Chapter 066 – Request
The first thing we did after we defeated the Twin Dragon was to encase the dragon’s corpse in ice. According to Shia — ‘There aren’t many Twin Dragon corpses in a condition as good as this, so if we bring it back we can sell it for a good price’, and she insisted on it so we ripped off a scale and leave a wooden tag with adventurer number on it then had her, who still had magic power left encase the dragon’s corpse in ice.
This way it wouldn’t be eaten by other monsters, nor taken by other adventurers. After that we’d return to the mining town once, and ask the guild to transport the Twin Dragon. Transportation would cost us, but it’d be insignificant compared to the money we’d get after selling it.
And so, we finally headed back to Gomugo’s group and let them know the result. When they saw our figures still in one piece, they shouted out of joy from within the cave. It was because we’d returned alive from almost certain death situation. The ruckus they made couldn’t be helped, but they were so loud I was worried my eardrums would burst.
Not everything had went well.
We went back to the open space we planned to make camp on to take back the cargo we left, but the horned horses had turned into Twin Dragon food, and the cargo and personal effects were all crushed to pulp. It was the result of the Twin Dragon raging about in fury.
We have no other option but to retreat to the Mining Town Vesta for the moment, but we should consider ourselves lucky to escape with our lives, at least.
We’d been fighting all through last night so we decided to make camp here. As they’d used up quite a lot of magic power, I let Snow and Shia rest first.
“Sorry Lute-kun, Chrisse-chan, let me rest first.” “Don’t worry about it, you worked very hard for it, Snow.” [That’s right, and I’m still going strong so I’ll be alright!]
“Thanks Chrisse-chan! Ah, but sleeping with a sweating Lute-kun in a cramped bed and [sniff-sniff]-ing his scent might be good, too…” “Just hurry and go to sleep already. Recover your magic power!” “Au, that hurt, Lute-kun~!”
I’d done a karate chop on Snow who had just said something dumb with a straight face. Really, she never changes.
“Madam, the bed is ready.”
Shia had patched together a simple bed out of the wood from the broken wagons. The two of them got on the bed to recover their stamina and magic power.
Chrisse and I who remained fought our drowsiness as we stood watch over our surroundings.
Meanwhile, Gomugo and the others collected the scattered cargo and tidied them up. They also collected our luggage alongside, and sorted through the things that could be used. I was about to say thanks —
“It’s us who should be thanking you. You saved our lives from the Twin Dragon”
They felt grateful and thanked me, bowing their heads again and again.
I took up their offer and let them collect our luggage. Thanks to them the [38 Special (9mm)], [7.62mm × Russian Shot], and the [7.62mm × 51 NATO] spare rounds scattered about by the Twin Dragons were gathered in one place.
At dusk Snow and Shia woke up and relieved us from watch duty. It looked like about half their magic had been restored. Chrisse and I switched with them and got on the bed.
It was a standing tree with poles propped against it, wooden planks laid underneath those, burnt and torn canopy cloths laid on the planks and a sheet that looked clean covering it all. And it was cramped. It was practically a hamster bed. But once Chrisse and I crawled into bed, it didn’t take long for us to fall asleep.
I didn’t even have the energy to lay my hands on my cute cute wife sleeping next to me. We slept like logs until we were woken up when it was time for us to switch with Snow and Shia for night watch duty.
▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼
The next morning, we set off from the camping grounds.
Before we departed, Snow and Shia cast some more magic on the iced Twin Dragon to thicken the ice. With that we wouldn’t need to worry about it melting for a while.
It took us two days when we went out but because we were walking it took three days to get back.
When we reached the Mining Town Vesta, we rushed to the inn. Without having to worry about being attacked by monsters like in the camping grounds, I slept soundly.
The next morning we went with Gomugo to the Adventurers’ Guild. The reason we took him along was because I wanted another testimony besides ours.
We reported to the Adventurers’ Guild. We showed them the peeled scale and had them hear not only ours but also Gomugo’s testimony. The Adventurers’ Guild showed no doubt and believed our evidence.
We requested the Adventurers’ Guild’s services for the transportation of the iced dragon. From here on it’d take more or less 10 days to transport the remains of the Twin Dragon, including the preparatory period and the round trip.
