Chapter II: Dungeons & Dragons
“Come forth, Fire! Exploding Barrage: [Flare Burst]!” Linze spoke the words, and immediately five locations in the distance burst into flames. Everything there was annihilated.
This new spell was an enhanced version of [Explosion] or perhaps it would be more appropriate to say it was the original version of the spell. It was definitely something else... I was pleased we’d decided to head out to test it in the plains instead of the training field.
“You did it! Hmm... I wonder if Fire suits you better than Water after all, Linze.”
“W-Well... I didn’t do this all on my own, you know...? Leen is the one I have to thank for getting me this far.”
“I’ll have you know that fire is my worst element. It’s not exclusive to myself, either. All members of the fairy clan share the same weakness. Only a small number of our people can actually make use of it. It might have something to do with us historically being a species that dwelled in the forest.” Hmm... That reminds me, doesn’t Leen have six elemental affinities? If I remember right, the only one she can’t use is dark. She said something about making Paula to make up for being unable to use summoning magic.
Paula stood triumphant with her hands on her hips as the explosions sounded off once more... She definitely didn’t seem like much of a substitute for someone like Kohaku, though.
“Leen, have you memorized any ancient spell variants?”
“That I have. Though mine’s from the water pool.” Leen stood in front of Linze, extended both arms in front of her body, and focused as hard as she could.
“Come forth, Water! Raging Whirlpool: [Maelstrom]!” An enormous whirling tornado of water appeared, rending the ground and eating up the soil. It didn’t have any specific target, but it seemed to be some kind of large-scale destructive spell anyway. It was insanely strong, just like the fire one...
“The downside is how rapidly it drains my magic reserves. Still, given what it does, that’s only fair.” It made sense that stronger spells sapped magic quickly. That was why a good mage knew how to adapt and use the necessary spells for the necessary situation. They had to also take into account just how much magical energy they possessed.
It wasn’t just Leen and Linze who had improved their skills thanks to some light reading... Monica and Rosetta had taken in a lot of information on magi-technology, so they were trying some new experiments as well. Some of the books in there were even by Doctor Babylon herself.
Recently, Leen had actually been teaching Sue a bit of magic. Sue only had the affinity for light spells, but her magical power was apparently quite high. Leen had decided to teach her restoration magic primarily, and Sue had been practicing it on the knights after they came back from training.
But she was still doing her maid training with Lapis and the others... I really had no idea what kind of career that girl was hoping to pursue.
Fam had come down to the surface and quickly hidden herself away in the castle Library. She was definitely a bookworm and a half... Even book-crazy people I’d heard of back home couldn’t hold a candle to her. She’d been indulging for about five-thousand years, too, so it was a condition that had spread across her entire body. Simply put, her book-oriented affliction was incurable.
In the afternoon, I headed off to the guild. I decided to pop in at least once a week.
I even accepted a few quests now and then to keep myself busy, but my main order of business was acquiring information from Guildmaster Relisha.
I wore a cowl in the guild, trying to conceal my identity. Honestly, I was sure people knew who I was even with the hood on my head... Still, it was better not to stand out.
“Bastard! You wanna fight?!”
“Bring it on, punk!” Two men had grabbed each other by the collar, and quickly sidestepped outside.
Again...? Seems like there’s a fight every time I come out here. Well, I guess that’s just part of guild life...
Adventurers always wanted to prove their worth, so this was only natural. As long as they sorted it out themselves and didn’t trouble the townspeople, I let them take care of it.
“Good day.”
“Ah! Your H— I mean, er, Touya... Good day.” I was talking to the cat-eared receptionist. If I recalled correctly, her name was Misha. Her cat ears were twitching to and fro, which was pretty cute.
“How’s the guild been lately?”
“Let me think... Well, there are a lot of general quests going around. We get the occasional escort mission as well. Still, making a large profit isn’t really possible considering the small scale of the quests we have. Some people have been irritated by it, and mostly leave after doing a few missions. Nobody hangs around, so it’s mostly an influx of new faces every day.” As she spoke, her eyes shifted toward the two men fighting outside. I see how it is...
For whatever reason, a lot of newbies tended to think they had to act all macho. They probably didn’t want to be underestimated or looked down on, but naturally this was a major cause of conflict, since there were too many people measuring their egos.
It would’ve been fine if those people were just beginners, but there were a lot of people who couldn’t advance to the higher ranks thanks to the lack of quest diversity, so you mostly just had a bunch of tense people hitting each other before moving on.
It’d be a lot better if we had veteran adventurers hanging around to keep things in check... But I couldn’t expect people to hang around to get that far if we didn’t have anything to offer them.
Misha took me up to the second floor, and I entered Relisha’s quarters. The elven guildmaster was clearing up some papers as I entered the room. However, the moment she noticed me, she immediately motioned toward a nearby couch.
“Good to see you. You arrived at just the right time, actually.”
“Oh?” She set the papers down on her desk, grabbed one document, and then sat down next to me on the couch.
“I have two pieces of news, and one proposition. Firstly, Dragons have been sighted.”
“Dragons?”
“One has appeared south of the Sea of Trees, in the Burning Kingdom of Sandora. From what I’ve been told it caused chaos in a small sand village, and then flew off to parts unknown. That was fairly standard, but then we heard reports out of Yulong and Roadmare that Dragons were attacking villages in the area. Three Dragons, to be precise.” That’s odd... Dragons tend to live up in the mountains away from society, and they rarely attack human territories. Even amongst Dragons, there are elders and juniors. From what I understand, it’s the younger Dragons that behave more like wild animals and attack things recklessly.
Back in Mismede there was that Black Dragon, and it was a younger one. The Red Dragon I met afterward was older, and it seemed like a much more reasonable guy.
“It may be coincidental, but it’s hard to say. There’s a lot we do not know about dragonkind. It could be mating season for them, or some other migrational event. We’re going to proceed with an investigation regardless. Now, on to the second matter... Well, that comes alongside a proposition.” Relisha spread out the document on the table, revealing it to be a map. It looked mostly like the ocean, but there were islands dotted here and there.
“This is a recently discovered archipelago south of Sandora. We’ve found several ancient ruins on these islands, but there’s an issue... It’s a far-off location, so excavation and exploration are extremely difficult.”
“Have you been using ships?”
“Yes, but the islands aren’t suited for extended stays. The environment fluctuates to the extreme, burning temperatures quickly become glacial in a matter of minutes. The wildlife there is also beyond dangerous. I wondered why each island had little ruins on it, but it’s possible that it was all one large island during the ancient era.”
Hm... A sunken island? That’s certainly not impossible. It might even be why they’re no longer inhabited. Then the monsters settled in and the rest is history... I guess.
“The other issue is that the ruins are dungeons of considerable size. We’re speculating that they’re man-made constructions, likely created by ancient mages or individuals of considerable influence. If that’s the case, it’s safe to assume that there’s treasure within the dungeons. Naturally the guild can’t miss an opportunity to plunder the ruins of old.”
That’s definitely true. There could be a whole mountain of treasure down there. I’ve never personally gone dungeon diving, but as I understand it, there are a lot of ruins scattered across the world.
“Usually we put out quest notices for cases like this, since it’s pretty much the norm for dungeon exploration. However, the location of the ruins poses somewhat of an issue... And that’s where my proposition comes in.” Relisha leaned in a little closer toward me.
Wh-What the... P-Personal space, lady...? Though I guess having a woman like this press up against me isn’t the worst thing in the world.
“I was wondering if it would be possible for you to connect those dungeons to Brunhild using one of those [Gate] spells of yours, Your Highness.”
“Huh?” What? Why would I connect Brunhild to a series of dangerous dungeons?
“What I’m trying to say is that I’d like a way for our adventurers to easily access and challenge the dungeons. If adventurers gather here to explore previously uncharted territory, then the town will develop as well. The guild’s understanding of the dungeon will also develop as we send more adventurers there, and we’ll all profit from whatever ends up being brought back. What do you think?”
Oh... That’s definitely a good idea. If I did something like that, we’d have a ton of adventurers coming through looking for a way to earn a quick buck, which would increase business at our inns and shops in turn. Plus, more people being here would end up attracting even more people. I couldn’t think of a downside.
I could easily make it so any of the creatures on the other side wouldn’t be able to come through the portal, either. In other words, we’d use the dungeon access as a way to promote Brunhild.
“I have a couple of questions, okay? First of all, are the islands owned by any nation?”
“They’re currently under the guild’s provisional watch, and aren’t affiliated with any nation, no. However, if you accept this proposal... I think it wouldn’t be unreasonable to have the land granted to the Duchy of Brunhild. Well, that is if you can promise that the guild will have exclusive rights to excavated treasures and any information of worth uncovered.”
“Alright, then. Another question. Did you not consider that I might go and explore these dungeons personally? I’d easily be able to monopolize treasure and noteworthy information that way.”
“Heheh... I don’t believe that a man who gathered the leaders of the world to oppose the Phrase threat would ever do such an awful thing. I didn’t get this job just for my pretty looks, you know? I have an eye for judging character.”
Huh. Guess she thinks pretty highly of me. Well, better not let her down...
It was certainly an interesting prospect. It wasn’t going to be me who’d explore the whole place, but the adventurers, merchants, and guild affiliates who had a stake in checking the place out instead.
Even exploring it casually and mapping it out would be profitable. I wouldn’t be surprised to find cartographers joining the expeditions, too.
The deeper the dungeon, the stronger the monsters, as well. From what I understood, the density of magic in the air was thicker the deeper down you traveled, which was why the stronger magical beasts preferred to hide underground.
Still, any adventurer worth his salt would be aware of the risks, so I decided not to fret too much about people hurting themselves.
“Very well, then. I’ll co-operate.”
“Thank you so much! We’d like you to put the [Gate] to the dungeons near the guild, on the outskirts of town.”
And so, we’d acquired a new attraction, which was a series of dungeons. With any luck, the town would prosper further as a result. I decided I’d do a little bit of preemptive exploration.
After I had Relisha tell me the location of the islands, I opened up a [Gate] to the Rabbi Desert, which was just outside Sandora. Then, I activated [Fly] and headed off south.
After flying for a while, I finally came across the islands. They were as remote as she made them out to be. Even a ship directly from Sandora would take a long time to arrive.
“Hm... There should be three, right?” Each island had a different dungeon, and there were three in total. I was asked to name them, but I put it off. I was hoping for a flash of inspiration.
“Oho?” I looked down at the islands and saw a ship off the coast. Looking closer, I saw a group camping on the beach of one of the islands. I assumed they were the guild officials who were keeping an eye on the islands. I landed in the camp, and the surprised men drew their weapons.
“Wh-Who are you!?”
“I’m following up on a request from Guildmaster Relisha. Right now I guess I’m an adventurer, so... here’s my card.”
