by Hiro Ainana
I chose it because it had an exposed mithril-ore streak and looked more solid than the others.
The black dragon crashed hard into the ridge, and I chased after it with “Warp,” then used “Skyrunning” to deliver a fighting game–style kick to the dragon’s chest.
The Flexible Shield I’d put between us to cushion the blow shattered immediately.
Uh-oh.
Panicking, I skidded my kick to a halt with “Skyrunning.”
The scale on the black dragon’s chest broke, but the kick stopped before piercing the dragon’s heart.
Half-buried in the ground now, the black dragon’s limbs sagged.
Phew. Looks like I won.
That was a careless mistake.
The black dragon’s final attack wasn’t magic or its deadly breath.
It was a simple bite.
Inside the jaw closing down on me, the white fangs sparkled.
Their radiance was enchanting.
I remembered what Miss Ringrande had said before.
A dragon’s fangs can pierce anything.
Dragon fangs are the ultimate blade—they spell destruction even for a demon lord.
The dragon’s fangs broke through all ten of my remaining Flexible Shields like paper.
The white glow of death was closing in—
“I don’t think so!”
Just as a fang was about to pierce my shoulder, I punched it with all my strength.
The broken fang cut the black dragon’s mouth, sending fresh blood everywhere.
I used the momentum of the punch to twist myself around, delivering a kick to the side of the dragon’s face. Spiderweb-like cracks formed in several of the scales on its face, and I felt its jaw break underneath.
The black dragon’s status condition changed to Fainted, and it crashed into the surface of the mountain, sending tremors through the ground.
Now I truly understood why it was so important to never let down your guard.
I never imagined that something could break through intermediate defense magic like Flexible Shield so easily.
I was planning to make a counterattack once the Flexible Shields stopped the fang’s approach, but they got crushed so easily that I panicked.
All things considered, it probably would’ve gone the same way even if I’d had all my Flexible Shields out.
Nullifying defense like that was the kind of power only the worst video game bosses had.
I gazed at the black dragon, which was still lying motionless beside me.
Did I kick it a little too hard?
I thought I’d felt some bones cracking, but since its status condition was only Fainted, it was probably fine.
Still, it didn’t move even after I waited awhile, so I used the intermediate recovery spell Healing: Water on the damaged scales and other injured areas.
An intermediate spell shouldn’t have the power to regenerate missing parts, but it somehow caused the broken scales to grow back anew. Unfortunately, the fang was still broken.
I was guessing it worked that well by merging with the black dragon’s own self-healing ability.
Since there was nothing else I could do, I contacted Arisa and the others with Telephone to see how they were doing.
“Everyone’s safe here. The attackers have all been captured and handed over to the guards, and that Gao-Gao guy and his friends apologized for something and went home. The mon hunters who helped us are finishing up with transporting the captured outlaws.”
As I listened to Arisa’s report, I used Clairvoyance and my map to see the situation in Puta for myself.
There didn’t seem to be any need for me to hurry back, then.
“I’m almost done here, but it might take a little longer before I get back. I’m sure you’re all tired, so make sure everyone goes to bed soon, all right?”
“Okey-dokey!”
Ending the call with Arisa, I looked up at the unmoving black dragon.
Sitting around waiting for it to wake up was a bit boring, so I killed time by collecting the scales that had fallen in battle and mining the exposed mithril ore.
Eventually, the black dragon’s status condition changed from Fainted to None.
Its eyes opened slowly but snapped shut in a hurry as soon as it saw me looking.
Um, it’s a little late for that.
“
I placed a cask of sake near the dragon’s nose.
It was a particularly strong sake called Rock Fairy Slayer, which I’d acquired from a sake-loving noble in the old capital. Its alcohol content was high enough to compete with dwarf spirits; the name came from its rather harsh taste.
I broke the lid open with my fist, sending the scent of rich sake wafting all around us.
Soon enough, the black dragon’s nostrils flared.
I knew it. Dragons loved drinking.
“
The black dragon made a show of reluctance as it pulled itself upright.
I understood that it was trying to preserve its dignity and all, but the way it was staring at the cask the whole time kind of ruined the effect.
What a goofball.
“
“
This was a serious suggestion; I’d grown pretty fond of the lighthearted dragon.
“RWOOOOOOLRGH!”
The black dragon roared with amusement.
“
A name as a present, huh? That’s a new one.
Come to think of it, I noticed that the black dragon didn’t have a unique name in its AR display.
“
I couldn’t actually think of anything creative, so I went with a name that meant “black dragon” in Chinese.
Honestly, I’d forgotten how bad I was at making up names.
