Chapter 60: That’s It

[If you hand me that dragon, I will help you.]

A voice echoed in his head.

Ian was startled by the strange voice. Of course, he wasn’t too surprised because he had experienced it.

‘Is this telepathy?’

Ian knew it well because he had experienced it during the war in the past.

Moreover, such a clear voice must be the highest grade of telepathy magic. Only the best wizards could pull off this magic.

Therefore, Ian couldn’t help but be surprised.

‘No way…’

The man presumed to have sent the voice had long red hair. At the same time, Ian could be sure of that since his senses were heightened with .

His energy was similar to the dragon they caught. Of course, it felt a lot fiercer and more powerful than the one they caught.

But Ian asked back, not showing his fluster.

Surely, telepathy worked by communicating through thinking.

‘Help? How are you going to help?’

[Will you hand me that dragon?]

‘Are you asking for it to be intact?’

[Be sure to keep it alive. No dismembering.]

Ian frowned.

What was with this “no dismembering”?

‘Why did we come here in the first place?’

Moreover, even if they let the wizards that destroyed the territory off, they could not just hand over the dragon without doing anything.

Thus, Ian smirked as if to shoo him away.

‘No, we can stop it without your help.’

[That’s an explosion magic circle. Without my help, everyone will die.]

‘It’s dangerous only when it’s activated.’

[?]

‘Why, am I wrong? They have not completed the installation of the most important core part yet.’

One of the dragon’s eyebrows rose at Ian’s words.

It was strange how a human child knew such information. Because this was the Kingdom of Swordsmen with little information about magic.

But Ian just smiled.

‘It was so scattered that it took me a while to find out, but I know for sure how to break it.’

He himself wasn’t from the Kingdom of Magicians, so he didn’t have deep knowledge of magic, but he was certain of one thing.

‘The center of any magic circle is dangerous.’

It was usually the case because it was the core.

That was why Ian ordered them around so that it never got completed.

Even when he forced the wizards to work and deliberately made them move here and there pointlessly, he also held on to the wizards who were likely to be in charge of the core.

‘Usually, the most talented people take charge of the core.’

He had instructed the deputy lord to get in the way of the man who appeared to be the leader.

Anyway, he was not in a situation to comply with that condition even if he had to face some unknown risk.

And in the first place…

‘I really need dragon meat. I have to entertain the envoy.’

[…]

Ian turned his back calmly.

The voice was no longer heard in his head. It felt as if telepathy had been cut off.

But at that moment, Ian’s heart thumped as fast as it could.

It was inevitable.

‘There’s one more rare dragon.’

That was not all. Presumably, if that person was a dragon, it would not have been a Lesser Dragon or an Earth Dragon. Ian had seen the two dragons a few times in his previous life.

However, dragons that morphed into humans were simply creatures that came from myths and legends.

And he might be mistaken, but if that’s a dragon…

‘A Celestial Dragon class at minimum or higher…’

Nowadays, Lesser Dragons and Earth Dragons were lumped together and called dragons. Those above the Celestial Dragon class were even highly valued in the Kingdom of Magicians. Some research results also pointed out that they were the masters of magic.

However, Ian immediately shook his head.

‘They couldn’t have made such a request.’

Recalling dragons’ characteristics in the first place, if they went their own way and just took it with their own strength, wouldn’t that be enough? It’s the magic that humans had, and it could be broken down with just a blow of breath.

But that wasn’t the point now.

“Sir Nathan, how is it going?”

“Haha, who do you think I am, Prince? All of them have been thoroughly inspected by checking the size and even touching them. None of them had strange stones in their chests as you said…”

“There was none.”

“Oh, then Sir Fiosen must be sure.”

Feeling wronged by his words, Nathan tried hard to appeal for what he did, but Ian didn’t care.

‘Are there no Self-Destruct Wizards?’

Senior knights could deal with wizards without much problem, but the problem was those guys.

‘There are some who commit suicide by stabbing their chests.’

They were called . They were crazy bastards who caused massive damage in future wars.

The principle behind it was unknown, but the scale of the damage was lethal enough to take the lives of knights who used Oath.

Oddly enough, there had been knights who would take up bows because of those guys.

That’s why Ian only watched the wizards without attacking them.

Anyway, he didn’t know if it hadn’t been developed yet or if they were not related…

“But don’t forget that they have rune engravings.”

