Ina pov
Three months ago, my friends luise and lia told me that wendelin von benno baumeister, the 8th son of the baumeister household, who had been adopted by the the duke breithild was attending their families magic combat style school.
I heard from my father that his magical talent is so great, that the late alfred reinhardt the former head court magician of the duke breithild household recognized him and took him as his student.
It was also due to his talent in magic that he was accepted by duke breithild, as an adopted son. There were also rumors that alfred reinhardt made him his successor, but they were confirmed when his will was made public, the duke had first wished for it to remain a secret, but many people had showed up after his death claiming to be his successor.
There were also people saying that if there is a will than it should be made public, so in the end the duke had to make it public. The people claiming to be his successor stopped coming, after it was confirmed that wendelin his 7 year old student had infact been chosen by him as his successor.
I had heard that the late alfred reinhardt and brantak ringsted were extremely strong individuals, who had defeated dragons and many other powerful monsters. I wondered if this wendelin who was around my age, could have similar abilities, I also wondered what kind of person would be, but I never imagined I would get to meet him.
It seems I had been wrong on that assumption. He had joined the magic combat school which was managed by the family of my friends luise and lia, and they invited him to practice in the archery range, and dragged me and ariel along with them to meet him.
I was nervous about meeting him for the first time, I didn't know what kind of person he would be, but luckily he turned out to be a nice person.
He even said, that he would like to join our future adventurer team, just because we seemed fun. Most people after learning we wanted to become adventurers would have doubted us or maybe even laughed at us but he didn't do either. He earnestly believed in us, and wented to join the same team as us, despite him being such a talented magician.
The next three months passed by really quickly and we continued to spend time together, sometimes practicing our archery and other times just hanging out with each other, our group of four bacame good friends with him, and he even asked us to call him wend, since it would be easier to pronounce.
Currently we were on a magic airship on our way to the royal capital for wends brother's wedding. I felt kinda guilty about him having to pay for our ticket, but he insisted on taking us with him, even our parents were a bit reluctant but duke breithild had assured them that there's nothing to worry, since we would be accompanied by berkhart ringsted, who would make sure to keep an eye on us.
Wendelin pov
Its my first time on a magic airship, it is about 50 meters long with a breadth of around 15 meters. It has quite a good assortment of food and drinks which are provided by the staff, each passenger recieves a private cabin, whose quality depends on the price of the ticket. The regular ticket was worth, one gold coin per person, because of its price only nobles and rich people travle by magic airship.
I am on my way to the royal capital, there are also ariel, ina, luise, and lia with me, duke breithild was able to convince their parents to allow them to come with me, to attend erich's wedding at the royal capital statburg.
Erich had sent me a letter two months ago stating, that he had gotten engaged, and was being adopted into the brandt household as a son in law, since the brandt family does not have a male heir, erich will be the one to inherit the peerage of the brandt household which holds the rank of knight. In canon erich's wedding happened when wendelin became 13 years old, now its happening five years early.
I look at the view below from the deck of the airship and I see cultivated land next to a monster territory, the monsters almost never come out of their territory so its possible to do agriculture on a plot of land situated next to monster domains, without any fear of the monsters attacking.
Berkhart "oi lad, what are you looking at down there"
Berkhart was told by duke breithild to accompany us to the capital, he also had to take care of some business there as well.
Following my gaze berkhart looks down at the monster domain below us.
Berkhart "hmm, that monster domain is called the regen plains, the former heads of the breithild household had tried to liberate it, but there armies were burned by the ancient dragon, which rules as the boss monster of that domain, they made many attempts to liberate it since the soil in the regan plains is very fertile, but ultimately were not able to succeed"
Wendelin "what can you tell me about the ancient dragon"
I asked in a curious tone, that one would expect from a 7 year old.
Berkhart "well, it's a fire element ancient dragon, one of the last few of its kind in the continent"
Ariel "mister berkhart, didn't you also slay a fire drake, what's the difference between that and an ancient dragon"
Ariel along with lia, ina, and luise, approached me and berkhart, while asking about the fire drake, he slayed.
Berkhart "well you see....."
Berkhart suddenly becane silent, the reason was because he was sensing the same thing I was, a large body of mana flying at a fast speed that was nearing the airship.
At that moment the airship picks up speed. The airship wouldn't just pickup speed out of the blue, especially since the mana efficiency of airships is bad at high speeds, then it means something wrong.
