I Said Make My Abilities Average! (LN) - Volume 15 - Chapter 111

Chapter 111:

Back at the Village

“Y-YOU CAN’T be serious!”

Sherry’s mother was flabbergasted. 

“So you tried to rescue her, but she refused because she wanted to stay? My Sherry would never say that!”

It was no surprise that this seemed a far-fetched tale. No parent could ever believe that their own child would rather remain in the house of a kidnapper of another race than come back home to them. However…

“She’s getting treated the same as the noble’s kid?”

“She gets to eat tasty foods, wear pretty dresses, and never wants for anything?”

“A-and she might get to marry the lord’s son, his heir?”

“Take us there, too!!!” Sherry’s sisters all screamed in unison, cutting through their brothers’ silence.

Sherry’s parents were taken aback. 

Gathered in the chief’s lodgings were the chief and his wife, the Crimson Vow, Sherry’s family, and a few other influential figures in the village. This wasn’t something fit to discuss before a crowd, as it didn’t exactly reflect well on Sherry’s parents. Therefore, this meeting had been restricted to as few participants as possible. The other villagers seemed to realize that there were good reasons for this, for no one had raised any complaints about being excluded.

Obviously, everyone gathered had anticipated being in for quite the doozy, but no one had expected this. Indeed, Sherry’s parents still didn’t seem to fully understand, so the Crimson Vow prepared to explain the situation even more clearly than before. Mile laid things out as best she could, based on what Sherry had told them. It was usually Mile who was left to do the talking in situations like this.

“Umm, well… She told us that she was treated poorly because she’s a girl, and that she couldn’t bear the thought of never getting to leave this village or aspiring to something beyond a marriage with someone here. She said that she could live a happier life there.” 

Out of consideration for the family, Mile had edited Sherry’s statements slightly. Hard as it might be to believe, her actual words had been even harsher. 

“Um…” 

“Why her?! It’s not fair!”

“……”

Sherry’s brothers, sisters, and parents all had very different responses. 

“I know,” said one of the girls, “we should just leave the village!”

“We don’t have to be kidnapped—we can just go on our own and start a normal life in a human town.”

“I’ve heard some people are bigots out there, but it would still probably be a better life than living in this chauvinistic backwater…”

“What if we worked as hunters, like these girls? We’re stronger than humans, so I bet we could make a killing! I’m guessing hunting’s a job that has a lot to do with your abilities—”

“That’s true! If we could just get one or two other girls to join us…”

“What?!”

All the color drained from the girls’ parents’ faces.

“But then who would look after us?! You can’t go!” their brothers protested, seeming to completely miss the point. 

“Ah…”

A thought suddenly occurred to the village leaders. If word of this got out and all the young women agreed with these girls, they would have a problem on their hands. 

A sound escaped from the mouth of the village chief, and then those of the other leaders.

“Ah…”

“Ah?”

“Aaaaaaaaahhh!!!”

***

They were eventually able to settle the matter without further incident, Mile explaining that Sherry had in fact been incredibly lucky—Salisha had been held prisoner, and Shurana positioned as a lowly servant in her household, treated like the lowest of the human workers but without even being paid. Not to mention the fact that, in both cases, the girls’ fates would have likely grown worse as they got older. 

But even once her parents were mollified, Sherry’s sisters weren’t so keen on dropping the matter. Everything they’d just heard about their sister’s new lifestyle was extremely appealing, compared to their lives in the village. Their parents and the village elders were growing increasingly concerned by their enthusiasm at the prospect of a different life. If news of Sherry’s situation got out to the other young women of the village, it would clearly cause quite a stir. 

“Wait,” said one of the sisters. “We’ve heard the fates of those who were kidnapped from the village and sold as slaves, but we haven’t heard a single point against girls from this village forming a hunting party and setting out to seek our fortunes. If a group of weak human girls who aren’t even grown could have enough of a reputation to be trusted with taking out a kidnapping ring, shouldn’t we be even more successful?”

