For Sale. Fallen Lady. Never Used.

Thunk.

I quickly caught Iris before she could collapse.

“…Was it really that shocking?”

“Of course it was! Yandel, you might not fully understand, but both Iris and I have been stuck at the same level for a long time. Receiving a gift like this when you’ve been stagnant for so long can make you so happy that you feel like losing your mind!”

“I see.”

I glanced at Iris, who, even while passed out, was tightly clutching Fafnir’s magic book… well, the pile of papers that hadn’t even been properly bound yet.

Sure, she may seem like a child sometimes, but she’s far from being a true baby.

She can fall asleep immediately in a rocking chair and cheer up after just one plane ride, but still, Iris had spent most of her life pursuing the goal of becoming an Archmage.

After spirit magic was banned, she dedicated herself to elemental magic, hoping to restore the glory of her kind. She spent her life with that goal in mind, wanting to reach the pinnacle as a magician.

She also cared deeply for her student, Elisha, thinking that even if she couldn’t become an archmage herself, Elisha might be able to achieve it through elemental magic.

That’s why, when she heard that Elisha almost died, she tried to assign a spirit as a bodyguard, which led to her being discovered and becoming a slave.

Despite all that, Iris still looks upwards, aiming high.

So, receiving something like the complete magical works of a dragon was understandably overwhelming.

Not wanting her to lose them, I carefully bundled the stack of papers and stored them in my inventory. I handed the limp Iris over to Elisha.

Elisha, carrying Iris on her back, whispered softly.

“…Thank you.”

“Hey, I wouldn’t have understood the magic even if I read it, so I just passed it on for translation.”

“Even so, it’s true that this will be a great help to my teacher, isn’t it?”

“Hmm. If you insist. How about granting me a favor later in return?”

“What strange thing are you planning to ask…?”

Elisha shuddered, sensing something ominous, and I grinned at her.

“I’ll tell you later. After we finish this business.”

“This business… oh, right. After we gather what we need here, we’ll be heading to the palace.”

“Exactly. Everything seems fine, but we still need to stay sharp, just in case.”

After that, we continued looting the laboratory. Thanks to having glimpsed Fafnir’s memories, it wasn’t difficult or time-consuming.

I gathered all the rare materials and samples Fafnir had collected that we needed.

Even though a lot of it had been used up when Fafnir created my body, there was still so much left.

No wonder Fafnir’s lair was famous as a treasure vault.

The gold sleeping in my inventory right now must also have been left by Fafnir.

…Even now, it’s an enormous amount, and this is just what was left after buying all the materials?

Shaking my head in amazement, I stored a few experimental magical tools in my inventory.

Most of them were outdated models that had become obsolete over time, but some were unique creations or modifications by Fafnir, possessing special properties you wouldn’t find anywhere else. R

I also packed away his chimera research notes, written in journal form.

I wasn’t sure how useful they’d be, but if I gave them to Faye, she’d figure out something.

Once I had gathered everything I needed, only one task remained—dealing with the three hatchling corpses.

I didn’t have the skills or knowledge to process most parts of them at the moment, but there was one exception.

“Let’s eat the dragon hearts now. Thankfully, my brothers’ bodies have been perfectly preserved, so all we need to do is extract them.”

“Master? Isn’t it a bit crude to speak like that after calling them your brothers…?”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. I just asked them if they had any complaints, and they didn’t say anything. I got their permission, so there’s no problem.”

Carla gave me an incredulous look, but I stood by my words confidently.

After all, it’s not like the bodies were cremated or buried somewhere sunny. They were kept in a corner of the lab, preserved by magic.

It’s as if they were intentionally left behind, knowing I’d come to this lab one day. Or maybe not, who knows?

I shrugged my shoulders and pulled out one of the hatchlings from the coffin.

Now that I looked at it, the coffin was heavy, but the body itself wasn’t too bad. It was light enough that I could carry it in my arms.

The preservation was so perfect that it almost looked like it might move any moment, but… well, it wouldn’t really come back to life.

Feeling my mouth go dry, I swallowed before inspecting the body closely.

As the dragon heart was such a vital organ, it was shielded by several layers of scales, bones, and muscles.

There’s no way I could extract the heart cleanly without cutting through these protective layers. I’d have to slice it open.

However, even though it was just a hatchling, a dragon’s scales were tough, and my intermediate magic wouldn’t be enough to pierce them.

But if I used more powerful magic, I’d risk obliterating the entire body. This was one of those times when I wished I had a knight’s aura ability.

