by Hiro Ainana
Princess Menea kept her head down as she continued.
Still, executing his own parent…? This world was always so violent.
“There is no one left in our kingdom with any desire to summon people from Nippon. So please—”
“Lend you our strength?” Princess Meriest interrupted coldly.
“…Y-yes. I would entreat you to banish an evil dragon for the sake of our people.”
Though she trembled under Meriest’s glare, Princess Menea continued her request.
A dragon? I wouldn’t mind meeting a living one myself.
“An evil dragon?” Ringrande repeated doubtfully. “This is the first I’m hearing of any such thing in the Lumork Kingdom.”
“The black dragon appeared about half a year ago, as I am told. It lived in a forest at the crossroads of the main road connecting the royal capital to the neighboring kingdoms, and it began devouring the people living in the nearby villages and traveling on the road,” Princess Menea explained.
“I’ve heard of dragons killing soldiers who attempt to defeat them or thieves who sneak into their nests to try to steal their scales or eggs, but…”
“I have never once heard of a dragon that harms common people directly, not even in fairy tales.”
Even after hearing the details, the hero’s party didn’t seem convinced.
Come to think of it, the black dragon that attacked Seiryuu City ate only livestock and left without attacking any humans, or so I’d heard.
“Meri, what did the Deception-Piercing Artifact reveal?”
“I can’t believe it, but…she’s telling the truth.”
Princess Meriest was now wearing some kind of monocle-like object.
Judging by their conversation, it was probably a lie-detecting magic tool.
That sounded pretty handy to me.
“Did the Lumork Kingdom dispatch their troops to deal with the dragon?” I asked.
“Yes, of course. An army of the kingdom’s knights and mercenaries from neighboring kingdoms attempted to drive the dragon away, but they were unsuccessful.”
I’d wondered why they would come to the hero instead of using their own armies to deal with their problems, but it sounded like they’d used up their own resources already.
The Lumork Kingdom requested help from others, too, like Duke Ougoch and the Shiga Kingdom, but it was refused on the grounds that its capital had not been damaged.
Still, while I was certainly not thrilled about what her kingdom did, I doubted the villagers who were being attacked had anything to do with it.
If the hero wouldn’t do it, I decided I would use “Skyrunning” to go over there and try talking to the dragon myself.
Hearing a loud smack, I came back to my senses and looked around.
“…A dragon, huh? Not a bad match, if you ask me.” The hero was grinning ferociously, his fist slapped onto his palm.
Apparently he, too, was more concerned about the suffering commoners than the transgressions of the Lumork Kingdom.
“Wait a minute, Hayato. Don’t be so reckless!”
“If it’s a stray lesser dragon from the habitat between the Weaselman Empire and the small kingdoms to the east, that’d be one thing. But if it’s a full-grown dragon from the Black Dragon Mountains, we mustn’t get involved.”
“She’s right, Hayato. They say a dragon’s fangs can pierce anything.”
“Exactly. Dragon fangs are the ultimate blade—they spell destruction even for a demon lord. Remember, your so-called Invincible Shield isn’t a guarantee!”
Miss Ringrande and Princess Meriest advised the hero with troubled expressions.
Phew.
So there were other dragon habitats besides the Valley of Dragons.
As I heard later, a lesser dragon was somewhere between an intermediate demon and a greater demon in strength, while a full-grown dragon was between a greater demon and a demon lord.
“I’m a hero, you know! What kind of hero would just leave people to suffer at the hands of an evil dragon?! Even if I can’t beat a dragon, I should at least be able to chase it off. Otherwise, how am I ever going to beat a demon lord?”
The hero looked at Ringrande and Meriest in turn with fire in his eyes and voice.
The women blushed. It looked to me like they both had feelings for him.
“Besides, I’ve got you guys. Together, we could drive away even a full-grown dragon from the Black Dragon Mountains!” he declared.
For some reason, he directed this part toward Arisa.