“Guh!” The adults all grimaced as though they had suddenly been struck somewhere painful.

Reina, however, looked even more displeased. “Go ahead, everyone,” she said.

“Copper cross-cutter!”

“Copper quad-cutter!”

“Hellfire!”

“Helix Shot!”

“Please forgive us!” the girl shouted.

“We got carried away!” the other two apologized.

And with that, the matter was settled.

The next day, however, Sherry’s sisters hid themselves from their parents in order to carry on a private discussion.

“If we can just get to where Sherry is…”

“That’s right! We can just get her to make us introductions and land a job with her master…”

“Or better yet, maybe her master has more than one son?”

“Ooh!”

“At least, there have to be sons of his business associates and any nobles that stop by… You see what I’m saying? Half of all human children are boys!”

“Ohhhh!!!”

One would think that was obvious…though perhaps there was a greater gender discrepancy in the birth rates of beastfolk.

“So, do we know where she is?”

“Yeah, I remember the name of the town that they mentioned.”

“Perfect!”

“Okay, now we just need to get our hands on a map. Sherry’s not going to be the only one of us to get away! Onward, to our bright future!”

“Let’s go!”

***

“I truly don’t know how to thank you enough,” the chief said, bowing his head deeply to the members of the Crimson Vow. His thanks were probably forty percent for saving the girls and sixty percent for saving the village from ruin, thought the girls with wry smiles.

“You have completed the job you were contracted to do, and so, we have signed the completion certificate and notified the guild. However, you have truly gone above and beyond, and even if the rest of what you did for us was on your own time, outside of that contract, it would shame the beastfolk race to let you leave without any thanks or recompense. So please, accept our gratitude. I assume by the fact that you previously captured those criminals without petitioning us for a reward that you will not be seeking any huge payment for this kindness, either, but…well, you understand how this is a problem for us, don’t you?”

Clearly, it was a matter of reputation and pride. 

Mavis, who wanted to be a knight, understood such matters far better than most. But even the other three had at least some idea of how such things worked. Though they knew why the village chief believed they ought to receive a reward for their efforts, they were still reluctant to be paid a large amount for something they had done of their own initiative. They couldn’t stomach the thought of receiving cash or any other valuable goods from villagers who—much like the elves—had little in the way of such things to offer. They exchanged looks, wondering what they ought to do. 

“I know!” Mile suddenly gasped. “Instead of a physical reward, we can have them contact the elder dragons for us!”

“Umm, what?”

The other three were bewildered.

“Well, the beastfolk told us before that they have means of contacting the elder dragons, right?”

“Oh, you’re right!” said Reina.

“They did say that,” said Mavis.

“I suppose they did…” Pauline agreed, thinking back.

“So, as our reward for completing our rescue quest, we can ask them to contact the elder dragons! That won’t cost the village any money, and it’s something that we can’t do on our own, so it’d be a big help. That sounds like more than enough reward to me!”

“Hmm…”

What Mile was saying made sense, but there was a justifiable suspicion in Mavis’s voice.

Reina articulated her own skepticism. “Let’s say we get in touch with the elder dragons—then what?”

Well, that was the problem. What was the point of calling up the elder dragons?

With a broad smile, Mile replied, “Obviously, we have them take us to a demon village!”

“Come again?”

The other party members narrowed their eyes in suspicion. 

“Well, like Pauline said before, the demons live in the northernmost part of the continent, far beyond the mountains. No merchants head up that way, so there would be no caravans for us to tag along with. And walking all that way sounds like a pain,” Mile said, glancing at Pauline. 

She was guessing this was at least part of the reason that Pauline had previously been so opposed to them traveling to a demon settlement. Both Mavis, who dreamt of being a knight and had followed in the footsteps of her older brothers since her youth, and Reina, who had grown up with a traveling peddler for a father and worked as a hunter for years after that, were more accustomed to walking than your average person. 

And Mile? Did you even have to ask?

Indeed, the biggest issue with traveling place to place on foot was Pauline slowing the party down. Pauline herself was well aware of this fact and hated it, meaning that she tended to avoid the situations altogether when possible. 

