Chapter 42
The Castle of Valdrova in the Grand Duchy of Valdrova.
That day, Luri was giving Valdrova her weekly report.
“The latest news is that Lord Ferda has arrived safely in the Empire and is speaking with them in the Imperial Palace.”
It was a report on Ferda's whereabouts.
Hearing that, Valdrova exhaled through her nose as though relieved.
-I see. I'm glad he arrived safely.
“Haven't I told you that several times already? I said it was highly unlikely that ordinary monsters would target that carriage.”
The Far East was treated as a forsaken land, and many areas there remained undeveloped.
Thus, it had many dense forests, and where there were many trees, there were also many monsters.
The chances of encountering monsters while traveling were more than twice as high as in other regions.
But even so, there was no chance of that happening to the carriage Ferda was riding.
When the carriage was built, a dragon scale was hidden inside it.
Monsters with strong wild instincts would be reluctant even to approach the dragon's scent and aura.
There had been no monster attacks, and since Arwen, a knight of Count Consilius, had accompanied him as an escort just in case, he could travel safely even if they were attacked.
‘And yet….’
Valdrova couldn't relax.
She simply disliked the fact that he was leaving the Grand Duchy.
For Valdrova, the red dragon who fretted even when he was right before her eyes yet outside her immediate reach, the thought of him going to a land beyond her influence was like a bolt from the blue.
-He must be eating properly, right?
-There aren't any monsters loitering nearby, are there?
-He isn't ill, is he?
Those were the questions Luri had heard only six hours after his departure.
‘It's not as though she's caring for a sick chick.’
She was fretting over him as though he were a frail creature that might die at any moment.
It couldn't be helped.
In the eyes of an immortal who had existed since nearly the beginning of time, an eighteen-year-old adult mortal was no different from an ant on the ground.
Besides, Ferda's constitution was weaker than an ordinary person's.
Luri had no choice but to attach one of her spirits to Ferda's carriage and have it report every three hours.
And Luri hated making these reports.
‘She grows farther and farther from the dignity of a sovereign.’
She had been a dragon far removed from the dignity of a sovereign to begin with.
Luri knew Valdrova's two faces.
Whenever Valdrova took the form of a red dragon, she always used a solemn and serious tone.
The sight of her as a lonely, solitary guardian created a taut sense of tension.
On the other hand, whenever she took human form, she completely let go of that tension.
With her face, expressions, gestures—everything—different enough to seem like another person, she became a pure woman utterly distant from dignity.
‘I can accept all those sides of her, but….’
At the very least, Luri wished that the boundary between them would not be erased entirely.
But the more Ferda entered Valdrova's life, the more Luri felt even the dragon form losing its dignity.
Her emotions were conflicted.
Luri wanted her master to be happy.
At the same time, she wished her to maintain the dignity befitting her status.
‘Ferda.’
Everything had changed like this because that man had entered her life.
He was a man Luri had much to thank, but also much to resent.
“I won't report on his journey back.”
Valdrova jerked at those words.
-Why?
“Now that we know Lord Ferda's route is safe, there is no need to go out of our way to report on his return, is there?”
-…But might the journey back not be perilous again?
There she went again, sounding like a grandmother waiting to see her grandchild.
“Then why not go out to meet him?”
-Hmm….
Valdrova lowered her head with a low groan.
Despite all her worries, she was still uncomfortable meeting humans face-to-face.
Seeing that she could not bring herself to continue, Luri drove the point home.
“You needn't worry so much about Lord Ferda. Eighteen is a child in our eyes, but in human society, he is a full-fledged adult.”
-I know that.
“And he is handling well, on your behalf, the things you were unable to do.”
-I know that too….
“So please don't worry too much. As long as you remain safe and sound, Lord Ferda will never be in danger.”
It was while she was soothing Valdrova this way that…
A breeze stirred within the quiet lair, then took shape as a white figure.
The high-ranking wind spirit Tormenta floated beside Luri, formed only as a face.
“It seems news of Lord Ferda has come in. One moment….”
-I understand.
Valdrova straightened and waited for Luri to speak.
Luri's eyes widened for an instant as she listened impassively.
“What? What do you mean….”
She was so startled that she asked him in a loud voice.
Luri lowered her voice again.
But Valdrova had not failed to hear it.
-What is it?
Luri did not answer.
She merely listened to the spirit's whisper.
-What happened?
“Please wait a moment, Master.”
Valdrova's golden eyes shifted.
She could tell enough from Luri's words.
-What happened? To my fiancé?
Her patience was reaching its limit.
The embodiment of power was beginning to lose her composure.
Crack—.
Her claws dug into and shattered the floor.
Krrrgh—.
