"By the by, Prince Julio. You did very well just now, coming up here for the sake of your people. I don't know of anyone other than my deceased elder brother who could act with such selflessness. I feel inspired to model my own behavior after yours, such that I might win the pride of my subjects."
At that point, Trau began amplifying his voice. In fact, he chose that occasion to launch into a long, drawn-out speech, despite the fact Leviatano was preparing his next attack.
"Citizens of the Grand Duchy of Albatro. This is the Fourth Imperial Prince of Adrasia, Traugott Lakes Aadler. All who can hear my voice, please lend me a moment of your time."
I wished he'd hurry it up, but he had to give permission for Elna to summon the sword, and Elna had to acknowledge said permission in person. In order for that to happen, she had to find him first. My only choice was to protect Trau until his voice reached her.
"In the midst of this bewildering and chaotic situation, I have come to your land as a proxy for my father, His Majesty the Emperor of Adrasia. I am not here to save your country, nor protect it. That is not my job. I have merely come to deliver this message."
Leviatano had apparently decided the force of a single blast wasn't enough and began firing out multiple water bombs in waves. I responded by stopping them with multiple magic circles. Oblivious to all of that, Trau continued giving his speech without missing a beat.
"Are any of my knights out there? Brave knights, strong knights, proud knights? Any knights who yearn to alleviate this crisis? Any knights who wish to save the many cruelly afflicted before them? If any such knights are out there, speak up now! In my name, I shall bestow the honor of saving Albatro upon you!"
Trau's words drew no reaction at first, and it wasn't because they hadn't been heard. All of the knights out there listening were probably wishing they could be chosen. However, only one of them was meant to respond to Trau's command.
"I am here, Your Highness! I accept your command!" Elna gallantly called out, slashing down a water bomb as she made her appearance.
Trau nodded in recognition of her response and waved his hand theatrically.
"Speak your name!"
"Elna Von Amsberg, at your service!"
"Very good! I, Traugott Lakes Aadler, acting as proxy for His Majesty Johannes Lakes Aadler, hereby command you! Brave warrior, take up the holy sword!"
Elna immediately raised her hand, and an aurora descended from the sky. She took hold of the glowing light, then spoke as it gradually transformed into a sword within her grasp.
"Thank you, Your Highness."
"There is no need to thank me, Lady Elna. It is my duty as an imperial prince. Now, with that, I shall retire to my place as spectator. Watching Adrasia's finest knight and its finest adventurer combat a dragon should provide some excellent material for my writing."
Trau finished his speech with a characteristically distasteful smile.
I grimaced at his tactlessness while turning to gaze down at Julio from my vantage point floating in the air.
"Prince Julio. Your country requested me. So just to make sure...you don't mind if we slay that sea dragon, do you?"
"Y-yes! I mean no! Please, have at it!"
Having received the go-ahead, Elna and I turned in unison to face Leviatano.
7
"Don't you dare jeopardize this fight, got it, mister masked adventurer?"
"Right back at you, Miss Amsberg the heroine."
"Excuse me?! I'm clearly the more capable of the two of us!"
"You sure about that? It looked like you weren't having such an easy go of it earlier. How about a thank you for bringing the emperor's proxy out here?"
Elna's shoulders shook with anger at my provocation. Wow. She was definitely mad this time.
While enjoying her reaction, I cast both defensive and healing barriers around the entire capital. Elna had apparently put up a valiant fight, and no damage had been done to the areas most heavily concentrated with evacuees. But even so, there had been injuries and there were still many people running about in a panic.
At the same time, some calm had been restored compared to earlier. Since Trau had given Elna permission to summon the holy sword in that excessively melodramatic speech, all of Albatro knew that help had arrived.
I doubted that had been his intention, of course. Delivering that sort of speech had been half for his own enjoyment, and half a performance as the emperor's proxy. It was his role to display the empire's presence and prestige with as much flair as possible, and that's exactly what he did.
Still, it was thanks to him that some of the pandemonium had abated.
If it weren't for his unfortunate personality, I'd almost want to recommend him for the throne.
"Silver! Are you listening to me?!"
"Huh? Did you say something?"
"Oh. I see how it is. You don't think anything I say is worth listening to. Is that it?" Elna accused me with one of her angry smiles.
I responded with a wry smile of my own. "Sorry. I was thinking about something else. So, back to you. I'm guessing you said something about how to defeat that sea dragon?"
"If you already know, then just answer my question. Do you have any strategies? If not, we're going with mine."
"I do have some ideas, obviously, but let's hear what the Amsberg heroine has to offer. What should I do?"
"Just draw the sea dragon's attention and protect the capital. I'll do the killing."
"I'm the decoy, huh? I should've guessed," I answered, then started to move forward.
Elna took that as a sign of my agreement and headed off to do her part.
"This is a surprise. I didn't expect to find a human who could defend against my water bombs."
"I'm as surprised as you are. Dragons are clever monsters. What made you decide to pick a fight with humans?"
"Hmph! I was put to sleep against my will. I would lose my pride as a dragon if I did not exact revenge. I am a dragon, the king of all earth's creatures! I will not be made a fool of by the likes of humans!"
"Pride, huh. Well, that's pretty stupid. Is pride more important than your own life?"
"It almost sounds as if you think you can defeat me."
"I can. Don't underestimate us humans."
As soon as I said that, a massive number of water bombs appeared before Leviatano.