The carriage had not been traveling long before it encountered scattered groups of refugees, causing its speed to drop.
Fortunately, these refugees were conscious enough to clear a path, so even if we couldn't proceed at full speed, at least the way forward wasn't completely blocked.
While I felt anxious, I understood that this situation would not be easily resolved.
I began to calculate my next move.
Striking some and killing others was a certainty, but the key was knowing exactly who to target.
I didn't know the specifics of the current situation yet, and even after returning to Brilliant City, my first priority would be Bishop Lola's safety.
It would be difficult to intervene in other matters immediately; I could only grasp the details once I arrived.
After thinking it over, I let out a long sigh.
No matter what, I had to reach Brilliant City first.
After another day of travel, a massive camp suddenly appeared ahead, with tent after tent occupying almost the entire plain.
As far as the eye could see, every inch of land was taken up by tents.
This refugee population of nearly a million people spread across the horizon like a vast, surging tide.
As the distance closed, the sound of galloping hooves suddenly echoed from afar, followed by Yuna's voice.
"Guardian Knight Yuna requests an audience with Your Highness."
Hearing her voice, I quickly pulled back the curtain and gave the order: "Let her come over."
The sound of hooves drew closer until Yuna's horse was riding right alongside the carriage.
I pulled the curtain further back; Yuna remained on her horse while I sat inside the carriage, and our conversation began.
"Yuna, what is the situation with the refugees? Are they settled? Are the doctors, food, and clothing ready? Are there enough tents?"
"Replying to Your Highness, tents are still very scarce. Although I have made emergency preparations, most are still lacking. Currently, ten people are packed into a single tent, and it is very chaotic."
After a moment of thought, Yuna continued.
"Although I have taken as much grain as possible from Brilliant City, some merchants are not cooperating with us. They refuse to hand over the grain, and some are even jacking up prices on the spot."
"The situation with clothing is essentially the same, but fortunately, these refugees still have the clothes on their backs from their flight, so at least they aren't naked."
"As for the doctors, thanks to the help of Lady Camilla, the president of the Alchemists' Association, they have been very cooperative. We brought out almost every doctor we could, but regarding medicine... we are being throttled."
Yuna reported the situation as quickly as possible, and from my perspective, things looked very grim.
The total population of Brilliant City was only around a million, and here there were nearly a million refugees alone, almost equivalent to another Brilliant City.
Even if every resource was drained from the city, supporting these refugees all at once would be incredibly difficult.
"Meet the food requirements as much as possible, and do not be stingy with medicines and potions. Once I return to Brilliant City, I will make arrangements immediately. At the latest five days, at the earliest three, I will ensure all necessary supplies are transported here."
These merchants actually dared to jack up prices on me!
They really think my title as the ruler of the Kingdom of the Moon is just for show.
"Yuna, you should already know what happened in Brilliant City. What do you think of it?"
Yuna hesitated slightly, then gave a small nod and said, "Your Highness, please forgive my rudeness."
As soon as she finished speaking, she leaped directly onto the carriage. She didn't see the skysoar dragons filling the air because it was currently night; unless one specifically looked at the night sky, those dragons wouldn't be visible.
She opened the door, stepped inside, and knelt on one knee.
"Please forgive me, Your Highness, for boarding the Saint's Carriage without permission. It is truly..."
"Enough, Yuna. I won't say anything about such a small matter. You know I don't care for these formalities. Speak; the fact that you came up here means you must know something?"
"Yes..."
Her voice held a hint of hesitation. She looked up at me, then glanced at Ligeia beside me.
"It's fine. She is one of us."
Hearing this, Yuna finally relaxed. She looked up at me, her eyes filled with gravity.
"Your Highness, it will be very dangerous for you to return now!"
"What do you mean?"
"I received word from my grandfather. He told me to intercept you on the way and insisted that you must not return to Brilliant City for the time being, at least not until the reinforcements from my Von family arrive."
At those words, my heart skipped a beat, and an ominous premonition surged within me.
"You mean... the nobles are preparing to act?"
