CH 47

※ The following chapter contains cruel and grotesque depictions.

(TL Note: It’s just a boatload of animal blood, but my guess is that syosetu (where the raws are posted) considers that to be rated R-15, hence the disclaimer.)

Using the foot she placed in front of her as a spring, Su leaped into the air and landed 3 meters away from each team.

She usually landed uncomfortably close, so the distance between us confused me. Instead, Su stopped herself over there and stared at the middle-aged merchant and the magician.

“There we go, come here, this way.”

“Su? What’s wrong?”

Su, who had lowered her head so that her eyes were on the same level as us, stared at the other group with her head tilted to the side. She took a couple of careful steps in their direction.

“Ehhhhh?!? Su, come this way!”

When I called out to her, she looked at me, but then she stayed put and continued staring at the merchant/magician duo.

If anything, it looked like she wanted to go over to them. I was a little shocked.

“What do we do, Fikar? Su’s going to get adopted…”

I was worried that she would leave so easily and I thought of how much I would miss her, but Fikar, who was standing next to me, popped me on the head to get my attention, pointed to himself, and then to Su.

Does that mean you’ll call for her, Fikar? I asked him to do so, but he just stared at me as if he wanted to say something.

“Umm, let’s see, I’ll make whatever you want for dinner… or you can hug and squeeze me all you like… N? Both?”

He nodded firmly. There was no turning back now. Or rather, those sorts of things were kind of always the case anyways.

Seeing me nod back to him in agreement, he spoke quietly.

“Come.”

“Gu~oh!”

Su fluttered from her spot, landing right in front of us, where she was pushed away by Fikar. She was happily gurgling even though Fikar was applying a good amount of force to her face. She really loves him, doesn’t she? I hope their love is mutual…

As I observed an ecstatic Su, I heard a tongue click on the other side of the plaza.

“Oh dear, that’s unfortunate. But as you can see, it was also trying to come to us. So how about it? Wouldn’t you consider it?”

The merchant, rubbing his hands with the same attitude as before, seemed like he wasn’t going to give up.

That said, it was strange that had tried to go towards them.

Su usually went right up to Fikar when he went outside, even if he didn’t call for her. But now, she was sending quick glances in the direction of the merchant-magician duo despite her happy noises. Although it was possible to attract large magic beasts with incense, there was no sign of that distinctive scent on them, and the magician hadn’t made any movements that suggested he’d used magic. And anyway, Su was only allowing the two of us to touch her.

What did Su see in them? Why did she care?

While I was pondering, Fikar walked up to the two of them. The merchant energetically started a new sales pitch and the magician moved to block his path, but he swerved around and simply ignored them.

Fikar lifted their wagon into the air and opened his mouth.

“What’s this.”

“What about it? That’s our wagon, yes. We go around in it and sell products in all sorts of places, yes.”

It was a wagon of typical size with wooden pillars rising from each of its corners, meeting at the roof, where a slate-colored tarp draped down to conceal the inner space and its contents. This secrecy was often necessary for merchants, whose goods might be targeted during their journeys. The more unusual part about this wagon was probably the fact that it had three horses to pull a normal-sized cart.

The horses here were similar to work (draft) horses in Japan: big and strong. With that kind of body, two were enough to drive a wagon.

In Carcathia, however, there were carts with three horses that carried three tiers of biting wine, so maybe this wagon was carrying something heavy, too.

Looking closer, Su seemed to care more about that wagon than the merchant who drove it.

“What’s inside the wagon?”

“That’s, yes, we handle a variety of products to meet the needs of our customers… We must continue on our way towards the location of an important business meeting, yes. If you’re not going to sell the dragon to me, I’ll be on my way, yes…”

Saying that, the merchant handed me three silver coins.

“Wait, you added two more jugs, so that would make six, no?”

“Of course, you’re right!! However, we must align our account book with the information on the request form, so I hope that you may receive the remaining three alongside the request form at a later date, yes.”

