Chapter 135 - Mercenary of the North (2)

Jean Catherine circled the sky above the battlefield before breaking away and heading east.

"Do you not need to help them?"

"The battle situation doesn't seem urgent, and it is not yet time for the Azure Sky Knights to step forward."

At my question, Jean Catherine replied that revealing the existence of wyverns was a matter for a little later.

"Yet you rode them around just fine in the empire."

"If His Highness had not been so stubborn, we would never have taken such a risk. So please be thankful to His Highness."

At his sudden condescension, I retorted that that was exactly why I had come here to repay the debt.

While we bickered like that atop the wyvern, we passed over the battlefield several times.

Whenever that happened, I quietly shut my mouth and observed the ground below.

When I listened closely, I felt like I could hear the clash of weapons. Spiteful shouts and screams lingered in my ears like auditory hallucinations.

"Ah, come on, please don't breathe into my ear."

Jean Catherine looked at me in disgust. It seemed my breathing had grown a bit heavy without my realizing it.

In fact, when I came to my senses, my ass was half-lifted off the saddle.

With an embarrassed face, I discreetly planted my ass back onto the saddle. But contrary to my will, my ass soon began to lift again.

"How can you be exactly the same as His Highness."

Jean Catherine shook his head.

Even during this, the wyvern continued heading east.

The air of the battlefield that made my heart pound grew faint until it completely disappeared.

Just as I was smacking my lips in regret, the clouds suddenly cleared.

The territory of the Dotrin Kingdom, filled with dense forests and high and low mountain ridges, stretched out endlessly below.

I marveled.

"How is it?"

Jean Catherine's face was full of pride as he asked me.

"It's incredible."

I nodded and gave him my honest impression.

"It would be great for defending and hard to break through. With places to ambush scattered everywhere, one couldn't move very far even if they walked all day. It's a natural fortress in itself."

At my sincere praise, Jean Catherine frowned.

"Why?"

Wondering if there was something wrong with my answer, I asked for the reason, and he asked with a fed-up expression.

"Why is it that every time you open your mouth, you only talk about fighting and killing?"

"We came here to fight, so of course I only talk about fighting. What else should I talk about?"

"Still, isn't it normal to at least express awe when seeing a sea of trees renowned throughout the world?"

"What's so great about having a lot of trees."

When I spoke confidently, Jean Catherine looked at me like I was crazy.

After that, Jean Catherine shut his mouth and didn't say a word. I had no way of knowing whether his feelings were hurt because I was unimpressed by the sea of trees his country boasted of, or if there was another reason entirely.

It seemed more likely to be the latter.

At some point, the wyvern had been circling, hovering in the same spot.

Finding that strange, I lightly poked his waist, and Jean Catherine startled unnecessarily, glaring at me.

However, his face looked like a cow being dragged to the slaughterhouse.

I asked for the reason, but he didn't answer.

He merely pulled the wyvern's reins in silence and descended.

It was incomprehensible.

The wyvern's wingbeats were still full of strength, and normally it should have continued its flight for a good while longer, but Jean Catherine abruptly declared that we would rest at the foot of some unnamed mountain.

"Ugh."

As soon as the wyvern landed on the ground, the knights, who had been slouched as if dead on the makeshift saddles installed on its back, shot their heads up and scrambled off in a hurry.

"Bleurgh!"

"Uweeeck!"

The ones doubling over and throwing up were the Gawain trio.

"Family or whatever, I should have just lived the rest of my life in comfort. What glory was I expecting to see?"

The one sprawled out in a star shape and constantly complaining was Bernardo Eli.

Gunne, whose body had not yet fully recovered, leaned against a tree trunk without a word.

Only Adelia moved around fine, busy preparing the camp.

It seemed the flight had been grueling for everyone.

I giggled at them and sat down in front of the campfire.

"Hmm."

I grabbed a strand of my hair that had become disheveled during the flight.

Black hair, not the familiar blonde, was before my eyes.

"It's perfect."

I marveled anew.

