Despite the impact, the warship only tilted sharply, almost vertically, before returning to its upright position.  Jill thought it strange, but almost no signs of the enemy remained on the ship afterwards.  They had either fallen into the sea, gotten caught up somewhere on the ship if they had managed to remain, or were unconscious.

Thus, Jill’s first action was to remove Lutiya’s gag.

“Are you alright, Lutiya?”
“…Sen…se, I…”
“It’s alright.  That speech was enough for now.”

Hiding with the students inside the passenger ship while waiting for the chance to charge in, she had felt like crying.  Lutiya could have hurled abuse to incite violence, but at the very end, he chose not to do so.

She cradled Lutiya’s head after he had fallen on his backside.

“Which is why your scolding will come later.  Return to the ship and get away from here with everyone.  I’ll take care of—”
“—That guy from earlier, that wasn’t Maynard-aniue!”

Lutiya clutched Jill’s arm and pleaded.

“He hid his face with bandages and an eyepatch.  His disguise is good enough to not be recognized from a distance, but that was—”

“…Hey, release- release me, you insolent wretch!”
“Yo, Jill-sensei, can you call Hades!?”

Roger, who had somehow come onto the ship without anyone noticing, revealed himself and threw the bandaged man to the ground.  The bandages made his face unrecognizable at first, but then his eye patch came off due to the recoil of being thrown.  Jill gasped upon recognizing him.

“Principal Gunter!  Your death was a bluff!?  No, did you switch places with Maynard!?”
“Even if you realize it now, it’s already too late!”

Then, as if to drown out Gunter’s shout, a bell rang out.  With a start, everyone turned to look in the same direction.

The bell rang from city hall.  It was announcing that noon had come.  Roger grabbed Gunter by his collar and lifted him up.

“Impossible, was city hall set up the same way as the principal’s office!?”
“It’s not the same.  I properly integrated it—the black dragon’s cry.”

“I destroyed that magic!  Extracting the sound shouldn’t have been possible!”
“Hah! This is exactly why students who look down on teachers are so dim witted! I am the foremost authority in dragon-controlling flute research! The sound-gathering magical tools and magic—those were all developed by me. Restoring it was child’s play!

Gunter laughed in triumph as the eyes of Jill and everyone else widened.

“If dragons burn down the city, the hostility towards the Rave Empire will swell. Whether the students live or die, it doesn’t matter! My years of research will finally be proven!”
“No, you don’t intend to actually have the dragons attack the city, do you!?”
“The dragon controlling flute is complete!  Every dragon will go berserk!”

Along with the final toll of the bell was a rough noise mixed with magical energy.  This sound that started to spread, as though a continuation of the bell, was the voice of the dragon king.

“Ukkyuu.”

For a moment, Jill had hoped that just maybe it wouldn’t work. It was only an “Ukkyuu,” after all.  Shouldn’t a more intense, threatening cry be needed for it to have any effect? That faint hope, however, was quickly dashed as dragons rose up in a great swarm from deeper within the island.

“…So Rho… really is the Dragon King…”
“Ukyu!?”

As if to say, “How mean,” Rho poked his head out from the backpack on Jill’s back, but perhaps bothered by the sound, he immediately grabbed his head. While Jill was panicking, someone grabbed Rho by the head and lifted him out of the bag.

“Why are you acting like a victim?  Do something, you.  Aren’t you supposed to be the Dragon King?”
“Your Majesty!”
“Ugyu! Ukkyuugyu, ukyuu ukyu ukyukyuu ukyu kyu kyu kyuu…”

Rho, still being held by his head, flailed about as he tried to convey something to Hades.  Hades in turn sighed out.

“Useless creature… Well, I knew it was hopeless the moment you didn’t respond to Rave’s call.”
“Did you say Rave?  The Dragon God Rave?  Then you must be the Dragon Emperor that Maynard-sama spoke of.”

While restrained by Roger, Gunter spoke up in glee.

“How is it?  Being bested by the very research you yourself banned!?  I wasn’t wrong about anything!  What about the Dragon God!?  What about the Rave Empire!?  Your dependable dragons no longer obey your commands!  Hahaha, a fitting end for the cursed emperor—gah.”

With a dull thud, Roger slammed Gunter’s face into the deck.  Then he gave a pleasant smile.

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