Princess Menea’s Request
Satou here. Have you ever heard the phrase a bolt from the blue ? You never know when it’ll happen to you. That’s why you have to enjoy every day to the fullest without regrets, or so my grandfather out in the boonies often said.
“So we meet at last, my hero. I am Menea Lumork, the princess of a small kingdom to the east of the Shiga Kingdom.”
The girl was lovely, with light-pink hair that cascaded to her waist in gentle waves and emerald-green eyes. And she was addressing me with the look of a maiden in love.
I glanced over the information in the AR display next to her.
She was sixteen years old. Level 9, with the “Etiquette” skill and a far more unusual one: “Summoning Magic.”
She was barely five feet tall, with youthful features, but already she had a slim waist and a large bust. Most likely a C cup but one step away from reaching a D.
If it wasn’t for the difference in our social status, I’d be interested in wooing her in another four or five years.
But as it stood, I’d never met her before.
Nor the escort knight standing behind her, of course.
I did rescue her in the guise of Nanashi the Hero during the incident this afternoon—that yellow demon appearing in the old capital stadium, the giant monster fish fight, and so on—but there was no way she could have figured out my real identity from that.
“I would like to enlist your help to save my homeland from its hardships. If the Saga Empire wills it…”
She must have mistaken me for Hayato, the hero of the Saga Empire, because of my black hair and Japanese features.
But how did such a mistake lead her to track me down to my temporary residence at the count’s mansion?
…Oh, I guess I should resolve this misunderstanding before I contemplate the cause.
“Your Highness, I’m afraid you are mistaken. I am not the hero of the Saga Empire.”
“…Huh?” The princess’s adoring smile changed abruptly to an expression of genuine surprise more befitting of a sixteen-year-old.
“However, it is an honor to meet you. I am Satou Pendragon, an honorary hereditary knight of the Muno Barony.”
“…Are you not the Savior Chef Satou of whom Mistress Karina spoke?”
Miss Karina, please stop spreading around strange nicknames…
“I am hardly worthy of any such title. That aside, how did you mistake me for the hero of the Saga Empire?”
I gestured to the sofa as I spoke, trying to keep my tone light and curious to avoid giving the impression that I was interrogating her.
“…Well, you see…”
To summarize the explanation that Princess Menea reluctantly gave:
There had been a lot of people gathered around the hero at the prince’s castle, so she couldn’t even get near him, much less ask for his help. She heard that he was going to see me, so she came here to find him.
Then, seeing my black hair, dark eyes, and Japanese facial features, she mistook me for the Saga Empire hero himself.
I was curious as to why the hero would be coming to see me, but first I decided to check his location on my map.
Just as I executed the search, there was a knock at the door, and the house butler, Mr. Sebaf, peered inside.
“Sir Satou?”
Behind him was the very same man I’d been looking up just moments before.
“Please come in.”
Needing no further explanation from the old butler, I invited the hero inside.
“Hey, thanks.”
The hero entered the room clad in his blue armor.
With his sporty haircut, thick eyebrows, and manly smile, he cut a pretty handsome figure.
“<I am Hayato Masaki, the hero of the Saga Empire.>”
“<Nice to meet you, Sir Hero. I am Satou Pendragon, a hereditary knight.>”
He introduced himself in Japanese, so I responded in kind.
Behind the hero were two of his followers: magic knight Miss Ringrande—the granddaughter of Duke Ougoch known as “the Witch of Heavenly Destruction”—and the busty, blond Meriest Saga, the twenty-first princess of the Saga Empire.
“<Were you summoned from Japan, too?>”
“<As I told Lady Ringrande, my ancestors are Japanese. I speak the language thanks to a comrade who’s a reincarnation.>”
The hero seemed like a good person, so it would probably be safe to tell him that I was Japanese, but I didn’t want to risk drawing unwanted attention from the Saga Empire.
So I gave him the same information I’d told Ringrande before.
The reason I decided to speak Japanese to him now was that it seemed easier than pretending not to understand only to give myself away later.
Since he and Arisa seemed to be acquainted, it was presumably safe to tell him that she was a reincarnation.
When he’d visited Arisa’s old home, they were friendly enough to exchange information about Skill Reset, a special ability exclusive to reincarnations, heroes, and the like. That made me think that he would probably remember her.
“<A reincarnation… Their name isn’t Nanashi, is it?!>”
“<No, I’m afraid not. Her name is Arisa. I believe she told me that you’ve met before.>”
“<Is this true, Satou?! My honey is alive?!>”
The hero brought his face way too close to mine.
My honey, though? Looked like he’d taken quite a liking to Arisa.
This was a more intense reaction than I’d expected. Princess Menea and the rest of our company looked surprised and confused as well.
“Ohhh!”
“Whaaa—?”
“No pushing, sir.”
“Mrrr.”
The door burst open, and the crew of younger kids came tumbling inside.
“Retreeeat?”
The first to flee was Tama, a girl with white hair and the ears and tail of a cat.
As usual, she was quick on her feet.
“Tama, wait! Sir!”
The next speaker was Pochi, sporting a short brown bob, dog ears, and a tail to match.
“<…Beastfolk?>”
The hero seemed surprised at the appearance of the pair.
Miss Ringrande and the others were startled, too. They had probably rarely seen beastfolk outside of the sanctuary in the Saga Empire.
“Slow down for a change, you two!”
This was Arisa, a young girl with violet eyes and hair. She was a reincarnated Japanese person and the de facto leader of the younger group.
She normally wore a blond wig to hide her purple hair, which was considered a bad omen here, but it had come off in all the commotion.
“Violet hair like Lady Yuriko’s…?”
My “Keen Hearing” skill picked up on Princess Menea’s murmured words.
Yuriko?
A Japanese name… And for some reason, I felt like I’d heard it somewhere before.
Whoever this person was, she must be a reincarnation like Arisa.
“Arisa.”
The person lying underneath Arisa gave a single word of protest. It was Mia, an elf girl with her blue-green hair tied in two long pigtails that didn’t quite cover her slightly pointed ears.
“Oops, sorry, Mia,” Arisa apologized, standing up.
“I will assist Mia, I declare.”
“Mm, thanks.”
Suddenly joining in the fray, the beautiful, blond Nana helped Mia to her feet.
Though her giant bosom made her look older, she was actually a homunculus of less than a year old, hence her odd manner of speaking.
“I apologize, master. I should have been watching them more carefully.”
Liza of the orangescale tribe appeared and bowed deeply.
Aside from a reptilian tail and orange scales around her limbs and neck, she was otherwise indistinguishable from an ordinary human.
“We’re sorryyyy.”
“I apologize, sir.”
The would-be escapees Pochi and Tama were secured under each of Liza’s arms like stuffed animals.
However, the hero wasn’t listening to the group’s apologies in the slightest.
“<P-Princess Arisa…is it really you?>”
“Yes. I’m afraid I simply couldn’t control myself in my haste to see you… My late parents would surely scold me for such behavior.”
Arisa’s graceful, ladylike tone was very unusual for her.
“It has been much too long, Sir Hero. How fortunate that we meet again.”
“<Princess Arisa!>”
Relinquishing his hold on me, the hero rushed over to Arisa and knelt down to her eye level.
He seemed very emotional about their reunion, yet he made no move to lay a finger on her.
Come to think of it, Arisa had told me that he shouted weird things like “Yes, Lolita! No touching!” when she first met him.
“Sir Hero, our comrades seem perplexed. Perhaps we ought to speak in the language of the Shiga Kingdom or the Saga Empire?”
“Yeah, you’re right.”
> Skill Acquired: “Sagan Language”
Shigan and Sagan were evidently similar languages, as I was able to understand the latter even without a skill.
But since I had tons of skill points to spare, and it seemed like a skill that might be handy in the future, I decided to select the skill and raise it to level 5 anyway.
I beckoned the hero and his friends to sit on a sofa.
My heart went out to Princess Menea, who looked a little helpless, but she would have to wait a while longer.
“Still, I’m so glad to see that you’re safe. After the Yowork Kingdom was invaded, I was certain—”
“—Hayato.”
Princess Meriest quickly cut off Hayato’s insensitive remark.
“A great deal has happened since then, but now I am enjoying a peaceful life with my traveling companions under Sir Satou’s protection,” Arisa said.