Before leaving The Capital, I took several measures to hide my identity.

I prepared an iron helmet that concealed my face, and dyed my hair just in case.

In that process, Gunne demonstrated an unexpected ability.

Perhaps because she was still an elf even if only a half-elf, she was skilled in foraging and brewing elixirs.

Although it wasn't the noble art of handling the essence of the forest like pureblood elves, she instead had a much more exceptional talent for making simple concoctions like hair dye.

The result of that was this current black hair.

Adelia, who was currently tidying my hair, also didn't have her usual soft brown hair but rather an intense red hair.

She herself didn't seem to be adapting well to that intense hair color at all, but to my eyes, it suited her so well that I would have believed it was her natural hair color.

Her simply gentle impression could also be covered by the striking hair, so it fit the purpose of hiding our identities quite well.

Come to think of it, her ancestor, Agnes, had the exact same red hair.

I ended up chuckling at the old memory.

'If a red-haired Adelia runs wild on the battlefield, it'll bring back a lot of fresh memories. That'll be nice.'

Giggling to myself like that, I belatedly looked for Jean Catherine.

Somewhat apart from the group, he was lost in his own world. Letting out endless sighs from his mouth.

Saying things like this was his last night, or that he was at least going to sleep comfortably today—words that made no sense to me.

I asked for the reason, but he did not answer until the very end.

Like that, the sun that had hung high in the sky went down, and night fell.

"Hmm?"

The wyvern, which had been snoring with its neck draped low, suddenly jerked its head up.

Thinking a wild beast might have appeared, I scanned the shadows of the forest, but I didn't sense any particular presence.

Then, feeling a sudden strangeness, I looked up at the sky.

Wyverns with their massive wings spread wide were there, having appeared who knows when.

They were unmistakably the Azure Sky Knights.

I furrowed my brow.

Ten wyverns were circling our camp as if surrounding it. The faint hostility seeping out from the Azure Sky Knights also bothered me.

Perhaps having felt that faint hostility as well, my companions gripped their swords and glared up at the sky.

"Sheathe your swords. They are the kingdom's Wyvern Riders."

Jean Catherine gestured to us.

"Only if they withdraw their hostility first."

"They didn't come to harm you all. It's just..."

At Gawain's words, he answered while chewing on his lip.

"They just came to catch me."

"What?"

Just then, a booming shout echoed from the sky.

"Jean, eldest son of Ducal House Catherine, receive the royal command!"

*'He said he'd take care of it himself, but I'm the fool for believing him.' * Jean grumbled with a sigh and stepped forward, taking a knee.

"Jean, eldest son of Ducal House Catherine. I receive the royal command!"

"As of this moment, Jean Catherine is dismissed from all posts. Jean Catherine must appear before the disciplinary committee as soon as possible."

The Wyvern Rider, who delivered the royal command in a strict voice, added one more thing.

"We will escort you straight to the royal palace."

It was a firm voice that didn't even consider refusal.

* * *

Deep into the night, without even getting a chance to see what the royal palace looked like, my knights and I were 'politely' escorted into Dotrin's royal palace.

And there, I met the guy claiming to be Dolosis's older brother.

"A pleasure. I am Kislan Dotrin."

The man, who introduced himself as the Second Prince of the kingdom, was a somewhat short man with light brown hair that looked exactly like his younger brother's.

If there was a difference, it was only that the younger brother had the impression of a lively, beautiful youth, whereas the older brother gave off an intellectual but somewhat sickly impression. Spouting formal pleasantries about welcoming the descendant of the Dragon Slayer and thanking us for our assistance during these difficult times, he stood up from his seat. To him, I asked the reason Jean had been dragged away.

He explained that there had been a major mistake in his younger brother's judgment while carrying out his mission in the empire, and as a result, he had been put under probation. Jean Catherine would also soon face disciplinary action for failing to prevent this as an attendant.

I could intuitively tell that the mistake they supposedly committed had something to do with me.

So I checked with Kislan.

Kislan neither confirmed nor denied it.

