Just before descending from the clouds and reaching the ground, Orbis returned to his human form and lightly landed while holding Litania in his arms.

When she was sitting on his back, she felt as light as a feather, but in his arms, she felt just like a warm, freshly baked marshmallow.

“Thank you for carrying me, Orbis.”

“This way is faster.”

“Dipamo is definitely further north, the snow has piled up softly.”

Litania looked up at the sky. In the highlands of Rumor, the snow was so thin that you could see the crystals if you looked closely, but in Dipamo, large snowflakes were pouring down.

In the cold weather of Dipamo, this was probably not the first snow. But for the two of them, this was the first snow of the year.

Litania seemed to enjoy being hit by the snow, turning her nose red and reaching out her hand towards the falling snowflakes.

Orbis smiled slightly at her small exclamation of “ha, ha”, which felt exactly like an innocent child.

‘I heard that couples go on dates while being hit by the first snow.’

What would happen if two people who were not lovers were hit by the first snow together?

Seeing that her ears, visible through her fluffy hair, had turned red from the cold, Orbis approached her.

“Litania. If you get hit by the snow like that, you’ll catch a cold.”

Orbis took off his blue cloak and wrapped it around Litania’s shoulders. One by one, white dots began to appear on the cloak that had been clean thanks to magic when it was draped over his shoulders.

“Aren’t you cold, Orbis?”

“This level of cold is nothing to a dragon.”

Litania nodded slightly in understanding. If the divine dragon could remain unharmed even in the Dragon Realm where fireballs and ice rain fell, he would not catch a cold even if he climbed a snowy mountain wearing only thin clothes.

In the first place, it was questionable whether dragons could even catch colds.

“Since it’s my first snow, I want to see it a bit more.”

“If you go sightseeing in this weather, you might end up sick in bed with a cold.”

“Hmm. That would certainly be troublesome.”

Her small face nodded repeatedly, then she grasped the blue cloak wrapped around her with both hands and moved her steps towards the palace.

Orbis stared blankly at Litania as she walked away with quick steps, and followed her from a slight distance.

It was to avoid being hit by the first snow together.

‘When we leave Dipamo, this journey will probably come to an end.’

The footprints left on the white snow felt like signposts heading towards farewell.

The palace of the Duchy of Dipamo was different from that of Cermo, which had a dry climate with developed magic stones, and that of Rumor, a religious nation located in the highlands.

It looked more like a large museum than a palace. The whirring sound of gears could be heard as the windows repeatedly opened and closed, and steam was spewing heat from the chimneys.

It seemed as if the entire castle had become a giant clock.

“Wow, Orbis. Look at this! It’s an elevator!”

“Doesn’t Beryllverbia also have elevators?”

“Not this kind of mechanical one. It’s definitely different because it’s a technologically advanced country.”

Beryllverbia also had devices that used waterwheels and weights to move up and down, but they were limited in height and were originally developed for the purpose of transporting goods, not people.

However, the elevators in Dipamo were different in that they were complex devices designed to carry humans.

Perhaps because the palace of the Duchy of Dipamo had elevators connecting the upper and lower floors, it was said that they did not use stairs unless it was an emergency.

Whirr. As several gears interlocked and rotated, the transmission chain caught on the blades moved, and the elevator carrying the two of them went up.

The elevator was shaped by four pillars and had glass walls on all sides, so they could examine all the floors of the palace as they went up.

Litania seemed to find it fascinating, opening her mouth and constantly exclaiming “Wow”.

“Litania. If you show admiration for technology when you’ve come to threaten the Duke of Dipamo, you’ll be looked down upon.”

“What’s wrong with admiring technology? And I didn’t really come to threaten him, did I? Rather, I came to have peace talks.”

“I don’t know how pressuring him to take responsibility for the kidnapping incident and withdraw his troops is any different from threatening.”

“Orbis, you’re just eccentric. I’m a pacifist.”

A pacifist. That might certainly be true. Since a spring breeze blew even in the barren Dragon Realm after Litania arrived.

In Cermo and Rumor before, Litania had elicited a gentle negotiation from the two kings without raising her voice once.

Of course, it was a result that was possible because the divine dragon Orbis was standing behind her, but if she had wanted to take a more aggressive approach, she could have easily and quickly brought the two countries to their knees.

The fact that she didn’t meant that Litania was indeed a pacifist.

Except for the fact that she was shaking his heart so turbulently.

“If you’re moderate, I have to be eccentric. That’s how we balance each other out, don’t we?”

