CH 15

Today’s lunch was liver pâté and cheese sandwiches with smoked bird meat. The smoked tomoshibidori1, which I trapped as part of my 3-star promotion test, was a delicacy with rich flavor throughout when lightly roasted. The liver pâté was sold by a peddler from the royal capital, but its raw ingredient, fairy pig2, was quite the luxury item. Fikar used some of his financial muscle and bought two jars, but we were both so impressed by the taste that we got a few more. And so, an unprecedented liver pâté boom occurred between the two of us.

“The Demon Lord appears regularly, doesn’t it? It’s also called ‘king of the magical beasts’, so maybe it’s a dragon after all?”

While I was spreading liver pâté onto the bread, Fikar was turning the tomoshibidori on an iron skewer over the fire. As he put the final product on my plate, I thanked him, and he nodded.

“The adventurer who defeats the Demon Lord is called the Hero. Did you know that, Fikar?”

Fikar shook his head as he bit into his sandwich. He looked a little happy, though.

“I’ve heard stories about the Hero marrying a princess, but I wonder if that’s true here as well…”

His mouth was busy chewing away, but this time, Fikar shook his head. Then he reached for another white sandwich.

Here, brown, slightly sour, hard bread such as rye was common, while softer bread made from refined flour was a bit more expensive. I’d never eaten it before Fikar returned with his gold coins, but now white bread, too, was booming in our house.

“Eh? There’s no stories like that? Are there nobles in the royal capital? Is the princess set up for political marriage with one of them?”

The two of us cocked our heads. This was a continent and, although there were uninhabitable regions dotted around, it was mostly governed by a single country. About a week from the royal capital on a fast horse-like animal, Tortea was strangely unaccustomed to rumors from there, probably because it was such a laid-back town. If any rumors did arrive, it would be through merchants and adventurers traveling from town to town, but they mostly worked with the guild and so their rumors were usually about monster rampages or awesome new weapons.

In the form of a bedtime story for children, I had heard that there were princesses in sparkling dresses in the royal capital, that the royal knights were strong and cool, and that the king was a descendant of the Hero. Maybe because of this, some young people yearned to go there, but being that it was northwest of Tortea, the flora and fauna were more dangerous by comparison. And after all, Tortea was the most peaceful town and its people agreed that they were highly satisfied living here. People say the living environment is great here because many rare magicians pass through, but for me who had fallen into this idyllic world from modern Japan, anywhere without a washlet was pretty much the same.

“The fact that the royal capital has such delicious food is kind of appealing.”

Tightening the seal on the liver pâté container, Fikar tilted his head as if to say, “Is it?” Although he liked delicious foods, he didn’t seem like the type who would be obsessed with them. The portable food he brought along for his requests was called “Demon Lord’s Curse”, infamous for its high nutritional value and horrifically bad taste. It was a mixture of a bunch of dried, hardened plants and I once had a tiny taste of it, but frankly, it’s a taste I don’t want to remember. But I do remember Fikar eating so much of it that I was surprised.

After eating our delicious and extravagant meal, Fikar and I began making our way towards the guild like we had been asked to.

I didn’t have any office work or requests for today, so I didn’t bring my usual purse or sword, instead only bringing my wallet, a knife, and a wrapping cloth in my shoulder bag. The latter two were useful when buying fruit, which I planned to do after this conversation wrapped up. 

Fikar, on the other hand, was carrying a slender sword, about 60cm in length, albeit not built for full-on combat. Adventurers with at least 4 stars were obligated to carry a sword in order to respond to a sudden monster attack and help the local guild and residents, so Fikar took one wherever he went. I don’t think I can go any higher, so I won’t be taking any more promotion exams.

“It’s very noisy…”

I’d pretended not to notice since we left the house– well, even since we were still inside, but now that the guild was in sight, the noise was much louder. Needless to say, it was Su.

Su usually stayed in the woods, having been roughed up by Fikar every time she made noise in the town. She would sometimes fly over the town, but quietly. Fikar’s ‘education’ was paying off. Well, usually.

Su had climbed onto the roof of the guild and was barking loudly.

Getting closer, we saw several other dragons in the plaza in front of the guild entrance, and Su seemed to be trying to intimidate them. The dragons sometimes barked back at Su, so it was definitely noisier than usual.

“Woah, Fikar, look at all the dragons.”

