Chapter 51: Damn

Grand Council.

The representatives of the intelligent races of the entire continent of Serdes had gathered there.

Although the place was spacious and there were many people, there were no assigned seats in the Grand Council.

Even so, each one sat next to their faction or close allies, showing off the size of their power.

‘In this era, the balance was truly tense.’

To Perda’s eyes, it looked as if he were seeing a map of forces.

The largest country on the continent was the Arken Empire.

To counter it, the kingdoms organized themselves into alliances to match its scale.

That meant the balance of the continent was still being maintained.

As a member of the Arken Empire, Perda took a seat with his faction.

The council chamber did not have the ostentation of the banquet hall.

Its design was sober, to avoid distractions, similar to other council chambers.

The seats, arranged in a semicircle, directed attention toward the center.

And in that center was the owner of that place.

‘The White Dragon, Blancaros.’

Completely white hair, white eyes, and a youthful face that showed no passage of time.

His whiteness was so unreal that it seemed to emit light on its own.

That was the immortal beauty of dragons.

‘He is definitely a dragon.’

While Perda observed him, Blancaros’s eyes moved.

At first he thought it was an illusion, but it was not.

Blancaros was looking directly at him.

His white eyes were cold and pure.

At the moment that gaze reached him, Perda felt his mana circles stir.

It was an instinctive warning before an absolutely superior being.

Curiously, there was no discomfort in it.

Just as when he had entered his domain.

Behind Blancaros stood three men and women with white hair.

They were his three spawn created through the ascension ritual—the Tongue, the Scale, and the Hand.

Blancaros moved his hand.

As he did so, a woman who stood upright cleared her throat and spoke.

She was the Tongue of Blancaros.

The representative of the White Dragon, in charge of directing the proceedings.

Her voice echoed throughout the hall.

“We offer our most sincere welcome to those who have come for the peace of the continent.”

She read the document she held.

After some formalities, she began to list the topics of the council.

“The mediation of the conflict between King Hudret and Duke Yurei will begin.”

The first matter was a simple conflict.

Although calling it a conflict was misleading—in reality, it was a war.

A man stood up, frowning.

“I sincerely thank the representatives of the great lord of order for granting us this space. Before proceeding, I request a correction—this war was caused by King Hudret’s invasion.”

Then another man stood up.

It was King Hudret himself.

“The first to die were my subjects. How was I supposed to stop the people who rose up for revenge?”

“It was you who mobilized the army!”

“Silence. This is a place of mediation. The final compensation will be determined based on the evidence presented.”

The Tongue of Blancaros interrupted the discussion, preventing it from dragging on.

“Each side, present your evidence.”

Both sides submitted documents with their evidence.

The objective of the mediation was to determine compensation for the damages of the war.

The documents floated one by one and unfolded before Blancaros.

What the attendants had taken two months to draft, he read in barely a minute.

Then, Blancaros made a gesture toward a young man.

The boy held a scale.

He was the Scale of Blancaros.

The scale tilted to one side.

Upon seeing it, Blancaros began to write, and the Tongue announced the verdict.

“Judgment! Duke Yurei must pay 60,000 gold to King Hudret.”

Emotions split at that moment.

Duke Yurei, defeated, burst out in anger.

“This makes no sense! They were the invaders! Why do I have to pay?”

“It has been determined that you violated the laws of war by not taking prisoners and by preventing priests from attending to the wounded. After considering all factors, it is concluded that your responsibility is greater.”

Yurei retorted.

“Other countries do the same! King Hudret’s knights did it too! Why can’t we—?”

“As stated, it is enough to present evidence.”

The Tongue replied coldly.

“This is a territory of absolute neutrality, governed by law and order. If you request mediation here, the laws of Serdes apply. Evidence takes precedence over customs.”

That is to say, even if the other had started it, without proof, only Yurei would be guilty.

Evidence completely determined who was the aggressor or the victim.

Yurei’s face was twisted with rage.

The Tongue pointed to the document before him.

“Duke Yurei, the mediation has concluded. Proceed to sign.”

Yurei looked at the document, consumed by indignation.

He knew what it meant.

The moment he signed, he would cross a point of no return.

Whether he liked it or not, he would be the one at fault.

‘The effect is absolute.’

Once decided, there is no turning back.

‘And he cannot refuse either.’

Everyone present were witnesses, judges, and potential plunderers.

Rejecting the verdict meant becoming their prey.

In that place, yesterday’s enemy remained an enemy, but yesterday’s ally could become today’s enemy.

“…I accept the verdict.”

Yurei finally gave in.

His signature trembled as if there were an earthquake.

‘Did they just reverse victim and aggressor?’

Without knowing all the details, that was all Perda could assume.

“If it was so unfair, you should have resolved it yourself to the end.”

Someone murmured quietly.

Perda silently agreed.

If they wanted guaranteed compensation, they should not have resorted to mediation, but taken it to a war of annihilation where one side was destroyed.

If it was left halfway, it was only natural for it to return as revenge.

The Tongue of Blancaros moved on to the next matter.

There were several more conflicts, but they were trivial.

Disputes between dwarves and elves.

Internal conflicts among dwarves over lineages and dynasties.

Problems that would never be resolved, nor did they intend to resolve them.

They merely postponed endless discussions.

After two hours, those endless disputes finally concluded.

