Neighborhood Visitor (5)

We appeared before the Emperor.

The Emperor, placing his hand on the concubine’s shoulder, suddenly jumped up with a surprised look on his face.

Flinching at the glowing phenomenon caused by teleportation, he saw my face and Rurin’s, and shrank back again, like a turtle retracting its head into its shell.

“You!”

The Emperor recognized my face and closed his mouth, which had been about to call for the knights.

“It’s been a while, Your Majesty.”

Since he is still the Emperor, I showed proper courtesy. The Emperor then bowed his head towards Rurin as well.

“Oh, it has been a while, Great One.”

“Who are you?”

Rurin responded with a look as if she was seeing someone for the first time. The Emperor let out a faint, helpless laugh.

“Hey, we used to meet often, back when you were in the capital.”

“I don’t remember the faces of humans!”

Rurin crossed her arms and declared her logic confidently. Ignoring her, I turned back to the Emperor, who continued to address Rurin.

“You are still with Ellison, I see.”

Thinking Rurin might say something strange again, I answered first. Her expression was haughty, as if to say, ‘Know my identity and bow down’.

“Yes, well, I’m still with the parasite.”

It wasn’t the Emperor but Rurin who reacted immediately. She bit my arm sharply and got angry.

“Who are you calling a parasite!”

“Then what are you?”

“I’m your partner!”

She answered while still biting my arm. It seemed she was saying she was my partner, but I ignored it.

“Still the same as ever…”

The Emperor laughed nervously, sweating. His face reminded me of when he asked me for help to save the capital during the Dragon War.

Dragons rampaged.

More than half of the capital was destroyed, and the foundation of the Empire was crumbling.

Remidan, the 24th Emperor of the Empire, was in despair.

To dragons, the title of Emperor was less significant than dust on the street. Dust could at least be brushed off, but to dragons, the existence of an Emperor wasn’t even worth that.

There was no need for dialogue.

Neither the Emperor, nor the dukes, counts, numerous nobles, nor the knights could stop the dragons.

No one could stop the dragons’ fight.

Moreover, most of the troops had left the capital due to the Monster War.

Of course, even if the troops hadn’t left the capital, it would have only increased the casualties.

The Empire’s firepower wasn’t designed with dragons in mind. There was no army meant to fight dragons.

The problem was that at this rate, the capital, with its thousand-year history, would be completely devastated. The Emperor was terrified of that.

The path to destruction.

Of all times, the dragons had to rampage during his reign. He didn’t want to be remembered as the Emperor who let the capital fall.

How much would he be blamed by history in the future.

Everything went dark before his eyes. But there was no way to avoid it. Other than cursing fate, there was nothing he could do…

Boom!

The building in front of the castle exploded from a stray breath attack. Smoke rose, and fires were spreading everywhere.

“Your Majesty! Your Majesty! You must flee!”

The 1st Knight Commander, shielding the Emperor as the breath attack hit the ground, shouted urgently.

But to the Emperor, the idea of fleeing seemed utterly foolish.

“Where would we flee to? I’ve heard dragon breaths melt everything down to the underground. How could we know the extent of their wrath? Moving might even…”

Thud!

Before the Emperor could finish his sentence, one side of the Palace wall disappeared without a trace, and the area around it started to burn.

And the Knight Commander couldn’t respond. Neither could the usually talkative dukes.

At this moment, he would have preferred their usual opposition, but they all kept silent like mute idiots, shrinking back.

The sudden appearance of dragons without warning was beyond anyone’s expectations.

It was impossible for humans to predict a dragon war. They were just holding court as usual in the Palace when this disaster struck.

Just moments ago, this place was peaceful.

But now, it is hell.

“Y-Your Majesty…! Somewhere, somewhere safe…!”

“Aaagh!”

One of the dukes uttered something meaningless, and a count who was running away screaming was crushed to death by the debris of a collapsing building, brushed by a breath attack.

In such a situation, it was impossible to move recklessly.

The capital of the Empire was falling.

And so were they.

“The people… the people… ah…”

The Emperor lamented and cried out. It would have been better to be a tyrant. Better to be blamed for ruining the country through tyranny than through incompetence.

The Emperor thought this as he looked out beyond the Palace walls.

Boom!

In the distance, he saw black clouds billowing up from the red breath attack that scorched the ground.

“My people…”

The Emperor bit his lip and sank to the ground.

“Is there nothing? Nothing we can do…?”

Were humans such weak creatures? What had he been ruling over?

“Aaagh!”

The duke next to him screamed. A breath attack was headed their way.

Boom!

The Palace in front was hit by the breath attack. The upper part of the Palace fell exactly where the Emperor and nobles were hiding.

It happened in an instant.

No one could think of escaping. No, they couldn’t escape. The Palace collapsed too quickly for human reflexes to react.

Even so, the faithful 1st Knight Commander shielded the Emperor with his body. Of course, it would be meaningless if hit directly by debris. But the Commander did his best to do what he could.

