TLN: Demon Lord Dragon -> Demonic King Dragon. To reduce confusion.
(328) The other White Wolf Race
Translator: Tseirp
For now, I told all the members in My World that I will be setting off the subjugate a Demonic King Dragon.
"Such great luck. We"ll save the time needed to travel to the Eastern Continent."
"I"m worried about the nearby villagers."
Haru was itching to fight.
Carol was worried about the villagers but there was no need to.
"All the villagers went on a hot spring holiday with the gold they received from selling the Ancient Dragon so there"s no need to worry. I heard about it from the Mercenary Guild master so it"s reliable."
" … My worries were for nothing."
Yup, I understood her feelings. I was worried just like her and it was for nothing as well.
"A Demonic King Dragon …"
Rarael muttered after listening to me.
"Rarael has some knowledge about it?"
"Yes. Demonic King Dragon – – a dragon possessing scales of darkness and two red horns. Legends of it were verbally handed down from the Dark Elf leader from two generations ago. That was from a long time ago so it was said that they no longer exist on this continent but so they actually still do."
Now that I think about it, Lake Landau and the Great Forest were nearby and the Dark Elves have a long lifespan. So such legends still remain.
"Does it have a weakness? Like it dies if a sword is pierced between the eyes."
"I believe most living beings die if a sword is pierced between their eyes."
"Rarael is right … wait, we had this conversation just a while back."
I guess the weakness of dragons between the eyes can"t be used in this world.
Then do they have any other weakness?
The reverse scale?
To-touching that would probably just make it angry.
Haru, Carol and I headed toward the meetup location.
The meetup location was the Mercenary Guild meeting room.
We arrived 30 minutes before the scheduled time.
When we entered the room, even though it was 30 minutes before the decided time, there was a party of four adventurers already waiting.
"""Ah!"""
The three of us unconsciously raised our voices when we saw them.
""""Ah!""""
And the four of them raised their voices as well after noticing us.
The people there were – –
"Well isn"t it Suzuki!"
"Kusunoki-kun!? I see, so the ones who accepted the request was Kusunoki-kun"s party!"
Suzuki and I exchanged handshakes.
He was Suzuki Kouta.
A j.a.panese who transmigrated to this world just like me. I met him in the past in Dakyat and we fought together against the monster pandemic.
I knew all the three females who travel with Suzuki.
The one wearing the nun outfit, Miles.
The Swordswoman, Kyanshi.
The young girl hugging a teddy bear, Schreyl.
Miles" job had changed from 【Apprentice Pract.i.tioner】 to 【Pract.i.tioner】while the other two girl"s jobs remained the same. 【Swordsman】 and 【Shaman】.
Apart from Miles" job, there was another great change.
All three of them … were Suzuki"s slave.
"Eh? All three of you are not wearing slave collars anymore?"
Their necks were all unadorned.
"Yup, a lot of things happened. I released all of them from slavery."
"I see. I did the same too."
I said and showed him by taking off Carol"s slave collar that she had repurposed into an accessory.
After hearing that, Suzuki"s three female companions looked at me with surprised expressions.
Sheesh.
There was still some time before the meet-up time so I decided for all of us to eat instant noodles together.
After all, Suzuki could only eat soggy noodles the other time.
"Sheena No.3 will pour the hot water desu."
"Ah, can I leave that to you? Also, don"t spit out the hot water with your mouth. There is a pot of hot water inside the item bag so use that."
Sheena No.3 closed her wide open mouth after I said that. I knew she wanted to pour hot water out of her mouth.
I was learning too.
"Wait, why are you here!?"
I retorted at Sheena No.3 as she calmly poured hot water.
"I"ve been here since the very beginning though?"
No no, there"s no way that can be true?
"She"s been here since the start." Said Haru.
"Yes, she"s been here since the start." Said Carol.
"Yeah, I was thinking that was the first time I"ve seen this girl." Said Suzuki.
"I was thinking she has beautiful hair." Said Miles.
"She doesn"t look that strong so I wasn"t interested." Said Kyanshi.
" … Just now, I got candy … hehe." Said Schreyl.
I was the only one!?
Only I failed to notice her?
Haru and Carol seem to have thought that I gave her permission to come along.
"So what actually are you here for!?"
"I wanted to listen about the Demonic King Dragon desu!"
"But you weren"t there at that time."
I can"t be wrong. Sheena should have been sleeping in her own room.
"I was heard it all desu."
Sheena No.3 said and picked out a machine-like thing that was on my back.
She was eavesdropping!?
This Automata seriously has all kinds of functions.
"I am Sheena No.3 desu! I am an Automata desu! The Demonic King Dragon might be at the base of the lake desu so leave it to Sheena No.3 to investigate desu!"
Sheena No.3 volunteered herself.
"Automata? Seriously?"
Suzuki stared at Sheena No.3 as though he couldn"t believe it.
