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Chapter 146
“For starters you should give up, Margrave-sama. As for the current issue, us three heroes will pool our thoughts on how to move from here on out.”
“
Were all transfer gates to the dragonoid continent shut down?” (Renya)
Renya groaned deeply for a while, but by seeing Kurz’ sleeping face Renya seemingly accepted his fate despite his groaning after which he decided to reevaluate how to solve the situation as quickly as possible if he wasn’t able to escape the current circumstances or he at least decided to think constructively and then asked for Lepard’s opinion.
At the moment, Renya’s group is in the beastmen country. He estimated that Lepard, who’s related to the person with the highest authority in said country, likely possesses the most information.
“As far as I know, all the channels that connect to the dragonoid continent through transfer gates in the beastmen country have been closed down.” (Lepard)
“Since we didn’t have such a close relationship with them, there were only 2 or 3 channels to begin with, though.” (Kaede)
Kaede shrugs her shoulders as she supplements Lepard’s reply.
“What about the channels using the transfer gates on the human side?” (Renya)
“I believe it to be pretty much the same as the beastmen’s situation.” (Shion)
Once the question’s perspective switched over to the human side, Shion provided the answer.
Tentatively Renya tries to confirm with Rona and Mayria with his eyes, but both of them nod, apparently agreeing with Shion.
“So there’s no method to go to the dragonoid continent
?” (Renya)
“Umm, Renya, I propose testing the transfer gates in the elven country.” (Croire)
Upon Croire’s suggestion, almost everyone turned her way.
The “almost” comes from Frau not showing any interest in the discussion and Kurz sleeping through it all.
“Contrary to the humans and the beastmen, the elves own a transfer gate close to the Dragon Nest located at the northernmost tip of the dragonoid continent. It might not work if the demons devoted themselves to conquering the entire continent, but no matter how strong they might be, I believe it to be highly unlikely for them to have reached the Dragon Nest immediately.” (Croire)
While saying so, Croire sent a fleeting glance towards Emil.
Emil, who somehow managed to guess the meaning behind that gaze, stayed silent for a moment, obviously choosing her words carefully, but soon started to talk slowly.
“Let’s see. If the the power of the Four Greater Dragon doesn’t fall short from what I heard in rumors, it might be impossible for even the demons to advance that far with so little time.” (Emil)
In a certain meaning, you could regard those words as a certification.
If heard by someone who doesn’t know about Emil’s true identity it sounds like a conjecture proposing that even the demons are likely unable to occupy the dragonoid continent so easily as long as the power of the dragons, who appear to be outrageous creatures in Renya’s eyes, is the real thing.
But in reality, those are words coming from Emil, who has a certain extent of knowledge regarding the demons’ combat prowess and predicts that the northernmost tip of the dragonoid country is likely still alright. It’s a quite trustworthy statement.
“In the worst case scenario it means that only those dragons have survived then
 There seems to be merit in testing the transfer gates in the elven country, but
why were only the elves able to set up a channel through a transfer gate to such a place?”
“The elves, umm
respect and honor the dragons quite a bit.” (Croire)
Croire becoming flustered and shocked when Renya used Emedra as a means of transportation is due to her knowing that Emedra-kun is related to the Jade Dragon and because the Four Greater Dragons are worshiped for carrying the power of nature by the elves.
“To the humans, the dragons
appear to be a pile of treasures. Based on the humans’ multiple attempts to subjugate the Four Greater Dragons, they hate the human race. And for the beastmen, the dragons are beings they want to fight just because they are said to be strong. As there was a never ending stream of beastmen marching into the Dragon Nest and rampaging there without even considering the difference in combat power between both sides, we were told to not go there as it’s nothing but a bother – before we even started arguing about hating or liking.” (Kaede)
“For the beastmen warriors it’s a matter of course to challenge those who are strong. 
It’s troublesome if we are blamed for that.” (Lepard)
Lepard says while puffing out his chest in pride, but Renya replies to that with a very deep sigh.
And yet Renya thinks, The beastmen will certainly never realize their good luck for it having ended at them being told to not come over since it’s a bother by the Four Greater Dragons.