“
The black dragon roared happily, and his name in the AR display changed to Hei Long, while my name in my networking tab changed from blank to Kuro.
This made me a little nervous, so I quickly checked to make sure I could still change it.
That roar must have been the dragon using the “Name Order” skill.
“
Hei Long glanced furtively at the barrel, so I tactfully offered up some sake.
“
The black dragon lifted the barrel carefully, poured some sake into his mouth, and let out a satisfied “Ahhhh.”
“
The black dragon gave a long howl that was almost like a song, and the ground reshaped into a concave mirror.
After a while, spring water gushed from the center.
The water gradually turned into liquor bearing the same translucent green color of melon soda.
Dragonspring liquor.
But it was miles above the stuff I’d tasted before.
Freshly brewed dragonspring liquor was beyond comparison to dregs that had sat for a while. It had an incredible scent; a smooth, clear mouthfeel; and a deep, all-encompassing flavor.
“
“
The black dragon gleefully offered me more of the dragonspring liquor.
I would’ve loved to spend the night partying together, but I still had things to do in the town of Puta.
The dragon was toying with the now-empty barrel, so I provided a new one and stated that I had to head back but promised that we would have a real party soo
n enough.
I was too far away to make it with my Return spell, so Hei Long brought me to a mountain near Puta.
“
“
“
We grinned at each other as we made plans. Having a party with a dragon sounded like way too much fun.
I watched the black dragon fly away before I headed back toward Puta.
On the way home, I stopped off to pick up the Crimson Cane that had fallen into the riverbed. All that remained was the part with the jewel, but it would be dangerous to just leave it lying around.
Then I snuck back into town and made my way to the forest near the castle.
The official story was that I’d chased Marquis Dazaress there.
Some guards were looking for me, so I let them “rescue” me.
When we returned to the path that linked the castle and the town, we ran into some mon hunters heading toward the castle.
“Mr. Noble!”
Kon came flying toward me from the crowd.
He seemed to have been worried about me.
“I’m glad you’re all right!”
“Kon was whining that you might’ve gotten eaten by the demon or the dragon.”
“I know you already paid us, but I’d hate to see a young kid like you die.”
Kon’s comrades, the female mon hunters, all greeted me as well.
“Kena, we’re going on ahead!”
“Yeah, I’ll be right there! See ya later, Mr. Knight. We’re going to go save that stupid constable now.”
Smiling despite their exhaustion, the mon hunters followed the guards toward the castle.
Checking on the map, I saw that Baronet Poton was still trapped in the remains of the castle.
No one inside was seriously injured, so the situation wasn’t too urgent. As soon as I determined that, I headed back to the inn and crawled into the giant bed where the rest of my party was already asleep.
Well, good night.
I had only a few things left to do in Puta.
I threw a big party in the mon hunter tavern to thank the people who’d helped me. For the young boy Kon, who’d convinced the others not to join up with the enemy, I made a simple artificial arm and some good-quality equipment.
The white tigerfolk had nowhere safe to go, so I suggested they head to the Muno Barony. Baron Muno and Miss Nina wouldn’t discriminate against demi-humans, and Gargaolon and company would make powerful allies for them.
The outlaws who participated in the attack became criminal slaves, and the surviving members of the pyro noble’s retinue were taken to the old capital.
As for Baronet Poton, the assistant secretary sent from the town of Kuuche confirmed that he hadn’t participated in the attack on the inn.
However, the rumors about him taking bribes turned out to be true. I decided to let the leader of his faction, Marquis Lloyd, decide what to do about that.
Between the sale of the criminal slaves and the reward money for maintaining public order (which was really more of a solatium), I ended up receiving quite a bit of cash.
I didn’t want to hoard it all for myself, though, so I decided to redistribute it to the less fortunate people of Puta.
Specifically, I donated it toward the reopening of the closed-down orphanage and the establishment of a mon hunter training school. For the teaching staff, I suggested some of the mon hunters who had retired due to injuries and such.
I left the management of these facilities to the former director of the orphanage.
As for its continuing operation funds, I planned to give my ketchup recipe and exclusive sales rights to it by way of Marquis Lloyd.
Then, on the day of our departure…
“Larvae, we must say farewell for now.”
“Hey, are you leaving? Where’re you going?”
“Nana, stay with us? Please?”
“Don’t go, Nana!”
Nana patted the children’s heads as they clung to her.
I half expected her to ask to take them with us, but she was surprisingly realistic about it.
“These larvae have a base here. The journey would be too dangerous for them, I conclude.”
