The Great Battle Against the Crimson Dragon

After arriving at Hammerbolga, Town of Forging, Eris and I soon found Philip and his group.

The moment Eris saw her parents, she shot into her mother Hilda's arms like a cannonball.

After I completed the handover procedures with the guards from the Millis Teaching Knight Order, I walked over to them as well.

Philip came out in a wheelchair, pushed by Ghislaine.

I went up and cast an advanced healing spell on Philip.

O sacred spirits of spring water, please let merciful rain fall upon the parched earth, purify the wounded soul, and pour eternal life into the decaying flesh!

Fountain of Life

After feeling the sensation in his legs for a while, Philip stood up.

Seeing that Ghislaine was covered in scars as well, I cast an advanced healing spell on her too.

After I finished casting the spell, Philip looked at me with grateful eyes, then bowed to me and said, "Dolin, I no longer know how to express my gratitude to you. You saved Hilda's life and mine. This is a debt we owe you, and I will spend my whole life repaying it."

"Uncle Philip, it's still too early to thank me. You haven't escaped danger yet."

I told him the current specific situation in Fittoa Territory.

"Although you survived, Lord Saulros has already been executed by the kingdom. The reason was that he bore responsibility for the Fittoa Territory disappearance incident.

"As for your brothers, the Boreas family members scattered across other cities in Fittoa as mayors, not a single report of a survivor has come in.

"The current head of the Boreas family is James Boreas Greyrat. I imagine he probably won't want you to go back.

"If you return to Ars, he can use responsibility for the disappearance of Fittoa Territory to make you follow in Lord Saulros's footsteps."

Hearing my words, Philip wilted all at once, unable even to keep standing. Hilda and Eris went up together to support him.

I looked at Philip, then glanced at Ghislaine, who had been glaring at me the whole time. I knew the doubts in her heart.

I shook my head and said to Philip's family, "There is still room for the situation to turn around right now. Calm yourself first. Rest for a while, and I'll explain more to you later."

I walked outside the house, and Ghislaine followed along.

She asked me straight to the point:

"Did you know in advance that Fittoa Territory would disappear?"

"How could I have known in advance? I only saw that black sphere over Roa City and instinctively felt uneasy. Everything I did was based on my intuition. There was no way I could make anyone believe me with intuition alone. That's why I had Philip's family come to Ars ahead of time to stay for a while."

"Understood. Then the next question. Who caused Lord Saulros's death?"

"On the surface, it was the head of the Notos family, Pilemon Notos Greyrat. But the one who actually pushed it along was the current head of the Boreas family, James Boreas Greyrat.

"Lord Saulros wanted to scatter his entire family fortune to rebuild Fittoa Territory. James was unwilling, so he sought advice from my grandfather, Darius Prodia Greyrat. By some means unknown to me, they had Pilemon bring Saulros down and have him sentenced to hanging.

"I know you want revenge right now, but as the Boreas family's bodyguard, your current duty should be to protect Philip's family. In addition, I hope you can take on the task of being Eris's swordsmanship teacher and help her grow as quickly as possible.

"Revenge can wait until they have enough means to protect themselves."

Ghislaine gave a heavy nod and said, "I understand."

After dealing with Ghislaine, I returned to the room.

Philip was sitting on the bed, while Eris and Hilda were both lying against his chest and crying. They had probably been moved after not seeing each other for so long.

When they saw me come in, they separated.

Unexpectedly, Eris returned to stand behind me. Then she whispered by my ear, "I already told Father about Grandfather's last words."

That made my expression turn a little unnatural. I coughed once, then said to Philip, "Uncle Philip."

Hm? Eris pinched my waist.

Philip smiled faintly and said kindly, "There's no need to call me so stiffly. Just call me Philip directly. I'll be troubling you to take care of Eris from now on."

"Ah, all right. I'll take good care of Eris.

"Uncle, the current situation in the country is that the First Prince's faction holds a great advantage. My grandfather Darius, the head of the Boreas family, and many other forces all support the First Prince.

"But I'm actually not optimistic about him, because his opponent has an even more formidable helper. I am currently Princess Ariel Anemoi Asura's guardian knight. She has already gone to study abroad at Ranoa University of Magic in Sharia, and there she has the chance to come into contact with Armored Dragon King Perugius.

"If Princess Ariel can win Perugius's support, then she will have a great chance of taking the throne.

"If you can go help her, then after she takes the throne in the future, you can also take back the position of head of the Boreas family with the tide.

"Of course, if you no longer wish to get involved in these struggles, I also have a very good place where you can live peacefully in your later years. At the very least, there will definitely be no issue with food and clothing for the rest of your life."

Philip did not hesitate much. He answered directly:

"Dolin, I choose to help Princess Ariel. I spent my whole life fighting with my elder brother over power. Although I did not win, I have never admitted defeat in my heart.

