When we moved to the residence in the capital, dinner was already over and Rico and Matkal were already in bed with their children. Soleil and Ferris are taking a bath. In the dining room Gon, Mei, Peris, Ruara, and Sidi were waiting for Linos' return.
"Welcome home, Mr. Linos.
"I'm home, Sadie."
"Would you like something to eat at ...... for dinner?"
Peris speaks to Linos as he stands up. For some reason, hearing her voice makes me hungry.
"Oh, I'd like to have something light to eat. Oh, by the way, you're graduating soon, aren't you? Are you going to be able to graduate?"
"No problem. I'll make you something.
With that, Peris headed for the kitchen.
"I am sure that you will graduate at the top of your class at the university with excellent grades.
"Seriously? Speaking of which, what are you going to do after you graduate, Perris?"
"Master, you forget, don't you? We talked about building a university and having Mr. Peris as a teacher there."
"...... No? Remember? I know, right?"
Both May and Sadie are staring at me. Huh? Did I tell anyone about this? ...... What a mess. What do we do? If this situation continues, Peris will become an unemployed freelancer. We have to think of a countermeasure as soon as possible.
But my priority right now is the maintian king. I told Gon and the others what I had just said to the king and asked for their advice on what I should do.
"It's a good idea. He is the best hostage you could ever have.
"Hostages?" ....... I don't mean that. Besides, it must be hard to guard that king, don't you think? I hear he's a womanizer, after all."
"You said you had 70 children? I smell the same smell as my father."
"Oh, Luara. Yeah, I guess I'm not as good as your old man."
"But when I think about what happened with Klimiana and my country, I can't leave that country behind.
"What do you mean? Gong?"
Gon humanized and began to draw a map on a piece of paper. He showed it to Linos and the others, explaining the situation.
Our country has a strong alliance with Heedata, Lamaron, and Niza. And the Sandanj Kingdom of King Nike is located right between our country and Klimiana. And the country of Hladime is located just north and west of Sandanzi, facing the sea.
"...... and what does that mean?"
If we have friendship with the Hradime nation, they will attack us from the rear when the Klimiana attack. This country is in a strategically important position for the Klimiana. It is the best bulwark for our country. Besides, it is a country with abundant rice harvest, and has good military technology. Especially, they are famous for their aerial attacks using long-tailed birds. It is a country where you will have nothing to lose if you ingratiate yourself with the King and the King's Highness.
Linos closes his eyes and looks up to the heavens.
"...... rice growing region. Besides, through our friendship, we may be able to gain some know-how in aerial combat that we have yet to establish. If that's the case, we can't afford to neglect the Great High King.
Linos sighs loudly. No wonder, Agartha's crying place is the very air attack.
Of land, sea, and air, Agartha had a substantial land battle capability. Infantry, cavalry, and magic ...... are all of high quality, and in addition, the defensive capabilities of Linos' wards and the superior intelligence of Sadakichi and the other ferry dragons made it a force capable of fighting even with a small army.
On the other hand, however, if we look at the sky, the situation was not always so solid.
In particular, the mountain range to the west of Agartha was in a completely untouched state. The high altitude and sheer cliffs of the mountain range meant that there was no enemy invading beyond the mountain range, but if they were to attack from the air beyond the mountain range, they would be forced to defend themselves.
Although it was possible to put up the wards of Linos over the entire city, it was indeed difficult to continuously put up such wards over all the cities of Agartha. I discussed this matter with Jeneha, but she replied that they did not intend to expand their families at once and that it would be physically difficult to defend the skies over the whole of Agartha.
Furthermore, if we look at our ally, the Kingdom of Lamaron, it is difficult to focus on the defense of the sea and the air in this country now that their first priority is the reconstruction of the country. Therefore, there was a danger that Ramallon would be overrun immediately if attacked from the sea or the air by Crimiana. Already, many warships were docked in the port of Aphrodite, the capital of the Church, and Sadakichi and other faerie dragons had just reported that several such ships were being newly constructed. In this sense, there was room for consideration of defense, including that of the allied nations.
Rinos himself had no intention of invading other countries, and being basically optimistic, he thought that such matters could be dealt with slowly, but as expected, Gon, Ferris, Ruara, and the others rebuked him. Therefore, they thought of asking for the cooperation of the dragon for the sky, and for the sea, they thought of asking for the cooperation of King Poseidon, Ruara's father.
