Half-Dragon Slave Life

Chapter 32: Apt.i.tude

Translated by Soyokaze Translations: soyokazetranslation . Com

The atmosphere was hard to describe that night as a drinking party started .

Within the cottage of the fifth cla.s.s, the lowest ranked, the second ranked of the cla.s.s year sits cross-legged, downing alcohol .

“I mean seriously! That guy causes nothing but trouble!”

“Well, with that personality and all…”

“And our homeroom teacher, Gaspari, is a b.a.s.t.a.r.d with the same kind of att.i.tude . It’s the worst, I’m telling you! The .  Worst . ”

“Quite amazing how a person like that became an educator, no?”

Her main drinking partner is Maria . And Gaspari is that detestable instructor . So he’s cla.s.s one’s homeroom teacher?

Because they’re both girls, and because she’s the one imposing on us already, Seele went over to Maria on her own .

At first the others were being cautious about the alcoholic present, thinking, “Isn’t this a trap by cla.s.s one?” But the person who gave the gift joined in on drinking, so they’ve ceased worrying about it .

“That guy, you see, he’s got a special skill . It’s the only reason he managed to get the teacher position . ”

“A special skill?”

At the moment Master and I, being minors, are sipping at fruit juice with honey in it .

Surprisingly, Mister Cole had almost immediately come by with it prepared for us . He’s way too quick with his work .

It’s not as if drinking is forbidden for minors in this world, but I appear to have a habit of stripping when I get drunk, so I’m finding caution to be highly valuable at the moment .

Showing my skin off to anyone other than Master would be disgraceful .

“Yup! A brown nose and a wagging tail!”

“Aah, he certainly gave off that feeling . ”

“Riiight? Oh, you over there, you gonna drink too? Today’s on me . My treat!”

She seemed to think one bottle wouldn’t be enough for a party, so after that she took out a whole ten more bottles from her bags .

That’s quite the amount the bring to a school event…

“I’m drinking . Only juice though . ”

“No alcohol for me . ”

“Awww~ c’mon, drink! Who cares if you’re minors?”

“Things get a little dodgy when she gets drunk, so uhh…”

And so, while I was dodging Seele’s attempts to approach me with bottle in hand, the night continued on .

Translated by Soyokaze Translations: soyokazetranslation . Com

The next morning I awoke to the sound of Master’s practice swings . Among the dead drunk corpses scattered across the living room, Yig managed to slip into the mix . When did she get here?

Having already cleared the mission, cla.s.ses five and one have free time now, so it looks like we won’t be monitored as long as we stay in the campground .

Which is why they wouldn’t notice Yig sneak her way in here .

Actually it’s still kinda impressive she got in…

I wash my face, brush my teeth, and stuff myself with some leftover snack in place of breakfast .

Once fully awake, I step outside to join in Master’s training .

“Good morning, Master Rimuru . ”

“Morning, Eir . Sleep well?”

“With how it is in there…”

Actually, the ruckus from the party did surprisingly little to disturb my sleep . I’m not sleep-deprived enough to actually complain about it .

“You okay? It’s dangerous to swing a sword if you’re half-asleep . ”

“I’m fine . Just a wooden sword anyway . ”

“Then let’s step away from here a little . If we’re too close to the cottage, then the clashing is going to be ringing in the heads of everyone who’s drunk . ”

We move to the edge of the campground, and I have sword practice with Master .

The eye patch is still covering my left eye, so my reactions are down to that of a normal human’s . I can have some decent exchanges with Master like this .

After a few exchanges, Yig awoke and joined in, turning it into a real training session .

This is about when Master can’t keep up anymore, so he usually takes a break and observes .

It was the usual training scene up til now .

“And a whoosh . ”

“Ah—”

Together with Yig’s mindless noise, my sword flies out of my hands .

Even though I shouldn’t be losing out in physical abilities, I still can’t break through her sword technique .

I feel like I’ve gotten pretty used to sword skills now though…

“Hrmph . ”

“Hmmm…?”

As I go to pick up my sword with apparent reluctance, Yig tilts her head .

“What?”

“Ahh, I’m just gonna say it, but… Chief, you’ve really got no talent for swords . ”

“Guh… Well I don’t think I can compare to a gift holder…”

“Sure, that’s only natural if we’re comparing to them . That’s not what I mean though, it’s more like… You can’t use the appropriate skill with the appropriate timing, that sort of thing, y’know?”

