The Hero King, Reincarnate to Master the Art of War (LN) - Volume 12 - Chapter 2.1

“Oh! Er, sorry to interrupt!” Rafinha said.

“No, no, just, sorry, could you wait outside for a minute?” Lahti asked.

“Ugh! This is why I wanted to turn off the lights and go upstairs!” Pullum protested.

“A-Anyway, we’ll be waiting outside! Sorry!” Rafinha, her face bright red, closed the door in a fluster. She seemed very surprised by what she’d seen. “They... They’ve grown up, those two...”

“Y-Yeah,” Leone agreed. “I can’t even imagine doing that sort of thing, but...”

“Myself as well... But I suppose, someday...” Liselotte said.

“I... I feel like we’ve done something we shouldn’t have,” Meltina said. Each of the four blushed heavily as they looked around in embarrassment.

Inglis didn’t mind as far as Leone, Liselotte, or Meltina went, but she definitely felt like this was bad for Rafinha’s upbringing. She wished the couple would have taken Pullum’s approach of making sure the lights were out and that they couldn’t be seen from the door before moving on with that kind of thing.

“It’s entirely reasonable, though. After all, they are lovers.” Arles seemed relatively unconcerned about the whole thing. Given Rochefort’s condition, she probably had no inclination of wasting thought on such trifling matters, but her calmness implied she wouldn’t have been bothered anyway.

“Miss Arles. Miss Arles, do you—” As Rafinha began to ask Arles a question, the door opened from the inside, and Lahti spoke.

“S-Sorry to keep you waiting! Come in!”

“Sorry, after you came all the way out here...” Pullum chimed in. Both looked dreadfully embarrassed.

As the group entered, Rafinha got straight to the point. “Lahti! Is there any more of the dragon meat we brought here a while back?”

“Mr. Rochefort is sick, and we need it to cure him. If there’s any left, we’d really appreciate you sharing,” Inglis explained.

In response, Lahti frowned and shook his head. “Sorry, but we’re all out. Just went through the last of it the other day.”

Rafinha gasped. “Oh nooo! We’re too late?!”

“Then we’ll have to figure out another way.” Inglis scrunched up her face in contemplation. Nothing was coming to mind just yet.

Lahti clapped his hands. “Wait, I know! If you need dragon meat, what if I transform into a dragon and you cut off my tail?”

Lahti had eaten so much dragon meat from Fufailbane that he’d gained dragon lore, which had manifested in him through the ability to transform into a dragon. He was Runeless and couldn’t wield an Artifact, but instead he did seem to have very good compatibility with dragon lore.

“Whaaat?! Is that really okay, Lahti?!” Pullum protested.

“It doesn’t matter, Pullum. Inglis and the others have done so much more for us than we could ever repay. So if there’s anything at all I can do—!”

Inglis, though, quietly shook her head.

“Thank you, Lahti. But I think that unless the dragon is as powerful as Fufailbane himself, the meat won’t be enough to cure Mr. Rochefort.” She appreciated the thought behind Lahti’s offer, but it was unlikely to be effective.

“Oh... Sorry I can’t be of more help...”

“Hey, so what do we do now, Chris? How do we make sure Mr. Rochefort gets better?!” Rafinha asked, tugging at Inglis’s arm.

“I think we have two options.”

“Which are?”

Inglis raised a finger. “First, Fufailbane isn’t dead; Evel turned him into a mechanical dragon and took him to Highland. We could track him down and cut off his tail again.”

The ancient dragon Fufailbane, who had slept deep under Leclair, had been used by the Papal League’s Archlord Evel as the basis for a further-enhanced mechanical dragon, one similar to those employed by Illuminas but far more powerful, given the use of an ancient dragon. Its presumed combat prowess was beyond even Inglis’s imagination. Looking back on things, Evel’s body had been a hi-mana coat of the type developed by Illuminas’s Academician Wilkin. He seemed to be able to transfer his consciousness between bodies. So even his apparent bloody end at the hands of the Steelblood Front didn’t mean he was dead.

