Chapter 477: Fate Won't Wait for You to Grow Up

Allen was still dazed when he left the palace.

The Lyon Empire was going to do business with the lich? This was the first he'd heard of it.

Why hadn't his older brother Angus told him beforehand? Had the front lines gotten so desperate that they needed to cooperate with a lich?

The emperor's words left Allen deeply troubled. Without a second thought, he rushed home and pulled up the magic mirror as fast as he could.

Allen waited for a long while before Ambrose's skull finally appeared on the mirror.

"Allen? What do you want from me?"

Ambrose was holding a cluster of vials and jars in his hands, all overflowing with green light, looking very much like he was in the middle of some kind of sinister experiment.

Allen didn't have time to dwell on that. "His Majesty had me come find you to do business. Has my brother already been in contact with you?"

Ambrose nodded casually. "That's right. He wants to buy some airships from me. Why are you suddenly asking about it?"

Surprised at Ambrose's composure, Allen continued, "Don't you find it strange that Lyon wants to work with you?"

"Haven't you been working with me all along? What's there to be surprised about?"

"That's... I..."

Allen found himself momentarily at a loss for words. He couldn't quite explain what exactly surprised him either.

After all, he himself had had transactions with this lich for a long time now. It went all the way back to that first five thousand gold at the tavern in Alkhemia, when he'd paid to cast Detect Evil on the lich...

Ambrose, who understood Allen better than Allen understood himself, said slowly, "What shocks you isn't a lich working with a paladin, but rather that Lyon has grown so weak it needs a lich's help just to fight the orcs. Allen, you need to accept reality. Lyon can't keep up with the times anymore. Otherwise, the orcs wouldn't have produced some prodigy who's been grinding your brother into the dirt."

Allen fell silent for a while, then couldn't help but explain, "Lyon is still actually stronger than the orcs. It's just that we have other borders to defend..."

"And making enemies on every front is something you Lyon folks brought on yourselves. Fine, enough chitchat. Is that all you wanted to confirm?"

Ambrose, somewhat impatiently, poured two potions together, only for them to start giving off a blinding burst of fire after a shake.

With a flick of his finger, the exploding vial froze in midair in front of him.

Caught in a state of temporal stasis, the potion wasn't even able to explode. After carefully examining the suspended flask, Ambrose called out, "Naomi!"

In a white lab coat, Naomi appeared at his side, tracing an arc through the air with her fingers. The potion in front of Ambrose rapidly separated, returning to its two original test tubes as if nothing had happened.

Ambrose gave up on combining the potions for now. He instead pulled out a stack of papers to redo his calculations, muttering to himself, "Wrong ratio? This stuff really isn't easy to replicate..."

Allen had watched the whole scene play out. For some reason, the turmoil inside him began to settle.

Was this what it looked like when a lich ran experiments?

Allen had never studied alchemy himself, but ever since Ambrose had demonstrated power overseas terrifying enough to topple a nation, the various alchemical products he created had naturally entered everyone's awareness.

The God of Alchemy's brand was already the most famous alchemical product line, which meant everyone knew about jet engines and the Potions of Youth. Every alchemist out there was trying to replicate Ambrose's creations.

Allen had seen other alchemists run experiments before, too.

But the gap was simply too vast.

Temporal stasis, time reversal—was this all just part of his standard repertoire for everyday experiments?

Allen thought he finally understood what Ambrose meant by "Lyon can't keep up with the times."

It wasn't true. Lyon could keep up with the times: it was just that this lich had surpassed the times entirely, which was exactly why his weapons of war had become the single most decisive factor in any conflict, leaving Lyon's people with no choice but to trade with him.

Allen said earnestly, "Master Megaman, I didn't come today just to confirm this with you. Could I ask you to sell the airships to Lyon? We need these weapons to fight off the orc invasion."

Ambrose stopped what he was doing and asked, "You're the one negotiating this with me? Where's your emperor?"

"His Majesty himself sent me to negotiate the deal," Allen explained.

Ambrose waved a hand, having Naomi take over tidying the workbench and organizing his notes, then turned to Allen with sudden seriousness. "Your emperor sent you to find me? You're in Lyon's capital?"

"Is there a problem? Master Megaman, as you yourself always say, gold doesn't care about morality. It's all the same no matter whom you're negotiating with."

"There's a big problem, Allen. Don't you know the condition I set? I asked to meet your emperor in person, face to face. He sent you instead. That confirms something rather important."

"Confirms what?"

Allen still didn't understand what Ambrose was getting at, but from the lich's tone, it sounded like something serious.

"It confirms that your emperor has been swapped out for someone else. Allen, your emperor may have fallen to the dragonblood curse. He might already be a newly reborn time dragon."