I’m learning all of the techniques, but I’m not using them at the best times, is what she’s saying?

“Gift holders sure aren’t going to make mistakes on any of that stuff though . If you were to face off against anyone like that, I’m pretty sure you’d lose, Chief . ”

“You really… Think so?”

“A sword might not actually be the right weapon for you . ”

“But Eir is strong enough to treat even super muscular guys like bugs . ”

Master backs me up without a moment’s delay .

Yig doesn’t mince words, but I know she doesn’t mean any harm by it . Swords probably really aren’t right for me .

“That’s the thing though . Chief’s strength is nothing to spit at, so she could just plant a good kick on any macho dudes that face her . That’s just because her physical abilities are way up there . But actually those abilities might mean swords aren’t your thing . ”

“She’s not suited for it because her abilities are high?”

“Yeah . All said and done, swords are weapons focused on being “all-purpose weapons against humans” . A weapon you can come up with lots of techniques for to use it as works best . But in Chief’s case, she’s not really dexterous . So rather than relying on techniques, she’d probably be better off with a weapon that lets her use her strength and slam enemies with it . ”

“Use her strength… Like an axe or a war hammer?”

“Right, yeah . ”

Come to think of it, wasn’t there an axe among all that equipment I’ve got?

“Like this…?”

I lightly pull a gigantic, dark red, single-bladed, two-handed axe from “Dimensional Storage” . Its gla.s.sy blade’s surface almost seems to be alive .

And its size slightly exceeds two meters .

“Ah, that’s the flame axe, “Agni Blaze” . It’s a war axe made from the wing of the flame spirit king, Efreet . ”

“Wow . ”

“It’s a convenient weapon that erupts in flames if you fill it with magic power . But the handle gets wrapped in flames too, so be careful of that when you use it . ”

“What the heck? That’s so useless…”

“Wouldn’t it be fine in your left hand, Eir? Your dragonized parts should have resistance to flames . ”

“Ah, I’ll try . ”

I’d rather not have my clothes burn up, so I remove my gloves, and let the magic power flow .

Once I did, the entire axe was quickly engulfed in violent flames .

“Wah! Wah?!”

“The flames’ll stop if you cut off your magic power~ . ”

Just as she said, the flames faded in no time once I stopped the flow of magic power .

“Hmmm, seems convenient in its own way . Like when we need to start fires?”

“We don’t need a match this big . ”

“What do you think, Chief? Feel usable?”

“It’s light compared to its size, and I should be able to get used to the flames, I guess? And also… There seem to be two of these?”

“Wings do usually come in pairs, after all~ . ”

So there’s two of them because they came from a pair of wings .

But my right hand has no resistance to fire . When I told Yig that, she easily presented a countermeasure .

“In that case, you’ve got “Water Vine Gloves”, right? Put those on and you’ll guard against the flames . ”

What I pulled out from “Dimensional Storage” were a pair of brown gloves which are pretty big on me .

I put those on and tested it in my left hand, just in case, and I couldn’t even feel the heat .

“So if I wear these over my long gloves, I’ll be fine with the flames, I guess? But…”

“Yeah, they’ll be a bit awkward . Those were originally the wind G.o.d’s equipment, after all . ”

“This is more mythical grade equipment?!”

“As a matter of fact, you can a.s.sume those will block any fire-based attack . ”

Another unbelievable thing just lying around… I’m starting to feel vaguely afraid of what’s in my “Dimensional Storage” .

In any case, I equip myself with gloves and the axes in both hands, and feed them magic power to bring out their flames . My right arm being weak, I use “Magic Power Bestowal” to enhance my muscles and hold the axe .

With all that taken care of, I swing them around and test how they feel .

“DaaaaAAAAH?!”

“Wha, hey, that’s hot!”

They axes left flames in its tracks, and turned my surroundings into a firestorm .

Moreover, when I swing it up or down, the flames fly off with the momentum, making its effect range pretty wide .

It seemed like Master and Yig were going to get caught up in the flames, so I hurriedly shut the magic power off .

