Manowa: Intermission 8

 Intermission 8 - A Certain Man's Distress


Jiraid Barnes was greatly perplexed by the reality before his eyes.

The Tsuvara Kingdom's coronation ceremony, which Jiraid came to as a proxy for Archduke Rynox of Hyvern Dukedom, was over. And after that, he had a reunion after a long time with the family members who had similarly come for the ceremony.

However, unknown to Jiraid at that time, the number of those family members had increased.


「Shippuu, this guy is your older brother Jiraid. He has some fastidious parts, but he's an older brother of fine character. You should diligently follow his example.」

「Naa.」

After Jinrai's words, the big cat made a cry. Jiraid understood that his name seemed to be Shippuu. And as far as he could see from looking at Jinrai, he didn't seem to be joking. Although, this was a world where beastkin and dragons existed. Such a relationship was rare, but not nonexistent... Jiraid knew that much.

「Jiraid, Shippuu here is your younger brother. He has only just been born, so he still lacks experience in certain things, but as his older brother, help him avoid embarrassing himself due to that.」

「Ah, yes. Father, um...」

As Jiraid was at a loss, Shippuu also began scratching his head with his forefoot.

「Oh my, Uncle Shippuu, are you shy?」

「Naago.」

His daughter Emily seemed to be on good terms with Shippuu already. She was hugging Shippuu. Then, as if he was asking for help, Jiraid looked at his son beside him.

「Yo, dad.」

However, that made Jiraid's face stiffen even further.

The appearance of the son in Jiraid's eyes had completely changed. He left home as an adventurer, and recently, he joined the White Party, which was enviable to Jiraid; he had been thinking that his son would improve his skill from studying under Jinrai.

However, Lyle had drastically changed in a way that was completely unrelated to those circumstances.

First, his hair had changed to silver. His eyes were dyed red, and his skin had turned dark brown. Jiraid had wondered if it was one of those image changes that was common for youth nowadays, but he had apparently become a humanoid dragon. He didn't understand.

『Since he's my father, that makes him my father as well? Nice to meet you, my father Jiraid. I am Gieve. Your son.』

And incidentally, he had gained another son as well. It was a dragon-shaped spear. After Jiraid muttered the short phrase「Ah, best regards」to the spear, he looked around as took a seat, greatly perplexed.


(Mother, Maaris, sorry. This is already too much for me to handle)


While thinking of his mother and his wife, who should currently be in Hyvern's royal capital, the inside of Jiraid's head fell into chaos. What should he think about this? Should he get angry? Should he laugh? Should he make retorts? Jiraid didn't know.

From what he had heard, Lyle was still a human being, but he was also simultaneously a dragon in human form. Thanks to the Dragon Knight contract, Jiraid could receive Dragon Spirit from Flying Lightning Dragon Mordo to transform into a Dragonoid. However, Lyle was now an existence completely surpassing that. With both a normal heart and a Dragon Heart, he seemed to be able to freely use the powers of both a human and a dragon.

And since the dragon named Gieve dwelling in the spear was assimilated with Lyle's soul, it seemed he was also Lyle himself. Gieve said that it would take about 100 years for their souls to completely fuse together, but that meant Lyle would have longevity beyond『that degree』of age.

Also, since he was still a human being as well, he would probably have no problems making children.

Far from the Barnes lineage dying out, as a family that now had dragon blood, it wouldn't be a dream for them to gain considerable political power in Hyvern. According to Ao, Lyle might even be nominated as the successor for Archduke Rynox, who had no children.

After all, Lyle was now in the position of being the older brother of the God Dragon Empress and the white dragon Karza, who was expected to become the guardian dragon of Minshiana, as well as the younger brother of the gatekeeper『Aka』from West Dragon Village Laguna.

In Hyvern, where dragons were the symbol of authority, he could no longer be treated as a mere knight. Jiraid was once again greatly perplexed as he thought about how something outrageous had been incorporated into his son.



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「That's the situation. What do you think, Mordo?」


After the family meeting was over, Jiraid headed straight to the dragon stables to consult with his own beloved dragon, Flying Lightning Dragon Mordo. It wasn't every day, but outside his family, Mordo was the one Jiraid consulted with most often. That was common among Dragon Knights; from the start, a beloved dragon shared knowledge and intellect with their Dragon Knight due to the Dragon Knight contract. While their personality was different, it was natural to know their disposition.


『Your father is an especially huge moron, but that shouldn't be a kid made by sexual relations. In that case, isn't there no problem?』


Mordo, who normally had a bad relationship with Jinrai, replied to Jiraid in a form that supported Jinrai this time. Those words weren't for Jinrai's sake, but out of consideration for the worry of Mordo's beloved Cindy when this would be discussed with her in the future.


