Chapter 316: Epilogue - Each of Their Lives (3)

Independence

“Lord Louis! Where should I put this?”

“Hmm… Let’s put that over there.”

“Yes, sir!”

At Louis’s direction, Fin lifted the massive dining table and zipped off with a whee!

After that, Fin kept bringing various items to Louis, asking for instructions.

Louis answered each question carefully and thoughtfully.

“And this?”

“Let’s move that later.”

“Yes, sir!”

Louis and Fin moved and arranged things tirelessly, their faces showing no trace of fatigue or boredom.

After all, what they were doing was exactly what they had longed for: decorating their own Lair.

And this was no ordinary Lair—it was the one they would live in for the rest of their lives.

In other words, Louis now had his very own home.

Louis gazed at the vast cavern, a contented smile spreading across his face.

“Finally, I’ve achieved it… my dream of owning my own home.”

After his second sleep cycle ended and he emerged from Genelocer’s Lair, Louis had several goals in mind, chief among them being “complete independence.”

Once all matters were settled, Louis scoured the Four Continents in pursuit of his true dream: to establish a place he could truly call home.

Eventually, he found the perfect location—a deserted island nestled between the Spring Continent and the Summer Continent, roughly the size of a small city. He claimed the entire island as his territory.

Perfect location! Quiet! Just right!

Having secured his territory, Louis began constructing his lair in earnest.

And here, he received unexpected assistance.

“If it’s for Lord Dragon’s lair, then we must step forward!”

The dwarves, now freed thanks to Louis keeping his promise, rolled up their sleeves and got to work.

Leading the charge was Guff, the Ancient Dwarf King, who traveled across the continent to recruit the finest dwarf artisans.

Soon, 500 dwarf artisans and 2,000 assistant dwarves arrived on the deserted island.

“We will create the greatest lair, surpassing all others!”

United by their desire to repay their debt, the dwarves eagerly overturned every inch of the deserted island.

A full year passed.

“It’s finished!”

Hearing that his lair was complete, Louis arrived, only to feel a twinge of disappointment.

The deserted island looked virtually unchanged from when he had first seen it.

But that was all a facade.

What the dwarves had truly poured their efforts into was the underground of the deserted island.

They had excavated the island’s subterranean depths to create a perfect underground city.

Its splendor far surpassed even the Imperial Palace of the Frenche Empire, the strongest empire on the Summer Continent.

And no wonder, for it had been forged with grinding determination by the most renowned dwarf artisans on the continent.

Louis’s Lair overflowed with treasures that humans would be lucky to see even once in their lifetime.

And that wasn’t all.

“We thought you might need this, so we built it!”

The dwarves had even constructed an artificial mountain on one side of the deserted island, carving out a special space for Louis within it.

Louis couldn’t help but marvel.

Wow… they made all this by hand?

By now, creating a mountain was child’s play for him.

He was merely astonished that the dwarves had painstakingly crafted such a massive mountain entirely by hand.

At the same time, he felt immensely satisfied.

Of course! A dragon of my caliber deserves a lair of this scale!

No dragon’s lair in the world could possibly be more opulent or equipped with more cutting-edge facilities.

Louis was utterly enamored with his newfound personal space, his very own lair.

From that day forward, he and Fin embarked on decorating the lair together.

A month later, on an evening when the once-empty space had been perfectly filled with Louis’s belongings, an uninvited guest arrived.

“Louis, we’re here!”

“Me too!”

The twins burst in, grinning widely.

Louis’s face soured at the sight of them.

“How did those brats find out? Fin, did you tell them?”

“I-I’m so sorry. They’ve been asking me every day for the past few days when the Lair cleanup would be finished, so I had no choice…” Fin bowed repeatedly, her expression full of remorse.

Louis sighed softly.

Right, what could Fin possibly do…?

If anyone was to blame, it was those damn twins who never changed, no matter how old they got.

Louis’s gaze fell on the twins, who were already dashing through the Lair without asking the owner’s permission.

“Wow! This place is amazing!”

“This is so much better than Dad’s lair!”

The main chamber alone was as large as a proper sports field, with dozens of additional spaces branching off from it.

The twins peeked into every nook and cranny of Louis’s underground lair.

Just as a vein was about to bulge on Louis’s forehead, two more uninvited guests arrived.

“Lord Louis, hello!”

“Teacher, we’re here!”

Once again, uninvited guests had arrived.

“Kendrick? Lavina?”

Lavina looked slightly older, while Kendrick appeared to be in his thirties.

