Ch.235Mountains beyond mountains.

# Chapter 235: Mountains Beyond Mountains

Fortunately, the massive Ether Dragon’s body—a body burning from atmospheric entry—did not execute a kamikaze attack on the surface of Ka’zan, including the Imperial Palace of the Holy Sebelli Empire.

This was because just as the burning Ether Dragon was about to touch the flagpole of the tallest spire, which doubled as a laser anti-aircraft tower—

-SWOOOOSH!!

As if a small black hole had formed at that very point, the Ether Dragon’s body began to contract rapidly from the front. In just a few dozen seconds, that enormous Ether Dragon’s body compressed into a small human form.

And how was I witnessing all this…?

“Go as fast as you can, Riel!”

“I’m already going!”

Right after I ordered the cancellation of the interception command and the deactivation of the defensive barrier against the Ether Dragon.

“KYEOOOOO!”

“Ah.”

I was flying toward the Imperial Palace in a shuttle after seeing the Ether Dragon attempting a physical charge—no, a burning kamikaze attack.

Of course, this wasn’t so much out of concern for Artraia as…

[Event: Protection of the Fallen Dragon]

[A member of the Eternian royal family has fallen into the Imperial Palace garden of the Holy Sebelli Empire after releasing their dragon form.]

[It would be best to retrieve her as quickly as possible and prepare for any potential situations.]

[Option 1: Good idea, whoever it is, it would be best to protect them. (Linked event progression, increased probability of positive events)]

[Option 2: Us, protecting a dragon…? (Linked event progression, increased probability of negative events)]

Because of the choice event that appeared before my eyes, I had to head toward the Imperial Palace whether I liked it or not.

However, since my purpose was what it was, I couldn’t bring anyone except Riel, who “understood” the quest.

“Minister, won’t we get an earful from the Ministry of Internal Affairs later for this?”

Even while gripping the shuttle’s controls, Riel expressed her worried concerns about what might happen afterward.

In response to Riel’s words, I calmly sat on the shuttle’s sofa, crossed my legs, folded my hands neatly, and said:

“Go.”

“…I’m already going, but that’s not the issue—what about the aftermath?”

“Go.”

“Hey, don’t ignore—”

“It doesn’t matter. Go.”

Seeing my attitude, perhaps because there was no one else around, Riel—

-Whirr!

“Minister, where did you learn such a strange way of speaking?”

Like a true humanoid, Riel rotated her head 180 degrees while still holding the controls and glared at me.

But in response to her attitude, I simply brandished the etiquette injection rod from my pocket that I hadn’t used in a while.

-Thwack!

“Ow!”

“Keep your eyes on the front when you speak, Riel.”

“Hiiing…”

After getting a new bump on her head for glaring at me, Riel whimpered and turned her head back.

I spoke softly toward the back of her head.

“Riel, have you forgotten what your power ranking is in our empire?”

“I know, of course I know.”

Hearing that, I activated a pause to organize my thoughts.

[Pause]

Though I hadn’t deliberately sought it out…

Perhaps due to my success in various endeavors…

I had somehow become one of the top power holders in the empire, even ranking within the top 3.

And what could the Ministry of Internal Affairs possibly say if someone with such power wanted to use a shuttle in an emergency?

Moreover, since this was actually important, if the Ministry tried to challenge me on this matter?

I could simply show them the Eternian royal family member who should be lying somewhere in the palace garden by now.

Of course, considering that the appearance of an injured “Pioneer Empire” royal in our empire was itself a serious matter, this wasn’t something to be discussed carelessly.

Most likely, both sides would just smoothly gloss over it.

The Minister of Internal Affairs wouldn’t pick a fight with me over mere shuttle usage anyway, so this was a pointless worry.

After finishing that thought, I immediately deactivated the pause, but…

[Pause Deactivated]

Right after I deactivated the pause.

“Of course I know, everyone who should know the empire’s power ranking knows it.”

Hearing Riel’s grumbling words, I asked with suspicion:

“What does that mean, Riel?”

“There are jokes about the empire’s power rankings, saying the Emperor is first, your lower body is second, and you yourself are only third, Minister.”

“…”

Hearing that, I tried to maintain my expression while asking Riel about the source of the rumor.

“Hmm, who knows? I just happened to overhear it somewhere.”

After hearing Riel’s response, I decided I would need to track down the source of that rumor and deal with it once this matter was over.

——————————————

But right now wasn’t the time for such thoughts.

The moment the Ether Dragon transformed into human form…

The sudden disappearance of that massive body created an enormous vacuum, resulting in a storm that…

Caused our shuttle to get caught up in a minor predicament while in flight.

“Oh.”

Of course, in these dangerous times, a ministerial shuttle wouldn’t suffer internal catastrophe just from being caught in a storm.

I didn’t understand the exact principles, but thanks to the internal gravity system, fluid dynamics, inertia neutralization, shock absorption systems, and various other auxiliary systems installed…

While outside the window I could see the entire capital thrown into chaos due to the sudden vacuum state—essentially like an ultra-large reverse-pressure bomb had exploded—

Inside the shuttle, unlike the external chaos, I was comfortably seated on the sofa, calmly observing the situation.

…One might question this behavior when I had just been urging Riel to hurry moments ago.

“GYAAAAH!!! DAMN STORM!!! THIS SUCKS!!!”

But frankly speaking, as evident right before my eyes…

Unlike Riel, who was freely manipulating all the shuttle’s instruments and controls to navigate through the sudden vacuum storm…

There was absolutely nothing I could do here.

‘What can a weak human like me do?’

‘I can share courage, give hope to Riel.’

I carefully took out popcorn and a cheering stick from the storage cabinet and refrigerator at one side of the shuttle.

“You can do it, Riel, I believe in you.”

Taking a bite of popcorn, waving the cheering stick once.

Another bite, another wave, sincerely cheering for our Riel to overcome this situation.

“ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! F***!!!”

Judging by Riel’s intense response, this approach wasn’t wrong.

So I continued repeating the same actions behind Riel until we escaped the storm.

——————————————-

Fortunately, the process didn’t take long.

I don’t know where she learned it, but thanks to Riel’s divine piloting skills, it took less than 5 minutes to safely land the shuttle at the Imperial Palace.

Without a single hair out of place, I immediately entered the palace to assess the situation.

As soon as I entered, the imperial guards appeared and…

“We’ve been waiting for you, Duke Arto.”

Instead of carrying or dragging us like before, they put us on piggyback rides.

Because of this, I nearly hit my head on corridor chandeliers and decorations several times.

But our imperial guards had no intention of causing such a disaster—

That is, having a pure-blooded Sebellian noble of the Holy Sebelli Empire, a Duke no less, crack his head on a chandelier while being piggy-backed at high speed through the palace corridors.

“Hueeegh!”

After experiencing the unique sensation of everything whizzing past my eyes from a height at least 3 meters taller than my normal eye level…

I was finally able to enter the entrance of the massive garden at the center of the palace—unimaginatively named the “Imperial Garden.”

——————————————-

After the imperial guards set Riel and me down and disappeared…

I walked through the Imperial Garden, filled with the vigilance of the palace guards, heading straight for its center.

And there was the being I had come to find because of the event—

The one who had performed a deep dive into our empire in dragon form…

Now transformed into human form, wearing the peculiarly designed attire unique to Eternian royalty, bleeding profusely…

“…Holy Maiden?”

“Cough, ugh… I… I made it to the right place…”

Seeing the Holy Maiden of Eternia, I found it difficult to understand what exactly was happening.