Holy shit, what was Sitri thinking?
We ran down a spacious hallway. The guards must have been earning their keep because we passed a number of dragon corpses on the way. They were considered the elites for a reason, but that didn’t change the fact that they were vastly outnumbered.
In the furthest reaches of the third floor, a fierce battle was being fought in front of the emperor’s room. A number of knights guarded the door, but there were at least fourteen of the frigid dragons. The knights swung their swords and lunged with their spears, but the dragons were far too nimble. The knights’ movements were hindered by the chilling air emanating from the dragons’ bodies. Even though the knights could use their shields to block their icy breath, they still found their energy sapped by the plummeting temperature.
I stopped and groaned. “It looks like the emperor’s luck is just as bad as mine.”
“It hardly matters!” Kris yelled at me.
While Perfect Vacation didn’t offer any protection against attacks, it made me nearly impervious to changes in the environment. Sure, I would still die if I got walloped by a chunk of ice, but cool air was no big deal. What a smart choice I had made.
I never would have imagined there was another dragon-magnet besides myself. The frigid dragons I had met long ago had been larger and more numerous, but I still felt a sort of affinity for the emperor.
“You took far too long!” one of the knights hollered. “We’ll handle these ones! There are some in the room!”
Unfortunately, I didn’t feel like there was much we could do. Kris was weary and I wasn’t much use in an engagement. These guys seemed to be doing all right, why couldn’t they do a bit more?
Breathing heavily, Kris pointed with her twisted staff. Then a red shadow passed by us like a rushing zephyr.
“Kill, kill, kill!”
I wasn’t even using the controller, yet Sir Killigan Version Alpha still closed in on the attackers. The frigid dragons began to panic as the sudden interloper swung at them with a greatsword.
“Look at it go, no commands necessary,” I said to myself.
The sudden berserker took the knights by surprise, but I was unfazed. There was nothing surprising about a friend of Sitri’s being able to mow down dragons. And I didn’t think she would have sent frigid dragons if she thought they were too much for Sir Killigan Version Alpha.
Sitri’s friend was outfitted like a knight in heavy armor, but it fought more like a wild beast. I watched it barrel through a barrage of icy breath and body slam a frigid dragon. Even for a versatile Heavy Warrior, that wasn’t something just anyone could do.
Kris and the knights were all dumbfounded and I was willing to bet that so were the frigid dragons. The dragons shifted their focus from the door to Sir Killigan. Chunks of ice hit its armor and a layer of ice formed around its feet, yet Sir Killigan didn’t slow down for even a moment. Just because it was armored didn’t mean it was safe from biting chills, but Sitri’s friend acted as though it was numb to the pain.
“Wh-Where did you find that one?” Kris asked me.
“Huh? Uh, through a connection, you could say,” I told her.
I made a mental note to give it a feast of raw meat later.
The knights came back to their senses and provided backup for Sir Killigan. One after another, they exterminated the dragons with extreme prudence. Before long, the dragons were all gone.
One of the knights came up to me, the only person not covered in cuts and bruises. I trembled, worried that he might be angry with me.
“They’re coming in through the windows. Keep the inside of the room safe,” he said in a strained voice. “We’ll defend this hall with our lives.”
“Huh, but I thought we were only here to support—”
“Is now the time for that?!” Kris shouted over me.
She grabbed my arm and we went in. The emperor’s suite was many times the size of the rooms given to us hunters. It was elegantly furnished and a bright chandelier hung from the ceiling. It looked like something from a noble’s mansion, except for the fact that it was in a state of total disarray.
The emperor was in the bedchamber, surrounded by Franz, about a dozen more knights, and a field of dragon corpses. The terrace window had been broken. A king-sized bed was being used to barricade it, but that wasn’t enough to cover the entire gap.
“Here at last,” Franz called when he saw us. “What’s going on?!”
“Sorry, sorry. There were a lot outside the room, you see. I don’t know what’s going on, but next time we should use an inn with a barrier spell on it.”
The emperor seemed fine, just covered in green blood. Behind him was a girl I had seen before. It was the young lady who had fooled me at the Gathering of the White Blade.
The emperor noticed my gaze and grimaced. “I cut down three,” he said, indicating his blood-drenched blade. “I haven’t had many chances to swing a sword recently, but it seems I haven’t lost my edge just yet.”
Cut down three? The emperor did? Three dragons? He’s stronger than me. He’s a Dragon Slayer. Really, what am I even here for?
The Magi from the imperial guard unleashed spell after spell on the dragons that slipped past the barricade. Their skills lived up to their prestigious rank. I watched as a frigid dragon fell to the ground after being seared by a lightning spell. Again, I had to wonder what was the point of me coming along.
“When are they going to let up?!” Franz asked me. “They’re finally slowing down, does that mean they’re done? I find it hard to believe a brood of dragons would attack a town like this!”
“Uh. Maybe there’s a curse or something at work?”
“Like hell! What sort of curse would that be?”
This incident was Sitri’s fault, but the incident with the crimson dragon had nothing to do with her. Two successive dragon incursions couldn’t be explained by anything but a curse. Maybe I was the curse. Either way, I decided to pin it on Fox.
“This is also the work of Fox. I’m certain of it.”
“What could they use to manipulate dragons?” Franz demanded. “Magic? And what happened to the Counter Cascade?”
“Calm down. You said they’re slowing down? That should mean the end isn’t far.”
Even Sitri would have trouble gathering so many frigid dragons on short notice. But just as I finished my confident declaration, there was a scream from outside the room.
