Chapter 144

One Troublesome Remark

Valdrova’s enormous form gradually drew closer, shrinking at the same time.

She was transforming through polymorph.

“Lord Ferda, close your eyes.”

“Why?”

“When Lady Valdrova comes close, she will arrive in human form. That means you will see her face.”

Luri had a point.

Even so, Ferda cautiously asked,

“Could I not take just a brief look?”

“I retract my previous instruction. Turn your entire body around. If you turn your head, I will personally scrub you clean.”

His pointless greed had only made her more wary.

Ferda turned around as Luri instructed, and the wind pressure rushing toward him suddenly vanished.

Instead, he heard the soft sound of someone landing lightly on the ground.

“Master, I am here.”

“Mm.”

A clear voice rang out, followed by the faint clatter of something moving.

While nervously watching Ferda for a reaction, Valdrova asked Luri,

“Luri, I do not look strange, do I?”

“You look as you always do. There is nothing to worry about.”

“Um… There is nothing strange stuck to me or anything…?”

“I can see nothing of the sort, so you need not worry.”

“W-What about my voice?”

“There is no reason it would have changed.”

“Mm! Right! Ahem!”

She cleared her throat, releasing the heat of her furiously pounding heart.

Ferda had only turned his back. He had not gone deaf.

Her trembling voice made his own chest vibrate.

Hearing how nervous she sounded made him feel anxious as well.

“You may turn around now.”

At Luri’s words, Ferda turned back.

Seated before him was a masked beauty so stunning that she nearly took his breath away.

There was no trace of the valiant figure who had been fighting moments earlier.

Instead, a shy woman with ominous horns sat before him.

It felt strangely new.

He had always seen nothing but the armor of a dragon knight at this tea table. Now that a small, beautiful woman was sitting there, he found himself nervous as though they were meeting for the first time.

I still cannot believe it.

He had danced beneath the moonlight with a woman like this.

“I greet Your Highness, the Princeps.”

“Yes, Mr. Ferda!”

She responded with far more enthusiasm than necessary.

Then she raised the matter she had come to discuss.

“A-Are your injuries all right?”

“Yes. There was no need to worry then, and there is none now.”

“Ugh… I am sorry. I became too excited and ended up… hurting you…”

“It was nothing serious. You made such a fuss over it that I was more bewildered than anything else.”

Ferda desperately tried to reassure her.

Surprisingly, his desperation stemmed from his own desire.

They had finally progressed from holding hands to embracing.

He could not allow the distance between them to widen again.

Ferda was determined that he would rather risk having his heart pierced and embrace her once more.

Valdrova apparently felt the same way.

“Next time, I will bring a proper solution! One that will not stab you, Mr. Ferda!”

“Could you not… hide your horns?”

Ferda cautiously proposed a solution.

Did Luri not conceal the features of a dragon?

Other dragons had long hidden their true forms while enjoying lives among mortals.

Ferda therefore assumed that Valdrova could hide her horns and tail as well.

“I wish I could. I can do something about my tail, but I cannot hide my horns…”

There was nothing he could do if that was the case.

It was an exceedingly painful matter.

Ferda soothed the ache in his heart with black tea.

“Um… How was I?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“The way I fought. When I was fighting the monsters… I was curious how I looked.”

Her battles always gave a similar impression.

Overwhelming, brutal, and merciless.

Valdrova had displayed everything one would expect from the Aspect of Power.

The pattern might have been similar every time, but to Ferda, each battle still felt new.

“You looked every bit an Aspect. Had the people of Hestia Village witnessed it, their love for their homeland would surely have been stirred.”

“Is that so?”

Valdrova had no idea what “love for their homeland” meant, but assumed it was probably something positive.

However, that was not the reason she had asked.

Her fidgeting fingers betrayed her true intention.

“Then, um…”

She swallowed her words shyly before asking,

“Were you…”

“Were you turned on?”

“Pfft!”

Instead of answering, Ferda spectacularly sprayed out his black tea.

He covered his face and turned his head without saying a word.

Even Valdrova, who had dropped the bomb, became flustered.

“M-Mr. Ferda, are you all right? What is wrong?!”

Valdrova panicked, while Ferda remained incapable of speaking.

Luri, who had witnessed the entire exchange, glared sharply.

“Master, did you know what those words meant when you said them?”

“Hm? I heard that men use them when they like a woman…”

“Do you also know how vulgar that expression is?”

A dark shadow fell across Luri’s face.

“And that it is not something a ruler should ever say?”

“Uh…”

“Or that it is not something a woman should say to a man?”

“I did not know that… Mr. Ferda, have I offended you?”

Ferda lowered his head without answering.

The black tea still in his mouth dripped from his lips.

“Look at him. He is so speechless that he cannot even respond.”

“I-I am sorry! Mr. Ferda… I have been rude again… because I am foolish…”

“N-No, cough, it is fine. It merely went down the wrong way, so please do not dwell on it.”

Ferda could not bring himself to look at Valdrova’s face.

Believing that he had come to dislike her, Valdrova swallowed a groan.

Amid the awkward silence, Luri spoke like a scolding mother.

“First, return to the cave. We will finish this ‘conversation’ there.”

“Uuuu…”

Valdrova drooped dejectedly and flew back, weakly flapping her wings.

Once she was gone and only the cold wind at the summit remained to fill the silence, Luri spoke.