“We can get Kragon—who definitely owes us one!—to carry us there through the air! Then we can check off our bingo cards for having been to all the different races’ villages!”

“Makes sense,” the other three nodded.

“Makes sense, my foot! How could you say such ridiculous things with a straight face?! Trying to use an elder dragon like a pack horse?! You commit as grave a sin as that, and the elder dragons are gonna turn around and murder all of us!” the chief exclaimed, the other beastfolk leaders nodding along.

Indeed, this would have been the reaction of most reasonable creatures in this world. Except—

“The elder dragons owe us a favor, actually…”

“And also, they’re super big.”

“They could probably serve as a carriage a hundred times over.”

“Ah ha ha…”

The beastfolk listened to this utterly absurd exchange, their mouths flapping wide open. 

***

Unable to turn down the Crimson Vow’s request without withdrawing his offer of a reward for their labor, the village elder very reluctantly went about contacting the elder dragons. Before he did so, however, he insisted the Crimson Vow sign a sheepskin contract stating that if anything were to happen and the elder dragons grew angry, the Crimson Vow swore to take responsibility for the whole thing—and were prepared to give their lives if necessary. It would take a certain amount of mental preparation to actively summon the dragons, and one did have to be sympathetic to the chief’s plight. Their fear was an entirely natural one—for everyone but Mile and her friends. 

With the contract signed, the chief went ahead with summoning the dragons, though his methods for doing so were not disclosed. 

***

“…and that was why we called you here.” 

“Ha! At your service!”

This mysterious contact method could apparently convey textual information as well, and it was the familiar Kragon who arrived to fulfill the Crimson Vow’s request. At the sight of the elder dragon, the beastfolk stood stock-still, their eyes intent on the massive creature who, strangely enough, behaved as though he were some manner of underling. (Such reactions were quite commonplace around the Crimson Vow.) 

“We would like you to carry us to a demon village.”

“Gladly!”

Kragon seemed thrilled to do Mile’s bidding, even though it amounted to him serving as a carriage for four human girls. Comprehension was beginning to dawn on the beastfolk. They looked like they were beginning to abandon trying to find a logical explanation for any of this. 

“Will this be all right?” asked Mile, a bit concerned. “I’ve heard that giving lower life-forms a ride on your back is super demeaning for an elder dragon, except in cases where you choose to do so yourself…”

“What, is that what you’re worried about?!” Kragon replied with a laugh. “That’s only the case if we’re being forced to do so against our will or as something we must do as part of an agreement. If it’s a request from you, however, Lady Mile, I would gladly accept at any time, to repay all that you have done for me!”

The members of the Crimson Vow grinned. Dragon Mount acquired!

“We did it! Next, an airship!” Mile crowed.

“Ah…” the other three sighed. Of course, no airships existed in this world, but they all were aware of what she was talking about, thanks to her stories.

***

The Crimson Vow asked Kragon to go home for now and return in a few days’ time to take them north to where the demons lived. He had offered to carry them back home to the capital, but the party unfortunately had to decline, realizing what a panic that might cause in the city.

“We have already sent word back to the lord and to the guild letting them know your original job—the dissolution of the kidnapping ring—has been completed,” the chief explained. “We also thanked them for sending out the most powerful forces you humans possess. Should we not tell them of your further accomplishments in rescuing the children and taking out those dastardly merchants?”

“Ah ha ha…” The girls laughed off his question. The accomplishments in question had nothing to do with them, the Crimson Vow. It had been the work of the mysterious party known as the Order of the Crimson Blood. It was that mysterious party who had independently involved themselves in the grey area of meddling in the affairs of foreign lords and merchants. 

The Crimson Vow had impressed this upon the chief over and over again, asking him to please not let anything strange slip to the guild or the lord. Like most beastfolk, he was possessed of a strong sense of loyalty, so they were confident he would keep his word. However, he wouldn’t be satisfied if he didn’t give them some praise for saving the little girls, so he had yet to drop the subject. 

