Chapter 85
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 85
Chapter Title: The Dragon's Master (4)
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"Anyone hearing that might get the wrong idea, Sir Jenard."
A slender voice laced with amusement echoed through the banquet hall.
The woman seated to the king's left gracefully swept her hair back as she rose from her seat.
Her bangs, falling over her forehead and cheeks, were red, but the long locks swept back and cascading to her waist were golden.
Her beautifully made-up face featured green eyes sparkling with mirth. The red dress that accentuated her figure was paired with a robe adorned with decorative fringes...
Court Archmage Kaela Ermis. She matched Barkus's description perfectly.
"We're just enjoying some tea in a quiet spot away from the commotion outside. Isn't that right, Your Highness?"
Kaela turned her head toward the gaunt man seated to the king's right. He nodded hastily.
"Oh. Y-yes, that's right."
He hurriedly gulped down the tea in front of him.
Prince Raymond.
A tall, skinny young man who was desperately avoiding looking our way.
"What have you done to His Majesty, Kaela Ermis!"
Sir Jenard shouted again, and Kaela shook her head wearily, as if fed up.
"I just served him some tea? If anything, you..."
Kaela drew the staff from her waist.
At its tip were embedded large and small ekroniums glowing a vivid red.
"What's all this about? Aren't these people Prius knights? We issued an expulsion order for conspiring in treason."
Kaela's expression twisted as she scanned us from head to toe. Her cold, fierce gaze made my shoulders tense up.
"Allow me to explain, Sir Jenard."
The White Guard Knight, who had been watching the situation, stepped forward beside Sir Jenard.
Sir Jenard nodded and stepped back a little.
Even under Kaela's icy glare, the White Guard Knight kept his eyes fixed on the king.
"It's been a long time, Your Majesty King Karon Lesis. White Guard Knight Petron Lesis of Prius offers his greetings, even if it's in a place like this."
The king merely glanced at the White Guard Knight with uneasy eyes, offering no reply.
He seemed even more frightened since Kaela had drawn her staff.
"We regret that things have come to this. Our knights came here only for peaceful exchange with the Kingdom of Lesion, with no intent of treason. We can well imagine what misunderstanding has occurred..."
"Didn't you trap Barkus, frame him for a crime, and kill him?"
Kaela snapped sharply, causing the White Guard Knight to pause and glance at her.
I clenched my fists behind him. I wanted to charge at Kaela and scream right then and there.
You made him die.
If you hadn't given Barkus that power through the red flower box, things wouldn't have turned out like this...
A heavy hand gripped my shoulder. Startled, I looked up to see Father beside me.
Father and the knights had entered through another door and joined us without me noticing.
Father watched the White Guard Knight's back as he confronted Kaela, his expression cautious.
I took a deep breath and barely calmed myself.
Up on the second-floor stairs, the Silver Guard Knight and Silver Moon Knights waited for the right moment to subdue Kaela, swords gripped tightly in tense hands.
I could see Shuren's profile, rigid with tension.
"We came here to clear up this misunderstanding, Your Majesty."
Wisely, the White Guard Knight addressed the king, not Kaela.
"Duke Lesis and the Duchess kidnapped a member of our Prius delegation, and Court Mage Barkus got caught up in it. Barkus actually seemed to be trying to help.
Until the court archmage over there gave him orders."
"What are you saying? Orders?"
Kaela shot back, but the White Guard Knight kept his gaze steadily on the king, as if denying her existence.
"Your Majesty, there is a communication magic tool called the 'red flower box.'"
At the words "red flower box," Kaela twitched ever so slightly.
"This woman ordered Barkus to swallow what was inside that box, and he mutated into a demon right there. Prius couldn't just leave a demon be..."
"Enough, enough! A demon? You're trying to pin that blame on us and steal the throne! Just as that duke planned!"
Kaela pointed, and at the tip of her finger stood Clemence and Prius knights who had just entered the banquet hall, along with Sir Logwood, kingdom knights, Duke Lesis, and the duchess.
Duke Lesis, at whom her finger was aimed, recoiled with a pale face.
"It was indeed Duke Lesis and the duchess who first planned and attempted this. That crime should be left to Lesion's laws."
The White Guard Knight said firmly to the king.
"However, Your Majesty, you know well how dangerous demons are. The court archmage gave Barkus the power to control gatras and ultimately turned him into a demon."
"His Majesty no longer wishes to hear this."
As Kaela spoke coldly and stepped forward, the Silver Guard Knight and Silver Moon Knights on the second floor sprang into action all at once.
They moved behind Kaela to surround her in an instant.
But Kaela had already prepared everything.
Mana stirred.
"As if."
Kaela thrust out her staff, and mana flashed in the pre-installed magic circle on the floor.
Kurrrch!
At the same time, black roots erupted, shattering the stone floor.
Black roots bristling with sharp thorns shot rapidly toward the Silver Guard Knight and Silver Moon Knights.
Danger...!
I screamed in my mind. My body moved faster than my thoughts.
I wedged myself between the dark roots and the Silver Guard Knight, slamming the mana I had instantly gathered. No time to form a spell, no leeway.
Boom!
The enormous mana I had unconsciously drawn warped space for a moment, shattering the roots to pieces.
