The Hero Becomes the Duke’s Eldest Son

Chapter 119

It was extremely difficult for humans to create something intricate all at once.

That was why human craftsmanship was considered the best and the royal road, achieved by investing time and refining bit by bit.

‘But that’s from a human perspective.’

The dwarves tempered materials quickly and swiftly using the most reliable methods.

Thus, creating without damaging the materials was the highest form of dwarven aesthetics.

This wasn’t limited to just blacksmithing.

“Wow!”

Elise, who had come to the development site of the Frozen Autonomous Territory riding Choco with Aden, exclaimed with shining eyes.

“The houses are going up so quickly! It’s amazing!”

– Woof!

“Indeed. Is that the dwarves’ architectural technique?”

Aden was inwardly impressed by the scene before him, just as much as Elise was.

About two weeks had passed since the Stoneheim Golem incident ended.

The dwarves of Stoneheim were building the city necessary for the development of the mines and the autonomous territory.

Dwarves were busily moving about here and there.

“Alright! Let’s build an inn here! About three stories high!”

“Got it!”

Boom!

A dwarf took out a large hammer and struck the ground with it.

Crash!

The ground cracked, and a wave with a strange pattern resembling a magic circle spread out.

Then, along the wave, brownish elemental energy spread.

“Assalamualaikum!”

When the dwarf chanted a peculiar spell, an astonishing event occurred.

Rumble!

With a loud noise, the surrounding earth, stones, and sand began to clump together and grow as if bamboo shoots were sprouting.

Walls were raised, and a roof appeared, soon forming a simple but decent three-story gray building.

It was a scene like magic.

‘This must be the dwarves’ unique architectural technique, Spirit Construction.’

Aden had only heard about it, but this was his first time seeing it in person.

By borrowing the power of the earth spirit, they changed the properties of the surrounding soil and molded it into the shape of a house.

The material, thanks to the spirit’s power, became highly adhesive, dried quickly, and was harder than most stones, ensuring its stability.

What would have taken humans at least two weeks was completed in just a few minutes.

All over the designated city site, dwarven builders were ‘growing’ houses in this manner.

Thus, the city had already taken some form.

‘A mine isn’t just about having miners.’

People who made food and drink for the miners, those who transported necessary materials, those who traded mana stones, and even those who attracted customers to them were all necessary.

When a mine was discovered, various people naturally gathered for its development, and a city formed as a natural sequence of events.

For this reason, Aden had begun constructing a city with sufficient capacity in advance to prevent future problems.

‘The mine development is also progressing well.’

True to their nature of living in harmony with the earth, the dwarves had already established the framework of the mine.

At this rate, they would start mining mana stones within a few days.

Recruiting the dwarves had indeed been a wise decision.

“Hehe, Aden oppa! They’re building my shrine over there!”

Elise giggled with a contented smile, as if just looking at it made her full.

On one side of the growing city, a shrine was being built.

But it was a ‘girlish’ shrine decorated with cute and quaint ornaments.

It was the ‘Frozen Branch Shrine of the Sacred Fire Order,’ designated as the property of the little saint, Elise.

Although it was called a shrine, its operation and management were handled by a priest dispatched from the Syres branch, making it practically a villa for Elise.

Elise was overjoyed, thrilled that she now had her own hideout.

‘Anyway, all the land here is ours, so if the kid likes it, that’s fine.’

Moreover, though it was referred to as Elise’s villa, it was also Aden’s villa.

Having an extra building was necessary.

Aden and Elise rode Choco to a site on the outskirts of the city, where the dark magic purification work was in full swing.

There, dozens of people in black robes with their faces covered were absorbing the lingering evil energy and dark magic left by the Winter Queen.

They were warlocks from the Florence’s Flame branch, sent by Niketa to purify the Frozen region.

‘It’s more useful than I thought, having obtained the relic of the Lord of the Sacred Fire.’

