Seikoku no Ryuu Kishi: Volume 4 Epilogue

Epilogue

Part 1

"Haa… Haa…”

Anya had run out from Beowolf just before Eco had totally crushed it. She then hid in the secret passage underneath Fontaine City.

Although Dr. Hoffman and the rest of the crew managed to escape, they were spotted by the guards and quickly captured.

Anya, by relying on her whip to knock out the guards, was the only person who managed to successfully hide in the underground secret passage. Still, she had received a great mental shock.

It was about Milgauss’s intentions.

Even when Beowolf had been crushed, Milgauss still cannot be seen.

Even though they had prearranged many different types of communication methods in case of any emergency, Milgauss didn’t even try to contact her. Could it be that Milgauss was facing some kind of trouble?

Or- Am I just a something that has lost its value and was tossed off?

“*Sob*…*Hick*…”

When she thought about the worst possible situation, she cried. Right now, Anya wanted to cry while shouting out loud.

At that moment, there were explosions of bright lights in front of her and Anya couldn’t see anything.

“…Urgh!”

When Anya realized they were flash bangs that were modified from the bright-dragon-crystal lamps––

“The rats of the Empire! We are the Foreign Force of the Knight’s Country! We will spare your lives if you choose to surrender! We will guarantee you the treatment of a prisoner of war according to the contents of the international agreement!”

A strict voice was echoing in the passage. She felt as if she had heard the voice somewhere before.

“That voice… Could it be!”

Anya while covering her face from shone by the lights, stared at the direction in front of her.

Just as Anya had expected, the girl was riding a Basilisk.

The military presence emitted by the girl was strong even though she looked like a child.

There were numerous strong guys that were beside her.

If I am right, isn’t that girl the person who occupied the church and faked her name as ‘Avdocha the Convicted’ and wasn’t she arrested?

Why would someone who was guilty be leading the Foreign Force and guarding the Capital?

So the official announcement was a hoax?

No, right now, that is not important at all ––Anya shook her head.

She must try to escape.

“Either I try… or I die.”

Anya held the whip on her right arm and leaped with the intention to die.

Part 2

“Huu. Just as I thought… I must do everything my own.”

Avdocha, riding on the Basilisk, was mumbling something in dissatisfaction.

The girl’s skill was unexpectedly good and three of her subordinates had already been knocked out.

However, Avdocha was leading altogether eight subordinates and she herself was a veteran who was well known all over the world.

Thus, the winning side of this fight had already been decided right from the start.

“Back to the topic, how dare the Empire’s military use my people as their subordinates… Tsk.”

After Avdocha alighted down from Kuu-chan, the Basilisk, she walked towards the girl who was lying down on the ground.

The girl had lost consciousness and was not moving at all.

Avdocha used a bright-dragon-crystal lamp to have a closer look on the girl’s face.

No matter how she looked at, her appearance, her tribal wear and her whip that she had chosen as her choice of weapon, all of them were the style of a Tantalos. Anyhow, Avdocha was born in the mountain areas and she knew them well.

“Huh! This muffler…?”

Avdocha was attracted to the girl's muffler.

“The patterns on this muffler… Could it be!”

Avdocha immediately had the muffler removed from the girl’s neck.

She was inspecting the muffler.

After a while, she saw some Tantalos words that had been sewn on the muffler.

-Shamara Kiltzkaya.

“Is this girl my…!”

Avdocha was looking at the girl’s face carefully.

The girl right in front of her. ––She has some of the features of her long lost sister.

Part 3

The next morning.

Today was the scheduled day for the continental congress-‘Elysium’, but it had been canceled due to the recent incident.

The organizer Raquel IV had officially announced the cancellation of the continental congress ‘Elysium’.

Apart from that, Paladin Oswald had been ordered to investigate the previous night’s incident. Then she left with sacredship Esperanza.

Many people were amazed by her leadership even though she is still just nine year old.

Right after Esperanza had left the Knight’s country, the rest of the people had started to return to their own country. Only Klaus Viderhausen, whose airship the Beowolf had been destroyed, returned to the borders in a horse carriage.

What will be the next action taken by Zepharos Empire?

Also how are they going to deal with Eco who is the Avalon’s holy dragons’ emperor family’s Princess–– It seemed that the Knight’s Country government’s days of headaches will still continue.

Part 4

Ash and Eco were still staying in Fontaine Palace’s guest room.

“It huuurts!”

Although he was just discharged by the hospital a few days ago, he was now again forced to recover while lying on his bed.

Strictly speaking, Ash didn’t suffer any serious injuries and the ‘Seikoku’ that was spread all over his entire body had turned back to normal.

According to the palace’s doctor the only sentence he said was–– "Ash is suffering from muscle fatigue."

That’s right, Eco’s first original Ark was an armour that bears a strong side effect. Those prior mimics that Ash wore couldn’t even be compared with this.

“…”

Eco was sitting beside the bed and was worrying about Ash who was currently sleeping.

It was probably a result of the incident but Eco, who always acted high and mighty, was actually sitting politely, quietly and elegantly.

Looking at Eco’s expression, Ash’s heart was beating faster.

As long as she kept quiet, she will be one of the most beautiful girls.

Eco, while showing a worrisome expression, doesn’t only look like a graceful white lilium––but also looked more mature.

“Hey… Are you really alright?”

Eco was asking while worrying.

Although Ash’s body was still hurting, he managed to squeeze out a smile.

“This is the third time you ask this question, don’t you realize?

“But… You are… Like I thought, it was all my fault––”

Ash immediately interrupted Eco.

“The doctor said it was just muscle fatigue and it has nothing to do with you. It was because that I don’t have enough training. When we return to Ansarivan, I will train my body more… Also… I should be the one apologizing to you.”