“Are you sure you’re really happy?”
The hero frowned as he looked at her.
He’d probably noticed Satou’s Slave among her titles.
“Yes, very much so.”
“I see…”
Sitting down beside me, Arisa leaned her head on my shoulder to demonstrate her happiness.
“Very well. Satou!”
The hero called me by the wrong name yet again, emphasizing the Japanese pronunciation. (The natives here pronounced it more like “Sa-two.”)
“I’m counting on you to take care of Princess Arisa. However, never forget the spirit of ‘Yes, Lolita! No touching!’ Little girls are meant to be admired but never touched! If you ever lay a hand on Princess Arisa, rest assured that my sword Arondight will not be silent.”
The wild look in the hero’s eyes was a little disconcerting.
“I am a former princess now,” Arisa insisted, but he seemed intent on calling her by the same title.
“But of course. I would never attempt to lay a finger on a child. Also, my name is Satou, pronounced ‘Sa-two,’ not Satou.”
A woman’s not a woman until she reaches at least her twenties, if you ask me.
“You’re scarcely an adult yourself, you know,” Miss Ringrande muttered, but I chose to ignore her.
I had been restored to my fifteen-year-old self when I first came to this world, but on the inside I was still an old geezer pushing thirty years old. I definitely didn’t see anyone of high school age or lower as a romantic interest.
“I prepared tea, sir.”
The maids of the house entered, along with the last member of my party, Lulu. With her black hair and eyes, she was incredibly beautiful.
“Damn, she’s something else…”
“Hayato, don’t be rude.”
The hero caught his breath when he saw Lulu’s beauty, and he was promptly scolded by Princess Meriest.
The natives of this world tended to see Lulu as unsightly, so Meriest must have misinterpreted his comment as an insult.
“N-no, it’s all right…”
Lulu looked uncomfortable, half covering her face with a tray.
“Lulu, Sir Hero was trying to say that you’re beautiful.”
“…Master, th-thank you.”
I was telling the truth, but Lulu seemed to think that I was just trying to comfort her.
“Satou’s right. Even I’ve never seen anyone as beautiful as you before, y’know.”
Flustered by the hero’s words, Lulu bowed quickly and ran out of the room.
I’d have to check in on her later.
“Is she a relative of yours, Satou?”
“No, she’s Arisa’s half sister.”
“Princess Arisa’s? Really?”
“Yes, that’s right. In fact, Sister Lulu’s great-grandfather was a hero of the Saga Empire.”
The hero muttered something along the lines of “If she were five years younger…,” but I pretended not to hear it.
Once our initial introductions were completed, Princess Menea stood up, and all eyes in the room turned to her.
“So we meet at last, my hero. I am Menea Lumork, the princess of a small kingdom east of the Shiga Kingdom. I would like to—”
“The Lumork Kingdom, you say?”
“Oh, that’s right—I’ve heard that pink hair is a unique characteristic of their royal family.”
As the princess attempted to make her plea, she was interrupted by Meriest and Ringrande.
“The Lumork Kingdom, huh…?”
For some reason, the hero’s voice sounded grave as well.
What exactly happened in the Lumork Kingdom?
“…Her country used unsanctioned Summoning Magic to abduct some Japanese people.”
“Is that like the Hero Summoning of the Saga Empire?”
“Please do not make such an insulting comparison. Our heroes are summoned with the blessing of Goddess Parion and endowed with incredible power, while their unblessed summoning drags in ordinary riffraff without any enhancement at all.”
“Is that all th—? I mean, I sincerely apologize for insulting your kingdom in my ignorance.”
I noticed Meriest’s eyebrows arching at my careless words, so I quickly changed my tune.
“I apologize to you, Sir Hero—nay, Sir Hayato Masaki of Nippon.”
While Meriest’s anger was redirected at me, Princess Menea used that opportunity to prostrate herself before Hayato.
It reminded me of the Japanese dogeza style of bowing.
“Y-Your Highness!” Princess Menea’s escort exclaimed in surprise at her actions.
“Our transgressions against the people of Nippon are unforgivable. You should be bowing with me.”
The escort didn’t look convinced, but he took to his knees as well.
“A weaselfolk magic user who had studied Hero Summoning led us to our actions, but that does not change the fact that we summoned eight people from Nippon without any means of sending them home, nor that the majority of them lost their lives.”
Yikes, that was pretty bad. No wonder the hero and his friends got angry.
But why was a weaselfolk person studying Hero Summoning to begin with?
Maybe it was just prejudice because the race had a reputation for being sly and selfish, but I felt like the reason wasn’t anything good.
“However, the previous king, my grandfather, who ordered the summonings, was put to death by my father, the king. The weaselfolk magic user and my aunt who carried out the summonings have also paid for their crimes with their lives.”
Princess Menea kept her head down as she continued.
Still, executing his own parent…? This world was always so violent.
“There is no one left in our kingdom with any desire to summon people from Nippon. So please—”
“Lend you our strength?” Princess Meriest interrupted coldly.
“…Y-yes. I would entreat you to banish an evil dragon for the sake of our people.”
Though she trembled under Meriest’s glare, Princess Menea continued her request.
A dragon? I wouldn’t mind meeting a living one myself.
“An evil dragon?” Ringrande repeated doubtfully. “This is the first I’m hearing of any such thing in the Lumork Kingdom.”
“The black dragon appeared about half a year ago, as I am told. It lived in a forest at the crossroads of the main road connecting the royal capital to the neighboring kingdoms, and it began devouring the people living in the nearby villages and traveling on the road,” Princess Menea explained.
“I’ve heard of dragons killing soldiers who attempt to defeat them or thieves who sneak into their nests to try to steal their scales or eggs, but…”
“I have never once heard of a dragon that harms common people directly, not even in fairy tales.”
Even after hearing the details, the hero’s party didn’t seem convinced.
Come to think of it, the black dragon that attacked Seiryuu City ate only livestock and left without attacking any humans, or so I’d heard.
“Meri, what did the Deception-Piercing Artifact reveal?”
“I can’t believe it, but…she’s telling the truth.”
Princess Meriest was now wearing some kind of monocle-like object.
Judging by their conversation, it was probably a lie-detecting magic tool.
That sounded pretty handy to me.
“Did the Lumork Kingdom dispatch their troops to deal with the dragon?” I asked.
“Yes, of course. An army of the kingdom’s knights and mercenaries from neighboring kingdoms attempted to drive the dragon away, but they were unsuccessful.”
I’d wondered why they would come to the hero instead of using their own armies to deal with their problems, but it sounded like they’d used up their own resources already.
The Lumork Kingdom requested help from others, too, like Duke Ougoch and the Shiga Kingdom, but it was refused on the grounds that its capital had not been damaged.
Still, while I was certainly not thrilled about what her kingdom did, I doubted the villagers who were being attacked had anything to do with it.
If the hero wouldn’t do it, I decided I would use “Skyrunning” to go over there and try talking to the dragon myself.
Hearing a loud smack, I came back to my senses and looked around.
“…A dragon, huh? Not a bad match, if you ask me.” The hero was grinning ferociously, his fist slapped onto his palm.
Apparently he, too, was more concerned about the suffering commoners than the transgressions of the Lumork Kingdom.
“Wait a minute, Hayato. Don’t be so reckless!”
“If it’s a stray lesser dragon from the habitat between the Weaselman Empire and the small kingdoms to the east, that’d be one thing. But if it’s a full-grown dragon from the Black Dragon Mountains, we mustn’t get involved.”
“She’s right, Hayato. They say a dragon’s fangs can pierce anything.”
“Exactly. Dragon fangs are the ultimate blade—they spell destruction even for a demon lord. Remember, your so-called Invincible Shield isn’t a guarantee!”
Miss Ringrande and Princess Meriest advised the hero with troubled expressions.
Phew.
So there were other dragon habitats besides the Valley of Dragons.
As I heard later, a lesser dragon was somewhere between an intermediate demon and a greater demon in strength, while a full-grown dragon was between a greater demon and a demon lord.
“I’m a hero, you know! What kind of hero would just leave people to suffer at the hands of an evil dragon?! Even if I can’t beat a dragon, I should at least be able to chase it off. Otherwise, how am I ever going to beat a demon lord?”