“Evel went back to the Papal League, right? So we don’t know where Mr. Dragon is in Highland, do we?” Rafinha asked.

“Maybe if we ask Ambassador Theodore or Myce, they’ll have some kind of idea? If nothing else we could have Theodore get in touch with Jil, in case he knows anything,” Inglis said.

“Well, that might tell us where he is, but if we storm in wherever he is, it’ll probably be a lot more complex than simply cutting off his tail...” Leone said.

“Indeed,” Liselotte said. “If worse came to worst, it might cause a war that involves not just the Papal League and the Triumvirate, but Karelia and Venefic as well.”

“But it might not! And Mr. Rochefort’s life is in danger, and I do really want to fight a mechanical dragon like that, so... It’s probably the best option?” Inglis suggested.

The mechanical dragon’s consciousness was not Fufailbane’s, but Evel’s. That was why it had refused to fight Inglis and left for Highland. She still hadn’t forgotten missing out on that battle—nor would she, ever.

“How is that the best?! That should be our last resort!” Rafinha protested.

“No, well, it’s just... We know the mechanical dragon does exist somewhere out there, so going after it seems to be the most practical—”

“Just out of curiosity, could you tell us the other option?” Meltina asked. “We can decide after we hear both.”

“Oh, right!” Rafinha agreed. “Okay, Chris, what’s the other one?”

“Finding another ancient dragon that was sealed away like Fufailbane, I guess.”

“Other dragons like Mr. Dragon? They exist?”

“Well, there’s no reason for them not to.”

In King Inglis’s reign, the monarch had only crossed swords with one: Fufailbane. However, there were other legends of dragons. Fufailbane had the power to control blizzards and ice, but she had also heard of similar entities like Krublaz, who had mastered crimson flames, or Aulglora, a golden dragon which controlled trees and earth.

“Evel laid his plans based on Fufailbane’s location, so Highland may have information on where other ancient dragons are. At the very least, the Papal League might. I’m unsure about the Triumvirate, but it’s probably worth asking.”

“So in the end, either way we end up asking Myce or Ambassador Theodore, and then maybe Jil?” Rafinha asked.

Inglis nodded as she responded to Rafinha. “I suppose so. No matter which option we go with, the first steps do seem to be the same.”

“Then let’s head back and ask them!” Arles said, standing up from her chair.

“And just to be safe, we should ask where Fufailbane is too,” Inglis said.

“No way!” Rafinha insisted. “You’d just go there alone, Chris!”

“Of course I wouldn’t. I’m your squire, Rani, so I’ll stay by your side.”

“Sure, sure. Okay, Lahti, Pullum, we’re headed home now.”

“Gotcha. I wish you could spend more time here, but things seem serious,” Lahti said.

“Rafinha, everyone, please come visit us again,” Pullum added.

“Sure thing! And you two, don’t let anything get between you... Not that I really need to say that, do I...?” Thinking back, Rafinha blushed.

“Yes, of course...” Leone trailed off.

“I do suppose...” Liselotte did as well.

“It would be a bit presumptuous of us to say that...” Meltina noted after both of them. Each of them blushed and tried to find somewhere else to look.

“Let’s go, Miss Arles!” Inglis quickly took Arles’s hand.

“Ah, o-okay!”

Any more time with those lovebirds would fill Rafinha’s head with bad ideas.

◆◇◆

Leaving Alcard by means of divine feat, Inglis’s group returned to Karelia. Their exact destination was an island in the middle of Lake Bolt—the remains of what had once been Illuminas in Highland. Myce and the other Highlanders were living there, restoring the central laboratory which had been half-destroyed. Cleanup from the knights’ academy’s field day had finished, and everyone was fast asleep, but when Inglis went to Myce, he was happy to help regardless of the time. He showed them to a room similar to Academician Wilkin’s personal laboratory.

