Of course, Arthur Reta’s dragon Rata was also busy stealing information while changing its scale colors and moving among the people. It even stole handkerchiefs from those with impure intentions of arranging trysts.

Sir Arthur Reta and Rata had been surveying every corner of the stage. The moment Leon vanished and reappeared, they offered timely praise toward the Duchess of Drasia and hastily bowed their heads. So no one would remember his face.

Exclamations of admiration began flowing from here and there in response. It was the moment when Dion’s dragon magic and Clementina’s special ability shone.

They had never actually planned such a situation. They’d thought Leon might disappear, but hadn’t expected it at such an exquisite moment. He vanished while drawing attention and appeared spectacularly.

Clementina had suddenly become the mother of a baby dragon. Officially.

The Emperor spoke.

“The dragon incarnate and the mother of dragons go to embrace Diahart Island. If anyone wishes to witness that miracle together, step forward with courage. The blessing of the first king Bisha and the dragon Rakane will be with you.”

It was absurd nonsense. But having pulled off such a performance, not stepping forward would also be regrettable.

Clementina nearly laughed, wondering if Dion’s many splendid achievements had been built on such tricks. She barely suppressed the laughter threatening to burst out because of how seriously Dion was acting.

People cheered and bowed their heads in reverence.

The mysterious island, the Diahart expedition might not end as mere exploration. Since the island remained unexplored, minerals and infinite resources might be hidden there.

If so, those joining the expedition would share in the profits from that place. Once that thought occurred, nobles began licking their lips and showing eyes of greed.

If the Duke of Drasia with dragon magic and the Duchess of Drasia followed by dragons were together—

“Screee!“

Then admiration suddenly turned to fear.

“Huh? Huh? Ahhh!”

Mago’s warning tore through people’s ears.

The dragons flying leisurely through the sky accelerated and formed an arrowhead formation toward Tarian Gorge.

Clementina turned her head toward where the dragons’ gazes reached.

Whoosh—a red sandstorm blew before her eyes. Flowers decorating the ball stage were uprooted and trees swayed. Prepared tables slid in the wind and retreated in unison. Noblewomen’s skirts flipped up.

A demonic beast.

“Clementina!”

Dion rushed over and blocked the sandstorm by standing before Clementina.

“A demonic beast?”

“Seems like it!”

“What do you mean ‘seems like it’? What are you saying?”

“I’ve never seen one like this before!”

The intense sandstorm was so loud that Dion and Clementina had to raise their voices to converse.

The demonic beast was as large as Arakan and Gerard combined. It flew toward Issiliad summer palace on tattered wings, swaying unsteadily.

Horns covered the demonic beast’s head. The unusually bright full moon illuminated the mud-like surface of the demonic beast. Protrusions covered its entire body, and nobles who saw it fainted dead away.

The demonic beast’s eyes, dripping mud-like fl*id, were entirely black without whites, and opened so wide the eye sockets seemed torn.

If that demonic beast struck this place, key figures from not only the Ronakia Empire but other nations would be seriously injured. They had to stop it at all costs. The immediate task was to distance the demonic beast from Issiliad Palace.

Berche Ritzberry stood alone at the front of the formation, with Lillian Hunts and Vance Hunts to his right and left. Behind them were Dimint Seches and Jeremiah Dezia on both sides. In the fourth row were Hamon Lug, Lucas with no surname, and Ray Luium. In the last row, Chad Ater, Brian Michela, and Henri Arobi guarded the rear atop their dragons.

Dimint and Jeremiah pulled out steel ropes, made a round circle and tied it, then swung it through the air. At the same time, Hamon spun an iron net round and round and shot it up over the dragons. When the iron net spread and fell over the demonic beast’s face, Hamon and Ray each grabbed the chains tied to both sides of the net and whipped around the beast’s body once.

The demonic beast whose vision was suddenly obstructed screamed. Its voice didn’t come out properly after being submerged in mud for so long, sounding like a dying animal’s scream.

Dimint and Jeremiah circled the beast’s body, throwing rope to each other and wrapping the beast tightly. Their hands wore gloves made from the hide of Tilaite, a demonic beast resistant to poison. A sizzling sound came from the beast’s body as the monster began melting from the poison on the rope.

When the demonic beast writhed in agony, Lillian and Vance stood up on their dragons’ backs. Lillian drew two swords as large as her body from her shoulders, and Vance also drew an axe and sword each as large as his body.

Lillian and Vance connected steel cables at their waists to their dragons’ chest straps. Thanks to this, even when dragons Mago and Bun rotated 360 degrees and twisted their bodies, they didn’t fall off.

Mago and Bun, rotating at high speed, prowled around the demonic beast’s torso. Following their movements, Lillian and Vance began slicing the beast’s body with sword and axe. Their blade work exquisitely avoided the chains and poison-soaked ropes wrapping the beast’s body.

Then Hamon and Ray put force into the chains they held and began descending below Tarian Gorge. Dimint and Jeremiah, who’d been wrapping the beast’s body with rope, also changed direction and began dragging the beast down below Tarian Gorge.

