I am the Monarch – Chapter 286: Dragons (3)

---

Pierce stared at Kalian with a questioning expression.

‘A dragon asking a human about finding someone…’

It was hard to understand as even going after Roan Lancephil right now was completely reliant on Kalian’s abilities. Kalian gave a little smile and grabbed on Pierce’s shoulder.

“The one you need to find is called Ypos – a technician, a blacksmith and…”

His smile deepened.

“A dwarf.”
“A dwarf…?”

Pierce asked back with surprise.

A dwarf. They were a race smaller than humans and known for being strong, agile and delicate with their hands. Unlike humans, they would live underground and were famous for building large underground cities in the deep earths. And thanks to their techniques, they were welcomed by several races and also since they liked inventing and developing things, interracial dealings with other races were frequently done.

‘But during the war between humans and elves they said they wouldn’t stand on any sides and hid themselves.’

Remembering the little rumours he had heard, Pierce stared at Kalian and Kalian replied with a smile and a nod.

“Currently the dwarves are living in several underground cities and would never go above ground.”

A soft voice.

“I know the approximate locations of the underground cities, but the problem is…”

Kalian looked directly into Pierce’s eyes.

“For a certain reason, we the dragons cannot enter the underground cities.”
“Ah…”

Pierce let out a low mutter, as he could finally understand why he had been asked to find someone.

“Of course, I’m not telling you to do it right now, because the thing about the altar takes precedence. “
“Hmm. What is the reason for looking for this dwarf called Ypos?”

If it was to kill him, then Pierce was planning to politely refuse and Kalian easily read his mind.

“I told you it was not a strange request. Kukuku. Ypos is one of the top three even from amongst the dwarves in terms of skills. Even from the dragons’ tools, most of the better ones were made by him.”

Glancing at Lunark’s lair, he continued.

“I’m planning on asking Ypos to create weapons for the new army. To go against Lunark’s army that would be aiming to destroy the Middle World, normal weapons would fall short.”
“Ah…”

Pierce let out a short murmur. If it was for such a request, then he could provide any amount of help in finding Ypos and seeing that Kalian lightly patted Pierce’s shoulder.

“This much is fine right?”
“Of course.”

Pierce gave a nod and Kalian smiled before breathing in deeply.

“Then, shall we go meet Roan Lancephil first?”
“Can you tell where he had gone to?”

With a careful voice and expression, Pierce asked to which Kalian shrugged his shoulders.

“I’ve let out some birds so there should be contact soon. It’s harder to find the traces of Astrum than I expected.”

That word, Astrum had come out again and Pierce’s two eyes sparkled.

“What is that Astrum thing?”

A very careful voice, and Kalian made a bright smile instead of a reply. However, Pierce was determined to hear this time around as he stared intently into Kalian’s eyes.

“Oho.”

Saying that, Kalian made his mouth round, before soon nodding and continuing.

“If you’re that curious, then I’ll explain it for you. Astrum is, you see…”

Kalian’s story continued for a while after that and Pierce who had been listening to it silently dropped his chin in great surprise – Kalian’s story was that startling and mysterious.

Besides,

‘I, I had used that Astrum? And more importantly…’

It was extremely unbelievable and Pierce gulped.

‘In my previous life?!’

***

A large carriage ran along the straight main road and thanks to the road being made of strong stones, the carriage didn’t show any signs of rocking. The carriage was large enough to fit six men with room to spare but the only ones inside were one young male and one young female.

Sitting opposite one another, they gazed at the scenery visible on the other side of the windows.

“The world really is wide.”

The beautiful lady whose short hair and thick eyebrows were impressive clicked her tongue with a little surprise. She was Beryn who had been leaving the area around the Grain Mountain Range for the first time in her life.

“The real world is a lot wider than this.”

Sitting opposite her, the youth smiled hazily and replied. With his soft and innocent appearance like a wandering merchant, it was Roan Lancephil who had once again hid his identity with disguise.

Following Beryn’s gaze, he stared outside the window and on each side of the main road were smaller roads only for pedestrian use. Thanks to those, the carriages and horses could increase their speeds on the main roads without a worry.

‘Roads like this must fill the entire kingdom like a cobweb.’

Roads were blood veins themselves. If people and supplies could move smoothly, the entire kingdom would be filled with energy, let alone the fast marching speed available during times of war or caution.

‘On top of this if we were to bring in large supplies of magic carriages and installed trails which the Lebbis carriages could run on…’

From the Capital Castle of Mediasis, it would be possible to reach the borders in two days. In the midst of his thoughts, the carriage slowly reduced its speed, until finally coming to a stop, despite there being still some distance until Castle Longfort.

‘What’s going on?’

When Roan frowned, the horseman’s calm voice reached his ears from outside.

“We need to stop for a bit. It seems that a fight had broken out with the monsters nearby.”
“Hmm.”

