CH 74

Rattling ……

“Whoa!?”

The barrel I was trying to open started shaking the moment I put my hand on it, and I fell on my butt. The next thing I know, the barrel falls over, the lid rolls off, and fruits like melons and tangerines come tumbling out. That was all well and good, but after that, it was bad.

“Uwaaahhhhh! I’m dizzy ……”

“I can’t take it anymore …… It’s hot ……”

“Makina and Nora!?”

It was Makina and Nora who squirmed their way out. There was also something wrong with the wooden box that my brother opened.

“Ha!? T-This place is?”

“Jack-kun?”

Jack, who had probably been sleeping in the box of armor and weapons, came out of the box, drooling. My brother was so surprised that he fell on his butt, and my mother opened her mouth.

“Why are you guys in here!”

“W-We’re still in the carriage …… N-no, I told you to take me next time, but you’re trying to leaving me behind ……”

“Well, I’ll leave you behind!? We’re meeting the king in the next country, you know?”

When I said that, Jack looked astonished and told us.

“…… It’s not like we’re not going to have a fight, are we? We’re worried about Verna-sensei, too. That’s why we came after you. I happened to hear that Luciel was transporting goods at the headmaster’s request, so I snuck into his luggage.”

It seems like Luciel and Kuderica did the sealing. They also wanted to go, but Jack stopped them.

As lunch was approaching with Nora, Makina, and the others on board, we went into a nearby town and saw Tigre-sensei driving his knuckles on the three of them. 

“Ouch ……”

“Ugh …… It hurts……”

“Agagagaga ……”

“Do you realize how dangerous the place we’re going to!”

“B-But, Verna-sensei is …… and, you’re just going to ask them, right? So we thought it would be okay if we went ……”

When Makina replied with tears in her eyes, Tigre-sensei let out a sigh and narrowed his eyes. We’re already a long way from town. It’s going to be a tough road back for the kids alone.

Mom thought about it for a while, and then made a suggestion to Tigre-sensei.

“Tigre-sensei, since already we’ve come this far, it’s hard to go back, so why don’t we just keep going?”

“But ……”

“It’s okay. Roen knows about this and has some ideas. Nora’s not too different from my kids, which is fine, but Makina-chan and Jack-kun’s parents might be worried, so I’ll send them a letter here in town.”

It seems that Dad and Mom had thought about it a lot before coming here, and nodded confidently. It’s not easy to get back from here, and if we can get them to stay in an inn at worst, I think they’ll be fine? And it was indeed my mother who came up with the idea of sending a letter.

And Tigre-sensei seemed to be thinking the same thing, and let out a sigh and said to the three of them.

“…… It can’t be helped …… I made the mistake of letting you guys listen to me because I thought you’d be too scared to follow me …… You should definitely stay quiet, okay? As expected, I don’t know if we can protect this many people …… “

“It’s okay! We have Lars-kun too, after all.”

“Yes. I’ll fight too!”

“No, I just told you to be quiet. …… I’m just going to check it out, so I don’t think there will be any fighting.”

…… The problem is if Verna-sensei is there and also in some kind of confinement. If you are a princess, I don’t think your life will be in danger, but what should I do at that time.

I’m not sure what to make of this. I’m not sure what to do, but I’m sure it’s a good idea.

“Sigh …… I don’t want Nora to be in any danger, though ……”

“I’ll hang in there! Since Dedite-kun and Lars-kun is here too, so I’ll be fine.”

“Heh, take care of me, Lars!”

“Sigh …… Jack is more prone to danger than Ryuuze, though.”

“Seriously!? More than him ……”

After having lunch while talking like this, we boarded the carriage again. It’s not that far from the neighboring country, but it still takes three days. And since there are monsters along the way, Tigre-sensei and I will defeat them. We can’t take too much time, so we ignore the opinions of my brother and Makina, who wanted to fight.

I didn’t want to sleep outside because of my mother is there, so we stayed in the town and finally arrived at the first town of the Luitzar country.

“Oh! A foreign country!”

“Don’t get too excited, Jack, or they’ll think you’re a hick? Besides, this continent is no different from ours.”

They say that on the southern continent, skin color can be different. Helena’s brown skin is because her mother is from the south. Anyway, we arrived at the inn for the day. While we were checking in, the owner of the inn approached Tigre-sensei.

“Are you a tourist?　There are a lot of kids here ……”

“Yes, I’m a teacher at the Oblivion Academy in Reflexion Country. The other day we had a practice match with the Holy Knights of this country, so we came here to thank them.”

“So that’s why you’re with a child …… and that beautiful woman is your wife?”

“No, I’m this kids guardian.”

The innkeeper smiled as my mother, a little proud of being called beautiful, patted my brother and me on the head. The innkeeper smiles, but then puts his hand on his chin as his face clouds over.

“Hmm, however, you have bad timing. I heard that a dragon was recently found in the mountains to the north …… but that was quite a while ago. He demanded that they give him the princess.”

“What? Verna-sensei’s going to be eaten!?”

“I don’t want that!”

A dragon!? And if they’re asking them to give up the princess, could it be that …… I’m imagining the worst-case scenario, then of course Tigre-sensei has come to that conclusion and is leaning forward to approach the innkeeper.

“There’s a dragon here!? …… If he’s asking for the princess, are they planning to sacrifice her!? Did they already go!?”

“H-Hey, hey, calm down. The king would never give up his beloved daughter, would he? 　 I heard they’re working out a plan to subjugate it. “

“……”

“Teacher, let’s talk over there.”

“Yeah.”

I tugged on Tigre-sensei’s sleeve and said so, and he quietly backed off. I’m a little relieved that it’s not a sacrifice if they’re going to form a subjugation force. However, Tigre-sensei was talking about a different problem.

“…… How are they going to fight it? I don’t know what kind it is, but if they’re not careful, the country will be scorched earth ……”

“What? Dragons are that strong!?”

“Well, there are only a small number of them, and none of them seem to come out in the open that much. There are also some bad ones that demand sacrifices. They’re usually very powerful.”

I’ve heard of dragons from video games, but I’ve never seen one in person. I’ve heard of them in games, but I’ve never seen one in real life. I thought that dragons are really dangerous monsters, when I saw Tigre-sensei in a cold sweat, even though he was supposed to be strong. 

I had a bad feeling about this, but we arrived at the castle.

Dragons …… is powerful individually but there are other secrets ……?

Thank you for reading!

[Afterword Theater]

“In fact, dragons are really tough for humans to defeat. It’s like trying to defeat a Gundam in the flesh.”

It’s not a secret!? But in reality, it’s not as easy as cutting through hot butter with a knife.

“In the heat …… How pitiful ……”