The hero looked at Ringrande and Meriest in turn with fire in his eyes and voice.
The women blushed. It looked to me like they both had feelings for him.
“Besides, I’ve got you guys. Together, we could drive away even a full-grown dragon from the Black Dragon Mountains!” he declared.
For some reason, he directed this part toward Arisa.
As he gazed at her, Arisa’s eyes welled up, and she exclaimed, “Wonderful, Sir Hero!”
It would’ve been a very moving scene were it not for the small vial of eye drops she was holding behind her back.
“All right, Princess Menea. We’ll take on your request. Satou, you’re coming with us.”
The hero smacked my shoulder firmly.
…How do you figure?
“I want to judge for myself whether you’re fit to be Princess Arisa’s guardian,” he declared.
“P-pardon me, Sir Hero. Mas— That is, Sir Satou has business in the old capital…” Arisa quickly cut in. She was probably worried about me.
But if I went with him, not only would I get to see a live dragon, I might even get to ride in the hero’s silver spaceship.
I didn’t know how dimensional submersion worked, but I definitely wanted to experience stuff like entering subspace and watching the scenery change around us.
Would it be a Japanese-style ship, Western-style, or maybe a hard sci-fi aesthetic? My imagination ran wild.
It would be a shame to let this opportunity go to waste. I definitely wanted to participate.
“If it’s no trouble to you, Sir Hero, it would be my pleasure to accompany you and learn from your ways.”
“Now, that’s what I like to hear!”
Quelling Arisa’s protests, I accepted the hero’s proposal.
“Don’t worry, Princess Arisa! He’ll be safe with me.”
The hero thumped his chest proudly.
I didn’t want to worry one of my wards, either, so I whispered “It’ll be fine” in her ear.
“S-Sir Hero! Please let me accompany you, too.”
“Y-Your Highness?!”
Princess Menea’s guardian knight exclaimed in alarm once again. Most likely, it was because he would have to go along with her.
“You too? Sorry, but we’ve only got two empty seats. If Satou’s coming, that just leaves one more spot,” the hero objected coldly.
Surely a princess would never embark on a journey without any guards. However, it appeared Princess Menea was no ordinary princess.
“I’ll come alone, then! I’m sure I will not be in danger if you’re by my side, Sir Hero.”
“Hey—”
“Why, you—”
Princess Menea pressed herself against the hero’s chest.
Clearly, Ringrande and Meriest were not thrilled about this development.
“Cut it out, will you?” The hero casually pulled away from the lovely girl’s embrace.
There was no trace of embarrassment or lust in his demeanor. At first glance, he seemed to be a virtuous man, but in truth it was probably just because he was interested only in little girls. This guy was one devoted lolicon.
“Princess! That simply will not do. Sir Hero, I do not require a seat. Please allow me to accompany Her Highness.”
Evidently judging that he wasn’t going to change Princess Menea’s mind, the escort knight instead made up his mind to come along.
Shortly after, Arisa requested to be brought along as well, but the hero and I both quickly refused.
Not one to waste time, Hayato declared that we would leave the old capital later the very same day.
While the hero went to call his ship, I explained the situation to my party, leaving Arisa and Liza in charge.
“So I’ll contact the people on this list to cancel, shall I?”
“Thanks, Arisa.”
The hero said that we should be back within two or three days, but just to be safe, I had Arisa cancel all my plans in the period leading up to the duke’s grandson’s wedding.
By the time we finished our arrangements, the hero’s ship was waiting outside the house.
“Cat eeears?”
“This lady has dog ears, sir!”
“Tsk-tsk-tsk, not quiiite.” The woman wagged a finger.
“That’s right. Rusus is of the tigerfolk tribe, and I am wolffolk.”
Tama and Pochi were excited to see fellow beastfolk in the form of the tigerfolk Rusus and the wolffolk Fifi, two members of the hero’s party.
Both of them were in their twenties; in their mysterious leatherlike armor, their proportions were as impressive as Nana’s. The pair’s waists were especially attractive.
Would Tama and Pochi grow up into beautiful women like them, too?
“It’s unusual to see beastfolk outside the Saga Empire.”
“These children are human-born, you see.”
Liza looked tense as she responded to Rusus’s observation.
“Hmm. So they were born to humanfolk parents, like an atavision, right?”
“Ooh, Fifi, you’re so smart!” Rusus exclaimed.
Fifi rubbed the back of her head bashfully at the praise.
But that’s called atavism, not atavision.
As I was listening in on this fun conversation, the hero poked his head out from the silver ship.
“Let’s go, Satou! Princess Arisa, I’m borrowing this guy for a while.”
“Of course, Sir Hero. Best of luck to you.”
Arisa put on her brightest smile, and the hero’s face melted in admiration.
Waving to the beastfolk girls, Rusus and Fifi sprinted up the ramp.
“Let’s get going, Hayato. Satou, you too. Get on board.”
Delivering a swift kick to the hero’s behind as he fawned over Arisa, Miss Ringrande then grabbed my hand and pulled me onto the silver ship.
I waved to everyone before I entered.
While I was gone, the vanguard was to be training with Mr. Kajiro. Arisa would study Space Magic, Mia would practice with the instrument she received from a songstress in the city, and Lulu would work on baking sponge cake.
I was looking forward to seeing the results of everyone’s training once I returned.
It looked exactly like the kind of spaceship you’d see in an old science fiction movie.
That was my first impression when I entered the silver ship.
Through the gear-shaped glass windows, which didn’t serve any discernible purpose, I could see lines of light running through magic circuits in geometric patterns, creating a mysterious waveform.
There were countless buttons and toggle switches at the control station on the bridge.
I could feel a faint vibration from the floor, while a low pulsing beat and a high-pitched engine whine sounded from the rear part of the hull.
As I was gazing around in rapt curiosity, three lovely girls approached me.
“Is this him? The kid Rin said had a promising future?”
Weeyari, with the bamboo leaf–shaped ears of the long-eared folk, brought her face close to mine. To the average Japanese person, I’m sure she would look more like an elf than Mia would.
“Yeah. He looks kinda like Hayato but more on the delicate side.”
“I dunno what Rin was talking about. There’s not a single callus on his hand.”
The first to answer Weeyari was the tigerfolk girl Rusus.
Fifi, the wolffolk girl, followed up by brazenly grabbing my hand and appraising it.
I probably didn’t have any calluses, because I hadn’t trained that much, but I was pretty sure that even if I did, my “Self-Healing” skill would fix them right away.
“So he’s all bark and no bite, huh?”
“Boooring. He’s just some well-to-do noble boy who happens to have a high level.”
Losing interest in me, Rusus and Fifi returned to their seats.
“I’m sorry about them. Rin spoke very highly of you, so their expectations were probably blown out of proportion.”
“Oh, no, it’s quite all right.”
Miss Weeyari apologized for her friends’ rudeness, but they weren’t wrong that I’d gotten to this high level with minimal effort. I wasn’t particularly offended.
Princess Meriest, who’d been talking with the priestess Loleiya in the front seats, turned toward me, so I greeted her with a bow.
“We’re heading out! Everyone, get to your seats!”
“““Roger!””” the three young women chorused briskly in reply, taking their respective seats.
“Satou, you can take the support seat behind the captain’s chair.”
When I headed to the seat the hero indicated, Princess Menea was already in the chair next to it.
True to his word, her escort knight was standing at attention behind her.
“You really came, then…,” she remarked to me.
“Of course. I could hardly turn down an invitation from Sir Hero.”
Menea frowned at me.
Since she’d called me the Savior Chef before, I was guessing she thought of me as more “chef” than “savior.”
“Well then, let us both be sure to stay back and let my escort knight protect us, so that we do not cause trouble for Sir Hero.”
“Thank you for your concern.”
Sometimes she’s sweet, and sometimes she’s salty. Looks like this princess has a tsundere side.
I had no intention of getting in the hero’s way, regardless, so I might as well keep back with my fellow spectator.
“Jules Verne, take off.”
“Jules Verne, take off!”
Weeyari echoed the hero’s orders. She must be the helmsperson.
After a brief floating sensation, we saw the view outside the portholes rapidly zoom away.
“Dimensional submersion!”
“Jules Verne, engaging dimensional submersion.”
