The Death Knights boarded one by one after him. They were accompanying him without entering Increasia, just in case. But the mercenaries could not bring themselves to move so easily. The thought of riding on a dragon’s back was enough to frighten anyone.
“What are you doing? Aren’t you coming?”
“Y-yes, we’re coming.”
Kasim hurried over and leaped onto the dragon’s back. As the captain, he had to set an example, so he had no choice even if he was afraid. Yuliana climbed on without much hesitation, and Mitchell and the rest of the mercenaries began moving one by one.
In the end, all of them had to place themselves on the dragon’s back. Looking around at the people staring blankly at them, Damon shouted in high spirits.
“Then let’s depart. Shall we go collect the price of a dragon?”
—I will take flight. Hold on tightly so you do not fall.
As soon as he finished speaking, Katroi soared into the air. Because his body was so enormous, he did not seem burdened in the slightest even with the entire group aboard.
Whoosh.
The White Dragon spread his wings wide, circled once through the air, then began flying straight north.
“Ha! This is refreshing.”
“To think I’d ride on a dragon’s back in my lifetime.”
The mercenaries enjoyed their first flight, savoring the cool wind striking their faces. Their destination was the north, a land covered in eternal snow all year round.
The people continued watching without taking their eyes off them as they vanished into a tiny speck in an instant. Their faces were blank, as if they still could not believe what had just happened.
“H-heavens……”
The old official’s eyes were bulging as if they might split apart. He was the very official who had hosted Princess Karsel and her party. In a single day, he was experiencing shocks enough to last a lifetime. For the first time in his life he had dealt with a dragon, and after witnessing every moment of that dragon being hunted, he had even been forced to watch the Dragon Slayers ride off on the dragon’s back to collect its ransom. That alone was astonishing enough, but now a person of a status and authority he could not even dare imagine was about to appear before him. And through the exceedingly dangerous means of spatial transfer, no less.
Because it used a magic circle, there was some degree of stability, but high-ranking figures generally tended not to use spatial transfer. That was how much they valued safety. Yet he had been told that someone who could be called the very highest among such people was coming through spatial transfer, so it was only natural that the old official should be beside himself.
‘C-could it be because of my report?’
Like the gathered princesses, the officials dispatched from Pelzentin had also witnessed the dragon hunt to the end. Of course, most of the officials had been too busy watching the hunt in a daze, but among them there was not no one devoted to his duty. The old official now standing before the magic circle was precisely that man.
‘Th-this matter must be reported to the capital.’
When the hunt was nearing its end, the old official suddenly came to his senses and attempted magical communication through the crystal orb he always carried. Since he was a low-level mage capable of casting magical communication, the dragon hunt taking place here was reported to Pelzentin in an orderly fashion.
“S-surely such a thing couldn’t……”
The mage in Pelzentin who received the communication refused to believe it at all. Of course, the old official had expected as much. The dragon hunt currently unfolding was something utterly impossible to believe unless one saw it with one’s own eyes. The communications officer cut off the transmission with a rather displeased air.
“I will submit the report for now. Of course, if this proves to be false, you must be prepared for severe censure.”
“Do not worry. There are many witnesses besides myself.”
The old official ended the communication with a bitter smile. But the situation took an unexpected turn. Just as the old official who had finished the transmission was about to turn around, light rose once more from the crystal orb.
“What is it?”
When the old official hurriedly infused mana into the crystal orb, the mage from before appeared there with a half-dazed expression. He must have been in a great hurry, for he even stammered as he delivered his message.
“N-now. R-right now, His Grace Duke Perstein says he will personally go there. Including his escort knights and mages, there will be close to one hundred people in all, so prepare to receive him.”
“H-His Grace Duke Perstein?”
The old official could only gape. Duke Perstein was, in name and reality, the foremost authority in Krosen. His fame already far surpassed that of Emperor Valensius, who lay in a vegetative state, and Crown Prince De Beers, who would soon inherit the imperial throne.
Aside from the Krosen Knights, who traditionally offered loyalty only to the emperor, nearly everyone recognized him as the true leader of the Krosen Empire.
Because of that, the old official even had to pinch himself, unable to tell whether this was a dream or reality. The most important task before him now was to inspect the magic circle. A magic circle directly connected to Pelzentin, the capital, had been installed here, and the old official checked every detail to make sure the drawn coordinates had not shifted.
Ssssss.
When an intense cluster of light rose from the unfolded magic circle, the old official grew tense.
“It seems he is finally arriving.”
The moment his mutter ended, the magic circle was enveloped in dazzling radiance.
Flash.
