Chapter 277: Secret and a Letter
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Pranav
The heavy rain battered the rooftops and didn’t seem to show any signs of slowing down. According to the time, it should have almost been light outside, but there was nothing other than the misty blanket of rain that obscured everything.
Spring rains before dawn were always nice and calming. Listening to the rain outside, sitting by a fireplace and enjoying a cup of hot cocoa that truly warmed the body made that fierce battle just earlier seem only a dream… Alright then, let’s pretend that the dragon knight Archduke who was glaring at me didn’t exist. Meanwhile, I was quite angry at the fact that nobody gave me a cup of hot cocoa. This was clear discrimination against the undead!
“Even if you received one, would you be able to drink it? If someone really gave you one, wouldn’t you just complain that they were making fun of you?”
“Silly cat, leave your cup for me.”
“Heh heh, don’t even think about it!”
Due to Lilith’s sudden appearance, the originally tense situation was instantly defused. After all, the dragon knight Jonan was once her personal guard. And in regards to seniority, Halent would need to call Jonan “Second Grandpa.”
It was all a misunderstanding to begin with, and since neither side had anyone that was seriously injured or killed during the misunderstanding, it was easy enough to explain it.
Even if the undead were able to appease the nobles in the capital, they weren’t able to appease the dragons and dragon knights. It was quite obvious that the dragon knights weren’t going to get along with the undead. And since Halent was a powerful faction of his own in the dragon knight squad, the fact that he moved to Nightrain City and took it over was in a way his resistance against Emperor Orloss’s will.
Archduke Halent of Nightrain city had famously declared before that he didn’t care about any consequences—as long as any undead dared to enter his territory, they would be instantly executed with no mercy given.
And not long after he said that, we arrived without knowing about it…
Hearing this, I wanted to crash my head into a wall. Perhaps I really should make some free time to go donate some money to the God of Fate’s church. At the very least, I wanted to get rid of some of my misfortune.
Especially after hearing that in this time period, Archduke Halent personally patrolled the city walls to search for undead, which meant that I might have still made it past his eyes if I hid myself in a carriage. But I just happened to be sitting on a horse and leading our procession so grandly as the lich Rex. All the scouts on the city walls saw me instantly and pointed me out, which was basically a direct challenge against the dragon knight Archduke’s authority. How could he possibly ignore me? And, so, everything that happened after came only naturally.
The part where I was slightly surprised about was that the dragon knights seemed to be quite clear about Lilith’s identity as well as that she was a member of the Blood Tribe, but they didn’t show one sign of disrespect or enmity towards her.
As for that Earl Jonan who seemed middle-aged but was definitely well over two hundred years old, his expression seemed far too complex as he looked at Lilith. His emotions included reverence, relief, pain, and so on. The numerous complex emotions and speed at which his expression changed made me sigh and think that he could definitely change careers and become an actor.
“After all, we were all present back in the day. Although it’s not my place to criticize, that emperor who was Amelia’s father, and what he did to Her Highness Amelia… Sigh.”
The elderly knight kept reminiscing about nostalgic things, while Lilith was the one who remained calm, as if she didn’t even notice the high-spirited dragon knights in front of her. She merely led Carolyn who had an expression of not knowing what was going on around everywhere to eat some desserts, taste some tea, enjoy the warmth of the fire, relax their bodies, and resist against the chilly weather.
I had investigated the matter of Lilith’s incident before as well. After Fina Milan became the Blood Tribe Member Lilith Milan, that perverted necrophile prince, Prince Sinut, was killed off not long after. After that, the throne was given to a child between Prince Sinut and one of the Bardi royalty side family’s daughters, which basically broke off the Bardi Empire’s direct royal blood succession… If you forcefully tried to find someone, Amelia counted as the person having the most Bardi royal blood out of anyone left alive today, but nobody in the Bardi Empire would dare to make this ridiculously senior princess from so many generations ago take the throne, not to mention bring up the topic of having children for the sake of the royal bloodline.
This was something from just a hundred-ish years ago, and the retainers from back then were now mostly dead of old age. Whoever ruled had the power to write history, and the so-called direct bloodline would only refer to the emperor’s bloodline at the time anyways. Three generations later, who would remember an emperor from more than three generations ago?