Upon seeing Suzuki"s actions, his three companions showed sullen expressions.
Even if the other party was an Automata, they probably hate having the guy they like stare at a girl other than themselves. It was a harem as usual …
"It"s true desu. This is proof desu."
Sheena No.3 took off her own head to show them.
Her actions were the same as the robot created by the doctor who just entered a slump in his career.
"So it"s true … I thought this was a fantasy world but it has science fiction elements as well. Perhaps even time travel is possible."
Suzuki seemed to have entered some train of thought.
Although Sheena No.3 was SF, she was just slightly strange, not to the level of science fiction. A resident of F-sensei"s world view. Although her actions were under T-sensei"s world view. (TL: No idea what the author is going on about.)
"Hey you, this is not the time to talk about this. Shouldn"t you be sleeping?"
"It"s okay desu. I heard desu. You can finish Sheena No.3"s maintenance once you obtain the Dragon Core, right? In that case, it doesn"t count as overdoing it desu."
That might be true.
And it was a fact that Sheena No.3 would be useful in investigating the bottom of the lake.
However, I didn"t intend to let her search for the Demonic King Dragon. I intended for her to salvage the Demonic King Dragon when it sinks to the bottom of the lake after we defeat it.
"Don"t overdo it."
"Like I said, it is not overdoing it."
Sheena No.3 cackled.
Looking at her face,
"She really doesn"t look like a robot."
Suzuki said as he took the Red Tanuki (TL: Instant soba brand). Schreyl and Carol imitated him.
It seemed that Suzuki decided to leave the tempura for later and didn"t add it in. Schreyl did the same.
Carol added the tempura in first.
Then, the three of them opened the lid at the same time.
"Ichino-sama, I apologize for eating first."
"It"s okay, go ahead."
Suzuki and Carol used chopsticks dextrously while Schreyl started eating the soba with a fork.
"I"ve only eaten 10% Soba (TL: Another brand) before but this is delicious too."
Said Suzuki.
I knew that he could only eat 10% Soba because of his wheat allergy but I was a little annoyed.
The only soba I ate were the 3-sphere (TL: Another brand) 90 yen soba sold in supermarkets.
And so after two minutes, the Red Tanuki and Ra Emperor were done.
Haru and Miles took the Ra Emperor and added the seasoning oil before eating.
"This has such a rich taste ─ ─ Master, may I add dried meat into this?"
"Sure."
Adding dried meat into the soup probably won"t cause the flavor to come out immediately but I understood the feeling of the noodle looking luxurious by adding meat so I approved it.
"Oh, that looks good. Could I have some too?"
"Yeah, Haru, we have plenty so split some with her."
"Understood."
Haru pa.s.sed Kyanshi the dried meet.
Then, Kyanshi took a bite of the large fried tofu while eating the dried meat.
"Eh? This isn"t racc.o.o.n dog meat."
She was mistaken. Although it was called Red Tanuki, it didn"t have racc.o.o.n dog meat in it. (TL: Tanuki = Racc.o.o.n Dog)
The fried tofu was made of soybean so it was considered the meat of the fields.
I thought to myself as I ate the fried tofu.
It was filled with soup stock and was delicious.
I had a lot of cup noodles so I gave some to Suzuki.
I mixed in some cup yakisoba and cup abura soba as well.
In exchange, I received some high-grade duck meat from what is known as a White-Spotted Duck. The meat was around 3 kg so that alone should cost around 50,000 sense.
Cup noodles in exchange for high-grade meat ─ ─ such a good deal.
I felt bad so I gave him some vegetables such as tomatoes as presents.
We should eat together again at some other time.
I was just thinking that when Haru"s ears perked up and she suddenly stood up.
"Haru, what"s wrong?"
"This scent, it feels familiar ─ ─"
Haru looked at the entrance door.
A presence was approaching.
Then, the person entered.
"I thought something smelled good, so you guys were having a meal."
It was an adult woman wearing silver armor. She was probably in her early thirties? She had old scars on both cheeks seemingly from the scratch of a beast and unlike Chutou, she gave off the atmosphere of a real experienced mercenary.
And then, her defining characteristic was ─ ─ that she was a White Wolf Race.
Her long white hair was tied up behind her head and she had the characteristic animal ears.
I don"t know if there are other races such as a White Dog Race that resembled them but she was probably a White Wolf Race.
The White Wolf Race had split into factions that supported the Demon Lord side and the Hero side so it was not strange to see White Wolf Race who supported the Hero side remain in the Southern Continent as mercenaries.
I took a look at her job.
【Beast Warrior: Lv104】
Her job was the same Beast Warrior as Haru but her level surpa.s.sed Lv100.
I didn"t know if the upper limit of Beast Warrior was above Lv100 or that she took Limit-breaking medicine.
Haru"s current level was Lv85.
