The Encounter Between the Forsaken Healing Magic’s Beloved Child and the Betrayed Black Dragon Princess of Calamity - 26

Chapter 26: The Start of the Royal Selection

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“I, Mercedes Drake Fafnir hereby challenges Klaus Drache Lindwurm, the heinous criminal who murdered my father, Manfred Drake Fafnir and my mother, Edelgard Drake Fafnir, with vile methods, to the Royal Selection! The place is here, and the time is now!”

Mer-san made her bold declaration in a voice loud enough to be heard throughout the entire Duflussweise Mountain. No, her voice was loud enough to reach the farthest corners of the Dark Forest. The killing intent, the force of the shout, and the overwhelming pressure made the dragons around her tremble all at once.

“Hahaha! You fools! I’ll at least commend you for not fleeing in fear before the princess!”

Looking around, Conrad-san laughed merrily, but I furrowed my eyebrows together. The dragons were clearly scared of Mer-san, but they were still standing their ground. That meant… Something more powerful holding them in place. Was it a reward? Status? Honor? In any case, it was clear to see. Their hearts had already drifted away from Mer-san.

…Ah, I knew it. Nothing good is going to happen in the end…

Of course, I had full trust in Mer-san. I knew for sure that Mer-san would never lose and besides, I was determined to protect her with all my might. I was fully prepared for that. But… Even if Meri-san won the match, it seemed the dragon kingdom would be moving into its doom. 

Mer-san crossed her arms and gazed down at the castle. She was waiting for Klaus, the traitor who had killed her parents using a cowardly method by poisoning their food and pushed her to the brink of death. Then…

“His Majesty Klaus is arriving…!”

“””UWOOOOHHH!!”””

Led by the blue dragon that had come to us last night, an even larger white dragon appeared. 

“So that’s Klaus Drache Lindwurm…”

The person who had tried to kill Mer-san… He was someone I couldn’t forgive the most. Indeed, his presence and aura were on a completely different level compared to the other dragons. He was probably the strongest among all the dragons in this kingdom, but….He didn’t look stronger than Mer-san.

“Long live HIs Majesty Klaus!”

“To the heinous sinner Mercedes and to the Fafnir family who deceived us all… Let the dragon’s hammer of justice fall upon them!”

The dragons raised their voices in cheers, praising Klaus. Seeing this, I quietly shook my head. With this, I was certain. The bad outcome I had just thought of would become a reality. 

“Mercedes, I’ve been waiting for you.”

“Hmph. Since I’ve gone out of my way to come here, how about you show some gratitude and crawl on your hands and knees instead?”

Klaus spoke confidently and on the other hand, Mer-san narrowed her eyes in a glare and snorted at him. 

“How preposterous. It was none but the Fafnir family who have deceived their own kin and disgraced the proud dragons. And top it all, they even used cowardly method to continue ruling as kings… The entire Fafnir family deserves death.”

“Tch! Stop fooling around! You were the one who poisoned my whole family! You were the one who used cowardly tactics against us! You, of all people, have no right to speak about my family in that way!”

Mer-san bared her fangs in anger at Klaus, who spoke without any hint of remorse. However, Mer-san seemed to be overly emotional, probably because she was facing her archenemy. Well, of course Mer-san couldn’t remain calm. It seemed Conrad-san felt the same way too. He was trembling with rage. His reaction was understandable too. Of course he couldn’t forgive Klaus either after hearing the truth from Mer-san. Hence why…

“Conrad-san. Could you take me to Meri-san’s side?”

“Hm… I could, but…”

Conrad-san tilted his head to the side, confused at my request, but he moved next to Mer-san nonetheless. The surrounding dragons were on high alert, but knowing that all of their forces combined couldn’t win against Mer-san, none of them dared to make a move on us.

“Mer-san.”

“Gil-kun…?”

When I called out to her, Mer-san turned around. Clear confusion was etched on her face. 

Good. She’s not losing her whole rationality yet. 

“That guy might be able to talk big and act all arrogant with you… Sure, he can say whatever he wants now, but precisely because of that, things are going to get very amusing for us from here on.”

“Huh?”

“Because that man is going to get thoroughly humiliated after Mer-san defeats him. He will lose everything he holds dear.”

Right. No matter how many dragons he had gathered, no matter how much he tried to justify himself, everything would be for nothing if he lost to Mer-san. I knew Klaus would try to use any underhanded tactics in his arsenal to defeat Mer-san. While he couldn’t use poison again, but he was cunning enough to come up with another underhanded tactic that broke the rules without any hesitation. 

But… No matter how many underhanded tactics he threw at us, we would not lose. Absolutely. The things we could do… The things we must do… We all knew them very well. Even I knew what I must do for Mer-san. 

“That… The Royal Selection is a one-on-one battle, so we can’t help you during the fight, but despite that… I will fight alongside you, Mer-san. We shall win together and then, we will travel the world together. I want to see many things this world could offer with you, Mer-san.”

“Ah… Fufu, that’s right. We already made a promise, didn’t we?”

With those words, Mer-san smiled. Her smile was so sweet, it was almost intoxicating. She smiled, in front of her archenemy, Klaus. 

“Now that we’ve decided what we’re going to do next, I will need to finish stupid Royal Selection in a jiffy.”

With a brand new resolve in her heart, Mer-san turned to face Klaus and declared that with a smile on her face. Meanwhile, Klaus was glaring at her. His eyes were filled with hatred. 

Yeah, we’re going to be okay now. With this, there’s no way she’ll lose to that man.

Seemingly frustrated at us, Klaus clicked his tongue lightly. Maybe… No. He was probably planning to set a trap for Mer-san. He knew Mer-san would lose her composure, hence why he had tried to rile her up on purpose. 

“Ahahaha~ Too bad…”

Staring at Klaus, I laughed from the bottom of my heart. 

What are you going to do now?

The Klaus guy glared at me with disgust. 

“A pathetic little human…”

“Now then, let’s start the Royal Selection right away. I have so many things I want to do with Gil-kun. I’m pretty busy, you know?”

“Shut your trap.”

Mer-san said so confidently, as if the Royal Selection was nothing but a chore for her. Klaus snarled in return and then, a big magic circle appeared in front of him, followed by a beam of white light heading straight for Mer-san.

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