Berkhart "lad, we need to go talk to the captain, follow me"
Me and berkhart than made our way to the bridge of the ship, but the passengers had blocked the path.
Passenger "hey! Why did we speed up all of a sudden! "
Passenger "we have a right to know whats going on! "
Passenger "hey get out of the way! "
The passengers had also noticed that something was wrong, and had come to the bridge to find out, but had been stopped by the sailors. Some of them were questioning the sailors while others were trying to push through them.
Sailor "are you the head mage of the breithild dukedom?"
Then a person wearing a sailor uniform approaches us, it seems that the captain knows berkhart is on this ship. Aftet receiving an an affirmative from berkhart in the form of a nod, the sailor continues to speak.
Sailor" mister berkhart the captain would like to speak with you"
Berkhart "every one please calmdown! Allow me to act as your representative and ascertain the situation from the captain"
Passengers "well, we should leave it to him"
Passengers "if its berkhart than the situation will be resolved"
After seeing berkhart and hearing him speak, the crowd starts to disperse, reassured that the issue will be resolved. It seems that he is pretty famous and has a good reputation to be able to calmdown people just like that. After the crowd dispursed, the sailor led berkhart and me to the bridge.
Kunz "I am kunz the captain of this ship, and who is this?"
After introducing himself to berkhart, the captain speaks, while directing his looks towards me.
Berkhart " you can think of him as my student, now whats going on"
Kunz "the situation is that we are being chased by a fire dragon, we have called for help but, we are too far away from the capital and we can't maintain our current speed for more than a few hours, the only way is for some to deal with a dragon"
The captain said, while pointing towards the figure of the flying dragon chasing the airship, that was visible from the bridge.
Berkhart "yep that's not a fire dragon, that's an ancient fire dragon that is the boss of the monster domain of regen hill, the way to beat it would be to use ice magic"
Kunz "can you beat it?"
The captain asks in a hopeful tone, but his hope is crushed by berkharts next words.
Berkhart " you expect me to face that monster, I don't have the mana to beat it"
Hearing this captain and the crew gain a crestfallen expression on their face.
Berkhart "don't worry the lad over here is my student, I am sure he can handle it"
The crestfallen expression of the crew immediately vanished, while once again gaining a hopeful expression.
Captain "can this young lad truly defeat an ancient dragon"
Berkhart "don't worry the lad can definitely do it, can't you lad"
Wendelin "that dragon doesn't stand a chance"
Berkhart "don't hold back, I will protect the ship, you just focus on beating the dragon"
Wendelin "got it"
The captain informed the passengers to not worry and that berkhart ringsted and his excellent disciple are handling the situation. As the captain made the announcement me and berkhart went towards the hatch at back of the ship.
Berkhart "you can beat it kid, just keep calm and remember alfred's training, its weaknesses is ice so capitalize on that, now go"
Berkhart gives me a pep talk as he opens the hatch of the ship. I use flight magic and magic barrier before exiting the ship, seeing the dragon who is fast approaching, I use wind magic to gather as much air as I can from the surrounding, then I cool it down to the lowest temperature I can, the result is a liquid form of super cooled air, I continue this process without stopping.
When the dragon reaches near, I finally understand how massive it actually is, the lenght of the dragon is over 70 meters, it has the appearance of a western dragon with a tail that had spikes at its end, crimson scales, two legs with razor sharp claws, and a pair of huge wings at its back.
The dragon immediately fires a giant fire breth as soon as it gets near me, but in that instant I teleport to it's side and fired ice lances towards the dragons eye, one of which ended up piercing it's eye. As soon as my ice lance pierced its eye, the lets out a roar of pain and anger, it immediately starts looking around and charges straight at me as soon as it detects me with its remaining eye.
The dragon was too slow and I dodge its charge by using teleportation, I then look up to see a large amount of super cooled air in liquid form has gathered, due to continuously gathering it over the duration of my fight with the dragon.
When the dragon misses its charge and starts to look for me once again, I use this opportunity and use wind magic to shoot the large amount of super cooled liquid air towards the dragons head.
As soon as the super cooled air comes into contact with the dragon's head, a shriek of pure agony is heard from the dragon, before it completely goes silent and it's body becomes limp, before starting to fall.
I immediately used wind magic to keep the dragons body afloat while, simultaneously using life detection magic at the dragon to confirm its death, after I confirm its death, I store its corpse in the magic bag.
