Two days later...
Realizing that she could not prevent Bedivere from embarking on this mission, Marika had to respect her lover's personal wishes and turn to another way of protecting him. Since the main concern of hers was that Bedivere was not strong enough to beat Falcurax, the chances of Bedivere's victory would be more assured if Marika helped Bedivere to strengthen himself to the point of being able to defeat the dragon.
Therefore, in the past two days, besides cherishing her remaining time with him, Marika had to study how to make Bedivere's saint graph stronger.
There was one drawback to the Servant Summoning, and that was that when the heroic spirits descended as Servants, unless there was a special artifact or the Holy Grail was used to strengthen their spiritual foundation, their stats would be locked, unable to evolve their powers. There's nothing that can be done about it, because most of the heroic spirits are exactly that, spirits of heroes who have passed. Therefore, although Marika had already taken out four grails from the King's Treasure to strengthen Bedivere's saint graph, Bedivere was still not a particularly powerful servant, even as a saber class. So the strengthening brought by the grails did not make her feel particularly at ease.
In the end, it was only through the system's prompting and guidance to analyze the composition of Bedivere's magic composition that Marika found a way to increase the runes in Bedivere's body in addition to the basic grace given to everyone.
But she still wasn't sure, like a mom who worries that her kids won't be warm enough to leave the house and gives them extra jackets. Marika had two final insurances in place to ensure that Bedivere would be safe in his mission.
The first was a bottle of Marika's fully upgraded Crimson Tear Flask, the equivalent of the Estus Flask. With this, Bedivere will be able to use the flask to restore himself to full strength as long as he is still hanging on to his breath.
The second insurance is the noble phantasm that Marika once again took out from the Gate of Babylon, the Dragon Slayer Siegfried's Sacred Sword, Balmung. Unlike Osiris' easily broken cheap sword, Balmung is a proven blade that had killed the evil dragon Fafnir.
How strong are dragons in the world of Type Moon? If we take the example of Fafnir, if he were in the world that Marika is in right now, it would be a disaster of the level of destruction of a kingdom, not to mention what terror would befall the rest of the other kingdoms. The ordinary dragons of this world are at most a bunch of flying fire-breathing lizards compared to him. Even in the world of the Lands Between, it would take an ancient dragon like Lansseax's caliber to defeat him.
From this, it can be seen that the Balmung is by no means an ordinary sword. The most outstanding effect of this sword is its special effect on dragons. As long as the opponent has any trace of dragon blood in his body, the sword will be able to deal extra damage to the target. The blue jewel embedded in the hilt is filled with pure magical power, True Ether, which serves as an enhancer for the activation of the weapon, and when it is activated, it will release a dusky-colored sword aura. Simply put, it can fire light cannons just like Excalibur.
With these two treasures in his possession, Marika reluctantly let Bedivere leave.
Marika watched from the city wall as Bedivere rode away from the city gates alone. It was a bleak morning, the sun was only peeking over the horizon, and the air was unusually cold. Because of Bedivere's personal request, Marika did not give him a big farewell party. Since their relationship was still a secret, Bedivere did not want Marika to attract too much attention.
Just as Bedivere was about to use the sight of grace at the city gates to leave, a man with disheveled hair rode out of the city in the direction of Bedivere. When Bediverel looked at him, he saw that it was Nobunaga.
He dismounted from his horse in a hurry, breathing heavily. Obviously, he was in a great hurry to get here.
"What is the matter, Lord Nobunaga? You seem to be in a hurry..."
Bedivere curiously looked at the panting middle-aged man and asked. His relationship with Nobunaga wasn't so good that he wanted to see him off, was it?
"Huff* huff*...looks like I made it in time. Waking up this early takes a toll on this old man."
Muttering a few complaints, Nobunaga approached Bedivere and handed him an item from his collar.
Bediwell received the item, confused, and when he looked into his hand, he saw that it was a firearm and some ammunition! But the item was rather short, about the size of a pistol, and its muzzle was even too wide to be suitable for inserting lethal cartridges.
"What is this...?"
"I call it a signal gun. I went to uh...what was her name…Ah! Professor Sellen from the Magic Academy and paid her to help me develop it."
Bedivere looked at the structure and mechanism of the gun in his hand, and then asked:
"A signal gun? Signal... Is this some kind of communication tool?"
"That's right! If you fill it with ammunition made of glintstone like a teppo and shoot it into the sky, you can create a bright firework in the air!"
Nobunaga explained with a complacent expression.