The Crimson Vow were already certain that his help with the elder dragons was enough reward for something they had done all of their own volition, but the beastfolk were quite obstinate that this had been the bare minimum and simply not enough thanks…

***

“Whew, the chief finally gave it up…”

“He acted like we were torturing him by trying to get him to give up on paying us extra!”

“Ah ha ha…”

This process had been more mentally taxing for Pauline, who had to suppress every instinct in her miserly body, than the other three. Still, she had not tried to stop the rest of the party from refusing. She really was a good person at heart…just one who loved money.

“It’s been quite a while since we finished our actual job.”

“The villagers already sent a report back to the guild, though, so I don’t think there’s any worry of it having been treated as a failure.”

Typically, if a party took too long to return and give their report about a job, the job would be deemed a failure, the party assumed AWOL at best and dead at worst. If enough time passed, they might even be expunged from the guild register. The guild still did its due diligence, especially in cases like this, where there were special circumstances involved. If the Crimson Vow did not return, then the village would probably be contacted for information about what had happened.

At any rate, they need not worry over that, since the chief had already reported his gratitude for the Vow’s performance, which was sure to raise their evaluation in general. 

So, the party headed back to the capital without a single care. 

Around that time, a somber air hung over the capital branch of the Hunters’ Guild, the members of which worried that something might have happened to the Crimson Vow on their return. Though it had already been ten days since the village chief had sent report of the job’s completion, they had seen neither hide nor hair of the girls.

A few days later, when the members of the Crimson Vow flung open the door of the guild hall and cheerfully announced their return, they were immediately descended upon by a crowd of shrieking staff and other hunters…

***

“Why were they so angry?!”

“And why did we have to treat each of the hunters there to an ale?! I mean, thankfully there weren’t that many people there at the time. Small mercies…”

“Ah ha!”

Reina and Pauline grumbled as they left the guild hall, Mile chuckling darkly. 

“Ha ha, well, obviously they were worried about us. Honestly, I’m thankful that we have people that worry that much about us!”

“No way, they were just using it as an excuse to get free ale! How do I know that? They all said they were worried, but no one came to look for us!”

Mavis thought that it was inevitable they should be scolded and was, in fact, grateful that the others cared enough to be worried. Reina, on the other hand, was not pleased about having been yelled at, and Pauline was even less happy about the expenses incurred in being forced to treat the other hunters to a round. In truth, the yelling they had been subjected to was not a true dressing down so much as a stern lecture—less of an angry attack than strong words delivered for the sake of educating the young hunters so they would not repeat this course of action in the future.

Though both may have sounded more or less the same, a dressing down and a lecture were distinguished by the very different intentions behind them.

Reina and Pauline’s pouting was mostly posturing. Internally, they were sorry about all the worry they’d caused by being gone so long without sending word…probably. It was just as possible they weren’t considering that at all, but were just teenagers caught up in their own feelings. Mavis and Mile were beginning to have some understanding of that.

“Why don’t we take four days off before we head out? Sound good?” Mavis proposed.

The other three nodded. This required no debate, as their departure date had already been established—it was the day that they would head out into the nearby woods to meet up with Kragon. They had only planned for three days’ rest, initially, but had overestimated how long the return trip would take and wound up with a day to spare. For a hunter, not building time buffers into your plans—reserving days for changes of circumstance or leisure—could mean a loss of credibility, or even your life. 

Cowardice, anxiety, and overplanning—those were the keys to living a long life in this world.

***

“You four were gone so long! Do you have any idea how worried I was about you?!”

“Aha…”

When the Crimson Vow returned to their inn, it was time for round two of the day’s lectures.

Lenny’s worry was to be expected, especially given how young she was. Whenever they left town, they would tell her when they expected to be back, and they had blown far past that estimate.

Obviously, they did not have to tell her anything about their comings and goings. They always packed up everything when they set out, leaving nothing behind at the inn, and it was quite normal to be delayed, depending on the job. However, this was Lenny they were talking about, so…

“You completely neglected the hot water supply for the baths! And how were we supposed to attract customers?!”

