We traveled through time together, but I'm the only dragon? The others are all beautiful girls?

As Akalion pondered, a shower of dazzling, dreamlike petals fell without warning from the ruins of Sir Hector's mansion. A woman of otherworldly beauty, with white hair and pointed ears, quietly appeared at the center of the petals.

"Akaglion cannot directly use the [Holy Lance]!"

Meryl's voice was still that magnetic, languid tone.

However, just as Akalion was about to use the power at the core of his mind—he had already determined that the name of this power was psionic energy—to completely shatter this nonsensical illusion.

"I surrender! I surrender!"

With lightning speed, Mary raised her hands high, a sincere and apologetic smile on her face.

"My previous attack was wrong. I beg the noble, magnanimous, and supreme dragon Akalion to forgive little Mary's insignificant mistake! I beg you!"

Akalion used his psionic powers to bind her in a tortoise shell-like form, and prepared to throw her out like a slingshot. Whether she would survive after that was up to fate.

Seeing Merry's state and recalling their past interactions, Artoria couldn't help but step in and say, "Why don't we listen to what she has to say?"

“Yes! Yes!” Mary quickly chimed in. She glanced at Ying without making a sound, and after confirming that this visitor from another world could not be easily turned into “fun” by her, she said with a serious expression, “This is very, very important news concerning the future of Britain.”

"I will personally verify its authenticity," Morgan said quietly from the side. A dangerous glint, laced with a threatening light, flashed in her eyes. "After that, you can do whatever you want."

It doesn't matter what happens to Meryl!

"Anything?!" Ying suddenly became interested, her gaze darting back and forth between Meryl's perfect phantom and Akalion. "Akaleion, I want to see you use those two—"

"Cough cough!" Akalion coughed violently, forcefully interrupting Ying's earth-shattering and ferocious words, "What do you take me for? A true dragon is not a beast!"

"Huh?" Ying suddenly looked like a wilted flower. "Isn't that right? She was so cruel and ruthless to me, Artoria, and Eleanor, and she did everything she could to get what she wanted."

“No—” Akalion glanced at Meryl, whose body, though bound tightly by his psionic energy, showed no sign of tension on her face. “Why would you want me to treat Meryl like that?”

“She—” Ying glanced subtly at Artoria beside her. This small gesture was undoubtedly noticed by Meli, who was quick to notice. “—Anyway, she has no conscience, so why not teach her a good lesson now—”

"Then I'll die! I really will die!" Merry finally struggled to her feet and sent a distress signal to Artoria, "Lily, do you really think of me as a heartless idiot?"

Artoria nodded with utmost honesty, her golden ahoge (cowlick) on her head.

The next moment, she quickly reached out and covered her ahoge (cowlick).

“Of course not, Ms. Meryl.” Her voice was calm yet commanding, as if nothing had just happened. “You should just say what you have to say. As for what Akalion wants to do to you, there’s nothing I can do about it.”

She paused, then said in a calmer tone:

"After all, if he wants me, I'll offer up Sister Wang as well!"

"?"

These words struck Morgan like a meteor. She looked at Artoria in disbelief. "You've sold me out? Your ahoge (cowlick) hasn't even fallen off yet!"

Looking at Artoria's unwavering, dark gaze, Morgan could only remain silent, using silence to express whether he agreed or disagreed with her words.

Speaking of which, Morgan realized that if she really wanted Akalion, she would have no way to deal with him on this island unless she immediately hid in Avalon Paradise.

The island itself welcomed him.

This means that attacks from Morgan, the "Island Lord," are essentially ineffective against him within the island's boundaries. As for defense, she would need to maintain a top-level barrier indefinitely, or for the island's native anti-dragon magic to also be effective against him.

“Sigh!”

Mary felt a cold sweat break out on her back.

Although her body is merely a product of illusion, her sensations are transmitted seamlessly and synchronously to her true self in Avalon afterward!

