Chapter 225: Heed Me
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
"Is that so... I hope they found their way, too," Baiyi could only say that in reply, with his own form of lamentation. Although the empire had shared the necessary knowledge and news to other kingdoms and nations, Baiyi had no way of confirming if they too, had made any preparations after they were notified.
Baiyi understood that being able to salvage what was currently left of this country was good enough already.
As for the other nations — just as King Rowan had said, all this country could do was pray for them.
As soon as the general direction was decided, the discussions quickly moved on to other issues. Who should be prioritized to use the portal first? How should the Rodrithelian rulers and other upper classes mingle with the rulers and governors in Isythre? How much of the nation's funds can still be taken? There were issues for the politicians, which had no bearings for Baiyi, so he took the chance to leave with Laeticia and Attie.
"Laeticia, go and help those who would need you," Baiyi said to the kind girl who had been itching to do just that, even without his order. "Please take care of yourself though. Travel together with those from the Church. In this moment of chaos, anything can happen."
He lowered his gaze and scanned Attie's reddened eyes. His Kitty Cat Maid had been shell-shocked from what had happened, and she did not seem to have fully recovered.
"Protect Laeticia for me," he said and handed the War God's Sword over to her.
"B-b-but what about you, Master?" Attie replied in concern.
"Oh, you need not worry about me. Go." He nodded at the two girls.
Aya, who had been walking by his side in silence throughout the whole journey, finally found a chance to talk after the two girls left.
She drew closer to him. An expression of pain was evident on her face as her gaze rested on his body. "You alright… Master Hope?"
'Huh. Going back to the formalities, huh?' Baiyi thought. He replied casually, "I'm fine. You?"
He turned to look at the dragon-lady, but his eyes couldn't help but linger on the long, lean legs extending from under her short skirt. The black silky socks had been torn in a few places during the chaos, and her snowy, supple skin had barren. Combined with her pitiable countenance, her entire state seemed to be very suggestive…
"I'm fine," Aya replied candidly. Then, as her eyes caught Baiyi's gaze, she sheepishly covered her thighs, flushed red, and muttered, "D-don't you look there!"
The situation quickly dropped into a state of awkwardness. Baiyi turned his gaze away just as Mordred popped up between the two. When she appeared, Modred proceeded to grip her mom's elbow excitedly. She pointed at the flying silhouettes in the sky and said, "Mom! Mom! I wanna help Grandpa!"
"No! It's too dangerous!" Aya didn't even take a second to react.
"I'm not afraid! Have you seen me do Draconic breath! Super coooool!" Mordred replied loudly, unperturbed, barring her two cute fangs.
Hmph. Not afraid — and eager to help? This kid is not too bad! Baiyi thought to himself.
Helping Aya, he turned to the child and said, "Mordred is such a strong, heroic, good girl! But a good girl always listens to her mother, right?"
He reached out his hand in a bid to pat on Mordred's head, but only when his outstretched arm entered his field of view did he notice that his hand was still a chunk of ice.
The girl didn't shy away from it, though. She hugged the clump and rubbed it with her cheeks. Finally, with the tone of a young, affectionate child, she said, "Papa's hand is so cool… So soft…"
Baiyi felt like his heart was about to melt right there and then.
Aya, however, reddened at her words. She savagely yanked the girl behind her back as she apologized profusely, "I'm so sorry, Master Hope. S-she's still young; she knows nothing. Please don't take her words into heart."
"It's cool. It's cool. Um, kids say the darndest things, right?" Baiyi replied quickly.
He needed to change the focus, so he looked up into the sky.
As he watched the action up there more closely, he concluded that the dragon knights needed some help.
Dragons were not nocturnal animals. In fact, their lifestyle could be quite systematic. A trained dragon may be able to fight at night over a certain period of time, but everything that had occurred till now was way out of what they could tolerate.
The knights were doing the best to steer their mounts, but the dragons were not listening. They rebelled and seemed to be contemplating throwing off their riders and combat units so that they could escape on their own.
They were afraid.
And their fear had already started jeopardizing the dragon knights' missions to destroy all falling debris. Without support from their mounts, the dragon knights missed out a few, and these huge chunks of debris broke through their perimeter. The hazards plummeted towards the Capital, and they would have hit someone if not for the second line of defense, which consisted of the more knights, successfully destroying them.
However, this could not go on for much longer. Gouve was filled with all sorts of islands, and each island had a distinct size and density. This meant that the speed of their descent was also different. The islands that were filled with complicated cave structures were the most dangerous among them; because of their hollow structure, they easily broke off into hundreds of fragments during their fall.
