Chapter 47: Sky Throne (part three)
I saw Auguste hugged by the Queen in the distance.
The people around them were watching the happy family with moist eyes.
I was also stroking my chest in relief.
Auguste seemed to have fully acquired the ability to connect with the dragons.
And everyone even recognized his ability without a hitch.
In the corner of my heart, I felt a bit of a bad feeling.
Perhaps because I was over-exposed to life-threatening danger many times, I might become hypersensitive.
But still, it was probably safe to say that it was over.
“Auguste will be fine even if you don’t help him anymore.”
『Yes, he is as excellent as I thought. We both narrowly escaped from death.』
The kitten on her shoulder—Palug answered her in a loud voice.
It seemed that the appearance of a kitten was the most power-efficient.
Due to the battle in the burial chamber, the power that Palug had stored was exhausted entirely.
What kept her alive was the power gained from a drop of blood that she ingested during her contract with me.
Through economising her power, somehow she was able to keep her form without dying.
Therefore, the current Palug could only exercise as much power as a kitten.
Palug stretched out her forelegs languidly on top of my shoulder.
Although she was exhausted, her expression as she was looking at Auguste seemed somewhat satisfied.
“After all, what did Auguste lack?”
『It is unlucky that child has too much talent. Sparrows can teach the child of a sparrow how to fly, but they cannot teach the child of an eagle.』
Palug shrugged her shoulders in her kitten form.
Summarizing her words, it was something like this.
Auguste’s ability to perceive was too strong.
Toward his might, the dragons who was perceived by his power were scared.
The fear of the dragons flowed back to Auguste and was further amplified in conjunction with his own anxiety.
This vicious circle obstructed his telepathy with the dragons.
The only exception was the dedicated dragons that had been influenced by his power since they were eggs.
So it seemed that Palug initially thought of waiting for them to hatch.
But the only one who hatched was the small dragon Goldberry.
The remaining two dragons that were supposed to be suitable for riding were still eggs.
It was a matter of time before Auguste tried to ride using a general purpose dragon.
The problem here was his too powerful telepathic ability.
Even if Palug advised him to moderate himself because he had too much talent, she didn’t know how much Auguste should weaken himself in practice.
Since only failures happened, Auguste began to doubt his own talent.
—Did Palug lie about his talent to comfort him out of kindness?
It wasn’t unreasonable for Auguste to think so.
Even if he asked someone or read historical literatures, he couldn’t find a case about someone with too much talent that had to weaken their telepathic power.
“Aah, that’s why he can ride the dragon that was spelled with Intoxication magic.”
『Correct. Although I didn’t expect that the fear would diminish if you make the dragon drunk and that he would be able to ride on the dragon.』
Palug pressed her cheek on my shoulder and stared at Auguste with a faraway look.
When she was doing such human-like behavior, she seemed mysterious.
『That child challenged the general purpose dragons many times like he usually did, I thought that he would eventually be worn out and came home. I was surprised when I saw his flying figure.』
“Huh? Then, that Cursed stirrup was not something Palug had prepared?”
『Of course not. If I knew that the dragon was wearing such dangerous thing, I would have stopped him before he went to the match in the first place.』
Certainly, it was as she said.
After all, it caused the runaway of his telepathic power, and it became a big incident involving all of the Island of Messenger.
『Actually, I didn’t want to fulfil that wish.』
“What do you mean?”
『In our contract as an angel, we cannot remove the possibility of failure. So in order to ensure that he could ride, I only had to weaken the power of that child.』
“You had to put your life on the line to supress it. Because his power is naturally strong.”
『Even if it is strong it is not impossible, but Auguste’s ability is a blessing. That is the proof that he is loved by God. I didn’t want to take away such a wonderful thing from that child.』
Palug gazed at Auguste and the people surrounding him as if the sight was dazzling.
『Erica Aurelia. I am grateful to you. Thanks to what you did, I am not afraid of failures, and I could bet on the potential of that child. I can’t believe that I can see such a nice sight while I am alive.』
“You’re welcome.”
Palug leaned against me and rubbed her fur on my cheek.
As expected, she was a former divine beast, she was soft and had nice fur.
Well, it didn’t feel bad.
I got involved in the circumstances of Auguste, but the results were all good.
“Ah, but, there is something I don’t get.”