"Especially since he framed my father in order to become family head. That makes it even more impossible for me to allow him to sit in that position. I will take back everything of the Boreas family in my father's place, and work hard to restore Fittoa Territory.

"I cannot allow the people of my territory to fend for themselves. I will let them return to normal lives, let Fittoa's rice fields be covered in gold once more, and let Fittoa return to its era of flourishing prosperity."

Seeing the resolve in his eyes, I was relieved as well.

Then my route was this: we would go from the northeast side of the Conflict Zone, follow the Lingus Sea into the Biheril Kingdom, then head west from the Biheril Kingdom through the war-torn countries, enter the Three Magic Kingdoms, and our final destination would be Sharia.

"On this journey, aside from the stretch through the Conflict Zone, I've traveled all the other roads before. Once you're ready, we'll set out."

"All right. We're basically ready already. After all, we were teleported here without a coin to our names. There isn't much to prepare."

The next day, Eris and I went together to buy the necessities for the road. Since Philip and Hilda were ordinary people and had never trained their bodies, we also prepared two carriages and enough horses.

I paid for everything along the way, and Eris realized just how much I was spending on this trip. Because of that, she became more and more obedient.

She was no longer so sensitive about accidental physical contact on the road, and when nothing was going on, she would even hug my arm and rub against it.

It was truly a delightful thing.

After we finished preparing, we set out on the road to Sharia.

In truth, this journey was extremely long. We first had to leave the Conflict Zone, and that stretch alone was very unsafe.

There were a great many small countries in the Conflict Zone, and we had to pass through many national borders.

If by chance some countries were in the middle of a war, they would close their borders, and forcing our way through would get us jointly wanted by the countries on both sides of the border.

When it had just been Eris and me traveling light, this problem had not been very obvious. But now we were a group of two carriages, six horses, and five people, so it was very difficult to hide our tracks.

And carriages were slower than riding on horseback, and easier to track as well.

Actually, this problem was still manageable. As long as we showed a bit of strength, those pursuers would not chase us too doggedly.

Here, Ghislaine proved very useful, not because she was powerful, but because her name carried great weight. Ghislaine, Sword King of the Black Wolf, was very famous among many mercenaries.

Moreover, her ears, tail, huge breasts, and her famed blade "Hiramune" were all excellent proof of her identity, so no one would suspect her of being some fake impostor.

So when facing pursuers, as long as Ghislaine made a move, the matter could quickly be resolved.

After the enemy saw Ghislaine's strength, they would all leave a loophole in the net and open a path for us.

But even with two carriages, the supplies on board would still run out. We needed to go into cities to restock.

When we were still 150 kilometers from the northeastern coastline of the Conflict Zone, we entered Kegas City of the Sater Kingdom to replenish our supplies.

Originally, we were prepared to restock in the city and then leave the Conflict Zone in one breath. But our luck was really not very good. A neighboring country happened to attack Kegas City during those few days.

The siege lasted nearly a month, and we were trapped in the inn, unable to travel. Fortunately, we had already replenished almost all our supplies.

Outside the city, cannon fire linked heaven and earth, yet we could only waste time inside the inn.

In the end, I made a decision. I flew into the sky to check where the besieging army was mainly stationed and to see how many meters the encirclement covered.

Then, on a dark and windy night, I led our little party from the inn's backyard and used earth magic to dig a tunnel diagonally downward. After digging about twenty meters, I dug straight forward.

I had no idea how long I dug. I estimated it was about a dozen kilometers or so, and finally dug diagonally upward again. Once we were close to the surface, I quietly climbed up alone. After confirming that we had already left the encirclement, we all climbed up to the surface and continued our journey.

Actually, I also had the option of helping the city defeat the invading enemy. But in the Conflict Zone, no side was righteous. Everyone's hands were drenched in blood, so I did not choose that option.

Besides, if I used powerful magic and the Sater Kingdom refused to let us leave, what then? As long as they kidnapped any one person in our party, I would be like someone afraid to throw a stone at a rat for fear of smashing the vase beside it. So I chose the safest path.

After leaving Kegas City, although I had dug due east, there was no very good sense of direction underground, so we deviated quite a bit from the actual direction. We spent another two months before finally reaching the northeastern corner of the Conflict Zone, the End of the Red Dragon.

This place should have been called the end of some mountain range or another. But over four hundred years ago, during the Laplace Campaign, the Demon God Laplace placed red dragons into this mountain range, causing the range to be called the Red Dragon Mountains ever since. So this location was also called the End of the Red Dragon.

This was the easternmost point of the Red Dragon Mountains. The mountains grew lower and lower from west to east, until they became flatland here and connected with the sea.

Passing through here would allow us to reach the Biheril Kingdom and enter the Northern Lands. It looked like flatland, but in reality it was not safe at all.

Because the slope was gentle, red dragons from the mountains often came down from here to hunt themselves a snack. So anyone passing through this place had to possess a certain amount of luck and strength.

