Became a Hatchling of the Grand Duke of the North

27 – Beasts (3)

[Sorry, Lucia.]

At that moment, someone appeared in front of the two of them.

[Sir Esrade has circumstances for the time being, so he won’t be able to look at your swordsmanship.]

[Mother? Oh no. Lord.]

The one who showed up was none other than Grand Duke Lucrecia.

[Key?]

In that familiar voice.

As long as he opened the book and devoted himself to reading, he also raised his head.

Only after hearing that sound, Lucrezia’s gaze, which belatedly noticed Han’s existence, stopped as if it had stopped for a moment.

[Su, Guardian Dragon. You were reading… A book.]

The moment our eyes met.

It was only for a moment, but for some reason, her cold eyes seemed to have lost their power.

Is it an illusion? Probably.

‘My Lucrezia can’t be like that.’

As Han looked down at herself with her cold eyes, she gave her short ‘kie ii’ as her reply.

Her wagging tail also expressed her delight in her.

[Heh, hehehe.]

There was no answer.

Instead, she just awkwardly turned her head away.

But that was enough.

As much as the size of the joy that shimmers when the guardian dragon Han faces his contractors, Lucia and Lucrecia.

Because I could clearly feel that they were clearly sending their feelings toward me.

Lucrezia wasn’t wearing the refined robes she always had, but she was wearing something a little different.

Heavy fur hat and coat. On top of that, a large sword as large as her height, visible behind her back.

It was a costume that matched surprisingly well with her somehow ruthless image.

It’s like an image of a cold woman in a snowy white mountain.

Because Han, flapping his wings, flew through the sky.

She slipped up onto her shoulder.

Lick.

He licked Lucrezia’s cheek without anyone saying anything.

[Oh!]

[Ugh, uhm…]

[Are you okay? Archduke!]

A startled Yone shouted, but she replied as if nothing had happened.

[…It’s okay. Don’t make a fuss, Yone.]

[Sorry, sorry!]

It seemed that her cheeks turned red for an instant, but that sign quickly disappeared.

[Please come down, Guardian Dragon.]

Instead, Lucrezia gently lifted her from Han’s arms and put her down on the floor again.

[Key?]

It’s the first time this has happened, so let her Han stare at her as if she’s puzzled.

As if feeling remorse, she turned her head away.

[…Sorry. I don’t have time to deal with you right now. I have something to go outside.]

External? Are you talking outside?

But as much as Han had doubts, Lucia seemed to be equally curious.

[Holy Head, did you say you had something to do outside?]

[…Yes, Lucia. I have an urgent need to go to the polar barrier.]

At those words, Lucia showed a visibly taken aback look.

[Ha, but I’ve never heard anything like that?]

[Yes. I guess so. At least I also heard the news last evening.]

[No matter how much it is, to say that you are going to the polar region one day after receiving the news… Ho, maybe…]

[Yes. As you think.]

Lucia expressed concern, but Lucrezia nodded as if her guess was correct.

She answered, touching the thick glove on her own hand as if to recheck her.

[It is said that there is something wrong with a part of the barrier. If I leave it alone, demons will definitely come out. They have a risk that cannot be compared to that of a single monster, so there is no time to delay.]

[…!]

At that sound, Han also raised his eyes slightly.

Devil.

That was definitely a name Han had heard in his previous life. It was an unknown name.

Infecting the surrounding environment and monsters with demonia and darkness, making them into their own legions and even turning parts of the ground into demons.

Because its existence itself was nothing short of a negative catastrophe to the world.

But in this region, could it be that even such dangerous things live?

For a moment, Han felt himself running down his spine.

The pleasure of meeting Lucrecia, his tail, which was standing tall and strong, drooped down.

‘I-I thought dragons were the strongest, but maybe not?’

Speaking of demons, they are one of the highest-ranking dangerous creatures that are considered the disaster of disasters.

The moment they heard the news of their appearance, they were dangerous enough to make the entire country nervous.

Actually someday.

Han witnessed in real-time the situation after the descending sunlight that illuminated the world from his previous life, the highest-ranking holy beast, and Phoenix confronted the demon that descended.

‘At the time, I saw in a video that some of Phoenix’s tail hair was discolored as if it had been scorched.’

Scientists assumed at the time that the phenomenon was probably part of an ‘contagion’ phenomenon.

Just as demons dye other monsters and the ground with their colors, Fenix must have been affected by it as well.

If it didn’t stop there and the contagion spread further, it was said that Fenix would become a completely black monster like other monsters.

After the sinking sun, Fenix was able to escape the black contagion only after devoting himself to long sleep for two years.

Devils, with such a dangerous contagious power, are no different from existence.

The devil is a high-risk creature that is equivalent to holy water.

By the way, aren’t those things said to be in the North?

‘But he still lives here?’

Han pondered for a while, wondering if he really should get out of here.

If such creatures exist in this land, at least a fully grown dragon, as long as they are hatchlings, they will die on the spot as soon as they are noticed.

It is best to stay away from this unconditionally.

He had even heard Lucrezia talking about the Northern Barrier a few times.

Because he already knew about its existence.

At this point, I was curious.

‘What’s inside the barrier that causes those things to pop out?’

But while Han continued his thoughts, their conversation continued.

[Anyway, Lucia. Make sure you never step out of the castle. I’ll leave Chief Garcion at the castle just in case, but just in case.]

[Ha, but… Wouldn’t it be more helpful to have the head butler Garcion?]

[…]

Lucrecia did not respond to Lucia’s worried words.

She definitely did what she said.

Even though Chief Garcion is retired, he was once famous as the Empire’s sword master.

But she glanced at the guardian dragon Han and added one last thing.

[Isn’t it the grand duke who is also staying with the Guardian Dragon? Without the butler, it is certain that you will be in trouble in one situation.]

With that said, she turned around.

[Therefore, make sure you protect the guardian dragon so that you don’t get lonely, Lucia.]

* * * *

Lucia and Han looked outside through the window.

The troops lined up in front of Arctus Castle.

It was as if a war had been committed.

The number of soldiers and knights listed was dozens.

From what I’ve heard, most of the combat troops waiting in the castle were called out. It was also said that almost all of the knights’ power was put into full force.

[…]

Duke Lucrecia looked up at the window where Lucia and the guardian dragon Han were standing for a while.

‘Lucrecia!’

As soon as her eyes met her, her tail inadvertently began to creep up again.

Archduke Lucrezia soon turned around and led his troops away from the line.

* * * *

Whee Oh Oh.

A certain polar region in the north where wild snow is raging.

There was a huge, gigantic creature that dragged the corpse of a Troll.

[Kururu-.]

With a body no more than the size of a human being, ‘that being’ was dragging a huge troll with one hand, much taller than himself, while walking aimlessly, as if it wasn’t hard at all.

It doesn’t seem like a long time has passed since the troll died.

Drips of his blood that hadn’t frozen yet dripped like water and fell onto the snow-covered ground.

Instantly, his pupils, black without whites, lifted up and headed toward the distant horizon.

A private house could be seen in the distance. It was a small town.

Even in remote areas in the northern part of the country, people were bound to live.

The population is small, but they are also one of the districts that belong to one small estate.

In the north, there were countless such small estates.

This is one of the characteristics that can only be found in this place where there is very little traffic between each other.

[Kurrure.]

The ‘Noob’, who had been grunting for a while and glaring at it.

I soon started to move my feet towards that place.

The snow under his feet as he passed by began to darken.

Like a contagious plague.