Doneiks was holding a huge banquet to celebrate our victory over the dragon. Tons of booze had been brought out and everyone, regardless if they were human or demon—Meraldian, Rolmundian, or Kuwolese—was drunk. I didn’t really want to be hanging out with a bunch of drunks, so I was relaxing in the Doneiks mansion.
As I sipped my tea, I told Ryuunie everything I’d learned about the dragon.
“So that dragon had originally been a normal lizard?” he asked with a surprised face. I’d been pretty surprised myself when I’d first learned that.
I took out the sketches Movi had drawn for me and showed them to him.
“Yeah. Specifically, it was one of the rust lizards that live in the forest. Normally, they’re about as big as I am lying down. They drain the blood of their prey to store the iron in it and fortify their iron scales. The Demon Empress thinks that due to a mutation, this particular lizard’s iron scales were able to function like magesteel, and could store mana.”
Ryuunie took the drawing from my hands and looked at it with great interest. “I see. Does that mean other rust lizards may pose a threat in the future?”
“The demon army’s investigating that right now. Dad said that this was a rather rare mutation though, so we shouldn’t need to worry too much.” I’d only taken a few biology and monster ecology courses, so I didn’t know the details. All I could do was tell Ryuunie what I’d been told. “Oh, there’s one more thing. When we dissected the dragon, we found a magical crystal embedded in its stomach.”
Ryuunie raised an eyebrow. “Let me guess. It’s one of those artifacts that can make Valkaan? The kind of thing that has a lot of mana stored in it?”
“Exactly. It was completely drained of mana, and seeing as the dragon hadn’t transformed into a Valkaan yet, dad—er, Lord Veight thinks it hadn’t been fully charged with mana when the lizard found it.”
“And he believes that’s what caused it to become so big? Do you agree with that assessment?”
Hmm, it’s hard to say. I thought back to one of my dad’s lectures.
“This species of lizard can keep growing indefinitely, and they have a really long lifespan. So, maybe one of them managed to avoid being hunted down for hundreds of years, and then came across this artifact. If it had already become decently large and had a ton of scales, it would have been easier for it to start absorbing mana once it ate the artifact.”
“So you believe a combination of factors contributed to the rise of this dragon...” Ryuunie lapsed into thought for a few seconds. “How many people have been informed of this theory?”
“So far, only the councilors and the higher-ups of the demon army know.”
Ryuunie’s gaze became cold. “This could have a huge impact on magesteel research, so I’d like to keep this intel confidential. But knowing Rolmund and Wa, their spies will probably get their hands on it sooner rather than later. In which case, we may as well share this information with them of our own accord as a gesture of goodwill. Did Veight have anything to say on the matter?”
I see, so this is why dad passed that information on to me.
“Funny to ask that. He did. He said that it’d be best to tell everyone as a ‘diplomatic gesture of goodwill’ before they figure it out on their own. He also said that preventing the rise of another dragon is an international issue, so we should all try to work together.”
“That certainly is true. Considering the nue that appeared in Wa a decade ago, we should expect that creatures like this will appear with some regularity.” Ryuunie looked out the window and folded his arms. “Valkaans and beings on the path to becoming Valkaans are powerful enough that we’ll need the cooperation of all nations to slay—lest they plunge the entire continent into chaos. We have to be careful about how far we let information spread regarding how to make more.”
“I learned in history class that every time one appeared, entire nations were destroyed, so we definitely need to keep them in check.”
Ryuunie smiled and said, “That being the case, it’s not as if we can halt the march of progress. People will keep on developing new technologies that use mana, and instead of restricting what they can do, we should focus on developing our own technology that can prevent another Valkaan from ever arising. As one of Meraldia’s viceroys, I need to do everything I can.”
“I know you’ll do great!” I said.
Ryuunie was from Rolmund, but he’d lost everything after his family’s failed rebellion. Despite that, he held no grudges against anyone, and worked hard for the sake of his new home, Meraldia. He really is an amazing person.
As I was thinking that, Ryuunie awkwardly cleared his throat and said, “By the way, aren’t you going to join the party?”
“Umm, actually...”
Before I could finish, the door swung open.
“Excuse me. I heard that Friede was here, so I came over,” Iori said, walking in.
“My, this is a splendid mansion. The fusion of Rolmundian and Meraldian architecture is handled quite elegantly,” Micha said, following behind Iori. Yuhette and Shirin and Joshua filed in as well.
Ryuunie smiled at all of them. “She is indeed here. Welcome, everyone.”
Though I couldn’t tell why, I smelled a hint of disappointment from him. Of course, he didn’t let it show. Maybe he doesn’t like it when there are too many people around?
Micha turned to Ryuunie and said, “My apologies, Lord Ryuunie, but could we borrow Friede for a while?”
“Huh? Oh, sure. Be my guest.”
“By the way, have you given my proposal any more thought? My aunt dearly wishes to meet with you.”
What proposal? And by “aunt,” Micha means Empress Eleora, right? I thought. “Hey, Micha, are you guys—”
“Don’t worry about it. Besides, knowing Ryuunie, he’s going to discuss it with the council before giving me an answer, so you’ll find out soon anyway. Isn’t that right?”
“You are correct. But I will do my best to give you a favorable answer.” Ryuunie smiled again, and this time I didn’t smell any disappointment off of him.
Iori grabbed my right arm while Micha took my left, and the two of them started marching me outside. What’s going on?
Once we were out, Micha said in an excited tone, “Hey, Friede, I want to try playing battleball! Let’s make an all-girls team!”
“I would love to join that team,” Iori added.
Not you too, Iori... I mentally quipped. “But you guys are both people of high status. If you got injured, it’d be a diplomatic issue.”
“Which is why you better teach me the basics well, so I don’t get hurt.”
“That’s not a good solution!”
At this rate, we might really end up making an all-girls team. I’m not so sure about this...
✦ ✦ ✦
—King of the Sacred River—
Back in Ryunheit, one of the werecats had just finished appraising Shumar of all that had happened during the dragon hunt.
“I see, so Veight and Friede managed to bring it down.” The werecat warrior smiled wanly and said, “In the end, we weren’t even needed. That man and his daughter are unbelievable.”
“But thanks to them, we had no casualties,” Shumar replied with a smile. The werecat’s smile grew brighter in return, and Shumar added, “Putting Meraldia in our debt without sacrificing any of our own people is the best result we could have hoped for.”
“You don’t have to say that aloud, you stupid prince,” Tiriya said with a sigh.
Still smiling, Shumar turned to him and said, “Everyone sees me as the sheltered, airheaded prince. I need to show them I’m capable of thought every now and then, or they’ll underestimate me.”
“I appreciate the effort, but you don’t need to do any scheming. That’s my job. You’re royalty; you’re meant to be above that.” Tiriya’s expression grew more serious. “Everyone else had so much trouble with that dragon, but the moment Veight and Friede took to the field, it was over in an instant. The two of them really are amazing.”
“I agree. They might even be able to take care of the issue plaguing us from beyond Mount Kayankaka.” The werecat narrowed his eyes and bowed reverently to Shumar.
“That is our hope as well.”