abcnovels
Chapter 57: Off to Catch It
Chapter 57: Off to Catch It
Chapter 57: Off to Catch It
Ian was in a hurry.
He had no choice but to do so.
‘A dragon attack on Helgaia. What the hell happened?’
Obviously, it didn’t happen in the past life he knew.
In addition, it was not a dragon of the Lesser Dragon class.
“Nathan. Are you really sure it’s an Earth Dragon?”
“Yes. According to the information I received from the deputy lord, a fire-breathing dragon is attacking. At least, it is certain to be above the Earth Dragon class.”
A Lesser Dragon was just a flying creature like a wyvern. Of course, even if the Lesser Dragon was called the Loser of the Blue Sky, it was still a dragon.
The fire-breathing Earth Dragon, however, was on a whole nother level.
Their breath had a flame so strong it could turn people into cinders at once.
Even professional dragon hunters avoided it.
‘But I still have to go.’
It was a natural course for Ian, who wanted to increase his power in the Helgaia territory for the sake of the succession war. Besides, he needed it for the supply and demand of dragon meat to entertain the envoy.
It had to be caught.
Additionally, he had a reason to be next to the dragon when it was captured.
Seeing Ian’s reaction, Nathan asked worriedly.
“But are you sure you are fine with going there yourself? We’d rather go alone.”
“No, it’s my land.”
In the first place, the problem wouldn’t be solved by sending only the knights if it really was an Earth Dragon.
That was why Ian looked at Nathan with a frown.
“Can’t we go a little faster?”
“Well, we could go first, but we have a lot of luggage, Your Highness.”
Nathan was right.
The number of wagons they mobilized was five.
That was not all.
Aside from Garcia’s centuria and the centurion, they were also accompanied by three hundred soldiers who had been wagered by the nobles in the capital.
At least three knights who followed Ian.
It was at a level where Ian felt a sense of disparity from the time he first moved from being a serf.
Nevertheless, Nathan seemed uneasy.
Of course, Galon didn’t stop the prince from going to Helgaia.
“Will this do? You’ll need more people to catch a dragon.”
“No, it’s enough.”
Ian smiled and looked at the cards he trusted.
And they were none other than the men sitting across from Ian.
“Dragon hunting. I’m really looking forward to it, Prince.”
“Thank you so much for reaching out to us personally.”
They were the Oddballs of Gratunias, who were recommended by the grand scholar. Among them, there was a genius who made crazy weapons. And among the weapons he made himself was the Dragon Killer.
The items on the wagons were gigantic, prefabricated ballistae with harpoons attached to them.
‘He was rejected a lot because he created a weapon that wasn’t necessary unless it was a dragon.’
The weapon was, of course, a necessity in the future.
Because the era of air warfare was coming. Due to great weapons being made there, swordsmanship had to suffer painful damage for a while.
Thus, Dragon Killer was dismantled and remained only as an unfinished blueprint.
It was Ian who picked it up.
When Ian looked at the scholars for the first time then, however, he had no choice but to be very surprised.
It was inevitable.
‘I didn’t know this man was the one who created the Dragon Killer.’
Walter.
Above all, he was a man who would later leave Kaistein and become a naturalized citizen of the Kingdom of Magicians.
But it wasn’t that Ian didn’t understand.
‘He defected to the Kingdom of Magicians because of the continuous disregard for science.’
In fact, even the royal family was conservative about science, and the princesses and princes were especially very opposed to it.
Hence, Ian thought this was good again.
‘I must make him my man before he leaves for the Kingdom of Magicians.’
Only then could they keep the Kingdom of Magicians that would be approaching with an ambush in the future in check.
And it might be possible to regain the past glory of Kaistein, which had been reduced to a relatively small kingdom from the great empire of the past.
Therefore, Ian looked at Walter with sparkling eyes and said to him.
“Don’t you think it’s better to wait at the Crystal Palace?”
“I can’t do that! I have to watch the invention I created be used. It’s my first time doing a real test, so I don’t know if there’s a problem.”
Walter seemed thrilled just by Ian finding his stuff.
“How can such a small prince come forward himself… Oh! Let’s find a medicine that makes children grow taller!”
…Although he spoke useless things.
‘Wait for three years. I will grow amazingly.’
Anyway, it was reassuring.
Furthermore, Ian’s side even had <Nathan the Swift>, <Fiosen of the Iron Wall>, and <Galon the Invincible>, the trio that would be widely recognized in the future.
