Chapter 183
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 183
Chapter Title: The Princess's Summons
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House Cascadia was, strictly speaking, a noble house under the Bata royal family.
Thanks to its position as Border Count, it could observe royal affairs from one step removed, but to be precise, it was also obligated to answer the nation's call.
Currently ruling the Bata Kingdom was not the reigning king, but the Princess of Bata performing the duties of regent in his stead.
By all rights, she should have stepped down the moment the king awakened, but for some reason, he had left the governance of the nation entirely in her hands.
"Is His Majesty thinking of bequeathing this kingdom to Her Highness? The succession situation is subtly strange."
Melissa said after skimming the letter's contents.
"It's unreasonable for them to summon me—a mere young master from some noble house, let alone a count."
"That might hold in ordinary circumstances. But are you just any noble young master? Think back to what you did in the royal castle."
She didn't seem particularly regretful about that point.
No, she actually seemed pleased.
"If it had been for me, I would've missed seeing Arsha for a while, but this works out. Go cause a scene and come back."
She'd picked up one of the phrases I used when teasing her occasionally.
Was that really something a young lady from a noble house should say?
In truth, the letter contained little substance.
It simply requested my presence if possible, as there were matters she wished to consult on.
Considering it came from the Princess of Bata—who was practically the supreme commander of the kingdom—it struck me as unusually deferential, but I soon dismissed it from my mind.
"Your recent exploits must have the royals in a tizzy. You needed to report on them anyway. So quit complaining and go."
"Fine."
It wouldn't do to burden Melissa further when she was already swamped with territory affairs.
"I'll entrust House Cascadia's full authority to you, so handle it well and return. I'll take good care of Arsha in the meantime."
Lately, she was slacking on her training, yet her snide attitude toward me was utterly infuriating.
At Melissa's words laced with trust, I flung the window wide open.
"Varil."
Murmuring the name softly, I leaped out as if jumping.
My body shot up dozens of meters into the sky in an instant, then began a slow freefall—but soon, my feet touched down on the hard, massive back of a pitch-black dragon.
"Fly west."
Space teleportation was fine, but why not test-drive the newly born Shadow Dragon Varil?
I needed to check the performance of the creature I'd made, after all.
And even as an undead forged from a demon dragon's heart, its specs were impressively extraordinary.
We crossed countless terrains and rivers in the blink of an eye, and soon the spires of Bata's capital and royal castle came into view not far off.
Since Shadow Dragon Varil was a colossal beast easily dozens of meters long, landing directly in the castle on its back would inevitably cause pandemonium.
So I rapidly gained altitude, unsummoned it right above the castle, and dropped down alone.
As my descent accelerated, I took in the long-familiar sights of the capital.
Fortunately, no one seemed to have spotted Shadow Dragon Varil, so there was no uproar.
Gazing down at Bata's modest yet beautiful capital, I channeled mana through my circle to activate Flight magic.
Then I slowly descended to land in the royal castle.
"Wh-who goes there?!"
It was only natural for the guarding soldiers to startle.
"I have come from House Cascadia at the royal family's summons."
At the sight of Cascadia's crest, the soldiers asked without lowering their guard.
"But why did you drop from the sky?"
"It was faster this way."
The guard seemed dumbfounded by my answer and opened his mouth to retort—
"Leon, it's been a while."
A voice rang out, and the guards blanched, snapping to attention with crisp salutes.
"D-Duke!"
"That's enough. I'll handle this. Stand down."
Duke Berli—the last Sword Master in Bata Kingdom, father to Farel Berli who had called me brother, and a longtime friend of my father's.
"I trust you've been well."
"Hoho, same as always. I've heard the news. You found Galeon Cascadia's body and Arsha."
"Yes. Thanks to your concern, it all worked out."
"That's truly fortunate. Galeon's loss is tragic, but finding Arsha is a real blessing."
His joy felt as genuine as if it were his own family, stirring an odd sense of gratitude in me.
"That said, I heard the royals were looking for me."
"Indeed. Come, let's go in. Her Highness is eager to hear your thoughts."
"Alright, then."
Following Duke Berli into the audience chamber, I spotted a woman poring over a single document.
I immediately dropped to one knee and bowed my head.
"Your Highness, I trust you are well."
"It's been too long, Young Master Leon. Please, rise."
She greeted me warmly, rising from her seat to pull me up.
"I've called you here for your advice today."
"Command me. I'll answer to the best of my knowledge."
She smiled faintly at that.
"First, though—congratulations on the young lady. I heard the good news."
"You're too kind. I was worried we might have inconvenienced the royals."
"Nonsense. Aren't you the savior of Father's life? And since there were no real issues, we can overlook the trifles."
Fortunately, the matter with the Holy Kingdom and the Pinas Archipelago hadn't caused the Bata royals any headaches.
After exchanging brief pleasantries, she handed me a document.
"What is this?"
"A report from the investigation team."
"Investigation team?"
"Yes. Have you heard anything about the relic dungeon discovered between Bata and the Coral Kingdom?"
"A dungeon?"
"More precisely, a relic rift that appeared within the ruins."
Relic rifts differed from ordinary rifts in that they often yielded highly valuable finds.
Coral...
The Bata Kingdom lay to the right of the Pascalia Empire in the central continent.
And at the far right edge of the central continent was the Coral Kingdom, sharing a border with Bata.
Unlike the amicable relations with Pascalia, Coral Kingdom had notoriously poor ties with Bata—practically enemies.
History alone was rife with conflicts between them.
"The rift was found in a disputed border region between Bata and Coral, you see."
"Hm?"
"Both sides are claiming ownership."
Ah. A treasure-filled relic rift in a border zone—naturally, both nations would fight tooth and nail over it.
"It could easily escalate to war."
Bata and Coral had only recently gone through a war, after all.
"Exactly. So delegations from both kingdoms met to negotiate joint exploration. But it all failed."
"Failed?"
"Yes. Without meeting specific conditions, the rift's difficulty skyrockets. Even Sword Masters were routed in moments..."
"What conditions?"
"We deciphered the inscription at the entrance: it can only be challenged by young beings."
Young beings. The term was vague, but experiments showed those under twenty fell squarely within its scope.
A rift with conditional gears, then.
Such mechanisms were efficient in their way, but fulfilling the condition would amplify the penalties dramatically.
The stricter the condition, the greater the penalty—and thus the weaker the defenses, guaranteeing a way through.
"But the dungeon's difficulty is too high to send in youths. Bata wanted to abandon the relic, but Coral is dragging in outside forces on their own, ignoring our protests."
"What's slumbering inside?"
"We couldn't ascertain it... but they seem to have learned something."
Regrettably, Coral was a militarily stronger nation than expected.
Bata had suffered under them for ages as a result.
Coral was particularly prone to meddling in Bata's internal affairs.
Letting things slide would mean Coral claiming ownership of the disputed region for sure.
In other words, this relic rift exploration on the border was mere pretext for...
A power struggle between the two nations.