I Didn’t Tame The Beastly Duke!

Michael had been acting suspiciously before. After committing a dishonest act and pinning the blame on another noble, he rationalised it by saying that it was analogous to saying ‘like father, like son’.

But things changed when that hand reached out to the servants of the Duke of Cardian.

Although they were his subordinates, the charges that were brought against them meant that the Duke of Cardian, who was their master, would be charged with the same crime.

Even if it is possible to cut the tail properly, it does not mean that the unpleasant feeling will go away, which is why he has been looking into it the whole time.

Concerning Michael. And about the work and other things he’s been up to recently.

‘Is there no need to hide it now?’

It was the first time he had ever had such a direct encounter with a being about whom he had only guessed. Among the Knights of the Duke of Cardian, the Knights of the Red Lion were the most outstanding, but it was unknown whether they would work for that as well.

They may have mentioned that the strong recognise other strong people.

As they got closer, they decided that they could not fight while protecting Celia.

“You should return to the Duchy……”

When Leonis gave the order and turned the head of his horse, the escort knights’ faces changed expressions as they followed his instructions.  Nevertheless, Leonis’s command was unquestionably authoritative.

The Knights of the Red Lion came to a standstill during their pursuit of Leonis. The only thing that continued to move without coming to a stop was the carriage that was carrying Celia and the knights who were guarding the carriage.

Celia, who was a passenger in the carriage, disregarded Mirine’s attempts to dissuade her from opening the window.

“Leon…”

Even the voice that echoed through the darkness was beautiful. Leonis cocked his head to the side and looked towards the distant carriage as he cast his gaze forward.

She thought he would not die here.

After he died, Celia would have a terrible future. That was not how things could have gone.

✦ ✦ ✦

Celia was shaking with fear.  She had been able to sense people’s energy ever since she awakened to her divine powers. When someone with a powerful aura approaches her, however, she notices it more than usual, even though she normally doesn’t care that much about them.

So did those who pursued them. In addition to not being a human being, “it” was also a monster…… It was a situation that was very similar to chaos. And those who are not even creatures of chaos!

‘It’s too strong.’

The number was around eighteen of them.

Each of them, of course, was no stronger than Leonis. If Leonis’ energy was 8, then theirs was probably closer to 6 or 5.

The problem was that the Knights of the Red Lion were not very helpful. The Knights of the Red Lion, which had a total of sixteen members, possessed the most powerful knight’s aura, which was approximately 4.

He would rather not have Celia here, and if Leonis had moved, he would have been able to wipe out the entire group.

But he was in a position to defend.

It meant that they would stop them from pursuing Celia.

Due to Leonis’ nature, he wouldn’t even run away until Celia was far enough away. Even if it means putting his life in danger.

‘You will die or be seriously injured.’

Celia’s nearly certain premonition induced an unmanageable state of panic within her. Her divine power was the source of this premonition, so it was close to a prophecy.

‘What if……’

Rattle, rattle, rattle, rattle!

Inside the bracelet, she felt the egg of the divine beast react loudly. Celia quickly took the egg out of her bracelet because she thought something might be wrong with it.

“The egg of the divine beast!”

Mirine, who was with Celia, raised her voice. The egg, which hadn’t even been cracked by any shock, had fine incontinence.

‘Why now…… Ah!’

A tremendous explosion could be heard in the distance. Leonis came face to face with the Knights of the Black Armour that had been sent by Michael.

Miline bit her lip, assuming that someone’s scream was probably from the Red Lions.

Crack!

and there was a crackling sound coming from it as sparks flew off of it. Both Celia and Miline were taken aback when they observed the golden radiance emanating from within the egg itself.

“Ma-madam! Let go of it! It’s dangerous!”

Let it go? In a rocking carriage?

It was just hatching, but she couldn’t do that. What if a new beast born from an egg gets hurt?

‘He’s strong, so maybe it’ll be okay…’

She had been holding the egg on her lap, so it was almost a golden light flashing in front of her eyes. She was afraid of the distant explosions and clashing weapons, but the most frightening thing was…

‘Please be safe…’

She knew she shouldn’t be crying, but the tears came out anyway.

In the meantime, as if struggling inside, the cracks in the egg spread more and more, and a large piece of it broke off. And other pieces, like pieces of aluminium foil bursting, ricocheted all over the carriage and scattered themselves all over the place.

“Ah!”

It was before the shocked Mirine had completely covered Celia. Several of the fragments did hit Celia or Mirine, but because those pieces were so small and lightweight, they were not affected by the force of the hit.

It was strange, considering how hard the egg was

The Divine Beast’s egg pieces quickly became golden and scattered like gold powder as if he had done his part because it had hatched.