"Yes, Your Highness. While I am not sure exactly which nobles are involved, they clearly intend to take advantage of Brilliant City's weakness to completely strip you of your power. They seem to have already reached an agreement to make Knight Kevin Cromwell the new king."
Yuna's expression was grim; the situation had clearly taken a very bad turn.
"How could this happen?"
This was not part of my plan!
I had been enduring and keeping my movements as subtle as possible at this stage. How could it have triggered such a unified noble rebellion?
"It is the Garnet family."
"Garnet? Them again?"
"Yes, Your Highness. Led by the Garnet family, they have gathered many people. I don't know the exact number, but I fear it is significant, with at least several thousand skilled warriors."
Yuna paused for a moment before continuing.
"Your Highness, it is dangerous for you to return to Brilliant City now. Those people want to place you under direct control and then force Kevin Cromwell to become the new king of the Kingdom of the Moon."
"It seems they plan to present it as a fait accompli—control me first, then force me to hand over power. By the time Kevin returns, he won't have a chance to refuse, right?"
The meticulousness of this plan made me draw in a cold breath.
Clearly, this wasn't something they had planned overnight; it had likely been in the works for a long time.
At the very least, I wasn't the one who had originally provoked these people, because during that period, the one controlling Brilliant City and the Kingdom of the Moon... was that witch, Martha.
It looked like this was Martha's intentional doing.
I wasn't sure what she intended, but she likely wanted to leave me isolated and without allies, creating internal conflict within the Kingdom of the Moon so the demon army could fish in troubled waters and take the kingdom for themselves.
Tsk!
During this time, I had focused so much on development that I forgot to investigate what Martha had done previously.
That was my mistake.
A palace coup!
A blatant palace coup!
They wanted to force me to abdicate and then announce the news. By then, even if Kevin Cromwell wanted to refuse, it would be difficult for him to do so.
Before he returned, those nobles would surely use my life as a threat to control the knights.
They might even stop caring about border security and recall the knights from the borders to purge any nobles who refused to comply.
As I worked through all of this, I felt a lingering fear, but also a sense of relief!
I didn't know if it was my good luck or their bad luck!
They probably never imagined that I would be able to contract the original document tablet. That news has likely spread by now.
And those nobles probably felt that if they let me develop any further, they would lose their chance.
My departure from the city was the perfect opportunity for them.
Thus, a series of coincidences became the perfect timing!
As the saying goes, time waits for no one, and opportunities don't come twice. If they missed this chance, they might never achieve their ambition.
That was why they took this opportunity... to act directly.
It seemed Bishop Lola's heavy injury and coma were no accident, but intentional!
That knight who was able to leave the city was likely also intentionally let out by them, just to make me rush back immediately after a major battle, ensuring the entire army would lose its normal combat effectiveness.
Looking at it this way, they would likely ambush me directly inside the city.
Because the eastern region of Brilliant City is mostly plains, an ambush outside is almost impossible. The only way is to wait until my party has just entered Brilliant City, then close the gates and cut my forces in half.
At the same time, they would control the walls and hide soldiers within the city to trap me there.
Too bad for them... they were one move short!
Perhaps even the Pope could not have imagined... that one day, I would return to Brilliant City with over two thousand sub-dragons.
From the looks of it, Baker has likely been controlled by them.
Either he cannot leave the city, or he has already defected to the nobles.
But I think... Baker should still have a way to get word out.
If nothing goes wrong, his message should come out today or tomorrow.
But if his message doesn't arrive within that timeframe, it will prove he has defected to the nobles.
"Alright, I understand. You can go now; let me think."
Saying that, I turned and lifted the carriage curtain to give an order to Hilda outside.
"Tell the knights to rest where they are for one hour."
"Your Highness, are we not continuing the journey?"
"Being an hour early or an hour late makes no difference now."
If it's all the same, then we might as well rest and let the knights catch their breath.
I... still care about the feelings of my subordinates!
Come to think of it, this is an essential quality for a qualified leader.
Hmph.
And so, the carriage came to a halt. The two hundred-plus knights dismounted one after another, their bodies somewhat stiff.
They had just survived a major battle, celebrated for a few hours without a single minute of rest, and then immediately set out at full speed.
