I Raised A Black Dragon

The lab downstairs was in utter disarray as if it had been struck by lightning. Noah wondered how on earth Adrian managed to gather data when Muell had returned to his original form. 

Well done, my little one.  She winked at the giant dragon that occupied half of the lab. Muell, who received her wink, closed both eyes tightly and opened them. That seemed to be his own wink.

“…Take him with you.”

Adrian must have been really tired as he pushed Noah towards Muell. No matter how wicked he was, he was only a puny person before a dragon. Then, Muell transformed into a little boy in an instant, glancing at Adrian, who was holding a dodo, and then came running towards Noah for a hug. 

The ideas that came to her mind as she scoured the library became a powerful hypothesis. There was one place where Eleonora’s blueprint would be: a factory where there would be a manufacturing process capable of creating a mechanical human being according to her blueprint. Perhaps Adrian covered the machines with human skin with the pure magic of his own. 

This was the most credible hypothesis that would explain the true disappearance of Lenia, in addition to the strange events that happened in the mana operating room of the Angelic. If the real Lenia wasn’t already killed, she was likely to be there too.

So, where was the factory located? Noah squinted her eyes as she watched the back of Adrian ahead.

“Should I kill him here?” Muell wrapped his tiny arms around Noah and whispered in a small voice, blinking his dark red eyes. “May I help you, Noah?”

“Um…” While Noah retraced her train of thoughts, the boy laughed convincingly as if he had taken her silence as a yes. The next moment, a dark trace of mana sank beneath his feet and strode out toward Adrian.

Even if she commits a real murder anyway, no one in this empire would put her in jail, making such a way the best option there was. In all honesty, it was quite tempting for Noah to end this tedious and wasteful quest right away.

But, there were fatal drawbacks. If I do that, I’ll have 17 criminal convictions... 

It would not be obvious if one more offense is added on the already overflowing criminal record, but at the least, Noah didn’t want to be obliterated, dragging Kyle with her. 

Even if the Minister’s confidence in Kyle had already been shattered by the scandal, and if Noah is charged with murder, Kyle Leonard may not be fired, but there was a high chance he would be accused of being her accomplice.

Then, there was only one way: she ought to gather the evidence one by one and solve it in the back of her head.

As soon as her thoughts were sorted out, her first destination was also decided. Noah took Muell’s little hand, and at the same time, the black mana that was about to grab Adrian’s ankle disappeared into the air.

Noah went back into Adrian’s office and said, “Oh, I have to go to volunteer work next week. The list came up.”

“Where are you going?”

“Volunteer work. Your guy hit me with 200,000 hours. If I don’t fill it from now on, I’ll have to suffer even after my back gets twisted. Rather than filling eight hours a day, I’ll fill all the classes at once with long-term volunteer work, so I won’t be able to come to class next week. I heard you’re going on a business trip to the south anyway.”

“What…” Adrian blurted out, confused. But, as soon as he understood, he smiled and nodded as he looked down at the data he had obtained from Muell today. “Yes. Then let’s have the next class two weeks later.”

Noah also plastered a smile on her face and left his office without answering. Immediately as the door closed behind her back, her lips pursed into a thin line. What do you mean volunteer work? 

Noah squeezed her arms around Muell and whispered under her breath. “…Noviscosha.”

Her first destination to trace the location of the factory where cloned humans were produced was Noviscosha, the northeast part of Laurent. It was where the mine excavated the raw material used for mechanical humans, the same province where Kyle failed to head to.