Chapter 10: Back to the Problem at Hand

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Dragons.

Such creatures had not been sighted in the mortal world in ages. In fact, to the intelligent beings that inhabited the continent of Loren, dragons were considered to be a beast that existed between the planes of legend and reality. Granted, they were certain that this powerful creature existed, yet no one had actually seen a real one in their lifetime.

The only exception was the secretive and longevous elves who lived in the south. Their long lives made them great historical witnesses, and in the lengthy history of the Elven Empire, their chronicles had actually detailed one or two encounters with dragons.

The elegant but powerful creature, with its deep blue scales and humongous wings, flew across the sky as it breathed lethal fire below. The flames were so hot that they burned white, imbued with magic of the ancients—they were not simply flames. Where the column of fire swept, the earth billowed with huge flames, burning and spreading even without needing any fuel. With a few hot puffs from the dragon, the entire land was completely engulfed in an inferno.

After completing its deed, the brobdingnagian dragon circled around the area for a while, as though inspecting its work, before beating its wings and flying upwards, disappearing into the slowly brightening clouds.

Gawain heard a few deep exhales nearby, including those of Heidi. It was only now that everyone dared to breathe freely—if that dragon had hung around any longer, he did not know who was going to pass out and die first.

“D-Dragons… D-Dragons…” Rebecca gripped her staff as she muttered incessantly, “Ancestor, I saw a dragon…”

Gawain cleared his throat. “Ahem, ahem. Tell me about it; I observed it right here.”

It was only then that Rebecca came to her senses. She looked at Gawain awkwardly, before casting an uncertain glance towards the Cecil’s land.

After being ravaged by the tide of monsters, it had been thoroughly incinerated by a dragon. This land was practically useless now.

And those monsters… Though they were clumsy as they went after the ill-equipped soldiers, they were only shapeshifters of the lowest levels. Under the dragon’s incinerating breath, they practically vaporised into ashes, and even if some of them survived, their disintegration would begin sooner or later from the dramatic change in their surroundings.

“I thought dragons were a thing of legends,” Knight Byron, who had been taciturn, could not help but remark. The three soldiers by his side were still struggling to get to their feet, but the usually strict knight did not even chastise them, but only frowned. “My lord, have you met a dragon before?”

“No.” Gawain shook his head. “Dragons are a really mysterious breed. Even when half of Loren had been turned upside down seven hundred years ago, they never interfered in worldly matters.”

Though he said this, Gawain was not that surprised by the sight of those huge creatures, for he had seen dragons before, albeit from a different perspective—that when he had hung in the sky, where he had seen these creatures appearing on the continent more than once. However, dragons were indeed mysterious, and even when Gawain had floated in the sky for an eternity, his dragon-sightings were limited. Coupled with the messy trivialities of the images he had seen, he was not able to piece together many characteristics of the dragons.

At this moment, the shadow beside Gawain suddenly shivered twice. He turned around to look, and sure enough, Amber was standing behind him, her elven face still expressing shock.

“I’ve seen a dragon!” Amber shouted noisily. “My mom wouldn’t believe that I’ve seen a dragon! And one that’s sooooo big at that!”

“Alright, alright. We all saw it.” Gawain glared at this cowardly yet clamorous thief. “Where did you go earlier?”

“Inside the crack of a nearby rock,” Amber said as she puffed her chest out proudly. “My escape skills are superb!”

Gawain held his forehead and sighed. “You’re indeed a master when it comes to shadow manipulation, but your combat skills are worse than a goose’s, and nothing to brag about.”

He then shook his head. “It wouldn’t be advantageous to stay here. Let’s hurry up and leave.”

He started down the hill. Even though the dragon had already left, Heavens knew what other strange things would materialize, making leaving this place as soon as possible the topmost priority. However, Heidi’s gaze was complicated as she looked at the family’s estate. “Ancestor… that dragon burnt our land.”

“What it had razed was the ruins of our land. Strictly speaking, he had only set fire to the monsters.” Gawain glanced at Heidi. Earlier, when the gigantic dragon had spewed its flames, he had carefully observed that it had done so where the monsters were the densest. Even though some of the fire was misdirected, it was obvious where they were intended to be. “The Cecil estate had been no more before the dragon appeared.”

“But…”

“You want to seek justice from the dragon?” Gawain shrugged. “Be practical. If you want to do something, you should get back to civilization and report the news of the monsters and dragon.”

Unable to retort, Heidi could only nod. “Understood.”

