Chapter 05: A Crisis Born from Good Intentions
Three days later. Zenjirou looked down on the short young man kneeling before him, and kept an inexpressive look, although he had to strain all the muscles in his face in order to hide his inner nervousness.
The young man— Xavier offered his greeting clearly, but still somewhat awkwardly. Zenjirou continued to look down to him from his chair as he slowly began to speak.
“As you wish.”
(Hmm, I haven’t seen anyone as straightforward as him in a while.)
Xavier Guzzle was the appointed successor to Marquis Guzzle.
Together with a bearded hunter, he had been sent over to Valentia by Aura with the “Teleport Magic”. Zenjirou knew exactly what they were here for, since he was not an idiot.
If his assumption was correct, this young man had come to Valentia with extremely bad news for Zenjirou.
“So, why did Her Majesty send you over here?”
Needless to say, the wax seal on it belonged to the Carpa Royal Family.
With these words, Xavier humbly held the parchment out and the waiting maid Ines took it from him after a signal from Zenjirou. Once she had confirmed that it had not been tampered with, she opened it in front of Zenjirou.
Under normal circumstances, the dragonskin parchment would be handed to Zenjirou, so that he could read through it, but regrettably, he still was not proficient enough in the language to read it by himself.
“Then allow me. On this occasion, I nominate Xavier Guzzle to be put in charge of the Pack Dragon Subjugation. He shall fulfil his task as a direct report to Zenjirou Carpa, the current ‘fully authorized representative’ of the Duchess of Valentia.”
(I knew it.)
“I see. All right. The troops of Valentia were already dispatched to protect the nearby farms, though.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Xavier responded loud and clear, since he had no clue of the turmoil inside of Zenjirou.
“Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. What do I do now…”
The problem that plagued him was obviously Xavier Guzzle, who had been leapt here with “Teleport” earlier.
His knowledge about dragons and his observant eyes would surely be a great help to the Dragon Subjugation. Aura must have thought the same, since she had used her precious magical power to cast “Teleport” twice on the same day.
“We already send out a Pack Dragon Subjugation Party at my behest. And I even put Raffaelo in charge of it already. But now Aura’s interfering from the Capital. This won’t end well.”
“Well, Aura did wrote that she’s just ‘nominating’ him, so maybe I can overlook it? Nah, that would be bad. It would turn into a big mess, if the Prince Consort ignores a personal nomination from the Queen.”
Then, what would happen, if he were to accept her nomination and put Xavier in charge of the Pack Dragon Subjugation? That would actually be even worse.
Thus, Zenjirou was practically the Duke of Valentia now, albeit representative, and Queen Aura was “interfering” in his business.
“Argh, hasn’t Aura noticed anything? I doubt it… She probably thought the ‘Small Flying Dragon’ from me was asking for further instructions, instead of just exchanging information.”
It would inconvenience everyone at the scene, when you asked someone for help, who needed three or even four days to respond. Therefore, Zenjirou had only intended to report the matter, when he sent a “Small Flying Dragon”, but apparently, Aura had interpreted in such a way that he was waiting for instructions from her.
But who was to be blamed now? Zenjirou? Because he did not wrote in the letter word by word that he merely wanted to exchange information and did not require further instruction?
Or maybe Zenjirou after all? Because he usually acted passive and pretended to be incompetent as much as possible, yet he forgot all about that, since he was shocked by all the causalities around him, and acted quickly for a change?
Zenjirou tended to put the blame on himself as a matter of principle, so he ultimately reached such a conclusion and hung his head in low spirits. In practical terms, Xavier and his bearded hunter were a valuable asset to the Pack Dragon Subjugation.
In other words, Aura had sent Xavier to Valentia in order to do him and Zenjirou a favour. A duplicate goodwill, so to speak.
“No use crying over spilt milk. I get a sinking feeling, but I’ll make it work out somehow.”
He realized that he could not avoid a political éclat in its entirely, no matter what he did, so he slapped his cheeks with both hands and settled on that conclusion.
In the early morning of the next day, all the important figures in regards to the Pack Dragon Subjugation were assembled in the large conference room in the residence of the Duke of Valentia and sat around a long table.