While normal people wouldn’t remember, the dragon knights and dragon descendants from that year were still living quite well. They believed in the chivalric code of knights and still recalled the ruler they had sworn loyalty to so long ago. Now that they saw that their princess who had gone missing over a hundred years ago was “living” quite fine, of course they would be filled with excitement.
It was also thanks to Lilith’s status that me and my “undead” were invited inside as well. Otherwise, even if we were so-called imperial envoys, that wouldn’t matter to Archduke Halent. If the lich Rex had been executed, all that would be said was that he deserved it. After all, Orloss wouldn’t dare to directly go against the dragon knights for the sake of a simple lich.
After spending a short time together with them, it was easy to tell from the way they treated each other that rather than acting like a military squadron, they were more like a big family. That Jonan could use his seniority to lecture Halent for being overly hasty. When seeing how that icy-faced handsome Halent could only helplessly listen and not even defend himself, I felt like I was watching a naughty child receive a scolding from his parent.
And, when I looked around the room, the famous Archduke Halent wasn’t even the strongest dragon knight here. There were several dragon knights with stronger draconic might than him. For example, that elder of his, Jonan, was obviously a Saint.
“…Could it be that Your Highness Fina is here for the sake of the undead?”
Jonan’s expression was filled with hesitation, but from his position, there were some things he absolutely had to ask. Everyone in the Bardi Empire knew that the dragon knight squadron didn’t get along with the undead, as how could the prideful dragons possibly listen to the commands of the filthy undead?
But the current Princess “Fina” before them was now also an undead vampire. Although it seemed like she probably wasn’t related to the undead in the Bardi Empire’s capital, they still needed to ascertain her motives in coming here with the lich “Rex.”
Hearing his question, Lilith directly shook her head.
“I said already, I’m currently Lilith, a member of the Church of Law. I’m no longer Fina Milan. I don’t want to meddle in the affairs of the Bardi Empire, nor do I have the power to do so. This time, we came here for a different reason. As for the lich Rex…”
She looked over at me questioningly. The question in her beautiful eyes was quite obvious: “Should I tell them the truth or not? Do you want to talk to them from here, or should I continue speaking?”
I nodded without saying anything. Although the saying that “an enemy’s enemy is a potential friend” might not always be correct, it was probably better to explain things to them rather than being misunderstood as the Undead Emperors’ subordinates. Otherwise, we’d probably have an unsolvable conflict on our hands where we’d just break out into an all out fight, again, and that would make it impossible for us to pass this fortress city peacefully.
“…This person who was just beating up Archduke Halent is actually the famously petty Roland, Roland Mist.”
Before she even finished speaking, Halent suddenly stood up with incredibly obvious shock and disbelief on his face. He obviously knew my name.
I lightly twisted the magical ring on my hand, and a radiance shot out from it that removed my illusionary disguise. The moment I regained the appearance of my physical body, I instantly stole my silly cat’s cup of hot cocoa and downed it all in one gulp. Being able to enjoy delectable foods and drinks rather than only being able to watch felt so much better.
The silly cat grit her teeth in anger, but she knew that this wasn’t a good time to take revenge on me.
“The undying Roland!?”
“Yongye! The evil undying king!”
Even though she told them my real identity, this seemed to make the dragon knights more on guard against me, not less. Even that Jonan placed his hand directly on his sword. Was my reputation that bad?
“As the only Undead Emperor in the past one thousand years, not to mention how you’ve become the representative of all demon kings in the recent centuries’ fairy tales, shouldn’t you have a little more self-awareness? After all, you’re ranked #27 on the Calamity Rankings, dear Roland.”
“Indeed, my companion Harloys who’s ranked #46 on the same Calamity Rankings. Thank you so much for your reminder. I’ve heard that due to our recent actions, even though you’ve disappeared from in front of everyone for so long already, your ranking has even managed to increase. How does it feel for people to fear you even more simply because you haven’t appeared?”
“…It’s my misfortune as a teacher. I should have kicked you out and refused you as my student from the very start.”
Although I kept up my serious appearance, I was actually messing around with Harloys like always through our soul connection. However, the dragon knights weren’t calm at all since they had their own information channels and naturally knew that Roland Mist was also Emperor Yongye, the only recent Undead Emperor.
