Chapter 171 : Dragon?
Chapter 171: Dragon?
【Hero Party Hunts a Dragon, Not the Demon King!】
【Those Massive Wings—Who Was Their Owner?】
The rumors began in the Kingdom of Horton.
It was because the hero party that had entered Ergest through Hortonwork of the Kingdom of Korzen appeared in Hailin of the Kingdom of Horton.
“The hero party!”
“The hero party has returned!”
“Did they finally take the Demon King’s head?!”
It was a time when fear and hostility toward the Demon King of Dark Flame had reached their peak.
As the hero party’s return had been delayed, doubts had arisen, but there was no one who did not know that their strength was sufficient to kill the Demon King.
And now, they had finally returned.
It was only natural to expect that the Demon King had been slain.
However, they carried neither the Demon King’s head nor even the byproducts of monsters.
“...What is that?”
What replaced the position that should have been filled was a gigantic something being carried by dozens of heroes clinging to it.
They were dragon wings. A tail.
“...A dragon?”
“Not the Demon King?”
“D-Dragon slayers!”
“The great hero, Balraf Dislode, slew a dragon!”
It was not the outcome those who had been expecting the Demon King desired, but it was a dragon nonetheless.
A being that existed, yet had not appeared for nearly a thousand years and was recorded almost solely as legend.
Its true form had been revealed, and it had even been brought down by a hero.
“They said the wings alone were over twenty meters long!”
“And the tail—its outer scales couldn’t even be scratched by an average knight, they said.”
“And they caught something like that?”
“But why only the wings and the tail?”
“Who cares? It was probably too big, so they only brought those back. What matters is that they caught it!”
“Long live the hero party!”
“Long live the Dragon Slayer, Balraf Dislode!”
From Hailin to all of Horton, from Horton to the Empire, and across the continent.
The rumors spread ever faster.
Because it was a dragon.
Because it was a time when hostility and fear toward the Demon King had reached their extreme.
The Demon King of Dark Flame had shown a completely different course of action compared to previous Demon Kings. He resembled the Demon King from a hundred years ago, but was stronger.
Even after several hero’s marches, the Demon King of Dark Flame had not been subjugated.
Once could be coincidence, but twice and three times were inevitability. To make matters worse, the large-scale assaults carried out on imperial cities rekindled the fear of the Demon King that had once faded.
But at this moment, all of that vanished.
“If they caught even a dragon, there’s no way they’d lose to something like the Demon King of Dark Flame, right?”
“Exactly. The day we see that bastard’s head isn’t far off!”
From the people’s perspective, compared to Demon Kings who had been subjugated countless times over a millennium, a dragon that had disappeared and remained only in legend stood on a higher tier.
The idea that a hero who had slain a dragon could not kill a Demon King who had only descended two years ago made no sense.
The fact that they had once again failed to find the Demon King’s tower was quickly buried.
Confidence swelled that as long as they found it, they could kill him at any time.
And now, the allied forces had joined hands to search for the tower.
Thus, the humans of the continent were convinced that it was merely a matter of time.
They felt relief that the Demon King stood beneath humanity.
---
“Is it truly a dragon?”
“That is correct, Your Highness.”
Returning to the imperial capital amid dazzling cheers, Balraf received praise from the Emperor for his achievements and then immediately met with the First Prince.
“How did you encounter a dragon?”
“We were roaming the mountains in search of the Demon King’s tower. At first, we searched the center, then set our course eastward.”
“As expected, it wasn’t there.”
“Yes.”
“Is there a possibility that the tower was temporarily hidden with magic?”
“We followed the scrying orb and remained there for a week, conducting a search. Nearly five hundred heroes all failed to sense any demonic energy.”
“Hmm. Continue.”
“After that, we turned west and combed through the entire mountain as if raking it.”
There were casualties. Naturally so. Ergest was a harsh land untouched by human hands.
Blizzards swept through almost daily, and monsters drawn by the scent of prey attacked relentlessly.
However, every member of the subjugation force was a hero. Among heroes, they were the chosen elite, and at the forefront carving a path were Balraf Dislode and the four Stars.
