#443 The New Emperor’s Growth Part 7: Building the Dragon Emperor’s House

I’m Ardheg the Geyser Dragon!

Every day has been a blast lately!

Why, you ask? The dungeon I had so much trouble making before is coming together nicely!

“Woohoo! I can do this! I can keep doing this! Whoo!!!”

Even my voice has become weird from too much excitement.

The Dragon Emperor’s Castle has a unique structure—it is formed from nothing but the Geyser Dragon’s mana.

Unlike other dungeons, which spring forth from stagnant natural mana, the Dragon Emperor’s Castle is caused by this single creature.

Therefore, its shape will be in accordance with the Geyser Dragon’s power and imagination.

In other words, me.

As I’m new to all this emperor business, I couldn’t create the dungeon of my desires and failed many times.

So many times that I even lost confidence as Geyser Dragon.

But I eventually pulled through.

After much trial and error, I finally figured out the trick to creating the dungeon!

In my case, I had enough mana to materialize the Dragon Emperor’s Castle.

The problem was my imagination.

Without a clear image of how to utilize my overflowing mana, nothing would take shape.

My poor imagination could at most create something small or something weird and flimsy.

It came as a shock, even for me!

For some time, I seriously thought I had no talent.

But not anymore!

Since I realized that the key is imagination, I’ve been doing very well.

No one, be it mankind or demon, can imagine anything without any past memories.

What I lacked was memories to rely on!

Now I can easily recreate and materialize with mana by relying on my memories!

I used the palace where my good friend, King Arowana, lives as a reference!

By materializing the palace’s image exactly as it was, my Dragon Emperor’s Castle is now looking much better!

“The recent trip to Paradise Island was also a big help!”

The spectacular office buildings and guesthouses, in particular.

We attended Lord Arowana’s wedding with the intention of congratulating him, but to think it would reap such unexpected rewards!

“Is this the meaning behind mankind’s saying, ‘the good you do for others is good you do yourself,’ Father?”

“Nonsense. Dragons don’t follow mankind’s petty wisdom.”

The little dragon standing next to me is my father and predecessor, Al Gor.

He was dethroned from his position as Geyser Dragon after my friends and I joined forces to defeat him.

He is now a normal dragon and his power has weakened considerably.

His dragon form is also miniature, about the size of a fawn.

When he transforms into his human form, he takes the form of a young boy.

“My human form is the way it is because I chose it to be like that.”

“Oh. Is that so?”

“Doesn’t the same apply to everyone? One’s human form is built according to their preferences. Similarly, my human form has never changed even after I lost my powers.”

I see.

He is by far the oldest dragon in existence, but he likes to look young...

No, I digress.

We’re supposed to be talking about how I have all the necessary references to create the Dragon Emperor’s Castle!

And that includes Paradise Island, where we recently went to!

“I heard that place is the mermaid race’s diplomacy hub. It’s natural to make it as grand as possible as it represents their nation’s prestige. I heard they even commissioned the dwarves...”

“Dwarves! They are a subspecies that has the most advanced crafting tech! No wonder.”

I’m impressed.

As expected of the Geyser Dragon before me, Father knows a lot!

“I don’t like that a dragon is learning from the lower races. But I admit learning is what you need the most right now.”

What’s this out of the blue, Father?

I think I’ve learned enough to build a fine Dragon Emperor’s castle.

“Of course, you’ve improved considerably, but it’s still not enough. In terms of scale, your dungeon is not even close to what I built.”

“What?!”

“It’s proof that your conceptual ability is lacking. No matter how much effort you exert, the reality is that you still can’t maximize this vast plot of land. What I’m trying to say is that you need to gather more knowledge to have a better outlook on the world.”

You mean, my imagination isn’t quite there yet?!

I’m a dragon, so I have a much longer lifespan than humans.

Still, I’ve never taken an interest in their architecture, nor have I tried studying them in detail.

But it seems I need to change that part of me.

From now on, I have to broaden my knowledge in order to build a magnificent Dragon Emperor’s Castle.

It would be embarrassing if the Geyser Dragon isn’t well-informed, anyway...

“...I’ve decided what I’m going to do now.”

And so, I call out to someone.

“Sister! Sis Bloody Mary!”

I know she’s just nearby, but...

“...”

What’s gotten into her?

She’s blankly staring at the ocean. It’s like she’s distracted.

“What’s the matter, Sis Mary? You’re spacing out. How about we do something fun?” says Seidour, annoyingly flying around like a mosquito.

I salute her guts to behave like that in front of the Grauglintz Dragon!

“...That bride was so pretty,” Sis Mary mumbles.

She’s been saying the same thing ever since we came back from Lord Arowana’s wedding.

“Will I also get to wear a white dress during my wedding? The pure white, elegant dress... No! White is Alexander’s color! I’ve decided to counter that by wearing everything jet-black! From the color of my scales and my clothes... There’s no way I’ll wear white!”

“She was so fixated on the color black for such a reason?!” dumbfoundedly exclaims Father.

Does Sis Mary envy Lady Puffer in her wedding dress?

Well, she is a woman. Of course, she’d want to dress up fancy.

“What’s the harm? Go and wear a pure white dress if you want, Sis.”

“Eep!”

We dragons can change our appearance freely with dragon magic, including our attire.

After all, it’s in our nature to be free in every aspect, as Father says.

“A-Are you saying I can wear a wedding dress?! Are you proposing to me?!”

“I don’t think so...” says Seidour sluggishly.

Huh?

“Anyway, listen to this, Sis! I’ve decided on a plan for the future!”

“How could you just brush off the wedding dress topic like that! Wait a minute... By plan for the future... Are you talking about our future together?!”

Seidour mutters yet another ‘I don’t think so...’ under her breath.

Seriously, what is she talking about?

“You’re going to be stabbed in the back someday, Ardheg.”

“Father?! Not you too!”

Well, that’s not important.

I told Mary what we’d discussed earlier.

And then...

“I think I need to study more to build an even grander dungeon! I must go around and tour to gather knowledge that will serve as my very foundation!”

So...

“I’m going to visit other dungeons! Specifically those built by skilled guardians. I’ll take their dungeons’ most striking features and apply them to my version of the Dragon Emperor’s Castle!”

“! I see. I see what you mean now...”

Sis Mary is back to displaying her dignity as a strong dragon.

“So, you’re saying you’d like to visit my dungeon, Black Widow Mountain, correct? Normally, I wouldn’t show it to my rivals, but I can give you a special tour around.”

Right. I forgot she has a dungeon of her own.

Why does she keep coming here, then?

“No. I think I’ll start from the best dungeon there is.”

“Huh?!”

“Not another word from that mouth, son.”

Father rushes to stop me, but I want to finish what I want to say.

“I’m going to visit the Mountain of the Sacred White Maiden ruled by Alexander!”

But before I could invite Sis Mary to come with me, she whacked me.