Thanks to being branded as an apostle of the legendary Sacred Fire, the Sacred Fire Order’s trust in him was unparalleled within the Order.

‘Because of that, they firmly believe me when I say those warlocks are experts in handling dark magic.’

Rather, they exclaimed, “Oh! To know such great people, as expected of the Sacred Fire’s apostle!” and were in awe.

After all, he was an apostle of the god they served, a successor of the god.

In other words, Aden’s words were almost as good as the words of the god.

‘Judging by their reaction, it might be okay to reveal their true identity later.’

Even if he said, “Actually, those guys are warlocks,”…

“Oh! The great apostle of the Lord of the Sacred Fire has even reformed the evil and wicked warlocks onto a righteous path!”

“As expected of the Sacred Fire’s apostle!”

“Hail to the Sacred Fire’s apostle, Aden Remes!”

He could vividly imagine them praising and cheering.

Curse asked, sounding somewhat incredulous.

-…It feels strangely corrupt, but is that order really okay?

‘What does it matter? As long as they’re useful to me.’

However, since not everyone in the world was part of the Sacred Fire Order, it was too early to reveal their identity.

Anyway, Niketa’s subordinate warlocks were diligently absorbing and purifying the dark energy of the land.

‘Hard to believe, but according to Niketa, dark magic originally emerged to purify lands tainted by dark energy.’

Over hundreds of years, its essence had blurred, twisted, and deteriorated, but the warlocks of Florence’s Flame, who remembered the essence of dark magic, practiced it in its original form.

The purification of dark energy.

Thanks to them, the polluted lands, tainted by dark energy, were quickly returning to their original state.

It was quite amusing to see them crawling around like cockroaches with their noses to the ground, as if they were searching for gold dust.

“Alright, alright! Don’t miss a single speck, gather it all up!”

“Wow! Such high-purity dark energy!”

“This is a gold mine! A gold mine!”

“Move aside! I’m going to gather the most!”

“Let’s bet on who can gather the most!”

“The loser buys dinner tonight, hahaha!”

Aden couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight of them.

‘They’re completely playing around.’

The warlocks of Florence’s Flame had to purify this vast land, which was no ordinary hard labor.

Even so, they looked excited and joyful, as if they were on a fun outing.

And it made sense.

They were dealing with the dark energy left by the Banshee Queen, the Winter Queen, a disaster-level spirit that had lingered for hundreds of years.

From their perspective, the land scattered with such rare and pure dark energy was a feast.

Owning such high-purity dark energy meant their dark magic would become more powerful.

‘This is quite an odd feeling.’

-What do you mean, Dragon Slayer King?

‘Well, all those guys had their heads cut off by me once.’

-…?

The empire’s proclamation to eradicate warlocks targeted both radicals and moderates.

From the empire’s perspective, all warlocks, regardless of faction, were rebels wishing for the empire’s downfall.

Naturally, Aden, who had been commissioned by the imperial family to participate in the subjugation, also eradicated warlock forces.

He had killed so many that he didn’t remember their faces, but surely, these warlocks had also died by his hands.

‘At that time, it was a commission, and I considered all warlocks to be evil and pests, so I had no qualms.’

But seeing them now, crawling around the ground like beggars, picking up dark energy like scrap, he felt none of those thoughts.

Some would occasionally find clumps of even higher purity dark energy and beam with pride, while others watched with admiration and light-hearted jealousy.

They looked like nothing more than ordinary ‘people,’ and that fact gave Aden a peculiar feeling.

“A city of warlocks, Necropolis…”

When he spoke to Niketa, it was just to motivate her, but now Aden was genuinely curious.

* * *

After finishing his patrol and returning to the main temple of Syres, Aden decided to address something he had been postponing.

‘The black beast egg obtained from the Sacred Fire Order.’

Today, Aden decided to hatch the egg.

‘Honestly, dealing with Sylbeta was easy.’

He wasn’t a Grand Duke or even a high-level Sword Master yet.

