CH 435

To the Dwarf Village (2)

“Well, I really hope you’ll be careful. When I first heard about the situation last time, I was so worried that I lost strength in my arms and legs.” (Nell)

While relaxing in the room I was assigned, I exchanged words with my wives.

“Sorry, sorry. I’ve been using my [Crisis Perception] skill to assess all the dangers that might befall me, but it doesn’t seem to react to the toxicity of the food. It’s an undeniable fact that I’ve been less vigilant myself.” (Yuki)

I had thought about that [human supremacist] incident many times and felt sorry for myself about it each time. After all, I could have died in the worst-case scenario.

“It’s true that one wouldn’t be that vigilant when living normally and wouldn’t think about poison being placed in their food. However, even a civilian soldier like me, who did not have an official position or anything, is trained to recognize poison… If it’s someone in Onii-san’s position, they should at least have minimum information or countermeasures against poisons.” (Nell)

I was not in a position like that of a civilian soldier or anything close to that, though.

“Oh, by the way, Onii-san, you have the [analysis] skill, right? I think if you look at the food with that, you can tell whether it’s poisoned or not.” (Nell)

“…I’ve never done it before, but it certainly looks like I can do it.”

I see, you could also operate it that way.

I never thought of using it like this.

“Also, why don’t we have Nell train Husband? I have to admit that Husband is a bit of a loose cannon. He might forget to use his skills. I can’t speak for others in our family, though.” (Lyuu)

The sad part was that I couldn’t deny Lyuu’s words.

“Well, okay, I’ll train Onii-san on poisons! I’ll make sure he knows what he is doing.” (Nell)

“Oh, oh. Okay, please. Poison training, the wording already sounds pretty dangerous.” (Yuki)

“Don’t worry, you have plenty of elixirs, don’t you? Then, even if you ingest lethal poisons, you can heal yourself in no time, and you’ll be able to taste them more clearly than anyone else! There are probably toxic plants and flowers in dwarf villages and beastmen villages, too, so I’ll tell you what tools I know right away.” (Nell)

“…Oh, please be gentle.” (Yuki)

“…I was the one who started the fire, but I couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy about it. I hope you will survive the training under Nell, husband? No, really.” (Lyuu)

Just as Lyuu and I were getting a little nervous in front of Nell, who seemed to be full of enthusiasm, the door of the room opened with a bang. The last member of our group who had left the room a while ago, finally came back just before we were going to get a lecture from Nell. Enne, who went out to explore the ship on her own, returned.

By the way, Enne and I were dressed the same way as usual, but Nell was not wearing the light armor she was usually wearing, but rather just a pair of shorts and a shirt.

Lyuu was also dressed almost identically to Nell and was not in her usual maid’s uniform.

Lyuu wore whatever she wanted. On the other hand, Nell rarely wore skirts.

Especially when going out of the dungeon, she would  always be dressed only in trouser-type clothes that were easy to move around in.

She said that when she was wearing something difficult to move in, such as a skirt, she felt a little nervous or uncomfortable.

She was, after all, a genuine fighter.

As for Lyuu and Layla’s maid uniforms, I told them to wear maid uniforms when I initially hired them. As they were now considered family members, they didn’t have to dress like servants. However, they continued to wear their maid uniforms in the dungeon.

Well, if that was all right with everyone, it would be fine.

“Welcome back, Enne. That meat…” (Yuki)

I asked her as she munched deliciously on the bacon-like meat. She replied after gulping and swallowing what was in her mouth.

“… While I was exploring, I went into the kitchen accidentally, and an uncle there gave it to me.” (Enne)

“Uh, Enne, you’re not supposed to go in the areas marked as [off-limits], okay? The last time we were here, the crew was very friendly, and they just showed us a lot of stuff.” (Yuki)

“…hmm. So, I said I was sorry, and they said, ‘Oh, it’s not time for dinner yet so you’ll have to put up with this’, and they gave me this meat.” (Enne)

Hmmm… Enne’s disposition to be loved had come out.

Our little girl was popular almost everywhere.

But, as with the case with the sea trip, it seemed that many of the crew members of such vessels were good-natured.

Maybe it was because of living in constant contact with the sea, the sky, and other great things that humans could never hope to conquer?

“Ha, I see. I was glad to hear that. Did you thank him properly?” (Yuki)

“…Nn. I did. Also, the sailor said that the sun is about to set and there’s a beautiful view from the bow. Let’s all go and take a look, okay?” (Enne)

***

“Oh, great! Lyuu, you’re not feeling sick by the looks of it, are you?” (Yuki)

“Yes, I was sick before, but this time I don’t feel sick at all. Is it the effect of the husband’s anti-motion sickness medicine?” (Lyuu)

Oh, it was made by DP, probably based on previous generations’ specifications.

Well, maybe she got used to it.

“But Lyuu, if you really get sick, just tell me, okay? Don’t just put up with it, okay?” (Yuki)

“Fufu, Don’t worry. I’ll make sure to tell you when it happens. Thank you for your concern.” (Lyuu)

We left the room and proceeded down a narrow passageway, soon reaching the stern of the boat, which was built for sightseeing.

There were a few other guests, but the deck was quite spacious, so we took a corner at the end of the stern without paying too much attention to our surroundings.

The stern of the boat was made of glass, and the sun was shining beautifully in the west.

The meadows spread out below us and the hills stretched on forever.

The human settlement in the far distance was probably the town of the Rogardian Empire. We must have flown quite a bit already.

The world was dyed in crimson, and night covered the world from the edges.

It was always good to see.

It seemed as if the world was transforming into something else.

“Wow, it’s beautiful…” (Lyuu)

“Hmm, every time I see it – ah?” (Nell)

“What’s wrong, Nell?” (Yuki)

I looked at Nell curiously.

…There was no reaction within the range of my [Crisis Sense] skill.

Nothing on my [map], which was filling up as I watched.

But a moment later, I felt a tingling, unidentifiable sensation.

I followed my senses and kept my eyes fixed on the red-tinted world, and eventually, between the mountains, I spotted it.

“…Oi, oi, are you serious?”

A muffled voice escaped my mouth.

Immediately, I started to act, and went to the room where I left Enne’s body…

The moment Enne, who was standing next to me, sensed what I was about to do, she returned to her original form.

“Hus, husband, what’s wrong?” (Lyuu)

“…Onii-san, my holy sword too, please.”

Lyuu, who was looking a little anxious, and Nell, whose face had already changed to that of a combatant, followed behind me.

I retrieved the Holy Sword [Durandal] from my item box and handed it to Nell, then also took out the dungeon return device, the necklace, and handed it to them both.

“I don’t know if it’s an enemy yet, but there’s something a little nasty flying toward us. You guys should be able to escape to the dungeon at any time. I was told that this area was a secure airspace.”

At this distance, I thought the airship was already in their attack range, but there was no action.

I hoped that it’s not some enemy… but if we’re not careful, we may not even know how we died.

I saw a creature in the distance flying majestically through the air.

It was huge and overwhelmingly intimidating as it flew toward us.

That intimidating presence, as if to say, “I am the master of the sky,” was not something that a sublime dragon or a few other monsters could generate.

There was no doubt about it.

That dragon… it was the same as Lefi… An ancient dragon…