Chapter 20.2: The Land Where The Holy Dragon Lives

… … …

The west side of the Rox kingdom rampart is currently in a half-destroyed state.

The cause is an extremely powerful offensive magic.

In the first place, this is the second time the hero’s party is coming to this kingdom.

Since there was a fool who tried to mess with those girls when they came to this kingdom before, the angry girl destroyed the rampart with magic.

I happened to hear that the hero’s party also caused a similar incident in the capital of Holy Republic Lenaria. It seems Rena temple always assigned a convoy whenever the hero’s party takes a stroll in the city.

That’s why, to prevent similar accidents like the last time, our kingdom also decided to assign a convoy to the hero’s party. The one in charge of that is me.

A big country like Holy republic Lenaria can assign any number of guards, but our the Rox kingdom knights number no more than 20. When considering about the need for maintenance of public order for the festival that will begin tomorrow and the usual defense of the highway, that number can’t be avoided. It won’t be bad if normal people were drafted to work around that area, but they’re not skilled enough. So, we had to recruit as many skilled individuals as possible.

Thus, we decided to recruit skilled freedom fighters as their convoy.

The criteria for selection is someone who won’t cause unpleasant feelings even when looking at the hero’s woman and isn’t hostile toward the hero.

Gallios is someone who I can trust after long years of association, and even if I only know Kuro for a while, he is skilled; moreover, he is calm, and I can’t see him as someone hostile toward the hero. The most important point is that I can’t see him as someone who will cause unpleasant feelings with his harmless appearance.

That’s why I want to employ their help no matter what.

「That’s why, please. Will you help me with this job？ 」

I bow to them.

「I’m not in the mood to do it….」

Gallios is saying so as he continued.

「In the first place, I don’t think that I’m suitable for the job if the other party is a noble」

Gallios has the same attitude toward anyone. He spoke with the same tone irrespective of whether it was toward me or royalty of another country. Though the king of Rox didn’t mind about his attitude, it’s might be considered a rude action toward the other country.

If we were unlucky, we might anger the hero.

「No, no need to worry about such things since the one to accompany them is Almi… Is the princess. We’re going to escort them from a secret place so no suspicious persons will approach them」

I tell him about my plan.

「Princess, are you talking about Almina？ 」

I nod to the question from Gallios. Almina, who will turn 17 this year, is the youngest princess of the Rox kingdom.

On hearing that the hero is soft toward girls and since it won’t cause any unpleasant feelings to the hero’s women if a woman was to accompany them, adding to her perfect manner, it was decided that the princess will accompany the hero.

「I see, both the future husband and wife will accompany the hero, huh」

Gallios said with a wide grin on his face.

「Please don’t tease me with that, senpai」

It’s a fact that princess Almina is my childhood friend and also my fiancee.

「It’s a good thing for you and princess Almina. I’ll lend a hand if weren’t for accompanying the hero」

Gallios is laughing with “GAHAHA”. Then, he glanced at Kuro.

「What about you, Kuro？ 」

To be honest, Kuro seemed unwilling to do this job.

But, Kuro, who can use magic, will become a great help in this case.

「Please help me with this job, Kuro-dono！ ！ 」

I bow toward Kuro.

「Well, I think it’s okay as long as it is not directly accompanying the hero…」

Kuro unwillingly accepted my request.

Thus, I gained their cooperation.

And the matter regarding the hero’s also settled for now.

Somehow, I have a bad premonition about this sudden visit of the hero.

=== === ===

◆ Dark Knight Kuroki.

I think that it’s quite strange.

I never thought that I, who summoned to beat the hero, will one day become his escort.

I accepted Rember’s request because it seems that it’s an important matter for him and because I consider him as one of my friends outside Nargol.

From Rember’s story, it’s not like I’m going to meet them directly, so I think it’s okay since it just involves escorting them from a relatively isolated place.

As for why I came to the vicinity of the Rox kingdom, it’s to gather the ingredients to create a goddess.

I recalled the conversation I had with Modes before I come to this place.

「I need a dragon horn. Moreover, we can’t make a goddess unless the horn is from a dragon king」

Modes told me that when I asked for my compensation.

Surely, it’s not like I will receive my compensation in an instant.

But, it seems that special ingredients are needed to create a goddess, and it seems that we can’t make a goddess unless we use those ingredients.

I was told that a dragon, hailed as the holy dragon king of silver, is living in the vicinities of this the Rox kingdom, and we definitely can make a goddess by using that dragon king’s horn. By the way, it seems that Mona is made by using the horn of the dragon king that was hailed as the demon dragon king of lustrous black. Maybe that’s the reason for Mona’s beautiful black-colored hair that’s different from Rena.

Nevertheless, the matter of acquiring the horn of a dragon king is a highly difficult subject, right？

When I researched about it, the dragons hailed as dragon kings are considered terribly strong. I don’t think that acquiring the dragon horn will be an easy matter for me.

It is as if I’ve completely become an errand child for Modes.

Or else, it’s maybe because he judged that it’ll be an easy matter for the powerful me.

Moreover, I didn’t want to hurt a dragon just for my own desire.

