Chapter 227
Like a feather, Joshua descended from the sky and landed right in the middle of the throng of prideful Imperial Knights.
“...”
The crowd was silent as if they were mourning. They couldn’t really be blamed. After all, who could have expected that there would be a person riding on a dragon?
“Maybe it’s a wyvern?” said Porter with a dumbfounded look.
The surrounding imperial knights shook their heads.
“No, it can’t be a wyvern. The Wyvern Knights of Swallow are the only ones with wyverns, and they’re the finest troops of Swallow.”
“Well, it looks like a wyvern, though. It’s hard to say for sure because it’s still flying, but it looks tiny from down here that it has to be a small wyvern. I mean, wyverns are technically just small dragons, right? Moreover, it would apparently take twenty years to tame a wyvern.”
“Uh… If he could tame a wyvern, then he should be the right-hand man of our Knight Commander”
“Yeah, but I don’t think it’s a wyvern. It’s not a wyvern nor a dragon, right?”
The nobles and the knights started muttering to themselves. However, the nobles and the knights were mistaken if they could simply ignore the beast flying up above them.
Roaaaar!
“...!”
The dragon’s roar rolled over them, quashing their illusions. The weaker knights quaked in their boots or simply dropped to their knees. Now, they could be sure of the beast’s identity flying up above Arcadia.
It had to be a dragon. After all, there was no way an Imperial Knight of Avalon would collapse to the floor at a wyvern’s roar.
“God…!” The knights of the battalions froze over on the spot.
“T-there’s no way he tamed a dragon…”
Meanwhile, the knights of the 11th and 12th Battalions were staring at Joshua. In addition, Ranger, a knight who had long become infamous for his stern countenance and demeanor, looked like he was about to cry.
“Attention, 12th Battalion!”
“Attention, 11th Battalion!”
Ranger and Cazes shouted at the frozen knights. They drew their swords, blades pointed into the sky, and raised them to their chests in salute. All of them turned to Joshua.
“To the Battalion Commander’s safe return…”
“Salute!”
The knights’ cheers reverberated loudly as if they were proudly proclaiming the return of their Battalion Commander. The rest of the knights, even the knights of the top battalions, could only stand there and watch.
Roar!
A roar echoed once more, but when everyone looked up, the dragon had long disappeared. It vanished as fast as it appeared. Joshua turned around and stared at the horizon, but even his heightened senses could only see a black dot.
When Joshua stepped forward, the 11th and 12th Battalions opened the way for him, and the rest of the Imperial Knights had no choice but to follow suit. His advance was unstoppable, like that of a monarch returning from a successful campaign.
Each step was like a hammer being pounded on the hearts of the members of the 11th and 12th Battalions.
Valmont was watching from the side, and he shook his head in disappointment at the sight.
Joshua kept walking until he stood face-to-face with the Knight Commander of Avalon’s Imperial Knights Order—Knight Commander Rod den Hogg.
“Battalion Commander Sanders, reporting for duty,” said Joshua to the stern-looking Knight Commander Rod. “Master Joshua Sanders, the Battalion Commander of the Imperial Knights Order’s Reserve Battalions, has returned upon successfully completing His Majesty the Emperor’s orders.”
A shiver of excitement ran down the spines of the 11th and 12th Battalion Knights—which were the so-called Reserve Battalions. Meanwhile, the knights from the top battalions were despondent, and the rest felt the same—especially Porter.
The responses varied, but Joshua’s return was like a beautiful prelude.
***
“Shouldn’t we go outside? What if the building collapses on us?”
The nobles were becoming agitated. Even the ones who had adopted a watch-and-learn attitude finally kicked up a fuss and started talking with the other nobles.
“They say that a dragon’s breath can destroy a city!”
“Shouldn’t we evacuate before we start talking about countermeasures? We’re all going to die!”
“Hah—is there a smart way out of this? Against a dragon…”
“We might be safer here. The Imperial Palace has been ensconced in several layers of defense magic over the past hundreds of years.”
“Argh…!”
“I think we should wait for now. The Five Dukes and Sir Evergrant had already departed, so why don’t we settle down for now?”
The nobles collectively decided that waiting was their best option. After making a decision to stay and wait, the nobles started to calm down.
“A dragon?” Arie smiled. Countermeasures? The leaders of the Twelve Families were no longer here, and it seemed that they had disappeared to help the emperor.
‘I like that. Those smart foxes probably ran over to His Majesty as soon as they noticed that this was a great chance for them to show off their loyalty. After all, a crisis is a great opportunity as well.’?
Arie was sure that the marquises had run over to His Majesty to make themselves appear like they were ready to sacrifice their lives for the Emperor of Avalon. It was unfortunate, but those people didn’t know Emperor Marcus’ personality at all.
