My Beloved Princess ~The Boy Called Incompetent Rises with Only a Sword and the Princess's Devotion~ - Chapter 84: The Ideal Master

Five years ago.

In a lesson on the harsh reality of territorial disputes, Kōran visited a certain mountainous area, brought along by her dear sister. An elite unit under the Dragon Emperor’s direct command, the Imperial Guard, accompanied them, so she believed it was merely a sightseeing trip with ample security.

The bloody mutual killing in the deep valley was stimulating for the ten-year-old Kōran. It was gruesome and vivid enough that she remembered having nightmares about it for a while.

A battlefield billowing black smoke where raw killing continued. The vanguard, holding large shields, lined up in a horizontal row. From the gaps between the shields, palms like muzzles thrust out—these were the paired Breath Squad members. Establishing a formation for both offense and defense, both camps unleashed brilliant breath attacks. Massive attribute energy crisscrossed the battlefield. It was an exchange akin to cannon fire.

The battle had just begun. According to the standard tactics her sister had taught her, magic would soon be used to break the formation, and the Drawn Sword Squad was arrayed to exploit that gap, cutting into the opponent’s core.

Looking down at the scene from the top of the cliff, her sister said,

“It will be settled within a few days from now. Do you understand what this means?”

The young Kōran shook her head.

“The winner obtains everything, and the loser loses everything. The defeated flock will meet a miserable end from now on.”

“Losers have no human rights… right.”

“Correct. They will be enslaved and worked hard. Excellent human resources might be promoted to Princess rank, but those who are not will spend their whole lives as slaves.”

Kōran, who had experienced wandering with her mother as a stray, nodded with a complicated state of mind. Even if they escaped enslavement, the same hell awaited them. Either way, once the flock collapsed, there was no future for those people.

Gazing at the spreading fires of war below her eyes from a distance, her sister, possessing a detached beauty even at the age of ten, said,

“I think about this. Since this is war, the loss of lives cannot be helped. The execution of the Master and Six Consorts, who hold positions of responsibility, is also unavoidable, I suppose. However, to uniformly enslave even those who are not, isn’t that a little too rough?”

“But, Onee-sama. It might be strange for me, who was picked up, to say this, but isn’t that just how Dragonkin society is?”

Kuroyō directed a listless gaze at Kōran.

“Do you remember the duty of a powerful Dragonkin?”

“Yes, Onee-sama. An excellent man must support and protect many women. And an excellent woman must take the initiative to stand in the vanguard and lead everyone—so I was taught.”

“Correct. But, slaves are not included in this ‘object to support, object to protect.’ Why is that?”

“That is… isn’t it because there is a recognition that they are hateful enemies who opposed us?”

“Mhm. Of course, that is part of it. But the essence relies largely on the interest that we can secure our labor force. If it is simply about making them take responsibility, executing the ringleaders should be enough. Especially, there shouldn’t be any great cause to enslave even innocent children.”

Slaves hardly existed in His Majesty the Dragon Emperor’s flock. Because if one pledged loyalty, regardless of high or low ability, a Princess rank was always given. And those who became a Princess rank became subjects of the Dragon Emperor’s generous protection. Measures for strays were also similar. That attitude of refusing no one who came allowed the flock to develop to an off-the-charts scale of one hundred thousand.

Kuroyō, into whom the studies of emperors were hammered, inherited that progressive thought strongly.

“The duty of a powerful Dragonkin, as I see it, Kōran, is this: Giving warmth to the weak, and cherishing and protecting those people is the essence. Regardless of the opponent’s status, if there is a troubled person, extend a hand and help them. Someday I want to try meeting a man possessing such magnanimity as Father.”

◇◇◇◇◇

“That conclusion you arrived at is the very ‘duty of a powerful Dragonkin’ Onee-sama speaks of.”

Finishing the recollection, Kōran stated her conclusion.

“You are strong. That is why Onee-sama fell in love. I thought so all along.”

“Actually, that’s right, isn’t it? She said she fell in love at first sight with my Sword Aura.”

Kōran examined the man in front of her carefully.

Not deviating from the example of the Dragonkin race, his appearance was reasonably good. However, it wasn’t to the extent of being exceptionally good, and it couldn’t be the sole reason for Princess Kuroyō, who yielded to no one, to fall in love. Then, inevitably, the characteristic of Dragonkin women being attracted to strong men became involved, but…

“That is nothing more than one aspect. The trigger might certainly have been love at first sight. But wasn’t there another reason she fell in love with you from the bottom of her heart?”

The mediocre boy knitted his brows as if troubled.

Kōran stated her pet theory.

“Onee-sama has a strong fixation on the duty of a powerful Dragonkin. But I have never seen her mention it in front of you even once. It was the same when you declared you wouldn’t make a flock in front of the Headmaster. To you saying something spineless like not making a flock, Onee-sama only made a dissatisfied face. Even though if it were the Onee-sama until now, it was a situation where it wouldn’t be strange if she had vehemently smashed her opinion against yours.”

Actually, against Sōsetsu and the like, who tried to oppress the weak (slaves), she pressed them with a tremendous threatening attitude. No matter how much she was in love, was her sister a person who would bend her own beliefs? That was Kōran’s sense of incongruity.

