by Hiro Ainana
These I put away in Storage so I could share them with my party once they were old enough to appreciate the taste of sake.
Thanking Loleiya for the drink, I set off in a different direction from the rest of the hero’s party, walking along the dragon’s former bed.
As I walked, I tried searching the map for dragon-related parts.
Aha!
Fortunately, there were several black dragon scales lying around.
All of them were embedded halfway up a nearby mountain, beyond where anyone could easily find them.
I strolled close to them and used Magic Hand to put each one in Storage.
Then I took them out to inspect them. They all had their share of cracks and chips, but that didn’t matter for making dragon powder.
The biggest piece was the size of a kickboard, and even the smallest was around the size of a paperback book.
While I was at it, I examined the daggerlike object I’d collected from the dragon’s inverted scale.
The AR display labeled it dragon claw spearhead. According to the detailed information, it was a weapon made from the claw of a lesser dragon.
Someone must have stabbed the black dragon with the spear this tip came from.
On the end there was a black tar-like substance, which turned out to be cursed hydra poison. Hydra poison sure seemed like a popular choice.
I wouldn’t want to wipe it with a cloth and get poisoned myself, so I put it in Storage to separate the poison from the spearhead, then took the spearhead back out by itself.
Experimentally, I tried scratching the dragon scale with it, but it was the spearhead that got damaged instead.
“…Hmm.”
Getting curious now, I put a little bit of Spellblade on my own nail and tried to scratch the scale. There was some slight resistance, but it scratched easily enough. The same was true for Sacredblade, of course.
“…I’ll just pretend I didn’t see anything.”
Shoving the facts to the back of my mind, I took the spearhead and the black dragon scales back to the meeting place to show the hero’s party.
I kept one of the paperback-size scales in Storage for myself, but the rest I planned to share with the others.
It seemed like a useful material, so it would be unkind to keep it all for myself.
“Adult dragon scales!”
“Where did you find these?”
When I brought the scales and the spearhead back to the others, Princess Meriest and Miss Ringrande came in for a closer look.
Their eyes sparkled as they examined the scales from every angle.
“They were in the exact opposite direction of where you all went looking. When Sir Hero repelled the dragon, I thought I saw something fall from the area around the backward scale on its chest. So I thought perhaps a scale might have fallen…”
“Satou, what’s that dagger-looking thing there?”
“I’m not quite sure myself, but I found it near the scales.”
“Hmm. ‘Dragon claw spearhead,’ huh…? Loleiya! Come look at this!”
The hero took the spearhead and used his own “Analyze” skill to identify it, then called the drunken priestess over from the pool of dragonspring liquor.
Getting impatient with her stumbling approach, Hayato ended up walking over to her himself.
“Can you analyze this?”
“Mm-hmm.”
Rather than a skill, the priestess was using her knowledge to appraise it. She examined the cloth wrapped around the end and the remaining shards of the wooden shaft, touching and even tasting them.
“It was made by the weaselfolk, no doubt about it. The weave of the cloth points to the northern part of the Weaselman Empire, and the wood used for the shaft comes from a tree native to that same area.”
“I see…”
The hero nodded, his brow furrowed.
When I examined each of the parts in detail as Loleiya had, the same information showed up in the AR.
“So the weaselfolk were the cause of this incident, then.”
“Those people are always causing trouble!”
Princess Meriest and Miss Ringrande frowned indignantly.
Liza’s hometown was destroyed by weaselfolk, too, so I guess they were a race with a lot of problems.
The others came to the same conclusion I did: The dragon was wounded by this spearhead and likely took up camp near the Tree of Healing Rest in order to recover.
“Wasn’t there a prediction that a demon lord would appear in the Weaselman Empire, too?”
“True enough. No one in their right mind would pick a fight with a dragon, so maybe there really is a demon lord pulling the strings.”
“Fine by me. From what I hear, Nanashi beat the demon lord that appeared in the Ougoch Duchy, so this next one is mine.”
You can do it, Sir Hero! I silently rooted for Hayato, impressed with his willingness to confront the world’s problems head-on.
“Say, Sir Pendragon. About these dragon scales… I don’t suppose you’d be willing to part with one?”
“Powder made from an adult dragon’s scales would be invaluable in preparing anti-demon weapons.”
Meriest and Ringrande pressed in on me from either side.
“Of course. I had no intention of keeping them all in the first place.”
“Really?!”
“Thank you!”
Those youthful smiles were well worth giving up a few scales anyway.
“What would you like in exchange? For materials this valuable, you could have peerage in the Saga Empire, if you’d like. I could promise you the rank of baronet at the very least!”
“Or perhaps magic armor would make a better reward for you?”
“Being of common birth, my current rank alone is already more than I deserve. And magic armor would be better used in the hands of a noble warrior of the Saga Empire, would it not?”
The pair grumbled over my lack of avarice, grasping for something else to offer me.
I’d run into this situation a few times before. Usually, I thought the best route was to pick a modest reward.
