Chapter 250

This was Frontera Estate.

A territory located at the far eastern edge of the Magentano Kingdom.

It had once been a tiny, insignificant backwater in the countryside, but recently it had been reborn as the hottest development zone in the kingdom.

Even today, the Bitumen Mine was belching out clouds of black fine dust.

The ondol floors had become so warm and toasty that even the carpets laid across the rooms felt softly baked.

The Marez reclaimed land and terraced farmland had, before anyone knew it, turned into a carefully thriving granary.

On top of that, there was a waterworks system pouring out pristine highland water twenty-four hours a day, as well as a generously spacious apartment complex.

There was even a grand sewer system that hygienically processed every bit of the residents’ waste.

There was no other territory in the kingdom this cutting-edge.

And to top it off, royal support was pouring in too.

Every month, abundant supplies arrived under the name of reconstruction aid.

It was basically like having dozens of tons of instant rice and side dishes delivered to your door every month without spending a single won of your own money.

And that was not all.

The water fees received from—or rather, torn out of—the neighboring Lacona Viscounty.

The slope stabilization facility maintenance fees received from Namaran.

Every single one of them was a prime source of nourishment.

‘And on top of that… whew. Ellensia sap came in from the elf village again this month. To think we can squeeze a bottle of something that precious out of them for just thirty sacks of coal. Lloyd probably said to store it in the warehouse the moment it comes in, didn’t he?’

Count Arcos Frontera busily moved about as he retraced his memory.

Scrape, rustle! Scrape!

With each brisk motion of the Count’s trowel, the weeds attempting to squat illegally in the mansion’s flowerbeds disappeared.

And each time they did, the Count’s heart grew that much warmer.

“Whew.”

A territory overflowing with abundance, with nothing lacking.

A secure future with nothing left to regret.

And on top of that, both his sons were walking their own paths with utmost diligence.

As the lord of the estate.

As the head of the household.

Could anything possibly make him feel more proud and content?

“Isn’t that right, dear?”

“Hm?”

At his question, the Countess tilted her head.

She stopped moving the trowel she had been diligently working with and asked back,

“What are you talking about all of a sudden, dear?”

“Nothing much. I just feel warm and happy, full of contentment. The weather is nice too. So I was thinking, how about we go riding this afternoon?”

“You’re not about to suggest a race, are you?”

“Of course not. Let’s ride together. Side by side. Close together.”

“Oh my, honestly.”

“Hahaha, are you embarrassed?”

“No, that’s not it.”

“Then what?”

“I’m just wondering why you’re only saying something so nice now.”

“Hahaha!”

The same smile bloomed across both of their faces.

They were crouched in the flowerbeds with both hands covered in dirt, yet even the feel of the soil on their fingers was pleasant and joyful.

Even the sunlight felt warmer.

And there beneath that gentle sun.

After softly glancing around, the couple’s lips drew closer.

But then.

Without warning, a teleportation magic circle opened in the air beside the flowerbed.

Crackle! Fwoooooosh!

“…Huh?!”

“Oh my!”

The Count and Countess, who had been just about to touch lips, jolted apart in surprise.

Even so, they tightly held hands as they stared at the teleportation circle.

Soon the magic circle vanished.

And in its place appeared three people and one large lump (?).

“…Huaa.”

The moment the teleportation magic circle vanished, Lloyd stumbled slightly as he landed.

‘Ugh, motion sickness.’

Until just moments ago, he had been at the center of the Dragon Cave.

Then Dragon King Verkis had snapped his fingers once, and everything had changed in an instant.

With waves of magic swirling all around, his body had floated into the air.

Starlight flashed everywhere around him.

But only for a moment.

When he landed, the scenery around him had changed completely.

Instead of the majestic interior of the Dragon Cave, he saw the familiar flowerbeds of the estate mansion, warm under the sun.

He also saw a pair of familiar faces sitting on the ground in shock after toppling over while tending the flowerbeds.

“L-Lloyd?”

Those two welcome faces.

The Count and Countess murmured in unison.

Thanks to that, Lloyd was also able to grasp the situation at once.

