Chapter 552: Crystal Palace 1
Maia, Lado, Tetes and Naris left the Royal Palace of Kalwin with me and headed for a nearby mountain. The Crystal Palace is located at the foot of the mountain.
“Shouldn’t it be higher up in the mountains?”
“Are you sure?”
“No, I thought dragon palaces were supposed to be built in hard-to-reach places……”
Riding along in Maia’s hand, Lado is puzzled by my prejudiced and unfamiliar questions.
“I’m a dragon born after the human country disappeared from this land, so I’ve only seen people reach the Crystal Palace a few times, including Rainer Exeliza. It is a place where monsters don’t come close and I don’t think it is an easy place to reach”
“Has anyone besides Rainer been here before?”
“I haven’t checked, but I’m sure all of them were called heroes”
I remember that Neia also mentioned that she had been here once. And then Chibi Maia appeared on my shoulder and supplemented.
“The reason why dragons live apart from humans is because they get in each other’s way when they are too close. Even dragons sometimes shy away from other races if they want an easy place to live. But we don’t have any of those here to begin with”
Ah……I see. So it’s not that dragons have a habit of building palaces in rugged places, but that they move out of the way when their living space is about to be occupied by humans or other species. And since people don’t go out here in the first place, there is no need to do so.
“I guess that’s true now, but I wonder what they did in the Six Kingdoms period?”
Tetes was the first to tell us.
“I have heard that in the Southern Great Plains there are dragon palaces in the middle of the plains”
“Really?”
“……Naris-chan, you’re from there, aren’t you?”
“Th, That’s too noisy. I don’t know much about dragon-related stories because I don’t go near them”
“The area around that palace is a completely blank area. Even in times of war, it is treated as a natural stronghold and there is a tacit agreement not to march within that area”
“Well, that’s how it is, isn’t it……?”
Is that what it comes down to? It just so happens that the Palace I know voluntarily came to terms with it and even if they don’t, things will go around.
We landed just a few kilometers from the palace.
“Well then, Lado. Keep in touch. I’m sure you’re aware of this, but even though I’m short on……don’t even think about taking me by surprise or anything like that”
“I understand”
Right now, more than my authority as a dragon rider, the fact that I have Dianne-san and other people behind me who wonder what dragons are doing is more important to me than my authority as a dragon rider. If the dragons attack by surprise later, they will probably be able to kill me and Maia. But that is the scenario of destruction that Lado is most concerned about. Lado knelt down and bowed to me, then transformed into her dragon form and flapped her wings toward the palace. She is, of course, a few steps bigger than Maia, who is not quite mature yet. If she wanted to, she could crush me, my two guards and Maia by herself.
“I wonder if 100-man commander Dianne is testing Lado-san”
“I’d like to think she wouldn’t use my life as an excuse”
In fact, it would probably be safer if everyone else turned this way too. However, due to their position, they would not be able to respond if Rainer and the others made a move to target the Craftsman Village camp and it would also be seen as an attempt to attack the Crystal Palace. If you resist with all your might out of frustration, you’ll be missing the point. It would be a complete disaster if they put up an all-out resistance in desperation. If the remaining dragons all challenge us, it would be worse than if we had to deal with Rainer.
“Being an excellent commander is also difficult”
Tetes muttered.
“……What, all of a sudden?”
Naris looks suspicious.
“The truth is that even 100-man commander Dianne, would like to reduce the danger to zero for Master, but……it’s a bad character to weigh the risks and take the better one that is a little more dangerous”
“Hmm, well……it’s a dragon, after all. You’ll be forgiven for running away, wondering if you know anything”
Naris is saying this completely out of personal opinion. Well, it’s also a generalization.
“But I don’t want to just sit back and wait for it to be over”
“You don’t say that on the battlefield where lives are at stake……if you’re not even a good fighter and now you don’t even have an arm, do you?”
“……You’re right”
Yeah. It’s a burden on everyone. I know. Sorry.
“But still, if I do it right, it’s not negligible, right?”
“I mean, it’s the worst possible tightrope to walk if you don’t do well”
“……Uh”
Tetes is harsh. Perhaps because everyone has come and now she has more time to spare, she is unreservedly harsh. ……A silver dragon is coming back from the palace even while we are talking about such foolish things. It’s a fast moving vehicle, so a few kilometers of travel, a little conversation and then a quick trip back to the palace can all be done while standing around talking. I hope this is a good report.
“How did it go, Lado?”
“The Palace is in turmoil. It seems that someone who returned before me……brought back a declaration of war from you”
“Ah……”
I thought I was making a peace proposal, but what Dianne said was a complete declaration of war. If they take that side seriously, they have no choice but to surrender unconditionally or fight. If not for Rainer, there would have been unconditional surrender in terms of the dragon’s pact to follow the dragon riders, but for those who carry Rainer, it’s not a joke……. And it’s not me, the rider, it’s Dianne. Dianne-san may have been motivated to destroy them quickly if she could get away with it, but if that were the case, the elders and Emma and the others wouldn’t be in any position.
