Chapter title is at the bottom of the chapter.
As Richmond said, there were no signs of dragons in the Royal city of the Land of Dragons, let alone the Wicked Dragon.
Rather than dragons… the buildings had turned to rubble, and it was a very dismal sight, hard to believe that there had ever stood a city there.
She said it happened a week ago, but the smell of something burning was still in the air…
“This is the Solerunadrago Kingdom…”
Clémence, who had changed into human form, bit her lower lip, her shoulders trembled, as she averted her gaze.
“… I see.”
Richmond muttered a single word and silently looked at his hometown, which had been turned into rubble.
Seeing his lonely back, I really wanted to hug him, but… I couldn’t bring myself to speak to him, I couldn’t touch him, I could only stare at him, and I felt so ashamed of myself.
I felt so ashamed of myself for not being able to help someone so important to me at a time like this…
We stood there for a while, but then we made our way toward the Royal castle.
“Is that mountain of debris what is left of the castle…?”
“It appears so… I wonder if there really is a basement there…”
It must have been quite a large castle. As the word “mountain of debirs” suggested, it really was a mountain the size of the one in Japan.
“I don’t think we can get to the basement unless we move this rubble out of the way, but how can we move it out of the way…?”
“Kanade, Leo, stay back a little.”
Richmond turned into a dragon after saying that, and after making sure we backed off, he spat out Dragon Breath from his mouth.
“Hieh…”
At the same time as the sound akin to a bomb exploding, a strong wind with the force of a typhoon hit my face, and I couldn’t keep my eyes open for a while.
This was the impact with Leo sheltering me. I wonder if Leo is okay.
“Lady Kanade, are you injured?”
“N, no. I’m fine. What about you, Leo?”
“I’m good. I’m used to it.”
Used to it!?
I looked at my hair that has gotten disheveled, but Leo’s hair was just as smooth as before, simply dancing in the wind.
Clémence nearby also had silky hair, so why am I the only one!? I hurriedly combed my hair with a hand comb.
“Kanade, did I startle you? Sorry about that.”
As Richmond stroked my cheek, a strange noise resounded around.
“Look, there’s the entrance to the basement.”
His voice made me realize that the mountain of debris that had been there a moment ago was completely gone.
Ehh!? It was a mountain you know, that entire mountain disappeared, you know!!??
“The Wicked Dragon may have noticed us with that breath. I will fly around this area. As soon as you enter the basement, Kanade, you must summon the house.”
“O, okay!”
Ugh… I’m getting more and more nervous…
“Leo, take care of Kanade.”
“Understood. I will protect her with my life.”
“Leo, one is a true Knight when they protect their own life as well.”
“… Lord Richmond…”
“Protect both Kanade’s and your life. Understood?”
“Yes.”
He turned into his dragon form once more and spread his wings.
(Richmond!!)
(Kanade, call for me if something happens.)
Richmond touched the necklace he had given me with the tip of his nose, and flew away.
“Lady Kanade, let’s go.”
“… Yeah. Miss Clémence, will you guide us into the basement?”
“Yeah…”
Clémence led the way down the stairs to the basement, with me behind her and Leo in the back.
“How come the stairs to the basement are human-sized, even though this is a dragon’s castle?”
“This was originally a hidden passageway, so only humanoids could pass through.”
“Hm? If it is a hidden passageway, there must be a way out, right? Didn’t everyone escape from there?”
“Remember that pile of rubble? Naturally, the exit was blocked. The dragons who escaped to the basement must have been trapped inside.”
Hmm? I have a bad feeling about this, but I can’t put my finger on it.
“… Lady Kanade, please summon the house here. Let no one else except Lord Richmond and me inside.”
Leo whispered to me secretly on the way down the stairs.
I also had a strange feeling of discomfort since earlier, so I decided to open my status to summon a house, just as Leo said.
When I chose the House Summoning from the status……
[Do you wish to summon a holiday home?]Holiday home!? What the. If I summon a house in a remote place, it will be treated as a holiday home!?
Anyhow, summon it!!
[Clearing the land]Right. I knew it.
But, there are stairs here, you know!?
The House Summoning skill did not care about the staircase.
Leaving Leo and me there, treating the staircase as nothing, the wall was smashed through, and the ground was leveled to the height of the steps we were standing on.
This was no mere land preparation. Is it trying to create an underground empire?
“Wha!? What the hell did you do, human!?”
Clémence shouted from the cleared-out outside, while Leo was protecting me behind him and keeping a wary eye on her.
So it was like that, after all…
“Human, let me in too, explain to me what is going on!!”
“Shut up. What are your intentions, brining Lord Richmond and us here!?”
“!? What are you talking about? I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
Clémence was frantically yelling at Leo, saying that she didn’t understand what he implied.
“You told Lady Kanade earlier that this is a hidden passageway.”
“Y, yeah… I did.”
“And you said the way out was under a pile of rubble.”
“What about it?”
Clémence looked at Leo and tilted her head, as if she really didn’t understand.
“Normally, a hidden passageway in a castle would lead to the outside of the castle. It’s the only way out of the castle in case of an emergency, after all. They are for escaping from the castle. Yet, you claimed that the exit was under the rubble of the castle.”
“No, that’s not true, there is a world of rubble outside the castle as well, I just misspoke!”
“Even if you misspoke, the exit would not be under a mountain of debris of the collapsed castle, but under an amount of rubble that dragons could clear easily.”
“Guh…”
She was at a loss for words and clenched her fists.
Leo glared at her with a stern look on his face.
In the end, Clémence… what were her intentions for luring us here?
Betrayal