As Valdrova's emotions churned, the cavern shook violently.
-Tell me the truth. What happened to my fiancé?
The red dragon, Valdrova.
The one called the master of fire and power had been gradually releasing the strength she had kept suppressed.
At last, Luri, who had been listening to the spirit, opened her mouth.
“It was nothing you need worry about.”
-Then what happened?
“It was merely political. I only came to relay the news quickly.”
-Then is my fiancé all right?
“Yes.”
The shaking of the cavern stopped.
Valdrova, who had risen to her feet, sighed in relief and coiled herself up again.
-Then why were you making such a serious face?
“I was merely concentrating. I apologize for worrying you.”
-Hmm… So that's what it was. No, it's all right.
Trusting Luri, Valdrova calmed her startled heart.
“Then I shall take my leave. There are still documents piling up in the territory….”
“Very well. Go.”
Luri left Valdrova's lair just like that.
She walked without a word.
She slowly made her way out of the cave and into the forest, then spotted a sign and stopped.
This should be far enough.
Once she judged that she had gone far enough away for Valdrova not to detect her, she opened her tightly closed mouth.
“Tormenta.”
The high-ranking wind spirit, who had appeared only as a face, was summoned at her call.
-Yes, Master.
“Of what your subordinate relayed….”
Her lowered voice trembled faintly.
“Do you swear that not a single word of it was a lie?”
The wind spirit Tormenta flinched.
Beneath her impassive, businesslike face, Luri's concealed agitation was palpable.
It could not be otherwise.
The news she had heard was not merely political.
-Yes. It was recorded that Lord Ferda was attacked and injured by a magic investigator in the Sealed Vault. I received that urgent report and am relaying it to you exactly as it came.
The regent of the Far East had been injured inside the Imperial Palace.
If this were ordinary human politics, it was the sort of matter that could be worked out somehow through mutual concessions.
But the other party was the one who would become the dragon's consort.
‘And Master's fiancé, at that.’
Valdrova became deeply agitated whenever she suspected something had happened.
If she were told that he had been injured there, it would not end as a mere matter of diplomacy and politics.
‘Master would lose her reason and make a move….’
The other dragons would move as well.
That was something they had to prevent at all costs.
‘Dragons must not act.’
But dragon spawn were different.
“Understood.”
Wings extended from Luri's back.
Her silver-shining wings were larger than ever and stretched out powerfully.
Thoom—!
With a single flap of her wings, Luri's form vanished.
The master of wind and steel, the silver dragon.
She was also called the Silver Comet, famous for being impossible to follow with the eye once she began to fly.
As one granted that power, Luri could move extraordinarily fast as well.
A stifling emotion kept surging within Luri's chest.
Why had he entered the Sealed Vault?
And why had he nearly died inside the Imperial Palace?
‘Did they think so little of Master?’
Luri had disliked the Empire from the start.
The Third Prince, who shared that bloodline, had approached Valdrova intending to use her from the outset.
As though that were not enough, they had even used her as a pretext to cast her out of her family.
It was an insult.
An insult that could never be forgiven.
Yet Luri did not move.
Not because Luri did not care, but because Valdrova did not want it.
She believed her own unhappiness was only natural, and had let go of the hope she had once held rather than clinging to it pathetically.
‘Now that she has only just managed to… hold on to that hope.’
How dare they put the person who would become a dragon's spouse in danger?
Grit—.
After flying at full speed for about five minutes, Luri's eyes caught sight of the Empire.
The place it had taken Ferda a week to reach was only an instant away for her.
Her silver eyes turned toward the Imperial Palace.
‘Whatever it is, it doesn't matter.’
Someone had to take responsibility for this situation.
The Silver Comet that had cleaved through the sky descended into the Imperial Palace.
* * *
“Level-One alert! This is a message to all knights and mages in the Imperial Palace! Enter combat readiness and assemble at the entrance to the Royal Garden!”
The landing site was the Royal Garden.
Knights and mages, jolted awake and struck by the sudden disaster, were hurrying toward it.
Ferda also walked in that direction, following their movement.
One knight, seeing him walking calmly, drew his sword toward Ferda and asked,
“Who are you!? I've never seen you in this Imperial Palace before!”
He was a young man who appeared full of justice and a sense of duty.
And unlike the other knights, he also seemed rather green.
“I am Ferda Valdrova, Regent of the Far East.”
“Ferda Valdrova? Ah! The one who was supposed to arrive today… I apologize for not recognizing you, Your Excellency!”
“It's all right. Are you assembling at the front of the Royal Garden?”
“Yes. This is a Level-One alert, so please take shelter in your room, Your Excellency.”
