The Second Dragonoid's Tale

Chapter 51: A Family Matter

I did not spend much time at the capital's construction site. Many of the problems faced with the first city popped up, but the crew, especially Carrion, handled the troublemakers. Most of my time was dedicated to the construction of the castle manor at the center of the city. Allowing the people to focus more on their homes and shops. A few days in Carrion approached me with a bottle and offered a break.

"You seem different now," The former beast king mentioned.

"That much was obvious," I poured myself a cup, "I evolved. Strange as it is that I could."

"I meant your personality," Carrion explained, "You seemed all over the place before."

"Hm, I'm not sure if I am all together. I remember I thought experiment from Earth, it's about a father and son. Essentially, to make the son the father would remove pieces of himself, leaving holes all throughout his body. However, the son wouldn't be complete without his father giving the last of them, his heart."

"Does he give his heart?"

"That's part of the problem. The thought is more than simply, should someone give up themselves for another, but also a question of would the son now be the father?"

Carrion took a drink, "Because the son is made of the father... In a human way, passing things down for family is a natural course when it comes to surviving. For my people, I would gladly give myself for their future too. However, on an individual level, I do not know any of them that intimately as a family member would."

"Color me surprised. I didn't think you'd catch that. Yeah, there's the individual part of it too. If it was someone else that you did not know, would you?" I took a long drink. "The real question I'm avoiding is, would I accept the heart or would I rather accept being incomplete?"

"Your concern is if you push the matter, step on the beast's tail, you will need to answer for it."

I nodded, "I don't plan on taking literal hearts. But after the evolution, I feel something poking in the back of my mind, telling me something does not feel right. That I am not right."

"Hm, then do it."

"I plan to bring back Veldanava, the Star Dragon."

Carrion choked on the alcohol, "Who?!"

"I thought... it might make Milim happy."

"Let's take a step back. How do you know you can bring back a True Dragon that has been gone for ages? Putting aside the question of how you know."

"Well, when Ramiris revealed that my father and mother on Earth was a reincarnation of Veldanava and his wife, it got me wondering if I could bring him and her back. I'm not positive it'll work, but I'm pretty confident I can pull it off now. I would rather do it in a safe place, away from spying eyes."

"But Lord Laden," Carrion asked confused, "When you gave me an update on the festival, did you not mention Lady Ramiris' skill? Wouldn't that place be ideal?"

His words clicked in my head, I did not think of her as that useful, "Well... Maybe I have no excuses to try after all."

"I don't know if trying to bring back Veldanava is a smart idea. But it doesn't sound like you'll be fine until you try."

"Yeah..." I finished my half of the drink before looking back at the walls of the castle. "What's a house without a family after all?"

My quick return to Tempest brought with it a quick request of service. Rimuru and Ramiris had finished their designs for the traps used throughout the one hundred floors. All that was left were the monsters. The slime planned to employ Veldora to sit at the bottom and release his magicules, resulting in the eventual creation of monsters. Veldora, however, was depressed.