As Kathe looked relieved, Leea turned to Shia.
“Shia. You haven’t asked your question yet.”
“Oh, that’s right. You said that you can go in and out through those pillars…”
“Yes.”
“But why don’t you just fly, since you are dragons?”
The water dragons had big wings.
They should be able to fly. And so they shouldn’t require such a gate.
That’s what Shia had thought.
“It’s because there is a barrier around the whole thing. So we use this as the entrance.”
“Oh? Why is it like that?”
Serulis didn’t seem to understand it.
“In other words, there is a barrier around the whole settlement that prevents you from leaving or entering.”
“That’s it, Ruck! Exactly. And so it is very difficult to leave from any place but between these two pillars.”
Leea said.
Goran inspected the pillars and said,
“Then does that mean we should be fine as long as we can protect this area?”
“Yes.”
“It was because of this barrier that we water dragons have survived this long without anyone being killed or injured.”
Grand Chamberlain Morris added.
As we talked about this, the water dragons began to stir.
“The princess just called Lord Ruck by his first name only.”
“I know that he is very kind…but perhaps that is going too far…”
“We must all apologize together before he becomes angry…”
They were becoming frantic. I didn’t want to have a reputation for having a short temper.
“It’s fine. You really shouldn’t think anything about it…”
As I started to talk, the water dragons started rolling onto the ground.
They were now on their backs, just like a dog that is acting submissive.
“Wha-what is going on?”
I asked in surprise. Kathe nodded knowingly.
“The water dragons are apologizing. This is their way of bowing to you. I happen to know a lot about human and dragon traditions.”
Kathe said with a smug expression.
As for the dragons on their backs, they were saying,
“The princess is still young. Please forgive her.”
“I beg you! Please have mercy on us.”
“Groof-groof!”
Even Grulf was next to them and lying on his back.
But it looked like he was just playing.
“There is really no need to apologize. Now, please raise your heads… I mean, bodies.”
I pleaded. But the dragons did not get up.
“All you water dragons, Ruck really doesn’t mind it. Don’t worry.”
“Ruck and I are friends!”
Leea said proudly. Her tail waved up and down.
“Yes. We call each other Leea and Ruck!”
I said this, and the water dragons finally got up.
They looked very surprised.
“What!”
“Our princess is so privileged.”
“She is allowed to call him by his first name!”
The water dragons were halfway to deifying me.
I did not want that.
“No. I hope you all will now call me Ruck or Locke as well.”
“…How magnanimous.”
“But I would not dare…I could never do that…”
“Yes, you are right.”
They discussed it seriously amongst each other.
“No, really. Don’t worry about it.”
But the water dragons still seemed like they had an aversion to doing that.
And so after their discussion, they settled on calling me Mister Ruck.
While the water dragons were talking, Eric and Goran looked at the pillars.
“Ruck. I don’t know much about these. But how strong would you say that this barrier is?”
“Ahh, that is very important. Ruck, can you inspect it?”
“Yes. Just give me a moment.”
And so I started to inspect the strength of the magic barrier.
It seemed very strong to me.
“It’s a good barrier. I think it must be quite close to the divine barrier that’s around the capital.”
“Oh?”
The strength itself was very high.
However, I was more impressed that it covered such a wide area.
As it was usually very difficult to create a barrier like this.
“So is it really good enough that we just have to defend this area?”
“No, I wouldn’t say that. Though, anything stronger than a Vampire Lord may have to go in through here…”
“But the weak monsters can get in elsewhere?”
“Yes.”
It was very similar to the divine barrier in that sense.
It was good at repelling strong monsters.
Usually, you weren’t as scared about weak monsters getting in anyway.
“So it’s exactly like the divine barrier?”
“No, it seems to react to magic in general. It doesn’t matter if you are a dark one or not.”
This was probably used more for protection against other dragons.
“How come it doesn’t protect against the weak ones?”
“It is very difficult to create a barrier that repels everything, besides, we do not want it to affect monsters that we eat.”
Grand Chamberlain Morris explained.
“Besides, even the weakest of us dragons could kill a lesser or arch vampire very easily.”
“And can they stop Charm?”
“Of course. We dragons have a high resistance to mind attacks to begin with.”
“We want Ruck to attack the Lords and High Lords that come in through the gate.”
Leea said with a smile.
“If that’s the case, please leave it to us.”
I said. And then the water dragons cheered.