The Summer Rainy Season
“No.”
Seherbian answered flatly, neither smiling nor frowning.
“I think it’s the obvious choice. We have to survive.”
For ordinary knights, it was the sort of thing they might have been ashamed to say out loud.
But they were the knight order that followed Winter Bell.
Within a group like theirs, where commoners and nobles mingled to form a new kind of class and lived by their own rules, anything was permitted. That was what made this life possible.
“Thanks for understanding.”
“We’re members of the same Varzian. It’s nothing.”
Iren and the others were often moved by Seherbian’s calm, unflustered attitude.
Varzian, which followed the most incompetent and slothful of winter dragons, was constantly the butt of public ridicule.
Noble-born and royal knights alike sneered at them for doing the work of lowly mercenaries, and whispered behind their backs for drawing swords alongside commoners.
Thinking of how the world reacted to them, Iren let out a relieved breath and rubbed a hand over his chest.
It seems Winter Bell hasn’t abandoned us yet.
All the while, he had no idea that the harmless-looking priest before him was in fact the dragon they were meant to worship.
* * *
Just as Iren had said beforehand, Varzian was given a new mission.
“The Hestallion Empire?!”
And the instant they heard the destination, Cassio’s fierce protest burst out.
“Boss, do you even know where Hestallion is? We’d have to cross the open sea all the way out there!”
“Haha! Calm down, Sir Cassio. I do, of course, know where it is. World geography isn’t exactly a mystery.”
Iren laughed heartily and clapped a hand on his overtense companion’s shoulder. Of course, Cassio and Jin still looked deeply worried.
“To reach the western continent where the Hestallion Empire lies, we’d have to pass through the sea inhabited by serpents.”
“...And how exactly are you planning to do that?”
“Hm.”
Iren received the anxious question and answered with an unbothered expression, giving a thumbs-up.
“We have an excellent beast tamer with us, so I’m sure we’ll manage somehow.”
“Hey! Is that supposed to be an answer, or... ahh!”
“That was rude, Sir Drake. No matter how flustered you are, mind your tongue in front of the commander.”
Because the members of the order were so casual with Iren that they often forgot rank and occasionally committed acts of insubordination, Cassio could only clutch the back of his head, now burning from where Jin had struck him, and whine in protest.
“Uuugh. But Boss, I’ve never even seen an Aqua Serpent before.”
Cassio was, without question, a gifted beast tamer.
But even he could not guarantee the habits of a creature he had never seen before.
“Besides, there’s a frightening rumor that in Serpent waters, even with the most veteran sailors, forty percent of ships that try to cross the western sea are wrecked!”
“Oh, so that means there’s a sixty percent chance of making it safely.”
“...I’d rather you weren’t optimistic at times like this.”
Unable to bear the frustration any longer, Cassio ripped off the hat he was wearing and ran both hands through his hair until it stuck up in every direction.
“Sigh! Boss, the Hestallion Empire didn’t earn its mysterious reputation for no reason. It’s because the Serpent waters make trade with our continent scarce.”
With a long sigh, Cassio shoved his hat back down over his wildly tousled blond hair. Looking at the serpent-shaped beast draped lazily around his ankle, yawning wide and slow, Iren smiled awkwardly.
“Right, it is dangerous. But this offer is too good to give up.”
“What kind of offer?”
Iren handed the relevant documents to Jin, who had asked, and replied briefly.
“A dragon.”
“Huh?”
“What?”
For a moment, Cassio and Jin made the same expression. It was such a rare sight that Iren nearly burst out laughing, but he barely held it in and continued in a serious tone.
“Just as Winter Bell is in Alferios, Hestallion has Asubell, doesn’t it? The summer dragon.”
“Yes, but...”
“If we complete this mission, they said they’d let us meet him in addition to the reward.”
“...!”
Unless one was a head of state, there was no real way for an ordinary person to meet a dragon.
And now they were being told they could meet Asubell, the summer dragon and guardian dragon of the Hestallion Empire, in person?
The worry that had darkened Jin and Cassio’s faces at the thought of crossing the Serpent waters changed in an instant.
“You mean Asubell? Then that means...!”
“Yes. Maybe we can solve this after all.”
Iren brought the sentence to a close with eyes full of a long-cherished desire.
“Varzian’s true independence.”
Seherbian, who had quietly watched their conversation the whole time, tilted his head slightly.
Independence?
So the upper ranks of Varzian, too, had not simply sat on their hands waiting for the knight order to be dissolved.
With Alferios having cut off support to Varzian, they needed both funding and a legitimate reason to stand on their own.
And if they were hoping for that not from the long-silent Winter Bell, but from Asubell instead...
...Should I be cheering them on?
Winter Bell, who had been neglecting his duties for more than a hundred years now, somehow felt a little awkward.
“In the end, the problem is the ‘Serpent habitation sea.’”
As the atmosphere sank into heavy seriousness, Cassio scratched his head and brought the conversation back to its original point with a strained grunt.
“Serpents...”
Once again, everyone’s attention returned to the serpents.
Predators of the sea, Aqua Serpents.
Their species was known as territorial creatures, and because they never left their domain, they were considered relatively safe compared with great beasts like the Kraken or Leviathan. The problem was when shipping routes passed through their waters, as now.
