Chapter 144 - A Troublesome Word

Valdrova's enormous form drew closer and, at the same time, grew smaller.

She was in the middle of using Polymorph.

"Lord Ferda, close your eyes."

"Why?"

"When she comes closer, Lady Valdrova will arrive as a human. Then you will see her face."

She had a point.

So Ferda asked her cautiously.

"Could I not look just a little?"

"... I will correct myself. Turn your entire body around. If you turn your head, I will bathe you myself."

He had gotten greedy for no reason and only made her more wary.

He turned his head as Luri told him to, and the approaching wind pressure suddenly vanished.

Instead, he heard the sound of someone landing lightly on the ground.

"Master, it is here."

"Mm."

Something clattered along with a clear voice.

Glancing at Ferda, she asked Luri.

"Luri, I don't look strange, do I?"

"You look as you always do. There is nothing to worry about."

"Mm... there isn't anything weird stuck to me...?"

"In this Luri's eyes, I see nothing at all, so there is nothing to worry about."

"W-What about my voice?"

"What would there be to change?"

"Mm! Right! Ahem!"

She cleared her throat and vented the heat of her boiling heart.

He had turned his back, not gone deaf.

At the trembling sweetness in her voice, Ferda's chest vibrated too.

That voice made him feel anxious along with her.

"It is done."

At Luri's words, Ferda turned around.

Before his eyes sat a breathtakingly beautiful woman wearing a mask.

The valiant figure that had fought moments ago was gone, and a shy woman with vicious horns sat there instead.

It felt new.

After seeing only dragon knight armor at this tea table every time, having a small and beautiful woman there made him feel nervous, as if this were their first meeting.

'I still can't believe it.'

That he had danced beneath the moonlight with a woman like this.

"I greet Your Grace."

"Yes, Mr. Ferda!"

She was brimming with completely unnecessary spirit.

She brought up the topic first.

"A-Are your wounds all right?"

"Yes, both then and now, there is nothing for you to worry about."

"Uu... I'm sorry. I got too excited and did that to you, Mr. Ferda..."

"It was nothing. Everyone made such a fuss over it that I was more embarrassed by that."

Ferda desperately tried to reassure her.

Surprisingly, that came from Ferda's own desire.

After all that effort, their relationship had finally gone from holding hands to embracing.

He could not let her put distance between them again.

Ferda's resolve was that he would rather brace himself to have his heart pierced and hug her one more time.

Just as Ferda felt that way, Valdrova felt the same.

"Next time, I'll bring a definite solution! One that doesn't stab you, Mr. Ferda!"

"Could you... not hide your horns?"

Ferda carefully offered a solution.

Did Luri not go around hiding her draconic features?

From long ago, other dragons had hidden their appearances and enjoyed their games among people.

That was why he thought Valdrova might also be able to hide her horns and tail.

"It would be nice if I could, but even if I can do something about my tail, I can't do anything about my horns..."

If she said so, what could he do?

It was a terribly heartbreaking matter.

He soothed his bitter stomach with black tea.

"Um... how was I?"

"When you say how were you...?"

"When I was fighting. When I fought the demonic creatures... I was curious how I looked."

Fights always felt similar.

Overwhelming, brutal, and merciless.

Valdrova had done everything befitting the name Aspect of Power.

The pattern was similar, but to Ferda, she always seemed new.

"You had the bearing worthy of an Aspect. If the people of Hestia village had seen you, it would have stirred their love for their homeland."

"Is that so?"

Valdrova did not know what love for one's homeland meant, but she roughly assumed it was something good.

But that was not the reason she had asked the question.

Her fidgeting fingers gave that away.

"Then, um..."

After shyly swallowing her words, she asked.

"Were you tur."

"Tur?"

"Turned on?"

"Pffft!"

Instead of answering, there was the grand sound of black tea spraying out.

Rather than say anything, Ferda covered his face and turned his head.

The person who had dropped the bomb was flustered too and asked.

"M-Mr. Ferda, are you all right? What's wrong?!"

Valdrova panicked, and Ferda could not open his mouth.

Watching the entire situation, Luri's eyes lit with fire.

"Master, did you know what that word meant when you said it just now?"

"Hm? Well... I heard men use it in that sense when they like women..."

"And do you also know how vulgar that word is?"

A deep shadow fell over Luri's face.

"That it is something you must not use even as a sovereign?"

"Uh..."

"That it is something a woman must not say to a man?"

"I didn't know that... Mr. Ferda, did I commit a discourtesy?"

Ferda did not answer and lowered his head.

The black tea still left in his mouth dripped down from his lips.

"Look at this. He has been left speechless and cannot do anything now, has he not?"

"I-I'm sorry! Mr. Ferda... I was rude again... Because I'm stupid, I..."

"No, cough, not at all. I merely choked, so please do not take it too much to heart..."

Ferda could not look at Valdrova's face.

Thinking she had been hated, Valdrova swallowed a groan.

In that awkward atmosphere, Luri spoke like a mother.

"For now, please return to the cave. We will continue our 'talk' there."

"Uuuu..."

Valdrova drooped and flew back with a flap of her wings.

When Valdrova had left and only the cold wind of the summit filled the silence,

"Lord Ferda, Master has gone."

"... I see."

"You should get up now. Do you not have work to do?"

"I should..."

Though he said that, Ferda could not easily rise from his seat.

