To the Demi-Human Kingdom

All I could hear was the rattling of our shaking carriage. We were following

the road as we rode a chain of three wide wagons, each drawn by two horses.

The one at the front contained five knights from Belfast, while the one at the

back had the same amount of Mismedian soldiers. They were guarding the

carriage in the middle, which had my party, Mismede Ambassador Olga, and her

little sister Arma in it.

Linze and Elze sat up front, while the rest of us were in the midst of a heated

battle inside the passenger car.

"Grr... there, it is!" Yae flipped over one of the many face-down cards. And,

sad as it might've been, it had a number different to the revealed one.

"How unfortunate. The correct answer was here and here." It was Yumina's

turn. Without hesitation, she turned over two of the cards... which were the

two of spades and hearts. She took both of them off the table.

As Yumina, Yae, and Arma played a game of memory match using the cards,

Olga and I were facing each other in shogi.

Doing nothing but letting the carriage shake us was boring, so we had taken

out the shogi set. Then, I used [Drawing] to print out some paper and combined

it with [Modeling] to synthesize thin wooden boards to create a set of cards.

It would've taken too long to teach them the scoring hands for poker and the

like, so instead I just brought up a simple game of memory. However, Yae was

quite inept when it came to recalling things, so she had lost every single round.

"I was defeated again, I was..."

"Seems like it's not your game, Yae." With a wry smile, I moved one of my

pieces.

"And that's checkmate."

"Agh...!" Olga glared at the board. It was hopeless. There was nothing she

could do.

"So I was defeated, too... You are far better at this than me, Touya." Olga

complained, clearly looking sour. Truth be told, as far as shogi players went, I

was among the weaker ones. Still, I'd taught her how to play mere moments

ago, so of course she lost. Honestly, I was afraid of just how much better than

me she'd become after a few more games. Therefore, I took the liberty of

ending it and taking the victory with me before that happened.

"Yae, let's switch. Try playing against Olga."

"Very well. Dolan-dono taught me how to play shogi back at the Silver Moon,

so I might have better luck here, I might..." Taught? Looked more like he just

forced you to play with him to me...

"Alright, how about we try something other than memory now?" After

switching with Yae, I shuffled my handmade cards, added one joker, and began

explaining the rules of another game to Yumina and Arma. It was a game where

tactics were the key to victory — the extremely advanced game of old maid.

"Fgahh..." Kohaku was sleeping peacefully in a corner of the carriage.

Upon learning the rules, the two quickly grew enthralled with old maid, while

Yae and Olga, who were evenly matched in skill, glared at the shogi board with

great intensity. That was how we spent our shaky journey to Mismede.

"And so, the cat beastman in boots became a noble and lived happily ever

after." The end of my campfire story was greeted by roaring applause from

everyone listening. I couldn't help but blush a bit. It started off as a little tale to

tell before we slept, but I got caught in the moment and made it into something

grand.

"That was so nice, Touya!" Arma excitedly spoke up as the ears above her

head twitched excitedly. I could also see that bushy tail of hers pleasantly sway

side-to-side.

"It was a wonderful tale, Touya. I have to ask, though. Where did you learn

it?"

"Ah, I got it from a bard who once visited the place where I used to live." I

answered Olga's query with a simple white lie. The Mismedian soldiers

gathered around the fire seemed to enjoy it, too. A story of a cat beastman in

boots who saved his master and did lots of great deeds. A creature skilled with

a blade, and sharp of mind.

With the discrimination beastmen faced, I'd assumed such feel-good stories

where they met prosperity were few and far between. Though, I did hope they

excused the extra dramatization I added.

"Touya knows many other stories."

"Really?! Please tell more of them, Touya!" Yumina's words made Arma's

eyes light up. The little foxgirl excitedly bent toward me. I'm glad the two of

them get along so well. Guess it must be easy to talk with someone around your

own age.

"That's it for today. Wait for more tomorrow." With a smile, I gently rejected

Arma's request.

Suddenly, one of the smaller Mismedian soldiers stood up and placed his

finger near his mouth, signaling everyone to be quiet. The ears on his head

were twitching. They look like... rabbit ears? Guess he's a bunny beastman.

"We have several people approaching our position. They're stealthily closing

in... We're their target, no doubt about it." His words made the other soldiers

silently unsheathe their blades, and sharpen their senses. They were about to

do their job, basically. They entered a defensive formation meant to protect

Olga and Arma. The Belfast knights also left their carriage and began observing

their surroundings.

"Who are they?" I inquired.

"Probably just bandits. No threat on their own, but trouble in great numbers."

The one who answered was the captain of the Mismedian military escort group.

He was a wolf beastman who specialized in dual-wielding blades.

«Master, there are definitely people in the vicinity searching for us. I don't

believe they're friendly, either. As the wolf said, they're likely bandits.» Kohaku

spoke in a voice that only I could hear.

Bandits, eh? Guess it's time to investigate.

I took out my smartphone and ran the map app. It displayed the surrounding

area. Alright... a simple search for "bandits" got a bunch of pins to drop on the

map. Whoa, there's quite a lot of them.

"Eight to the north, five to the east, eight to the south, and seven to the west.

There are twenty-eight in total."

"You can sense them too?!" The captain turned to me in surprise. We were

outnumbered. Not like we couldn't win, but we probably wouldn't come out

unscathed.

"...Guess I can try it now." It was a chance for me to test a specific application

of one of my spells. By all accounts, it should work, but...

"[Enchant]: [Multiple]." I buffed the map app with a Null spell that allowed

the continuous abbreviation of chants and simultaneous activation. One by one,

I tapped the bandit markers on the screen, setting them as my targets. It was

kind of a pain, but I was done in no time, really.

"[Paralyze]." With that, I unleashed the spell on everyone my app had

highlighted. A moment later, I could hear several groans and thuds from the

surrounding woods.

"Ugh!"

"Ngh!"

"Gyah!"

"Hhgh!"

"Ahgh!" A vivid array of voices rang out, and then came the sounds of

collapsing men. Apparently, it worked.

"Wh-What did you do?"

"Used a paralysis spell. They should all be immobilized now, I think..."

"What, all of them?!"

"If there aren't more than twenty-eight, then yeah." Due to the way my

[Search] spell worked, my targets were only people I'd personally judge as

"bandits." In other words, if there were normal people who merely looked like

bandits to me, they'd be caught by the spell, too. But that was quite unlikely,

given where we were. I still decided to use [Paralyze] though, just in case.

Didn't want to hurt any bystanders.

The soldiers and knights entered the woods and dragged out the collapsed

bandits. Twenty-eight of them in total, as I expected. Each had a lizard-shaped

tattoo on the back of their hands, which was likely a symbol of their gang. They

were all partners in crime, no doubt about it.

"Amazing! You took out so many in a mere moment..." Olga muttered, clearly

dumbfounded.

"Good thing none of them had any magic-warding talismans on them. Spells

like [Paralyze] get blocked by even the slightest amount of magic resistance." I

was glad they weren't prepared for something like that.

Even if they were, there were several other problems with this method of

mine. For one, I was lucky they weren't moving much, because it was way

harder to lock on to a moving target. Also, the targeting process itself was

pretty darn tedious.

"Well, that worked out. I didn't expect anything like that to happen, though,"

the guard captain lightly muttered.

"Honestly, it's all because of that guy who heard them coming. He was

definitely impressive."

"Oh, you mean Lain? He's a rabbit beastman. You won't find a better pair of

ears." The captain laughed as he dragged a bandit off and looked over at the

rabbit-eared boy. He was a small and meek guy with silky red hair. Looked

about my age. Ah, so he's called Lain. Oh, by the way, the wolfish captain's

name was Garm.

"Paralysis should last about an hour for humans. What do we do with them?"

"Well, were we in Mismede, we could take the simple approach of killing

them before things get messy, but I guess that's not how things go here." Garm

called over to the captain of the Belfast knights. The one who came over was a

blond youth in clattering full plate armor. Dang, that guy's handsome...

Lyon Blitz, a knight belonging to the kingdom's first order. Twenty-one years

old. He was the son of Leon Blitz, and I still had trouble believing he and that

general were related. Though he definitely was the second son of the general,

the earnest and diligent Lyon was completely unlike his eccentric father.

After listening to Garm's explanation of the situation, Lyon took a moment to

ponder before proposing his solution.

"For now, let's tie them all up and send a mounted messenger to the next

town to bring some guards over. They should come by morning, so we can just

hand the bandits over to them and resume our journey. What say you?" Garm

didn't seem to have any objections, so our course of action was decided. We

bound and gagged the bandits. Just to be on the safe side, I also used earth

magic to dig some holes and bury them, leaving only their heads exposed. With

the paralyzing magic still active, it looked like a small field of limp heads. This

looks kinda surreal...

"We shall take care of the ruffians, while Mismedian soldiers will watch out

for any outside threats. I leave the princess to you, Sir Touya." Lyon whispered

those words into my ear.

It just so happened that, aside from my group and Olga, he was the only one

who knew that Yumina was the crown princess of Belfast. No one else seemed

to have met Yumina before, so there was no need to worry about her identity

being exposed. Even the rest of the Belfast knights had never worked at the

castle.

Lyon was also the only one aware of my tentative status as Yumina's fiance. I

wasn't informed of anything of the sort, but I wouldn't be surprised if he was

tasked with protecting her.

"Sir Lyon, I apologize for causing trouble." Olga came to him and expressed

her gratitude with a bright smile on her face. The young knight entered a

flustered state in response.

"Ah, n-no need for that. Th-This is merely part of my job! Don't mention it,

really!" His cool attitude completely gone, the golden-haired youth's face

turned red as he spoke to Olga. Looking at him, the foxy beauty giggled in a

bemused manner.

Ohoho... So that's how it is. I slowly backed away, making sure they didn't

notice me. Standing behind one of the carriages, I silently observed as the two

made some gleeful small talk.

"Ah, young love."

"Yes, it is indeed beautiful..."