Seeing them, Louis glanced at Fin, his eyes asking, Did you invite them this time? Fin shook her head vehemently.

In the meantime, the Kendrick couple stepped forward and presented Louis with something they had brought.

“Congratulations on your new Lair!”

“Here’s a housewarming gift!”

Louis’s sour expression melted away at the sight of the gifts they offered.

”…At least they brought the basics.”

Compared to the “riffraff” who came empty-handed just to gawk, the Kendrick couple were welcome guests indeed.

He grinned broadly and spread his arms wide. “Welcome!”

“It’s been too long!”

“But… how did you two get here?”

“Us? We came with the Twin Lords.”

”…”

Just as he’d suspected.

So you’re the culprits?!

Louis’s eyes blazed with fury, and the Twins scurried over to him of their own accord.

“Louis! Louis!”

“I swear I’ve been telling you to just call me by my name for roughly over 500 years now, haven’t I?”

“Loooouu! Let’s have a party!”

“A first-lair party!”

Louis’s face clearly screamed, “I am extremely displeased right now.”

He had only just finished cleaning and decorating the lair a few hours ago. If he let these rambunctious twins throw a party, the painstakingly arranged lair would undoubtedly be reduced to chaos. He couldn’t possibly spend the very next day after moving in cleaning up after the twins’ mess.

Undeterred by Louis’s obvious annoyance, the twins brazenly moved the dining table that Louis and Fin had meticulously arranged, demanding a party.

”…These brats.”

A dark aura began to seethe from behind Louis’s back, causing the Kendrick couple to slowly back away.

Meanwhile, the twins, their faces as thick-skinned as ever, continued their uproar while glancing around the room.

“Come to think of it, why isn’t she here yet?”

“Good question…”

No sooner had their conversation ended than another figure appeared in the Lair’s corridor.

“Teacher, I’m here!”

A confident and lively voice rang out.

Louis’s gaze snapped toward the sound.

”…”

He was speechless.

Standing before him was none other than Tania.

“Teacher!”

Now past fifty, Tania had retained the youthful beauty of her twenties, thanks to the Elixir’s effects and her attainment of Zero’s Domain.

Meeting Tania after so long, Louis opened his mouth in disbelief.

“You…”

“Yes!”

“What’s that?”

Louis’s gaze fixed on the massive burden Tania carried on her back. It looked at least five times larger than her own body.

Tania grinned brightly in response.

“It’s luggage!”

“What kind of luggage?”

“I wasn’t sure what I’d need, so I just brought the essentials for now.”

”…For now?”

“Yes!”

”…Why?”

“Why? You never know what you’ll need in life, right?”

“So why? What exactly were you thinking, lugging all that stuff around?!”

“To live with you, of course, Teacher.”

”…”

Speechless, Louis clutched his forehead.

He let out a heavy sigh.

She’s been tainted… utterly tainted.

Tania had spent over twenty years traveling and training with the Twins.

As a result, her already headstrong personality had become even more blunt and direct.

Her actions mirrored the Twins’ perfectly.

“Whoa! Tania!”

“Hey, should I move in with Louis too?”

“Sure, why not? This place is awesome!”

“Khan, get lost. Louis and I are going to live together.”

“No way!”

The Twins gave Tania a thumbs-up before bickering amongst themselves.

The room erupted into chaos once more.

“Ah…”

Louis tore his gaze from them and stared at the ceiling.

“My peaceful dream of independence…”

This wasn’t the kind of independence he had wanted…

“Party! Party!”

“Woo-hoo! Party time!”

“Then drinks!”

“Hey, human! More booze again?!”

“Oh, come on! We gotta celebrate a day like this!”

“Ah, I’ll go unpack first! Where should I start?”

The Twins conjured food from their pocket dimension.

Kendrick immediately laid out drinks and glasses on the table.

Lavina pinched Kendrick’s side, glaring at him.

Tania hurried away with her massive luggage.

The travel party’s utter disregard for the owner of the house…

“These bastards…”

Louis finally snapped.

“Get the hell out of here!”

The Whole Family

Within a transparent crystal, a pure white dragon lay with its eyes closed.

The crystal had been shrouded in silence for an immeasurably long time.

Then, in an instant, a change finally came.

Crack—.

A faint fissure appeared at the top of the crystal.

At the same moment, the dragon’s delicate, white eyelashes fluttered.

This signaled the gradual reemergence of consciousness from the depths of the Abyss.

“Umm…”

With a soft groan, consciousness flooded back swiftly, and the crack in the crystal surrounding the dragon’s entire body widened rapidly.

