I sprang up from my seat.

If I waited, the Wyvern Riders would come find me on their own, but I had no intention of sitting around and waiting for them to look for me.

"Guide me. I will go to them."

I put the messenger in front of me and left the conference room at once.

"What was their appearance like?"

"Perhaps because they flew without rest, both the wyverns and the riders looked visibly exhausted, but the riders' faces did not seem particularly dark."

I let out a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, it did not seem as though they had been defeated or some calamity had occurred.

"Did they say what happened to His Majesty and the Eastern Fleet?"

"They came running to Your Highness before they had even fully landed, so..."

The messenger answered me with an apologetic look.

"I will know once I meet them myself, so there is no need to look so sorry."

I simply quickened my steps.

And before long, I arrived at the open ground within the citadel.

"Ah..."

The powerful wyverns lay sprawled out with their tongues hanging long from their mouths. Beside them, the Azure Sky Knights were leaning against their wyverns with their eyes shut tight.

Among them, I could also see Jean Catherine, the young Vice-Commander of the Azure Sky Knights.

Riders and wyverns alike looked as if they had been completely knocked flat by exhaustion.

"Your..."

SHH.

When I saw the soldiers who had spotted me trying to pay their respects, I raised a finger and pressed it to my lips.

"Do not make a fuss."

After saying that, I quietly examined the Wyvern Riders' condition.

They are completely out.

Considering that those proud Wyvern Riders were sprawled out so carelessly in front of soldiers who were not even from their own country, they must have been extraordinarily exhausted.

"They said they would rest for just a moment and then report to Your Highness, but they have been like that ever since."

The defense captain of the citadel, too, wore a troubled expression as he said that after seeing them in that state, he had not been able to bring himself to press them.

"They have reason to be tired. I do not know for certain, but they must have flown across nearly the entire continent."

I gave a small nod, looked at Jean Catherine and the Wyvern Riders for a moment, then turned away.

"Send them to me later when they wake."

"You came all this way, so perhaps you could wait a little and hear their report first..."

"If it had been news where every moment counted, they would have collapsed while making their report before me, not idled there with such ease."

Of course, that was a courtesy I could not have afforded had they looked like defeated stragglers.

But though the Wyvern Riders looked exhausted enough to have completely collapsed, their condition was not especially poor.

The anxiety I had been unable to shake off ever since our allies departed for the imperial mainland had also faded considerably now.

There was no reason I could not wait a little longer.

I returned to the conference room and waited for the Azure Sky Knights to wake.

It was not long after I left the open ground that Jean Catherine came looking for me.

"Your Highness."

Jean Catherine still had not fully shaken off his fatigue, but his expression was bright.

Once I saw that expression, even the remaining bits of unease and anxiety vanished cleanly.

And so, I became extremely at ease.

"Seeing how you fell dead asleep without even knowing who came and went, it seems you must have hurried quite a bit."

"I did not fall dead asleep. I merely closed my eyes for a moment and organized the report I would give Your Highness in my head."

"You were even snoring."

"Surely not. I have never once in my life been told that I snore."

"Wipe the drool from the corner of your mouth before you say that."

At my words, Jean Catherine made a show of wiping the corner of his mouth, then cleared his throat.

Then he immediately turned solemn and straightened his posture.

"Jean Catherine, of the Dotrin Kingdom's Azure Sky Knights. I have flown day and night to deliver news of our allied nation."

I, too, straightened my posture and waited for the words that would follow.

"First, I will begin with the conclusion."

Jean Catherine looked at me and said,

"We achieved a victory beyond expectations."

My fist clenched tight.

But instead of rejoicing, I looked at Jean Catherine and moved my lips.

There was something I wanted to hear even more than news of victory.

Yet my mouth would not open easily.

Seeing me like that, Jean Catherine smiled gently and added one more thing.

"The monarch of your nation is also safe."

"Ah..."

Before I knew it, I had let out an ambiguous sound that was neither a groan nor an exclamation.

I had thought there was no unease or anxiety left in me, but apparently, that was not true.

All the strength suddenly drained out of me.

"Tell me the details."

I spoke with even more force to keep my true feelings from showing.

I pretended not to see Jean Catherine's expression as he looked at me with a faint smile, as though he knew everything.

"As planned, the fleet sailed south and put in at one of our nation's ports. There, it joined with three of our legions that had completed preparations for departure, then headed for the imperial mainland."

From Jean Catherine's mouth began to flow the recent movements of the fleet, which I had not known.

I quietly listened to him.

There were many things I wanted to ask, but I had no intention of cutting into his story.

"Originally, they intended to land at one of the old Dotrin fortress sites beyond the sea of trees and advance west, but during the voyage, the two monarchs held repeated discussions and revised the plan."