"Yep, sure is."

"Such a wonderful thing..."

When did you guys get here...? The twins, the samurai girl, and the princess,

with Kohaku in her hands, were all right next to me, watching the two as I did.

"Does Olga-dono know how Lyon-dono feels about her, I wonder...?"

"I'm sure she does. Unlike a certain someone, she doesn't seem very dense,"

Yumina said. Huh? What're you guys looking at me for?

"...Density is one thing, but I also think that Touya is far too kind to everyone

he meets," Linze muttered.

"Oh, I totally agree," Elze proclaimed as she nodded her head.

"I'm not sure what to make of that attitude of his, I am not." Yae chimed in,

uncertain.

"Do you even know what we're talking about?! Sit down!" Elze suddenly

yelled at me, clearly angry for some odd reason.

"Wh-What?!" I don't understand. What's this all about? Unable to resist

them, I was forced to sit down and be exposed to a ridiculous amount of

unreasonable scolding. Why, though? With most of their words just flying over

my head, the strange event continued into the dead of night.

◇ ◇ ◇

"You're kidding me, right? This isn't a river; it's a whole ocean..." Water.

Marine blue as far as the eye could see... Though, I could make out the outline

of the opposite shore if I squinted hard enough. It reminded me of when I went

to Aomori as a kid and could see Hokkaido from Cape Omazaki. So, this river

was about as wide as the Tsugaru Strait...

After six days of journeying, we finally arrived at Canaan — the southernmost

town in the Kingdom of Belfast. The plan was to take a ship and cross over to

the Mismedian town of Langley.

Naturally, being a town that connected the two kingdoms, Canaan had a

significant number of demi-humans. With dog and cat beastmen being a given,

there were also some who had wings sprouting from their backs or horns

adorning their heads. Not to mention the dragonfolk with scales covering

certain parts of their bodies and thick tails trailing behind them. From what I

could tell, the humans and demi-humans around those parts coexisted just fine.

Once we reached the riverbank, which looked more like a harbor, by the way,

we saw a great number of boats. However, all of them were quite small. I could

see some medium-sized barges, but none that really stood out in terms of size.

They were all sailing boats, but none had many sails on them, making them all

look extremely plain. I was told that the passengers were always joined by users

of wind magic who could get the boat to the other side in about two hours, so

such simple designs were actually optimal. Considering how gentle the river's

current was, I could fully understand the reasoning.

Okay, so we'll leave the carriages here and cross over to Mismede by boat.

Apparently, there was another carriage waiting for us on the other side.

We left the actual boat-hiring to Olga, Garm, and the other Mismedians. On

the side of the road, not too far away from the boat, there was an open-air

market.

"Oh, that's a handicraft stall."

"And this one here sells silks... Wow, you can find lots of things here." Arma

and Yumina looked at the wares being sold. Well, this is the last Belfastian town

before Mismede, after all... Guess it makes sense that there's a bunch of

merchants hawking souvenirs.

"Oho? Touya, look at that..."

"Hm?" I followed Yumina's gaze and saw Lyon standing before a jewelry stall.

It sold various accessories such as brooches, rings, and necklaces. He had a

strained, pensive expression on his face as he stared at their wares. Huh, I

thought he was off sending a letter to the royal palace.

Instead, he seemed to be seriously considering which accessory to purchase.

But those trinkets were meant for girls, so... Ohhh, I get it. So that's how it is...

"Hey, Lyon. Getting something for your family?"

"Eh? S-Sir Touya?! W-Well, I was just, uh, m-my mother, she's... Yes! I was

thinking of getting something for my mother..."

"Heh..." His oh-so-splendid complexion made it very clear that it wasn't for a

member of his family. Also, there was something really off about buying

souvenirs for a Belfastian in Belfast, rather than waiting until we got to

Mismede. But, at least for the moment, I decided to spare him the

embarrassment and keep any such comments to myself.

"Boy, sure is a good assortment here. Oh, actually... Arma, how about you

pick something? I'll buy it for you. It'll be a little present to remind you of

Belfast."

"Really?! Wow!" Arma quickly and joyfully chose one of the brooches. It had

the shape of a bunch of grapes, but the "grapes" themselves were replaced by

neatly-placed purple crystals. The fox and the grapes... Man, this reminds me of

that old fable.

"It really suits you, Arma."

"Ehehe... thank you so much!" Arma smiled broadly as I paid for the item.

Alright, here's my chance to help Lyon out.

"Does Olga like brooches like this, too?"

"Hmm... Sis prefers flowery designs. Like, uh, she really loves elius flowers.

I've seen her buy a bunch of them." As she spoke, Arma pointed toward one of

the accessories on display. It was decorated by cherry blossom-like flowers. A

little plain, but still quite pretty.

Lyon, eavesdropping on us, smiled a little. Bingo.

"Right then, I'll be off. Don't take too long to get back to the boat, Lyon.

We're setting off soon."

"Ah, of course. I'll be there in a moment." A few moments after we left the

scene, we turned around to see Lyon buying the elius hair ornament and getting

it gift-wrapped.

"Excellent work, Touya." Yumina praised me. Guess she noticed my

handiwork. The sister of the young knight's beloved, however, seemed quite

clueless.

"Although, I would have liked it if you also bought me a present, Touya."

"...Sorry."

"Well, I'll be satisfied so long as I get a ring on my left ring finger eventually."

With a bright smile on her face, Yumina wrapped her hands around mine. Darn

it, Touya. You should've bought her something! That alternative's too scary...

As such thoughts spun through my head, we returned to the boat.

"That was fast."

"It was only two hours, after all, it was." Elze and Yae left the boat while

carrying the box containing the large mirror meant for the Kingdom of

Mismede. They were followed by Arma and Yumina, who carried our baggage.

Then came Kohaku and finally there was me, carrying Linze.

"...I'm so sorry, Touya."

"It's fine, no worries. I don't mind at all." She got seasick about an hour into

the journey. It was clearly because she was reading. The boat itself was pretty

steady, after all. I tried using [Recovery] on her, but it didn't seem to have much

effect. Strange, since it was clearly a negative status ailment.

Wonder why it didn't work... That aside, how come she's fine with carriage

shaking, but not boat swaying?! Then again, I knew people who could handle

cars, but still got seasick, so this is probably similar.

Once off the boat, I took a good look around Langley. We were now in the

country of demi-humans — the Kingdom of Mismede. Not like the mere two

hour journey resulted in some massive change, but compared to Canaan, the

town in Belfast, this one had significantly more demi-humans than humans.

There were stalls, just like on the other side, but just about every merchant

was a demi-human. And they were so varied, too. It was quite a sight.

"The town's bigger than I expected."

"...That's probably because it's heavily influenced by Belfast." Still on my back,

Linze replied to my mumbling. As we eyed the town, Olga led us to three

carriages, which looked about the same as the ones we left in Canaan.

"What do we do now, Touya? If Linze isn't well, we can always stay here for

the night and move out tomorrow." I could make out some concern in Olga's

voice.

"Ah, I-I'm fine now. I got better once we left the ship." Linze slipped off my

back. Suddenly, Elze came up to her and whispered into her ear.

"You could always ask him to carry you a little more, Linze."

"Wh-What are you s-saying, Sis?!" She suddenly grew flustered, yelling at a

volume she likely didn't intend. She was looking away from me, so I couldn't see

them so well, but I could tell her ears were red. Getting carried must be

embarrassing or something, I guess.

"Then, let us leave in an hour. I'll send a letter to His Majesty the Beastking."

"Ah, th-then I shall accompany you. There's no telling what could happen,

ma'am!"

"You are right indeed. Do join me, Sir Lyon." She smiled at him and the two

walked away. Well, that's enough to make anyone feel all warm and fuzzy. It

felt like I could finally understand those obliging people who found their

vocation in arranging formal marriage interviews.

"Mister Touya, once we leave, we won't come across any large towns for a

long while. You should buy everything you need here." Garm, the Mismedian

captain, explained the situation to me. We decided to spend an hour stocking

up for the trip.

Kohaku, Yumina, and I went to buy an assortment of things, such as

emergency rations and tea leaves. What was that...? I looked around and

sharpened my senses. Did I just imagine that...?

"What's wrong?" My strange behavior got Yumina's attention.

"Nothing... kinda. Felt like someone was watching us. Probably just imagined

it, though."

"Sure it isn't just someone curious about Kohaku?" In Mismede, white tigers

were considered sacred. Even capturing them was a serious offense, let alone

hunting them. If I put a collar on Kohaku and dragged the little furball with a

chain, I'd be sent to the gallows without a trial. We had to make it obvious that

he was following us of his own free will. Though, that was a bit troublesome as

well.

«No, my lord... You're right. There is someone observing us. Specifically, the

two of you, not me. They've completely concealed their presence now,

however.»

Kohaku's words made me look around again. Who could it be, then...? I should

be on my guard, just in case.

We went on to buy ten or so fruits I had never seen before. They looked like

pears, but were orange in color and had the smell of apples. After that, we

returned to the group. Everyone else had already met up at the carriages, so we

were the last to arrive.

"That's everyone, then. Let's head off." At Olga's words, the knights and

soldiers entered the carriages at the front and back. The rest of us filed into the

one in the middle. Elze and Yae sat up front, and when the rest of us were

about to step into the carriage, I noticed the cherry blossom-like hair ornament

glimmering in Olga's hair.

"Oh, that's a fine piece of jewelry. It really suits you, Olga."

"Eh? RReally? Thank you very much." Yumina noticed it as well, and when she

praised it, Olga gave a bashful smile. I guess Lyon gave it to her when they went

out together. Good for him.

"I'd love to receive something like that from my beloved. I believe that

expressing feelings through such trinkets is part of being a true gentleman. Of

course, I have nothing against those who prefer to show it in their behavior, like

through an embrace, or..."

"Well alright, let's get going!" The conversation was heading down a

dangerous path, so I rushed into the carriage.