Though, with my Mana Affinity trait, I might be able to manage… but there was no need to struggle when I had another option.

“Professor Iona, could you make me a knife about the size of my finger with your blood magic?”

“Will this work?”

“It’s perfect.”

With Iona’s help—who could fight toe-to-toe with a knight—I used her blood-formed knife to cleanly cut through the scales and bones and extract the dragon heart.

After that, I sealed the incision and stored the body back in the coffin, which I then put in my inventory.

Now that everything had been gathered from Fafnir’s lair, it seemed like I was done here.

That being said, this whole “inventory” thing… I accepted it as natural due to my memories of H&A being a game, but in reality, it was such an absurdly convenient feature.

However, for Fafnir, who absorbed and reinterpreted the magic of the Dragon Council, it was probably something he could pull off.

If Iris also mastered the magic Fafnir left behind, would she be able to do something similar?

I couldn’t help but laugh as I imagined Iris smugly pulling out a rocking chair from thin air.

Still chuckling, I tapped Iris’s back, who was still on Elisha’s back.

“Iris. Wake up.”

“Mmm…”

“I said, wake up.”

“Mmmmm…?”

Iris rubbed her sleepy eyes as she woke up, looking around with a dazed expression. Then, in a slightly sullen voice, she spoke.

“Master.”

“Yeah?”

“I was having a good dream.”

“Should I have let you sleep longer?”

“That’s not it. It’s just… in the dream, I saw the culmination of all the magic left behind by the dragon race. I held it in my hands. But it was just a dream, after all.”

“???”

Did she forget everything during that brief moment of fainting?

Iris opened and closed her hand with a forlorn expression, as if grasping at air. It looked like she was doing the “jam-jam” motion a baby would make.

Elisha, who had been carrying Iris quietly, suddenly whipped her head around. From the way her body trembled, it seemed like she was desperately trying to hold back laughter.

Of course, I had no reason to hold back, so I burst out laughing. Iris pouted and grumbled at my reaction.

“Master, even if it’s a ridiculous story, there’s no need to laugh like that.”

“You mean the collection of magic from 100 ancient dragons?”

“I know. That sort of thing only exists in dreams…”

“Oh, you mean this?”

I pulled out Fafnir’s magic book from my inventory, and it was as if time had stopped for Iris. She froze completely.

Her fidgeting hands stiffened mid-motion, so I gently unfolded her fingers and placed the magic book back in her hands.

“Try not to faint this time.”

“O-Okay!”

Iris barely managed to nod, her movements stiff and awkward.

After making sure Elisha carefully lowered Iris to the ground, I scanned the surroundings.

Good. There’s nothing here that would interfere. I felt the small, smooth object in my hand and spoke.

“Carla, Elisha, and Iris, you’ll each take one of the dragon hearts.”

“Huh?”

Iris, who had just regained her ability to move, immediately froze again. Elisha sighed next to her.

Carla, clearly puzzled by my decision, raised her hand with a curious expression.

“Um, Master? I understand sharing the hearts with others since there are three of them, but why aren’t you taking one for yourself?”

“It won’t have much effect on me.”

I had already consumed a piece of a dragon heart and gained a lot from it, plus my magic stat was already at 27, thanks to the system’s rewards.

Eating the dragon hearts of hatchlings now wouldn’t lead to any dramatic changes for me.

“But it’ll be different for you all.”

Since Carla had mastered the Lintblum Breathing Technique, she might gain something special from the dragon heart, just like I did.

Elisha, who had recently advanced to an intermediate mage, could use it to fill her somewhat lacking mana reserves.

As for Iris, combined with Fafnir’s magic book, this could be the key to breaking through the stagnation in her progress.

After my explanation, Iona raised her hand enthusiastically, bouncing on the spot as she asked,

“What about me? What about me? Yandel, are you really leaving this poor Professor Iona out?!”

“No way! But there are only three hearts, so what can I do? Besides, can’t you just drink my blood instead, Professor Iona?”

“Huh?”

“When I use Dragonification, my mana will become denser, so you’ll absorb more. How about that instead of a dragon heart?”

Iona’s face turned bright red as she stammered, seemingly flustered by the rather vampiric—and somewhat romantic—implication of my words.

Carla, watching the scene, suddenly exclaimed with a look of realization.

“Master! I’ll take you instead of a dragon heart!”

“Nope. You’re not a vampire. What would you even gain from drinking my blood?”

“Hmph….”

Carla’s shoulders slumped in defeat.

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