“Uuuooo—”

Then the demonic beast began opening its massive mouth wide. Black smoke began emerging from the slowly opening mouth.

Berche didn’t miss that sight.

Fire like a bomb erupted from the beast’s mouth toward the sky. The dragons all began flying to avoid the flames.

The moment the flames disappeared, Berche entered the beast’s mouth, drove his sword into the roof of its mouth, and tore the hide.

Berche emerged between the demonic beast’s two eyes and met the gaze of the falling monster.

White gradually began appearing in eyes that had been filled with black. At the moment its breath ended, clear black pupils briefly shone before going out.

Clementina, who’d followed Dion to the cliff’s edge, murmured softly as she watched the falling demonic beast.

“Good heavens…… It was a dragon.”

At the ball held in southern Derin of the Ronakia Empire, eight mages from Umbarot Kingdom, thirty-two from Jihelona Kingdom, and twenty from the Kingdom of Paco agreed to participate.

Most were mages who primarily researched plants and animals. Considering each nation’s scale and number of mages, the personnel count was quite substantial.

The Gold Dragon Order’s dragons descended to the bottom of Tarian Gorge to recover the demonic beast’s corpse.

Some thought even the demonic beast’s appearance was part of the performance. But it wasn’t true. The demonic beast appeared suddenly, and people were in danger. The dragon riders fought sincerely to kill the demonic beast.

Dion was detained by the Emperor throughout the late night.

“Really?”

“It’s definitely a dragon.”

Dion stated firmly in response to the Emperor’s question.

The Emperor’s reception room was full of people despite the late hour.

Present were the Emperor and Dion, Sir Berche Ritzberry of the Gold Dragon Order and Count George Winter the chief chamberlain, Count Jacob Bass in charge of the magic department, and the imperial commander responsible for escorting the imperial family.

“Well! There were no signs of a dragon from outward appearance. It had no scales and looked strange. Ah, of course it breathing fire was concerning, but no matter how I look at it, there’s insufficient evidence to view it as a dragon.”

Count George Winter, the Emperor’s chief chamberlain, was passionately arguing in rapid speech. The count who belonged to the genteel nobles who only knew how to hunt during hunting season, had been quite frightened by the demonic beast’s appearance earlier.

It was the first time he’d seen such a disgusting creature. So he couldn’t narrow the gap with the dragons he knew at all.

“How can you be certain?”

Count Jacob Bass of the magic department, who displayed sufficient masculinity with muscles despite having not a single hair, asked Dion with a calm attitude.

His attitude was extremely serious, but his eyes sparkled. His terrible scholarly curiosity had been triggered by the new organism.

‘These mages…… really.’

Berche found Count Jacob Bass’s attitude quite disagreeable. He hadn’t thought they wouldn’t be able to kill that strange creature, but he’d thought even less that he himself might die.

The fire that strange creature breathed earlier was real. It was more dangerous because they hadn’t anticipated it.

He’d never seen an animal besides dragons breathe fire from its mouth. Perhaps they’d been careless because of that. He still couldn’t believe the strange creature was a dragon, but he had to believe it.

There was far too perfect evidence.

Dion hadn’t doubted from the start. When Clementina was certain it was a dragon, he naturally accepted it. So he too had to follow his lord.

But one corner of his heart felt unsettled. It wasn’t that he didn’t believe. He just…… didn’t want to believe.

He couldn’t forget the shock when they arrived at the bottom of Tarian Gorge to examine the strange creature’s corpse. Truly, he’d never heard of or seen a dragon looking like that.

It wasn’t a dragon. It was a demonic beast itself.

Dion was composed.

“It’s definitely a dragon. I understood what it was saying. And I have an idea why it looked that way.”

“What is it?”

Count Jacob Bass now leaned his body forward and approached Dion closely. Dion flinched in surprise and stepped back.

“The place where the Duchess of Drasia was dragged by a dragon she’d never seen before from Kentlen Palace was Diahart Island. There we discovered strange Tabopis trees.”

“Strange—how so?”

Count George Winter also pricked up his ears, interested in Dion’s story.

“They were mutated Tabopis trees. They don’t bear the demonic beasts we knew. Branches were grafted to create new species. Like makuro with wings, for example.”

“Ma-Makuro with wings? Those creatures that dart swiftly on the ground. You’re saying they fly?”

George Winter bit down hard. As chief chamberlain, the Ronakia Empire’s safety was his foremost concern. Even makuro with small frames having wings was disturbing, but if mutation was progressing even in dragons like earlier, the situation was serious.

“But there’s also something that doesn’t add up.”

“What is it, Duke?”

The Emperor spoke heavily. The Emperor, who’d maintained silence throughout, also had only the Ronakia Empire’s well-being and peace in his mind.

“When I first encountered the mutated makuro, its pupils were exactly like that dragon earlier. No whites, only black. But the makuro had no fear. It only charged to kill its opponent. It had no fear of dying itself. In that respect, it differed greatly from ordinary makuro. However.”

“That dragon earlier didn’t charge madly?”

“Correct. Like a person intoxicated by drugs. Methods that work on other demonic beasts might not work on dragons.”

“Then there’s a way.”

“The reason?”