Ch.907Conversation with Agnes

Tragically for Agnes, it seemed that Menes, whom she served, lacked the power to transform the have-nots into the haves.

As the deity governing dreams, perhaps Menes could fulfill Agnes’s wishes within dreams… but dreams remain just dreams.

While she might enjoy abundance and pleasure in her dreams, the moment she awakens, all that awaits her is the cruel, merciless gap between dreams and reality.

Agnes would likely end up kicking off her blankets, writhing in the hollow emptiness that felt like her heart was being carved out.

“…You seem to have a rather blasphemous expression on your face.”

“That’s impossible. Must be your imagination.”

…Anyway, after finishing her prayers, Agnes guided me to the tea table in the reception room, served me tea, and asked about recent events.

She had heard rumors about my activities but didn’t know the details, so she asked if I wouldn’t mind sharing them.

“Well, where should I begin…”

Stories that could fill hundreds of chapters in a novel.

Since explaining everything would take all night, I summarized the core of my experiences for her.

First, I started with how apostles serving the ancient gods, like Paulus, were hiding in various countries, causing discord and triggering the destruction of Heaven’s Wall.

Agnes showed both interest and concern about the destruction of Heaven’s Wall and its consequences.

“Heaven’s Wall… I’ve been feeling closer to Lord Menes lately and was secretly happy about it, but so that was the reason.”

Closer to Menes, she says. Well, that makes sense.

With the fourth wall broken, just as Astraea had spoken to me, Menes would also be able to convey his will to Agnes.

Probably.

However, this wasn’t necessarily a positive development.

“It might help you, but it’s hard to be happy about it. The goal of those who serve the ancient gods isn’t to strengthen our forces.”

“That’s… yes, I suppose so.”

While we might welcome the strengthening of the clergy’s power, that was merely a byproduct of the apostles’ efforts to get closer to their ancient gods.

As much as we grew stronger, our enemies would also become more powerful than before, so looking at the results, there wasn’t much advantage to speak of.

—-

Pouring another cup of tea after emptying the first one, I told her about my exploits in defeating the eighth and third apostles.

Ragnar Lokan, a member of the Dane royal family, and Meiharin, who had been hiding in the eastern plains.

Unlike Feirus, the head of the apostles, the others might just be executives who could be replaced when necessary…

Even so, considering their power and standing, I had definitely dealt a significant blow to them.

—-

The final story was about my recent experience in the Dragonic Kingdom of Jin.

I explained how I learned that an apostle named Bernard Feiler was hiding inside the Celestial Dragon Palace, and how I had attempted to infiltrate and deal with him but failed.

And so, I had no choice but to return to the Holy State like this.

“Of all things, a dragon had to show up there…”

“A dragon…”

Agnes murmured softly, looking up at the ceiling as if overwhelmed.

“I received reports, but it’s still hard to believe. Not a beast disguised as a dragon like the Charging Dragon from before, but a real dragon that has survived until now.”

It is hard to believe.

Honestly, both the Empire and the Holy State had treated dragons as mere legends until Nidhogg’s remains suddenly rose and emerged.

It’s only natural, since they hadn’t shown themselves for eight hundred years.

But not anymore.

“There will be more of them.”

I shrugged, exhaling smoke-filled breath with a sigh, foretelling the horrific future calamities.

“I don’t know how many there will be… but in any case, none of them will be in their right mind.”

Now, humanity would have to fight dragons.

With a force of fewer than twenty Heroes.

…Is that even possible?

Honestly, it’s only because Floheta developed airships and mana cannons that we can even consider the possibility. Otherwise, we’d all have to hurriedly build underground cities to hide in.

While Demian and I somehow manage to hunt down one dragon, five or six others would appear simultaneously, burning the surface world.

“This is a serious problem. The movements of the elves are already concerning, and now we have to watch out for dragon appearances as well…”

Agnes sighed deeply. It was a familiar expression. The same one Leopold wore whenever his workload increased.

“What’s with the elves now?”

Weren’t those pointy-eared bastards supposed to be behaving a bit better after losing six guardians?