Weeyari pulled a large lever in the cockpit labeled SUBMERSION.
A wave of sound like something from a synthesizer echoed through the ship, and the view beyond the portholes turned dark gray.
“Dimensional submersion complete. Shifting to automatic controls.”
“Go ahead.”
The hero nodded to the helmsperson.
“Whew. Loleiya, could you make some coffee?”
Coffee?!
“Sir Hero, you have coffee on this ship?”
“Yeah. You want some, too?”
“Yes, please!”
The hero’s wonderful suggestion quickly whetted my appetite.
“Satou, you may have heard this in the legends, but coffee is very bitter. It’s not delicious in the slightest, you know.” Ringrande shrugged dismissively.
She didn’t understand the power of a cup of coffee in the midst of an all-night death march at work!
After a while, the priestess Loleiya returned with a coffee cup for me, her large bust bouncing all the while.
I closed my eyes, inhaling the nostalgic scent of coffee with pleasure.
Once I’d enjoyed the fragrance for a moment, I brought the black coffee to my lips, wanting to drink it before it cooled.
“Mr. Satou, wouldn’t you like some cream or sugar? It’s much too bitter for a first-time drinker.”
“Not at all. It’s absolutely delicious.”
The strong taste permeated my entire being.
This was no gourmet coffee from a specialty shop. It tasted like the cheap instant coffee I knew so well.
“Are coffee beans cultivated in the Saga Empire?”
“Yes. The blend you’re drinking now is a special product of the Kilimanjaro Marquisate in the west of the Saga Empire. Bluman County and Mocha Viscounty are also known for their coffee beans.”
That was good to know. There must be some companies importing goods from the Saga Empire in the old capital. I’d have to ask Tolma if he knew of any shops that might sell me some coffee beans.
These familiar-sounding place names must have come from the first emperor of the Saga Empire. I was more and more convinced that he must have been Japanese.
For reasons beyond my comprehension, coffee didn’t seem to be very popular in this world; aside from the hero and me, everyone else preferred black tea.
The sweets they provided to go with the tea and coffee were basically just balls of sugar, so I brought out some baked goods from Storage by way of the Garage Bag.
“My, how delicious.”
“Agreed. They melt in your mouth for an elegant sweetness.”
Princess Meriest and Priestess Loleiya praised my baked goods.
“It’s impressive that you could preserve the freshly baked flavor like this…”
Oops. Meriest seemed a little suspicious about the freshness of my snacks.
“…You must know quite a talented magic-tool craftsman.”
For a second, I didn’t quite understand her meaning, but then I realized she must have assumed I used a heat-insulating tool.
“Mmmm! What are these?”
“They’re cookies, right?”
“See? I told you Satou was an amazing chef!”
Miss Ringrande’s response to Rusus’s and Fifi’s exclamations was to brag as if she’d made them herself.
“It’s true. They’re nice and crunchy.”
Miss Weeyari, who normally had the air of a silent warrior, was popping cookies into her mouth one after another. I guess she liked them.
“So this is the work of a chef from a large kingdom… Even our royal chefs could not produce such flavors.”
For some reason, Princess Menea seemed to be taking the whole thing personally.
I offered some to her escort knight as well, but he refused on the grounds that he was working.
During our in-flight teatime, Princess Meriest, Miss Ringrande, and the others taught me about the magic and magic tools of the Saga Empire, among other things.
When we were about six hours away from arrival, we decided to get some sleep to prepare for the fight against the dragon.
The girls went to separate sleeping quarters, while the hero, the escort knight, and I slept on the bridge in the reclining seats.
Around this time, my friends back in the old capital were probably curled up asleep in their big beds. I wanted to check in on them with Clairvoyance but didn’t want to set off some kind of anti-magic alarm on the ship, so I decided to refrain.
Instead, I muttered “good night” to no one in particular and went to sleep.
The next morning, I had coffee and some space food–like rations for breakfast.
“We should be arriving soon, yes?”
“That was fast.”
It had been only twelve hours since we departed.
In fact, we could have arrived even faster, but we took a slower pace in order to arrive at dawn.
“We’re reentering normal space. All hands to your seats.”
At the hero’s command, everyone went to their chairs.
I fastened my seat belt, as I would in a regular car, but that didn’t seem to be the standard here: Weeyari was the only other person who did the same.
“Reenter normal space.”
“Reentering normal space, sir.”
Natural color returned to the dull gray scenery outside.
Suddenly, my “Sense Danger” skill alerted me.
“Watch out!”
“Hard to starboard!”
Rusus and I shouted at the same time.
Just as the hull began to tilt to the right, something slammed into us, sending shock waves through the ship.
“Eek!”
Princess Menea was sent flying out of her seat, so I caught her in my lap.
I thought she would be angry, but she seemed more afraid of being thrown to the ground and simply clung to my neck instead.
The soft sensation was pretty enjoyable.
“Hang on to something, everyone!”
“Whoa, what’s going on?!”
“Forget it, Fifi, just grab the railiiing!”
The hero’s shouts and the women’s shrieks echoed as the silver ship was shaken like a leaf.
The more combat-oriented women had managed to hang on to their seats, but the support-type pair didn’t have a strong-enough grip.
“Eek!”
“Oh my~.”
Princess Meriest and a strangely unruffled Priestess Loleiya came flying from the front seats.
Considering their high level, they probably wouldn’t be seriously injured if they slammed into the wall of the bridge, but that didn’t mean I could just ignore them.
Instead, I reached out to either side and caught them in midair.
The god of lechery must have intervened, because somehow I caught both of them firmly by the breasts.
But I couldn’t just get embarrassed and let them go, so I simply pulled them in before shifting my hands down to their stomachs.
You can’t blame me if I happened to enjoy the feeling of their ample breasts a little bit in the process.
Even in this situation, the sweet scent of perfume threatened to send my head spinning.
“Wee! Turn on the stabilizers!”
“They’re already at full power!”
I heard this conversation at the front of the bridge.
Despite the multiaxial rotation tossing us around like an extreme theme park ride, these two seemed to be quite calm.
I activated my “Search Entire Map” skill, then used Magic Hand to help steady the spaceship.
Soon, its trajectory leveled out, perhaps helped along by my magic.
On the way here, I’d been told that the Jules Verne blocked any outside magic, but apparently magic used from inside still reached the outside just fine.
“Th-thank you, Sir Pendragon. You can release me now, if you would.”
“Thank you, Sir Knight.”
I relinquished my hold on Princess Meriest and Priestess Loleiya.
Then I brought the dazed Princess Menea back to her seat, securing her in place with a seat belt.
Her escort knight was sprawled in a corner of the bridge, but his life didn’t seem to be in danger, so I decided to leave him be for now.
Opening my map to examine the red dot that indicated an enemy, I found that we were being attacked by a level-68 adult dragon. That was lower than Hayato the Hero, who was level 69.
The dragon’s status condition read Rage. Clearly, he was not in a good mood.
That last attack must have been a magic attack like “Dragon Breath” or something.
“Hayato! There’s a dragon ahead! This sheer power must belong to the lord of the Black Dragon Mountains!”
Priestess Meriest had obtained the same information as I had from the terminal of the silver ship.
“Wee! Dimensional submersion, now!”
“…We can’t! The dimensional submersion function is stalled!”
Uh-oh, that doesn’t sound good.
“All right. Then I’m heading for the prow.”
Taking up his Holy Shield, the hero plunged into the passage leading to the prow.
I ran along behind him, intending to support him from the shadows. Miss Ringrande shouted from the bridge to stop me, but I ignored her and kept moving.
As I passed through a narrow aisle, I was struck by a sharp wind and the smell of ozone.
Hayato had arrived at the prow and opened the hatch.
Using “Warp,” I closed the distance between the hero and myself.
“A real dragon…,” the hero muttered.
My “Keen Hearing” skill picked up the sound through the uproarious wind and the lattice-shaped barrier that surrounded him.
Rearing its head back from its resting place near a giant tree, the black dragon stood and spread its wings in a menacing pose.
My “Sense Danger” skill reacted again.
“Crap, it’s a ‘Dragon Breath’ attack!”
Holding his Holy Shield at the ready, the hero exclaimed, “<Play,> Tunas!”