As he gazed at her, Arisa’s eyes welled up, and she exclaimed, “Wonderful, Sir Hero!”
It would’ve been a very moving scene were it not for the small vial of eye drops she was holding behind her back.
“All right, Princess Menea. We’ll take on your request. Satou, you’re coming with us.”
The hero smacked my shoulder firmly.
…How do you figure?
“I want to judge for myself whether you’re fit to be Princess Arisa’s guardian,” he declared.
“P-pardon me, Sir Hero. Mas— That is, Sir Satou has business in the old capital…” Arisa quickly cut in. She was probably worried about me.
But if I went with him, not only would I get to see a live dragon, I might even get to ride in the hero’s silver spaceship.
I didn’t know how dimensional submersion worked, but I definitely wanted to experience stuff like entering subspace and watching the scenery change around us.
Would it be a Japanese-style ship, Western-style, or maybe a hard sci-fi aesthetic? My imagination ran wild.
It would be a shame to let this opportunity go to waste. I definitely wanted to participate.
“If it’s no trouble to you, Sir Hero, it would be my pleasure to accompany you and learn from your ways.”
“Now, that’s what I like to hear!”
Quelling Arisa’s protests, I accepted the hero’s proposal.
“Don’t worry, Princess Arisa! He’ll be safe with me.”
The hero thumped his chest proudly.
I didn’t want to worry one of my wards, either, so I whispered “It’ll be fine” in her ear.
“S-Sir Hero! Please let me accompany you, too.”
“Y-Your Highness?!”
Princess Menea’s guardian knight exclaimed in alarm once again. Most likely, it was because he would have to go along with her.
“You too? Sorry, but we’ve only got two empty seats. If Satou’s coming, that just leaves one more spot,” the hero objected coldly.
Surely a princess would never embark on a journey without any guards. However, it appeared Princess Menea was no ordinary princess.
“I’ll come alone, then! I’m sure I will not be in danger if you’re by my side, Sir Hero.”
“Hey—”
“Why, you—”
Princess Menea pressed herself against the hero’s chest.
Clearly, Ringrande and Meriest were not thrilled about this development.
“Cut it out, will you?” The hero casually pulled away from the lovely girl’s embrace.
There was no trace of embarrassment or lust in his demeanor. At first glance, he seemed to be a virtuous man, but in truth it was probably just because he was interested only in little girls. This guy was one devoted lolicon.
“Princess! That simply will not do. Sir Hero, I do not require a seat. Please allow me to accompany Her Highness.”
Evidently judging that he wasn’t going to change Princess Menea’s mind, the escort knight instead made up his mind to come along.
Shortly after, Arisa requested to be brought along as well, but the hero and I both quickly refused.
Not one to waste time, Hayato declared that we would leave the old capital later the very same day.
While the hero went to call his ship, I explained the situation to my party, leaving Arisa and Liza in charge.
“So I’ll contact the people on this list to cancel, shall I?”
“Thanks, Arisa.”
By the time we finished our arrangements, the hero’s ship was waiting outside the house.
“Cat eeears?”
“This lady has dog ears, sir!”
“Tsk-tsk-tsk, not quiiite.” The woman wagged a finger.
“That’s right. Rusus is of the tigerfolk tribe, and I am wolffolk.”
Tama and Pochi were excited to see fellow beastfolk in the form of the tigerfolk Rusus and the wolffolk Fifi, two members of the hero’s party.
Both of them were in their twenties; in their mysterious leatherlike armor, their proportions were as impressive as Nana’s. The pair’s waists were especially attractive.
Would Tama and Pochi grow up into beautiful women like them, too?
“It’s unusual to see beastfolk outside the Saga Empire.”
“These children are human-born, you see.”
Liza looked tense as she responded to Rusus’s observation.
“Hmm. So they were born to humanfolk parents, like an atavision, right?”
“Ooh, Fifi, you’re so smart!” Rusus exclaimed.