“Oh no! C-Captain, a whole bunch of them are coming!”
“What?!”
I rushed to the window and saw a black dot expanding like encroaching fog. It didn’t descend on the town, it just made straight for us. It was a brood of frigid dragons that easily contained more than three hundred. Though they weren’t strong individually, a group that big could demolish this building in an instant.
Sitri, this is way too much.
“W-Weren’t we supposed to be approaching the end?” Franz asked me.
“Y-You missed the mark again!” Kris said. “Lying human weakling!”
“Now, now, let’s all calm down,” I said.
I had no way of knowing when the dragons might let up! Should I have told them the end was still far off?!
Franz didn’t ask any more questions and instead began to issue orders. “Prepare to evacuate His Imperial Majesty! There should be a basement.”
“B-But sir!” one of the knights said. “There are still frigid dragons—”
“And this is safer than engaging them!” Franz argued. “Thousand Tricks, I’m going to ask you to handle this!”
“Of course,” I said.
I didn’t want to take on the dragons; my chances of survival were far higher if I stayed with everyone else. After all, there wasn’t anything I could really do to help here. Not even Sir Killigan could handle a brood that large. Likewise, Kris was tired and didn’t have much to say.
What to do? What to do?
The frigid dragons honed in on us like ants towards a snack. They were close enough that I could make out the individual dragons. Even if I tried, I probably couldn’t escape on the Flying Carpet. He was uncooperative like that. I began to use my brain for the first time in a while.
“I take it you can handle that?” Franz asked me.
“Huh?”
“We’ll hide His Imperial Majesty in the basement. You try to draw as many of them off us as you can. Is that clear?!”
Uhh.
Not “Can you handle that?” but rather “I take it you can handle that?” Looking at my level, that might seem like a reasonable assumption. But it was so audacious I couldn’t help but smile, time, place, and occasion all be damned. Of course I couldn’t handle it. Sure, I couldn’t hide the emperor either, but I didn’t stand a chance against that many dragons.
“What are you smiling about?” Franz asked me with a severe look.
I didn’t have any means of escape, so I resigned myself to my fate. Even now, I was perfectly comfortable thanks to my shirt. Too comfortable—I couldn’t even feel nervous. I moved a knight to the side and looked out the window at the dragons. There sure were a lot of them, but I couldn’t help but think back.
“Is this all?” I muttered.
“What are you saying?! Sir?!” Kris yelled.
My memory was hazy, but I remembered there being a bit more during my first encounter with these creatures.
But I had a trick up my sleeve—Aspiration Manifest. With that, I’d give them one good hit. I rested a knee against the window sill and reached out with one hand. The frigid dragons all changed course when they saw the enticing bait. I waited and waited, drawing them in so I could kill as many as I could in one go.
Then I realized something.
I had forgotten Aspiration Manifest.
Frigid dragons were hurling towards us like arrows of ice. Growing pale, Kris stepped back and held out her staff. She began an incantation, but it was too late for that. I didn’t have nearly enough Safety Rings for this. Death, in the form of frigid dragons, was right in front of me, but I remained perfectly comfortable.
But just as my mind was about to go blank—a wall of light shot up and deflected the dragons. It was like a miracle. Everyone, including me, was dumbfounded. A volley of icy breath was blocked entirely. Even among barrier spells, it took one of immense power to stop a dragon’s attack.
“This is the sort of barrier used by devout classes,” someone said.
“Y-You’re a Saint?!” Kris cried.
“No. I’m not,” I said.
The wall of light held off the dragons’ attacks. For similar reasons that a Safety Ring could only project a barrier for a moment, barrier spells usually only excelled at duration or strength, not both. Of course, this wasn’t my doing; Saint abilities were slightly different than magic and therefore couldn’t be stocked in a Relic.
There were only so many people who could project such a strong barrier for so long. I looked around and finally found Mini-Ansem on the window sill. He was in his usual armor but stood only five centimeters tall.
The Relic Ansem wore, Fluctuating Fortress, was capable of altering its size. It could change to adapt to any wearer, regardless of their age, gender, or build. It was the perfect Relic for someone who had used mana material to make himself a giant and could no longer fit in most gear. I’m sure that was why the church had given it to him.
And when Ansem had first shown me this Relic, I had a thought: what would happen if he shrunk the armor while he was wearing it? The natural assumption was that he would be crushed and die. However, Relics were objects that defied common sense.
The results of our playing around—I mean, our research—showed that Fluctuating Fortress had a hidden ability. Its power was the ability to adjust its size, so anyone of any age, gender, or build could equip it. Should the armor be made too large or small, the person inside would shrink or grow to fit. Utilizing this feature was how he had been able to appear out of nowhere at the Gathering of the White Blade.
But regardless of how he had done it, I was just relieved that Ansem had saved us. Without turning back, Ansem held up his arms and gave me the thumbs up. I returned the gesture.
Then the windowsill crumbled and I silently watched him fall to the ground. One drawback of Fluctuating Fortress was that while it changed someone’s size, their weight remained unchanged. Oh, Ansem.
Placing the barrier had been a smart move, but there were plenty of frigid dragons left, so the danger hadn’t passed just yet. But if Ansem had come to our aid, then I figured so would the other Grieving Souls. I grew even more comfortable knowing my friends were nearby; then I heard a sudden sound.
“What happened?!” Franz shouted.