His armor shone blue, the light wrapping around his shield. On top of that, his Unique Skill Invincible Shield created a translucent wave of light in front of his Holy Shield, protecting not just the hero but the entire prow of the ship.
Just in case, I activated the intermediate Practical Magic spell Flexible Shield from the magic menu, making two more transparent shields that floated in front of the hero’s.
“Did you do that, Satou?!” the hero exclaimed without turning.
“Yes. It’s only magic from a scroll, so it won’t do much, but—”
I started to give my prepared excuse.
But the black dragon opened its mouth before I could finish, and a flash of light pierced the sky.
“Haaaaah!”
The hero’s Unique Skill and Holy Shield pushed back against the dragon’s breath.
Both of my Flexible Shields held off the attack for only a few seconds before vanishing.
I could have made up to thirty-two more at the same time, but I didn’t want to add to the chaos, so I decided not to interfere unless the hero couldn’t handle it.
“Raaaargh!”
The attack was pushing him back, lifting him off the hull.
“Watch out!”
Panicking, I grabbed his waist from behind, using my free hand to support the shield.
“Thanks a lot, Satou!”
I smiled in response, then pointed forward, where a change was beginning to grow apparent.
The ripple of light from his Unique Skill was distorting, indicating that it was about to collapse.
“Tch, that’s not all I’ve got!”
You could call this a desperate situation, but at the same time, we were about to get a chance to turn it around.
Judging by the state of the black dragon, its “Dragon Breath” was about to run out.
I was fairly sure we would make it through, but I added two more Flexible Shields just to be safe.
The two new shields were destroyed in seconds, but they still reduced the load on the hero’s significantly.
“…Was that you?”
Shoot, he’s getting suspicious.
I decided we should finish this with sheer force of will.
Pointing at the black dragon, I shouted loudly.
“Now, Hero! Use the power of the Holy Sword!”
“Right! I’ve got this! <Sing,> Arondight!!”
Getting caught up in my enthusiasm, the hero activated his Holy Sword with the magic word.
On top of that, his Unique Skill Unstoppable Spear surrounded the Holy Sword with light.
“Try this on for size! ‘Shining Slaaaaash’!”
The full might of the hero’s attack blew through the weakened “Dragon Breath,” the aftershocks reaching the tip of the black dragon’s nose.
GROOOOOOOARRR!
Caught off guard by the unexpected counterattack, the black dragon yowled and shrieked.
> Skill Acquired: “Dragon Language”
Wait, that was language? I quickly activated the “Dragon Language” skill.
As the dragon reared its head back, I noticed a glint of light near a scale that was growing the wrong way.
…Huh?
My “Telescopic Sight” skill responded to my hunch and magnified the area.
Something that looked like a white knife was embedded deep into the gap under the scale.
With the dragon’s breath no longer opposing the silver ship’s propulsion, we suddenly accelerated forward.
Just as the ship was zooming past the black dragon’s side, I stretched Magic Hand to its limits to grab the knife.
The timing was close, but I managed to pull the knife out just in time.
“Hayato! The port skypower engine is down, and the starboard side is losing power fast. We’re making an emergency landing as far from the dragon as we can!”
Before I could even feel relieved, Weeyari’s tense voice reached us through a speaking tube.
“I’ll use my Wing Shoes to fly over and distract the dragon. Use that time to get away from the ship and hide!”
“No, don’t! It’s too dangerous!”
Priestess Meriest’s voice protested against Hayato’s suicidal plan.
Behind the silver ship, the dragon took to the skies.
It appeared much heavier than a wyvern, but its running speed and ascent were incredibly fast.
Looking behind us, I saw the black beast flailing in the sky, scratching at its neck.
RWOOOOOOLRGH!
Then its attitude suddenly changed, and it called to us in an almost friendly voice.
With the “Dragon Language” skill, I could tell it was saying something meaningful.
Completing its turn, the dragon began to fly away toward the distant mountain range I could see to the far south.
“What just happened?”
“It said it decided to let us go because it’s in a good mood.”
Most likely, the knife stuck in its neck had been making it angry.
These situations were common in fairy tales and such, so I’d just followed my instincts.
I didn’t know why it didn’t pull it out with its own forelimbs, but maybe they weren’t long enough to reach properly.
“Ha-ha, so that’s a dragon…and a demon lord is as strong as that or even stronger…?”
Watching as the dragon retreated until it was no larger than a black sesame seed on the horizon, the hero groaned.
I thought back to the demon lord I’d fought, the Golden Boar Lord.
The demon lord was definitely stronger overall, but in terms of pure attack power, I thought that dragon’s breath took the cake.
While I was waffling over what to say to the hero, our silver ship touched down on the ground, and I lost my chance to make conversation.
>Title Acquired: Dragon Turner
“That’s a pretty big tree.”
“I believe it’s known as the Tree of Healing Rest. According to legends passed down in the Lumork royal family, it was planted by the nomad elves many hundreds of years ago,” Princess Menea explained to the hero.
Entrusting the repair of the ship to Weeyari and the living dolls, the rest of us walked over to investigate where the dragon had been roosting.
In the center of a village at the bottom of a wide valley was the aforementioned Tree of Healing Rest, an arboreal giant like the kind you might see in a TV commercial.
Of course, it was an ordinary size compared to the Mountain-Tree in the village of giants, but overall it was still quite large.
By comparison, the black dragon must have been over three hundred feet in length.
The valley extended to the north and south; on the north side were several large black ditches, probably formed by the black dragon’s breath. The walls of the valley itself showed signs of similar damage.
Checking on the map, I found that the inhabitants of this village had evacuated to a town on the other side of a mountain, so there was no one left in this area.
Since the road through this valley connected several small nearby kingdoms, including the Lumork Kingdom, to the Shiga Kingdom, this village must have flourished as a rest stop for travelers.
As for the Tree of Healing Rest, I’d heard about it from Mr. Kikinu, a magic-shop owner in the old capital.
I believe his hometown was located at the foot of the far-off Black Dragon Mountains, so these nomad elves must have planted similar trees in several places.
“I-is this not a firefly lily?”
“It’s difficult to tell in the light, but yes, I believe you’re right.”
“And jewel grass, a one-night lily— Aah! Even crystal mushrooms!”
“Let’s collect them at once, Rin!”
“Yes, of course! I’m not sure what our current stock is for stabilizer, but we should collect as much as we can carry!”
Getting excited, Miss Ringrande and Princess Meriest celebrated with a high five.
Clearly they’d found some rare ingredients.
I recognized the names from my books, but this was my first time seeing the various soul grasses and spirit flowers, all blooming in crowded groups.
Among them was a spirit flower called a freezing flower. A pinch of its dried powder mixed with a recovery potion could heal even the most severe burns, so it was worth a high price. It even had antiaging effects.
“But this village is only known for its edi potato crops and the Tree of Healing Rest…”
Princess Menea tilted her head uncertainly at the sight of the rare plants flowering all around us.
The edi potato, she explained, was a small potato that could be eaten raw.
“It looks like they grew in the area where the dragon was resting.”
“I detect the scent of liquor from that pool over there. Could it possibly be…the legendary dragonspring liquor?”
Rusus and Fifi called down from a tall nearby crag.
Legendary liquor? That does sound pretty interesting.
“Dragonspring liquor is a high-grade alcohol created by dragon magic, correct? They say it can extend your life span by a hundred years…” Priestess Loleiya gazed at the pool of liquid dreamily.
If they could create alcohol with magic, the dragons in this world must love their liquor as much as the ones in old Japanese legends.
“I’m going to investigate over there.”
“Loleiya, don’t drink too much, all right?”
“Yes, I know.”
Humming a little tune, Loleiya walked over to the pool along with Rusus and Fifi.
Princess Meriest sniped at her on the way, but to no avail.
I started to follow them, but Miss Ringrande stopped me.
“Satou! Help us pick these! They lose potency if they’re not processed right away, but this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to gather rare ingredients!”
“Yes, it is as Rin says. Most likely, they grew because of the dragon’s breath, which means they will wither in a matter of days now that the dragon has gone.”
Wow, dragons were amazing.
They were so inherently fantastic that they could fill their surroundings with fantasy-like flowers just by sleeping nearby.
I loved that kind of thing, though.
Maybe when we crossed the Black Dragon Mountains, I’d try to befriend some dragons.
