Liliella.

You must be the Dragon Princess.

No, sir.

I was walking through town when someone suddenly stood in front of me and said something like that to me, and I immediately denied it.

''.........''

　He didn't expect to be denied in a second, and that person has a blatantly confused expression on his face.
　Well, but it doesn't matter to me, I'm not a dragon princess.

　I silently walk past him and head to the inn.

''Wait a minute, Dragon Princess-sama!

So I'm not the Dragon Princess.

　Without looking back, I cut him off.

''We are from King's Landing to protect His Majesty the Dragon Emperor from the anti-Long Emperor School's nobles. Please show your respect for His Majesty the Dragon Emperor!

　What is this man saying?
　Anti-Long Dynasty?　Protecting the Dragon King?
　Honestly, all I can smell is trouble.

''Then why don't you just tell His Majesty the Dragon Emperor directly?

''That's why we don't know where His Majesty the Dragon Emperor is. That's why we'd like to ask the Dragon Princess to mediate our audience with you.

　What do I do with this.
　I'm completely marked as a dragon princess after defeating the dragons in the city, and even if I escape, they're going to come barging in looking for an inn.
　Seriously, I feel like haranguing Lex-san for letting me slay a lone dragon in such an obvious place.　
　What can I say, the problem is not going to go away.
　All right, all we can do is buy ourselves some time. And let's all talk about it together.
　I stopped in my tracks when I was ready, and turned back to the man who was following me from behind.

'I can't answer this question on my own. I will need to discuss it with my companions, so please come back later.

'Oh, thank you!'

　No, I didn't say anything about letting them meet.

'Well, then, that's the way it is.

　Having succeeded in making the other party wait for now, I started running to avoid getting into any more trouble.

''Ah, please wait, Dragon Princess-sama!

　I told you, I'm not the Dragon Princess!

　You're not going to be able to do that.

"So the noblemen of King's Landing want to meet the Dragon King.

　When I returned to the inn, I gathered everyone together and explained the situation.

''It's a nobleman of the anti-Long Empire faction, huh? It seems that even noblemen in this country have their own set of circumstances.

　And Mina let out a sigh of dismay.
　Really, I wish you'd give me a break.

''But it would be annoying to get involved.

'You're right, Megri. It's honestly dangerous to get into trouble with the nobles. In the worst case scenario, shouldn't we consider abstaining and leaving the country?

　Norbu-kun is right.
　So far it's only been a misunderstanding between the townspeople, but it's tricky when even the nobles get involved.

In the first place........

　And that's where Megri opens her mouth.

'It's Lex who those people think of as the Dragon Emperor. But there's no one anywhere who can protect Lex.'

Phew ... that's for sure.

I don't see how anybody could ever protect my brother.

Well, I'd rather have Mr. Lex escorting me around, you know.

　Well, that's true.
　Guarding Lex-san is pointless in the first place, and furthermore, Lex-san being the Dragon Emperor is also a big mistake.

''But the other party thinks they have a Dragon Emperor.

" " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " "

　This is really tricky.
　Even if we say there is no Dragon Emperor, they believe there is, so they think we are lying to them.

　A dragon emperor who isn't there in the first place, a mess of troublesome nobles, and a request to participate in the Dragon Princess' and Dragon Emperor's rituals.
　Hmm, this might as well just throw everything out and leave this country.
　If you tell them what's going on, the guild leader won't force you to participate in the rituals.

　Just when I was about to say I was going to give up participating in the ritual, Leune, who had been silent until now, raised her hand.

''Um, if that's the case, why don't we set it up that His Majesty the Dragon Emperor is hiding his appearance from us as well?''

What do you mean?

''Yes, the one from King's Landing says that he intends to protect His Majesty the Dragon Emperor from the nobles who are avenging His Majesty the Dragon Emperor.''

Yeah.

''Doesn't that mean that His Majesty the Dragon Emperor is also aware of the existence of a being who would do him harm?

　Oh, I see, that's what I mean.

''Since the Dragon Emperor is hiding in plain sight so that the rival factions won't find out about his presence, it means that we can just claim that we don't know where the Dragon Emperor is, either.

