Chapter 118: The Dragon Kingdom's Prime Minister
After a day of rest, the Aindra forces set out again.
Talbach's outline gradually blurred behind the column and finally disappeared behind the tree line at the mountain road's bend.
Two hundred cavalry advanced southeast along the Dragon Kingdom's northern main road, hooves on the long-neglected stone paving making uneven sounds.
This road was nothing like the smooth paved roads within the Theocracy. The gaps between stone slabs were overgrown with weeds, and in some sections entire slabs had gone missing, leaving the grey-brown earth beneath exposed.
Occasionally there were farmers working in the fields, who straightened their backs and looked at the cavalry column with clouded eyes.
Some recognized Lucian at the column's head. They bent down in a silent bow.
Lucian nodded to them.
The Dragon Kingdom's capital was closer than Sebas had expected — a journey of just two days.
The first thing to come into view was a city wall.
Sebas narrowed his eyes slightly. This wall was considerably taller than the border city of E-Rantel's.
Massive grey-white stone rose from the ground, casting a wide shadow in the sunlight.
The upper portion had been added later — the stone and workmanship didn't quite match the original. This was consistent with a nation that had to devote most of its strength to resisting beastman invasions every year.
The Holy Kingdom faced the same unceasing raiding pressure from the demi-human tribes of the Abelion Hills, and had constructed a Great Wall running over a hundred kilometers along its eastern border.
The Dragon Kingdom, facing the beastman nation, was in far more desperate straits — its failure to build anything comparable was the clearest evidence. All it could do was concentrate whatever national strength it had on reinforcing the cities that had not yet fallen, using that to hold back the beastman nation's incursions.
Compared to the raids of the Abelion Hills' demi-human tribes, the beastman nation's attacks had gradually evolved into a full-scale invasion.
Lucian had some awareness of this from the latest reports. When he met with the border garrison at Talbach, it was already apparent that the Dragon Kingdom's situation this year was worse than in years past.
The army made camp on a flat open area not far from the Dragon Kingdom's outer city. This was where Lucian had always stationed — the terrain was level, water sources were sufficient, and the distance to the outer city was roughly a li.
Lucian issued a series of orders covering tent construction, patrol rotation, water distribution, and horse care. Adjutants received their orders and dispersed. Soldiers began working, the sounds of hammering tent stakes and horses whinnying rising together above the camp.
"Sebas, let's go." Lucian straightened his collar. "Come meet the queen together."
Sebas gave a slight nod.
Lucian took only a handful of personal guards into the royal city.
Before leaving, Sebas looked back at the camp.
Touch Me was standing at the camp's edge with a few other young soldiers, helping carry tent materials. The young man's short golden hair was particularly vivid in the sunlight. He bent at the waist, carrying a roll of canvas, his face flushed red from the effort.
As though sensing Sebas's gaze, he straightened and waved vigorously in their direction.
Sebas gave a nod, turned around, and fell in step with Lucian's group.
By established custom, Touch Me as a new recruit could only be stationed outside the city this year.
Sebas, despite the consecutive blows of disappointment, still found himself somewhat unable to stop thinking about the boy.
Lucian, for his part, was very satisfied with this arrangement. Anything involving being the first one to step toward danger could be left to Touch Me. Ever since Sebas had gotten to know Touch Me, Lucian had been sleeping considerably more soundly.
The royal city's gates were even heavier than the walls — two iron-banded oak doors left half-open so they could be closed quickly at need.
Even though the front line was still some distance from the capital, the guards showed no shortage of vigilance.
Passing through a routine inspection, Lucian's group moved through the gates and into the royal capital.
Sebas drew his gaze from the gates and began carefully observing the Dragon Kingdom's capital.
The streets were considerably wider than Talbach's, but the buildings on both sides fell well short of the city wall's impressiveness, and some couldn't even match E-Rantel. The grey-white stone walls had grown mottled with age. Many houses had no glass in their windows at all — planks were nailed across them, leaving a few narrow gaps.
But a large proportion of the shops along the street displayed dragon-related patterns.
Sebas felt he had finally come to the right place.
The column stopped at the entrance to the inner royal castle.
Compared to the Kingdom's Lorente Castle, the Dragon Kingdom's royal castle was less imposing, and it lacked the defensive walls of a proper fortified palace. Sebas looked at the wide-open gate — beyond it, a straight stone-paved road with low, neatly trimmed shrubs on both sides. Behind that, the main palace building: a stone palace.
No moat. No barbican.
From the outer city to the inner castle, unimpeded throughout.
If an enemy broke through the outer city, they could walk straight down this road to the throne itself.
Have they already accepted that dying here is the answer if the outer city falls?
Sebas gave a small nod. His assessment of the Dragon Queen rose a degree.
At the entrance to the royal castle, a man was already standing there waiting.
He wore a dark formal coat. His features were composed, his smile precisely calibrated, his full head of silver hair combed without a single strand out of place, his sideburns trimmed down to the line.
The Dragon Kingdom's Prime Minister, Older von Bergmann.
Lucian had dealt with this Prime Minister across multiple support missions to the Dragon Kingdom, and knew well that the man was far from as simple as he appeared.
"Lord Aindra!" The Prime Minister came forward with open arms, spreading them in an enthusiastic embrace. "It has been far too long — your lordship looks as distinguished as ever!"
"The Prime Minister is too kind." Lucian responded with equal warmth, exchanged a brief embrace, then stepped back. "Is Her Majesty well?"
"Her Majesty is in excellent health." The Prime Minister said with a smile. His gaze moved past Lucian to Sebas, who stood behind him in the manner of a butler, and a flicker of inquiry crossed his eyes. "And this is..."
"My..." Lucian stepped aside and made a gesture of introduction. "My closest friend. Sebas, from the Baharuth Empire. He's come along this time to see what the Dragon Kingdom has to offer."
The Prime Minister gave a slight bow. "Welcome. The Dragon Kingdom is small, but it has its share of things worth seeing."
Sebas returned the courtesy. Somewhere inside him, the description "closest friend" sat rather pleasantly.
As Lucian watched the other man's amiable manner, his private opinion of this silver-haired fox contained rather a lot of reservations.
The man could coolly instruct Draudillon Oriculus to maintain her little-girl appearance, specifically because this kept the Dragon Kingdom's only Adamantite-ranked adventuring team, Crystal Tears, fighting to the death.
Just from that one fact, Lucian judged that the Prime Minister was the true lolicon here — that someone this skilled at understanding the psychology of a lolicon was himself one.
A person-shaped, self-propelled lolicon detection radar.
Genuinely dangerous.
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