『What is it?』
“I understand why he couldn’t ride on the dragons, but how did you change it so that he could?”
『Aah, speaking of which, I didn’t have time to explain that in detail. Well, how should I explain this?』
“Please tell me without putting on airs.”
『No. It’s not that, but……I only helped a little bit, I almost didn’t do anything.』
“……Eh? What do you mean?”
I thought that she used a miracle for that.
So I was following her instructions with confidence.
To me who was rigid with surprise, Palug gave a small smile back.
『In short, rather than weakening Auguste’s ability now, it was easier to weaken Auguste’s ability in the past.』
“Please explain it in a bit more detail.”
『If Auguste can learn how to adjust his power, there is no need to forcibly deprive him of his ability. I interfered with the oblivion principle at the time of re-contract, and planted a fake memory that his power was weak until he signed the contract with me.』
“Then, that really is not the power of the miracle?”
『Exactly. Because the power that we could also call a miracle is what that child already has originally. Afterwards, he only needs to use that power carefully by moderating it.』
I understood, but not really.
If so, was it like this?
Lied to a child who couldn’t ride a bicycle that ‘I will support you from behind’.
Then, gently released your hand from the bicycle carrier that had started running.
It was similar to that, but mixed together with supernatural ability, huh.
“What are you planning to do if you fail?”
『At that time, I was going to manage the situation using my whole being or the soul of my contractor.』
“You’re going to use my soul without permission in such a haphazard strategy?”
『Just be glad that it has been successful. When that silver dragon went out of control, I thought that it was over though.』
I narrowly escaped from my death again.
Without knowing, it seemed that several death flags had been avoided.
I shuddered when I imagined that Auguste failed somehow.
“What about the miracle?”
『I used it for the liberation from the constraints of my God who bound me.』
“Eh?”
『I am no longer a miracle-giving beast. I have stepped down from my role of fulfilling people’s wishes. There is no convenient contract beast anymore.』
I felt that Auguste turned towards me at the distance.
He was waving his hand my way.
I also waved my hand toward him.
“……Well, I guess you cannot make anyone forget from now on.”
『Oh well.』
“From now on since your power won’t be squeezed to realize the miracle, you wouldn’t weaken or disappear, right?”
『Yes. But I probably will not have such a long life. People’s faith for me is diluting.
“Is that okay?”
『Ufufufu. I would like to see the wedding ceremony of that child if I could, but I don’t know.』
“If you are so worried about him, it would have been nice if Palug married Auguste.”
I recalled her lines at the scene and teased her.
But the kitten shook her head.
I thought that Palug was obsessed with Auguste, but it seemed to be different.
『After all, no matter how much I love him, he is something like a son to me.』
At that time, Palug was trying to help Auguste even if she lost her own soul.
I guessed it was different from the feelings of a lover, more like the wish of a foster parent.
『If a mother bound her son and made him do something he didn’t want……wouldn’t that be a curse?』
“……Maybe so.”
『That child does not need me anymore. The wings of that child surely will be aimed toward the sky properly.』
“……Is that okay?”
『It’s fine. If I do not declare that it’s fine, I won’t be able to leave, right?』
I heard a voice calling me.
Auguste, the King, and the Queen were beckoning me over.
Behind the King, Otou-sama stood by himself unnoticed, looking at me with a severe expression.
Ah, oh no, I had a bad feeling about this.
It was dangerous, so I was told not to go out.
My expression stiffened.
When Auguste looked behind him in question, Otou-sama immediately made a smile.
He was definitely angry.
But that was fine.
If I was dead, I couldn’t be scolded.
Besides, until the state of the festive atmosphere surrounding Auguste settled down, the scolding seemed to be put on hold.
I exchanged looks with Palug and tried to head toward Auguste.
Apparently, everything seemed to finish safely—well, that was what I thought.
“This is stupid! What a terrible farce!”
A familiar cry sounded as if betraying my optimistic thoughts.
Pushing his way through the crowds of people was the figure of Louis Ode-Ignitia who had a red face in apparent fury and distress.
So, I thought that the fake memory planted in Auguste was the wish, but apparently not XD and when I was already boasting in the comment section of chapter 45 too. Sorry about that!
And there is an edit in chapter 32, so the thing that was cursed with Intoxication magic was a stirrup. I think I forgot to translate that bit so I added it in ><