A Bitter Battlefield
“I love fighting powerful opponents. There’s nothing more thrilling than a no-holds-barred battle to the death with someone truly strong. I don’t mind dying on the battlefield if it means I can have the hottest battle ever.”
—Ryuona the Grass Cutter, Eighth Seat of the Shiga Eight Swordsmen
“There’s so damn many of them.”
Ryuona of the Shiga Eight looked across at the battle about to unfold in a grassy field between mountains.
This was a critical travel point at the tip of Vistall Duchy. Some 7,500 royal army soldiers and 9,200 rebel soldiers were facing off at a distance. Both were using Earth Magic and golems to build up encampments and trenches, and there were messengers and familiars rushing to and fro.
Ryuona stood atop a watchtower crudely built with Earth Magic, overlooking both sides.
“I never expected the rebel army to challenge us to a field battle, that I did not.”
“Nor I. The obvious move would be to buckle down behind their castles and city walls.”
At Ryuona’s side, the Shiga Eight candidates “Windblade” Bauen and “Whitelance” Kerun furrowed their brows at the rebel army’s unexpected strategy.
“It’s because we have His Excellency the Duke on our side. Their greatest fear is that he will enter the city and take back control of the duchy.”
Their questions were answered by the deep baritone of Baronet Jelil Mosaddo, the Scarlet Nobleman, who had joined them atop the tower.
“Hey, welcome back, Jelil. You don’t need to protect the duke?”
“He finally consented to take shelter in the underground headquarters.”
“Good to hear.”
Kerun handed the longscope to Jelil.
“Tradition or not, the mere thought of His Excellency standing on the front lines when he can scarcely move on his own is enough to give me shivers.”
“It must be difficult coming from such a prestigious noble family, that it must.”
“Come, now. They’ve carried on this tradition since the era of the Ancestral King Yamato. We’re lucky His Excellency was willing to break it. Some idio—I mean, nobles—even try to lead the charge themselves.”
Kerun attempted to pacify the irritated Bauen.
“Enough chitchat. Their ace in the hole just showed up.”
Ryuona whirled her signature scythe around and pointed it at a shadow emerging from the mountains that towered behind the rebel army.
“You’d better show me a good time…dragon!”
Ryuona licked the edge of her battle scythe, her eyes glinting with excitement as she glared at the lesser dragon.
It was a strange sight. The lesser dragon was wearing a hat and holding a doll—no, it was a man in flashy clothing—in its right hand. While Ryuona and the others assumed this was an unfortunate victim, this man was actually the Yowork Kingdom tamer who had dragged the lesser dragon into fighting for the rebel army.
The lesser dragon moved quickly and was quick to forget orders once it got absorbed in fighting, which is why the tamer was accompanying it like this.
“The rebel army’s dragon is coming!”
Kerun shouted a warning down from the tower, and there was a flurry of sudden activity, like a hornet’s nest that had just been kicked.
The magic reactor fired up with a roar, constructing layer after layer of defensive barriers.
All the priests and mages began chanting with looks of grim determination. The knights used their “Body Strengthening” and similar skills, while the archers and artillery began preparing long-distance attack skills.
It was clear that each man and woman was mustering their full strength.
Such is the terror of even a lesser dragon.
“Here I gooooo!”
Ryuona shot off like an arrow.
“Magic soldiers, bring that dragon down to the ground. If you can do that, we’ll take care of the rest.”
“Archers and artillery, aim for the abdomen, that you must! If you try to shoot at the wings, it will only get caught up in the Wind Magic that supports the wings and miss, that it will!”
Jelil and Bauen shouted to the soldiers in Ryuona’s place, as the latter was only focused on the enemy before her eyes.
“All of you, let’s move out!”
Kerun called out to the other five Shiga Eight candidates who were waiting at the bottom of the tower, and sprinted forward.
One of them stopped on the way and drew a navy-blue longbow.
“Lady Ryuona, allow me to signal the start of the battle! <Heavenly Arrow>!”
When he invoked the scripture, the archer’s Magic Bow showed its true worth. A red light shone from the bow and surrounded the Signal Arrow.
