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This ‘Cruel Dragon’

.Isn’t this a Tyrannosaurus rex?
No, it’s smaller than a T-rex., huh.
“The Tyrannosaur is a two-legged carnivorous dragon. Its scales are as hard as iron. Well, if we aim at the gaps then we’ll make do. Do you think you’re up for it?” (Muzio) (TLN: Let’s just call it Tyrannosaur since the author just cut-off a kanji, the ‘rex’ part, and it means the same anyway. æšŽć›ç«œ -> 暎竜)
“Well, I’ll probably cut through it like butter with my sword.” (Almis)
I pull out my Dragon Damascus sword.
I’ll finally be able to put you to good use, huh.
The rear guards will be me and Muzio, just the two of us.
You don’t need many people if you’re just buying for time after all. Besides, Julia would be much safer if went with fewer numbers in the rear guard.
Julia must be protected at all costs after all so it’s only natural that she’d have the larger part of the forces.
Under that assumption, I need to be by Julia’s side but
..
I’d feel very bad if because of that we’ll return with half the soldiers killed by the dragon.
I have divine protection after all, plus this wonderful sword. At the very least, I won’t die, probably.
It’s fine if we just deceive them that my divine protection only increases my physical strength. It probably won’t hurt us much if they only know that much.
I’m confident in my skills after all. Plus, I’m quite interested in seeing something like a dragon up close and personal.
Besides, I’d be spoken ill of by everyone everywhere if I ran away from a dragon with my tail between my legs.
Although it seems the Tyrannosaur is slower than horses so if we do run with all our might then we might make do.
It’s turning quite dark now. This lizard seems bad in the dark so there’s a high chance of success in escaping.
I heard from Muzio that tyrannosaurs normally don’t come out in the evening and they don’t attack people in groups.
Therefore, there’s little probability that something critical would occur like Julia’s group being attacked. Well, Roswald swore to me that he’d protect Julia with all his power. It’s probably fine. If it’s him, then they should be fine.
By the way, the Tyrannosaur looks like it’s just hungry and looking for food by chance.
“Well then, if we can, then I’d aim for killing it, okay. Alright, let’s go!!” (Muzio)
The two of us head towards the Tyrannosaur with our horses.
The lizard too immediately heads toward us.
It seems it settled on the two of us as its target. This makes things easier.
We’re headed the opposite direction as Julia’s group.
“Alright, let’s annoy the hell out of this lizard!” (Muzio)
Muzio shoots an arrow behind him.
Though the arrow got deflected by the Tyrannosaur’s scales and did not penetrate, the attacked seemed to hurt it and slowed it’s advance.
How skillful, this guy!
“■■■■”
The tyrannosaur let’s out a huge roar.
There’s no particular effect on my body except that it’s quite loud for me.
“Oi! Don’t struggle!!” (Almis)
My horse, on the other hand, is making quite a stir, halting my advance. It then rises and bends its body into a curve, throwing me off.
“Piebald!!” (Almis)
It went and ran away, that Piebald.
You went away and trampled all the hopes I put in your name! You pack mule!
Go ahead and get eaten by that tyrannosaur!!
Well, at this rate, I’ll be the one who’ll get eaten by the tyrannosaur.
“Oi oi, what do we do now. If we rode together

No, it’ll catch up by then. It can’t be helped. We’ll have to finish it here.” (Muzio)
“My bad, I’ve caused you trouble.” (Almis)
“It’s fine, it’s fine. I’ll introduce to you a good horse, next time.” (Muzio)
Somehow, it feels like I’m getting comforted after getting rejected by a girl.
“Alright, lizaturd. You’ve got me in a very bad mood right now. So, I’ll be cutting you into pieces!!!” (Almis) (TLN: Sorry, that’s the best insult I could think of for lizard+crap)
I closed in on the Tyrannosaur in one breath. It turns towards me and opens its mouth. It’s going for a bite at me but such a slow attack won’t hit me.
I try to position myself at the base of the Tyrannosaur. However, I didn’t quite manage to.
The lizard just kept trying to bite at me, many times over.
It then swings its sharp claws at me but I manage to shake it off.
“Ohtto!” (Almis)
I hurriedly parried with my sword.
Sounds similar to metal clashing resonated across the grasslands.
I brace my legs to repel its claws.
The tyrannosaur rages further. If it could speak Adernian, it was probably yelling “Why the hell are you this strong even though you’re just puny humans!?” or something like that.
“I’ll cover you!!” (Muzio)
Muzio fires arrows at the Tyrannosaur while running around the its circumference on horseback.
Sounds of arrows being fired resonate. The arrows hit and pierce their target.
It failed to pierce it before but how did it manage to do it now