''Yes, that's right. And let's set it up that the Dragon Emperor, no, Master Lex and the others are participating in the tournament as shadow warriors to protect the real Dragon Emperor from his opponents.

　Surely that would give us a reason why we can't let them see the non-existent Dragon Emperor.

''All right, let's go with that.

　All we have to do is to fake it until the ceremony is over.

　A nobleman from King's Landing

''It seems that the Dragon Emperor's people have made contact with a girl they believe to be the Dragon Princess.

　After several reports, the report came in that the Dragon Emperor Faction had finally reached the city of Tattron.

''So what happened?''

''According to my subordinate who has been watching, the Dragon Emperor has not revealed his identity to the Dragon Princesses either. That's why they don't know who the Dragon Emperor is even if they try to escort him.

　That's quite a drastic thing to do again.

'I suppose that's why you don't have any trustworthy subordinates.

　Many of the nobles in this country benefit from the absence of the Dragon Emperor.
　And those who can't fully enjoy the benefits are also the lower class nobles who don't have much power.

　In other words, they are somewhat unreliable for the Dragon Emperor to trust as allies.

''But then, in the end, won't we still be able to find out who the Dragon Emperor is?''

''No, it seems that everyone close to the Dragon Princess is the Dragon Emperor's shadow warrior. The fewer candidates for the Dragon Emperor, the better for future investigations.

Oh, dear, so we just have to do some research.

But it's the same for the Long Empire Faction.

　The comrades let out a sigh at being back to square one.

'But is that true?'

What?

　One of my compatriots frowned suspiciously.

''The story is that the Dragon Princess doesn't know who the Dragon Emperor is.

'You think I'm lying to the Dragon Emperor Faction?'

You said it earlier. He said that he didn't have any subordinates he could trust. It's possible that the Dragon Princess didn't trust the Dragon Emperor's group and that's why she and the others were shirking that they didn't know who the Dragon Emperor was.

　As I see it, he decided that a Dragon Emperor School nobleman without much power could rather be a liability.

''But you won't tell me if I ask him, will you?

''Yeah, that's why I'm asking the Dragon Emperor himself to show up.

The Dragon King himself?

　What does that mean?

''That's right. That's right, take the Dragon Princess as your hostage and summon the Dragon Emperor. Then the Dragon Emperor will have no choice but to show himself.

I see. Indeed, if that's the case, the Dragon Emperor will have no choice but to make a move.

　It's not fair, but it's an everyday occurrence in the world of the aristocracy.
　In fact, as an aristocrat, it's even worse to fall for such a move.

''Alright, let's adopt that strategy!

　You're not going to be able to do that.

My men have been briefed.

　A few days later, a report came back from the subordinate who received the order to capture the Dragon Princess.

''Oh, how it went!''

...well, they're all gone.

...What?

''They were wiped out. I heard that he mobilized all of his men who were eliminated in the qualifying rounds to attack the Dragon Princess, but they were repulsed.

Does this mean that the enemy thought they were going to be targeted by the Dragon Princess?

　If that's the case, does that mean the Dragon Emperor is reading our moves!

''No, I heard that the Dragon Princess alone beat him to a pulp.

What?

　No, you've mobilized all your men, haven't you?
　These people are good at what they do, working behind our backs.
　And we sent dozens of them?


...Is it really a human being?

I know it's probably human, but...

　But the reality is that my men have been wiped out.

d*mn, what are we going to do?　You can't find out the identity of the Dragon Emperor through this!

Don't give up!　We still have the means!　Yes!　We must go after the Dragon Princess' people!　No matter how much of a monster the Dragon Princess is, not everyone involved with the Dragon Princess is a monster!　If any of us can capture one of the Dragon Emperor's companions, we should be able to lure the Dragon Emperor away!

Yeah, you're right. There's no way they're all monsters.

　I don't know why, they're all very motivated, but I have a bad feeling about this.

　◆

We all got turned back...

""They were all monsters!"

　How much more skillful are Long Emperor's men, just how skilled are they!
　Don't tell me that we were lured into this as opposed to you?

''Also, my men lost confidence in themselves and submitted their resignation letters.

　Thus, the operation to lure the Dragon Princess and her officials to lure the Dragon Emperor out of the city ended in failure...