This was the real reason for her dismay.

“You know, why is it we keep staying at this inn?” Reina wondered. “There are inns with far better amenities out there, who would be happy to have us…” 

“Ah ha…” The other three chuckled darkly. 

Really, there were no teeth in Reina’s threat. Despite everything, the inn was comfortable and convenient, the owners were lovely, the food delicious, it was cheap, and there was a bath—even if it was Mile who had been the one to construct that bath. Plus, Lenny worked herself to the bone, and she had her endearing qualities. Sure, she was a cheapskate, but it was not wholly out of selfishness—she was so driven only because she wanted her family’s business to make a bit more. Which was a far more compelling reason for scrimping than Pauline had…

Plus, her attitude just had a lot to do with her being bashful about things…probably.

The others had gone along with Mile’s proposal to visit the demon village so easily for two reasons: first, because they truly could think of no other reward that would satisfy the beastfolk’s consciences without placing a financial burden on the village, and second, because they knew there was probably no way to convince Mile to give up on the idea at this point. Plus, they were all aware that the reason she actually wanted to visit demi-humans of so many different races was to find out why the elder dragons had been investigating those ruins. 

However, the real reason they did not oppose her was that they wanted to indulge Mile at least now and then, given how accommodating she always was to others. Their wish was to make Mile’s wish come true. Or at least, that was how they saw it…

***

Mile, Pauline, Reina, and Mavis spent the next four days visiting the library, cafés, and the orphanages by the riverbanks. They counted their coins and generally followed their own whims. Until…

“Why are you heading out again so soon?!” Lenny wailed. The four left the inn, unheeding…before Lenny could realize that they did not provide her with a return date. After all, if they did not establish a date at the outset, she could not accuse them of coming back “late” afterward. It had taken a while, but the party had finally realized this was the best route. 

As for the guild, the Crimson Vow had requested an audience with the guild master, during which Reina explained that they had somehow ended up in a mess that involved them going with an elder dragon to a demon village. (They were all in the room, of course, but it was Reina who did the talking.) Because it was Reina and not Mile who was speaking, the assertion that this situation was a “mess” was not a complete lie. As far as Mile was concerned, everything was going according to plan. The others, however, really had been dragged into the situation—by a certain “average” young girl. 

In explaining things this way, they hoped that the guild master would misconstrue the whole thing as not something they themselves had petitioned for but rather something they had to do, by the will of the elder dragons. The Crimson Vow never told an outright lie unless they absolutely had to, and Reina was careful to speak the truth, even as she stretched it a little. If the party did have to lie, they would, but here, it seemed possible—and preferable—to avoid true dishonesty.

It was fine to commit a little sin in the pursuit of justice. Or so the Crimson Vow deemed. 

They hadn’t had to speak to the guild master. In fact, they had gone out of their way to do so because, for one, it would look bad for a hunting party to suddenly vanish without a word, and for another, being spotted leaving the country might stop the clock on their minimum in-country service calculator, which they could not abide. As such, they had sat down and carefully calculated how they planned to explain this situation, so that it would sound as though they, having had a previous acquaintance with the elder dragons, had gotten called out for some reason.

With this explanation in place, the other hunters and staff would have to sympathize with the Crimson Vow’s situation. They were acting at the behest of elder dragons, who cared nothing for human wills, so this was a good as an act of God, and not their fault whatsoever.

As with other jobs that might take them out of the country, this would have no effect on their service hours. If the clock was stopped for a job like this, the Crimson Vow might refuse to go, thereby risking the elder dragons’ wrath and bringing about the likely destruction of the capital. No guild employee would ever dare risk so great a danger over such a pointless statute. 

