The Hero King, Reincarnate to Master the Art of War (LN) - Volume 6 - Chapter 5

Chapter V: Inglis, Age 15—The Ancient Dragon and the (Former) Old King (5)

Inglis approached the dragon the next day.

“Hello there. How might you be doing today?”

“Curse you!”

Roooooaaaaaarrrrrrrr!

When Inglis loosened the dragonscale chain, Fufailbane let out a cry of utmost rage. A sudden gust ruffled her platinum-blonde hair, and she felt the sheer malevolence of the beast pierce through her.

It chilled. It stung. But it felt great; it meant another good fight awaited her today. “I’m glad to see you’re in fine spirits. And just look, your tail’s already regrown! Such impressive healing power.”

“Do you think that flatters me?! I know now how you bear my dragon lore! While I slumbered, you must have cut off my tail and eaten it!”

“Ah, I knew you’d realize. Yes, that’s correct. I swear I did not do so with the intention of gaining your dragon lore. That was entirely unexpected.”

“What? Then why would you do such a thing?!”

“Well, circumstances are dire... For reasons out of their control, the inhabitants of this region have found themselves short of food. We arrived just in time to get it to them, so we’ve been borrowing your tail as you slept.”

“That’s even worse! To debase an ancient dragon like myself as mere livestock... To take my meat as charity for lowly humans...!”

“No, no, of course we weren’t treating you as livestock! Your meat was completely different. After all, it’s extremely... I don’t even have the words for how delicious it is!”

“What is that supposed to mean?!” 

Slammmm!

Enraged, Fufailbane slammed his tail on the ground, and the quake was so intense that it tossed Inglis into the air for a moment.

“Is being delicious not high praise?”

“Silence! To mock an ancient dragon so... I have never known such humiliation in all my long life!” Fufailbane craned his neck, ready to spray his freezing dragon breath.

Clack! Clack!

However, he had been carefully muzzled with the dragonscale chain, and that part of it had not yet been relaxed. No matter how much force he put into it, all that would come forth was that strained noise.

“Gnnh! How vexing! Not even I can tear through my scales!”

“Now, now, calm down. A long life gives you plenty of time to encounter the unexpected. My own life is far shorter than yours, but still long for a human. I lived a full life to old age—and never expected that I’d be reborn, much less as a girl, but I’m enjoying it. May I suggest that you simply go with the flow and find your own enjoyment where you can?”

“To have my scales torn away and be devoured like livestock... Where is the enjoyment in that?! What utter nonsense! I cannot let this stand! I will not let this stand! This time I will smash you and slaughter all you puny humans! I will ensure you lesser beings will never be able to show me such disrespect again!”

“I see... Then, shall we fight? I’m sure the violence will grant you more of a distraction than sitting still does.”

“Bring it on! Yesterday you took me by surprise, but that won’t happen again! I already know your tricks!” 

Inglis chuckled. “Today I’d like to focus on melee combat, so keep your mouth closed, okay? I won’t be using any projectiles either. And I’ve changed into clothes that I don’t mind ruining, so let’s fight up close as hard as we can.”

“That matters not! Die!”

“Thank you for taking this so seriously. Your doing so will help me get stronger! Haaaah!”

Blammmmmm!

Inglis’s fist and the foreleg of the ancient dragon clashed with a deafening roar.

Slaaam! Rrrrumble!

The aftershock of the force became a blast of wind that shook the Star Princess and the other Flygears in the skies above.

“I-It’s even more intense than yesterday!” Liselotte exclaimed.

“Chris said she was going to wear something she didn’t mind getting dirty so she could really get in close,” Rafinha pointed out.

“Well, it seems she was telling the truth!” Leone said. “I can’t even follow the fight with my eyes, but the sound and the shock waves are incredible!”

“That dragon she’s fighting seems angry!” Lahti remarked.

“You can tell?” Rafinha asked.

