CH 104

I practiced my fairy magic until midnight and came up with something gelatinous that just barely tasted like something, but I didn’t regret it.

So, since I think everyone was mostly asleep by now, we got into action. We put the kids on the Red Dragons and flew them out of the dungeon in a straight line, with Ashia and Run left behind.

And I asked only one Red Dragon to stay behind. We’ll have to inform Jess at the entrance of the dungeon why we’re here.

「「「 Thank you, onee-chan!! 」」」

「 ooh, I’, sure everything will go well～～ 」

「Say hi to Forna for me～～」

「 See ya later～～♪」

「 Be well out there～～」

I waved to the children as I replied to them, who thanked me verbally and then disappeared into the sky. After all the red dragons with the children on board flew away, the remaining hundreds of dragons took off in pursuit.

The last one left over here was the leader, the Red Dragon. You’re a very disciplined one too.

And so we quickly made our way back to the entrance of the dungeon. The moonlight and the stars were more than bright enough. It’s always beautiful……. No matter how many times I see it, I never get tired of it.

「 A, Aidle-jou…… 」

「 Nn? Ah, sure, you may go ahead 」

「 Thank you very much!! 」

When I gave permission to the strangely squirming Quad, he turned into a fairy and flew away into the sky. I guess he couldn’t hide his excitement at his first time being out in the sky. He was like a child……. Well, his fairy figure was that of a child after all. He’ll probably come back around sunrise, maybe.

When I went out to the hut, I found out that the counter was still bright even at midnight. I found Jess covering his head and was asleep inside the structure. I tapped on his shoulder, and Jess, who had snapped awake, looked at me and the others with sleepy eyes.

「 What the…? Oh, it’s you guys…… Oh!? You’re back!!! 」

「 Keep your voice down. 」

「 Eh, ah, I’m sorry. Hey, why are Ashia and Run the only kids in the house? 」

Ashia intervenes and clears up the misunderstanding before it gets any stranger.

「 No, Jess. We all made it back. We all made it back, and I got the other kids to leave the city first. Furthermore, we’re going to stop being stray baggers and start living in a different place. So Run and I stayed behind because we wanted to say thank you to Jess.」

「…… Thank you, huh? 」

A thank you to Jess, which was an affirmation of the children’s life as stray backers. The children have been ridiculed by the adventurers every day and forced to live on the edge every day. Sometimes they were violent, and at worse, they would die in the dungeon. But Jess had never been negative about such children.

「 I know that Jess-san bowed to people to ask for the scraps of food from the market and the inn to give to the children, and I know that you approached the prostitutes who abandoned their children to see if they would let you take them in 」

His face was getting paler and paler as they continued.

「……tsk 」

「 That’s why Jess-san, th-「 Shut up!! 」」

Jess interrupted Ashia’s words with an angry reply. Then, instead of turning her head, waved his hand as if to shoo her go away.

「 If you can live without us, then go wherever you want! Don’t ever show your face to me again!!!! 」

With that, Jess walked out of the cabin, leaving Ashia and Run watching him go while tears streamed down their faces.

「 Jess-san……」

「 …… Maybe there’s some reason he can’t be honest with us. We’ll ask him later. So you two better get going now 」

「 But!! 」

Run tried to argue, but Ashia stopped him.

「 Run……, we can’t keep everyone waiting. I’m sad, but let’s go, okay? 」

「 Uh……（ugh）」

Ashia and the rest looked at Aidle as they rode the Red Dragon. They nodded at each other and Aidle gave the Red Dragon a signal, and then it took off to the skies.

After looking up at the sky where Ashia and the others had disappeared for a while, I then looked back at everyone.

「…… Now, shall we go to the inn? We’ll have to ask Jess one more time tomorrow about what’s going on 」

Everyone nodded at those words, and we started walking. We found an inn that was just barely open, and we all huddled together for the night. Maybe it was because the kids were gone, but it was a little lonely…….

It was a late morning, and while I was having breakfast at the inn, I was surrounded by a bunch of adventurers from outside. What do they want with a good little adventurer like me?

「 It’s morning, shall we do some crushing…….」

Are you still a little sleepy? An angry La Veil snarled and said that. It certainly stinks of men here. Among them, a well-dressed adventurer appeared. He was working in the front counter of the guild.

When the Inn Master tried to call out, he was glared at and silenced by the clerk. And then, the problem was explained while looking at us here.

「 I didn’t mean to come here in order to go on a rampage… though I won’t know what would happen if you resist 」

「 We wouldn’t do that. So, what is your business with us? 」

「 You are the adventurers who monopolized the stray baggers to dive in the dungeon, aren’t you? 」

「 You could say that I guess 」 A grin surfaced on his face when we affirmed it for the time being.

「 Then, would you like to come with me to the guild? I have to explain the situation and the reason why you returned without stray baggers 」

_______________________________________

「 You thought we were in the way, didn’t you? 」

「 Even those pieces of trash are used as expendable tools when the regular baggers are not around. In other words, they are treated as guild’s equipment. We can’t let a lot of them be consumed without permission. So I need you guys to tell me where the kids are. Now that you know, won’t you come along? 」

Saying so, one of the men suddenly kicked our table where our food was placed……but well, they were only able to knock down the table. Everyone was quick enough to grab their meal…… especially La Veil.