Boom!

Another loud sound echoed. Everyone closed their eyes, thinking death was imminent.

But the end didn’t come. The collapsing Palace debris turned into sand and fell away.

Like a rain of sand.

And in front of them stood a young man. His short black hair fluttered in the wind. The rain of sand ignored gravity, falling to the ground without touching the area around the young man.

Next to the young man stood a woman with an innocent, youthful beauty.

“Wh-who are you there! Protect the Emperor!”

They didn’t know how they survived, but the knights did their best to do their duty. They rose from their crouched positions and surrounded the Emperor.

In the meantime, another breath attack headed straight for them.

The young man raised his hand towards the breath attack. Light flashed from his hand, and in that moment, a glowing sphere swallowed the breath attack.

Boom!

After the sound of power clashing, the sphere reached the body of the Red Dragon that dealt the breath attack.

“Roaaaar!”

The Red Dragon’s roar continued.

No one saw the magic that turned the falling building into sand because they were crouching, but everyone witnessed this scene.

A young man who deflected a dragon’s breath with magic.

The Emperor’s jaw dropped.

“Wh-who are you? H-how did you deflect the dragon’s breath?”

The young man had made a contract to help the Black Dragons fight the Red Dragons.

As a result of that contract, he appeared in the capital.

It was the condition for taking Rurin.

Around the young man was a powerful protective magic that human wizards couldn’t use. That protective magic was the work of the woman beside him.

The Emperor and the dukes couldn’t believe what they were seeing.

A human…!

A human had deflected a dragon’s breath.

How could that be possible?

“Your Majesty, I am human. Because I am human, I am on the side of humans.”

Smiling, the young man continued speaking clearly to the suspicious nobles and the Emperor, especially emphasizing the word ‘human’.

“If you are human, please save us quickly!”

One of the dukes nearby shouted. But Ellison just laughed.

“I am human, but I am not your subordinate. So, there are conditions for my help.”

“You! That Red one is attacking!”

“Then I’ll just kill it.”

The young man reached his hand out again.

Boom!

Soon, a black sphere enveloped the body of the Red Dragon and exploded. A dragon, a mighty dragon, exploded and died right in front of them.

Thud!

The corpse soon fell and destroyed the Palace.

The ground shook, and dust rose.

“What are the conditions?”

He didn’t know what was what, but the young man in front of him claimed to be human.

The Emperor knew that to avoid being branded the last Emperor, he had to agree to any condition.

Though confused, the Emperor was at least shrewd enough for that.

“It’s nothing much. I want to end this war. And beyond that, I want to end the Monster War that has plagued humanity for decades. So if you grant me command of all the Empire’s military power until the war is over, I will gladly help you.”

Even in this urgent situation, the young man’s voice rang out clearly around him.

He had joined this Dragon War for Rurin’s sake anyway. If that was the fate of one who possessed the Heart of the Dragon Lord.

Given the circumstances, the great war between humanity and monsters, unrelated to the Dragon War.

Having been summoned to this world, enduring decades of hardship and battles.

The young man wanted to put an end to that endless struggle.

“Still the same as ever…”

“Well, being consistent is a good thing, isn’t it?”

I shrugged. The Emperor laughed again.

“What on earth happened? You left everything behind and disappeared.”

“It’s nothing special. Just a small matter. Ah, come to think of it, I met the Crown Prince a few months ago.”

“You met him?”

At the sudden mention of his son, the Emperor’s eyebrows twitched.

“He has big dreams.”

“Hmm.”

The Emperor scratched his cheek but didn’t give any other response.

Recently, the Emperor was known to have been neglecting state affairs due to his concubines. But the Emperor I knew wasn’t that kind of person.

An Emperor who always thought of his people, even during the war. Of course, he only thought about it and never managed to set policies for the people, hindered by the opposition of the nobles. So he wasn’t a wise ruler, but he wasn’t a fool or a tyrant either.

“Aren’t the recent rumors about Your Majesty all because of the Crown Prince? Hiding yourself and pretending to leave everything to the dukes to raise him strong…?”

“You’re still the same as ever.”

“Hey, stop biting already. My arm isn’t jerky.”

During the conversation, I felt Rurin’s saliva dripping on my arm. Calling her a parasite led to a persistent retaliation.

“I don’t know!”

Her pronunciation was slurred because she was still biting my arm.

“Being a parasite isn’t necessarily bad. My cute parasite… something like that…?”

“I don’t want to be a parasite! Your…?”

Rurin finally released her bite and responded normally, then held her cheek. She seemed pleased with the ‘my’ part of ‘my parasite’. Thanks to that, my arm was finally free. The Emperor alternated his gaze between us and took a deep breath.

“So, with the Great One… Well. Even if I leave this to future generations, would they believe it? They’d call me the boastful Emperor, wouldn’t they?”