“Hm? Well, it just seems that way. Like he’s real, real mad!”

“Well, I guess he would be, being left like that overnight,” Rafinha said.

It was a bit distressing thinking of the dragon’s position in all of this, but that didn’t fill the empty bellies of the starving. Furthermore, Inglis had said that he wasn’t the type who would cooperate if asked nicely; in fact, he would in turn devour these hungry people if left free, so it was necessary to keep him bound. Rafinha couldn’t object to that. She left those matters in Inglis’s hands.

“But such an intense fight against such a massive monster... I can see how she managed to fight off even the evil hieral menace Tiffanyer!” Lewin said, wide-eyed.

He had asked to come watch the battle. He had known Inglis was no ordinary person, both when he saw her carrying the dragon’s huge tail with a smile on her face, and when he saw her reshaping the dragon’s scales with her bare hands, but he was still awestruck by her power.

The strength that let her overcome a dragon head-on with a single punch, the speed she had that made her too fast to see...and yet when she did flicker into his vision from time to time, Lewin was also captivated by the beauty and grace of her motions. “I never realized people could be so strong, so beautiful, so capable all at once.”

“Well, Chris is special,” Rafinha replied. “She has the body of an angel, but the soul of a warlord.”

Lewin nodded. “Ha ha ha. Watching her, I can’t help but agree.”

“See? Told ya. If she can’t do anything about a dragon, there isn’t anyone who can,” Lahti said.

“You were right, Prince Lahti. But there’s one thing I don’t understand—why is someone like that only a cadet squire? If she can take on a hieral menace, she should be a holy knight, if not more. Perhaps it’s the fortune of our country that she’s trapped in obscurity in Karelia. We could promise her an important position here in Alcard...”

“No, that won’t work. She’s a squire because she wants to be a squire,” Lahti explained.

“Huh?”

“Carlias, the king of Karelia, invited her to become the captain of the Royal Guard, but she turned him down. Said it would be too much trouble.”

“Wh-What?! I don’t understand! Why?!”

“She said she’d rather stay in the trenches polishing her skills, which she could do by being my squire forever,” Rafinha said. “Though I’d rather she eventually marry my brother and become a duchess...”

In Rafinha’s mind, that was how they would truly become sisters. Inglis would be with Rafael, and Rafinha would be with a wonderful person she hadn’t met yet. Both women would have children at around the same time and raise them together, forming a loving family like their mothers had. That was Rafinha’s ideal future. At the same time, she intended to fulfill her duties as a knight to society and her home of Ymir, so how to balance the two weighed on her mind.

“I...see...” Lewin responded.

“Anyway, trying to reel her in with a title isn’t gonna work. Basically, we have to let her do what she wants. You can’t tell Inglis what to do,” Lahti said.

“She’s like a force of nature, then...”

“Pretty much, but she’s not bad... I mean, she’s really good looking, and she’s got a chaperone—she listens to Rafinha, so don’t worry.”

“I suppose. So it’s not like you’re forcing her to take on the hard fights alone?” Lewin asked.

“Absolutely not,” the others answered in unison. “She wants that.”

“Ha ha ha... I see...”

“And it’s important too. We still need food,” Lahti added.

“Yeah,” Rafinha agreed. “So we can’t stop her... Chris always comes up with a good reason to do what she wants.”

Blammmmmmmm!

The loudest sound yet interrupted them.

“Grrryaohhhhh!”

The gigantic dragon let out an explosive shriek and collapsed. In the wake of that scene came forth Inglis, a pleased smile on her face as she waved up at the crowd in Flygears.

“All right! Today was fun. Rani! Everyone! You can go ahead now, let’s cut that tail while we can! ♪”

“Looks like she’s done. All right, it’s hunting time! Let’s go!” Rafinha called.

The days of Inglis knocking Fufailbane out in a fight, before they took his tail while he was out cold and then distributed the meat to the hungry nearby towns and villages, continued for a while.