Ash made up his mind and sat up straight. Although the pain was unbearable from his waist to his back, he still held on to it.

“Hold on, you shouldn't be getting up, right!?”

As if to keep Eco quiet, Ash touched Eco’s horn.

“…!”

Eco’s body was responding to it but she had no intention of running away. She allowed Ash to touch her.

Ash kept on touching to surface of her horn.

“Sorry… It was my fault.”

The blow from holy sword Excalibur had caused some after effect, even to Eco who had turned back into a girl.

There was now a dent in one of her horns.

While Ash was touching her horn… Eco, while being worried, said:

“T-That’s nothing… It is just a small dent. I am sure that will immediately grow back.”

“Really?

“Don’t you look down on a dragon's recovering strength!”

“I see… That’s great.”

Ash could finally forget about his worries.

I know it, only round and shiny horns fits Eco best.

When he was thinking about that, Ash suddenly felt that Eco was cute.

Without a single warning, he hugged Eco.

“Hold…!”

Eco was blushing, but she didn’t resist, on the other hand, she embraced Ash. Her smell was nice and Ash could clearly hear the sounds of a child's heart beat.

Eco, being hugged by Ash with both hands, found her body heating up. Her face looked as if smoke was coming out from it.

Seeing her embarrassed looks, Ash hugged Eco even harder.

“I am your knight. No matter what happened, this fact will never change. That is why from today onwards––”

“…I hate that. I can never bring myself to like that!”

Ash was stunned by the unexpected answer.

“I am happy that… I am your Pal… And. You are my knight… But…”

Eco was embarrassed and stuttered.

“B-But… I hate this. I cannot be satisfied with just this! Even though I am not sure why, I know that I just can’t accept this!”

Eco was trying her best to explain to Ash.

“…I have searched the dragweiss regarding this feeling and I still don’t know anything… Do you know what is it?”

“T-That’s…!”

Her watery scarlet eyes was passionately looking at Ash

There were also her pearl white teeth and her shining pink lips.

Unknown to him, Ash was attracted to those lips.

“Eco…”

Ash was speaking as if he was moaning and focused his sight on Eco’s face.

Eco probably knew what Ash was thinking and closed her eyes.

Ash too had closed his eyes and slowly, slowly moved his face closer.

Suddenly- ‘Bang!’ and the door swung open.

“Hey! Even when you are still a patient... How shameless can you be!” Silvia was shouting at the top of her voice upon entering.

Hey! Even when you are still a patient… How shameless can you be!

Seeing that Ash and Eco were hugging each other, she stood still on her ground. The other person, besides the angry Silvia, was Lucca.

She had preserved herself from the danger of being blown off from the strong winds. This is what would one expect from the genius from the Eckbald.

Lucca remained silent. She was looking at Ash with her purple crystal like eyes.

“…Beast!”

However, obscene words came from the delicate and pretty face.

“W-What did you say!”

Ash felt that his face were on fire and let go of Eco.

“What, tsk…!”

Eco who was also red in the face and crawled down from the bed.

“B-Before that… why are you here?”

Ash asked politely but Silvia remained angry.

“Of course we heard that you were hurt and was sleeping so I personally took my time to visit you! How dare you say… "Why am I here!"”

“Waaa! Sorry…!”

Silvia was pressuring Ash. However, Ash indeed had said something unnecessarily and must reflect on it.

“O-One more thing… Prince Julius…”

When he saw Silvia… Ash remembered about Julius. Anyway, since they are siblings, their looks are a little similar.

Julius had personally piloted Silvanus to allow Ash to ride on Eco. In the end, Ash remembered that Silvanus crashed and there was an explosion.

Just by thinking about Julius’s death, Ash felt that he had trouble breathing. To Silvia, she can finally meet her brother after ten years, but…

“––Why are you talking about me?”

At that moment, a man appeared from the semi closed door. Ash was shocked.

“Prince Julius…!?”

At that instant, Ash thought that he had seen a ghost.

However, the person who walked into the room was Julius himself. But he continued to wear his mask, which is probably because it was inappropriate for him to move around and show his face.

“You are alright! But how did you escape…?”

Upon hearing Ash’s question, Julius replied with a wry smile.

“When Silvanus lost control, I jumped out with a parachute. I was just moments away from dying.”

“I see… That’s great.”

Even though Ash was no longer worrying, Julius in turn showed a worrisome look.

“Now is not a time to be celebrating. I clearly felt that Mordred’s spirit was escaping towards the east…”

“…what you are trying to say is?”

“He is probably in Chevron Kingdom now. Don’t you even think that he has been destroyed. The war between Avalon and Nehalennia is still far from over.

“How is that…”

After listening to Julius’s explanation, Ash felt that he had received a blow.

The blow that Ash dealt was not to kill Mordred but to take back Eco’s body from him.

Eco probably saw that Ash was worrying and stared at his face and said his name.

“Ash…?”

“Nothing. Even if Mordred appears again, I will protect you–– I swear.”

As if to not let Eco remain frightened, Ash smiled.

Eco immediately blushed and lowered her head.

Ash while patting her head looked at the scenery outside.

Even though a shocking incident had happened yesterday, today’s sky was unusually clear.

…The problems waiting to be solved were like mountains.

Mordred who escaped to Chevron Kingdom.

Zepharos Empire who declared that their huge airship was destroyed by the Knight Country's huge dragon.

And also the long history of the war between Avalon and Nehalennia…

Ash nearly fainted just from thinking about all these problems.

In short, I would like took take a good rest in Ansarivan–– The rest of the problems can be solved later. Ash made a wish.

"The Knight of ECO IV" is closed.

References and Translation Notes

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