“Wha— Gold?! Then you must be Brunhild’s... Forgive us, sir!” The guild officials immediately sheathed their weapons. The power of the Guild Card sure was something. It seemed like it couldn’t be forged, so the credibility of a Guild Card was absolute. Still, I wondered if it’d be possible to fool a guild official with a convincing enough fake...
“Relisha asked me to connect these islands with Brunhild... Hm, maybe I should just bring her here.” I opened up a [Gate] and pulled Relisha through.
“...That’s certainly what I proposed, yes, but I can’t believe you got here so quickly...” I left the talking to Relisha, and she told the guild officials that their jobs were formally over.
These islands were now the extended territory of Brunhild... They were pretty barren, though. It was simply rocky mountains, sandy beaches, blue skies, and restless jungle.
“So then, where’s the dungeon?”
“Go straight through the jungle and you’ll come to a mountainside. Scale it a little and you’ll come to a cave. There, you’ll find rocky stairs leading downward. That’s the dungeon entrance. This island has a lot of sandy beach around it, so a lot of it’s submerged, but it’s also very narrow. The dungeon likely goes beneath sea level and connects to the dungeons on the other islands.” If it was true that this place used to be one big island, it would make sense that the dungeons connected somehow. There was only one way to find out for sure, though.
“I’ll try going in for now, but what about the others?”
“I’ll take care of the proceedings back in Brunhild, if you could send me back. Ah, sorry, but would you mind also sending the other guild staff back to Sandora?” That wasn’t an issue at all. I quickly sent Relisha back to Brunhild.
After that, the others took down their camp and boarded their ship. They all seemed pretty happy to be leaving. I could imagine that sitting around waiting for orders was probably dull. I could empathize with that.
Once everyone was aboard, I transferred the ship to Sandora’s main harbor. That was that.
Now came the fun part, checking out the dungeon.
I decided to head there on foot. It’d be easier to fly, but I took advantage of the walk to chop down trees and create a paved road using Earth magic.
I was attacked by a six-legged wolf and a two-headed snake, but they were small fry and didn’t take much effort to kill.
Eventually, I came out of the jungle and made a smooth path up the rocky mountain. Then, I carved stairs into the cliff face to complete the route to the dungeon.
Once there, I entered the cave and looked down the steps into the abyss.
“...Man, that’s dark. Not too surprising, though.” I cast [Light Orb] and generated a little sphere of light. The dungeon felt dank and claustrophobic as I went further down inside. Still, I was probably below the sea, so humidity was natural.
After wandering for a while, I found myself in a broad room. The place was definitely man-made. I could tell from how unnaturally carved the walls and ceiling were.
I looked around and found three different paths. Left, right, and straight ahead. Come on now... A three-way split in the first room? If this was a game, it wouldn’t be nearly this complicated... But I guess it isn’t a game, so I should just stop worrying about it.
I didn’t want to get lost, so I went straight ahead. Obviously it was impossible for me to get lost since I had access to [Gate] and all.
I traveled on ahead until I reached another fork in the road. This time it was a case of right or left.
Hm... Guess it’s my own fault for thinking the path ahead would just be straight. Wait a second...
“This might not work, but... display map. Display the first basement floor of this dungeon, and my current location.”
“Displaying.” My smartphone replied, and it projected a map of the current floor alongside my current position. It worked... Wow, it seriously worked! Wait, crap... I didn’t want that to work.
It showed the stairs that led to the second floor, too. There appeared to be four floors in total.
Ugh... I kinda spoiled it for myself, didn’t I? I can probably profit by selling this map, but... I won’t. It’d be better for adventurers to uncover the secrets of this place by themselves without me spoiling all the fun. Plus, it’d be way cooler to watch them explore this place, like an amusement park. Well, whatever... Guess I can still explore the first floor, at least.
“Whoa!” I turned toward the passageway leading to the second floor’s stairway, and found myself face to face with some monsters. They were short, dog-headed creatures known as Kobolds, and there were two of them in total.
Kobolds were instinctive monsters that didn’t understand my words. Other creatures like Werewolves or Vampires did, however.
The Kobolds were expecting me, apparently. At least it seemed that way from their expert timing as they brought their stone axes down toward my head. I quickly pulled out Brunhild and took them both out. Luckily for them, I’d had paralysis bullets loaded. They’d very narrowly escaped a painful end.
I realized that my orb of light was probably an easy way to tell I was coming. It was practically a beacon saying “ambush me” or something along those lines. I should’ve considered that, really.
I passed the collapsed Kobolds and began heading toward the stairs. I stopped myself for a moment when I discovered a small side passage with a set of double doors at the far end. I made the decision to check it out. Nothing wrong with a detour, after all.
I headed down the passage and opened up both of the doors at the end. There, I found a small room with a treasure chest in the corner. That kind of thing was pretty standard in video games, but it felt a little bit weird to see in reality.
I kind of wanted to ask why there was a treasure chest in a place like this, but I just decided to open it instead.
My heart beat faster as I approached the container, and... I paused for a moment, briefly fearing a trap. I didn’t want to blow up or something. I decided to just lift the lid a little bit, so as to not tempt fate. It wasn’t locked, at any rate. Anyway, I flung the lid open, wincing slightly, but no trap was set! Upon peering into the open chest, I saw...
“What the...” A rusted knife, a filthy satchel, some wonky looking polearm, and a hand-crafted stone axe. The axe looked like the same kind that the Kobolds from before were wielding. It seemed that I’d stumbled upon their secret stash of junk. Well, it was trash to me, but probably treasure to them. Still, there was no way the guild would want to buy this kind of crap. I took a closer look and saw something gleaming in the corner of the chest. What I saw was a small band of gold. It didn’t have any jewels embedded in it, but it was a golden ring for sure. If it was real, it’d definitely be worth something.
...Come to think of it, where’d they even get the treasure chest? It was possible that the chest had contained treasure at one point, but the monsters might’ve taken things from it one by one... Before long, it was simply another storage container for the Kobolds to make use of.
The treasure chest might have even been from another floor. It was possible that someone, or... something, had dragged it all the way up from a lower floor.
The actual treasure might’ve been looted by the denizens of the dungeon and hidden away in different hiding places... It was entirely possible that the real treasures were in the possession of monsters now.
I took the ring, but left the rest of the stuff behind. Good luck, little Kobolds... Plenty of people are gonna come through your home and try to kill you.
Once I made it down to the second floor, I used [Gate] to return to Relisha’s office.
“It’s an ordinary ring without any particular enchantments... Though, it’s definitely gold.” Wow, so it’s genuine... Guess that means the dungeons do have treasures in there.
The goal of any adventurer was to find treasure within ancient ruins and dungeons, and also harvest rare materials from monsters as well. It seemed that there were a lot of dungeon-dwelling creatures that evolved differently, so rare materials were commonplace in the lower levels.
“Might I purchase the ring from you, then?”
“Sure, go ahead. How much is it worth?”
“Let’s see here... Given the poor handiwork and the scratched surface... About two silver should do.”
Hm... Two silver coins for one golden ring... That’s about a week at an inn. Given that I didn’t spend that much time exploring, that seems pretty fair. Then again, I might’ve just gotten lucky finding this...
That reminded me, if we had more adventurers coming in, I’d probably need to upgrade our lodgings. The Silver Moon probably didn’t have enough rooms available.
“There’s another matter, Your Highness. The gates that connect Brunhild and the islands... What are we going to do about the toll?”
“Uh, the toll?”
“Yes, the toll an adventurer has to pay. I think you should at least charge an entry fee... Were you planning on making it free?”
“Hm... I guess one copper is probably enough, right?” She told me that was pretty cheap, but there was always a chance that the adventurer wouldn’t make it back. I wanted as many people as possible to make it back safely and use the services available in Brunhild.
Making it free would’ve been troublesome, since we wouldn’t be able to keep track of who was coming and going. I didn’t want us to lose track of who went through and never came back, so a fee was best for book-keeping. The Guild Card was the easiest way to monitor that. In the end, the toll wouldn’t generate much revenue, but that wasn’t really the point anyway.
We’d probably need potions, medicine, weapons, and armor as well... I didn’t want to get ahead of myself, but I decided to talk to the town merchants about stocking up for the future. It was possible I might end up needing a master smith to repair weaponry and armor, too.
I was a little excited to see just where this project would take us.
Adventurers by the dozen had begun gathering in Brunhild. Why? Because word had quickly begun to spread about the dungeons.
After all, this was uncharted territory. Uncharted and untouched, due to their isolated location. The allure of treasure was far too much to give up on, so many people had come seeking their fortunes.
Basically, it was a first come first served situation. All the adventurers wanted to be the first to explore the dungeons. I’d named them, by the way, Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi, and Susanoo.
In the past I had deliberately limited the knowledge of my [Gate] spell because I didn’t want to be looked at with scrutiny or suspicion. But it seemed that it was pretty well-known as my ‘signature’ magic at this point. I suppose it was unavoidable, I had ended up using it a lot during the Yulong invasion.
I was already in a position of vast power, regardless. I didn’t expect anyone to turn on me at this point, so there was no real harm in revealing my wonders. Even if they tried, I’d just put them in their place.
All that considered, the portals that connected Brunhild to the dungeons were just accepted as another matter-of-fact thing related to my power.
The dungeons weren’t only vast, they were dangerous. Due to the lack of civilization in the area for so long, the place had become a prime breeding ground for magical beasts. Though the exploration hadn’t been going on for too long, it seemed that some parties had already made it as far as the third floor down.
The guild was satisfied, since they were seeing a boost in rare items, valuable raw materials, and treasures.
Initially I was worried about the number of adventurers in town causing a disruption of public order, but it hadn’t been as bad as I’d thought. There were still some rough types and troublemakers alongside the fortune-seekers, though.
So even though it wasn’t large scale, there was a slow but steady increase in dumbasses who thought they could bother my citizens and harass the shop workers.
I wasn’t sure what the standard was in other countries, but I certainly wouldn’t be letting them do as they pleased. Anyone caught causing trouble would be dragged off to the Whisper Prison (an enclosed space filled with the constant sound of nails on chalkboard), or the Hellish Aroma Pen (another enclosed space filled with a fraction of a sludge slime’s scent). That would give them ample time to reflect on their attitudes.
I’d also built a hospital in town, not just for the sake of the adventurers, mind you. I had several Light magic specialists and doctors stationed there, to take care of injury and disease alike. I also had Flora create several medicines to be used by the people there.
We were charging them at a fair rate, but children with parents who were Brunhild citizens would be treated for free. If you were under thirteen in this world, then you were still a child. I didn’t want to exclude them from healthcare just because they or their families couldn’t afford it.
Well, I said free, but that just meant it wouldn’t cost them any money. Their parents would still have to work for a day or two on national projects to make up for it. Though, if they could afford the cash, they could always just bypass that and pay for the medicine like everyone else.
