Manowa

◎ Shirodieh City, Special District, Louise"s Villa, Terrace, Evening

「Celebrating the reunion.」

「Celebrating the reunion.」

While the ladies had their girl talk in the bath, Naoki and Lyle touched their gla.s.ses together and drained their drinks on the terrace.

「Wow, what is this. Its taste is too good.」

「Well, since it"s from this house, it"s probably ridiculously expensive.」

It was probably less expensive than what he drank yesterday, but he thought it was likely still something more expensive than anything he had ever drunk before.

「Come to think of it, I did the same thing with York.」

He recalled his reunion in Dongol City. Naoki thought York was probably hunting Earth Dragons around this time.

「You met that guy?」

Naoki nodded after Lyle"s words.

「We met. If you two had stayed in Olboa City, we might have met a little earlier.」

「Oh, the timing was bad... no, since we met here, maybe not? My father"s misunderstanding was also solved.」

「So it seems. But I didn"t get to meet Jiraid-san in the end.」

Naoki joined them after Jiraid left and didn"t know the full story. He only heard the reason for Jinrai"s dogeza.

「I still can"t believe my grandpa did it with such a beautiful elf. With such amazing t.i.ts.」

He mimed using his own chest. Indeed, when he was only around men, Lyle"s words and actions were less reserved. By the way, Jinrai was in the middle of reflecting alone in his room.

「Ah, those are nice.」

Naoki knew the feeling and agreed. His beloved person was flat, but Naoki liked large b.r.e.a.s.t.s. Naoki hadn"t forgotten the feeling of those b.o.o.bs pressing against him when he was riding High Hippo-kun.

「Well, since there"s the matter with my grandmother I can"t say it strongly, but my grandfather really is amazing.」

Lyle was jealous that he managed to be intimate with such a woman at his age. Well, adolescent boys are like that. b.o.o.bs take up 80% of their sense of values.

「Besides, that girl Yumika won against my father. Isn"t she outrageously strong?」

「Yeah, she also beat the h.e.l.l out of me this morning.」

Morning practice bouts weren"t serious, but Naoki was completely beaten. That woman was becoming more and more unmanageable. It was incredibly strange that they didn"t stand out.

「You too, huh?」

「I"m the most useless member of the party.」

Naoki said bitterly. He felt his own lack of ability.

「Then if I enter the party, I would become the most useless.」

「...Lyle.」

Lyle was inferior to Naoki, so if Naoki was useless, he thought he would be even worse off. Emily was rear guard so she might have some use, but Lyle was a vanguard.

「Won"t you join the party?」

Lyle and Emily had already been invited to the party by Kazane. Since they were Naoki"s friends and Jinrai"s grandchildren, they were welcome to join.

「I should probably gratefully accept, but...」

Lyle smiled wryly.

「I"m guessing you"ll stay with them?」

And Lyle replied to Naoki"s question with a question.

「Yeah, I don"t want to be separated from Aneki"s group.」

Naoki said plainly. Lyle and Emily were also important to Naoki. But separating from his sister wasn"t an option for Naoki. Lyle also guessed that from Naoki"s expression.

「I talked with Emily some time ago. If we can, we"ll join as temporary members.」

「Temporary?」

「Honestly, I don"t know if I will be of any use in this party. So if it is permitted, I"d like some time to check it out.」

「Is that so? If you want to do that, there"s nothing for me to say.」

Naoki affirmed Lyle"s decision.

「Well, be that as it may...」

Lyle stared at Naoki.

「You"ve considerably mellowed out. Or perhaps I should say you"ve lost your sense of tension?」

「Everyone has said the same thing.」

Naoki so replied to Lyle"s words. No matter how many times he was told, he wasn"t aware of it himself, so it only puzzled him.

And with two more companions added to the party, they rested for one more day as planned, then bid farewell to the villa"s servant Melissa and started advancing toward Dolmu City, the Mecca of dragon steak. Naturally, the siblings were predictably surprised by the Thunder Chariot and Hippo-maru Kun, but it seemed Lyle was able to positively affirm that they suited Jinrai"s taste.

◎ Capital Highway, Dragon Road

「I"m glad Jinrai-san is doing better.」

Kazane said inside the carriage.

Yesterday and the day before yesterday, Jinrai"s condition was like he was already dead, but the moment he boarded the Thunder Chariot, his complexion improved. The old man was honest to his feelings.

「Well, that may be so, but he hasn"t completely returned to normal condition.」

Yumika was watching Jinrai anxiously.

Inside the carriage was the girl group of Kazane, Yumika, Tiara, Emily, and Louise (+ Mefirus). Then male group of Jinrai, Lyle, and Naok were sitting in a row on the coachman"s seat. Hippo-kun High and Clear were following behind as per usual.

「Leaving that aside, it it really fine for me to receive this, Kazane?」

Emily asked. A bow called『Dragon Wing Bow』was currently in its folded state in her hands. This was the best bow for a magic bow user, and was made from dragon bones that were reinforced with magic ore. And Lyle"s dragonbone spear was replaced with a dragon fang spear. It wasn"t as powerful as the dragon fang spears created by Master for Jinrai, but it was a comparably fine product to the『Dragon Wing Bow.』

And they were also wearing the same white Indestructible Cloaks as the rest of the party.

「Yeah, it"s good. Naoki has been in your care for two years. That is my thanks. But I don"t know if it is sufficient.」

Emily said「I would say I"m the one who has been taken care of」in response to Kazane"s words, but Kazane smiled and said「Yeah, sure.」Her confidence in her younger brother was extremely low.