Yumina might actually be the type to hold grudges, I didn't expect that...

Damn, I really messed up by buying something for Arma, but not for her. Still, I

can't bring myself to embrace her instead... I've gotta think of an alternative.

Wait, no... if I get her something, then the other girls will notice too. Won't be

good if they take it to be proof of my love or something. Maybe it'd work if I give

them all gifts and present it as thanks for everything until now?

When I got inside the carriage, I took out my smartphone and began an image

search for the latest accessories back home in my original world. Figured I'd get

some inspiration for something to make with [Modeling].

◇ ◇ ◇

Once we left Langley, the surroundings grew shockingly different. Unlike

Belfast, there were a lot of overgrown plants all over the place, and the road

was rough. Our carriages were slowly making their way through a place that

was less of a forest and more of a jungle.

I could totally see why people said that Mismede had far more monsters than

Belfast. Woodlands like this were the perfect habitat for them. Every now and

then, I could hear the howls of creatures I couldn't hope to identify, but it

seemed like they were just part of everyday life in this country.

From what I'd heard, the high amount of monsters didn't really have much of

an impact on life in the settlements, though. That was because the forests were

already full of creatures fit to be prey for the bigger ones. The monsters didn't

need to dig up people's fields to find something to eat.

However, every now and then, villagers who went out hunting ended up

having an unfortunate encounter with a monster or two. In those cases, the

people were the intruders, so they had to be prepared to be attacked. Wonder

if there's some bear-warding bell that could keep them away or something...

"Doesn't seem like we'll make it to Eld village before dusk." I checked my map

app and saw Eld on the road from Langley to the capital, right beyond this

forest. Just as Olga said, at the speed we were traveling, it was too far away to

reach before sunset. Plus, I didn't like the idea of heading there in the dead of

night, either.

"Mismede is like a colony composed of several individual clans. Towns and

villages here are still made by separate clans just doing what they do. And, just

as there are clans that have friendly relations with each other, there are also

those that can't stand one another. His Beastliness included, there are seven

clan leaders responsible for gathering the distant races."

According to Olga, the seven Patriarchs each represented a type of demihuman: there were the beastmen, the winged races, the horned races, the

dragonfolk, the dryadic people, the aquatic races, and the fairies, too. And, as

things were, the Patriarch of the beastmen — the beastking — was the current

ruler of this country. That might've been because beastmen were the majority

race, so it was easier for the country to function.

Also, even though the king's seat was hereditary, the other patriarchs held a

great amount of power. Guess they were comparable to influential nobles. In

any case, Mismede, being an emerging nation, seemed like it had a number of

problems going on.

The sun was slowly hiding behind the horizon. I realized it was a good idea to

start making camp while it was still light out. We would not go any further

without resting first.

We stopped our carriages at a wider part of the road and began setting up

our camp. Once the firewood was gathered and a bunch of well-placed rocks

turned our campfire into a little stove, we began making food. I contributed by

cooking up a large pot of vegetable soup. Minestrone, to be precise.

When the sun completely set and night truly blanketed us, we could hear lots

of noises from the forest. There were probably lots of nocturnal animals.

"I'm a bit scared..." Yumina inched herself closer to me as she nervously ate

my soup.

"Basic beasts won't come close as long as Kohaku's around. Hell, even

monsters should notice, so there's no need to worry. Giant insects and Slimes

are another story, though." Kohaku transmitted those words into my head, so I

was just quoting what he said to me. In response, Yumina pulled the little tiger

into a tight embrace.

"Thank you, Kohaku."

"Worry not, Mistress. It will be fine as long as I'm here." Kohaku whispered in

such a way that no one but Yumina could hear. In response, Yumina smiled

widely and patted the tiger's head.

Some people were taking turns keeping watch while we ate, and due to how

unfamiliar the lands were, the Belfastian knights seemed really tense.

"I'll go pick up Yae and Elze. Kohaku, look after Yumina and Linze."

«Understood.» I walked away from everyone near the campfire, entered the

large carriage, and used a [Gate] to return to my home back in Alephis, the

Royal Capital of Belfast.

I appeared in the living room to find Elze and Yae enjoying some chill-out

time. Standing not too far from them was our super-butler, Laim.

"Oh, is it time already?"

"Why the rush, Touya-dono...? My hair still needs to dry, it does." Yep... They

went home just to take a bath. We gave them thirty minutes, so that people

wouldn't get suspicious and grow aware of the fact that I could teleport.

We were able to magically create water, so we just told the others that we'd

fill a tub and heat it up with hot rocks, but in reality, they were taking a normal

bath back at home. They decided to go together so that one could keep a

lookout while the other bathed, or so the story went.

"Come on, let's head back before someone notices that something is off. Did

anything happen today, Laim?"

"Nothing worth mentioning, sir. Ah, yes, I almost forgot. Julio was thinking of

making a vegetable garden. What do you say about that?" A vegetable garden,

huh... Dedicating land to growing fresh veggies sounds good to me...

"Gotcha. He has my permission. Let him do whatever he wants."

"As you wish, sir." With that settled, I soon realized that I couldn't see Lapis or

Cecile anywhere. What're they up to...? I asked Laim, who said that Lapis

already went to sleep due to business in the marketplace early in the morning,

while Cecile went to see a friend who was visiting the capital.

"Is there anything you wish for me to tell them, sir?"

"Nope, I was just curious. Alright you two, let's go."

"Okay!"

"Indeed." I opened a [Gate] and traveled back to our carriage with the girls. It

only took a moment for me to realize that something was off. The forest was

overflowing with the cries of countless animals. It was completely different

from when I left. The sounds were on another level entirely. I ran out of the

carriage, quickly finding everyone else. The soldiers and knights were

brandishing their blades and looking out for any hint of danger. What the hell

did I miss?!

"Touya!"

"What's going on here?"

"We don't know. The animals in the forest suddenly started panicking."

Yumina ran up to me, completely perplexed. Soon after, the rabbit beastman,

Lain, looked upward.

"U-Up in the sky... S-Something huge is heading our way!" Everyone followed

his gaze. As sudden gusts of wind rustled the treetops, I saw something large

glide through the night sky. What on not-Earth was that? I could only make out

a dark silhouette, but the beastmen, having eyes that could see in the dark,

clearly saw what it was.

"A Dragon... Why is it here of all places?!" Garm spoke words that conveyed

his evident confusion as he stared straight up into the sky. His eyes were open

wide, clearly showing his lack of understanding.

A Dragon? A giant, winged... lizard? A Dragon flew over us just now?

"B-But why would there be a Dragon here?!" Olga rushed to her sister,

speaking in a frantic voice as she cradled the little girl.

"Huh? Is it not normal to see Dragons in this area or something?" Arma

looked scared beyond belief, but I had to get an answer from her sister.

"D-Dragons... They normally inhabit the Sanctuary Grounds in the middle of

this country. That's their territory. No one's allowed to go there, and Dragons

don't terrorize the people as long as no one intrudes on their land. That's how

it's supposed to work, but..."

"Did someone enter the Sanctuary?!" Olga's words made Garm's voice turn

rough. So this might be the Dragons' reaction to trespassers in their home... This

is bad. In their eyes, it's probably justified anger. If they believed their land was

being invaded, they were only acting how you'd expect them to...

However, Olga shook her head, clearly denying that idea.

"No, that's not the only explanation. Every few years, Young Dragons appear

in our settlements and wreak havoc. Even if we cut down the adolescents that

leave the Sanctuary, the others never come over to avenge them. That's

because they are the intruders in that situation. That being said, though..."

"Can you beat a Dragon?" Garm turned to answer my question.

"If we had a hundred of our best, like the elite royal soldiers, it might be

possible. But any attacks that don't critically injure them only make them even

angrier."

What? A hundred of Mismede's best soldiers? And even then, it "might" be

possible...? Are Dragons really that strong? That aside, if this Dragon really is

just some teenager running wild, it means that even the proud flying lizards

have unruly brats among them, huh? I can't think of anything more irritating.

It's basically a living natural calamity, right next to tornadoes, tsunamis and

volcanic eruptions in terms of disaster potential.

I took out my smartphone, started the map app, and ran a search for

"Dragon."

A number of pins dropped down somewhere in the middle of Mismede on the

map. Guess that's the Sanctuary Grounds, then... So that means this lone pin

over here is the Dragon that was just above us. Hm... it's gradually moving

toward... Oh. Crap.

"Hey! The Dragon's flying straight for Eld...!"

"What?!" Everyone was shocked at my words.

"Why's it heading to Eld of all places?!"

"There's a large pasture south of the village. Is it aiming for the cattle,

maybe?" I had the thought that maybe if the Dragon ate some cows or sheep,

it'd be satisfied enough to spare the village. Garm quickly dispelled that theory

with a harsh truth, however...

"Once it gets itself a taste of meat, the Dragon will just strike again. And when

it comes to Dragon food, we're as good as any cattle. Well, I'm sure some

Dragons have individual preferences, but my point still stands."

At the rate things are going, the village is gonna be wiped off the map. Hmm,

my Smartphone Strike has a limited range... With this much distance between

us, nothing I try will work.

"What do we do? Our mission is to protect the ambassador. We cannot allow

ourselves to let any harm come her way."

"Khh..." Lyon's words made Garm grit his teeth. To a man that serves his

country, orders from higher-ups were absolute. If we were to go to the village

and something happened to Olga, it would become an international incident.

However, having half of our guards stay behind and making the others go save

the villagers wasn't a great idea, either. And I'd never visited Eld, so I couldn't

create a [Gate] to fast travel there. What am I supposed to do?

"Do you not have something you can do, Touya-dono...?"

"The problem is exactly that, Yae. I don't." I folded my arms and began

thinking. Unlike the soldiers here, we aren't obligated to do anything. We aren't

under any orders; we simply took a quest from the guild. And protecting Olga

wasn't a part of that arrangement at all. Our only role here is to deliver the fake

teleport mirror to Mismede...