It’ll make me remember Glorious.

Thus, I rode on Glorious all the way till this the Rox kingdom. Though I heard that the people without permission will be chased around by the holy knights of Elios, those holy knights were already annihilated by me.

To be honest, I’m reflecting on my actions that went overboard. That evening, I lost my temper, so I just crushed everyone who came toward me without thinking much about it. Before I noticed, it seems that I had already annihilated the holy knights. On hearing about their annihilation, I still wonder how much damage I caused to them. I can’t confirm it even now.

Well, since there are no holy knights, it’s mean that I can ride on Glorious.

Compared to Nargol, the majority of the expanse of the skies of this world is beautiful with a perfectly clear blue sky like the one from my world.

In that matter, riding on the back of a dragon while flying under the blue sky was truly wonderful expression.

Though I can fly with flight magic, flying on the back of a dragon feels much better.

I definitely won’t be able to forgive anyone who wants to take the horn of Glorious, since he made me feel the wonder of flying under the sky.

That’s why I couldn’t get excited with the matter of killing off the dragon king who’s similar to Glorious.

Moreover, the reason why I came to this place is because I have nothing to do.

I thought it’s better to have something to do than nothing; thus, I traveled on Glorious all the way till here. By the way, Nut isn’t with me right now.

I first arrived at a certain tower in the forest, since I can’t enter the city with Glorious in tow.

It seems it is an abandoned tower with no life. The hollow on top of the tower is the most suitable place to hide Glorious.

I came to see the situation a while ago, but it seems that Glorious liked that place.

According to Ruugas, it seems that dragons will eat when it’s the time to eat and eat nothing when it isn’t the time. It seems that Glorious is currently not in eating mode.

I immerse myself till my shoulders while thinking about those things.

Currently, I’m inside the public hot spring in the Rox kingdom.

The other guests are also bathing along with me.

Though I’m still reluctant about the matter of acquiring the horn, I’m extremely grateful for the existence of this hot spring. I think it’s worthwhile to come to this place just for this alone.

The hot spring established by the Rox kingdom wasn’t built in an elaborate manner; it just contained a rock bath.

There’s a liquid foam made from the oil of a certain plant, and they even have sauna-like rooms – complete with the equipment. While immersing myself in the hot spring, I recall about Japan.

Not even one month has passed since then, but I’m already feeling homesick.

I wonder if everyone is alright？

Can we go back safely？

My head is filled with nothing but such thoughts. It seems that I’ve soaked a bit too long in the hot spring.

「Ooi Kuro, going up already？ 」

Gallios inquires me about my action.

I look at Galios. He’s a hairy man. There are scars all over his body, and those scars are the testament of his way of life.

I met Gallios yesterday night.

I found Gallios with wounded legs when I was wandering in the forest for food. [TL: Poor Kuroki]

Unfortunately, the healing spell that I can use is the type of healing that can be used on no one but me. That’s why I couldn’t heal Gallios. Thus, I carried Gallios on my back all the way to the Rox kingdom.

Nevertheless, it turned out that Gallios is quite a famous figure even in the Rox kingdom. Even the gatekeeper of the rampart simply let me through when they saw Gallios on my back. It’s hard to believe that they kept refusing me at the door until now.

In fact, this is the first time I entered the rampart from the front gate.

However, the Rox kingdom provided more freedom for people to go in and out as long as they won’t commit crimes.

It seems that there are a different means to enter each country: there’s a country which will allow you to enter as long as you pay money, there’s also a country which won’t allow you to enter if you’re not their citizen or a citizen of their allies.

And speaking of money, different from my last journey, I’m bringing money for my use it in human society.

Thus, the problem of money that was present during the visit to Holy Republic Lenaria was solved in a jiffy.

That is not because I understood the method to exchange available gems for money.

It’s good as long as I can make some money – the so-called private mint. [TL: Producing money on your own<— WARNING!!! THIS IS ILLEGAL SO DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME!!!]

To put it simply, the circulation of money around this area uses currency issued by the Holy Republic Lenaria.

But, it isn’t like the Holy republic Lenaria is the only one who has the right to issue currency. Every country has the right to manufacture currency, so it’s not too hard to make money in private. The problem is whether the one that I made can pass the inspection or not.

There’s metal that resembled copper, silver, and gold even in this world; the diameter of the coin is around 2~3 cm, whether they were copper coins, silver coins, or gold coins.

There’s a high possibility that my self-minted money can pass as normal gold coin as long as I use the gold coin issued by the Holy Republic Lenaria as the standard. [TL: WARNING!!! THIS IS ILLEGAL ACT!!!]

In short, to make my own money, I just need to acquire metals such as copper, silver, and gold as much as I want.

Naturally, there are also the people who make poor quality currency such as the yen coin which is made by mixing metal amongst them.

Nargol doesn’t collect gold or silver and just mines a bit of copper. From there, I’m mass producing copper coins based on the sample coin that I got from Holy Republic Lenaria. Even if it’s self-made, I think they came out rather nicely.

When I showed this copper coin in Gallios’s place, it seems that it can be used normally in the Rox kingdom.

