Epilogue
With the official announcement that Drake had returned to Tatsuno to prepare for the coming threat of the Dracotyrannus, the position of adjutant to the Lord Commander of the Royal Guard was suddenly left vacant.
Naturally, the Dracoserpens were never going to stay quiet about that.
“I’m totally doing it! I still haven’t finished teachin’ Ando how to swim yet!”
“Oh please. Swimming doesn’t matter nearly as much as combat ability. Obviously I’m the best choice.”
“The adjutant to the Lord Commander must negotiate with nobles, generals, and foreign powers alike. Political skill shall be indispensable. Who besides me could possibly fulfill such a role?”
Azu, Tien, and Kiba argued endlessly while the man at the center of the matter—the Lord Commander himself—could do little but watch in complete bewilderment from the sidelines.
“...The duties of an adjutant are quite demanding,” Andronicus said cautiously. “Are you truly certain it is appropriate to ask such things of the Dracoserpens? Besides... Imresia is far too cold.”
Beside him, Yuki—who had not even been allowed to participate in the discussion—sat sulking as she continued helping herself to pastries.
“Then let’s hurry up and develop that Springfire deposit we found nearby the other day. Once we get that running, we could totally live here too.”
Another piece vanished almost immediately.
“Honestly, every single one of them is just looking for an excuse to spar with you. You got stronger than me before I even noticed. If it were up to me, I’d hand over the title of Emperor of Tatsuno to you right now.”
Without ever pausing his work, Andronicus quietly continued replenishing Yuki’s plate.
“If it is the wish of my lady and the honored company,” he said with complete sincerity, “then I shall gladly accept any sparring match or challenge requested of me.”
Then, after a brief pause, he added firmly:
“However... the mantle of Emperor of Tatsuno should remain in the hands of the Dracoserpens.”
Yuki once again hinted at the very proposal he had already refused before, yet Andronicus’s answer did not change.
In retaliation, she showed no intention whatsoever of slowing the pace at which she devoured pastries.
Andronicus, meanwhile, kept one wary eye on the skies above Imresnople—which were, by some miracle, still only cloudy—and continued replenishing Yuki’s plate with desperate diligence.
As for Wani, he had somehow quietly settled into the position of the Mews supervisor for the Royal Guard’s Aerial Steedraptor Cavalry Battalion—which had now grown to a full hundred riders—and was happily working alongside the soldiers as though he had belonged there from the beginning.
“Seriously, why doesn’t Ando just decide?” Yuki said at last, brushing crumbs from her hands as she turned toward the three dragons still arguing without end. “It’s his adjutant, isn’t it?”
Then she looked back at Ando with utterly innocent eyes.
“So, Ando... which one of us do you like best?”
Andronicus froze.
Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that his mind had simply decided, in self-defense, not to understand the question at all.
“M-My Lady, honored friends... surely it would be improper for someone such as myself to rank those whom I hold in such profound esteem, and therefore I must respectfully object to the very premise of the question itself—”
“Anybody’s fine,” Yuki interrupted immediately. “Who do you like best?”
“Th-that is to say, I believe the matter requires a more rigorous set of criteria, and perhaps we ought first define precisely what is meant by ‘like’ within the context of the current dis—”
Three pairs of draconic eyes locked onto him with terrifying intensity.
At that moment, Andronicus felt as though he had swallowed a meteorite whole.
Then—
“Forgive me, esteemed friends of Tatsuno,” came a calm voice from the doorway, “but I must ask that you spare Andronicus such a merciless question.”
Antonius stepped into the room wearing a warm smile.
“Surely the answer is myself.”
“Your Highness!”
Relief flooded through Andronicus so intensely he nearly rose from his seat.
His salvation had arrived.
Or so he thought.
Antonius turned calmly toward his younger brother.
“Andronicus. These noble Dracoserpens have each offered to lend you their strength. You should receive such loyalty with gratitude and humbly ask one among them to accompany you.”
“I am deeply honored by such generosity,” Andronicus replied instantly, clinging desperately to the lifeline placed before him. “In that case, Your Highness... whom would you advise that I request?”
Antonius smiled.
It was the smile of a man thoroughly enjoying his younger brother’s suffering.
“That,” said the Crown Prince pleasantly, “is something you must decide for yourself, Lord Commander.”
Andronicus went completely still.
(Your Highness... please tell me this is a jest...)
Not even when he had accepted command of the Royal Guard had Andronicus felt such crushing pressure bearing down upon him.
Pale and barely breathing, he finally managed to force one of the three names from his throat in a voice scarcely louder than a whisper.
The skies above Imresnople did not remain cloudy for long.
Thunderclouds swirling with equal parts joy and heartbreak gathered above the royal palace. Furious lightning crashed from the heavens—
—and beyond the eastern cliffs, a brilliant rainbow soon arched across the heavens, as though the sky itself had finally begun to laugh.