"Wait...!" Right, that's our task! I took the mirror from the inner carriage and

leaned it against the outside of the carriage. The mirror itself was as big as the

door, so it was hard to pull out quickly.

"Touya, what's this?" Lyon looked at it with a puzzled expression on his face.

In fact, just about everyone was tilting their heads in confusion.

"Err... right. This is my Teleport Mirror. It's one of two. The other is in the

royal palace back in Belfast, and you can get there in an instant by using this

one as a door. I was thinking of letting Olga and Arma take refuge in the palace

while we deal with this situation. What do you think?"

"I had no idea you had something so powerful..." Olga muttered.

"Our job is to get it to the Kingdom of Mismede. King Belfast himself gave us

permission to use it in emergencies." I spoke all the lies I could think of. I told

them that it could only be used for one round trip per day and that it couldn't

handle crowds of people. I spent most of my rant trying to talk about how safe

an item it was. Most of my appeal was directed toward the Mismedian soldiers.

"Understood, then. We will use this to take refuge in the royal palace. While

we're gone, please do your best to protect the villagers in Eld."

"Very well, ma'am. Touya, do what you have to." Garm gave a nod upon

hearing Olga's decision.

"Got it. Now, Olga, Arma, Yumina, and... Garm, would you like to confirm

what's on the other side with your own eyes?"

"M-Me? I don't know if I, uh..." Garm sounded a little concerned. I placed my

hand on the mirror.

"[Gate]." Careful that they didn't hear me, I spoke my magic word. The portal

of light appeared a few centimeters in front of the mirror. This is actually a

much better method than having to use [Enchant] on the thing so soon. We're

not at the Mismede Palace yet, after all.

The first to enter was Yumina. She was followed by Garm, Arma, Olga, and

myself, after which the portal silently closed. Standing in Yumina's room in the

palace, I turned around to see the connecting mirror. Good thing we prepared

this in advance.

"So... th-this place is...?"

"Belfast's royal palace, yes. Alright, Yumina. Go and explain the situation to

His Majesty."

"Very well. Be careful, Touya..." I briefly clarified where we were to Garm,

who was so dumbfounded his mouth was hanging open, and told Yumina to

handle the rest.

"Hey, Garm. Did that ease your mind a little? We've gotta hurry back now."

"Ah... y-yes. Time's wasting, you're right!" Just as I did the first time, I created

a [Gate] a few centimeters in front of the castle's mirror and passed through it.

By the time we returned to the woodland, everyone was ready to move out.

"Alright, you lot! The ambassador is safe now! We will now move to protect

the villagers of Eld from the Dragon!" Seeing that their captain had returned

safe and sound, the beastmen let out an enthusiastic roar in response to his

orders. I watched them as I walked over to Lyon.

"What about you and the knights, Lyon? There's no obligation for Belfastians

to help out here..."

"If I were to claim that this was no concern of mine, my father would surely

strike me with a fiery fist. We're helping too, naturally. I am certain His Majesty

would will it as well." Lyon declared his resolution with not a hint of hesitation

in his voice. Apparently, the soldiers had already discussed the matter at hand.

Works for me.

My map showed that it would still take a while for the Dragon to reach the

village. Nonetheless, we had to hurry. Lucky for us, this beast seems to be a bit

slow. If we go as fast as our carriages can manage, we'll get there about an

hour after the Dragon makes contact.

Desperately hoping that we'd be able to avoid any fatalities, we jumped into

the carriages and rode off at full speed.

◇ ◇ ◇

The village was a sea of flames. People were running, screaming, and

stumbling in a panic. A Black Dragon was flying above the carnage, vomiting

fireballs upon the settlement like the place was some kind of playground.

It had mighty, robust limbs, a long, scaled tail, and large, menacing wings that

sprouted from its back. Its red eyes, shining in the darkness of night, made it

seem as though the Dragon was deriving some kind of sadistic pleasure from

the destruction below.

"Prioritize saving the civilians! Carry those who can't move to safety!" Garm

barked orders to his men. The beastmen hastily began helping those who

couldn't move due to injury and pulling out people buried under support

beams, burning wreckage, and other such debris.

"You heard him, men! Let none be left behind!" By Lyon's command, the

Belfastian knights joined the beastmen in helping the villagers.

"Alright, we have to lure that Dragon away from the village." I'll get that

scaleface's attention and have him glide away from here. With any luck, that'll

give Garm, Lyon, and their men all the time they need to evacuate the villagers.

It's a basic plan, but that's probably for the best right now... The men's mission

was to protect Olga. They couldn't afford to lose their lives to some random

Dragon attack. Also, our target was high up in the sky. Standard weapon attacks

wouldn't reach it. It was all up to magic users like me and Linze.

"Strike true, Light! Sparkling Holy Lance: [Shining Javelin]!" A single ray of

light tore the veil of night asunder. However, the Black Dragon gracefully

evaded it and puked out another fireball.

"Ghh! [Boost]!" I buffed my physical abilities and hastily switched positions.

The fireball hit the ground and created an explosion that only served to spread

more flames.

This is bad... If we keep fighting here, it's only going to result in more damage.

"Kohaku!"

"Very well!" In response to my call, Kohaku reverted to its true form.

"Linze, hop on!"

"O-Okay...!" I climbed on to Kohaku's back, pulled Linze up to me, and made

her sit up front. With that, we sped off away from the village.

I turned around to see the Dragon spew a number of fireballs in our direction.

We rode Kohaku through the grove as the tiger skillfully evaded the onslaught.

Good, we've got that brat's attention now.

I brought Linze with me because she and I were the only ones capable of

fighting the Dragon while it remained in the sky. We just need to take out its

wings... Once we manage that, the real battle will begin.

We came out of the grove and entered a wide pasture. A good place to fight.

There was nothing to block our sight or hinder our movements. The collateral

damage would be much smaller here, too. It didn't have any good cover, but

beggars couldn't be choosers...

"GRRrrRrraAaaAaAAGGGHhhH!!" The Dragon let out a deafening roar. In

response, Kohaku suddenly began to snarl furiously.

"Impudent whelp! You dare insult my master?! You are naught but an

airborne newt!"

"Huh? You can understand that noise?" Surprised, I dismounted Kohaku as

the tiger began translating the Dragon's words.

"It said 'How dare you try and spoil my fun, you insolent worm. I'll rip you to

shreds and eat the gristle off your charred bones.' What a disgraceful creature...

You snot-nosed brat, you cannot even speak a civilized language! I swear, this is

among the many reasons why I so despise the Azure Monarch's kin!" Expressing

more fury through expression than I thought a tiger capable of, Kohaku glared

up at the Black Dragon in the sky.

"...'Spoil my fun'? So you're telling me it attacked the village as some kind of

prank? What a selfish little..." I could totally understand if it was looking for

something it needed to survive, or if it was exacting revenge for the defilement

of the Sanctuary Grounds. If it was something like that, I had planned on chasing

it off with a little pain. But now it turns out that this thing came and attacked

the people for nothing but its own amusement?

I refuse to hold back against something so sinister.

"Linze. I'll bring it to the ground. Get ready to slice off its wings."

"U-Understood, then..." Linze gave me a slight nod. I focused my magic and

cast a Null spell.

"[Multiple]!" Several magic circles appeared around me, all aimed at the

Dragon. One became two, two became four, four became eight... Once the

number crossed the triple digits, I cast my next spell.

"Strike true, Light! Sparkling Holy Lance: [Shining Javelin]!" In a flash, the

Black Dragon was assaulted by a barrage of one hundred and twenty-eight

sparkling lances. I couldn't use high quality magic yet, but I was unmatched

when it came to quantity. It was much like not being able to use bazookas, but

being skilled with machine guns.

"GRrrYyYAaaAaAGGhH?!" The Black Dragon tried evading the shining

onslaught, but dodging a hundred and twenty-eight of them seemed far too tall

an order. Many of the projectiles dug into its body, drawing blood from its

wounds and causing it to slump to the ground below.

Unfortunately, it quickly got up and spread its wings in an attempt to rise

again, but Linze didn't allow that to go through.

"Come forth, Water! Feel My Blade, Both Cold and Clear: [Aqua Cutter]!" A

sharp edge of compressed water went flying toward it. With a slicing sound,

about half of one of the Dragon's dark wings was sheared off, and it fell to the

ground with a crash.

"GHhhrRRraAaAHHhH!!!" The Dragon released a louder roar this time, one I

assumed to be out of pain instead of an attempt to speak. It tried to get up and

fly again. But alas, unable to balance itself, the Dragon fell to the ground

moments after taking flight. We had taken its ability to fly away.

The Black Dragon suddenly glared at us with those intense red eyes. I could

feel hatred swirling and brewing within them as it opened its maw. The motion

was unlike the times it launched fireballs at us. I had no idea what it was trying,

but I knew it was bad news. Taking Linze into my arms, I double-checked that

[Boost] was still active before speeding across the ground on my enhanced legs.

Seconds later, the Black Dragon opened its mouth, unleashing a flow of

burning crimson that quickly engulfed the area. It spread from its mouth like a

flamethrower's nozzle.

Guess it has different types of flame breath. We were unable to get closer to

the Dragon, and that new menacing blaze was doing a good job of keeping us at

bay.

Linze tried launching another [Aqua Cutter], but the wall created by the

beast's fiery breath reduced its power and dispersed any damage it could've

done.

Suddenly, a silhouette dropped from above the Dragon.

"Hyah!" It was Yae. As she fell, she sliced into the Dragon's right eye.

"It's [Boost] time!" Following Yae's display, Elze jumped out of a grove,

gathered all her might, and launched a fortified strike into the Black Dragon's

side.

"GHhRRraAaAHhH?!"

"Ow... damn it! Its hide is way too tough!"

"At least this one does not regenerate as the crystal creature did, it does not!"

Complaining here and there, Yae and Elze distanced themselves from the

Dragon.

