Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari (LN) - Volume 22 - Chapter Ep

Epilogue: Dragon Slayer

It was a massive Western-style dragon—the same one I had seen when we encountered the Piensa forces. I was immediately on the alert for some kind of attack.

“Heroes of Siltran, Pacifier, and proud guardian dragon,” the dragon said. “I do not come seeking violence.” The dragon flapped its wings a few more times and landed, then bowed its head low. Then it gradually shifted into the form of a humanoid woman.

“It is you,” Holn said, a catch in her voice.

“It has been a while, Holn,” the dragon replied.

“Not a meeting I asked for, either. What are you showing up for now?” Holn spat, an annoyed expression on her face. I pointed at the dragon, without saying anything. Holn frowned before finally explaining. “This is a dragon the Bow Hero of Piensa raised . . . a Dragon Emperor.”

“To be more precise,” the dragon woman said, “I was also, in some part, modified by Holn.”

“I’m surprised you’re just showing your face like this,” Holn said. “You haven’t forgotten what you told me when you led Piensa, have you?”

“I’m not here to debate dragons being the ultimate monster—which they are. But you understand we have more pressing matters to discuss,” the dragon said evenly.

“You sound a lot more reasonable than the other Dragon Emperors I’ve encountered,” I commented. I wondered if the title was correct. Either way, I’d rather have this one than something like the one who had been with Takt.

“I have pride as a dragon,” the woman replied. “But I have still come to discuss things with you. I hope you would at least hear me out.” Now she sounded like the weakest Dragon Emperor. “I wouldn’t dream of being arrogant with you either.” For some reason, the Piensa Dragon Emperor was looking at me . . . and blushing. A chill ran down my spine. We’d only just met this new dragon, and I was having Demon Dragon flashbacks already.

“Indeed. I’m hoping to maintain a friendly relationship with this Shield Hero too,” the Water Dragon said, offering some unsolicited backup. “He has no attack power, so when he strokes your scales, you really do feel it.”

“It does?” the dragon woman said. “I would very much like to be stroked.”

“Gaelion has said the same thing,” Wyndia chimed in. “Getting his scales stroked by the Shield Hero makes him feel really happy.” Gaelion was always trying to rub up against me. I hoped he wasn’t getting turned on by that! All the more reason to keep him away from me. As for the Demon Dragon . . . she made no attempt to hide her desire for me, but she wasn’t rubbing herself over me either.

“Interesting . . . maybe you’re a different kind of dragon slayer?” Natalia proposed. “One that dragons like a bit too much?”

“The surveys my descendant and I have conducted actually suggest that most monsters take a liking to him. His encounter rate with monsters is also higher than that for Mamoru,” Holn revealed, adding some scientific research to Natalia’s suppositions. I wanted to shut this down before things ballooned any further.

“The Bow Hero did say maybe you had a special ability that makes monsters like you,” Raphtalia said.

“Raphtalia, even you’re getting in on this?” I said.

“Maybe that’s why demi-humans like you,” Raphtalia said.

“Naofumi is certainly beloved by people other than humans,” Ren agreed, looking over at me sympathetically.

“Can I just pack up and run off?” I asked.

“Sorry, everyone . . . Mr. Naofumi is trying to avoid reality again. We’re getting off topic as well. Shouldn’t we be worrying about Melty?” Raphtalia said.

“That’s right,” I quickly said. “Forget about me. Focus on Melty.” None of this banter mattered at the moment. I had been proving popular with dragons recently, but I didn’t swing that way myself. What I wanted to do was be surrounded by countless Raph-chans and Raph species and just drift off to sleep each night.

“Mr. Naofumi, I’m trying to change the subject. Don’t make that face,” Raphtalia said, cautioning me quietly. Her abilities to read my mind were definitely improving. I was sure of that now.

“Piensa is crawling with our enemies at the moment,” I stated. “So what is their Dragon Emperor doing here?”

