Hunting the Survivors and Cleaning Up

  The giant evil dragon was dead and the High Lord had escaped.

  Now we just had to hunt what remained.

  And so I worked together with the water dragons to kill the evil dragons and vampires.

  It was only after we were finished that Kathe arrived.

  “I guess I am a little late.”


  “Kathe. You are much too late. What were you doing?”


  Dorgo said angrily.

  She was very late compared to Dorgo, who had come immediately from the palace.

  Kathe would have come from my mansion.

  “I’m sorry. But I was busy fighting the dark ones near the settlement, and that took time.”


  I understood how she felt.

  If there were others fighting right in front of you, it would be hard to ignore them.

  “But there is such a thing as priorities. The water dragons would not have had a problem dealing with them.”


  “That’s true……but!”


  Kathe looked crestfallen but continued to retaliate.

  Just then, Goran arrived.

  “Haahh haaahh…… It looks like you finished things here. That’s good.”


  “Where’s Eric?”


  Eric was able to use the secret passage, so he should have arrived before Goran.

  “Eric is protecting Princess Leea, just in case.”


  “But I thought only lessers and arch vampires were able to get in?”


  It didn’t seem like Eric would be needed.

  Goran shook his head slowly.

  “If only that were the case. But there were Lords and High Lords as well.”


  “What? ……Did they have magic tools that allowed them to get through the barrier?”


  “Most likely, yes. Not only that, but they had ten magic armored machines as well.”


  “.……That would have been bad.”


  “Well, at least there weren’t any evil dragons with them.”


  Even if there were no evil dragons, it was dangerous enough with the machines and High Lords.

  So I guess it wasn’t just about protecting the gate.

  “So is the settlement safe now?”


  “Of course. I wouldn’t have come here if we hadn’t driven them back. That’s why Kathe and I came running here.”


  Goran heard this and then turned to Kathe and bowed.

  “Kathe. I’m sorry. Your father was wrong.”


  “.……Hmm. Well, as long as you know!”


  She said, now quite cheerful.

  Her tail started to wag.

  Kathe seemed very interested in the giant evil dragon corpse.

  “Still, that thing is so big!”


  “And it was strong as well.”


  “I would imagine so!”


  Grand Chamberlain Morris inspected the dead trees in the area.

  “It was poison breath……”


  “Yes, there was strong poison in it, but……”


  “Mister Ruck. You think it was more than just poison?”


  “It also had strong acid in it……I’m sure it did.”


  It was able to unleash such a powerful thing along with tremendous magic from its mouth.

  Could anything be more horrifying?

  We left the clean up to the water dragons so we could return to the palace.

  “Ruck. Welcome back.”


  Leea greeted us. She was now in the shape of a human.

  “We’ve returned. I heard that there was a horrible battle here as well.”


  “Eric helped us. And so did Serulis, Shia and Nia!”


  So Serulis and the others had helped fight off the vampires too.

  Eric had focused on the magic machines.

  Eric noticed me and approached us with a grim expression.

  “Ruck. The barrier blocks strong monsters, but it apparently doesn’t block magic machines when they are not activated.”


  “That’s bad.”


  The barrier activated when it detected magic.

  Regardless of what type, every living thing had magical energy.

  Strong creatures had lots of magic. So did warriors.

  Warriors used the magic in their bodies. Sorcerers used the magic outside as well.

  However, when it came to barriers that blocked strong creatures, it was determined by the flow of magic within the body.

  Those who had a strong current could be said to be powerful.

  However, magic machines that were not activated were just like weapons. There was no magic flowing.

  A living creature who no longer had magic flowing in them would be considered dead.

  And so the barrier saw unactivated magic machines as clumps of metal or just a magic stone.

  “So that means they smuggled the machines into the barrier and then activated them.”


  “If only we could crush them before they are activated.”


  “But magic machines are tough……”


  “Yeah.”


  But it seemed that they had crushed three of the machines before they started moving.

  So only seven were activated.

  “Let me see the vampire remains then.”


  “They’re over here.”


  Eric led me to a clearing that was a short distance from the palace.

  Serulis, Shia and Nia were there.

  “Mister Locke. I’m so glad you are alright.”


  “I’m glad that you were all safe too.”


  Serulis and the others had fought alongside the water dragons to defeat the vampires.

  I studied the vampire remains, in other words, their ashes.

  Judging by the amount, there were at least thirty of them.

  And inside, I found three medals that suggested there were some who ranked higher than a Lord.

  And so I searched for the magic tool that would have allowed them to cross the barrier.

  After a while, I discovered something that looked like a bracelet.

  There was strong magic coming from it.

  It looked like it was made using the Fool’s Stone.