Chapter 241

Chapter 241: Golden Dragon Odograsado

Golden Dragon Odograsado
Chapter 241. Golden Dragon Odograsado

The aftermath of a bloody war was sweet in one way or another.
They took castle treasures as plunder, held feasts with others’ grain and livestock, and dispersed to unwind from the war.
However, this war was different.
Only adversity remained at the end of the war.
“Move, move!”
“No time to rest! The faster you move, the sooner we go home, even by a single day!”
The knights’ faces still looked as if they were in battle while barking orders.
Post-war operations should have originally had half the forces deployed and the remaining half handling cleanup.
Even that system was not properly established because the incident was that massive.
Even the knights who were supposed to be in command took part in that manual labor.
The king died.
The king who had bravely charged into enemy lines died inside the castle.
A king is the symbol of the nation; his remains must be recovered without fail.
If not the remains, then even a single finger, even a speck of dust must be retrieved.
The allied nations with a shared objective were joining forces to carry out the excavation work.
“O-over there!”
In that desperate situation, someone pointed toward the ridge.
Someone was approaching from there.
Their numbers were large enough to be called a grand army.
“Those bastards… they aren’t planning to steal the feast we prepared, are they?”
“Just like flies swarming over a renowned feast…”
“It’s not a feast, it’s a funeral…”
It was a common occurrence in war.
That anxiety was brief; upon seeing the emblem on the banner visible at the end of the ridge, people felt relief.
That banner, shining with such brilliance as though it would never fall even if the whole world were corrupted.
It was the banner of the Holy Kingdom of Odograsado.
They arrived on the scene leading a vast labor force, and the parties in charge gathered to welcome them.
“We are the Relief Knights of Odograsado. I am the Captain of the Relief Knights, and also acolyte Leo. We have come by order of His Holiness Gregory to serve all of you.”
“We were just in need of hands. We are simply grateful that the Holy Kingdom has sent the Golden Grace.”
The knights welcomed them, but the priests could not look upon them favorably.
There was no way they did not know their hidden motives.
Converting soldiers through charitable missionary work while providing aid in difficult times was a classic method.
Yet nobody dared to refuse or resist.
They were in a position where they could not even return home despite winning, stuck clearing stones, weren’t they?
If it were merely a dead soldier, they would have left him to rot; if it were a knight, they would have worried a bit and then discarded him, but a king died.
In the Arken Empire, the favored Count Rooster and the Second Prince, Ureas Arken, died.
Even if they were placed before the gates of Hell, it was a situation where they would have to retrieve them even at the cost of their own lives.
They could not afford to be picky about dirty hands or clean hands.
The Relief Knights of the Holy Kingdom healed the wounded, supplied provisions, and covered the labor shortage.
The head of the Relief Knights, the middle-aged man who called himself acolyte Leo, moved elsewhere.
That place was where King Hudret’s army was stationed among the allied forces.
Hudret was the Commander of the Allied Forces, overseeing the work of excavating the kings’ corpses from among the rubble.
He overflowed with vitality to the point where it was unbelievable that he had only slept for 3 hours after countless fierce battles.
Hudret stared fixedly at the man entering the tent.
An upright posture, fierce eyes, an impression that seemed incapable of cracking a single joke.
Hudret welcomed such a man gladly.
“Welcome, acolyte.”
“It is an honor, Your Highness Hudret.”
“Is His Holiness doing well?”
“Is he not the incarnation of the miracle who received the grace of the Golden Light? He is still healthy.”
“It must be tough. Serving an old man for decades.”
“It is fine.”
“I heard the story. I was deeply moved that the Holy Kingdom provided such support.”
“Direct combat support goes against His Holiness’s will, and even more so against the will of the Great Golden Dragon, but the post-war cleanup is another story.”
“Is that so?”
Hudret did not like it.
Yet he forced a smile and let it slide.
“Understood. Thank you for your hard work.”
“Yes. But before that…”
Leo did not seem to intend to leave immediately.
“Will you not return it?”
“What?”
Hudret played dumb to perfection.
“The Golden Grace.”
“Golden Grace?”
“…..”
“Ah, you mean Odograsado-nim’s scale.”
Hudret scratched his head awkwardly.
“I lost it.”
“…..”
“One loses things while fighting, don’t they?”
“To use that, you would have had to embed it into your body; can it be lost so easily?”
“Could someone have ripped off my hand to take it out?”
“His Holiness ordered its recovery by any means. The Golden Grace is something that not even members of the Order can use. It cannot be settled by saying it was lost.”
“It is not in my hand, so how am I supposed to recover it? You are not listening to reason.”
