Ch.906To the Holy Kingdom

Thanks to the dedication of the transport unit sent by the Holy State, Amitamir’s corpse could be safely transported to the Holy State.

It was a smoother operation than expected.

The Small Forest and the Celestial Dragon Temple, which I thought would surely intervene, didn’t interfere at all.

Instead of protesting to me, Diarma decided to ignore this matter and denied the truth that this dragon was Amitamir.

Honestly, it was a surprising response.

I expected them to charge at me with rage or demand Amitamir’s corpse…

But instead, they cut ties with Amitamir faster than anyone else.

I couldn’t decide whether to call this wisdom or cunning.

Anyway, with the Small Forest taking that position, other orthodox dragonborn factions couldn’t raise any objections either.

Some did offer large sums of money to buy the dragon’s corpse, but I refused.

Not only the Small Forest but also the Celestial Dragon Temple maintained silence.

No, they did more than just stay silent.

They even stopped their attacks on orthodox factions across the Dragonic Kingdom and pulled all available forces back to their strongholds.

At first, I thought they might be gathering all their forces to strike at me, but even after guarding the dragon’s corpse for days, they never came.

They just remained holed up in their strongholds.

Honestly, it was somewhat disappointing. If they had openly marched against me, I would have blown all their heads off.

However, with them hiding in their strongholds, I had no way to strike at them.

I couldn’t leave the dragon’s corpse unattended, as it might be stolen while I was away, which would drive me mad with frustration.

You might think there’s no problem since the orthodox dragonborn and Celestial Dragon Temple are keeping quiet?

Well, I don’t think so.

While the Celestial Dragon Temple wasn’t interfering with the dragon’s corpse at all, not all heterodox dragonborn followed their lead.

Unlike the Small Forest, which was respected by all orthodox factions as their founder, the Celestial Dragon Temple was merely the strongest among many heterodox groups.

In other words, there were quite a few dragonborn who ignored the Celestial Dragon Temple’s call and came after Amitamir’s corpse.

Seeming to know they couldn’t win in a direct confrontation with me, these heterodox dragonborn employed all sorts of petty tactics instead of open warfare.

Diversionary tactics were just the basics. Some lunatics tried to bribe paladins, while others dug tunnels under the dragon’s corpse to steal parts of it.

Of course, they all ended up being slaughtered and becoming fertilizer for the earth… but still, I couldn’t predict what might happen if I left my post.

Moreover, dragonborn weren’t the only ones I needed to watch out for.

Think about it. Would dragonborn be the only ones coveting a dragon’s corpse? Such a precious item?

Of course not.

The world was full of people who would desire a dragon’s corpse, and among them were many powerful enough that the paladins here couldn’t handle them.

Just look at Eirnesia, that fairy guardian. Wasn’t she captured during transport and now her whereabouts are unknown?

So I had no choice.

I had to suppress my desire to beat Persiella and Bernard to death, smoke cigarettes constantly, and escort the transport unit to the Holy State.

It was truly regrettable.

With the war between orthodox and heterodox factions suspended, one of my reasons for visiting the Dragonic Kingdom was resolved… but I failed in my true objectives: killing Bernard and protecting Heaven’s Wall.

I did try to warn Persiella about Bernard’s true identity to make her wary of him, but I doubted it would be effective.

The emotions she showed when hearing my words were far from anger or killing intent.

Well, at least I warned her… so hopefully I won’t have to see her sitting beside Bernard like a pet on a leash.

Anyway, it was frustrating.

I had gone to great lengths to secretly enter the Dragonic Kingdom to kill Bernard, but it all came to nothing.

I doubted I’d get a second chance.

Bernard might hide from me somewhere, or even if he didn’t conceal himself, there wouldn’t be a proper opportunity to attack the Celestial Dragon Temple again.

Why, you ask?

Well, Dragon King Cylude sent me a direct letter. A polite letter full of diplomatic rhetoric.

Of course, the content wasn’t so polite.

It addressed the serious diplomatic discourtesy of a queen entering another country illegally and intervening with force in that country’s internal affairs.

Cylude’s letter stated that he would overlook this discourtesy this time, but requested that I leave the Dragonic Kingdom as soon as possible.

