Chapter 109: Fortress city Rennesto
The day after the command, everyone gathered in front of the hunter"s hut in the forest. We the soldiers at the bottom of our army are wearing the Celesta Army Summer Season equipment. Wearing thin and well-matched clothes, we carry each piece of luggage. Dianne, who usually feels like wearing a skirt with deep slit and a short garment so that her navel is revealed, wears a dress and decorations this time. She is a person who has normally nothing to do with fas.h.i.+on, but it seems that she has to be somewhat ready as part of public diplomacy. Aurora and Anzeros are dressed in first cla.s.s clothes in their respective styles. No, it"s not normal for them, so I don"t know it from seeing them from a distance. So, as usual, Jeanne sent us off, Selenium, Apple and Hilda don"t care about their appearances originally and Laila and Maia don"t need to be mentioned.
“Bring me a souvenir”
“You can expect it”
Jeanne and Selenium were in high touch without any tension. In front of us, Irina and the three Gauntlet Knights appear from the forest.
“Get in the carriage”
Dianne points quickly with her thumb. Each of the Gauntlets took a glimpse of me (in the case of Sharon, the other two were a bit grim) and boarded the carriage.
"But how do you intend to cross the Snake Mountain Range with a horseless carriage?"
In order to answer Sharon"s question, Maia walks up the gra.s.sland and poses in a pose. The brain is shaken by a illusionary impact that runs continuously. A 40m blue dragon appears in the gra.s.sland.
“!!”
“Blue Dragon!!”
“That girl……indeed, turned into a person?”
The three Gauntlet Knights raise a surprised voice and jump to the window. We follow them with a wry smile and get into the carriage. Well, we"re already used to it, but it"s normal to say that Maia who is like a spoiled little animal is a dragon.
—————————
“I see……we move with a dragon"s wings. I finally understood why Irinsama said we didn"t need to care about our return trip”
Sharon mutters from the window, looking down at the green meadow. A throbbing wind blows to inform us that we are already flying.
“This dragon, War G.o.d Dianne who slaughtered Sword Saint Brigade. I"d like to ask you what kind of relations.h.i.+p you have, but it"s definitely eligible for the expedition"s dispatch team. …… I don"t like that the northern elves are not sending someone”
Dianne who sits face to face with Felios refutes with a cool face.
"Maia is originally a favourite child in the northern forest. Her duty is the despatching of everyone”
“There are treasures, holy beasts and the ruins of the ancient civilization, and it"s a underhanded way of trying to set up a face without being one of them.
“Then what does Renfangas give them? ……Elf"s pride is good, but politics is different, Glory Clan´s Felios”
“Huh”
Felios closed his eyes by snorting. He doesn"t like anything.
“By the way”
The scar-faced ma.s.s elf, Berga who had been silent until then, opens his mouth.
"How much do you understand the Valerie language? There are a lot of things that seem to have gone out to the east side”
I was told and looked up. Valerie is a huge lake located in the center of the continent, east of the Snake Mountain Range. The surrounding small and medium-sized nations are called the Valerie Union and form a cultural sphere. Although Renfangas doesn"t face Lake Valerie directly, it belongs to the Valerie cultural sphere and their language seems to be different from the standard language of the northwest plain.
“A person who can speak Valerie”
The people who raised their hands, are only Dianne, Selenium, Hilda and Aurora.
“Laila, you cant speak it either?”
"Ho. I"ve been to the east, but it"s an old story. I didn"t need it at that time”
“It"s about talking……you"re okay without it”
Dragons can continue to work for months without drinking, eating, sleeping, and so on. Even if they are going on a pleasure jaunt in the eastern countries, there is no need to communicate separately.
“I don"t think it"s impossible to listen to it, but how about interpreting?”
“I see……”
She shake her hand and s.h.i.+fts her attention to Keiron and the others. Yeah I don"t expect you.
“When it comes to……Dianne-san and Aurora go to the castle and we all rely on Selenium and Hildsan”
Dianne, Anzeros and Aurora go directly to the castle for an audience. The rest is doing sightseeing in Renfangas……even if we don"t go, we"ll have to wait in the castle town until we"re called. If we don"t understand the language, we will have difficulty in the degree of freedom.
“All right”
Berga nods expressionlessly.
“Well, it"s us who called. We can"t handle the inconvenience of language. so let"s arrange an interpreter”
He seems like a man who understands the story unexpectedly. ……I mean, it"s natural because he"s like a diplomatic envoy.
