As Kathe looked relieved, Leea turned to Shia .
“Shia . You haven’t asked your question yet . ”
“Oh, that’s right . You said that you can go in and out through those pillars…”
“Yes . ”
“But why don’t you just fly, since you are dragons?”
The water dragons had big wings .
They should be able to fly . And so they shouldn’t require such a gate .
That’s what Shia had thought .
“It’s because there is a barrier around the whole thing . So we use this as the entrance . ”
“Oh? Why is it like that?”
Serulis didn’t seem to understand it .
“In other words, there is a barrier around the whole settlement that prevents you from leaving or entering . ”
“That’s it, Ruck! Exactly . And so it is very difficult to leave from any place but between these two pillars . ”
Leea said .
Goran inspected the pillars and said,
“Then does that mean we should be fine as long as we can protect this area?”
“Yes . ”
“It was because of this barrier that we water dragons have survived this long without anyone being killed or injured . ”
Grand Chamberlain Morris added .
As we talked about this, the water dragons began to stir .
“The princess just called Lord Ruck by his first name only . ”
“I know that he is very kind…but perhaps that is going too far…”
“We must all apologize together before he becomes angry…”
They were becoming frantic . I didn’t want to have a reputation for having a short temper .
“It’s fine . You really shouldn’t think anything about it…”
As I started to talk, the water dragons started rolling onto the ground .
They were now on their backs, just like a dog that is acting submissive .
“Whwhat is going on?”
I asked in surprise . Kathe nodded knowingly .
“The water dragons are apologizing . This is their way of bowing to you . I happen to know a lot about human and dragon traditions . ”
Kathe said with a smug expression .
As for the dragons on their backs, they were saying,
“The princess is still young . Please forgive her . ”
“I beg you! Please have mercy on us . ”
“Groof-groof!”
Even Grulf was next to them and lying on his back .
But it looked like he was just playing .
“There is really no need to apologize . Now, please raise your heads… I mean, bodies . ”
I pleaded . But the dragons did not get up .
“All you water dragons, Ruck really doesn’t mind it . Don’t worry . ”
“Ruck and I are friends!”
Leea said proudly . Her tail waved up and down .
“Yes . We call each other Leea and Ruck!”
I said this, and the water dragons finally got up .
They looked very surprised .
“What!”
“Our princess is so privileged . ”
“She is allowed to call him by his first name!”
The water dragons were halfway to deifying me .
I did not want that .
“No . I hope you all will now call me Ruck or Locke as well . ”
“…How magnanimous . ”
“But I would not dare…I could never do that…”
“Yes, you are right . ”
They discussed it seriously amongst each other .
“No, really . Don’t worry about it . ”
But the water dragons still seemed like they had an aversion to doing that .
And so after their discussion, they settled on calling me Mister Ruck .
While the water dragons were talking, Eric and Goran looked at the pillars .
“Ruck . I don’t know much about these . But how strong would you say that this barrier is?”
“Ahh, that is very important . Ruck, can you inspect it?”
“Yes . Just give me a moment . ”
And so I started to inspect the strength of the magic barrier .
It seemed very strong to me .
“It’s a good barrier . I think it must be quite close to the divine barrier that’s around the capital . ”
“Oh?”
The strength itself was very high .
However, I was more impressed that it covered such a wide area .
As it was usually very difficult to create a barrier like this .
“So is it really good enough that we just have to defend this area?”
“No, I wouldn’t say that . Though, anything stronger than a Vampire Lord may have to go in through here…”
“But the weak monsters can get in elsewhere?”
“Yes . ”
It was very similar to the divine barrier in that sense .
It was good at repelling strong monsters .
Usually, you weren’t as scared about weak monsters getting in anyway .
“So it’s exactly like the divine barrier?”
“No, it seems to react to magic in general . It doesn’t matter if you are a dark one or not . ”
This was probably used more for protection against other dragons .
“How come it doesn’t protect against the weak ones?”
“It is very difficult to create a barrier that repels everything, besides, we do not want it to affect monsters that we eat . ”
Grand Chamberlain Morris explained .
“Besides, even the weakest of us dragons could kill a lesser or arch vampire very easily . ”
“And can they stop Charm?”
“Of course . We dragons have a high resistance to mind attacks to begin with . ”
“We want Ruck to attack the Lords and High Lords that come in through the gate . ”
Leea said with a smile .
“If that’s the case, please leave it to us . ”
I said . And then the water dragons cheered .