“Dragon who soars through the skies! Behold the power of the Heavenly Archer, ‘Over Dale’ Bauduin’s <Skyflash Shot>!”
Bauduin unleashed the arrow, along with a powerful shock wave and several rings of light.
The shining red arrow shot toward the dragon at the speed of sound.
It was fast—too fast to be avoided either by flight or by fall.
But the lesser dragon was undaunted. It somehow leaped in the middle of the sky and dodged the arrow. If a master living deep in the mountains used such a technique, it would likely be known as “Skywalking” or “Double-Jumping.”
The dragon’s hat seemed to be firmly set in place somehow; it rustled in the wind but didn’t fly off.
If anything, the tamer clutched in the dragon’s hand was more likely to break his neck from the high-speed maneuvers.
“… Turbulence Rankiryuu.”
A wind mage disrupted the air around the dragon.
“… Fallen Hammer Ochikizuchi.”
Immediately, several other mages followed up with a combo attack.
This was the gold-standard wyvern-hunting strategy that the Seiryuu County army specialized in.
“No way…”
“A dragon truly thrives in battle, that it does.”
The lesser dragon easily dodged the combo that would have brought any wyvern to the ground.
It sensed the oncoming disturbance in the air and folded its wings to dive out of the affected area, then used the same midair jump technique as before to dodge the Fallen Hammers.
“By the by, who is that fellow in the fancy garb?”
“The one the dragon’s holding? Probably its lunch, no?”
“No, he was with it before. I suspect it’s the Yowork Kingdom army’s tamer.”
The Shiga Eight candidate’s guess was correct.
“Tamer? I’ve never heard tell of one that can control a dragon, that I have not.”
“He’s probably using screws from the Weaselman Empire.”
Kerun offered his own guess to Bauen.
“Screws? Surely not,” Jelil objected. “Not long ago, there was a group that tried to control a many-winged centipede with seven of the things and failed.”
“Really? Well, if seven wouldn’t work, maybe they used thirty or so?”
Kerun pointed at the hat on the dragon’s head.
He seemed to be theorizing that there were screws underneath it.
GYAOOOOOSZ.
The lesser dragon roared as it circled high in the air.
“It’s glowing. Putting up a fresh barrier?”
“Excellent. That means it’s acknowledged us as worthy opponents.”
“Hmph, I’d hardly call that ‘excellent.’ We’d be much better off if our enemy let its guard down against us.”
A broadsword user among the Shiga Eight candidates scorned Bauen’s words.
“What a dull fellow, that you are. I for one cannot bear to have an opponent look down on me if we are to fight to the death, that I cannot.”
Just as the broadsword user opened his mouth to retort again, Ryuona tsked, her eyes still fixed on the sky.
“…Not good.”
With that, Ryuona broke into a run.
She was headed straight for the dragon, which was drawing in a deep breath as it rapidly descended.
“Dammit, it’s going to use ‘Dragon Breath’!”
“W-we’re in danger, that we are!”
The Shiga Eight candidates all started running around, too.
However, they scattered in several directions. Jelil, Bauen, Kerun, and most of the others followed Ryuona in running forward, the archer Bauduin stepped back and readied his bow, and the broadsword user and dual-wielder ran off to the side to dodge the attack.
“Sir Bauduin, aim for the tamer!”
“Right!”
While the lesser dragon was distracted, Bauduin’s arrow pierced the forehead of the already unconscious tamer.
“The dragon’s comiiiiing!”
“Put the Magic Furnace on full blast!”
“It already is!”
“Well, turn it up higher! I don’t care if it breaks! Pour everything into that barrier!”
Fearful of the dragon’s deadly breath attack, the royal army headquarters raised the strength of their barrier to the max.
But even a dedicated on-site magic device couldn’t protect the entire encampment.
“Run for iiit!”
“Everyone scatter, now! Or you’ll be swallowed up in the ‘Dragon Breath’!”
The commanders on both flanks frantically moved their troops.
Unfortunately, even the fastest soldiers were still far too slow. Before they could get away, the dragon was upon them, its jaw filling up with scarlet flames.
“W-we’re dooooomed!”
The soldiers kept running to the very last, all too aware that they would never make it.
