Hadis reached out, and Jill placed her hand over his. She was guided forward when a strong gust of wind blew over the stage, causing a storm of petals to dance in the air. A massive shadow loomed over the arena—a flight of dragons. They were flying in the air, above the skies of the imperial castle, expertly weaving through the petals. Jill looked up in shock.
“Since we’ve got the real Dragon Emperor and Dragon Consort, we shouldn’t hold back on the theatrics, don’t you think?” Hadis said with a smile.
A dragon descended in front of the stage, causing the crowd to panic. He was a black dragon with gold eyes.
“Y-Your Majesty, is he…” Jill started.
“Come on,” Hadis said, scooping her up.
Her cape, which had been caught on something, was blown away by the wind. It looked as though the fairy had turned into a human. Th-This isn’t what was planned.
Cassandra frowned, Fione smiled, and Delia looked shocked, but no one stopped Hadis as he gracefully jumped on top of his black dragon. Cheers erupted from the crowd, honoring their Dragon Emperor.
“Y-Your Majesty, we need to distribute the flowers!” Jill cried.
“We’ll have flowers rain down on them from the dragon,” Hadis replied. “It’s more fitting, isn’t it?”
The moment Hadis grabbed the reins, the black dragon outstretched his wings and took to the skies. A basket was dangling from his saddle, stuffed with dragon’s flowers. The other dragons carried a similar basket, as some playfully ascended and descended while others cut through the air in a circular arc, raining flowers onto the crowd—a flurry of petals fell upon the imperial capital.
Wherever the dragons flew, white petals were below, covering the capital in a sheet of white.
✦ ✦ ✦
🗡🗡🗡
AS the clattering wheels of the carriage came close enough to hear, Zeke muttered, “Hey, did you hear something weird just now?”
“Weird? Uh, I don’t think so…” Camila replied, her eyes glued to the approaching carriage below.
Rolf closed his eyes and cupped his ears. “The lad’s right. I hear somethin’. Is this…a melody of magic? The same melody’s repeating over and over again. You can only hear bits and pieces if you’ve got magic…”
“Wait, music?” Camila asked. “You mean—”
Before she could mention the Draco Flute, a loud roar echoed, shaking the ground. A large shadow launched out from the forest and headed straight for Meruonis’s carriage. At first, it looked as though the beast had black scales, but it had simply emerged from dark mist.
“Crap! Let’s head back to the castle!” Rolf yelped.
“Wait, aren’t we gonna help the carriage?!” Camila asked.
“Yeah? Can youse defeat a dragon?”
She couldn’t. The dragon’s talons attacked the carriage. If she jumped in there, she’d die a meaningless death. As she fled, her back heard the panicked neigh of a horse as the carriage fell with a deafening thud.
Rolf didn’t hesitate as he made a beeline for his steed and kicked its sides. Camila and Zeke soon followed suit.
“Wait, so did the previous emperor have the Draco Flute?!” Camila asked.
“No idea!” Rolf replied. “He would’ve been patted down before ridin’, but that melody sounded like a spell. Like an aria that Kratos uses to call out monsters.”
“Huh?! So that dragon was made by Goddess Kratos, then?!”
“I don’t think even the Goddess could create dragons!” Rolf shouted. “Dammit! Somethin’ else must be goin’ on!”
As the trio’s horses galloped on, a dragon approached—both parties were headed for the imperial castle. Camila and her group were closing in on the castle, but the dragon was close behind. When they finally saw the back gates, the beast finally overtook them, but she didn’t miss the person who was riding the dragon.
“The previous emperor was on it!” Camila cried.
“You’ve gotta be kidding me!” Zeke bellowed. “What’s he gonna do back at the capital?!”
“We need to tell Jill about this! Hurry!” Camila shouted.
The moment they reached the gates, the knights jumped off their horses.
“Hold it!” Rolf yelled. “Let ’em pop some fireworks! I don’t care if they’re celebratory!”
“Huh?! Why?!” Zeke shouted back.
A ton of fireworks were scheduled to be set off for this festival, but this event was scheduled at night. It was completely unsuited for this current situation, but Rolf remained as serious as ever.
“We’ve gotta cover this up!” he claimed. “We needa make it look like a celebration and prevent this from being exposed! Imagine a mysterious dragon ruinin’ the festival, lad! The Dragon Emperor’s dignity’ll hit rock bottom!”
Camila turned pale and nodded along with Zeke.
Rolf was out of breath as he dismounted his horse.
“Hurry up and get better! Think of another plan, gramps!” Camila shouted as she left.
“Just go!” Rolf roared. “Ugh… I hate this… I’ve got motion sickness…”
Luckily, the fireworks were kept safe within the inner courtyard of the destroyed Empress’s Palace. When the knights stepped into the courtyard, Duke Neutrahl was there, inspecting the items. He casually raised his hand upon seeing Camila and Zeke.
“Whatever’s the matter, Knights of the Dragon Consort?” he asked.
“Light the fireworks right now!” Zeke ordered.
“Huh? It’s the middle of the day and dragons are flying in the skies. We’ll scare them.”
“No, we’ve got an enemy dragon—just do it!” Camila yelled. “I don’t care if it’s celebratory! Grandpa Rolf’s orders!”
She cared little for the consequences and shouted as loud as she could. The duke grew serious and quickly gave his order. “Light them up immediately. Duke Lehrsatz shall take responsibility!” He turned back to the knights. “What’s going on here?”
It seemed Rolf’s name made quite an impact on this generation. As Camila gave a sigh of relief and started to explain, a loud noise interrupted her.