With its eye lost, the beast became enraged and released an onslaught of

fireballs and blaze flows at the two.

"Whoa?!"

"We must get back, Elze-dono!" Yae and Elze hastily retreated. The fire that

appeared behind them lit up the whole area.

With the Dragon's attention shifted to the girls, I looked for an opening, took

out my katana, and closed in on it. With a quick jump, I landed a katana drop

strike on the head of the repugnant reptile.

What followed was a snapping and clanging sound... Even with the effects of

[Boost] amplifying my body, my attack did nothing but let out a metallic sound

and break my katana in half.

"Gah...!" This guy's tough as nails... I should've followed Yae's example and

taken out its other eye.

The Black Dragon bent its head in my direction, its sole eye fixing itself on me

and narrowing. Moments later, the raging beast gaped its maw and readied

itself for another blast of flaming breath.

Well... shit. Just as I thought my end was nigh, a knife flew in out of nowhere

and dug deep into its left eye.

Screaming in pain after losing its second eye, the Dragon threw its head

backward and released an unrestrained flow of flame.

"[Slip]!" Seeing an opening, I magically reduced the friction of the ground

around the Dragon, making the senseless beast lose its balance entirely. Its

gargantuan, heavy body suddenly came crashing to the ground.

Man, that was close... That [Slip] spell of mine is super useful... Just a shame

it's useless against enemies in the air. That knife was a real lifesaver, though.

Yae must've thrown it. I'll have to thank her later. Actually, hold on... wasn't Yae

on the opposite side of where the knife came from? Well, whatever. I'll worry

about that later.

The Dragon let out another furious roar. I had already lost my katana. Just as

one would expect from a Dragon, it wasn't an easy foe to do battle with. I

needed something with more penetrative power. In that case...

"Yae, Elze! Buy me some time! Linze, build a giant ice wall in front of me!

Kohaku, you make sure that no harm comes to her!" Linze quickly began

focusing her magic and speaking the incantation.

"Come forth, Ice! Eternal Frozen Ridge: [Ice Wall]!" A thick barrier of frost

materialized before me. It was beautifully clear and without any visible faults.

Perfect for what I was about to do.

"[Modeling]!" I placed my hand on the ice and began reshaping it. The object

I was making wasn't complicated at all. Magic ice was harder to melt than

normal ice, but I was changing its shape without heating it, so that was really an

unrelated piece of trivia.

After a few seconds, I reformed it into the shape I needed — a large, icy

magnifying lens. Complete with a stand that wouldn't let it fall.

"[Multiple]!" Small magic circles started appearing and expanding, all

pointing toward the lens. One... Two... Four... Eight... Sixteen... Thirty-two...

Sixty-four... One hundred and twenty-eight... Two hundred and fifty-six... Five

hundred and twelve!

"Strike true, Light! Sparkling Holy Lance: [Shining Javelin]!" All five hundred

and twelve spears of light were fired into the lens. They were absorbed and

refracted, focusing into a single point. I quickly used [Modeling] on the lens to

fine-tune its thickness and set the focal point onto the Black Dragon.

"Eat this!" In a flash, a strange sound pierced the air. When I looked at the

Black Dragon, it had a gaping hole where its chest once was. Soon enough, the

beast tumbled forward and fell to the ground, making the earth tremble

something fierce. The fresh blood flowing from its chest painted the

surrounding field a vivid red.

"We really beat that thing?!"

"We did it, Touya-dono! We did!" Elze and Yae cheerily ran up to me. And

Linze, riding Kohaku, wasn't far behind them.

"Well done..."

"I'd expect nothing less from my master. Truly, I can rest at ease now." As I

exhaled a sigh of relief at Kohaku's words, the lens I built suddenly shattered

into countless pieces. Whoa, that scared me!

But, moments later, another fright came. A shadow cast itself upon the

ground. I looked up to see yet another Dragon floating in the sky and blocking

out the moon.

"What... another one?!" This one was considerably larger than the one we'd

just killed. It had red scales and a white mane trailing from the back of its head

to the tip of its tail. Its horns were thick and its tail long.

As we stood there in perfectly reasonable confusion, the Red Dragon, still

floating in the air, began to talk.

"I have no intention of fighting you. This child of my people seems to have

caused much trouble. For that, I sincerely apologize."

"Wait, you can talk?!"

"I am the Red Cragon, he who rules the Sanctuary Grounds. I came to bring

back the unruly youth, but it seems I was too late." The Red Dragon surveyed

the fresh corpse with a sad expression, then slowly closed its golden eyes.

So that was the reason it came here, huh? I'm sorry, if you were a bit faster it

could've been different, but...

It was kind of hard for me to say anything at that point, so Kohaku took a step

toward the Red Dragon.

"Red Dragon. If you ever meet with the Azure Monarch... tell it to properly

discipline its kin."

"What? This presence... but that cannot be... The White Monarch?! Why are

you in such a place?!" The Red Dragon was completely taken aback. I stared at

Kohaku in utter blank, confused amazement. Was there even more to this tiger

than I was unaware of?

"I see... So the Black Dragon was defeated by none other than the White

Monarch. I can see why it stood no chance. What a foolish child it was..."

"Do not misunderstand. Your foolish ilk was exterminated by my master,

Touya. The brat had the gall to insult this venerable young man. This end result

is but a natural consequence of arrogance and idiocy."

"What?! A mere human is the master of the White Monarch?!" The Red

Dragon directed its golden eyes toward me. It was clearly having trouble

processing this information. Shortly after that, it gently landed on the ground,

lowered its whole body, and bowed its head.

"I humbly request you pardon my insolent manner... I also hope you can find

it within your heart to forgive us for this Black Dragon's actions. If possible, I

would prefer the punishment—"

"Hey, enough of that. It's fine so long as you understand, but you're not

getting a second chance, understand? Make sure it doesn't happen again by

telling your kids to behave."

"Of course, sir. By all means. I will return immediately to the Sanctuary

Grounds and voice what must be said. If that is all, I shall take my leave now.

Thank you." The Red Dragon stood up, bowed once more, and spread its wings

before taking flight. It made a circle above us and disappeared toward the

south.

"Goodness gracious, how vexing... This is why I so detest that Azure

Monarch." Mumbling some complaints, Kohaku popped back into tiger cub

form.

The White Monarch and the Azure Monarch didn't seem to have a very good

relationship. Wonder if it had something to do with one being a tiger and the

other a Dragon. Wait a sec... I looked around to see that the three girls were on

the ground.

"What's wrong with you all?"

"What's wrong is that... we couldn't move..." Elze spoke in a slightly hoarse

voice. Ah, it was probably similar to Yumina's condition when I initially

summoned Kohaku. That Red Dragon was probably among the more powerful

ones. I wondered if he too was a bearer of the Mystic Eyes. They certainly were

exotic and golden enough.

"Touya... were you really not scared at all through that?"

"Yep. I was just fine."

"That feels somewhat unfair, it does..." Well, what am I supposed to do about

that? Not like I can control whether or not I'm affected by stuff like that. It's

probably just another of God's gifts.

Now that I think about it, no matter how scared I've been, there's never been

any time I was petrified with fear.

As those thoughts ran through my mind, I cast some Healing magic on the

girls.

◇ ◇ ◇

"Sheesh, I'm tired." I spread myself out on the grass and got comfy. The sun

rose from the eastern sky, blinding my eyes with light. It's dawn already...?

After we beat the Black Dragon, we had to do a lot of running around the

village. Linze used magic water to put out the fires, Elze searched around for the

injured, and I restored them using Healing magic. Also, by the time I realized

that I could've just run a map search for "injured person," we were already

done. No one died in the event, but the village was basically reduced to rubble.

The financial cost was great indeed.

"Ah, Sir Touya. So this is where you were."

"Ah, Lyon. Great work today." The good knight approached me. Apparently,

the situation was cooling down. I could even smell some food being made for

the victims.

"I must say, though, to defeat a Dragon with only four people... I am far past

surprised. In fact, I'm simply deep into that feeling where you lose the ability to

fully articulate a comment."

"Well, it was only a Young Dragon, so it wasn't super strong yet or anything.

That's probably the only reason we won." I explained that part to him, but

conveniently left out everything regarding the Red Dragon. Suddenly, the wolf

captain, Garm, came over to us.

"Oh, Mister Touya. What do you intend to do with the Dragon?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, just think of the ingredients. Selling it would net you a great amount of

coin. Though, transporting it would be a problem..."

"You're telling me I can sell the Dragon's corpse?" Apparently, draconic

scales, claws, horns, fangs, and bones were great weapon and armor crafting

materials, while the meat was rather delicious. It seems dead Dragons were

extremely expensive commodities. And since I was the one to defeat the Black

Dragon, I had the right to decide what to use it for. Hmm, in that case...

"The villagers can have it. It should help them get back on their feet."

"All of it?! To them?!"

"Mister Touya, do you know what you're saying?! The price of a Dragon is

staggering! That carcass alone would not go for anything less than ten royal

coins!" Ten royal coins? Seriously? It was worth more than a hundred million

yen?! Awesome! I'll definitely keep it in tha— Oh. Damn. Right as I was about to

reconsider my decision, I saw the villagers huddled together in my peripheral

vision. Crap, they heard me.

"...I-IT'S A SMALL PRICE TO PAY TO HELP THIS LOVELY VILLAGE. I TRULY HOPE

THEY USE IT WELL." I couldn't retract my statement, so I forced out a sentence

that made me seem far more benevolent than I actually was. I bet the truth of it

showed on my face, though.

"I think I speak for all of Mismede when I say this. Thank you, Mister Touya."

"Hah... indeed. Just as father said, you are truly a man of fine standing. I

cannot help but admire you, Sir Touya." Gazes of appreciation and respect

converged upon me. No. Stop. I was just keeping up appearances... I could only

hope that the girls would tolerate this mistake.

