Chapter 215 — 용아병단(龍牙兵團)

Chapter 215

Dragon Fang Corps (龍牙兵團)

“What an impudent brat.”

“He’s got absolutely no manners, has he?”

“We’re still his ancestors, and yet...”

After Elric vanished.

In the unconscious world, the six Winter vassals kept grumbling at one another.

Elric’s polite request that they mind their manners from now on.

They knew all too well what it really meant.

- If I don't like it, next time I'll smash your skull first.

Didn’t those words ring a bell?

“That’s Otto Han.”

“Otto Han, indeed.”

“…Hasn’t it been ages? How is it the Mervingers never change.”

Their lord in life, Otto Han.

He was cheerful and warm, considerate of others.

Only problem: if something rubbed him wrong, he started by cracking skulls first.

Above all, he hated anyone mouthing off in front of him.

But now that Elric was showing the same side—

Courteous to the end, sure, but they could not miss the sharp barbs hidden inside.

It meant there’d be no mercy next time.

Which boiled down to one thing.

- Get under my command.

For the Winter Six, who still wanted to keep observing Elric, that was a hard pill to swallow.

But Elric made it clear that unless they came under him, he wouldn’t pay them much mind either, which was vexing.

“He’s so very Mervinger, isn’t he. So what do you plan to do?”

Seated at the lowest seat on the right, Nahatram glanced left with a faint smile.

Having already linked up with Elric, he looked comfortable in many ways.

If anything, he looked like he was teasing the other vassals.

He’d slain a Demon King alongside Elric—call them comrades-in-arms—while the others had missed their chance.

To reach Elric now they’d have to swallow their pride, and for those who’d survived long ages on aloof arrogance, that kind of shift didn’t come easy.

But then—

Mia, the “Ice Blossom,” seated at the second-lowest seat, slowly rose.

All the Winter Six, who’d been feigning disinterest, turned to her.

Even Nahatram blinked in surprise.

The Mia he knew cared for nothing outside her own interests.

“You’re going too?”

Mia quietly nodded.

“I want to see dragons again.”

“Mm.”

Nahatram nodded; her knowledge was too valuable to waste.

It was a good chance to restore the Authority of the “Founder of Dragons,” lost since the Progenitor closed his eyes.

The question was whether Elric would accept her.

“You think he’ll take you in so easily?”

“He will. Because—”

Mia spoke as if she had no concerns.

“He’ll need my knowledge.”

Elric, to ask for her help, would bow his head on his own—or so she firmly believed.

But—

“Not so sure...”

Having dealt with Elric a few times, Nahatram doubted things would go as Mia thought.

The Elric he had seen was no pushover.

‘We’ll see.’

Nahatram couldn’t help but smile at the thought that it might not be long before these pride-stuffed folk were left floundering, at a loss.

* * *

“The head! Head, head, head! Split that part carefully!”

“Wider—wider! You think your wife’s going to love you if you’re that timid?”

“Aaaagh!”

“Oh ancestor, honored one, forgive us for laying hands so irreverently upon your august remains...!”

“Mr. Frok, what are you doing? Move it! Can’t you see everyone’s busy with their hoes?”

“Huh? Y-Yes! Coming! Go!”

Around the collapsed Nest, it was packed with the Army of the Stars and the Borfuur tribespeople alike.

They were carefully excavating the dragon’s body buried under the rockfall.

Already ravaged by the battle with the Demon King, they had to be doubly careful not to harm the corpse further.

The dragon’s body brought into the light was enormous.

Even with its eyes closed—

Even with dried blood stark between split scales—

It exuded a majesty that made onlookers swallow dry and avert their gaze.

“This is…!”

“The very one we only heard about…!”

For the Borfuur, who had long served the priestess and treated the Guardian Dragon’s Nest as a sanctuary, the emotion was exceptional.

Not only had it protected the clan from the incursion of two Demon Kings, but even in death, out of “concern” for the human descendants who would remain here, it had tried to share its strength.

- The Guardian Dragon told me so himself.

- I-Is that really true…?

- Would I lie about that? Ask the priestess.

Elric persuaded the hesitating Borfuur that way, and only after Sarnai, catching on, chimed in at just the right moments did they finally come around.

Thus, moved to tears, the Borfuur began putting blades to the Guardian Dragon’s body to carry out its last will.

Under normal circumstances they’d never dare lay hands on the august remains, but Elric’s persuasion was that they had to follow its will.

If they didn’t inherit the Guardian Dragon’s power, the Demon Kings who defiled the sanctuary might trample them again.

The need to have strength awakened them.

Along with a healthy hatred for the demons.

『Your scamming is top-tier at this point.』

[Call it a white lie. And it’s not entirely untrue, is it?]

Of course, the Guardian Dragon had never mentioned any descendants here.

He’d merely handed over his heart and body as part of a bargain, hoping Elric would raise the three eggs well.

But if Elric claimed the corpse as his own outright, the Borfuur would only push back, so he’d concocted a plausible cover.