“Allow me to explain,” the female dragon said, finally getting to business. “No more beating around the bush either. I’m begging you, please bring an end to the rampage of Piensa and save my master, the Bow Hero.”

“Save him?” I asked. He had come up in conversation a few times, but we hadn’t seen anything of the Bow Hero since this fresh chaos started. I thought maybe it was that the Bow Hero and Shield Hero never got along, but Raphtalia had said that he was quite willing to listen. I’d also heard that Piensa had him by the balls, so to speak, so he couldn’t defect at the moment even if he wanted to.

“Allow me to apologize for erecting that barrier that prevented your escape,” the dragon woman said. “If I hadn’t done so, my master would have been killed.”

“What’s the exact situation with him?” Mamoru asked the Dragon Emperor.

“After it became clear that you had killed one of those who assume the name of god, the mood of our previously frustrated Piensa royalty swiftly improved, and they started to talk about unification of the world. At the time, I thought they were just trying to escape from reality,” the Piensa Dragon Emperor said, seemingly unconcerned about keeping anything back.

To start with, the Piensa royals had failed to achieve their desired ruling of the world, and the possibility of its realization seemed to be slipping away. The people of the nation, and the Bow Hero and his party, had drawn the same conclusion. One day, a mysterious individual had appeared in Piensa, accompanied by vassal weapon holders from other worlds. They had promised to lend Piensa their strength. That led to the attacks with the deadly weapons on the other nations that had been considering siding with Siltran. When the Bow Hero had objected to this, some of his closest friends had been taken as hostages before he was imprisoned along with them. Her master was turned into a prisoner. The Piensa Dragon Emperor had been forced to continue to cooperate with those in charge.

She also had no doubts about who was behind it all.

“Is it safe for you to make contact with us now?” I asked.

“I’d say it’s pretty dangerous,” the dragon woman replied, “but I determined that my master would give me these exact orders. We both share the same love for this world.” I liked her reply. In our case, most of the heroes had just been geeking out about coming into a game they had spent so much time playing. At least we were all more serious about fighting for this world now. Ren, of course, did it to atone for his past. Itsuki did it to protect the justice that Rishia believed in. Motoyasu . . . for Filo, probably. And myself, I did it to protect this world for Raphtalia and the others. If the ones who assume the name of god or a nation I belonged to had taken those I cared for hostage, and were forcing me to fight those who could resist the real threat to the world . . . I wouldn’t have been able to stand it either. Regardless of the risks, I would seek help.

“One of our party was just kidnapped,” I told the dragon woman. “I’m presuming you’ll help us get her back?”

“I’ll help however I can. That’s why I’m here,” she replied.

“Okay then,” I said.

“It seems that the ones who assume the name of god are unable to spy on you, like they can on others. That means, if we work together, we can trick them,” the dragon woman said. It sounded like the 0 series was providing a barrier of sorts, which kept the ones who assume the name of god from being able to detect us.

Then the Piensa Dragon Emperor bowed her head in my direction.

“I must admit you really influence me as a Dragon Emperor to obey your every command,” she said. “I’ve never felt this way before.” I recalled how the 0 series had an effect that could strip away eternal life as well as being effective against dragons. Gaelion had kept his distance from me just before we came back in time. We’d been talking about stroking his scales. Maybe there was something about me that both scared and attracted dragons.

It was something about the 0 territory, perhaps. The Water Dragon had said he felt impending violence coming from me after incanting magic with “0” in it.

“You said you’ll help however you can. Can you be more specific?” I asked.

“I’ll give you a secret entrance to Piensa Castle, for a start,” the dragon woman replied. “And information on security patrols. I’ll give you it all. If they realize what’s happening, I can help out in battle. If you can connect me . . . to the terminal of your power . . . I can become . . . stronger . . .”

“Raph!” said Raph-chan. Just as the Piensa Dragon Emperor was reaching unsteadily for me, Raph-chan jumped onto her shoulder and hit her softly in the face with her tail.

