Chapter 22. I believe I can fly and Preparations

Having summoned a White Dragon as his familiar, Mordred was more than satisfied. He did not need to hide too much, so it was fine if his pet was a dragon.

It wasn't without any price though. He spent nearly all of his Magic Power reserves on this summoning. Additionally, from now on his familiar would be a constant drain on his Mana as a price for their contract.

Luckily, Mordred could fight by relying on Battle Aura and his Mana Pool continued growing, so he wasn't worried about this even if the dragon grew and the upkeep cost increased. For now, the amount of energy that the little dragon took from him was completely negligible.

While his familiar went to sleep, Mordred continued with his preparations.

This started with the count of items he'd need, but for the time being he didn't begin purchasing them because he waited for the response of the King first.

If the King agreed for his journey, then the crown would cover all the costs of preparation and travel, and Mordred might even receive some nice equipment for free. He'd also certainly have bodyguards accompany him, which would likely take care of all the troublesome logistics.

If not, Mordred will have to purchase traveling clothes and other items himself.

As for whether the King would agree, he had no idea. He was a super genius, one that should be meticulously nurtured, but letting him out of the kingdom would also mean losing control over this future weapon of destruction; 8 years old was just too young to do that!

…

In the meantime, the king Lucius von Kingdragon soon received the report directly from Hector, hearing about the 16th Prince's wish to travel to the Asura Kingdom. He had also learned of Prince Mordred's progress in swordsmanship in the Sword God Style and how he managed to defeat Hector.

After Hector left, Lucius formed a smile on his lips. 'This child is truly my blessing from God! If he wants to go… Then I should probably allow things to take their course.'

Although it might not seem like it, the King was a very religious man. However, the god he worshiped was not Saint Milis but the secret god of humans who helped him attain his rightful position – Hitogami.

Lucius might have otherwise been wary of Mordred betraying him if he let him go, but by now he was fully convinced that this boy was his gift from God to help him secure his rule. If not, God would have surely warned him.

Seeing how he could even command a dragon, Mordred might be fated to rule the Kingdragon Kingdom in the future.

Given that God had not visited him in his dream at this time, it can only mean that there is no need for him to appear. Mordred had never shown to be a traitorous type either.

Despite that, if God only said a word, the King would follow his instructions without a single doubt and cut down that child on the spot.

…

On the next day, Mordred once again had swordsmanship training with Hector.

Albion was too curious of the outside world, so had also brought him with him. Even though the dragon didn't quite like the brightness of daylight, curiosity won him over.

As Mordred walked with a dog-sized white dragon on his shoulder through the royal palace, it was indeed quite a sight. The maids and servants were dumbfounded and some scared, and Albion would make faces and laugh (growl) at them.

"Grrrr!"

[Silly humans, haha!]

In the private training ground, Mordred began his warm-up, cutting the air with the technique of Longsword of Light, and soon Hector appeared.

"Your Highness, His Majesty has agreed to your journey to Asura," Hector informed him.

"Ooh…" Mordred was positively surprised. That was nice. Did the King have such blind faith in him?

Hector continued, "However, he would like to see you before you leave. He also wants you to give you a fitting sword as a reward for officially becoming a Sword Saint at such a young age."

"Oh, a sword?..." Mordred became interested. He indeed was in need of a good sword – something much better than made from ordinary steel that can be brought in the market.

Hector added, "I've also offered to travel with you to Asura as your escort."

Mordred considered it a possibility, so he wasn't surprised. He said, "Oh, then let's not take anyone else."

"Hm? You don't want anyone else?" Hector frowned. "Your Highness, it isn't a wise decision. It will be a long journey that will take nearly a full year."

"I know, but… I plan to fly there."

Hector was dumbfounded when he heard this. "... Fly?"

"Yes. But I can only carry one person. At most two. But it will be more comfortable with just one person, and they also need to be able to withstand the wind pressure."

After hearing all this, Hector no longer knew what to think. His Highness… planned to fly to Asura?

He seemed completely serious.