When the light vanished, dozens of people appeared there. In the center stood an old man dressed in splendid attire, and around him were fully armed knights packed tightly in formation. As if they had prepared for every contingency, the knights were already fully ready for battle.
Judging by the blue aura rising from their drawn swords, not a single one of them was not a Sword Master. It seemed he had brought every Sword Master belonging to the Duke Knights. In addition, a large number of mages who appeared highly skilled were accompanying the duke as well. They were not court mages, but they were high-level mages whose abilities fell not the slightest bit short in comparison. They were none other than Duke Perstein’s private corps of mages.
Unlike the Duke Knights, who still could not contend with the Krosen Knights, the scale of the magical corps possessed by the duke had already surpassed that of the court mage group. Of course, there was no one whose ability rivaled the Archmage Philamones, but in every other aspect, their forces could not be compared either in quantity or quality. The wealth of House Helprain had long since surpassed that of the imperial family.
Ordinarily, mages knew every detail about the mages belonging to the same organization. Since the old official himself was also a mage of a low circle, there was no way he would not know their identities. Every single person escorting the duke was a high-ranking mage exceeding the Seventh Circle. It could truly be called an escort beyond imagination. The moment he realized that, the old official’s knees bent of their own accord. The other party possessed an immense status he could not dare approach.
“I-I greet Your Grace the Duke.”
The one who had appeared in the magic circle was none other than Duke Perstein. Despite being especially concerned with safety, he had appeared in Leitona through spatial transfer. Duke Perstein glanced briefly around, then immediately bombarded the old official with a question.
“Where are they now?”
“Wh-who do you mean, Your Grace?”
Irritation appeared on Duke Perstein’s face.
“The Dragon Slayers. More precisely, the black mage and the Death Knights. Why are they nowhere to be seen?”
Astonishingly, Duke Perstein’s objective was the black mage. He had come in person to win the black mage over. Unfortunately, however, he was one step too late. The old official nodded his head as if he had committed some crime and continued speaking.
“They have already left this place on the dragon’s back.”
“On the dragon’s back?”
Duke Perstein’s eyes widened. He had not imagined they would leave this place riding a dragon. The report had reached him just when the Dragon Slayer party had finished the hunt, so the duke had assumed the Slayers would still be here. Because of that, he had mobilized nearby troops to surround the vicinity of Daytona, but he had not considered the sky at all. A troubled look appeared on the duke’s face.
“This is difficult. I thought by now they would be in the middle of dismantling the dragon’s corpse……”
“They did not kill the dragon.”
At the old official’s words, Duke Perstein was startled.
“Are you saying the hunt failed?”
“That is not the case……”
After hearing the full story, Duke Perstein shook his head as if dumbfounded.
“Heavens, to release it after taking a ransom…… Though twenty thousand gold is indeed a great sum, a dragon’s corpse should be worth far more than that……”
Duke Perstein’s thinking was extremely reasonable. He was already the wealthiest man in the Krosen Empire, so twenty thousand gold was not difficult for him to prepare. Even the tenant rents he collected in a single year exceeded that amount. Since the duke needed dragon bones and a dragon heart to create high-grade weapons more than he needed gold, he could not help but feel it was a terrible waste.
“A pity. With the amount of dragon bone from one wyrm-class dragon, I could arm many knights…… If their skill is lacking, then at least their weapons should be good. In any case, where did they go?”
“I am sorry, but I do not know the details. I can only guess that they went to the White Dragon’s lair in the north……”
“Well, if they flew away, there would be no way to pursue them.”
Duke Perstein shook his head in disappointment. He had come determined to win over the black mage no matter what, but if the person in question had disappeared, there was nothing he could do. Even so, he did not give up easily.
‘Once they receive the ransom, they will appear again. I must aim for that moment.’
Having made up his mind, Duke Perstein moved back toward the magic circle.
“We return.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
As the knights who answered surrounded him, the duke leisurely stepped onto the magic circle. Seeing this, the mages immediately activated the warp. In preparation for any possible magical interference, several mages cast spatial transfer simultaneously. Accordingly, a dazzling radiance began to manifest from the magic circle.
Ssssss.
A little while later, the duke and his party vanished from that place. The people watched with anxious hearts as the greatest authority in Arcadia disappeared. Like a dragon, Duke Perstein was certainly not someone easily seen. Once he was gone, the people began letting out sighs one by one.
“Truly astonishing.”
“To think Duke Perstein would appear here……”
The people moved silently, still unable to hide their regret. In their minds, there was only one thought: they had to inform their homelands of this astonishing truth as soon as possible.