Leo demanding it be handed over, Hudret refusing.
“Captain, you need to come for a moment.”
“What is the matter?”
“There is a part where we need to coordinate with the priests regarding healing duties, and etiquette is involved. It seems only you can handle this…”
The timing was truly impeccable.
Seeing Hudret’s insolent face, he wanted to simply stand his ground, but as the person in charge, he could not.
“…The conversation is not over. I will come look for you later.”
“Do that.”
Leo exiting the tent.
Hudret smiled playfully, wondering if he should simply run away right now.
As Leo walked out, another member of the Relief Knights entered the tent.
“I greet King Hudret.”
“What is it?”
“Your ordered delivery has arrived. That is to say…”
He checked the order slip once more and spoke.
“You requested 100 kg of ham in an oak barrel, correct?”
“…Yes, that’s right.”
“Where should we place it?”
“Bring it inside here.”
“Understood.”
The soldier rolled the oak barrel inside and placed it beside King Hudret.
“Then I shall take my leave.”
The oak barrel stood before him.
The scent of wood and the aroma of aged protein, rising faintly and subtly fragrant, stimulated his appetite.
“Truly delicious-looking ham.”
Tapping the oak barrel with his index finger, he moved his hand toward his waist.
“Shall we try opening it?”
Hudret drew his sword and slid it between the wooden staves of the oak barrel.
Then the cylinder shook for a moment, and a lively laughter flowed out.
“What in heaven and earth opens an oak barrel like that?”
A girl’s nasal voice.
Hudret chuckled at that sound and replied.
“It seems like spoiled ham. Since it’s talking.”
“What would ham from the Holy Kingdom be? It is holy beyond measure. Not only does it fill the stomach, but it also preaches wisdom—how holy is that?”
“If it is holy ham, will the blade not penetrate so that one cannot even eat it?”
“Heh-heh, even if I look like this, I have a fragile body, darling. If you poke it deep~ will it hurt and pop out?”
“May I give it a try once?”
“Ha-ha, you impious thing. Go ahead, try it.”
Hudret unleashed his aura and stabbed with all his strength.
The sword drove in with a dull thud.
And the oak barrel’s lid shot up toward the sky as something sprang out.
“Ouch~!”
The most trivial scream Hudret had ever heard.
The one who screamed was a girl small enough to hide comfortably inside an oak barrel.
Intense golden hair with charming beauty.
She was not a person who belonged inside an oak barrel, wearing a robe of a color that was never dark and smelling completely of ham.
No, she was a person who should not have been inside at all.
Who would believe that a dragon was hiding inside a ham?
A pair of dark golden horns, somber compared to the color of the girl’s hair, perfectly resembled the emblem on the flag of the Holy Kingdom of Odograsado.
That girl was the Golden Dragon, Odograsado.
“You, you damn thing pointing a blade at me, my side hurts so much I feel like dying, jang-jang-jang!”
The girl fiddled with her flank, but naturally there was not a single scratch on her body.
Rather, only the embedded sword bent and remained stuck in the oak barrel.
Hudret frowned and glared at the girl.
“You must compensate for this sword.”
“Don’t be so stingy. If it’s that sort of sword, your armory is overflowing with them, isn’t it?”
“It was a sword with which I resolved to tread the path of hegemony. It carries that much value.”
“Pajang-jang! It can’t be helped. Fine, I will have one of my swords prepared for you.”
Hudret smiled secretly at her.
Yet, as they say, there is always someone who flies higher than the one who runs.
“Then I must also take something back from you.”
The girl made a gesture in the air.
Then the stacked baggage vibrated, and something shot out abruptly and was caught in her hand.
It was a golden scale.
The very object they had been arguing over, claiming it did not exist just minutes ago.
Hudret clicked his tongue.
“There must be tens of thousands of those scales; can’t you spare me just one?”
“Jang-jang! You have countless swords as well; couldn’t you spare a single one?”
“I was short-sighted.”
“You should have possessed a kind heart, you foolish thing.”
The girl bursting into nasal laughter and the middle-aged man chuckling ‘pfft’ in disbelief.
Odograsado placed the scale lightly behind her head, the light faded, and it began to glow dimly above her head.
“So the one who ought to stay in the Holy Kingdom came all the way here in secret, worried that I might eat your scale?”
“Do I look like someone who would undertake such troublesome work? Curling up inside a cramped barrel isn’t easy either. Phew, my bones.”
“Then why?”
She leaned back and answered with a radiant smile.
“Did I come to see our baby’s fiancé?”
“My son is studying hard in the castle, you know.”
