kscans

Chapter 120 - Chapter 8 The Mountains of Despair

A small wheat field in the center of the valley, and bean fields that seemed to cling to the mountainside. The small world, viewed from the manor at the mountain's foot, was devoid of vitality. In the less than half a year she had been away, several new scars had been carved into her homeland.

The scorched remains of a village were the work of the dragon named Baguild.

Princess Lisabet looked to the east. The sinister mountain range oppressed her with a presence that felt far greater than its distance suggested. The Mountains of Despair. When the sun passed over them, they emitted so much miasma that they appeared to be dyed red.

She recalled that in the Kingdom, on the other side of the river, they called it the Blood Mountains.

The name made sense, but there was almost no caution directed toward the very mountains that filled them with such despair. For the Empire, the Red Forest, a part of their daily lives, was a far more realistic terror. She had often felt the unfairness of the circumstances of her birth.

That place was far worse than just blood. It was a nest for the dragons that attacked every few years. Baguild was just one of them. Though, she had heard that around the time she was born, one valley or another was attacked once a year.

Even so, that did not change the fact that her homeland was now on the brink of destruction. For the central government, this valley, so close to the Blood Mountains, carried a high cost to defend and little value to protect.

Princess Lisabet’s gaze fell upon the grasslands nestled between the Mountains of Despair and the River of Hope. How much easier would things be if they could use that land, which overlapped with the wyverns' habitat.

It’s no use wishing for the impossible. Reinforcements are finally coming. Thanks to this...

Princess Lisabet tightened her grip on the bottle in her hand. Inside was a faintly purple-tinged powder, filling about a third of it.

"Will the extermination squad truly come?"

Her maid, Ann, looked at her mistress with concern.

"The Black Legion would never defy a mission that has been formally decided. Besides, this time, it holds more meaning than simply saving our lands."

Princess Lisabet’s face clouded with guilt. Gauging the effect of a poison meant to weaken the dragon was the same as gauging the Kingdom's military might. Even she understood that much.

"My lady."

Ann pointed at the valley. The Black Legion had appeared, cutting through the Red Forest. Without breaking their wedge-like formation, they approached at an impossible speed. She could see the people on the road scrambling to get away.

◇◇

"I trust your preparations are complete."

The black-clad prince, Dagobard, spoke from high above her. Before Princess Lisabet, a bipedal monster one and a half times a horse's height and four times its weight approached casually. Ann rushed to stand in front of her mistress.

Princess Lisabet stopped her maid and looked straight up at Dagobard. The black reins, engraved with a red pattern, were wrapped around the man's rolled up sleeve all the way to his elbow.

"We are grateful for your aid, Prince Dagobard. As instructed, we have prepared a horse dusted with the poison to be released at Baguild's temporary nest."

Princess Lisabet answered politely. She had called herself the Fourth Imperial Princess in the Kingdom, but in the Empire, birth order was meaningless.

The man before her was second in line to the throne, while she was not even in consideration.

"Hmph. This poison of yours, does it actually work? According to you, it was found by a commoner with no aptitude for sorcery whatsoever."

Dagobard scoffed.

"Oh, but that's what you came to find out, isn't it?"

Parting the legion mounted on their horse-dragons, a white horse-dragon carriage pulled up beside Dagobard.

The carriage door opened, and a beautiful girl with light purple hair that flowed to her waist revealed her face. She wore the same black attire as Dagobard, but it was a robe, not armor. Gold thread embroidery covered its surface. The wide cuffs of her sleeves were tied tightly.

"Princess Maytyl, you came as well?"

Princess Lisabet was surprised by the appearance of the one first in line for the throne. She was supposed to be a year younger than Princess Lisabet, yet she already held the title of Magus and reigned over the research laboratories in the Imperial Capital.

It was said that she alone had advanced sorcery, a discipline born from countless sacrifices in the battle against monsters, by a full decade.

"I only brought a few subordinates. I'm your chaperone. If I left it to Dagobard, he might just ignore the mission and invade the Kingdom. And I'm also here for dragon research."

"Saving a remote place like this earns me no glory. But I will obey the rule set by the Elder Council."

"Excellent. I'm interested in that pollen, too. According to intelligence obtained from the Eastern Grand Duke, it was the trump card the Kingdom's knights used when they fought a dragon, so we can't just ignore it."

"For all that, their incompetent prince failed to acquire the substance himself. And yet, you, Princess Lisabet, somehow obtained it. Why would they hand over something so valuable?"

Dagobard glared at Princess Lisabet. She endured his gaze.

"A valid question. But they still think we're being pushed back by monsters, don't they? Fools whose perception of the world is stuck fifty years in the past."

Maytyl smiled coldly.

"It seems they still don't understand our power, even at this late stage. I wonder if they might faint if they knew just how much strength we've gained in the last ten, no, fifty years."

"For my part, I'm more curious as to how that fool found the poison. The Eastern Grand Duke's letter said it just happened to be growing on the mountain where the knights were training. It's possible for chance to lead to discovery, but..."

Maytyl tapped her forehead with her index finger, thinking for a moment.

"Well, we can verify that later. Assuming Dagobard doesn't bungle it."

"Don't be ridiculous. Even if it's completely useless, my current forces are more than enough to slaughter a single dragon."

Behind the black-clad prince, over a hundred horse-dragons stood in orderly ranks. It was a far greater force than she had ever prayed for. With this, her homeland would be saved. She should have been relieved, yet Princess Lisabet felt a sense of anxiety at the immense military power aimed at her small valley.

"If this poison is effective, it can greatly reduce the threat of dragons, which are the primary source of monster-related damage. The Kingdom has indicated a willingness to sell it to our country, depending on negotiations. I believe its realization would benefit the Empire..."

Princess Lisabet repeated what Prince Craig had told her when he gave her the pollen. The fact that the boy with no aptitude whatsoever had brokered the deal was another truth that was hard to believe.

Still, she wanted to believe in that impossible story.

"Right. Well, it all depends on its effectiveness. However, if you have told a falsehood simply to save your own territory, Princess Lisabet, be prepared to face the appropriate consequences. You understand the meaning of losing even a single one of the Empire's precious soldiers, don't you?"

The man before her would surely say that a single horse-dragon was more valuable than she was.

There was no denying the fact that they had slain many monsters and protected the people of the Empire. Even if his priorities were cruel, it was something she could not do.

And she also understood just what price they had paid to obtain that power. Even these horse-dragons had been successfully tamed only through great sacrifice. Enormous state funds were still being poured into raising them.

"Just in case, I'll have you hand over the rest of that poison. We'll need a sample."

Princess Lisabet hesitated for a moment before handing over the bottle. The two exchanged a look. Dagobard, as if to say his business with her was finished, gestured for her to step back.

"We move out."

Blue light traveled from Dagobard's arm, along the reins, and into the horse-dragon. The massive animal, which had been standing still, shivered and turned its colossal body around.

The wind kicked up by its whip-like tail struck Princess Lisabet across the cheek.

A signal fire rose from the Red Forest closest to the Mountains of Despair. It seemed the dragon had taken the bait. The black legion of horse-dragons galloped off, shaking the very earth. Struggling desperately to keep up were the few surviving knights of her house.

Dagobard had boasted that he could defeat Baguild on his own, but if the poison had no effect, they would be used as sacrificial pawns. Princess Lisabet could do nothing but watch them go, her hands clasped as if in prayer.