There were a few stalls lined up alongside the portals, stocked with lamp oil, rope, rations, medicines, bandages, and other adventurer necessities. It seemed each stall had a different specialty. One was selling knives, one compasses, one canteens, and so on.
I walked over to one of the stalls and called out to the merchant. He turned to me.
“Hey there. How’re the sales?”
“Ah, not bad at all... I might end up switching careers at this rate!” This man was one of Brunhild’s ninjas. In other words, he was an ex-Takeda agent, and a subordinate to Tsubaki.
I had him assigned here to disguise himself as a vendor and keep an eye on the people that came through. I didn’t want to seem suspicious by talking to him for too long, so I started picking up items on his stall as I spoke.
“Any issues?”
“Nothing major, no. Though there have been various arguments between parties here and there. Minor things.” Treasure-related fights weren’t exactly new issues. Individual conflicts were fine, so long as they didn’t involve unrelated bystanders.
“When I went to the dungeon, there were only Kobolds on the first level. What’s the situation on the deeper floors?”
“Common monsters on the first level include Kobolds, Goblins, Giant Rats, Giant Bats, and Lone-Horned Rabbits. Common monsters on the second level include Hobgoblins, Goblin Archers, Skeletons, and Orcs. As for the third floor... I’ve heard there are Killer Mantises and Dullahans down there.” Huh, Dullahans? I remember fighting one of those forever ago. It was pretty tough at the time. It might be hard to fight without a dedicated Light magic user, or at least anti-undead weaponry.
“The monsters in each dungeon seem to be quite varied. Amaterasu seems to have an abundance of magical beasts, while Tsukuyomi has an influx of undead. Susanoo, on the other hand, seems to have more generic types of monsters.” Apparently the difference between a regular monster and a magical beast was simply down to the bestial features they had. I don’t really know why they bothered making such a distinction. But still, I wondered why the different dungeons seemed to favor different types of monster. It may simply be a case of predatory instinct. Magical beasts even ate each other, so perhaps the other classifications of monsters gravitated away from their main grounds.
I thanked the ninja and headed towards the portal. There were three gates in total now, each leading to the entrance of a different dungeon.
Still, the actual location of the islands was the same in the end. There was nothing stopping someone from swimming over to another beach or building a boat to get to the other places. Most adventurers found it more convenient to just come back through to Brunhild and walk through another [Gate], though.
Even if they had to present their guild card and pay a copper coin, it was still easier than moving from island to island the old-fashioned way.
A single copper coin was enough for a meal in this world, so I figured it was approximately a thousand yen. But if that was the case, then I felt like charging two copper coins per night at the Silver Moon was probably a little cheap. Especially since it included three meals. Still, that meant it was around sixty-thousand yen for a full month. Looking at it that way, it was probably fairly priced. Hmph...
Regardless, comparing the currency between this world and my old world was a bit of a fruitless exercise. I decided not to think about it too much.
“Touya-dono!”
“Touya...!”
“Hm? Yae and Hilde? What’s up?” I turned around to find a swordswoman combo running toward me. They certainly seemed closer lately, probably because they always sparred together.
“We have agreed to set out and investigate the ruins while training at the same time, we have. Hilde-dono has not had as much experience in combat against the magical beasts as I, she has not.”
“Yes! Look, I even got a guild card! Though it’s still black... It can’t quite compare to yours, Yae.” Hilde bashfully held up her guild card. She seemed happy.
Her card was black, the newbie’s color. The lowest tier possible... It was a bit funny having the Knight Princess of Lestia regarded as the lowest. Felt like a pretty bad joke. I decided we’d work to fix that. Yae’s was red. That was because she’d been adventuring with me for a while.
That being said, rising to red in such a short amount of time was practically unthinkable. Still, I couldn’t be that surprised about it. Yae was remarkably powerful, she had been even before she met me.
“What brings you here, Touya-dono?”
“Oh, me? I’m just doing a little security sweep.”
“Ah, if you’re done would you like to come with us?”
“Oh, sure. Let’s go.” We went through the gate to Amaterasu, and came out on the pearly white sands.
Don’t worry, I paid the fee like everyone else. I didn’t want anyone making a fuss about me and my fiancees getting special treatment. It’d make us stand out too much, too. Normally I’d have just used my own [Gate], but I decided to use the opportunity to check that these ones were working alright.
The archipelago was composed of seven islands. Some large, some small. There was no dungeon on the biggest island, though. It was basically just wilderness, ruled by monsters and magical beasts.
There were a lot of plant-themed monsters on that island, so people had to take extra care when looking around the place. It seemed there were still some people who ventured on to the main island regardless, and they sometimes ended up getting hurt. But in the end, that wasn’t my concern.
It seemed that the island had unusual herbs, nuts, and berries on it, so there was the occasional guild quest to go and obtain them.
I invoked [Light Orb] as we neared the dungeon’s entrance. Amaterasu was the dungeon I’d entered originally, and it seemed there were roughly forty adventurers in there right now. If I assumed a party was made up of four people, that meant there were about ten parties down there.
“There is bound to be conflict with so many groups down there, is there not?”
“Well, it’s pretty big down there. Even if they do come across one another, they might just say hi and split off again. They might even trade for supplies. I’m sure they won’t get territorial about treasure and stuff just yet.” Three Lone-Horned Wolves jumped out and attacked us as we entered the dungeon. Before Yae or I had a chance to react, Hilde leaped to the front of the line and took them all down. She was definitely getting tougher.
“What should I do with these? Aren’t these horns valuable?”
“Yeah, but just the horns. Their meat’s too tough to eat, and their pelts are too wiry.”
“So we can just take the horn and leave the rest?”
“Yeah, just push them up against the sides of the walls so nobody trips on them. I imagine they’ll become meals for other magical beasts. If not that, then they’ll attract slimes when they start decomposing.” Slimes lived in every kind of dungeon, apparently. They attacked people every now and then, but for the most part they were harmless scavengers. They ate and dissolved dungeon garbage, basically.
Corpses and waste products were no exception to this rule, either. As a result, most dungeons stayed fairly clean. Slimes be praised.
Even though slimes operated like living vacuum cleaners, it seemed they avoided the contents of treasure chests. But they also tended to avoid metal in general. If I recalled correctly, sludge slimes actually purified bodies of water that they entered. So it was probably a case of different slimes having different cleaning specialties.
There was a theory going around that slimes were actually man-made creations from the ancient era. It was certainly possible. I had no idea about where slimes originated from, after all. Probably a stupid magician, though. I decided to look it up in the Library later on.
Hilde dragged the Lone-Horned Wolves off to the side and sliced their horns off. The horns wouldn’t be worth a lot, but the guild would be more than willing to take them off our hands.
Afterward, Hilde deftly took down Giant Bats, Giant Rats, and plenty of Lone-Horned Rabbits. There were certainly a lot of magical beasts in here, that was for sure. Though we did see the occasional Goblin or Kobold peek its head out.
I decided not to display the map, or even reveal that I had one to the girls. We weren’t here to chart the dungeon, after all. Plus it was more fun doing a blind run of the place... Though the girls ended up discovering the stairs to the second floor much faster than I expected.
We descended the stairs and made it to another wide room again. There was a left-hand path and a right-hand path. We decided to proceed towards the right. We made it to another crossroads, and then another.
“That reminds me... We should invest in both a map and a compass. If you get lost, you mightn’t be able to get back out.” Hilde had a point, most adventurers certainly did do that. I, on the other hand, could afford to be lazy about matters like this. I didn’t have to worry about getting lost at all thanks to my [Gate] spell.
We casually continued on, until we came to a big pair of double doors. We entered through and found ourselves in a small-ish room. There was a treasure chest in the corner, too. I wondered if this was a monster’s secret stash or something.
I was picturing the stereotypical game character invading someone’s home and opening all their furniture in search of treasure.
Hilde looked extremely excited. This was, after all, her first ever treasure chest. I, on the other hand, just felt awkward.
The chest contained daggers. Lots and lots of daggers. Some rusted, some just dagger handles. All trash. Just as I’d thought. Nothing valuable at all.
But I had no idea why it was exclusively daggers... Maybe the person or creature that stashed them there was just a fanatic. Then again, certain animals like crows and dogs did like to collect weird stuff.
“How disappointing...”
“There there, Hilde. Real treasures aren’t so easily found.”
“Hold that thought a moment, Touya-dono. Is this not a silver dagger?” I looked where Yae was pointing and, sure enough, though it was dusty and at the bottom of the chest... There was a dagger of pure silver. It was a simple dagger, not very ornate, but it’d definitely be good enough to sell. Treasure was treasure, after all.
“I don’t think it’ll sell for a lot, but how about it?”
“No... I’ll keep this as a memento. A memory of the day I began adventuring properly.” Hilde slipped the blade into a pouch at her waist. Well, if she didn’t want to sell it, I wasn’t going to stop her.
As Hilde smiled, so too did I.
“There, that oughta do it.”
“Wow... You’re crazy... But I guess that’s the norm by now, huh...” I’d just finished renovating the Silver Moon, so I jumped down from the roof.
There were too many adventurers and too few rooms, so I expanded the first building and constructed a second for good measure.
On top of that, the new building was officially recognized as a guild-affiliated adventurer’s inn. In other words, the second branch was partnered with the guild, and built close to the portals so adventurers could easily stay there between dungeon runs.
I’d made some tweaks to the main branch and increased the price of stay a little bit, so it could be the main place for traders and general travelers. I hadn’t increased the price by too much, didn’t want people calling us a rip-off. Given what the place provided in terms of amenities, we were more than fairly priced.
“You only came to ask if a few renovations would be okay... I didn’t expect you to do all of this in just a few hours. I’m amazed...”
“Yeah... It’s really something...” Micah, the proprietor, and Fleur, one of her employees, were staring at the new and improved Silver Moon with wide, awestruck eyes.
“Yep, easy does it. All that’s left is deciding how many people to hire.”
“Ah, in that case... I actually have a few application letters here. There are a few people from back home in Reflet who expressed a desire to move here.” Friends from back in Reflet, huh... Sounds good to me. I opened up a [Gate] and took Micah through to the sleepy town of Reflet.
We started speaking with the people Micah had mentioned, and it seemed they were all more than happy to come and work in Brunhild.
Some of them even said they wanted to start working right away, so we sent them off to pack their luggage and come back with us on the return trip. It felt a little like stealing citizens, but hey, they wanted to work.
We had some free time after that, so Micah went to go speak to Dolan, her father. I decided to take a little stroll, since I didn’t want to interfere in father-daughter affairs.
I hadn’t visited Reflet in a long time, so it was a little nostalgic. As I walked, I thought a bit about Brunhild’s future.
“I guess we need to restock on weapons, armor, and adventuring goods... Olba’s Brunhild store is probably selling out, too... But still, transporting stuff to and from Brunhild takes a while... Carriages can only go so fast.” Olba had an artifact that allowed him to transport smaller goods faster than the other merchants, but it still had its limits.
