Chapter 57.3

Chapter 57.3

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Side Story 3 – Enjoyable Dragon Extermination

※ This story is the story of Kenji Tatsuyoshi, 600 years ago.

In this world the beings called dragons could be the most friendly of neighbors or the most dangerous of beasts. Their nature and character greatly varied depending on their environment as they grew.

Ten years ago the Western Dragon Tribe Laguna were friendly with humans before they were destroyed. The Jiruberia Empire’s Dragon Emperor Gaieru made an oath together with the black dragon Hagasu and attacked and killed the Golden Dragon Gora, who was the leader of the tribe.

As a result, from that time the dragons’ wrath was kindled against mankind. The remaining leaders decided to attack and erase the human settlements from existence and the damage due to dragon attacks in the center of the western continent continued to increase.

Of course the humans didn’t just stand by and do nothing, but they banded together and assembled subjugation forces to exterminate those that were considered harmful dragons. The punitive forces usually consisted of at least 100 people, and after the battle 1/4 of the troops would no longer be able to fight, or in other words, many people died in the harsh battles that occurred. However, dragon extermination was still considered worth the effort.

First of all, ownership rights to the dragon’s hoard of treasure went to the people who exterminated it. Moreover, the body parts of the dragon like the bones, the meat, and the scales were all precious rare materials, so it was possible to make a huge amount of gold just by selling the materials. In particular, the rare crystal called the heart of the dragon was extremely valuable. In other words, if a person was able to slay a dragon alone, they would make enough money to live well for the rest of their life.

But, of course, there was no one stupid enough to challenge a dragon alone. Such a person does not exist. Well, there were a few exceptional people who did so, and one of them arrived in the area near Mount Balamo.

「Un.  There it is.」

Tatsuyoshi stood on the rocky side of Mount Shirai, right next to Mount Balamo. In his hand he held something like a spyglass.  In other words, it was this world's telescope.

Tatsuyoshi examined the image of the being in the telescope.

Black Rock Dragon Giove. He was a stray dragon not affiliated with the Western Dragon Tribe, but he was still a 200-year-old dragon with a well-known name. When Tatsuyoshi saw his name on the dragon subjugation list he was surprised to see such big game.

「Hmm, I don’t think it will be possible to win easily.」

He heard something bothersome behind him.

「Master, should Mintia do it? Wouldn’t it be best for me to go together with Ruby?」

Mintia took out the ring that she spoke of.

「Ruby is still a child. Mintia is still a child. Please stay there quietly.」

In response to Tatsuyoshi’s words Mintia said 「Boo」.

「When I finish I’ll give Ruby some dragon meat, so please guard Mintia carefully.」

The ring glittered in response to Tatsuyoshi’s words. Tatsuyoshi took out a dagger, ignoring Mintia as she said 「this traitor」 to the ring.\n

「Item: Dagger transform into Item: Flying Sword G Hawk」

Using the MOD tool, he transformed the dagger into a sword with slender feathers growing out of it. He stuck it in the ground and made the same item 4 more times and prepared the 5 swords. At the end he created a spear called Javelin.

「Let’s see, the distance to the target seems to be fine, right?」

Saying that, Tatsuyoshi took one of the Flying Swords and prepared.

「If something unfortunate happens run away, ok Mintia?」

「Fine.」

Tatsuyoshi let out a vigorous sigh at the usual exchange with his companion.

「Ruby, please take care of me.」

The ring glittered. 「That’s no good」 Mintia said. Tatsuyoshi ignored them while he watched the dragon on the next mountain through his spyglass.

「Configuration complete. Firing.」

And he threw one of the swords.

Once the sword was thrown from Tatsuyoshi’s hand it remained in the air, changed direction and flew with tremendous momentum.

「Direct hit.」

He watched the dragon get up through his spyglass. The sword should have pierced the right arm but he was unable to see it.

「Second shot. Firing.」

He threw one for the second time and it flew again. Through the spyglass he could see it hit the dragon’s face with a dreadful force.

(It seems it hit the eye as I specified.  Excellent.)

「Third shot … hmm?」

Through the spyglass he could see the dragon turn toward his location.

「Seems like the secret’s out.  Your perception seems to be quite sharp.」

However, what he had to do was unchanged.

「Third shot. Firing.」

He threw it. \n「Hit … Oh, it flew.」

This time it should have pierced the left arm, and the dragon spread his wings and took flight.

「Well, I hope there will be no problems with the distance.」

While saying that he took out the 4th sword.

「Fourth Shot. Firing!?」

Tatsuyoshi’s face changed color as he threw. The fourth shot flew off and hit the dragon. That much was fine. However, the dragon’s flight speed was much quicker than he imagined.

「This is the fifth shot … … will you resign yourself?」

While saying that, this time he grabbed the spear called Javelin.

「With this, the battle commences.」

He would kill the dragon without resting.

And then Javelin soared high in the sky, accompanied by lightning as it flew in a straight line and pierced the dragon above.

『Gugyaaaaaaa! ! ! ! ! 』

That scream resounded around Tatsuyoshi.

「Well then, time to go.」

「I’ll catch up soon.」

Mintia suddenly said while bringing her face near.

「Wait here.」

After saying that Tatsuyoshi changed his body armor to Futures War's enhancement suit and leapt from the cliff.

「Yeah yeah, Yabaaaaa!!!」

Tatsuyoshi shouted. He was not usually the sort of person to let out such an open war cry. It was his war face that could be seen throughout his time in the game.\n\nGiove raised his voice in tremendous pain. His insides had been badly burned. That much is natural.

『Gizamaa』

「G Hawk one through four, release.」

Giove raised an angry roar as another shock raced through him.

The swords stuck in his left eye, both arms, and right leg exploded.

『Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!??』

Giove's consciousness fled due to the pain. However, the shock of his head crashing into the ground woke him up. That was quite unfortunate for Giove. If he had remained unconscious there would have been no more pain.

『Kufu …』

While choking as he vomited blood, Giove opened his remaining right eye wide.

There he saw the figure of Tatsuyoshi raising a large winged sword.

『Oi, stop.』

Then the sword swung down. That was the last thing the dragon called Giove saw. The dragon who had lived 200 years met his abrupt end.

「I guess it’s over.」

「Well, it shows that Mintia didn’t need to come out against this level of opponent.」

After the end of the battle Mintia arrived riding Ruby to find Tatsuyoshi gathering materials from the dragon. He cut off the legs and arms and the like and threw them into his superior version of the Strange Bag and Strange Warehouse. He would take those items to a specialist to have them disassembled.

「Mumumu, it’s a shame. Me and Ruby ​​planned to play an active role in the battle.」

In contrast to Mintia’s crestfallen face, the Ruby Griffon was stuffing his face full of dragon meat with great delight. This type of meat was far superior to any other kind. He was understandably excited and raised his voice with a powerful 「Kweee.」

「Well, the dragon probably has a hoard of treasure, so Mintia can help me tidy it up.」

「Oh, treasure? Doesn’t that mean I'm only useful as a rucksack!?」

「Yes, I fear that is so.」

After Tatsuyoshi’s barbed reply he went back to work. Mintia spun around and clung to Ruby. Ruby choked for a second, but quickly resumed eating.