◆◇◆

Inglis got to enjoy her ideal training—the repeated serious fights with Fufailbane—and then enjoy his delicious meat afterward. The happy days went on, Inglis enjoying them to the fullest.

And then, one day, suddenly they came to an end.

“Hello! Let’s do this again today.” Inglis bowed her head politely. Her lovely, happy smile, as usual, was today paired with a quite contrasting large object in her hand. It was a bit warped, but still recognizably a sword, and of an extraordinary size, larger than herself. Its dull, light-blue sheen was unmistakably that of Fufailbane’s scales.

After making a large quantity of spare chains for restraining the dragon and becoming more familiar with how to process the scales, she’d tried her hand at weapon crafting. As before, the manufacturing process had been based on striking the scales with her bare hands, so she hadn’t been able to do anything as precise as sharpening the blade. However, she’d used the scales of an ancient dragon to make the blade; it was guaranteed to be quite strong, probably stronger than the ice swords she created with magic, and naturally superior to the average Artifact. It might even stand up to all-out fighting with aether.

Truly, the ancient dragon had brought her great blessings: new powers, a training partner to hone them with, delicious food when she was hungry, and even an ultimate weapon. She was truly in the dragon’s debt.

“Look at this! I made a sword with the scales I got from you. I think it’s really strong. Will you help me try it out today?”

There would be no better test of it than him. Could a sword made from Fufailbane’s scales cut through the living scales of the dragon himself? It would be a great test of her mastery of the blade as well. She couldn’t help but be excited at the idea of a different fight from those of the last few days.

“Most weapons just break under the load of aether at full power, so I’ve had trouble finding any I can use to the fullest. Perhaps this one will be different—and it’s all thanks to you. Thank you for everything.” Another polite bow, and then it was time to fight. How powerful might a greatsword made of dragon scales be?

Inglis’s eyes gleamed, but Fufailbane was indifferent. “Hmph. If you wish to play with your toy, do it somewhere else. It’s none of my business.” He lay down and curled up.

“Huh?! Wh-What’s wrong?” Inglis gawked. “Up until now you’ve been kind enough to attack me with such vigor and viciousness!” Thanks to that, she’d had the most wonderful training.

“I don’t care. I’m done dealing with you.”

“Huh?! Wait, wait! Did you eat too much? Or wait, are you so hungry you can’t work up the energy? I can’t feed you any humans, but I’ve got plenty of tasty meat! Would you like some? Should I bring it to you?”

“Silence! That meat is my own! I am no cannibal!”

“B-But I need to get you nice and energetic so you can fight me today... What’s wrong?”

“I do not deign to waste my time. And regretfully, as I currently am, I cannot win. Having realized such, fighting would be a waste.”

“Wh—?! Is such a thing acceptable for the pinnacle of all dragons?! The pride of a champion should not be so cheap!”

Fufailbane did not respond.

“A real fight is the best practice there is. You might even be able to beat me with how you grow from it! No one can deny that possibility! So c’mon, don’t give up! Get up and give it another try! I know you can do it!”

“Hmph. You’re wasting your time. I may well grow, but you will grow further. The more we battle, the more the gap widens. You can’t tell me you don’t realize that.”

This time Inglis was the one who fell silent.

“To reverse this... One way would be for me to become dramatically stronger, but such a miracle is beyond me unless I evolve into a wyrm right now.”

“Ooh! What’s that?! An even stronger dragon?! How do you turn into one?! Please, waste no time!”

“Speak not of the impossible! A dragon grows more powerful with each passing year, and the time for me to become a wyrm is far, far in the future. Many times longer than I have lived so far. And you, of course, will not be alive then.”

“I guess I’ll have to be reborn a few more times... Maybe I can see the goddess and ask her for that? Though I don’t know where she is...” Inglis had not sensed the presence of the goddess Alistia anywhere in this world.

“There is one other way to close that gap.”