Moreover, due to his futile stubbornness, Sylbeta had nearly self-destructed.

‘But the remaining three are different.’

They already had similar skills and forces, not ten years in the future, but now.

Therefore, even with his current Master-level body, he couldn’t guarantee victory.

Thus, he needed even more power.

Of course, Aden currently had the mythical summon beast, the Phoenix King Pyrones.

‘But its fuel efficiency is terrible.’

It consumed too much mana.

It was difficult to use in actual combat unless it was a crucial moment.

Aden frowned.

‘I miss the dragon’s mana.’

In his previous life, with mana that flowed endlessly like a fountain, he had slain the gigantic Talos with that vast sea of mana.

If he had that dragon’s mana, he could have summoned Pyrones in its true form all day long.

He couldn’t help but long for that power.

But discussing mana and power that no longer existed was as meaningless as anything else.

For that reason, Aden had decided to acquire additional forces that he could use now.

‘The abilities of a summoned beast are versatile and easy to use.’

Previously, when he had tried to hatch it, he failed due to the insufficient quantity and quality of his aura.

But now, having reached the level of a superhuman, Aden instinctively knew the result would be different.

Aden focused on the black egg in front of him.

‘A summoned beast’s egg that couldn’t hatch with the aura of a Semi-Master.’

This meant it required at least the aura of a Master-level or higher.

While he didn’t know how extraordinary this summoned beast’s egg was, it was clear it wouldn’t be ordinary.

Aden reached out and infused aura into the black summoned beast’s egg.

– The summoned beast’s egg is absorbing the user’s aura.

– If the infusion of aura stops before the egg is fully hatched, the hatching process will be halted.

– If you wish for the egg to hatch, continue to infuse aura.

The egg greedily devoured Aden’s aura as it received it.

The first five minutes were uneventful.

But as five minutes turned to ten, and then from thirty minutes to an hour, sweat began to bead on Aden’s forehead.

– What kind of pig-like egg is this, Dragon Slayer King?

‘Damn, it’s consuming so much.’

The egg had already devoured most of Aden’s aura, yet it continued to absorb more as if it still wasn’t satisfied.

“Fine, let’s see this through to the end.”

By now, Aden’s stubbornness had kicked in.

Boom!

Aden decided to pour all the aura he had into the egg.

It was a formidable amount of aura, befitting a Sword Master who had reached the superhuman level.

Even so, the egg absorbed it effortlessly, almost as if it was delighted.

Eventually, when Aden had nearly exhausted all his aura…

– The summoned beast’s egg craves another type of energy from the user.

A system message appeared.

‘Another type of energy from me…?’

What other energy did he have besides aura?

‘Could it be?’

An idea flashed through Aden’s mind.

And naturally, realizing what the egg wanted, Aden subconsciously ‘allowed’ it.

– The summoned beast’s egg is absorbing ‘dark energy.’

Whoosh!

The dark energy from the Demon Stone, which had merged with the Blood Jewel, was released and swiftly drawn into the egg.

– The necessary energy has been fulfilled.

– The summoned beast’s egg is hatching.

Crack!

Then, the egg, having absorbed both aura and dark energy, began to crack on the surface.

Whoosh!

Finally, the egg broke open, and a bright light emanated from within.

‘At last!’

Despite the blinding light, Aden was curious about what kind of summoned beast had emerged.

Soon, the light faded, revealing the form of the summoned beast.

Short, stubby legs, black scales that shimmered like obsidian.

Small membranous wings resembling those of a bat, and a plump tail…

– Kyuu…?

The summoned beast that emerged from the egg looked up at Aden with innocent amber eyes.

“…”

Aden fell silent for a moment, his expression blank.

It took a while before he finally spoke.

“Hey, Curse.”

– What is it, Dragon Slayer King?

“Do newborn dragons have inner cores?”

– …Please, give it a rest.

– Kyu!

The creature that hatched from the egg was in the form of a black dragon.