Liliella.

You must be the Dragon Princess.

　On the way back to the inn, a hooded man suddenly appeared in front of me.
　Hmm, another underworlder?

　But if you've always been a bit of a sneak attack, why did you come head-on today?
　Maybe you're trying to catch him off guard and surprise him from behind?

　I'll activate a body strengthening spell just in case.
　Weak enough so that he won't be caught off guard.

You've got the wrong guy.

Play it safe. We know exactly what we're doing, sir.

Yeah, you have no idea.

"I'll have someone over.

I'd appreciate it if you didn't do that. Unless you don't want to involve the inhabitants of this town?

What do you mean?

　You're not going to use this town's people as hostages now, are you?
　Even if he's from the underworld, isn't that too much to ask for in a cheating game?
　If you're going against all the people in town, you're not going to have much fun either.

We have a favor to ask of you, my dear.

Do I have to?

　You've attacked me so many times before and now you want to talk about it?　Well, they're holding the people of the town hostage, so it's still a cowardly enough thing to do.

''We want to negotiate with His Majesty the Dragon Emperor.

What?

　Dragon Emperor?　Huh?　Wasn't the cheating gambler in charge?
　It's true that I heard that the Dragon Emperor was being targeted.
　So you don't think that........

Is it possible that the thing that has been attacking us is your servant...

''That's right. But as expected of the Dragon Princess and her companions. You have no idea how they beat back all the elites we sent to them.

'I was too weak, I thought it was a shabby bandit gang...'

...What?

Oh...

　Shit, shit, I accidentally said something honest.
　I shouldn't have done that, I feel like I'm being tainted by Lex's standards lately. I must be careful.

"Mmm-hmm!　And, anyway. We seek to negotiate with His Majesty the Dragon Emperor. The quid pro quo is the lives of the residents of this city.

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

What has happened to you?

　After returning to the inn, Liliella explains to us what happened on the way home.

She says, "The town is in trouble, isn't it?

Yes, I need to report to the guards and the Adventurer's Guild in a hurry.

'I don't think that's a good idea. If they see me go to explain what happened, the worst thing that could happen is that the people of the town would be attacked as an example.

　Mr. Norbu said that he should immediately notify the guards, but Megri stopped him.

''I agree with you. Since they've taken such a hard-line approach, we're probably being watched.

'What do you want to do then, brother?　You're not going to honestly go to those guys?

　Jairo-kun looks at me with a worried look at my words.
　Yes, it's nice to have your friends worry about you.

'Hmmm, I'd better not do that either. I'm sure the other party is talking about an audience with the Dragon Emperor, but if I recall what we've been talking about so far, I'm pretty sure they're after the Dragon Emperor's life.

　Yes, I don't think the opponent who has been aiming at the Dragon Emperor is going to be able to solve the problem by discussing it now.
　I can understand, because it's not easy for the other party to defeat you, so pretending to discuss and aiming for your life is a pattern that happened a lot in my previous life.
　Yeah, they often tried to kill me.

''But since the people of the town are being held hostage, don't we have no choice but to take the other party's demands?

　Hmm, I'll have to do something about this in a hurry.

.........

　And in the midst of all this, I notice that for some reason, Leune-san is pale and trembling.

''What's wrong, Leune-san?''

''Huh?''

　Ryune, who was called out by me, shakes with a jolt.

''Leune-san?　What's really going on?

　I know it's unsettling to hear that the people of the town are being held hostage, but this frightening look of quicksilver is strange.

''Su, sorry Master Lex........''

What's going on, Leune?　Why are you apologizing?

　Noticing that Ms. Leune was acting strangely, Liliella asked the meaning of her words.　

''I........my, it's my fault!

　We are surprised when Leune suddenly says that it's her fault.

What do you mean by that?

''It's because I wasn't able to become a dragon knight early enough that all this has happened!

　What?　How could that be?

''Because I, the Dragon Princess' descendant, could not establish my testimony earlier!

"Mr. Ryune is the descendant of the Dragon Princess?

　What do you mean by that?

Calm down, it's okay, Leune.

　When I was confused by the distraught Leune-san, Liliella-san hugged Leune-san gently and quieted her.

''Huh?　?

It's okay. Just relax.

　Gently, Liliella-san patted Leune-san's back like she was caressing a child.

''Ah........''

　Leune was very excited, but as Liliella stroked her back, she gradually regained her composure.

　Hmm, it's nice to have a female companion at a time like this.
　To be honest, if it was just us guys, we couldn't have quieted down Ryune so quickly.

　Then Ryune-san, who has regained her composure, begins to talk about the situation.

''I'm the descendant of a child born between the Dragon Emperor and the Dragon Princess........''

　Ms. Leune slowly began to recount an event that once happened as if she was chewing on it.

