“Ahhhhh~~~~”
“If you keep yawning like that out here, you're going to swallow a bug.”
Looking at the yawning dragon in the middle of the forest, Karl felt his legs growing weak.
As a bishop who spent his days bogged down by hypocritical letters from nobles, having to walk such a long distance for this Guardian Dragon's inexplicable reasons made the old man highly disgruntled.
“It's fine, it's fine.”
“No bug would dare fly near the mighty Guardian Dragon.”
Furni waved her hand at Karl, looking completely unbothered.
“Should I say you recover quickly?”
“It's only been a short while, and yet you act like nothing happened.”
Only a single day and a morning had passed since this dragon heard she had been dismissed, yet she already seemed completely indifferent.
If any of the other bishops had received such news, they probably would have marched straight to the imperial palace to cause a massive scene.
“What else am I supposed to do?”
“The great Guardian Dragon wouldn't be sad over losing a measly bishop position and a tiny bit of gold.”
“Not at all!”
Furni placed extra emphasis on the word “gold.” It was clear that this dragon truly didn't care about the position itself.
As a Guardian Dragon, a minor title certainly couldn't move her heart.
But... if that title could bring her a little bit of gold, that was a different story.
“So you do care.”
“I do—not!”
“Then apologize to the trees you've snapped with your tail first.”
Furni turned her head away with an air of indifference, but the tail behind her was far more honest than she was.
Hearing Karl's words, Furni looked behind her. A whole swath of trees had been casually knocked down by her thick tail as she walked.
“How could a dragon possibly notice something like that?”
“Sure, sure...”
Seeing Furni baring her fangs, Karl knew he shouldn't keep teasing her.
“So, great Guardian Dragon, how much longer until we reach this next destination of yours?”
“If we keep walking, this old body of mine won't hold up.”
As an elderly human, even if Karl exercised regularly, the aging of his body was completely unavoidable.
“We're almost there, almost there.”
“If I weren't worried that you'd burst and die the moment you stepped inside, this Guardian Dragon wouldn't be walking so slowly.”
Furni wasn't joking with the old man this time.
Karl currently had none of his Holy See equipment on him. If one had to be technical, he only had a few books left that he had purchased with his own money.
But those books couldn't withstand the terrifyingly high magic concentration of the Demon Realm.
Even if that magic concentration was beginning to gradually decrease with the help of the little Hero's skill.
That decrease was only significant to elemental creatures like dragons.
“Then I must truly thank you for taking such good care of an old man like me.”
“Mhm, mhm.”
Though Karl's tone still carried a hint of skepticism—this dragon's usual personality was simply too unreliable.
Furni also picked up on the slight sarcasm, but the broad-minded Guardian Dragon chose to take it as the old man's genuine gratitude~
“We're almost there, old man.”
Furni casually stretched, revealing her lovely little midriff right in front of Karl.
“Don't stare too hard.”
Seeing Karl turn his head away, a mischievous grin immediately spread across Furni's face.
“With a figure like yours, even the young sisters of the Holy See probably have a better body than an ancient dragon like you.”
Karl's embarrassed expression instantly turned to one of disgust upon hearing Furni's tease.
Sweeping his gaze over a certain dragon's barren chest, Karl gave Furni a firm thumbs-down.
“Hey! That's a bit hurtful to a dragon! This is just my mana-saving state.”
“Do you want to see what this dragon looks like in my high-mana state?”
Karl ignored the dragon whose sore spot he had just poked.
He kept walking toward the destination they had planned from the start.
“Oh, please. Barren land doesn't change even after three thousand years.”
“Are you making a dig at my age?!”
“Who knows.”
With that, Karl picked up his pace.
“Stop! Wait up!”
By the time Furni caught up, Karl was already shrouded in a rainbow of spellcasting light, turning into a blur as he dashed away—
...
“Uncle Baroque, Brother Ichikawa!”
“Come over here!”
Not long after Furni and Karl left, Dashi, who happened to be in the forest, arrived at the path that led directly to the Demon King's Castle.
“Did a great battle happen here?”
When Ichikawa approached, he noticed that the surrounding trees had all been violently destroyed, with some of the trunks even bearing what looked like scorch marks.
“Or maybe a certain blue dragon passed through.”
Seeing Ichikawa's stunned expression, Baroque spoke the truth as if it were a joke.
“Mr. Baroque making jokes with such a serious face is actually a bit scary...”
Looking at Baroque's stern face, any normal person would find it hard to believe what he just said.
Although, when he had first met Mr. Baroque, he had indeed been intimidated by that same stern expression.
Ichikawa recalled that when he first met Baroque, he had been so startled that he had even drawn his sword.
“Brother Ichikawa, what if Uncle Baroque isn't lying?~”
Dashi tugged on Ichikawa's pant leg with a mischievous grin.
“I-If that's the case, then I'll stay behind to cover our retreat.”
“A-At least so the two of you can get away.”
Ichikawa patted the sword hanging at his hip, his eyes filled with absolute sincerity in response to Dashi's question.
The moment the words left his mouth, a large hand roughly ruffled his hair.
“Drop it, kid.”
“If you actually run into a dragon, you'd better start thinking about how to keep your corpse intact first.”
There was a hint of satisfaction in Baroque's tone at Ichikawa's response.
“Dashi, we're done hunting. This prey should be enough.”
Seeing the sky beginning to turn a warm, golden yellow, Baroque decided to end his observation of this Hero.
“Huh? We don't need to hunt anymore?”
“Yeah. Kid, come join the feast later.”
For the first time, Baroque smiled in front of Ichikawa.
“I-I think I'll pass...”
Just thinking about a feast where a crowd of people gathered to chat made Ichikawa's stomach churn.
Even though Mr. Baroque was inviting him so warmly, Ichikawa still couldn't handle crowded places.
“Hey, kid. You've been following us around to hunt since yesterday, and aren't you looking for someone?”
Ever since Baroque revealed himself to the Hero yesterday to protect Dashi, he had been leading this helpful Hero in circles around the forest under the pretext of needing to hunt.
“But crowded places make me a bit...”
Ichikawa scratched his head, feeling a bit bad about rejecting this kind uncle's invitation.
“In that case, drink this.”
“It's a potion that makes people brave. It's very popular among the beastkin.”
Baroque pulled a bottle of red liquid from those hanging at his waist and handed it to Ichikawa.
“Mr. Baroque, that kind of lie only works on kids.”
Despite his words, Ichikawa still accepted the bottle of red liquid.
As the liquid slid down his throat, a burning sensation spread through his chest.
“This is... alcohol...”
Thud.
Looking at Ichikawa, who had collapsed onto the ground, Baroque hoisted him directly onto his shoulder.
“Once you're drunk, your courage will naturally show up.”
“Let's go, kid.”
Calling out to Dashi, who was dragging a pile of rare magical beasts nearby, the three of them set off on the path back to the Demon King's Castle.
Rate on N.U.