Allen froze for a moment, as if he hadn't quite processed what Ambrose had said. Only a few seconds later did shock spread across his face.

"What kind of joke is this?! Do you even know what you're saying?!"

"This part's complicated, so I'll keep it simple. Your holy king, Arthur Lyon, was also killed by the dragonblood curse. The Draconic Armaments were the key to it all. Your father should know quite a bit about that. By now, I suspect the dragonblood curse has fully taken hold, and your emperor's soul has been completely overtaken by the revived Dragon Tyrant. He's already been replaced, entirely."

Allen said, agitated, "Proof! What proof do you have?!"

"The proof is that he doesn't dare meet me. Given how attention-seeking your emperor used to be, would he really refuse to meet me, over and over again?"

"There could be other reasons. Maybe His Majesty is worried you have some scheme in mind."

"What kind of scheme could possibly threaten the life of an emperor of Lyon? He didn't even ask about time or place. He refused outright. What he's worried about isn't my scheme. He's worried about exposing himself."

Ambrose no longer felt the need to prove anything further. Given how the young emperor was acting, he was already ninety-nine percent certain that the emperor had been usurped.

Proof or not, Ambrose decided to work under the assumption that he'd already become the Dragon Tyrant.

The question was, if Lyon was now effectively under the Dragon Tyrant's control, what exactly was this tyrant up to?

"Something's off. This dragon's behavior doesn't add up. All those disastrous decisions the young emperor used to make somehow got smoothed over, Lyon pulled itself back from the brink of fracturing, and now it's even weathered the orcs' fierce invasion... Shouldn't the Dragon Tyrant be trying to destroy Lyon? Why is he protecting it instead?"

Allen overheard Ambrose muttering to himself. The young paladin, as if grasping at a lifeline, eagerly chimed in, "Exactly! How could the dragon even still be alive? And even if he were, there's no way he'd protect Lyon. He'd surely do everything in his power to destroy the nation built by his enemy. You must be wrong—His Majesty isn't under the dragon's control."

Ambrose couldn't be bothered to argue against Allen's self-comforting denial.

There was no doubt about it. The change in the emperor's behavior, the stark contrast between the man before and the man after, meant he was under someone's control. Even if it wasn't literal soul possession, some far more powerful force must have altered him. At this point, it seemed highly likely that the Dragon Tyrant had taken over his body. The only uncertainty was what exactly he was planning to do after that.

The best approach was still to talk to him directly.

The same lie could sound completely different depending on whether you heard it face to face or secondhand. So, one way or another, he needed to meet this "Dragon Tyrant" in person.

Seeing that Ambrose wasn't willing to hear him out, Allen said hurriedly, "Master Megaman, I'll find a way to look into this myself. Don't jump to conclusions just yet..."

But before Allen could finish, Ambrose cut him off.

"Allen! What you need to do right now isn't investigate some truth. Leave Lyon's capital and go back to your own territory."

Allen objected, "What are you talking about? I have to find out the truth about your accusation!"

If the dragonblood curse was real, then Lyon's greatest danger right now wasn't the orc invasion at all, but the revived Dragon Tyrant. Without uncovering the truth, Lyon was doomed to fall.

"What exactly do you think you can do to find that out? Is this even your job? Is this even something you're capable of? Know your place and your responsibilities, you idiot!"

Ambrose, in a rare display of fury, cursed him out outright. As Allen stood there stunned, Ambrose finally explained, "Do you have anyone in the capital who can help you? How would you even investigate? Where would you even start? You don't even know the origins of the dragonblood curse or how it works. What gives you the right to look into it? You're alone in that capital. How exactly do you expect to investigate in secret without the dragon noticing? If he really has revived, do you think you could escape? The moment you start digging, you're dead!"

Back in his day, the Dragon Tyrant had been so powerful that even Arthur Lyon, at the height of his strength, went into a duel against him resigned to his own death. Did Allen even possess half of Arthur Lyon's ability now? Allen couldn't even last thirty exchanges against Gareth, and he didn't even have a single decent artifact on him. What exactly did he think he was going to accomplish?

Seeing that Allen was about to argue again, Ambrose cut him off once more, even more furious. "Do you think you're still that clueless greenhorn from before? Is your life something you can throw away so casually? Have you even thought about what happens to all the people willing to follow you?

"You're half a spiritual leader for Lyon right now, so act like one! It's easy to say the word 'sacrifice,' but how would that honor the trust people have placed in you?! If you die in the capital, and the dragon really has revived, who's going to lead Lyon against him? Are you expecting me, a lich, to clean up Lyon's mess for you?!"