“What was . . . I doing . . .” the dragon woman stammered.

“It looked like you were reaching for me,” I said. “You weren’t trying to absorb me or something, were you?” The Dragon Emperor had that ability. The Demon Dragon could absorb heroes and use their power for herself.

“I’d never do such a thing!” the dragon woman replied. Maybe Raph-chan had been warning her about trying something.

“A terminal . . . yes, there is one here,” the Water Dragon confirmed, moving over toward me, a strange look in his eyes.

“Raph!” said Raph-chan, leaping in to whack him too, making him grunt.

“There’s definitely a hard-to-resist allure to you, now that you mention it. Who set this up?” the Water Dragon asked.

“That would be me!” came the voice in my head. The moment I heard it, rage boiled up inside me. What had she done to me now?! She was the reason I was now a (sexual) dragon slayer! The next time we met, she was going to pay dearly for this! I wondered why she would even do this. It only meant other dragons were going to mob me! No matter how I raged inside my head, the Demon Dragon’s implanted personality didn’t reply. It only ever responded to single words and magic-related stuff, so I wasn’t really expecting anything, but this had still really pissed me off!

“The one responsible here is the Demon Dragon . . . it seems she’s better setting these things up so that I can maintain my rage,” I explained, pressing a hand to my forehead.

“Which means if a dragon lends you their power, Mr. Naofumi . . . they can have access to power like the Demon Dragon,” Raphtalia asked.

“I think so. What happened with Keel is likely a byproduct of that,” I said.

“I fear weaker dragons would be consumed whole,” the dragon woman said. “Such is the strength of the curse I feel from the Shield Hero.” It was my rage . . . my base desire for power that allured the dragons to me. In any case, it looked like the Water Dragon and Piensa Dragon Emperor could be further enhanced by this. “Will you please help? If you help my master, I’ll give you whatever you desire . . . treasure, my body, even my mind.”

“What are you talking about?!” Raphtalia said, concern on her face.

“It sounds like you want me to possess you,” I asked. She didn’t deny it. I wanted her to deny it.

“What is this? Changing bedfellows?” Mamoru asked with either a poor or deliberate choice of words.

“An interesting situation. I’d very much like to investigate it. I’d also love to see the Bow Hero’s reaction,” Holn added, her curiosity sparking.

“This isn’t interesting at all. The one who did this to me is to blame!” I said.

“Mr. Naofumi, if the Piensa Bow Hero finds out about this, he’s going to be like L’Arc all over again,” Raphtalia warned. That was a nasty example for her to choose. That hadn’t been my fault either. Therese had gone all wacky on her own. In this case, it was the work of these strange pheromones set up by the Demon Dragon.

“I’ve heard that fear feels a bit like love . . . Your presence is definitely appealing to dragons,” the Water Dragon said, making things weird again.

“The hero loved by the world!” Filolia laughed. “This is interesting indeed!” No, it wasn’t. It wasn’t at all. Her sister was waiting behind her. I swore at her not to say anything.

“Can you get this thing off me?” I asked. I wasn’t going to feel safe until my auto dragon slaying issue was resolved.

“If I connected and made a few adjustments, that shouldn’t be a problem,” the Water Dragon said.

“Wait. I’m more suited to this,” the dragon woman said. “Is this really a problem a guardian dragon should be using their power to intervene in? I can bring out more of his power.”

“You are joking,” the Water Dragon replied. The two dragons started bickering, tension crackling in the air between them.

“I’m so glad the Water Dragon has taken a liking to you,” Natalia said. She seemed very pleased with herself, like she finally had something to hold over me. “I’ve never seen him like this before.”

“Dafu,” said Dafu-chan, equally happy about all this.

“I’ll choose . . . the pacifier’s dragon, thank you. I can trust him more,” I said.

“Yes! My virtue wins the day!” the Water Dragon celebrated. I had no idea what that meant. I continued to bring out the strangest reactions from dragons.

