Chapter 119: Those Searching for the Dragon Emperor
◆ Liliera ◆
“You are the Dragon Princess, aren’t you?”
“No, I am not.”
As I was walking through town, someone suddenly blocked my path and said that, so I denied it immediately.
“…”
It seems he didn’t expect to be denied in a second, and he floats a blatantly confused expression.
Well, it has nothing to do with me since I’m not the Dragon Princess.
I walked past him silently and headed for the inn.
“W-Wait a moment please, Lady Dragon Princess!”
“I told you, I’m not the Dragon Princess.”
Without even looking back, I cut him off.
“We are those who came from the Royal Capital to protect His Majesty the Dragon Emperor from anti-Dragon Emperor faction nobles. Please, we ask for an audience with His Majesty the Dragon Emperor!”
What is this person saying?
Anti-Dragon Emperor faction? Protecting the Dragon Emperor?
Honestly, this reeks of nothing but trouble.
“Then shouldn’t you tell His Majesty the Dragon Emperor directly?”
“That is because we do not know where His Majesty the Dragon Emperor is. Therefore, we wish to ask the Dragon Princess to mediate an audience.”
What should I do about this?
Having defeated a dragon in the middle of town, it seems I’m completely marked as the Dragon Princess, and even if I run away, they seem likely to find the inn and barge in.
Good grief, I feel like complaining to Rex for making me fight a dragon solo in such a conspicuous place.
But saying that won’t solve the problem.
Can’t be helped, I have no choice but to stall for time for now. And then we’ll discuss it together.
Making up my mind, I stopped and turned back to the man following me.
“I cannot answer on my own discretion. I need to consult with my companions, so please come again at a later date.”
“Oh, thank you very much!”
No, I didn’t say a word about letting you meet him, though.
“Well then, that’s that.”
Having succeeded in making the opponent wait for now, I started running to avoid getting involved in any more trouble.
“Ah, please wait, Lady Dragon Princess!”
I told you I’m not the Dragon Princess!
◆
“And that’s why, it seems nobles from the Royal Capital want to meet the Dragon Emperor.”
Returning to the inn, I gathered everyone and explained the situation.
“Anti-Dragon Emperor faction nobles, huh. The nobles of this country seem to have various circumstances too.”
Mina sighs in exasperation.
Really, spare me.
“But getting involved is annoying.”
“Meguri is right. Getting involved in noble troubles is honestly dangerous. In the worst case, shouldn’t we consider forfeiting and leaving this country?”
Norb is right.
Until now it was just the townspeople’s misunderstanding, but it gets troublesome when nobles get involved.
“In the first place…”
There, Meguri opens her mouth.
“The one those people think is the Dragon Emperor is Rex. But there is no one who can protect Rex.”
“Pft… That’s true.”
“There ain’t no one who can guard Big Bro.”
“Indeed, rather, it’s safer to have Rex guard us.”
Well, that’s right.
Guarding Rex is meaningless in the first place, and furthermore, Rex being the Dragon Emperor is also a huge misunderstanding.
“But they’re convinced the Dragon Emperor exists, right?”
“Hmmmmm.”
This is truly troublesome.
Even if we say the Dragon Emperor doesn’t exist, since they believe he does, they’ll just think we’re lying.
A non-existent Dragon Emperor in the first place, troublesome noble squabbles, requests to participate in the Dragon Princess Rite and Dragon Emperor Rite.
Hmm, it might be better to just throw everything away and leave this country.
If we explain the situation, surely the Guild Master won’t force us to participate in the rites.
Just as I was about to suggest giving up on participating in the rites, Ryune, who had been silent until now, raised her hand.
“Um, in that case, how about we go with the setting that His Majesty the Dragon Emperor is hiding his presence even from us?”
“What do you mean?”
“Yes, the person from the Royal Capital says he intends to protect His Majesty the Dragon Emperor from nobles who wish him harm.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“That means, couldn’t it be thought that His Majesty the Dragon Emperor also senses the existence of those who would harm him?”
Ah, I see, that’s it.
“Since the Dragon Emperor is hiding so his existence isn’t discovered by the hostile faction, we just have to insist that we don’t know where the Dragon Emperor is either.”
“Yes, that is correct. And we set it up so that Lord Dragon Emperor, no, Master Rex and the others are participating in the tournament as body doubles to protect the real His Majesty the Dragon Emperor from hostile forces.”
