CH 193

Chapter 193 – Selfish Dragon

The riflemen ahead of us made contact with Ellen and her group, who came out with a white flag and informed us by golem communicator that Ellen and her group had offered to surrender and asked for help for their wounded.

Me, Leonard, and Melty will go to the negotiating table. I will have Kosuke set up a place for us. Yes, please, in that area. A stone floor with tables and chairs would be fine. You can put the field back later.”

Sylphy pointed to a field by the side of the road. She seemed to have chosen a place where the archers from the city walls could not reach. It’s someone’s field, though. Whether it was fallow or just before planting, there didn’t seem to be any crops growing in it.

“Roger that.”

“Understood.”

“Zamir, stay with Kosuke. Isla, use the riflemen as a security force to assist in the relief of the wounded.”

“Understood.”

“Hmm. Got it.”

Each of them started to move in response to Sylphy’s instructions. Then another voice came up.

“What about me? I’m bored as hell, you know?”

Grande, who until now had been idly coasting along on the airboard, devouring sweets and looking bored at the battlefield scene, was now returning to her former position.

“Grande has nothing to do with it… If you can return to your original form, you can use it to intimidate people, but Grande isn’t interested in our quarrels in the first place, is she? And I don’t see any reason for you to lend a hand.”

“That’s true. But I’ve got some free time on my hands, so I’m going to follow Kosuke around.”

“There’s no limit to the number of hands we can have to escort Kosuke-dono.”

As soon as the decision was made, everyone got off their airboards, so I stored them all in my inventory, and Sir Leonard also joined us from the rear. We were all walking in the same direction, toward the city gate. The only difference was how far we had to walk.

“Be careful.”

“Yeah, no problem.”

I, Ms. Zamir, and Grande, who were working at the front of the line, were the first to part ways with the others.

“Now, let’s get on with it.”

With a mithril shovel, I dig up a small area and lay down rock blocks in a single stroke. Then, one large long table and ten chairs are set out and ready to use. It only took a few minutes.

“Kosuke’s power is as mysterious as ever.”

“It’s amazing, isn’t it?”

“Hahaha, praise me won’t bring you anything.”

I said that and wondered if there was anything else I needed to do. Is there anything else necessary? Should I at least prepare something to drink? But this place is dusty when the wind blows. There are no walls. Even if I prepare drinks, the wind might blow the dust into the cups if I use ordinary cups. Considering this, a plastic bottle is a very convenient container. If the lid is closed, there is no need to worry about that.

“Should I prepare drinks or something?”

I asked Ms. Zamir.

“I don’t think there’s much point. They probably won’t touch it…”

“I know, right?”

Ms. Zamir’s opinion was that they would be wary of the poison and would not touch it.

“Kosuke, I’m hungry.”

“Yes… the meeting is about to start here, so please be patient.”

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, I’m hungry, I’m hungry.”

“Aah! Customer! Dear customer! That’s no good, dear customer! You shouldn’t have lashed your tail to the stone floor I just made, dear customer! Aah!”

Grande begins to whine in a barbed voice. This is a deliberate attempt to annoy me, isn’t it? I can’t tell right now if she just wants to bother me or if she has some kind of idea in mind. However, if I leave things as they are, the stone floor will be destroyed. In fact, it’s already broken, and pieces of stone are beginning to scatter. She’s so powerful.

“All right, all right. What do you want to eat? A hamburger?”

“Pancakes. With lots of cream and jam.”

“Oh, pancakes. You can’t eat those standing up, can you?”

“There’s a table right there, isn’t there?”

Saying this, Grande smiled and looked innocent ── no, she looked innocent, but she was up to something. I’m sure of it. What the hell is it?

“No, I’m going to use that place right now, okay?”

“Ah, I’m starting to feel a bit desperate. I’m getting a bit rough around the edges, like my hands and arms.”

Grande wiggles her tough hand, which has sharp claws, as if to show off. That claw has the power of a Grand Dragon’s claw, doesn’t it? If she wanted to, she could tear apart not only a table but also a stone floor and ten mm-thick steel armor.