Ah, this is the sort of thing where they never send it.

One rule of thumb at the guild was that work should always be done according to what was written in the request form. If there were any changes during a job, the request should be rewritten as soon as possible, although there was the option of creating a new request altogether. The latter could easily lead to problems with fraud and “I told you so”s, so they were usually avoided by adventurers and clients alike.

Nothing like that had occurred to me with the kind-hearted people of Tortea, so my encounter with this pushy merchant was a first.

Even if I were to argue back, I’d still be forced to accept that they’d need their company’s permission to accept a new request. If there were a dispute, it might become possible that I’d be accused of being at fault and no compensation would be given. As I was once told, “It’s always the fault of the deceived.”

Truly, I encountered an unpleasant opponent – one that aggressively tried to buy Su.

Seeing off the merchant who made a quick and quiet exit, I felt glum about the evil I had to overlook. I rubbed Su all over while apologizing, but I don’t think she really understood since she lifted me up onto her nose and looked like she was in a good mood.

As I was being healed by the red scales, I was abruptly peeled off by Fikar. Pulled into a tight hug, pretty much only my toes could wobble freely.

“Ahhhhh it’s so frustrating, Fikar~ … I have to learn to see things differently…”

After filing a tentative report with the guild, the three of us went home.

It was midnight, when only stars lit the world. Su flapped her wings at a leisurely pace. Her eyes, golden in the darkness of the night, were firmly fixed on a wagon as it veered off the road. The slate-colored tarps on its left and rear were removed, revealing a cage inside the carriage. Inside the cage and encased by thick fencing, a merchant surrounded by water jugs was carrying a cloth-covered bundle in his arms and a magician was holding the reins as a coachman.

The merchant shouted impatiently as Su lowered her altitude to get a better look.

“It’s coming, it’s coming! Oi, what do we do?!”

“Stay quiet for a minute. Let’s go a little further away from the town.”

The wagon then headed east from Tortea, the southeasternmost town, where there would only be forest and wilderness until land met sea.

Su moved only her eyes and looked in the direction where the moon had risen. She listened intently, deciding to lower herself again once she heard the sound of voices echoing inside the wagon.

Though, it was moving so slow that Su was starting to get bored.

“Oi, oi, it’s getting closer! Enough already, hurry up!”

The magician sighed at the merchant’s impatience and stopped the horses from going any further. He quickly got off the cart, poked the ground a few times with his staff, approached the cage, opened the door on its side, and entered to join the merchant, who bolted the door shut with a panicked hand. Next, the magician hit the floor of the cage twice with his staff, causing the floor underneath to creak violently.

The magician called out to the merchant, who had let out a cry of shock.

“Don’t scream. I added weight to the cage so it can’t be lifted into the air, so our wheels sank.”

“I, I see. Are you sure we’re safe here?!”

“I’ve also cast a protective spell. Well, you’ll know it when you see it.”

That was true, but he continued to keep the red dragon in his sights and held his staff firmly so that he could cast a spell at any moment.

This man did not belong to any magician’s organization and was someone who would accept any request so long as it paid well. At first, he was skeptical about going into the countryside only to buy dragon’s drool, but as expected, his workload increased time and again. But he did not complain. Instead, he steadily asked for higher pay.

It was only natural – this was a dangerous act of deception.

Su approached the motionless cage and tried to knock it over with her muscular legs. However, the cage was much heavier than it looked and it didn’t budge an inch. She turned back and tried a few more times, hearing human screams but no movement each time she tried to move the cage.

After drawing a few circles in the sky, Su landed directly on top of the cage. The top and bottom plates were made of a single sheet of metal, so she couldn’t see anything underneath her. Peering in from the side, she saw two humans glued to the other side of the cage, keeping their distance. She swung at their backs with her long tail, but the strike didn’t seem to land. She swung again, but found that the cage was like a barrier that couldn’t be penetrated to touch the interior.