“Lord Ferda, Master has left.”

“…I see.”

“You should get up now. Do you not have work to attend to?”

“I suppose I do…”

Despite saying so, Ferda could not easily rise from his seat.

Luri tilted her head at his strange behavior. Then, struck by a sudden suspicion, she asked,

“…Were you truly turned on?”

Ferda could not answer.

A message arrived from the Blue Tower.

—We have purified the contaminated land near the waterway. We will reopen it toward the Far East.

Calling it purification was somewhat misleading. In truth, they had removed the contaminated ground entirely and covered the area with fresh soil.

Regardless, clean water would soon begin flowing again.

The citizens would surely cheer when they learned they would no longer have to drink water drawn from that accursed land.

—There is also something I would like to propose.

“Please, go ahead.”

—We would like to make a serious investment in Marquis Burnell’s purification device. What do you think?

“We would be grateful for the investment, but what do you want in return?”

—Nothing significant. Since we are allies, we would appreciate it if you mentioned that we also cooperated in the development. You might call that the favor we are asking.

In other words, they wanted to preserve their dignity.

The fact that someone had purified contaminated water when even the Aspects of Water had failed to do so was a blow to the pride of the dragon spawn.

Marquis Burnell’s value continued to rise.

“We are allies, and I have no reason to refuse support. However, I believe I should discuss it with Burnell first.”

—Of course. Scholars’ pride is involved, after all. There is no need to rush the matter.

Erika did not attempt to pressure him.

Acting relaxed when the issue was not urgent was the most basic rule of negotiation.

—On another note, I also contacted the High Elves.

She was referring to the records left behind by Rinne, the dark elf research director, which needed to be deciphered.

Ferda waited, secretly hoping she would tell him to come immediately.

—They said that unless the matter is urgent, we should contact them again this summer.

“Is something happening on their side?”

—We do not know. When elves become displeased about something, they can casually let ten years pass.

Let ten years pass…

When she put it that way, being asked to wait until summer suddenly sounded remarkably brief.

“That works out well. We have matters underway here, so I cannot leave for the time being anyway.”

—It is very much like the High Elves to behave that way even when the situation could prevent chaos across the continent. Those long-lived creatures link their minds together and act so secretively.

“Are you not also long-lived?”

—Do we look the same as those lazy creatures to you?

Venom entered her voice.

Then again, just as humans and orcs would dislike being lumped together as short-lived races, dragon spawn probably felt the same way.

“In any case, I understand. I will inform the administrator.”

—I will bring more good news soon, so please take care of things on your side as well.

With that, Ferda ended his communication with Erika.

Before long, news arrived that the large procession of nobles traveling with the imperial army had safely entered the capital.

William was the one who delivered the report.

“How was the banquet?”

—Extremely extravagant. People are saying it cannot even be compared to the one held at Valdrova Castle.

As regent, Ferda found that unpleasant to hear, but he also had no choice but to accept it.

That was their purpose from the beginning.

Alexander must have gone to considerable lengths to erase his disgrace and demonstrate the Empire’s greater magnificence.

There was the exhilaration of entering the Imperial Palace, a place most people could never visit even once.

Then there was the scale of the banquet, designed to satisfy those heightened expectations.

They had likely intended to make the celebration at Valdrova Castle look like nothing more than a village feast by comparison.

“Is the atmosphere good, then?”

—On the surface, it is. However…

William spoke in an uneasy tone.

—I believe there may be trouble.

“What do you mean?”

—The Crown Prince’s behavior is suspicious.

From William’s position as an observer, this was what had happened.

Crown Prince Alexander Arken had personally greeted each noble and knight as they entered through the palace gates.

He praised them as the true heroes and patriots of the nation.

Even after the banquet formally began, he remained busy flattering and elevating the nobles.

For those who had always dreamed of success in the imperial capital, it was enough to fill them with pride.

—It appears he has another motive beyond simply praising the heroes.

“It would seem so.”

What Alexander gained by elevating them was their loyalty.

In other words, he was attempting to win over the two hundred and fifty young nobles.

There was nothing Ferda could do from where he was.

“Observe what happens and report to me again tomorrow.”

—Yes, understood.

The magic within the communication orb faded, but Ferda continued staring at the crystal for some time.

Why is Alexander gathering supporters…?

There were many possible reasons.

He had been condemned as a servant of the demons.

An entire corps under his command had been annihilated.

Those were obvious motives, but Alexander was unlikely to be acting for obvious reasons alone.

He was probably placing those justifications in front while concealing another true objective behind them.

What could it be?

Olivia… perhaps.

No matter how Ferda considered it, the most likely explanation was that Alexander was preparing to stop her.

Given Olivia’s exceptional intelligence, it would be difficult to believe she had not anticipated even this situation.

How would she respond?

Whatever happened, she would surely handle it skillfully.

That was the Olivia Ferda knew.

The next day, William reported in an unusually grave tone.

—The problem occurred exactly as we expected.

“In what way?”

—Her Highness the Princess’s contribution to the war was severely undervalued in the official announcement.

The concern from the previous day had become reality.

“Explain in detail.”

William described what had happened.

After the banquet, a medal ceremony was held according to each person’s contribution.

When Olivia saw the list and the standards used to evaluate their achievements, she protested.

Ferda wondered just how low they had rated her.

—Her Highness the Princess was assigned three percent of the total credit for the operation.

That was rather excessive.