I used the fake teleportation mirror to bring Olga, Arma, and Yumina back to

us, and Olga didn't hesitate before thanking me. Most of her gratitude was for

defeating the Dragon and saving the village, but I had nearly nothing to do with

there being no fatalities. That was likely due to our escorts doing a good job.

Speaking of those guys, they were completely exhausted and getting some

well-deserved sleep next to the carriages. And honestly, I really wanted to join

them. As if to deny me that luxury, however, an old beastman hobbled over to

us, supporting himself with a stick.

"I am Solum, the village chief. I would like to give you my earnest thanks for

defeating the Dragon that attacked our village, and giving such great support to

our restorative endeavors." By "support," you mean my generous donation,

right? Man, did I screw up by just handing it over... But with the village in this

sorry state, they'll need anything they can get. Ah whatever, no use crying over

spilled milk.

The chief called over some villagers who were carrying something. What's

that? Looks about one and a half meters long... A big black curved cone? Oh,

I've seen this thing before.

"This is one of the Dragon's horns. Please take it for yourself."

"Huh? But I..."

"We hear you damaged your weapon. You can use this horn to craft a new

one, or sell it and buy something already made." Well, he's not wrong. Guess I

should just take it, then. Once the chief passed it over, I couldn't hide my

surprise at how light it was. Despite that, I heard it was far harder than the

finest steel. I began to understand why a creature as large as that could actually

take off from the ground.

As far as I was aware, the only materials stronger than Dragon parts were

hihi'irokane, mithril, and orichalcum.

Either way, I graciously accepted the horn and walked away from the village

chief and the rest. To be honest, I was close to collapsing from exhaustion. But

by some miracle, I was able to drag myself to the carriage. Looking inside, I saw

Elze, Linze and Yae sleeping peacefully. I couldn't really join them, so I simply

slumped down and spread myself out on the grass next to the carriage.

"Here, Touya. A blanket." A moment later, Yumina came over with something

I really needed. Perfect timing... I gave her my thanks and covered myself, all

while trying to prevent my eyelids from drooping there and then.

Ah, sweet warmth... I couldn't hold it back any longer. My eyes closed and

drowsiness set in.

I woke up to see Yumina with the wide open sky behind her. Still not fully

aware of my surroundings, I looked into her eyes as she stared at mine.

"Are you finally awake?" I could feel something soft under my head as I heard

her say that... Wait, is my head on her thighs or something? I rolled off to the

ground to escape the situation. How long was I sleeping like that?! I hastily got

up and noticed the villagers and now-awake guards who were grinning and

looking at me like I was something adorable. Whoa, this embarrassment is next

level. Resting on a girl's thighs in front of a group of people...?! I'd be lying if I

said I didn't find it pleasant, but it's still way too embarrassing, man!

"Oh. He's awake."

"...S-Seems like you slept well."

"Indeed. He looked quite satisfied, he did."

Chills ran down my spine. I fearfully turned around to see the reason for that.

Three girls, silently standing there with full smiles on their faces. Their eyes,

however, reflected no joy at all. W-Wait a sec, are they mad at me?

"Err... did I miss something?"

"Nope." "No..." "You did not." They were clearly lying. I could see it on their

sulking faces.

"Now now, ladies. Let's leave it at that! The results of rock-paper-scissors are

sacred. No grudges allowed, okay?"

"Geez, I know that much..."

"Mhm..."

"This is rather vexing, it is..." Yumina made a little clap and spoke words that

made the three look away and calm down. What was so important that they'd

get mad at losing rock-paper-scissors over it?

"Mister Touya, you should begin getting ready to depart. We have to report

what happened here to the capital." Garm came over with Olga in tow, telling

us to get prepared. It broke the uncomfortable air, so I used the opportunity to

head to the carriage. The stares boring into my back were distracting, but I

pretended not to notice.

«Kohaku, what exactly happened while I was sleeping?» I telepathically spoke

to Kohaku, who seemed to be inside the carriage. I figured the tiger might know

something, after all.

«Well... How should I put this...? I suppose you could say that there was a

catfight.»

«Huh?» I had no idea what that meant, but it was clear that no one other

than Yumina was in the best of moods. I had to do something about that... Aha!

Struck with a sudden idea, I went to the chief's house and made a little trade

to acquire a certain something.

As the carriage shook and rattled, I exhaled a sigh of relief while looking at the

satisfied girls. There were silver bracelets shining on Elze, Linze, Yae, and

Yumina's wrists.

They were made by me, of course. I bought some silver objects from the chief

and used [Modeling] to reshape them into bracelets. The design was based on

one of the more moderate ones I found on the internet. Once my work was

done, I gave one to each of them, to express my thanks for everything up to

that point.

They seemed pretty surprised at first, but none of the girls hesitated to take

theirs. From the way they looked at the bracelets every once in a while, I could

easily tell that they liked them. Though, the occasional grins were a tiny bit

unsettling, honestly.

"Olga, how long will it take us to get to the capital?"

"We should reach Berge in just over two days. Touya, you should get a

weapon in one of the towns along the way."

Good point. Garm told me the best place to get a weapon crafted from a

Dragon's horn is the capital city. But being unarmed until then probably isn't

smart. I mean, sure, I can fight just fine with magic alone, but being without a

weapon at my side makes me feel a bit helpless. Hm? Wait. Can't I just use

[Modeling] to shape the horn myself? No, wait, I shouldn't risk screwing that

up...

"Well, it's only two days, so I'll just make due with magic." No point in buying

a weapon if I'm just gonna use it for two days. Berge is the capital city anyway,

so it'll have way better goods. Olga suddenly seemed to remember something

and pulled a cloth-wrapped object out of her bag.

"I just remembered, the village chief gave this to me." Olga passed it over,

and I instantly realized that it was a cloth-wrapped knife. It was black, singleedged, slightly curved, and had a length of about twenty centimeters.

"What's this...?"

"Hm? I heard it was found in the Dragon's eye... Isn't it yours?" Oh, it's that

weapon. So the chief retrieved it, huh? I took the knife from Olga, wrapped it up

again, and tried passing it to Yae.

"Here you go, Yae."

"Hm? But that is not mine, it is not." Huh...? If it's not Yae's, then Elze, maybe?

It wasn't Elze's either. Linze? No, she couldn't even hold something like this

properly. Whose knife is this, then? Weren't we the only ones there? Did

someone help us from the shadows? That means they weren't our enemy, but

it's still super creepy...

«Kohaku. Was someone other than us present during that fight?»

«There was someone there. I could sense a presence at the top of a tree in

the grove. No, there were likely two, actually... I sensed no killing intent, so I

had assumed them to be mere villagers.» I telepathically confirmed it with

Kohaku. Apparently, it was certain that someone was observing our battle with

the Dragon. Why, though? I suddenly recalled that someone was watching

Yumina and me back in Langley. Could it have been the same people?

That wasn't something I could figure out just by thinking about it. I examined

the knife, but it didn't seem like anything in particular stood out.

For the time being, I decided to keep the blade on my person. Not having its

sheath was a real pain, though.

Seriously... who could it have been?

◇ ◇ ◇

"Hah... so that's how it is..." That was all I could say upon catching sight of the

pure white royal palace in the capital of Berge. To be blunt, it reminded me of

the Taj Mahal. The all-marble tomb a certain emperor built for his beloved. That

huge white building with a name meaning "Crown of the Palace."

Well, I said it reminded me of it, but there were a number of small differences

too. When compared to the townscape, built primarily of sun-dried bricks, the

palace really stood out. If I had to describe it, I'd have said that it felt as though

an Indian palace got mixed into the world of the Arabian Nights folk tales.

As our carriage ran through the town, I couldn't help but notice just how

undeveloped it was compared to Belfast. Even so, the inhabitants didn't

disappoint when it came to liveliness. Many species walked the streets, creating

a nice hustle and bustle. Various cultures mixed, merged, and developed in a

single direction. I could only assume that it was the way the town was supposed

to appear.

We left the streets, all lined with tall buildings, and crossed the long bridge

toward the palace. Once we were over the town's waterway, we entered the

palace grounds.

The five of us, along with Olga, left the carriage and met up with Garm, Lyon,

and their eight soldiers before making our way through the garden. It was a

beautiful sight. I could see birds frolicking around, and I even noticed some

squirrels staring at us from up in their neatly arranged trees.

We went up a long staircase and entered the palace interior. Bright sunlight

fell through the skylight windows, only to become even brighter upon hitting

the white marble floor.

Surrounded by ornate pillars, we followed the corridor going through the

middle of the courtyard until we reached a large, ornate door.

The soldiers posted next to the door opened it for us with a loud creak.

Sunlight shone through the windows and fell upon a large red carpet.

Standing at either side of this carpet was a royal audience of various demihumans. All of them were dressed in gaudy clothing, so I assumed them to be

the ministers of the country or something along those lines. Some were horned,

others were winged, so they were definitely a vivid group of people.

Beyond the audience, seated on his throne up high, I saw the ruler of the

country.

Beastking Jamukha Blau Mismede. Apparently his beastman subspecies was

Snow Leopard. At a glance, I thought he was in his early fifties or so. His face,

surrounded by white hair and a beard, gave off a regal aura of power and awe.

From his sharp, feline eyes, I could feel an indescribable force and even a little

bit of mischief.

We gathered before the beastking, making sure to bend our knees and bow

our heads.

"My liege... I, Olga Strand, have made my return from the Kingdom of

Belfast."

"Hmph. Well done to you." The beastking gave her a light nod. Then, he spoke

to Garm and Lyon, who were kneeling right behind Olga.

"Garm... and you, Belfastian knight. I am most pleased by your success in

protecting Olga."

"Thank you, Your Beastliness!" "Thank you, Your Majesty!" Following those

responses from the two, the beastking looked at me and the girls, squinted his

eyes, and adopted a faint smile.

"So, you are the ones sent by Belfast's king, I presume? It has reached my ears

that, despite being few, you were able to slay the Dragon wreaking havoc in Eld.

Is this true?"