And we were the type of people who had enough strength, but no luck.

While passing through this stretch of flatland, a red dragon appeared up ahead, attacking a merchant caravan. We did not stand by and watch them die, because after the red dragon finished attacking that caravan, it would attack us as well.

Actually, I was not afraid of red dragons at all. These enormous things that could not take flight once they were standing on flat ground were nothing but living targets in front of me. If they were up on the mountains and able to fly, I might have been a little afraid of them. But on the ground, I did not falter in the slightest.

However, Ghislaine acted as though she had encountered a powerful enemy and said with an extreme spirit of self-sacrifice, "Dolin, take Philip's family and go first. I'll hold off the red dragon. If I'm lucky enough to survive, I'll catch up to you.

"But if I never catch up, don't grieve for me. If you ever have the chance to see my Dedoldia clansmen in the future, tell them that I, Ghislaine, did not disgrace the Dedoldia clan."

Then she coolly flicked her sword in a flourish, shouted "Aiyaiyaiyaiya," and charged forward.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh sounded from behind her, and then boom, boom, boom rang out from the red dragon ahead.

Then we saw a red dragon with a diameter of thirty meters and a wingspan of a hundred meters collapse to the ground. There were three explosive wounds on its head, throat, chest, and right foot. Among them, the explosion in its chest had directly blown apart the red dragon's lungs, which was the direct cause of its death.

I did not use any fancy, gaudy magic. I simply used the intermediate earth spell Rock Cannon, just like Rudy. This kind of armor-piercing magic had a miraculous effect when attacking high-defense red dragons.

After polishing the rock until it was like a drill bit, I then created even more small, spike-shaped pieces of rock inside the rock, and finally launched it with spin and acceleration. It directly pierced through the red dragon's scale defense and exploded inside its body. The tiny spike-shaped rocks stabbed into the flesh within it, quickly destroying its life.

It was a little awkward. Fortunately, Ghislaine had a mental expectation of my strength. She returned to the carriage, and we continued onward.

No one mentioned the lines Ghislaine had just said when she was preparing to die a hero's death.

After all, if she could say those words, then she truly could give her life for us. This time it was a red dragon; next time, even if it were Orsted, she would not retreat. So there was nothing about her worth mocking.

However, Eris really exploded. Her worship of me felt like it had already surpassed her worship of Ghislaine.

All along the road, she kept talking about how powerful that red dragon was and how strong my magic was. I had only shown an intermediate spell and she was already this excited. If I turned around and showed her king-class magic, wouldn't she fly straight into the heavens?

After Ghislaine calmed her emotions, her attitude toward me also changed. In the past, she might have viewed me more as someone to be protected.

Now she already regarded me as an existence equal to her, or even surpassing her, someone even stronger.

This much could be seen from the fact that she had asked to spar with me. When I was studying at the Water God Style dojo, I had discovered that people with ambition never sought out opponents weaker than themselves for a match.

People only ever sought advice and sparring from those stronger than themselves. That was the only way to improve faster.

However, I did not agree to Ghislaine's request for a match. The reason was simple: right now, my magic was far stronger than my swordsmanship. My Water God Style had been stuck at Advanced rank for a long time, while my magic had already risen to King rank.

Whether a match between us succeeded would basically depend on the distance between us. If the distance was great, I could fly up and attack her. If the distance was close, I had no way to block her Light Blade. A match like that would not do much to help me improve.

I also explained to her why my magic could pierce through the Red Dragon's defenses. The principle was rotation and explosion. I shaped my Rock Cannon into a drill bit, then gave it rotational force.

Once the shell struck the Red Dragon's body, it would have cutting power. As long as even a small section drilled through the armor, the explosion inside the armor could deal massive damage to the Red Dragon.

Although this explanation left Eris and Ghislaine half-understanding and finding it hard to grasp, after I kneaded a drill bit in my hand and demonstrated it once on a rock, both of them understood.

This joy of using middle-school physics to bully otherworldly natives—those of you who had never transmigrated would not understand it.

After arriving in the Biheril Kingdom, we naturally passed through Forest Song City. I stopped by on the way to visit my teacher, Bradycond, but when I reached her home, she was not there.

The one who received me was Federico, Teacher Bradycond's father. I learned that Teacher basically could not stay at home. She had no way to be lazy in front of her father, so she would stay at home for a few years, then use traveling as an excuse to go find a place outside and be lazy for a few years, returning only when she missed home.

Teacher Bradycond's father had already gotten used to days like this, so he was not worried about her at all. He said that this time, Teacher had headed south. By now, she should have arrived in the King Dragon Kingdom.

I hoped I would have a chance to see Teacher again. After so many years apart, I did miss her a little.

After preparing our supplies, we set out on our journey again. The rest of the road was one I had walked several times before. Hopefully, everything would go smoothly.