CH 221

Chapter 221 – Visitors From the Dragonis Mountain Kingdom

It was the day after I had spent the day with Seraphita-san enjoying tea. Around midday, the castle became somewhat busy. I stopped tending to the fields in the castle, washed my hands, and looked around for a place where Grande might be. I didn’t do much looking around since she was just buried in a pile of cushions in my and Sylphy’s room.

“Grande, Grande. The people I talked about yesterday are here, so wake up.”

“Hmm. Fuwah… the people you were talking about yesterday?”

Grande raised herself from the pile of cushions and yawned with her burly tail outstretched.

Recently, that tail had been fitted with a tail cover. Whenever she is happy after eating something delicious, she taps the floor with her tail and shatters the stone floor.

The material used for the tail cover is a part of the slime’s body that Lime and the others provided. It is soft and resilient like soft rubber, yet strong and sturdy.

“It’s troublesome, but I’ll put up with it when I’m with Kosuke.”

“Thank you very much. Shall we go to Sylphy for now?”

“Umu.”

Grande’s burly hand gently grabbed mine, and I gripped it back, holding hands as we walked to the office where Sylphy was occupied. While we were walking hand in hand, Grande was in a good mood, tapping the floor with her covered tail. She seemed to enjoy the feel of it bouncing back and forth.

But what do they want? Even if they say ‘audience,’ it doesn’t ring a bell.”

“I don’t get it either. Well, I guess the mountain kingdom wants to do something to help us in the same situation as the beginning of the country.”

“Hmm. I’m not going to move a nail except for the sake of Kosuke.”

“I’m glad to hear that, but I’d like you to do what Sylphy and Melty ask you to do if you can. Whenever you feel like it.”

“Yes. Whenever I feel like it.”

That said, both Sylphy and Melty know that Grande is working with us because of a personal relationship with me, so they don’t really seem to be interested in assigning Grande the job of the Liberation Army or the new Merinard Kingdom.

As we were walking to Sylphy’s office while having this conversation, Melty came walking up from just ahead of us.

“Oh, I was just about to call for you.”

“The envoys from the Mountain Kingdom are here, aren’t they? Where are we going to meet him?”

“We are arranging a meeting in the castle’s guest room. I’ll let them through first, and you two can wait in a nearby room.”

“Roger that.”

I waited leisurely with Grande in a room near the guest room and went to the guest room when the attendant picked us up. It is said that in such a situation, the person in a higher position enters the room later. I thought to myself, “I guess that’s the way it is,” as I pulled Grande by the hand and headed for the guest room.

When we arrived at the guest room, the attendant entered first, and then we were invited into the room. When we entered the room, three people were waiting for us.

One was the Lizard shaman we had met in Erichburg. Was he a priest of the Nedragonis religious organization that is rooted in the Dragonis mountain kingdom? As I recall, he told me that from their point of view, a humanized dragon living with humans was an object of faith itself and that I was a saint for visiting their lair, the home of dragons, and being recognized by them as the dragon’s companion.

Now I wonder, am I a savior guided by the spirits of the elves in their folklore, a visitor, a messenger of the Adol god, a companion of the dragon god of the Dragonis faith, a saint, in other words, a person who holds multiple positions? I don’t know what will happen to me in the future, but I’m sure later historians will doubt that I actually exist. They will say that I am an entity created to connect various religions and powers.

And the other is a man who looks like a military officer. He does not seem to be carrying a weapon, but he is a sharp-eyed lizardman wearing leather armor that probably belongs to a wyvern. The gender of the lizardmen is a bit unclear.

The last one was male. He was a man of mature age with two magnificent horns on his head. Two horns grew from the top of his forehead, around the hairline, and curved gently toward the back of his head. The horns are so magnificent that if you told me they were dragon horns, I would be convinced that they were.

“We meet again, old man.”

“Yes, it is a pleasure to see you again. I hope you and Grande-sama are both well.”

“Umu, all is well.”

Grande walked over, sat down on the couch in front of them, and slumped down. She patted the sofa next to her. I guess he wants me to sit there.

“Yes, yes. Then excuse me.”

Grande begged me to sit next to her, and she immediately fell into my lap with her horned head in my lap. You’ve gotten good at lying down so that your horns don’t hit me, Grande.

“Excuse me for looking like this. I’m Kosuke. And this is Grande, as you may have heard her name. As you know, she’s a grand dragon.”