Fifi rubbed the back of her head bashfully at the praise.
But that’s called atavism, not atavision.
As I was listening in on this fun conversation, the hero poked his head out from the silver ship.
“Let’s go, Satou! Princess Arisa, I’m borrowing this guy for a while.”
“Of course, Sir Hero. Best of luck to you.”
Arisa put on her brightest smile, and the hero’s face melted in admiration.
Waving to the beastfolk girls, Rusus and Fifi sprinted up the ramp.
“Let’s get going, Hayato. Satou, you too. Get on board.”
Delivering a swift kick to the hero’s behind as he fawned over Arisa, Miss Ringrande then grabbed my hand and pulled me onto the silver ship.
I waved to everyone before I entered.
While I was gone, the vanguard was to be training with Mr. Kajiro. Arisa would study Space Magic, Mia would practice with the instrument she received from a songstress in the city, and Lulu would work on baking sponge cake.
I was looking forward to seeing the results of everyone’s training once I returned.
It looked exactly like the kind of spaceship you’d see in an old science fiction movie.
That was my first impression when I entered the silver ship.
Through the gear-shaped glass windows, which didn’t serve any discernible purpose, I could see lines of light running through magic circuits in geometric patterns, creating a mysterious waveform.
There were countless buttons and toggle switches at the control station on the bridge.
I could feel a faint vibration from the floor, while a low pulsing beat and a high-pitched engine whine sounded from the rear part of the hull.
As I was gazing around in rapt curiosity, three lovely girls approached me.
“Is this him? The kid Rin said had a promising future?”
Weeyari, with the bamboo leaf–shaped ears of the long-eared folk, brought her face close to mine. To the average Japanese person, I’m sure she would look more like an elf than Mia would.
“Yeah. He looks kinda like Hayato but more on the delicate side.”
“I dunno what Rin was talking about. There’s not a single callus on his hand.”
The first to answer Weeyari was the tigerfolk girl Rusus.
Fifi, the wolffolk girl, followed up by brazenly grabbing my hand and appraising it.
I probably didn’t have any calluses, because I hadn’t trained that much, but I was pretty sure that even if I did, my “Self-Healing” skill would fix them right away.
“So he’s all bark and no bite, huh?”
“Boooring. He’s just some well-to-do noble boy who happens to have a high level.”
Losing interest in me, Rusus and Fifi returned to their seats.
“I’m sorry about them. Rin spoke very highly of you, so their expectations were probably blown out of proportion.”
“Oh, no, it’s quite all right.”
Miss Weeyari apologized for her friends’ rudeness, but they weren’t wrong that I’d gotten to this high level with minimal effort. I wasn’t particularly offended.
Princess Meriest, who’d been talking with the priestess Loleiya in the front seats, turned toward me, so I greeted her with a bow.
“We’re heading out! Everyone, get to your seats!”
“““Roger!””” the three young women chorused briskly in reply, taking their respective seats.
“Satou, you can take the support seat behind the captain’s chair.”
When I headed to the seat the hero indicated, Princess Menea was already in the chair next to it.
True to his word, her escort knight was standing at attention behind her.
“You really came, then…,” she remarked to me.
“Of course. I could hardly turn down an invitation from Sir Hero.”
Menea frowned at me.
Since she’d called me the Savior Chef before, I was guessing she thought of me as more “chef” than “savior.”
“Well then, let us both be sure to stay back and let my escort knight protect us, so that we do not cause trouble for Sir Hero.”
“Thank you for your concern.”
Sometimes she’s sweet, and sometimes she’s salty. Looks like this princess has a tsundere side.
I had no intention of getting in the hero’s way, regardless, so I might as well keep back with my fellow spectator.
“Jules Verne, take off.”
“Jules Verne, take off!”
Weeyari echoed the hero’s orders. She must be the helmsperson.
After a brief floating sensation, we saw the view outside the portholes rapidly zoom away.