“Come on—hurry!”
Miss Ringrande grabbed my arm and dragged me over, forcing me to join the plant-collecting team.
According to her, I could keep any of the herbs I collected. I started to enjoy the work as they taught me how to properly pick each plant.
Normally, these plants would be the property of the Lumork Kingdom, but there was a good chance they would wither before anyone from the kingdom could get to them. Plus, Princess Menea gave us permission to collect them as a reward for chasing the dragon away.
Once she heard that the soul grass would fetch a high price, the princess and her guard gamely started gathering herbs as well.
Luckily, there were more plants than our small number could possibly harvest, so there weren’t any scuffles breaking out.
After about an hour, we wrapped up the foraging festivities when we had reached the limit of what the hero’s party could process.
“All right, let’s search the area. Princess Menea, stay with Loleiya. We’ll meet back at this giant rock at noon.”
On the hero’s orders, everyone split up to investigate nearby.
I accompanied Princess Menea to find Priestess Loleiya, who was looking quite cheerful next to the pool of liquid.
“Oh? Hello there, Satou. Care to join me for a driiink?”
Her Shinto-priestlike outfit was slightly open at the chest, revealing skin flushed red with inebriation.
I wanted to join her very much indeed, but more than that, I was hoping to use this opportunity to find a dragon scale.
“C’mon, this is the chance of a liiifetime!”
The priestess tugged on one of my hands, pressing a cup into the other.
The arm she had grabbed was pressed into her bosom.
“Perhaps just one cup, then.”
I couldn’t bring myself to shake off such a blissful sensation.
Instead, I brought the small cup to my lips.
…Now, that’s delicious.
The drink was similar to dry sake. It felt a bit hard in the mouth, but once you rolled it around on your tongue, the sensation gave way to a rich depth of flavor.
It was so easy to drink that I could have easily downed several cups, but it would be a waste not to savor the taste of such fine liquor.
I wanted to take some back with me, but there were only a few bottles’ worth left at the bottom of the pool, so I collected just three small vials.
These I put away in Storage so I could share them with my party once they were old enough to appreciate the taste of sake.
Thanking Loleiya for the drink, I set off in a different direction from the rest of the hero’s party, walking along the dragon’s former bed.
As I walked, I tried searching the map for dragon-related parts.
Aha!
Fortunately, there were several black dragon scales lying around.
All of them were embedded halfway up a nearby mountain, beyond where anyone could easily find them.
I strolled close to them and used Magic Hand to put each one in Storage.
Then I took them out to inspect them. They all had their share of cracks and chips, but that didn’t matter for making dragon powder.
The biggest piece was the size of a kickboard, and even the smallest was around the size of a paperback book.
While I was at it, I examined the daggerlike object I’d collected from the dragon’s inverted scale.
The AR display labeled it dragon claw spearhead. According to the detailed information, it was a weapon made from the claw of a lesser dragon.
Someone must have stabbed the black dragon with the spear this tip came from.
On the end there was a black tar-like substance, which turned out to be cursed hydra poison. Hydra poison sure seemed like a popular choice.
I wouldn’t want to wipe it with a cloth and get poisoned myself, so I put it in Storage to separate the poison from the spearhead, then took the spearhead back out by itself.
Experimentally, I tried scratching the dragon scale with it, but it was the spearhead that got damaged instead.
“…Hmm.”
Getting curious now, I put a little bit of Spellblade on my own nail and tried to scratch the scale. There was some slight resistance, but it scratched easily enough. The same was true for Sacredblade, of course.
“…I’ll just pretend I didn’t see anything.”
Shoving the facts to the back of my mind, I took the spearhead and the black dragon scales back to the meeting place to show the hero’s party.
I kept one of the paperback-size scales in Storage for myself, but the rest I planned to share with the others.
It seemed like a useful material, so it would be unkind to keep it all for myself.
“Adult dragon scales!”
“Where did you find these?”
When I brought the scales and the spearhead back to the others, Princess Meriest and Miss Ringrande came in for a closer look.
Their eyes sparkled as they examined the scales from every angle.
“They were in the exact opposite direction of where you all went looking. When Sir Hero repelled the dragon, I thought I saw something fall from the area around the backward scale on its chest. So I thought perhaps a scale might have fallen…”
“Satou, what’s that dagger-looking thing there?”
“I’m not quite sure myself, but I found it near the scales.”
“Hmm. ‘Dragon claw spearhead,’ huh…? Loleiya! Come look at this!”
The hero took the spearhead and used his own “Analyze” skill to identify it, then called the drunken priestess over from the pool of dragonspring liquor.
Getting impatient with her stumbling approach, Hayato ended up walking over to her himself.
“Can you analyze this?”
“Mm-hmm.”
Rather than a skill, the priestess was using her knowledge to appraise it. She examined the cloth wrapped around the end and the remaining shards of the wooden shaft, touching and even tasting them.
“It was made by the weaselfolk, no doubt about it. The weave of the cloth points to the northern part of the Weaselman Empire, and the wood used for the shaft comes from a tree native to that same area.”
“I see…”
The hero nodded, his brow furrowed.
When I examined each of the parts in detail as Loleiya had, the same information showed up in the AR.
“So the weaselfolk were the cause of this incident, then.”
“Those people are always causing trouble!”
Princess Meriest and Miss Ringrande frowned indignantly.
Liza’s hometown was destroyed by weaselfolk, too, so I guess they were a race with a lot of problems.
The others came to the same conclusion I did: The dragon was wounded by this spearhead and likely took up camp near the Tree of Healing Rest in order to recover.
“Wasn’t there a prediction that a demon lord would appear in the Weaselman Empire, too?”
“True enough. No one in their right mind would pick a fight with a dragon, so maybe there really is a demon lord pulling the strings.”
“Fine by me. From what I hear, Nanashi beat the demon lord that appeared in the Ougoch Duchy, so this next one is mine.”
You can do it, Sir Hero! I silently rooted for Hayato, impressed with his willingness to confront the world’s problems head-on.
“Say, Sir Pendragon. About these dragon scales… I don’t suppose you’d be willing to part with one?”
“Powder made from an adult dragon’s scales would be invaluable in preparing anti-demon weapons.”
Meriest and Ringrande pressed in on me from either side.
“Of course. I had no intention of keeping them all in the first place.”
“Really?!”
“Thank you!”
Those youthful smiles were well worth giving up a few scales anyway.
“What would you like in exchange? For materials this valuable, you could have peerage in the Saga Empire, if you’d like. I could promise you the rank of baronet at the very least!”
“Or perhaps magic armor would make a better reward for you?”
“Being of common birth, my current rank alone is already more than I deserve. And magic armor would be better used in the hands of a noble warrior of the Saga Empire, would it not?”
The pair grumbled over my lack of avarice, grasping for something else to offer me.
I’d run into this situation a few times before. Usually, I thought the best route was to pick a modest reward.
“Perhaps you could allow me to peruse some magic scrolls or advanced spell books, then?”
“…What, are you trying to be a magic swordswoman like Rin?” Meriest raised her eyebrows in surprise.
“I don’t have any scrolls, but I could certainly show you my advanced wind and fire spell books. I have Explosion Magic and Destruction Magic books, too, but there aren’t very many chants.”
“That would be much appreciated. Perhaps on the way back to the old capital?”
“Sure. You can even copy the fire and wind ones, if you’d like.”
Miss Ringrande’s offer was more than enough for me, so my reward was decided.
The biggest dragon scale went to the hero’s party, while I kept two small scales and the dragon claw spearhead.
I did ask if it should be submitted as evidence, but they said that was unnecessary, since it wouldn’t be considered valid in most kingdoms.
Since it was made from rare dragon materials, perhaps I could test it out as an upgrade from Liza’s spear once we got back to the old capital.
“Here, please, Satou.”
At Miss Ringrande’s prompting, I laid the soft bundle in my arms down on the bed.
“She’s completely passed out.”
“Oh, Loleiya. For someone who loves liquor so much, she has an awfully low tolerance.”
Once Priestess Loleiya was settled in the simple bed on the silver ship, I followed Miss Ringrande back outside.
“Meri, how are the repairs going?”
Princess Meriest was having some of the living dolls set up a simple camp for us.