I’d given up on the idea originally... But maybe I should make a car after all? No, if I’m gonna make anything it should be a train...
But then again... horse-drawn carriages are pretty fast, maybe if I could just increase how much they can carry... Wait. Can’t I just apply [Gravity] to make the carriages lighter? Yeah, that’s a great idea. I can make a multipurpose, lightweight horse carriage. Olba would totally buy that, even if it was pricey. Plus, if I enchanted it with [Storage] it’d be able to carry a lot more, too!
I wondered about possible vehicle variations I could make. It might be possible to make a carriage with defensive enchantments for royals or nobles. Mulling over the idea reminded me that my royal stables had no horses in them. That was because we just used [Gate] to get around, so there was no need.
All that aside, things in Brunhild were looking up. The dungeons were highly successful. Nobody had died yet, but there were a number of injured people coming through daily. Apparently after the first floor, the power of the monsters and magical beasts spiked up considerably. If the adventurers couldn’t make the proper call, they’d end up getting pretty badly maimed.
From what I’d heard, Amaterasu had been explored up until the fourth floor. Several parties had acquired some valuable treasures from secluded hoards on that level, too. The rumors were getting around, so the number of fortune-seekers would surely increase again soon.
As I thought to myself, I looked to the left and found myself in front of Zanac’s store. That was nostalgic. It was the first store I’d seen upon finding myself in the new world.
It looked a bit different now, though. For starters, it was almost twice its original size. They were selling stuff like school uniforms and bathing suits now, though, so they were probably making a lot of profit from their unusual and exotic designs. I decided to take a look inside.
“Welcome! Welcome to Fashion King Zanac!” I entered the shop and was greeted by a slightly older, smiling girl. ... I guess it’s in her job description to greet people like that...
This store also had a branch in Brunhild, so I knew full well how gaudy and over-the-top a place it was.
I asked the counter clerk to call Zanac over, and before long the man himself was there before me.
“Ohoho. Well, if it isn’t His Highness himself. What brings you to Reflet on this lovely day? A matter of urgency, perhaps?”
“We were just looking for more employees to work at the Silver Moon in Brunhild. I ended up coming over with Micah to talk to some people about it. Now I’m here, since I had some time to kill.”
“Oho, I see... Does that mean you might like to place an order for employee uniforms?” Oh, good point. That totally slipped my mind. Zanac sure is sharp, though. He has the trader’s opportunistic eye.
I couldn’t decide at the time since I didn’t know the sizes of the new workers, so I told Zanac I’d put the order in with the Brunhild branch of his store later on.
“Oh, right. I had a small matter I thought I might ask you about, Your Highness. A noble in Roadmare has put in an order for a dress with an unusual, unique design. If it’s no bother to you, I was wondering if you might have any... creative input on dresses that look like no other.”
“A unique dress design, huh... Hmm. Can I have some blank paper?” As the clerk ran off to get me some paper, I whipped out my smartphone and started browsing for fancy-looking dresses. I picked out about twenty interesting-looking designs. Then I used [Drawing] to print off the designs and handed them over to Zanac.
“Goodness... I’ve never seen anything quite like this. I’m sure the customer will be satisfied with one of these, thank you!”
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure none of the royal families have any dresses like these. So if it’s unique they’re after, then they won’t get much better.” If the noble wanted something one-of-a-kind, they were lucky their order came in at just the right time for me to help.
As I printed out a few designs for matching gloves and shoes, a man suddenly burst through the front door with an excessive amount of presence and strength.
It was Barral, the owner of the Eight Bears weapon shop. That was a surprise. But, before I could even react to the bear of a man’s dramatic entrance...
“Z-Zanac! There’s a Dragon! A Dragon is attacking Reflet, you need to get out of here!”
“What?!” A Dragon?! I stormed out the door and looked up, only to see a green-scaled creature circling overhead.
It had deep red eyes, rugged and rough skin, and spines protruding from its tail. It was about the same size as the Black Dragon I faced back in Mismede.
The only difference was that this Green Dragon had two back legs, and wings fused to the two limbs at the front. Unlike the Black Dragon that I’d fought before, which had four legs and a separate set of wings, this one was visually distinct. It was a Wyvern!
“Groaaargh!” The town descended into panic as the beast let out a terrible roar. It craned its neck and began hurling globs of flame from its mouth.
“Gh...!” I used [Fly] to get airborne and, deftly weaving between the flaming projectiles, moved up towards the creature. Then, I held my right arm out.
“[Absorb].” The balls of flame dissipated into nothing, flowing into my body as raw magical energy. [Absorb] was another of my recent Null magic acquisitions. It turned magical effects into magical energy, and granted it to whoever cast the absorption spell. A Dragon’s breath was simply the conversion of magical energy to flames, so naturally it was affected too.
But that was still extremely close. Had any of those blasts hit the town, it would’ve been a complete catastrophe.
“GRAUUUUUURGH!!” The Wyvern’s eyes locked on to me, regarding me with eyes that said “Keep out of my way, pest.” Hey, don’t you look at me like that! You’re the troublemaker here!
I accelerated towards the Wyvern and gave it a stern kick in the gut. I also applied a certain magical effect alongside the contact.
“[Gravity].” The creature suddenly jerked downwards due to the shift in its own weight, crashing down into the main street. Luckily for me, the place was completely evacuated, and now the beast had no way to escape.
I looked down on the Wyvern with a sneer. It was desperately struggling to fly away, but its body was far too heavy. I invoked [Gravity] on myself to massively increase my own weight and, from a height of several dozen feet, plummeted right down on the pathetic creature. I heard a distinct crunching sound as the creature’s backbone splintered and snapped. It was dead.
“Man... What a pain in the ass.” Cheers erupted from all sides as I surveyed the twitching draconic corpse. Gradually, once all sense of danger had passed, the townsfolk came and gathered around me.
“Goodness gracious me... Incredible... You killed a Dragon just like that, an airborne one at that... Thank goodness you were visiting today, Your Highness...” Zanac quietly muttered as he eyed the dead Wyvern up and down. Barral just stared in my direction, lost for words. Micah and Dolan ran over from out of the crowd.
“This... Good lord, you’ve gone and done something insane again. I’m glad the town’s okay, but... What are you even gonna do with this?”
“I don’t really need it. You can have the meat, Dolan. From what I’ve heard, Dragon flesh is supposed to be really tasty. Zanac, you can have its hide. If you tan it you should be able to make good jackets and so on. Barral, you can have the bones. They’ll make good weapon crafting materials.” Everyone nearby gasped in shock at my words, but it was Micah who actually spoke up.
“W-W-Wait a second! You know Dragon materials are top-tier, right?! Are you sure you’re fine just giving it away like that?”
“Yeah, like I said, I don’t need them. It should help everyone out a bit. I’d be happy if you all took it. You guys were kind to me when I first showed up, after all.” I’d only spent a little bit in Reflet, but they were good people. I definitely owed them a debt of gratitude. So if they accepted something like this, it’d help me feel like I was giving back a little.
“Ah, be mindful when you strip the tail, alright? Those barbs look poisonous.”
“Oh? Got it. Thanks.” After my warning, Dolan began carefully stripping the beast’s tail of barbs.
Still... Why was there a Wyvern here? If it was hungry, there’s a bunch of Lone-Horned Wolves in the southern forest... It kinda feels like it was directly targeting this town.
I’d heard from Relisha that there were eyewitness reports of more Dragon attacks in recent weeks.
Weak Dragons had appeared in Yulong, Sandora, and Roadmare. Wyverns were a Dragon subspecies, but still classed as weak Dragons. I wondered why they were attacking people, though. There surely had to be more to this than met the eye.
“Hm. What’s this...” Dolan raised a brow as he peeled back some scales. He had removed the head, but stopped when he noticed something unusual beneath the skin.
I looked over at what Dolan was fussing about, and found something driven deep into the Dragon’s skull.
I pulled it out. It was some kind of pointed object, thirty centimeters in length. It vaguely resembled a skewer, it was fairly thick. From the looks of things, it had dug through the Dragon’s skull and penetrated its brain. I could feel a very faint, but very real pulse of magical power running through the strange device.
“...Don’t tell me the Dragon was being controlled with this thing.” I looked at the strange stake, frowning a little. The idea occurred to me that this might’ve been another item that fell out of the Storehouse. The thought troubled me for a while, but I put the object in [Storage]. I decided I’d ask Cesca and the others if they recognized it later on. If it was from the Storehouse, they’d surely know about it.
But still, the presence of that thing was troubling in itself. If the Dragon was being manipulated by that artifact, then there was some kind of perpetrator out there. A puppet master potentially pulling the strings of a whole species.
I was worried. Mostly because I felt it in my bones. A dark feeling. A feeling that something, somewhere, was about to endanger a lot of people. Much to my regret, I knew then and there that my feelings weren’t wrong. Something terrible was going to happen. I’d have bet my life on it.
“I can say with absolute clarity that this isn’t one of Doctor Babylon’s creations.”
“Seriously, Cesca? It’s not from the Storehouse or anything?”
“That is correct.” A Wyvern had attacked Reflet. It had a strange needle in its brain, so I decided to show it to Cesca. She immediately shot down my theory. Rosetta then took the needle into her hand, and carefully studied it.
“Sir! This appears to be a Dominant Resonance Needle! Surely the handiwork of Professor Elks, yessir!”
“Uh... Elks?”
“Professor Deborah Elks. In the days of Partheno’s glory, she was known as a master of magecraft. Several degrees inferior to our dear Doctor Babylon, however.”
Huh... Guess it never occurred to me that there might be more people like her. Still, I’m glad to know this didn’t come from the Storehouse. I feel a little less responsible for this, now. At the end of the day, a tool is only as wicked as its holder, so the one to blame here is obviously whoever stuck this thing inside that Wyvern’s head!
The Blockbracer, the Drainbracer, and that freaky jewel that made people immortal... They were all wielded by wicked people who ended up being consumed by their desires. The Lestian Holy Sword, on the other hand, was justly wielded by a righteous king who came to be beloved by all those who followed him. It’s really just a matter of the person behind the item. Still, even if that’s the case... it’s not like I’ll chew out the Terminal Gynoid at the Storehouse any less. It’s her fault for being so negligent to begin with!
“There’s a lot to say about Professor Elks, sir! She held Ma’am Babylon in the lowest of esteems, yessir she did! She made plenty of artifacts, and Ma’am Babylon always said that they were strong, but she always neglected safety features, or imbued them with strange effects that ended up causing trouble for their users! Whenever Professor Elks brought stuff to Ma’am Babylon, she’d tell her that her stuff was interesting, but uninspired!”
“Yes, Doctor Babylon had a tense relationship with Elks. The doctor’s creations were always of a far higher quality, much to Elks’ chagrin.”
