REFDL 47

The outer walls and ceiling of the meeting hall were torn apart as a massive lump-like thing crashed down.

Tortan quickly got up and pressed himself against the opposite wall. The nobles scrambled about, tripping over each other or crawling on the floor.

Then.

The lump raised its head and roared.

Grrr!

“A… a monster!”

The creature, resembling a giant toad, opened its mouth wide. It had a short tongue, but instead, rows of saw-like teeth were aligned in triple layers.

The nobles’ faces turned pale.

“Your Majesty!”

“Are you all right?!”

The door burst open as knights rushed in. The sword wielding knights halted abruptly. As knights who guarded the emperor at close range, they had plenty of combat experience.

They had certainly faced monsters before.

…But this was the very center of the capital.

And in the State Council hall, set up in the imperial palace annex? They never imagined encountering a monster here.

“Protect His Majesty!”

Nevertheless, the knights quickly regained their composure and blocked Tortan’s front.

Some helped the nobles evacuate while keeping the monster at bay.

At the very front.

The captain of the First Order of the Regular Knight Division stood.

Truth be told, they had the fancy official name ‘Silver Fencer Knights’! But since it was hard to remember, they were just called the ‘Regular Knights’! And because they were constantly compared to the Dragon Knights, especially to Duke Irelion, the captain of the Dragon Knight Division First Order, they developed quite a complex!

Anyway, the commander was a formidable fighter with extensive combat experience.

Therefore, he understood better than anyone just how absurd this current situation was.

An attack. Terrorism. Someone pulling the strings.

Amidst the dizzying words rushing through his mind, something strange caught his eye.

The monster was gaping its mouth wide and roaring, but it wasn’t out of anticipation for a meal.

The monster was afraid.

‘……Of what?’

The answer came from the sky.

Grrrrr!!

He was enormous.

The largest the commander had ever seen, surpassing every dragon and every monster he had ever encountered.

His wings, spread wide, nearly covered an entire side of the annex. The wind he stirred upon landing knocked the nobles over, sending them tumbling. Screams erupted, then were stifled to avoid provoking the sudden, calamitous presence.

He dug his claws into the annex wall and hung there.

His front claws gripped the edge of the shattered ceiling. His hind legs pressed down on one of the toad monster’s hind legs.

Squish…!

The toad monster groaned and trembled, but dared not struggle.

Everyone realized.

That colossal calamity had brought the toad monster here!

Clang.

A knight dropped his sword. It was shameful for a knight, but his state of mind was understandable.

The captain felt as if he might faint at any moment too.

The overwhelming pressure from an incomprehensibly immense presence.

Terror.

Then.

The emperor muttered somewhere, his expression blank.

“…Kremlis?”

“……”

Has he lost his mind?

Surely the Kremlis he tamed was still a baby… Huh?

“Wait. That color, that shape… I-It really is the Kremlis?”

“Th-that’s His Majesty’s Kremlis dragon?”

“What?! How is that possible?!”

And then the dragon spoke.

[Idiots.]

“……?!!”

“It, it spoke…….”

[Disgusting humans.]

“……?!!”

[Worse than vomit.]

“Uh…….”

The nobles staggered under the successive shocks. It was shocking enough that the dragon, who had been kitten-sized just moments ago, had grown to the size of a small palace and appeared, but he was speaking too.

…And the content was scathing!

Yuram, who had been coldly scanning the dazed nobles, slightly loosened the claws pressing down on the toad.

Monsters are smarter than you’d think.

They know how to survive. They know what they must do to look good to this terrifying predator.

The toad understood this quite accurately.

Kwaaak!

“Eeek!”

“Aaargh!”

The toad leaped up. It flailed its short limbs and lunged at the nobles. The knights didn’t move. 

They couldn’t move. They were overwhelmed by a situation that felt almost transcendent.

Yuram grabbed the toad’s hind legs and pressed down again.

Crunch!

Teeth capable of crushing a human torso into pulp in one bite closed right before their eyes. The nobles wet themselves.

One drooled, desperately trying to crawl into a corner. Another, making strange squeaking sounds, covered his head with both hands.