“I will deal with it before they use the finger seal, Your Highness.”

“Don’t worry. If Sir Nathan fails, I can handle it.”

Nathan glared at Fiosen as if he was being unbelievable, but Ian ignored them and turned around.

‘I can leave the dragon to Galon.’

He was the most reliable and trustworthy of them all.

And Ian commanded Albert, the deputy lord, to move.

“Are you ready?”

“Yes, I’m confident in this. We can start right now.”

“Speed and stealth are the keys to this plan. Never fail.”

Although it was the knowledge gained from his previous life, the basic strategy to deal with wizards was to disperse them one by one.

Albert started calling or dispersing the wizards one by one as Ian ordered.

And as the opportunity approached while looking for a chance to let their guards down.

“Are you having a hard time at work?”

“Ha ha. This is nothing… Argh!”

Nathan and Fiosen attacked the wizard.

No matter how skilled a wizard was, it was difficult to fight against two senior knights.

In the end, the wizard could not even fight back and fell on the spot.

Of course, under normal circumstances, it would have ended with just being captured.

“Gag his mouth so that he can’t open it. He might even try using a finger seal, so tie his hands and fingers tightly.”

“If you see any suspicious finger movements, you can kill him right away.”

They took everything the wizard had and even made his fingers and toes immobile.

These were all situations that Ian ordered in advance.

“Don’t let your guard down just because you knock out the wizards. They can use magic with just a single line of spell and a finger seal. There is a high chance of them running away. They have to be completely bound.”

As if to show off his specialty in surprise attacks, Nathan moved like a fish in the water, and Fiosen wasn’t the heir to Lavaltor, the idol of the knights, for nothing. His skill of driving the opponent was beyond normal.

After dealing with more than half of the wizards.

“Oh, I think they’re starting to notice.”

The wizard’s movements became chaotic.

The knights surely thought they did it perfectly, but the wizards started to come together without their knowledge.

Ian said coldly at the sight.

“Everyone, gather up. We will attack them at once.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Ian’s troops began to surround the building where the wizards were gathering.

***

The leader of the wizards, Giovanni, was perplexed.

“What? You can’t contact them?”

“Yes, we’ve lost regular contact with the guys scattered for the restoration of the territory.”

No matter how sloppy the opponent was, they never let their guard down.

Even if they gave them something to drink and eat, they put them in the subspace and ate only their own food. They didn’t show any gaps so that they could deal with their opponents anytime.

As such, the report just now was unbelievable.

Giovanni, however, didn’t panic and confirmed with the wizards under his command.

“How much time left do you have to work on the magic circle?”

“Only the most important part, the core, left. Even if I try to complete it, the deputy lord keeps interrupting me.”

“Tch…”

What they set up was an explosion magic circle huge enough to devastate about one km in radius.

“Besides, the place we need to install the core is full of the prince’s troops… Did they notice it?”

“That can’t be. How does a man from the Kingdom of Swordsmen know that?”

“Then, why don’t we get ready just in case?”

“If so, do you want to use the one we set up in the dragon?”

“Yes.”

Giovanni frowned.

What his subordinate was talking about must be the magic planted in the dragon’s heart.

And there were two magic spells installed.

One was to drive the dragon crazy, and the other was to self-destruct.

“With that magic, even this vast land of Helgaia will be erased from the map.”

It was impossible with their own power, but it was the magic of the dragon.

In any case, if they exploded a part of the dragon’s heart, the source of magic, with the self-destruction magic, the wave of that powerful magic would undoubtedly spread to the nearby Beast Woods.

And if that happened, Kaistein would be attacked by the agitated monsters.

It was akin to killing two birds with one stone.

Of course, if they used this method, the precious dragon’s heart would be affected, and they would not be able to avoid the punishment for misusing the country’s property. Although it was an Earth Dragon class, it was the best weapon in the kingdom where it was impossible to obtain a Celestial Dragon class or higher.

That was why Giovanni was worried, but…

“You must not forget the mission of our home country.”

“Yes, our mission is to disrupt Kaistein in their rear. If we could take the Seventh Prince with us, our home country would forgive us.”

If the mission was in danger of being canceled like now, it wasn’t a bad idea to disappear with the Seventh Prince.

‘Well, maybe it would be better to do this from the beginning.’

“Prepare it well so that the prince doesn’t notice…”

The very moment the wizards were about to move to another place.