At that strange sight, Luri tilted her head, then asked Ferda with a doubtful feeling.

"... Were you truly turned on?"

"..."

Ferda could not answer.

Contact came from the Blue Tower.

-We purified the polluted land near the waterway. We will reopen it toward the far east.

Purified was what she called it, but in truth, it would be more accurate to say they had lifted out the whole piece of land and covered it with new soil.

At any rate, clean water would soon begin to flow, and the citizens would cheer at the news that they no longer had to drink the tiresome water drawn from the Land of Demons.

-And there is one proposal I would like to make.

"Please speak."

-We would like to proceed with a full-scale investment in that water-purifying weight of Burnel Marquis's. What do you think?

"If you provide an investment, we would of course be grateful, but what do you want?"

-It isn't anything major. Since we were allies, what we hope for as a favor is that you would say we were cooperating in this development as well.

She was asking him to save their face.

The fact that polluted water, something the Aspects of Water had been unable to handle, had been purified was a blow to the pride of the dragon spawns.

Burnel Marquis's value just keeps rising.

"We are allies, and if you are offering support, I have no reason to refuse, but I believe I must discuss it with Burnel first."

-Yes, it is, after all, a matter with scholars' pride on the line. It is fine if you resolve it slowly.

Erica did not act coercive either.

Acting relaxed as if it were not an urgent matter was the most basic of basics.

-In any case, I also contacted the high elf side.

It was about deciphering the records left behind by the dark elf, Director Linne.

He waited for her words, inwardly hoping she would tell him to come now.

-They told me to contact them again this summer, unless it is an urgent matter.

"Is something happening over there?"

-We do not know either. When it comes to elves, if something goes wrong, they are the sort to skip over ten years like it is nothing.

Skip over ten years...

Put that way, asking him to wait until summer felt very short indeed.

"That is good news. I cannot leave this place for the time being anyway, since things are underway here as well."

-Even when this is a situation where the chaos on the continent can be prevented, acting like that is very much like high elves. Long-lived races binding their minds together and acting so shady.

"Are you not also a long-lived race?"

-Do we look the same as those lazy bastards to you?

Venom entered her voice.

Well, just as it would feel unpleasant to lump orcs and humans together as short-lived races, it must be the same for dragon spawns.

"At any rate, understood. I will tell the administrator."

-I will bring you more good news soon, so please take good care of that matter on your end too.

With that, he cut off contact with Erica.

Soon, news came that the large procession of nobles moving with the imperial army had safely entered the Empire.

The person who delivered that news was William.

"How was the banquet?"

-It is incredibly splendid. People are saying it is incomparable to the one held at Valdrova Castle.

As Regent, Ferda found that unpleasant to hear, but at the same time, he had no choice but to accept it.

'That was the point from the beginning.'

Alexander must have pushed himself somewhat in order to wash away his disgrace, as well as to show that the Empire was greater.

The exhilaration of entering the imperial palace, where it was said to be difficult even to set foot inside once.

The scale of the banquet that answered that exhilaration and expectation.

He must have intended to make the banquet at Valdrova Castle look like a neighborhood party.

"So the atmosphere is favorable?"

-On the surface, the atmosphere is good, but...

William spoke in an awkward tone.

-I think there is going to be a problem.

"What do you mean?"

-His Highness the Crown Prince's movements are unusual.

From what he had observed as a third party, this was what had happened.

Alexander Arken, the Crown Prince, had met and greeted the nobles and knights one by one in front of the castle gate as they entered.

He was said to have praised them as true heroes and patriots of this country.

Even at the banquet once it began in earnest, he was busy elevating the nobles.

For those who dreamed of the Empire Dream, it was something that would make their pride surge.

-This looks less like simply praising heroes and more like there is another intention.

"It does seem that way."

If there was something to be gained by elevating them, it was gaining them as his allies.

In other words, Alexander was in the middle of coaxing two hundred and fifty young ladies and young lords to his side.

In the current situation, there was nothing Ferda could do anyway.

"Observe how it develops until tomorrow and tell me."

-Yes, understood.

The mana of the communication sphere dispersed, and Ferda stared at the crystal ball for a long while.

'The reason Alexander is gaining allies...'

There were countless reasons.

There was the way he had cursed them as lackeys of the Demons, or the fact that the corps under his command had been annihilated wholesale.

There were obvious reasons, but Alexander would not do this for only those obvious reasons.

He was putting those obvious reasons forward while hiding another true intention behind them.

What could that be?

'Olivia... perhaps.'

No matter how he thought about it, it was highly likely to be groundwork meant to stop her.

Considering her extraordinary mind, it would be a lie to say she had not predicted even this situation.

What kind of wit would Olivia use to respond?

Whatever it was, she would be able to resolve it skillfully.

Because that was the kind of person Olivia was, as Ferda had seen her.

The next day,

William reported in an exceedingly solemn tone.

-As expected, a problem has occurred.

"In what way?"

-In the assessment of merits for this war, Her Highness the Princess's achievements were announced at an undervalued level.

Yesterday's concern had become reality.

"Tell me in detail."

William explained the situation.

After the banquet ended, there was a medal-awarding ceremony based on merit, and at that time, Olivia objected after seeing the list and the criteria for evaluating merits.

He wondered how low they could have assessed her, and then,

-In the merits for this operation, Her Highness the Princess's contribution was assessed at three percent.

That is rather severe.