Yuram’s eyes were cold.

[Just a mere monster.]

Grrrrrrr.

A growl mixed into the voice.

The translator’s limitations caused the sentences to break off abruptly.

It seemed some transcendent being was mimicking humans with fake vocal cords.

This only amplified the sense of intimidation and alienation.

[You lot. Can’t even do anything yourselves. Why are you so. Fearless?]

“……”

[You do nothing. Yet dare. To interfere?]

[From now on.]

[You will. Fight yourselves.]

“……!!”

The calamity spread his wings wide.

Like a sun attempting to swallow the Earth, the enraged Kremlis declared.

[Even if you. Refuse.]

[I will. Take you all. North. No matter what.]

Not a shred of compromise or concession.

Just like what they had done.

[Emperor.]

“……Yes.”

[Prepare the carriages. Everyone. Goes together.]

[North.]

The nobles finally screamed.

“……Ah, no……!”

[Or. Do you want to die. Here?]

“…….”

* * *

Tortan secretly slipped away some of the nobles.

Especially the elderly ones.

More precisely, they were the nobles who had quietly expressed their support for him after the birthday celebration.

Yuram knew, but deliberately said nothing.

The nobles noticed too. They swarmed the emperor like a pack of dogs.

But their purpose wasn’t to bite and tear as usual. Quite the opposite.

“Your Majesty! Honorable Emperor! My constant opposition to Your Majesty’s views was solely for the boundless progress of Firmus. In my heart, I have always held Your Majesty in the highest regard and…”

“Your Majesty! Do you remember me? I am the sixth cousin of Your Majesty’s aunt’s in-law…”

“Ahem! Ahem! Truth be told, I have a chronic illness. If I leave the capital, I can barely last a day…”

Tortan closed his eyes and lifted his head slightly.

A decade-old blockage cleared, and all his stress washed away.

He felt reborn.

He attributed this glory to the Kremlis dragon.

“Prepare for departure.”

“……?!”

He ignored them and ordered the second subjugation force to march.

The nobles mobilized everything they could muster to survive, cramming it into the second subjugation force. Unusually, several times the number of troops and supplies from the first subjugation force headed north.

A huge shadow and several smaller shadows flashed overhead.

They were the dragon knights of the second subjugation force, led by Yuram.

* * *

My head felt numb.

It was a strange feeling. I felt dizzy, as if feverish, yet strangely, my reason remained clear.

The moment I heard the story whispered by the children, I understood the phrase “blow a fuse” in a visceral way.

After being dropped into this unfamiliar fantasy world.

I’d lived fearing even rolling leaves.

But I swear, I’d never been as terrified as I was in that moment.

Kaelus could die.

Somewhere I didn’t know. For reasons I couldn’t even imagine.

I was still afraid of many things.

I just knew now. That anything was less terrifying than Kaelus’s death.

I flew to the nearest forest and snatched the first monster I saw.

As I bared my claws, they dug deep into the monster’s flesh. Fear, disgust, and revulsion mingled with a sense of accomplishment, a certain fullness, and an elevated feeling.

Gradually, the latter emotions grew stronger.

I could feel the dragon’s presence growing within me.

It’s been quite some time since I entered the sub-adult stage.

Just as I’d thought several times before.

As my body grew, my soul seemed to gradually adapt to the flesh.

Then later, won’t I become ferocious and cruel like other dragons?

The thought was frightening. But this time, a denial that it wouldn’t be so suddenly popped up from somewhere.

Then, slipping in quietly, came the certainty that my self would remain steadfast.

I set aside the bewilderment and confusion.

Nothing else mattered.

What was important was that things had worked out well, and that I was now heading to Kaelus.

To my destiny.

To my destiny, waiting isolated for help.

[…….]

Should I have told him after all?

That night.

That I was the one who shared his bed.

……Kaelus didn’t know yet, but he was mine from the very beginning.

I promised him eternity.

Even if our bodies die and our souls leave this world for a greater cycle.

Someday.

Without fail.

I would return here, against the tide of time and space.

I would return to you.

……I made that vow before the body of the one who had departed first…….