“Oh my, didn’t I tell you to wait outside?”
Puru continued rubbing its head against Shouzou’s hand blissfully.
Although blue dragons were the most well-mannered species among dragons, seeing one acting so friendly with a human caused no small amount of shock in the room.
Emperor Rudolf, who had managed to maintain the same expression up till now, was no exception. He was so surprised that he leaped to his feet, saying in a trembling voice, “Impossible...... you managed to... a dragon......?”
“Allow me to offer my apologies if I have unduly surprised anyone present. But please do not worry. This child is kind, and will not inflict harm on anyone here. However,” continued Shouzou in a flat voice, “Apparently the killing intent filling this place was bothering it quite a bit. Things might end catastrophically if Puru is unnecessarily provoked, so please keep that in mind.”
“Y-You......” Rudolf clenched his teeth tightly, only barely managing to suppress his violent emotions. A blue dragon could indeed turn into huge military strength after growing up, but it was not that much of a threat when young. However, if it made a big commotion in the heart of the empire, right here in the emperor’s own audience hall, then it would become a massive humiliation. He would suffer a loss of authority, and the anti-emperor faction would gain even more momentum.
On top of that, if these three managed to get away during the commotion, then Yuliana could flee to a place where she had support and could very well raise a rebellion.
Rudolf sat heavily back into his throne, then gestured for the soldiers to return to their original positions. “I see where you are going with this. So you are making the case that that is the value of Prince Sharlo?”
Shouzou lifted the corner of his mouth in a grin. “I’ve heard rumors that the empire is working on developing traditional countermeasures against magic beasts, aiming to tame them in order to lessen the damage done by them. When I heard that, I thought, ‘Ahh, I see, makes sense that this is something that any country would attempt.’”
“Surely you jest. It may be true that the taming of magic beasts is something dreamt of in other countries, but all of them had already given up on that dream. We are the sole exception.”
“Taming... might not be the right word here, but we in the kingdom are also exploring ways to use magic beasts for peaceful means. As for this child here, we’ve done nothing aside from feeding and playing with it.”
“No hypnosis or perception-affecting magic?”
“Naturally not. There is no such need in the first place. Have you also heard of how in the kingdom, we are breeding magic beasts in order to safely and sustainably collect materials from them?”
Rudolf nodded slightly.
“The kingdom is expending resources in training up adventurers. They are specialists on magic beasts. We, on the management side, are collecting from them detailed data on magic beasts, which we use to further our continued research. Furthermore,” continued Shouzou with forceful eyes, “we have also turned our attention toward dragons. The dragon species reigns at the top of the magic beasts’ hierarchy. Being on good terms with them could serve as deterrent for the other magic beasts.”
Of course, the empire was also attempting to tame dragons. In fact, that was the area that they were pouring the majority of their efforts into. However, they have had only one success case to date. And it was not a flying dragon that could be used for a wide range of purposes, but a water dragon. If the empire could truly come to control several dragons of that size......
As if he could see through Rudolf’s thoughts, here Shouzou threw in a bluff. “This child here is still young, so the only thing it can do is carry people on its back. But its older brothers have grown quite a bit. The other day, they played a huge role in a dark dragon subjugation.”
In this world, methods to convey information in real time was extremely limited. Shouzou meant to interweave different scraps of information to seal the matter before Rudolf got his hands on accurate accounts. “Unfortunately, we are still very much in the middle of our research. But that said—” Shouzou declared in a cheerful-sounding voice, “We already have enough numbers to fully handle a large-scale magic beast attack on our royal capital.”
“Kuh......” Rudolf made no attempt to hide his emotions, glaring at Shouzou hatefully. If what Shouzou was saying was the truth, then not only could they repel all the hellhounds thrown at them, the kingdom could even fly over the sea to level the imperial capital to the ground.
Naturally, even Rudolf could tell that there was a nine out of ten chance that Shouzou was merely bluffing. However, with a real life sample right in front of his eyes, that tiny bit of probability seemed so much bigger and realistic. At the very least, the soldiers in the room were already fully convinced, judging by their pale faces. Rudolf quietly closed his eyes, suppressing the frown between his brows with a finger.
However, as if to not give him time to think, Shouzou continued, “Ah, that reminds me. King Alsbeit intends to proactively share our findings with the surrounding countries—”
“HOLD ON! You’re sharing your findings with the other countries?!”
“We are indeed. Every country is equally a victim to the threat of the magic beasts. In addition, there may be different magic beasts living in different lands. Rather than the kingdom doing all the research on its lonesome, it would be so much more efficient to collaborate with various other countries, wouldn’t you think?”
Rudolf barely managed to swallow his expletive back down. However, this was undoubtedly a very alarming state of affairs. If the way to tame each kind of magic beast was established and known throughout all the lands, then the empire’s advantage would crumble to dust.
No, it would be far worse.
Just as Shouzou said, magic beasts did indeed vary by region. The further you went down south, the greater the variety there was, which naturally meant more powerful species with even more troublesome characteristics. Among the kinds of magic beasts currently employed by the empire, the ones that could be used in the south were extremely limited. It was in light of this that they chose more general purpose species like hellhounds and giant-types, but these probably wouldn’t stand a chance down there. The opposite could also be said, which meant this wouldn’t cause much trouble in terms of national defense, as southern magic beasts wouldn’t do well up north. However, the plan to attack other countries to expand the empire’s borders would be shaken to its very foundation. It would require a drastic revision from the ground up.
“Great danger accompanies any attempts to domesticate magic beasts. Disclosing information at the research stage could lead to problems.”
“Hmm. It is indeed as Your Imperial Majesty says. We will make sure to remind each country to pay the greatest ca—”
“I’m saying to wait a while!” In order to determine the truth or falsehood of the matter, there was a need to secretly probe the kingdom’s movements. After heaving a huge sigh, Rudolf said, “If you want to collaborate, should you not first do so with us, considering how we are at the very forefront in this field?” However, the emperor feared that he could not outplay this Shouzou, who could look and act so boldly even in the heart of enemy territory. Surely he would slip and dodge, using every means to suck all the information from the empire while holding back his own side’s information. He recalled recently reading a report of a spy-like individual having been spotted near a hellhound training ground. Surely that, too, was someone from the kingdom’s side. And in charge of it all was, without a doubt, the large man in front of him. If that was the case—
“And in light of that—” After pausing briefly, Emperor Rudolf spat out bitterly, “I acknowledge the association between Prince Sharlo and Yuliana to be of value to the two countries they respectively represent.”
If Sharlo married into the family, then he could be tapped as a source of information that had direct access into the kingdom.
Yuliana’s face blossomed into a smile. “Father Emperor, you approve of our relationship?!”
Rudolf nodded wordlessly.
“This is truly auspicious indeed. However, the two of them have only met recently, and are still young. The environments they grew up in also differed greatly. During the courting stage, they might clash due to a difference of opinions on various matters.”
The sudden backtrack at this stage caused Rudolf to almost burst a blood vessel. He pushed it down with all he had, then managed a “Then we, as adults, should remonstrate and advise them when needed.”
“It is truly as you say. Let us warmly look over them accordingly.”
As if to add on to Shouzou’s words, Puru cried, “Kueh!”
“Well then, we will soon be sending an envoy to go over the details of our collaboration. For now—” Shouzou grabbed Sharlo and Yuliana under an arm each, then lightly jumped onto Puru’s back. “We shall hurry back to obtain King Alsbeit’s blessings for this relationship.”
In the time it took the soldiers to say, “Ah!” Puru ascended to the skylight.
“We shall meet again, someday.”
The group exited through the gaping window frame, and flew off into the night sky—