"Wait a minute! In reality, Akalion can't get in!"

Moreover, and most importantly, she is not yet able to break free from this mysterious power from another world and dispel the magic in the short term.

Why are they so confident?

Akalion is not considered powerful compared to the true dragons of this world.

Why did things suddenly turn out this way?

You, Ying! I'll remember you!

Seeing that Akalion remained unmoved, she gritted her teeth and finally uttered the most crucial piece of information.

"That incomplete Holy Lance is subject to the basic effect of 'restraint'! It will automatically attack anything, it is not something born on this planet!"

"You don't want to disappear from this world completely, leaving Lily to face that hateful white dragon alone, do you?"

“It’s possible that this invasion launched by the King of the Lowly will lead to the complete annihilation of Britain.” Meryl’s voice, like that of a bard, lamented the already predetermined tragic end.

"Why would the King suddenly launch such a large-scale invasion?"

Morgan stared at Mary, who was lying on the ground, wriggling like a worm, bound by invisible psychic energy, and instinctively moved away from her.

"What exactly does He want to do?"

"Who knows? A dragon driven to madness by the very concept of 'death' will—"

"Akaleion!"

Before Meryl could finish her riddle-like speech, Morgan ruthlessly interrupted her. Her ruby-red lips uttered words that sent chills down Meryl's spine.

"You can try one first."

She added in a scholarly tone, as if discussing a magic experiment:

“‘Nightmare’ is a type of succubus demon. Even though she is only a half-nightmare, Meli possesses a far greater ‘adaptability’ to different body parts than Artoria.”

"No, no, wait!" Fear finally surfaced on Meryl's face. "Akkarion, don't you think it would make more sense to do that kind of thing to my 'true form'?"

Mary just wants to have fun, not become the fun herself.

"It seems she really does know something."

Ying's cheerful voice rang out at just the right moment, like adding fuel to the fire.

"Akaglion, charge!"

She shouted in a tone almost like reciting an epic poem.

"—Activate [Phase Rush]!"

"I am neither your Pokémon, nor your Pokémon, nor am I a Pokémon."

Akalion glanced helplessly at Luminous beside him. If Morgan weren't here—cough cough.

"I think it would be better to gouge out one of her eyes first."

He slowly raised his dragon claws, the sharp tips capable of easily tearing through steel, and swung them back and forth with a malicious elegance before Mary's terrified, purplish-red eyes.

"Even if her values ​​are different from those of humans, the most primal feeling of pain is always the same."

They're not Slaanesh demons from the Warhammer world, so you can't really enjoy being beaten up.

This simple yet highly effective pain relief method must be effective!

For Merry, who deliberately shut down her clairvoyance and chose to enjoy the world on her own, even if it were an illusion, she probably couldn't accept that her vision would be permanently destroyed, right?

"I'll tell you! I'll tell you everything! I'll tell you everything."

Mary obeyed.

Volume 1 Snowfield Dragon Lord: Chapter 52. The Lowly King (Part 1)

The night gradually deepened and became dark; there were no stars or moon tonight.

Neither Artoria nor Morgan could directly intervene in the defense of the imminent threat to the British king and his Saxon army.

The former, in her current status, is merely a knight's squire who has not yet been formally knighted; before drawing her sword, she has no legitimate right to rule.

The latter, whose official identity is the king of the North, if he were to send his army to the South without authorization and declare, "I am here to help you defend your homeland," do you think the Southern lords, who have long been ruling independently, would choose to believe him or carry out his long-planned invasion?

After all, King Lothar married Morgan, the only son of the late King Uther, and already possessed the right to the British throne.

"I?"

Akalion extended his dragon claw and pointed at himself.

"What do you want to see me for?"

He loosened some of the psionic restraints on Meryl, a hint of curiosity in his eyes.

“I’m not entirely sure either, but you should know.”

