Became a Hatchling of the Grand Duke of the North

89 – Rats in the Overflowing Sewers (3)

The next day.

Lucia attended the academy as usual.

However, no news about Rat Man appeared anywhere in the capital.

Even today, as long as he didn’t fall asleep, he was observing the people around him carefully, but there was no news about Rat Man or anything like that.

It couldn’t have been a strange thing.

It was an incident that took place in the middle of the capital city, in the middle of the street where numerous cadets came and went every day.

‘I’m sure… I have a feeling…’

No one in this empire has as quick an in-the-know as the nobles or the sons of merchants who belong to the upper classes.

Surely, there should have been news about the rat man somehow, even if it was a rumor or something, but there was no such thing at all.

It is not for nothing that there is a saying that a horse without feet travels a thousand miles.

Even though this was a medieval world where the Internet was not developed, this was the capital of an empire.

If anything noteworthy happened, word of it would spread widely among the cadets in just one morning.

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It was to the extent that even Lucia, who had no interest in rumors, heard it sparingly, so was there any need to say more?

But it’s quiet.

Because he was sure.

This is absolutely impossible unless someone intentionally erases the traces.

[…]

Han’s eyes narrowed as he continued to think as he sat on Lucia’s shoulder.

‘This is artificial.’

* * * *

[Hamm-.]

After the first period.

When it was time to take a break, the guardian dragon, Han, sat across from Lucia, who stretched out and exhaled a long breath.

He stood on the table and held a thick book all day.

[Kieek!]

Han kept making claims to his contractor.

He constantly looked up at Lucia with eyes that contained strong opinions.

But Lucia seemed to regard Han’s gaze as nothing different from usual.

In the first place, staring at Lucia every day was one of the reasons,

Her desire to possess her was also strong because it was the nature of her guardian dragon, Han.

Because she,

[Guardian Dragon is complaining a lot today, hehehe.]

She just said that and stroked his hair.

Anyway, it didn’t seem to matter at all.

[…]

The eyes of Han, the guardian dragon, wriggled.

…Does this look like grumbling?

That’s not it, just read the book, Lucia.

But I can’t speak, so I can’t be this frustrated.

This is because the vocal cords of dragons are completely different from those of humans.

Meanwhile, Han struggled to show her the page she had opened.

Took. Took.

He picked up a page from the book with his blunt front claws.

[Kiik!]

He pointed to an image drawn on the page, folding up to his toes that weren’t even properly folded.

It was a strong expression of intention that was rare for a normal Han.

[Uh…]

Soon, Yone, who had been watching the sheep silently, rolled her eyes.

[Maybe the Guardian Dragon is asking me to look at something? It seems like the book keeps showing the same page from earlier.]

[Look…?]

Lucia tilted her head at the strange sound.

Instantly, I looked at a page in the book that Guardian Dragon Han was pointing to.

The image there was none other than a single monster.

[Rat man?]

Ratman.

It meant a ferocious monster in the shape of a mouse as big as a normal person or dwarves.

However, in the northern part of the polar region, it could be said that it was a somewhat unfamiliar monster.

In the first place, I couldn’t see an opponent like this in the north.

Usually, the monsters you can encounter there are mostly Owl Bears, Ice Trolls, or Dire Wolves’ packs of wolves, because they can withstand the extreme cold.

[By the way…]

Lucia blinked in puzzlement.

[Why are you showing me this, Guardian Dragon?]

[I think you have something you want to say, lady.]

‘Yes, Yone. It’s been a while since I’ve been playing the role of a person. You deliver instead…’

When I reflexively looked back at Yone like that.

The sound that came out of her mouth was of a kind beyond his imagination.

[Maybe you want to try this rat man monster? That, why, you know. Originally, Guardian Dragon really likes meat.]

[…]

Thinking about it.

I don’t know anything else, but these rats are rather a specification from that side.

They usually live in very humid places like sewers and crypts.

Even because they made a living by eating and sleeping in a place where filth and vomit floated around, they were dirty things that lived with all sorts of germs.

Although the things in this world were different in many corners from the world he knew, I didn’t think that the disposition of this tribe of ratmen would change very much here either.

Because the species and appearance of the monsters were similar to those he remembered.

In fact, they are probably almost identical in nature.

Just like the other monsters he remembered.

‘Thinking back, it didn’t make sense at all that the guy I saw the other day popped out of nowhere in the middle of the street in the capital.’

Soon, however, Han began to change his mind.

‘Come to think of it, if you assume that they came up through a nearby sewerage facility, it makes sense. Come to think of it, this is the capital, right?’

The capital of the empire was a place equipped with excellent facilities as well as its reputation and history.

Unsurprisingly, deep underground in the city, there was a huge sewer system that ran through the entire capital.

If there’s an underground aqueduct, down this capital.

The situation last night made some sense, considering that the rat man appeared through the canal from there.

Perhaps one day I remember the attention the Archduke Lucrezia gave to her Lucia.

I heard that there are some thieves’ guilds and dens of gangsters somewhere in the back alleys and sewers of the capital, so I told you to be careful if possible.

It is crime that has not been completely eradicated even in the modernized world of previous lives.

Drugs and human trafficking still remain, even in modern society, quietly hiding behind the backs of ordinary people.

Is it possible in this world that such a criminal group can be completely eradicated?

Moreover, magic and sorcery existed here.

They transcend the cognition possessed by ordinary humans, and by forcibly twisting and dazzling the objects and spaces seen with the eyes, it was even possible to twist or hide the inside of a certain space.

Is the extermination of the underworld perfect in a world like this?

‘No, you’re welcome.’

At least from Han’s point of view, that seems impossible.

Rather than that, it was more appropriate to see it as existing to the extent of overflowing.

* * * *

‘By the way, who shot and killed Rat Man then? It must have been a gunshot wound, judging from the marks.’

But as Han remembered, there was never a gunshot.

Just like the peaceful dawn that is unmatched by the silence.

‘Wait. Then it couldn’t have been fired from so far away that you couldn’t even hear the gunshot-.’

It was around the time that Han was finally thinking about the closest theory.

[Chijik-. Hello, students of Celestial Academy.]

Suddenly, the speaker turned on along with a momentary noise from the corridor of the academy.

It was a school broadcast.

[Kiik?]

At that, not only the guardian dragon Han, but also Lucia and many other cadets raised their heads.

[This is a sudden notification, but today’s class will be held until the morning and will be suspended for a while.]

[What, what? Abort?]

Cadets buzzing in bewilderment. And between them, Lucia and the guardian dragon Han, who also raised their eyes wide.

But the school broadcasting wasn’t over yet.

[Because of this, class will be closed for a while from this afternoon. For the next week, the academy will be temporarily closed due to a slight problem on campus, and subsequent news will be notified to students in turn.]

What is it? What are you talking about?

The cadets whispered.

It is a series of sudden news that cannot be understood at all.

It’s just that the prestigious academy of the empire hastily ended classes without even properly revealing the reason.

This was a big event.

Even the free movement of the cadets was strictly prohibited in the subsequent broadcast.

It was then.

[Professor? Why are you doing that?]

[Princess. I’ll explain the situation later.]

In the distance, I can see Princess Rachel leaving her seat.

The numerous cadets who witnessed her walking away quickly while being guided by several professors started whispering.