Actually, Gawain knew how Heidi was feeling. The Cecil estate had been her home, the place where she grew up in. Even though her hometown had been razed to the ground, she would not be able to forget it easily—she would at least feel a little uncomfortable about the dragon incinerating what was essentially ruins, even if it had done so to eliminate the monsters.

After all, it could be considered as desecrating the dead.

However, even though he understood her feelings, Gawain felt it difficult to feel this way—after all, he was not even the Cecil Clan’s ancestor, Gawain Cecil, before he climbed out of the coffin…

With mixed emotions, the band left this area, and faced their next obstacle—a densely wooded forest.

With staff raised in one hand, Heidi drew some kind of runes in mid-air. She then looked towards the dense forest and said, “We can only reach the main road through this forest. That’s the only way we’ll be able to reach Tanzan.”

Gawain’s face was brimming with curiosity and envy (even as he tried to mask it) as he stared at the glowing runes above Heidi’s palm. “Magic does seem like a convenient thingy…”

“Ancestor?” Heidi looked a little confused, before her expression morphed into one of terror. “Have I displeased you with my magic?”

Gawain was surprised. “Ah? Why would I be displeased?”

“Knights have always been the foundation of the Cecil Clan. The orthodox path for members have always been of martial arts and knighthood. Rebecca and I have become mages instead… if it was a hundred years ago, it would have been a problem for us to get a foothold in the family, let alone been able to inherit the right to rule,” Heidi explained a little anxiously. “It’s just that… ever since that incident that happened a hundred years ago, the clan’s reputation had taken a nosedive, and with the population growing scarce, there was a lack of disciples with extraordinary strength, which meant that we could only get recognition outside of being knights… But no matter what, this has violated the family’s rules.”

Gawain returned, “Who came up with such a silly rule?”

As an open-minded person, he had always detested pedantry for rules.

However, as soon as he uttered these words, the atmosphere suddenly became weird. Knight Byron immediately pretended to tie his shoelaces—even though he was wearing iron boots—and Heidi froze on the spot, while Rebecca raised a timid finger to Gawain himself two seconds later.

Gawain: “…”

Going through his memory of that year…. that had indeed happened.

The youthful and proud hero, Gawain Cecil, had been drinking in light of their triumphant establishment of the Anzu Kingdom with Charlie the First. Both the close friends had tooted their own horns and discussed what the world would then become. During that year, they had painstakingly led their clansmen to escape to the north, and had now become pioneers and founders. They predicted that they would become the first wave of aristocrats, and so long as they lived and had descendants, this posse of founding noblemen would be able to continue their lineage and become ancient families with a wealth of heritage…

Thus, the inebriated pioneers of the kingdom huddled together in reflection. Should they standardize a set of rules and family percepts and things like that, so that their descendants would not forget the spirit of these gang of forefathers? As the pioneers of the pioneers, and the founders of the founders, Gawain Cecil and Charlie the First were undoubtedly looked upon to lead by example.

So, the Gawain Cecil of seven hundred years ago had gulped down a mug of strong beer, looked at the knight’s sword holstered at his side, and raised a hand to pen these lines.

‘Knights are more freaking awesome than mages.’

When Charlie the First saw this line, he was so pleased that he wrote the following line.

‘Gawain speaks the truth.’

The former remark had become the guiding principle of the Cecil Clan, while the latter… the latter had been so strongly opposed by the retinue and advisors of Charlie the First that it had been nullified.

The king, who was sober and had the bigger picture in his mind, naturally would not make such a drunken proclamation a policy of the kingdom. However, with all seriousness, Gawain Cecil had implemented this as a clan rule.

After emerging from his memory bank, Gawain cast an awkward glance at both Heidi and Rebecca.

He sighed. “I was drunk then. Just pretend that there was no such rule…”

Heidi and Rebecca: “…”

Just then, Gawain’s embarrassment was saved by a grumbling emanating from Amber’s stomach.

“Though I know it’s kinda inappropriate to break this to you when you’re enjoying your quality family time,” the half-elf girl said as she rubbed her tummy awkwardly, “but I’m a little hungry.”

It was as if the growling from Amber’s stomach was a catalyst, as everyone’s stomach rumbled right after she spoke.

Even Gawain was no exception to this.

It was only then that Gawain realized everyone had not eaten for a long time ever since they had surfaced from that darkened crypt.

Also, he had gone without food for a way longer period of time than anyone else here—the last time he had the pleasure of chewing food, the monkeys on Loren had not even begun to walk upright.

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