Then that familiar power, which had once caused him no end of trouble, began surging through his veins once more, triggering a violent transformation.

The more he tried to suppress it with the power of light, the faster it backfired. Eventually, he felt his skin growing scorching hot, and it seemed as though the shrill screams of the Sirens of the River of Oaths were ringing in his ears. The dark power within him—which his Lich mentor had barely managed to suppress—erupted completely.

That “light-goddess-illuminated” radiant gold turned black at the roots at a visible speed, as if someone had splashed a large amount of ink onto it. Darkness swiftly devoured the light, soon spreading everywhere and taking root within him.

“Eli?”

Upon hearing his best friend’s gasp, the young Saint’s instinctive first reaction was to cover his hideous appearance. He’d had this quirk since childhood; his grandfather had tried every possible method to eradicate it but failed, and could only struggle to protect this secret—his eldest grandson—from the Glorious Empire.

Instead, he heard Esther say with delight, “It’s black hair, just like Daddy’s!”

He had always loved black hair and black eyes, because that’s how he used to look. He didn’t know why, once he arrived in this world, his appearance had changed to match the colors of his game character. Fortunately, his facial features were modeled after his original appearance; otherwise, the little boy would have been even more upset. He was so, so pleased with his appearance.

Hearing Esther’s genuine admiration, Eli felt a bit dazed. He asked uncertainly, “D-do you really like it?”

Esther nodded vigorously. “Of course! I want to dye my hair black too!”

Then, the bold and daring little boy pulled a bunch of random stuff out of the game storage, including several buckets of black paint. Don’t ask where the paint came from—in the storage of a “slow-paced life” player, you can find all sorts of “junk.” And Esther, in his previous life, was exactly that kind of hoarder-type “slow-paced life” player.

When the Ancient Dragon burst into the room with the force of a whirlwind to check on his son’s safety, what he found was a child who had previously been too frail and sick to care for himself, yet was now full of energy, busy painting the entire world black.

Or rather, he had already finished.

His own dye job was a bit of a mess, but the one he did for his friend was quite professional; the little Saint’s jet-black hair looked just like satin. The two of them weren’t just dyed on their heads—their hands, feet, and bodies were covered in it, making them look like two chocolate pies.

The “chocolate pies” sat there on the woolen carpet, which had once been white but was now mottled and worn. It must have been white, Nidhogg thought uncertainly; he only remembered that it felt soft and comfortable, perfectly in line with the Church of Light’s consistent image of extravagance—always choosing only the most expensive.

Besides the black smudges, all sorts of random items were scattered across the floor—clearly the handiwork of little Esther after rummaging through his spatial pouch.

With the crisis averted, the Holy Son Lucius was left with only the polite, insincere courtesy a proper guest owes to a host: “It’s a good thing the child is lively; please don’t…” Please don’t be angry with him over this.

Before Lucius could finish his sentence, the Ancient Dragon happily stepped forward and scooped up his son. His son had finally perked up—how delightful!

━━ 🐈‍⬛ ━━

Author’s Note:

Ai Ai: I want to dye this thing black!

Lucio: You call this lawlessness “lively”?

Savvy: I thought Nidhogg would be relieved that his son was okay. I underestimated this wild dragon’s way of thinking.