Ch.904Each One’s Reaction

======[ The World ]======

The dragon returned.

The dragon was killed.

Both were news that could turn the world upside down.

The story of Haschal bringing down and killing the returned dragon spread throughout the world in an instant, like a winged horse.

Along with the information that an intact dragon corpse lay fallen at the border of the Dragonic Kingdom.

It didn’t take long for everyone in the world to learn of this.

“…Lord Menes.”

Agnes, the saint of the Church of Menes, one of the three saints responsible for leading and mediating the upper echelons of the Holy State, knelt in prayer to her god, contemplating the course of action the Holy State should take.

She felt an ecstatic fulfillment, as if her soul was being filled by the divine presence that felt closer than ever before in her life.

—-

“Wait… let’s take a break. I feel like I’m getting brain damage.”

After hearing the detailed circumstances through the messenger’s report, Leopold grabbed his forehead, which was beginning to heat up, and paused the political meeting to take a rest.

‘How on earth did things end up like this….’

Left alone after dismissing the nobles, Leopold let out a deep sigh. He felt like even his wig might develop baldness.

She had said she was going to deal with an apostle of an ancient god hiding in the Celestial Horse Palace, but instead of an apostle, she ended up killing the leading sect of the righteous Dragonborn and their progenitor.

Though Haschal was the one who committed the act, it was Leopold himself who had to deal with the aftermath.

In Leopold’s judgment, there was a high probability that she wasn’t even thinking about the cleanup at all.

Surely, she believed that he would handle it as usual. That’s why she had offered to hand over one-third of the dragon’s corpse.

As a gift in return for cleaning up the mess well.

‘And now… dragons will continue to appear from now on?’

Moreover, the troublesome report brought by the messenger wasn’t just about how she had made mortal enemies of all the righteous Dragonborn.

In the letter written by Haschal herself, there were detailed warnings about the collapse of Heaven’s Wall and the consequences it would bring.

The return of dragons.

And not just any dragons, but evil dragons and mad dragons.

Considering that Amitamir, who was said to be the gentlest dragon, turned out to be an arrogant mad dragon, the other dragons would likely be just as bad, if not worse.

All the dragons that would return could be considered targets for subjugation.

Of course, the only human who could actually subjugate them was Haschal, who had already succeeded in doing so.

‘Dragons are starting to return, and we have to defeat them all?’

It was enough to make one’s vision go dark.

It meant they had to accomplish a task that even Carlos the Great and his Twelve Knights couldn’t complete, with forces that were significantly inferior.

‘Can the current Empire cultivate forces equivalent to the Twelve Knights?’

Without even needing to consider it, it was impossible.

The Empire currently possessed only four hero-class forces, including Tower Master Floheta.

Moreover, three of them had just recently broken through the barrier, making them the lowest tier among heroes, let alone comparable to the Twelve Knights.

‘…What about airships? If the Empire devoted all its resources to producing and improving airships, could we engage in battle against dragons?’

Would it be possible to modify airships into anti-dragon weapons?

Leopold couldn’t know. That was something that could only be answered after discussions with Floheta, Haschal, and the Dwarves.

Still, that was the only possibility available.

Unlike the Magic Tower, which would produce results if given enough time and resources, securing forces equivalent to the Twelve Knights was literally impossible without divine intervention.

‘This is difficult. Really, too difficult….’

While he was lost in thought, the break time had already ended, and the meeting hall was once again filled with nobles, including Lord Wien.

“What will you do, Your Majesty?”

They demanded an answer from Leopold. How the Empire should respond to the report sent by Haschal.

“For now… for now, prepare the airships as requested by the Queen of Hestella. So that the dragon’s corpse can be safely transported back to our country.”

Leopold decided to handle the urgent matters first.

If the dragon’s corpse remained in the Dragonic Kingdom, it would surely become a new source of conflict. First and foremost, they needed to retrieve that corpse.

—-

“Lord Amitamir… was assassinated?”

Diarma, who was cleaning up the pavilions of the Small Forest that had been reduced to ruins, looked as if he had aged three times in just two days.