The “base” she was referring to was probably the orphanage.
So far, all it had was some mats and beds, but that was probably still better than letting them sleep under trees or in alleyways.
Nana had gathered about fifty children from the streets to live at the orphanage. There were actually almost three times that many orphans in total, but she wasn’t able to gather them all. The director and the citizens could probably take care of the rest.
“Mr. Noble, come see us again sometime!”
“Heh-heh, thanks again, Sir Knight. You didn’t need to give the rest of us such nice equipment, too.”
Kon flexed the hand of his artificial arm while Kena and the rest of her group struck a sexy pose in their new armor.
I gave them some mon-hunter-style leather armor, with breastplates and shoulder pads made from beetle monster shell.
The sets looked like ordinary leather armor, but the interior used hard newt and hydra skin, so their defense was higher than it looked.
“Sir Knight! Take these freshly picked tomatoes with you!”
A young apefolk boy handed me a big basket.
Some of the other burn victims I’d healed and their families had come to see us off, too.
The people of Puta—children, beastfolk, and mon hunters alike—all gave us a grand send-off as we left the town behind.
Some of the faster children sprinted alongside the carriage for a while, but they soon got tired and went home.
Nana looked back at the town several times, looking as sad as she could with her expressionless face.
And so the carriage rattled down the weed-covered dirt road.
We traveled along a road even bandits feared to tread, crossing the mountains and valleys.
“Master, we have repelled the lance beetle, I report.”
“Companyyy?”
“This one’s a one-horned serpent, sir.”
“The nagas from yesterday were delicious, but this monster looks as if it would have a splendid texture, too.”
We exterminated any monsters that showed up to be hunted, enjoying the gradually changing vegetation around us.
There were even some tree and mushroom monsters.
“Mushrooooms?”
“Figs.”
Between Tama’s sharp eyes and Mia’s wide knowledge of plants, we were able to collect a lot of rare plants.
“Master! Look at this fruit!”
“Hey, it’s a pomegranate! Man, I’ve missed that seedy texture!”
“Mm. Yummy.”
There was an abundance of natural growth out here, probably due to the lack of settlements in the area.
“Here’s as good a place as any, I’d say.”
We’d been traveling about half a day since we passed the Farthest Village, so I stopped the carriage, planning to switch to the air route from here.
Checking on the map, I made sure there was no one else around.
No one human anyway.
“We’re taking an airship from here, right?”
“Well, that was the plan at first…”
On my map, a blue dot quickly approached from the south.
“Dangerrr!”
As I was talking with Arisa, Tama suddenly scrabbled up onto my head, her eyes wide. She must have sensed the black dragon’s approach.
Soon, the sound of flapping wings filled the air as he descended from the sky.
I lifted the horses and runosaurs up with Magic Hand so they wouldn’t run away.
“
“
The impatient black dragon had arrived to pick us up two days ahead of schedule.
“
“
“
“
After a brief chat with the dragon, I turned around to introduce him to my party, only to find them all frozen and pale-faced.
Hmm?
I’d told them ahead of time that I’d made friends with the black dragon. What was the big deal?
“N-nice to meet you, Mr.… What was it again?”
“Hei Long.”
“Wow, lame… All right then, Hei Long. My name’s Arisa!”
“Tamaaa.”
“P-Pochi, sir.”
Once Arisa greeted the dragon, Pochi and Tama crept out from behind me and timidly followed suit.
Their ears were still flattened with fear, and Pochi’s tail was between her legs.
“
I interpreted everyone’s statements for the black dragon.
“
“I am the youngest elf of Bolenan Forest, Misanaria Bolenan, daughter of Lamisauya and Lilinatoa.”
Mia gave her usual lengthy introduction.
“L-Liza of the orangescale tribe.”
“I am Nana, I declare.”
“I-I’m…Lulu…”
Liza seemed nervous, while Nana was indifferent. Lulu looked like she was about to faint.
Well, that should do it for introductions.
Hei Long wanted to get the party started right away, but we were a little too close to the nearest village, so I suggested we go somewhere else.
“Nya-ha-haaa?”
I never thought we’d get to travel on top of a dragon’s head.
Tama was playing around by putting her weight on the horn in the center of the head, and Hei Long responded by tilting in the corresponding direction. He was as playful as ever.
There were several other horns besides the one Tama was playing on, too.
I was leaning against one of them like a chair, sitting on a cushion and enjoying the breeze.
Normally, the wind and the movement of the dragon’s head would be enough to send us flying off, but I was using Canopy to fend off the strong wind and supporting everyone with Magic Hand to make sure no one fell.