56
Benjamin, who heard from Simon that the mages found magic books and magic reagents, followed his disciple to a stone chamber in the dragon’s lair. Magic reagents and materials for magic items were piled up on one side of the stone chamber, and hundreds of magic books were packed in a bookshelf on the opposite wall. However, having skimmed through the magic books, Benjamin murmured, tilting his head.
“It’s strange. These magic books are valuable, but all of them were written by human sorcerers. There’s not a single book written by a dragon here. The gold dragon may have kept the magic books it wrote separately, so we need to look for them.”
Benjamin ordered the mages to search the vast dragon’s lair again. While the mages scattered to search for the dragon’s magic books, Benjamin scrutinized the stone chamber with Simon. Having been looking around the stone chamber for a long time, Benjamin discovered that the cabinet displaying small sculptures and ceramics next to the bookshelf was under a spell of Optical Illusion. Benjamin cast a simple spell to lift the illusion, as the gold dragon Vega did not worry too much about someone breaking into its lair, and the magic operating on the cabinet was not of a high level.
When the illusion was cleared, a small room behind the cabinet was revealed, where Benjamin found more than a hundred magic books believed to have been written by the gold dragon. Count Henderson entered the stone chamber as Benjamin looked through a magic book with a satisfactory smile.
“You’ve found a secret room. Did you find magic books written by the gold dragon?”
“Yes, I did. Humans cannot imitate dragon’s spells as they are, but it’s interesting to read their magic books. In fact, human magic has developed based on research on dragons’ magic. Did you find the gold dragon's treasure?”
“Yes, we found a huge amount of gold bars and jewelry. As the Emperor sent the Red Lion Order to Greenhorn to safely transport the dragon’s treasure to Icarus City, the Black Bear Order and I only need to move the treasure there. The Red Lion Order will escort you and your mages to the Wizard Tower, too.”
Both Benjamin and Count Henderson were pretty satisfied, but they were unaware that the gold dragon Vega stored her most valuable magic books and treasure in its Subspace Pouch that she had handed over to Id. Benjamin asked Count Henderson.
“James Cronos is unlikely to come back here. Judging from Duke Cronos’ nature, he’ll never give up the Dragon Heart. How do you think it will go?”
“Of course, Duke Cronos will never give up the Dragon Heart, and he will try to catch the young man, who took the Dragon Heart, with all his family’s might. First of all, one of Duke Cronos’ supporters, Count Perkins, who has an estate near here, will help the chase. Duke Cronos will send another advanced Knight Order soon, and William Cronos can also participate in the chase.”
Having noticed Benjamin’s facial expression darkening, Count Henderson continued.
“You must be pretty close to the young man. If you tell me more about him, I can probably give him some useful advice.”
Benjamin hesitated for a moment but thought Count Henderson’s advice would be of great help to Id.
“Can you keep what I’m about to talk about Id a secret? Though I think your advice will help Id, he won’t like me telling his story to anyone else.”
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“I promise to keep the secret on my honor.”
“Thank you. I trust you.”
Benjamin talked about his journey in the Scandia Kingdom to Count Henderson in detail. Count Henderson could not hide his surprised look listening to Benjamin's long story. It was a story hard to believe, but Benjamin had no reason to lie to him.
“It’s a story hard to believe; to show such an achievement at such a young age.”
“Once again, I ask you to keep the secret.”
“Don’t worry about that. I swear I’ll never speak to anyone else on the honor of my family. Can I talk to Id in person as I urgently need to advise him? I don’t think it’s wise of him to go to the Adelian Marquisate now.”
“All right. I was about to communicate with Id, anyway.”
Benjamin restored the Optical Illusion of the secret chamber and took his communication crystal out of his bag. As soon as he attempted to communicate, Id’s face appeared on the communication crystal.
“How are you doing, Benjamin? I was waiting for your call. How did you end up in the dragon’s lair.”
Benjamin explained to Id how he had become involved in the dragon hunt and what had happened before Id had arrived at the basin.
