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Chapter 146.5: —Side Prussia— Tale of a Dragon and Bad Water

After finishing their talks with Daichi, Dianeia was guiding Manaril through the castle. Since she would be staying for a while as a guest they had already placed her spirits and instruments inside the room. That was where she was guiding her.

Since it was nighttime the passageways were mostly deserted, but even so this part of the castle was usually quiet. After all…

「Sorry to suddenly ask for a room without too many people around Dianeia.」
「No, don’t worry about it Manaril-dono. This area is under pressure from both the magic researches and the surrounding soldiers, that kind of room is easily available.」

After all, she was a Dragon King who had brought spirits on top of that. Of course she would want a place with less activity, Dianeia thought.

She was a considerate Dragon King just like Hesty most likely. Dianeia was grateful for that as she proceeded to bring up a matter that she was concerned about.

「By the way Manaril-dono…what did you mean by a bad little thing came over?」
「Oh, it was a spirit dragon that was sealed in the lake. ——It’s a bad dragon that I suppressed and subdued. It was called Katarakta.」
「Spirit dragon…….so you mean enough spirits with nature’s will gathered and combined…turning into the shape of a dragon?」

She didn’t really know the name Katarakta, but she did know some things about spirit dragons. She had once read about such things in the castle libraries.

「I’m impressed you know about this. The will of this particular one is quite bad——it is malicious and evil thoughts fused into the water. It gathered together to form Katarakta, a powerful dragon with the ability to negatively influence waters.」
「What do you mean by negatively influence?」
「When Katarakta wakes up and goes on a rampage, the waters turn black, muddy, and impure…that water is the same as poison. That’s why I try to never let it wake up.」

It was a worse existence than Dianeia had thought. Prussia had plenty of water and many industries. If the water was wasted like this…there would be a lot of damage.

「Though it is sealed, it can’t be allowed to swim into an underground vein to eat the magic inside. That is the true form of the bad little thing I mentioned.」
「I see. It has more influence than I thought.」
「Well, yes there are exceptions though. Like that crazy magic at Daichi-san’s place……fufu, just by remembering it makes me want to laugh.」

Manaril murmured as she looked off into the distance smiling wryly.

「I’m not very physically strong so I can’t help but feel afraid.」
「Eh? But Mana-dono is a Dragon King right?」
「Yes, but in terms of fighting strength…I’m probably only a little stronger than you. I can’t compare to the other Dragon Kings, let alone Daichi-san.」

Manaril said while emphasizing with her hands, but…

「Isn’t that plenty strong? Though I’m not really trying to say I’m strong……」
「I was just saying I was weak for a Dragon King. However, my songs have the power to seal Katarakta who can eat magic, so I’m the Dragon King who can deal with it. If I sing then I can also subdue its power to eat magic.」

Manaril said pointing to her throat.
Certainly if it wasn’t stopped after waking up, it would destroy crops and other things, it was truly a troublesome existence.

「You can’t destroy Katarakta through exorcism?」

If it was a spirit then by using power you should be able to subordinate it, but why didn’t they do that? It was bothering her…

「That’s impossible. Me and four Dragon Kings came together to fight it, but taking it down would take too much time. There would be a lot of collateral damage, so it was decided to seal it instead.」
「So you already tried…..sorry I brought it up.」
「Don’t worry about it. It was true that I didn’t explain well enough, but as long as I properly do the concerts it should be alright. It hasn’t fully awakened since nothing big has happened.」

So, I need to get into proper condition Manaril said while stroking her throat.
She was diligently thinking of the people and this town when she said she wanted to sing. In that case Dianeia thought she needed to do everything she could.

「Mana-dono could we speak a bit more about the live?」
「Ok, that’s fine. Let’s talk a bit more inside the room?」
「Umu, also there might be some things written in the library about the evil water dragon. I’ll look into it.」
「Oh, thank you.」

And so, Dianeia and Manaril continued to chat.