Chapter 298.
A dazzling flash of light rose above the dusky sky of the Imperial Capital. The light was so bright that it could be seen from the Central Knights’ fortress located not too far away.
“Huh? What’s that?”
Johnstein Pilgram, a foreigner, saw the flash of white light brightening the Capital and his eyes widened.
“You idiot! It’s the rally signal! Why’re you just standing there?! Get everyone armed and gather at the training ground!”
By his side, one of the senior knights yelled at him before ordering all the knights who had been training to go and fully arm themselves.
Whoosh.
At that moment, a second flash of light shot up into the sky. This time, it was a flash of ominous red light.
“War alert! Highest level [1]!”
It was an urgent signal that only appeared when a foreign enemy was invading the Imperial Capital. With a hard expression, the senior knight rushed the knights.
Ding dong ding dong.
A beat too late, the emergency bell rang out and woke up the inhabitants of the Central Knights fortress; all the troops stationed there shouted for their armor and horses.
“Those who are ready, depart for the Imperial Capital first!”
At the order of the Central Knights’ commander, the knights who were ready to fight quickly ran out of the fortress. Soon after, all the knights who were ready quickly set off for the capital, leaving only the bare minimum number of people to protect the fortress.
“The heavy cavalry of the Imperial Guard is over there, sir!”
A cloud of dust could be seen from far from the capital. A senior knight shouted when he glimpsed the flag of the Imperial Guard through the dust storm.
“The soldiers that the Empire sent to the Central Army are also there, sir!”
There was more than one cloud of dust. From the east and west, dust clouds were rising up from almost every direction.
Seeing the cavalry rus.h.i.+ng towards the Imperial Capital from all directions, the commander of the knights spoke with a hard face.
“Did a monster appear in the Imperial Capital this time?”
The Imperial Capital had never sent up a flare before, so when it happened, the knights were terrified that a monster, so powerful that the knights of the Imperial Guards and the Imperial Defense Forces couldn’t deal with it, had appeared.
“Quickly! Something must have happened in the Imperial Capital!”
The knights sped up even more at their commander’s order.
Ding dong ding dong.
The Central Knights pushed their horses hard without letting them rest. The Imperial Capital greeted them with a continuous ringing of the bell.
The top of the walls was packed with archers who had arrows nocked on their bowstrings, while catapults and ballistae were placed at critical locations, ready to be fired at any moment.
“What on earth is going on?!”
“There is a report that something ma.s.sive is flying towards the Imperial Capital from the southwest!”
If there was something flying towards the capital from the southwest, then there was only one thing that came to mind.
“If that’s the case, then wouldn’t it be the direction the Indomitable Grand Duke is coming from?”
“That’s correct, sir. The Indomitable Grand Duke is returning to the Imperial Capital.”
The commander of the knights became even more confused.
The Indomitable Grand Duke was a highly influential person with a great reputation on the continent, and in Adenburg, he was a great knight with a good reputation as a war hero and was the husband of the Empress. The commander couldn’t understand why they were readying to fight such a n.o.bleman as if he was the enemy instead of welcoming his return.
His questions only grew when he arrived at the central square in front of the Imperial Palace.
“Oh, my G.o.d. They are the high-ranking Royal Mages of the Imperial Capital that even the Imperial Palace’s Mage Corp would give-in to.”
They were the Royal Mages who were considered to be headaches of the Mage Corp since they never left their labs after enlisting. The Royal Mages were extremely high-ranking mages that even the Imperial family had a hard time dealing with because of their excessive pride in their status. However, right now, there wasn’t just one, but dozens of those troublesome people gathered here in the central square.
“Haa…”
The commander of the Knights’ Order stiffened as he looked at everyone gathered at the square. Including the knights of the Central Knights’ Order, it was a tremendous force that would be more than capable of destroying the capital of any kingdom in an instant.
“This is the video recorder that arrived today. sir”
A mage approached him and held out a crystal orb.