“Orbis. In this situation, you should say, ‘I will also follow your peaceful approach.'”

“How can I do that when my heart is not at peace?”

“Your heart is troubled? Why?”

“…Let’s go in.”

Whirr. Click. When they reached the top floor, the gears that had been rotating at a uniform speed stopped, and the door automatically opened with a creaking sound.

‘There are also convenient aspects of technology over magic.’

Orbis glanced at the complex structure of the gears visible through the transparent glass.

Dragons possess all the knowledge that exists in the world. That also meant that they could understand the principles of any technology created by humans just by looking at it.

‘Should I have them make something like this in the Imperial Palace? Litania might like it.’

All the objects in the Dragon Realm could be moved by magic, but the Imperial Palace was different. When they returned to their homeland, Litania would be staying in the Imperial Palace from now on, so it would be better to raise the technological level of Beryllverbia for her comfortable life.

Perhaps having heard rumors from the spies planted in the two countries beforehand, the Duke of Dipamo received Litania and Orbis quite politely.

He readily acknowledged his mistakes and even brought up the topic of compensating Litania first.

However, he did not agree to the matter of withdrawing his troops.

“This is all I can do for Your Highness the Princess.”

“Your Majesty the Duke.”

“I have made this much concession first, so I believe that the Princess of Beryllverbia is not shameless enough to expect more than that.”

There was a reason he intentionally took a polite attitude first.

If Litania had demanded and he had given in, he could have taken a stronger stance, but the Duke took the initiative by offering an apology and solution first.

In fact, that compensation was insubstantial. Taking a low posture for a moment was humiliating for a monarch, but it was not something that harmed the country.

Litania was not the Emperor of Beryllverbia, but only the Princess, and the location was also the Duke of Dipamo’s audience chamber.

“I have never desired such compensation.”

“Ah. Then you mean to say that you came to see me seeking some other compensation, Princess?”

He was skilled in the art of placing responsibility on the other party.

Litania unexpectedly had a talent for diplomacy, but she was not to the level of gaining the upper hand against the Duke, who maintained his country with technology and diplomacy due to the lack of resources surrounded by mountains on all sides.

Her composed expression gradually faltered.

“In the first place, it was Rumor who proposed the kidnapping incident. In a sense, we Dipamo are also victims. However…”

Tick. Creak. Tick. Creeaak.

The gears that had been rotating regularly began to create dissonance as they misaligned.

The Duke of Dipamo, who had been facing Litania with a relaxed expression the whole time, looked at Orbis with a startled face.

He had not moved since he first entered the audience chamber. He didn’t even blink.

Even now, he was not moving.

‘The, the clock…!’

Behind him, the giant clock could be seen rotating in reverse.

Creak. Creak.

The intricately meshed gears began to separate, and the chain that had been interlocked stretched taut.

“You, Divine Dragon…”

“I merely accompanied Princess Litania as her escort, so don’t mind me and continue your conversation.”

Orbis smiled very slightly, lifting the corners of his mouth.

Behind that beautiful smile, the chain that had sprung from the gear stretched out with a clang.

The hands of the oversized clock, made with the cutting-edge technology of the Duchy of Dipamo, quickly rotated backwards.

Clang. Clang.

The regular movements of the gears lined up along the wall twisted in different directions.

Click.

As one gear malfunctioned, the heating device stopped.

Screech.

The smoke that should have escaped upwards through the chimney suddenly descended into the room.

“What, what are you doing!”

“Doing what?”

Orbis tilted his head with an expressionless face, as if he had no idea at all.

“I am not doing anything, though?”

“Just now, the machines…”

“Hmm. It seems they have malfunctioned. I had heard that Dipamo’s technology was remarkable and was looking forward to it, but for the devices to break down on the day of receiving honored guests is regrettable. It must have cost a considerable budget.”

The Duke’s expression turned angry at Orbis’s brazen answer, then quickly turned ashen.

He had realized why the divine dragon had broken the devices.

‘He said he merely accompanied Princess Litania as her escort and told us to continue the conversation.’

The device controlling the machines in the palace was connected to the clock tower outside, and that clock tower controlled the heating facilities of the entire capital.

If the divine dragon could break the oversized clock and heating device in the audience chamber without lifting a finger, it meant he could also tamper with the clock tower outside.

‘This, this wicked bastard…!’

It was a warning that if they did not listen to Litania’s words, he would destroy the entire city’s system at once.