‘So we came straight from the Dragon Cave to the Frontera mansion in one shot.’

As expected of the Dragon King’s magic.

He bowed politely to the Count and Countess.

“I’m back. You must have been quite startled, right?”

“…W-Well, yes, but. Who are that gentleman and that lion?”

The Count absentmindedly pointed toward Dragon King Verkis and the manticore.

The bitter smile on Lloyd’s face deepened.

“They are honored guests. I’ll explain what happened in a little while. For now, serving them seems far more urgent and important. Please excuse me just a moment.”

He knew instinctively.

This was no time to dawdle over explanations.

And indeed, the expression of Dragon King Verkis, who was standing beside him, was changing.

‘He’s strongly signaling that he wants to go to sleep right now!’

His eyes were already half-closed.

Between them gleamed a fish-dead stare.

His shoulders sagged.

His waist drooped.

Even his hands and knees looked limp.

If someone spread out a blanket on the dirt right here?

He looked like he would slip under it without a single complaint and launch straight into a twenty-four-hour sleep marathon.

‘No. I went to all this trouble to bring the Dragon King here. He needs to sleep somewhere proper. That way I can also milk this for all it’s worth later.’

What if the Dragon King collapsed right here and then and there?

Lloyd became inwardly frantic.

After hurriedly brushing past the Count and Countess with a vague excuse, he practically shoved Verkis forward.

“Excuse me, Dragon King-nim?”

“…Yeah.”

“Thank you for the teleportation magic. Then please follow me.”

“Do I really have to…?”

“Ah, n-no, you cannot fall asleep here!”

“I’m sleeeepy…”

“Please hold out just a little longer!”

Lloyd quickly supported Verkis.

Like carrying a wounded comrade off a battlefield.

With an overly solemn expression and posture, he practically hauled Dragon King Verkis along.

Then he tossed Verkis onto the bed in the guest quarters of the mansion annex.

“Then I’ll wake you at your morning wake-up time. Please have a sweet night!”

“Snnnore.”

And just like that, another crisis (?) had been overcome.

Only then did Lloyd finally let out a sigh of relief.

Then he returned to the Count and Countess, who were still clutching at their startled hearts, and explained everything that had happened.

“…So then, that guest just now was the king of all the dragons in the world… is that what you’re saying?”

“Yes, that is an entirely accurate summary.”

“And such a person will be staying in our estate? For nearly a full year?”

“Yes. Things just sort of worked out that way.”

“Did he have any special requests or conditions?”

“Well, he did have one.”

“What is it?”

“I just need to wake him up once a day, every morning.”

“Wake him up?”

“Yes. He says he needs to contact his wife, the Dragon Queen, every morning. As I said just before, that’s the whole reason I ended up bringing him here in the first place.”

“…Hahaha.”

Count Frontera finally burst into laughter.

No matter how hard he tried to hold it back, a pleased smile would not stop rising.

‘Just how in the world did my son end up becoming this…’

Such a giant figure?

The Count looked at Lloyd anew.

Being summoned by Her Majesty the Queen every now and then to take on work had already become a perfectly ordinary part of life.

But now, as if that were not enough, he had gone so far as to personally bring back the king of the dragons.

It meant he had now formed ties not only with the queen of the nation, but with the king of dragons as well.

‘Perhaps I may become the father of a child who will be remembered throughout history.’

That thought suddenly crossed his mind.

Even so, there was one fact he did not know.

That Lloyd had formed ties not only with the queen of humans and the king of dragons, but also with the king of Hell.

Naturally, Lloyd did not mention that fact.

‘Because it’s Hell. Literally the afterlife. If I tell them I went there, they’ll just worry their heads off.’

And on top of that, part of him felt unsettled.

Because he had met the real Lloyd in Hell.

Because he had helped that wandering spirit reincarnate.

It felt wrong to leave only that part out.

It felt as though the voice of his conscience were grabbing him by the hair.

I will definitely tell the Count and Countess the truth about the real Lloyd later.

I will tell them when the right opportunity comes someday.