(In terms of real ability, Haru might still be slightly stronger due to her status from her second job …)
However, when considering experience instead of level, Haru might have a chance of losing in a single duel.
"I"m surprised. I didn"t expect to see another White Wolf Race other than myself. Furthermore, this scent ─ ─ you have the scent of a veteran warrior."
"I am surprised as well. It has been dozens of years since I met another White Wolf Race. I am called Haurvatat."
"I am Talwi. You men should be Ichinojo and Kota. I heard from the guild master that both of you are mighty warriors."
Talwi said and shook our hands.
Did Stefania evaluate me as such?
It was a little embarra.s.sing to be evaluated that highly even though we"ve only met twice.
"Ichino-sama, please lend me your ear."
Carol whispered beside me.
"Mercenary Talwi. Said to be the best mercenary in this country. The unit she is in will never lose and her record is 80 consecutive wins."
The country"s best mercenary ─ she?
"So, Talwi-san. I wish to ask something about this round"s request. Why are we doing this request with this number of people? It won"t be strange to mobilize the army to fight against a Demonic King Dragon."
Suzuki asked.
That was true too. It was Marquis Yuting"s unit that witnessed the Demonic King Dragon first.
In that case, it won"t be strange if the Shiraraki Kingdom army fights it.
"That is due to the ability of the Demonic King Dragon. The Demonic King Dragon has an ability to negate all damage below a certain extent … let me see, among us, apart from myself, Ichinojo, Kota and, Haurvatat. Probably only the three of you can damage the Demonic King Dragon."
"Wait a minute there! Are you saying I"m weak?"
Kyanshi raised a complaint.
Kyanshi was a Swordsman at Lv59, close to the peak.
She was not weak at all.
Or rather, she could be said to be pretty strong.
She was originally a gladiator so her combat sense was excellent as well.
However, it can"t be denied that there was a large difference between her and Suzuki or Haru.
"You are weak. No matter how excellent your sword skills are ─ ─"
Kyanshi drew her sword before Talwi ended her sentence.
The match was over in an instant.
Kyanshi"s sword was broken by the sword Talwi drew.
Her speed was considerable.
"You can"t overcome the overwhelming difference in status."
Brute force using status.
Something that I constantly used.
Kyanshi stared at her broken sword and tossed it to the ground
" …… Tch, I didn"t expect such a large difference in strength. It"s my loss."
Kyanshi probably noticed that her own ability was inferior to Talwi and that her sword could never reach Talwi.
Nevertheless, she had to confirm her own ability.
She could not back down without doing anything so she displayed her ability to the greatest.
That was why Talwi did not comment on Kyanshi drawing her sword.
She probably understood Kyanshi"s frustration.
"I will watch over Schreyl and Carol. You should take Miles along. It"s better to have somebody who can use Healing Magic closeby."
"I guess ─ ─ also, you"re not human. I don"t sense any sound of breathing or vitality."
"Yes desu! Sheena No.3 is an Automata desu!"
Sheena affirmed her comment.
… Amazing, she could see through her ident.i.ty as an Automata even though it was the first time she met her.
Her power of observation was equally as amazing as Carol"s.
"I see, then come along with us. I would love to see how an Automata fight with my own eyes."
Unfortunately, she has no combat ability at all.
To be safe, I used Thought Trace as well.
Her emotions were filled with antic.i.p.ation and fighting spirit.
She was probably looking forward to fighting the Demonic King Dragon.
Even Haru has a little more emotions mixed in before battle.
Taiwi seemed to be an even greater battle junkie than Haru.
"Talwi-san. Is magic effective against the Demonic King Dragon?"
"You can just call me Talwi. Light and Ice attribute magic are its weakness. Conversely, it has strong resistance towards Darkness and Fire attributes. Why? Are you a magician even though you have such a fine sword?"
"Having four Swordsman is a bad balance after all. I was thinking of supporting from behind."
I said as I took out the Staff of Aklapios from my item bag.
"That"s a pity. I was thinking I could have a good match with you."
"I don"t really like to fight. Ah, right. Please have a match with Haru next time. Of course, using training swords instead of real swords."
"Yes. I have an interest in that too but ─ ─"
Talwi sighed when she saw Haru"s tail fidget.
"You"re called Haurvatat, right? As a White Wolf Race, you must at least be capable of controlling the movements of your tail with your own will. No matter how strong you are, if you fight against a fellow White Wolf Race, that alone can be used to read your thoughts. I will fight you once you are able to control the movement of your tail."
"─ ─! Thank you for your advice."
Haru replied and tried to look at her own tail but she seemed to not be able to look at it properly.
Did Haru, by any chance, not notice the moments of her own tail?
Hn, maybe I should gift her two metal mirrors for training. Well to me, Haru"s tail was her charm point so I would prefer that she remain the same though.
"Well then, let"s go."
Said Talwi.