"So, Lord Bedivere, after you kill the dragon, you can use this signal gun to tell Lord Thomas's army to come and collect the dragon's body. Then you will be able to have the corpse brought back in one piece to prove your prowess to everyone!"
He gave him a big thumbs up after saying that.
But Bedivere knew that there was no such thing as a free lunch, and that Nobunaga must have something else in mind when he gave this to him.
"You actually want the corpse of the dragon, right?"
Bedivere thought for a few seconds and reasoned out Nobunaga's real purpose. However, Nobunaga was unworried, he place his hand onto Bedivere's shoulder and said:
"Well well well! As expected, Lord Bedivere you're really a smart one, no wonder you are valued by our Lord! Then I won't beat around the bush. My request is not too much, as long as you give me a part of the dragon's corpse after completing your mission then a generous reward will be yours, the signal gun excluded of course."
After saying that, Nobunaga even matched his sly smile and made a money gesture with his hand.
"Why do you need the dragon's carcass?"
"Money, of course! Dragon skin and teeth are rare treasures! The offal is also valuable for research! The extra money will fill the treasury! How's that for a good deal? It's a good deal, isn't it? It's a good way to help our Lord and make a fortune at the same time!"
Bedivere listened to Nobunaga's words, but he was not impressed. After all, more wealth was not particularly important to him. Besides, he was a bit offended by Nobunaga's money hungry demeanor.
"Let him be."
Marika's voice sounded in Bedivere's head, as she was now communicating with him through their Servant Contract, a way that only the two of them could hear.
"Deal."
With Marika's assurance, Bedivere shook hands with Nobunaga to reach an agreement.
"Yes, yes, yes, yes! It is indeed a pleasure to do business with a sensible lord like you! Then I'll wish you a prosperous day!"
Laughing heartily, Nobunaga patted Bedivere on the back. After that, he left in a hurry on the pretext of going back to sleep.
"Lord Nobunaga is really quite an eccentric person."
Bedivere put away his signal gun and muttered. He then looked toward Marika, who was hidden on the city wall. His eyes passed through the thick stone wall and stared straight into Marika's eyes, as if the two of them did not need eyes to feel each other's presence. His eyes lingered for several seconds, as if he wanted to memorize every detail of his lover.
Finally, he reached out to the sight of grace, teleporting him toward Thomas's territory.
When Bedivere arrived at his destination, he was greeted by the sight of a plain, idyllic manor surrounded by forests. A variety of simple fruits and vegetables are grown in a glass-encased dome. A few servants were carrying vegetables from the dom to a few wagons.
"Lord Bedivere, welcome to my humble abode."
Thomas, who had been waiting patiently at the sight of grace, came forward to welcome him. In return, Bedivere returned a polite and humble greeting. After a brief exchange between the two, Thomas could not help but feel friendly towards this knight from the capital. Usually, knights from the capital of Inrud spoke with an attitude of contempt. But Bedivere was humble and courteous, it was a breath of fresh air to speak with him.
"Lord Thomas, the wagons are all loaded."
As the two men were talking, a servant came and reminded them. Noticing Bedivere's curious gaze at the wagons, Thomas explained:
"Lord Bedivere, these supplies are for disaster relief. The Falcurax ate many of the cattles and sheeps that the villagers were herding, and even the crops were burned. Without this food, my people will not survive the winter. I will have to go with the party to distribute them later, so my servants will take you to the guest rooms of my mansion to set up your packs."
Said Thomas, and a sadness appeared on his face. Falcurax had done too much damage to his realm, both in terms of property and people.
"Can I go with you first to see the affected villages?"
"Huh? Of-of course, Lord Bedivere! But the scene in the affected area is quite shocking, are you sure you want to go?"
Thomas was surprised by Bedivere's request. Normally knights usually had little interest in the common people.
"No problem, let's go together!"
However, Bedivere did not think so, and directly handed the horse to the servant to lead it away, and got into the carriage by himself. Thomas was now intrigued in what the youthful-looking knight would do, so he also got into the carriage.
The coachman, who was one the men under Thomas' command, drove the carriage, and in the carriage Thomas and Bediverel used a map to point out one by one the places where Falcurax was most often seen. Along the way, the two men try to deduce as much as they can about the dragon's hideout from the few clues they have at hand. Unfortunately, the clues were not enough, and the two men could only deduce a general area of activity based on the location of the attack.
After they finished their discussion, the caravan arrived at a village on the mountain. No… what was once a village.
