Cassian carelessly brushed off the falling snow and approached me.
“Rose, His Majesty said that we should start preparing to contact the Snow Kingdom.”
“So in this campaign, all the work is on us again?”
The Winter Palace has only brought in so few administrators, so how can we handle all this?
“Hmm, for some reason, only our administrators have enough energy.”
Cassian looked at the administrators who could barely eat their food due to exhaustion, then clicked his tongue in frustration.
Seeing this, a few of those who had put down their spoons realized a bad feeling, so they hurried to eat their food again..
“Also, His Majesty ordered preparations for the division of the army.”
“Ready to face the Flame Dragon?”
“Exactly, although they said that the Saint who will join in the second stage will be sent to confront the dragon.”
Cassian smiled sideways, as if he expected this would never happen.
“The accompanying priests take great pride in their role, even though this has been their mission from the beginning.”
“They say they reduced the number of Templars to avoid conflicts.”
Of course, that was just a lame excuse.
The truth is that the Templars were not treated well, so there were not many volunteers except those who had a very strong motivation.
As a result, barely one unit of Templars was sent.
It was not even possible to expect a good performance from them.
“Anyway, His Majesty said he was giving me a chance to achieve greatness.”
“Of course, you accepted the offer, right?”
“Sure, can I refuse something Rose insisted on?”
Cassian gently raised his hand and brushed away the snow accumulated on my hair as he spoke.
“But why do you look so worried, my dear assistant?”
Cassian's hand, which had been brushing away the snow, slid smoothly into my hanging strands of hair, where he gently ran his fingers through them.
“Am I so untrustworthy?”
“No, I trust Your Highness, and I know you will do the job well.”
The saint will also come.
“If not Your Highness, who in the empire is capable of facing a dragon?”
In fact, not only in the empire, but in this entire world.
And when I think about developments in the original story, that shouldn't be a problem...but.
'I've caused a lot of changes, haven't I?'
This small possibility was the only thing that made me anxious.
“Then just trust me, Rose.”
Cassian rested his cheek on my hand and smiled like a spoiled cat.
“Even just a shred of your concern, I find it unfortunate.”
He was talking as if he really wanted me to not waste any effort worrying about him.
“Hahaha, it’s been a long time!
King of the Empire!”
“What?!
Did you throw away the title of His Majesty the Emperor or what?!”
"Eh, why are you talking to me in such a dry way?
Weren't we close?"
The next day, the Snow Kingdom and the Imperial Army met as planned..
“You came with such a huge army, and yet you talk like that?
You know, King of the Empire, I think you really like me!”
The King of the Snow Kingdom laughed loudly and patted the Emperor on the shoulder.
Of course, there was obvious annoyance on His Majesty's face, but since he did not remove his hand or object sharply, he seemed to have some feelings of brotherhood among the warriors.
“If His Majesty is acting like a broad-minded person, he must be trying to maintain his image.”
Of course, his son's interpretation was completely different.
For a moment I thought positively, but I quickly agreed with Cassian's opinion.
Because His Majesty proved it immediately..
“I am only doing good to your kingdom as Emperor of the Great Empire, don’t misunderstand!”
Fortunately, the side conversation between the two rulers did not last long.
Just in time, Cassian stepped in to end the conversation and began talking about dealing with magical beasts and making a contingency plan in case the Flame Dragon actually awakened..
“I don’t think there’s any need to worry too much.
Hasn’t the Snow Kingdom monitored the Flame Dragon’s movements several times already?”
The Ice King spoke with a calm face.
“His Majesty the Emperor talks about rewarding the Snow Kingdom for our help, but that doesn’t mean anything unless the dragon appears, right?”
“You still talk so naively?!”
“Eh, eh, this is always your problem, King of the Empire.
You have been getting angry easily for a long time.”
The Snow King waved his hand, speaking in a sarcastic manner as if he was joking with the Emperor.
“If he wakes up, of course the Snow Kingdom will owe the Empire a great favor.
But what if he doesn’t wake up?”
"What?!"
“What if he doesn’t wake up?
Then everything the empire did would be just a show, right?
After all, dealing with magical beasts isn’t that difficult.”
Despite his casual words, it was clear that as a ruler, he did not intend to lose any battle of wills.
“If the Flame Dragon awakens, we will abide by the Empire’s demands.
But if it does not awaken, then the Empire has placed excessive demands on us—”
But this verbal confrontation...
Kwaaaaaang-!
"K-Disaster!
The Flame Dragon has awakened!!"
It only made sense when disaster did not occur.
“It's a wonderful sight, isn't it?”
"actually."
On the top of the glacier, where the snow had piled up the thickest, flames shot into the sky.
