Kriemhild fell to her knees on the spot, hugging herself to restrain herself as she cried, “Don’t come near, Sister! I’ll hurt you again…”
“It’s all right. I’ll break the crown for you now,” Brunhild said gently to put her sister at ease.
Brunhild’s victory was assured.
That was right as the amber dragon was incapacitating the final knight in the venue.
The only hostile force to remain was Warren, who was at Kriemhild’s side.
Warren stood before Kriemhild. It seemed he was trying to obstruct Brunhild and the dragon.
But what could a mere elderly retainer do?
The dragon approached and breathed his flames at Warren. He meant to threaten him and drive him away.
But…
Warren’s long coat fluttered, and he walked into the flames. The coat must have been made from special material, as there was no sign of it catching flames. In fact, the coat was even putting them out.
The amber dragon howled, <Old man, I will commend only your bravery in not cowering before me.>
He tried to snap at Warren as he approached. He meant not to kill him, but to drive him away with enough wounds to prevent him acting.
Seeing the great jaws coming toward him, Warren muttered softly, “How slow.”
The amber dragon’s vision shook wildly.
He understood belatedly—a powerful knee strike had hit him from below his jaw.
Warren had kicked him. A strike that seemed impossible from such an old frame had closed the dragon’s great maw.
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The completely unexpected counterattack left the dragon in a momentary confusion. And even without that, his brain had been rattled with a shock like a hammer strike. Warren did not overlook that opportunity.
“Two, then.”
Warren pulled out from underneath the coat he wore two swords that shone with faint light. They were stilettos that had been modified for throwing. There was a whoosh as the blades whipped through the air to pierce the dragon’s jaw from below. They kept the dragon from opening his mouth.
“These blades were processed with the Power of God and will weaken a dragon. I could have killed the child of God with them, too.”
With two of them, he could seal the dragon’s jaws shut.
<You foul…>
Even if he couldn’t use his jaws, the dragon still had claws that were sharper than blades. He had the strike of his tail, which could break bones. The amber dragon unerringly used those weapons. He was no longer considering restraint. He understood that with this opponent, it was kill or be killed.
But his understanding came too late. No—he couldn’t even be sure if he could have won if he’d known that from the beginning.
Warren avoided all the dragon’s attacks by a hair.
It was as if he could see the future. But that was not in fact the case.
He could tell what sorts of attacks would come based off the faintest signs shown by the dragon’s musculature. Each time he dodged, a stiletto pierced the dragon’s flesh. In the blink of an eye, the amber dragon became a pincushion and fell. The blades that housed a faint amount of God’s Power stole away the dragon’s strength.
Warren was no old minister—he was an old soldier.
Once, there had been countless dragons lurking in the kingdom, and they had been wiped out by the First Queen. That was mostly true, but it was not well known that in actuality, there had been a small elite squad who had assisted the queen in this duty. For the dragons that hadn’t required the queen’s efforts, that squad had cleaned them up.
Warren had been a member of that squad ever since he’d been a boy. And despite being a boy, he had been a dragonslayer second only to the First Queen.
With age, the strength of his youth had left him. But he was still no inferior to a mere fifteen-foot-tall dragon.
A few seconds since the battle had begun, and the dragon fell. After falling, the amber dragon realized—this man was most certainly the boy dragonslayer who had once tried to kill him.
“…”
Brunhild was the one who was speechless—so much that she thought she was having a bad dream.
Though belatedly, now Brunhild’s eyes saw something nasty in this chief vassal. The old man had cleverly hidden his own strength.
The soldier looked at her. Their eyes locked. Brunhild’s eyes read a certain future.
That was the future of her loss.
“Urk…”
But even so, Brunhild wove the lightning in her fingers and threw it. With the seasoned warrior glaring at her, she was still able to put up slight resistance despite being overwhelmed thanks to her wholehearted desire to save her sister.
“Wagh!”
But Brunhild was an amateur at combat. Archery was a royal art, so she had fired a bow before, but such technique was largely useless in combat.
The old soldier casually avoided the Thunder. And then he stepped up before Brunhild and pierced her vitals with a stiletto. The intense pain knocked Brunhild right out.
“Sister! Ahh, it can’t be!”
Seeing Brunhild faint, Kriemhild broke down.
While watching with cold eyes, Warren sorted out the situation.
This was the perfect chance.
If he could control Kriemhild now and have her kill Brunhild, it would be complete.
But despite that—
—Warren could not do that.
Unfortunately, there were the eyes of the aristocrats. There had been a party going on here just moments ago.
He couldn’t have the queen kill someone in front of the aristocrats.
So then should he take Brunhild somewhere deserted and kill her? He couldn’t. The girl had made too much of a dramatic entrance. After gathering the attention of the aristocrats, he couldn’t carry her off someplace deserted…
He doubted Brunhild had considered before her attack what would occur if she lost, but ultimately, her bold surprise attack was about to save her life.
He was frustrated at being unable to make his move when the results he sought were right in front of him.
Irritated, Warren gave instructions to the knights. “Escort the dragon and princess to the royal castle. Their execution will be determined after the necessary procedures.”
That was the most Warren could do.
It was just frustrating. He told himself it was nothing to worry about.
Even just having captured Brunhild put the situation extremely in his favor.
There was no need to rush to kill her.
After confining them in the castle, he should just quietly kill her along with her dragon.
After giving that order to the knights, he was struck with intense numbness.
I very much do not want to get any older, he thought.