I looked up. The frigid dragons who had been waiting for a chance to strike were now eerily still. Their open jaws, their large wings, their glowing eyes, they were all still, as though frozen in time. Everyone held their breath.
Then the dragons fell. But they didn’t hit the ground, they were caught by a large membrane of water.
“Someone’s casting a large-scale offensive spell!” Kris said, trembling.
Hmm. I don’t think this is Lucia’s work.
The wider the area, the harder an offensive spell was to cast. Something this large and capable of killing frigid dragons could only have been the work of a certain one of my recruits.
“What am I looking at?” Franz said. He grew pale and mumbled, “Was this the Counter Cascade?”
It was. This was the work of our Level 7 Magus, Telm Apoclys, the Counter Cascade. I patted myself on the back for making Telm part of our wall spaghetti. He had pulled us from the jaws of death.
“Took him long enough,” I said, letting out a sigh of relief. “Honestly, what held him up?”
“You had him on standby?” Franz asked. “You took steps in advance? Did you anticipate this?”
I wanted to act cool and tell him this was all as I had predicted, but, unfortunately, I hadn’t expected any of this.
“No, nothing like that,” I said. “I just believed in Telm. No, I believed in everyone.”
It had been a close call. I had been certain this crisis would be my last. But saying I believed in everyone was pretty hard-boiled, right?
“Would you stop doing that?!” Kris shouted, tears in her eyes. “Say something earlier! Sir!”
“Ah, aha ha.”
The water membrane shifted, forming a ball that encompassed all the dragons. Slowly, the ball condensed. The dragons writhed and screamed, but the pressure continued to build. Green blood mixed with the clear water and I heard the awful sounds of flesh being crushed and bones being shattered. It was a grotesque move for someone with a title like Counter Cascade.
“Wh-What’s that?!” cried one of the knights who had been watching the dragons.
“Hm?!”
I looked where the knight was pointing. Far below us, in a street that had been emptied out when the dragons arrived, were Telm and Kechachakka. Standing opposite them was a figure in a fox mask, just like what we had seen at the Gathering.
“That’s a Fox! We need to help those two!” Kris yelled as she leaned out the window.
I grabbed her before she could jump out the window. “Calm down, Kris!”
“Myaugh?! What are you doing?!”
“Think about it! I want to help too, but we have people we need to protect!”
What a shame. No, really, I want to help fight. But they’ll be fine if Telm is there.
Fox-Mask waved his hand and a large naginata appeared in his grip. But Telm didn’t panic. He moved his hands with bold movements, just like a Level 7 would. It was as though he was making the world itself his ally.
The water bubble filled with crushed dragons moved like a living organism and headed for Fox-Mask. He evaded the deluge, but it just chased after him. The ground shook and houses were crushed as if they had been made from nothing more than paper. Telm truly was of the same class as the Abyssal Inferno.
But something else was on my mind—Fox-Mask wasn’t a phantom. His presence was nothing like that of the phantom I had met.
“It’s fake?” I muttered, causing confusion among the knights.
My ability to detect presences was on par with the average civilian, which is to say, I had almost no ability to discern a presence. But that phantom had been extraordinary enough that even I could detect it. What could this mean? Was it my imagination? I was, to be fair, looking at Fox-Mask from a distance.
The rumbling faded and silence returned. Fox-Mask was nowhere to be seen. The Magus who had just wrought so much destruction turned to me and shrugged.
I went down and reconvened with the two Magi.
“I know you had mentioned the possibility of dragons,” Telm said, “but I must say, Level 8s sure can be slave drivers.”
Kechachakka laughed.
Though he had called me a slave driver, Telm looked like he hadn’t even broken a sweat. Anyone of a lower level couldn’t have stayed so calm after using a major spell like he had. Even his movements were brisk, making it all the harder to believe he was multiple times my age.
“Good job, Counter Cascade,” Franz said. “Did you slay the Fox?”
“I merely did my duty,” Telm replied with a shrug. “As for the Fox, I felt I hit something, but found no corpse. That foe was just as elusive as their name would suggest.”
That was very hard-boiled of him. Of course it was. Anyone with a brain could tell that he should be in charge of our group.
What a terrible opponent we had if that hadn’t been enough to kill them. It was looking more and more like I would have to grovel, just like last time. How exciting.
“Were there any fatalities?” Telm asked.
“No. Some people have been critically injured, but no deaths.” Franz glared at me. “If the Thousand Tricks had deployed that barrier earlier, we might not have had any injuries.”
Did he really think I made that wall of light?
“That, uh,” I began. “No, it’s nothing.”
“What was that? Quit it with the half-sentences!”
“No, it’s just, I didn’t think the imperial guard would lose to dragons.”
“Wh-What was that?!”
Sorry. I’m really sorry.
As bad as I felt, I couldn’t tell him that the rest of my party was following us. After all, there was a member limit. I was clearly breaking the rules.
“So what did you mean when you said ‘fake,’ Sir?” Kris interjected.
“What’s this?” Franz said.
“While looking at that fellow in the fox mask, he said it was fake! Sir!”
“Did I say that?” I asked.
Telm, Kechachakka, Franz, the emperor, they all looked at me appraisingly. Kris wasn’t mistaken, but I had just been imagining things when I said that. I can say with confidence that I had terrible eyesight!
Kris grabbed me by my clothes and shook me. “Quit. Bullshitting. Us. Sir! I’ll have you know that my hearing is very good!”
But that didn’t change the fact that I had just been imagining things.