The knights were in chaos, and the two kings' faces looked extremely serious.
In the midst of all this, Cassian and I were the only ones who remained calm.
“If there's anything I'm worried about...”
Cassian said as he checked the position of his sword strapped to his waist, looking at me.
“It is that the saint has not arrived yet, and I have to take you with me.”
“That's two things, then.”
When I responded coldly, he laughed lightly.
“Surely, I would rather have you with me than with these trembling knights.”
There was a slight sound as he pulled his sword slightly from its sheath and then put it back in its place.
Despite his confident words, he was clearly upset by this situation, as he looked at me with a dissatisfied expression.
“What bothers me is that I have to take you, not that you have me.”
Then he exhaled while looking around, as if he didn't want me to misunderstand his words.
At the same time, negotiations with the Snow Kingdom were still ongoing, and no military coordination had been reached yet.
“But you still have to do your homework.”
I told him as I handed him some documents.
Although the Emperor had ordered to prepare to divide the army before meeting the Snow Kingdom, we had already completed those preparations before his order.
But no matter how prepared, war is still war.
No one can predict what might happen, and when things go wrong, those of us on the front lines are the first to take the blame.
“True, His Majesty the Emperor also seems a bit surprised, it has been a while since his last battle.”
Cassian said as he put on his gloves, then returned the documents to me before heading towards the Emperor.
“Your Majesty, we will begin the dragon hunting operation as planned, and the forward battalion will lead the attack.”
“Cassian...!”
Upon hearing his son's words, the Emperor quickly regained consciousness and tried to regain his prestige.
“Your Majesty, your role will be to secure the rear lines and support the knights in battle.”
“I will do it!”
A satisfied smile began to creep onto the Emperor's face.
Nothing had been achieved yet, but the mere superiority of the Imperial Army in organization compared to the Snow Kingdom, which was still in a state of confusion, seemed like enough to make him satisfied.
“Rose!”
Cassian threw a small dagger at me.
He could have given it to me beforehand, but he wanted it to appear as though I was only playing a temporary role within the military formations.
I picked up the dagger, then headed towards the cavalry battalion that would be stationed in the back lines next to the Emperor.
The Imperial Knights moved towards the tip of the iceberg.
The force was formed under the command of knights directly subordinate to the Winter Palace, with a group of Imperial knights who had previously trained with Cassian ected to ensure good coordination between them.
Cassian had always made sure, despite his busy schedule, to attend joint training exercises with the Imperial Knights, so there was little worry about leadership.
The only thing that worried me was the possibility that the knights would see me as a burden on them.
“Are you going to use magic from behind?”
"Sorry?"
“I've heard about you!
They say that as long as the Witch of the Winter Palace is here, we will never lose a battle!”
"…Sorry?"
There seem to be strange rumors about me.
When I looked with questioning eyes at the Knights of the Winter Palace, they immediately shouted in a defensive tone:
“No, no, Helper Saliss!
We're not the kind of people who spread superstitions, we're just praising you!”
“Yes!
We said that you are the Victorious Champion of the Winter Palace, but these idiots misunderstood!”
“Didn’t I tell you to clean your ears regularly, you idiots!”
heroine of victory?
I had never heard of this title before, especially since my arrival in the capital.
While I was trying to process it, Cassian looked at me, laughing softly.
"See?
Our knights love you, Rose."
Hearing his words, the knight who was leading my horse was shocked and asked anxiously:
“Did you think we didn't like you?
Just because our faces looked so cruel?”
When I noticed his tension, I quickly reassured him:
“Of course not, you have always been polite to me.”
“I'm glad you did!
If there was anyone who wasn't polite to you, I would have confiscated their horse on their return!”
Would you have made him walk back?
I smiled a little at this stern comment that suited the knights' personality.
“The truth is that I was hesitant because I asked you a lot of things whenever the Winter Palace got busy.”
Upon hearing my words, the knight quickly shook his head vigorously.
“No, no, it's no big deal!
Thanks to you, we no longer need to fight when we get our salaries!”
“Exactly!
Before, we had to deal with the Rose Palace every time we got our salaries, and that was an absolute nightmare!”
Upon hearing that, I immediately understood why.
Yes, nothing is more important than the person who guarantees your salary on time.
I remembered how angry I was when I discovered the manipulation of salaries in the Palace of Roses, and how I then went to turn the place upside down even though I had recently arrived at the Winter Palace.
From then on, I began shifting budgetary responsibilities to the Winter Palace, throwing me into an endless spiral of work.
As we went along through these pleasant side conversations...
“Lizard monsters have come to the fore!”
With the cry of the Scout Knight, the first obstacles appeared on our path towards the Flame Dragon...