「 How dare you try and take away my plate of food!! 」

「 You’re annoying. We’ll head there later, so get lost. You’ll just spoil our food. 」

「 I’d rather eat my meal in peace. 」

「 Do any of you wanna have a go at it? 」

「 Crude~~ 」

「 Here Arena, have a bite of this 」

「 Ahm, Mogu, mogu 」

「 You’ve got to be kidding me!! Do you even realize what situation you are……―――Hiii!!? 」

That’s when the man’s words cut off, as La Veil unleashed an intense killing intent at the men. Well, he was about to take up arms. I guess they were prepared to retaliate in case things got a little out of control. It’s not going to end up alright with how things are going right now, so I’m going to put a word for the time being to at least prevent things from further escalating.

「 I’m sorry, but a lot of us girls want to eat in peace. Can you just leave one person to wait for us and have the others wait at the guild? We’ll follow that one when we’re done eating…… would that be alright? 」

「…… Hey, we’re going back. One of you guys stay 」

The man shuddered but seemed convinced. He nodded at my words and ran back with everyone, leaving one adventurer behind. The remaining one shrinks back in the corner of the room with a pale face.

「 Aidle, can I give him some food?」

Then Archangel Arena came to me with a proposal for mercy. Apparently, she doesn’t like the way the atmosphere has deteriorated, so she’s trying to soothe the adventurer. It can’t be helped.

「 Alright, here. Here you go, come and take it?」

「 Un~!」

When Arena was handed her meal, she offered it to the shrinking adventurer and began to eat with him. La Veil looked at me suspiciously, but I didn’t really care and started eating my own portion.

「 You’re a naive girl…….」

「 That’s just typical Arena 」

That’s the only way I can describe my dearest and best friend.

「 There you are……」

When we finished eating, we found a huge crowd of adventurers waiting in front of the guild. I guess most of the adventurers have been gathered there. Did they come for work or for us…

「 What’s the event? There’s a few dozen more than the usual crowd 」

「 The guild leader has said that you guys are the ones to watch out for. The strongest of these guys will be watching you. Come on, get in 」

「 Yes, yes 」

When we entered the deserted guild, we found a battered man lying on the floor. The moment we saw the man’s face, our emotions instantly bubbled up.

「「 Jess-san!!」」

Cielo and Arena jumped out and helped Jess up and started healing him. I glare at the men.

「 Are you telling me that the other witness is Jess? 」

「 Yeah, I’ve been keeping tabs on that guy. I knew that if I made a move, you guys would come back. That’s why I made him talk. It’s not safe to be connected to criminals, you know! 」

「…… is that so 」

『 La Veil 』

『 I understand. I’ll be patient. 』

『 No, it’s fine, do it. If they don’t die, I’ll fix everything. Then we’ll go after. 』

『 Are you sure? 』

『 Well as long as no one dies 』

I pretty much ran out of patience. I want to ask Jess some questions, but first I’m going to have to deal with this mess. As well as another person.

I called Maurice and put Jess on top of him. The adventurers are surprised, but I silence them with my killing intent.

「 Okay, let’s go to the guild leader’s office. Arena, are you alright? 」

「……Un 」

I held Arena’s hand and brought her with me to the Guild Master’s Office.

And so we decided to confront the man who was probably the leader of this city. Instantly, La Veil moved to the side of the man sitting in the chair and…

「 It’s been a thousand years since I’ve seen you, and I found you here you bastard!!!!」

「 Eh, hey, wait a min!!??」

「「「 Gu, Guild Masterーーーーーー!!???」

She beat him up with all her might. It was an attack strong enough to shake the whole building just from the impacts, so much so that it dented inward the belly of the man who fell down after the hit. Wow… although it’s just a fake body, that was some powerful impact it absorbed.

As the adventurers screamed, La Veil grabbed the 『 Blue Haired 』 Guild Master and threw him in front of me, and asked him as she put her foot on his chest and slowly crushing him.

「 Now then, you will tell us what you are doing in a place like this, won’t you 『 Luceretze 』……?」

「 Wait and wait, why are you here in this form La Veil. No, more like I’m sorry and I apologize so don’t continue crushing me, and please don’t drag me back me to that gramps!!」

The Guild Master desperately came up with excuses and many other things. What exactly did he do?

「 La Veil, is that person, not a human? 」

「 Indeed, I knew the moment I saw his face… Also, this is the garbage I was looking for. He’s so carefully wearing a lot of magic tools of concealment in his body that you won’t normally be able to tell~~ 」

「 Hey, don’t call me garbage, aren’t you terrible? I’m just trying to stay out of the picture, but a, ouch, ouch, ouch, stop it!! 」

「 Garbage like you should not be allowed to talk, you know? 」

「 You’re just being unreasonable!? 」

La Veil surely isn’t holding this time against him. For now… Let’s take a look at what he is.

Lucretze（1125）♂　Lv.773

Unique Race: Blue Dragon (Ancient) : Humanized

HP　10,541/26,907

MP　15,551/15,551

ATK　　　 　34,688

DEF　　　　 51,121

MATK 　　 　98,922

MDEF　　　101,993

INT　　　 　　 1600

SPD　　　　207,350

【 Unique Skills 】 Dragon Scale, Water Inferno

Skills: Dragon Magic (A+), Water Magic (S), Body Difference Correction (A+)

Title: Descendant of the Ancient Dragon

Alright, I found the 2nd Ancient Dragon!!……… Though I also want to smack this one a lot.

「 Get out of the way, Master. You can’t kill him 」

「 We do need to wait until we hear everything we need from and then kill him once 」

「 Are we done waiting yet~? 」

「 If it’s against Arena, then maybe after the third time 」

「 I want to go at it 5 times 」

Arena murmured some disturbing things while we were having some tea.