“Dimensional submersion!”
“Jules Verne, engaging dimensional submersion.”
Weeyari pulled a large lever in the cockpit labeled SUBMERSION.
A wave of sound like something from a synthesizer echoed through the ship, and the view beyond the portholes turned dark gray.
“Dimensional submersion complete. Shifting to automatic controls.”
“Go ahead.”
The hero nodded to the helmsperson.
“Whew. Loleiya, could you make some coffee?”
Coffee?!
“Sir Hero, you have coffee on this ship?”
“Yeah. You want some, too?”
“Yes, please!”
The hero’s wonderful suggestion quickly whetted my appetite.
“Satou, you may have heard this in the legends, but coffee is very bitter. It’s not delicious in the slightest, you know.” Ringrande shrugged dismissively.
She didn’t understand the power of a cup of coffee in the midst of an all-night death march at work!
After a while, the priestess Loleiya returned with a coffee cup for me, her large bust bouncing all the while.
I closed my eyes, inhaling the nostalgic scent of coffee with pleasure.
Once I’d enjoyed the fragrance for a moment, I brought the black coffee to my lips, wanting to drink it before it cooled.
“Mr. Satou, wouldn’t you like some cream or sugar? It’s much too bitter for a first-time drinker.”
“Not at all. It’s absolutely delicious.”
The strong taste permeated my entire being.
This was no gourmet coffee from a specialty shop. It tasted like the cheap instant coffee I knew so well.
“Are coffee beans cultivated in the Saga Empire?”
“Yes. The blend you’re drinking now is a special product of the Kilimanjaro Marquisate in the west of the Saga Empire. Bluman County and Mocha Viscounty are also known for their coffee beans.”
That was good to know. There must be some companies importing goods from the Saga Empire in the old capital. I’d have
to ask Tolma if he knew of any shops that might sell me some coffee beans.
These familiar-sounding place names must have come from the first emperor of the Saga Empire. I was more and more convinced that he must have been Japanese.
For reasons beyond my comprehension, coffee didn’t seem to be very popular in this world; aside from the hero and me, everyone else preferred black tea.
The sweets they provided to go with the tea and coffee were basically just balls of sugar, so I brought out some baked goods from Storage by way of the Garage Bag.
“My, how delicious.”
“Agreed. They melt in your mouth for an elegant sweetness.”
Princess Meriest and Priestess Loleiya praised my baked goods.
“It’s impressive that you could preserve the freshly baked flavor like this…”
Oops. Meriest seemed a little suspicious about the freshness of my snacks.
“…You must know quite a talented magic-tool craftsman.”
For a second, I didn’t quite understand her meaning, but then I realized she must have assumed I used a heat-insulating tool.
“Mmmm! What are these?”
“They’re cookies, right?”
“See? I told you Satou was an amazing chef!”
Miss Ringrande’s response to Rusus’s and Fifi’s exclamations was to brag as if she’d made them herself.
“It’s true. They’re nice and crunchy.”
Miss Weeyari, who normally had the air of a silent warrior, was popping cookies into her mouth one after another. I guess she liked them.
“So this is the work of a chef from a large kingdom… Even our royal chefs could not produce such flavors.”
For some reason, Princess Menea seemed to be taking the whole thing personally.
I offered some to her escort knight as well, but he refused on the grounds that he was working.
During our in-flight teatime, Princess Meriest, Miss Ringrande, and the others taught me about the magic and magic tools of the Saga Empire, among other things.
When we were about six hours away from arrival, we decided to get some sleep to prepare for the fight against the dragon.
The girls went to separate sleeping quarters, while the hero, the escort knight, and I slept on the bridge in the reclining seats.
Around this time, my friends back in the old capital were probably curled up asleep in their big beds. I wanted to check in on them with Clairvoyance but didn’t want to set off some kind of anti-magic alarm on the ship, so I decided to refrain.