There were three dragons in the plaza, each with the same lemon-colored scales and somewhat larger than Su. Su was a benihiryuu, one of the largest species of dragon, but each of these looked twice the size of her, so maybe they were ohryuus3. Unlike Su, though, their dinosaur-like snouts each had a leather-belt gag and harness, along with a saddle between their wings for humans to ride on. Someone probably rode them to get here.

“Ah, maybe the people from the guild rode these dragons here from the royal capital?”

“… so noisy.”

Fikar, frowning at the noise, picked up a stone at his feet and threw it at Su, who was barking like an undisciplined dog. Moreover, he threw a second one towards where Su dodged, already knowing the first one wouldn’t hit. I worried that Fikar’s handling of Su was too harsh, but Ludo-san, more knowledgeable about relationships between dragons and humans, said that dragons had hard scales and high resilience, so the only possible trouble was the dragon not listening to the human.

“Gya!”

The second little stone hit Su cleanly, and she quieted down tearfully. So instead of barking, she started flapping her thick canvas-like wings, probably venting her frustration about something like “These guys are ruining my territory!”

Su, flapping a bit more and lightly jumping up, landed in front of us. Avoiding Fikar, she quivered in front of me specifically. How sly.

“There, there. Don’t worry, those dragons will probably be gone soon.”

Su came up to me, pointing her nose to the sky, as if to ask me to rub her throat. Although it was a cute cat-like gesture, she was so big that it was a bit scary to get under her head to pet her.

She was also surprisingly smart, gently hugging me with her front paws, perhaps imitating the way Fikar liked to squeeze me, but her claws were big and sharp and I felt sort of like ‘Victim A’ being caught by a dinosaur. I was losing out on the experience because of her appearance, even though Fikar’s hugs were sometimes too powerful and painful.

As I was stroking Su’s throat (hoping that I wouldn’t be crushed), Fikar approached us and pushed her chin up with his hand, causing her to lose her balance and roll onto her back. I wasn’t sure if she was complaining or acting spoiled, but she kept on writhing on the ground. It was cute that she was acting like a cat, but she’s also big enough to block the entire road.

“Fikar, Sumire! You’re finally here… oi! What’s wrong with Su?!”

“She’s just playing, Ludo-san.”

When Ludo-san, who had just emerged from the guild office, hurriedly approached Su, she quickly rolled herself over and sat up. Then she flapped the dust and sand off her wings and cleaned her face.

Ludo-san, who seemed to have been worried that Su had fallen from the roof, muttered “Aren’t you too friendly with people?…” and backed away. Indeed, the other dragons sometimes shook their heads in annoyance, but were otherwise very quiet.

“Well, whatever, let’s just go inside.”

“What happened?”

“Looks like the owners of these dragons want to see Fikar.”

“Eh? Do we have visitors? Fikar’s acquaintances?”

Fikar tilted his head at Ludo-san, pointing towards the yellow dragons. I’d thought that someone from the central guild (the more-used alternative of “guild headquarters”) would be coming, but I was apparently wrong.  Dragon riders were not uncommon in the royal capital and the northwestern regions, but few adventurers had their own dragons. When I looked up at Fikar, surprised that he had any acquaintances, he shook his head with his usual blank expression. He had no idea.

“You don’t recognize them? I thought this was about Fikar…”

“… Are you the owner of this benihiryuu?”

An unfamiliar voice came from behind Ludo-san. It was a deep male voice, but also soft and clear.

It was a young man with blond hair and blue eyes. The refreshing length of his almost-golden hair and the sweetness of his slightly-droopy eyes hinted at his charm. He was dressed in an adventurer’s traveling clothes, complete with a leather bag and sword sash, but his moderately toned physique and elegant movements made him look graceful and he stood out from the crowd of rowdy adventurers. A young man in his early twenties (slightly older than Ludo-san), he was unmistakably handsome and would attract attention like a model if he were to walk down the street. In fact, some of the onlookers who had come because of Su’s commotion were gawking at him. If he had ridden in on a white horse, he might’ve passed as a prince.

The princely adventurer stared at Fikar, who remained stable and expressionless. Despite the completely different aura he gave off, Fikar was also quite handsome. Making a face that said “I won’t be defeated!”, the young man opened his well-formed lips.

“Silver hair, red dragon… Are you the rumored adventurer who defeated the Demon Lord?”

Let me describe myself, Ludo-san, Sansas-san who worriedly came out of the office, and all of the onlookers. Everyone was stunned, staring with their mouths agape at the expressionless Fikar, who was just standing there. If I had to express everyone’s emotions, they would all have the same word to use:

“Hah?!!”