Sephiel took a step forward. And this time, she shouted with all her might.
“Gyandpa!”
“Huh?”
Cherno changed his expression and looked at Sephiel.
“Now that I hear it, it seems like everyvthing that guy said is tyue.”
As she said “that guy,” Sephiel pointed to Philux.
“Gates are supeyr, supeyr expwensive. So it’s okay to pay a lot for them!”
“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
Before getting annoyed, Cherno was more curious about what Sephiel was up to this time.
Sephiel gently tapped the back of Cherno’s hand with her small one, laughing playfully.
“Now that we have a gate here, don’t be mad!”
“……”
“And let’s all move here togetheyr! It’s going to be ywour neighbovrhood anyway, Gyandpa.”
Sephiel grinned widely.
“Huh? Move?”
Noel now had a look like he couldn’t make any sense of what was going on.
“Yeah, but….”
Sephiel spread her soft little hand, opening and closing her fingers as she thought.
“There are a lot of people in our house, including soldieyrs. A hundvred people? A thouvsand people?”
Noel, the baby’s father, was used to understanding the baby’s speech.
“Hmm. You mean you’re wondering how many people are regularly staying there? Just counting the servants and elite soldiers, it’s two to three hundred. The total is more than that.”
“Yeah, then…..”
Sephiel pretended to think about Noel’s answer.
“You see, uncle.”
She took a step closer and pointed her tiny hand at Philux.
“That gate thing. How many people ride it in one day?”
The moment he heard that question, cold sweat began to run down Philux’s back.
At the same time, Cherno’s eyes became sharp.
“T–That’s….”
‘How’s that? That’s what a real hit to the weak spot feels like.’
Sephiel smiled brightly.
“If it’s more than a hundvred, then it’s a thouvsand! That means, that gate thing… should be able to cayyi a thouvsand people a day.”
“…..”
“It can, wight? Huh?”
Sephiel kept eye contact with Philux, lifting the corners of her lips again.
Philux averted his eyes, sweating nervously.
“Uncle.”
“……”
“Why can’t ywou answer, uncle…?”
“……”
“Ywou’re not a scammeyr, wight? Hmm?”
Sephiel spoke without taking her eyes off him.
‘Yes, it’s true that the gate of the ancient dragons was discovered in this town.’
Right. There was a reason this whole thing felt like a scam.
‘Grandpa Cherno must fully believe in the ancient dragons’ technology. That’s why he didn’t suspect anything.’
The original gate usually had no limit on the number of people who could ride it per day.
‘But the gate discovered in this town, Mutrah, was a little different from others.’
‘This gate is unfinished, The ancient dragons were unable to finish creating this gate for some reason.’
‘So this useless gate was sealed for hundreds of years.’
After all that time, it was finally discovered. The gate was reactivated, surviving the passage of centuries—but there was a problem with capacity.
‘Philux tried to fix it, but of course that was impossible. Due to the limitations of the unfinished gate, it could only handle about 100 round trips a day at best.’
Something Sephiel will come to know in the future.
The Golden Dragon Company, which bought up a lot of land around the gate, suffered great embarrassment.
The company’s credibility deteriorates and it eventually goes bankrupt.
“We definitely didn’t investigate the gate’s effectiveness or maximum capacity thoroughly.”
“That guy pressured and manipulated the Elder Master, claiming it’d be a disaster if we didn’t buy the land quickly.”
Cherno’s attendants spoke, as if they had just woken up from their reverie.
“……”
Cherno bit his lip.
“Yes… I trusted the Ancient Dragons’ technology blindly. I should’ve inspected the gate more carefully.”
Sephiel nodded in agreement.
“Gyandpa, ywou know all about magic tools! If ywou go and see it ywourself, ywou’ll know, wight?”
‘Of course, since he’s a dragon, Grandpa would know a lot about magic tools.’
Sephiel chuckled and looked at Philux, who was trembling with fear.
“Then let’s go verify it togethyer! We can do it, wight?”
“Th-that is….”
Philux’s blank face had already given away the answer.
“Hah. Right, judging from your expression, I know the scam. I’ll go see it for myself.”
Cherno’s voice darkened.
Sephiel tapped Cherno’s clenched fist with her small hand.
“Gyandpa, that’s how scammeyrs work. They make ywou panic, blind ywour eyes, and lie.”
“……”
Despite hearing words too mature for a child, Cherno didn’t look surprised—he already knew Sephiel was no ordinary child.
Sephiel could clearly guess the tricks Philux had used.
They probably never gave Cherno a proper chance to inspect the gate closely.
And they likely lured him in with fake demand, saying crowds of people were lining up to buy the land.
‘Even dragons can be fooled. Human fraud techniques really are terrifying.’
“Count Verice.” Cherno said softly.
“I must go check the gate myself.”
“Haha, that’s..…”
Philux took a step back.
“Catch him!” Cherno said.
* * *
With just a quick check, Cherno realized that there was a problem with the gate’s capacity.
Meanwhile, Philux was tied up and kept under strict surveillance.
‘Yep, your scam’s completely exposed.’
Sephiel watched the whole process and laughed from behind.
Cherno’s face was filled with anger as he returned to the basement.
“How dare you try to scam me!” Cherno said.
“Kneel him down!”
“Yes, Master.”
The attendants made Philux kneel before Cherno.
“All his subordinates are locked up.”
“Good job.”
Cherno nodded.
Philux swallowed hard and opened his mouth.
“This is all a misunderstanding. I only wanted to sell land attached to the gate at a good price. I didn’t know the gate had such defects.”