Su thought for a little while with her head still upside down. She poked at the cage with the tips of her nose, which confirmed for her that it was rather strange. The part that had been used by these humans not too long ago to get inside couldn’t be opened.

When she rapped her toe claw on the top of the cage in dissatisfaction, she heard something calling from between the arms of the merchant.

“GUOOOOO!!!”

She roared and spat fire. And the cage was still fine.

Su grew more and more frustrated. She kicked off of the top of the cage and landed on the now-neighing horses. One was crushed into a bloody mess, another foamed at the mouth, and the lead horse ran away. Then, she jumped back and landed in front of the cage.

If she could open this door, she could drag the humans out, but the humans seemed determined to prevent her from doing that. So, she breathed out a never-ending stream of flames, turning the cart into charcoal, yet the cage remained unharmed.

Suddenly, Su flapped her wings and fled into the air.

Large fangs gnashed at the spot where she had just been. A four-legged animal turned and leaped at Su’s new location in midair. Su barked a threat, but the animal barked back in the same way.

It had a large mouth with huge fangs, gray fur that run down to its tail, and long claws on all four legs. The beast, at least as big as Su, looked up at her and snarled.

It had appeared without a trace, but behind it was a circle that shone with power. Su wondered if it had come out of that, since humans could sometimes use that kind of power.

The beast attacked Su whenever she tried to land, aiming to latch on with its fangs and claws, so Su decided that she would have to lure it away and land a hit before she could continue spitting fire at the cage.

Come and go, come and go – it was tedious.

When she inevitably got fed up with such a hassle, she let loose a more powerful breath that caused the base of the wooden cart to scream with vigor. Aiming at the cage, which had begun to tilt to one side, she slammed into it with one wing, avoiding the beast’s claws as it tipped over and fell off the wagon. Finally, the cage’s door collapsed onto the ground, but the calls from within were still audible to her ears.

“Gurururururu…”

Now we’re all set, Su thought as she glared at the growling beast. First, butcher this one.

A dragon had no reason to lag behind a four-legged creature that crawled on the ground.

“H, hieee…”

The sight of the ferocious beast being finished off with ease caused the merchant to scream, yet he did not let go of IT. The magician laughed at the nastiness of the scene, though in truth, beads of sweat were forming on his forehead.

Dragons were clever creatures. However, when confronted with IT, they were supposed to lose all reason and just attack. Even though this dragon knew what he was holding, it made the rational decision of knocking the cage over so that the two of them couldn’t get out, and only then tossed the beast around and tore it apart with its claws.

The original plan was to let the beast tear at the dragon’s wings while its attention was focusing on the cage, but reality had long since diverged. The magician focused his spirit and mind, shaking his head to regain composure.

How could he survive this?…

“Oi, give me IT. Show it to the dragon.”

“I, I won’t hand it over! This is mine!! You can’t have it!”

“Calm down. I’m going to distract the dragon and summon the beast again. I’ll also be disabling the protection spell for a few seconds, so watch out for the dragon’s tail and claws.”

“No way, no way!! That thing breathes fire?!? What if we get burnt in an instant!”

There was no way to guarantee their lives except for betting that no such instant would ever come.

Protective spells like this one were not only impervious to magic from the outside, but also from the inside, so it would not permit the magician to summon the power beneath him. It would only take a few heartbeats to recast the spell, but there was no telling if the dragon would be shrewd enough to take advantage of that minuscule timeframe. Still, if they wanted to live another day, they would have to use the large beast to move the dragon as far away from the cage as possible and then get rid of IT.

As he desperately tried to get the merchant, who refused to let go of IT, to calm down, they heard a loud crash against the cage. Looking up, they saw a sloppy mat of gray fur.

Red scales could be seen through a hole in the beast’s neck, and reddish-black liquid caked the top of the cage and rolled down its sides. However, this blood was rich in magic power and it reacted with the protective spell’s boundary, creating reddish-black walls that quickly closed in on the two of them. Soon, they wouldn’t be able to see outside of the cage.