Indeed, that creates a reason why we can’t let them meet the non-existent Dragon Emperor.
“Understood, let’s go with that.”
Then we just have to deceive them well until the rites are over.
◆ Nobles of the Royal Capital ◆
“It seems those of the Dragon Emperor faction have made contact with the girl believed to be the Dragon Princess.”
After several reports, finally, a report came in that the Dragon Emperor faction had arrived in the town of Tatsutron.
“And what happened?”
“According to the subordinate who was monitoring, it seems the Dragon Emperor has not revealed his identity even to the Dragon Princess and her group. Therefore, they say they don’t know who the Dragon Emperor is even if they wanted to guard him.”
That is again, quite a drastic measure.
“It must mean he doesn’t have subordinates he can trust that much.”
Many nobles in this country profit from the absence of the Dragon Emperor.
And those who cannot fully enjoy the profits are lower-ranking nobles with little power.
In other words, it means they are somewhat unreliable for the Dragon Emperor to trust as allies.
“But then, doesn’t the Dragon Emperor‘s true identity remain unknown after all?”
“No, apparently those close to the Dragon Princess are all body doubles of the Dragon Emperor. The reduction of Dragon Emperor candidates will be useful for future investigations.”
“Good grief, so we have no choice but to investigate steadily in the end.”
“But that’s the same for the Dragon Emperor faction.”
Comrades sighing at being back to square one.
“However, is that true?”
“What is?”
One of the brethren frowns suspiciously.
“The story that the Dragon Princess doesn’t know the Dragon Emperor‘s true identity.”
“Are you saying she’s lying to the Dragon Emperor faction?”
“You said it yourself earlier. That he has no trustworthy subordinates. There is a possibility that the Dragon Princess feigned ignorance saying they don’t know the Dragon Emperor‘s true identity precisely because she couldn’t trust the Dragon Emperor faction.”
I see, meaning she judged that Dragon Emperor faction nobles with little power could rather become a hindrance.
“But even if we ask her directly, she won’t tell us, will she?”
“Yeah, that’s why we’ll have the Dragon Emperor himself appear.”
“The Dragon Emperor himself?”
What does that mean?
“Exactly. Take the Dragon Princess hostage and call out the Dragon Emperor. If we do that, even the Dragon Emperor will have no choice but to appear.”
“I see. Indeed, then the Dragon Emperor would be forced to act.”
It is cowardly, but in the world of nobles, it is a daily occurrence.
Rather, as nobles, one could even say it’s the fault of the one who falls for such a trick.
“Alright, let’s adopt that plan!”
◆
“There was a report from the subordinate.”
A few days later, a report came back from the subordinate who received the order to capture the Dragon Princess.
“Oh, how was it!”
“…Umu, they were annihilated.”
“…What?”
“Annihilated. They mobilized all the subordinates who were defeated in the qualifiers to attack the Dragon Princess, but apparently, they were beaten back.”
“D-Does that mean the enemy also anticipated the Dragon Princess would be targeted and deployed soldiers?”
If so, does it mean the Dragon Emperor is reading our moves!?
“No, apparently they were beaten up by the Dragon Princess alone.”
“What?”
No, you said they mobilized all the subordinates, right?
Those people are skilled individuals working for our covert operations, you know?
And you sent dozens of them?
“…Is that, really human?”
“I think she’s probably human, but…”
However, the reality seems to be that the subordinates were annihilated.
“Kuh, what should we do? At this rate, we cannot find out the Dragon Emperor‘s true identity!?”
“Do not give up! There are still means! That’s right! Target those related to the Dragon Princess! No matter how much of a monster the Dragon Princess is, not all of the Dragon Princess‘s associates can be monsters! If we capture even one of the Dragon Emperor‘s companions, we should be able to lure out the Dragon Emperor!”
“Th-That’s right. No matter what, there’s no way everyone is a monster.”
Why is it, everyone is very motivated, but I have a very bad feeling.
◆
“Everyone was beaten back…”
“WERE THEY ALL MONSTERS!!”
Just how skilled are the Dragon Emperor’s subordinates!?
Don’t tell me we were the ones lured out instead!?
“Also, the subordinates lost confidence and submitted their resignations.”
Thus, the operation to lure out the Dragon Emperor using the Dragon Princess and her associates ended in failure…