「You used material from the Black Rock Dragon again. Besides, when was that even made?」

「I had it made at the same time as Naoki"s armor.」

After those words, Yumika muttered「That time?」She remembered that Kazane certainly collected something when they visited the arms shop in Resurrect.

「I didn"t even have enough money to pay for them when I ordered them made. Without the championship victory money it would have been a bit dangerous.」

「You really......」

Yumika looked to the sky and sighed. Truthfully, selling stockpiled material probably would have been sufficient, but they had decided to use materials for the sake of their companions, so sanctions would have been essential if they were used as collateral. There was even the possibility of an allowance system like the one suggested by Yumika. Kazane wanted to avoid that. By the way, because of the material sales and rewards from the Earth Dragons and the Crystal Dragon subjugation, her wallet was now fattened. She was in splurging standby mode.

「Some time soon I want to buy another spell, but there aren"t any good ones that come to mind.」

「You"re already thinking about spending more money. In the first place, you already have so many methods to attack that you barely even use spells, don"t you?」

「Well, that"s true.」

In fact, when it came to spells, the custom『Fire』Vortex and custom『Firestorm』Slicer were sufficient. It would be different if she could only act as a rear guard, but if those were insufficient, it would be more effective for her to act as a vanguard than use the customized higher rank spells. Obtaining Grimoire Chapter Four and Five was meaningless at the present moment.

In addition, dealing with Grimoires was also fairly troublesome in this world. Essentially, a spell was knowledge that was supposed be acquired over time. But that knowledge could be sealed into a Grimoire by a producer and forcibly transplanted into a user. Production was done by magic research inst.i.tutes, but the high-end Fourth and Fifth Grimoire Chapters could only be created by a small number of magicians, and the cost was in a completely different league. Since it was so unreasonable, there was no reason to purchase one.

「Hmm. There isn"t much meaning in learning any spells other than the Unique Final Chapter Grimoire spells, don"t you think?」

And magic wasn"t particularly popular in Minshiana, Tsuvara, and this Hyvern, so it was almost impossible to buy a Final Chapter Grimoire in any of those places. Like the Signa ruins in the beginning, there were places where spells could be learned simply by entering the place, but entry into those places was strictly controlled. There was also the『Elsta Floating Kingdom』that Jinrai wanted to visit, the floating island with birdman tribes, so perhaps...Kazane was thinking.

「If I remember right, wasn"t the country Amoria bordering Soldard and Minshiana known for magic?」

Kazane nodded after Yumika"s question. The border with Amoria was close to Gordios City, where the dungeon they were planning to capture『Gordo Golden Ruins』was located.

「But it"s a tedious place.」

Louise interjected.

「Have you been there, Louise-san?」

After Kazane asked, Louise replied「My family home is there.」Speaking of Louise"s family home, Kazane remembered that her family was well known for devil hunting. But she hesitated to ask any further questions after seeing Louise"s unpleasant expression.

(Well, when we go that way, should we go there for a quick visit?)

Kazane was thinking that when the figure of a city barely came into view in the distance.

Dolmu City, the Mecca of dragon steak. It was also the city where this country"s artisans lived. But visiting them would have to be postponed. They would only be there briefly before they headed for the capital city Deer South. Because Jinrai"s mental condition didn"t seem like it would last after he had heard that his son would be reporting to his wife.

They would stay overnight in Dolmu City, then go straight to the capital. Would Jinrai last?

Name: Yuihama Kazane

Occupation: Magic Swordswoman

t.i.tle: Ogre Killer, Dragon Slayer, High Beast Summoner

Equipment: Staff 『White Blaze』, Two Handed Sword『Black Fang』, Adhesion Sword『Gum』, Spell Dagger, Dragonscale Breastplate, Drake Gauntlets, Silver Sheep Clothes, Sylphyn Skirt, Plasma Pants, Dragon Ogre Greaves, Indestructible Cloak, Mysterious Pouch, Crimson Saint Coffin, Heroic Spirit Summoning Ring, Circlet of Wisdom, Aim Bracelet, Magic Acc.u.mulator, White Magic Acc.u.mulator

Level : 30

Health: 107

Magic Power: 181+420

Strength: 52+10

Agility: 43+4

Endurance: 29

Wisdom : 57

Dexterity : 38

Spell : 『Fly』 『Torch』 『Fire』 『Heal』『Firestorm』『Healer Ray』『High Heal』

Skill : 『Warrior"s Memory』 『Night Vision』 『Crushing Blow』 『Dog"s Sense of Smell』 『Golem Maker: Lv3』 『Rush』 『Fire Principle: Third Chapter』 『Healing Principle: Fourth Chapter』 『Air Jump: Lv2』 『Killing Leg: Lv3』 『Fear Voice』 『Invisible』 『Tiger Eye』 『Wall Walking』 『Intuition』 『Cheat Death』 『Nimble』『Charge』『Material Shield』『Information Link』『Optical Camouflage』『Dash』『Bloodsucking Blade』『Dragonization』『Regenerate』『Soul Breaking Blade』『Stealthy Placement』『Thunder Chariot』『St.u.r.dy Teeth』『Crystallization』

Yumika:「The Barnes siblings have naturally joined the party.」

Kazane:「By the way, the cloaks are being borrowed. They will return them if they leave the party.」

Yumika:「Well, that"s a required measure if we want to avoid the secret from being leaked.」