After hesitating for a moment, Lawrence gritted his teeth and said, "Your Majesty, to be honest, that knight truly is His Grace the Duke's illegitimate son. His name is Florence Windchaser. He is attempting to conquer a dragon—an Aluminum Dragon—and has already reached the stage just before the Battle of Minds..."
Liszt raised a brow, then immediately narrowed his eyes. "An Aluminum Dragon?"
"Yes. At the critical moment of conquering the Aluminum Dragon, he was discovered by the Stone Marquis. The Stone Marquis captured Florence, intending to use him to obtain the Aluminum Dragon... His Grace the Duke dared not mention this matter to anyone, but he trusts Your Majesty's character, so he wishes to seek your aid."
If he had truly trusted him, Lawrence would not have spouted nonsense earlier, trying to fool Liszt as though he were an idiot.
Now that there was no other way, he could only reveal the truth.
Liszt did not immediately respond to the request to rescue Florence. Instead, he changed the subject. "The Stone Marquis—is he that Bearskin Wearer?" He remembered that the lord Yevich Shuihuasheng had once followed was the Stone Marquis, an inheritor of ancient warrior arts whose strength was roughly comparable to a Domain Knight's.
"Yes, it is the Stone Marquis, Pilov Earthrage."
"He is an inheritor of ancient warrior arts, yet he wants to ride a dragon too? Are you sure he can ride one?"
"He has many descendants. Two of them are exceptionally gifted and cultivate knightly Battle Qi. Both participated in the Dragon Knight Candidate Program, but neither succeeded."
With question and answer exchanged, the whole story became clear.
Piero's illegitimate son, Florence Windchaser, was quite talented and had been on the verge of successfully conquering an Aluminum Dragon. Yet Pilov Earthrage, the Stone Marquis, had