Editing Talk:Seikoku no Ryuu Kishi: Volume 1 (section)

=== Part 7 ===
After leaving the city district, he journeyed north on the main road, arriving at Fianna Forest.

The forest was also a part of the competition’s course. The skills required were now, were vastly different from the ones needed to navigate through the city roads.

After just entering the forest, a strange thing happened.

“... Brigid?”

Brigid, who had been tailing Lancelot the whole journey, suddenly slowed down.

Silvia, obviously, took advantage of this opportunity. It took all of a moment, and then she had disappeared.

“What’s wrong...?”

Brigid, finally, stopped walking.

He was breathing heavily and his expression was one of great pain.

Ash, now, had finally realised the mistake he had made.

“I was too careless.”

While Ash had been preoccupied with following Silvia, he hadn’t noticed that Brigid had run out of stamina.

From the start, Brigid had always maintained the same speed as Lancelot, in spite of the difference of stamina between a Maestro and an Asia. Generally, in order to successfully finish the competition, the pace to complete it at, should have been determined from the stamina of the dragon.

“...Sorry, Brigid.”

After he had apologised, Brigid let out a soft snort, as if he was ashamed of his physical strength.

Ash sat on Brigid, letting him catch his breath while groups of competitors raced past Ash's side, one by one.

The sound of thunderous rumbling shook the earth, as the air filled with dust.

The sight of a group of Asias running in the forest was spectacular to behold. Ash could sense the ground incessantly rocking. For a very long time, it didn’t subside.

As far as Ash was concerned, the competition was over.

Between him and Silvia, the winner had been determined. His goal to force Silvia to take back her words, in the end, wasn’t achieved.

If this was described as unfortunate, it would be a lie. Ash had really wanted to complete the competition. For the entire time, he had made a bee line for the finish line.

However, oddly enough, Ash’s mood was rather carefree.

“It turns out that competing with the princess is quite interesting.”

He could not deny the fact that he had fun competing with her, even though he was quite reluctant to.

The moment he thought that, he heard a rustling noise, that had come without warning from behind him.

“—!”

Ash instinctively looked back, staring hard at the forest behind him.

“...Who is it?”

For safety reasons, Ansarivan’s security guards would, during the race, patrol the forest.

Thus, it wasn't that big of a big fuss to sense other people around inside the forest.

However, whoever had made the noise hadn’t replied. If it was really a security guard, he should have already appeared directly before Ash, who had been eliminated.

Ash heightened his awareness and cautiously surveyed the surroundings.

Although he hadn’t discovered any suspicious figures, he felt as though someone was watching him. He could feel a sense of foreboding growing within himself.

“Wait for me here.”

Ash started to walk into the depths of the forest, leaving Brigid waiting there.