“Hmmm, that’s what happened! According to the information I got from the gold dragon’s Telepathy, I think she looked down on humans too much. She thought she had the ability to subdue humans without being harmed, but using Hellfire in a fury after losing the function of her wing due to the unexpected magic attacks was the cause of her death.”
Id briefly explained to Benjamin what he and the gold dragon Vega had telepathically communicated with. However, Id did not want to talk about Spica, so he said that the gold dragon had given her Dragon Heart to him just because she had not wanted to be deprived of it by dragon hunters.
“I agree with the gold dragon. The idea of humans hunting dragons over three thousand years old was reckless in itself. Anyway, the gold dragon is dead, and you have its dragon heart. Duke Cronos will chase you to the end. William Cronos can also show up. It’s never good for you that the gold dragon handed its Dragon Heart over to you. Well, I’d like to introduce you to Count Henderson for advice. He is a centerpiece of imperialists and my long-standing acquaintance.”
When Count Henderson’s face appeared next to Benjamin, Id looked into his eyes for a while without saying a word. After a brief greeting, Count Henderson explained to Id the purpose of his participation in the dragon hunt under the order of the Emperor.
“The Emperor and I believe that Duke Cronos is a greater threat to the safety of the Icarus Empire than the Paruberian Federation. I think the Cronos family has been preparing for a rebellion against the Emperor for a long time. Why don’t you join hands with us with the same purpose, as you have to fight Duke Cronos and William Cronos to keep your late master’s will?”
“I’ll listen to your ideas.”
“I don’t think you should go to the Adelian Marquisate now. Duke Cronos has constantly threatened Marquis Adelian for the past thirty years. Through the feudal war, Duke Cronos occupied about a fifth of Adelian’s land, including the gold mine. Marquis Adelian even lost his Lord Castle. He now stays in the southwestern corner of his territory. If you go there now with the Dragon Heart, Duke Cronos will try to occupy the whole Adelian Marquisate.”
“What advice would you like to give me?”
Id’s calm voice made Count Henderson feel the strain. Thinking he should not treat Id as an inexperienced young man under the age of twenty, Count Henderson said after clearing his mind.
“I think you need to buy some time to build your strength until you have the confidence that you can beat William Cronos. However, it’s never easy to keep running away from Cronos’ pursuit in the Empire's territory. I happen to be the Commander of the Southern Expeditionary Army, so why don’t you join my army? The war zone can be the best place for you to hide from the chase of Duke Cronos. In addition, you will have the opportunity to contribute to the war and receive compensation accordingly. If your swordsmanship is as excellent as I’ve heard from Benjamin, it won’t be hard for you to make an immense contribution to the war. I expect you’ll develop your abilities to beat Willam Cronos through a lot of hands-on experience as you participate in the southern Expedition for a few years. Also, I’ll arrange for you to be conferred with the title of nobility by the Emperor if you make a significant contribution to the war. If you meet Marquis Adelian and join forces with him after that, it will be far easier for you to deal with the Duke Cronos family.”
Id’s counterproposal on Count Henderson’s offer was simpler and clearer than the latter expected.
“I can agree to join the Southern Expeditionary Army, but I don’t want to be conferred with the title of nobility. I swore to my late master to be a Knight of Marquis Adelian. I expect you to put my party and me in a frontline reconnaissance unit, and in any case, my party has to be with me in the same unit. I’ll take full responsibility for the safety of my party. And I don’t want to kill Paruberian troops unless it’s inevitable. I won't join the expedition if you intend to reprimand me for letting the Paruberian troops live. The commanders of all levels should be well informed of this issue.”
Count Henderson noticed that Id was a kind of person who could not be easily conciliated. He knew from his experiences that if a person like this becomes an enemy, it would be much harder to deal with than people like William Cronos. Count Henderson wondered what Id had in mind about the Imperial Family of Icarus. Although Andrew Adelian had been the Knight Commander of the Red Lion Order, one of the three Imperial Orders, the Adelian family was not an imperialist.