“Mm?”

“It is to wait for your decline. To me, a human’s life is nothing but a fleeting moment, like seafoam. Thus, I will no longer enable your growth. Instead, I will wait for you to age, to fade, and then I will eat you alive. We dragons and you humans have different scales of time, and I will use that to my advantage.”

Inglis gasped, letting out a quiet “N-No!”

Fufailbane’s strategy was frankly an effective one, especially when applied to Inglis. The mind of an ancient dragon was, as she expected, different from that of a normal monster. Both cunning and practical.

She had no immediate response to him—or did she?

“Ugh... Ahh! Owwwww!” Inglis suddenly clutched her right elbow and hunched over.

“Hmm?”

“My... My arm... It’s been under a lot of strain from all this fighting... It might be broken! Fighting will be so hard now! It might even be too dangerous!”

Fufailbane stared at her.

“Ahh, I’m scared...” Inglis continued. “I’d be in real trouble if you attacked me! You might even eat me up!”

“Don’t be so brazen. That’s an obvious act.”

“Ahhhhhhh! It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts!”

“Silence, I said! Cease your chatter!”

“Ugh... You heartbreaker! Who should I fight, then?” Inglis glared at Fufailbane very, very bitterly.

“I don’t care! Are you really the same person as that old king?! Every time you open your mouth, it’s about fighting or eating—you’re like some kind of beast! That wrinkled old man was a more admirable human than you!”

“I’m just living this second life I was given freely and honestly, in line with my desires! Anyway, if I really broke my arm, would you fight me then? I’ll do it myself if I have to!”

“Such foolhardiness will change nothing! Enough is enough! In any case, I will fight you no more! If you wish to take the coward’s path of torturing one who does not resist to death, go right ahead. If you want the meat of my tail, I will give it to you. Cut it off and take it.” Fufailbane laid the massive length of his tail before Inglis, offering no resistance.

Presented with an attitude like that, Inglis was hesitant to cut off his tail.

As she weighed whether her hunger and her desire to try her new sword were enough to drive her to do it anyway, Rafinha’s voice rang out from above. “Chris! What’s wrong? Aren’t you going to fight today?” Enough time had passed without the fight starting, so she’d started to descend to see what was going on.

“Rani! Yeah, it’s a long story...”

“If it seems okay, can I come closer and take a look?”

“Ah? Yeah, it should be fine.”

With Inglis’s approval, Rafinha slowly landed beside Inglis.

As they did, Inglis kept a close eye on Fufailbane. “The dark-haired one is called Rafinha. If you do anything to hurt her, I don’t care if you surrender to me—I’ll slaughter you. Understood?”

“Hmph. Noted,” Fufailbane responded motionlessly. His demeanor was cold. More than anything, he was a calculating dragon, and his plans involved avoiding a fight with Inglis until the tables had turned. He could likely be relied upon to heed the warning. He needed to wait before seeking his vengeance.

“Wow... It’s amazing looking at him close up like this,” Rafinha said.

“Yeah, he’s scary. Just being here is giving me the shivers,” Lahti added.

Only the two of them had disembarked. Today, Inglis had planned to cut the tail herself, so she’d left Leone and the others working at the camp. Along with the usual butchering and preserving of meat, the group was working hard to seriously transform the camp into a town. Therefore, Inglis had only asked Rafinha, needed for her Gift following the tail cutting, to come along. Lahti had planned to bring food to the nearby settlements, but since he had some time to wait for the preparations, he’d asked to come along as the pilot of the Star Princess.

“Really?” Rafinha asked. “I mean, the big guy certainly is impressive, but he’s kind of cute when he’s docile like this. A bit different from a magicite beast, don’t you think?”

“I don’t get you at all. Just being close to him is making me feel a little sick,” Lahti said.

“Yeah, you don’t look so good. Are you okay?”

“Y-Yeah... I’ll be fine, let’s just get this over with...”