Telm glanced around at the members of our group. “Well, it’s no matter. Our current objective is protecting His Imperial Majesty. Those frigid dragons were clearly being manipulated, seeing as they headed straight for us. Let’s just consider ourselves lucky nobody was killed, because somebody surely will be if this continues. No matter how capable the Thousand Tricks is, we can’t watch every angle.”
“Nor can we afford to miss the conference,” Franz said while looking at the emperor. “However, Your Imperial Majesty, I’m of the same opinion as the Counter Cascade. And that’s to say nothing of the fact that the criminal got away. With Your Imperial Majesty’s safety at stake, we must change our approach.”
“H-Hold on!” I cut in.
The emperor looked at me with shock. Franz and Telm also turned my way. Telm’s suggestion was very reasonable, and Franz’s proposal made perfect sense for someone in his position. But I knew something they didn’t, and that was that Sitri had been behind this incident. I even had an idea as to how she had brought the dragons in—the same monster-luring potion she had used during our vacation.
Putting aside the matter of Fox-Mask, if the emperor ended up missing the conference, that would make Sitri a terrorist. She was a good girl. She had just missed the mark a bit this time. Normally, she would never make something like this happen. I was sure she would never do it again if I had a talk with her.
I held a hand to my aching stomach. “We should continue,” I said in a hard-boiled voice. “To retreat here would be admitting defeat. Those frigid dragons were nothing more than a light jab. As you saw, nobody was killed and I’m sure we have enough muscle on our side.”
“Are you serious?” Franz asked me. “Let me remind you, Fox is capable of manipulating dragons.”
“Erm, if my supposition is correct, there won’t be any more dragons. I’m certain of it. Not a single one,” I said. I didn’t know where Sitri was listening from, but those words were directed at her.
Franz’s eyes bulged. “What?!”
“As for those Foxes, there’s a secret to dealing with them. Next time they show themselves, it’ll be their last.”
I’d bring them down with my groveling techniques that now had multiple years of evolution behind them. Not to mention, I would have Telm with me this time. With a knowing look in my eyes, I gave him a smile that was hard-boiled and dauntless. He looked back at me with suspicion.
***
Just what was happening? The black-clad man stood alone in the room, a shadow falling over his face. He reflected on the attack that had just been carried out. The summoned dragon brood had been annihilated by the might of the Counter Cascade, but the man had anticipated that.
The Relic couldn’t summon specific varieties of dragons, which left room for a wide range of creatures that might appear. If you had a group containing a Level 7 and 8, they would be capable of taking on any sort of dragon, not just frigid dragons.
And so this outcome was just fine. The man had been surprised to see such a rare variety and so many at once, and he hadn’t expected the knights to not have a single fatality among their ranks. However, this was fine as well. In fact, the man was glad to have gotten a glimpse of the mysterious powers of the Thousand Tricks.
But the man hadn’t anticipated what came after that. To think that the Thousand Tricks would advocate for the journey to continue. It made no sense at all. They were defending the emperor of a large nation; anyone would cancel a journey after an incident like this. That, of course, had been the opinion of Franz and the Counter Cascade, and the man agreed with them.
It was hard to imagine that someone who had attained the rank of Level 8 couldn’t understand their way of thinking. And yet the Thousand Tricks had argued against their proposal. His stance hadn’t been affected in the slightest by a dragon attack. Could that be the product of overconfidence? Or perhaps something else?
The man thought back to the way the Thousand Tricks had behaved when he fended off the dragons. It had been for only a moment, a small gesture that nobody else had noticed. He had seen the dragons, held them off, then gave a thumbs up to the man as he watched from a distance. It had almost been like he had been commending a job well done.
To see through the ruse all the while fighting off the dragons was impressive, but it didn’t explain the gesture. And then he advocated not changing the plan. If anything, this worked in the man’s favor. Within the imperial capital, the emperor was untouchable. Even if you managed to reach him within that stalwart castle, Rodrick himself was formidable with a blade.
But if he was outside, where his defenses were thinned, then things were different. For the man, who had the abnormal power to lure in dragons, killing the emperor was within the realm of possibility. Thus, he had no need to worry. He would be just fine if he slowly ground down the Zebrudians. But the man was unnerved by just how much things were going his way. It was like he was being told to just go right for the emperor’s throat.
What are you thinking, Thousand Tricks?
The man had carried out many difficult tasks before. He had also failed at times and even escaped death by the narrowest margins. But he had never been this shaken. The Thousand Tricks had said there wouldn’t be any more dragons, but he was wrong.
It was true that Dragon’s Reprisal required large amounts of mana and the man didn’t know how many successive uses he could withstand. But that was no reason to refrain from using the Relic. The man clutched his head and whispered to himself in a soothing voice.
He just needed to proceed as always. He just needed to think only of his objective and loyally carry out his duties.
***
“What are you thinking?! Sir!” Kris exclaimed. “We’re members of the same clan! We should talk about these things!”
“Now, now, calm down,” I said.
“And not only that,” she groaned, “why are you on my horse again?! Get off! Sir!”
“Now, now,” I repeated.
The morning after the dragon attack, we departed the town. Sharing a horse with Kris, I clung to her back. We were serving as the caravan’s rearguard. They must have been on high alert because the carriages were moving at a slower pace than they had yesterday.
The weather was so nice, it was almost hard to believe we had been assaulted by dragons the previous night. Even the horses seemed to be trotting along with good spirits. I was perfectly comfortable.
Sitri, things are just fine as they are.