Before the crystal shattered completely, Valentina, the pure white dragon, fully regained her awareness.

The dormancy period is over.

The postpartum dormancy period she had entered after giving birth to Ariana.

Judging by the lingering drowsiness and hazy sensations, she must have been asleep for quite some time.

But her dazed state was short-lived.

My children… they must have grown so much.

Her mind filled with longing for her children: Louis and Ariana.

My precious darlings, the apples of my eye.

She desperately wished for the protective magic circle of the postpartum sleep device to shatter soon.

At that very moment, her consciousness returned, followed by the gradual restoration of her five senses.

Touch returned first, followed by taste.

Next to awaken was her hearing.

Buzzing…

As her hearing slowly returned, she could make out someone’s voice.

As her hearing sharpened, the voice grew clearer.

“Oppa, is Mom waking up? Is she coming out now?”

“Yeah, just need to break this, and she’ll come out.”

“When? When?!”

“Just wait a little longer.”

“Daddy, Mommy’s waking up!”

“Aww, did my little girl miss her Mommy so much?”

“Yes!”

The warm, familiar voices made Valentina’s heart pound.

Voices she had longed for so desperately, voices she could never forget, not even after hundreds or thousands of years.

Realizing this made her heart beat even faster.

In response, the cracks in the crystal spread rapidly.

Finally—

CRACK-BANG!

The crystal shattered completely, scattering into bright, glittering dust.

At the same moment, Valentina’s eyes slowly opened, her vision clearing.

“Ah…”

For the first time in ages, she gazed upon the world.

Beneath the dazzling sunlight, beyond the shimmering light, they stood.

Without hesitation, she launched herself forward.

Whoosh—

A single flap of her wings.

In an instant, the dragon’s massive form transformed into a human shape.

Thud.

Valentina landed lightly on the ground and immediately sprinted forward.

She surged forward, enveloping the figures before her in a tight embrace.

A young man with white hair.

A tiny girl who looked exactly like him.

And behind them, a black-haired man stood protectively.

As she held them close, her sense of smell returned, and a flood of familiar scents washed over her.

A nostalgic, familiar fragrance.

The scent of family.

Basking in the aroma, Valentina beamed and cried out, “Kids, Mom’s home!”

As if in response, a tiny girl stretched out her arms.

“Moooommyyy!”

“Eeeek! Oh my goodness! Who is this?! It’s our daughter! My heavens, my heavens! Who does our daughter take after to be so beautiful?”

“Mommy!”

“Ari… Where’s Daddy? You were calling him Daddy just yesterday!”

“Mommy!”

“W-what?!”

“Aww, of course it’s Mommy! Our daughter is so beautiful because she takes after her Mommy!”

Happiness radiated across Valentina’s face as she embraced Ariana for the first time since she was a child.

“Daughter, daughter! Do it again, Mommy! Do it!”

“Mommy!”

“Ari.., Daddy too! Say Daddy!”

“Father!”

“Daughter… Who taught you that?”

“Brother!”

“Our daughter… she should only learn the good things from her brother. That’s what I support, absolutely support.”

Mother in front, Father behind.

Thanks to Ariana, Louis found himself sandwiched between his overbearing parents, shaking his head as he fully experienced their over-the-top doting after so long apart.

Still, he didn’t want to ruin the long-awaited reunion or the warm atmosphere, so he remained still.

But even patience has its limits.

As his parents’ doting continued unabated, Louis sighed.

”…Can’t we just stop and go? You can keep this up at home, right?”

Valentina grinned at Louis’ sulky tone.

“Our son hasn’t changed a bit! Didn’t you miss your mama? Huh? Huh?”

Under Valentina’s dazzling, expectant gaze, Louis subtly lowered his eyes and murmured softly, ”…I missed you.”

“Huh?”

”…I wanted to see you.”

Finally hearing the words she longed to hear, Valentina’s face bloomed into a wide, radiant smile.

Louis, embarrassed, and Valentina, giggling at his discomfort.

Ariana, erupting into peals of laughter at her mother’s joy.

Even Genelocer, clamoring to join in.

Louis sighed inwardly, watching his family stubbornly refuse to move. Yet his lips curved into a natural smile, belying his grumbling thoughts.

Priest of the Church of the Divine.

Lord of the Tower of Wishes.

Guardian Dragon of Frenche.

The Hero Who Saved the World.

Emperor of Dragons, and so on.

He had many titles to his name.

But above all else, the one he cherished most and wished to keep forever was: “Son of Genelocer and Valentina, brother of Ariana.”