For now, I intended to listen until the end.

But that thought was soon rendered meaningless.

"And so, they advanced fifteen days farther west than originally planned and landed in the southern Empire."

The decision the two monarchs had made had gone far beyond my expectations.

"At a place directly adjacent to the Fire Dragon's territory."

"Why would they do something so dangerous..."

"The first reason was that the Empire had effectively lost control over much of the region adjacent to the Fire Dragon's territory, making it easier for our forces to operate there. The second was that if they advanced north from there and neutralized key points, they could extend that loss of control, which had been confined to the southern region, to parts of the Central region and even the East."

In their own way, they were rational reasons, and rather decent advantages as well.

But the existence of the Fire Dragon was far too threatening to weigh this by reason alone. Compared to that, advantages like avoiding enemy surveillance or causing the Empire to lose influence were not even gains.

The Fire Dragon's domain was not something fixed like a human border.

If, by some chance, they accidentally set foot in the Fire Dragon's territory, the kingdom's and Dotrin's armies could be annihilated before they could even properly attack the imperial mainland.

When I pointed that out, Jean Catherine answered as if he had been waiting for it.

"When the wyverns first encountered the Fire Dragon, they were so overwhelmed by its presence that they refused even to fly. After some time passed, they returned to normal, but that does not mean they forgot the distinctive scent imprinted on them then. As long as the wyverns do not forget that memory, there is no chance they will accidentally set foot in the Fire Dragon's territory."

Having dispelled my concerns like that, Jean Catherine continued his explanation.

"In any case, after landing, they immediately began advancing north."

They brought down a noble house adjacent to the southern region overnight. Destroyed several key strongholds and burned warehouses. Crushed one after another the forces that resisted sporadically.

It was all news of victory.

Since many of the great lords' houses that should have served as the Empire's centers of gravity had already vanished thanks to the Fire Dragon sweeping through, the Empire supposedly collapsed helplessly without offering any real resistance.

Of course, the Empire did not simply stand by and watch the armies of two nations penetrate deep into its mainland.

It was said that the great lords of the Central region, acting under orders from the imperial family, personally led their armies south and brought the disintegrating situation under control.

The imperial forces mustered in that process alone amounted to over twenty legions, which was enough to make even me, who had fought the Empire countless times in the past, sick of their underlying strength.

Even so, the armies of the kingdom and Dotrin were not defeated.

"Because whenever things turned unfavorable, all they had to do was slip toward the Fire Dragon's territory."

It was a case where the far-seeing abilities of the Wyvern Riders and the situation of the Imperial Army, whose feet were tied by the imperial family's order not to provoke the Fire Dragon, fit together perfectly.

As a result, even with that mighty strength, the Imperial Army could do nothing about the five legions roaming through its mainland, and was forced to focus only on defense.

It was certainly advantageous to our allies, but it did not sound especially appealing to me.

"If the enemy loses their minds and sets foot in the Fire Dragon's territory, the disaster will not simply fall on the Imperial Army alone."

The Fire Dragon was not an existence that cared what flag an army carried.

If its territory was invaded, it burned the invaders, and if anything displeased it in the process, it annihilated them all.

That was the Fire Dragon.

"That is why our forces will split the army into several groups. So that even if the moment comes when the Fire Dragon goes berserk, the damage can be reduced."

Since the two kings had apparently moved with that situation in mind as well, I could not decide whether to call it bold or reckless.

"In the process, all the knights and soldiers of our nation could not help but admire the resolve shown by the nobles of your country."

Wondering what that was supposed to mean, I looked at Jean Catherine.

"There were several occasions when Imperial soldiers, driven by desperation, disobeyed the imperial family's orders and pursued our forces. Each time, the nobles of your country stepped forward. They formed ranks and provoked the Imperial Army at places that would become the route toward the imperial mainland if things went wrong and the Fire Dragon charged out beyond its domain."

Because they provoked them so openly, even the Imperial Army, furious as it was, ultimately could not pursue any farther and turned back.

"The nobles of the kingdom did that?"

"Yes. When the armies of the Empire saw the nobles of your country provoking them like that, prepared for mutual destruction, their momentum broke."

At those words, I burst out laughing.

Only now did I feel like I understood how the situation had played out.

All of the kingdom's loyal retainers, excluding the King's closest aides and the Silver Lions, had remained within the kingdom. The nobles who had followed the King had merely escaped death for the moment, and in truth, they were not particularly high-quality people.

They had neither the guts to sell out the country nor the resolve to die for it.

There was no way such people had held dangerous positions prepared for mutual destruction with the enemy.

It was obvious they had not even known how events were unfolding. Since the Imperial Army retreated every time without even pretending to fight properly, they must have grown confident without knowing anything and thought they had a chance.