“Just a moment please”
It was Sharon who raised her voice there. Not only us, but the other two Gauntlet Knights also look suspicious of what Sharon says.
"I"m going to guide them. Even though things may appear this way, I still lived 15 years in Rennesto. There won"t be a shortage”
“Naa”
"Sharon!?"
While the two men are scared, Sharon is determined.
"Even if the other party is Her Majesty the Queen´s honoured guest, a Black Arm is not enough to escort them around"
“That"s……Thats right”
"Sharon, I don"t know what you"re thinking recently"
"That"s exactly what I said. ……And honestly, Smithson-san can"t be left alone at Rennesto"
"…………"
“……Reasonable”
Why do they look at me with their convincing eyes?
——————————
Renfangas Kingdom. A medium-sized kingdom that plays a role in preventing the flooding of monsters from the so-called demon territory, which has long been a large outbreak zone of demons to the north of the Eastern Mountain Range and east of the Snake Mountain Range. It was reported that it was once a member of the "Northern Six Kingdoms" that thrived in the demon territory, but the Northern Six Kingdoms were destroyed due to the remarkable 「Qi」 caused by the labyrinth destruction movement 300 years ago. It was said only Renfangas survived and that it was supposed to prevent the monsters from going south. The head of the state is served by the Queen for generations and more than half of Renfangas army, a group of specialists in the extermination of monsters, is said to be mercenaries. Fighting with monsters continues to occur most frequently on the continent, especially in the recent years without a big war, the pride of continental hunters seeking wealth and fame is first to make a name for them in Renfangas.
The capital city is Rennesto, the fortress city. Not only here, the cities of Renfangas are mostly surrounded by fortresses and even small villages are surrounded by high stone walls, so it is designed to be a fortress, but we descended dignifiedly on Rennesto´s castle as it is.
"Hey, Dianne, what are you going to do!"
Felios panics when he sees the guards in the castle panicking. Rather, we were a little surprised. I didn"t think we"d get off the dragon"s dignity without using a illusion. But Dianne don"t mind me and muttered to Chibi Maia on my shoulder.
“Do it with a roar because it"s a great deal of trouble. Scare them as much as you can”
“Uh”
An abiotic high-pitched roar echoes from Dagon Maia"s throat. Perhaps it sounded in the streets rather than in the guards.
“I heard what you"re going to do!”
"Everyone raise your face up. Come on, let"s go”
Inspired by Dianne, we get out of the carriage. There were a lot of red Gauntlet and Black Gauntlet warriors gathering outside, pus.h.i.+ng the guards away.
"You guys!!"
"Who are you!! Of all things, you oppose our Renfangas!”
In the midst of the slightly confused person´s cry, the awkward Sharon, Felios who is biting on his lips and the expressionless Berga appear as usual.
"That"s……Knight Sharon"
“There is Sir Felios”
“That means……this dragon is……”
To the warriors who are terrified, Dianne raises a medal with the crest of the Celesta army.
"We are the Dianne special duty corps, reporting directly to the Celesta army headquarters! At the request of the clan meeting of the northern elves territory, we were invited by the Renfangas Kingdom! This dragon follows us!"
The noise becomes even bigger.
“They brought a dragon……!?”
"No, is it true that the elves posses dragon riders?"
“But that"s a dark elf……no wait, did she say Celesta´s Dianne!?”
“Is that Dianne of Talc, Minister Ashton´s treasured child!”
Eventually it turns into cheers.
"Felios-sama brought a dragon as an ally!"
"Felios-sama, incredible!"
"That dragon, Felios-sama called it!?"
And, it changes into Felios calls sooner or later and the surrounding changes into the commotion like a festival by Maia"s reading the air again and roaring.
“……Dianne, you”
“Well, if you have a complaint, would you like to ask?”
Dianne has a self-satisfied look on her face.
Certainly the impact of a dragon is huge. But if you use it as a sensational appearance rather than panic……it"s very effective as long as it is in a situation where it can be used. The fact that there is only the fortress city and it can hardly be seen from the town once it has landed on the castle is a good factor because it requires less calculation.
"Maia, please be patient for a while. If you are in your dragon form only during the audience, the story will be faster"
“……OK, I got it”
Chibi Maia looks at me once and confirms that I nod before replying. And the blue dragon standing on the side of the carriage settles down like a tuna and sprinkles the affection to the guards and gauntlet knights that surround it in fear.