Even if that honesty brings some kind of blame down on me, even if I end up receiving the resentment of the Count and Countess, someday I will tell them everything honestly.

‘But now isn’t the time.’

There was still too much to deal with first.

That was why.

Even while explaining everything that had happened to the Count and Countess, Lloyd kept the trip to Hell hidden.

And because of that, the conversation naturally drifted somewhere else.

“But that… lion. Is it a new companion you summoned, like Sir Ppodong?”

Count Frontera’s curiosity turned toward the manticore.

The manticore happened to be sniffing the scent of the flowers in the flowerbed.

A bitter smile spread across Lloyd’s face.

“Ah, no, not quite. That gentleman is a manticore, a retainer who serves Dragon King Verkis. That’s why he came here with us this time.”

“Hmm, I see.”

Nod, nod.

That was the entirety of the Count and Countess’s reaction to the manticore.

Even the mansion guards, the servants and maids, and the residents of the estate did not react very differently.

“Huh? That’s a giant lion I’ve never seen before.”

“It’s huge and chubby.”

“It’s about the same size as Sir Ppodong, isn’t it?”

“Mom! I want to poke its belly fat!”

In other words, the people of this territory did not get frightened at all (?) by the manticore’s tremendous size and presence, despite seeing one for the first time.

The reason was simple.

The residents of Frontera Estate.

They had already lived through Ppodong, Bangul, Hamang, and Bibeong.

And on top of that, after living through the monster domino incident, they had more than had their fill of all kinds of magical beasts as well.

In short, they were people who had already gone through more than their fair share.

Thanks to that, even a legendary magical beast like a manticore looked to them like nothing more than ‘a somewhat big and chubby lion with pink belly fat showing through its bald patch, or maybe just a fat kitty.’

Of course, the manticore happily enjoyed that kind of welcome as well.

“Dad! I want to ride it!”

“Purrr!”

“It says I can!”

And after several days had passed like that.

The manticore very quickly became the Frontera children’s plump, fluffy amusement ride, or their bug-catching buddy.

Meanwhile, Lloyd himself kept fairly busy.

It was because quite a bit of work had piled up during his absence from the estate.

‘The water pipes kept freezing and thawing all winter, for one. I also need to inspect the drainage facilities in the Marez reclaimed land and the retaining walls of the terraced farmland. There’s also a decent pile of ondol repair requests. And on top of that, the safety inspection of the Bitumen Mine, plus maintenance of the drainage channels in the grand sewer system. Wow. This is driving me insane.’

It was because he had been away from the estate for too long.

Count Frontera had done what he could.

Sir Bayern, the engineering corps, and the Turtle Neck and Bad Back Brigade had all done their best to keep things maintained.

Even so, there was bound to be a difference between that and Lloyd personally inspecting and checking everything himself.

‘Well, still, I probably won’t be leaving the estate for this long again.’

No more leaving the estate to take on someone else’s work.

In order to revive the family.

In order to protect the estate.

In order to secure money for retirement.

The days of going off to other places and rolling around in the dirt to earn money were over now.

There was no need for it anymore.

All the crises had passed.

Now all that was left was to enjoy the rest of his life and live off the sweet stuff.

‘So even all this effort with repairs and inspections, this is the last time.’

From now on, all he needed to do was stay planted in the estate and manage things steadily, little by little.

All he had to do was guard and tend his precious honey pot.

Thinking that way, he did not even feel tired.

He threw himself into repairs and inspections with even greater vigor.

At the same time, he also did not forget the daily task of waking Dragon King Verkis every morning.

Becoming the Dragon King’s alarm clock was by no means easy.

“Excuse me, Dragon King-nim?”

“……”

“It’s time to wake up.”

“…Snnnore.”

“Excuse me, you need to contact the Dragon Queen, remember?”

“Mmm… later…”

“Later? Then shall I wake you again in a little while?”

“Yeah…”

“And how much later should I wake you?”

“Tomorrow…”

“……”

No, what was this Dragon King even saying?

The Dragon King’s sleep-whining was far worse than Lloyd had expected.

In the end, Lloyd had no choice but to bring out his secret weapon.