That’s probably just how that damn Doctor was, though. She probably got a real kick out of teasing Elks. Kinda reminds me of the case of Akechi Mitsuhide and Oda Nobunaga. A genius and a prodigal up-and-comer aren’t really in the same class at all. Babylon probably didn’t even regard Elks as an opponent or rival... Must’ve sucked to be the lesser of the two.
“So what’s with this dominatey resonance needle thing?”
“Ah, yes sir! A Dominant Resonance Needle is an artifact designed to take control of magical beasts, sir! It’s filled right up with magic and stabbed right through the skull, then the user can control the affected creature at will! It brings out the greatest potential of the affected creature, but also rapidly diminishes its lifespan. There were also risks associated with harming the user’s mind, since it forces a mental link between the two, sir! That’s why it was ultimately tossed into the trash!”
I see... It’s strong, but also extremely unsafe. I get it. Anyone that tries to use it would end up taking an incredible burden. Then again, I don’t really think Babylon was in a position to judge, considering she made that gross immortality jewel... But wait, does that mean the person who was controlling the Wyvern didn’t know what they were doing? Or maybe they’re still aware of the risk. Even so, controlling a Dragon is bad. They’re supposed to be the strongest things around, so getting a bunch under your control spells danger for sure... If a Red Dragon like the one we met back in Mismede came under this mysterious guy’s control... That’d be terrible. Still, I don’t think an intelligent creature like that could be so easily influenced, artifact or not.
“Am I interrupting?”
“Huh? Kougyoku? What’s up?” Kougyoku came flying in through a nearby window. After perching herself down on the table, she turned her head toward me.
“If I may be so bold, might I suggest we call upon the Azure Monarch and inquire about matters of a draconic nature?”
Wait... Azure Monarch? Like... another one of the Four Monarchs? The Azure Dragon of the east, wasn’t it? Kohaku rules over beasts, Sango and Kokuyou rule over scaled and aquatic creatures... and Kougyoku is the master of birds, right...? Together they make up the Heavenly Beasts, but I don’t think they control magical beasts...
“Dragons are not actually magical beasts, if we are speaking strictly. They are independent creatures and are all related to the Azure Monarch. Offshoots of their species include lizards, crocodiles, and so on... But those creatures fall more into the domain of the Black Monarch. At any rate, I thought we might wish to call upon the Azure Monarch if we are opposing Dragons. I also haven’t seen their face in quite some time, so it might be a pleasant reunion.”
“Lord, I humbly refuse!” Kohaku suddenly charged into the room, slamming the doors open full-force in White Tiger form.
Come on, man! I told you not to grow to that size in the castle!
“Lord Touya can absolutely solve this problem without having to call upon that wretch, Kougyoku! My lord, I humbly request you reconsider.”
Whoa, calm down! A-And don’t get so close to me in that form with those eyes! You’re terrifying right now! Don’t eat me!
“Come now, the Azure Monarch would aid us well, would they not?”
“Ssseemss the little kitty isss sstill on bad termss with Bluey-wuey, hm...? How delightfully desssperate, darling... Hehehehee...” Sango and Kokuyou were quick to follow, gracefully swimming in the air. Suddenly, I understood why Kohaku was freaking out.
“Ghh... I-It’s true, but still... Things would be bad if that stupid scalebrain came between us, my lord! They’re nothing but a wistful chatterbox, do you understand?! Even remembering the Azure Monarch boils my very blood!” Kohaku reduced in size, but didn’t get any less angry. Looked like a kid throwing a huge tantrum, honestly... I was amazed to see Kohaku bring personal feelings into this, especially after usually being so cool and collected.
“The Azure Monarch is wise and rational... A terrible mix for the brash and impulsive Kohaku. The two of them are as water and oil. Though I do think it’s more that they find it hard to co-operate, rather than the two of them being on bad terms. They surely recognize the positive attributes that the other holds, and they are both equally stubborn individuals.”
“Enough, Kougyoku! The only thing I recognize about that stupid blue idiot is their total inability to read the mood!” Kohaku hopped up on to the table and started yelling at Kougyoku.
...Alright, that’s enough. We’re not gonna get anywhere like this.
“Kohaku, I understand your feelings... but I’m going to try the summoning anyway.”
“Nooo!”
“Yes. I’m not going to force you to get along, so you don’t have to be friends. But I want to take this chance, so at least tolerate one another. I’ll get mad if you two fight, got it?” I headed out to the courtyard, Kohaku quietly followed with tail between legs. There was nobody around, so I started the summoning immediately.
I drew the summoning circle using a spellstone as chalk, and poured dark elemental magic into it.
A black cloud formed and gradually began to thicken. As that happened, we mixed in magic from Kohaku and the three others. With that, the preparation was well and truly complete.
“The ruler of spring, of trees, of the eastern domain and the wide-berth rivers... Heed my call. Appear before me!” In response to my words, the black fog began to swell and then dispersed. In its place was an enormous Azure Dragon. Its scales were like sapphires, its eyes were the deepest of blues. Unlike the Wyvern, it was clearly four-legged, and had magnificent wings protruding from its back. Given its mythological similarities to the legends of my world, I half expected it to be a Chinese-looking Dragon, but it was a more typically western-looking one instead.
“...Hmhm. I did think I felt a sudden burst of nostalgia washing over me. To think it was you... Why have you four called me here, then?” The Azure Dragon spoke in a calming, serene voice. She sort of sounded like a gentle female teacher. Or at least some woman in a position of power.
“It’s been some time, Azure Monarch.”
“Long time no ssseee, bluey.”
“You’re looking well, Azure Monarch.” Sango, Kokuyou, and Kougyoku greeted the new arrival, but Kohaku turned his head and grumbled quietly.
Come on... Isn’t that a little rude?
“Hm, well then... It seems there’s a quiet voice that won’t speak up. But it matters not. I am one that rises above such matters.”
“Shut up! You insolent blue lizard! You’re not above anything, understand?!”
“Hm? It decided to speak after all? Shame... If you have nothing nice to say, you shouldn’t say anything at all.”
“What?!”
“Alright you two, settle down.” I sighed, picking up mini-Kohaku. The Azure Dragon’s eyes were intense, but she didn’t move. Eventually, she turned to me and spoke.
“Are you the one that summoned me here, human? Name yourself, if you would.”
“Why are you two like this, anyhow?”
“The enmity between women is sssomething natural. Even you’d come to harm if you ssstepped between them.”
“Geez... Females sure are scary, summoned beasts or not...” Kokuyou let out a little giggle at my comment, and I nodded my head. But then something clicked in my brain.
Wait. What did he just say?
“Uh... Wait, between women? Uh, wait, what gender are you?”
“We’re all girlsss, obviousssly.”
“Don’t lie to him, Kokuyou. You’re the only one of us that is male.” Sango shot down Kokuyou’s remark. But that was a little odd... I understood that Kokuyou was a bit of a feminine guy, but... the others were girls? No way... I thought Kohaku was a guy this whole time! I didn’t even think about the others. I mean, Kohaku’s voice is a little high, sure, but... I just figured that was part of the tiger aesthetic!
I’ll... keep quiet about that for now, I guess. I wonder if Yumina knew the whole time... Yeah, she probably did. I’ll ask her later to confirm... At least I know Kohaku’s a tiger, and not a lion. I’m not that stupid.
“There are a lot of different types of Dragon, so it’s hard to generalize them.” Luli began talking, just as I’d asked her. She told me she couldn’t do anything about that dominating needle thing, even if Dragons were being controlled by it.
But she also mentioned that the powerful Dragons, known as Elders, would be able to exert enough will to prevent themselves from falling under its control.
Dragons didn’t grow conventionally. Instead, they underwent evolutionary transformations. In the beginning they were Infant Dragons, then Young Dragons, then Adult Dragons, and then they went on to become Elder Dragons. Apparently the stage of power beyond even that was a type known as the Ancient Dragon.
But only certain draconic species can evolve into Elders. Lower-tier creatures such as Wyverns could never reach that level.
The difference in intellect was also pretty vast. Young Dragons, like the one I’d killed back in Mismede, could understand human speech, but they couldn’t speak it. The needle would be able to work on any Dragon lower than Elder, meaning only the two highest tiers of power would remain unaffected. That was frightening.
“There aren’t a lot of Dragons to begin with, so I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
“Even Young Dragons are mighty, so it takes much to defeat one. It is for this reason that they do not need to breed as much as you land-dwelling beasts. It is true that they are not numerous, but it would be foolish to leave them be for that reason alone. Is your mind clogged with fur, little cat?”
“Why I oughta...!” Luli and Kohaku began squabbling again, so I ignored them and started to think to myself.
This is a little concerning... The Wyvern didn’t exactly seem like it was being manipulated. It felt like it was moving of its own volition. Still, I guess if it’s part of the unintelligent lower caste, it might be more appropriate to say that I thought it was moving on its own instincts.
“I think I should investigate this a little more. That Red Dragon from Mismede’s sanctuary might be able to help.” The Red Dragon seemed to be an Elder Dragon, so he probably wouldn’t be under anyone’s control.
I decided to teleport to Mismede with Luli. Then, I headed to the Dragon’s sanctuary with my [Fly] spell.
“If I recall, the forest at the base of this mountain is the sanctuary, isn’t it?” If I remember right, that means we should already be there. Just as I was thinking that, I noticed something in the distance.
I stopped in mid-air. What I saw was an enormous Red Dragon coming toward us. I recognized him immediately as the Red Dragon that had appeared after I defeated the Black Dragon back in Mismede.
Luli, who was flying alongside me, grew to her original size. The Red Dragon and the Azure Dragon both nodded to one another.
“I am here to welcome and congratulate you on your manifestation, o Azure Monarch.”
“I was only manifested due to the strife amongst your people, young one. Do you understand why we have come?”
“Yes... Please accept my most profuse of apologies.” The Red Dragon bowed his head and closed his eyes. We went down to the ground and began discussing the situation with him.
Apparently Young Dragons had been rampaging recently. What I was told reminded me of the brash behavior of the Black Dragon I’d killed so long ago. From what I understood, Dragons were wise and mighty, but that often transformed and surfaced in the form of arrogance due to their status in the world. Dragons were said to be the apex of natural evolution, after all.
Even though they lived in the safety of the sanctuary, some of the younger Dragons would go out into the world to terrorize humanity.
Even if you could just write it off as a youthful mistake, such outbursts often ended up in catastrophe.
It seemed that no matter what the species, there were always unruly brats who defied their elders. Even so, things were worse now than ever.
I was quickly informed that it all began after I killed the Black Dragon.
“What? I caused this?”
“The Black Dragon you killed was nothing special, even amongst his peers, yet they cried voices of injustice after he was slain. Many of the Young Dragons amongst us rallied for justice, and demanded we retaliate.”
“What the hell? He was the one that left the sanctuary and attacked them to begin with!”