“Emm, could you please let me explain it to them directly?”
“Would you please do that? I would also like to avoid a head-on killing match”
“Is that okay, Master? If it’s a trap, I’ll attack it head-on……”
“I don’t think that Rainer would have that much coercive power over dragons who hasn’t signed a contract with him……I don’t think they’ll be forced to act cowardly in the Palace, where there are conflicting opinions, even if they say they’re a sympathize”
“I’ll definitely protect you”
Lado said that with a stiff expression and knelt down.
“It is my duty to protect you”
“Well, we’re also bodyguards, anyway
“I’m sorry, I’ve come all this way, but if things go wrong, don’t expect me to do anything, okay?”
Maia (in her dragon body), who declared that she would protect me like a dragon by holding her head close to me, Tetes, who showed her will to protect me and Naris, who was honest to the end of the line. Well, still.
“If we can’t control this, there will be deaths in both my female slaves and the Sword Saint Brigade….well, I’m glad I came”
“That’s true, but… you really have a strong heart, Master”
“It’s fine as long as it’s someone you can talk to. It’s a lot better than the devil, King Jeddha and Rainer”
“You’ve been dealing with so many unreasonable people that you’ve become paralyzed……”
It’s hard to argue against it.
That’s why we ride Maia to the Crystal Palace with Lado leading the way. Since it’s called Crystal Palace, I imagined it to be something like a castle made of crystal, but it wasn’t particularly gorgeous. Although it was closed off from the surrounding area by steep cliffs, it looked like an ordinary village. No, Misty Palace was too out of this world in terms of lifestyle and environment. The crystals that give the village its name are found here and there like objects in the village……but I think that these were not naturally found here, but were created and placed there later somehow. The rest of the village looked like a country village with stone houses that could be found anywhere.
“It’s pretty small”
“Even if you gathered them all together, there would only be about a hundred people. There’s plenty of room for a herd this size”
“……Well, that’s about it”
Considering that 100 people will be living there……you certainly don’t need such a vast area. Yeah. When you think of 100 dragons, even one mountain doesn’t seem like enough. And.
“Welcome, dragon rider. The Crystal Palace welcomes you”
In the plaza in the middle of the palace, beautiful men and women with stately silver hair welcomed me with stiff expressions. ……On the form.
“Thank you for the welcome. ……So let’s get straight to the point, let’s skip the details and have a heart-to-heart talk. We’re in a hurry”
“……To have a showdown with Rainer-dono?”
“Yes”
“What’s wrong with Rainer-dono? Why are you trying to defeat him?”
“…………”
That’s where they start. I was almost disgusted inwardly, but then Tetes stepped in to fill me in.
“This man is trying to save a girl. He is trying to save the country of the valley so that a girl named Neia Grans can have a smile on her face. Rainer Exeliza has taken the high road and is incompatible with it. Then we have to fight”
“Even if it means slaughtering dragons?”
Maia quietly replies to the wary look in their eyes.
“I have warned you. ……This is a trivial accusation, not in accordance with the pact. And for insulting our people and attempting to intimidate them with force”
“……Blue brethren?”
“If you are a dragon, you should be more ashamed than bitter that you lost a head-to-head battle to humans. It was just a battle between the riders, not to mention my master. And all the dragons who took advantage of this and were defeated……they’re just people using ordinary weapons. Is that unfair?
“……We lost our friends because of that and you want us to just back down?”
“Stand down”
I said arrogantly, following Maia’s words.
“What are you going to do if you don’t back down? Are you going to fight with Rainer? I don’t fight needlessly. But if it is an evil dragon that stands in my way, I will eliminate it. Are you ready to bear that stigma?”
“…………”
I glared at the silver dragons. I close my eyes a little and borrow the power of the former king once again. Like him, I ascend to the dimension of the powerful. I tell myself that I am in the same dimension as the dozens of nightmarish dragons I am facing and I look at them without overestimating or underestimating them.
“I’m not telling you to surrender. That was my woman’s word in anger. But back off. I’m not interested in fighting you. If you don’t come, I won’t have to kill you. We are only human. We can’t safely defeat a dragon without killing it”
“…….”
“I’ll say it again. I’m in a hurry. If you have any doubts, please step aside. After I talk to the elders, I’ll listen to your answer again”
I said this and walked to the front in the middle of the group, followed by Lado, Maia, Tetes and Naris. Then the silver dragons stared at me, snarled for a moment and then said.
“Move aside, I said. Or did you get your answer?”
When I walked up to them and asked them quietly……the man in the middle of the dragons eventually moved out of the way and knelt down.
“……Let’s back off”
“Good”
I said, shaking my head and letting Lado lead the way.
“……Umm, are you really 10-man captain Smithson?”
“Who do you think I am?”
“No, it’s just someone else”
Naris looked at me as if she was looking at something strange.
“Naris. ……You should talk to Neia and Bonaparte later”
Maia smiled faintly.
“Andy-sama is very strong against strong opponents”
“I thought she is talking weird, but I decided to keep my mouth shut because the dragons would ask me where I was if I opened my mouth in this palace.