Then Kyle’s eyes widened as if he finally understood what I meant.
“Then you really might have been the Archsage.”
“I can’t be certain, but the possibility is there.”
At Gerard’s flat reply, Kyle scrutinized me from head to toe with a renewed expression.
Until yesterday he’d treated me like a beggar, but now that he’d heard “Archsage,” he seemed to see me in a new light.
“If you really were the Archsage, would it be possible to restore your lost magic power?”
“That’s impossible. Magic power comes from trapping the ambient miasma in a mage’s mana core and using it as magical energy. But once a mana core is destroyed, that’s it. You can only create a mana core once.”
“I see. I’ve learned a lot today.”
Kyle nodded in admiration, then suddenly whipped his head around and looked at me.
“I really hope you were the Archsage.”
“You’d better hope I wasn’t. There’s nothing more despairing than a great mage who once wielded mighty magic no longer being able to use it because his mana is gone. If my mana core was destroyed, it makes sense I lost my memories. It must have been a tremendous ordeal.”
Everyone seemed to accept that I’d once been the Archsage. I’d rather be thought a former Archsage than suspected of being the Black Flame Dragon, so I decided not to deny it.
“But don’t worry too much. There are plenty of things you can do even if you’re not a mage.”
I appreciated their desire to help me find a new path, but I didn’t really want it. I would find my own way—and once we reached the capital, I hoped they’d leave me free.
Time that had felt interminable passed, and when we arrived at the imperial capital, a drizzling rain was falling. Three days in an uncomfortable carriage rolling along muddy roads had left every part of me aching.
And having been soaked by rain for three days without a proper wash, I felt grimy all over.
“Finally arrived, huh?”
I asked, looking out past the iron bars.
“Yeah, there it is. That’s Blaine.”
Kyle nodded, staring at the walls surrounding the capital. The name of the capital city was Blaine.
“Blaine used to be beautiful before the Black Flame Dragon appeared. Always bustling, always full of people.”
Kyle murmured, lost in memory.
Which meant it wasn’t now… The Black Flame Dragon must have laid Blaine to waste.
I couldn’t say a word about it. Now that I inhabited the dragon’s body, it was as good as my fault.
The carriage crossed a bridge over the moat and passed through the main gate of the outer walls. Homes lined the road as we headed toward the inner citadel.
The capital’s scale was beyond imagination. A broad straight road ran from the outer city where commoners lived to the inner city where the palace stood, and it was eerily quiet as we traveled along it.
Even with the rain, the silence felt strange.
As soon as that thought crossed my mind, people who had been watching the Subjugation Army’s procession emerged into the street one by one.
“What happened to the Black Flame Dragon?”
“Did you kill it? Please tell us!”
The hopeful cries of the people fell on deaf ears; the Subjugation Army said nothing.
Had they come bearing news of victory, the gates would have resounded with trumpet blasts and celebrations the moment they passed through.
Instead of the dragon’s head in the criminals’ transport carriage, the Hero’s party—who had gone to slay the dragon—were locked inside.
“What’s that? Isn’t that the Hero’s party?”
“Why are the Heroes in the criminals’ carriage? What did they do!”
The people’s desperate hopes quickly turned to accusations and uproar. Stones flew from every direction, striking the carriage.
“Get away from the bars.”
Kyle draped his cloak over my shoulders as if to shield me from the flying stones and spoke naturally.
“What are they doing? What crime have we committed?”
“Don’t worry so much. They’re just scared, that’s all.”
Kyle’s face was serenely detached, as though he’d transcended it all.
“You’re right. Don’t worry. Nothing’s going to happen.”
Elonen joined in to reassure me, but Gerard was different. He glared at the crowd surrounding us and muttered under his breath.
“They beg and grovel until you’re useful to them, then when they think you’re no longer of use they throw stones to vent their anger.”
His words were so biting I almost felt like one of the Heroes myself.
“They’re just desperate, so don’t blame them, Gerard. It’s a hard time for everyone after the damage the Black Flame Dragon caused.”
At times like this I really felt Kyle was a true Hero. Though his head sagged from the rain, he still looked noble in a pitiful way.
Leaving the crowd’s clamor behind, the carriage rolled on for a long while before stopping in front of a massive gate.
The inner citadel was even larger than I had imagined. I craned my neck to see its height, and then suddenly caught sight of Reynold in the corner of my eye.
“We’re going to see His Majesty the Emperor. Prepare yourselves.”
I didn’t know what we were preparing for, but everyone got to their feet. The carriage door opened, and soldiers approached to bind us one by one with ropes.
“You know these ropes don’t really matter, right?”
I heard Gerard grumble as he struggled against the binds.
“Gerard, don’t cause trouble. It’ll be over soon.”
Kyle’s words made Gerard reluctantly accept the ropes.
Surrounded by soldiers, we entered the palace. We marched in single file down an excessively ornate, long corridor until we reached a huge door.
“Your Majesty, it is I, Reynold.”
Reynold, at the front of the line, called out in a loud voice, and the doors slid open. I followed him inside into an enormous chamber.
A long crimson carpet covered the floor, stretching to a lofty throne at the room’s center. But the Emperor was not on the throne.
He sat at a dining table before a lavish fireplace, eating. The table groaned under the weight of food fit for one eating alone.
“Reynold, did you bring the Black Flame Dragon’s head? If you’re going to say no, keep silent. I don’t want to hear it.”
The man mumbling while stuffing a greasy chicken leg into his mouth was Kyle’s father, Emperor Perosen.
“My apologies, Your Majesty. We arrived at the lair, but the Black Flame Dragon had already fled.”
Reynold knelt before the Emperor’s table and spoke. At once, Emperor Perosen hurled the greasy chicken leg, still dripping with meat, at Reynold’s head.
The chicken leg bounced off Reynold’s head and skidded across the floor.
“You useless brat! I can’t even look at you! Get out at once!”
The truly useless one was the Emperor himself, yet he berated his son harshly. Reynold, however, did not shrink back and held his head high.
“Your Majesty, we did capture the Heroes who aided the Black Flame Dragon’s escape.”
Reynold invented this out of thin air and pointed at us, who stood behind him like criminals.
“What did you say? They helped the dragon escape?”
Emperor Perosen sprang to his feet. I reflexively eyed the food on the table.
I figured he might throw whatever was at hand, so I tried to avoid the greasiest dishes.
“Kyle! How could you betray me when I supported your quest wholeheartedly?”
Emperor Perosen shouted in fury. His generous support had been a mere five gold coins.
Those few coins hadn’t even covered our outfits properly. If we’d been paid to search for the legendary weapon said to slay the dragon, we’d have made back that trivial sum a thousandfold by now.
“Your Majesty, that is not true.”
Kyle knelt and spoke. Elonen, sensing his lead, knelt as well, and I awkwardly sank to my knees behind them.
Kakaros followed suit, but Gerard stood stiffly with his head held high.
“When we reached the dragon’s lair, it had already been abandoned. We never saw the Black Flame Dragon, and the only thing we could do was destroy the lair so it could never return.”
Kyle, who rarely lost his temper, raised his voice in indignation.
Emperor Perosen, displeased, covered his ears and shook his head. He looked so hateful I wanted to strike him myself.
“I won’t hear it! Reynold, find out where the Black Flame Dragon went immediately, and lock Kyle and the rest up! We’ll hold a trial to sort this out!”