“Indeed, and for the most part we agreed that it was a justified killing. Only a portion of the youngsters were rallying and crying. Most said that quarreling with mankind was a mistake. So, the troublesome youth amongst us reluctantly silenced themselves.” But the story didn’t just end there. Dragons had nests and sanctuaries all over the world. Mismede was but one colony.
One such place was far to the southwest. Past the Sea of Trees and between the Kingdom of Ryle and the Kingdom of Sandora, was a small landmass known as Dragoness Island.
One day, a messenger from Dragoness appeared in the sanctuary. He stated that the Dragon King had made his home on Dragoness, and that all should become his subordinates.
“The Dragon King? I thought Luli was the one that controlled the Dragons.”
“That’s how it should be, yes. This situation is fairly abnormal, on a whole. I was the one who originally decreed that Dragons not war with humanity, and the species has been following my laws for many years. This is the first time I’ve ever truly been defied.”
“It has been thousands upon thousands of years since you passed from this world, o Lady Azure. Some of the Young Dragons are unaware of you, even.” Kohaku and the others, the Heavenly Beasts, only manifested once every few centuries. Right now they were in the world because I had summoned them, which was rather rare. My summoning of Kohaku was purely coincidental, but every time after that I’d called upon the Monarchs specifically.
It seemed that Luli, ruler of Dragons, manifested even less frequently than the others. That made sense though, since Dragons lived long and reproduced infrequently.
“So who’s this Dragon King? Is he one of the Ancient Dragons?”
“No, he’s a man. A demi-human of the Dragon Clan. He appeared on Dragoness Island, took control of the younglings, and massacred every Elder Dragon living there. Then, the remaining adults were forcibly subdued.”
A demi-human... Then there’s no doubt in my mind. This guy used the Dominant Resonance Needle to take control. He probably used the younger Dragons to kill the older ones, since they couldn’t be controlled by him.
“All of our younglings fled to Dragoness Island after hearing rumors of the Dragon King’s power. They were tempted by strength and the promise of no longer being bound by the laws of our sanctuary. Some of them returned, even more powerful than we had expected. There are a few that haven’t come back yet, but we fear they could begin rampaging around the world at any moment.” I’d already seen examples of this in Reflet, and heard about it from Sandora. The Young Dragons were running rampant. They killed indiscriminately, as if it were a game, doing whatever they wanted to innocent people. They were just like that Black Dragon.
“What a miserable story... It has only been a few thousand years. Are my brood truly so weak of heart?”
“I-I’m sorry, Lady Azure... There is little I can say in our defense...”
“Hm... Well, I think I get the gist of it. The Dragon King is calling the shots, but the ones running rampant wanted to hurt people anyway, right? So you won’t have a problem if I wipe them all out.”
“...A Dragon who discards his pride is no more than a lizard. This is the mantra the Azure Monarch left to us before she passed. Those young ones are no longer our own. Dispose of them as you will.”
“Pride easily begets arrogance. These Young Dragons are not my kin, they’re simply looking down on the world. I recently was foolish enough to look down on this human, and I paid the price in shame.” Luli spoke quietly as she looked over to me. There was a saying that said ‘the boughs that bear most hang lowest,’ meaning that the ones with the greatest strengths were often the most modest. I didn’t think the phrase really applied to the Dragons.
Still, humanity wasn’t so foolish. No matter the might of a Dragon, humans could still stand against them. Dragons, unlike the Phrase, were still affected by spells. A talented wind mage could even bring a Dragon down to the ground.
Even so, the damage done would be immense. Captain Garm of Mismede once told me it took around a hundred soldiers to bring down a rampaging Dragon. I didn’t want lives to be lost because of this stupid situation. Still, if there were skilled soldiers or talented mages amongst them, they might have an easier time of it. But you would find less of those people in small towns compared to places like the capital cities.
Maybe if they were lucky they’d have good adventurers at their guilds, but there was no defending everywhere. People with the Dragon Slayer title were awarded it for killing them in a party of five or less. To manage that, you’d need at least five Red adventurers, and they were few and far between.
“...Now I’m just a little confused, though. It sounds like they have a stupid, but legitimate, grudge. So I’m wondering if they’re even being mind controlled by the needles...” It seemed like the affected Dragons were just doing whatever they wanted, rather than actually being dominated by a singular entity.
It might have just been that the Dragons were having the needles embedded to draw out the absolute brink of their power... Whether they were aware or not of the needle draining their lifespan was another question entirely, though.
Then again, Dragons lived for thousands of years, so it may have been a trivial trade-off.
“The easiest solution would be to take care of the Dragon King, right? But will killing him actually calm the rampaging Dragons?” It wasn’t a case where the Dragons would all die if he died. If anything, they’d escape from his control and probably just go berserk. But still, dominated or not, I’d kill any that threatened humanity, so I guess the order in which I took care of them didn’t matter all that much.
“Let’s trace the Dragons for now...” I pulled up my map and searched for Dragons. Whoa, that’s a lot! Geez, more than I expected. Even if there aren’t as many Dragons as there are humans, that’s still a fair amount. Hm... Guess I can narrow it down... I tried a different approach. Instead of just Dragons, I searched for Dragons with the Dominant Resonance Needle embedded in them.
The Dominant Resonance Needle kind of resembled a marking pin. Since its head was exposed, I’d be able to identify it from the outside if I got a look at a Dragon’s head. Thanks to that little detail, I was able to successfully run a search.
Even with the search refined, there were a lot... They were quite spread out across the world, flying around at their own leisure, and naturally there was a concentrated group on Dragoness Island, too.
Huh? What’s that...?
“Wait a sec...!” A group had flown out from Dragoness Island. It was a fairly big one, as well. Then, I noticed their destination.
“They’re on a direct flight path to Brunhild!” What the hell?! Are they trying to get revenge for the Black Dragon?! But why would they even know about me? How?!
It clicked in my mind that they were probably informed by the Dragon King. It wouldn’t be hard at all to ask around about who the famous Dragon Slayer who saved a village in Mismede was, which meant that their goal was incredibly obvious.
“Luli. We’re in trouble. We need to get home, now!”
“As you wish.”
Are these stupid Dragons seriously doing this? Fine, then! Bring it! I don’t care who you are, Dragon or human or anything else! Nobody attacks my home.
I’ll crush every last one of you arrogant bastards!
“So yeah, there’s a horde of Dragons on their way here right now. I’ll wipe them out though, so don’t worry.”
“...Baba-dono, I have no idea what to say to this young man right now.”
“Well, Yamagata. That makes two of us.” I was in the conference room with Yamagata and Baba. Both old men turned to me in sheer shock.
I gathered all the major members of my knight order and briefed them on the situation. I’d gotten back to Brunhild using a [Gate], meaning I still had a good lead on the Dragons. Everyone looked at me, unsure what to say. Eventually, however, Nikola broke the silence. He sighed slightly and stood up.
“Y-Your Majesty, please... Uh, well... When you say Dragons, are you referring to the creatures that fly in the sky and breathe fire from their mouths? Those Dragons?”
“Yep, that’s the ones. Apparently some of their young ones got all cocky, so now there’s a horde of them heading our way.”
“A... horde, you say. Just how many?”
“About twenty regular Dragons, give or take. But there are about a hundred lesser Wyverns traveling with them too. Barely anything compared to the Phrase we faced recently, right?”
“W-Wait, wait, wait!” Commander Lain had spoken up to ask about how many Dragons there were, but after I answered, she and Nikola both started freaking out.
“It’s gonna be fine, right? Boss-man’ll take care of them no problem, like he usually does... Right?” Norn grumbled with mild concern as she spoke up. Her lupine ears were shuddering slightly.
“I thought about it, but then I realized this is a golden opportunity.”
“An... opportunity?”
“Yep. What better training exercise could there be for our knight order? These Dragons will make perfect targets, don’t you think?”
“Excuse me?!” Lain looked at me in utter disbelief. To be honest, I thought my country’s knight order was a thing of beauty. We were strong, but we also lived in a land with few monsters, and we were situated directly between two friendly territories. It would be good for them to get a proper training exercise done.
“O-Our knight order doesn’t even have a hundred people in it, and that’s including our intel corps! We can hardly pair one person to one Dragon, either! How are we meant to fight airborne enemies, anyway?”
“I’ll bring down the airborne ones. After that, you just need to focus on avoiding their deadly breath. You should be able to do it, sort of... I mean, your shields can resist fire!”
“Sort of, huh...?” I’d employed safety measures. I wasn’t going to risk their lives, after all. Plus, my fiancees and the Monarchs were to act as backup. I didn’t think the Dragons would be pushovers, so that was only natural.
Even if it was a tough fight, it’d be good to do this. We were a newly-established country, so we were likely being regarded by prying eyes. If word spread that our knight order managed to fend off over a hundred Dragons, we probably wouldn’t get any trouble from countries like Yulong again.
“W-We’ll be able to beat the Dragons easily with the Frame Gears... Right?”
“We won’t be employing the Frame Gears for this battle.”
“What?!”
I want to show these arrogant lizards the power of humanity. I’ll show them just who it is they decided to judge by their covers. After all, they’re attacking us out of some misplaced anger. Let’s shove it back in their faces.
It’d be far too easy a victory if I called out the Frame Gears, anyway. We wouldn’t get much in the way of real combat experience. I didn’t want my knight order mistaking the power of the Frame Gears as their own power, after all.
“And here’s the most important thing of all.”
“Hm?”
“We’ll be able to harvest the Dragon corpses for rare materials, and profit big-time.”
“......”
Damn right. Leather, bone, horns... If it’s draconic, it’s worth a lot. One Dragon alone is a fortune in itself, so killing over a hundred is an incredible chance to make a ton of dough.
“It’d help the country a lot if we had that money.”
“......”
“I’d also be able to use the proceeds to pay out a huge bonus to all my hardest workers.”
“Booyah!”
“Let’s go get those Dragons!!!”
So easy to manipulate...
“I see them in the distance. They look about three minutes from arriving.” Luli warned me, so I used [Long Sense] to see for myself. There were a lot of Dragons for sure. We were in the southern plains, just outside Brunhild Castle Town, waiting for the Dragons to arrive. We wanted to avoid any real damage to our nation, so we chose a wide open space as the battlefield.
“They’re noisy...”
“They’re speaking draconic, saying things such as ‘kill them all’ and ‘roast them alive’... A lot of obnoxious laughing, as well. Truly, these beasts are not my kin. They are far too lowly for that. Or perhaps their minds were infested by that cursed artifact...” I didn’t speak draconic, so I had Luli translate. I was glad she had such a good sense of hearing. I was a little irritated to hear what they were saying, though... Still, it gave me good cause to go all-out in killing them.
There was no room for discussion here, so I decided to knock the wind out of their sails.
Once you’ve identified your enemy, defeat them before the battle begins. That’s what my grandpa always said.
“Come forth, o Storm! Million Blades Borne of Air: [Tempest Edge]!” I invoked an ancient wind spell I’d learned from a book in the Library.
