Chapter 35: The Beginning of a New Name (3)

Monica was at a loss for what to do at Dike’s adorable expression.

“Oh my~! What should I do! Wouldn’t it be better if Dike called you ‘young master’?”

“Should I? Yo... young master?”

Dike, embarrassed for some reason, twisted his body awkwardly as he spoke.

Seeing that, Monica became even more flustered than before and hugged Dike tightly from behind.

“What am I going to do with you!”

“……”

Everyone had something to say about Monica’s behavior, but they all stayed quiet.

Then Raion noticed that the sun was beginning to set.

“Let’s get moving. We’ll need to find lodging and rest soon.”

Everyone nodded and climbed onto their horses and the carriage.

The carriage started moving again.

As they were getting close to Vaizen Castle, Patrick suddenly remembered something and asked Raion through the small rear window behind the coachman’s seat.

“Master, to enter the castle, we’ll have to show our identification badges. What should we do?”

Everyone here was a servant affiliated with the royal family, so they only had small iron badges engraved with a lion emblem.

Of course, Raion’s was made of gold.

Moreover, his badge carried the mark of a prince.

Even if the carriage was different, it was obvious they would be recognized immediately at the gate.

“Then there’s no helping it.”

Raion opened the storage compartment and took out two chunks of steel.

“Decomposition! Form Transformation!”

Two spells were spoken, and the steel chunks divided into five pieces, taking the shape of identification badges.

They were badges proving the ranks of knights, mages, and servants.

After that, Raion retrieved the silver he had extracted and stored from scrap metal and transformed it as well.

This time, he created high-grade badges typically used by nobles.

Naturally, the emblem on the badges was the same blue dragon as the one on the carriage.

“All done!”

“Are these fake badges?”

Patrick picked one up and examined it carefully.

It looked almost identical to the officially issued ones.

“They’re quite detailed.”

“They’re almost exactly the same.”

Dike, who was also holding one, checked it and spoke.

Perhaps due to his natural discernment, he could tell there was no difference from a real badge.

“If even Dike can’t tell, then they’ll probably pass inspection without issue.”

The others, too, took their badges and admired them.

Then Patrick raised another question.

“If you’ve made them as noble badges, that means you won’t be using the royal surname. Which family name do you plan to use?”

“Dragonia. Let’s go with Raion Dragonia.”

After all, there were plenty of similar names, and it didn’t matter much.

Besides, unless someone was a noble or an official from the royal capital, no one would recognize his face anyway.

“What does it mean?”

“Think of it as having a meaning similar to ‘dragon.’”

Even on the sword-and-magic world of the Phalon Continent, dragons naturally existed—but the last recorded sighting was over a thousand years ago.

No one knew where they had gone since then.

All that remained in records was that they had suddenly disappeared.

However, the word “Dragonia” didn’t exist anywhere on the Phalon Continent, so it sounded unfamiliar to them.

“Dragonia... it has a pleasant ring to it.”

“Young master! I think it’s nice too.”

Since everyone was in agreement, Raion thought it wasn’t a bad choice either.

“Then it’s settled!”

Raion collected the others’ badges again and engraved the name “Dragonia” beneath the emblem in the Phalon Continental language.

Though they were counterfeit, this level of craftsmanship would work in most places.

The carriage started moving once more, drawing closer to Vaizen Castle’s east gate.

Two horses pulling the coach and two more riding horses halted before the sentries guarding the gate.

“Who goes there? Where have you come from?”

The soldiers could tell at a glance, from the unique embossed crest on the carriage, that they weren’t from Vaizen, so they asked.

Patrick stepped forward and presented the newly crafted badge to the guard.

“This is the heir of the noble Dragonia family from Arenvatz. He seeks a place to stay for the night during his travels.”

“A noble, you say?”

“That’s correct. Master…”

At Patrick’s words, Raion extended the badge through the carriage window without revealing his face.

The sentries inspected the badge carefully.

It was made of silver, bearing a unique emblem they had never seen before and the name Dragonia engraved upon it.

Its material and design clearly marked it as a noble’s badge.

“You may enter at once! Our apologies for the inconvenience, my lord!”

As soon as they confirmed it, the sentries immediately cleared the way.

They seemed genuinely fearful of nobles.

Monica, sitting up front on the coachman’s seat, asked carefully,

“Judging by how polite they were, it seems the badge you made worked perfectly, young master.”

Hearing her voice through the window, Raion shook his head.

“That’s not the only reason. Unlike in the royal capital, nobles in territories like this aren’t exactly seen as good people by the commoners.”

“What do you mean by that?”

The carriage fully passed through the east gate and entered Vaizen Castle.

As night had fallen, lanterns hung before the doors of every house.

There were plenty of people walking about as well.

Judging from their outfits, most of them looked like adventurers or mercenaries.

That was because monsters frequently appeared in the forests between Vaizen and the borders of Malren and Virand.

“To find lodging here, we should probably head to a place they usually frequent.”

“That’s fine.”

Patrick guided the carriage slowly and stopped in front of an inn called “The Setting Forest.”

