Bear School Astartes

Chapter 143: 143. There are... dragons here?!

Robert’s enraged roar was practically a sedative for Geoffrey. This cruel and spoiled prince became as docile as a quail in the face of his father who had fought his way out of the battlefield.

”Damn, that was something! Haha!”

With his large belly sticking out, Robert eagerly approached Lann, who had already sheathed his sword.

”Damn, I’ve never seen someone of your build take on a Clegane, and damn, you won! Haha!”

The high level of cursing in the compliment made Lann raise an eyebrow, but judging from the reactions of the surrounding nobles, they were already quite used to their king speaking this way.

He slapped Lann’s shoulder hard, making the plates of his composite armor clatter.

The force in his hand seemed extraordinarily strong, even beyond that of an ordinary person.

”The result of the trial by combat is clear, under the witness of the Seven Gods, justice has favored the victor!”

”Now, I declare Nymelia innocent, and no Ice Wolf will die here.”

Alia cheered loudly, and rushed over with Nymelia to jump on Lann.

Even with Lann’s physical prowess, such a large wolf still made him stagger.

The Ice Wolf was indeed clever, it seemed to know that Lann had helped it. Now it was licking Lann like a puppy.

”Hey, calm down! Stop licking! You’re getting my hair!”

Lann hurriedly pressed the wolf’s head down; he didn’t mind animals, but he was quite annoyed with having his hair messed up by wolf saliva.

Not far away, the main players of this confrontation — the Stark Clan and the Queen’s Clan.

Their atmosphere was much more complex than the simple arena combat.

The straightforward Northmen laughed and cheered, but they were few in number.

Surrounding them, the silent majority were mostly cautiously observing the Queen’s expression.

”The Starks don’t seem to be in a good situation, sir.”

Mentos’s intelligent voice reminded Lann.

But the young man did not feel anything was wrong.

”It’s inevitable for a prominent noble from a distant fiefdom to encounter initial challenges when taking office as Prime Minister in the capital. But I believe with the relationship between the King and Edd, as long as he is smart, he can quickly establish himself.”

Lann analyzed the situation before him with his knowledge and insight.

For a temporarily isolated minister, the King’s trust was the lifeline.

As long as he held onto this lifeline, avoided making frequent enemies in the early stages, accumulated strength and manpower, the later stages shouldn’t be too dangerous.

From this brief period of contact, it seemed Edd and Robert had forged a friendship through life and death.

His family pet had bitten the Prince, leaving a lifelong scar, yet from Robert’s mouth, it was just ’children fighting.’

”Lann, I’ve already told my father, once he arrives in King’s Landing to take office as Prime Minister, he’ll have people search for all sorts of exotic fauna and flora, everything from Westeros! There’s even dragon bone available for you!”

”Hmm, alright, good.”

Lann nonchalantly responded to the enthusiastic little girl.

Thinking to himself, even if you hadn’t mentioned it, would I have just watched your wolf get killed by someone?

But then, as if suddenly realizing something, Lann turned his head to seriously look down at Alia.

”Did you just say... dragon bones? Bones of a dragon?”

While Lann would never sit idly by in Alia’s troubles, the little girl was sensible herself.

She had offered a reward when asking Lann for help, promising her soon-to-be Prime Minister father would collect exotic materials from this world for him.

Lann had already shown Alia a lot of alchemy, and the little girl knew this wondrous technique required the study of many exotic fauna and flora.

Initially, Lann’s intention was purely to help.

He hadn’t expected this magic-less world to produce anything particularly rare.

But now, Alia was telling him she could find... dragon bones?!

”Yes, dragons.” Alia met Lann’s bewildered expression with an obviously rightful look.

”Our previous Royal Clan were the Dragon Rider Clan. They conquered the Westeros Continent riding dragons.”

”Although now it seems the dragons have all died several hundred years ago, there are still some remains left in King’s Landing!”

Lann’s lips opened and closed several times, oscillating back and forth.

”No, you, I, you didn’t say...”

...you never mentioned there were dragons here!

~~~~~~

The King’s convoy was preparing to enter King’s Landing.

Lann, who had received a horse from Edd, was now riding and following the convoy. In his hand, he held a book, looking down intently as he read.

This fascinated those around him, for despite never appearing to watch where he was going, just occasionally tugging the reins.

He was able to maintain perfect alignment in the ranks.

And could even accurately guide his horse to avoid playing Nymelia pouncing on him.

This horsemanship even earned genuine admiration from Jorri Kaiso, the Guard Captain Edd had brought to King’s Landing.

He frequently expressed to Edd his astonishment, realizing those legends about the Dothraki wandering the great plains were true.

It was possible for a person to freely live on horseback.

The book Lann held was titled ”Dance of the Blood Dragon.”

Something akin to a historical analysis mixed with a novelistic feel, detailing a civil war history of the Targaryen Clan’s Dragon Riders.

Lann wasn’t too concerned with the intrigue and power plays within. Instead, he was more interested in the physiological traits and habits displayed by dragons in history.

He wasn’t unwilling to acquire more professional, focused materials on dragons.

But such materials, he heard, were generally in the hands of scholars, while in the King’s convoy, only this novel-like volume was found.

Once Alia informed Lann that this world was not the ordinary medieval one he had imagined.

The first feeling that surged in Lann’s heart was caution.

Dragons were high-level magical creatures, and such magical creatures required a magic-power environment to survive.

If this world could nurture dragons capable of warfare, it should also be able to generate knowledge in magic.

Following closely was a sense of excitement.

— That’s a dragon!

Dragon bones!

In his original world, in the civilized human world, he had heard that dragons were nearly hunted to extinction.

Such valuable materials couldn’t even be bought with money.

At most, one might manage to acquire some scales or horns of dragon-like creatures such as Pterodactyls or Dimorphodons.

Nymelia sometimes wandered to the carriage where Alia was, and sometimes dashed back to Lann’s side.

The reading Demon Hunter had to exert some effort to keep his mount from being scared by the Ice Wolf’s scent.

This wolf’s lively and mischievous nature was absolutely a mirror of Alia’s.

The convoy had reached a place where the city walls and towers were faintly visible.

With this came an air filled with a pervasive stench.

Ordinary folk didn’t seem to react.

But the reading, keen-sensed Demon Hunter suddenly coughed twice.

Coincidentally, he had turned to a part of the book describing King’s Landing, mentioning that approximately half a million people lived in this city.

It was then that Lann pondered a question.

In his previous world, though the level of civilization was medieval, many large cities were built upon elven ruins.

The sewer systems there even allowed for entire units of soldiers to fight within.

But in a medieval city with no elven ruins...

How did these half a million people’s waste get dealt with?