Thinking about her reminded me of something Tino had previously said about white crows. Maybe she was right? Next time I saw her, I’d give Sitri a thorough lecture.
I had put Telm in the front of the caravan for today. I had known he was strong, but he had far exceeded my expectations with the extraordinary magic he had displayed. He might even have been stronger than Lucia. If Telm was with us, this quest was in safe hands no matter what came our way. I’d have to give my thanks to the Abyssal Inferno.
“And you weren’t even right about the frigid dragons! Sir!” Kris went on. “Their weakness wasn’t fire! Was that some sort of joke?!”
“Now, now,” I said again.
“Where’s your motivation?! Why can’t you be serious, like when you put up that barrier?! Sir?! If you were, then...”
Yeah, uh-huh.
I let out a big yawn, set to the background track of Kris’s scolding. The day before had been a real whirlwind, but I didn’t let that get to me. There’s nothing as easy as an escort job when you’re surrounded by powerful companions. I felt a little bad about receiving the Flying Carpet when I wasn’t really doing anything.
Just like yesterday, the Carpet was floating along behind us. He was a real chill fellow when nobody was riding him. Holding tight onto Kris, I turned around—and froze. My Carpet. He wasn’t there. I looked around but saw no sign of him.
“K-Kris!” I said, squeezing her midriff. “Stop! Stop the horse!”
“Wha? What happened?!”
We came to a halt. With some trouble, I dismounted and squinted. My precious Carpet was gone! Nowhere to be seen! I hadn’t even taken him for a proper ride! The Flying Carpet was still a Relic. Even unruly ones like him didn’t just disappear on their own.
The carriages continued to move, leaving us behind. It seemed they hadn’t noticed that we had stopped. I didn’t have any firepower to offer and our strongest member, Telm, was still with the carriages, so I figured it would be fine if I stepped away for a bit. Just a bit.
I wasted no time making a decision.
“Kris, we’re going back.”
“Did I hear that right?! What about our job?! Sir?!”
We’re searching for my Carpet! My precious Carpet! It shouldn’t be that far behind. I’m sure we can find it. Don’t worry, I’m sure it won’t take long. And the carriages are moving slowly, so we should be able to catch up. If we lose the Carpet, then I’ll have accepted this job for nothing!
***
“Hmm. I’m not too sure what’s going on, but it’s not a bad way to train,” said Luke Sykol. A grin formed on the face of the red-haired Swordsman. In a very natural movement, he drew the blade at his side. “This is what adventuring’s all about.”
“Having fun, Luke?” Liz asked.
Luke’s sword was a well-balanced straightsword. It was about one meter long, had a wide blade, and weighed very little. However, the most distinguishing aspect of this weapon was that every part of it was made from wood. Naturally, this meant it had no sharpened edge.
But that didn’t stop Luke from proudly pointing his sword to the cloudless heavens above. The tip was aimed straight at a small silhouette in the sky. That silhouette belonged to a green dragon—a common variety named for their verdant scales. But a common variety of dragon was still a dragon and therefore wasn’t a recommended target for anyone below Level 6.
The dragon showed no interest in the humans below and flew almost as though something were urging it along.
Lucia watched the dragon with dissatisfaction and let out a sigh. “With all the dragons we’ve seen, I’m more than willing to bet some other force is at work here.”
“Unless I’m mistaken, green dragons don’t live around here,” Sitri added. “I suppose they must have flown here from somewhere far away.”
Outside of a handful of varieties, dragons were all exceptionally skilled fliers. It was one of the reasons they dominated the other creatures of the land. Sometimes they could even exceed the speed of sound—something no mere human could hope to keep up with.
Resting on her brother’s shoulder and swinging her legs, Liz shrugged her shoulders. She always enjoyed a bit of bloodshed, but even she was getting tired.
“How many does this make?” she asked. “Should there really be so many dragons out here? What’s drawing them in?”
“Who knows?” Sitri replied. “Monster lures don’t have much effect on dragons. I can’t think of anything that might do this besides some sort of Relic.”
They had just spotted a dragon in the sky, but nobody was at all nervous about it. Just like the previous day, they were clearing the road for the caravan. In just a few hours, they had encountered five dragons.
“Foxes maybe?” Liz whispered.
Sitri didn’t dwell on it and instead turned towards Luke. “Krai said there won’t be any more dragons, so you know what that means.”
Luke nodded. “TASTE MY BLADE,” he roared. “School of Luke, throwing technique—Fleeting Glint!”
The dragon sped up, almost as if challenging him, and Luke hurled his blade. Liz made a comment about the oddity of a Swordsman throwing this weapon, but that didn’t change the fact that his blade flew true and straight like a comet. Without losing any of its initial velocity, the blade was about to catch up to the green dragon, when it burned up just before impact.
“Damn it! Burned again!” Luke said as he fell to his knees. “What am I lacking?! Lucia, another sword!”
“Hmm. Maybe you lack motivation?” Liz told him.
Ansem grunted in agreement.
“Don’t just say what comes to mind,” Lucia scolded and in her hand she formed a small whirlwind carrying bits of glimmering ice. “Hailstorm!”
In an instant, the whirlwind expanded into a tornado that could reach the sky. Most spells involving nature had large-scale effects, and Lucia specialized in ice magic. The ice storm expanded faster than the dragon could fly, flattening the surrounding area in the process. Shortly after, there was a large thump that shook the ground. The dragon had crashed to the ground after being lacerated by the storm.