With a warning that if I intervened in the Dragonic Kingdom’s internal affairs again, as the ruler of the kingdom, he would have to question the true intentions of Hestella and the Church of Astraea.

In other words, if I came to the Dragonic Kingdom again and caused armed conflict, he would consider it an attempt by humans to violate the Dragonic Kingdom’s sovereignty and respond harshly.

He was saying the next time would mean war.

Honestly, it was obvious he was trying to protect his sister Persiella…

But since he raised the perfectly reasonable justification of protecting his country’s sovereignty, there was nothing I could do.

Of course, if the Dragonic Kingdom started a war, we would be the victors… but still, war was out of the question.

With the destruction of the fourth wall, the world had started heading straight toward chaos, and in such a situation, war was unthinkable.

Regardless of who would win, it was something that had to be avoided if at all possible. If war broke out, Feilandria would be the only one laughing in the end.

The greater the damage from war, the faster the fifth wall would be destroyed.

In the worst case, I would lose Bernard and another wall would be destroyed.

And that’s not all.

Even if the fifth wall wasn’t immediately destroyed, losing significant forces in a war would make it impossible to respond to the consequences of this crisis.

The return of dragons. The appearance of stronger monsters than before.

Both were disasters that could cause massive damage if we made a mistake in our response. To deal with them, we needed to minimize the waste of our forces.

To be blunt, I couldn’t bring down all the dragons by myself.

So we needed to maintain forces that could either hold off dragons or defeat them in my place.

Unless I wanted to be left alone on the ruins of what ‘was’ Hestella, sighing deeply.

“Haah…”

The situation had become truly messy.

I had become strong enough to defeat a dragon single-handedly under the right conditions, but that alone was far from enough.

There was a limit to what I could accomplish by myself, no matter how strong I became.

…This won’t do. When I get back, I’ll have to beat Demian first.

I need to bring him up at least to my previous level to feel somewhat at ease.

Lying on top of the transport carriage heading to the Holy State, I blew cigarette smoke toward the sky and pondered.

Effective striking methods to make Demian more robust.

—-

Several days later.

The transport carriage carrying the dragon’s corpse arrived at Alhebron, the capital of the Holy State.

I heard they planned to completely dismantle the corpse here, then load it onto airships sent by the Empire to transport it to the Empire and Hestella.

In other words, it meant my job of guarding the increasingly putrid corpse was coming to an end.

While the paladins who had been waiting for the transport unit diligently unloaded the dragon’s corpse and moved it to a warehouse, I thanked them for their hard work and headed to the Church of Menes cathedral.

“It’s been a long time, Lady Astika.”

To have a reunion with Agnes, who had been waiting for me.

“Oh, should I call you Your Majesty now?”

“Call me whatever you want. We’re not strangers, so there’s no need to be formal.”

I shrugged as I took off my coat and hung it on the coat rack in the reception room.

“True, that’s how you’ve always been, Lady Astika.”

Agnes gave a faint smile.

“You haven’t changed at all despite becoming queen, Lady Astika. How should I put it, it’s somewhat reassuring…”

When I turned around to face her after hanging my coat, her smile froze.

“Lady Astika? Your chest? Has your chest grown considerably…?”

“……”

Her trembling pupils darted back and forth between my chest and her own, as if comparing the cruel difference between a wealthy nation and the poorest country.

“…Um, how, that, how on earth…?”

Agnes was utterly shocked by my chest, which had grown even larger than before and, not being bound with bandages, displayed its overwhelming volume.

“…Goddess Astraea made them grow.”

Feeling somewhat embarrassed, I stroked my chin and summarized the reason my chest had grown so much.

“Kuh…!”

Agnes placed her fist on her own chest with an indescribable expression, then bowed her head deeply and offered a quiet prayer to Menes.

“Oh Menes…”

I pretended not to hear and turned my head away. As a fellow saint, I should protect her dignity.

Yes, I didn’t hear anything.

I didn’t hear a thing.

…She was surprisingly conscious about size.

Well, even as a saint, she’s still a young woman in her prime. I suppose that’s natural.