Countless vehicles passed through the gates at the nation’s border as a train of cargo carriages returned from outside the kingdom. All were headed to the royal castle.
Among these carriages, one was particularly splendid. This heavily decorated vehicle was for nobles.
The train of wagons reached the royal castle.
When the nobles’ carriage passed through the castle gates, the people of the castle bowed to it.
The vehicle came to a halt at the front gates, and out stepped a twenty-nine-year-old man.
His hair and eyes were black. He was tall and far too slender, with a sharp look in his eyes. A gem hung from his neck, and a rapier from his waist.
His name was Sigurd. He was the young king of the kingdom and the heir of the Siegfried family. When the people of the castle noticed their monarch had returned, they all fell to their knees before him.
His chief minister came out of the castle to greet his lord back after his year-long expedition.
“Welcome back from your travels, Your Majesty the Dragonslayer,” said his minister, but Sigurd did not reply. Instead, he just pointed languidly at the carriages behind him.
“We just got ash again this time. Do you still need this stuff?”
The carriages were all transporting ash. But it was not just any type of ash.
“The Ash of Eden is a valuable resource.”
Sigurd’s expeditions were to the Eden islands dotting the world.
He would burn the Edens and return home with their ashes. That was the great endeavor King Sigurd was undertaking.
This sovereign had the Power of God at his command. He could kill the dragon protectors of the Edens and strip the islands of their resources. The Edens held divine creations, including the Fruit of Knowledge, which was what Sigurd and his crew were after. They would actually have rather acquired God’s creations unscathed, but they’d failed to manage that because God did not wish for His creations to pass into the hands of men. Once Sigurd and company completely conquered an island, the creations of Eden would burn up and turn to ash. This was the Ash of Eden. And even the remnants of those sacred islands were quite valuable. Blasting powder made with the ash was many times more explosive than conventional gunpowder, and swords forged with it would be much sharper and harder. The kingdom’s military might had increased dramatically in recent years, and this was thanks in no small part to its ability to acquire the Ash of Eden.
Sigurd had already destroyed five islands of Eden.
“I actually would have liked to burn more Edens, though.”
Alas, the situation had prevented him from doing so. This was due to the lack of development in seafaring technology. Going out to sea meant risking your life, and many boats never returned after leaving port. Due to these circumstances, finding the Edens dotting the seas was extremely difficult. Even though the kingdom had the power to attack the Edens, their ability to search for them was limited.
The chief minister bowed deeply to his king and said, “With your guidance, the kingdom will surely grow stronger.”
“That would be quite fine indeed.” Sigurd gave the minister a sharp look. “Now then…I have fulfilled my duty. I assume you produced results as well.”
The minister gulped. His face was pale.
“The dragon that I captured,” said Sigurd. “You must be able to extract the special ability it has by this point, no?”
“W-well…”
Hearing that, Sigurd sighed. “Hasn’t Etherium gathered all the top brains of the kingdom?” Etherium was an organization that conducted research on the Power of God.
“Well…um…”
Sigurd was no longer interested in the minister. “Whatever. Frankly speaking, I wasn’t expecting much. You haven’t been able to get anything done in ten whole years. You may leave.”
“But…there’s something else I must tell you.”
“…What is it?” At this point, Sigurd noticed the minister was quite frightened.
“I beg that you remain calm as you hear this, but—”
“Out with it.”
“The dragon…escaped.”
Silence fell. It was an eerie silence.
“Please have mercy…”
That was all the minister was able to say. A moment later, he was hanging in midair. Sigurd had grabbed him by the throat and was holding him aloft with incredible strength.
Sigurd’s eyes were wide as he laughed ferociously. “Bwa-ha-ha, what an amusing joke.” He wrapped his hand around the minister’s throat like a vice. His subordinate’s legs flailed in the air. “If it were just that you had no results, I could overlook it. But you let the creature escape? Just what have you all been doing while I’ve been out conquering Edens? Were you napping?”
He could hear his minister’s intermittent wheezing. At this rate, Sigurd would break the man’s neck.
“Now then, you waste of oxygen… What shall I do with you?”
But a man appeared to admonish his king. “Might you end your games here, Your Majesty?”
The man’s name was Richard. He was the king’s confidant. He had white hair and red eyes and a mild air to him, and he comported himself with class. The comfortable robes he wore enhanced his gentle image.
“It’s no wonder you would be angry, Your Majesty. But killing your retainer in anger would do no good. He’s just come to report to you about Etherium. He’s not the one at fault.”
After a glance at Richard, Sigurd clicked his tongue and freed the minister. The man fell to the ground and coughed.
“I don’t need you to tell me that.”
The king had a stormy temperament, but Richard was the one person he would listen to. Apparently, this was because Richard had been Sigurd’s servant since the two were very young; Richard was essentially his king’s childhood friend.
“How vexing. Having to search for a dragon on top of conquering the Edens and invading other countries is the last thing I need.”
“You need not worry about that, Your Majesty,” the minister said after catching his breath. “We have an idea of where the dragon is. While we’ve been without clues this entire year, a villager has just given us a lead as to the creature’s whereabouts.”
A young man in a certain village had given them the tip. He had been roaming around the forest at night with a lantern in hand to prove his courage to some friends, only to come across a spot where flowers were in full bloom. There, he spotted from a distance a dragon so ugly that it set all the hairs on his body on end.