“Has he joined up with the other Undead Emperors? I heard that he was causing some major incidents in the Northlands, so what’s he doing here?”
The more famous you were, the more you were feared or respected. In the eyes of dragons, no matter how venerated a mortal was, that would all be short and temporary. Those that truly deserved respect or even fear were of course the undying that took slow steps to the peak of power. And anyone on the Calamity Rankings would unmistakably be considered monsters.
“That Abomination just now was the carnivore, Ah Dang? I managed to escape with my life?”
The blue dragon Sishusler who had currently transformed into a bulky man’s appearance was getting scared now. There were more than one or two dragons that had died to this famed Xiluo warrior already. In front of an all-out Ah Dang, even an ancient dragon would be nothing more than some food which might get stuck in his teeth. Killing a slightly famous mature dragon would be nothing to Ah Dang.
By the way, I should mention that one of Ah Dang’s forms was also on the Calamity Rankings. It was just that very few people knew that it was him. And, actually, if it wasn’t for me stopping him, Ah Dang would have easily killed that Sishusler with a single blow in their battle.
At first, the dragon knights thought that they would have the overwhelming advantage, which was why they calmly welcomed these unwelcome guests inside their own fortress city. But just this former Undead Emperor alone gave them no chance of victory at all from the very start. It would seem that we were instead the ones going easy on the dragon knight squadron that seemed to have the advantage of numbers.
Lilith continued her own introduction of me as if she hadn’t noticed the sudden tension in the atmosphere at all.
“Yep, he’s Aunt Amelia’s good friend as well as disciple. This time, we came here to help Aunt Amelia.”
“Relax, this time, at least, we’re probably on the same side. I don’t exactly have friendly relations with those undead that came here uninvited.”
“Lady Amelia?”
The person who asked so concernedly was a rather tall female dragon knight who had blonde hair and green eyes. There were obvious silver dragon scales on her forehead and even two small curved dragon horns. No wonder she would always wear a full helmet when outside.
I recalled her to be a dragon knight from several generations ago named Lucia. Seeing how concerned she was, she must have had some sort of connection to Amelia.
“Yes, at the time, Aunt Amelia and I were both at Port Victoria. I was immune to the Dimensional Descent that occurred there because of my undead body, but Aunt Amelia stayed behind.”
“How is that possible! How could Lady Amelia…” The female knight Lucia had an expression of astonishment, as if she couldn’t believe something catastrophic could befall Amelia.
“Calamities typically live the longest, and Amelia is fine, I can promise. She’s probably just having some trouble, which is why we’re here. Can we pass through now?”
I took up the topic here, since my patience and time both had limits. We were quite close to our goal of Port Victoria now, so if the situation permitted it, I wanted to leave as soon as possible.
I thought that after saying things so directly, it would be quite easy for them to let us pass, but the end result was that they all looked at each other awkwardly. It would seem that it would be a problem.
After passing Nightrain City, it would take another two weeks or so of traveling on foot to reach Port Victoria.
However, this road that was easily taken in the past had transformed into a black earth that was poisonous for the living. The faint stench of corrosion would make people want to throw up, and the formerly flourishing port was now completely desolate. Thick clouds forever covered the skies, and even the crows which were considered unlucky all died, collapsed on the ground. This place had become a forbidden zone for the living.
Once, there was a pack of wild wolves that were being chased by a tremendous SemiDragon, forced to the brink. Not long after entering this forbidden zone consisting of black earth, however, they started running slower and slower before finally collapsing. And not long after the wolves, the stronger SemiDragon predator collapsed as well, and the undead added a pack of zombie wolves and a bone SemiDragon to their number.
Actually, according to the Undead Emperors’ original plan, if they succeeded in completely opening the Dimensional Door, the area around Port Victoria wouldn’t be affected very much even if Port Victoria itself was sacrificed. This was also why Orloss finally agreed to this plan, but due to certain reasons, there was a change in the situation.
Just as how underground plumbing pipes would always erupt with filthy water if they were blocked somewhere, the power of the Undead Plane that found itself blocked by the magical forest changed its direction in which to corrode.