Several adventurers went ahead to identify and secure the Twin Dragon frozen in ice. A large transport wagon would come later to carry it. This large transport wagon had magic stones built into it, equipped with the function to make the cargo’s weight lighter than normal. And of course this transportation would cost quite a lot of money.
The Adventurers’ Guild had only heard about the Twin Dragon and hadn’t examined it in detail but it could easily fetch at least 1000 gold coins. That’s an amazing amount of money.
Which is why they had no problems with deferring the payment. In return, since the Adventurers’ Guild had no way to pay the 1000 gold, they requested us to not ask for it in a lump sum. I, of course, agreed.
We would also be in big trouble carrying the 1000 gold even if they did pay in full. The Adventurers’ Guild suggested that we deposit the money in the guild. That way we could take the money out from Adventurers’ Guilds in different continents.
As long as your tag and password number aren’t stolen, there’s no worry of it being taken out by other people. In case you withdraw a large amount of money then they will verify the person himself too.
Shia also recommended it, so I carried out the procedure to deposit the reward money to the guild. But I asked them to let me take out the necessary money immediately when the goods would arrive.
The necessary money was for the merchandise of our client Gomugo which we couldn’t protect. I wanted to pay him back for the goods, wagons, and horned horses that he lost.
But the concerned person made a surprised face himself.
“Normally if you’re targeted by a dragon, a twin dragon even, and getting out alive is already godsend! To think you’d even pay me back for the merchandise!”
Since he was affiliated with the Merchant Guild his insurance was guaranteed, but it looked like it wouldn’t be anytime soon so he was very grateful at my offer, bowing his head.
Of course since he would be insured by the guild, I didn’t need to fully reimburse him; just covering up for his deficit seemed to be enough. I finished the procedure for Gomugo to take out the money as soon as the assessment price of the Twin Dragon came out.
When he takes out that money, we don’t need to be there to witness; he can do it alone.
After this we only need to pay the penalty for the rental wagon & horned horse then we will have resolved all of our money problems. Gomugo just kept bowing his head as he left.
Next problem is our adventurer level. This time it’s a quest to level up to level 3. Judging by result alone, the quest was a failure. But we captured the level 4 class Twin Magicians. And we subjugated a level 5 class Twin Dragon (young) — not only level 2 or level 3 adventurers rarely encounter such high level quests in such a short time, get caught up in it, and even come out triumphant.
It’d be easy if we were travelling with a level 5 adventurer, but we did that with just us alone. So would they raise our rank? If they do, would they raise it to level 4 or 5 ? Or is it restricted at 3? Looks like this matter can’t be decided soon.
For now they put it on hold.
Before the Twin Dragon’s corpse arrive at mining town, we decided to back to the town Meiya is staying in. Preparatory time included, the time for the Twin Dragon to be brought back is about 10 days. And we don’t know when they will finish assessing it.
Rather than waiting at the mining town, we decided it’s a better plan to go back and rest. Regarding payment for the transportation and assessment, we can just pay at the Adventurer Guild at our home.
And like that, after 3 days, we rented a wagon to leave the mining town and head back home, which we estimate would take 8 days.
▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼
“Lute-sama! Welcome back!”
When we returned, Meiya learnt of it and immediately rushed over. We just got back and just placed our luggage on the floor. No matter how fast you are, isn’t that a little bit too fast …
Instinctively, I searched my clothes if there is transmission device on it. She didn’t realized what I was doing, and spoke with the high tension voice I haven’t heard in a while.
“Lute-sama’s first disciple, his right hand, Meiya Dragoon present! I’ve been continuously waiting for your return!”
Somehow without me knowing she added 1 more title “right hand” to herself on top of “first disciple”. If I just let her be will she add more?
“I’m back, Meiya. Thanks for looking after my house while I’m gone.” “I only did what was natural as a disciple! By the way has everyone eaten dinner?” “No, we haven’t ……” “Well then, how about you stay over at my house today? I’ve already prepared dinner, I will prepare a hot bath for you to relieve your fatigue from the travel too.”
The 3 girls’ ears sensitively reacted to the single word “bath”. During the journey, we can only wipe our body with towel soaked in hot water, or wash our body with just a basin of hot water at the inn. We can’t resist the charm of the tub full of hot water, and stretch our hands and feet in it. Furthermore, at Meiya’s house, the wash toilet is fully equipped.