"Yes. You have heard correctly. I was unable to participate, but the other four

besides me were indeed the ones who felled the Black Dragon attacking Eld."

Yumina stood up, confidently and resolutely answered the beastking's question.

"...And who might you be?" The girl showed no hint of apprehension at being

in the presence of nobility. In addition, she looked at the ruler with unwavering

eyes, so naturally it would make someone like him slightly suspicious.

"Pardon my late introduction. I am Yumina Urnea Belfast, daughter of

Tristwyn Urnes Belfast, king of the Kingdom of Belfast." Her words caused a stir

among just about everyone present. That was only natural. The crown princess

just appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. Olga and Lyon were aware of the

situation, but Garm couldn't help but widen his eyes in shock.

"My... what business brings the princess of Belfast into my domain?"

"This is to show just how important we consider this alliance with Mismede.

Here is a message from my father. I humbly ask that you read what he has

written." As she spoke, Yumina took out a letter and handed it over to him.

When did she get that...? Oh right... she probably got it when I had her return

to the Belfast palace during the attack.

With a reverent dignity about him, one of the beastking's aides took the letter

and brought it over to him. After removing the seal and running his eyes over

the paper, the ruler of Mismede looked at Yumina and smiled.

"Interesting... I think I understand the situation. Give me time to consider

what I've just read. Don't worry, I'll be sure to give you my response soon

enough. Until then, feel free to make yourselves at home in my palace." The

beastking passed the letter over to his aide.

"Right, now we've got the formalities outta the way... There's something I've

been wanting to ask." The beastking's tone suddenly switched to a lighter one

as he looked over at Kohaku. Well, it makes sense he'd be interested in that...

"Is that white tiger with ya?"

"That's correct. It is Touya's... servant, of sorts."

"Rawr." Kohaku gave a short response, as if to affirm what she said. In

Mismede, white tigers were considered sacred. There was a thing or two to be

said about calling Kohaku a "servant," but since I didn't use a collar or a leash or

anything like that, no one seemed to mind too much.

The beastking spent a moment looking at Kohaku before slowly shifting his

gaze to me.

"...How very interesting. So, a white tiger-taming hero downed a Dragon, eh?

Geheheh, s'been a while since my blood's boiled this hard! So then, boyo!

Wanna spar with me?"

"...Huh?" A small sound leaked from my mouth, signaling my confusion. The

ministers surrounding us heaved a collective sigh of resignation as well. Wait...

what?!

There was a gigantic arena behind the white palace. It reminded me a bit of

the Roman Colosseum. Man, this country is way too inconsistent.

I'd been inexplicably brought there for a duel with the beastking. Why is this

even happening?

"Do forgive us, good Touya. His Beastliness is the type who cannot resist

fighting anyone he thinks is strong. In all honesty, we are quite troubled by it,

too." Chancellor Glatz turned to apologize to me. He was an avian with gray

wings. By his looks, I'd say that he was in his late forties. He was clad in a robe

as dull as his wings. His mustache stuck out prominently too.

"I would be truly grateful if you gave him some serious pain! Fight with all

your might, please."

"Wait, hold up! Isn't he your king? Are you sure you're okay telling me to do

that?" I looked at Glatz with obvious confusion in my eyes. Soon enough, the

people next to him began backing him up.

"We do not mind. Fight as you please. His Beastliness always looks down on

the importance of state affairs! There are times when he just disappears and we

find him training with the soldiers, overpowering every single one of them!"

"There was also that time when he got an idea for a new weapon and just

walked out to the blacksmith's! It ruined our schedule and caused me so much

trouble!"

"Don't forget when he said something about starting a grand tournament...

Did he even consider the budget?!" Damn... the ministers of Mismede really

have it tough, huh? The king of this country is kind of a weirdo, I guess. Well, it's

not like Belfast's king is much better in that regard, but still...

Pushing those thoughts aside, I took a wooden sword and headed for the

center of the arena. The audience was made up of my friends, the Mismedian

ministers, and a number of Mismedian soldiers, all ranked captain and above.

The beastking was wielding a wooden sword and shield. I had the opportunity

to take a shield, but I turned it down. I was no good at using them and preferred

to be agile anyway, so it was fine.

"The fight will last until one side receives an injury that would be fatal with

real swords or if one side admits defeat. The use of magic is also permitted.

However, offensive magic aimed directly at your opponent is forbidden. Do

both parties agree to these rules?" The referee, a horned fellow with dark skin,

explained the rules to us.

No offensive magic on the opponent, huh? Hm... that narrows down my

options a bit. Still, the state ministers told me to go all out, so I guess I shouldn't

hold back.

"Hey uh... are you sure you want to fight me?"

"Heheheh. Of course, and don't you dare hold back! Consider this a real

battle. Use all you have and try to win!" I asked him for confirmation, and His

Beastliness replied with a full smile. Man, is he really serious here? His body is

really well built... Not the kind I'd expect for a man of his age, honestly. He's

probably done some serious training.

Guess I don't have any other option. If he's so serious about it, it'd be rude not

to go all-out. I'll just take the liberty of treating this as a real battle.

The horned referee raised his arm high and took a look at both fighters before

speedily casting his arm down.

"Round one. Begin!"

"[Slip]."

"Wha-?!" The beastking fell over in a way that was almost magnificent. I

quickly closed the distance between us and placed my wooden sword against

his neck.

"Alright. That's a wrap."

"W-W-Wait a sec! This ain't fair! What was that all about?!"

"It was my Null spell, [Slip]. Non-offensive magic isn't against the rules,

right?"

"No no no! That's cheating! That's not allowed! It wasn't even a proper duel!"

His Beastliness childishly protested. Seems he was unable to accept the

outcome.

Well, he does have a point... But all things considered, that's the most efficient

way of taking down an enemy, isn't it? Well, so long as I'm up against an enemy

that can't fly.

"I want a rematch! No magic this time!"

"Hmm, well... what do you think, Chancellor?" I looked at Glatz and the

ministers surrounding him. They seemed pretty confused at first, but once they

realized why I brought them into the conversation, a few of them developed sly

grins.

"Well... We would prefer it if you refrained from delaying our governmental

affairs any further."

"G-Glatz! Don't say that! This won't take long! I promise! Just give me a

moment, okay?!"

"Hmm... I'm not sure if I should..." His Beastliness ran over to the Chancellor

and they began to talk about a few things. I could hear the beastking say things

along the lines of "I'll be more serious, I swear!" and "I'll be where I have to,

promise!" over and over.

In response, the ministers gave him several conditions, which made him drop

his shoulders in resignation. Still, he ended up agreeing to whatever terms they

had given. Did I just do something bad...?

"Sir Touya. If you do not mind, we would like you to have another battle with

His Beastliness!" The beastking took up a position opposite me as Glatz asked

for another round. He sounded a lot happier this time... Is it just me or does the

king look a little annoyed?

"That spell is forbidden this time. Got it?"

"Got it." We readied ourselves once more. And again, the referee raised his

right arm before swinging it down.

"Round two. Begin!" The beastking attacked me the very moment the duel

began. I faced him head-on and twisted my body to gracefully evade the blow.

Then, after backing down a bit, I charged toward him.

"Come forth, Sand! Obstructing Dust Storm: [Blind Sa—]."

"You're slow." The beastking leaped to me with the speed of a bullet and

bashed me with his shield, forcing me to reposition myself. Crap, he interrupted

the spell! I parried his wooden sword, launched a feint attack, and backed away

again.

But it was no use. He predicted my movements and lunged right where I

retreated. He went for my chest. I somehow evaded his attack, but he followed

it up with an attack against my throat.

The second thrust surprised me, but I was able to bend my head in a way that

caused him to merely scrape my ear. Whoa, that was close! Backing away was

a bad idea... I've gotta go on the offensive!

"[Multiple]!" Small magic circles began to form on the ground around my

legs.

"Hm?!" The beastking halted his charge when he saw them. Though just

about anyone would do that, honestly. Hook, line and sinker! You fell for my

bluff!

"[Boost]!" I used magic to buff my physical abilities and quickly utilized my

explosive speed to close in on the beastking. Victory is mine!

"[Accel]." The beastking suddenly whispered something. The moment the

words escaped his lips, his large body disappeared. My blade came down on

nothing but thin air.

"Wha—?!" Dumbfounded, I suddenly felt someone behind me. I ducked down

by reflex alone and saw the beastking's wooden sword fly above my head

horizontally. I rolled away from him and adjusted my stance. What the heck was

that?!

"You were able to dodge that, huh? Not bad at all, boyo."

"Was... Was that a Null spell?"

"You're right. It was my own Null spell. I call it [Accel]."

I knew it. So it's a spell that accelerates your movement... No wonder I

completely lost sight of him! What's more annoying is that I don't know

anything about it. Does it have a time limit? Does it boost his muscles?

"How does it work?"

"It simply makes the body a bit faster. That's all there is to it. Though, when

used, it creates this magic barrier around the body that eats magical energy like

crazy, so you can't really keep it up for long. Normal humans can't even see the

speed I move with when it's up, so I've gotta hand it to ya for being able to

dodge that." Ah, so it's just a simple acceleration spell, then. The magic barrier

was probably there to protect the body from the high speeds.

"I see. I get how it works now. That's a good spell you have there."

"It is, isn't it? I'm pretty prou—"

"In fact, I like it so much that I'm gonna use it too! [Accel]!" And, just like that,

I used the beastking's signature move against him. In but a moment, I dashed

past the beastking and my wooden sword cleaved through thin air.

Huh? Aww shit, I messed up the timing. Could've sworn I aimed at his torso,

but I was way off. This spell's gonna take some getting used to... I tried to move

a bit, but my own perception of speed couldn't keep up with my body.

"Wha—?! You just... But... that's my—!"

"Wow... it's harder to control than it looks! I won't miss again, though." I

kicked into hyperspeed and closed in on the beastking once more. He cast

[Accel] too, and we began an extremely fast exchange of attacks, dodges,

backsteps, and parries. The barrage of his attacks was as fast as lightning, but

my defense wasn't far behind. I was quickly getting used to the speed. I could

only assume that the spell accelerated my brain power and reflexes, as well.