Giving the guild master a bit of a heads-up also avoided the risk of having the elder dragon come to collect them anywhere near the capital, which would cause a mass panic. Since the guild master would know exactly why they were leaving, they could choose a meetup spot a bit father out—also avoiding the possibly pitiful scene that would arise if A- or B-rank hunters tearfully began volunteering for a job to investigate the elder dragons, fully prepared for their own deaths. Such things had happened before… 

At any rate, the Crimson Vow were able to leave peacefully and did not have to worry about how many days they would be gone.

“We’ve seen humans, dwarves, elves, and beastfolk, and now it’s finally time to visit the demons! I’ve gotten the special achievement of visiting the faeries, too, so this will be a true one hundred percent complete run!”

Though Mile had not actually set foot in the faerie village, she had captured—er, had exchanges with—all of the villagers, so she figured that counted. She had already given up on the elder dragon village (?), since their enormous size meant they didn’t bother with any buildings or structures, and there would be no interesting food for her to eat. She did have some fragments of common sense, every now and then.

***

“He’s late,” Reina grumbled.

The party had already been waiting at the meetup spot—the forest near the capital—for quite some time. Unfortunately, a wait was to be expected; there were no accurate clocks in this world, so meetup times were usually rather vague. They could only ever get as far as agreeing on times like “at the first morning bell,” “in the morning,” “before lunch,” “at the first afternoon bell,” or “this evening.” It was no strange occurrence to see a partial day—or even a few days’—delay with riders and carriages as well, as their travel depended on the weather and the condition of the roads, whether any wagon wheels or axles broke, whether a conveyance was attacked by bandits or monsters, and so forth.

No matter how close they might have been to the capital, there was not a soul who could rightfully complain about delays to a meeting out in the wilds. Even Reina’s grousing did not truly come from a place of anger or frustration.

It was mostly thanks to Mile that their party was typically more punctual than usual. There were many things that she could do that the average person could not, such as instantly free a cart that was stuck in the mud or lift up a wagon fully laden with goods to repair a broken axle. Whether it was a shared carriage she happened to be riding in or a caravan they had been hired to protect, this was a service that she always provided.

This was also why, whenever the Crimson Vow offered to take an escort job, the hiring party always responded immediately. Typically, they would check in with the guild to find out a party’s standing and reputation, and sometimes meet up with them first, but with the Crimson Vow, the acceptance always came promptly and without many questions. Of course, the Crimson Vow were skilled and reliable, but this also could have been for any number of other reasons, such as the fact that they were all attractive young girls, or that they had mages with water and healing magic, or they could use storage magic… There were also many who were happy to pay extra for Mile’s cooking along the way.

At any rate, even when meeting up with humans, one might find oneself waiting outside for as much as a few days. So if you were meeting up with a long-lived being, whose sense of time far differed from that of a human…

At the very least, they could be safe in the knowledge that an elder dragon would not experience any delays in travel.

Later, as the members of the Crimson Vow sat drinking tea together, a black speck finally appeared in the sky and swiftly began to grow… Kragon had arrived. However, given how long he had made them wait, the Crimson Vow figured there was no shame in making him do the same, and so they sat and continued enjoying their tea and sweets at their leisure.

***

“Now then, let us depart, Lady Mile.”

A creature who lived as long as an elder dragon had no issue with waiting a little while. Or rather, this was the part where he should have raged about being made to wait by a “lesser life-form,” but Kragon would never show such anger towards Mile, for whom he held such gratitude. For him, the time he was idle would have felt like nothing more than a few seconds, so it was really no big deal. 

Of course, Kragon was polite to Mavis, Reina, and Pauline, both because he had seen their prowess in battle and because they were companions of Mile’s. But Mile was the only one he considered himself indebted to. He did not truly respect the others and was allowing them to come along solely because they were with Mile, little more than a bit of extra baggage on his back. As such, it was up to Mile to do the talking.

“Sorry to make you wait after coming all this way,” she said.

“Please, it is truly no trouble at all. Even a few days would to me feel no different than a handful of seconds would for you humans. And besides, any change in routine is a welcome relief from my daily tedium. For you, Lady Mile, to whom I am so deeply in debt, it is but a pittance. Of course, I cannot say that I’m not simply buttering you up, so that you might aid me should I lose any body parts again… Do ask of me anything you wish.”