“Okay, let’s hear your report first, Raffaelo.”
The addressed Raffaelo stood up on the spot and began to explain.
Zenjirou heaved a sigh of relief in light of that report.
However, it did not change the fact that a farm had been raided. The loss of livestock, mainly Meat Dragons, was quite severe again. If attacks of this kind continued to happen, all the nearby farms that provided meat and wheat for Valentia, would be demolished by the Pack Dragons.
“Good. I‘m glad to hear that they didn‘t attack, but the current situation won’t improve unless we exterminate the Pack Dragons. It’s important that we figure out how to wipe out the Pack Dragons while protecting the farms from them at the same time.”
Seeing their reactions, Zenjirou concluded that the right timing had come to introduce the two people standing behind him.
Let me introduce him to you: Sir Xavier Guzzle.”
“Th- Thank you for your kind words. My name is Xavier Guzzle. I have participated in the subjugation of the Pack Dragons on the Salt Road. And while I may still be wet behind the ears, I do hope that my experience can be of use to you somehow!”
Having said this, the bearded hunter standing next to him was even worse off on that note.
“And the man next to him is Mr. Antonio, a talented hunter from the March of Guzzle. I doubt you will find anyone more knowledgeable about Pack Dragons than him.
“M- My… My name is Antonio! N- Nice to make your acquaintance!”
The middle-aged man was nothing but a mere hunter in a room with over ten noblemen, including one royalty. The normal reaction was to curse one own’s luck, instead of considering it an honour.
No one dared to reject the proposal from Zenjirou.
Around then minutes later, Zenjirou witnessed another good point of Raffaelo Márguez.
“Yes, Sir Raffaelo. We surrounded the hill we identified as their hide-out from the east in a semi-circle, so if they escaped from there, they had to run west. Valentia lies in the west of the Salt Road, so it does match up.”
“I see. Then is it possible that the Pack Dragons have crossed some mountains in a few days to get here, Mr. Antonio?”
The bearded hunter on the other hand was still a nervous wreck, but at least, he could vocalize his own opinion without problem now.
Practically paralysed with nervousness at the beginning, Xavier and the bearded hunter gradually regained their composure now while they talked with Raffaelo, who kept a soft tone and expression up the whole time.
“Then it really may be better to assume that the Pack Dragons that attacked Valentia, were the same from the Salt Road.”
“Your reason being?”
“Certainly. The main reason is that we found ‘blood from Pack Dragons’ at the first raided farm. Our troops did not manage to get there in time, so it raises the question who actually harmed the Pack Dragons? But it makes sense, when it were the Pack Dragons fleeing from the Salt Road.”
But the clarification from Raffaelo only created more doubt for Zenjirou instead.
When Zenjirou pointed out the obvious, the bearded hunter declared a different belief.
But since the arrowhead is still there, the wound will open again every time they move around too much, spilling some blood now and then.”
The coherent explanation from the hunter convinced Zenjirou for now. However, one of his doubts remained.
The first attack aside, the subjugation party did fight the dragons during the second attack. Did the Huge Pack Dragon already die?”
“Ah, no. Even on the Salt Road, the Huge Pack Dragon only got close enough to engage him once. It was always just giving orders from the back and kept himself safe deeper in the forest.”
Raffaelo testified like that so as to affirm the assertion from Xavier.
Zenjirou inadvertently frowned in light of that reasonable explanation. If their information and speculations were right, the Huge Pack Dragon was large, strong and smart, yet also a coward. It made their chase all the more troublesome.
A captain of the Valentia Army grumbled like that by accident. His irritation was understandable.
The problem was their quick legs.
“A Pack Dragon can jump as high as I am tall from a standing position. It would be pointless unless the hole is quite deep.”
“They have quite strong legs, so they will just break free from it. To begin with, they have an excellent noise as well, so it is quite likely that they will not even be trapped by it anyway.”
Man, wild animals sure are unreckonable.”
“Well, that is because of the ‘scent’. They urinate in various places or rub themselves against tree trunks in order to leave their own scent behind as a waymarker.”