A large number of houses had been burned down, and thick black smoke reached high into the sky, turning the color of the sky gray. Even the earth was not spared, the grass and trees within a few hundred meters of the village were burned to ashes, and even the soil was burned to a charred black heat. The strong smell of burnt meat spread from all around the village, causing many servants to cover their mouths and noses.
Aside from the afterglow of the fire, the place was dead silent. The only living creatures in the village were the ten villagers cowering beside the sight of grace, shivering or crying in low voices.
Bedivere was not surprised by the scene before him, but rather familiar with it.
"Are you the only villagers left?"
Bedivere asked as he looked at the survivors, a hint of shock on his face.
"Yes, Lord Knight. The people and livestock of the village were either eaten by dragons or burned to death. If it wasn't for the blessing of the Goddess protecting us, we would have been..."
The villagers said with fearful faces, the scene of hell on earth when they were attacked was still fresh in their minds.
"My condolences."
Bedwell couldn't think of anything particularly comforting, so he could only offer a brief expression of sympathy.
Thomas and his servants began distributing supplies to the villagers and tending to the injured. Bedivere, on the other hand, went alone into the ruins of the village to observe what the dragon had left behind. Yes, Bedivere was quite familiar with all this.
"Voldegong."
Silently pronouncing this name which he hated, Bediwell recalled King Arthur's great enemy, King Arthur's uncle, the White Dragon of Britain, King Vortigern.
In order to seize King Arthur's throne, Voritgern stole the mana source of Britain and transformed himself into the tyrannical white dragon.
In King Arthur's wars against Vortigern, Bediverel often saw villages burned and massacred by the dragon.
But just because he'd seen it before didn't mean he agreed with the atrocity. The normally good-tempered man was filled with rage at the scene before him. These peasants, who had been so peaceful, and who had been looking forward to a better life thanks to Marika's rule, had died for no reason at all at the hands of the dragon's malice. Ordinary people, so small and vulnerable to these monsters.
At that moment, Bedivere's eyes were drawn to a house that had been reduced to rubble. Amidst the debris and ashes of the ruins was a charred black arm reaching upwards. The owner of the arm had long since been buried under the rubble, and the arm was their last cry of resignation. But what made Bediwell's grief and indignation the greatest was that the arm was very small...the owner of the arm was only a child.
"Even the children..."
Anger and sadness filled his thoughts. Any normal person would be angry at the injustice of such a miserable death of an innocent child.
In his grief, Bedivere stepped forward and took the corpse's hand, not caring whether the charred flesh stuck to him or not, and swore an oath to it through clenched teeth:
"I, Bedivere, Knight of the Round Table, swear to you. I will do you justice and avenge you!"
Afterwards, Bediwell followed Thomas's caravan from village to village to help the victims. During this time, he carefully interviewed the villagers about the dragon. When the supplies were distributed, Bedivere returned with the caravan to the lord's estate.
On the way, he summarized the information he had gathered today in his head.
Falcurax was a man-eater, who burned, looted, and tortured human beings as a matter of routine. In terms of combat strength, his dragon scales were so hard that many soldiers could not use their expensive dragon ballistas, and his flame breath could melt stone walls.
But the most difficult thing is the personality of Falcurax. A beast most cunning, who runs away when he can't win, he hides by day and hunts at night. Possessing no sense of honor, Falcurax was considered a disgrace to the dragon race.
But beyond all this, there is another strange clue that Bedivere discovers. He had learned from the stragglers that the border villages of the kingdom of Inrud were not too far away. Recently, Fakhurax had ravaged almost all the villages in the area, but there was no news of his presence in the border village, which made Bedivere feel suspicious. Why is that village not in the dragon's targets?
With this question in mind, Bedivere and Thomas arrived at his estate.
"Lord Thomas!"
A man with a beard, dressed as a hunter, waved to Thomas at the entrance to the manor.
"Uther! How are you, old man?"
At the sight of this man, Thomas's face, which had been bitter because of the disaster that struck the village today, smiled again. As soon as the carriage stops, Thomas rushes out to catch up with his old friend.
After a brief chat, Thomas took Usher and introduced him to Bedivere:
"This is my old friend, Uther Yorick. He is the best hunter in the area, no trace of any beast escapes his eyes. When you embark on your quest, he will be your hunting guide to help you find the beast."
"Greetings Lord Bedivere, and I hope these old bones can be of some help to you."
Bedivere did not refuse the added help. After all, an experienced hunter would be of great help if he was to find the clues to Falcurax. As long as he would leave when he found the dragon, Bedivere didn't want the battle to involve the seemingly kindly old hunter.
"Oh yes, Lord Thomas, my grandson and his little friends are here too!"