Mile laughed. “If that ever happens, I’ve got you!” 

She was unsure if he was joking or serious, but either way, it cost her nothing to make this promise. There were few things in the world that were capable of injuring an elder dragon that seriously. 

Kragon’s obsequies might have been just politeness, meant to set Mile at ease, but regardless, she decided to wholeheartedly accept his kindness. She could certainly enjoy the peace of mind that came with knowing she could obtain the means of super-high-speed travel for her and her friends in the future, should they ever need it. Plus, it seemed like Kragon really did need some way of staving off his everyday boredom.

“So, what matters will you be attending to this time?”

Mile had already told him the destination, and understandably, he was wondering what she would be going to the home of the demons to do. He had already proposed that they get going but had made no move to lower himself so that the members of the Crimson Vow could climb on. Perhaps this was because he would not be able to speak with Mile while they were flying, and he seemed keener to continue the conversation than hasten their departure. By asking about their plans beforehand, he could ruminate on them during the flight and ask any follow-up questions that occurred to him once they had landed. At any rate, he truly did seem to enjoy the task of serving as their stagecoach.

Mile, happy to meet his expectations, explained their business simply—too many details and it would probably spoil his fun.

“First,” Mile said, “I’m going to watch as Reina and Mavis receive overtures from the demon men.”

“What?!” This was news to the two older girls. 

“Oh my!”

The pair in question blushed, but Kragon seemed rather intrigued by the proposition. The love affairs of humans should have been no more interesting than watching salmon spawn to him, but Mile knew from eavesdropping on Berdetice at their first meeting that Kragon had rather a sparse courting history for his age, so she thought he might find this useful reference for his own dating life.

“Then,” she continued, “I’m going to gather some information about what you elder dragons are investigating at those prehistoric ruins.”

“Wh…?”

This time it was Kragon who seemed surprised. The dragons had only employed demons as workers at their sites. Said demons seemed to be receiving some compensation—it was not as though they were unpaid slaves—and had agreed to go along with whatever the dragons were doing. They would never have refused an order or request from an elder dragon, but this meant they didn’t necessarily have much information about the deeper purpose of their tasks. It seemed extremely unlikely that the demons would ever blab about an elder dragon’s affairs to a human. 

But Kragon simply shrugged these thoughts away. 

It was not as though he was particularly invested in any of this. Though once a warrior, Kragon was now merely a liaison between the elder dragon village and the excavation sites. A human independently investigating the ruins was none of his concern, and he was under no obligation to report it. 

And if he did report it, no one would listen. The elder dragons in charge of investigations and research wouldn’t care about what some lowly human was up to. It would be like a security guard coming to a preeminent university professor and telling them that there was a local kindergartner investigating the same topic that said professor was researching. At best, they would be laughed off; at worst, heartily scolded for daring to interrupt important research with such tomfoolery.

“And finally,” Mile went on, “we’re going so I can get a perfect clear! I’ve visited humans, elves, dwarves, beastfolk, and faeries. All I’m missing now is demons, and I’ll have visited all the races! A one hundred percent run!”

“I-I see…”

Kragon had no idea what she meant by a “perfect clear,” or why this might be valuable. But he was a wise dragon and understood that everyone had their own systems of value, even among elder dragons. Besides, he was quite fascinated by Mile, so he decided not to question her on any of this. 

After some time, the group finally departed, headed for the land beyond the mountains, at the northernmost end of the continent.

“Both engines at full throttle. Destination: the homeland of the demons. Kragon—depart!” Mile crowed.

“I figured you’d have something to say,” sighed Reina.

“She never does pass up a chance to use one of the catchphrases from those stories of hers,” said Pauline.

“I think that might have been from the sequel to ‘Sky Battleship Yamato.’ That one really made me cry,” said Mavis. 

“I hope that doesn’t mean this is going to end with us self-destructing!”

As always, the Crimson Vow were in top form.