Chapter 32

After defeating Bergenion, it took about half a moment on the dragon to reach the middle of the plain, where the building was surrounded by knights.

"Your Grace, is that the mansion...?"

"Yes, the one you see in the center is the main house. It's a bit too large, but you can use any room you like."

He pointed to what he called the 'main house.' As befitting the main house of the Galbreath Dukedom, it was a grand building that seemed to require hundreds of servants. However, it was more of a castle than a mansion.

"Your Grace, you called it a mansion...?"

The mansion the Duke referred to was, indeed, a fortress. The Marshall Raid family's main house was a typical example of a noble's residence, the kind you might find in a rural area. It had a pointed roof, a characteristic of cold regions, and nothing else particularly notable. It was a stately building that could never be mistaken for a castle. I had always thought of a mansion as something like that.

"Is it more of a fortress than a mansion? It could easily be mistaken for a royal castle of some country."

Indeed, no matter how I looked at it, it was on a completely different scale from the mansions of other territories. Around the sturdy central castle, there were many stone and brick buildings packed together. The capital city also developed as a castle town around the castle, but this place lacked the elegance of the capital and had a more imposing atmosphere overall.

"Indeed, Melfi. This is our main base, Midreg. It's also called the fortress city of Midreg. It was a city that grew out of a fortress built by one of the Galbreath Dukes many generations ago to defend against monsters."

"Fortress city Midreg... Do monsters from the Elzenie Great Forest come this far?"

In the Marshall Raid territory, the mansion was on a small hill. It had a spacious garden and a breeding ground for riding beasts, typical of a rural area. There were low hedges and windbreak trees, but nothing as grand as the walls here. A separate building for the servants was a short distance away, and the nearest town was a place you had to reach by carriage from the main house.

Even in such a peaceful and pastoral Marshall Raid, there were occasional monster attacks. However, these were concentrated in towns and villages near the forest or mountains, and it shouldn't have been necessary to be so vigilant.

"Occasionally. There are monsters that make their homes in the grasslands and target the caravans on the trade routes."

"Even so, the city is built incredibly solidly."

"Before I drew the defense line, the Elzenie Great Forest was much closer. People naturally gathered here because the dukes of past generations used it as their base. After that, when the survivors of the calamity were settled here, the people, fearing monster attacks, began to build more solid structures."

The defense line was a boundary that separated the areas where humans and monsters lived. I had seen it from the air earlier. The edge of the Elzenie Great Forest was an unnatural plain. Normally, the entrance to a forest would gradually become a grove and then a deep forest, but the Elzenie Great Forest started abruptly from the plain. The distance from the Elzenie Great Forest to the nearest fort was about two thousand furlongs. The plain, two thousand furlongs wide, extended in a band along the edge of the forest. The Duke called this the 'defense line.' The burned and charred ground here and there made it clear who had created it. As Mullan had secretly told me, the Duke had developed magic for the sake of the people and used it generously. So, the defense line was likely created in the same way.

"There's no need to worry now. Occasionally, monsters like today's Bergenion come from the sky, but there are interception teams on standby here day and night."

In the direction the Duke was looking, knights were patrolling the walls... no, the castle walls. There were knights everywhere, unlike the noble knights of the capital, who were truly reliable.

Our dragon began to descend toward the area where the knights were on standby. The knights on griffins, like Chaos, did not land in the same place as the dragons but changed their course to land in the opposite direction. Soon, Chaos's voice came from the faintly glowing resonance stone.

"Then, Your Grace, I will wait at the main house."

"The cargo will be taken directly to the main house. I'll leave the sorting to you, Chaos."

"Understood. I'll see you later."

The dragons that had returned from the Marshall Raid territory began to purr. The resonance stone glowed again, and a different voice from Chaos's was heard.

"Your Grace, are you safe?"

"Yes, I'm fine. I'm about to land between the seventh and eighth towers."

"Understood. Barrier down, Your Grace has returned!"

Two towers, which looked like lighthouses, stood at equal intervals along the wall. The lights at their tips went out and fell silent. The Duke steered the dragon toward the gap, and we quietly entered the wall.

