While Koo Dae-sung's awakening as a Holy Knight of Life was undoubtedly the most prominent event of the Second Korean War, it was not the end of the story.
While Leon, the Holy Knights, and the Knights of the Burning Sword were the overwhelming force, the Old and New Templars became the dominant force after the power was sealed by the Great Magic of Rakshar, Lord of Chaos.
Among them, four men stood out.
Han Ha-ri, Han Soo-ho, Chun So-yeon, and Kim Jae-hyuk. Their ability to maximize the power of the holy artifact made them more than just S-class Hunters.
"Should we prioritize those four?"
Leon and Beatrice, Vulcanus and Karina, all of the Holy Knights were present at the meeting, except for Yappy, who had regained his body and was busy building the city's infrastructure, and Koo Dae-sung, who was helping to form a rice field near Pyongyang.
The topic was surprisingly simple.
"There's not much we can do for a while. It's up to those below to stabilize the occupied city."
Holy Knights are symbols of power. Of course, it's important to use their power to work miracles for the gods and care for the people, but it's not enough for saints and saintesses to roam around.
"We're going to focus on training the knights first. We're going to have a lot of new residents in the future."
"Is that why you want to train those four?"
Vulcanus asked, and Leon nodded. The so-called intensive training of high-level talent.
"Knights are knights, but--- I'd like to add two more."
"Who?"
"Lord Koo Dae-sung and the new Black Dragon."
"A dragon------"
Leon understood when Koo Dae-sung was mentioned.
He was a steadfast knight with a noble will, but his skills weren't exactly perfect.
"You plan to teach him hand-to-hand combat?"
"Yes. But I would prefer to be the one to teach him."
"Why is that?"
"Because Your Majesty should be in charge of the Black Dragon, not Lord Koo Dae-sung."
"Hmph------"
The first life to be born after the World Tree bloomed was the Black Dragon, born from the latent factor in Karina's dragon heart.
The first offspring of the Dragon God Dragonia, called the Black Dragon because it hadn't been named yet, it had been a subtle headache for the Pyongyang Reconstruction Project.
"It is said to have taken over the entire Sun Palace and made its nest."
"It must have liked the jewels and gold inside."
It's in the blood of dragons to covet gold and gems. They were greedy and arrogant, and legend has it that they often robbed the treasuries of dwarves.
"The only person who has ever dealt with a dragon is this king. My reign was one of the few active periods of the winged fire dragon."
In Leon's time, thousands of years after the fall of the ancestral dragon Dragonia, dragons were nowhere to be seen.
Leon had only seen them once, when he volunteered to help slay a dragon that had taken over the dwarves' treasury.
"Dragons are arrogant and proud. Even if you, Karina, have a dragon's heart and are an agent of Dragonia, it will not be easy to suppress that temperament."
"For that reason, I would like to leave the Black Dragon in your care."
The Holy Knights are the transcendents who led the Lionheart in its heyday. But they too will one day fade like the stars and head to the feast of the gods.
The Holy Knights' duty was not only to defend the kingdom, but also to teach and guide the next generation.
* * * * *
"And I am to teach you!"
At Vulcanus' exclamation, Ha-ri, Soo-ho, and Jae-hyuk looked at each other wordlessly.
"We'll be grateful if you teach us."
Ha-ri and the rest of the Knights of the Ten Thousand Gods had been trained by Leon before.
Swordsmanship, spearmanship, horsemanship, theology but not only in theory and repeated practice, but also in actual combat at the gate.
"You've been trained by the King himself, I admit. His Majesty is an exemplary knight in many ways. You must have received a formal, almost quantitative education."
'Is that so?'
'Holding a shield and parrying a mounted charge is standard in Lionheart?'
They were a little puzzled, but Leon's training was quite methodical.
They all got injured here and there due to the hard training, but their skills expanded.
Moreover, with the healing of the Holy Grail, they could train virtually indefinitely, so the amount of training was enormous.
"But my training will be different."
Before Vulcanus could finish his sentence, a group of frightening red-armored knights approached.
Five knights of the Balthan Burning Sword. They took up positions around the three of them in a wide, encircling formation.
"The Knights are also participating in the training?"
When Vulcanus laughed at Jae-hyuk's question, he let out his signature breath of flame.
"No, their role is to 'keep you from running away'."
The next moment, the fire from the Burning Sword Knights instantly formed a wall. The sudden burst of fire startled the three of them, but it was just what Vulcanus planned.
"It's pure flame, without distinction. It will not 'burn' anyone but Sir Ha-ri, who is immune to fire."
Vulcanus, of course, insists that Ha-ri was marked by him and to make sure she doesn't escape.
"I, Boo, Sir Vulcanus, I'm not running away--- I'd like to say I am, but------"
Ha-ri's words stuttered with endless anxiety. Usually, the humans of Lionheart tended to go to extremes when told to do something.
"My training method is simple! The strong are born by breaking through endless limbs, which means---!"
The pillar of fire emanating from Vulcanus soared high into the sky. Even without using Divine Descent, his flames were already the strongest in Lionheart's history.
"Repeated near-death experiences make one stronger!"
grararararara────!!!
It was a simple and stupid training method, but it was surprisingly effective.
People learn fast when they learn by blood.
* * * * *
The first offspring of Dragonia, born through the World Tree, the Black Dragon of this era wondered what he should do.
Being enemies with the gods was written into his genes but his great ancestor sided with them.
[Now is the time to grow in strength and multiply your kind, and you must lead my future offspring.]
To do so, he said, he must become the agent of a covenant with his divine gold.
[Even then, I cannot bow my neck to that human wench.]
The Black Dragon's words made Dragonia think that he was indeed his offspring, but he shook his head and said.