“Good, Anzeros, Aurora, follow me. Sister, I rely on you”
“Leave it to me”
And those who partic.i.p.ate in the audience went into the castle following Felios and Berga, who had complex faces. We are…….
"Well then……let"s go. I didn"t expect this to happen suddenly"
“Where?”
"To a place where you can eat"
Even though we had cut straight through the mountains, we flew a long distance from Polka rather than Ba.s.son, so we were certainly hungry.
“No objection”
“If possible, it"s good to be able to eat without worrying about manners or anything like that”
With the support of Keiron and Boyd, we decided to go out to the fortress city at dusk. The gazes around me are a bit painful, but it"s certainly a little easier thanks to Sharon.
—————————
There is only one country with a lot of mercenaries, and it is not as formal as they want……or perhaps I should say, they were able to find a Celeststyled skewer stand.
"I"m so happy because I only had Trot meals lately"
"That isn"t bad at all, but this Celeststyle salt bang pepper bang fat bang tan is delicious”
As Goto and Lantz said, it was a good stand that held the point of Celesta cuisine.
“I don"t know any other Celeststyle shop. I wish I could introduce a more firm shop”
Sharon apologizes, but it was a perfect feeling for us.
“Well, we came to Renfangas with great pains, so next time I"d like a restaurant unique to Renfangas”
Hildsan says that and the easy going Selenium and Laila agree.
"I want to think about souvenirs for Jeanne-chan. I want to learn more about the current Renfangas culture"
“It"s good to have a lot of alcohol”
Everyone seemed to be enjoying it and it was more than anything. ……I wonder if Dianne and the others are doing well too.
It was us who had been eating calmly for a while, but it was when the day was completely gone and the sky was filled with stars that the uneasy air began to flow through the simple dining s.p.a.ce lined with barrels and tables.
"Ouu. Who do we have here”
“!?”
I reflexively turn around to the vulgar voice that was heard immediately behind. There was a human male behind me. What makes him face unnaturally……is Apple"s profile. Faster than Apple pulled out of the way, the man inadvertently grabbed Apple"s ear.
“Naa……it, hurts!!”
“Half elf, see!”
What"s with this guy?
“Hey, you”
When I reach out to grab that arm, the next moment, my view rotates at high speed. The sound of Crash, bang, rattle is heard. And pain.
"Smithsonn!!"
"10-man captain Smithson!!"
I heard the voices of Keiron and Lantz.
……I seemed to have been hit with a back fist in a moment and blown over the table.
……That"s serious. It"s such a blitz punch that I have understood it later than I"ve been beaten, isn"t this a Ace Knight cla.s.s skill? Such rudeness, like this,
“Ya, let me go……!!”
“No. ……Hehee, half elf. A beautiful half elf with good b.r.e.a.s.t.s and a nice a.s.s. You will be sold highly”
To work such lawlessness.
“Ga……a”
I stand up slowly. I"m having trouble to stand on my feet firmly.
“Smithson-san!”
“Sharon……I, that person”
"Ye, Yes. ……Rude fellow, do you work lawless in front of this Black Arm!!"
“Ah? ……Who are you?”
The strange man doesn"t seem to have been moved by Sharon"s gauntlet.
"Renfangas"s Army Black Arm, Glory Sharon. Let go of her and leave"
“I, wo-nt”
The man sticks out his tongue in a underestimating tone.
“I don"t think you´re really a Black Arm. Well, I admit that I came here to raise a flag. Coco, it seems that you can get into the army regardless of your background. Isn"t it better to catch and sell stupid kittens and make money?"
“Nonsense”
Sharon puts her hands on her sword. Goto and Boyd run to cut off the man"s escape route. But the man is grinning.
“Sure, is it like three knights to one Black Arm?”
Unexpectedly, Goto and Boyd are blown away and fell down. That strange man"s companions. 2, 3……there are four people including Apple.
"Is it like we win?"
One is an ogre. He looks thin than normal ogres and you wonder how he was trained and he makes you feel that he is exceptionally light. One of them is a cat beast. The other was a human. All of them have the same ability. ……They cant be from Trot or Celesta.
I see, it means that Sharon can"t let go of them. One of the continent"s most dangerous nations is using arms to make up for it, regardless of their background. It doesn"t mean that it"s a temple of evil people. It"s too dangerous for us to walk in such a town without a big escort (They probably think that Sharon only has a decent fighting power except for the three who went to the audience and Maia).
“……Owner. I"m about to run out of patience, but is it okay to burn them down?”
