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“W-Wait!! You can’t take this road!!” a soldier said, blocking the path and stopping the wolf-cart.
Reito and Bal looked up from the cart to see two girls they recognized.
“N-Nao? Princess Nao?”
“Nao?”
But Nao was covered in blood.
She was walking swaying side to side, looking dizzy. She dropped down as if she were about to faint. The Knights of Valkyria were standing by her side, covered in the same wounds.
Bal got down from the wolf-cart and pushed the soldiers out of her way.
“Get back!!”
“What!?”
“Who are you!?”
“Wait!! That’s the master of the Black Tiger guild!!”
Reito and crew also slipped past the guards, following her. He began healing the Knights of Valkyria. The soldiers were also using the recovery medicine they had on hand.
Bal spoke to Nao, “Princess, it’s me! It’s Bal!”
“Ugh… Bal?”
“Hurry up! Get me the recovery medicine, ASAP,” Bal shouted at the soldiers.
“Relax! I’ll heal her,” Reito said, using his “Recovery Boost” auxiliary magic to try to heal her. He managed to stop the bleeding from all her wounds.
But, as if all her anxiety had melted away, she passed out.
Bal immediately picked up Nao.
“I’m gonna take the princess to the Adventurer Guild!! If you’ve got a problem, come after me!!”
“W, wait!! The princess…”
“Shut up!!” Bal carried Nao and ran through the town. The soldiers followed her but no one was able to catch up. Bal headed for the Adventurer Guild alone.
In the meantime, Reito healed the other knights. He asked about the situation from the knights who had recovered.
“Get yourself together!! What happened?”
“Uhh…”
“Reito, I’ll also help”
“Kotomin?”
Kotomin reached out her hand and released water-colored magic from it.
Reito was surprised to know that she could use recovery magic. Kotomin grabbed the Suramin on Reito’s shoulders with both hands and said, “Suramin will help me. I need water to use my recovery magic, so I’m going to use Suramin’s moisture”
“Purupuru”
“So this is the spirit magic of the mermaid race!?”
Dain called out from behind. Kotomin was holding Suramin with both hands, wringing him out.
“Hrr…”
“Pururu”
“Will she be alright? You’re wringing her out like a cloth”
“It should be no problem. This is my spirit magic water healing powers”
“Hrr…”
She wrung out the water from Suramin, letting it drip on the wound of one of the female knights. The moment the drop touched the wound, it not only healed, but also washed away the blood stain.
The people who witnessed that were surprised. Reito was worried about Suramin and gave it some water.
“That’s right, drink up. You got real small.”
“Purupuru…”
“Don’t give it too much at once, he’ll explode?”
“Wait, for real!?”
“Could you take care of this knight next? We can’t seem to wake her up.”
Almost all of the Valkyria Knights had the same kind of wounds as Princess Nao. Reito and Kotomin were even able to treat the knights who were unconscious and couldn’t take the recovery medicine. After administering treatment to the unconscious knight, they laid her on her side. The cyclops also tried to copy them and approach the lady knights, but the lady knights were scared.
Reito and Kotomin asked the knight they treated last, “are you all right?”
“Uh, yeah. I’m fine.”
“What happened?”
This girl appeared to be about the same age as Nao. She silently pulled her sword blade out from the sheath.
Some kind of rotting smell fanned out. Ullr whimpered as his strong sense of smell reacted to the stench.
“We came to inspect a village that had been destroyed by goblins. All of a sudden we spotted a giant egg. It was a dragon egg.”
Everyone listening shuddered at the word, “dragon egg”
The girl continued, “the egg was in the village which had been destroyed. There were a lot of Decay Stones installed throughout the village. Perhaps to ward off monsters. There was a kind of magic ring I had never seen before drawn around the egg. It appeared a necromancer had come through there.”
“Necromancer?” Reito said before Airis corresponded.
『They use dead bodies to produce zombies and skeletons. It is a kind of dark magic』
The black-haired girl retold the story as follows.
The village had been destroyed when the Empire had caused the “Armed Goblin Incident.” The dragon egg was left behind as a foothold of the necromancer.
