Manowa

That day, Forn Village was flurried. After all, the giant dragon that had been appearing since a week ago had made another appearance, and Matthew and the others, who went to scout, hadn"t returned yet.

Though considering the distance from the dragon"s location to the village, not enough time had pa.s.sed to think it strange that Matthew and the others hadn"t returned yet. So the uproar was simply the overly excitable group making a fuss, but it was true that the village was shrouded in a great tumult.

Therein, the village mayor Morphia went to check the situation in the square. A watchman had reported that the giant dragon had apparently promptly left the island, but the well-being of Matthew and the others was still unclear.

Morphia didn"t think they could fight that dragon and win. Even low rank dragons, Wyverns, were strong enemies for the Birdmen. That giant dragon seemed to be one of the highest ranking dragons, and Morphia thought that Matthew"s group also understood that they wouldn"t stand the slightest chance against him, but Matthew was one of the most aggressive people in the village. Hopefully nothing troublesome happened... Morphia thought with worry, and he waited while praying for their safety.

And after a short while, a lookout came running to the square from the village entrance.

Matthew and the others had apparently returned. But it wasn"t just Matthew"s group. There were also humans, a black chibi dragon, and a red chibi griffon with them.

Actually, Morphia had already heard that guests might be coming, so he wasn"t surprised by that. But there was a strange scene there. Matthew, who was said to be the village"s number one hooligan, was for some reason fawning over a short child like a servant as they walked. The world was full of confusion.

「Mayor, I"ve brought visitors from outside. Kazane-sama and her companions.」

All the birdmen looked confused by Matthew being exultant as he made that announcement, and the village mayor Morphia said「Thank you for your hard work」to Matthew and the others. Whatever the circ.u.mstances, it seemed certain that they had returned with some kind of good result.

Then Morphia guided Kazane and the others to his village mayor"s home and told them to rest inside for a while. After that, he himself called Matthew and the others to the a.s.sembly hall so he could ask them what had happened.

He was told that the giant dragon that had troubled the village for the past week had already left and probably wouldn"t return. The group of humans that Matthew and the others brought were visitors from outside who wanted to explore the floating island, and they came to the village to get permission.

As might be expected, Morphia frowned when Matthew and the others reported that they had jumped to the hasty conclusion that the visitors were controlling the giant dragon and had tried to shoot them but had the tables turned on them instead.

The rules of the village stipulated that they shouldn"t thoughtlessly attack people from outside, and even if it became a battle, they should act on the premise of self-defense. Matthew and the others had disobeyed those rules.

However, the people in question were reflecting and didn"t seem like they would do it again. So Morphia felt that censuring them any further would be meaningless and only told them he would give them proper punishment for this time"s affair later.

And after having only Matthew leave, he asked the other three about Matthew"s transformation. As might be expected, he couldn"t leave that change alone. But thereupon, Morphia learned the dreadful truth.

「Devil King!?」

「Mayor, your voice is loud.」

The three people were fl.u.s.tered by Morphia"s shout. This meetinghouse was distant from the village mayor"s house, where Kazane and her companions currently were, but they still couldn"t be negligent. After frightening the three people, Morphia was self-aware that he had been more surprised than he had imagined.

「Hmm. Sorry. Then does that mean Matthew was affected by the Devil King"s black magic?」

The problem was there. Morphia had already heard that guests might come here. However, he had no idea the other party would be a Devil King. Moreover, if she had bewildered his citizen with some kind of black magic, that was a problem.

「No, that"s not how it feels... how should I put it...」

「At least, it doesn"t feel like he"s under a domination spell.」

「Hasn"t he simply understood the true meaning of fear? Matthew-san is like a wild animal.」

The three had dicey answers to Morphia"s concerns. Morphia couldn"t help but groan. At the moment, he was only obsequious towards that Shorty and seemed calmer than usual. In any case, when Morphia went to his home to meet the visitors, he brought a magician with him just in case.

◎ Forn Village, Mayor"s House

「Welcome to Forn Village. Let me introduce myself again. I am Morphia Angelite, the mayor of this village.」

「Happy to meet you. I am Morphia"s counselor, Cook Ante.」

After Kazane and the others had relaxed at the village mayor"s house for about 20 minutes, Morphia and his counselor finally turned up.

They respectively replied with their own greetings to the greetings from the two. By the way, as usual, Tatsuo was treated as a Black Dragon child. Then Morphia divulged a certain thing to them.

「I"ve already received a letter about you from Rynox-dono.」

The White Party made considerably surprised voices after those words.

「That guy didn"t say anything about that.」

Jinrai replied, his expression showing how unexpected he found it. Rynox was Jinrai"s close friend, so he was purely amazed that Rynox didn"t say anything to him.