There, Myce drowsily listened to what they had to say. “So you’re looking for a dragon, and one of the strongest ones?”

“Yeah,” Inglis said. “Do you know where we could find one, Myce?!”

“Hold on a second... Hmm, I wonder if anything will come up. Most of Illuminas’s data has been corrupted and can no longer be viewed... Hmm, it might be a bit of an old map, but...” As Myce spoke, a three-dimensional diorama of the terrain was projected on the table in front of him. “Hmm. This is where Fufailbane was sealed...” He pointed to a volcano, erupting with red lava.

“Ah—!” He was right. That was Mt. Clavoid, far beneath where King Inglis had sealed the dragon so long ago. The monarch had tried to use nature’s own power to strengthen the seal on such powerful ice. The map was one that King Inglis would have recognized.

Rafinha tilted her head in confusion. “Eh? But Mr. Dragon was in Alcard, right? There aren’t volcanoes like that there.”

“I think it’s a map from a long time ago. Like, a long, long time ago,” Inglis said.

“It might be,” Myce said. “I’m sorry, it was all that came up for my search. If Illuminas was in better shape, I might have been able to find something more recent.”

“No, this is good enough. But the terrain is so different now. Did something happen?” Inglis asked.

“Hmm... Mt. Clavoid? I think it became part of Highland. I remember there being an island with that name somewhere in the Papal League.”

“Oh, I see. So the volcano that was originally there became part of Highland, and then Leclair was built, and then that became part of Highland, and then Fufailbane popped back out.”

“So Highlanders have cut away at the surface over and over...” Leone realized.

“And not just there, I’m sure it’s happened in other places as well,” Liselotte presumed. Their expressions were ones of complete shock.

In any case, there was something Inglis was suddenly very interested in. Specifically, the Silvare Kingdom and its capital Silvaria. The land King Inglis had built, the land where he had died. Was Silvaria somewhere on this map? But asking now would just raise questions, and her priority right now was the other ancient dragons. She’d have to return alone sometime later to ask about it.

“Then, are there other ancient dragons, Myce?” Inglis asked, and Rafinha and the others waited with bated breath.

“Ah, um... Yeah. There’s only one hit, but it’s something!”

“Oh?!” Inglis wanted to fight an ancient dragon, and it didn’t particularly have to be Fufailbane. It would help Rochefort, she’d have someone new to fight, and she’d get to have some more of that delicious meat. It was good from every angle.

“S-So, where is the ancient dragon? Where do we go to save Ross?!” Arles asked again.

“It’s located...to the southeast of where Fufailbane was sealed. Here.” The projection panned to show another location.

“Where is that?” Inglis asked.

“Um, in modern terms, it looks like it’s on the frontier, near the border between Karelia and Venefic? The data says this is where the ancient dragon Aulglora was sealed.”

“On the border with Venefic means it must be around where the rimebound Prismer was brought.”

“So it’s in Karelia! That makes things easy!” Rafinha’s face suddenly lit up.

“But Rafinha, this is old data. Remember it might not still be accurate,” Myce pointed out.

“Still, it’s the only clue we have, so I think there’s value in going and investigating. The Rangers have a flying battleship, so if we can borrow that...!” Leone said.

“The problem is that the borderlands are in Chancellor Riegliv’s holdings,” Liselotte said. “It would be much simpler if it were in our Charot or your Ymir, but something as significant as waking an ancient dragon requires proper discussion and proper permissions.”

“Yes,” Inglis agreed. “They might prefer to let sleeping dragons lie... I imagine they’re probably busy with a lot of other things out east.”

Venefic’s army had just recently invaded Karelia at the same time as the rimebound Prismer’s attack. The eastern nobility had suffered great losses from these attacks and had formed a strongly anti-Venefic faction calling for retaliation. In fact, they were already mustering their forces for a punitive expedition. If negotiations with Venefic faltered by the time they were ready, they could be expected to go on the attack. Chancellor Riegliv was central to these machinations. Even if they went with the intent of digging up an ancient dragon buried in his lands, they would likely be told to take no unnecessary risks.

