“Enemy…”
These two words struck Celia’s heart like a hammer, but instead, they caused her heart, which had been hanging in mid-air, to sink completely, landing on a cold and hard reality.
[As expected… What was I hoping for? Was I expecting a beast that only knows how to kill to have mercy?]
She took a deep breath, her hand gripping the lance no longer trembling; it was the calmness of one who had accepted the fate of death.
In those emerald blue eyes, the original confusion and struggle had vanished, replaced by a resolute will to die.
[O Goddess… If you are still willing to have mercy on this land polluted by greed, then please listen to my prayer one last time.]
Celia slightly lowered her body, adjusted her breathing, and mobilized all the little strength remaining in her body, gathering it at the tip of her lance.
[Even if it can only delay him for a second… even if it can only make him pause his steps for a moment…]
Her peripheral vision swept over the juniors behind her who were still trembling, and a bitter tenderness welled up in her heart.
[Run, you fools. Don’t look back, don’t worry about me.]
[Live on… as long as you can live, even if it’s just one more person.]
[As for me… I will bite with my teeth, claw with my fingernails, and keep him here.]
[And those bastards who pushed me here…]
Thinking of those pot-bellied bureaucrats, thinking of those nobles who had hypocritically wished her “good fortune in battle” before she set out, yet were too stingy to even provide a spare horseshoe, a tear of unknown regret or anger slid from the corner of Celia’s eye.
[I curse you.]
[When I, this incompetent person, fall into the deepest depths of hell, I will watch as you are consumed by this fire called karma, never to be reincarnated.]
The lance was leveled, the horse pawed the ground.
The ideal knight, preparing to charge toward her fated windmill.
Just as she was preparing to exhaust her life to launch one last charge, using so-called “knightly spirit” to draw a tragic period to her life.
“Follow… me.”
That deep, hoarse voice sounded again, but it did not bring the expected storm of destruction.
“I want… you… to be… an envoy.”
Celia was stunned.
The strength she had just gathered almost dissipated due to this sudden turn of events, nearly causing her to fall from her horse.
She looked up in astonishment, staring at that massive black dragon head that was scrutinizing her with an almost judgmental gaze.
“What…?”
She suspected her ears were hallucinating due to the earlier sonic boom.
“Come… with me…”
Balthazar’s massive claw lifted slightly, making a gesture of invitation that appeared extremely bizarre to humans, yet carried a certain ancient majesty.
“Come with me… back to my lair… to take… a declaration of war.”
“Deliver it to… your masters… those… Seven Shield… idiots.”
“This is… etiquette.”
Celia was completely bewildered.
[A declaration of war? Diplomatic etiquette? Is this something a magic beast should be saying?]
In this world, magic beasts were synonymous with chaos and destruction in the eyes of humans; they only had instincts for feeding and mating.
Occasionally, some high-level magic beasts could speak, but that was only to better deceive their prey.
But the dragon before her… what was he saying?
He wanted to officially declare war?
And he wanted to find an envoy?
This was as absurd as seeing a goblin wearing a tuxedo attending a royal ball.
“Are… you serious?”
Celia asked subconsciously, her voice filled with disbelief.
“I… will ensure… your safety.”
Balthazar did not explain, merely giving a promise that was simply unbelievable for a magic beast.
Celia looked into those dark red eyes.
There was no deception, no cunning, only a kind of aloof, arrogant disdain for lying.
“The King’s Promise to the Knight?”
She looked back at her companions, who were too terrified to even stand steadily, and then at the mercenary corpses scattered everywhere.
If he wanted to kill them, they would have all been turned into pulp when that tail swept over just now.
He truly had no need to lie.
“So… that’s how it is. Is this the composure brought about by so-called ‘absolute power’?”
Celia felt a deep sense of powerlessness, yet also an inexplicable, absurd sense of relief.
Regardless of his motives, at least… her companions would not have to die.
“… Fine.”
She gritted her teeth, slowly retracted her lance, and sheathed it beside her saddle.
“I will go with you.”
She turned her head and shouted sternly at the young knights who wanted to rush up to stop her but were too afraid to move:
“No one is allowed to move! That is an order! Take the wounded and retreat to the fortress immediately! Report everything that happened here… especially the news that this Dragon killed the Black Dogs mercenaries, to the Commander!”
“But, Senior Sister—!”
“Execute the order!”
Celia took one last long look at these young faces, as if to carve their images into her mind.
Then, she took a deep breath and rode toward the waiting black behemoth.
“Even if this is a trap… even if hell awaits ahead… I accept it. At least, this time, I protected the people I wanted to protect.”
“This is a decent ending.”
“Please wait!”
Just as Celia was about to ride toward that giant shadow, two figures rushed out from the crowd almost simultaneously.
