“Then you should be prepared to work hard for the rest of your life.”

18. Dragon transformation is also called a side effect?

Sieg and Lucy waited for three days.

Knowing that Dragnov had just ended the war and was in a state of disrepair, the two did not rush Irene. Instead, they helped her a lot with the reconstruction work in Dragnov.

For example, Sieg used space magic to quickly rebuild and reinforce the city wall, and Lucy also relied on celestial magic to summon celestial spirits and completed some tasks within her ability.

So on the fourth day after arriving in Dolagnov——

“I’m really sorry to have kept you waiting!”

In the back garden of the Dolagnov Royal City, which seemed relatively primitive and somewhat like an open-air lecture square in ancient Greece, Irene bowed deeply and apologized to Sigurd and Lucy.

“I clearly promised to prepare the compensation for you two as soon as possible, but it has been delayed until today. I am really sorry!”

“No, no, no, it’s okay. It’s only three days.” Lucy waved her hands to show that she didn’t care at all. “Besides, you didn’t have time to come to us because you had a lot of things to deal with, right? We all understand, so there’s no need for you to apologize.”

“Compared to this, have all the things come to an end for the time being? If you need our help, please don’t hesitate to ask. As long as the reward is in place, we can help you with anything!”

That’s what wizards do.

Seeing Lucy’s sunny and optimistic expression, Irene’s expression softened. “Well, it’s over for now. All the fallen soldiers have been buried, and the injured have been settled. With your help over the past three days, there are almost no problems. The only problem is that there is a shortage of food.”

Dolagnof is a self-sufficient kingdom. Although it is not large in area, there is indeed a grain-producing area within the city that can be used to feed all the residents. In addition, it has good relations with its neighboring countries and there is a lot of trade between them.

However, ever since the dragons began to invade, food reserves have been decreasing. Although they are now completely exhausted, we must pay attention to them.

“In addition, how to deal with the next war is also a big problem. Although we have resisted it once again with the help of the two of you, our combat effectiveness has also weakened a lot. If we are attacked by a group of dragons again, we may not be able to hold on.”

“That’s not a problem.”

Sieg said, “I can’t think of a solution to the food problem, but if there are dragons that want to attack here, I will take care of them – I will kill all the evil dragons.”

“How can I trouble you again?”

Irene frowned immediately: “You have saved us once, we shouldn’t let you save us a second time! We can’t afford–“

“I don’t need any reward, or rather, letting me slay the dragon is my reward.”

Zig interrupted Irene.

Irene was stunned immediately.

What does it mean that killing a dragon is a reward?

“I am a dragon hunter. I make a living by hunting dragons. I have been killing dragons since I was a child and I eat dragon carcasses. So for me, killing dragons is a way for me to get food. If I have to talk about rewards, then the dragon carcasses are my rewards.”

“You…eat a dragon?!”

Erin’s eyes widened a little.

“I only eat evil dragons. I was born in the Western Continent. If I want to survive there and not be eaten by a dragon, then I can only eat the dragon in return.”

Zigg made up a reason for himself on the spot.

Irene, who knew something about the situation in the Western Continent, immediately accepted this statement. After all, it was indeed in line with the situation in the Western Continent.

But… can you kill and eat dragons when you are a child?

(Mr. Zieger, what on earth are you…)

Pursing her lips and suppressing the doubts in her heart, Irene looked at the two of them and said, “If you two are willing to continue to help fight the dragons, then as the queen, I would like to thank you for your kindness on behalf of the people of the whole country. And I will definitely do my best to repay you for your protection!”

“I don’t need it. It’s Sieg who’s fighting. I probably can’t help at all.” Lucy smiled bitterly. “Then should we start learning additional magic and dragon-slaying magic now, Miss Irene?”

“Well, if there are no special circumstances, I think the next three days will be fine. In fact, I came here to teach you today because Belserion forced me to come here. It said that I pushed myself too hard these days and my injuries have not yet fully healed. I really can’t work at a high intensity for a long time.”

Irene sighed softly.

Lucy smiled and said, “Are you on good terms with Mr. Belserion?”