However, Nathan smiled awkwardly.
“Excuse me, Prince.”
“What is it?”
“You know… I really, truly believe in Your Highness, I really do, but I think these troops won’t be enough for dragon hunting… Maybe you believe in us too much…”
Fiosen looked at Nathan as if displeased with his way of speaking to the prince, but he had a point.
It was only understandable.
Dragons were creatures that soared in the sky. To catch them, they needed a hunter or a dragon hunter to drive them.
It might take months to catch it with just the knights.
“No matter how many such weapons exist, if even they fail…”
There would be a lot of casualties.
Nathan voiced his opinion with such thoughts.
But Ian smiled.
“Don’t worry. You’ll all understand once you get to Helgaia.”
Ian’s trusted trump card that he left behind.
He had sent a messenger in advance for that purpose.
As such, the problem now was actually time.
“There should be about two weeks before the envoy’s arrival. We have to catch it somehow.”
Only 10 days round trip travel time.
They only had a day or two to go and install the weapon and catch the dragon. Else, the reception of the envoy would fail if they failed to catch it or exceeded the time.
“Young Master Karan and Duke Garcia will prepare the banquet in my place. This is the main thing.”
He had to procure the meat somehow.
Because the empire of the west enjoyed eating dragon meat the best. Of course, cooking dragon meat was another matter…
“The scholars who stay in the Crystal Palace are probably studying the recipe. So, we just have to catch it, but time is of the essence.”
Otherwise, he would only benefit the other brothers.
And after many days of traveling.
At last, Ian and his party reached the boundary of the Helgaia territory.
However, everyone was rendered speechless by the shocking sight of the place before them.
“Here’s the…prince’s territory.”
“What the hell happened? How did this happen…”
A whole village had been literally turned into ashes. No, there were still burning buildings.
It was natural that the knights’ faces hardened.
“We have to hurry, Prince.”
“No, let’s check for the survivors first.”
“But—”
“This is my territory. It is a natural duty as a lord to prioritize the people’s livelihood.”
At Ian’s resolute words, the knights and soldiers nodded helplessly.
And they quickly dispersed and soon spotted the wounded.
“Found a man here!”
“We found on this side, too.”
Lots of people fell dead between the buildings, but fortunately, many were still alive.
And the troops acted swiftly, thanks to the healers and priests they brought with them.
But there was a big problem.
“Prince, we have a problem! There is no cure!”
“What?”
The wounds of the villagers attacked by the dragon were not cured even with medicine and divine power.
That wasn’t the only thing.
The fire burning the buildings did not die out.
“I can’t believe the fire won’t be extinguished. This surely isn’t…”
At that moment, Nathan’s expression hardened.
How could he not?
Dragons from the Earth Dragon class were able to spew fire. But that was just a normal fire.
There was only one dragon whose breath could not be extinguished.
And a wound that wouldn’t heal.
“It’s not an Earth Dragon; it’s a Celestial Dragon class or higher.”
Everyone’s faces turned pale.
***
The Beast Woods on the border of Helgaia.
Some people were acting suspiciously there.
The robes they wore were similar to the wizards from the Kingdom of Magicians, and their eyes and skin color were slightly different from those of the people of Kaistein.
However, their faces clearly showed signs of frustration.
It was not for any other reason.
“We’ve got a serious problem. The subject has fled.”
“What? Where is it now?”
“That, it seems to have flown to Helgaia territory.”
“!”
Hearing those words, one among the crowd finally snapped with a shout.
“How the hell did you manage it!? This is very important to our Kingdom of Magicians!”
“I… I apologize. I sent a wizard at the sudden request of Kaistein’s Third Prince. But the person in charge who replaced him lost his mind due to the continuous overtime work.”
Even in the Kingdom of Magicians, manpower and resources seemed to be lacking.
“Ha…”
“But the magic circle I had installed on it worked. It has probably lost a lot of power.”
They were not from this kingdom.
Coming from a faraway place called the Kingdom of Magicians, they had received a special mission. Those who moved in the dark to rule a place called the Kingdom of Swordsmen.
The dragon breeding operation was also part of the plan.
“Can’t be helped. That bastard must be brought back. Be careful not to kill it, or everything will go in vain.”
“I will form a pursuit team right away.”
Of course, it wouldn’t be easy.
The dragon they raised was very special. However, that dragon held one of the most important keys to conquering the whole continent.
Regardless of how many sacrifices it would make, it was necessary to retrieve the dragon.