It was quite large, so leaving the carriage and horses there didn’t seem to be a problem.

“Welcome!”

An inn employee came out to take charge of the carriage and horses.

Meanwhile, the passengers and riders dismounted and went inside.

Patrick spoke with the inn staff and was able to secure enough rooms for everyone.

“Hyah! Hyah!”

Fifteen men rode swiftly on horseback.

They were mercenaries from the secret organization Red Sand, which Duke Alito had hired for an assassination mission.

Naturally, their target was the Third Prince—Raion.

Of course, the mercenaries of Red Sand did not know who their client was.

Even though they knew who their target was, the down payment alone had been so enormous that they couldn’t refuse the job.

“He must have headed toward Vaizen! We need to move fast and trace his trail!”

The man in charge of the mission was Calsios, the vice-captain of the Red Sand Mercenary Corps.

Since it was a commission that came with a massive down payment of 500 gold, his eyes burned with determination.

Seeing that, Derek, Calsios’s right-hand man, asked,

“Are you sure he really went to Vaizen Castle?”

They had begun the pursuit quite late, so finding the carriage’s wheel tracks wasn’t easy.

They weren’t entirely certain it was the Third Prince’s carriage, but since it had been heading in the same direction as Kanas, they decided to follow.

“The next territory after Vaizen is Malren. It’ll take at least three to four days to get there. There’s no way a prince would camp outdoors—he definitely would’ve gone to Vaizen!”

“I see!”

The men urged their horses forward, shaking the reins hurriedly.

Before long, they managed to reach Vaizen Castle just before the east gate closed.

“Who are you people!”

At the sentry’s question, Calsios presented a mercenary badge stamped with the official seal of the Canel Kingdom.

“Pass!”

Hearing the reply, Calsios immediately dismounted and approached the sentry.

“By any chance, did a carriage bearing the royal emblem enter this way?”

“A royal carriage? One did come through earlier, but… it wasn’t from the royal family.”

Even the sentries, no matter how dull they were, couldn’t possibly mistake a royal insignia.

“So, no royal carriage has entered through here?”

“That’s right. A noble from Arenvatz came through a while ago, but that’s all.”

Realizing his expectations had missed the mark, Calsios frowned deeply.

He stepped aside and called Derek over.

“Could it be that they noticed our pursuit and bypassed Vaizen entirely?”

Derek’s reasoning was sound.

After all, their client had warned them not to underestimate the Third Prince.

“Looks like we followed the wrong trail. We’re heading toward Malren immediately!”

At Calsios’s command, the mercenaries of Red Sand all tugged their reins and galloped off together.

Meanwhile, inside Vaizen Castle, Raion was resting after securing lodging and gazing out the window at the street below.

Various people were walking about.

Raion and Monica each had their own rooms, while Patrick and Dike shared one, and Jade and Caldein shared another.

“I’m starting to get hungry…”

Knock, knock.

A knock was followed by Patrick’s voice.

“Master, dinner is ready. You may come down now.”

At those words, Raion immediately opened the door and went downstairs with Patrick.

The first floor of the inn functioned as both a restaurant and tavern.

Everyone else had already gathered and was seated at a table where the food was prepared.

“They must be using that recipe too.”

The dish on the menu had been made using the cooking recipe Raion had spread through Fordman.

He could easily gauge the recent success of those recipes just by the number of gold coins transferred through Eye of the Moon.

Over the past four years, the profits from entertainment and recipe sales had far exceeded 100,000 gold.

And even now, the funds continued to pile up in Eye of the Moon.

“Let’s eat, then.”

The surroundings were bustling with people eating and drinking.

As night deepened, more and more people began to get drunk.

Thud—!

“Kyaah!”

A staggering drunk nearly fell onto Monica from behind.

Naturally, Monica, focused on her delicious meal, was startled by the man’s sudden movement.

“Ah! What is this!”

The drunken man shoved Monica even harder forward.

Seeing this, Jade sprang to his feet and grabbed the man by the collar.

“How dare you act like this while people are trying to eat!”

At that moment, three of the drunk’s companions also stood up.

“Who does he think he is! Let him go!”

The mood in the tavern turned hostile in an instant.

Monica, realizing the scene had erupted because of her, quickly spoke up.

“I’m fine, please stop!”

“How can you say that’s fine? My sleeve’s been stained because of this fool!”

Jade said as he tried to drag the man down by his collar.

One of the man’s companions stepped forward and grabbed Jade by the shoulder.

“I said let him go!”

The burly man’s palm was as thick as a bear’s paw.

Unfazed, Jade turned his head, meeting the man’s eyes directly.

“If you don’t take your hand off me right now, you’ll regret it.”

“Why don’t you let go of my friend first before saying that—unless you’d like me to crush your arm.”

“So, you want to fight, then!”

Jade released the man he was holding and seized the hand gripping his shoulder, twisting it sharply.

Crunch!

It was a joint technique from Hand-to-Hand Combat Art that he had learned from Raion.

Because of that, the large man’s arm twisted unnaturally, and he let out a shriek.

“Argh! My arm! My arm!”