Chapter 43

We walked past the serious-looking guards and arrived at the throne room where the Dragon Emperor resided much more easily than I had expected.

“I honestly thought there would be body searches and all sorts of other tedious procedures.”

In the Dwarven Kingdom, specifically under Dowal Crown, there had been inspections, so I assumed there would be some here as well, but there were none.

“Doing that would be pointlessss~. If we started searching every monster, there would be no end to iiit~.”

Ah, that made sense.

If the opponent was human, you might be able to neutralize them by taking away their tools, but that didn’t work on monsters. After all, they were a bunch that could use claws, fangs, or even spit fire and poison. It was only natural to think that confiscating items was meaningless.

“By the way, I guess it’s a bit late to ask, but I don’t actually know the Dragon Emperor’s species.”

“Come to think of it, I haven’t told youuu~.”

Mr. Orm offered to explain in place of Grandfather.

“The Dragon Emperor is an evolved species of the ‘Fire Dragon’ called a ‘Crimson Flame Dragooon’~.”

“And… exactly how strong is that?”

“Suuuper strong~. Compared to a Fire Dragon… I wonder how muuuuch?”

“For the sake of simplicity, you can just think of him as being more or less on the same level as me,” Grandfather chimed in.

The same level as Grandfather? Then even if I fought while standing on my head, I’d never win.

“Why is a guy like that having such a hard time that he has to gather all these different races for a war? Just how much of a pain is this Azi Dahaka guy?”

“He possesses troublesome duplication Skills and magic. He is the type of opponent who can even heal his own wounds while in the middle of a battle.”

Does that mean while he’s multiplying by the amount of damage we deal, he’s also healing his own injuries?! That was beyond troublesome; it was downright annoying.

“Why the hell is the seal breaking anyway!? Just keep him sealed forever, Hero!!”

“The one who sealed him was the ‘Sage’ of that era, though,” the Pack Leader interjected.

Honestly, I don’t care which one it was!!

“What’s done is doneee~. Besides, we can’t rely on the Hero this timeee~.”

“Speaking of which… isn’t this exactly the kind of situation where a Hero is supposed to make their grand entrance? What happened to the Hero?”

“Weeell~, the current Hero is exceptionally hostile toward anything resembling a monster~. Thanks to that, we have no choice but to handle this ourselveees~.”

Mr. Orm looked troubled… no, he looked genuinely distressed.

The current Hero was Thea. And she… absolutely hated monsters. Taiga had told me that she had mostly fought against creatures that were little more than mindless beasts without intelligence or reason. Because she had witnessed such beings attacking small villages and towns to devour people, she viewed monsters as nothing more than creatures without intellect. To her, monsters were just hideous, abominable lifeforms.

“With that attitude, she’d probably end up stabbing us in the back.”

“Riiiight~?”

Silence dominated the room for a moment. After a short while, a dignified soldier approached.

“It is time.”

With those words, the doors opened solemnly.

“Everyoneee~, please wait in a single line at the back, except for the Fenrirs and their sooon~.”

So the bosses stay in front and the followers stay in the back, huh? Well, that was fine by me since I wouldn’t have to talk.

“Mr. Orm, should I be kneeling while I’m in the back?”

“Nooo~, you don’t have to do thaaat~. After all, the Dragon Emperor is the one asking us for a favor this timeeee~.”

“I see. I’ll just stand normally then. Thanks, Mr. Orm.”

“No need for thanksss~.”

Mr. Orm seemed quite pleased about it, though.

Once the doors were fully open, we entered the room. Unlike in the Dwarven Kingdom, there weren’t many Royal Guards to be seen; they were only scattered here and there. Perhaps they were busy preparing for the war, or maybe the Dragon Emperor was simply so powerful that guarding him required an extraordinary level of skill.

As we walked further in, a man who appeared to be the Dragon Emperor was already sitting on the throne. He had scarlet hair, sharp golden eyes, and a muscular, well-built physique. Above all, the aura he emitted was incredibly dense and dangerously intense!

The woman standing beside him was also quite dangerous. She had silver hair, gentle eyes, and slender, pale skin. She looked like a kind woman, but I could tell—she had reached the same level of power as the Dragon Emperor.

“Dragon Emperor Draig, I’ve brought theeem~.”

“Midgardsormr, you have my thanks. I did not expect you to bring such powerful individuals.”

“I didn’t want to involve my brothers if I could help it, eitheeer~. But it was clear that if we didn’t stop it here, even my brothers’ home would be in dangeeer~.”

“But it seems there is a mere human mixed in with the group?”

Ugh, here we go again.

“It’s okaaaay~, Dragon Princess Gwyber. He isn’t quite at our level, but he’s stronger than a Draconeeewt~.”

“Is that so? My apologies. I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting many strong humans.”

“N-no, please don’t worry about it. We are a weak species, after all.”

“Oh? You admit it?”

“Yes. Before I was trained by Grandfather… I mean, the Fenrir, I was very weak myself.”

“Fufu, I see.”

“Ahem.”

The Dragon Emperor cleared his throat, bringing my conversation with Gwyber to an end.

“I would like to hold a strategy meeting with the races gathered here. Lord Fenrir, would you join us?”

“We have no objection.”

“Since our fate depends on this meeting, we would be honored.”

“Then, for the others, we have prepared rooms. Please rest there.”

So it was a situation where the bosses would have their meeting while we rested.

“Please, follow me.”

Gwyber spoke up, and the rest of us followed her as we left the throne room.