“I will explain in detail after you watch the video first, sir.”
Pah.
Before he could say anything in response, the mage pulled up the image stored in the video recorder into the air.
The scales surrounding its body were as beautiful as if they had been painstakingly crafted from platinum and gold. Its body was terrifyingly elegant and strong without a single superfluousness to it. Its pair of wings, where each one was a different color, was so ma.s.sive it looked as if they could cover the entire sky.
“What on earth is that…”
The commander of the Knight’s Order was at a loss for words at the presence of the creature that didn’t seem to belong in this world.
“This is the new dragon acquired by the Indomitable Grand Duke.”
The mage spoke as he looked at the dazed commander.
“You’re telling me that is a dragon? Like the Drake or the Wyvern?”
He couldn’t believe it. He couldn’t accept the fact that a creature with that kind of overwhelming presence was the same species as the Drake, who was usually dismissed as a mere monster.
“I cannot believe that.”
When the commander of the Knights’ Order continued to express strong denial without being able to take his eyes off the video, the mage finished with his explanation.
“Taking into consideration the Indomitable Grand Duke’s last words before he left, as well as the overwhelmingly commanding presence of that creature, it is the Mage Corp’s conclusion that that is a true Dragon.”
What on earth was he saying now?
He already couldn’t believe that the dragon, something that had always been dismissed as a simple myth or legend since there were no records left of the species, truly existed. But now, that dragon was flying towards the Imperial Capital? Not only the commander of the Knight’s Order, but all the other Central Knights, looked dumbfounded.
“If that is not the Dragon, then what could be considered as a Dragon? It seems as though the Indomitable Grand Duke has succeeded in finding the true Dragon.”
The mage pointed a finger at the image as he spoke to the knights.
“Mm.”
The knights couldn’t raise any objection to the mage’s words. Just as the mage had said, if that wasn’t a dragon from the legends, then they couldn’t think of any other words to describe the creature in the video.
“Even if that dragon was with the Indomitable Grand Duke, we cannot just sit still and watch such a great beast flying towards the Imperial Palace where Her Imperial Majesty resides. Am I not correct?”
“Ah, Marquis Reinhardt.”
Who knew when Marquis Reinhardt had joined, but the head of the Imperial Guard joined the conversation.
“If, on the off chance, that ma.s.sive b.a.s.t.a.r.d gets out of control and starts rampaging, it’ll be a big disaster that we cannot afford.”
At that, the commander of the Knight’s Order was convinced. Just like the Marquis had said, the presence of the dragon was too intimidating for them to simply trust the Indomitable Grand Duke and allow it to enter the Imperial Capital.
“Either way, there’s not much we can do right now.”
At first, Marquis Reinhardt had thought of meeting the Indomitable Grand Duke on the plain right before the Imperial Capital, but he said they could not give up the defense and advantages that the Imperial Capital had reinforced for over hundreds of years.
“If we had seen the video even a bit earlier, I might have stopped the Grand Duke from entering the Imperial Capital at all costs. No, even now, I wish the Grand Duke would turn around.”
The Marquis sighed as he looked at the Empress surrounded by the knights of the Imperial Guard and mages.
“But then, he’s the hero of the Empire and Her Imperial Majesty’s spouse. We can’t continue to keep him outside the Imperial Capital, can we?”
For a joke, it was a bit too harsh; but at the same time, the Marquis was head of the Imperial Guards that had to protect the Empress and the Imperial Family. And so the commander of the Knight’s Order subtly encouraged him.
“The greatest force in the history of the Empire have all gathered here. Although many soldiers have been deployed to the Central region, it shouldn’t be a problem to protect the peace of the Imperial Capital with the amount of knights and mages here, even if something bigger than a dragon were to appear.”
The commander was not only comforting the Marquis, but he was also trying to motivate himself, who had frozen just from watching the video.
He was afraid that if he didn’t remind himself of the existence of the many superhumans gathered in the square, then he wouldn’t be able to respond properly to any emergency that might occur.