“This can’t be . . .” the Piensa Dragon Emperor said, looking over with jealous eyes. Unfortunately for her, those eyes did nothing for me. In fact, they pissed me off.

“Stop looking at me like that,” I told her. “I hate people who make faces like that.”

“Yeah, me too,” Ren agreed, both of us looking at the Piensa Dragon Emperor. It was like when Bitch was using her wiles to get something. Then Wyndia sidled over and took the Piensa Dragon Emperor’s hand. I wondered if any dragon at all would do it for her. This one was trying to become our ally, but she could still put her guard up a little.

“Do you want the Shield Hero to like you?” Wyndia asked. The Piensa Dragon Emperor nodded. “Then I’d stop making faces like that. My dragon, Gaelion, has conducted all sorts of research to keep in the Shield Hero’s good books. I can share some tips with you,” she offered.

“Wyndia? Let’s not cause any more trouble for Naofumi, if we can help it. This might be a Dragon Emperor, but that doesn’t mean we can trust her yet,” Ren said, dashing over to Wyndia.

“I can do what I like,” Wyndia replied, not giving Ren the time of day.

“Water Dragon, hurry up and heal me,” I said.

“Okay,” the Water Dragon replied. With that, the Water Dragon started to mess around with my shield. The Water Dragon’s scales started to glisten.

“Wow . . . this is quite something . . .” the Water Dragon said.

“Ah. The presence is fading a little,” the Piensa Dragon Emperor noticed, still looking jealously at the Water Dragon.

“You just need to work hard to make him like you,” Wyndia said. “We’ll need your strength in our coming battles, so you’ll have plenty of chances.” Her approach to consolation felt very out of place. She did love dragons and doted on Gaelion. Maybe that was the problem—she wasn’t getting her fix since coming to the past. I wished she could make do with the Water Dragon.

“I wish I could send some of this to the Raph-chans,” I said.

“Raph?! Raph, raph!” Raph-chan exclaimed. The Raph-chans had helped hold me back when I used the Shield of Rage. Maybe it was flowing into them. They just couldn’t turn it into power.

“I’d like to be able to do that too,” Ruft said.

“Please don’t say that,” Raphtalia replied.

“Moving on,” I said. “Piensa Dragon Emperor. Whether we save your master or not . . . the sins of Piensa are severe. They’ve lent aid to those who have kidnapped our friend Melty.” Everyone there nodded at my words.

“I agree. There’s no justice left in Piensa now. They’re trying to sell out this world. Eradicating their noble line is for the best of us all,” the Piensa Dragon Emperor said. It sounded like we’d got ourselves an insider. First, we needed to save Melty and the Bow Hero.

Saving Melty meant saving a princess, of course—but now she was a queen.

“Time to take down a nation,” I said. “The God Hunter heroes will eradicate Piensa for joining forces with the enemies of this world!”

“Oh, good line!” Filolia cackled, looking over at Mamoru. “The Dark Brave and her allies will help you out! Right, Mamoru?”

“Yeah. I can’t sit by any longer—and I’m worried about the Bow Hero. It’s time to end this fighting,” Mamoru said, sounding fired up himself.

“This reminds me of when we went into Q’ten Lo,” Raphtalia said. “You got everyone worked up then too, didn’t you, Mr. Naofumi?”

“It was like this, wasn’t it?” Ruft said cheerfully. He was actually the very target we had been there to take down.

“Yeah, it was like this,” I replied. “I think morale is even higher this time.” Everyone was worried about Melty. It wouldn’t go like this if I was the one who’d been taken—my lack of attack power probably didn’t make me a threat, they’d think. He’ll be fine for a while, they’d think. “Let’s make them really feel it this time!” Getting back to our time was important, but this came first. We needed the carriage vassal weapon and to get to the world of the sword and spear. So we’d take everything back, save the heroes from that world too, and make the ones who assume the name of god pay.

Our intentions were clear. And that was the start of the war.