Happy tilted his head.
"Hikage?"
"Living alone becomes inconvenient at my age. Hikage helps take care of my daily needs. It went into town to buy supplies and should be back around now. I'll introduce you when it returns."
A crow wearing a woven traveling hat flapped into Magia Dragon with a basket clutched in its talons.
It placed one wing against its chest and bowed with perfect courtesy.
"Oh my, we have guests. Please allow me to introduce myself. I am a traveling raven named Hikage."
"The crow talked!!!"
Happy and Lucy recoiled in shock.
"I traveled from place to place in search of wealth until I encountered Lord Elefseria some time ago."
Hikage then launched into a colorful account of how it had met the Law Dragon.
Once everyone had eaten their fill, Selene turned to the main subject. Sitting upright in her chair, she said seriously,
"I wish to enter the Dogramag Labyrinth."
"The Dogramag Labyrinth?!"
"What's that?"
"It already sounds amazing!"
Lucy, Natsu, and Happy spoke one after another.
"The sixth Dragon God sleeps there."
Aside from Natsu and Happy, everyone present already knew there had once been a sixth Dragon God.
Kurnugi had told Raizel's group about it before.
Still, they all immediately put on convincing performances.
"A sixth one?!"
"What does that mean?!"
"They're called the Five Dragon Gods! Why is there a sixth?!"
"As everyone knows, there are six of the Five Dragon Gods."
Wendy shook her head.
"I don't understand!"
Natsu looked at her with the smug expression of someone who had mastered all knowledge in the universe.
"I'll teach you, Wendy. Five plus one equals six."
A dark shadow fell across Lucy's face.
"Natsu, that isn't what he meant..."
Happy asked,
"If there are six Dragon Gods, shouldn't they be called the Six Dragon Gods?"
Elefseria considered how to explain it.
"There were originally six. Or rather, they were once known as the Six Dragon Gods. One of them died, leaving only five."
Carla frowned and interrupted him.
"But you just said the sixth Dragon God was sleeping there. Now you're saying it's dead?"
"I meant that its remains lie there in eternal sleep," Elefseria explained. "That is why I also said it was dead."
"The sixth Dragon God was Dogramag. He could be considered the weakest of the six, but that only means he was weaker than the other Five Dragon Gods. Compared to ordinary dragons, his power was still overwhelming."
"I successfully defeated Dogramag one hundred years ago."
Elefseria could not entirely hide the proud curve of his lips as he said it.
Natsu stared at him with admiration.
"Old man, that's incredible!"
"The price, however, was that he ate my heart."
"Your heart?!"
Even Raizel was shocked.
It was difficult to accept that a perfectly healthy man sitting right in front of them could casually announce that he no longer possessed a heart.
"Old man, that's incredible—!"
Natsu's admiring expression abruptly turned to horror.
"Wait! Then how are you still alive?! Normally, you should've died ages ago!"
"It was an effect of dragonification. When humans use Dragon Slayer Magic, their bodies gradually transform into those of dragons. That transformation changes more than their outward appearance. Their internal organs change as well."
"I imagine Lady Irene experienced something similar."
Elefseria addressed Irene with respect. Not only was she the mother of Dragon Slayer Magic, but she was also far older than him.
Irene nodded casually.
"That's correct. The simplest explanation is that a dragonified body can survive without an ordinary heart."
These days, she had long since made peace with everything. Whether she was considered human or dragon no longer mattered much.
The side effects had already been resolved. She could sleep, no longer suffered from the cold, and had regained her sense of taste. She was perfectly capable of living as a human.
Natsu stared at Elefseria in open admiration.
"Grandpa, you're amazing!!!"
Cold sweat ran down Lucy's forehead as she frantically waved both hands.
"No, no, no! This is extremely weird!"
She rested a hand beneath her chin, adopting the expression of someone carefully applying logic to the situation.
"I read in a book that the heart circulates blood through the body. A living creature can't survive without one."
Elefseria carefully chose his words.
"Strictly speaking, another organ developed to replace my heart. That is what allowed me to survive."
Mira had already accepted the explanation completely.
"The bodies of dragons really are incredible."
"You could even call them mysterious," Wendy added.
Lucy still had countless objections.
"I still can't accept this..."
Raizel looked at her with the solemn expression of someone offering hard-earned wisdom.
"I choose to call it Magic. Blame everything on Magic and move on."
It was already a mistake to judge dragons according to human or animal anatomy.
No one had exactly conducted a thorough autopsy on a dragon before, so Raizel saw little point in arguing over it.
Elefseria returned to the subject.
"The truly terrifying thing about Dogramag was what happened after his death. The Magic Power escaping from his body took root throughout the earth and created an enormous labyrinth."
"That is what became known as the Dogramag Labyrinth."
"His corpse created a labyrinth?!"
"How is that even possible?"
Even Kagura and Erza struggled to accept it.
"My entire understanding of the world is falling apart!"
Lucy had received far too many attacks on her common sense today.
Elefseria sighed with admiration.
"That was the true extent of his power. Even in death, his radiance endured. It was power truly worthy of a Dragon God."
Ultear tapped the table, interrupting him.
"Wait. Is it possible—and I'm only saying possible—that the Earth Dragon God Dogramag isn't actually dead?"
Every eye at the table turned toward her.
Ultear remained perfectly composed as she explained,
"This is only a theory. You just said that dragons can survive without their hearts. We also witnessed Aldoron's tremendous vitality firsthand."
"Aldoron was gravely wounded after fighting Acnologia, then spent three hundred years recovering. When he awakened, he was even stronger than before."
"So is it possible that Dogramag, another Dragon God, only pretended to die and has actually been lying dormant while recovering his strength?"
"..."
Elefseria lowered his head and fell silent.
He could not confidently dismiss Ultear's theory as nonsense.
Eventually, the Law Dragon looked up at Selene again.
"Why exactly do you wish to enter the Dogramag Labyrinth?"
"To search for clues concerning Athena. Otherwise, we'll keep wandering around without knowing where to begin."
Selene's answer sent Elefseria back into silence.
He needed to decide whether he was willing to trust her.
Raizel tapped the table, breaking into his thoughts.
"How about letting all of us enter together?"
Elefseria looked surprised.
"You wish to go as well?"
Raizel nodded.
"I think Ultear's theory has some merit. Besides, I'd like to see what this Dogramag Labyrinth is really like."
Erza slammed both hands onto the table.
"A labyrinth? That sounds exciting!!!"
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