Go Refuse Right Now!

That evening.

I was in one room of the mansion, discussing the security plan with Raul.

It concerned Crown Prince Arios’s party, which my eldest brother had ordered me to handle.

“Understood. Then first thing tomorrow, I will gather each squad leader and make adjustments regarding personnel placement.”

Raul placed the clipboard he had written notes on onto the table and loosely rolled his right shoulder as if loosening it. Then he sighed.

“But still, to think Miss Mail is being targeted too. I wish she would not come in that condition.”

“That seems to be the case inside her country, but we do not know whether it will extend abroad as well. Still, we have to pay the utmost attention. Their chancellor is apparently coming too.”

“Is that guy an old man?”

“I do not know. He was probably there during the broken engagement incident too, but I could not tell who was who…”

Even when I folded my arms and thought back on it, what had left the strongest impression on me back then was Shitoen, who had looked like a moving white cocoon. Aside from that, maybe King Noie shouting, “Please wait, Lord Balimore!” Perhaps the slender man behind him, bowing low and apologizing with, “Please, have mercy on us!” had been him.

“I hate it if he is an old man.”

Raul muttered that, and I remembered.

“Ah. Did you meet him? That professor who is knowledgeable about the Kingdom of Tania!”

“I met him. It was awful. I thought this, you know. I want to be a man who can speak concisely even when I get old.”

I know what you mean, I said with a laugh. There were many older men at the commander level too.

They endlessly dribbled out small talk, trivia, past hardships that were really boasts, and in the end, the main topic only took a few minutes.

“Do they talk outside because no one at home listens to them?”

“Even family would not listen to such pointless talk.”

“Then I will strive to always have little anecdotes ready so I can tell interesting stories even when I become an old man.”

Raul was still young, yet he was worrying about his old age. It was not my place to say it, but worry about something else. Live in the present.

“So, how was the talk about the dragon mark?”

When I leaned my upper body against the back of the chair, it creaked. Ignoring it, I crossed my legs, and Raul rested his cheek on his hand at the table.

“Well, you see. The conversation has not even reached the dragon mark yet. I listened to him talk for about three hours, but he started from the circumstances behind the founding of the Kingdom of Tania.”

“The founding… Did that involve a dragon too?”

When I blinked, Raul nodded with a grim face.

“This part is probably completely mythological. But among the Karaban Union Kingdom, its royal family has the oldest history.”

It was older than Tidros too, if I remember correctly.

“The current royal family of Tania was apparently originally a tribe from the mountain region. Then, one summer in a certain year, no rain fell at all, and when they were at their wits’ end, the clan leader at the time built an altar, lit a bonfire, and chanted his wish toward heaven for three days and three nights. Then black clouds suddenly welled up, became a vortex, and turned into a dragon. After that, rain poured down, and the people were saved.”

“Well,” Raul continued.

“It was probably something like a tornado, but this black dragon talked.”

“It talked?”

When I was surprised, Raul shrugged.

“And then, after receiving a revelation from the black dragon, the clan leader began improving the wheat fields they had been making separately until then. We saw them in Tania too, did we not? Those terraced fields.”

“Ah. Those.”

But wait, I thought, and was once again stunned.

“From the time of the country’s founding until now… you mean the stone walls and everything have not collapsed!? How are they stacked!? That is amazing.”

“That is apparently the kind of thing the black dragon taught them.”

“I wish that dragon would come to our country too.”

Raul laughed and continued.

“Tania’s winters are apparently deep with snow, and they have arranged things so the melted snow and spring water from the mountains are efficiently distributed to the fields and the water reaches even the lowest level. It seems the black dragon also taught them things like irrigation equipment. My, how kind.”

“It seems like it would also provide perfect aftercare.”

“And regarding this clan leader who first made contact with the black dragon, apparently he had a distinctive birthmark on his back from birth.”

“Was that… the dragon mark?”

“He did not say that part clearly.”

Raul spoke with a sigh mixed in.