“Okay.” Rafinha turned to Inglis. “Chris, what’s going on?”

“I’m not sure. He doesn’t want to fight. He said if we want the tail, to cut it off and take it,” Inglis replied.

“What?! Really?!”

“Yeah, and we had a little talk.”

“About what?”

“Doesn’t really matter. Let’s get to the fighting.”

“No, no, wait! Stop getting ahead of yourself! If he’s giving us his tail without fighting, that means he understands what’s going on and he’s willing to help those in need, right? You convinced him to do that, didn’t you? That’s great! I’m impressed!”

“Yeah, that’s awesome!” Lahti chimed in. “That means he won’t go on a rampage and attack the camp or any of the settlements scattered around!”

“Hm? Uhh...” Inglis began. Fufailbane had refused to fight, but he’d said nothing about understanding their situation or wanting to help out. It was just Rafinha’s inclination to see the good in everyone that led her to interpret it as such.

Regardless, his plan was to take advantage of his long lifespan, wait for Inglis to age, and in the meantime, avoid accelerating her growth. He wouldn’t give her the chance for the best method of training—namely, actual fighting.

It was difficult to imagine such a huge dragon coming up with such a delicate scheme. It left Inglis in shock and dismay. Ancient dragons were, perhaps, a bit too clever. She’d prefer that they were a bit more instinctive, a bit more visceral.

Maybe a little bit of exposure to the Prism Flow would lead him to attack people instinctively, like magicite beasts did. Perhaps then he’d attack her on sight rather than waiting for her to age. However, would exposure to the Prism Flow spoil the quality of his superb meat? That would be its own problem.

“Uhhh, I don’t know... I don’t think he said anything about that...”

“I do not recall being asked to cooperate! Challenged, beaten, chained, my tail lopped off and stolen away, but you said nothing about cooperation!”

“Don’t say things like that. People will get the wrong idea!” Inglis said.

Not that she could really argue against his point. From the beginning, she’d given up on negotiation, expecting that there was no way he’d simply cooperate.

“Huh? Did I just hear something?” Lahti seemed confused.

“Hear what?” Rafinha asked.

“It was, like, ‘You said nothing about cooperation...’ Was that the dragon?! Didn’t you hear it?!” Lahti exclaimed.

“I didn’t hear anything.”

“Was it just me? Inglis, you must have heard it.”

“Hmm...” Inglis began. “So you can hear him too, Lahti...”

This was unexpected, but there was no mistaking it; Lahti, too, had gained dragon lore from eating Fufailbane’s meat. Without dragon lore, he wouldn’t have been able to hear Fufailbane’s voice. It might have been audible if the dragon was deliberately making it so, but then Rafinha would have heard it too.

She didn’t know whether Lahti’s dragon lore was nearly on par with Fufailbane’s—like her own—but it seemed that unlike Inglis or Rafinha, he’d gained a glimpse of that power through normal human levels of consumption. Therefore, something about him must have been more compatible with that power. Perhaps it had something to do with him being Runeless? With only one example, it was hard to say.

“Hey, Lahti, what’s the dragon saying?” Rafinha asked.

“Something like, ‘Beaten, chained, my tail lopped off, but you said nothing about cooperation!’”

“Chriiis?” Rafinha shot Inglis a glare. “Does this dragon happen to be a nice person whom you’re just forcing to fight even though he doesn’t want to?”

“No, no, no, Rani, you’ve got it wrong! He was trying to eat me! So...”

“That is true. I didn’t want to, but that girl forced me...”

“Hmm?!” Lahti began. “I think he’s saying, ‘I didn’t want to, but she forced me.’”

“C’mon! Chris! Why are you lying? That’s not right!” Rafinha pulled at Inglis’s ears.

“Ow, ow! No! He’s lying!” Inglis insisted.

“What?!” Rafinha gasped.

“I misjudged you!” Inglis yelled at Fufailbane. “I can’t believe an ancient dragon would lie like that!”