'A few generations after Princess Long's child was born, my ancestor was born. But I heard that my ancestor was born with a serious illness, and one day he had to go to a renowned doctor in another country for treatment.

'What?　You're royalty and they sent you to a doctor?　If you're talking about a serious illness, I think you'd normally call a doctor.

　Norbu-san nodded his head.
　Yeah, it's normal for royalty and nobility to call a doctor.

''It seems that your ancestor's illness was a difficult one to treat, so he was treated in a mysterious spiritual realm that had the power to heal his illness as well.

　Oh, it's true that there is a mysterious land that greatly amplifies the resilience of living things.
　I've been there in my previous life to study it.
　And you also needed to borrow the power of such a land to heal your ancestors, didn't you?

''Fortunately or unfortunately, the horrible epidemic that took the lives of the dragon knights happened while our ancestors were out of the country to treat the disease.

　'It's a blessing in disguise, though,' laughs Leune.

'And although my ancestors were successfully treated, they were unable to return home for several years until the epidemic ended.

　Well, that's true. Even if you are cured of your illness, it would be useless if you catch an epidemic this time.

''And after a few years had passed, our ancestors, having confirmed that the epidemic was over, were finally able to tread the soil of their homeland.

　Even though his ancestors had returned to their hometown, Leune's expression remained sad.

''But there was no family in the homeland they returned to, and the country was ruled by the viziers.

　Oh, I remember, back then, the Dragon Emperor and Dragon Knights were wiped out by an epidemic, and the Prime Minister and other nobles ruled by proxy.

''Huh?　But that wouldn't be right.

''Yes, since the Royalty of the Dragon Emperor's blood has returned, the Vizier must return the throne to Leune's ancestors, right?

　And everyone else?　I nod my head.
　Hmmm, this is getting unsettling.

''I heard that your ancestors were very surprised. In the country, the prime minister announced that the entire royal family was dead.

　That was the beginning of the tragedy, says Mr. Leune.

'At first it was an ancestor who wanted to meet with the viziers to inform them of his return, but for some reason he was suddenly attacked by what he said was an impostor who was imposting in the name of the royal family.

　Wow, it's a mess, attacking someone without checking for authenticity.

Didn't you have any proof of authenticity or anything?

　Oh, even nobles have rings to prove their successors and such.

I heard there was one, but it was lost in an assassin's attack.

As long as you take the evidence, you can say you're real royalty and get rid of it. That sort of thing.

　The usually calm Megris-san is unusually grumpy, speculating on the conduct of the Prime Ministers.

　Even so, it's a very forceful approach.
　It was a long time ago, so there's no way to know for sure, but maybe the epidemic was caused by the Prime Ministers.
　It's also suspicious that the royal family was wiped out except for Leune's ancestors, but the vizier and the other nobles were safe.

''The ancestors who were attacked by the assassins on several occasions decided that they were definitely targeted by the vizier and the others, so they faked their own deaths. In order to reverse the Viziers' proclamation, they joined up with the surviving dragon knight's disciples in secret and began to train themselves. In order to become a dragon knight himself.

I see. I'm surprised there was such a conspiracy behind that old story.

Yes, but with that legend, if we can only get the dragons to follow us, we can turn the tables. That's when we had the chance to claim our true royal blood.

　'But,' said Leune, his shoulders slumping.

'The lost dragon knight's skills were difficult to recreate, and many of my brethren lost their lives in the battle against the dragons. And a few years ago, my father died of illness, leaving me the only survivor of the royal family.

　As if remembering her late father, Leune-san stroked her own spear sadly.

''I was about to give up when I was left alone... but then I met him. To Dragon Princess-sama, no, to Liliella-san!

'What?　Me?

　Liliella rolls her eyes in surprise when she is suddenly brought up to herself.

''Yes!　When I met Liliela-san, who controlled the Dragon Emperor Style Sorcerer Technique, which was the same, if not more honed, than mine, I was encouraged from the bottom of my heart that I wasn't the only person who had inherited the blood of the royal family and the dragon knight's technique, and that I had a friend!

"No, I'm not...

''Yes, it was my mistake after all, but I still managed to meet Master Lex. Because thanks to your help, I was able to surrender my Silver Dragon and become a true Dragon Knight!

　I see, that's why Ryune was determined to become Liliera's apprentice.
　But after he said that much, Ryune shrugged his shoulders.

But it seems to be too late. I never thought they would do such a thing... If they had been able to follow the Silver Dragon at least one more year earlier, they would have been able to declare the revival of the royal family to the people at the last ceremony of the Dragon Princess. Then, even the anti-Long Emperor faction would have run amok... because I was too late...

　Ms. Leune blamed herself for her inexperience causing them to run off.

'I won't say that I wish I had met Master Lex sooner. But if only I had trained myself to die more, instead of spending the days between your father's death and today in idleness...''