Wherever they went, a bloodstained path of monsters was drawn.
“We wandered Ergest like that for several months.”
No matter how powerful the hero party was, casualties were unavoidable.
Dozens of heroes died.
Even so, Balraf Dislode did not give up. The other Stars were the same, and as the Stars led, the heroes suppressed their complaints and followed.
“Then, while fleeing a blizzard, we arrived at a cave.”
“That was the dragon’s lair?”
“That’s right. We established a camp intending to rest briefly, but the interior of the cave was deeper than expected. And I sensed its presence.”
The gigantic body exceeding forty meters was violence in and of itself.
A truly great existence rose to annihilate the intruders.
“Battle broke out. More than a hundred heroes died.”
More were lost in that single battle with the dragon than those who had perished while wandering the mountain range.
“The fierce battle lasted an entire day. It was so intense that the surrounding terrain changed.”
“But you caught it. Truly the strongest of heroes.”
“We did not catch it.”
“...?”
Rufus Zespine’s brow twisted. Then what were those byproducts, and what were those cheers of ‘Dragon Slayer’?
“It was strong. We gained the upper hand. We severed its wings, stripped its scales, and cut off its tail. However.”
“However, it wasn’t enough to finish it off?”
“It was not that it was insufficient.”
“Then?”
“But we lacked the power to stop it once it resolved to flee.”
That enormous body was power incarnate, but dragons were beings called the masters of magic.
There was no stopping a fleeing dragon that unleashed draconic magic with full intent.
“It is true that we inflicted fatal wounds. I believe it died, but unless I see it with my own eyes, I cannot say so with certainty.”
Because it was a dragon.
“Somehow, I felt something was off.”
If they had truly hunted a dragon, they would have brought back not just the wings and tail, but also the head and the heart.
“Is there a reason you did not deny it?”
“Your Highness’s guess is likely correct.”
“Indeed, things turned out exactly as you intended.”
The fear that had been subtly encroaching due to the Demon King all but vanished.
Because a dragon was greater than the Demon King, and because the one who hunted such a dragon was human, the Demon King was no longer frightening.
If, in this situation, it were revealed that the dragon had not actually been slain, public opinion would reverse.
And the honour of Balraf and the heroes would plummet.
“Either way, it is not bad.”
It was an opportunity. They needed to use the expectation that the great hero who had hunted even a dragon would surely end the Demon King of Dark Flame once the tower was found.
Their regained confidence, combined with the newly formed alliance, would create quite the synergy.
“I would like to hear the concrete plan.”
“Dormunt, Korzen, Horton, Arkan, Ormus, Trafarta, Iasince, Hilderan, Hessen, Machiel....”
Other nations followed in succession.
“All of those nations have agreed to join the alliance. At least one hundred thousand allied troops will head to Ergest and conduct a large-scale search.”
Since they had to search Ergest, the scale would not be small.
“The casualties will be severe. No matter how elite they are, it is still Ergest.”
“It must be borne. That is precisely why the Empire is not shouldering it alone.”
The Empire was a ferocious beast that did not originally share its prey. But it was not foolish enough to bear everything alone when the target was clearly not even visible.
“Finding the tower is only a matter of time. I do not know what trick the Demon King of Dark Flame used to endure until now, but as long as the tower is in Ergest, this ends here.”
“You speak rightly.”
“So I will ask you once more. If you find the tower, will you stand at the vanguard and bring me that damned Demon King’s head?”
Balraf bowed his head.
“Gladly.”
---
“This should do.”
Berje stood atop the snowfield. Mountains filled the surroundings.
Originally, he had planned to build the tower along the northern coast of Ergest. It would have been easier to receive support from the true tower, and there would have been less risk of discovery by humans.
If he built it hastily in the mountains because it was hard to move, only to be discovered by enraged humans, it would have been nothing short of a disaster.
What changed his mind were Roger’s assurances and the discovery of mineral veins.
As procuring materials through the Golden Moon Merchant Company became no longer smooth, Berje used the dwarves to survey nearby veins.