And then I noticed

Every time Muzio shoots an arrow, a gust of wind is produced.
I need to examine this later.
Alright, now
..
Thanks to Muzio’s cover, I managed to successfully position myself at the base of the Tyrannosaur. The lizard was too engrossed on Muzio and it didn’t manage to notice me.
“Alright, fall over!!” (Almis)
I slashed my sword at the lizard’s tendon. Fresh blood gushes forth and covers me in red.
The Tyrannosaur’s body leans greatly as it loses blood.
I quickly escape from there by rolling away. I barely managed to get away at the same time as the lizard tumbles down.
“Alright, one more!” (Almis)
I cut one more tendon as I skillfully move around. With this, the lizard won’t be able to get up anymore.
“That’s Almis! Tell me later about your impressive strength.  So, what do we do for the finishing blow?” (Muzio)
“It’ll die if we leave it alone, right? Let’s just recover the body later. By the way
..can you give me a ride?” (Almis)
“Sure.” (Muzio)
Muzio gave me a ride on his horse and we met up with Julia and the others a while later.
“Almis! Are you alrigh


.aren’t you covered in blood!? Are you hurt somewhere?” (Julia)
“Relax. This is the Tyrannosaur’s blood. I’m fine.” (Almis)
Despite me saying so, maybe because she didn’t believe me, or maybe because she’s very worried about me, Julia goes on to touch and check my body for injuries.
“Look, you’re injured here!” (Julia)
“That’s just a scratch!” (Almis)
I got that from when I was thrown off by that stupid horse. I swear I’ll turn that horse into horsemeat when I see it again.
“By the way, what happened to the dragon, master?” (Virgar)
Virgar asks so I answer.
“I cut its tendons so it couldn’t move. We plan to confirm its death tomorrow.” (Almis)
It’s already dark after all.
Even if no more dragons come out, wolves will.
Honestly, a pack of wolves is more dangerous than one tyrannosaur.
“You speak as if it’s just nothing, huh

..You know, it normally takes 10 people to bring down a tyrannosaur.” (Virgar)
Virgar murmurs dryly.
“Then let’s go back to the yurts we’ve just set-up, Lady Julia.”
We all went back to the original camp site as per Muzio’s suggestion.
“Alright, Let’s sleep together tonight, Almis.” (Muzio)
“

Well, that’s fine. But choose your words next time.” (Almis)
I feel a lot of weird stares on me. Julia’s here too so please don’t look at me like that.
“I’ll take care of the snacks. I’ll leave the booze to you.” (Muzio)
“Sure.” (Almis)
I can only choose good alcohol from the goods we brought for trading. This is for diplomacy so I’ll just write it off as a necessary expense. It won’t be a problem.
“Alright, Cheers to our friendship!!”
“Cheers!!”
I’ll play along even though I don’t remember us becoming friends. It’s important to get along after all.
“Now

..please tell me about that great physical abilities you possess. I heard rumors about you being able to take down bears but, there’s no way it’s just bears. You’re actually beyond human, you know?’ (Muzio)
“Well, if it’s just that then I’ll tell you. However, you’ll also have to tell me about that unnatural wind the blows every time you shoot an arrow, okay?”
Muzio laughs with an expression as if saying “as expected, he noticed, huh.”
Thus, we begin our conversation.
“That’s a divine protection. I can freely manipulate wind. It’s called the ‘Divine Protection of the Wind Spirit.’” (Muzio)
It’s another divine protection, huh.
It’s because of the fairies, huh.
In other words, they’re arrows enchanted with the power of the wind, huh. It seems quite convenient.
“So, how about yours? I’ll tell you upfront. Normal humans will immediately get eaten by a tyrannosaur from the very start. What kind of reflexes do you have to be able to ward off such a beast. You’d also need skill to be able to cut off its tendons. It’s not like that lizaturd is just standing still. Normally, it’ll be moving around. I also couldn’t believe it when you managed to parry its claws. Those arms have the power to blow away horses, you know?” (Muzio)
It’s as if you’re describing an inhuman monster

