Greetings Heading North (2)
I took a deep breath. It wasn’t because I genuinely believed a wyvern was launching an invasion. I had already made the colossal mistake of assuming the Six Swords were attacking once before, and unless I was a full-blown paranoid schizophrenic, there was no reason to leap to that conclusion again. Anyway. My true emotion right now was…
“Huh? Hah… hahaha…?!”
A perfect blend of joy and happiness—pure ecstasy.
When the two women staring at me in bewilderment witnessed the foolish laugh that had surprised even myself, the first to speak was Lady Gorgo.
“Laughing with a broken arm… What’s gotten into you, Lord of Steel?”
“…My cherished junior and my one and only have arrived.”
“…Karalin?”
“And she’s brought an incredible gift with her.”
They were moving at tremendous speed. It didn’t take long before their silhouettes were close enough to make out with the naked eye.
To state the result plainly, the source of those wingbeats was indeed a dragon. Of course, it wasn’t a lowly wyvern. These were the young dragons of the Karlangk imperial family.
At the sight, I raised my voice without thinking.
“I thought the field training was over! This is incredible. How in the world did you bring them?!”
“Eh, Yohan?! Did you just say dragons?!”
Everyone turned to look in the same direction as me. Moreover, it wasn’t just the two from the previous field training. All five had gathered now—a complete set.
And flying beside Karalin’s navy-blue dragon at the head of the formation was…
‘Jabberwock!’
My cute, precious Jabberwock!
I couldn’t stop the huge grin from spreading across my face. The memories I shared with her had never been unpleasant; they were nothing short of ecstatic.
So that was why the young lady had vanished all morning and afternoon!
No proper landing zone was necessary. A dragon was simply a living creature, not a tank, warship, or fighter jet. So when I unconsciously waved my hand in my burst of joy, the leader of the five-dragon formation—Karalin—brought them down right beside the Sun Tower.
The first to dismount and speak was my junior, Hilken.
“Yohan, Senior—”
“Welcome back. I don’t know where you went, but I’m glad you’re safely home.”
As I greeted them enthusiastically, the young lady smiled from atop her dragon.
“…Hehe. I knew Yohan would like it.”
“Ah… Did I get too excited…?”
“Not at all. It’s actually wonderful to see. You usually give off such a brotherly impression, but right now you look exactly like a child. It’s funny. You never showed this side even when you were little.”
“Young lady, isn’t it common knowledge that Senior loves riding mounts? Back in the North he even named his own horse.”
“That’s true, but… he never reveals that side in front of me.”
“Ah, Senior does have that tendency. I know, I know.”
The two young ladies’ conversation honestly didn’t hold my interest. I was too busy diligently stroking the magnificent dragon displaying its splendid form before me.
Grrrr—
As if recognizing me, it looked at me with those innocent eyes and rumbled deep in its throat. How lovable.
“As expected, he remembers me. You’ve come, my massive storm dragon… my charging black radiance…”
“Ugh, young lady. Has Senior gone strange?”
“Strange? This is simply the purest admiration I can express.”
The young lady gracefully dismounted and spoke.
“Yohan. Aren’t you curious how I brought them?”
“I’m dying of curiosity. How on earth did you manage to get all five…? Did you sneak into Karlandel?”
Her answer was nothing short of astonishing.
“Hehe, I won them at auction.”
“Auction…?”
To understand the background, the full story was necessary.
After the incident that had given us such a headache, the capital had remained under a continuous major blockade. It seemed an unprecedented economic crisis had struck the heart of Karlangk.
‘The major blockade was obviously intended to suppress rebellion plots. It’s self-inflicted.’
Eventually, after the chairman changed, the imperial family had been forced to lift it recently. Yet they now faced a colossal crisis: resolving the enormous economic burden they had incurred while simultaneously preparing for the security threats of impending war.
Desperate for quick cash, the Karlangk imperial family issued a large quantity of imperial bonds. They were attempting to inject money into merchants and try various measures, but…
In the crisis surrounding this declining imperial family and empire—lacking a crown prince—the merchants, presented with no viable vision to overcome it, seemed to be thinking:
“If the empire falls like this, these are shit bonds, aren’t they? The demon race is invading, and there’s no guarantee we’ll win that war. Screw it. Why the hell would I buy them? Have they lost their minds?”
That kind of mindset. Well, it was perfectly understandable. Even if I were an investor, faced with an unprecedented political crisis where the superpower would undoubtedly suffer multiple direct hits to its homeland, I wouldn’t blindly purchase their bonds.
But then, what could the imperial family—on the brink of ruin—do? Increase incoming revenue and reduce outgoing expenses.
Thus, while raising taxes was one option, the imperial family seemed to be securing funds by diligently cutting the luxury departments that were easiest to trim first. It was the mindset of “killing one’s own horse to save the troops.”