And it’s a pain to start making dinner now. This is where we should depend on Meiya’s goodwill.
“Well then I’ll take you up on your offer, let’s stay over at Meiya’s house today, shall we?” “Thank you, Lute-sama! Well then, please ride the coach outside. I’ve already prepared for necessities such as change of clothes!”
Meiya joyfully led us outside and beckoned us to get on the carriage waiting there.
Already familiar with Meiya’s mansion, I get into the bath first. I washed my head and body, removed the filth from the journey. Submerged into the hot bath to the shoulder, I let my voice leak naturally.
Getting out of the bath, I put my hand through the sleeve of the dragon kungfu clothes I am already used to. In the living room, until the girl gang arrived, Meiya and I drank some chacha while waiting.
With everyone present, we started the meal.
“Then in just a few days, you got the bounty of the twin magicians and exterminated a Twin Dragon !? ”
In the middle of the meal, Meiya raised her surprised voice when she heard about the details.
“But in the end, our level up quest has failed, though.” “But, to get that much achievement, you leveling up is assured.” “I hope so too.”
I swallowed the stew brimming with melted fat and shrugged.
“But the more I hear, the more wonderful it is. To think that you made a bullet that destroys magic stone on purpose and let it explode inside the body! An idea that a normal person can’t think of even if he struggled for 100 years! As expected of Lute-sama, the god of magic tool development!” [That was surprising, indeed.] “I’m personally more surprised at Chrisse-chan who shot the bullet into that small dragon’s eye. It’s absolutely impossible for me.”
The skills they pursue are different. There’s no point in comparing.
“By the way Shia-san, can you show me the thing called [Wasp Knife] that Lute-sama made?” “I don’t mind but, why is your breathing is so rough?”
Shia while bewildered, removed the [wasp knife] hanging from her waist and handed it over. Because I haven’t refilled magic in place of carbon dioxide so even if the switch is pushed, no gas will come out.
“Th,this is the new knife Lute-sama made himself! To think that after stabbing, it can send gas in to destroy the inside! This is a demon king-like idea! In short, Lute-sama is both god and demon king, you have 2 faces! Aaah! Lute-sama’s knowledge truly knows no bound, it feels like I’m turning weird!” “You already are, already. Stop rubbing your cheek against the knife, you’re bleeding!” “M,me!? I have dirtied Lute-sama’s artistic knife with blood!?” “You’re worrying about the wrong thing here! You’re a girl so take better care of yourself. Snow, sorry but please use magic to heal her.” “Got it~”
As expected of Snow, even though shehas a bad relationship with Meiya, she healed Meiya’s wound without complaining. I took the knife from her during that time. Meiya seems to still want to molest the gimmicked knife, but I ignore her. Shia cleaned the blooded knife with magic.
“Well in any case, this time, without Shia it would have been dangerous. How do I say it, I was really grateful to have brought Shia as a slave.” “Yeah! If it was just us, we wouldn’t be able to escape from the twin magicians trap nor save the hostage.” [I also learned a lot about how to setup camp and to do night watch.] “No, someone like me….”
Maybe because Shia wasn’t used to getting praised, she lost her words. …No, if I have to say, she had that look when one couldn’t stand receiving an award for something she didn’t do.
Suddenly, she somehow recalled the words she muttered after she said “I will suicide attack the twin dragon”.
‘And please don’t worry about me. Lastly, if you’d listen to my only request–’
Remembering it, Shia raised her voice.
“…..Everybody! I am very sorry!” “Eh, Shia!?”
She suddenly stood up from the chair and then knelton the floor. Exactly like a knight you see in anime, manga or film.
Not only me, but Snow, Chrisse and Meiya all stared in wonder at Shia’s sudden action. Without minding our reaction, she kept on talking.
“I had been telling all of you lies! I do not possess any [Oracle] ability. I became your slave because of a certain person’s instruction! In addition, I’m putting my life on the line here, please!”
Shia lowered her head further and raised her voice.
“Please! Please! Save the High Elf kingdom!”
Her extremely desperate voice resounded within the room.
———————-
Author’s Notes
Black elf chapter ends tomorrow, from tomorrow on we’re entering a new chapter.
——————————————————————————————————————— (￣^￣)ゞ
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login