Soul of Searing Steel

“Ao’s Light (the name of the Nuclear Star) was one of the most valuable trophies ever acquired by my ancestors from the orcs during olden days. It was one of the most heroic artifacts that made the royal family so great. It was also a symbol of the dignity of the Royals and the Imperial Kingdom. Hence, it was placed in the middle of the Central Glorious Main Hall as a decorative piece.”

Upon learning that the Nuclear Star had been detonated, Israel had a pained expression on his face. “Even though Igor has sent the emissary of the God of Life to perform the Divine Recovery Ritual for me, I was merely lending the Nuclear Star out.”

After all, it was indeed his fault for detonating the Nuclear Star. Hence, Joshua kept his mouth shut and remained silent, he did not say anything at all. The Emperor seemed to have recovered his normal mood after sighing regretfully.

“Even though that was the case, I’ve already expected that it will not return unscratched the moment I lent it.”

Israel shook his head and spoke remorsefully, “However, if the Church of the Seven Gods was the one who is responsible for its destruction, I might still be able to give them a good reason to get more compensation from them. But instead, it was you who blew it up by risking your own life… Never mind then.”

The Emperor knew very well that the expedition party that crossed the realm to get into the Dark Abyss did not have many options when they were faced with a legion of abyssal dragons. Hence, it was necessary to detonate the Nuclear Star in order to ensure their own survivals. As the ruler of the Imperial Kingdom, Israel would never upset himself over worldly possessions. The remorse he felt a while ago was just a sense of pity for losing an heirloom. It was more about making a gesture.

Joshua had that qualification though.

Now that they were done talking and Israel had confirmed that the warrior had recovered, Israel was ready to leave the underground fortress. The great legion of the berserk dragons had yet to retreat. The Emperor was needed at the center of the Sacred Mountain so that he could continue to confront the three Legendary-tier dragons with Igor and the Nature’s Magister. Even though their enemies had lost their deadly weapon ‘Longsword of the Ashlands’, their forces were still as deadly as ever.

Right before the Emperor was about to take leave, he suddenly recalled something important, “Oh, right. There’s also this.”

Holding his giant dragon lance in one hand, Israel broke the dimensional space with his other. The fragments of the world wrapped around his arm as he reached his hand into the small crack he tore on the dimensional space in front of him. After that, he took something out from the other side and put it in front of Joshua and the others in the room. Israel had an odd expression on his face. “This should be your trophy for winning the battle. Although he came to the Sacred Mountain on his own initiative, be it me or Igor, both of us believe that you should be the one keeping this.”

After he finished what he wanted to say, the Legendary warrior took a step forward as the dimensional space around him shattered. A blue dimensional door appeared from the void and opened. After that, the Emperor vanished into the dimensional door, a moment later, the door vanished too.

Joshua lowered his head after watching the Emperor leave the room through the dimensional door.

A pale, blue-haired ‘elf’ emerged slowly from the floor filled with shredded pieces of wood as he slowly stood up. He seemed somewhat overwhelmed. However, he understood his current situation.

That elf appeared just like the other elves. He was handsome and beautiful. His pair of eyes were watery blue, just like the color of the sky. However, after taking a closer look, one would notice that those eyes actually belonged to a dragon. He lifted his head and looked at the warrior, forcing a smile. Then, he gently nodded and said, “Ah, greetings…”

He sounded as if he was about to cry.

“Oh, it is ‘Ah’. He actually survived all that?”

The divine armaments took a look at the elf, they lowered their heads and began discussing about him. However, their voices were crystal clear to everyone in the room. As for Black, she only lifted her head and took a peek at the blue dragon with her eyes that were filled with curiosity.

“Nice you meet you, Suralno.” After nodding his head, the warrior patted Ying and Ling’s head to indicate that they should stop talking now. “So, are you completely surrendering then?”