When I returned back to the ship I was greeted with the applause of the passenger and crew.
After that the captain guided me and my companion personally to the most luxurious room in the ship. It was like the living room of a rich noble and even had our own maid who would bring us any dish we ordered for free.
Luise "wend you were amazing back there! I still can't believe you defeated an ancient dragon all by yourself"
Lia "hey luise go easy on him he's probably tired after defeating the dragon"
Wendelin "its alright lia, I'm fine the fight wasn't really all that taxing"
We talk while eating the sweets that we ordered from the maid.
Ina "still wend, your seven years old the same as us, and you were able to defeat that dragon that countless other magicians weren't able to beat"
Berkhart "the girls right lad, you did good out there, alfred thought you well. Moreover that dragon had defeated countless subjugation forces in the past that tried to liberate the regen plains, and you defeated it with ease. The duke is gonna he pretty happy, now that the boss of the domain is gone, the extermination of monsters, and then the development of that territory can finally begin"
Arturio "that's right, the corpse of that dragon is gonna go for a hefty amount in the capital"
A middle-aged fat man with brown hair and eyes, speaks while entering the room.
Berkhart "arturio your aboard the ship as well,"
Wendelin "wait arturio, master owned shares in your company right? "
Arturio "yes now as his successor those shares are yours, a pleasure to finally meet you wendelin, alfred and berkhart over there told me a lot about you"
Berkhart "you see arturio over there and me were part of the same adventurer team, but he sustained a permanent injury, which caused him to quit the adventuring profession and now he's a successful business man of the capital"
Hearing the story of arturio the girls made sad expressions.
Arturio "now don't make those faces, I'm perfectly content with my life as it is"
Wendelin "arturio, you said the corpse of the dragon would sell for a lot right, do you have an idea about its selling price? "
Arturio "well around 2500 platinum coins, could be more if its put in auction, but the kingdom will most likely buy it from you at that price"
The girls made shoched faces they didn't think it would be worth so much, while my face stayed the same since that was about the same as my guess.
Berkhart "that's to be expected, since the fire drake we beat was sold for around 350 platinum coins, and it wasn't even a third of that things size"
...
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...
After six hours we arrived at the royal capital statburg, saying our goodbyes to the captain and crew, we exit the airship.
As soon as I stepped out of the ship, I was greeted by a company of knights. The knight who stood at the front has blonde hair with blue eyes and a handsome face, he looked like perfect knight in shining armour.
Warren "greetings my name is warren, the company commander of the chivalric knights. His royal majesty, Helmuth the 37th, has summoned you dragon slayer, please allow us to guide you, we have prepared a carriage for you"
Berkhart "hey lad go wih arturio, I will take the girls with me, to the brandt family home"
Me and arturio then board the carriage along with warren, and are guided by the knights to the royal castle.
Wendelin "mister warren, do you know why I am being summoned to the royal castle"
Warren "well you did a great deed, you defeated that dragon and saved the lives of the people on board the airship, the magic airship which is an asset of the kingdom was also safeguarded by you, thus his majesty will like to reward you. He would also make an offer to buy the corpse of the dragon you defeated"
Wendelin "I see, my first day in the capital and I'm meeting his majesty"
Arturio "don't worry, I will be there, so its going to be fine"
Warren "you know you remind me of master alfred"
Wendelin "wait, I remind you of him, how so?"
Warren "despite being very strong, both of you exhibit a kind aura"
Wendelin "isn't that due to me still being a kid, also you said master alfred, did you also learn from him"
Warren "yes, you see I was born with a small amount of mana, but master alfred taught me how to utilize it efficiently"
He uses his mana to strengthen his body, rather than using it for emission magic, kinfa like a magic knight. He is also someone who got to his position due to his ability and not his birth.
...
...
...
After a while we arrived at the royal palace, we were allowed in without any security or identity checks, probably because we were with warren.
After dropping off the dragon's corose in the backyard of the castle , where it would be inspected and taken apart by professionals, we proceeded our way to the throne room.
Announcer "entering the dragon slayer, wendelin von benno baumeister and arturio maschin as proxy for berhart ringsted"
As the announcer, announced our names the door of the throne room opened and we walked to the front of the throne room, warren joined the royal guard and stood to the side while me and arturio knelt infront of his majesty.