“Do... Do you think he won’t let us investigate the dragon? Even though Miss Arles is so worried about Mr. Rochefort?” Meltina asked, gloom written on her face.

“Well, I don’t think so. Still, let’s see how the conversation goes, okay?” Inglis clapped her hand on Meltina’s shoulder.

◆◇◆

Early the next morning, Inglis and her friends accompanied Principal Miriela to the palace. There, they met with Prince Wayne, Ambassador Theodore, Rafael, and Ripple.

“What?! You’re saying in exchange for Chancellor Riegliv allowing us to investigate the ancient dragon in his lands, we should offer to temporarily hand over command of the Paladins?” Prince Wayne asked, incredulous.

Inglis answered with a smile, “Yes. The army positioned against Venefic was to be composed mainly of the eastern lords’ personal retinues; the addition of the Paladins would reassure Chancellor Riegliv significantly. It would give him a powerful piece to move without any worries as to his own losses. Thus, if we agreed to those conditions, he would be likely to accept a survey of his territory.”

“W-Wait, Chris!” Rafinha protested. “That would be like telling Rafael and Ripple to go to war against Venefic!”

“That’s right,” Inglis agreed. “Which would make Chancellor Riegliv happy, and give him the impression that Prince Wayne was taking his side.”

“That’s no good! I thought we were trying to stop the war! If that happens, we wouldn’t be able to do anything about it but sit and watch!”

The others in the room seemed to agree with Rafinha’s sentiment.

“But we’re already at that point, aren’t we?” Inglis noted. “The eastern lords decided they would abandon their plans if a peaceful settlement was made with Venefic before the Karelian forces finished mustering, but Meltina, the one who may have pushed for that settlement, is here. Meaning, the moderates within Venefic have been exiled, and there is no room at this point for negotiation.”

“Unfortunately, that’s likely to be true,” Prince Wayne agreed with a grave nod.

Even though the situation was clear now, the problem was what steps to undertake. A small group of infiltrators pushing for regime change had worked in Alcard, but Venefic was deeply hostile to Karelia in a way that Alcard was not. Beyond that, Venefic’s resources and personnel were beyond anything available to the snowy nation.

Not just General Maxwell and his faceless giant, but two hieral menaces would face them: both Tiffanyer and the strongest one yet, Charlotte. Additionally, Tiffanyer’s presence suggested that Evel, who had become a mechanical dragon, might decide to make his presence known. It would take time to fend things off and build toward a position where the coup would stick; if that looked likely, surely Chancellor Riegliv would begin his invasion. After all, a weakened Venefic would be a prime opportunity to carve out more territory.

Meltina’s voice quivered as she avoided eye contact. “I’m sorry... If only I had done a better job, this wouldn’t have happened...” She must have been blaming herself for the failures of the truce negotiation with Venefic.

Inglis attempted to comfort her. “No, it’s okay. It’s not right for you to frown over this. I’m grateful to you—in any other situation, I wouldn’t be able to suggest this plan.”

“But in this kind of situation you can...?”

“Exactly. This is the perfect timing, I think. I don’t imagine we’d normally get permission to offer command of the Paladins in exchange for being allowed to dig up an ancient dragon.”

Prince Wayne didn’t want to actively pursue a hawkish course. On the contrary, Inglis was convinced that he would try to avoid war if possible. He was the one who had come up with the idea of the Rangers, a force without overriding loyalty to any one state. Outbreak of a full-scale war between Karelia and Venefic would go against that ideal. Even if Rochefort’s life was at stake, the man was merely an instructor at the knights’ academy, nowhere near as valuable as the Paladins—unless the prince could realize something very substantial in exchange, that is.