「Actually, we also talk to G.o.d Dragon Emperor Nagsama through Rynox-dono. But the only people who know about it are people who have come here through their own power. It"s stipulated by contract that they won"t talk about such things to someone who has never visited, so if Rynox-dono didn"t say anything, that"s why.」

「I see.」

Jinrai nodded, and Kazane muttered (so that"s why Husband also didn"t talk about it) in her mind. They were told that the Birdmen had been in contact with Hyvern Dukedom ever since the failed expedition.

「I request that you also don"t tell anyone about us Birdmen. That is the condition for free movement on this island.」

「Then it"s fine for us to explore the island?」

Kazane leaned forward and asked, and Morphia nodded.

「We are the people who live on this island, but that doesn"t mean we own the island.」

Morphia replied to Kazane while slightly pulling back. The surrounding members arbitrarily imagined that he was pulling back from his encounter with Kazane"s high enthusiasm, but Morphia was vigilantly thinking (this girl is a Devil King).

「Though this island is a considerably harsh environment for mere adventurers. People come to this island about once a decade, but most don"t return from exploration. It"s an unexplored region that we villagers are forbidden from entering.」

Morphia warned them.

From the start, considerable conditions had to be fulfilled for an adventurer to even come to this island. Griffons and Wyverns constantly flew around the perimeter of the island. As a result, if someone with a tamed Wyvern tried to visit this land, they would often receive a concentrated attack. The same was true for a 5-meter cla.s.s dragon.

And even if they luckily reached the island, if they continued on and entered the forest, Dragon Eaters would hijack their tamed Wyvern, so even if the rider survived, they would lose their means to return to the surface. It seemed there were humans who"d had no choice but to remain in the village.

Also, it seemed that even most of the ones who had cut their way through and reached this village hadn"t returned from their exploration of the forest and ruins.

「Some have returned alive, but almost all of them went no further than Angelite City. Though that place is now nothing but a monster haunt with abandoned buildings, so there"s likely nothing significant there.」

「There are monsters there?」

「Yes, since about 700 years ago. It seems that when this island drifted here from the north, they suddenly started appearing frequently.」

With those words, Kazane knew that this island had drifted here from the north like she had thought. Which meant that this was the floating island she was familiar with from the game. In that case, there was one thing she was concerned about.

「Um, Morphisan. There"s one thing I want to ask.」

「What is it?」

「I think there used to be a tower south of here, but it isn"t there now, right?」

Morphia"s eyebrows twitched after those words. He was usually a man with an unbroken poker face, but he was astonished that the girl knew the information that only remained in village folklore.

(I see, a Devil King? Her knowledge is certainly good. That isn"t something an ordinary person would know.)

Morphia thought, and he nodded to Kazane"s question.

「There certainly used to be a tower on this island, but it isn"t here now.」

Then Morphia told them.

「The Sky Emperor"s Tower was detached from the northern ground. By a devil"s hand.」

Name: Yuihama Kazane

Occupation: Summoning Fighter

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

Equipment: Staff 『White Blaze』, Two Handed Sword『Black Fang』, Draghorn Tonfa x2, Dragonscale Breastplate, Drake Gauntlets, Silver Sheep Clothes, Sylphyn Skirt, Plasma Pants, Dragon Eating Ogre King"s 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, Rainbow Necklace, Rainbow Dragon Ring

Level : 36

Health: 145

Magic Power: 304+420

Strength: 67+20

Agility: 71+14

Endurance: 38

Wisdom : 72

Dexterity : 47

Spell : 『Fly』『Torch』『Fire』『Heal』『Firestorm』『Healer Ray』『High Heal』『Golden Dusk「Dragon Exclusive」』『Mirror Shield』

Skill : 『Kick Devil』『Warrior"s Memory: Lv2』『Night Vision』『Crushing Blow』『Dog"s Sense of Smell: Lv2』『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: Lv2』『Information Link: Lv2』『Optical Camouflage』『High Dash』『Bloodsucking Blade』『Dragonization: Lv2「Dragon」』『Regenerate』『Soul Breaking Blade』『Stealthy Hand Placement』『Thunder Chariot: Lv2』『St.u.r.dier Teeth: Lv2「Dragon」』『Crystallization: Lv2「Dragon」』『Devil King"s Intimidation』『Stone Minotaur: Lv2』『Mega Beam: Lv2』『s.p.a.ce Expansion』『Pseudo-Silver Creation』『Poison Claw』『Fireball「Dragon」』『Cuticle「Dragon」』『Arms Creation: Black Flame』『Ingredient Connoisseur』『Dragon Pheromone「Dragon」』『Boost』『Monkey"s Strong Arm』『Two-sword Style』『b.o.o.bies Plus』

Yumika:「Devils again?」

Kazane:「But 700 years ago is an extremely old story, huh.」