“Perhaps you could allow me to peruse some magic scrolls or advanced spell books, then?”
“…What, are you trying to be a magic swordswoman like Rin?” Meriest raised her eyebrows in surprise.
“I don’t have any scrolls, but I could certainly show you my advanced wind and fire spell books. I have Explosion Magic and Destruction Magic books, too, but there aren’t very many chants.”
“That would be much appreciated. Perhaps on the way back to the old capital?”
“Sure. You can even copy the fire and wind ones, if you’d like.”
Miss Ringrande’s offer was more than enough for me, so my reward was decided.
The biggest dragon scale went to the hero’s party, while I kept two small scales and the dragon claw spearhead.
I did ask if it should be submitted as evidence, but they said that was unnecessary, since it wouldn’t be considered valid in most kingdoms.
Since it was made from rare dragon materials, perhaps I could test it out as an upgrade from Liza’s spear once we got back to the old capital.
“Here, please, Satou.”
At Miss Ringrande’s prompting, I laid the soft bundle in my arms down on the bed.
“She’s completely passed out.”
“Oh, Loleiya. For someone who loves liquor so much, she has an awfully low tolerance.”
Once Priestess Loleiya was settled in the simple bed on the silver ship, I followed Miss Ringrande back outside.
“Meri, how are the repairs going?”
Princess Meriest was having some of the living dolls set up a simple camp for us.
“The dimensional submersion device will be restored by tomorrow morning thanks to its automatic repair functions, but the skypower engines are in bad shape. The port engine is gone, and the starboard engine is malfunctioning.”
Princess Meriest looked at the starboard wing,
where Miss Weeyari was dismantling and repairing the barrel-shaped skypower engine.
The hero and the two warriors had gone to the north side of the valley to investigate the aftereffects of the dragon’s breath.
Princess Menea and her escort knight were resting in the shade of a nearby tree.
“Could we not replace it with the spare in Hayato’s inventory?”
“I’m afraid not. The dragon’s attack severed the portside joint completely. If the starboard side’s skypower engine itself is malfunctioning, then replacing it will work, but if it’s the magic transmission circuits that are broken, it could take days just to figure out the cause.”
The ship seemed to be more damaged than I’d realized.
But in that case…
“Lady Ringrande, would you mind if I assist Lady Weeyari?”
“Satou, I know you’re a skilled swordsman and chef, but repairing a skypower engine? Only a highly skilled magic-tool engineer could even begin to do that.”
“Well, perhaps I can still be of assistance in some way.”
In reality, I did have some knowledge of skypower engines from a book I’d bought in an old-capital magic shop.
“All right, you can go help. As long as you don’t get in Wee’s way.”
“Agreed. With your ‘Cooking’ skill, I would’ve liked your help preparing the magic potions, but you’re welcome to help Wee if you think you’re able.”
Now that I had permission, I headed over to Miss Weeyari.
“I’m here to help.”
“Oh? Then put magic power into one fin at a time and see if it’s broken, please.”
She accepted my help more easily than I’d expected, so I picked up the fin in question.
Up close, I discovered that the skypower engine was made up of an array of air-cooling radiator-like fins.
According to my reference book, these were made of a thin film from the fin of a monster fish. They produced buoyancy when provided with a steady flow of air and magic power.
Some of the monster corpses in my Storage, like the giant monster fish and the parasitic monsters that attacked the prince, had parts that could be used to make these fins, too.
Reining in my wandering thoughts, I watched Weeyari work and imitated her process.
She seemed to be putting a tiny amount of magic into each fin and observing the resulting buoyant force, so I did the same.
“So? Do you see how it works?”
“Yes, I believe this fin here seems to have a poor flow of power.”
I held out the malfunctioning fin to Weeyari.
“Number seventeen… Wait, seventeen? You’ve inspected that many already?”
Weeyari looked with surprise at the neat row of inspected fins lying at my feet.
All I had to do was send magic power through them, so I thought that was a reasonable pace.
“Fine-tuning magic power is one of my fortes.”
“I—I see… Could you check those transmission circuits, too, then?”
With all the fins inspected, I moved on to examine the connection between the engine and the ship itself.
The method was the same as the one we’d used for fins. I simply flowed magic through them and looked for any abnormalities.
I put my hand on the terminal and sent in a small amount of magic power.
Right away, I noticed a few areas where the magic leaked out or met with resistance.
Selecting See Through from the magic menu, I examined the problem areas.
Aha.
Part of the wing structure was warped slightly, putting pressure on the transmission circuit.
The living dolls were working on replacing the armor plates of the hull, so I had a few of them remove the armor from the damaged area to expose the problem.
“Lady Weeyari, I believe I’ve found the source of the problem.”
“Ah, you’re right. The transmission pipe has burst here.”
Leaving the repair itself to Miss Weeyari, I contented myself with handing off tools and providing magic power for testing.
In less than two hours, the work was complete. Now we should be able to leave tomorrow morning, once the automatic repair of the dimensional submersion device is complete.