A great storm suddenly appeared, sucking the Dragons into the heart of it. It shredded their wings to pieces.
“GRAUGUUUUUUH!!”
“GUYOOOOOOGH?!” The Dragons, screaming horribly, all tumbled to the ground. If I was being serious, I could’ve killed them all then and there, but I only wanted to maim them for the time being.
Kougyoku, who had taken her regular phoenix form, cast a rain of fire down upon the grounded Dragons.
“Brunhild Knight Order, chaaarge!!!”
“HOOOAAAAAAH!!!” My knights brandished their crystal swords and shields, charging forth in response to Commander Lain’s order.
The Dragons suddenly turned toward them, breathing out a torrent of flame. But suddenly a wall of water appeared between the two forces, massively reducing the heat.
“Tough luck, darlingsss... Try again, hm?”
“We’re indeed masters of defense, let us show you.” Kokuyou and Sango were in charge of defending against the fire breath. I stood atop Sango’s shell, since they were both back in their original forms, and watched as my knight order charged in against the Dragons.
Kohaku was in her original form too, charging toward a group of Wyverns. She roared out, releasing a shockwave that knocked everyone caught up in it backward.
“I’ll go as well. I can’t leave it all to that fuzzy fool, after all.”
“Try your best to support everyone evenly.”
“As you wish.” Luli spread out her wings, letting out a deafening roar as she took to the skies. Almost in response to it, the Dragons looked over to her and froze. If I had to guess, I’d say she shouted something at them, but I couldn’t begin to know what.
Even my translation spell couldn’t decipher draconic, probably because it was an animal language. I’d probably need a telepathy spell to understand what they were saying. And to be honest... I bet I could find a spell like that if I looked.
Luli flew off, firing blasts of fire at the clustered Dragons. A few Dragons were blasted off into the distance.
Hey, that’s my money! Don’t launch too many too far!
Luli didn’t have anything to say about my plan to sell the corpses either, so I assumed she had really given up on them. I thought it was a little cold of her, but she just had a very strong survival of the fittest mentality.
“We’ll support everyone as well.”
“Indeed.” Linze and Yumina turned to me before chanting some wide area of effect spells. They’d been doing more reading in the Library than I had.
“Come forth, Fire! Burning Barrier: [Fire Resist]!”
“Come forth, Winds... Blessed be the Updraft: [Tailwind]!” Everyone in the knight order found themselves engulfed in red and green lights. The two spells had granted them heightened resistance to flames, and increased their agility.
“Tower corps! Front lines! Assault corps, right behind them!”
“Understood!” Ten soldiers with large shields formed a row and tanked the breath of a Dragon. From behind them, several knights wielding crystal spears poked their weapons through the shield gaps, stabbing the beast.
“Gwaruuugh?!” Dragonscale, which was harder than steel, was still no match for phrasium weaponry. The Dragon was more confused than hurt, but not knowing why it was dying wasn’t going to save it.
“Haaa!” Lain, using her innate rabbit qualities, leaped over the tower knights and landed on the Dragon. Her crystal sword was plunged right into the Dragon’s head, putting an end to its flames.
The Dragon spasmed and convulsed two or three times, then lay still. Lain pulled the sword from the creature, and relayed more orders.
“On to the next one!”
“Aye!”
Good work, Lain... and good work, knights! Support magic aside, around ten people taking out a Dragon is no less than incredible. Plus, the needle in their brains makes them stronger than Adult Dragons, too. I guess my ‘sister’ training these guys is finally starting to pay off.
“Touyaaa... Y’mean I really can’t go in too?”
“Moroha. It’s not gonna be a training exercise if you go in and wipe them all out in a few seconds, is it?” The God of Swords stood beside me, clearly angry that she couldn’t fight. She wanted to fight, but she didn’t even have a crystal sword. Her weapon would just get all scuffed up. That being said, I had a feeling she’d just bash all the Dragons to death with her sword’s hilt or something... She was that kind of girl.
“You never know, Touya. Could be some kinda worst case scenario situation. Wouldn’t it be better if I was in the fray?”
“Ugh... Fine, whatever. You can go over... But only as a support, alright? Just watch! Don’t you dare go all-out on them!”
“Ahaha! Fine, whatever! Just give me a sword already!” I sighed, opened [Storage], and passed a crystal greatsword over to Moroha.
She merrily skipped over to the Dragons, slicing open the legs of any unlucky beast she passed by. I had just told her not to overdo it, and she was already causing them considerable injury... Still, at least it meant we had no chance of losing. I’d just sent out our most lethal weapon, after all.
“We seriously can’t help...?”
“Now that my sister’s out there, definitely not. None of the knight order would be able to do anything if you all went out there.” Elze, Yae, Lu, and Hilde were all sulking nearby. But my mind was made up, and their grumpy faces wouldn’t sway me. Moroha was way, way more than enough.
If I just sent whoever over there, the fight would quickly become a crazy free-for-all. I had Kougyoku giving fire support, Sango and Kokuyou protecting everyone, and Kohaku and Luli were leading knights to their targets. That was more than enough.
As for me, I was tracking the wounded and fixing them up with recovery magic. Since Sango and Kokuyou were suppressing the fire breath, I couldn’t imagine anyone getting injured too badly unless they took a direct hit from a swipe or something.
“Hm?” I saw a Wyvern trying to fly with its tattered wings. It got about ten meters before being socked in the face by one of Kougyoku’s fireballs. Heh. Nice.
“HAAAH!!!” Old man Baba roared like an animal as he plunged a spear into a Dragon’s head. He had crushed it in a single blow.
He was old, so I wanted him in the rear as support... but he completely ignored me and charged into the front lines. Yamagata was nearby, swinging his greatsword at a Wyvern as he slashed the heels of a Dragon beside him.
“Hey, hey, hey! Get over here, you scaly twerps! Feel the might of a real man!” The fight had been going on for a while, so things were getting pretty tense.
The two old men refused to board Frame Gears whenever we used them. They had said that they didn’t feel like it was a real fight when they piloted them, but they really seemed to enjoy getting up close and putting their lives on the line. I was a person who put safety first, so I didn’t really understand their reckless attitudes.
“Fuh!”
“Hiyaaah!” Nikola shook his halberd, and Norn slashed with her twin blades. I had prevented them from bringing in their mounts, and naturally that extended to Lain as well.
I wanted them to see the battlefield from the ground. If they had ridden a Griffin or a Pegasus, they’d have better vantage but poorer defense. They’d be able to deflect the breath attacks with their shields easily, but their mounts would have taken the full hit.
Before I knew it, most of the Dragons were down for the count.
One of the remaining Dragons seemed to be screaming something, but I had no idea what they were trying to say. I asked Kokuyou, who was coiled around Sango’s legs.
“What’s that one saying?”
“Jussst a tirade of abussse, sssweetheart. It’sss calling you inferior creaturesss, and criticizing you for attacking them in groupsss. Missserable, if you asssk me.”
Geez... They’re the ones that came to attack us in a group in the first place!
Luli suddenly turned to the wailing Dragon and unleashed a torrent of blue flame that burned it to ashes. Well, there goes my profit.
“Little Luli is posssitively furiousss. But that’sss only natural... I too would be enraged if my kin acted in sssuch a manner.” Kohaku smacked away a Dragon that was about to bite a member of my knight order, then slashed out its eyes with her claws. After that, she left it unable to fight, but still alive. It was almost as if she was calling it unworthy to face her.
“It’ll be over sssoon.”
“Are these guys really stronger than Adult Dragons? They seem too weak.”
“Perhapsss they’re sssimply ssstronger in a cassse of one versssus one, darling. It may be that they aren’t any good againssst groupsss. They aren’t working in tandem, ssso they’re jussst attacking however they like. Great ssstrength hasssn’t tempered their weak mindsss. There isssn’t a cure for idiocy. If there wasss a single Elder Dragon amongssst all of thessse, they might have had a fighting chance.” Dragons weren’t creatures that hunted in groups, so it made sense. They were simply uncoordinatedly attacking like this.
Just as Kokuyou had said, it was pretty much over. The Dragons that remained were being put down one by one.
Eventually, they were all dead. Our side suffered minor injuries at best, as well. It was a complete and utter decisive victory.
“Raise your war cries, victors!”
“HOOORAAAAAAH!!!” A victory cry exploded across the plains.
Well, we won. I can’t help but be a little disappointed at how much of a cakewalk that was, though.
I hadn’t noticed during the fight, but we ended up gathering a crowd of spectators. It wasn’t too surprising, since our battle had generated a lot of noise. They were mostly people from town who had come out to see the commotion. I recognized a lot of adventurers from out of town amongst the crowd, too.
“Y-Your Majesty... Just what happened here...?” Guildmaster Relisha ran over to me from out of the crowd. Several guild staff members followed close behind. She briefly glanced at Sango and Kokuyou, fear painted on her face. After a moment she realized who they were, and calmed down a little.
“I went to the castle because we’d gotten word about a horde of Dragons heading toward Brunhild, but you weren’t there... Neither were the knights, so I had no idea what to do!”
“Ahaha... Sorry about that. Seems we just missed one another. But don’t worry, we took care of it.”
“I... can see that, yes.” Relisha looked over the field of dead Dragons with a look of awe on her face. I decided that I’d have the adventurers play their part in this little story, too. They’d be able to spread stories to other countries about what had happened this day.
“Yep, we did it well. So, will the guild be able to buy these?”
“Wh— You mean all of them?! I... I mean, we can definitely purchase them, yes... But please let me arrange funds before I buy them all... At a glance, I could probably pay for ten of them using our current Brunhild treasury...”
“That’s fine. I’ll store the rest of them. For the time being, at least.” I invoked [Storage] to prevent them from decomposing in the meantime. All that was left was to cut up a few of the dead bodies and cook them. Roasted Dragon meat was supposedly a delicacy, so I wanted to share it with all the people of Brunhild.
I used my smartphone to project an image of myself above all the knights in the field.
“Good work, everyone! You’ve proven yourself as great knights of Brunhild this day. I’ll roast up a bunch of Dragon meat, so eat to your heart’s content! And naturally, I’ll be putting in a little financial bonus for you all, too.”
“Hurray! We did it!”
“Looks like meat’s back on the menu, boys!”
“Man, I’m starving...”
“Thank goodness, now I can pay off my gambling debts.”
“Brunhild Forever!!!” The knights cheered out in joy. I was happy for them, too.
“Also, we’ll all be taking the Frame Gears to Dragoness Island tomorrow. The plan is to exterminate every last Dragon there, so make sure to get a good night’s sleep, and I’ll see you all in the morning.”
“WAIT, WHAT?!” All of the knights looked like deer in headlights. Honestly, it was pretty damn amusing.
Dragoness Island.