However, these strategies failed in the end. As for dragons, I approached Master Shenryu through Soleil, and he told me that basically dragons never leave their territory, and that Ferris's Kulkarns leaving their territory for training was a very special case. He told me that the Kulrukan do not lead their clans out of their territory, and that the reason they are sent out for training is because they are mainly concerned with protecting their own territory.
Sadakichi and other Fairy Dragons serving Rinos are said to be quite a rare case. The attack was triggered by a coincidence that a female faerie, Shinjo, escaped and Rinos happened to be passing by their territory with her. Moreover, the dragon was completely defeated and the whole clan became under the control of humans, which no one could have predicted.
This could have been prevented if the Dragon King had taken appropriate measures when Faeri escaped, but I will not mention that here. The Dragon King is actually sorry for what he did.
At first, Rinos tried to use Marshal Kargi of the Kingdom of Juka's wyvern, but that would have required a great deal of time and effort. According to Mr. Shinryu, wyverns are not strictly speaking a dragon tribe, but a so-called subspecies. In other words, dragons that evolved from lizards, bats, eagles, snakes, etc. do not have language and cannot communicate through speech or teleology. Therefore, it is necessary to discipline the subspecies like dogs and cats.
Since it is quite difficult to train adult dragons, it is inevitable that they must be trained from the stage of cubs. However, the amount of time and effort required is enormous. Karugi's method of training wyverns to hatch from eggs and become his servants is a very special case. For this reason, he had not been able to find an effective solution to the problem of air power using dragons.
Furthermore, as for the cooperation with King Poseidon, the king's schedule did not allow for even a meeting with him. Even his own daughter, Ruara, would not be able to meet him until two years later at the earliest. Naturally, this is because the King prioritizes the time he spends with his more than 1,000 attendants. As for us, we could only send a letter, and we have yet to receive a reply.
For the time being, we have only asked Tori, the daughter of King Poseidon, who lives deep in the sea of Garbee, to help us with the sea, and only if an enemy attacks Garbee, we will take measures to make the sea rough.
"If the king were wise, he would not hesitate. After all, he's got that look. I don't think he knows how to make use of the long-billed murrelet, and I don't know what kind of trouble he'll cause if he keeps it. I can't help but worry about the future.
"Then, I suggest that you ask the Great High King Reborn to take care of the Maintainer King as an exchange student, but not to be responsible for him if anything should happen to him, and if he should touch any of the women of Agartha or do anything else that you feel is problematic, you must immediately withdraw him from the kingdom. Is that right?
"Yes, that's right. I agree with Gon's opinion. If there is less threat to our country, that is good. However, a lustful man is never satisfied with just one woman, and he seeks women endlessly. Perhaps ...... there is a very high possibility of causing problems in that regard, so we need to keep a close eye on him at all times, but I and my sister Ferris would like to work that out."
"That would be nice. It would be better to talk about the chief bird gradually while keeping an eye on the king's condition. We may ask him how to utilize the long-billed murrelet from the beginning, but if there is no change in the king, there may be a complication later on.
"Okay. I agree with Gon. I want to keep as much distance from that country as possible. And I'll ask ...... Ruara to take care of the king. Mei, Sadie. Do you agree with Gon and Ruara?"
They nodded cockily.
"I'll talk to Rico and Mato at ...... tomorrow morning. I'm sure they won't object."
"Hi, it's done. Thank you for waiting.
Peris brings in the food just in time. She deftly arranges an omelette made with bean sprouts, a salad, tofu and fruit on the table.
"Oh! Sounds delicious! Besides, it looks like it's easy on the stomach."
"Wow! Looks delicious! Master, give me some of that too."
"Didn't you just eat a meal~?"
"That's fine~"
"Luara, I have some omelets left over, would you like one?"
"That's my sister, Perlis! Bon appétit!"
"You are a gourmand, Master Ruara. ...... I'm getting hungry too..."
"Mr. Gong, we have some pears left over, would you like some?"
"I am so sorry, Mr. Perris.
"You guys eat too much! I don't care if you get fat.
There was the usual smiling face of the Linos family at the dinner table. However, Rinos, Gon and Ruara would later become deeply involved with the Maintian king. .......
The three of them, unaware of such things, were enjoying the meal in front of them.