Once serpents settled in the sea, they built an intricate territory system like a net, and devoured every living thing that entered it as prey.
The issue was that they had taken root in the massive stretch of sea between the eastern continent, where Alferios Kingdom lay, and the western continent, where the Hestallion Empire stood.
Precisely because of the serpent packs blocking the route, the two continents had been unable to maintain any truly meaningful exchange for ages.
Only the ships that spent enormous sums to install protective equipment and then managed, against low odds, to pass through the Serpent waters could occasionally bring back major news and small pieces of culture from one continent to the other.
“Is it truly so difficult to tame a serpent?”
“No, Boss. Even a beast tamer can only establish rapport after training with a specific beast for a long time. It’s hard to tame a beast you’ve never even seen before.”
“Then what if we dock in nearby waters, lure out just one serpent, and train with it slowly?”
“Is that supposed to be a serious suggestion!”
The moment a beast tamer failed to establish rapport, they could become the beast’s next meal. And there was no one who would willingly walk into that kind of danger.
Of course, Iren, the one responsible for the organization, had only been half-joking, and he was just about to let the matter drop with a bitter smile when—
“Serpents aren’t beasts.”
A clear voice cut into the conversation. It was the dragon priest, Seherbian, who until now had sat quiet and small, seemingly there and not there at all, listening without a word.
“They aren’t beasts?”
“More precisely, they belong to the fairy race. Unlike land fairies like catsi or forest fairies like pixies, water fairies don’t fear blood.”
In fact, serpents preferred meat. That was why they attacked and devoured any aquatic creature, bird, or vessel that passed through their territory without distinction.
The reason their domain had grown so enormous was that their habit of eating anything and everything had caused their numbers to swell rapidly.
“So a beast tamer wouldn’t be able to establish rapport with a serpent.”
Seherbian said it as though it were nothing much, tapping his shoulder lightly with his staff, but the faces of everyone hearing this brand-new information were colored with bewilderment.
“B-but, Priest. Serpents are classified in the World Beast Compendium as a rare, high-grade beast...!”
“They’re fairy kin.”
“If they’re fairies, then why do they attack people?”
“What a strange question.”
The priest’s sunset-colored eyes curved faintly.
“There are plenty of people who hunt fairies. Why do you think the reverse is impossible?”
For a moment, Cassio was left speechless. He awkwardly scratched his cheek.
“Well, I mean... fairies are usually thought to hate blood and have a strong instinct to protect peace...”
“I just told you. Serpents are different in nature from catsi or pixies.”
Seherbian let out a short sigh.
“In any case, beast taming won’t work at all. If anything, once they spot you, they’ll likely take you for prey and charge.”
“Oh, you seem to know a lot about serpents, Sir Serbi.”
And unlike the flustered Cassio and Jin, Iren, who stood at the center of the group, was bright-eyed with interest.
Iren turned sharply toward Seherbian and asked,
“Do you happen to know a way for us to cross the Serpent waters safely?”
“...”
Of course, the method was simple enough.
If Winter Bell merely followed them, the serpents would sense the dragon race’s aura and lose all will to attack.
“Well.”
But instead of telling them that, Seherbian only gave a light shrug.
“I do know what serpents like.”
* * *
“Haah, the sea!”
At Iren’s thunderous shout, Seherbian, who had been dozing lightly, opened his eyes.
The instant he woke, he smelled the sharp scent of saltwater. To the side of the carriage racing along the coastal road, the blue sea rolled and shone.
<Port city of Norman.>
A signboard stood in the distance.
Alferios Kingdom and the Hestallion Empire were separated by the sea. In terms of land size, there was not much difference between them, but the ruler of Hestallion called himself emperor. It was because of his pride in being a nation protected by a dragon.
Even so, the Hestallion Empire did not invade other countries first. Though its guardian dragon Asubell bestowed the blessing of summer and made Hestallion into a fertile land, he did not lend his strength to war. Dragons were meant to play the role of the gods’representatives and regulate the world; the rise and fall of nations, they believed, had to be decided entirely by humans.
As a result, while the Hestallion Empire’s territory itself was not especially vast, it enjoyed a level of prosperity and peace counted among the greatest in the world.
“There won’t be a ship bound for Hestallion until tomorrow.”
And Iren’s group ended up delayed in the process of finding passage.
Cassio had parked the carriage near the harbor entrance and run off to investigate ship schedules. Now he returned, rubbing his nose with a sniff.
“I did put us on the waiting list, but they said even that won’t matter until they check the morning weather on the day itself before deciding when to depart.”
It was hard to blame the weather when the sky was crystal clear.
Whoooom—
A deep horn sounded over the cloudless blue sky.
All the ships headed in other directions were operating normally. In the bustling harbor city, only the Hestallion-bound route had been halted.
“Ah, is it already that season?”
“Yep. It’s about time.”
With Iren and Cassio naturally carrying on the conversation, the twenty-odd members of the Winter Knight order all nodded along. Only Seherbian, alone unable to follow the context, wore a puzzled expression.
“That season?”
“Huh? Right, of course. Since Sir Serbi has lived only in the temple, you probably wouldn’t know much about that season.”
Iren kindly explained why the ship schedule had been blocked.
“The rainy season. Hestallion’s summer rainy season.”