Upon discovering the egg, the Valkyria Knights experienced something unexpected.
◆◆◆
The Valkyria Knights, the black-haired knight Rinon, and Nao had arrived at the village when she spotted the mystery egg.
She noticed that the egg was rather large.
To break apart the egg, she used a pyro-property stone to blow it apart.
However, the moment before she tried to destroy the egg, the magical ring started to glow and the egg suddenly hatched.
A dragon with a characteristically large chin appeared, emerging from the stench of something rotting. It was a rotten dragon.
The Valkyria Knights turned their sights toward the rotten dragon. It perceived the girls as food and ran right for Nao.
It’s not clear why the dragon went after Nao, but she ordered the knights to retreat.
The knights ran for it.
Fortunately, the movements of the dragon who had just been born were rather slow. They managed to put some distance between them and the dragon.
Suddenly, the Dragon opened its mouth wide and let out some white smoke.
The white smoke would instantly dissolve anything it would touch. One of the knights who was riding the horse furthest in the back of the group lost her life.
Nao became furious watching one of her knights die and lost her cool.
She turned around and hit the dragon head-on.
The other knights couldn’t just abandon Nao and so they turned to support her.
The dragon had even more blunt movements as it had just breathed white smoke. The knights were able to attack it. It’s skin was made of decomposing material, so the attacks actually did a lot of harm to it. Every time the girls would slash the dragon, it would screech.
But, what came out of the dragon’s mouth wasn’t blood.
It was some kind of purple liquid.
This liquid appeared to be some kind of acid that melted the weapons and armor of the knights. Unable to stop the dragon even with their best attacks, the knights were eaten up one by one.
~
Before they knew it, ten lives had been lost.
Princess Nao was in pieces before ordering retreat again.
Without any time for vengeance, the knights tried to retreat, though many of them were killed in the process. The dragon tried to intercept Nao but had been stopped.
She ran for her life, crossing the grass plain. They realized they had made it to safety but they had lost half of their troop in the process.
◆◆◆
“A real dragon egg!? I can’t believe it…”
“It would be horrible if it was to reach the city…!!”
“We’ve got to report this to the capital! We’ve got to dispatch troops!!”
Rinon’s report greatly frightened the security troops. Reito and crew silently listened to her story until the end.
“We were only to get away by chance. It appeared in a village surrounded by clouds but when it followed us to the grass fields, it was hit by sunlight and let out a shriek, running away. It’s weak point appears to be sunlight.
“Sunlight…”
“If my hypothesis is correct, there’s no one who can stop it at night. It might come after us again tonight. We’ve got to get the support of the capital before then”
Rinon spoke these words before one of the troops replied in a big voice, “Are you aware how far we are from the capital!? And you’re saying the creature acts at night!! Even if they were to send support now, I don’t think we could make it to the capital in time!!”
“Hey, don’t underestimate the knights!!”
“Shut up!! These knights are the ones who brought this rotten dragon here in the first place. I’m running for it!! I don’t wanna die!!”
The soldier lost his restraint and ran for it.
Dragons are also known as Disaster Monsters as their very existence brought about disasters. No one could fault the soldier for running away.
Rinon had made up her mind, “I’m worried about the princess’s help. I’m going to head for the capital. There’s not a moment to spare. I must inform the king about the situation.”
“But, in your current state…”
“We don’t have time to think about that. The dragon might come and attack at any moment!?”
“Don’t be rash!! It’s impossible given the state of your body!!”
Recovery Magic couldn’t recover fatigue.
She was at her physical and psychological limits after running so far. One of the soldiers who was heading toward the capital told her.
“For now, let’s get all the knights to the Healing Centers ASAP!! Everyone, lend a hand!!”
“Healing Center?”
Reito asked before Airis explained, 『 It’s what they call hospitals in this world. There’s no such thing as a doctor in this world, so a Recovery Specialist conducts the ‘healing’ at a place called the ‘Healing Center’.』
The Valkyria Knights had received treatment, but most of them were still unconscious.
Reito stared in silence, leaving them to the soldiers, and thought about what to do next.