If the stories are true, it should be possible for all the Four Greater Dragons to head together towards the beastmen continent and destroy the continent to such an extent that the beastmen wouldn’t be able to live on it decently, even if they didn’t go as far as blowing away the continent itself, once they freely exhibited their powers.
It was probably the Four Greater Dragon’s showing mercy to stop at the level of warning the beastmen without going any further, Renya judged.
Renya is confident that he would have gone on a rampage on the beastmen continent, if he was in the dragon’s shoes.
In case it turned into a situation where the beastmen went as far as to coming to meet with a strong person, they would have become simple nuisances that don’t even consider their surroundings and the circumstances of their opponents.
“It’s strange that you guys haven’t been annihilated by now
” (Renya)
“I have heard that there had been several times where we were in danger of that happening.” (Kaede)
Kaede says as if it’s nothing of importance.
“The Head Priestesses and the queens of those times always managed to somehow avoid that fate through the use of various schemes.” (Kaede)
“I guess tenacity is also a characteristic of your race
” (Renya)
“I think we should return our talks to the matter of the transfer gates.” (Kaede)
Kaede attempted to change the topic forcefully, but as Renya didn’t have any intention to continue the conversation about the beastmen’s tenacity and stubbornness either, he didn’t oppose the topic shift.
“Is there a transfer channel to the elven country on the beastmen’s side?” (Renya)
“There is, I think.” (Lepard)
For some reason Lepard’s words lacked confidence.
Bringing her mouth close to the puzzled Renya’s ear, Croire quietly whispers,
“In the eyes of the beastmen, the elves don’t have any appeal and thus their interest is low, too.” (Croire)
“Hmm?” (Renya)
“It’s because you guys don’t have breasts and only eat food with thin taste.” (Lepard)
As even Croire’s whispering was apparently heard loud and clearly by Lepard, he cuts in right away.
Understanding that it’s pointless to whisper, Croire distanced herself from Renya, fixed her seating posture and clearly stated,
“The body shape is something race specific. As for our food, it’s not like we are only eating things with a bland taste.” (Croire)
“Yeah, that’s true. Occasionally there’s something delicious to be found, but your body shape is so slender precisely because you don’t eat any meat or fish. The female beastmen’s bodies are so splendid because they eat plenty of meat. How about following their example a bit?” (Lepard)
In Renya’s eyes, Lepard said that with kind intentions, probably lacking any ill will.
The elven women and men, who mainly eat vegetables and fruits, for the most part have slender figures.
As for Renya, he can’t regard this as anything other than a racial trait, as Croire says, but for Lepard it apparently means that they are eating the wrong food.
Croire puts in a lot effort to pretend that she’s calm, but Renya could perceive that there seems to actually be a few parts she cannot stomach, going by fact that she is sitting with her fists clenched and trembling on top of her knees.
“Rona, Shion, what’s the opinion of the humans’ side?”
“I don’t particularly believe that it depends on eating only meat.” (Rona)
“Me neither. I eat everything without being picky.” (Shion)
Shion brags, likely thinking that it’s remarkable, but after being told that being praised for not being picky with one’s food is something that only lasts until the age of 10, she becomes disheartened.
While repeatedly touching her own breasts next to Shion, Mayria continuously mutters that it’s alright as she still has time left.
“Even I don’t like a meat-only diet either.” (Emil)
Emil participated in the discussion while smirking, but after fixedly staring at Emil’s breasts concealed by her tube top, Renya absentmindedly mutters,
“You aren’t much of a reference.” (Renya)
“Renya!?” (Emil)
Due to Emil standing up reflexively with a surprised expression plastered all over her face, Renya calmly said to her,
“No, I mean, don’t you have only a little bit more than Mayria? If you consider the difference in age, you are worse off than Mayria.” (Renya)
Mayria, who was suddenly dragged into the argument, leaked an extremely powerless chuckle, probably because of her complicated mental state, but compared to that, for Emil it was something she couldn’t let pass without having commented.