The result was a jackpot.
“Yes. Ergest truly is paradise. Over there is iron, over there copper, over there silver, and over there....”
Dozens of other ores poured from Roger’s mouth in succession. He said “over there,” but the distances were considerable. What mattered was that all of them existed.
“There’s even that precious Karnian. I want to mine it already.”
“Calm down. Didn’t I say I’d help you mine once the tower is finished? More importantly, over there is mithril—”
“Mithril is nothing compared to that over there—”
It was no wonder that not only Roger but all the dwarf craftsmen were excited.
“You’re certain the tower can be built within a month?”
“Of course.”
“But it’s much larger.”
“It’s only large in size and flashy on the outside. Internally, it’s a very lightweight structure. You must not compare it to the tower’s legs that incorporate high-dimensional magi-engineering. And with nearby veins, we can easily secure the materials—”
“I’ll trust you.”
“Yes! Ah, but then—”
“Fine. This time, I’ll really let you dismantle the tower.”
“Really?”
“It’s not that I don’t want to keep my promises. You just haven’t been able to make a golem yet.”
“You suddenly told me to make the tower’s legs, didn’t you?”
“That’s why this time I’ll allow it regardless of the golem.”
“I’ll finish it in three weeks instead of a month!”
Roger snorted roughly.
“I’ll look forward to it.”
After exhausting all the materials extracted from the Golden Moon Merchant Company, Berje looked around.
It was a basin. Surrounded by mountain ranges, it was not easily visible from the outside.
‘But.’
The Empire had formed an alliance, and according to Ernan, a massive search party would comb Ergest.
Even this location would eventually be discovered if enough time passed. Therefore, the tower had to be completed as quickly as possible, and the surroundings needed to be carefully monitored in case of emergencies.
‘Still, something feels strange.’
Before his regression, Berje had been the Demon King himself. He had never even attended the Harmony of the Towers, and had maintained an aggressive stance by kidnapping princesses and princes.
In the end, he had even destroyed several small nations and killed a Star. Yet until he kidnapped the Crown Prince, there had been no such large-scale actions.
‘What’s different?’
If one had to say, everything was different. But it felt like he was missing something decisive.
‘Location.’
Thinking back now, the former Berje had settled in a very good place. From his perspective, he had simply built the tower where he happened to land, but it had granted him tremendous geographical advantages.
‘Now that I think about it, I realize how great a stroke of luck it was.’
The Southern Alliance was already a fringe compared to the continent’s core represented by Arkan, Trafarta, Hilderan, and Zespine. And the place where Berje had settled was even farther south than the Southern Alliance—a fringe among fringes where dozens of small nations were scattered.
It was blocked off from other nations by the sea and also cut off from the imperial mainstream by the Southern Alliance.
‘Right. That’s why I could run wild without drawing much attention.’
Heroes came from time to time. Assault units and hero parties as well.
But never a massive alliance like now, never Balraf Dislode and multiple Stars moving together.
Even after kidnapping dozens of princesses, raising an army of tens of thousands, and destroying several kingdoms—
Until he kidnapped the Empire’s Crown Prince.
‘They were indifferent.’
Kidnapping the princesses of fringe nations, destroying a few small countries—it had little impact on the mainstream. So neither the Empire, nor Arkan, nor the Hero Guild bothered to step in.
No, from the Empire’s perspective, it was probably beneficial. The Demon King was conveniently wiping out those mosquito-like nuisances one by one.
‘Perhaps....’
Wasn’t that the biggest reason?
Why Berje had been able to run wild like a frog in a well.
‘Disgusting.’
Knowing more made it painfully clear how foolish his former self had been.
Tsk. Clicking his tongue, Berje took out the communication device.
‘I should meet Krutu and have him ensure that humans can never approach the tower.’
At that moment, before he could even inject demonic energy, the device rang. It was a transmission from Krutu.
『Demon King!』
“What is it?”
『Well.... I think you need to come see this yourself.』
“What is it?”
『Th-There’s a dragon!』
『An injured dragon is lying here!』
“...!”
Dragon, out of nowhere?