The events that had unfolded since the Celestial Horse Persiella invaded the Small Forest were all too shocking for him to handle.

Persiella’s might, which was beyond imagination. The shattered Twenty-Four Guardians Formation. The Small Forest had suffered massive damage.

While there weren’t many casualties, the number of injured was countless, and more than eighty percent of the pavilions had collapsed, leaving no trace of the former landscape.

And then, the appearance of Amitamir, whose existence he knew of but had never met, and… the news of his death.

“…Yes. It is presumed that the Queen of Hestella and the Holy State’s Paladin Order collaborated to assassinate him.”

It was a shock that he was fortunate not to faint from.

“Right now, there seems to be a dispute over the ownership of his remains…”

“Huh, not content with assassinating him… ownership? Did you say ownership? They’re treating his remains like some treasure?”

The report was that a fight over Amitamir’s corpse was about to break out at the scene. A faint anger appeared in the old Dragonborn’s eyes.

“How could they commit such a blasphemous act…”

Diarma muttered as if lamenting. He must have felt like witnessing rats digging up and devouring an ancestor’s grave.

“What should we do, Forest Keeper?”

“……”

The disciple’s plea for Diarma to decide the Small Forest’s future course of action. Diarma closed his eyes and, with palms together, spent a long time in contemplation.

The anger that had penetrated his heart was whispering to him, revealing the ferocity that was like a curse for Dragonborn.

It urged him to mobilize all the righteous Dragonborn to punish those blasphemers and retrieve the progenitor’s remains. To repay the dragon’s spilled blood with human blood.

“Sigh… Lord Amitamir…”

But Diarma’s reason, the patience and conscience he had cultivated as a disciple, was holding him back.

Diarma remembered. The white dragon that had emerged, breaking the earth and soaring high into the sky, and the curse filled with resentment that it had uttered with a voice full of ecstasy.

Words that only an evil dragon would utter. After eight hundred years, the returned Amitamir had become a being that could no longer be called a disciple.

To the extent that he could understand why the Queen of Hestella, Haschal, had killed him.

Even if he had been in her position, he would have had no choice.

In a situation where an incredibly powerful being was roaring with hatred towards humanity and gods, how could a saint of the gods stand by and watch?

‘Moreover, it was Amitamir who pursued the woman who was initially retreating…’

No matter how he thought about it, Haschal’s actions were perfectly justified. To the point where there was no room for criticism.

Of course, the impulse in Diarma’s heart was urging him to tear Haschal’s body into a thousand pieces to avenge the progenitor, regardless of justification…

‘…How would that make us any different from evil dragons?’

Diarma refused to follow his impulse.

Although he had become somewhat secular after being tainted by the mundane world, he was still a disciple who refused to follow the nature of Dragonborn.

“We should strongly protest and request the return of the remains even now…”

“Cease that. If we make an issue of his assassination, it would be like the child of a demon lord holding a grudge against a hero who punished the vicious demon lord. It is not something that those who call themselves disciples should do.”

Therefore, Diarma decided not to make an issue of this matter and to hand over Amitamir’s remains to Haschal.

Taking deep breaths to cool his heart that was boiling with indignation.

“But…! Forest Keeper, this disciple cannot accept this…!”

“Is that so? Then, become a dragon and fly there.”

“What…?”

The disciple who had shown an unacceptable reaction asked back with a dumbfounded face.

“Do you not wish to punish the murderer who killed him? Then naturally, becoming a dragon should be the priority. If you go with a body weaker than his, you’ll only add one more corpse.”

“……”

The disciple closed his mouth and lowered his head. Even in his thinking, there was no way to refute this.

Several hours later, the Small Forest issued an official statement regarding this incident.

They claimed that this incident was caused by an evil dragon that had been sealed in the underground of the Small Forest for the crime of impersonating their progenitor dragon, Amitamir, and had awakened and gone on a rampage.

The information that the white dragon that had emerged on the surface called itself Amitamir was too late to conceal.

So, by branding that dragon as an impersonator, they preserved Amitamir’s honor while also indicating that the Small Forest would not hold Haschal responsible for subjugating it.