SWNOVELXO Chapter 418
Dagdak
Dagdak
The road leading out of the Dragon Kingdom and getting closer to the Spine Empire.
As a result, the mountain path gradually became a well-maintained road, touched by human hands, rather than a randomly maintained one.
It was a sign that the distance to the Spine Empire was not far.
Though unintentional, the monsters, having rested enough over the past few days, led the carriage with lively steps.
Crunch
Inside the carriage, Kurt opened his mouth while eating homemade cookies, which he had also shared with Albert, and which Albert firmly believed were made by Yuri.
“Still, if it’s a dragon, shouldn’t they be able to use some kind of teleportation magic to move to the Spine Empire in one go? Even though we were promised rewards in the Dragon Kingdom, we can’t get anything to make up for the delayed schedule. Even though it wasn’t a full-scale rebellion, we still stopped one. Shouldn’t they at least give us some kind of reward?”
To Kurt’s dissatisfied voice, Daria shook her head and replied.
“No, even for dragons, that’s impossible. Spatial magic was classified as cutting-edge technology even during the Ancient Empire era. Plus, since spatial magic is related to Dimensional Gates, the Holy Kingdom also sanctions any research on spatial magic as soon as they see it.”
“Hoo. Is that so… Still, we finally managed to escape that tedious Dragon Kingdom. Who would have thought we’d get caught up in such things just as we’re about to reach the Spine Empire?”
Kurt looked back in the direction of the Dragon Kingdom with a relieved expression.
In fact, when Kurt and his party first entered the Dragon Kingdom, they had no idea they would get involved in the political struggles among the dragons.
At first, they planned to pass straight through the capital of the Dragon Kingdom and cross the border. Like in Kurt’s world, transportation in this world also tends to develop around major cities, especially the capital, so Kurt’s party planned to follow the well-maintained roads around the Dragon Kingdom’s capital and head straight to the Spine Empire.
However, that plan fell apart the moment they stayed in the capital for a night’s rest.
The dragon family in charge of the capital’s administration gave various excuses and refused to issue a travel permit.
At first, they thought it was just the dragons’ usual nitpicking toward the Holy Kingdom and assumed that after a few days of keeping a low profile, they would be satisfied and issue the permit. However, the officials at the government office, who worked according to the dragons’ whims, kept delaying by giving obviously flimsy excuses, repeating that they couldn’t issue the travel permit.
It was during this meaningless squabble that Yuri met Albert.
Even after that, the officials kept coming up with absurd reasons to delay issuing the permit, leaving Kurt’s party stuck in the Dragon Kingdom, anxiously passing the time.
It was only later that they found out that all of this was tied to various political faction fights among the dragons.
In the end, they managed to resolve it, but from Kurt’s perspective, it was a highly unreasonable experience.
The only silver lining was that they could finally smack the face of the dragon who had been dragging his feet on issuing the permit with a spear.
Though, if the permit had been issued from the start, that wouldn’t have happened.
At Kurt’s words, Mari forced a smile and tried to put a positive spin on what happened in the Dragon Kingdom.
“Ahaha. Well, let’s think of it as a good opportunity to recover the stamina we lost from all the forced marches.”
“Sigh. What can we do? What happened in the Dragon Kingdom is in the past. We just have to think positively.”
“Still, it was lucky that during our rest, Yuri met an acquaintance who turned out to be the prince of the Dragon Kingdom.”
“That was really a coincidence. Even you, Daria, wouldn’t have expected that the young man who sat in the inn every day playing card games was the dragon prince, right?”
“Oh my. Yuri, dear. I had a rough idea that he was a dragon.”
“What!? Daria!?”
“Of course. Among the things I learned in the Holy Kingdom, there were techniques to identify wizards and dragons infiltrating human society. I thought he was suspicious when he first approached, so I assigned Yuri to keep an eye on him.”
In fact, Daria had guessed early on that Albert was a dragon in disguise.
Even in the difficult situation where the travel permit wasn’t issued, letting Yuri hang out with Albert was partly to monitor him and figure out his intentions or use him.
“Then, did Yuri know too!?”
“What!? That!! Actually!! Is that so!?”
“Ah… So you didn’t know.”
“Huhu. It seems Yuri isn’t very good at acting.”
“…That’s true.”
“I!! Had!! No!! Idea!!”
“Well, even so, I wouldn’t have expected that dragon to be the prince of the Dragon Kingdom.”
“I see.”
And so, Kurt’s party chatted about the slightly shocking truth that had come to light.
Listening quietly to the women’s chatter, Kurt sighed and added a comment.
“Anyway, a country ruled by dragons is really exhausting.”
As Kurt recalled the memories of being tormented by dragons throughout the Dragon Kingdom, the rest of the party, who had also suffered under the Eclair family, nodded in agreement.
“Still, not all dragons are bad people.”
However, not everyone agreed with Kurt’s statement.
The only dragons Kurt’s party had met in the Dragon Kingdom were Duke Eclair and Eclessia, who had disguised herself as a receptionist, so they had no reason to have a good impression of dragons. However, Yuri, who had become friends with Albert over a few days, didn’t think all dragons were bad.
“Still, Albert, I mean, Albert treated humans equally, even more so than other nobles I’ve known. There must be many good dragons like him in the Dragon Kingdom.”
And so.
Even though most dragons might be unbearably arrogant, not all dragons are evil, and Albert’s unpretentious actions were yielding small results in places he didn’t know.
Especially since that evaluation came from Yuri, it would have been enough to give Albert hope if he had heard it.
“Huhu. Yuri, you must have really liked Albert.”
At Yuri’s attitude, Liche couldn’t help but tease her with a mischievous smile.
“Of course. Albert is my precious friend.”
“…Ah. Yes.”
But Yuri didn’t even notice Liche’s teasing and answered so innocently that it left Liche flustered.
If Albert had heard that, it would have been enough to crush his hopes.
Even though all sorts of things happened in the Dragon Kingdom, the incidents during the journey eventually become memories.
After talking for a while about the events involving Duke Eclair, the party seemed to have let go of their lingering feelings.
“Still, dragons are tiresome for now. For the time being, what I’ve read in books about dragons is enough.”
“Books?”
“A book I read when I was young. It was full of slander about dragons, and I used to think it was a book with strong prejudices against the entire race, but it seems there was some truth to it.”
At that moment, Lakia, who usually didn’t join Kurt’s conversations, chimed in.
“Really? You used to like dragons and thought they were cool.”
“Hey!! Lakia!!”
Caught off guard by Lakia’s sudden interjection, Kurt panicked and urgently called out to her.
But Lakia ignored Kurt’s call and continued talking about his childhood as if the topic of the Dragon Kingdom was over and it was time to move on to the next subject.
“Huh? Is that really true?”
“Hahaha. Thinking dragons are cool. That’s such a childish thought. There’s no need to be embarrassed. Most young boys think dragons or monsters are cool.”
“Kurt, you were a kid too? I thought you were born an old man.”
“Ugh. Is this karma…?”
For Kurt, recalling his foolish childhood was shameful, but seeing Lakia’s innocent expression as she proudly shared the memories, he gave up on stopping her, thinking it was the return of his childhood misdeeds.
At Lakia’s words, the rest of the party’s eyes sparkled with interest in hearing about Kurt’s rare childhood stories, while only Kurt, the subject of the conversation, couldn’t hide his embarrassment and covered his face with one hand, pretending not to hear.
‘But dragons… I definitely dreamed of meeting one when I was young. Of course, the reason I wanted to meet a dragon wasn’t so childish. Well, maybe the reason I admired them was childish too.’