Sweeping his eyes over the blue-haired elf, Joshua could recognize the presence and attributes of the person before him. That blue elf was obviously the human form of that Blue Dragon Suralno. Even Ying and Ling could also tell that with a simple good look at the blue-haired elf. In his past life, Joshua had met this elf many times. The blue dragons loved freedom. They would sometimes descend from the sky because of some reasons and transform into their human form to travel across the great continent. Their most favorite form would be elven bards like the one Suralno was in right now. They loved to sing songs and poems about what they have heard and seen in the sky in front of everyone.

Naturally, Suralno had completely surrendered—because of Ying and Ling, he was heavily injured and could not heal from it. The legion of berserk dragons never had any Ritual-grade healing abilities among themselves that could heal that sort of wounds. In order to prevent himself from dying a worthless death, the blue dragon could only find his own way to the defense of the Sacred Mountain, reveal his own identity and surrender himself to his enemies.

Suralno’s nickname, the [Windrider], was also quite renowned on the Sacred Mountain. After being suppressed by a few Supreme-tier champions and locked into the underground dungeon, the clergy had also confirmed the truth that Joshua had wounded Suralno so badly that it had to surrender. They aided the blue dragon to stop himself from bleeding out. Then they locked the blue dragon in the dungeon as they waited for the order from higher up before they could start the interrogation on it. After all, it was a Supreme-tier dragon. Regardless of whether they wanted to sentence the blue dragon to death or to make an ally out of him, those decisions were not the soldiers’ to make.

Joshua noticed that it seems that the decision had been placed in his hand. He was the responsible one to make the decision now.

So, after looking at the blue dragon from head to toe, his horrific red eyes starred at Suralno giving Suralno a chill down his spine.

Suralno’s surrender did not come as a surprise. Other than his injuries, he was no longer able to return to the Pentashade dragons because of his betrayal to his own kind. Although Suralno really had no idea where Evian was located at, all the dragons would believe that it was him who had revealed the identity of the red dragon and its mission to their enemies. Or else Joshua would never have found Evian and forced him to his demise.

In a sense, in the way how dragons see it, it was Suralno who destroyed the plan of the Pentashade dragons. It was a crime never to be forgiven by the Pentashade dragons.

By that time, the Legendary-tier dragon Rheeti was the first to hunt Suralno down. And by that time, even though the continent was vast and huge, there was no longer any area in the sky that Suralno could fly and glide freely.

Joshua nodded when he was sure that the blue dragon no longer behaved in a hostile manner towards him. He gestured at Ying and Ling to sit at the side and rest first. Then he spoke solemnly. “Suralno, you will never be able to return to the camp of the Giant Dragons, nor will you be able to move across the continent freely. Therefore, do you intend to stay at the Sacred Mountain? Or do you intend to follow me back to the Imperial City after the war is over?”

The warrior had always been very blunt. The blue dragon had lived so many lives as an ordinary human being. He had met this sort of existence more times than he could count. So, he had already gotten used to that way of speaking. He immediately responded to the warrior, saying, “Return to the Imperial City with you.”

His reply was simple and powerful, as if he had already made up his mind long before the warrior asked him. Suralno knew that even if he surrendered himself completely to the human, the people of the Sacred Mountain, which had been under siege by the berserk dragon forces, would never truly be able to accept a dragon living with them, let alone a dragon that had a part in invading their territory. On the other hand, the blue dragon could not even do anything before he was bashed up badly by the warrior. He did not even get to cause any damage to anything. Even though it was truly embarrassing, he was definitely not going to be despised by the people in the Imperial City as long as he could express his sincerity and his loyalty to the Imperial Kingdom.

The system information about the blue dragon popped up into Joshua’s vision. However, the warrior did not look closely at those information. He roughly confirmed that Suralno’s status had indeed turned from enemy to neutral. There was even an option to recruit him or not. The warrior nodded and said, “Alright then. Coincidentally, there’s a bunch of baby dragons that need nurturing back in my territory. Perhaps I do need a full-fledged dragon to assume the role.”