As the people from the Kingdom of Magicians were starting to move.
Woong!
A change occurred in the Beast Woods that had been quiet.
As if feeling that the dragon had disappeared, it began to stir.
***
“The fire breath is coming! All hide behind the bulwark!”
At Helgaia’s guard captain Chris’ shout, the soldiers quickly hid behind the bulwark.
Then.
Blaaarr!
A fire of great intensity melted the bulwark.
Of course, those who didn’t manage to escape quickly became ashes.
“Argh!”
“Sa.. save me!”
It was simply tremendous firepower.
The guard captain clenched his teeth and yelled.
“What are the archers doing! Shoot!”
“Already on it! But the arrows don’t work!”
“What?”
It wasn’t a joke.
Occasionally, an arrow managed to hit the dragon, but it bounced off.
Since it didn’t work, Chris aimed at its eyeballs.
Ting!
“This…!”
What kind of retina was made of steel?!
Even the rain of arrows only scratched the dragon’s back, and the dragon leisurely flapped its wings.
In contrast, Helgaia’s forces were almost on the brink of annihilation.
“There are no more than 200 soldiers left!”
It was a despairing number. They were literally almost annihilated. Now the only one they could rely on in this situation was the acting lord.
“Still no contact from the acting lord yet?”
“T…that.”
“Speak clearly!”
“He has been taken away.”
“What?”
If that was true, they could not attack anymore.
“All the other nobles have fled. We are the last line now, Captain!”
Now the guard captain was the commander.
But this was nothing short of a dead end for him.
The dragon was leisurely flying in the sky. In addition, the Earth Dragon class, or the Celestial Dragon class, which exceeded the Lesser Dragon class, was shooting flames that melted even stones.
If this went on, they would all be wiped out.
“Damn it… Evacuate the remaining residents first! We will get out one after another afterward. We will all die at this rate.”
“But if we do that, we’ll lose this place to that dragon!”
“You fool! Is that more important than life?”
“B-but, there’s a rumor that the youngest prince who appeared recently became the lord of this place. If the prince came here and found out that the land had been occupied by the dragon, he wouldn’t stay still.”
He couldn’t agree more with his subordinate’s words.
The nobles they knew were arrogant and petty. But a royal would be more than that.
He would have his head flying for running away, and nobody would have said anything.
But Chris clenched his teeth.
“Shit! That jerk noticed! Go behind the bulwark!”
But it was already too late.
The dragon saw humans as nothing more than bugs, its maw bursting with flames opened gleefully.
And.
Blaaaar!!
The flames rolled toward the soldiers. And there were some people who watched the situation from afar.
“It’s certainly incredible. They have good luck. I can’t believe they were able to hold off a dragon of such a class.”
“Wait until they are decimated. We can get it back.”
They were wizards from the Kingdom of Magicians who came to retrieve the runaway dragon.
“Speaking of which, if all of them are annihilated like this, I think it would be okay to take the Helgaia territory for ourselves.”
“Well, the Fifth Prince of Kaistein would also like it. Even if the lord’s castle is on the frontier, it’s close to the Beast Woods. There will be a lot of materials that will be quite helpful.”
“Not only that. I think it would be perfect to use this as a bridgehead to attack Lavaltor.”
“That’s a good idea.”
The wizards started to prepare the binding magic.
Just before the guard captain and the last 200 soldiers were devoured by the dragon.
“Fire!”
Someone’s cry hit their eardrums.
“!”
No, that wasn’t all.
Bang!
Something huge flew with a deafening roar.
It was a huge harpoon.
And the harpoon…
Crack!
Kiiee-ek!
It hit the dragon right on its side. The dragon, about to shoot fire, crashed to the ground as if flung away.
The wizards jolted, and their bodies stiffened.
They had no choice but to do so.
Let alone an Earth Dragon, it didn’t make sense for a high-class dragon to fall from impact in the first place.
And that dragon was strong enough, despite not being the legendary Celestial Dragon class they wanted.
It managed to lure and catch a dying man who broke away from the group.
But how in the world did this happen?
“Hey, stop the dragon first. Convince it not to attack. We’ve had a hard time catching that.”
Then, one shouted while beckoning.
“Look over there!”
“!”
At the spot the wizard pointed to, a flag was fluttering.
A roaring lion, the symbol of Kaistein. It was a flag representing royalty.
And the kid in the front giving orders…
‘Red hair and golden eyes.’
Their expressions froze.