“Isn’t the target of comparison far too terrible?” (Emil)
“Umm
Emil-san, how should I interpret that
?” (Mayria)
Mayria tries to protest humbly, but taking no notice of that, Emil presses Renya.
Not understanding what he should say to soothe the agitated Emil, Renya pointed at Shion in the end and said to Emil, who had drawn close to him,
“Look at that! If you think that you can oppose that, I will listen to your complaints.” (Renya)
Having been told that, Emil turns her face in Shion’s direction with stiff movements.
Exposed to her gaze, Shion crosses both her arms in front of her breasts as if protecting them from the stooping gaze of Emil’s eyes while blushing in slight embarrassment. And then Rona confidently placed her hands on her waist and suddenly showed off her chest for some reason.
Intently staring at those, which were overflowing with a thick and heavy wobbliness, Emil dejectedly returns to her seat in low spirits.
It seems that she understood her own position.
“It’s not like I want to say that there’s an issue just because they are small, okay?” (Renya)
For the time being Renya follows up on Emil who began to mumble something under her breath with her face cast downwards and her eyes affixed to the floor after having returned to her seat.
He felt that it would become scary later on if he hadn’t followed up on her.
If Emil feels like it, she’s quite capable of contorting something like a medicine that lets a human’s chest shrivel down to the bone.
She should have that much knowledge and alchemical capability.
“Renya, you don’t dislike small ones?” (Emil)
“Don’t worry. Shape is more important than size.” (Renya)
Due to Renya declaring that decisively, a delicate mood, which makes it somehow difficult for the woman camp – omitting Kaede and Frau – to say anything, hangs in the air.
They pretty obviously didn’t expect Renya to give a stupidly honest reply, but hearing this, Lepard raised a direct objection against Renya’s opinion.
“That’s wrong, Margrave. Isn’t the size actually all that matters? Something like tiny boobs can’t be even even grop
gefuh!?” (Lepard)
Renya calmly sees Lepard’s body off as it was blown away parallel to the ground in the middle of his speech.
Him being able to coolly watch Lepard crashing into the wall and then disappearing from sight after destroying said wall was because he noticed in advance that Croire seemed to be close to exploding.
Even Renya didn’t comprehend what she had actually done, but seeing that Lepard broke through the wall and screamed on the other side, it was apparent that he had flown with considerable momentum.
“You haven’t killed him, have you Croire?” (Renya)
“I have adjusted it only to that extent.” (Croire)
“Master, the talks have derailed ~no.” (Frau)
Were Frau’s fed-up words.
Hearing that, Croire and the woman group became silent and ducked their heads in shame.
GrĂŒn, who has been mostly left out of the loop, spoke up, trying to change the atmosphere in the room that had fallen into silence.
“First we should return to the Margrave’s territory, I think. Klinge is the closest to the Miasma Forest. If the defense there isn’t in order, one can’t say that the human continent’s defenses are sufficient in the first place. We should think about the matter with the dragonoids after that.” (GrĂŒn)
“What about the defenses in the elven country?”
To GrĂŒn, who apparently wanted to say that Renya should first worry about his own territory, Renya retorts with the question whether GrĂŒn himself shouldn’t worry about how the elven country is going to move as his first priority, but GrĂŒn confidently replied to that retort,
“The emperor should handle that part skillfully.” (GrĂŒn)
“Father has no oversights in that area after all.” (Croire)
Even if they might say this or that about the him, both, Croire and GrĂŒn seem to place a lot of trust in that emperor’s ability.
“I’m envious of the elves as they tend to band together easily at such times.”
Due to Mayria saying “As expected of a unified nation that placed the emperor at the top” with a tinge of envy soaked within her words, Renya asked her,
“Is it different for the humans?” (Renya)
“There are many humans who take this as an opportunity to sabotage each other.” (Mayria)
“Even though all of them will perish if they make a single mistake?” (Renya)
“The world would probably be a lot more peaceful if all the humans holding political power had the intelligence to at least notice as much.” (Mayria)
Hearing something that resembled a grumble from Mayria, who spat those words out with a sigh, Renya decided to hurriedly return to his own territory.
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