“The dimensional submersion device will be restored by tomorrow morning thanks to its automatic repair functions, but the skypower engines are in bad shape. The port engine is gone, and the starboard engine is malfunctioning.”
Princess Meriest looked at the starboard wing, where Miss Weeyari was dismantling and repairing the barrel-shaped skypower engine.
The hero and the two warriors had gone to the north side of the valley to investigate the aftereffects of the dragon’s breath.
Princess Menea and her escort knight were resting in the shade of a nearby tree.
“Could we not replace it with the spare in Hayato’s inventory?”
“I’m afraid not. The dragon’s attack severed the portside joint completely. If the starboard side’s skypower engine itself is malfunctioning, then replacing it will work, but if it’s the magic transmission circuits that are broken, it could take days just to figure out the cause.”
The ship seemed to be more damaged than I’d realized.
But in that case…
“Lady Ringrande, would you mind if I assist Lady Weeyari?”
“Satou, I know you’re a skilled swordsman and chef, but repairing a skypower engine? Only a highly skilled magic-tool engineer could even begin to do that.”
“Well, perhaps I can still be of assistance in some way.”
In reality, I did have some knowledge of skypower engines from a book I’d bought in an old-capital magic shop.
“All right, you can go help. As long as you don’t get in Wee’s way.”
“Agreed. With your ‘Cooking’ skill, I would’ve liked your help preparing the magic potions, but you’re welcome to help Wee if you think you’re able.”
Now that I had permission, I headed over to Miss Weeyari.
“I’m here to help.”
“Oh? Then put magic power into one fin at a time and see if it’s broken, please.”
She accepted my help more easily than I’d expected, so I picked up the fin in question.
Up close, I discovered that the skypower engine was made up of an array of air-cooling radiator-like fins.
According to my reference book, these were made of a thin film from the fin of a monster fish. They produced buoyancy when provided with a steady flow of air and magic power.
Some of the monster corpses in my Storage, like the giant monster fish and the parasitic monsters that attacked the prince, had parts that could be used to make these fins, too.
Reining in my wandering thoughts, I watched Weeyari work and imitated her process.
She seemed to be putting a tiny amount of magic into each fin and observing the resulting buoyant force, so I did the same.
“So? Do you see how it works?”
“Yes, I believe this fin here seems to have a poor flow of power.”
I held out the malfunctioning fin to Weeyari.
“Number seventeen… Wait, seventeen? You’ve inspected that many already?”
Weeyari looked with surprise at the neat row of inspected fins lying at my feet.
All I had to do was send magic power through them, so I thought that was a reasonable pace.
“Fine-tuning magic power is one of my fortes.”
“I—I see… Could you check those transmission circuits, too, then?”
With all the fins inspected, I moved on to examine the connection between the engine and the ship itself.
The method was the same as the one we’d used for fins. I simply flowed magic through them and looked for any abnormalities.
I put my hand on the terminal and sent in a small amount of magic power.
Right away, I noticed a few areas where the magic leaked out or met with resistance.
Selecting See Through from the magic menu, I examined the problem areas.
Aha.
Part of the wing structure was warped slightly, putting pressure on the transmission circuit.
The living dolls were working on replacing the armor plates of the hull, so I had a few of them remove the armor from the damaged area to expose the problem.
“Lady Weeyari, I believe I’ve found the source of the problem.”
“Ah, you’re right. The transmission pipe has burst here.”
Leaving the repair itself to Miss Weeyari, I contented myself with handing off tools and providing magic power for testing.
In less than two hours, the work was complete. Now we should be able to leave tomorrow morning, once the automatic repair of the dimensional submersion device is complete.
Using the Telephone spell, I communicated our return schedule to Arisa in the old capital.
Magic sure was convenient.
“Oh? Taking a break?”
When we returned to the camp near the stern of the silver ship, the sharp-eyed Ringrande stopped working for a moment to call out to us.
Princess Meriest was still processing the rare ingredients from before, while Princess Menea and her escort knight were sitting at a simple table nearby, looking bored.
“We’re done.”
“…Already?”
Weeyari looked a little smug as Ringrande exclaimed with surprise.
“Yes, thanks to Satou.”
“All I did was follow your directions, Miss Wee.”
This was a fact, not just modesty. She really did do the difficult work. All I did was find the problem for her to fix.
“On a nickname basis already, are we? That’s rather unusual for you, Wee.”
“Not at all.”
Shrugging it off, Weeyari thirstily drank some fruited water from a pitcher.
“Whew, I’m finally halfway done… Wee, if you have any magic left, could you help me?”
“Can’t. None left.”
Princess Meriest looked exhausted, but so did Weeyari.
“If it’s all right with you, could I lend a hand?”
“You can do transmutation, too?”
“Enough to help with preparing ingredients for formulation and supplying magic power, at least.”
It was probably best not to admit that my “Transmutation” and “Formulation” skills were maxed out, but there was no harm in helping with some prep work.
I’d used only about twenty MP while helping Wee, so I should be able to use around ten times that much without contradicting my apparent level.
Following Meriest’s and Ringrande’s requests, I helped with the preprocessing work and magic-power supply.
“Satou, take care of this soul grass, please.”
“You want me to remove the roots and wash the leaves and stalks, correct?”
I accepted the bundle of soul grass from Miss Ringrande.
“Yes, that’s exactly right. How did you know?”
“I simply observed your process earlier.”
In actuality, I’d gotten that information from a rare book I’d read at a high-ranking noble’s home in the old capital.
“Sir Pendragon, could you supply this Transmutation Tablet with a bit of magic?”
“Certainly, madam.”
This time, the request was from Princess Meriest.
Since my speed at manipulating magic seemed to be unusually high, I tried to adjust my pace not to exceed theirs.
“You know, your speed with supplying magic is very impressive, Satou.”
“Erm, is it?”
…Huh? I thought I was slowing down to around their pace?
“Indeed. Even in the empire, there aren’t many people who can match my and Rin’s speed at magic manipulation.”
Shoot—I forgot that everyone here is exceptionally talented.
I guess I should have been holding back even more.
“I’ve just been frantic to try to keep up with the rest of you, that’s all.”
Princess Meriest giggled. “No need to be so humble. You’re quite talented, you know. You ought to ask Hayato to teach you how to use Spellblade after dinner. With gifts like yours, I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it in no time.”
She seemed to be in quite a good mood now.
Unfortunately, I already had Spellblade, but I appreciated her intentions nonetheless.
“Ta-daaaa!”
“We’ve got some big game!”
Rusus and Fifi returned from their investigation, carrying a huge monster called a fortress tiger.
Unused to seeing monsters, Princess Menea let out a scream, and the escort knight turned pale and grabbed the hilt of his sword.
“Th-the hero and his comrades are truly amazing. To think they could bring down a fort-destroying fortress tiger with just three people…”
My “Keen Hearing” skill picked up on a murmur of disbelief from the escort knight.
When I asked him later, he explained that defeating a fortress tiger normally involved setting traps or forming a base with a large number of people.
“We cleared the main road of any obstacles. It might need a bit more maintenance before carriages can use it, but humans and pack mules should be able to traverse it easily enough.”
“Oh, goodness! Thank you very much, Sir Hero!”
Princess Menea looked thrilled at Hayato’s report.
As it turned out, the Lumork Kingdom army dispatched to defeat the dragon was destroyed before it even reached its goal. Other monsters laid waste to their forces before they found the dragon.
“Hayato! This thing was inside the fortress tiger.”
“It looks like a whistle!”
Butchering the fortress tiger under a nearby tree, Rusus and Fifi called the hero over to look at a broken flute-shaped magic tool of some kind.
“Meri, Rin, come take a look at this.”
“Why, this is…”
“The flute of a weaselfolk beast master?”
“I thought so…”
The three of them examined the flute gravely.
So the destruction of the Lumork Kingdom’s army was also the work of the weaselfolk.
I searched the map, but the only weaselfolk around were a few merchants in a nearby village, none of whom had any skills or titles that would indicate a beast master. Either the culprit had already left the kingdom or he was eaten along with the flute.
“Hey, you’re a chef, aren’t you?”
“C’mon, cook this meat for us.”
Rusus and Fifi trotted over to me cheerfully with some lumps of red meat in hand.
Evidently they were uninterested in having a serious conversation about the possible schemes of the weaselfolk.