Therefore, he yearned:

May this happiness never be shattered.

And:

May I continue to live like this in the future.

He could only fervently wish and wish again.

Side Story: Misunderstanding

“You!” Louis roared at Khan, who had been trailing him since morning.

“What?!” Khan snapped back.

“You’re the only one!”

“So what about it?”

“My Brain Spirit Soaking Wine!”

Louis flinched at Khan’s shout, a reaction lasting only a tenth of a second. He quickly masked his expression, but it was too late—Khan had already noticed.

Khan’s eyes narrowed.

“You… you just flinched, didn’t you?”

“Me? When?”

“Just now!”

“Oh, that’s because I’m cold. It’s a bit chilly.”

“You? Cold? As if!”

“Ha! How ignorant! Even dragons can feel the cold.”

“Stop with the nonsense and hand over my Brain Spirit Soaking Wine right now!”

“Why are you looking for it from me?”

As Louis continued to deny involvement, Khan’s eyebrows arched sharply into an inverted V.

During the Transcendence Academy’s Practical Assessment…

Louis was the one who had blackmailed him using the Brain Spirit Soaking Wine, which he thought no one else knew about.

So when he returned home, he immediately went to retrieve the Brain Spirit Soaking Wine. But as expected, it was gone without a trace.

Since only he and Louis knew where it was buried, Khan had every right to hound him.

“Stop messing around and hand it over!”

“I’m not messing around… I really don’t know where it is!”

“You’re the only one who knew I buried it under the Pruzia Tree! If you didn’t take it, who else could have?”

“How am I supposed to know?! I swear, I have no idea!”

“Hand it over!”

“I don’t know!”

Khan doggedly pursued Louis, repeatedly shouting, “Hand it over!”

Each time, Louis felt like his head was about to explode.

To be clear, Louis had retrieved the Brain Spirit Soaking Wine Khan had buried and reburied it elsewhere.

But the problem was…

”…Where the hell did it go?”

The Brain Spirit Soaking Wine he’d secured had vanished without a trace.

Damn it! If I’d at least drunk it, I wouldn’t feel so cheated!

Frustration surged through him as he realized he was being tormented by Khan over a Brain Spirit Soaking Wine he hadn’t even opened.

“Give it back!”

“I don’t have it!”

“Hand it over!”

“Ah, just leave me alone!”

Watching Louis and Khan bicker, Kani shook her head in exasperation.

“Honestly, they’re acting like children… bickering over food at their age?”

She clucked her tongue, wearing a look of disdain.

Meanwhile, the whereabouts of the Brain Spirit Soaking Wine that sparked the conflict between Louis and Khan…

Tracing its whereabouts required journeying back to a time long past.

It was when Louis declared his independence and departed for the Winter Continent.

“Haa…”

Genelocer wandered through the Lair his son had left behind, a melancholy expression on his face.

“It feels so empty now…”

It had only been a day since Louis departed, but the Lair felt eerily desolate. Was it merely his imagination?

He had longed to keep Louis by his side forever, but he couldn’t stand in the way of his son’s determined path.

Even if I tried to hold him back, Louis would never let himself be confined.

“Hah…”

Genelocer wandered through the Lair, his hands clasped behind his back, a vacant look on his face.

Not content with just the Lair, he began poking around the places outside where traces of Louis remained.

“Our son was struck by lightning right there…”

The spot where Louis had chased a butterfly and been struck by three consecutive lightning bolts.

“He used to love napping there…”

Genelocer hid among the tree roots, trying to evade the persistent chase of the Generocker.

“This is where our Louis first played house…”

He even recalled the pond that had formed in the crater created when Louis tested the power of his newly learned Sacred Scripture.

For a long while, Genelocer lingered, reminiscing over the traces of time Louis had left behind.

Then, his footsteps led him toward a particular tree—the largest Pruzia Tree near the Lair.

As Genelocer passed by, his head tilted in puzzlement.

What’s this…?

A peculiar aura emanated from the Pruzia Tree.

As Genelocer drew closer, suspicion clouded his face.

“Attribute power…?”

And not just any attribute power, but the aura of the Time Attribute itself.

After observing the Pruzia Tree for a long while, Genelocer exclaimed in astonishment.

“Hah!”

The Sacred Scripture deployed nearby was channeling the Pruzia Tree’s aura deep into the ground.

Why on earth would anyone do this here?

Though he voiced the question, he already knew the answer.

Who else would dare to pull such a stunt within his own domain?

Genelocer chuckled softly.