“Okay, okay. Is this okay? This is okay, right?”

Saying that, I brought out a table and chair for one, but Grande shook her head.

“No, that seat is better.”

Grande pointed to a spot on the long table for the meeting. It was the so-called birthday table. Eehh…?

“Grande-san?”

“I’ve had a few days of free time. Isn’t it nice?”

“Yes…”

I looked at Ms. Zamir as if to ask for help, but she quickly turned away. Why are you turning away? Won’t you help me? No? Is it for reasons of faith? Oh yeah, if it’s for reasons of faith, I can’t blame you. Well, if Grande gets serious in the first place, we can’t stop her. No, maybe Ms. Zamir has a chance.

After that, we negotiated a little, but Grande was adamant about sitting at the birthday table, so we had no choice but to prepare a chair at the birthday table and prepare pancakes as requested. As long as she finished eating before Sylphy and the others arrived, there was no problem…!

“Another pancake, please.”

“Yes.”

There was no way Grande would be satisfied with just one pancake. Apparently, Grande can also hoard food, and sometimes she eats like this on impulse… I wonder if her belly is connected to another dimension?

And so, when I had no choice but to serve Grande, Sylphy and the others arrived. With Ellen and her attendant sisters and priests in tow.

“…Kosuke?”

“It’s a force majeure.”

When I pointed to the shattered stone floor, Sylphy looked at Grande without saying a word.　

“That’s fine, isn’t it? That’s what they call an observer. It’s like a watchman.”

Sylphy heard Grande’s words and looked at Grande for a while but then gave up, let out a sigh, and quickly took her seat.

“Everyone from the Adol religion, please take a seat over there.”

Melty led Ellen and the other members of the Adol religion to sit on the opposite side of Sylphy’s seat. The only ones I know are Ellen and Amalie-san. There was one other man of mature age who was dressed in luxurious priest’s robes and looked like a high-ranking priest, and one man of mature age who wore armor and looked like a warrior ── or rather a guard — four men in total.

In contrast, our team consisted of Sylphy, Melty, and Sir Leonard. I assume that aside from Melty, Sylphy and Sir Leonard are fully armed and look intimidating.

“That girl…? She is not like a human being.”

Ellen’s red jade eyes turn to Grande and narrow as if she were looking at something dazzling. Could it be that Grande has some kind of luminescence?

“She is a Grand Dragon transformed into a human-friendly form by a secret technique. Her name is Grande. She is not a member of our Liberation Army but is accompanying us as a personal friend to a man there named Kosuke.”

“My name is Grande. I’m kind of a witness. Think of it as an ornament.”

Grande, whose mouth was stained with white cream and red jam, was smug and puffed out her thin chest. The members of the Adol religion are puzzled as to how to react to this. No, yes, that’s right. I wouldn’t believe it if anyone told me that such a small person is a dragon. It would be impossible if I were in their shoes.

“They’re not lying.”

However, when Ellen said this, the confusion of the Adol religion grew even stronger. They probably have absolute trust in Ellen’s ability to detect the truth, who is also known as the saint of truth. If she says that Sylphy and the others are not lying, then she is probably not lying… but the atmosphere is one of disbelief.

“Don’t worry about her. As she said herself, she’s just going to see this through. So let’s continue our conversation.”

When Sylphy said that, the members of the Adol religion turned to Sylphy as if to follow her words ── no, Ellen is looking at Grande, or rather, she’s looking at the pancakes hungrily, isn’t she? And then she notices my gaze, and now she’s staring at my face.

No, I can’t get it out under this circumstance. Just give up, please? Ellen let out a small sigh with an attitude that said, “You’re useless, aren’t you?” Stop being so unreasonable, okay?

“If you say not to care, then let’s do so. Let’s continue our discussion then, shall we?”

Ellen then turned her red eyes to Sylphy, and Sylphy’s amber eyes were also turned to Ellen.

There’s probably no occasion for me to speak up here. I wiped Grande’s mouth and watched the meeting between the two camps.