Zenjirou had only listened carefully so far, but that word called something to his mind.
The sudden question from the Prince Consort seemed to confuse the bearded hunter, but he responded honestly nevertheless.
Having discerned the plan from Zenjirou, the bearded hunter spoke apologetic, but Zenjirou was not put off by it.
“It was a landslide. An heavy rain during the rainy season washed away the whole trees on a slope. Then the Pack Dragons no longer had any waymarkers and made a ruckus, when they ended up in a completely different place.”
“Hmm…”
He looked at everyone and spoke.
Raffaelo was the first to speak up in response to that.
“Indeed. And when we establish a unit with a method to erase the scent, we could detain the attacking dragons by erasing the scent on their escape route.”
Then the captains of the Valentia Army joined the discussion, too, encouraged by the ideas of the two men.
“But isn’t it too late, when they have already entered the forest? We can’t use our ’Raptorial Dragons’ there. A pursue would be difficult, even if the Pack Dragons have lost their way for a bit.”
One of the captains said so with a confident expression. During the first attack, they could not get an accurate grasp on their numbers, but they properly engaged them on the second attack and a lot of soldiers turned in a report.
“A large pack with over hundred dragons? Are you sure about that?”
“Y- Yes, I am. Is there a problem?”
All the information Valentia got about the “incident on the Salt Road” was passed on from Zenjirou and Raffaelo. They both had heard that “a large pack lead by a Huge Pack Dragon was blocking the Salt Road”, but they had not been told any details about it.
Xavier realized that it was his duty to inform them about the details, so he revealed everything he knew while being extra careful not to cause a misunderstanding.
General Puyol conjectured from that fact that they must keep a number of dragons separated from the main force as reserves.”
Although they did not encounter the main force, the hunt with reinforcements revealed in the end that the pack did not consist of a petty number like fifty, judging by the abundant evidence (such as feces or claw marks) they found all around.
Despite that, the number of dragons attacking Valentia added up to over one hundred.
It would be the absolutely horror, when the dragons even took the size of the battlefield into consideration and adjusted their force accordingly, but considering the judgement of the Huge Pack Dragon so far, it could not be ruled out and that was a terrifying thought.
“No… The pack is most likely stretched to its limits.”
“What do you mean?”
From his humble point of view, the nobles and officers of the Royal Army looked at him elated, so the bearded hunter did flinch, but somehow managed to voice his idea.
It had bothered me from the beginning that the Pack Dragons would cross the mountains and yet again attack us humans on the other side, when they just had fled from the very humans on the Salt Road.
The captains inadvertently looked at each other.
With all the gazes focused on him, the bearded hunter continued his explanation nervously.
Furthermore, the pack of the Huge Pack Dragon consisted of way above a hundred dragons. If they retreated deeper into the forest, they were bound to cause a ‘fight over territory’.
“You mean, there are dragons deep in the forest that can defeat a large pack with two or three hundred dragons on every occasion?”
Born and raised in the Carpa Kingdom, Raffaelo and the others seemed to share that sentiment, albeit a bit stronger, so a chilly silence hung over the conference room for a while.
Raffaelo was the first to regain his composure and he checked with the bearded hunter in order to get the discussion back on track.
In response, the bearded hunter nodded with a confident expression as his intention had come across.
That theory sounded all too favourable to them, so it was to be taken with a grain of salt, but it certainly made sense.
While such ideas were exchanged, Xavier remembered that he still had not revealed one more piece of information.
This question was answered by a young captain of the army as he raised his hand.
This strongly backed up the assumption from the bearded hunter.
Raffaelo said this and nodded convinced.
If they kept losing the fights over territory while they passed through the thick forest, it meant that they had one fierce battle after another and no time to properly search for food.
It was a bit sad that the powerful enemy raiding their farms turned out to be a concerned animal from the fights over territory, but a welcome fact, nevertheless.
“Good. Looks like we all agree on it. Then we now have to speak about how to lay these last hundred dragons to rest. Your ideas, Gentlemen?”
Taking his cue from these words, Zenjirou started to discuss a concrete battle plan with Xavier and the others.