On the left was a young girl with short black hair, wearing a set of Eastern-style heavy armor that was slightly old but well-maintained, with a somewhat heavy katana hanging at her waist.
Although her eyes flickered with nervousness, her tightly pressed lips and the hand gripping the hilt of her sword revealed an unshakable stubbornness.
Ryuzoji Akane.
“We are going too.”
Her voice was a bit stiff, but this was not due to fear; rather, it was to hide her inner tension and shyness.
She did not dare to look directly at the giant dragon, instead staring fixedly at Celia’s back, as if it were her only pillar in the howling wind.
“President… no, Senior Sister Celia, it is too dangerous for you to go alone. As one of the only three people here who holds the title of official knight… ahem, I cannot let you face this… this unknown alone.”
Rushing out on the right was a young lady with reddish-brown hair, Noel Marres Ascot.
Compared to Akane’s tension, she appeared more composed, although it was a forced calmness.
She elegantly flicked the lance in her hand, which was still stained with blood from the previous battle.
“Akane is right, Senior Sister Celia.”
Noel revealed a signature smile, slightly tinged with aristocratic reserve, though the smile appeared somewhat stiff under the pressure of the Dragon’s might.
“Although we are a defeated army that was almost captured, this is, after all, a formal ‘diplomatic’ mission, right?”
“If we let a good friend of the dignified Archons family go alone, it would be too impolite.”
“As a daughter of the Ascot family, I also want to see… what this Dragon’s ‘lair’ looks like.”
“What foolish things are you saying!”
Celia turned around abruptly, her emerald-blue eyes filled with anxiety and anger.
“This is suicide! No… this is worse than suicide! You have no idea what we are about to face! Return to the ranks immediately! That is an order!”
“I cannot comply.”
Akane straightened her back.
Although her legs were still trembling slightly, her black eyes were exceptionally bright—a stubbornness that only appeared when principles were involved.
“If we back down now, what would everything we have insisted on up until now mean? And… and…”
Her face suddenly flushed red, her voice grew quieter, and her eyes wandered to the ground.
“And… I… I also want to… I also want to protect Senior Sister…”
“Honestly, Akane is always so blunt.” Noel shrugged helplessly, then put away her smile and said seriously, “Senior Sister Celia, you are the pillar of support for us, the most outstanding knight of my generation.”
“Besides, if you… if you don’t come back, these children who haven’t become official knights yet will collapse immediately.”
“Two more people mean at least two more pairs of eyes, two more people who can bring the message back.”
Celia bit her lip, wanting to say something more, but that deep, hoarse voice interrupted their argument.
“… Approved.”
Balthazar’s massive head lowered slightly, and the breath from his nostrils blew the three girls’ hair.
“Bringing… two more… witnesses… is fine.”
He did not care about bringing two more ants.
In fact, for the “demonstration of war declaration” about to unfold, the more audience members, the better the effect.
Celia was stunned for a moment.
Looking at the determined eyes of her two junior sisters, she could only let out a helpless sigh in the end.
“… Understood.”
She turned around, facing the black behemoth, and regained her dignified posture.
“But in exchange, you must guarantee their safety, just as you guarantee mine.”
“… The King’s… promise… remains… valid.”
Balthazar opened his huge mouth, seemingly smiling.
That smile was ferocious and terrifying, yet it carried a strange sense of trustworthiness.
Immediately after, he extended his foreclaw with its sharp nails and pointed to a remnant of a flag beside Celia.
“Now… put on… blindfolds.”
“Swear… on the honor… of a knight.”
“Until… arriving at the destination… do not… peek.”
The three young knights looked at each other.
Without any hesitation, they dismounted simultaneously, took that tattered piece of the knights’ flag, and folded it into the shape of a blindfold.
“I, Celia Cumani Aintree.”
“I, Noel Marres Ascot.”
“I, Ryuzoji Akane.”
The three knelt on one knee, right hands clenched and placed against their left chests.
Although their voices trembled, they were uniform.
“By the honor of a knight, in the name of our families, we swear. Before permission is granted, we shall never peek at the path, nor shall we violate our oath.”
After speaking, they tied the black cloth over their eyes and tied a tight knot behind their heads.
The world plunged into darkness.
Immediately after, they felt their bodies lighten.
It was something rough, hard, yet carrying astonishing heat—it was the Dragon’s claw, grabbing them, their armor, and even their horses all at once.
“Hold… tight.”
Before they could adapt to this sense of weightlessness, a tremendous force erupted instantly.
“BOOM!!”
The wind howled.
The airflow hit their armor like a wall, emitting a shrill whistle.
In the darkness and the gale, the three young knights could only cling tightly to the rock-hard dragon claw, embarking on a journey toward the unknown and the abyss.
“The plan is going very smoothly.”