“Louis, that rascal… what mischief has he been up to now?”

A flicker of curiosity piqued his interest.

What prank has Louis pulled this time?

He carefully dug into the earth where the aura converged, unearthing a transparent bottle.

“What’s this…?”

The liquid inside shimmered with a faint silvery glow, accompanied by the unmistakable aroma of wine.

Given Genelocer’s vast knowledge, he couldn’t possibly mistake its identity.

“Braingras?”

The potent cerebral energy emanating from the wine clearly identified it as Brain Spirit Soaking Wine.

Simultaneously, the wine’s effects flooded Genelocer’s mind:

• Stamina enhancement.
• Nourishing tonic for virility.

Why is this here?

As he muttered to himself, a thought flashed through Genelocer’s mind:

His son’s reply when asked how he would cope with loneliness:

It was merely a soothing remark meant to placate Genelocer, who seemed ready to chase after him at any moment. Yet a peculiar phrase within the words sparked a misunderstanding:

Specifically, the words focusing solely on me.

Recalling this, Genelocer wore a slightly moved expression.

“That brat…”

He rubbed his nose with his index finger.

“If he wants a younger sibling, why doesn’t he just say so…?”

Was it merely his imagination, or was there a hint of shyness on Genelocer’s face?

Sniff, sniff.

Genelocer brought the wine bottle to his nose and inhaled deeply.

“Perfectly aged, just right for drinking.”

The Time Attribute Law flowing near the Pruzia Tree must have been a Sacred Scripture designed to infuse the wine with the aura of the Braingras.

Son…

Genelocer’s expression softened as he thought of his son, who had left the previous day.

“He grumbled so much when he left…”

Yet he had left behind such a thoughtful gift—wine aged to perfection, ready to drink at this very moment.

A sudden wave of tenderness washed over Genelocer, stinging the tip of his nose.

“Son… Dad will try his best!”

With that resolve, Genelocer decisively uncorked the bottle.

Pop!

A light, crisp sound filled the air, followed by a sweet, intoxicating aroma that surged into his nostrils.

Genelocer gulped down the wine without hesitation.

Gulp- gulp-

“Cr!”

The entire 750ml bottle vanished in an instant.

At the same time, a look of awe spread across Genelocer’s face.

“Heh… so this is Braingras!”

Braingras—a herb so rare that even dragons struggled to obtain it.

The moment he drank it, vitality surged through his body, muscles twitching with newfound energy.

“Magnificent.”

A sly smile crept across Genelocer’s lips as he turned abruptly.

His steps light and eager, he hurried toward the Lair.

Before long…

“Honey?”

Valentina, who had been pacing outside Louis’s room, turned her head.

Standing there was none other than her husband.

But his demeanor was strangely off.

“What’s wrong with you?”

Genelocer’s face was flushed with a faint excitement as he huffed repeatedly.

He strode over and abruptly seized Valentina’s wrist.

Then, gazing at her with a tender gaze, he spoke:

”…Valentina.”

“Hmm?”

“Do you remember what Louis said?”

“What was that?”

“He told us not to just focus on him, but to enjoy our lives.”

“That’s right. But what does that have to do with anything?”

“It seems… Louis wants a younger sibling.”

”…”

Valentina’s mind froze for a moment as she blinked in confusion.

Then her face flushed crimson, and she exclaimed:

“What kind of nonsense are you spouting in broad daylight?!”

“Ahem!”

Genelocer forcefully pulled Valentina into his arms and whispered in her ear, “Shall we… try making Louis a younger sibling?”

With that, he swept her up in a bridal carry.

“H-Honey! W-Wait a moment!” Valentina squirmed, her legs flailing in panic.

“Shall we go?”

Holding his wife, Genelocer strode purposefully toward the bedroom.

“D-Did he eat something wrong?!” Valentina’s voice trembled with bewilderment.

Yet, contrary to her words, her arms slowly wrapped around Genelocer’s neck, a faint blush tinting her cheeks.

And so, the day after Louis embarked on his journey for independence…

Due to a tiny… trivial misunderstanding…

An unplanned little sister was born.

Translator Notes: Finally finished translating this novel, thank you all for reading!

To be honest, this was just a side project I worked on while reading the novel myself.

Sorry for suddenly taking time off or being slow at times, I’ve been busy with work.

Hopefully, you enjoyed it! If you spotted any confusing parts, let me know and I’ll try to fix them.

I’m thinking of picking one novel to properly translate and proofread next.

Got any good recommendations? Let me know on Discord :)