Philux pretended to be pitiful and licked his tongue again.
‘Even if he’s just my so-called uncle, I can’t believe I share blood with this guy. He’s the kind who’d float even in a flood—mouth first.’
Sephiel had to resist the urge to click her tongue.
Noel cleared his throat.
“The amount of money paid as a deposit alone must be enormous. I heard earlier that you paid that amount to the Thieves Guild?”
“That’s…..”
Philux rolled his eyes.
“If you give me time, I will definitely return it to you. No matter what—”
“And why should I trust anything you say?” Cherno said softly.
At that moment, Philux and Sephiel locked eyes.
From Philux’s expression, Sephiel could already guess.
‘I guess he probably sent all the remaining money to a borrowed account?’
‘Or maybe it was in the safe, but it didn’t matter if it wasn’t.’
‘Cause I’ve got ways.’
Sephiel held Cherno’s hand tightly.
“Gyandpa.”
“Huh?”
“Don’t woyyi, there’s someone who’ll pay the mowney back for him,” Sephiel said cheerfully.
“Baby Raccoon, what on earth are you talking about?”
Pointing to Philux, Sephiel said,
“Uncle.”
“…..”
“…No, that’s right. Uncle.” Sephiel said with a bright smile.
“Why are you pretending not to know me?”
“…….”
“Uncle. You recognize me, don’t you?”
Philux’s body flinched greatly.
Sephiel confidently raised his chin.
‘There’s no way a scammer this sharp wouldn’t recognize me.’
Philux, also a member of the royal family, knew about Sephiel, who had been locked away—and had even visited her once when she was around three.
White hair and ruby-red eyes.
Someone with that look, holding hands with a man so handsome he seemed inhuman.
‘It’s obvious. I’m the one who escaped recently and ended up in the Grand Duke’s castle.’
So for Philux, admitting the crime relatively quickly wasn’t surprising.
‘With his instincts, he’s probably already figured out that the trade head is affiliated with the Grand Duke.’
Cherno’s eyebrows twitched at those words.
“Oh. It’s your uncle.”
“A member of the Allegro royal family? Hah. Unbelievable. If the King of Allegro knows about this, it’s going to be a spectacle!” Noel exclaimed.
That was the moment.
“Uwaaah!”
Philux seemed to have made up his mind about something and ran towards the door.
‘Is he giving up now that his identity has been exposed?’ Sephiel thought.
“Where do you think you’re running off to?” said Cherno.
His attendants swiftly caught Philux. Noel grabbed the back of Philox’s neck, but—
—Thud!
Philux banged his head against a part of the wall.
‘Uh?’
—Beep!
“What?”
There was a loud noise.
That was the moment.
‘It’s a trap!’
It was clearly some kind of security device. From somewhere in the room, the gas was fired.
‘What’s with this weird-colored smoke?’
He thought about it for a moment, but as soon as it touched Sephiel’s eyes, she felt a stinging sensation.
And then—
“Uwaaaah!”
“Protect the Count!”
A large crowd of people began to pour down the stairs. They were armed with clubs and pitchforks.
‘Actors pretending to be villagers!’
They all covered their mouths with cloth.
It was clear that when the secret device in this room was activated, a signal was sent to the subordinates gathered nearby.
“Uhuk, Uhuk!”
Sephiel coughed loudly and curled up.
‘It’s a tear-jerking magic potion!’
Sephiel had only ever heard about it.
The yellow smoke made her vision blur and brought a choking cough. Tears streamed down Sephiel’s face.
“Come here!”
Then Philux rushed to Sephiel.
‘He’s trying to take me hostage!’
Sephiel was pushed by Philux and fell over with a thud.
‘Ugh!’
That was the moment.
—Fshhhh
The smoke slowly began to clear.
“Gyandpa!”
Sephiel reached out her arm. As Philux stretched out to grab her—
—Whoosh!
Sephiel’s body was lifted into the air.
“Ahhh!”
Sephiel squirmed.
“It’s okay, baby raccoon.”
Slowly, Sephiel began to relax. She wanted to say something in return, but tears and snot were all over her face, and she couldn’t manage any words.
A small ball-like thing was moving in Cherno’s hand, and all the smoke was being sucked into the ball.
“Uhuk, Uhuk.” Cherno’s attendants quickly stood up, their mouths agape.
“Oh my, your little face is a mess.”
Cherno said, wiping Sephiel’s face with his big hand. Sephiel’s face became tearful.
Now that Sephiel looked, Cherno’s clothes were a total mess—covered in her tears and snot.
“Gyandpa, huh, sowwy, I got ywour clothes dirty…”
“It’s okay.” Cherno replied, patting Sephiel comfortingly.
“Who makes a kid from our family cry, huh?”
“Huh, huh….”
“When I took on this trade business, I swore I’d never use my personal power.”
Cherno slowly smiled—a cold smile, enough to send a chill down anyone’s spine.
“How kind of you… to give me a reason to break that promise.”
And with that, a powerful aura erupted from Cherno’s body.
It was Dragon Fear. But unlike what Sephiel had seen from Erga… this one had a single, focused target.
“Eek, Ahhhh!”
Philux staggered and ran out the door. When Noel tried to follow, Cherno stopped him.
“Baby raccoon.”
“Uh, huh?”
Cherno handed Sephiel over to Noel.
Noel gently took her in his arms and soothed her.
”Look carefully, what kind of fate awaits the one who touches our family’s child.”
“…….”
And Sephiel got to witness something rare—something she’d never seen in her entire life.
* * *