And when these fragments changed their course because of air current or collision, they may head towards the Capital — and fragments were currently heading towards them way at that moment.
The particular crisis that the dragon knights were engaged in was far from over. In fact, it was going to continue for an even longer time. Due to the current chaos, they were not able to fully perform their roles.
The elderly dragon, Yosef — who had turned back into his dragon form — was carrying General Kandor on his back. He screamed hoarsely, trying to calm his men, but the dragons' restlessness had gone out of control.
This defense line was breaking up, completely!
To make matter worse, many other flying beasts had taken to the sky as well. Completely overwhelmed by primal fear, they had lost every sense of self, effectively going berserk. They attacked anything and everything on sight, threatening the dragon knights and robbing away what little control they had left.
"Tsk! And you dragons always boast of being afraid of nothing. This won't do at all!" Baiyi mumbled under his breath. "Alright. I know I'm gonna be adding a pile onto my plate, but hey… I'm supposed to be a force of good and compassion, right?"
He turned to look at Aya and her daughter. He whispered, "Take care of yourselves."
With that, he took off, soaring into the sky using a Levitation Spell, passing through the defense lines and reached an altitude even higher than that of the struggling Dragon Knights.
Then he freely released a large wave of an unknown mien to all sides. From his throat, a majestic roar of a dragon erupted out.
As soon as the roar pierced through the air, the dragons and the other beasts halted immediately — almost hurting their own wings, and as if they had seen the immaculate divine that demanded their unwavering respect and attention, they calmed down.
Even the mother-daughter pair, who had been staying on the ground this whole time, couldn't fight their instinct and kneeled on one knee, lowering their prideful heads.
These actions had bypassed any rational or conscious control. The body acted involuntarily because this level of respect had been directly written into their ancestral memory — their inherited memory.
"This… This is Lord Divine Dragon's…!" Aya muttered softly.
"This is Papa's smell!" Mordred kneeled beside her mother and said cheerfully.
Baiyi used that majestic, yet ancient voice to speak a type of Dovahzul that Aya had never heard before.
However, she just knew. She just knew what the words meant; what the command within it was. It felt like the words had bypassed her normal language-processing faculty just to reach her mind so that the message remained unadulterated:
"My people. Listen to the voice that compels you! Submit, subject yourself to me and heed me!"
The dragons bowed their haughty heads. The beasts remained still, feeling as much reverence as they possibly could.
The situation was immediately under control.
Under Baiyi's command, the dragon knights returned under control, and now, the dragons were even more passionate and eager at their tasks, surprising even their long-time companions at their sudden surge of excellence. In turn, this motivated the companions who rode hard, right into the falling chunks of debris.
They were not alone in their battle; the wild beasts had also allied themselves with the dragon knights.
Elderly dragon Yosef, whose fins had started to turn ashen grey, wept as he poured every ounce of his soul into the Draconic Breath that he fired at the falling piles of rock debris. When he finally had the chance to take a breather, he discarded the opportunity and shouted in a shaky voice at the tops of his lungs, "The Divine Dragon had not forgotten us! He had not forsaken us!"
The kneeling Aya finally mustered enough courage to gaze up at the sky, looking up at that chunk of ice hovering in the middle of the night sky.
The mystery of the Divine Dragon's blessing — the mystery that had puzzled her; the mystery that she had forgotten after a while — slowly unraveled in her mind.
It was him. It was from his silhouette that demanded her to revere and bow to…
Accompanying that realization was another realization even more personal. Aya now understood why he had to reject her. The difference between them was more than the physical distance between them at that very moment.
The flame in her heart had been completely extinguished.
Aya was a demure girl. She could not bring herself to stick to the man if he so vehemently rejected her. The pain of that rejection had already robbed her of whatever mettle she had.
But Mordred thought differently. The daughter seemed to have sensed her mother's feelings, so she quietly, but surely, shook her shoulders, cheering childishly, "Don't lose heart, Mom! Don't give up!"
Aya turned to look at Mordred. Her smile was bitter and silent.
"Mom already has Papa's smell, right?"
Aya's heart skipped a beat at Mordred's word.
She was stunned. 'Yes, he had blessed her. He had blessed her — why?'
'Could it be…? That he had already…?'
She looked up again, staring at the source of the majestic voice that had ignited the night sky; the voice that had ignited the tiny ember in her ashen heart until a flame rekindled.