Roan let out a low mutter. Indeed, in the western regions of the Amaranth Kingdom and especially the area adjacent to the Grain Mountain Range, there were frequent appearances of monsters.

‘That’s why I had positioned Harrison as the Commander of the Western Armies but…’

He stared quietly at Beryn.

“How is it? Do you want to have a look?”

A soft voice asked kindly. Roan would now speak casually with Beryn, since he was now hiring her, while also being two years older than Beryn.

“Yes, your m…”

Beryn swallowed her words as Roan’s identity was still a secret to the surrounding people and with a smile, Roan opened the door of the carriage. The horseman became a little surprised as he turned his head back.

“Why are you coming out?”

Roan gave a wide smile and replied amiably.

“We’ll walk slowly from here.”

The horseman shook his hands in reply.

“The Western Army Headquarters are nearby so it won’t be too dangerous but the battleground is still right before us. Please wait a bit more until the fight is over.”

He was just honestly worried evident from his tone and face.

“We’re really fine.”

Signalling him to not worry, Roan grabbed on the horseman’s hands, shook them firmly and walked away. Beryn also gave a nod before following after Roan.

“Uh?! Uh…”

The horseman was a little late when he tried to reach his hands out to stop them, but Roan and Beryn were already becoming little dots over the horizon.

“W, what’s with that speed…”

He made a dumbfounded expression with broadened eyes.

“If they’re that fast, why did they get on a carriage instead of just running…?”

Low murmurs escaped soon after. During that, Roan and Beryn increased their speeds a little more and headed quickly towards the Grain Mountain Range.

‘She’s keeping up quite well.’

Glancing back, Roan made a faint smile. At the end of his gaze was Beryn who had a slightly stiff expression due to her concentration but was nonetheless keeping up without much problems.

‘I was just teaching her the Amaranth Laws of Mana on the way to Castle Longfort as a pastime…’

Inwardly, Roan clicked his tongue in surprise. While travelling towards Castle Longfort on the carriage, Roan had taught Beryn on the basic Amaranth Laws of Mana.

It had merely been around four days of teaching but Beryn had a fearsome talent that broke through Roan’s expectations. She quickly understood the laws of mana and used them efficiently, while still training ridiculously. As a result of a mix of both effort and talent, she was able to achieve a lot faster than normal soldiers. Of course, it was still lacking and was unpolished but she could use the mana quite well when doing simple actions like moving the body or carrying something heavy.

‘After a bit more training, she would be able to reach the level of Amaranth Taemusas.’

Roan made a smile while looking at Beryn. Thinking that he had discovered a great military official, he felt good.

‘Should I try going a little faster?’

With a mean smile, he kicked off the ground.

Paat!

Instantaneously, the speed forcing him forward had increased by a bit.

“Huu.”

Beryn who had been following from behind was slightly startled but then made a faint smile while forming fists on her two hands.

‘I’m not giving up.’

She was a tough person that did not give up in front of adversities.

Paat!

Her shadows blurred and it was then,

Kwaaaang!

Around the area of the Grain Mountain Range they were heading to, a loud roar escaped.

‘Hmm?’

Roan who had been in the lead made a frown. It was an extremely unpleasant, uncomfortable noise, and from what he knew, there were no objects from the Western armies that made that kind of noise.

‘Which means it was from the monsters’ s…’

When his thoughts reached around there,

Kwaaaaaaang!

A strange noise louder than before was heard. At the same time, a large pillar of dirt reached into the skies as if the mountain itself was exploding.

And,

“Hmm!”

Beryn who had been behind Roan let out a murmur with a slight surprise. It was because a large shock wave had reached them along with the large explosion.

‘A shock wave coming this far.’

Things weren’t normal.

“Beryn.”

A low voice filled the area and Beryn who had been barely keeping up was fast at reading the situation. She intentionally slowed down a little and nodded her head.

“Please go first.”

As soon as she finished,

Paat!

Roan disappeared from her vision.

“Huu.”

Feeling the wind that came at her after some delay, Beryn let out a deep breath.

‘His real speed was that fast.’

She was surprised again at Roan’s abilities, but just admiring something wasn’t suited to her personality.

‘I’ll be following sooner or later.’

Clenching her teeth, Beryn once again kicked off the ground and as fast as she could, she ran forward in search of Roan’s back that had long disappeared.

***

Kwaaaang!

The ground in front was turned along with an ear-splitting sound.

“Damn! Spread out! Spread out!”
“Centurions! Focus on the signals!”
“The centuries with lots of injured ones back off! Get in line! Line!”
“If one group backs off in fear, then we’re all dying together!”

Urgent commands fell.

“Damn!”

Hedley, a commander of 1000 men belonging to the Western armies held his sword tight. His entire body was filled with dirt but he had no leisure to pat it off.

“Uuuuu.”
“My leg, my leg…”
“Kuu.”

Moans of pain were heard from all sides, and were all from the allies.

“Where in the world did such a monster come out from?!”