Nobody would be able to tolerate this domain filled with the power of death other than the undead. Although they became stronger in this domain, the undead themselves were feeling quite anxious about it. After all, the dragon knights had sent them an ultimatum: the moment this undead domain crossed into human territory, or, more specifically, Nightrain City’s territory, it would be tantamount to a declaration of war on the dragon knights.
This midway region between Nightrain City and Port Victoria had become a buffer zone. Every day, huge dragons and gargoyles would perform surveillance from the skies. Of course, whenever they met each other, some additional broken gargoyles would then appear on the ground.
Not a single sane merchant group would choose to enter this type of area. The moment we left Nightrain City and headed for Port Victoria, the undead would probably discover it.
If we didn’t want to put the undead on guard against us, that meant there was basically zero possibility of speedily passing through this area. We could only take things slowly and try obtaining more information. It would be best if we could somehow contact Amelia again. I didn’t lie at all, as I truly believed that Amelia would be fine.
And just as we finished our discussion, before I even got to rest up, Little Red came looking for me with a mysterious look on her face that seemed like she could barely hold in her laughter. She must have found out something interesting that she intended to share with me.
“Hey, Roland, would you like to know why they have so many dragon descendants? And about what’s going on with their dragon knights?”
“Hmm? Isn’t that the Bardi Empire’s secret? You know it?”
“Tsk, what secret, I understood immediately with a single look. Didn’t you notice how that Halent and his dragon Sishusler resemble each other greatly? In appearance and smell, they resemble each other by over ninety percent. They’re definitely twins!”
I recalled how that Sishusler preferred to transform into a buff and muscular man, while that Halent was so handsome; they were supposed to be twins? I suddenly felt as if there were problems with dragons’ sense of aesthetics.
“Wait a moment, dragons’ sense of aesthetics? That means to say, in a dragon’s eyes, the two of them basically look like twin brothers! Alright then, I understand what’s going on now. No wonder all those dragon descendants were of the same bloodline as their dragons. So they were all close relatives.”
No wonder Little Red was snickering. If this was revealed, it would become a scandal for the surface dragons.
Dragon descendants typically came about as a result of dragons breeding with other creatures that weren’t dragons. In the mortal plane, all sorts of SemiDragons’ bloodlines were considered quite valuable for research purposes. There was truth to the saying that dragons were true to their base desires, as sometimes they bred with others for reasons other than affection. In such a situation, the “byproduct” of half-blood dragon descendants would find it difficult to receive their parents’ true love.
Still, it was obvious that the dragon descendants couldn’t just be left alone. If a dragon descendant used his or her natural powers to do something like take revenge on society, not only would that humiliate the dragon descendant’s irresponsible parents, the entire dragon species would feel humiliated.
“That is to say, that so-called dragon knight squadron is actually a type of day care.”
Dragon descendants that had a sufficient amount of dragon bloodline in them were able to transform into true dragons after undergoing a bloodline ritual and paying a price as well as receiving their bloodline—their parents’—assistance. But the prerequisite was that the dragon descendant needed to be strong enough, most likely a minimum of the Gold rank, and also needed to be a certain age.
Dragon descendants matured far slower than normal humans and would require a relatively safe environment to grow up in. It would also be easier for them to obtain experience and wisdom in the complex human society.
No wonder this dragon knight squadron never lacked young dragon descendants. It would seem that any irresponsible dragon parents that didn’t want to raise their children would bring them here to this dragon knight squadron. The young, long-lived dragon descendants would learn from and be brainwashed by the knightly chivalric code here, so they wouldn’t do anything foolish.
As for those dragons they got to ride? They were all their brothers and sisters and so on that came to accompany their siblings for this slow period before they matured. Spending a few decades or a century or two to play with one’s own little brother or sister wasn’t much to a dragon.
My guess was that for the dragon descendants without siblings, there would still be an unlucky dragon from the same bloodline sent to protect the dragon descendant, which would count as a small trial for the dragon. And since they were mostly closely-related siblings to begin with, riding on each other wouldn’t matter.
“Haha! No wonder they’re all novices. So they were all unlucky ones that had to raise young children. Eh, what are you looking at there?”
“Oh, an old dragon gave me this letter, telling me it’s from someone I know. Cherry? Such a strange name. Little Red, do you know this person?”