If what Arie had seen so far was right, then Emperor Marcus was his kindred spirit.
“Even though time has passed, the emperor doesn't even think about coming back, and when I think of the first person who disappeared as if waiting for something to happen…”
“A crisis involving a dragon requires His Majesty’s presence the most, but His Majesty still isn’t here. In addition, that man also disappeared as soon as the news broke out. It seemed that he had been waiting for something to happen.”
Arie revealed a bitter smile as he stared at the empty space next to the throne.
“Imperial Chief Mage Evergrant con Aswald. He definitely knows something.”
***
The nobles gathered in a small room near the throne room. Emperor Marcus was nearby, but it was clear that he didn’t really care about the desperate gazes of the nobles, who were still looking for him right now.
“Your Majesty, it’s a bit early, but it’s within our expectations.”
“Are you sure its appearance over Arcadia rather than Tripia is within expectations, Evergrant?” Emperor Marcus stared directly at Evergrant’s bowed head.
“Yes, the location differed a bit from our plans, but it’s definitely within our expectations. After all, dragons are greedier and more selfish than humans.”
If a third party were here, then they would definitely conclude that the two were privy to something unknown. The burning question was—what was it that they knew?
“I broke the rule and made him mad. I even tried out different things with the dead in his realm.”
“I angered him by breaking the pact. I even experimented with the dead in his realm, but we still haven’t gone too far…”
”If it had been a lich or a death knight rather than a ghoul, even an infamously aloof black dragon wouldn’t have been able to ignore it,” Evergrant explained. “No, I should have gone ahead and crossed over his bottom line.”
“Enough with the theories. Just tell me the facts,” Emperor Marcus said coldly.
In response, Evergrant politely offered an eerie, yellowish-brown horn with an incomparably sharp tip.
“It’s the horn of an Intermediate demon.”
“A demon’s horn is an amalgamation of demonic power, and demonic power is the fuel of demons. It has been quite a while since the demons disappeared from this land, so I was sure that he would be forced to react upon noticing this.”
“Hmm?”
“Attracting his attention means winning half of the battle. He’s definitely going to do his best to find where the horn was located, and I can conduct a tug of war. It’s fortunate because tug of war is one of my specialties.”
“So, will it be enough to mollify that lizard?”
“Perhaps—Huh?!”?Evergrant shut his mouth when a strange light flashed across Emperor Marcus’ eyes.
“What is it, Evergrant?”
Emperor Marcus’ gaze could pierce a hole in Evergrant, but the latter remained silent. Of course, Evergant soon composed himself, but before he could even start talking once more, a cry came from outside the door.
“The dragon is leaving!”
“...!”
From outside the front door, a voice rang through the whole palace.
“W-What’s happening?” Evergrant revealed a worried look.
‘Is this it?’?thought Evergrant. He bowed deeply to Emperor Marcus, and upon receiving Emperor Marcus’ nod, he immediately ran out of the door.
“P-Please excuse me, Your Majesty,” said Evergrant before closing the door.
“Jacken.” Emperor Marcus called out.
“Yes, Your Majesty?”
“Follow him.”
“I hear and obey,” said Jacken before quietly trailing behind Evergrant.
***
In front of the throne room’s enormous door…
“The effect gets stronger the more you concentrate. Can you do it?” asked Joshua.
“Yes, but why should I do it?”
“It’s the servant’s job,” replied Joshua.
“...” At that, Ash didn’t know what to say.
“Shout in a way like what I told you earlier. Announce—grandly—of my entrance to get everyone’s attention on me.”
“With a face like that, I don’t think you need help getting everyone’s attention.”
“Just do your best,” said Joshua.
“Sigh…” Ash pouted as he walked toward the doors.
“I don’t need anything special. I just want you to shout as loud as you can.”
“Oh,?trust me. I’m a high elf.” Ash paused. He still looked unhappy, but a sly smile was slowly creeping up his lips as he asked. “If I’m doing this, I gotta do it right, don’t I?”
“...?” Joshua stared at Ash, seemingly confused.
Ash’s smile widened. He had come up with a plan, and it was an excellent plan that would allow him to do what he was told to do as well as relieve his pent-up stress.
Ash stared at Joshua for quite a while.
The way Ash stared at Joshua was becoming increasingly suspicious, so Joshua couldn’t help but ask, “What are you trying to do?”
Ash didn’t respond. He eagerly threw his head back and shouted at the top of his lungs. “The dragon is leaviiing!”
Afterward, Ash lifted his foot and kicked the slightly ajar door open and started screaming once more. “Ain’t nobody’s going to stand in Lord Sanders’ way! Lord Sanders is comin’ through, shitheads!”
“...” Joshua was dumbfounded. He stared agape at Ash and stood there, frozen.
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