My name is Quentin Agatha, and I am the captain of the Fourth Monster Knight Order.
The Fourth Monster Knight Order was unique among the knight orders. The members of this order were accustomed to fighting alongside their familiars, so they stood out from the other knights who went into battle using only their own bodies.
Familiar taming was a new technology that had been developed over the last 100 years or so. There were many aspects of it that remained unclear. Because of this, in actual combat, we had often found it frustrating not being able to completely command monsters to obey us, and not being able to fight the way we had expected.
——If only familiars could hold their own at this point and not take another step back.
——What if the familiars attacked in unison at this moment?
Contrary to expectations, familiar's movements were slightly off, and the results were not what we hoped for.
The ones who were actually feeling frustrated were the knights of our order who were unable to use familiar properly. They felt bitter about not being able to properly utilize the familiars he took care of and trained with on a daily basis, which had resulted in them losing their reputations.
Despite this, knights from other orders uniformly treated the Fourth Monster Knight Order as under-powered. It didn't matter to them that familiar taming was a new technology, that there were aspects of it that have yet to be fully understood, and that we were still in the process of trial and error.
——Results were everything.
This was not wrong, as combat could sometimes involve death, but the knights of our order were seen as inferior and treated as failures, which had led to them becoming distrustful, suspicious, and even hostile towards other orders.
The hot-blooded one was Vice Captain Gideon.
He's not a bad guy at heart, he's simple and honest, and he's a champion of justice, but he's impulsive and short-sighted. One misunderstanding could turn a good point into a bad point. It only worked well when I was in control.
However, I had been sent on a special mission that would require me to be away from the group for an extended period of time. There were concerns about leaving the management of the group in the hands of Gideon during that time, so I appointed Patty as his assistant. I hoped it worked well...
The special mission given to me by the commander was to capture the Black King.
Monsters had their own power map. Six months ago, an information was received that one of the three divine beasts that ruled this continent was missing. There were reports of a red dragon flying in the sky above Blackpeak Mountain, at the northern tip of the continent. Afterwards, the red dragon descended to that land, and after a short while, it rose into the sky again. Blackpeak Mountain had been ruled by the Black King single-handedly for a very long time, and its absolute power had meant that no other dragons were allowed to enter the land. A dragon other than the Black King flapped its wings in the sky above, and even descended to the ground, alive and able to fly in the sky once again.
——That meant the absence of the Black King.
"Before you knew it, a thousand years had passed..."
When I heard that story, I couldn't help but muttered.
It was unimaginable in the world of human activity, but the Black King lived for a thousand years. An ancient species, the Black King was completely different from other dragon species. The Black King lived for a thousand years and was reborn. Normally, dragon species laid eggs, but black dragons had a completely different ecology, giving birth to a young one as they died. The young one then inherited their names and memories, and their old bodies decayed.
To make a monster familiar, it was necessary to completely subjugate it and make it submit. This could not be achieved by being as strong as the monsters. It required a level of strength that the monsters thought they absolutely could not defeat, and for that, it required being several levels stronger than the monsters. In other words, to tame an SS-rank black dragon, you would need even more monstrous strength, and even if multiple knight orders were to respond, it's hard to say for sure that it would be possible to subdue it. It's quite an unrealistic story.
However, there was one exception to this rule for black dragons—their infant stage. During the year or so it took for a black dragon to reach adulthood, its body was small, and its abilities were incomplete. This was especially noticeable in the early stages after birth.
And since dragon species were egg-laying, there was a high possibility that imprinting was effective. It's the kind of thing where you thought of the first thing you see in your life as your parent and obediently follow it. Since black dragons practiced parthenogenesis, it was unclear how effective this would be, but it was worth a try.
The black dragon was the guardian beast of our Nav Kingdom, as it also appeared in the royal crest. In reality, it was a vicious monster worthy of natural disasters, but as a result of it being displayed all over the country as the royal crest, it came to be revered by the people as the kingdom's guardian beast. One reason for this might be that the black dragon rarely left its lair at Blackpeak Mountain, so there was little opportunity to witness its ferocity.
In any case, a black dragon only transformed into an infant once every thousand years, so now was a golden opportunity to possibly tame this mighty monster.
As soon as I received my mission, I headed to Blackpeak Mountain with the 11th Knights, who were responsible for protecting the north. The land was extremely rough and desolated.
——The sudden absence of the absolute king.
The area was swarming with monsters aiming to become the new king of the land, and it looked like a battle for supremacy.
After much effort, we finally reached the cave at the very back of Blackpeak Mountain, but it was empty. All that was left was the decaying corpse of a huge, beautiful black dragon.
It was said that immediately after reincarnation, memories and powers were not retained. Perhaps they became confused and wandered off in one direction or another.
Dragons generally hated sunlight, so there's a high chance that the black dragon would be in a cave or a dark place. Although I was concerned about the way the group was being run, for the next six months I traveled around the caves of the continent with other knight groups, continuing to search for the black dragon infant. However, not even a trace of the black dragon could be found anywhere.
And just as we were feeling disheartened after our cave exploration had once again ended in failure, a fast horse arrived from the royal castle. A black dragon was said to have appeared in Starry Forest, near the royal castle.