Joshua turned around and looked at the black draconic girl who was laying on the side of the bed. He stiffened up. Then the warrior sighed and said, “It seems that I have thought too much… and it seems that I can’t really hope that she could do something about it…”

The moment after Suralno heard what Joshua said, his face hardened. Then he cautiously asked the warrior, “Lord Count, may I know how many baby dragons you have?”

“Probably… a dozen of them… perhaps twenty,” Joshua shrugged. He could not specifically recall exactly how many baby dragons he had. “Other than that, there’s also some daemon mounts. Your job is to nurture all of them. Rest assure that it is not really a hectic job. You will find it easy and relaxing.”

Twenty baby dragons? The type of dragon where you only need two of them to annihilate the entire lair of your enemy? The type of horrific creatures that could weaken the nerves of the master of the dragon lair once they had reached a certain number? Where did Joshua the Dragonslayer manage to get so many of those baby dragons?

Suralno did not feel relaxed at all, not even by a tiny bit. He was shocked and astonished at the same time–ever since he was born, he had been flying around the world to travel and experience life in every corner of the world. Yet, he had never met a mother dragon before, let alone taking care of baby dragons. Basically speaking, he was completely inexperienced. The blue dragon intended to reject the mission that seemed too difficult for him to handle. However, after some thinking about the situation and the warrior’s strength, he accepted the mission bitterly, “Alright.”

A few days later, on the other side of the world.

Northern Imperial Kingdom.

The latest battle report of the war with the berserk dragons had spread to the fortresses in the south. It even spread across the Imperial City, the Northern lands and the other territories of the nobles who possessed significant strength.

The fact of Israel’s involvement in the Dragon’s Calamity had been spreading in the dark since long ago. Many nobles had already learned about that. So, nobody was surprised to learn that the ruler of the Imperial Kingdom had been involved in the war. Songs suggested that the Emperor was undefeatable and even the Legendary-tier dragon could not withstand a single blow from the Emperor. However, when the songs were sung by many in the continent, many people with sharp perceptions and observations had also noticed that there was another name on the battle report.

His name was surprisingly eye-catching. Everyone noticed it as much as they noticed Israel’s name.

—Joshua van Radcliffe.

That name was known to the nobles who were a little more aggressive in making a name for themselves in the world instead of drowning themselves in their comfort zones back in their own pitiful territories. Joshua was known to be the youngest warrior to reach Supreme. Many of them used him as a benchmark in educating their own children.

‘Count Radcliffe had already reached Supreme-tier when he was twenty-three years old, why haven’t you even reach the barrier of the Gold-tier now?!’

Those words became a catchphrase that most of the nobles used to educate their own offspring.

The Church of the Seven Gods did not keep even the slightest details about the performance of the warrior. Back in the depth of the Dark Abyssal Sea, the entire process of the warrior facing the legion of the berserk dragon with his full strength was completely recorded and publicly broadcasted. Currently, even those busybodies out there were actually calculating exactly how many dragons had Joshua slain. If the deaths of the wyverns and the dragons that were killed by the shockwaves caused by the warrior were considered as the warrior’s killings, then he would undoubtedly be the strongest Dragonslayer in the entire history now.

The warrior had slain over hundreds of giant dragons, thousands or perhaps ten thousands of wyverns, two Supreme-tier black dragons, and one Supreme-tier red dragon. He even tortured a Supreme-tier blue dragon… There was no one in the entire history of the four main settlements of mankind over a thousand years that could compare to the warrior, who had achieved such an extraordinary record. Even the Apocalyptic Dragon Knight Israel and the ancestors of the royal family of previous generations had begun their training giant dragons when the dragons were still young. Through time, only did they manage to nurture their dragons to reach legendary-tier. So those were not truly their own achievements.

Even the most renowned Dragonslayer by the name ‘Saint George’ was only able to slay a Supreme-tier dragon and face off a Legendary-tier dragon, pushing it far away into the void never to return to this world. Even though Saint George’s achievement was deemed to be powerful and impressive, it is still incomparable to the warrior’s.