Above them, a merciless heat began to spread…
“HI-YAAAAAAAAAA!! ‘Reverse Death Guillotine’!”
Ryuona the Grass Cutter, sprinting through the air with “Skywalking,” knocked the dragon’s jaw upward with her battle scythe.
GYAAAAOOZZZ.
The flames escaped the dragon’s jaws along with a shriek, scorching the sky above the battlefield.
While the aftereffects set a few people’s hair or clothing on fire, they were able to put the flames out safely by rolling on the ground, and no one was harmed.
“Tch, not enough—‘Death Guillotine,’ ‘Triple Attack’!”
Ryuona’s mighty swing closed in on the dragon like an oncoming storm, making full use of the weight and centrifugal force of the battle scythe.
“One…”
The scythe swept sideways, closing in on the dragon’s neck.
The dragon parried with its claws, sending red and white sparks flying.
“Twooo…”
As the battle scythe was knocked back into the air, Ryuona used the momentum to whirl her body around, this time swinging it down from above.
This time, the dragon moved its long neck to dodge the strike.
As Ryuona spun past, the lesser dragon’s fangs closed in on her undefended back.
“Threeeeee!”
Just before it could close its jaws on her, Ryuona’s scythe swept up.
The blade clashed with the dragon’s fangs, showering even more sparks than before.
A dragon’s fangs are said to be able to pierce anything, but evidently they couldn’t produce enough power in a head-on clash.
The struggle lasted only a moment before the recoil sent Ryuona flying back.
Before her eyes, she saw the dragon’s back as it twisted itself around in midair.
“Look out!”
The dragon shot through the air, its tail aimed straight at Ryuona.
“Tch…!”
She used the scythe as a shield to block the attack, but couldn’t support the full weight in midair when her “Skyrunning” had run out. She was sent crashing to the ground instantly, making a deep ditch in the earth.
“B-but she’s with the Shiga Eight…”
“Even they can’t stand up to a dragon…?”
The hope that had bloomed in the royal army soldiers’ hearts was plunged into despair at the sight of a Shiga Eight Swordsmen member’s defeat.
“… Lost Air Kiryuu Shoushitsu!”
“… Fallen Hurricane Hammer Ochijuu Senzuchi!”
Two voices rang out, and the triumphant dragon suddenly plunged downward.
Still, it maintained a height where not even spears could reach it.
“… Call Thunder Rakurai!”
“… Down Burst Kakou Bakuryuu!”
Two more voices echoed on the battlefield.
A thunderbolt struck the dragon, and an explosion of cold air dealt a following blow, finally bringing the lesser dragon down to the earth.
“The Shiga Thirty-Three Staves…what incredible magic, that it is.”
“Don’t just stand there! Now’s our chance for a counterattack!”
“Right!”
At Jelil’s shout, the Shiga Eight candidates gallantly ran forward.
“Windblade” Bauen led the dragon around expertly with his confounding Magic Katana, while “Whitelance” Kerun struck at its other side wherever it let its guard down. The other candidates each found openings to surround the lesser dragon.
“Watch out for its tail and wings, too, not just the claws and fangs!”
The Scarlet Nobleman Jelil, a seasoned leader of the explorer party Red Dragon’s Roar, commanded the other candidates. He, too, put magic power into his Magic Sword Icetree Fang and attacked the lesser dragon in a whirl of freezing fog.
“Such tough defenses…”
“Even the Thirty-Three Staves’ greater magic didn’t put a scratch on it.”
“Do not falter! Its barrier has been worn down a great deal!”
Jelil scolded a comrade who seemed to be having second thoughts.
“Lesser dragon, level 55, with skills like ‘Close Combat’ and ‘Wind Magic.’”
An “Analyze” skill user relayed information to Jelil.
“‘Helix Spear Attack’!”
“‘Windblade Dance’!”
Kerun and Bauen unleashed their special attacks at the same time, but the dragon managed to dodge both with an agility that seemed at odds with its massive size.
Then it flung a boulder that it seemed to have picked up as it dodged.
As the two were still unbalanced from using their attacks, their comrades knocked them out of the boulder’s path by kicking or tackling them to safety.
“Oof…”
“Thank you. Though I wish you’d be a bit gentler next time, that I do.”