“In the first place, the dragon mark is something that ‘must not be spoken of even if seen.’ Giving it a shape and leaving it in writing must be strictly forbidden. However, the professor said that it was almost certainly modeled after this clan leader, the first king. After that, it seems those who harbored some kind of power within the royal bloodline were given the dragon mark.”

“Does the closeness of their blood relation not matter? Or the king’s favor?”

No matter how I thought about it, Shitoen was doted on by the King of Tania.

“No, it seems unrelated. Princess Shitoen is like that too, is she not? It is true that the King of Tania thinks very highly of her, but Lord Balimore is from a collateral branch of the royal family.”

“That is true too…”

“The high priest and the king apparently discuss who will be given the dragon mark, but in any case, those who bear the dragon mark are said to bring benefit to the Kingdom of Tania over the course of their entire lives. They are kept safe and rarely go outside.”

“Benefit? Shitoen too?”

No, but Shitoen was very much outside.

“Each person’s role must differ. In Princess Shitoen’s case, she is fulfilling a very important role diplomatically, is she not? She is fluent in foreign languages and extremely intelligent.”

Being told that again, I realized it even now.

That was right.

My days living with Shitoen were so happy. It was dangerous, but this…

Was a political marriage, after all.

Shitoen was splendidly serving as a bridge between the Kingdom of Tania and the Kingdom of Tidros. If that was called her mission, then it surely was. It was connected to national benefit.

“Then the dragon mark is something that brings national benefit to Tania, and it is applied in imitation of the first king’s birthmark?”

“Hmmm… I wonder. Talking with that professor somehow made me feel that rather than the first king, the dragon signifies something.”

Raul took his cheek off his hand, folded his arms, and groaned.

“The dragon? That black dragon?”

“Originally, in the Kingdom of Tania, dragons are apparently beings that connect this world and another world.”

“Hm? What do you mean?”

When I furrowed my brow, Raul raised his index finger and moved it back and forth between three points in the air.

“How should I put it? In Tidros, there are heaven, the earth, and hell, right? In the Kingdom of Tania, it is more like the heavenly realm, the earth, and the underworld. And when people die, they go to either the heavenly realm or the underworld. As for dragons, in terms of image, they are in the heavenly realm… or perhaps some other world? Something like that. It seems they can freely come and go there too.”

“I see, I see.”

“This area somehow seems to involve reincarnation. Whether the dragons are going back and forth, or people are reincarnating… Unless I start by studying their religious views, I will not understand a thing.”

Raul let out a third large sigh, then stood up and picked up the clipboard.

“I am not enthusiastic about it, but I will keep going to that old man for a while. If I learn anything useful again, I will report it to you, Commander.”

“Thank you. I will also let you know once the detailed schedule for the Luminous party is decided.”

The sound of the grandfather clock chiming overlapped with the end of my sentence, and I jumped up from my chair.

“Damn it! It’s dance time!”

“Huh? Dance?”

Raul, with the clipboard tucked under his arm, said that suspiciously, but I had no time to care. I hurried toward the door.

“Our crown prince and his wife are apparently holding a ball to entertain Arios and the others. It seems Shitoen and I will dance after the first dance…”

“That is the wooooooorst!”

Raul screamed.

When I glanced at him, he was not merely pale; his eyes were bloodshot.

“Go refuse right now!”

He sounded just like a mother ordering someone to return a stray cat they had picked up.

“I wanted to do that too! But Brother told me to practice.”

“If practice could fix it, I would have done that myself!”

“In any case, it has already been decided!”

“Then, Commander, break your leg!”

“What the hell!?”

“Damn it… So these opportunities arise after marriage. But His Highness the Crown Prince would surely think an injury cannot be helped. That is right, let us break your leg right now!”

“What kind of stupid thing are you…!”

“It is better than exposing that bipedal bear dance in front of the public!”

“Bear dance…”

So that was how you thought of me…

“I have desperately hidden it until now…! His Majesty and His Highness the Crown Prince will find out about my failure to manage you properly!”

This was bad. Raul’s eyes had gone completely still.

I flung the door open and fled into the corridor like a startled rabbit. Just before leaving the room, I saw Raul draw his sword together with its sheath out of the corner of my eye.

He really intended to break it, my leg!