He only asked for my understanding, stating that he couldn't explain the kingdom's internal affairs in detail to an outsider.

"His Majesty will summon you when day breaks, so please rest for today."

Doris's brother left the room, and I spent my first night in the Dotrin royal palace with that unsettled feeling.

Not long after daybreak, a messenger arrived.

"His Majesty has invited you to breakfast."

Bernardo Eli, who happened to be killing time in my room, frowned.

"There is an old saying that friends to share your heart with are invited after sunset, guests to spend just a brief moment with are treated when the sun is high in the sky, and unwelcome intruders who are neither of those are simply fed a single breakfast and sent on their way."

Having lived for hundreds of years, this was still the first time I'd ever heard such a proverb. That Eli bastard whispered into my ear.

"Even if it's an unofficial visit and one that must be kept strictly confidential, dragging us into the royal palace abruptly like criminals, and thoughtlessly summoning us when we haven't even recovered from the fatigue of our journey... The King of Dotrin is clearly looking down on our kingdom. And to think we are supposedly here to help Dotrin."

To his words, I asked in return.

"And you respected the royal family so much that you took me for a fool before?"

"No, why are you bringing up the past when you know the circumstances perfectly well?"

Clearing his throat, he sharply turned his head away, claiming he didn't know anymore.

Watching him grumble about getting scolded when he had only spoken out of consideration, I chuckled and sprang up from my seat.

"Lead the way."

The messenger, who had been turning his head as if he hadn't heard anything, bowed his head and opened the door.

I walked through the royal palace following the messenger.

On the way to the breakfast hall, not a single common servant could be seen in the corridors.

Thanks to that, I arrived at the breakfast hall without drawing anyone's eyes.

"Your Majesty. The guest has arrived."

When the messenger standing in front of the door announced me, a heavy voice could be heard from inside.

"Let him enter."

The door opened.

A somewhat gloomy interior, a long rectangular table, and at the end of it sat the King of Dotrin.

His shoulders were broadly built, his mouth was stubborn, and his gaze was fierce.

His expression was calm yet dignified, and though he didn't openly flaunt his authority, he possessed a presence that no one could ignore.

Rather than gentle, he was ferocious; rather than a monarch of a nation, he seemed like a general commanding an army.

He was a giant, and at the same time, a superhuman.

And he was a powerhouse who had reached a higher peak than anyone I had met since I awakened.

The back of my neck stiffened. My aura flared up on its own.

Only then did the King turn his head.

A strange light gleamed in the King's eyes as he looked at me.

SWISH.

The King waved his hand.

Footsteps echoed, and the doors to the breakfast hall closed.

THUD.

The King stared directly at me.

An intimidating aura that would make anyone ordinary bow their head just from meeting his gaze.

But I wasn't just anyone ordinary.

I was an Usurper who had already overthrown someone just like the King before me and seized his throne.

If he was a king, then I too was a king,

If he was a superhuman who had surpassed the wall, then I too was a superhuman.

I provocatively tilted my chin up and looked at the King.

The King's thick eyebrows twitched.

He sprang up from his seat and strode toward me.

Then, standing before me, he spoke.

"I thought the name of the lion that commanded the North was a thing of the past."

Deep admiration laced his resonant voice.

"But seeing you now, it seems that isn't the case."

The King held out his hand to me.

I grabbed his hand in a daze.

"A pleasure. Young lion of the Leonberk family."

SQUEEZE.

A grip as hard as if made of solid iron. Only after standing face to face with him did I realize.

The fact that the King was much shorter than expected.

When I first saw him, he looked so massive,

But in reality, he barely reached the bottom of my nose.

Despite this, he was looking down on the world.

I marveled anew.

Because the ideal figure I had so desperately wished to see in the descendants of the lion was right before my eyes.

"Incredible. It's almost unbelievable."

And just as much as I was amazed, he too looked at me in awe.

"The Leonberk Kingdom has raised a monster."

At those words, I let out a chuckle.

The truth was that the kingdom didn't raise me,

I was the one raising the kingdom.