Well, you’re not necessarily wrong ((about my capabilities)).
“Mine’s also a divine protection, just that. It’s called ‘the Hunter’s Divine Protection.’ It increases my physical abilities.” (Almis)
I give off a lie.
When I talked about divine protections with Ains-san, he told me about this ‘Hunter’s Divine Protection’ with a similar effect as mine.
It’s not like I don’t have feelings of guilt about deceiving him. I told him something quite a bit different from the truth, after all.
“Alright, as for me, I want to have the alliance with the Equus tribe. Can I have your cooperation in order to achieve that?” (Almis)
“I don’t mind, you know. You’ll be paying us anyway, right? We’re poor. That’s why we’ll greatly welcome this increase in income. We’re poor to the extent that should our wool be a little bit poorly brought up, a lot of us would have to resort to either abandoning or selling our children. Besides, the wheat we get from you can be stored for a much longer time than our native meat and cheese. However, there are, of course, those who would not want to shed blood for the sake of another country. You would have to do something about those. Furthermore, we would become hostile with the De Morgal Kingdom, too. Risking life for grain and salt as compensation is quite
..” (Muzio)
Muzio declares as he drinks his liquor.
I then tell Muzio my plan.
“In short, the only problem is you shedding blood yes? We, the Rosyth Kingdom, will also promise to come to your aid when the Equus tribe gets into a crisis. Is that still not enough?” (Almis)
Muzio opens his eyes to my statement.
“No, we don’t have problems with that. We’re quite threatened by the Lupus tribe, after all. We consider the Rosyth Kingdom a strong army. You’ll be a big help. The actual problem is what if the Lupus tribe mimics us and goes into an alliance with the De Morgal Kingdom

If Almis and the others fight with us, then there won’t be any problems. However, would that condition be fine with you?” (Muzio)
“Yes, that would be fine. I’m given full authority by King Rosyth to negotiate.” (Almis)
If it’s a two-way alliance, as opposed to a one-way alliance, then they’d find it difficult to complain. It’ll serve as a deterrent after all so it’s not a bad proposition.
I’ve already received full permission from King Rosyth after all. He told me I’m free to enter any treaty so long as it’s not hugely problematic.
“However, isn’t King Rosyth ill? We don’t have assurance that the next king would honor this treaty
.” (Muzio)
“If it’s about that, then don’t worry. We’ve already secured the approval of the next king. Although, I can’t tell you who he is, okay?” (Almis)
Well, that’s me anyway.
“I see. We’ll make do with that. The rest would depend upon the remuneration, the number of personnel, and the personnel selection, right? Well, I would be fine as the commander. I lead the Pro-Alliance faction after all. Ah, right? Is it fine to pillage?” (Muzio)
“So long as it doesn’t hinder the battle plan. However, you don’t have to worry about plunder. We’re preparing just the right place to pillage.” (Almis)
For the nomads, war means plunder. If there’s no plunder, there’s no war. You could say that they’re a race that wages war specifically for pillaging.
They’d probably do it anyway even if you tell them to stop. So in exchange for permitting it, it’s better to just give them a specified location to pillage.
“Hmmm, in other words, that place would be in the De Morgal Kingdom, as opposed to the Rosyth Kingdom, is it. You’re surprisingly confident in your plans, huh. Furthermore, a specified place? I expect it’s somewhere profitable?” (Muzio)
“Yes, it’ll be very profitable. To the point of making plundering wheat from farming villages absurd.” (Almis)
I answer while drinking liquor.
We too plan to profit there.
“Alright, after this will depend upon Lady Julia, huh. Whether she’d be able to cure step-mother’s illness.” (Muzio)