“As there are no more cases of mediation, we will move on to today’s topics. The next was proposed by the rector of Escolea…”

The Tongue paused briefly before continuing.

“The topic is the increase of magical beasts and the possible reappearance of demons.”

Escolea, being a city of scholars, had a rector as its leader instead of a mayor.

The bald rector stepped onto the platform.

His hair had disappeared, consumed by years of study.

“It has been 138 years since the death of Godwin, lord of darkness who plunged the continent into chaos. However, if you observe this graph…”

Using magic, he projected an image into the air.

He pointed to the graph.

“Unlike his death, magical beasts have been increasing.”

An upward graph.

Although the increase was not large.

Upon seeing it, comments began.

“It doesn’t seem to be rising that much.”

“The problem is not how much it rises, but that it rises.”

“They are only estimates. It could even go down. It seems exaggerated to me.”

Opinions were divided.

Some said it was exaggerated.

Others said it was a serious matter.

But, in reality, it was not for the well-being of the continent.

‘A pretext to arm themselves.’

Those who spoke of danger wanted to justify armament.

Those who minimized it wanted to avoid unnecessary expenses.

The fate of the continent did not matter to them.

Only their own interests.

It was then.

“Measure your words!”

Someone slammed the table with overwhelming force and stood up.

But the voice was young.

It was Erdes Roton.

“The great Valdrova’s fiancé is here! Do you think you can speak like that and get away with it?”

Everyone looked for Perda.

When they found him, they fixed their gaze on him.

Perda cursed inwardly.

That bitch.

“The representative of Valdrova?”

“That evil dragon brought a representative?”

Murmurs began.

The rector, already uncomfortable, now seemed even more troubled.

Perda looked at Erdes.

She was smiling, like someone enjoying the chaos from afar.

She had come to intervene at the right moment, but she still wanted to observe.

Since all eyes were on him, he decided to speak.

“It is true that in the Far East, magical beasts continue to increase. However, I believe it is not exactly the same case as the one being discussed here, so I will not intervene further.”

“I thank you, regent. What we are discussing now concerns the rest of the continent, excluding the Far East.”

The rector seemed to have been saved.

It was clear that his authority was weak.

“For that reason, we assume that someone is deliberately summoning or creating these creatures. In other words, demonic followers may be increasing.”

“Demonic followers…”

“Aren’t they worse than demon followers?”

Both were despised, but different.

Demons wanted to dominate the world.

Dark demons wanted to destroy it.

Demonic followers gained nothing.

They were pure evil.

“And what would they gain?”

“Could it be that they seek the reappearance of the Black Dragon Godwin?”

The reappearance of Godwin!

That was something completely different.

Even those who considered it an exaggeration fell silent.

All eyes turned to the Dragon Spawn.

“Reappearance…?”

Blancaros spoke for the first time.

At that instant, the atmosphere fell under his control.

“What do you think?”

He asked the Dragon Spawn.

The first to respond was one of Silverwind.

With silver hair and scars all over his body.

They were marks of honor from defending the north.

“Even if the beasts increase, we continue eliminating remnants constantly. I swear, no one hates Godwin more than we do.”

“I have always valued your loyalty. And Iorga?”

Iorga’s representative spoke.

A young woman, elegant and dignified.

“In Serdes, we have not detected anomalies in mana. We also constantly monitor hidden areas with adventurers. If something that large existed, we would have noticed it first.”

Then a priest of Odograsado spoke.

“Our Order of the Golden Scales also watches over demons, and we see nothing concerning.”

The three dragon representatives present at the Grand Council agreed that there was no need to consider it a problem for now.

All of them were emissaries of the guardian dragons, who prioritize the safety of the continent above all else.

They were far removed from human politics, and the weight of their words was entirely different.

After hearing them, Blancaros fell silent again.

Then, his Tongue spoke in his place.

“The conclusion of this matter is that, although it does not require immediate attention, it will be necessary to maintain surveillance due to the upward trend. Do you have any objection, rector of Escolea?”

“I have none.”

The rector, sweating profusely, shook his head and stepped down from the platform.

It was not an issue that could be resolved with a simple “exaggeration,” so it was enough that he had presented it.

“The next proposer is Perda Valdrova…”

The Tongue of Blancaros stopped.

It was not like the previous pause when reading the rector’s proposal.

This time, she hesitated over whether she should announce it.

That hesitation made her direct her gaze toward Blancaros.

Blancaros noticed the look and responded with a slight movement of his eyes.

The Tongue received the signal.

“The topic is to recognize the position of the red dragon Valdrova as a guardian dragon.”

The Grand Council hall fell into complete silence.

Everyone present were figures at the level of dukes, rulers of territories equivalent to nations, possessors of military power.

Even they held their breath.

It was an extremely delicate matter.

No one needed to look around.

Any ordinary person would not even dare to propose something like this.

It was practically suicide.

But Perda, who had presented the proposal, stood up completely naturally.

The way he walked was like watching someone on a tightrope.

To the others, it was chilling, but to him, it meant nothing.

He climbed onto the platform and looked at the attendees.

What he was about to do was obvious.

“I am Perda Valdrova, regent. Although this is my first time at the Grand Council, I have taken the liberty of presenting this proposal.”

He swept his gaze over them before continuing.

“As you can see, I have come prepared to make someone here my enemy.”

And having presented his proposal, the only thing left for him was to defend his conviction.