“So you mean to say there’s something here that wouldn’t normally be possible?” the prince asked.

“Please explain, Inglis,” Theodore prompted.

“Of course. What if said dragon being excavated decided to completely collapse the mountain pass leading to Venefic? Repairs could take months, or even years.”

Prince Wayne and Theodore looked at each other in shocked realization.

“What do you think, Theodore?”

“It’s not the most admirable method, but it’s certainly a clever one. Uptake of Flygears and Flygear Ports continues to progress, but Karelia’s forces are still primarily grounded in infantry, especially the lords’ retinues. If the roads were destroyed, they wouldn’t be able to invade.”

“Of course,” Inglis continued. “By pushing back the point in time at which the eastern lords are able to invade, I believe we can significantly extend the time we have to reach a negotiated peace.”

In other words, this would be a sabotage operation to expand the window for peace with Venefic, under the cover of being a search for an ancient dragon. And it was one that would be carried out by the Paladins. There was no need to actually rely on the dragon for the destruction; the Paladins could simply do it themselves while making sure to make it look like the dragon’s doing. Using a force like the Paladins, ostensibly dedicated to dealing with magicite beasts and the Prism Flow, to intervene in domestic politics was its own question, but that was one to be pondered by their commander, the prince.

Liselotte clapped her hands. “In other words, you’d use the fact that the dragon is in Chancellor Riegliv’s lands to our own advantage!”

“A physical impasse to war in the east! How do you come up with such ideas?” Leone gasped, impressed.

Without such a potential reward, Inglis thought, Prince Wayne and Ambassador Theodore would never agree to deploy the Paladins. Yet if they did not act, Chancellor Riegliv would find none of their proposals appealing, and Inglis would be left unable to examine the ancient dragon. In other words, it was a suggestion she could make precisely because of the current situation.

Rafinha’s hand loudly clapped her on the back. “Great job, Chris! You’re amazing! Isn’t this nice, Meltina? We can save Mr. Rochefort, and maybe even avoid war with Venefic!”

Inglis was happy that Rafinha was happy, but it did hurt a little.

“I hope so!” Meltina agreed, beaming. “Thank you, Inglis!”

Arles was deeply touched. “You’ve done so, so much for Ross’s sake...”

“Oh, don’t worry about it, you two. In the end it works out pretty well for me too, right?”

“What do you mean, Chris?” Rafinha asked.

“This means I get to keep learning from Mr. Rochefort, and I get to fight another ancient dragon, right? I can even take on General Maxwell, Tiffanyer, and Charlotte, and Evel, and who knows who else without having to worry about what the eastern lords are up to. It’s a great opportunity for fights.” Inglis raised fingers one by one as she counted out her list of targets.

“Ha ha ha... That’s so you, Chris,” Rafinha remarked in exasperation.

“Yes,” Leone agreed. “In many ways.”

“I suppose it’s somewhat of a relief that she’s at least consistent,” Liselotte said.

Pointedly ignoring them, Prince Wayne turned to the two Paladins present. “Rafael, Ripple... It shames me to ask for your participation in such a plot, but... Still, I must. If things continue as they have, the eastern lords’ fury will turn into war. This will at least put them on the back foot.”

Neither had any objections to Prince Wayne’s decision. “I believe Your Highness’s judgment is sound,” Rafael said. “Rather than doing harm, it will save many. It is not the most honorable method, but we have no choice. The Paladins will deploy to Chancellor Riegliv’s lands.”

“Yeah, if we can keep a war from happening, it’s fine,” Ripple agreed. “We hieral menaces want to help people join together and protect themselves from the Prism Flow and magicite beasts, not to see them fight each other.”

“Again, I am sorry. I’ll personally speak with Chancellor Riegliv immediately. Make ready to depart straightaway.” Prince Wayne got to his feet; he intended to brook no delays.

“Yes!”

The others stood as well, and echoes of their assent followed Prince Wayne from the room.