“Hmph. After all you’ve done, the least you could do is overlook something this minor.” 

“Absolutely not! You’re going to make it up to me with an all-out fight!” Inglis declared.

“How many times do I have to say it? I will not fight you.”

“Grrr... You’re so stubborn!”

Meanwhile, Lahti was interpreting for Rafinha. “It seems like Inglis was right—he was lying. But he says he won’t fight now.”

“Oh, okay...” Rafinha replied. “Anyway, Chris. Let’s stop this. We get the tail either way, right? So why don’t we just thank him and go home? Maybe we can be friends in the future.”

“No,” Inglis protested. “An ancient dragon isn’t that friendly.”

“Foolish girl! I would eat you now if nothing held me back!”

“Don’t forget my warning. And Lahti, don’t translate that.”

“Y-Yeah...”

“Hmph...”

Inglis concluded it would be best to give up on fighting for the day and take the tail as Rafinha had suggested. “Then, as you kindly offered, we’ll be taking—”

Just as Inglis began speaking, a human form flew toward them with white wings from an Artifact’s Gift. It was Liselotte, agitated and out of breath. “Wait! Lahti, there’s trouble! Please return to the camp at once!”

She must have rushed at full speed. Whatever it was, it seemed to be serious.

“Hm?! What happened?!”

“The encampment’s residents are creating quite the stir! Sir Lewin and the others are trying to calm them down, but it’s not having much of an effect. I think it would be for the best if you spoke to them, Lahti.”

“What?! Okay, I’ll be right there! But how did this happen?”

Liselotte paused, conflicted. “I’m sorry to say this, but it concerns Pullum... It seems the people haven’t yet put the matter of Harim out of their minds. They’re demanding to know why his kin is sheltered here.”

Lahti gasped. “So they want to chase her out?!”

“If only that were all...” Liselotte replied, cryptic. From the look in her eyes, Inglis could make a guess.

“I assume they are calling for her imprisonment and execution?” Inglis said.

“Ah...! Y-Yes... Indeed they are...” Liselotte nodded, worried.

Such a demand wasn’t unthinkable. The camp had been attracting many people from the surrounding area, and it was no longer just a base of operation for Inglis, her friends, Lewin, and the surviving knights. They had already begun the process of turning the encampment into a new Leclair.

Some of the people who had moved to the encampment were survivors from Leclair, while others had lived in other towns but lost their homes and possessions to Tiffanyer’s acts and had nowhere else to turn. Each of them had their own story—but a chapter they all shared was having experienced loss thanks to the deeds of Tiffanyer and her right-hand man, Harim.

Tiffanyer was a hieral menace from Highland, but closer to home, Harim had once been a powerful noble of their own country. It was no wonder that his acts would be taken as rebellion—as treason, even. In such a case, it was not uncommon for the entire family to be held responsible. Nor was it surprising that the people he’d harmed would call for retributive justice.

That so many had gathered was proof of Lahti’s growing reputation, but that also meant greater crowds had happened to see Pullum with their own eyes. She had been trying to lay low in consideration of their feelings, but it seemed like things had come to a head.

“Dammit! Why do they have to do this now?!” Lahti said.

“This is awful! We need to stop them!” Rafinha agreed.

“You were going to have to face this sooner or later,” Inglis said. “Keep calm, Lahti.”

“O-Of course! I know!”

“And there’s more,” Liselotte continued. “Ian is leading the protestors.”

“What?! Ian?!” Lahti gasped.

“Ian’s...?!” Rafinha was just as surprised.

“What’s he after?” Inglis asked. Even she did not immediately understand why Ian, who had kidnapped Pullum and taken her to Harim during their march to Leclair, would reappear at the head of such protests.

“Anyway, we must hurry! Let us return to the camp!”

Liselotte was right. Inglis and the others bound Fufailbane again and returned to their encampment immediately.