That's not him!

''Whew!?''

　Surprised by the sudden loud voice, Leune-san jolted and shook her body.
　And it was Jairo-kun who raised his voice.

''It ain't your fault!　It's those anti-Long Empire people who are to blame!　It's not your fault!

Jairo...?

'You were just trying really hard to do what you could!　I don't blame you for being so scared that your family is dead!　I'd be in a terrible bind if I was in your shoes!　So you need to stop making yourself look bad too!

Uh....well, you know...

　Gyro-kun's momentum has made Leune-san's eyes black and white.
　But thanks to the surprise, Leune-san seems to have regained her composure a bit.

Yes, it's not Lejeune's fault. You've worked very hard to come back with a big head start as an heir, right?

'Yes!　The bad guys are the nobles who took over the country in a hurry!

''Not all the nobles are bad, though. There are some who are properly on our side.

Yeah, we're on your side.

　Everyone encouraged Mr. Leune to follow in Mr. Gyro's footsteps.

''That's right, Leune-san. Because you never gave up and worked hard, Ryune-san was able to become a dragon knight.

'Master Lex.......thank you, everyone.......'

　Good, it seems that Leune-san has come to his senses thanks to everyone.
　Hmmm, that's what friendship is all about, isn't it?
　In my previous life, I never met anyone I could have this kind of relationship with, but I'm really glad I was able to meet Ryune.

　After pulling himself together, Ryune stood up and bowed deeply to us.

''I'm sorry, Master Lex. Even though there were circumstances, I was hiding something from my master who taught me the Dragon Emperor Style. I was ordered by my late father not to reveal my identity to anyone until I had established a testimony of the Dragon Princess. I'm sorry, everyone.

No, don't worry about it. If that's the case, it can't be helped.

Yeah, yeah, you worry too much about it. We all have things we can't talk about.

Yeah, everybody has their own secrets.

　Mina-san and Megri-san pat Leune-san's shoulder and comfort her, telling her not to worry about it.
　And having finally been able to tell everyone what's going on, Leune-san also lets out a sigh of relief.

''But we have to think of a way to deal with the anti-Long Emperor faction, or Master Lex will...''

　But then I remembered the anti-Long Emperor group's threats and my shoulders slumped again.

''Well, that's it, but I have a better idea.''

"For Master Lex?

Yeah, so let me handle it.

　Taking the townspeople hostage, no matter how much their power is threatened, is too much.
　This is the worst thing for a nobleman to do.
　Just like the case with Leune-san, we have to fight back from here too.

I have a feeling this is a riot.

The killer is done.

　That's still too early to tell, guys.
　That said, I'm going to start acting like it too!

　Now it's time to fight back!

　Residents of the town

　The sun is up and the chickens are cooing.

Oh, I'm sleepy.

　Rubbing my sleepy eyes, I open the kitchen window.
　There were people staying up late last night, so I'm late getting to bed.

"Well, let's go to the market today.

　I can't be late for stocking up, no matter how sleepy I am.
　If we don't get there quickly, other people will get the good ingredients.
　In order to get to the market, I opened the back door.
　And when I do....

　crunch crunch

　A black-armored knight-sama passed in front of me, whom I had never seen before.

''Huh?''

　Who was that?
　And if you look closely, there's not just one knight.
　There are dozens of knights walking down the back street with a weirdly unified movement.

It's a very good idea to have a good idea of what to expect.

　And after a while, a scream came from where the knights were headed.

"What the hell is that?

　And it wasn't just one scream. There were screams coming from all directions.

What's going on?

　

''Whoa!?''

　There are screams all over the town today, too.
　But strangely enough, no one panics even in such an unusual situation.
　That's right, this screaming has already become a normal sound for the residents of the town.

　After a little while, black-armored knights emerge from the back alleyway with a group of men who look like they're not very good-looking.

''Hey, aren't those the bandits who use the slums as their territory?

The black knights have caught the bandits again!

　When the men turn out to be bandits, the townspeople cheer.

　One day they come from somewhere, and this is how they find and capture the town's villains.
　A group of armor whose identity is not known at all.
　It's obvious that they are suspicious, but they catch bandits and criminals, so the townspeople, who were worried at first, are now treating them well.

''Hey, could that be what Lex-san's good idea is?''

I ask a question that I thought maybe, but was somehow afraid to ask the answer.

'Yes, exactly,'

I knew you were related to Mr. Lex but where did you get all those people from?

　They're definitely a skilled bunch, catching all the bad guys in town at an unbelievable rate.
　Not only are they capable of catching the bad guys, but they also have that uncommon investigative ability to find all the bad guys in town.
　That's obviously not normal.