The dragon in the video was more ma.s.sive than any other creature he had ever seen before.
But it didn’t take long for the commander to realize how weak his determination and resolve was.
“It’s coming!”
A sharp-eyed knight perched high on a spire shouted as he saw a ma.s.sive shadow approaching from the southwest sky.
“All mages! Prepare your spells in advance so you can cast them at any moment!”
“Knights! Ready your swords!”
The sounds of mages casting spells and knights grasping their sword hilts with iron gloves resounded throughout the square.
Woosh.
A sound similar to a large sail unfolding on a s.h.i.+p could be heard, and then instantly after, a huge shadow fell over the square.
The knights and mages looked up into the sky and froze.
They saw scales that were much more radiant than seen in the video. A Dragon with an overwhelming presence was looking down at them from the sky.
“Ah…”
The knights could feel their hands gripping the swords trembling before losing strength. The mages let out a groan as the magic they had gathered scattered.
It wasn’t a matter of blocking or not blocking.
Just seeing the Dragon dulled the figurative swords the knights held in their hearts, while the mages’ ego shattered.
The Dragon took over the square the moment it appeared.
***
[I don’t think you’ll be getting any thanks from them for your consideration.]
Kim Seon-Hyeok smiled bitterly at Edda’s words.
Even with the Imperial Capital right in front of him, he had purposefully slowed down. Personally, he wanted to fly to the Imperial Capital right away and see Ophelia and Victorius, but he was afraid that the residents of the capital might be frightened by Edda’s sudden appearance.
Since the capital’s citizens would be seeing her for the first time, he was giving them time to adjust to Edda’s overwhelming presence.
But it would have been better off if he hadn’t done that.
Edda’s presence wasn’t something they could overcome simply by preparing themselves. Instead, it was looking more like he was boasting of Edda’s majesty in front of more people.
But, there was nothing he could do. Even if he wanted to leave Edda behind and enter the Imperial Capital alone to avoid the commotion, Edda didn’t want to separate from him for a single moment.
“Ugh, let’s get down first. We’re doing more harm by staying up here like this.”
Edda nodded her head gracefully at his words and began to descend slowly.
As if they were nailed to their positions, the superhumans didn’t move until Edda had completely descended.
“Wait here a moment.”
Tap.
In the square where not a single sound of breathing could be heard, Kim Seon-Hyeok’s footsteps rang curiously loudly.
“Your Imperial Majesty.”
Walking past the frozen superhumans, he finally came in front of Ophelia; he knelt down on one knee.
“As requested, I have returned safely.”
Her gaze had been fixed on the dragon, but now, she looked down.
Perhaps she had only been focused on Edda; she began trembling when she finally saw him.
“Grand Duke!”
An expression quickly crossed her stiff face - it was an expression of deep longing and joy.
“I hope I’m not too late?”
“You’re late. The Grand Duke is late again.”
Contrary to her scolding words, she stepped closer with light footsteps.
“You said you’d be back soon, but it’s already been a few months.”
Before she could finish scolding him, she felt a warm touch on her cheeks.
Rush.
Then, from her cheeks to her shoulder, then to her chest, warmth spread all over her body.
“I missed you.”
As he held Ophelia in his arms, he proclaimed.
“Grand Duke, you’re always just full of talk.”
Once again, contrary to her words, Ophelia hugged him tighter.
“Do you remember?”
Having expressed some of his happiness through the brief hug, Kim Seon-Hyeok slowly let her go as he spoke.
“Do you remember what I said would happen when I returned?”
She looked up at him with big eyes. He kissed Ophelia on her forehead, then pointed behind him.
“I promised that there would be no one who dared to threaten the Empire anymore.”
There was a proud dragon who was arrogantly looking down on the many superhumans gathered there.
“This is the beginning.”
1. Similar to proclaiming DEFCON 1 and getting the troops to respond to it.