Laila shows her canine and whispers. If it is true, Laila would be the first to slay and kill them, but she seemed to have kept Dianne"s policy of hiding her power. But can you say that in this situation anymore?
“Laila……I entrust it to you”
“I know”
The moment Laila cracked her knuckles and tried to step forth.
“Hey, younger sister of the ill-natured siblings. ……You came back quite quickly. I didn"t think you will overtake me”
A voice came from behind the men. Looking straight ahead, a slightly bald middle-aged man and a short girl appeared. As for the middle-aged man, he has a gold gauntlet with clothes like the townspeople in the neighborhood. From here, you can see that he is wearing a cloak and carrying a bag as he is returning home. The short girl as everyone knows is Neia Grans. With an old-fas.h.i.+oned hat and a weird cloak, she nods with an inappropriate smile.
"Lord Buster……and Neia Grans"
"What, this youngster, was he the guest who came over here? If so……then I didn"t talk so much, hahaha"
The middle-aged man, Alex Buster, laughs happily with Neia and pa.s.ses through the men……when I notice, he takes Apple with his arm opposite to Neia.
“Well, we"ve met again. ……This time I"ll give you my name”
He laughs and pushes Apple to me. After seeing the mysterious sight, the men started to change colors.
“……What are you doing, baldie!”
“Return the woman! Baldie!”
“Get out of my sight, baldie!”
The smile disappeared from Alex Buster"s face.
"Ah, yeah. It"s fine to be a.s.sertive. Yeah. Don"t forget that some people are hurt, even if you shout at a person"s physical characteristics. ……That"s right, kneel down on the ground”
Alex Buster tells them with a serious face. Of course they don"t listen.
“Haa? I"ll kill you baldie”
“Or rather you will die, baldie”
“You don"t know who you"re talking to, baldie”
The group of four begins to walk toward him. Alex Buster groaned.
"Hey, 『Hero』. To be frank, you feel offended"
“Yes♪”
“I"ll do the left two”
"Ho, wait. Please give one to me"
"……Ah. I don"t know who you´re, but it"s okay. ……Ill-natured, you also want one?”
“My name is Sharon, not ill-natured!!”
Alex Buster turned his gaze to one of the four dumb thugs that were approaching.
"Good. 『Become a stone』”
A word from Alex Buster. The next moment the man who grabbed Apple before suddenly becomes a gray statue with clothes and hair.
“!!”
Everyone, including us, were startled. ……It"s not that I"ve never heard of a curse of becoming a stone. I have heard that there is such a curse mechanism in the labyrinth. However, it was the first time I saw that there was 「Magic」 that really let you become a stone.
"Oh dear. ……Buster-sama. please go easy on them”
As Neia approaches the ogre, she jumps sharply and make a roundhouse kick.
“!!”
There was a strange sound. The ogre, who was stunned by the impact of petrification, turned into a square shape from the waist and rolled several tens of meters. The remaining two people are attacked by Laila"s claw and Sharon"s slash attack. The cat beastman scrambled with his face divided into four and the human male has his arm separated from his shoulder.
“Yeah. ……Well, its a.s.suredly that. It"s not good to say baldie about a person"s physical characteristics”
Alex Buster slams the petrified man"s hair with a serious look. The man who lost his arm was handed over to the guards. The Cat beastman may be blind and die if he is poor. I wonder if the ogre can"t stand any longer. He"s in a terrific state, but maybe he"s just alive by fighting with this face.
"Th, That……can he be cured?”
I"m curious about the technique of petrification.
“Well, if he works hard, he"ll get well. If there is a person who can cure him, as I don"t know how to cure him”
Alex Buster was pleased with the mottled hair of the statue and kicked down the stone statue as if he had lost interest.
"Now. Let"s be delighted to meet again. ……I"m Alex Buster. As you can see, I´m a refres.h.i.+ng attractive middle-aged man. This fellow here is my companion, Neia Grans”
“I know”
“What do you know?”
He is smiling and introducing himself, but I can"t deny that it"s a little bit distracting.
“I"m……under the direct control of the Celesta"s military headquarters, Dianne´s Special Duty Corps 10-man captain, Andy Smithson”
“Hou. ……That Dianne, is she the daughter of Celesta´s minister?”
“Ye, Yes”
“I see. ……Yeah, I see. Neia, this is going to be fun”
“It"s nice”
In front of the two who looked like a parent and child, we had no choice but to laugh drily.