Rinon, who was about to be taken to the healers, raised her voice in protest.
“I said I won’t go!! I’m gonna go to the royal capital…”
“In your current state, that’s impossible. Hey, you guys, restrain her!”
The soldiers tried to take her to the healers by force before a certain somebody approached.
“Grr, get off me, shit!”
“Stop struggling, you stupid girl!”
Bal appeared behind Rinon, having carried Nao to the Adventurer’s Guild.
Bal put Rinon into a chokehold, squeezing her lightly to knock her out. She put Rinon on her shoulders and called out to Reito, “The princess is all right. She’s sleeping at the Guild. Come along… I want to talk about the dragon.”
“Got it. Ullr, go back home. Lead the Cyclops back.”
Ullr whimpered, and the Cyclops seemed confused.
Kotomin asked Bal, “Should I come along too?”
“I can’t invite members who aren’t in the Guild. Run along now, little lady.”
“Hmph.”
Reito gave Ullr a small command.
Ullr obediently followed the command and put Kotomin on the wolf cart. The two of them, along with the Cyclops, went to Reito’s house in Adventure City.
Looking back, Ullr saw Reito following after Bal along with Gonzo and Dain.
~
“Nao… No, I mean, how’s the princess doing?” Reito asked, correcting himself to use honorifics. Bal let out a sigh.
“Her mind is more damaged than her body. Her eyes are open, but her consciousness isn’t there yet.”
“That’s terrible…”
“Will she be all right,” Dain asked, worried.
“Actually,” Reito shared all the information he had gotten from Rinon with Bal.
Bal seemed to know something about the rotten dragon. She suddenly stopped out of nowhere and clutched her head as if remembering some horrible incident.
“Rotten dragon… Do you mean the Zombie Dragon?”
“Zombie Dragon?”
Dain chimed in, “d-do you mean the legendary dragon child controlled by a necromancer? I’ve heard of that too.”
“Just what I expected out of a Dark Magician. Do you also know a lot about necromancers in general, given you’re the same class?”
“Don’t put me together with those criminals. We would never use the poor bodies of the deceased!”
“Zombie Dragon?” Listening to Dain and Bal’s conversation, Reito was confused.
Before long, Airis explained, 『One hundred years ago, a seed controlled by a necromancer appeared. The Necromancer discovered the dragon’s corpse by chance and gave it half of his own life to bring it back to life. The name given to that rotten dragon was “Zombie Dragon.” This rotten dragon had destroyed three towns before anyone knew it. After the Necromancer was assassinated, the rotten dragon passed away with it.』
『So, the rotten dragon this time around is…』
『Probably also the work of a necromancer. It appears he used a dragon that had died just before hatching this time around.』
『In that case, we’ve got to defeat the Necromancer.』
『That would be the fastest way to do it. But, it’s not such an easy opponent.』
『Why is that?』
『The Necromancer who brought to life the Zombie Dragon one hundred years ago gave half his life to bring it back and control it. This time, the Necromancer is not a human but a demon.』
『A demon… Just like Gain and Basil.』
『 That’s right. This opponent means trouble. It’s not the kind of opponent where I can tell you details about them beforehand, and you’ll be able to beat them.』
『Are they really so bad?』
There was something solemn about Airis’s voice that he had never heard before.
『 She’s a vampire that’s been alive for more than 100 years. The one who turned Gain into a vampire in the first place was also her. She is over a Level 80. If she had led a proper life, she would be dubbed a ‘Hero.’ She’s that much of a character.』
『She?』
『So, it was a girl who brought the rotten dragon back to life. And she is the world’s strongest Necromancer. She’s not an opponent you can defeat in your current state. Her name is Aira.』
『Aira… She has the same name as my mother.』
『 That’s right. Don’t worry, your mother didn’t become evil after you disappeared.』
『 I’d cry if that were the case!』
『Either way, there’s nothing you can do about her at the moment, so it’d be better to turn your sights on the rotten dragon. Try to figure out what Bal and crew’s course of action is.』
Avoiding any unnecessary conversation, Reito closed communication with Airis.
Reito followed her advice and decided to follow Bal.