Our battle in this supersonic world felt just about normal for the both of us,

but it was probably extremely hard for normal humans to see.

However, I had a trump card. I'll just combine this [Accel] spell with...

"[Boost]!" With a flash, I gained even more speed! Magical acceleration

stacked on top of my enhanced leg muscles. I reached a speed bordering on

divine. No naked eye could follow my movements. Though it lasted only for a

moment, I had completely exceeded the limits of [Accel] alone.

"How?!" In less than a heartbeat, I was behind the beastking, pushing the

wooden sword against his neck.

"Checkmate."

"...I'm not sure what that word means, but it seems I've lost." His Beastliness

raised his hands and accepted defeat. Accepting his admission of defeat, the

referee raised his right arm.

"The winner is Sir Mochizuki Touya!" Following that declaration, everyone in

the arena's audience began applauding. In truth, I had expected a barrage of

booing and jeering, mostly because I had just defeated the country's king, but

apparently my worries were unfounded.

"I didn't expect you to know how to use [Accel] as well... I had extreme

confidence in that spell, so I became a tad conceited. I guess I should rethink my

strategies!"

"Well... maybe? Hahaha..." I laughed it off. Null magic was personal magic.

People who could use the same Null spell were few and far between. Though, I

heard that those from the same lineage might've had similar spells. Regardless,

it was only natural for the beastking to be unprepared for my display. It was

basically foul play.

Shame I didn't get to use any elemental magic. I can't cast spells properly if

the incantation is interrupted... Though that was rarely a concern for mages.

They were nearly always backline fighters anyway. Still, it'd be really convenient

if there was a way to use elemental magic without having that pesky

incantation in the way...

Come evening, there was a minor party in the palace. The guests were mostly

Mismede's ministers, the elite nobles, and important merchants. From what I

could tell, it was meant to celebrate Olga's return and to welcome Yumina,

since she was the princess of Belfast and all.

It wasn't a proper feast, so attire didn't matter all that much, but it just so

happened that I ended up in formal wear.

Both my upper and lower body were covered in white, but the vest coat they

gave me was black. Then there was a broad, navy blue sash. All I needed was a

turban and I'd look like some kind of Sinbad or Aladdin cosplayer.

The party had a buffet, so most of the attendees were taking bites from the

selection and enjoying some small talk.

The guest of honor, Yumina, still wasn't there. Neither were Elze, Linze, or

Yae. They're probably getting changed into their formal clothes. They won't be

in any trouble, Kohaku's looking after them anyway.

"Hey there, Sir Touya. That looks really good on you." Champagne in hand and

clad in a snazzy tailcoat rather than the usual armor, Lyon came up to me with a

greeting. Being the son of the baronial Blitz family, he was probably used to

fancy events already.

"Wait a sec, Lyon, why wasn't I given clothes similar to yours...?" Regardless

of whether or not my outfit looked good, I had to ask. Though, I guess it was for

the best. I'd feel pretty low if I had to stand next to him while wearing the same

suit. My fragile heart would receive a crack each time someone compared me

to this handsome devil.

"Er... Sir Touya... you haven't seen Olga around, have you?"

"Can't say I have." Lyon tried to casually ask me about Olga, trying to put on

airs and hide the fact that he was anxious to see her. He has a point, though...

It's kind of weird that I haven't seen the other guest of honor anywhere. Well,

she's probably just not here yet. Hope she gets here soon though, there's only so

much grinning I can do at fidgety Lyon over here.

"Touya!" The moment those words reached my ears, I felt someone hug me

from behind. I turned around and looked down to see a twitching pair of small,

fox-like ears.

"Well, if it isn't Arma." I patted the head of the small foxgirl. She was wearing

an adorable dress. When I looked behind her, I saw a well-built gentleman with

white facial hair. There was a pair of ears poking out of his hair and a long, thick

tail trailing behind him. Could this guy be...

"A pleasure to meet you. I am Olba, Arma's father." Called it. I shook the hand

he extended, then took a moment to look at both the man and his daughter.

Apparently, the hair on their ears and tails also turned white with age...

"Nice to meet you too. I'm Mochizuki Touya. Ah, Touya is my given name."

"Hoho, so you're from Eashen, then?" It's been a while since I've heard that

one.

"I-I am Lyon Blitz, a-a knight from the first order of B-Belfastian knights!" Get

it together, Lyon... Lyon shakily shook Olba's hand right after I did. Guess he

couldn't help it. Arma's father was also Olga's father, after all.

"You have my heartfelt thanks for protecting my daughters."

"N-No need for that, sir! I-I was merely following orders!" Lyon, please.

There's no need to freak out that much, man... With no intention of helping

Lyon out of his sticky situation, I decided to begin some small talk with the old

fox.

"What do you do for a living, Olba?"

"I'm a merchant. I deal in various high quality goods, some of which come

from Belfast." A merchant, eh? Various goods...

"Recently, I've been trying to get my hands on this new game called 'shogi.'

I'd quite like to sell it here. I hear the king of Belfast himself enjoys it quite a

bit."

"Hmm? Shogi?" How did news of the game spread out this far? As it turned

out, Olga wrote about it in one of the letters she sent him, and it wound up

catching his interest.

"I just so happen to have a shogi set with me. Would you like it?"

"Oh, could I really take it? I'd be most grateful. I've wanted to see it with my

own eyes for a while." Luckily for him, I still had the shogi set I made during the

trip.

"No problem. I'll make sure you have it by tomorrow. Though, I have some

business to take care of, so... Lyon, could you bring it to Olba? Olga already

knows the rules, so I'm sure she'll teach you both."

"H-Hm?! Me?!" Once I brought him into the conversation, Lyon began to

panic once again.

"Lyon's father is General Leon, one of the king's most trusted aides. I hear

he's one of the king's top picks for shogi opponents, as well."

"Hoh? A son of the General Leon?! Oh my, I would be really glad if you visited

our home. There's so much I want to ask you." Olba spoke gleefully to Lyon, a

full smile across his face. When it came to personal background, the young

knight was a fine match for his daughter. I quietly hoped he'd make a good

impression on the old fox. Well, whether they'd get married or not depended

entirely on how the lovebirds felt, so I might've been doing something

unnecessary in the end.

"Yes! I'll be sure to come and visit you tomorrow, then!" Lyon positioned

himself like a proper soldier. The guy was as needlessly serious as ever.

As I worried about the extremely diligent knight, the people gathered in the

palace grew a bit noisier.

What's all the fuss about? I looked over to the entrance of the hall, where I

saw His Beastliness, Olga, Yumina, and the rest of the girls.

Olga was clad in a gaudy Belfastian party dress, while Yumina and the rest

were wearing costumes that reminded me of Indian saris. Elze's was red, Linze's

was blue, Yae's was purple, and Yumina's was white. Though different in color,

they all looked really good. Kohaku was walking alongside them.

"Oh, hey again, boyo. You're looking pretty good. I almost mistook you for a

Mismedian noble."

"Er, thanks... I guess." The beastking stared at me with a grin on his face. This

feels kinda awkward... I don't really know how to deal with situations like this at

all.

I looked to my side to see Lyon intently looking at Olga in her fancy dress. Oh

my... I could see a familiar hair ornament shining in her hair. I think it's safe to

say he has a shot with her at the very least.

"I love your outfit, Touya. You look wonderful," Yumina said, lavishing me

with praise.

"Yup. It just works."

"...I-It shows a different kind of charm..." Linze muttered.

"Amazing, Touya-dono! It's very flattering on you."

Everyone seems to think I look pretty nice... You guys better stop it or I'll blush!

"You all look really good, too. Oh hey, can I take a photo?" I took out my

smartphone and brought up the camera. Once I got them all in frame, I took the

picture, making my phone emit a flash.

Surprised by the burst of light, the Mismedian soldiers posted next to the

palace walls placed their hands on their swords. Uh-oh, guess the flash is a nono.

"What was that?" His Beastliness looked at the smartphone in my hand. Well,

guess I'd have to explain it sooner or later...

"Sorry, this is one of my Null spells. I can use it to record what I see and look

back on it later."

"Hoh? Sorry, I don't really understand." I showed him the photo I just took.

The four girls were on it, lined up and smiling.

"Oho! A spell that lets you draw pictures right away, eh? I've heard of

someone with a similar spell over in the Refreese Imperium! Is it possible to

take this picture out, though?"

Hmm... so the Imperium has someone who can do something similar to me?

Now I'm a little curious about what kind of person that could be... Putting those

thoughts aside, I decided there was no need to give a full explanation of how

photos worked.

"I can actually take it out, yeah! I just need a piece of paper and something to

write with." The beastking had someone bring me what I requested. I looked at

the photo I took and cast [Drawing] to transfer it to the paper. Soon enough,

the blank paper displayed a discolored, sepia-like version of the photo showing

the four girls. It was like one of those old, monochrome photos. I could have

colored it, but this much was enough to get the point across.

"Incredible! That's amazing, kid— er, Sir Touya! Could you draw a picture of

me as well?"

"Sure, no problem." Since he was right there, I didn't have to use the camera.

I simply cast [Drawing] while using him as reference.

When I gave him a photo... well, sort of a photo, of him doing a cool pose, he

was completely overjoyed. But it very quickly got out of hand. Caught in the

flow of the situation, I drew out Olba's family, after which countless random

party guests asked me to draw them, too.

A single drawing took less than ten seconds, so I had no qualms about doing it

over and over, but there were a number of people who weren't satisfied with

their poses or something and took multiple tries to satisfy. What am I, a

Polaroid camera?! I'm getting tired... C'mon already.

Lyon took advantage of the chaos and had me draw him next to Olga. I had no

reason to refuse, of course. But still, when I did that one I felt less like a Polaroid

camera and more like a photo booth.