「Is that how it is?」

『Well, calling a summoned beast a son isn't that rare. Hasn't he already named his prosthetic arm Cindy?』

「That's because of his love for Mother.」

Mordo groaned after Jiraid's words, but he didn't deny it.

『Keh, shall we leave it at that? Whether or not you feel like treating that cat as a younger brother is up to you.』

「That's certainly so.」

Shippuu was, so to speak, Jinrai's adopted son. As his biological son, how Jiraid thought about him depended on his own feelings.

『After that is Lyle, but...』

「Yeah...」

Jiraid nodded with a grim expression.

If Lyle returned to Hyvern now, he would unmistakably become part of the struggle for power. The news might circulate to the East Dragon Village, and since God Dragon Emperor Naga was, in form, the one at the top of Hyvern's political structure, Lyle was a matter that couldn't be ignored.

『Well, considering how he's currently God Dragon Empress-sama's knight, the current situation isn't bad. There's still time. You can properly consult with that guy Rynox and decide what to do. Fortunately, you're the only one from Hyvern who knows about it for now.』

Since he journeyed together with Ao to participate, Jiraid was the only Dragon Knight who came, so there were no other people from Hyvern except Keiran.

『The matter that worries me is that there may be various troublesome circumstances with that retainer of God Dragon Empress-sama, Yuuko-nee.』

「What do you mean?」

When Mordo pointed out something that he wasn't conscious of, Jiraid tilted his head.

『A golden dragon with the mixed attribute of Fire and Light, Sun. That's the same as Gold Wing Dragon Empress Crofe-sama, the head of West Dragon Village Laguna. Furthermore, Yuuko-nee's a hybrid Crystal Dragon, similar to God Dragon Emperor-sama. Once she receives Ao-sama's report, Crofe-sama will probably act. I think she'll plan to marry Yuuko-nee.』

After Mordo's words, Jiraid sputtered.

「Wait a minute. Yuuko-nee is a cat and more or less female?」

Mordo shook his head at the things Jiraid pointed out.

『The cat part doesn't really matter in this case. It may be hard for you to tell the difference from the Dragon Transformation magic human beings use, but God Dragon Empress-sama's『Dragonization』power unmistakably transforms her into an actual dragon. And that should be the same for that Yuuko-nee.』

「The same attribute of Dragon Spirit? In that case, just like how the East village has attained their dearest wish of gaining an heir, West Dragon Village Laguna will also try to do the same...?」

Mordo nodded after Jiraid's words.

『Besides, Crofe-sama was originally a man. According to Ao-sama, Gold Wing Dragon Crofe-sama has done a TS Youjoka.』[TL: The crux of the conversation is that the characters don't know what those words mean, so I left it untranslated, but it means "genderswap little girlification"]

「Hm. It feels like I've heard similar words before, but what is TS Youjoka?」

Jiraid asked Mordo.

『I don't know the details, but when resurrecting Gold Wing Dragon-sama after he was defeated by Gaiel, it seems Ao-sama had no choice but to change Gold Wing Dragon-sama into such a figure in order to increase the power of his own will.』

「I see. So it's related to the risks and limitations of resurrection?」

『So it seems. According to Ao-sama, it seems the resurrected Gold Wing Dragon Empress-sama's『tumtum』is lacking. It seems even someone with as much power as Ao-sama couldn't succeed completely. Ao-sama was filled with regret over failing due to his own lack of immersion.』

「Even just reviving Gold Wing Dragon-sama is an amazing achievement. Ao-sama is, as rumored, really strict with himself.」

『Indeed. I greatly admire his zeal. Well, for that reason, I think there will be contact between Yuuko-nee and TS Youjoka Gold Wing Dragon Empress-sama.』

After those words, Jiraid bitterly smiled.

「Good grief, it's that serious an issue? To the very end, that party seems to be loved by trouble.」

So saying, Jiraid laughed. And it made his own worries seem small. In fact, they were quite big, but the various issues were so excessively big that Jiraid's brain had been paralyzed. That paralysis would only be resolved after he returned to his country and reported the situation to his mother and wife with a smile on his face, which caused him to be grandly punished by Cindy with the words「What are you smiling about, you stupid son.」


And the next day, the figures of Shippuu devouring a souvenir fish from Jiraid as he watched him with a somehow happy expression, as if he had become unbound by all worries, could be seen in a courtyard of Royal Castle Griffonias. However, it seemed no one noticed the siblings.