But that was just too crazy to say even for him!

However, Hector wasn't the only surprised person at the notion of Mordred being able to fly.

Albion was dumbfounded. [Eh, Boss, you can fly?]

Mordred answered him, 'Yep.'

[But you have no wings!] Albion flapped his white wings, showing them off.

'I can fly even without wings. Did you think you're the only one who can fly, huh?' He looked at the little dragon cheekily.

[That's not fair!] Albion began to stomp the stone floor. He could read Mordred's mind, so he knew he was not lying, and he felt wronged. Boss had no wings! It was not fair that he could fly too!

…

After returning to the Court Magician's Tower after training, Mordred looked at the continental map of the Central Continent.

[Is that Asura Kingdom place far away?] Albion asked.

"Yes, it's very far away."

According to his earlier estimates, while the Demon Continent was around the size of Africa, the Central Continent was more than twice as big, being bigger than Europe and Asia combined.

Mordred pointed at the map, saying, "We are here. This is the city of Wyvern, nearly at the most southern point of the continent. This is the way we'll have to travel, going north, through most of the continent… And… to get all the way to the central area of the Asura Kingdom it will normally indeed take close to a year. But I plan to take a shortcut by flying from city to city."

Flying high in the air directly to the Asura Kingdom was something that would probably be too much for his Mana reserves and he would also be attacked by hordes of dragons if he wanted to pass over the mountain ranges. That's why he instead planned to fly from city to city when he had enough Magic Power and then pass through the Red Dragon's Lower Jaw in an orderly manner.

Although he knew that he could fly, he only used it to cover small distances so far. Summoning a large flying beast would make it easy on him, as he'd only need to maintain a gravity field around them to carry additional people and luggage, but it was a chance for him to test himself and practice his flying unassisted.

Furthermore, he set himself 8 years old as the time frame of leaving Wyvern because it would allow him to meet Eris before Rudeus and before she begins becoming infatuated with him. When flying, he should in fact reach Asura long before that point and be able to help Eris become even stronger than in canon, which he'd certainly like to see happen.

'Well, it's still going to be exciting!'

After checking the map, Mordred decided to make a count of all his gold coins, which he previously already sorted out into groups of 100 as he was receiving it.

As he opened the wooden cache holding his wealth, Albion's eyes seemed to have gone round.

[Shiny!!!]

Mordred faintly smiled. There are two main fantasy stereotypes related to dragons - that they are obsessed with hoarding gold and other shining treasures, and that they're gluttonous and lustful creatures. So far he could confirm that the first two were correct. As for the last, Albion seemed too young for that.

[Boss, are you rich?] Albion asked, looking at him.

"Pretty rich," Mordred replied casually.

[Something there smells really good. Let me eat!]

"Something? You mean this?" Mordred lifted up a Magic Crystal he received from the 5th Prince in the past. According to what he read, it is not only humans that have interest in Magic Crystals because monsters would also seek them out and eat them to become stronger.

[Yep! Let me eat!] Albion licked his reptilian snout.

Mordred frowned. "No way! Just this one crystal is 100 gold coins. I can't just let you eat it."

[But you said you're rich!]

"I'm rich.. Compared to an ordinary person. But among the princes, I'm poor. Yes, I'm very poor!"

[Liar! Stingy! Stingy liar!] Albion began stomping the floor.

Mordred sighed. "Stop throwing a tantrum. Are you a child?"

[I'm not! I'm older than you!]

"Then behave like it." Mordred ignored the little dragon and began counting what he gathered so far.

Albion continued complaining, but despite all the fuss he still didn't try to snatch the Magic Crystal without permission. Mordred guessed that this should be the result of their contract. As a familiar, Albion still had to obey his summoner.

Counting all of his wealth, Mordred had around 1500 gold coins.

It was this much because after he demonstrated King ranked Magic at the age of 7, Julius negotiated to increase his monthly allowance from 20 to 50 gold coins.

Julius received a salary from the crown itself, so he didn't need to be paid, but Mordred still gave him some extra gold and spent some on a few items.