BOOM!

“!”

With a huge boom, the accommodation they were staying in collapsed.

***

BOOM!

The building collapsed with a huge explosion.

Walter, standing next to Ian, exclaimed excitedly at the sight.

“How is that, Your Highness? That’s the power of my special bomb!”

“Yes, I was so surprised that I almost fell.”

“…Oh, were you really surprised?”

Walter was confused to see Ian, who was calm unlike the other soldiers, but Ian was truly in awe.

It was a bomb no bigger than a finger, but it was capable of blowing up a building.

“That… Then the research fund you promised…”

“Of course, I’ll give you amply. I think we’ll need it a lot in the future.”

Walter was elated, but Fiosen’s face was stiff.

“We could have gone in. Was it even necessary to explode it?”

Why didn’t he believe in them? Besides, that lord castle was the building that Ian would definitely use.

It was such a waste.

But Ian was adamant.

Those fellows were from a kingdom that had a contrasting way of thinking from theirs.

“Never let your guard down. They must have been on high alert by now. It’s better if my people didn’t get hurt instead.”

Then Fiosen looked at Ian with a slight surprise on his face.

He looked as if he had never seen a lord who cared so much for his own people before.

It was then.

“Cough…”

The wizards crawled through the collapsed building. They must have been bewildered by the unexpected weapon.

But there was one who seemed fairly decent among them.

It was their leader, Giovanni.

Sure enough.

“You repay kindness with ingratitude. What have you done to us just now?”

“That’s what we are asking instead.”

“What are you saying?”

Ian smiled nonchalantly.

“Do you really want to buy the dragon? I checked your bags and it looked like you didn’t have any money.”

“…!?”

Giovanni hesitated for a moment but soon smiled fishily.

“Oh, that’s great. Well, I don’t know how you will stop that.”

And at that moment.

ROOOAARR!!

“!”

A great roar swept through the territory. It wasn’t simply deafening.

“Urk!”

The soldiers were swept away by a strong shock wave. The dragon began to run berserk all of a sudden.

As evidence of that, thick blood vessels bulged all over the body, and the scales began to burn and melt the steel chains.

The knights immediately lifted their swords.

“Tch, that bastard!”

But Ian stopped them.

“Not that one! Catch that wizard!”

“What? But the dragon—!”

“That wizard must be controlling the dragon!”

“!”

At the words, the knights immediately moved as if they had noticed something, and Giovanni gritted his teeth.

‘That… Damn you brat!’

The swift Nathan appeared before Giovanni.

“Where are you going!”

But then.

“!”

Giovanni’s figure disappeared in an instant. Nathan was taken by surprise.

‘Teleportation?’

The knights shrank back after witnessing the skill they had only heard of in books. Ian frowned as well.

Obviously, the only ones who could teleport were the wizards who had reached the apex among the three-star wizards.

That meant he was never an easy foe.

The moment everyone finally stopped moving and had no choice but to focus their senses.

Only one person moved.

That was Ian.

‘How dare you use petty tricks!’

Ian knew how the wizards fought. The characteristics of the wizards who used [Teleportation] were particularly obvious.

And so, Ian immediately took out the royal sword and swung it backward.

Then.

Shii—iing!

“Argh!”

“Your Highness!”

Along with Giovanni’s scream, an arm flew up.

Giovanni teleported behind Ian and tried to kidnap him. Among these people, Ian must have been the most valuable hostage.

‘There is no way this bunch can attack the knights in close combat.’

At his appearance, the knights immediately moved.

Ian saw something flying along with Giovanni’s arm. It was the object used to control the dragon.

‘That’s it!’

Ian grabbed the object without hesitation. This could solve the dragon problem.

Seeing that, Giovanni, having teleported again, clenched his teeth.

Flames rose from his other hand. It was the ultimate flame magic. Giovanni’s life was all in that magic.

“I will kill you for sure. If I kill the heir of King Kaistein, he will like it.”

“Stop him!”

The knights and Ian made a move, but the teleporting guy was a little faster.

Ian also activated , but he instinctively felt that this power could not be stopped by it. The other power, , had already disappeared.

The very moment the flames that seemed to scorch the earth aimed for Ian’s life.

Tap.

Someone grabbed Giovanni by the shoulder. In an instant, his magic vanished.

And.

“That’s it.”

The suffocating bloodlust of a beast overwhelmed the surroundings.