　What kind of person is Mr. Lex who can bring people like that in such a short period of time?
　He said he came from a country village, but he's no ordinary village dweller by any stretch of the imagination.
　Are you sure he's the Dragon Emperor?　

No, I didn't invite anyone here. I created him.

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

　We nod our heads at Lex-san's words.
　Well, I think something funny just flew out of the sky....

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

'Yes, in the manner of Tyran the other day, I've mass-produced armor that works with magic.

　You can't get away with it.
I'm sure you used magic to move the armor the other day.
　It's true that if that's the case, it wouldn't be surprising if a group of people who are as successful as Lex-san suddenly appeared...

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

What?　What? !　What do you mean, make a bunch of armor?

How does magic work with all that armor?

You made all that stuff yourself, huh?

When did you make that many armor?

　Everyone who has belatedly understood what Lex-san said, approaches him, mouthing off.

It's a good thing that you're not the only one. We didn't know who were the executors of the Anti-Long Emperor Faction that contacted Liliella-san, so we planted orders to capture any person with malicious intentions at a moment's notice when we found them.

It's so easy to say that!

I mean, how easy is it to find out about malice?

So those black armor in the city are all golems?

Yes, although I don't have much material to work with, so I can't make very complicated movements.

What?　But you did say hello to the townspeople!　Golems can only act as they are supposed to!

　Mina shouts out in disbelief when she is told that golems can only perform simple movements.
　It's a good idea, but it's not a good idea.　I'm not sure I'm going to be able to do that.

It seems that Mina is right about the golem being able to act in a monotonous manner....
I've never fought a golem, but I remember people who have actually fought them saying that.

　But the golem we saw didn't speak, but its movements didn't seem very fake.

''Fortunately, the gemstone that Megalo Whale gave us was good enough to use as the core of the device, so we quickly made the armor that was the gower and moved it around.

For heaven's sake, it's not that easy to make armor, is it?

'Yeah, I had the golems help with that too. The first few golems that I made will be able to do simple processing work, so my workload will be reduced. After that, the work speed will increase every time the number of golems increases.

　Okay, well, that's not entirely unacceptable, but...

But how did you manage to gather all these armor materials? As I recall, you used the materials for the dragons you hunted before to intercept the swarm of demons the other day, right?

Yeah, that's why we got a good price for those dragon scales we hunted.

　Yeah, that was a lot of money.
　To be honest, it was several times what I was earning a few months ago, or even tens of times what I was earning a few months ago.
　I still tremble when I think of the money I was able to get for myself.

''Yes, that's why I quickly went to Longfeng to hunt for the dragons' scales. However, I hunted too much the other day, so this time I didn't take their lives, I just got their scales.

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

　Wow, so the dragons of Longfeng are looking like hairy chickens by now...
　I hope they don't traumatize humans.

Huh?　Did I just say something wrong with myself?

''Well, I understand the situation, but why aren't the guards getting into trouble with Master Lex's golem after all this fuss?　As one would expect, the guards would not be able to keep quiet if they were to conduct their own security activities in the town, which is their job.

　Leune asks the question with a nod of his head.
　That's certainly true if you ask me.
　Even if the guards took a favorable view of the golems' activities, they would at least interview them.
　And when that's the case, the inarticulate golems can't do anything about it.

''I've had the town's mayor talk to the head of the Adventurer's Guild through the head of the guild over there, so there's no need to worry about it. All we need to do now is to interrogate the people we've captured and have them find out who the assassins of the Anti-Long Emperor Faction are.

　So it's all priced in.
　Hmmm, I feel sorry for the bandits caught in the crossfire.
　After all, they just got caught in the crossfire.

Really, who the hell is Master Lex...?　It would be more believable if you could say that you are the real Dragon Emperor...

　Yeah, I agree with that, and no, we agree.

'Oh no, I'm just an adventurer everywhere. 'I'm not a golem.
Anyone who's studied magic items can make them, right?

""I can't make this ministry."

　Here, here, huh?　What?　Don't give me that look!

　........Anyway, the anti-Long Emperor group's assassins who held the town hostage were captured by the roots.
　The security of the town has improved, and everyone is happy... but...
　But there was only one problem.
　Because.....

"Hey, could it be that those knights are His Majesty the Dragon Emperor's knights?

It must be. He's that strong!

I know. Those knights' equipment is made out of dragon scales.

I heard that during the recent demon attack, someone gave away a lot of dragon material for defense.

''No doubt, His Majesty's Dragon Emperor's Dragon Emperor Knights really existed!

''Not only did you protect us from those demons, but you also improved the security of the town, as expected of His Majesty the Dragon Emperor!

　That's right, the townspeople thought the knights who suddenly appeared were the Dragon Emperor's knights.

Hurray for the Dragon Emperor!　Hurray for the Dragon Emperor's Knights!

　Yeah, I don't know.