‘I am sorry, Dragon King-nim. But this is all a situation you brought upon yourself. Ahem!’

Lloyd cleared his throat.

Then, in what was supposed to be a refreshing voice, he began to sing.

“Sleepy sleepy our Dragon King↗ sleepy sleepy our Dragon King↗ little rooster don’t you crow! Our Dragon King’s gonna wake right up↘a↗!”

It was a lullaby of destruction.

Or perhaps a morning call from Hell.

A song that put the listener’s eardrums to eternal sleep.

That carefully opened the gates of good morning hell.

That felt as though it were coating the listener’s cochlea with the legendary miracle drug Albo-7.

Thanks to that (?),

Dragon King Verkis’s sleep vanished in an instant.

“…Do you want your stomach to burst from one punch and return to the embrace of nature?”

“Ahem! Ahem! My apologies.”

“Or perhaps you’d rather ascend as a tiny pinch of dioxin into this world full of sorrow?”

“Mm, s-sorry. But still!”

“But still?”

“I thought I had to uphold the mission of making sure you contacted the Dragon Queen first.”

“Tch. So you deliberately sang such a horrible song?”

“No.”

“Then what?”

“I was trying my very hardest to sing it well.”

“That was your best?”

“Yes.”

“…Sorry.”

“Gkh.”

Anyway, like that, Lloyd was somehow able to become the Dragon King’s alarm each morning, if only by a razor-thin margin.

And only then was he finally certain.

‘Now I’ve really done it. I really did everything.’

He really had done it all.

To live out the rest of his life in comfort in a quiet countryside estate.

To live forever as a wealthy landlord, or an unemployed bum, doing nothing but enjoying the sweet life without any hardship or complications.

He had worked himself to the bone all this time for that goal.

He had crossed in and out of crisis countless times.

At times, he had nearly broken down.

And yet he had gotten back up again.

He had kept running breathlessly without giving up.

And now he had accomplished everything he had set out to do.

The estate was safer than ever.

His finances were solid beyond question.

There was nothing left to worry about in the future.

He would also soon tell the Count and Countess the truth about the real Lloyd.

Aside from that one small task of settling the debt on his heart, there would be no more storms to weather.

Thinking that, Lloyd took a deep breath in his bedroom.

A silent bedroom late at night, with no one coming to find him.

Within that stillness, he steeled himself.

‘This is the final check.’

A life in which he had achieved everything.

A life with no worries left ahead.

Would he truly live such a life and meet a peaceful end?

Or would some unforeseen accident or twist still come for him?

To find out, Lloyd opened the skill window.

Then he brought up a skill he had left untouched for quite some time.

Click.

[Skill Name: Ending Spoiler]

[Skill Trait: Absolute Authority]

[Required CP: 80 (3rd Use)]

[You can consume a set amount of CP to catch a brief glimpse of part of the ending scene that will unfold at the grand finale of the current story. It may be a happy ending, or it may be a sad ending.]

The familiar skill description appeared before his eyes.

Lloyd took a deep breath.

‘Let’s see.’

He selected [Execute] at the bottom of the skill window.

[Skill: Would you like to use Ending Spoiler?]

[CP to Be Consumed: 80 (3rd Use)]

[Current CP Held: 1,192]

[YES / NO]

‘Of course it’s yes.’

Ding-dong.

[Skill: Ending Spoiler is being activated.]

[80 CP has been consumed.]

[Current CP Held: 1,112]

The skill activation messages appeared one after another.

And then it began.

Bzzzzzt…!

The flow of time around him rapidly slowed.

Then it stopped.

The curtain by the window, fluttering in the spring breeze.

The flower petals drifting in from somewhere.

All of them froze in time as if mounted in place.

And as always, the space before Lloyd rippled.

A round, deep-blue passage opened.

‘Let’s go.’

Lloyd stepped into the passage.

His vision was swallowed by a blinding flash.

Fwaaash…!

As if opening his eyes after briefly shutting them.

Lloyd cast his gaze at the new scene unfolding before him.

And soon, he was horrified by the unexpected sight.

‘…What is this?’