"I'm surprised. That was a magical barrier, wasn't it?"

The towers, which looked like lighthouses, seemed to be part of a magical protective barrier. Indeed, as a fortress city, not only were there knights, but various anti-monster mechanisms were also in place everywhere.

"It consumes a lot of magic, so it can't always be active. It seems that reports of a large group of Bergenions have been received."

"Is there a possibility they will attack again?"

"It's unclear, but it's better to be on guard today."

The dragon soared over the city of Midreg after crossing the wall. From a distance, it looked like a large fortress, but up close, it was clearly a proper city.

There were clear signs of human activity in the stone houses, such as small flower beds and laundry hanging out to dry. People were walking on the narrow streets, and children who noticed the dragon waved at us.

"Wow, there are fields inside the fortress."

"There are even larger farms behind the mansion. There are also livestock breeding grounds. There are farms outside, but the farmers, who know about the calamity, are afraid to go out. Not only in Midreg, but in other towns and villages, the population is increasing, and the self-sufficiency rate is declining."

"Is the spirit worship popular in Galbreath?"

In the Marshall Raid territory, spirit worship was closely tied to daily life, but from the reactions of the Galbreath knights, it didn't seem to be as prevalent. Some, like Chaos and Zeph, were initially wary, but once they tasted the deliciousness of the monsters, they no longer resisted. I hoped the others would accept it, but I thought it might be difficult for the people who had suffered from the calamity seventeen years ago.

"Spirit worship itself is not very popular in Galbreath. There is no church here. However, the practice of eating monsters has been taboo, regardless of spirit worship, for a long time."

"Indeed, eating monsters is still a challenge."

"Well, we can start by spreading it among the knights. Most of the Galbreath knights have eaten monsters before. However, the memory of the bad taste is so vivid that some may resist at first."

"Your Grace, you tried the Belvair, the Skrimwood, and the Gargantua, right?"

Like the Yakour in the Marshall Raid territory, which is absolutely unsuitable for food, if something that was thought to be unpalatable turned out to be delicious, people might start eating it. Or, perhaps serving them the highest quality monster, like the Loaymoodler, would be the way to go.

"Gargantua is out of the question. It's so bad that you forget you ate it."

Behind me, the Duke shuddered. The Gargantua, which made the Duke shudder... I was curious to try it, but I was also hesitant. However, there are things you can't know until you experience them yourself. If I get the chance, I might ask the Duke.

While I was thinking, it seemed we had arrived at the dragon stables. The dragon landed slowly and let out a loud cry. A groom came out of the stable and patted the dragon's neck, offering words of comfort.

"Welcome back, Your Grace!"

"Yes. We used a lot of 'acceleration' on the way. Please let the dragon riders rest for a while."

"Understood. Good job, good job. I'll give you plenty of good food."

After being let down from the dragon, I decided to check the number of items I had brought from the Marshall Raid territory. Despite the intense up-and-down flight, the number of boxes was exactly the same. I wondered if the contents were intact. There shouldn't have been anything that could break. Since I sealed the boxes, opening them wouldn't cause an explosion. As I was considering whether to open them, I felt a gaze watching me.

"Dragon? Is it watching me?"

It seemed the Duke's dragon was focused on a particular box rather than me. I checked the label on the box and understood.

"Loaymoodler... So, you want to eat this, don't you?"

The box contained frozen Loaymoodler that hadn't been eaten. Dragons have a good sense of smell. The Duke's dragon, which had happily eaten the Loaymoodler's organs in my research building in the Marshall Raid territory, must have remembered the delicious smell.

"Your Grace, I have a request."

"What is it, Melfi?"

It was a bit difficult to say, but the dragon had worked hard, so I wanted to reward it properly.

"Your Grace's dragon seems to want the Loaymoodler... Would it be okay to give it to him?"

The Duke closed his eyes and thought for a moment, but then, swayed by the dragon's whining, decided to give the Loaymoodler. Mullan, who had been watching, muttered with a hint of disappointment, "That dragon is a glutton, just like Your Grace."