It was a little bit smaller than Brunhild was. Dragoness Volcano sat at the center of the island, spewing out ash. For the most part, it was an uninhabitable wasteland.
The Dragons mostly lived on the beaches that lined the island. They tended to eat large fish, or aquatic magical beasts. Occasionally they’d leave the island to hunt game in dense forests, away from civilization.
But things were different now. They’d been attacking farms, making off with livestock, raiding fishing boats, and running rampant.
There wasn’t a single Elder Dragon left on Dragoness Island, so there was nobody to keep the young ones in check.
Luli and I arrived on one of the sandy beaches. The moment we arrived, she let out a furious roar that echoed across the entire island. You trying to burst my eardrums?! In response to her cries, several screeching roars came back from the distance. Dragons then began to show up in droves. Wyverns, Sea Dragons, Earth Dragons... All kinds of subspecies were on their way to us.
“We’re surrounded.”
“What’d you say to them just now?”
“I called them lowly beasts that have shed their pride. And then I asked them if they were ready to die.”
Well... I guess that’s fair. I did come here to wipe them out, after all. But still... subtlety is a lost art to you, huh?
“Enough screeching! My ears are gonna give out...!” I had no idea what they were saying, but it was obvious they were protesting her comment. It just sounded like a bunch of crap to me, though.
“Ohoho, goodness gracious! What manner of Dragon tamer is this?” A draconic humanoid walked across the sand, pushing his way past a few Earth Dragons.
The Dragon Clan had a lot of tall, sturdy people in it, and this man was no exception. He was about two meters tall. His armor was beautiful, too, as was the flowing cape coming down his back. He had red hair and golden eyes. He also bore horns and a tail, easily recognized characteristics of a Dragon demi-human.
“I take it you’re the Dragon King?”
“Ohoho? I see that word of me is spreading already, lovely. And you are?”
“I’m the grand duke of a small nation known as Brunhild.” I saw the man’s brow quirk slightly. Seemed he knew just who I was.
“...Ohoh. Welcome to my humble abode, then. You seem to have done well against my subordinates.”
“Done well? They were hardly even interesting enemies. By the way, that Dominant Resonance Needle of yours is defective. It’s better to throw an artifact like that in the trash.”
“Wh—?!” The man adopted a panicked expression on his face. He probably had no idea I knew about his secret, after all.
“So, just in case I’m wrong... let me ask to be sure. You’re the one manipulating the Dragons, right?”
“Manipulate? How quaint. I’ve liberated them from bondage, that’s all! From the chains of their elders! From the shackles of their laws! A Dragon is mighty, noble, wise. Why must dragonkind distance themselves from humanity, when they are the apex of evolution?”
“Noble? Wise? Every Dragon here’s an ignorant dumbass.”
“I concur,” added Luli. I was glad she agreed. After all, if they were actually clever, they’d have run away long ago.
So in the end, this guy was exactly what I expected. A racial supremacist. A draconic supremacist. From what I understood, the Dragon Clan of demi-humans was a prideful bunch who went off into the world to hone their own bodies and minds. They forged their own paths.
But as we saw, pride easily turns to arrogance. Just like Dragons themselves, draconic men and women were susceptible to the same pitfalls.
“Didn’t those mighty Dragons of yours lose to some puny humans?”
“Silence! It’s impossible for a Dragon to lose in a one-on-one battle with a lesser creature! Measly little humans have only one advantage, they breed faster. Like insects, almost. You have no right to talk of us that way!”
“If you’re arguing like that, then you could say fertility is humanity’s strength, and we should be more than within our rights to fight in numbers. Not that it matters. I could kill all these Dragons by myself.” To be fair, I was technically a Demi-God at this point, so it was arguable if you could call me a human... Still, I was still pretty sure Yae or Elze could defeat Dragons alone too, so I wasn’t totally off base.
“And you’ve come to my island for this reason? Impressive, human. You have a lot of guts. But it’s misplaced bravado! Do you not see the power I wield? I could take over the entire world! You dare defy me?” The Dragon King yelled at me, but he was sweating profusely. Really, now? I mean, sure... there are over five-hundred Dragons here and all, but... can you really conquer the world with this much? I don’t buy it.
“Well, how about it? Join forces with me, child, and I shall grant you half of the world. We must—”
“Snrk....”
“What are you laughing at?!”
How could I not laugh?! You’re a dumbass, Dragon King! Who the hell says that kinda cliche crap in real life? I’m not exactly a hero or anything, but my answer is a hard no.
“Right now your Dragons are just an angry mob, isn’t that right? They’re a useless gathering of idiots without any direction. Do you want me to tell you what I think, Dragon King? I think you aren’t commanding them, you’re just drawing out their power and sending them out without any kind of co-ordination. You talk big, saying you can command Dragons at your will, but... I bet you can only control one or two before the strain’s too much for your pea-brain to bear, am I right?”
“Guh!!!” Bullseye. Seems Cesca was right about that needle being a shoddy product. Looks like this guy’s relying more on bravado than actual power.
“Ha... Hahaha... Fool. Why would I need to directly manipulate these ones, anyway? You’re an enemy to our kind, Dragon Slayer. All these Dragons here are awaiting my command. I need to say but one simple word, and they will ki— AHGUGUUUHGHAH!!” In a flash, the man’s upper body vanished from sight. It was engulfed in the maw of a Black Dragon. And then I heard a crunch.
Holy SHIT. His lower body slumped to the ground, trickling blood from its oozing wound. It was disgusting. The beach sand dusted his sticky organs as they splattered out. These Dragons couldn’t speak human languages, but they could certainly understand what was being said.
They were arrogant, after all. It was only natural to assume they’d be reluctant to serve under a demi-human, even if he made them stronger. But it seemed like they were going along with him because they thought he could control them at will. However, once they found out the fear was baseless, there was no reason to keep him around anymore. That was the most likely reason for the Black Dragon’s actions. The Dragon King had revealed his own fatal flaw.
“Well, I guess he got what was coming to him, but... that doesn’t solve the main problem.”
“They’re already starting to yell things about spilling blood, and killing humans... What a terrible sort...”
“Man, what a pain. Let’s take out the trash already.” I snapped my fingers, and a [Gate] opened up. A loud series of thuds heralded the arrival of several Frame Gears on the island.
The Dragons turned their attention to the sudden invaders. I could sense their irritation. I’d summoned fifty Frame Gears in total. That was only about a tenth of the number of Dragons here, but I felt it was enough.
“Everyone, listen up. Don’t hold back, go all-out. We’ll have a Dragon BBQ cookout tonight!”
“Hoorah!!!” I spoke through my radio and informed all the pilots of the plan. This would be a much easier battle than the last. Dragons weren’t nearly as strong as the Phrase, and magic worked on them just fine as well.
I was actually more worried about fifty Frame Gears being overkill. If we mashed the Dragons into paste, we wouldn’t be able to sell them... Still, we couldn’t exactly afford to go easy, either.
Well, it was too late to worry about that anyway. We were fighting for the sake of the humans who had been put at risk, as well as that of the real noble Dragons who wished us no harm, and to also line Brunhild’s coffers with bountiful gold. We couldn’t afford to hold back. It would be disrespectful to those that had already been victimized.
“Brunhild Knights, charge!”
“HOOOAAAAAAH!!!” At my command, the Chevaliers marched forward. The Dragons unleashed flaming breath and balls of fire, but they were easily shrugged off by shields. In a matter of moments, several Dragons lost their heads.
The Dragons started trying to fly away, apparently having realized the power of the mechs. But it was too late. Several of them released wind magic and brought the airborne creatures crashing to the ground.
The Ether Liquid that fueled the Frame Gears also transmitted magic all over the surface of the mech, allowing spells to be channeled through them. This didn’t really work for restoration spells or anything like that, but it allowed them to cast spells while piloting. This was because Ether Liquid held the same properties as spellstones.
The Chevaliers descended upon the fallen Dragons, making quick work of them. I didn’t really mind seeing heads fly due to decapitation, or their flesh being pierced by spears... but I had expressly forbidden the use of maces and hammers for this fight. Mulched Dragon meat didn’t really sell so good. Wait, don’t trample them! They’re valuable, damn it! The Black Dragon who had eaten the Dragon King (I didn’t even catch that guy’s name), was restlessly glancing around the battlefield. He watched his comrades die one after the other, and I could feel the fury emanating from him. Luli noticed too, and took a step toward him.
“Luli?”
“Allow me to punish this child. He discarded his pride as a Dragon. I will show him the true power of my kin.”
“Uhh... Alright, I guess. I see where you’re coming from.”
“I am in your debt.” Luli turned and let out a deafening roar. If there were any wine glasses nearby I was sure they’d have been broken. Damn it, my ears! The Black Dragon roared in response, but compared to Luli its voice was miserable and weak.
I wondered if it understood its predicament, but then it suddenly shook its head and fired a fireball directly at Luli. She tanked the hit, didn’t even flinch.
I was a little surprised that she was completely undamaged. Not a single one of her azure scales seemed out of place.
The Black Dragon panicked and took a few steps back. However, it was too late for that. Luli charged forward and took its throat between her jaws. The creaking sound of splintering scale and bone rang out across the beach. Urgh... That’s... I’m gonna puke...
The dead Dragon fell on to the sand. Luli reared her head, roaring a deafening tone once more.
Suddenly, various Dragons stopped their protests, and fearfully huddled on the ground. A message came through on my radio.
“Your Majesty... Many of the Dragons have stopped fighting....”
“Luli... Is this a surrender?”
“It is. I just told them all to give up if they value their lives. I told them that resistance is futile. I told them that, if they didn’t wish to become ash, they would give up in the name of the Azure Monarch.”
You think I’d let you turn them into ashes? They’re too valuable for that!
All jokes aside, it seemed there were a few Dragons among them that knew about the Azure Monarch. But not all of them. There were still some trying to attack.
“Don’t fight the Dragons that surrendered. But feel free to kill the ones that are still being aggressive. There’s always the chance they might pretend to surrender, so don’t let your guard down either.”
“Understood!” After a while, we had killed three-hundred-and-fifty of the five-hundred or so that were originally there. Then, we took the needles out of the living and dead ones alike. This artifact was a real pain in my ass, but I was sure we’d gotten all of them. It was possible that back in the old days, they’d been gathered somewhere for disposal, but weren’t able to be destroyed for some reason. And then after thousands of years, someone came across them all and figured out what they could do... I did want to know more about the needles, but the only guy who had figured them out was half the man he used to be, so I was out of luck. I buried the Dragon King, or his lower body at least, by the coastline. I also buried the Black Dragon that had killed him nearby. I didn’t do it out of some sense of honor or compassion or anything, though... I just didn’t want to bring the Black Dragon back and deal with the gross half-corpse in his belly.
If you misuse something powerful, you may fall victim to it in the end. That was the lesson I took from that incident.
With great power comes great responsibility. If you don’t recognize that, you may already be dead.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login