“Jang-jang, that’s a funny thing to say. I am not talking about your baby.”
The lazy-looking girl pointed at herself with her thumb and spoke with confidence.
“My baby.”
Odograsado’s baby.
Hudret had deep ties with her, but it was the first time he had ever heard of a baby.
She looked more like a baby herself, so who could it be?
‘And on a battlefield, of all places…’
Before Hudret could guess anything, Odograsado pulled her robe over her head and walked.
Hudret naturally followed behind her.
“Where are you going, reeking of ham?”
“I am going alone, so do not follow me.”
“Since the Great Golden Dragon graces us with her presence, shouldn’t I serve as your palanquin?”
“Pajang-jang! No need, you bastard! If a big guy like you carries me, we will only draw attention!”
Odograsado walked away laughing jong-jong.
Hudret watched her back in silence and realized where she was heading.
“Baby…”
That woman whom she called a baby might be small to Odograsado, but to Hudret, she was an existence far too colossal.

Ferda opened his eyes.
The first thing he saw was the ceiling of the tent.
And Ruri.
Sensing his presence, Ruri peeked her head in.
“Ruri…”
“Are you awake?”
“Yes.”
“…..”
She started to say something, but stopped.
From the shape of her mouth, which began with ‘gi’, she was definitely going to ask how he felt.
Ferda knew well why she could not even ask such a simple question.
Worried that his neck would not turn, he tried moving his right hand just in case.
He felt nothing there.
Firmly wrapped in cloth, injected with painkillers, devoid of any sensation.
That first aid could not have been done by Hudret.
Ferda looked at her in silence.
Just as he was about to say something,
“Do you know what happened?”
Ruri beat him to it.
Ferda finally closed his mouth and shook his head.
“The citadel collapsed, and the outer castle also completely collapsed. But the victory celebrations could not proceed.”
“Right, since all the kings died…”
The allied forces had five kings.
Four of them stabbed each other to death, and one died at the hands of Ureas.
And Rooster attempted to kill that Ureas, but Ureas counterattacked and killed Rooster, and ultimately he died as well.
Whatever the process was, aside from Ferda and King Hudret, there were no surviving leaders.
Just as it was about to turn into ruins, King Hudret threw Ferda toward Ruri, and Ruri, having caught Ferda’s body, escaped the scene at the highest speed she could muster.
“Sir Jed and Sir Arwen, who followed me, also made it out safely.”
“What did they do?”
“They contributed to slaying and weakening the castle monsters.”
“They did their best.”
For Ferda, it was a relief that those close to him did not die.
Ruri’s words continued.
“And there was a brief internal conflict.”
“Internal conflict…”
“Wouldn’t it be suspicious if the kings hadn’t all died and some returned alive?”
The high commanders already knew all the strategies the kings had planned.
Given that everyone who tried to monopolize the book died, they must have thought that either Ferda or Hudret killed them.
“So what did they do?”
“King Hudret resolved it.”
“How?”
He said precisely this:
“I killed them all.”
He spat out the words that he killed the kings with tremendous confidence.
“They were all guided by black magic and attempted to make their kingdoms like the Kingdom of Heinkel, so I killed them all on the spot. In the name of God and my conscience, there is not an ounce of shame; if you doubt my intent, I can wage war with all of you right here and right now.”
Ferda could not comprehend his actions.
‘If he had pinned it all on me, it would have been easier…’
The problematic one would be Ferda, and Hudret could simply wash his hands of it and watch with his hands behind his back.
On the other hand, he also thought that judgment was correct.
Because, ultimately, it ended in the cleanest manner.
Nobody could utter a sound before the King of Heinkel’s words.
They had lost too many people and were exhausted from the siege of the Kingdom of Heinkel.
Furthermore, at that moment, retrieving the kings’ bodies was the top priority.
What was more, Hudret, who said he killed the kings, also assisted them in recovering the bodies, extending the bare minimum of courtesy.
He had thought Hudret was merely an arrogant human, but that demeanor of not being swept away by emotion and sparing no effort for necessary labor shattered everything Ferda had evaluated up until now.
That had to be the Emperor’s Vessel Hudret spoke of.
“That was how it happened.”
“I see…”
“Yes.”
“…..”
“…..”
Ruri swallowed dryly.
Ferda felt a storm within that parched breath.
“…I will prepare tea.”
Ruri turned her body and prepared tea at the table.
The tea set clattered, trembling in her hands.
Ferda saw that and opened his mouth again.
“Ruri.”
“Don’t speak.”
“Ruri…”
“I don’t want to hear it!”
Ruri let out a sharp cry.