Even though lava might erupt right beside them at any moment.

Only now could I understand why the King had deliberately dragged every last one of them along.

He had told me that if I tried to cut out the diseased parts, the kingdom might collapse, and that if their direct blood relatives were trying to devote themselves to the kingdom with a new heart, making their fathers bear the crime of treason would only make that resolve and loyalty meaningless.

But in truth, it seemed he had never intended to leave them alive from the beginning either.

Otherwise, there was no reason he would have dragged along every last one of those useless bastards as deadweight.

He probably meant to leave them behind on the imperial mainland.

It was a rather good idea.

If they were going to die anyway, it was a thousand times better for them to leave their children with the pride that their fathers died fighting for the kingdom than to leave them with the stigma of being the children of turncoats or traitors.

"In any case, after fighting in that manner, we achieved results beyond expectations."

Jean Catherine caught his breath, then began proudly listing the achievements the armies of the two nations had accomplished.

Five great lords of houses ranked count or higher,

and twenty-four lords of minor houses below count rank.

More than thirty castles and strongholds were burned, and the number of enemy legions they broke apart or annihilated was a staggering eleven.

Even taking into account the state of the Empire after the Fire Dragon had reduced it to chaos, it was a terrifying achievement for only five legions to have infiltrated the heart of a great empire and produced.

But in another sense, it was only natural.

I could not even imagine that descendant of the monstrous Marquis of the Azure Sky being defeated.

He had already fully attained the status of a [Hero], and if fortune followed him, he was a superhuman who might even accumulate transcendental deeds and will and reach the status of [Myth].

Knowing that, I actually found myself thinking that the achievements were rather modest, considering such a monster had taken part.

It was a far too hasty judgment.

Among the imperial great lords who had been slaughtered were not only counts.

Marquis Yves Saint. The political enemy of that Montpellier bastard, and a high-ranking imperial noble with whom I also had bad blood.

He, too, was one of the great lords slain by the King of Dotrin.

"That Montpellier bastard will be pleased when he hears this."

As I voiced my admiration at the fall of an unexpected heavyweight, Jean Catherine grinned.

His expression seemed to say that it was still too early to be surprised.

"Did you kill a duke or something?"

At my words, he shook his head.

Then he said that they had slain someone far greater than that.

My eyes widened.

There was only one kind of being that could be called greater than a duke.

A member of the imperial family.

And one who was a direct blood descendant with the right of imperial succession.

"When Marquis Yves Saint was beheaded, the Empire's First Imperial Prince was there as well."

He was saying they had killed not just any imperial prince, but the Empire's first prince.

This time, even I could not help but be shocked.

"Of course, it was not easy. Paladins and Mages were guarding him as tight as an iron wall, and the First Imperial Prince's own level was not low either."

Jean Catherine recounted the many difficulties they had faced in killing the First Imperial Prince as if telling a heroic tale.

In the end, it was boasting.

How strong their king was, and how outstanding the Azure Sky Knights were as knights.

I did not deny it.

The First Imperial Prince's head had that much value.

Although the Imperial House of Bourgogne had not adhered to the principle of passing the throne to the eldest legitimate son, the symbolism and authority of the eldest legitimate son still could not be compared to those of the other imperial princes.

That was why, even after the Third Imperial Prince had established his position in the war and become a strong candidate for the imperial throne, the First Imperial Prince was still spoken of as the strongest candidate for succession.

But now, the strongest candidate for the imperial throne was dead.

A laugh escaped me.

When I went to the Empire, there had been five imperial princes. Now, all of them were dead except the two weakest in power.

And among them, the most incompetent bastard was, as things stood, the person closest to the imperial throne.

"At this rate, that fool really might become Emperor."

Of course, for now, that was only a future with a high possibility of coming to pass.

The surviving Fifth Imperial Prince was also an outstanding person, and if he had not wasted his time while the Third Imperial Prince wandered the front lines, he should have built up considerable influence within the imperial capital by now.

Perhaps the Fifth Imperial Prince had already absorbed all the forces of the fallen First Imperial Prince.

Even if not, I could not completely rule out the possibility that the Emperor, whom I had thought would have no interest in who inherited the next imperial throne, might support the Fifth Imperial Prince contrary to my expectations.

Of course, no matter how things were settled, that was still a matter for the distant future.

Right now, it was time to hope that our allies, who had achieved considerable results on the imperial mainland, could return safely, and to wish that the kingdom's borders would remain firm until they came back.

And so, I hoped and hoped that the repeated poor performance of the Empire would give courage to the weaker nations and make them rise up in fury.

But in this world, there were times when the order of events unexpectedly became tangled.

And unfortunately, this was one of those times.