The king who was seated on the throne was a middle-aged man with shoulder lenght silver hair, blue eyes, and a handsom face. He wore a gentle smile on his face.
Helmut "we are helmut the 37th, the king of this helmut kingdom"
Wendelin " I am wendelin von benno baumeister, the 8th son of the baumeister household"
After our introductions finished, we started our talk in earnest.
Helmut "you look very young, may we inquire about your age"
Wendelin "your majesty, I am 7 years of age"
Hearing this both his majesty and the nobles were surprised, my hight was around that of an average 10 year old, so they would have probably thought me around that age, but it must be a truly surprising thing for them to find out that a seven year old was able to defeat an ancient dragon.
Helmut "you are younger than we first believed, we wish to inquire about the battle with the dragon"
I then explained to his majesty the precise details about my battle with the dragon. I used flight and barrier magic at the same time avoiding the dragons attacks, by using teleportatioon magic, while taking advantage of an opening to successfully attack the dragon's eye with an ice lance, then finishing the it of with powerful ice magic to its head.
Helmut "flight, magic barrier, teleportation and even that ice magic, you are incredibly talented despite your young age"
??? "that is correct, your majesty"
From the side an 70 year old man in expensive looking priest garbs, speaks up. His being hear suggests that he is a high ranking church official.
Helmut "does cardinal hoenheim think the same"
The church official who is now cofirmed as cardinal hoenheim, holds the church rank of cardinal, which makes quite an influential person in the church, which is quite a powerful organization in this world, his being here also suggests that he isn't any ordinary cardinal either.
Hoenheim "yes your majesty, for him to perform such a great deed at such a young age, our young hero must truly have the favor of god"
Then cardinal hoenheim directed his gaze towards me, while speaking.
Hoenheim " that is why I would like to perform a real baptism for our young hero at the head assembly hall of the church"
I then gave a glance in arturio's direction, who directed me to accept, by nodding his head.
Wendelin "I humbly accept, cardinal hoenheim"
Hoenheim "that is good, I shall send someone to fetch you, once the preperations have been completed"
Cardinal hoenheim seemed happy, that I obediently accepted, in this world the church holds a lot of authority, so it was better to accept his offer and affiliate myself with him, who is one of the most influential member of the church, especially here in the capital.
Helmut "I would like to request something of you"
Wendelin "what would his majesty, ask of me?"
Helmuth "the corpse of the dragon is currently being dismembered, once that has finished, we would like to buy the bones and magic core of the dragon"
Wendelin "I would gladly sell them to you, your majesty"
Helmut " you see, a magic ship that is four times larger then any other magic ships we currently have, has been discovered in the suburbs of the capital, but it is not in an operational condition. The bones and magic core would help rebuild that ship"
The kingdom has been trying to make magic airships for a long time now, but the technology hasn't reached the point where they are able to build one, so the only way for one to obtain a magic airship is to uncover one from the ruins of the ancient magic civilization. The kingdom exclusively owns all large magic airships, like the one I saved from the dragon, there are a total of eight currently under operation by the kingdom.
The one his majesty is talking about is around 4 times bigger than the large magic airships currently operated by the kingdom, the magic core of the fire drake hunted by berkart and arturio during their adventurer days, is now used as the magic gem for operating one of those large magic airships. Thus the magic gem required for the new magic airship which is four times bigger, also needs to be much bigger and since it isn't known when the opportunity to buy another one will come around, the kingdom wants to secure the magic core of the dragon I defeated, so it could be processed into a magic gem and used in the new magic airship, the bones of the dragon would most likely be used in rebuilding the hull of the magic airship.
Helmut "the magic core and bones are currently being taken out from the corpse of the dragon, once they have been retrieved, we shall discus the price regarding them, and everything else harvested from the corpse of the dragon shall be handed over to you, but that is for later, for now allow us to bestow you with an honerable reward, for the noble deed of slaying the dragon and protecting the nobles and merchants onboard the magic airship, as well as safeguarding the airship which is an asset of the kingdom, I Helmuth the 37th grant to you the 6th rank of baronet and present you with this, the twin dragon medal"
Wendelin "my blade shall be wielded for his majesty, for this kingdom and for its people"
I Speak the oath, after his majesty conferred the rank of baronet to me. Thus the audience with his majesty eneded with my appointment as a noble of the kingdom and recieving a medal from his majesty.