The magic tore and crumbled, revealing Kaela's twisted face through the gaps.
"So that's how you got in here—a fledgling mage. ...Well, fine."
Kaela looked up at the ceiling and raised her staff high.
The red ekroniums on her staff began to glow.
"I'll show you the new 'power' of our Lesion Kingdom."
Kuoooo!
With the sound of lightning striking, a dragon's roar filled the banquet hall.
"Uwaaak!"
"D-dragon!"
Screams erupted nonstop from the kingdom knights' side. Even in their sturdy metal armor, they huddled up, clutching their ears.
A heavy, ominous yet familiar aura. My heart pounded.
The glass ceiling shattered, and a dragon's head covered in black scales thrust into the banquet hall.
A few kingdom knights screamed "Uwaaak!" and finally fled the hall.
Even Prius's knights froze in terror.
Everyone stared dumbfounded as the massive dragon slowly descended, smashing through the ceiling.
I forgot to even breathe.
A long neck covered in scales like black armor, two enormous wings, a gently curved back, and a long tail.
It was unmistakably Bertharot.
The moment I saw the dragon, memories flooded back—from the ancient ones of creating him to the day I tried to destroy him.
Kaela stretched both arms toward the dragon with an ecstatic expression.
"This is Lesion Kingdom's new weapon. Magical beasts? Demons? We don't need such outdated distinctions anymore. If we can control it properly, what better weapon could there be? Right, Your Majesty?"
Kaela said this, but she didn't even glance at the king or prince.
The father and son had already screamed and crammed themselves under the table the moment the dragon appeared.
"A weapon? So that was your goal all along."
The White Guard Knight rose, dodging the falling ceiling debris, and drew his sword. His face was filled not with fear, but fury.
Kaela swept her mad gaze over the White Guard Knight and Prius knights.
"Prius, your outdated sense of justice is a hindrance."
"A hindrance to using dangerous magical beasts as weapons?"
"Dangerous?"
Kaela scoffed.
"That's your outdated justice. You're too stupid and foolish to even realize it. The noble nobles, the knights—all weak... just annoyingly noisy."
Kaela laughed with a chilling smile.
Her eyes reflected nothing anymore. Nothing but the terrifyingly powerful black dragon.
"Everyone... vanish here, and tomorrow, be reborn into a new, powerful Lesion Kingdom. Come, Bel! Show them all our new power...!"
She shouted triumphantly at the dragon.
But the dragon remained perched on the second-floor ceiling height, motionless.
Its massive head slowly shook side to side, red eyes piercing the banquet hall. As if searching for someone.
...Master?
The moment I heard Bertharot's voice in my mind, I gasped.
"Yes, I'm your master, Bel! Call the gatras right now! Strike them with lightning and burn them all to ash!"
Kaela issued a cruel order to Bertharot.
But Bertharot wasn't listening to her.
Its red eyes darted around...
And finally met mine.
Master, I...
In that brief instant our gazes locked, fear suddenly flooded those red eyes.
'Never appear before me and Berkis again.'
The words I had left him so long ago resurfaced in his mind.
I... I can't be here.
"What?"
Ignoring the flustered Kaela, Bertharot uttered a terrified whimper and beat its wings powerfully.
Thud!
The fierce wingbeats slammed into the walls, shaking the entire building.
I staggered and braced myself against the floor.
"No! Don't go!"
Despite Kaela's near-scream, Bertharot soared up in an instant and fled like it was running away.
There was no other way to describe it.
"Lib!"
Shuren yanked me away just in time, and shards of broken glass and wall collapsed where I had stood.
Chunks of massive pillars crashed down with booming roars everywhere, and the white floor was shattered disastrously.
In the midst of it, the Silver Guard Knight darted swiftly between the falling pillars.
He closed in on Kaela in a flash and swung his sword at invisible speed.
Stunned by Bertharot's flight, Kaela didn't even notice her staff shatter into three pieces.
Kaela collapsed in confusion.
The situation resolved quickly.
The Silver Guard Knight and Silver Moon Knights knocked Kaela out and arrested her, while Sir Jenard and the White Guard Knight pulled the trembling King Karon Lesis and Prince Raymond out from under the table.
By the time we escaped the collapsing banquet hall to the garden, the sky that had raged like a battlefield was gradually clearing.
The thunder and lightning had stopped, and the torrential rain slowed. Bertharot's mana, which had influenced the weather, was gone.
I looked up at the sky where Bertharot had vanished.
No one insisted on pursuing it immediately. Even Prius knights realized they couldn't face a black dragon.
Bertharot...
I'd told him so many times I wasn't his master, yet he still called me that.
Time hadn't changed him at all. Still powerful, still clumsy and naive.
That's why he remembered my final words and fled...
Everyone wondered why the dragon had suddenly left, but they were greatly relieved that the situation had resolved peacefully.
Had we fought Bertharot, most of the knights here wouldn't have survived.
Kaela was restrained by kingdom knights while unconscious.
I had so many questions for her.
How she found Bertharot, how she made him obey.
How she restored him to dragon form from his human guise.
I hoped for a chance to find out, but I had a strong feeling it wouldn't be easy.