Although the news spread very fast, it was too brief for the people to understand the details. His achievement had yet to bear fruit on the Mycroft Continent because everyone on the continent was still processing the news. However, it was undeniable that his name had been spread across the entire continent. Other than the Northern Imperial Kingdom, many other kingdoms and states under the ruling of warlocks across the West Mountains, the major organizations of the Mage and the city states in the Eastern Plains had also learned about it. They would spare no effort in sending any capable manpower of theirs to investigate and analyze the warrior as much as possible after learning about the man who reached Legendary. The forces and other organizations that were secretly scheming against the Northern Imperial Kingdom were also confused at the moment as they no longer know if they should make their move on the Kingdom or wait for the right moment to strike.

At the same time, in the main city of Moldavia, a lady with long blue hair and a pair of wings sat on the soft velvet cushion back in the Lord’s Mansion. She held onto a book, reading the story to two little girls.

03 wore a white veil skirt, revealing her slender legs and her small thighs. She read the content of the book with her gentle voice. Her eyes looked as bright as the blue stars.

In front of her were the two daughters of Vale Dani and Brandon. One of them was hugging a pillow while the other hugged the cushion. They listened intently to the story told by the young lady.

“…Eredar knew that the war was over now. At least the war had ended for him. However, it was just the beginning for some people.”

Taking a deep breath, the Artificial Intelligence closed the book in her hands. After spending three hours of her afternoon, she was finally done with the long memoir of a war called the [Legend of the Wind]. As the main character of the story, the half-elf Eredar who loved freedom and life left his homeland. He flung himself into the battle with the lizardmen across the fields of the southern swamp. When he was engaged with ferocious enemies, the half-elf slowly uncovered the conspiracy brewing behind the war… In short, that was a novel that recorded the memoirs of it all. Even 03 found it difficult to understand the content of the novel. So, she was amazed and confused as to why the two little girls loved that story so much.

“Sigh… is that the last of the story? Can’t there be more of it?” A girl with long blonde hair lied on the floor as she rolled around in dissatisfaction. “Didn’t you said something had just begun?”

“Flan, sister 03 was saying that ‘it was just the beginning for some people’. It’s not that something has just begun.” Next to the blond-haired girl, another girl with a short violet hair who was older than Flan lectured her little sister seriously, “You need to listen carefully to what others are saying… Argh! What are you doing?!”

The Artificial Intelligence lady looked at the two little girls who were screaming and fighting in front of her. She sighed.

The rumors about prehistoric relics had begun spreading in the territory of Moldova, the casters and explorers all over the Northern Empire had traveled from all around the continent to Moldova. There were mercenaries who possessed quite extraordinarily powerful strengths and some unknown members from other kingdoms who were secretive with their intentions among the crowd. In order to ensure the safety of the two little girls, Vale Dani and Brandon decided to send them over to Moldova and asked Nostradamus and 03 to take good care of them.

Remy, the elder sister, and Flan, the younger sister, had very different personalities of their own. One was calm while the other one was always lively. However, both of them enjoyed listening to stories related to war and battles be it novels about memoirs or some diaries about adventures. It could not be helped that people would suspect the stories they were told during their lonely times. Or perhaps they just enjoyed the moments when someone shared a story with them.

“Speaking of which.”

The two little girls had broken off from the fight and sat down in their own places. After straightening their clothing, the blond girl tightened her headband. She asked 03 curiously, “So what kind of story do you like, big sister?”

“Me?” The Artificial Intelligence lady was not surprised by the little girl’s question. After all, the little lady had always been a curious person. She thought about it and smiled. Then she replied the little girl, “I should like most of the stories about human beings… Of course, I love adventure stories the most.”

“What kind of adventure stories?”

This time, it was the elder sister who asked the question. The two siblings sat closer to 03 as they were filled with curiosity. 03 activated her magical field as she ‘hugged’ the both of them with both of her projected arms. “Any kind of adventure stories… especially…”

Especially the adventure stories of someone who was far, far away.