“After all, it is the guardian dragon that has been guarding our country. It has been guarding this kingdom since the generations before me. It was once rescued by my ancestors, and now it has been guarding this kingdom. For it, it is repaying the favor, although I think it has already repaid the favor long ago.” Irene said.

“By the way, before I teach Miss Lucy the dragon-slaying magic, there is one thing I want to explain to you first – the dragon-slaying magic actually has very strong side effects.”

side effect?

Lucy thought about the dragon slayers she knew and said, “You mean… I can’t take public transportation? I’ll feel sick and want to vomit if I take public transportation?”

“Well… this is indeed a side effect, but what’s more serious is that, because Dragon Slayer Magic is a magic that transforms oneself into the same physique as a dragon, the more this magic is used, the more the user’s body will inevitably transform into that of a dragon.”

Irene’s expression became heavy and serious.

“The power of the dragon is too strong for us humans. It will in turn erode our bodies, making us more and more ferocious, until finally…”

After hesitating for a moment, Irene rolled up her sleeves and exposed her arms. Part of her arms were covered with dragon scales – the same dragon scales as the one on Lucy’s instep.

“—Excessive use of dragon-killing magic will eventually turn us into dragons.”

“Ms. Lucy, if you want to learn dragon-slaying magic, then I hope you at least need to know this side effect. If we want to fight a dragon as powerful as a monster, we need to become the same monster ourselves.”

This is the price you have to pay for using dragon-slaying magic.

However, looking at Irene’s dragon-like arm, Sieg frowned slightly: “You call this a side effect? ​​If I can transform into a dragon, doesn’t that mean that my attainments in dragon-slaying magic have reached a higher level? I can slay dragons even better.”

“Mr. Sieg… maybe that’s true.” Irene’s expression darkened and she put down her sleeves. “But the power of the dragon can also make us violent and lose our minds…”

“That means your mental will is not strong enough. If you really want to destroy the dragon, if you really want to kill the dragon, then you will never be controlled by the dragon’s power, right?”

Sieg’s words were quite powerful.

“In fact, now that I am here, I can still say this – even if you completely turn into dragons, even if you completely lose your mind, you will not be able to cause any damage or casualties.”

“Because before that, you will be killed by me.”

(Wait! Sieg, what are you saying?)

Lucy complained a little in her heart.

(However, Sieg is right. As long as he is here, no matter what kind of dragon it is, it will not be able to stir up any trouble…)

“So, just feel free to teach Lucy the dragon slayer magic.”

Zig’s voice continued.

“There’s no need to worry about side effects. I can easily deal with side effects of that magnitude.”

“Don’t worry, I’m here.”

Irene: “——!”

19. Lucy’s practice

Learning additional magic is surprisingly easy.

After all, according to Griffith, additional magic and enhanced magic are very similar in nature, just more complicated. But since Sieg has the basics of enhanced magic, it is not difficult to learn only the basics of additional magic.

Therefore, in just one afternoon, Sieg had roughly mastered the basics of additional magic.

but……

“Can not be done……”

Looking at the stick in her hand that broke once again, Lucy sighed.

The additional magic practice that Irene prepared for the two of them was to first add [hardness] to the wooden stick and break a sword.

Sieg completed it in one go, but Lucy never finished it. It’s not that Lucy is stupid or can’t learn it, it’s simply that Lucy’s magic power is insufficient.

After all, additional magic consumes a lot of magic power. With Lucy’s magic power, she can’t even maintain the most basic additional magic.

“It seems that Miss Lucy needs to increase her total amount of magic power before learning additional magic.”

Irene patted Lucy’s shoulder and consoled her, “But I can teach you the tricks of using additional magic first. Miss Lucy can practice on her own while you are training your magic power.”

“Thank you, Miss Irene.”

“You’re welcome, this is nothing compared to what you’ve done for our country.”

So it was Sieg who did it!

Lucy had explained this to Irene countless times, but Irene had always insisted that it was Lucy and Sieg who protected Dragnov together, and even planned to include Selene in the list.

Should we say that he is worthy of being Erza’s ancestor? His personality is somewhat similar to Erza’s in this respect. Once he makes up his mind about something, he is unlikely to change his mind.

“As for the method to increase the total amount of magic power…”

…….