“Make it reeeal tasty, mm’kay?”
“I want an extra-thick piece!”
“Sure, leave it to me.”
The cut they brought over was fairly lean, so I sliced off some fat from the partially butchered fortress tiger.
It seemed like it might get tough when cooked, so I cut it along the sinew and soaked it in a tray of sake.
Next I fried the heart and liver quickly, using seasonings from my Garage Bag. It was a little bit gamey, so I threw in some fragrant herbs to eliminate the smell.
“Oh man, that smells amazing!”
“W-watch it, Hayato. The first piece is mine!”
“And I’m second!”
“Wait, so I have to be third?”
“No, I’m afraid I’m third, so that makes you fourth, Hayato.”
This hastily decided order didn’t last long. Soon, the four vanguard members were pushing and shoving one another to get each piece as it was cooked.
There was plenty of meat, so I resolved to keep cooking until all of them were satisfied.
“My, that’s delicious. Now I understand why you buffoons made such a disgraceful display.”
“Right? I told you Satou’s cooking is amazing!”
Princess Meriest nodded approvingly when she finally got to taste the steak, and Miss Ringrande puffed up her chest with pride.
“Indeed. Now, if only I had a glass of red wine to go with it…”
“You’ve had enough to drink for one day, Loleiya.”
Miss Weeyari quickly shot down the priestess, who had just recovered from her drunken state.
“…Fortress tiger is quite delicious, isn’t it? I didn’t expect monster meat to taste this good.”
“N-no, Your Highness. I once ate the meat of a fortress tiger when I worked at a fort, but it was like chewing on a boiled old shoe. This doesn’t even compare.”
Princess Menea’s escort knight shook his head in amazement.
I’d done a lot of experimenting with cooking monster meat on my journey. At this point, I could make just about any kind of meat into a delicious meal.
Maybe someday I could try making the infamously disgusting wyvern meat taste good.
Once the meal was winding down, Princess Menea stood up.
“Sir Hero… Everyone. Allow me to thank you on behalf of my kingdom for saving our people from danger.”
She gave an elegant curtsy to the hero, then went around to each person to take their hands and thank them one by one, even me.
“Could I persuade you to come to Lumork Castle? We would love to express our gratitude for your great deeds.”
“Sorry, but I’m not really into that kind of thing. If King Lumork wants to thank us, tell him to just send a thank-you letter to the Saga Empire or something, please.”
The hero waved at the princess to have a seat, as if signaling an end to the whole affair.
Then, with perfect timing, Priestess Loleiya brought out some after-dinner coffee.
Damn, did I ever miss coffee.
“That was delicious! We never get to eat that well on the road.”
“I agree. You should join our party, too, Satou!”
Rusus and Fifi sat on either side of me, pounding my shoulders encouragingly.
It didn’t help that their chests were pushing against my arms, too.
“Don’t harass Satou, you two.”
Miss Weeyari’s cheeks were slightly pink as she pulled her companions away.
For a second, I caught myself conceitedly wondering whether she’d fallen for me, but then I realized it was probably because of the ale she’d been drinking.
“However, I agree with your suggestion. It would be a big help to have someone else who can assist with repairs for the ship besides me.”
Wee, reeking of alcohol, leaned against my back.
“I should think he would have a hard time with us at level thirty, though.”
“Yes, maybe we’ll talk if you gain another fifteen levels or so in Labyrinth City.”
Priestess Loleiya and Princess Meriest agreed that my level was too low.
I had no intention of joining the hero’s party, of course, but I did feel proud that they thought of me so highly.
“I dunno, guys. What if Satou just goes off and gets the Hero title for himself?”
The hero grinned jokingly, unaware that I actually had it already.
“Ha-ha, Hayato, you’re a riot!”
“That’s so like you, Hayato.”
Rusus and Fifi laughed. Apparently, it was rare for anyone to get the Hero title on their own.
“No, I mean it. Earlier today, if it weren’t for Satou, that black dragon’s breath would’ve blown me right off the Jules Verne.”
“Not at all, Sir Hero. I was simply holding on to you and the railing for safety.”
“You can just call me Hayato. Besides, you were backing me up with scrolls, weren’t you? We might not all be sitting here safely without your help. I owe you one, Satou.”
Without getting out of his chair, Hayato bowed his head deeply and thanked me.
> Title Acquired: Friend of the Hero
Humbly deflecting his flattery, I tried to change the subject by bringing up Holy Swords.
“Sir Hero?”
“Just Hayato.”
The hero scowled, but I couldn’t quite bring myself to get that casual.
“Sir Hayato, then.”
“That’ll do, I guess.”
We compromised with “Sir Hayato” and moved on.
“Do all Holy Swords have a special key word, like the word <sing> you used with yours today?”
“Oh, the scriptures? Rin would know more about that than I would.”
“Let’s see… The Holy Sword Durandal, which was used by a hero in the era of the ancestral king, has <for eternity,> and Joyeuse, the one belonging to the hero of the demi-human war, has <in the sun.> I think those are the only ones I know.”
Nice!
I had just learned the “scripture” word for Durandal, one of the Holy Swords I got in my initial windfall.
“If you want to know more, you should read Uncle Leon’s book Holy Swords and Scriptures. Since you’re his vassal and all, I’m sure he’d be happy to answer any of your questions on the matter.”
…Oh, right. Baron Muno used to be a hero researcher.
The Muno Barony was pretty far away, so maybe I could find out whether Mr. Kikinu’s magic shop in the old capital had a copy. He was a big hero fan himself, after all.
I thanked Ringrande appreciatively for the useful information, and soon our after-dinner tea was over.
“Satou, how would you like to do some training with me to work off the meal?”
Miss Ringrande grinned and pulled me up by the hand, so I crossed swords with her for a while.
After that, Rusus and Fifi wanted to try a round, too.
It was hard to go easy on them when they seemed to fight on pure instinct, but I was able to hold my own and lose to them gracefully enough.
“You’re pretty good, huh? Let me have a go, too.”
For some reason, the hero wanted a match, too.
His speed and power were considerably higher than that of his followers.
“You’re not half-bad.”
“Sir Hayato, perhaps you could go a bit easier on me.”
I had to be extra careful with him; if I wasn’t, I risked miscalculating the amount of magic I was using to protect the fairy sword and invoking Spellblade by accident.
And if I caught a blow head-on, it could damage the fairy sword, so I had to watch my parrying angles, too.
“You really are quite strong, Sir Hayato.”
“Ha! It’s been a long time since I fought anyone who could hold a conversation while sparring with me.”
The hero had a lot of battle-related skills, so he made for a pretty fun opponent.
He made use of skills even I didn’t have, like “Blink” and “Predictive Evasion.”
Impressively, even though from his point of view I was a much less skilled opponent, he didn’t seem to be playing around in the slightest.
“That’s enough!”
As the referee, Miss Ringrande ruled Hayato the victor, and our mock battle ended.
Like when I’d fought Miss Ringrande, he came at me from the blind spot where my radar was usually displayed, so I couldn’t quite avoid his attack.
“What’s wrong, Hayato?”
“…No, it’s nothing.”
The hero was tilting his head from side to side and flexing his hands.
I paid no attention to his behavior, instead replaying in my mind his movements from the battle and trying to commit them to my muscle memory.
The next morning, the ship’s automatic repair was completed as planned, and we were able to get back to the old capital by evening.
For someone who was so uncivil on the way there, Princess Menea was strangely talkative with me on our return journey.
“…or so I believe. What do you think, Sir Satou?”
She was probably in a good mood now that her homeland wasn’t in such dire straits.
“…Yes, I agree.”
However, I had stayed up all night reading the advanced spell books I’d borrowed from Miss Ringrande, so I was completely exhausted.
“Really, Sir Satou, are you even listening to me?”
“Yes, of course.”
I continued to absentmindedly nod along to Princess Menea’s stories for the rest of the trip.
Ringrande had to wake me up when we got back to the old capital, and Princess Menea looked so cross that she was practically harrumphing out loud.
I must have fallen asleep in the middle of our conversation.
I apologized to her for my rudeness and wound up having to promise to take her sightseeing in the old capital to make it up to her.
I didn’t want to spend a day babysitting, but you reap what you sow, I suppose.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login