However, he couldn't take all the gold that he owned.

His bag had up to 50 liters worth of storage while being the size of a large wallet on the outside. In terms of gold, his bag would hold more than 2.5 thousand Kingdragon Gold Coins, but he also needed space for other things.

And in particular, he needed space to hold Ablion in!

Unfortunately, the white dragon was larger than an owl that he expected to get and he didn't want to leave him behind.

That's why he decided that he would only take 100 gold coins with him while the rest he'd exchange for Magic Crystals or Magic Stones, which took less space.

In the following days, Mordred received additional funds for the trip from the crown.

He used them to purchase a complete enchanted and fitting traveling outfit, a holster for his staff, a reinforced dagger and a leather backpack that he filled with some necessities like a sleeping bag, a towel and so on.

Before leaving he wrote one more letter to Zanoba, just in the case the future changes.

Most of the preparations were complete and he only waited for the King's summons.

...

Several days passed as Mordred and Hector made various preparations.

Julius began to suspect something and Mordred had to explain it to him, making Julius eventually believe that he would naturally travel with Mordred as his Guardian Knight.

And although Mordred wouldn't mind taking Julius with him, he wanted him to stay because he had another mission for him.

One of those days, Mordred was summoned by the King.

This time the King once again had two beauties by his side, but this time the women were different.

The palace eunuch announced: "The 16th Prince, Mordred Kingdragon, and his Guardian Knight, Julius Frostguard!"

Mordred entered deeper into the throne room together with Julius.

Julius then knelt down on the red carpet and Mordred followed.

"Your Majesty."

"Father…"

The King looked at them with what seemed like a stern look, before he formed an appreciative smile. "Stand up. I've heard of your accomplishments with the sword, son. And I also heard that you've always been working very hard. You keep surpassing everyone's expectations in everything you do."

Mordred looked up at the king as if he was a child delighted to be noticed. "Thank you for your praise, father!"

The king faintly nodded in satisfaction, then said, "You wanted to go to the Asura Kingdom. I understand that you wish to keep progressing on the path of swordsmanship, so I'll send you off. But before that, you will need a fitting sword. William…"

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

An attendant stepped forward, taking out a sheathed sword.

From a dark-brown hard leather scabbard, the man pulled out a beautiful sword which was on the shortest end of longsword lengths, looking like a bastard sword or even a two-handed gladius. The blade itself was silver and in the shape of a leaf, widening at the 2/3rd of the blade's length before transforming into a sharp tip.

Mordred was surprised. 'A leaf-shaped blade? That's almost like Clarent!'

The attendant, William, explained, "It is one of Master Yulian Jalisco's 48 Demon Swords created from the bones of the king of King Dragons Kajakut! Its name is Ascalon. His Majesty heard of your problem of ordinary swords breaking when you inject your Magic Power into them, so he decided to gift you with this sword."

'One of the Demon Swords... So it isn't just an enchanted sword that never loses its edge but a rare Magic Sword!' Mordred thought, positively surprised.

When using Mana Burst on them, he indeed had this problem that ordinary steel blades could not withstand his Magic Power and this kind of rough strengthening over the limit.

He could turn a stick into a weapon of destruction, but if he used his complete strength, even a steel sword would shatter with a single strike. A Magic Sword should be no exception.

Magic Swords of this world had various abilities, so he could only hope that this sword was truly fitting for him like the man said.

William continued, "This sword will not have this problem. The more Magic Power is injected into it, the stronger and sharper it will get! That's its special ability. In terms of worth, it's at least 50,000 Kingdragon Gold Coins!"

Mordred was surprised again when he heard this. A sword worth 50,000 gold coins? The King wasn't being stingy with him!

"Thank you, father." Mordred knelt down again, expressing heart-felt gratitude.

Soon after, he received Ascalon into his hands.

Because it had the length of a bastard sword, in Mordred's hands as a 130 cm tall 8-year-old kid it appeared like a fairly long longsword. It was just the right length for his size that he'll quickly get used to.