“Don’t be careless with your special attacks! The dragon is trying to wear us down!”
Jelil gave a warning as the warriors stood up.
“I’m not sure if it’s wearing us down. It’s more like…”
“It is toying with us, that it is.”
If it had crushed the boulder and thrown a barrage of rocks instead, the two would likely no longer be alive.
“We must keep it busy until Lady Ryuona recovers!”
“Yes, of course.”
Jelil and the others began a hopeless struggle to buy time.
“Gaaaaaaah!”
Struck by the lesser dragon’s tail, the broadsword user went rolling across the ground, coughing up blood. A priest came running to his aid from the rear.
They had been fighting for nearly ten minutes already, yet the dragon was still fighting as ferociously as ever, with only light wounds to show for it.
“Someone close the gap!”
“Sir Kerun was already evacuated earlier, that he was. It is only the two of us who remain now, that it is.”
With one less fighter to get in its way, the dragon began drawing in breath.
“…Not good. <Icetree>!”
Jelil spoke the scripture that invoked the Magic Sword’s power, creating a tree out of ice that blocked the “Dragon Breath.”
“So it can only deflect even a quick ‘Breath’ attack once…”
Just then, the dragon’s head burst through the flames and shards of ice, its huge jaws heading straight for Jelil.
“…<Windblade>!”
Bauen aimed an attack at its eyes, but the barrier stopped it from doing any real damage beyond dazzling the dragon’s eyes for a moment.
However…
“Hi-yaaaaaa!”
In that brief moment, a shadow charged into the fray with “Blink.”
“…‘Guillotine Scythe’!”
The battle scythe’s attack finally shattered the barrier and even smashed one of the now unprotected scales.
GYAAAAOOZZZZ.
The dragon’s roar shook the trees.
A single gash now ran down the side of its face.
“Lady Ryuona!”
“Sorry for the wait!”
Bauen’s smiling form suddenly disappeared from sight.
“What the—?!”
Jelil’s brave fighting ended equally abruptly when the dragon appeared behind him and knocked him away.
“So you’ve been holding back this whole time, huh?”
GYAOOOOOOSZ.
The lesser dragon reared back triumphantly.
Evidently, it had been refraining from using skills like “Blink” and “Stout Legs” in favor of enjoying their battle.
“This doesn’t look good, then. We might not be able to win even if Heim or good old Juleburg were here…”
On top of the large difference in levels, the dragon also had mastery of skills, just like the humans it was fighting.
Most of all, its raw instincts and power were simply out of their league.
“But then again…I couldn’t ask for a better final opponent!”
Ryuona challenged the dragon, fully prepared to die.
She used all of the techniques and experience she’d built up throughout her life, unleashing her signature “Guillotine Strike” alone or in combinations as she fought.
But it still wasn’t enough.
Before she could make a single scratch on the lesser dragon, her armor was broken, and her well-trained muscles were increasingly scraped and bloody.
Covered in blood, she still barely managed to stay alive, thanks to the Support Magic from behind her.
“One last attack. ‘Blink’… ‘Guillotine Scythe’!”
As the dragon drew in breath, Ryuona used the last trick up her sleeve in a last-ditch effort to take it down with her.
Surroundded by red light, she closed in on the dragon, sending a slash right into its already flaming jaws.
Her skin burned, her flesh charred, yet Ryuona did not stop.
She simply focused all her remaining strength on one last blow, praying that her blade would reach its target.
GYAAAAOOZZZ.
The dragon’s scream echoed across the battlefield.
As the cry reached her ears, already barely able to hear, Ryuona let her mind sink into darkness with a final sigh of satisfaction.
“Lady Ryuonaaaaaaa!”
The soldiers and officers of the royal army shouted as they saw Ryuona enveloped in scarlet flames.
“Now’s our chance! All units, charge!”
The rebel army flooded forward to attack the shaken royal army.
Then someone running on the front lines noticed something strange.
“…Who the hell’s that?!”
A mysterious figure with cursed purple hair was standing beside the charred Ryuona.
“A hero?”
“It’s Nanashi the Hero!”
Someone cried out the person’s identity.
GYAOOOOOOSZ.