“Recently, the great forest of Alvheim has been gradually expanding its boundaries. Its density is also increasing. It’s clearly an abnormal situation.”

“…That is suspicious.”

The western great forest, which always maintained lush vegetation due to the influence of the World Tree.

The fact that distinct changes were beginning to occur there meant that either the elven council of elders or the World Tree itself had decided to expand the forest.

Being as optimistic as possible, one could say they too were preparing for the return of dragons…

In the worst case, they might be trying to expand their territory by taking advantage of the confusion caused by dragon attacks on the human world.

“Yes, exactly. That’s why most of the Holy State’s core forces are currently deployed near the western border.”

Agnes took a sip of tea and sighed deeply.

“If Alvheim were to launch a surprise attack on our country, Lord Perlien alone wouldn’t be enough to stop them all.”

Perlien de Genes. Originally from the Church of Saulite, he had defected to serve under Lacy.

A descendant of the Great’s Twelve Knights, Olivier, and the owner of the Oath Sword Hauteclere, wasn’t he?

They say his skill at slaying elves exceeds even Ceylon’s, but even he couldn’t handle all of them alone.

So it seems they’ve sent most of their core forces, including Ceylon, to the west as reinforcements.

“That sounds risky. What if dragons attack elsewhere while your forces are concentrated in the west?”

Agnes thought for a moment before answering.

“…Alhebron should be fine. This is a holy ground that no dragon can harm. The ancient miracles protect the entire city.”

Saying Alhebron would be fine implied that other cities might be in danger.

“Then you should prepare some air-raid shelters. You know, so people can evacuate underground when dragons come flying. Though I can’t guarantee they’d survive even then.”

In truth, if a dragon went on a rampage, underground shelters would be meaningless.

They could shatter the ground itself with magic or melt everything with their breath, killing everyone underground. Like an ant colony discovered by a seven-year-old child.

The role of shelters would merely be temporary hiding places where people could pray that the dragon would be satisfied with destroying the surface and leave, nothing more.

“For now… we plan to issue evacuation orders to the faithful across the region. They can either come to Alhebron or head west where our forces are concentrated.”

Agnes shared the measures that she and the cardinals had discussed.

The plan amounted to little more than gathering in safe places until all the dragons died or disappeared… but realistically, there weren’t many other options available.

So I just sipped my tea.

—-

After discussing what might happen in the future, I advised Agnes to make good use of the dragon corpse I had given her and stood up.

Use it for armor, weapons, or building materials to withstand attacks from other dragons. There were many possible uses.

The Empire would probably use all of theirs to reinforce airships, but the Holy State didn’t have airships yet and would need to borrow the Empire’s.

“Are you leaving?”

“Well… yes. In the past, I might have stayed to protect this place, but now I’m the Queen of Hestella.”

So I had to return.

Dragon attacks wouldn’t discriminate between countries. Since my power alone had limits in responding, I had to choose which place to protect.

I chose my kingdom.

It was filled with forces I could somewhat trust, people I had to protect, and people who believed in me.

If I was going to protect something, I needed to start there.

At least until I was confident that the forces gathered there could defeat a dragon without me.

In other words, I needed to beat Demian over and over until he was forged into a sword capable of killing dragons.

In my experience, dramatic improvements in skill always came in life-threatening situations.

So perhaps Demian too could become stronger if he was beaten to the brink of death and allowed to recover, repeatedly?

It was worth trying.

“I understand… I look forward to meeting you again. May Goddess Astraea and Lord Menes bless you, Astika.”

Agnes trailed off wistfully as she bid me farewell.

“Take care of yourself too, Agnes.”

I smiled slightly as I said goodbye, putting my coat back on.

“And hey, ask Menes to shower you with blessings too. Who knows, he might do something for you.”

“What…?”

I meant it as sincere advice, but Agnes seemed to take it as a joke and burst into clear laughter.

“That’s blasphemous, you know.”

She pointed out my irreverence with a voice full of amusement, for quite some time.

I was glad to see her seemingly gloomy mood lighten a bit.