“No backbreaking effort today, I guess.” Liz shrugged.
“It seems like whatever is calling these dragons can’t call very powerful ones,” Sitri observed.
“What of the materials?” Lucia asked.
“Hmm. Let’s leave them. It’s a waste, but this is too much for us to carry.”
“I’m still enjoying myself, but it’s hard to be grateful for excess prey, even if they’re dragons,” Luke said. “I lost my sword, and it’d be easier if they all just came at once, instead of one at a time.”
Ansem grunted.
Sitri gazed regretfully at the mythical beast. Every part of a dragon was a valuable material, but they had no means to carry all that.
“Siddy,” Liz called from atop Ansem’s shoulder, “there’s a bigass horde of monsters headed our way. What do we do?”
“A horde? Are they dragons?”
Liz squinted. She saw mythical beasts and sapien monsters running like it was the end of the world. “Mmmm. I think I see some terra dragons? As for the horde of monsters, I see orcs, goblins, and a bunch of other stuff!”
Terra dragons were one of the few dragons that couldn’t fly. Their wings had devolved, but they made up for it with their large bodies and powerful attacks. They were at the heels of what seemed to be a bunch of terrestrial monsters.
Coexistence between dragons and monsters was impossible. Standing at the top of every ecosystem they existed in, dragons were the nemeses of every creature besides humans.
“Let’s go, I’m sure my sword will connect now. It’s time. Time for me to cut!” Luke declared. Holding a sword freshly minted by Lucia, he rolled up his sleeves.
Without stopping for a moment, the horde of monsters headed straight for the Grievers. However, it would be more accurate to say they were headed for what was far behind them—the emperor and his retinue.
Sitri pondered the situation for a moment before clapping her hands together. “Luke, please cut only the dragons. I’d like you to leave the monsters unharmed.”
“Hm? What’s that? What for?”
“Krai said he has no use for dragons,” Sitri said with a grin. “He said nothing about monsters.”
He had specifically said dragons. This most likely meant that he wanted anything but dragons. Sitri had known him a long time, so she knew how to understand what he was thinking, even when he didn’t say it aloud.
Luke nodded, entirely convinced. “I see now. Okay, cutting with discretion, is that it? Just the dragons. Got it. I can do this. Just the dragons. I cut only the dragons. Hmm. I think this’ll be fine training, I can hardly wait.”
***
How confounding. The curse should have been successfully cast, yet no dragons were appearing. Riding in a carriage with some other guards, the man furrowed his brow as he considered the bizarre situation.
The journey had been as easy as one could possibly want. The sky was without a single cloud or sign of incoming dragons. Last night’s events had been outside the norm, but no dragons appearing at all was a first for the man. The Relic simply called dragons to its position, so you couldn’t expect immediate results. This, however, was far too much of a delay to ignore.
The man made sure not to let his concern show on his face. The caravan was already on edge after the previous night’s incident and they likely suspected a traitor was among their ranks. And there was no point in fretting when the man had no way of even confirming if the curse had worked or not.
The Thousand Tricks wasn’t anywhere close. He had volunteered to be the rearguard, which put him far from the emperor’s carriage. It made no sense. If he was going to guard the emperor, it was only natural that the Thousand Tricks stay close by his side. He wouldn’t be able to get too close so long as the emperor was surrounded by knights, but that was no reason to volunteer to stay in the back.
In this current state, the emperor was defenseless. Those incompetent knights had yet to realize that the man was their enemy. Even without Relics, the man could fight. He wasn’t about to do anything impulsive, but he believed he could potentially kill the emperor so long as he was willing to throw his own life away in the process.
Among the guards, he was only outmatched by the Thousand Tricks and the Counter Cascade. All he had to fear was the preterhuman artifices of the Thousand Tricks, whose behavior the man found incredibly suspicious.
“Monsters!” shouted a soldier who had been out on reconnaissance. “A horde of monsters is coming! It’s massive! All units, prepare to protect the carriage!”
What was that?!
Impossible. The curse was only meant to draw in dragons. This wasn’t his work. He turned around. The hunter assigned to the rearguard was nowhere to be seen.
***
“Honestly! Words fail me!” Kris exclaimed. “What were you thinking?! Quit making more work for Lucia!”
“Sorry, sorry,” I said, clutching my precious. Now that it was out of mana, it was nothing more than a normal carpet.
I was entirely to blame for this mishap. Keeping tabs on a self-propelled Relic’s mana charge should be second nature for all Relic users. If Matthis found out about this, I was sure to get a loud and angry lecture.
“I accompanied you because I saw how worried you were! Sir! But this was all because you lost your Carpet! I feel like an idiot! Sir!”
“Forgive me.”
“Only once you’ve lost that grin! Sir! What if something had happened to the caravan while we were away?!”
How could she blame me for grinning? It was a perfectly normal reaction to reclaiming my Carpet. I don’t feel good saying it, but I’d probably do the same thing if it happened again. It’s not like the emperor was safer with me around or anything. I had told Sitri not to send any more dragons, and it was unlikely any would come of their own accord. If they did continue to come, then the only reasonable conclusion would be that the emperor was cursed.
“Don’t worry,” I told Kris. “I’ve said it before, but nothing’s gonna happen.”
We traveled at a brisk pace and caught up with the caravan in only ten minutes. And when we did, we found the carriages surrounded by monster corpses.
Upon noticing us, Franz glared at us like a demon. It appeared that something had indeed happened. Depending on how you looked at it, you could say I made the right, or wrong, decision to go get my Carpet.