“Is that why you are meditating here?”

In Zig’s room.

Looking at Lucy who was sitting cross-legged on the bed meditating, Sieg sat down on his own bed.

Because of Irene’s arrangement, he and Lucy were in the same room, but the room was not small, roughly equivalent to a triple room in a hospital ward, and there were two beds, so it would not make it difficult for Sieg and Lucy to move freely.

“So you mages can increase your total magic power through constant meditation. This is the first time I’ve heard of this.”

“This is the first time I’ve heard of it, too.”

Regarding the total amount of magic power, Lucy was actually not very clear.

After all, many wizards don’t know how to improve their magic power. Basically, as they get older, their magic power will increase on its own, until a certain point when their magic power stops increasing.

Lucy had not trained herself seriously since she learned Celestial Magic. After all, Celestial Magic did not require much magic power. At most, the magic power of the caster would affect the power of the Celestial Spirits. But 400 years later, the Celestial Spirits summoned by Lucy were able to help her complete most of the commissions and battles.

I didn’t expect that I would be training in magic now in order to learn additional magic.

As for how to improve magic power, Irene also gave some advice – that is [Meditation].

“Erin said that the total amount of magic power can be increased by exercising willpower. I should use my whole body and mind to feel everything in the world, and then adjust my breathing and become one with nature…”

“Hmm, I don’t understand.”

Sieg simply spread his hands and said, “The way you train your magic power is really special.”

“Come to think of it, I’ve never asked Sieg how you became so powerful? Do you have any special training methods?”

Lucy asked, imagining Sieg’s workout routine in her mind.

But before she could come up with a rough idea, Zieger gave her a dumbfounded answer: “Just risk your life.”

“……Eh? Risking your life?”

“Yeah, life-threatening.”

As Sieg spoke, he inserted his hand into his chest, piercing it all the way through, then pulled his hand out in front of Lucy. The penetrating wound on his chest immediately regenerated at a speed that was invisible to the naked eye.

Lucy’s eyes widened involuntarily. Sieg also said, “As you can see, my body is very special. As long as my brain and heart are not destroyed at the same time, I can regenerate countless times. Therefore, my training method is very extreme. Basically, I fight life-and-death duels with people who are much stronger than me, and constantly improve my strength in the face of near-death situations again and again.”

“Of course, there were many times when I wasn’t on the verge of death, but actually died. But every time I came back from the brink of death, I became stronger. My combat skills and total magic power were accumulated little by little through such training. You can’t refer to them.”

“Oh, the total amount of magic power may also be from eating dragons. The magic power in the dragon’s corpse will affect your body’s magic power, but for me it is just a pure source of magic power. Although eating a whole dragon will not increase my magic power too much, it will still increase it a little bit.”

There is no reference to Lucy either.

Lucy got off the bed, came to Sieg, and touched Sieg’s chest which was still stained with blood: “…Don’t you feel any pain?”

“How many times do you think this is that I’ve been pierced through the chest? When I was training with my companions, these kinds of wounds were just for fun. Once you get used to it, they don’t matter anymore.” Sieg said casually, and at the same time used cleansing magic to wash away the blood on Lucy’s hands and his own body.

Lucy pursed her lips: “Even so…you can’t hurt your body casually. Your body is very important. You have to cherish your life more.”

“…Why did you say the same thing as my teacher?”

The familiar words made Sieg smile bitterly.

Sieg’s teacher?

“You still have a teacher?”

“Why do you think I don’t have a teacher? He’s a very good teacher.” Sieg smiled, “Several years ago, when I first became his disciple, he reprimanded me for not cherishing my body and life. At that time, I made a vow with him, promising that I would never sacrifice my life casually in the future. If I broke the vow, I would die of a broken heart.”

“But I won’t die if my heart is just broken, so this oath is actually just a verbal agreement… Um~~~ Now is not the time to talk about this, right? It will disturb your meditation.”

Lucy shook her head slightly. “Not really. I just want to take a break. However, since I can’t refer to your practice method, Sieg, I can only continue to work hard through meditation.”

“…That won’t happen. If you just want to increase your magic power and train your willpower, then I do have a way.”