[Either way, to forge artifacts from that hide and bone we’ll need a furnace or the like—we don’t have one. We’ll end up borrowing theirs, so think of it as sharing some as payment.]

Mephisto nodded as if to say, Do as you please.

[More importantly.]

『…?』

[We follow the method you taught, right? If you later say you mixed up the order or your dementia’s acting up and you don’t remember, I swear I’m cracking your skull.]

『How many lizards do you think this king hunted in his youth? I’ve skinned more of them for trophies than I can count. What’s so hard about handling one that’s already at death’s door?』

[And who was it that got backstabbed by “that lizard” and sealed away for over a thousand years, remind me?]

『…』

Mephisto averted his gaze and let the question pass.

[Anyway, we should pick up the pace.]

Seeing Hermann, Sailor, and the rest jump in to help with the disassembly, Elric’s eyes gleamed.

The Army of the Stars, along with the Blue Lion Army and the Gray Lion Army, all had their eyes shining.

The prospect of armor of dragonhide and weapons carved from dragonbone had them excited.

They’d already been briefed on the procedure per Mephisto’s advice.

From here on, what they needed was painstaking precision that brooked not a single mistake, and clockwork division of labor.

“All right, let’s begin.”

As everyone moved in perfect order under Elric’s command—

Elric dragged Mephisto around, meticulously checking for any oversights.

* * *

While the disassembly and the cleanup of the battlefield proceeded apace—

Isabel rode over to Elric.

“They’re gone.”

Elric broke off from instructing a soldier and turned to her. The soldier sensed the importance and quickly stepped aside.

“We gave them a chance to find a way to live, and they kicked it away with their own feet. Consistent, if nothing else.”

Elric let out a faint chuckle, but what clung to his lips was closer to a sneer—the cold curve of a predator about to seize the nape of fleeing prey.

And that prey was Count Caliger.

From the camp, the count and his closest retainers had vanished without a trace.

“I’ve been watching them, actually.”

Elric pointed upward with his index finger. A crow happened to be circling overhead.

Caaaw! Caw!

Isabel asked, face set.

“What shall we do?”

“What else? We take them.”

Elric’s eyes went cold.

“The punishment we’ve dragged out for over ten years—at last we can do it properly.”

Elric shifted his gaze in the direction the crow was flying.

Somewhere over there, Count Caliger and his party would be.

* * *

Thud-thud-thud!

“F-Father…! Could we slow down a little…!”

“Don’t spout nonsense! Do you know what kind of man Mervinger is? Once he learns we fled, you think he’ll let us go? We need to get as far from here as possible!”

Rodeo’s breath was up to his throat, but under his father’s frantic urge to get as far from Elric Mervinger as possible, he had to keep lashing his horse.

“We’re in the heart of enemy territory! Surrounded by savages—no telling when we’ll catch his eye…!”

Riding ahead, Count Caliger clutched a large coffer to his chest.

He hugged it so tight, like a treasured jewel, that Rodeo’s gaze couldn’t help but be drawn to it.

‘What on earth is in there…?’

When the count moved to assassinate Elric and came back, his hands held not Elric’s head but that chest.

He’d said it was worth far more than Elric’s head could ever be.

With it, they would no longer need to fear Elric and the Mervingers.

The Fourth Prince, even the Crown Prince—no, the Imperial Family itself—would step in to shield them, he boasted.

So before Elric and the others caught on, he slipped off the field with only a few trusted retainers, including Rodeo.

It was as if he’d not only had command of most retainers and house troops stripped, but surrendered ownership besides.

Count Caliger couldn’t have cared less.

So long as he had the treasure in his arms, retainers and soldiers could be reclaimed anytime.

‘Please, let Father be right this time…!’

Rodeo clenched his teeth.

When had it begun? Probably back when he was with the border guard. Since he’d lost his left arm, the family had been on a steep decline.

All since crossing paths with Elric. Setting aside his fury at the man, he wanted nothing more than to never be entangled with him again.

But in Count Caliger’s eyes, clutching the coffer, no spark remained—only a mad, feverish obsession—which made him all the more uneasy.

So, just as he was about to say something to his father—

Thwack!

‘Why… can’t I speak…!’

Grrrk!

A sudden sting in his throat—thinking he’d caught a chill, Rodeo gaped, then toppled sideways foaming blood. Instant death.

“R-Rodeo!”

The count reined in, only then realizing something had happened to his son, and wheeled his horse.

“Y-You… why on earth are you…?”

In his paling gaze, his retainers had drawn blades and were closing in. His closest confidants, the ones he’d cherished like extensions of himself—they had killed Rodeo and were hemming the count in.

“We can’t keep running anymore.”

“We don’t wish to live as Mervinger’s enemies. Forgive us, my lord.”

“Y-You! How dare you…!”

A betrayal he’d never imagined.

Count Caliger’s beard quivered with rage, but—

“We’ll have to ask you to come with us.”

They paid him no mind and swung their swords at the count.

The Talent-Swallowing Magician