The mystery man—Nanashi the Hero—crouched next to Ryuona, as if he couldn’t hear the lesser dragon’s threatening roar.
GYAOOOOOOSZ.
The lesser dragon rose with its jaws wide open, swooping to punish the ignorant fool who dared ignore its presence.
“Sir Hero, look out!”
But in spite of the onlookers’ concerns, the hero sent the dragon flying with nothing but a backhand blow and a muttered “Back off.”
Nanashi the Hero ignored both the giant creature tumbling away in a cloud of dust and the rebel army that had halted its charge in sheer confusion. Instead, he pulled out a glass vial, seemingly from nowhere.
“You’re so reckless.”
He emptied the contents of the vial—an elixir—over Ryuona’s body.
As soon as the glowing blue liquid touched her, magic circles appeared all around her body, moving up and down her frame like a CT scan.
In a matter of moments, the charred skin regenerated and regained a vibrant pinkish color. Even her numerous scars, which had come to be one of her trademarks, vanished without a trace.
Since her clothes and armor had been burned away in the dragon’s breath, all that was left were the burnt remains of her underwear, like little more than charcoal marks.
Nanashi the Hero produced a cloak from thin air and put it over Ryuona.
“Nn…nngh.”
Ryuona groaned, her eyelids fluttering.
“Sir… Hero?”
GYAOOOOOOSZ.
The lesser dragon roared.
It had hesitated to attack, even though its enemy’s guard was down, but now it finally gathered its resolve and charged.
In an instant, it was behind Nanashi’s back as if it had teleported there.
Then it used that momentum and centrifugal force for an overpowering sweep of its tail.
“Sir Hero, behind you!” Ryuona cried.
“It’s fine.”
He raised a hand lightly and stopped the dragon’s tail attack, then even deigned to grab it and fling the enormous lesser dragon away.
“No way…”
The surreal sight stunned Ryuona so much that she didn’t even notice the cloak slipping as she stared in awe.
Nanashi the Hero walked toward the dragon.
While his gait was as casual and unguarded as if he were taking an afternoon stroll, the dragon braced itself warily, watching Nanashi’s every move.
If anyone present were able to read the expression of a dragon, they might even say that there was fear in its eyes.
“…Sir Hero.”
Ryuona gazed wide-eyed at the battle.
Both armies seemed to hold their breath as they waited for it to unfold.
Nanashi the Hero raised his arm lightly.
“Roll over!”
He lowered his arm briskly as he gave the order, and the lesser dragon sprawled out on its back, showing its belly.
Jaws dropped throughout the battlefield as everyone stared.
None of them knew that this was an effect of the Friend of the Black Dragon title.
While all present were still frozen in shock, Nanashi the Hero was the only one who seemed to accept what was happening as perfectly natural. He’d seen the same thing before when he tamed the Evil Dragon family in the Lower Stratum of the labyrinth, after all.
“Hold still for a sec.”
While the dragon made what could only be described as puppy dog eyes at him, the hero pulled the hat off its head.
“Ah, so they were controlling you with screws and Doom Needles…”
He held his hand over the dragon’s head, and the screws disappeared. Then he took out an advanced magic potion and used it to heal the lesser dragon’s wounds. Though it wouldn’t be evident from the outside, the Doom Needles had also vanished from the dragon’s brain.
“There, now you’re free. Don’t bother any humans, okay?”
He gave a shooing gesture, and the lesser dragon took off into the skies.
“I thought heroes weren’t supposed to interfere with wars between humans!”
This cry came from the leader of the rebel army, Duke Vistall’s eldest son, Torriel.
Nanashi the Hero used a visual Unit Deployment to reappear directly in front of the man.
“I actually just stopped by to run an errand. Here, this is from your little sister.”
He handed over the letter from Torriel’s youngest sister, Somienna.
“I’m not sure why you tried to kill your father, but if you keep just trying to take shortcuts in life, you’ll only make the people who care about you sad.”
With that simple word of advice, Nanashi the Hero vanished.
He reappeared in the midst of the Yowork army.
“What do you want, Shiga Kingdom hero?! You going to take us all on alone?!”