“That is a good idea, but it would be better if I came with you.”
“Pardon?”
“Guide me to the Royal Garden. I don't know my way around.”
“You cannot. In a Level-One emergency, Your Excellency could be in danger.”
Ferda could tell from those words.
This fellow had no idea what was happening at all.
“You are already putting yourselves in danger because of me.”
“Because of Your Excellency…?”
His face showed that he could not understand what Ferda meant in the slightest.
Ferda sighed at that idiotic expression.
“What is your name?”
“Oh, my name is Malcolm. I'm from Peach Hill, so I don't have a surname.”
“All right, Malcolm of Peach Hill. Don't try to understand with that meager comprehension of yours. All you need to do now is guide me to where I'm going.”
“B-but I have a duty to protect the citizens….”
“You're a difficult fellow to get through to. Would you rather lose your life, or would you rather finish this matter in a better way?”
“I came here prepared to lay down my life.”
“…….”
He was even more impossible to reason with than Ferda had imagined.
One should never associate with someone who cannot understand plain speech.
“I'll find my own way.”
“Ah, you mustn't go that way. Truly…!”
Leaving the man named Malcolm behind, Ferda moved on.
Though he kept saying that Ferda could not proceed, he did not dare lay a hand on him and merely hovered around him.
A great many knights and mages had gathered in front of the Royal Garden, precisely at the entrance to the Imperial Palace.
“Third Order! Tight formation!”
“Fifth Order! Tight formation! Form a wing formation!”
They moved according to the knight commander's orders and blocked the entrance.
“Second Mage Corps! Prepare defensive spells!”
“Third Mage Corps! Prepare bombardment magic!”
The mages also finished preparing their attacks and readied themselves to face the intruder.
“Intruder moving! It is heading toward the entrance!”
A mage who had deployed detection magic shouted.
“All units! Combat readiness!”
Tension hung taut in the air.
A wall made of rose vines stood before them.
A moment later, something like a silver flash flared in the shape of a rectangle.
Along with the flash, the wall of vines collapsed into the shape of a square door.
The intruder appeared.
What emerged through it was a silver-haired girl in a maid uniform.
‘It's Luri.’
Just as Ferda had expected.
In this situation, if there was an intruder in the Imperial Palace, he had thought she would be the first to come.
But she looked unlike anything he had ever seen before.
Silver wings, and a thick tail protruding from beneath her skirt.
A pair of horns extending backward in the shape of lightning bolts.
And a powerful aura that stirred an instinctive sense of threat.
“A-a dragon!?”
Someone shouted, and their morale plummeted.
Those who had never even seen a dragon, let alone a spawn, were swept up by the atmosphere.
“Don't be afraid! Our opponent is only a dragon spawn!”
Dragon spawn.
They were dragon retainers, created when those who inherited dragon blood underwent the Ascension Ceremony.
Each one was on the level of a well-trained knight, and was generally more than capable of beating down three or four human knights.
The commander shouted that she was nothing more than a spawn.
He had said it only to shore up the Imperial knights' morale; even that commander could not accept the situation at face value.
‘A dragon spawn broke through a barrier cast by the court mages in one strike and entered?’
The Imperial Palace was the safest place humans had ever built.
The magic formations that blocked falling objects from the sky consisted of no fewer than three layers, and unless all three were breached, the formations would regenerate, making aerial infiltration impossible.
Even a meteorite could not break through that barrier and had been annihilated, yet that girl had pierced it alone.
‘And can a dragon spawn produce dragon fear of this magnitude?’
That was the factor that confused even the knights who had faced dragon spawn before.
Dragon spawn could not produce dragon fear.
Yet that girl was emitting dragon fear.
Just like a dragon whose reverse scale had been touched.
Their hands and feet trembled, and cold sweat poured down their bodies.
The formation was on the verge of collapse, and among the mages, some even lost concentration and had their casting canceled.
“Uwaaaah…….”
Malcolm, who had been hovering nearby, could not withstand the dragon fear and sank to the ground.
At the same time, his eyes witnessed something unbelievable.
‘How can the regent remain so calm?’
Not only was he free of cold sweat, he was the only one standing perfectly upright on two feet.
Even as he stared straight at it, the fact that he did not waver was astonishing.
“Your name was Malcolm, wasn't it?”
Ferda casually spoke to Malcolm.
“Pardon? Ah, yes… Th-that’s right.”
“You were right.”
“Pardon?”
In the direction of his downward gaze was Luri.
Luri's eyes were also fixed on him.
“I might be in danger after all.”
She was extremely angry with Ferda.
The story continues off the page
The Last Dance Before Midnight
A masked dragon asks the lanternwright for one slow dance