As if searching his memory, Kishō opened his mouth.

“Ah, now that you mention it, I remember. It was when she came to observe the Lower School. I was preached to about the duty of a powerful Dragonkin at the entrance.”

“I suppose so. That is the original figure of Onee-sama.”

“But, since winning the duel, she hasn’t complained at all. If she had been nagging me, I think I would surely have been fed up.”

For a moment, the words ‘weakness of having fallen in love‘ crossed Kōran’s mind.

However, immediately shaking her head as if to deny that foolish thought,

“Following the master’s intention is the wife’s virtue. But if she judged it was wrong, Onee-sama surely should have objected. This is exactly as you were saying earlier. So not blaming your weak stance that goes against her own beliefs is unnatural after all.”

Then why did she tacitly approve acts against her beliefs?

“This is my intuition, but didn’t Onee-sama know that you would make this decision? That is why she didn’t intervene.”

“How did she know? Certainly, she is my smart, prideful wife, but she isn’t an esper, you know. How do you say she foresaw my change of heart?”

“I don’t know that. So try to remember well. When was the trigger that Onee-sama changed? And at that time, what happened?”

“When, you ask… well, that would be the night of the duel. What happened is obvious—I won.”

“Anything else?”

Asked, Kishō put a finger to his forehead as if digging up memories.

Then after pondering for a while, he raised his face as if realizing something.

“Ah, I see. I might have said something outrageous.”

“What did you say?”

“I proposed elopement. ‘Let’s live in a human city.'”

“Haa!?”

Dragonkin take pride in having their own territory. Living in human territory means, in other words, abandoning that pride. A decision to discard literally everything. Kōran felt strong repulsion that he had forced that on her sister.

At the surge of angry killing intent oozing from her whole body, Kishō took distance by doing a backflip, using the backrest of the chair as a starting point. And he said, “She was worrying about political marriage.”

“To her who was worrying, I said, ‘If you have the resolution to discard the status of Princess, and if you can hold the determination to go on living as a human, I don’t mind going together with you. If you are anxious about living in a human city, I will live together with you,’ I said.”

The anger dispersed from Kōran’s whole body and disappeared. With a voice that seemed to disappear, Kōran muttered,

“……Onee-sama has never said once that she disliked political marriage.”

“Positionally, wasn’t it that she couldn’t say it to you?”

“Just because of that, to propose elopement… You really have no common sense.”

“Ah, because I am ignorant. But she was laughing. Holding her belly.”

Her sister, with little emotional fluctuation, rarely laughed.

Even Kōran, who had been together with her for ten years, had never seen her figure laughing and holding her belly even once.

“Lies. I have never seen Onee-sama laughing and holding her belly until now, even once.”

“It’s not a lie. Even I haven’t seen a figure laughing like that since then. But that night, she was certainly laughing. Looking enjoyable from the bottom of her heart.”

These ten years. Trying to get her sister to open her heart, Kōran also tried various means.

However, even if she tried hard to draw interest, it was like pushing against a curtain (futile). Her sister’s face was always constant, looking as if emotions were missing, like an inorganic object. And that was the same for anyone; it wasn’t a sad reason like Kōran was specially hated or anything.

Was he saying this man had opened that tightly closed shell, the rock door of the heart no one could open?

It was hard to believe immediately, but if she thought so, everything made sense.

Kōran canceled out the flame of jealousy smoldering within her chest by taking a deep breath.

“So that’s what it is. I finally understood. Toward Onee-sama worrying about political marriage, you extended a hand. And without calculation of loss and gain, you showed you would snuggle up with the resolution to discard everything. You really are such a bottomless good-natured person it makes me laugh, but… but you see, I think Onee-sama saw her ideal in your kindness.”

The essence of the “duty of a powerful Dragonkin” that her sister idealizes lies in saving the weak regardless of high or low status. In that case, the composition of him, the winner of the duel, extending a hand to her sister, the loser, isn’t that exactly her ideal itself? Moreover, he who should be a commoner toward her sister who was a Princess. Exactly regardless of high or low status, the duty of a powerful Dragonkin—satisfying that essence.

That was precisely why her sister became even more fascinated.

“If the partner she fell in love with at first sight was a man who grants her own ideal… I wonder if Onee-sama wasn’t unbearably having fun. She might have felt destiny.”

That was why her sister did not try to correct Kishō’s weak recognition toward the flock.

“She was convinced. That if it is the good-natured you, witnessing the harsh reality of Dragonkin society, you cannot pretend not to see. And she believed that at that time, you would definitely stand up. Without even persuading, because she foresaw that sooner or later you would make this decision, she said nothing.”

Kōran couldn’t help but feel jealousy at the thickness of that trust.

But it was also certain that feelings of blessing welled up at the same time.

It was rare to be able to meet a master one can be fascinated with. Much less for her sister, who struggled just to find a man stronger than herself. A man who could satisfy two conditions simultaneously surely won’t be found no matter where else one searches.

Clenching her back teeth, Kōran raised the white flag.

“I think you are exactly Onee-sama’s ideal master.”