Mary rose from the ground and patted her magnificent sage's robes, which were actually spotless. Her gaze passed over Akalion and landed on Morgan beside her.

"As an 'otherworldly being,' your every move on this land is like lighting a unique lighthouse in the eternal darkness."

She moved her freed but still slightly restrained hands, gesturing to Akalion to untie this as well.

Although she had already figured out how to break free of the restraint, the problem was that if she chose to forcibly break free, she would inevitably face even stronger alarm from the dragon.

If things get worse, that would be bad. She didn't want to slink back to Avalon in such a sorry state.

"So what are you trying to say?" Akalion asked bluntly. "You didn't come all this way just to tell me this out of kindness, did you?"

"I am, after all, Lily's teacher. How could I just stand by and watch her go to her death?"

Meryl's figure moved closer to Artoria like a weightless cotton ball. She reached out and skillfully pinched the uneasy ahoge (cowlick) on Artoria's head, ignoring the momentary furrow in her brow, and looked at Akalion with a grin.

"And you are her husband."

"—"

Just as Artoria's furious iron fist was about to strike out with her ahoge (cowlick) to save herself.

A calm smile, which she had anticipated, appeared on Mary's face as she was about to easily dodge the attack.

"Boom!"

"Gah!"

Yingna's iron fist, enveloped in brilliant rock element crystals, struck Melly's soft abdomen with a brute force that seemed to surpass the speed of sound, arriving first despite being behind.

“…Thank you.” Artoria slowly lowered her fist, and Morgan, who was standing to the side, couldn’t help but feel a hint of pleasure in his eyes when he saw this.

"You're welcome!" Ying removed the jewel-like, ornate rock elemental shell from her fist.

“You—” Mary clutched her lower abdomen, tears welling up in her eyes, “I…I really came to help you.”

"Now that the Holy Lance is unusable, we should consider other methods."

Morgan completely ignored Mary, who was rolling on the ground.

She took out a magic map made of fairy leather and laid it flat on the ground.

That's a living map of the entire British Isles.

In particular, several areas north of Hadrian's Zen City and in the south were painted with a red hue symbolizing the rightful rulers of Britain—the areas now ruled by Morgan avatar [Lotte].

In the narrow sense of Britain, almost all of its richest heartland had been occupied by the King of Britain.

On the map, that area was painted with a disturbing gray-white that symbolized corruption and alienation.

From the foothills of the Welsh mountains in the west to Londinham (London) in the east, the entire territory belonged to the Lowly King. In the south, however, lay the domains of vassals who had long since submitted to his tyranny.

The western regions of Wales and Cornwall, along with parts of southern Britain, are still under the control of the British princes, but the problem is that there are too many princes in Wales to unite them.

The terrain of Cornwall and southern Britain is almost entirely flat, which makes it even more difficult to withstand the manpower offensive of the Anglo-Saxon barbarians, who have an absolute advantage in military strength.

Even though the people of Britain were very brave and the people of the Age of Gods were very strong, they could not cope with the relentless barbarian offensive, which was like a tide.

“Sir Hector’s fiefdom, at its limit, can mobilize a force of five hundred men.” Artoria’s gaze fell on the map, and the ahoge on her head shook uneasily. “Further west, Lord Bladin of Greenmouth Forest, and King Mark of Cornwall, can immediately mobilize a total of three thousand men. With subsequent mobilization, the number can increase to ten thousand.”

"Although Cornwall can mobilize more troops thanks to the food brought by Ying and Akalion, this will inevitably lead to a further increase in food consumption."

"and--"

Don't worry so much!

Ying put her hands on her hips, interrupting her.

After easily sending a small town into the sky, Ying became somewhat arrogant.

"I alone am enough to hold off a thousand armies! Those barbarians aren't robots with their morale locked down. As long as I can completely wipe out the first wave that charges at us, they—"

"The key to the problem has never been those 'barbarians'."

Meryl's voice suddenly broke in, interrupting Ying's confident declaration.