Using the Telephone spell, I communicated our return schedule to Arisa in the old capital.
Magic sure was convenient.
“Oh? Taking a break?”
When we returned to the camp near the stern of the silver ship, the sharp-eyed Ringrande stopped working for a moment to call out to us.
Princess Meriest was still processing the rare ingredients from before, while Princess Menea and her escort knight were sitting at a simple table nearby, looking bored.
“We’re done.”
“…Already?”
Weeyari looked a little smug as Ringrande exclaimed with surprise.
“Yes, thanks to Satou.”
“All I did was follow your directions, Miss Wee.”
This was a fact, not just modesty. She really did do the difficult work. All I did was find the problem for her to fix.
“On a nickname basis already, are we? That’s rather unusual for you, Wee.”
“Not at all.”
Shrugging it off, Weeyari thirstily drank some fruited water from a pitcher.
“Whew, I’m finally halfway done… Wee, if you have any magic left, could you help me?”
“Can’t. None left.”
Princess Meriest looked exhausted, but so did Weeyari.
“If it’s all right with you, could I lend a hand?”
“You can do transmutation, too?”
“Enough to help with preparing ingredients for formulation and supplying magic power, at least.”
It was probably best not to admit that my “Transmutation” and “Formulation” skills were maxed out, but there was no harm in helping with some prep work.
I’d used only about twenty MP while helping Wee, so I should be able to use around ten times that much without contradicting my apparent level.
Following Meriest’s and Ringrande’s requests, I helped with the preprocessing work and magic-power supply.
“Satou, take care of this soul grass, please.”
“You want me to remove the roots and wash the leaves and stalks, correct?”
I accepted the bundle of soul grass from Miss Ringrande.
“Yes, that’s exactly right. How did you know?”
“I simply observed your process earlier.”
In actuality, I’d gotten that information from a rare book I’d read at a high-ranking noble’s home in the old capital.
“Sir Pendragon, could you supply this Transmutation Tablet with a bit of magic?”
“Certainly, madam.”
This time, the request was from Princess Meriest.
Since my speed at manipulating magic seemed to be unusually high, I tried to adjust my pace not to exceed theirs.
“You know, your speed with supplying magic is very impressive, Satou.”
“Erm, is it?”
…Huh? I thought I was slowing down to around their pace?
“Indeed. Even in the empire, there aren’t many people who can match my and Rin’s speed at magic manipulation.”
Shoot—I forgot that everyone here is exceptionally talented.
I guess I should have been holding back even more.
“I’ve just been frantic to try to keep up with the rest of you, that’s all.”
Princess Meriest giggled. “No need to be so humble. You’re quite talented, you know. You ought to ask Hayato to teach you how to use Spellblade after dinner. With gifts like yours, I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it in no time.”
She seemed to be in quite a good mood now.
Unfortunately, I already had Spellblade, but I appreciated her intentions nonetheless.
“Ta-daaaa!”
“We’ve got some big game!”
Rusus and Fifi returned from their investigation, carrying a huge
monster called a fortress tiger.
Unused to seeing monsters, Princess Menea let out a scream, and the escort knight turned pale and grabbed the hilt of his sword.
“Th-the hero and his comrades are truly amazing. To think they could bring down a fort-destroying fortress tiger with just three people…”
My “Keen Hearing” skill picked up on a murmur of disbelief from the escort knight.
When I asked him later, he explained that defeating a fortress tiger normally involved setting traps or forming a base with a large number of people.
“We cleared the main road of any obstacles. It might need a bit more maintenance before carriages can use it, but humans and pack mules should be able to traverse it easily enough.”
“Oh, goodness! Thank you very much, Sir Hero!”
Princess Menea looked thrilled at Hayato’s report.
As it turned out, the Lumork Kingdom army dispatched to defeat the dragon was destroyed before it even reached its goal. Other monsters laid waste to their forces before they found the dragon.
“Hayato! This thing was inside the fortress tiger.”
“It looks like a whistle!”
Butchering the fortress tiger under a nearby tree, Rusus and Fifi called the hero over to look at a broken flute-shaped magic tool of some kind.
“Meri, Rin, come take a look at this.”
“Why, this is…”
“The flute of a weaselfolk beast master?”
“I thought so…”
The three of them examined the flute gravely.
So the destruction of the Lumork Kingdom’s army was also the work of the weaselfolk.
I searched the map, but the only weaselfolk around were a few merchants in a nearby village, none of whom had any skills or titles that would indicate a beast master. Either the culprit had already left the kingdom or he was eaten along with the flute.
“Hey, you’re a chef, aren’t you?”
“C’mon, cook this meat for us.”
Rusus and Fifi trotted over to me cheerfully with some lumps of red meat in hand.
Evidently they were uninterested in having a serious conversation about the possible schemes of the weaselfolk.
“Make it reeeal tasty, mm’kay?”
“I want an extra-thick piece!”