Even the knights of this magical world felt exhausted at this moment.
Though they didn't say it, I could see it in their expressions.
I turned back to look at Yuna.
"Yuna, I still need you to work hard on the refugee side. Don't let things fall into chaos here. If something goes wrong with a million people, it will be a massive threat to Brilliant City."
"Please rest assured, Your Highness. I will perfectly complete the task you have entrusted to me!"
Yuna knelt on one knee, her right hand over her chest, and lowered her head in response.
"Good. I understand the Von family's intentions. Tell your grandfather that I will keep this matter in mind. But don't worry, because those nobles won't be jumping around for much longer."
With those two thousand skysoar dragons overhead, that alone was more than enough.
"Yes, Your Highness."
As she spoke, she was just about to get up and leave when a dark shadow suddenly appeared behind her. Following that, a tiny 'Ya~' sounded, scaring Yuna into drawing her longsword on the spot.
"Who goes there!!"
Yuna whipped around, shielding me, her sword pointed directly at the massive dark shadow.
"Yuna, don't be nervous. It is my partner."
"This..."
Yuna looked closely at the shadow and stood frozen in place.
"Your... Your Highness, is this... a dragon???"
"Yes, and it is a true dragon species. Put your sword away quickly; don't you dare hurt it, or I won't be able to explain myself to the Dragon King later."
"The... the Dragon King!?"
Yuna was instantly shocked, her sword nearly slipping from her hand as she fell into a state of inexplicable bewilderment.
She turned to stare at me blankly.
"Your Highness, you mean... the Dragon King? That... emperor of the dragons?"
She gestured with her hands as she spoke, though I had no idea what she was trying to depict.
I nodded.
"Indeed, that very Dragon King. I have successfully established diplomatic relations with the dragon race. From today on, the dragon race is an ally of my Kingdom of the Moon."
Yuna was stunned for a long time. Perhaps the news was simply too surreal for her; she opened her mouth but couldn't say a single word.
"Alright, there's no need for such surprise. You will see for yourself if it's true soon enough. By the way, don't speak of this to anyone yet."
Saying that, I looked back at Ligeia.
"Ligeia, don't let them come down. Have them stay in the air for a while longer."
"Yes, my dear, bossy Saintess Highness~"
"'Bossy' was unnecessary!"
I shot Ligeia a look. Why did she like saying that so much!
Is she really that lazy??
Seriously, I finally understand why she specifically built her mage tower so far away from Brilliant City.
She is a person who is lazy to the extreme!
"Yes, yes~ my dear Highness~"
Ligeia gave a small smile. Hearing that, I couldn't help but curl my lip.
"Saying 'yes' once is enough!"
"Yes, my dear Highness~"
"'Dear' is also unnecessary~"
I added one more correction, but Ligeia didn't respond to that. Instead, she took her staff, extended it out the window, and muttered something I couldn't understand.
It was the dragon language. On this continent, aside from the dragon race itself, it seemed very few people understood it.
Yet Ligeia, surprisingly, was almost completely able to use dragon language to converse with the Dragon King.
This person's ability was evident.
Though lazy, she was talented, so who could say anything?
Most dragons were migratory groups, especially the sub-dragons of the False Dragon Order.
Most of them retained migratory habits, often flying for half a month or even months without stopping.
Circling in the air for just one night was as simple as eating or drinking for these skysoar dragons.
Yuna remained dazed for a long while. Finally, she managed to steady her mind and stared at me with a strange look.
That look reminded me of how people on Earth look at aliens.
"Grandfather always said your shrewdness was even greater than the Pope's. I didn't believe it before, but now I do."
What?
That old man actually dared to slander me behind my back??
What do you mean 'shrewdness greater than the Pope's'?
Do I look like that kind of person?
"Haha... I didn't think Patriarch Von would praise someone like that. It's quite a surprise."
A smile hung on my lips. Old man Von, I've noted this. Just wait until I get back to settle the score with you!
"Alright, Yuna, go back and take charge. Remember one thing: no matter what, you must appease the refugees. Do not let things fall into chaos."
"As you command."
Rate on N.U.
