"This time, you will not be Saint George facing the Void Dragon alone."
Malcador's words echoed in the Emperor's ears through their Psychic Power communication.
Those words also echoed within the Emperor's heart.
Although Malcador had sought out the Emperor and urged him to step forward, the Emperor was still grateful for Malcador's counsel.
When he had stepped forward to face one crisis only to discover an even more terrifying one, Malcador's words carried exceptional weight.
The Emperor wanted to thank him, wanted to say many things, but in the end, he swallowed all those words and let them become silence.
Yet in Malcador's eyes, having come to understand the Emperor's character through their time together, he had already seen the Emperor's gratitude.
"Where is your territory?" Nagase Ken suddenly asked the Emperor. "Is it also at the border between the Eagle Nations and the Dragon Nations, like ours?"
"It is not in a disputed place like the border, but somewhere far safer." Malcador answered flawlessly, as though Nagase Ken had asked him rather than the Emperor.
"That truly is wonderful." Nagase Ken looked up at the sky thick with dark clouds. "I cannot imagine that there is still a place on Terra safer than the City on the Peak and the lands protected by the Lord of Flames and Thunder. When I was young, my father's stories gave me the impression that Terra was a place filled with terrifying, brutal people. Humanity's homeworld had suffered a catastrophe much like humanity itself."
"You know about the situation beyond Terra?" Malcador asked.
Malcador enjoyed being around people with a broader perspective, so Nagase Ken's understanding of humanity had stirred his interest in conversation.
"Yes." Nagase Ken nodded respectfully. "Before my family fell into decline, my father found me a warrior teacher.