"Pierce and the others?"
"Yes, over here!"
Ursus waved to the back of the trio and saw three young adventurers approaching. The three were a group of one man and two women, the male adventurer was a black haired human male with a very similar look to Uther. He wore light armor and a cloak for ease of movement, and carried a pouch of arrows and a longbow on his back. The second adventurer is a green-haired elven. She wears a rather traditional mage's wide hat, and her voluptuous figure is wrapped in a form-fitting mage's dress. Her appearance is even more flamboyant, revealing a mature and seductive nature. The last adventurer is also human. She wears a nun's dress, has long pink hair, and her figure and appearance tend to be delicate and cute. But the two-handed sword on her back and the armor she wore on top of her nun's uniform made it clear that she was not to be underestimated.
When Thomas saw them, the smile on his face grew even wider.
"Wow! It's been a long time Pierce, and boy have you grown quite a bit!"
"Not that much, my lord, I'm eighteen years old now, so I shouldn't have grown too tall!"
Watching Thomas warmly greeting the adventurers, Bedivere felt something was wrong.
"Mr. Uther, is your grandson and his friends...?"
"No offense, Lord Bedivere. Pierce and his companions have volunteered to help. Since word of your quest against Falcurax spread around here, many ambitious young adventurers have signed up to go with you! My grandson was the only one who was lucky enough to snatch the title."
"Well..."
At this point, Bedivere couldn't help but look concerned, this wasn't what he had initially envisioned. This would only result in more people being drawn into the risk of challenging the dragon.
"My lord is worried that they will not be able to withstand the battle with the dragon, right? There is no need to worry, they know what they're doing. Pierce and the others are still far from being strong enough, and I will hold him back when the time comes. But I do hope you will allow them to travel with you at least until you find Falcurax. After all, there are a lot of magical beasts in the forest, and having a few helpers with you will help you retain some strength before the real battle."
"Well... fine. But I hope you won't go back on your word. Fighting a dragon is really dangerous, and I don't want these young people to die because of it."
On the other hand, after finishing the pleasantries with Thomas, Pierce and his group came to Bedwell to introduce themselves.
"Greetings, Lord Bedivere. I am Pierce Yorick! I am an adventurer and a ranger. I'm glad to be able to help you in this crusade!"
The dark-haired boy shook Bedivere's hand with a confident smile.
"Well well, what a handsome Sir knight! I'm Euphie Kembel, and I'm a mage. Please to be of *service* to you" As she said that, the mage even put her arms together to accentuate her two breasts which were not small. Not a surprise as Bedivere's status as a knight was an attractive trait for women of this world. However, Bedivere did not feel particularly anxious, just politely greeted her.
In Bedivere's eyes, that elf's size was still a bit inferior to Marika's two really beautiful peaks.
"Greetings Lord Bedivere, I am a Sister of Battle, Ann Helling. May the holy light of the Creator bless you in battle."
Ann was much more demure, and her voice was of the soft and cute type. Bedivere figured she was probably a nice girl who was easy to get along with. Well...if you ignore the two-handed sword on her back.
To these young adventurers, Bedivere accepted their request based on Old Uther's guarantee. As the night wore on, Bedivere, at the invitation of Thomas, prepared to rest for the night in his mansion. The others went to an inn in a nearby town to rest.
Back at Bedwell's, after he and Thomas bid farewell to the adventurers, they entered Thomas's mansion.
As soon as they entered, a young figure darted out and jumped Thomas.
"Daddy!"
It turned out to be a little boy, and Thomas, who was currently holding the boy in his arms, kindly touched his son's head, and then introduced him to Bedivere:
"Lord Bedivere, this is my son, Fran. He is still young, so I apologize for any lack of etiquette."
"Wow! It's a knight!"
Seeing a real knight, the little boy who spent most of his time in the manor couldn't help but show his longing gaze. It was quite common for young boys of this time to have an innocent admiration for knights.
"Hello, little friend. Nice to meet you."
To the cute child, Bedivere also kindly squatted down and greeted him.
"Sir Knight! Sir Knight! Daddy told me that you're going to defeat that horrible bad dragon! Is that true?!"
In response to the child's innocent question, Bedivere was suddenly reminded of the charred body of the child in the ruins for some reason.
"Well, of course! I'll go and defeat him for everyone's sake."
Keeping his face calm, Bedivere assured the child. But Bedivere knew that even though he was talking to the kid, he was being 100% serious. There was no need for that, but he was honest. Because the monster called Falcurax was a being he could not tolerate, a beast he had to kill!