“Th-this is… dangerous . ”

“You’ll have to be plenty careful when using them… But they’re definitely powerful . ”

“Looks like it might be best to fill it with magic while you use it . All that’s left is its edge . ”

Being the edge of the campground, there’s plenty of firewood piled up here . I thought about how lucky we were they didn’t burn up, as I inwardly felt a cold sweat cropping up .

A few of those pieces of firewood were brought forward to bring the axes down on . There was hardly any resistance as the were sliced apart .

“Master Rimuru, this is crazy… its blade is no joke . ”

“Looks that way . Let’s try it on a few more . ”

After that we tried it out with plenty of them, but it even cut clean through thick logs .

It even easily cut through one of the grand hedgehog quills while Master filled it with magic . But of course, with Yig’s level of magic running through, I couldn’t cut it .

In terms of strength it’s probably just a little below Fafnir type dragon claws .

“This axe will cut better than a lousy sword…”

“Seems like we’ll need a sheath if you wanna walk around with it . ”

“Does feel like I might accidentally cut something when I pa.s.s by it otherwise . ”

“Hm, pretty sure there should be a sheath for it somewhere—?”

If Yig says so . I searched “Dimensional Storage” again, and sure enough there it was .

The sheath is worn on the back, with the handle at the shoulder, and the axe’s blade below the waist . The blade on Agni Blaze is pretty huge, so it ends up hanging near my heels .

“Two of them this big is impossible . ”

“Throwing one of them in “Dimensional Storage” should be fine, right? Just one of them should be plenty against normal people or standard magic beasts . ”

“Hey Chief, if we’ve got the weapon problem solved, how ’bout we practice with it?”

“Hmph, I’m getting revenge this time . ”

We don’t have any practice axes, so I wield Agni Blaze, and Yig is handed Gram .

It’s an important sword lent to us by Mister Burns, but any old lousy sword would be split in two by this axe with how sharp it is . This sword is probably the only thing that can stand up to it, so give me a break here .

This sword probably won’t even get a nick in the blade against the flame axe .

I take my distance, ready the axe, and get my breathing in order before leaping forward .

Translated by Soyokaze Translations: soyokazetranslation . Com

“c.r.a.p… Chief, that edge… it’s crazy strong . ”

The results of the practiced showed that, once I got used to the axe, I cornered Yig surprisingly easily .

On top of being small, I’m equipped with a high-end dragon’s power, so my explosive energy is way above Yig’s .

Even when I was using a sword, I was just taking advantage of that speed to stab and slash, so even switching to an axe, my fighting style hasn’t changed all that much .

The problem is the change in the weapon’s characteristics .

Especially the centrifugal force from using the long handle . And focusing all the destructive power on one spot . When Yig tried to block those attacks, she was easily blown away, and I made the attacks harder to parry .

In other words, I was clearly better adapted to an axe than a sword .

“It was the very definition of a display of power . At this rate you might be able to overwhelm techniques . ”

“Mm, I feel something awakening in me . ”

“Eir, that’s probably something you shouldn’t let awaken . ”

As a creepy smile spreads across my face, Master seems repulsed .

And that’s when several elves came running .

“Hey, we saw some kind of pillar of fire around here; are you okay?!”

“—Ah . ”

The flames from the practice swings a moment ago… Gotta make some kind of excuse… Ummmm .

“Master was practicing magic . ”

“Hey?!”

“Didn’t control it right, and it ran wild, see?”

“Boss has high magic power, after all—”

“I-is that what it was…? That’s some amazing magic power . ”

Master is a healer who can even use [Recovery] after all, so causing a fire pillar like that shouldn’t be all that strange . Probably . Maybe .

“By the way, I don’t think saw that girl before?”

“Ah… this is my servant, and she came to bring Eir her weapon . Look, it’s so big we decided to leave it behind, but she didn’t realize, and…”

Master took advantage of the question to also explain the axe I had on my back now .

He’s quick witted as always .

“Aah, that weapon would certainly be inconvenient inside the school . But she did her best to carry it all this way; that’s very praiseworthy . ”

“Yeah, I wouldn’t think of scolding her for that . ”

Yig looks like a child . Her carrying a greatsword or axe all the way here could be transformed into an episode of industrious bravery .

It was a good opportunity, so we concluded our practice . After Master somehow managed to bring things to a close, we went back to the cottage together .