All that was left was a large halo of light that floated on Celia’s lap.

“Kyaoooong!”

At the same time that the light appeared, a powerful wind was blowing, and it was emitting loud cries. Celia looked at the light even as the wind squinted her eyes.

The cries made her think that a cat had been born. But what it showed was……

‘A tiger cub?’

The light faded, and the baby tiger with snow-white fur landed on Celia’s thigh. On the back was a pair of golden wings made of light that moved gracefully in the gusts of wind.

“Oh my god……”

As a follower of the Church of the Gods of Heaven, and considerably more devoted to her faith than Celia, she appeared overjoyed. She was present during the birth of a divine beast, which explains why she acted in such a manner.

The Divine Beast looked at Celia with sparkling blue eyes and embraced her in its arms. Celia hugged The Divine Beast in awkwardness.

The wings, as if made of real light, were untouched by her embracing hands.

“Po-Popo?”

“Kyaung!”

Celia laughed at the ferocious crying as if that name was annoying. No matter how many times she said she couldn’t name it ‘Go’, it still didn’t seem to get it.

“Kruung!”

When it spread its wings out,  they grew to be twice as big as they were before. Celia let go of her hand because she knew the Divine Beast was about to move. It flew gently and got out of the window.

It was the window Celia opened earlier to see Leonis.

“The divine beast!”

Miline raised her voice as if she was surprised that the divine beast, who was still a baby, had disappeared. When Celia turned to look out the window, she saw the divine beast moving away.

Even though it was dark, she could see the being with the light-coloured wings fly away.

What she had been able to hold in her arms grew into the size of a big adult all of a sudden. So, the small wings on the back of the divine beast grew into huge ones.

“Wow.”

Celia vaguely understood the intentions of Nedesmer, the God of Heaven. Enraged at the fact that the last Divine Beast was killed without a hitch, it seemed that he made this Divine Beast openly stronger.

✦ ✦ ✦

“Ugh, Your Excellency!”

Because Leonis was there to shield them, the Red Lion Knights, who were stumbling around as if they were about to fall, were able to keep their position.

They were eighteen, but it was all about two knights fighting one another. Everything else came down to Leonis.

It would have been better if he had been adequately armed.

Unlike the other knights, Leonis came out of the banquet hall, so his armed condition was a mess. Even though the black escort knight had brought the right one, it was hard to fight these monsters without even a single piece of thin plate armour.

‘Until Celia is far away… I have to hold out for at least two hours!’

Leonis was not the target of these monsters’ attacks. He wasn’t sure if he heard the order to cut off his head if he was with Celia, but Celia was their main target.

Finding the carriage that had gone ahead of them when they left was even harder.

First, Leonis rendered them incapable of speaking. In the majority of battles, a rider on a horse had an advantage over someone who didn’t ride.

The problem was that even though they wore human armour, walked on two legs, and imitated humans, they were not humans.

Kick!

Leonis gave the ground a kick as the muzzle of his helmet came crashing down and blue flames began to emerge from it. It was a disgusting sight to see the flames chase after him no matter where he ran.

Krung!

Suddenly,  they heard a new sound coming from the sky behind them. Straight at him like an arrow was something that couldn’t be compared to the brightness of a torch.

“What is that……”

Tiger with wings. It was nothing more and nothing less.

The two letters ‘The Divine Beast’ popped into Leonis’ head, but he was unsure whether or not it had already hatched. Is that a tiger I see?

‘I have never seen such a form of the Divine Beast on a picture before……’

However, when he thought he was close enough, the Divine Beast opened its mouth. When Leonis saw the golden orb crackling in its mouth, his eyes widened

“Screw up!”

Krung!

It let out a rather grotesque cry and spewed thunderbolts from its mouth. As if a dragon were spewing fire out.

Armour and shields can block the flames for a moment, but when it becomes a thunderbolt, the story is completely different.

The bolts of lightning fell in almost a straight line between Leonis and the Knights of the Red Lion, who threw their bodies to the left and right. Leonis remembered that Nedesmer, the God of Heaven, got the thunderbolt as his first weapon, but he was annoyed by it.

‘The Divine Beast!’

Celia, who was watching the scene from afar, was just as scared.

Didn’t it almost put their side in danger as well!

The Divine Beast, on the other hand, looked like it didn’t care. Leonis swung at the burned things that weren’t people because he was angry about how he was treated. He felt like he was being beaten.

Even after being hit by that thunderbolt, those with formidable resilience did not die. It was just burning with black smoke.

“I-I think the Duke will win!”

Miline spoke as she watched the battle from Celia’s side. Celia couldn’t see them moving properly, but her eyes, as a former assassin, would have been accurate.

When Celia heard those words, she let out a sigh of relief.