Ambrose was genuinely angry. He'd thought this kid had finally grown up, that Lyon could finally develop the way Ambrose had hoped—but at this critical moment, he felt like the same impetuous youth as before. If Allen died in Lyon's capital, Lyon really would fall completely into the Dragon Tyrant's hands, and all of Ambrose's prior efforts to keep Lyon fractured would have been for nothing.

Ambrose's words left Allen speechless. He thought back to the people of Lyon who'd once thrown their full support behind him, willing to stand against the emperor just to back him up. But now, with the foreign invasion seemingly pulling the nation back together, the shock of the dragon's possible revival had caught Allen completely off guard. He hadn't considered any of this at all.

Allen took a deep breath and nodded. "You're right. I was too rash."

Ambrose sighed. "Allen, I know sacrifice is part of a paladin's vows, but sometimes sacrificing yourself is the easy part. Staying alive is far more difficult! Hurry up and grow up already, or your recklessness is going to drag your family and friends down with you."

Allen had thoroughly come to his senses by now. "I understand. I'll leave the capital right away and go prepare."

"Scram! If the dragon really does revive, I hope you'll be leading an army to the capital, not charging in there alone!"

Ambrose angrily cut the connection, hoping the kid wasn't just talking big. At such a critical moment, the last thing he needed was for Allen to throw away the advantage they'd built.

After ending the call, Ambrose decided to go talk to Arthur Lyon. The Dragon Tyrant was Arthur's archenemy. If anyone could help deal with him, it would be Arthur.

Only, it turned out Arthur seemed to have been waiting there the whole time. The moment he saw Ambrose, he couldn't help but ask, "Has the dragon really come back to life?"

Ambrose was exasperated. "You heard my whole conversation with Allen, then?"

"It didn't sound like a conversation so much as an argument. You were way too loud, and this place isn't all that big."

Ambrose's private space really didn't have much in the way of soundproofing, and he had gotten a little worked up just now—louder than usual, to say the least.

Ambrose said irritably, "That idiot Allen's honestly going to be the death of me. After everything he's been through, he's still acting like some greenhorn!"

But Arthur Lyon said, "Give him some time. Back in our day, it took a full three years from our first council to the killing of the first dragon. Allen's been gone from Lyon for less than a year. And besides, he is still just a kid. He's much younger than I was back then."

"Only a year? Why does it feel like so much longer to me?"

"In here, in your private space, a year outside passes like a single day. Of course it feels like ages to you. But a year ago, Allen was a paladin who'd only just begun his travels."

Though Arthur Lyon had come to know Ambrose later than Allen had, he'd taken a particular liking to this "junior" of his and had kept tabs on him ever since. He even knew about the time Allen had been swindled out of five thousand gold by Ambrose.

To Arthur, he was a young noble born into privilege, someone who benefited from every excess of Lyon's system, and yet he was still able to pierce through the truth of the empire's corruption. That alone made him remarkable.

Very few people enjoying the benefits of a system could ever bring themselves to see the underlying bloodshed.

Arthur Lyon thought that Ambrose, who'd lived for centuries, was being rather unfair.

Ambrose himself perhaps sensed he'd been a touch too harsh. A twenty-year-old kid, a paladin raised on Lyon's teachings since childhood—it wasn't exactly surprising that he'd grow rash upon hearing such news.

Still, Ambrose shook his head. "Unfortunately, fate won't wait around for him to grow up. If Allen can't keep pace with the times, he won't be the only one to die for it."

Arthur Lyon smiled. "Isn't that exactly why he has you backing him up? I never had a lich as powerful as you supporting me back in my day."

"Me, supporting him?!" Ambrose scoffed. "The second he stops making me gold, I'll sell him out to the dragon myself."

Arthur Lyon just smiled and said nothing, watching Ambrose as though he couldn't be bothered to argue with him. As far as Arthur was concerned, this lich was eventually going to receive his coronation among the Lord of Dawn's Eloria Peaks one way or another. Whatever he might say out loud, he wasn't about to let the Dragon Tyrant rule the world again.

Sure enough, before Arthur could offer any more reassurance, Ambrose cut straight to business. "Your Majesty, the dragon is your archenemy. Assuming he's already taken over your descendant's soul, how do you think we should deal with him?"

Arthur Lyon thought for a moment, then said, "We can't be certain whether the dragon has truly revived, or to what extent. How much of his memory remains, how much hatred for humanity he still carries, how much power he has—without knowing these things, it's hard to plan anything. Weren't you going to meet him yourself? I fully agree with that approach. Let's find a way to confirm it first."

Ambrose humphed. "The problem is, he won't dare meet me. And I can't think of a good way to force him into a meeting right now."

"It's simple. Put me out there as bait. Tell him that Arthur Lyon still has a heroic spirit lingering in this world. If he still retains his memories from back then, he'll come find me without question."

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