The Yowork Kingdom army commander bellowed at him in Shigan language.
“No, that would be too much trouble. Besides…”
Nanashi the Hero waved his hand, and a group of knights clad in shining golden armor appeared around him.
“…I’m not alone.”
On the hero’s signal, the golden-armored knights began knocking Yowork Kingdom soldiers away one after another.
“Children? No, dwarfs and leprechauns?! I can’t believe you have fairies serving you!”
“Nuh-uuuh?”
The golden-armored knight in a pink cloak—Tama—appeared behind the commander and took him down with a backbreaker throw.
“Garage, <Open>!”
A black square seemed to open up in space in front of the knight with lilac hair and a red cape—Arisa.
“All right, everyone! Let’s do it!”
“Yes, sir!”
The golden-armored knight in the yellow cloak—Pochi—grabbed some nearby slave soldiers and started tossing them into the black space.
“Did those Kuvork survivors send you?!”
The commander sat up and bellowed. “Fire Rod soldiers! Burn them, slaves and all!”
On his command, twenty soldiers promptly started shooting balls of flame out of their Fire Rods.
“I won’t let you harm them, I declare.”
A golden-armored knight in a white cloak—Nana—stood in front of the slave soldiers and raised her large shield to protect them.
“You think you can stop all of us with a single shield?!”
“Not a problem, I declare.”
Seven transparent Flexible Shields appeared around her, moving on their own to deflect the fireballs.
“Keep firing! You, too, mages! Hit them with every attack spell you’ve got!”
As the commander practically screeched orders, the Fire Rod users kept shooting until they ran out of magic, while the mages piled on spells like Fire Ball, Fire Storm, Blade Storm, Toss Stone, and so on.
It looked like an excessive amount of attacks to take down a single person, and yet…
“Impossible…!”
A multitude of more barriers had appeared in front of Nana, protecting her and the slaves sheltered behind her from the fearsome onslaught of spells.
Fortress.
It was created with battles against floormasters and greater demons in mind.
Naturally, it could easily deflect the magic of some local army mages.
“Mas…Sir Hero, we’ve collected all of them.”
“Got it.”
Once all the Kuvorkian slave soldiers had been retrieved, the black space vanished.
“Sorry to bother you!”
Arisa’s cheerful exclamation sounded out of place on the battlefield as the hero’s group disappeared without a sound, just as abruptly as they’d arrived.
“Unbelievable…”
In the rebel army headquarters, Torriel murmured quietly to himself.
“So that’s this generation’s new hero… He tamed a powerful dragon without fighting it, stopped by in the middle of an army of ten thousand like he was going for a stroll in an empty field, and achieved his goals without a single life lost. With his help, perhaps the Shiga Kingdom can even overcome the Age of Uprising…”
“Lord Torriel!”
An aide called out to him, and he remembered that he couldn’t turn back now.
“Yes, I know. We cannot change our course now, especially out of respect for those we have lost along the way. All that remains is to settle things with my father once and for all.”
Torriel gave the order to resume the battle, then returned to the now-empty tent.
“For the sake of our people, this cannot go on much longer.”
Torriel grasped the hilt of his dagger, emblazoned with his family seal.
As he did so, he saw a letter fall to the floor.
“…Somienna.”
Torriel looked over the letter from his little sister.
“Perhaps I went about this all wrong…”
As he read the letter that pleaded for him to live, Torriel’s eyes filled with tears.
By evening, the rebellion came to an end, and Torriel was captured by Shiga Eight candidate Jelil and brought before Duke Vistall.
The words they exchanged are not recorded in any known history.
However, they surely must have discussed something that did not develop during the mire of the civil war, as all the fighting came to an end with this engagement.
Thus, Duke Vistall took back ownership of the duchy, and the people could return to their everyday lives.
While Torriel went on trial in the royal capital, he was not executed; instead, he was sentenced to live out the rest of his days under house arrest in a remote area of the duchy.
While some nobles denounced this as too soft a sentence, most relented when they heard that it was Nanashi the Hero, a key figure in the defeat of the rebel army, who asked that his life be spared.
And so, the rebellion that began in Vistall Duchy with the assassination attempt against the duke near the year’s end finally came to a close.
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