‘If it had been Shagalor, she would never have done that. Even when the North was being ravaged, she clung tightly to the money—until we took it from her.’
To cut one’s own flesh so boldly… In that regard, Sabrina was quite a formidable figure. After all, she only knew pillow talk. Compared to Shagalor, who had obtained her position somewhat by chance because her methods were especially effective only on His Highness the Grand Duke, it was only natural that a heroine who had single-handedly turned the emperor into a puppet and ruled alone from that seat would be far superior.
In the process, Karlandel—which had become rife with scandal due to the crown prince’s outrageous behavior—was naturally the first to be temporarily closed and downsized. The rare beasts and items raised inside were all put up for auction, making the nearby auction houses quite lively recently.
So the young lady, having fully felt the power of dragons during this incident, had apparently urged Hilken to attend the auction and win these five.
Hilken’s favorite red one—Amber—my black Jabberwock, a navy dragon for the young lady, a white dragon, and even a strangely purple one.
While we would need to think more about where to house these five… they were no longer the property of the Karlangk imperial family. They now belonged to the North. To us.
And it was obvious without deep thought that they would be of great help going forward. We had seen their performance ourselves. While I rode them.
“You did excellently, young lady. …Hehehe. Since I’m not in any position to give you something in return, I’m truly sorry that all I can do is say this…”
Karalin pursed her lips.
“…Really? You can’t give me anything?”
“…Yes? Um, I’ll think about it. What would be good—”
“Hmph—”
While we were talking like this, Eclipse—who already knew of their existence—remained calm. Lady Gorgo, however, was seeing such lively dragons for the first time and reacted with excitement that rivaled my own.
“Wooooow…! Kids, I’ve never seen anything like this before…!”
“Huh, Your Highness the Crown Princess. Were there no dragons during the Homeland War?”
“There were. But aren’t these even haughtier than elves? How do you control creatures that refuse to obey human commands? Well, it seems the current Karlangk has found a way…”
I could only laugh at her words. As expected of a hegemonic nation.
“Vitagarte, dragons, elves—they all stretch out their demonic hands. …Karlangk really is an empire with quite a few scandals.”
“Well, it can’t be helped. That is the fate of a nation that has seized hegemony. Three hundred years is the time needed to make it possible…”
The white dragon she was paying attention to seemed to prefer beautiful women. Grrrr—! As Gorgo examined it from every angle, it struck poses, spread its wings, and made sounds—behaving like a complete narcissist.
‘…Why didn’t it do that for the young lady? In my eyes, she is far more beautiful.’
Anyway, Jabberwock wasn’t that type. It was rather amusing to see how each dragon had a different personality.
“By the way, how fast can these guys fly…?”
“They could cross all of Karlandel multiple times in an hour, so even taking it easy to the North, it should take a little less than a day.”
“Wh-what?! They’re that fast?!”
“That’s why, if you don’t want to fall while flying, you need to fasten the stirrups tightly and wear perfect armor.”
“W-wow—!”
Watching Gorgo continue to enjoy herself so purely… everyone gathered here, including myself, thought today could end as quite a pleasant day.
‘………Wait a minute?’
However, at that moment… looking at my godmother, I once again had a wicked and audacious thought.
‘The reason I haven’t returned to the North since coming to the academy isn’t only because there was no reason to go, but also because there was no suitable method.’
The distance from Sigmund to Vitagarte took over a month by carriage. No matter how poorly I performed my school duties, leaving for that long would mean expulsion. Moreover, the situation in the North itself wasn’t good. Since I had believed the North would soon burn away to nothing, I hadn’t even considered going.
But looking at the current situation—although the new semester would begin soon, there was still about a week left. It was a legitimate break period where it was acceptable to be absent. And with these dragons she had brought…?
‘It would only take two days to go and come back…!’
Not to mention, perhaps because of the butterfly effect of our actions, instead of the Northern front being completely devastated with nothing left, it had entered a lull… and in exchange, it seemed the empire would be swept into war a little sooner than expected.
I had thought about sending someone trustworthy like Hilken or someone of similar caliber to scout at some point. But going ourselves now would surely be better.
Recently, thanks to our achievements and honors from Sigmund spreading through newspapers across the world… we possessed an excellent reputation that could evoke the “good old days” for the Northerners who had suffered so much sadness, creating an image far superior to that of the useless current prince Abel.
Not only that. There was also Lady Gorgo’s presence—the very symbol that 「The great authority has been transferred.」
If so, ‘There’s no reason not to stop by for a short visit.’
There was no need to send prior notice. Why would one send notice when visiting home? Therefore, I had to share this idea with the young lady.
It was time to briefly visit our homeland, which must one day become ours.