“No, no, seeing a dragon and her companion so close together is wonderful. Let me introduce you, this is Rezalus-dono, a member of the royal family of the Dragonis Mountain Kingdom, and he is the head of this envoy group. And this warrior is Dorn-dono. He is one of the best warriors in the Dragonis Mountain Kingdom and is in charge of a group of dragon cavalrymen. I have asked him to accompany us this time as an escort on the way and to see if he can help us in our efforts to establish the new Merinard Kingdom.”

“My name is Rezalus. Pleased to make your acquaintance, Rider-sama.”

“I am Dorn. Pleased to meet you. I am sorry, but as a warrior, I am not very good at using polite language. I hope you will forgive me.”

The dragon-like Mr. Rezalus and the warrior Mr. Dorn greeted me respectively and bowed to me. Mr. Rezalus has a calm expression on his face that makes it difficult to read his emotions, but Mr. Dorn conveys a sense of awe. I don’t sense any hostility from Mr. Rezalus either.

“Well, what should we talk about in a situation like this? To be honest, the word “audience” doesn’t really ring a bell for us. We don’t know what to talk about.”

“Hohoho, that may be true. No, not in a bad way. Rider-sama is a visitor from the other world, and Grande-sama is a genuine dragon. His Royal Highness Rezalus is not only a member of the royal family but also a scholar of lore. If you don’t mind, I would like to hear the story of how the two of you met and what you have been up to.”

“I see…? Well, it’s nothing to hide, so I don’t mind.”

I then began to tell them a little more about the story of how I met Grande and what we have been up to now. The old man Lizard shaman, as well as the researcher Mr. Rezalus and the military man Mr. Dorn, are all listening to my story with great interest.

“Oh, the demon species… that demon woman, is she also Kosuke-dono’s…?”

“Yes, well. Yes.”

“I see, I see. Perhaps it’s only natural that a dragon’s companion would attract a woman of the demonic species.”

“Uh-huh. But is she so fierce that… she can beat a dragon with her bare hands?”

“Hahaha… she herself doesn’t really like to fight, though.”

Melty wields her power as a demonic species to the fullest when necessary, but she usually focuses on her work as a civil official. It seems that the demonic species’ overwhelming fighting ability is only a means to an end for her.

“So, you had a chance encounter with Grande-sama’s relatives in the Black Forest?”

“Yeah, that’s right. Well, Grande’s family was very powerful, wasn’t it?”

“Don’t talk too much about my family… but Kosuke was cool enough to beat my brother into submission.”

“Kosuke-dono?”

Mr. Rezalus looked at me with a surprised face. The same thing happened to Mr. Dorn, who looked at me with a surprised look. Well, I don’t look that strong, do I?

“Yes. Kosuke may look weak, but he’s not. He can knock down wyverns like winged insects and launch a series of attacks that can pierce even the scales of dragons. The other day we drove off an army of 20,000 men with Kosuke’s power.”

“Although that is my power, it does not mean that I am strong myself.”

“You say so, Kosuke. If you wanted to, you could have killed that whole army without any help, couldn’t you?”

“No way.”

I shrugged my shoulders.

In fact, if you ask whether or not it could be done, it could be done. If I had buried a magic sparkling stone bomb in the invasion route of the Holy Kingdom’s army and detonated it as soon as the Holy Kingdom’s army arrived, I could have obliterated the Holy Kingdom’s army with a single blow. Even without going that far, there were many other ways to do it. Even if I did not use such a grandiose magic sparkling stone bomb, I could have laid a large number of explosive blocks and detonated them, or I could have built a bunker and shot a mountain of bullets and artillery shells from it.

I didn’t want to go through that kind of trouble, and it would have been pointless and would have caused nothing but problems for me alone.

“Umu… As expected, the one who will be the dragon’s companion is outstanding enough to be chosen, isn’t he?”

Mr. Rezalus nodded his head repeatedly as if he was convinced. Mr. Dorn’s gaze is suspicious, but I’m not at all confident in fisticuffs with swords and spears, so I’d rather you do that sort of thing with Ms. Zamir. If you simply want to get beat up, I can introduce you to Lime and the others.

After that, we talked about the grand dragon’s den in the depths of the Black Forest and the grand dragon’s banquet, etc. They seemed to be very interested in the story of the Black Forest and the grand dragon’s den, which is also a sacred place for them and seemed impressed with the story from start to finish.

“It was an interesting story. I would like to share the story with my compatriots in my country.”

“Whenever I have the chance. I’m a little busy at the moment, so I’m sure it will happen eventually.”

“That is true, is it not? But of course, it can’t be right away. I think we should celebrate the birth of the new kingdom… and the restoration of the Merinard kingdom.”

Mr. Rezalus’ attention changed. It seems that the chatting time has come to an end. I wonder what kind of stories will come out of this.