It was said that the black dragon appeared, parting the sky and bringing thunder and dark clouds with it. This was eyewitness testimony from several people who were near the forest. They all agreed that the dragon was black, beautiful, and noble, a true king of dragons.
When I heard the report, I was both excited and disappointed.
What made me excited was the hope that I might actually be able to see the legendary black dragon. The reason for my disappointment was that the black dragon had grown faster than I had imagined, making it impossible to capture.
Though I was tormented by many thoughts, I returned to the royal castle and first went to report my return to the commander. The commander congratulated me on my long-term expedition, but I felt ashamed for not having produced any results. Though feeling tired, I headed towards the captain's room of the Fourth Monster Knights.
I wondered if Gideon was doing well. Feeling a bit uneasy, I opened the door to the captain's room...
What caught my eyes were two disaster-level monsters.
"Please spare me… Why did two disaster-level monsters end up in my room just because I was away for a short while?" (Quentin)
I was tired, so the words came out of my mouth exactly as I was thinking.
...I'd always been able to vaguely see the energy of others. It's not just strength, but the opponent's abilities were vaguely visible as energy. To put it simply, it looked as if the person's body was covered in smoke. The amount of smoke produced was used to gauge an opponent's strength, but when comparing this with their actual abilities, there had never been a big discrepancy. I believed that by joining the Monster Knight Order and coming into contact with many monsters and seeing their energy, our abilities would have been further honed.
At that moment, two masses of energy the like of which I had never seen before appeared in front of me at the same time. I could see my face contorted involuntarily at this new experience. Then, you were overcome with tension that made your whole body stiffened and sweat began to pour out of you in an instant. Unconsciously, I took a step back to distance myself and began to observe carefully.
A blue monster, peeking out from the neck of what appeared to be a young girl knight, was one of the monsters.
The other one... What was it?
Though its volume was small, the pressure was extraordinary. The degree of energy condensation was beyond measure.
I was sure this one would easily blow away this building...
Ugh... this is a problem.
I didn't want to know what this was, but maybe I knew the answer.
I'd seen S-rank monsters a few times, but none of them reached this level. Maybe it would be cuter if a few S-rank monsters appeared.
I didn't want to know, but... this was probably an SS-rank monster. ...And so, if it existed right now, at this time, in this place close to Starry Forest, then... could it be a black dragon?
Hahaha, that's a problem. Why, of all places, is the black dragon I've been searching for in my office?
As I stared in despair, the black dragon-like monster suddenly popped out from around the neck of a girl-knight-like creature and climbed onto her shoulder, playing with her.
...Come to think of it, there was a picture book about a boy searching for a blue bird, a symbol of happiness. In the end, the boy returned home depressed after not being able to find the blue bird, only to find that the blue bird was right there in the house. This fairy tale suggested that happiness was actually close at hand. Haha, ha, if you looked closely, this monster that appeared to be a black dragon was modeled after a blue bird. If this was based on that fairy tale, it's a black joke and in very bad taste.
The black dragon I was searching for was, in fact, in my office. Attacked by a black dragon in a small office, with no way to escape, the knights would be annihilated. The black dragon, the absolute death known as black dragon, was close to me.
——Ah, that's a great dark joke.
And if the one who put this black joke together was a second monster...
I clenched my hands, which had started to feel cold and drained of blood, and turned my attention to the other being, someone I didn't want to see.
At first glance, it looked like a young knight in blue uniform. However...
...What was this, really...? ...The energy was so great that I couldn't even see its outline.
Why is everyone okay with being in the same space as this guy?
………This was impossible. My spine was tingling, and my ears were ringing, to the point where I could hardly stand.
I envied those who could only see what they could see.
Everyone else except me probably saw a young knight girl with a small blue monster on her shoulder. However, the dragon on her shoulder was an SS-rank black dragon, and her herself was a monster even greater than a black dragon. Above all, the fact that the black dragon was frolicking like a little chick was proof that this monster had far more power than the black dragon.
...How would I resolve this? Was there really a choice in the ending? No matter what we did, we would all be wiped out, and this monster was here to mock us as we struggled. It's entirely possible that a monster with bad taste would pull a black joke by imitating a "black dragon" to a "blue bird."
As I brushed my hair back with trembling hands and continued searching for the best course of action, the girl-knight-like figure carelessly closed the distance between us. Then, with a delighted look on her face, she opened her mouth to speak.
"Nice to meet you, Captain Quentin. I'm _FIARUUDO_ of the First Knight Order. Hehe, you said there were two monsters, but actually, one of them is a puppet I made!" (Fia)
As she said this, she pulled out an awkward looking lump of cloth that was attached to her left arm.
——Is this a trap?
Was there a correct answer? And if I said anything differently, would I be instantly turned into a lump of meat?
An unpleasant sweat ran down my back, and my uniform, which had been bone dry, became soaked in sweat within just a few minutes.
Was this a sophisticated, life-threatening game of words hidden within a seemingly ordinary conversation?
——That was the moment when I was asked to make the most difficult statement of my life.