I might have been an expert at apologies, but I had still committed the worst sin a hired guard possibly could. Without saying anything, I had separated from my client, and they had been attacked in my absence. This could harm my reputation enough to result in my level being lowered.
Even Kris was frozen still. I hadn’t taken my entire group with me, but, as the leader, it wasn’t going to be easy coming up with an excuse for my actions. I’d probably be killed if I told the truth and explained to them that I had gone back to fetch my Carpet.
Telm knit his brow. Unless I was mistaken, Kechachakka wore a cloudy expression.
Calm down, Krai Andrey. Now’s not the time for panicking. Be calm. Calm. You’ve survived plenty of trials so far, you can survive this one too.
I lightly patted Kris’s stiff back and got off the horse. Even now, I was perfectly comfortable.
“Was anyone wounded?” I asked.
The blood rushed to Franz’s head. “What. Gives. You. The. Right. To ask that?!” Then after a few ragged breaths. “No wounded,” he answered.
He was awfully levelheaded for a noble. The average one would’ve absolutely bellowed at me. But more important was the news that there were no wounded. Looking around, the signs of battle suggested it had been a one-sided one. Nothing shocking about that when we had a Magus who could wipe out a brood of frigid dragons in an instant. No horde of monsters was going to be a threat while he was around.
This was no time for relief, but I was relieved. If nobody had been hurt, maybe it was still possible I might be forgiven? Maybe. Or maybe I was being delusional.
I won’t do it again, so please forgive me.
Franz stomped over to me, stopping right in front of my eyes. Everyone looked at me with critical gazes.
“As much as I’d like to settle this right now,” he said as though each word was meant to instill fear, “we are, unfortunately, stopped in the middle of the road! When we get to town, I expect a thorough explanation from you!”
So what am I gonna do about this?
“What will you do, human weakling?” Kris asked me in a small voice. Once again, I was riding her horse. “I have no special attachment to this job or your hierarchies, but my pride demands we don’t get sacked.”
“Hmm.”
Honestly, I didn’t think there was anything we could do. Bringing Telm had been my decision, and he had eliminated the frigid dragons. I was confident that decision would keep me from being thrown in jail, but this would be a blow to my honor. However, I didn’t really care about honor (nor did anyone in Grieving Souls, for that matter), and a level demotion would actually be welcome.
But there was just one issue—the Carpet. Would they want it back? Would they let me buy it off them?
“Aah, and Lucia even told me to look after you,” Kris wailed. Tears welled up in the corner of her exquisitely shaped eyes.
“D-Don’t worry,” I told her. “You’re only here because I dragged you along. I’ll do what I can to support you.”
“Just shut up! Sir!”
“Okay.”
A few knights had been diverted from the imperial guard and were keeping an eye on us. I didn’t plan on going anywhere, but I had lost any faith they had in me. I’m sure it didn’t help that Perfect Vacation didn’t look like the useful Relic it was. In retrospect, I think they had a lot of reasons for not trusting me.
It’s not like I had wanted to pull away from the caravan, but that wouldn’t mean much to them. Surrender seemed like the best option at this point. As we rode along, I felt more and more like a man awaiting his execution. But then the caravan came to an abrupt halt.
Was it another attack?! Maybe the emperor really was cursed if he was getting attacked so much.
I knew I should have no to this—no. No. I need the Flying Carpet.
“G-Get off! Hurry! Sir!” Kris barked.
I didn’t hear any sounds of combat, so it must not have been an attack. Franz left the emperor’s side and came over to us. His face was grave but lacked the rage it contained earlier.
“It’s a dragon corpse,” he said. “There are clear marks showing it didn’t die of natural causes.”
“What’s with all the dragons?” I asked. “Has the empire become dragon territory? Maybe we should relocate the capital.”
“His Imperial Majesty requests your assessment of the situation.”
“I’m not an expert or anything.”
“Just come already!”
I was a little disturbed by the amount of faith placed in me for my level. Did every Level 8 get this sort of deference?
Franz dragged me to the front of the caravan, where a corpse was resting in the middle of the road. The color of its hide informed me that it was a green dragon. The first dragon Grieving Souls had ever killed was a green dragon, but that was a long time ago.
It was a fair bit larger than one of our specially built carriages, but its body was battered and its wings had been shredded. Telm felt the surface of the dragon and frowned.
“If hunters did this, then I have to question why they abandoned the corpse,” Franz said. “Could this be the work of another mythical beast?”
“It was killed quite recently,” Telm told us in a calm voice. “I believe it was likely killed by ice magic, and while flying at that.”
“There’s no ice magic that could bring down a dragon so easily,” Kris said, equally dispassionate, “or so I’d like to say. There are traces in the air of a large-scale spell being used recently. This is most likely the work of a human. Sir.”
Kechachakka laughed to himself.
I was amazed. So this was what hunters looked like. What were those traces in the air that Kris mentioned? Could she see them? All I could tell was the thing before us was a dead dragon. I folded my arms and nodded, impressed by their work.
Franz glared at me. “Care to offer your own assessment?” he asked me.
“Mmm. I’m not quite sure how to put it, but I don’t think we need to dwell on this.”
“What?!”
They had no way of knowing this, but once again I was aware of something that they weren’t—Lucia had done this. My younger sister, Lucia Rogier, was an expert when it came to wide-area offensive spells.
