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After the knights’ excitement and awe had settled a little, we approached the Earth Dragon lying on the ground. Seeing it up close again, it was enormous.
“What should we do with this?”
When Rebecca asked while looking toward Lord Lancian, he thought for a moment and then headed toward the carriage, seemingly intending to leave the decision to Ann.
Kneeling in front of the carriage door, he raised his voice without opening it.
“Your Highness the Princess, the Earth Dragon has been subjugated. We can either transport it to the nearest town, or inform the next town that it has been left here. Which would you prefer? Transporting it may delay our journey slightly. Leaving it behind may cause the valuable materials of the Earth Dragon to go to waste.”
After Lord Lancian explained the disadvantages of both options, Ann answered from inside the carriage almost immediately, “Let’s transport it.” Then she asked a knight to open the carriage door and gracefully stepped down.
“I would like to express my thanks in person. Everyone, thank you for protecting me from the Earth Dragon.”
When Ann smiled and performed a beautiful curtsy after stepping onto the ground, everyone present could not help but stare in admiration. Ann really was beautiful. She had elegance and grace that naturally captured one’s attention. Truly worthy of a princess.
“N-Not at all, it was only natural.”
Lord Lancian, who had been kneeling nearby, spoke on behalf of the others. Ann smiled warmly and then began walking toward the Earth Dragon—and toward us.
“Luca-san and Rebecca-san. The two of you were the ones who played the central role in defeating it, correct? Thank you. I’m glad I asked the two of you to escort me.”
“Thank you for your generous words.”
“It is a great honor.”
When we replied formally, Ann lightly winked at us where the knights could not see. Seeing that, Rebecca and I couldn’t help but smile.
The dignified, princess-like Ann was wonderful too, but I still felt most at ease when she acted like her natural self.
“Please take care of me from here on as well.”
“Of course.”
“Even so, an Earth Dragon is this large.”
“Your Highness! It is dangerous to get so close!”
When Ann reached out to touch the Earth Dragon’s scales, Lord Lancian hurried over in alarm.
“But it’s already dead, isn’t it?”
“Even so, its scales are extremely sharp and may injure your hands. There is also the possibility that it emits toxic substances, or that it could revive from a state of suspended animation. We cannot say those possibilities are absolutely impossible.”
“Hehe, you worry too much.”
After giving an exaggerated explanation in hopes she would understand the danger, Lord Lancian watched as Ann smiled softly and stepped away from the Earth Dragon.
Lord Lancian really was sincerely worried about Ann. Watching this made it understandable why Ann felt uneasy about leaving things as they were while pretending to be dead.
When the Empire was restored to normal, we would return to the Kingdom just as Ann wished. And we would help her become truly free.
“Well then, I will return to the carriage. Please take care of transporting the Earth Dragon.”
“Understood.”
Together with the knights, we placed the Earth Dragon onto a large cloth, then used several horses and many people pulling ropes tied to the cloth to transport it to a nearby town.
Several days passed after that. Although we were slightly delayed by transporting the Earth Dragon, we still reached the border town within the scheduled time. Tonight we would stay in this town, and tomorrow morning Ann would enter the Empire.
“…Your Highness the Princess, the road ahead may become quite difficult starting tomorrow. Please take your time and rest well tonight.”
Lord Lancian spoke with a somewhat sorrowful expression to Ann as she stepped down from the carriage to enter the governor’s residence. Hearing his words, Ann lowered her eyebrows slightly and shifted her gaze.
After slowly looking around at the royal guard knights, she gave a fleeting smile and spoke.
“Thank you very much for devoting your strength to me until now. I will never forget all of you. Please take care of me until tomorrow.”
Just imagining the feelings of the knights made my heart ache. Throughout the journey so far, it had been clear that Ann was well loved by them. For someone like Ann to go to such a dangerous place… a place where even her life might be at risk, must be very painful for them.
Once Ann entered the residence guided by the governor of this town, we began moving toward a nearby inn. About ten knights remained at the residence as guards, while the rest of the personnel would stay at the inn.
“Luca, I’m glad there haven’t been any major problems so far.”
Rebecca spoke with a relieved smile, and I nodded in agreement.
“I’m really glad too. Maybe defeating the Earth Dragon had a big impact.”
Apparently the news that we had defeated an Earth Dragon spread quite quickly, and in every town we passed through people asked us about the battle. Because of that, our strength probably became widely known, which was why the journey remained so peaceful up to this point.
“So even getting attacked by the Earth Dragon wasn’t entirely a bad thing.”
“It helped improve our abilities too.”
But from here on, everything inside the Empire was truly unknown. I hoped the plan would succeed without problems… Even while feeling uneasy, I clenched my fist with the determination to save Ann no matter what.
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