47

After the meal, Blackanvil brought a sword from his workshop. Though undecorated, it was an elegant sword, which was a little shorter than Id’s middlesword. Any swordsman would have acknowledged that it was a masterpiece made by a master artisan. Receiving the sword from Blackanvil, Lara challenged Sasha with great joy.

“Sasha, how about a little spar?”

Sasha walked out to the yard with his sword. After a five-minute spar with Sasha, Lara truly came to appreciate Blackanvil’s work.

“This is an excellent sword. I’ve always envied Id’s sword, but I think this is better than his. Thank you, Uncle Blackanvil. How much do I need to pay for the sword?”

Lara called the dwarven artisan Uncle Blackanvil like Selena. Blackanvil and Lara looked at Id at the same time. Listening to the conversation between the two, Id just smiled brightly. Blackanvil responded to Lara.

“I cannot say it’s better than Id’s, but I can say it’s no worse than his middlesword. I don’t need to receive any extra money from you. Since the price of raw materials had risen much more than when I produced Id’s sword, It’s the same as giving it to you at the cost even if I receive a hundred golds. But don’t go spreading the word that I sold it to you for only a hundred gold. But do you have that much money?”

“Sure, I’m richer than I look.”

Lara told Blackanvil how they took away Baron Kozlov’s gold coins prepared for a contract killing.

“If I had known, I would have priced the sword higher.”

Lara quickly put a pouch of a hundred gold on Blackanvil’s palm and stuck her tongue out.

“No, it’s too late.”

Later in the evening, Selena followed Lara into her room. Watching Selena preparing to sleep in her room, Lara asked her.

“Don’t you have to tell your family that you’re going on a trip with us?”

At Lara’s question, Selena looked at her for a while with an awkward facial expression trying to figure out what Lara meant, and then said,

“Elven mothers bring up their child for about ten years after birth, and then young elves live together in communities for about fifty years being educated by the village elders. But after being independent at around sixty years old, no one interferes with the life of elves. There’s no such thing as individual families in elven society.”

An elf and a human had spent the night chatting about various things, and the next day, when they woke up in the same bed, they had already become best friends. The party said goodbye to the dwarven master artisan Blackanvil and left his home for the south.

************

Tensions increased in the aristocratic society of Icarus City, the Empire's capital. The nobles, who had been enjoying peace for the past twenty years, gathered in twos and threes to exchange information on the two sudden pieces of news and kept a close eye on what would happen. The first piece of news was that Duke Cronos would hunt a dragon. And the other was that the Evergreen County, one of the southern territories sharing borders with the Paruberian Federation, had been ravaged by an unexpected invasion of Paruberian Warriors, and the heir to the estate had been captured by the enemies.

The Paruberian Federation was a tribal alliance bordering the Icarus Empire with the vast Paruberian Desert. Intermediate trades between the northern parts of the continent, including the Icarus Empire, and the southern parts of the continent made the Paruberian Federation rich for a long time. Still, it has always been a nation ravaged by civil wars, unable to overcome the limit as a federal state of more than fifty tribes. Twenty years back, Carl VI, the late father of Carl VII, the current Emperor of the Icarus Empire, had sent a hundred thousand expeditionary troops to conquer the Paruberian Federation. At that time, all tribes of the Paruberian Federation had united around the Hesuth Tribe and resisted, expertly exploiting the desert terrain to defend against the invaders. The imperial army was forced to retreat, having lost almost half of its troops. Carl VI had tried to send expeditionary forces to the Paruberian Federation a few times after that defeat but failed to fulfill his wish in the face of opposition from the aristocrats and passed away nine years back.

Summoned by the young Emperor, Count Henderson sat on the sofa in the reception room, closing his eyes. Although Count Evergreen, who had hurried to his estate having heard of his eldest son’s kidnapping, was his political enemy, Count Henderson was sympathetic to him since the latter also was a lord of one of the southern estates bordering the Paruberian Federation. The Henderson family has been one of the central pillars of the imperialists who have devoted their heartfelt loyalty to emperors over generations. Henderson himself was trusted by Carl VII enough to serve as the Commander-in-Chief of the expeditionary forces four times already. He was waiting for the meeting, wondering whether the Emperor would put the dragon hunt or the Southern Expedition under his charge. After a while, the door to the reception room opened, and a familiar young eunuch came in and spoke to Count Henderson in a low voice.

“His Majesty wants to meet you in the gazebo of the Willow Pond.”

The Willow Pond was located in the Emperor’s private garden, where nobles were not allowed to enter. Count Henderson straightened out his clothes, thinking the mission would be more complicated than expected. On the pavilion in the middle of the pond, the Emperor was sitting alone. In front of the bridge leading to the pavilion, Knight Commander Marcus of the Cosmos Order, one of the three Imperial Orders, was guarding alone. Nodding to Marcus slightly, Henderson walked to the gazebo.

“Let us skip the formalities, Count Henderson. Take a seat, please.”

There was a worried look on the handsome face of the young Emperor.

“As you know, the savages of the south have invaded the imperial territory. So, I ordered the nobles of all ranks to mobilize their Knight Orders and soldiers. I am going to call up two hundred thousand troops. I just signed a proclamation to appoint you as the Commander-in-Chief of the Southern Expeditionary Army. Subjugate the barbarians and show them the great dignity of the Empire.”

Count Henderson acknowledged Carl VII commands, bowing his head.

“I heard that Count Evergreen volunteered to be the Commander-in-Chief of the Southern Expeditionary Army. There could be some backlash.”

“I cannot appoint an incompetent man to an important position for worry of opposition from the aristocracy. Take the Black Bear Order and three thousand troops of the Central Army. Visit the eastern territories to take over the Knight Orders and soldiers from the lords. Viscount Jordan, the Deputy Commander-in-Chief, will collect the troops from the western estates.”

The Black Bear Order was one of the three Imperial Orders, along with the Cosmos Order and the Red Lion Order. The Emperor’s dispatch of his own Knight Order meant that he would do his best on the southern expedition. For Count Henderson, it meant that he must achieve a positive result in the war. He felt pressured but proud as the Emperor showed confidence in him. Though he has not taken complete control of the nobles yet, the young Emperor was a wise ruler. If Count Henderson succeeds in his southern expedition, the Emperor’s power will be consolidated, and it would be only then that he would be an Emperor in both name and substance. When Count Henderson, who felt a great responsibility, stood up and tried to show his respect to the Emperor, the latter raised his hand to stop the former and spoke in a low voice.

“There’s something more important than the southern expedition. You must have heard that the Duke of Cronos plans to hunt a dragon. After William Cronos had obtained Aura Beam, the Duke family constantly tried to bring up more Aura Beam owners. However, it seems they haven’t had any tangible results for the past thirty years. It’s not easy to build up a manna hall in the human body, and even if they succeed in making a manna hall, it is far more difficult to operate the manna to achieve Aura Beam. Through the countless failures, the Duke of Cronos must know the difficulties better than anyone else. Now that William Cronos is in his mid-eighties, Duke Cronos must feel on edge. All the aristocrats the Cronos family has persecuted could rise against them if William Cronos dies. I recently obtained information that Duke Cronos figured out how to raise Aura Beam owners using a Dragon Heart in a relatively short period. Otherwise, the Duke wouldn’t go on a dragon hunt, which is extremely risky.”

Dragon Heart was where long-living dragons stored refined manna condensation, so its function was very similar to Id’s manna hall even though its size was much bigger than his. It was a red sphere about the size of a watermelon that formed inside the dragon’s neck. It was called the Dragon Heart since its color and shape were similar to the heart, but the dragons’ real heart was in their chest.