If the dragon couldn’t see them from outside the cage, then they wouldn’t be able to distract the dragon. That said, if the protective spell were to be removed, they would be exposed to the thick blood, which carried a smell that would invite endless hordes of beasts to attack them. The beasts in this area were weak, but with this amount of blood, the magician was unsure if even he would be able to keep them at bay from dusk ‘til dawn.

The magician heard the dragon roar.

He braced himself.

Bloody meat with loads of magic power was especially delicious. And yet, the beast’s meat was stiff and hard to chew, so Su decided to use its meat in a different way.

She poured a generous amount of its blood over the cage with IT inside. The beast was quite heavy, but she managed nonetheless. The cage was quickly wrapped in a reddish-black film and she could no longer see inside of it, but she could still hear ITs cries.

So Su roared into the sky.

The Egg Thief, he’s heeeereeeeeeee!

Dragons were a meritocratic bunch and, with great respect for their ideals, they would fight to the death even against opponents from their own species. However, when it came down to protecting IT, a dragon would swoop in and take care of it no matter which species it came from.

IT was eggs.

Those creatures covered by their shells must be cherished equally, and for them to spring to life, they must be protected. And so if they made their way into the wrong hands – with a human, for example – then they must be rescued, even if they come from unknown parents. When the eggs cry out, you lend a hand, and if a dragon is looking for their eggs, you lend a hand. Whether it be your egg or not, you will protect it, no matter the cost. Such was a dragon’s instinct.

However, Su was a dragon that strayed from the norm.

Despite being from a species that lived in packs, she lived alone and used her intelligence to squash magic beasts. Since these eggs weren’t her own, their cries alone wouldn’t be enough to make her lose her mind.

But those eggs still needed protection.

She tried spraying her power over the weakened eggs, but none of it could reach them through the cage. The blood of that magic beast was so thick and rich that she thought it would have a slight effect, so she tried that next. By the time she finished doing that, the cries of other dragons could be heard coming from the direction Su had called towards earlier. Soon, numerous dragons would surround the cage and chew it to pieces, and the eggs would be protected once more.

She looked down at the cage that dripped with blood. One of the humans was holding the eggs while the other stood up to speak.

“That’s it. I’m sorry, but I don’t feel like going down like this.”

“What– What are you talking about?! You, I hired you!!”

“A horde of dragons is coming. I don’t know what they’ll do with all this blood lying around, but I’ll have a better chance of survival if I run now.”

“Wait!! Take me with you! I’ll reward you! I’ll even give you the eggs!”

“Too bad, but I’ll do what’s best for me. … If you hadn’t been so greedy, you could’ve made a fortune off of dragon’s drool and eggs.”

One of the caged humans disappeared, but the eggs were still there, so there was nothing to worry about. Moments later, the cage’s membrane disappeared, too, and the eggs were happily bathing in the thick magic that surrounded them. Surely, these eggs would hatch any day now. Su was satisfied with her good deed.

Roaring one more time to let the others pinpoint her location, Su hopped onto dry ground and carefully breathed fire all over her body. The beast’s sticky blood turned black and sooty and when she blasted it away with more flames, the original gloss and shine of her scales returned. Beauty is a dragon’s pride.

After making sure there was no grime on her, Su flew off.

She thought about sleeping in the forest tonight, but then thought to take a quick peek at Fikar’s nest. She tucked in her wings and crept up to the nest on a secondary road to avoid making any noise.

But, as if on cue, the upper-most window opened and Fikar appeared. He stared at her, and she reflexively cowered.

He turned his head towards the eastern sky and, as if reading the flow of the air, gave Su a delicious mushroom.

Su curled up, gazing at the now-closed window. Dawn was still a long way off.

She closed her eyes, hoping that the eggs’ calls would soon be heard from their nest.