Even in Grieving Souls, each member had their own role to play. There were occasions when we found ourselves surrounded by dozens of monsters. The task of intercepting those monsters fell on the shoulders of Lucia, the Avatar of Creation.
As her skills developed, so did the potential radius of her spells. She already reached incredible heights, as we had seen back when she turned a whole town into frogs. Lucia was particularly fond of ice magic, so I was certain this was her doing (I had heard that lately, Grieving Souls’ favorite tactic was for Lucia to slow a target with ice and then let the other members move in).
Wallowing in my uselessness, I put on a hard-boiled front (don’t ask).
Hmm. So they went on ahead. Looks like someone can’t help but worry about her brother.
Franz approached me. “Could this be your doing?!”
Of course it wasn’t. What sort of person did he take me for? How could I have gone ahead and offed a dragon when I was with the caravan for most of the trip? Telm looked at me with suspicion.
But then I had a divine revelation.
Could I use this as an excuse for my absence?
It’d be a lie, but I was technically the leader of Grieving Souls, so maybe I could get away with saying their power was my power?
“Well,” I said, “I won’t say you’re wrong.”
“That’s not an answer!”
“The human walking was with me the entire time,” Kris cut in. Her speech was rough, but she was still showing diligence by answering Franz. “He didn’t do a thing. Sir.”
You’re right. Totally right. But even still!
Kris sure was an honest person. I just gave a pathetic smile and shrugged my shoulders.
“Whatever the case,” I said, “there’s no need to dwell on something as minor as this cadaver. Whatever happened, the fact is that it’s dead. Let’s hurry up and get to the next town.”
However, the road was littered with dead dragons. It was like a gallery of corpses. All I could do was give a chagrined smile as the abnormal scenery rolled by.
There were shredded monsters and a dragon cut clean in two (this was probably the work of Luke).
There was a red dragon that was clearly dead, but showed no external wounds (this was probably the work of Sitri).
There was a wyvern whose head had been twisted off (this was probably the work of Liz and Ansem).
Even Franz and his proud knights looked sickened by the horrific sights. Telm was unperturbed, but he clearly had something he wanted to say. It was possible he had figured out that allies of mine had done this. He had nothing to worry about because those allies were my childhood friends.
Look at all these dead dragons. Maybe it really is time to get out of Zebrudia.
***
Franz Argman froze when he heard what the emperor had to say.
“You want the hunters. By your side?” he stammered.
This had been the most abnormal escort job he had ever experienced. There had been the attack by Fox, the dragon brood, the monster horde, and now the inexplicably slaughtered dragons. They had made it through another day, but the knights were getting tired.
Rodrick looked as unshakable as ever, not a hint of fatigue on his face. But that was just because he kept it hidden. The exhaustion felt by a man bearing the weight of a major empire no doubt dwarfed that felt by Franz.
This was humiliating. The Zero Order had long been in charge of protecting the emperor, and had never ceded that duty to anyone else. But the emperor’s reasoning wasn’t beyond Franz. The imperial guard were some of the best out there, but there was still a clear gap between them and the Counter Cascade. That Level 6 Kechachakka and Kris were both very likely better Magi than those in the imperial guard. Without them, everyone might have died to the frigid dragons.
“You speak true, Your Imperial Majesty,” Franz said. “The Counter Cascade is powerful and accomplished in his field. However, the actions of that man, the Thousand Tricks, are clearly unnatural. I worry that placing him at your side may be a premature decision.”
Franz was put off by the Thousand Tricks. The Level 8. It wasn’t hard to believe that his powers were exceptional, but his behavior defied comprehension. Franz had come across plenty of arrogant hunters, but something about this one was different. Frankly, Franz considered him the sort of hunter that normally nobody would want anything to do with. Not to mention there were the rumors of the Trials he liked to inflict on his clan members.
“You’re quite right,” the emperor agreed. “But that man’s innocence has already been proven by Tears of Truth.”
If these attacks had all been the work of Fox, then it meant they knew the route the caravan was taking. The most likely explanation was that the caravan had a traitor in its midst. If that were true, then the only two people whose innocence could be guaranteed was Franz and the Thousand Tricks. How ironic that that inscrutable hunter was the man Franz could trust the most.
When they discovered the dragon corpse, the Thousand Tricks had been calm and collected, whereas even the Counter Cascade had been grimacing. Something about that was strangely reassuring to Franz. The means by which he might’ve done so were unclear, and he never even claimed to do it, but if that unfathomable man had indeed somehow slain those dragons, then Franz couldn’t remove him from the guard, no matter how much he wanted to.
Franz was the leader of the Zero Order, the emperor’s personal guard. He would never prioritize his pride over the safety of the emperor. And if the Thousand Tricks were to be kept nearby, Franz could personally keep an eye on him. Going by that reasoning, his subordinates were also likely to accept this decision.
The eyes of Rodrick Atolm Zebrudia were clear, Franz almost thought he could see straight to his heart. The safety of the emperor took priority above all else. Franz couldn’t keep his stress from showing on his face, but he could keep his emotions from controlling him.
“As you wish, Your Imperial Majesty,” he said.
***
Telm Apoclys sat in his inn room. He thought deeply about the situation thus far, and reached a bitter conclusion. He had had his suspicions, but the recent developments gave him the evidence he needed.
He was all but certain that the Thousand Tricks was a member of Nine-Tailed Shadow Fox. Not only that, Telm suspected him to be a member of the upper echelons. The Counter Cascade didn’t know how that man had deceived Tears of Truth, but he had to confirm his suspicions.
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