[But we'll have to work together, for even though you're strong, you can't match the strength of the Holy Knights, including Karina.]
It was a very objective and factual advice but the Black Dragon was furious.
[I, a descendant of the great Dragonia, can't be compared to mere mortals!]
The arrogance of the dragon race.
Having fought to the death against even the gods, their pride is not normal.
The Black Dragon is a special creature that was born from the World Tree and inherited all the knowledge and abilities to lead the dragons that would be born in the future.
He was even disrespectful to Karina, the woman who provided him with the factor.
[I acknowledge that you are the eponymous agent, but don't be under any illusions that you will be treated the same as the eponymous one; that was the last time I carried you on my back.]
The Black Dragon was displeased that he had carried a human on his back for a short time during the battle with the Demon Lord, and found his temporary nest.
It is a dragon's instinct to dig a nest and gather treasure. He sought out the most ornate and largest building in the North and made his nest there.
It was stuffed with the odd human corpse, but he burned it to the ground.
The Pyongyang Sun Palace, where the Black Dragon resided, became a dragon's nest that no one dared approach.
"Hmm~ Well, that's a nice touch."
An uninvited visitor came to the Black Dragon's Rare. Hearing his footsteps approaching the entrance, the Black Dragon snarled.
[How dare you humans enter without my permission---!]
Black, slit pupils glared ferociously at the intruder.
Its golden hair was gorgeous enough for a dragon to covet, and its aura of misdirection could not be compared to that of a dragon.
"This will be the holy ground of the World Tree. You built your nest here without permission."
Leon met the dragon's fierce gaze and didn't flinch.
"You nested here under the generous favor of this king and the gods. You may not be grateful, but where are your eyes?"
[You---!]
The Black Dragon raised its head and looked down at Leon.
"I am Leon Dragonia Lionheart, King of the Lionheart. I am the agent of all the gods and the guardian of the Holy Grail. Be polite, lizard."
[You're going too far with your words, dwarf!]
The Black Dragon realized how powerful the man before him was.
He had witnessed the moment he dismembered the Demon Lord Rakshar.
But he would not allow his dragon pride to be subdued by a human. The man before him is a dragon slayer, a descendant of the one who slayed the great ancestral dragon Dragonia.
[Dragons do not submit to humans!]
Without the slightest hesitation, the black dragon swung its massive tail and struck Leon. He didn't expect him to die from this, but it's the fulfillment of his attitude.
-Thud!
There was a dizzying impact sound, however, the black dragon felt his tail stop at a certain point, right in front of Leon's nose.
[------!?]
"Well, your strength isn't too bad for your size."
Even as the dragon's tail swung, which must have weighed several tons, Leon blocked it with one arm.
Incredible strength in a human body. The black dragon felt his body collapse under the weight of the tail.
"This place is narrow, let's go to the open."
The dragon's massive body swung around, smashing into the solar palace. The black dragon soared into the air with the tail it had just let go of.
[Krr---!]
The Black Dragon gritted his teeth in shame and spread his wings. He stops in midair and stares down at Leon, his wings flapping in a frenzy.
Leon summoned Stallion the Divine Beast and flew up into the sky, and the two beings stared at each other from the same level.
"We can't have a brawl here, it'll ruin the city. Let's go somewhere more open."
[Don't tell me what to do! You're arrogant!]
At the Black Dragon's retort, Leon smiled mischievously and pointed his holy spear.
"Even if you don't want to, I'll force you. This king has no sense of propriety when it comes to the gods."
The next moment, a beam of light poured out of the holy spear, engulfing the black dragon in an instant and knocking it out of the sky above Pyongyang.
The Black Dragon crashed in the middle of a lake, like a dump truck caught in a tsunami.
Taesong Lake near Pyongyang, home to a golf course for Pyongyang's upper echelons, it's a place no one visits since the fall of Pyongyang.
-Crawl!
The black dragon in the lake breathed out in anger.
Destructive black flames erupted, tearing a hole in the sky. Looking down at it, Leon honestly admired it.
"I've fought a fire-breathing dragon before I became the Lionheart King, and this one is even better."
Leon noted that this dragon was no different than a newborn baby.
Although it was a masterpiece of knowledge and magic, its youthfulness could not be ignored. For example──
[------?!]
As the black dragon flew after Leon, he felt his wings fail to keep him afloat.
He had been deprived of the privilege of soaring into the sky as naturally as breathing since the moment he was born.
[You! What have you done!]
Leon flew low to the enraged Black Dragon and said.
"I don't know the theoretical part."
The Black Dragon realized that Leon wasn't the one who had blocked his wings. The Magician Queen was sitting on the grass of the golf course, near the lake, sipping tea.
"You do realize, don't you, that your wings alone cannot support that weight?"
The black dragon stretched his wings with a grunt, but they only stirred the lake, still as flaccid as waterlogged cotton.
"The conclusion, then, is simple: the dragon's flapping is not simply a physical action, but requires additional magical power."
[You------]
Beatrice smirked at the dragon's torn pupils as it glared back at her.
"From now on, you'll have to learn how to deal with your body and magic at the same time while dealing with His Majesty and me. Don't you think you should be able to shrug off this much obstruction magic?"
Even with two powerful people in front of him, the black dragon didn't slow down. The dragon's pride would not allow it.
But
"Your Majesty, you're still a teacher, shouldn't you be paid?"
"Do you expect anything in return?"
"Well, this is the first time I've ever seen a dragon, and there's a lot I'd like to learn about it, so I'd like to------."
Tuition is one dragon byproduct per day, such as claws or scales.
"Do you mind if I take some?"
"No. The grace of a master is like the heavens, and it is the law that a disciple must repay it."
"Hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo!"
The pure scholarly curiosity and blatantly flirtatious gaze couldn't help but chill the Black Dragon.