In the first place, it seemed it would’ve been better even if I didn’t mint these coins for use in the Rox kingdom.

This is because Gallios would take care of my living as long as I remain in the Rox kingdom to express his gratitude for saving his life.

Today, he brought me to this hot spring establishment. Naturally, he paid the entrance fee, too.

I think he doesn’t need to go to that extent. I feel a bit sorry in that regard.

「Yeah, shall we leave now?」

I stand upon hearing Gallios words.

Gallios line of sight is looking at my lower body.

「To think that you possess such a fiendish thing that’s unsuited to your baby face. And it’s already monstrous even in normal state huh」

Gallios teased me.

「W-Where are you looking at!! 」

I covered my little bro.

I was teased a lot in a similar manner back in my world. In fact, having such fiendish little bro isn’t always a good thing. Rather, I have suffered severe hardships due to it.

「Oi oi, no need to be shy about it. If it’s at your size, no matter what kind of woman you face, you can satisfy them. So, how many women have cried because of your little monster？ 」

Gallios’s wide smile remained plastered on his face.

「No, I… have never gone out with a woman before」

I said with a crestfallen voice.

No matter how big the size is, it’s useless if I have no one to use it against. So, no matter how big it is, it’s just a useless piece of junk.

「No matter how big your size is, if you have no one to use it….(cry)」

I wanted to cry.

To be honest, it’s not that I never got close to a woman. My female acquaintances are almost 0.

Shirone, the one closest to me, is one of Reiji’s women. It doesn’t seem that the time for me to use it will come anywhere in the near future since I can’t even have a proper conversation with a woman.

Though my master often teased me with the 「Your wife will have hard future, huh」, I’m crying now since that future might not be possible anymore.

「No… Sorry for bringing out that painful topic. Moreover, it seems that I made you recall a painful past. That’s right, let me take you to that kind of shop next time」 [TL: Brothel][ED: Stop Hinting it! Children are reading]

Gallios’s words eased my painful heart a lot.

「EH!!CAN I?！Peneroa-san won’t be mad at you？ 」

Peneroa is Gallios’s wife. Well, does she know that her husband often goes to that kind of store？

「Ooops, that one is bad. Please just pretend that this talk never happened」

Tch. It seems I said some unnecessary things.

After that, Gallios and I left the hot spring while cracking these kinds of jokes.

We dried our body with the towel in the dressing room, wore our clothes, and then left the hot spring.

I’m staying in a house that’s slightly away from Gallios’s since yesterday.

Since this is my first contact with human society ever since I came to this world, I felt like staying in this city for a while longer and postponing the matter of round off matter of the horn of dragon king.

After arriving at Gallios’s home, his wife came out to greet us. Some time ago, I heard the fact that she’s Rember’s older sister.

「We’re back, Peneroa」

「We’re home, Peneroa-san」

Gallios’s wife, Peneroa is a gentle and caring woman and a person who gives you the feeling of simplicity.

However, according to Gallios, it seems that she turns into a scary woman when angry; I just can’t imagine this gentlewoman to get angry.

「Welcome back honey. My little brother is coming, you know」

「What？ Rember？ What’s the matter?」

Gallios tilted his head.

I also feel that it’s strange. We met him in the bar just now. Did something happen for him to meet Gallios immediately？

As we entered the house, we spotted Rember in the parlor room.

「I’ve been waiting for you, senpai and Kuro-dono」

It seems Rember had been waiting for us.

「What’s the matter, Rember? Was there some kind of situation？ 」

Gallios enquires Rember about the situation.

「In fact, a problem just happened. Thus, I want to borrow Kuro-dono power」

Rember is saying so while looking at me.

「My, strength？」

「The truth is, an urgent notice just came from the palace guard stationed at the rampart. It seems that flocks of demon-like things appeared outside the rampart」

「WHAT！？DEMONS? THAT’S STRANGE. ARE YOU SURE？ 」

Gallios-tachi has swept away the demons in this region by gathering freedom fighters three days ago. I had also lent my hand to them, so there should be no demon in the vicinity of the Rox kingdom. It’s way too early for the demons from a far place to reach here.

Even I doubt the judgment of the palace guard at the rampart. Since human eyes can’t see at night, they might be mistaking it for something else.

「I also agree with you, but… According to the palace guard, when they illuminated those flocks with lighting equipment, they determined that it’s most likely goblins or orcs」

There’s lighting equipment to illuminating for far distances by making use of mirrors in the rampart. Maybe they used that.

But, I heard that the orc settlement and goblin nest in this area have been swept already. Is that the truth?.

「How many of them? Are they injured?…. How many of them survived the sweeping? Those sons of a gun, even though the festival will start from tomorrow….」

Gallios smacked his lips.

I heard this afternoon about the story. There’s a demon clearance event in the vicinities of the Rox kingdom in order to ensure the safety of tourists coming to the city. But, it seems that some of them slipped out of the clearing.

「It seems that their shadows are still near the rampart. We are lucky because they’re not strong enough to climb the rampart. But then, according to the palace guard, the way those goblins and orcs are moving seems to be strange」

「The movements are strange？」

「Yes, so I’m thinking about taking a closer look since I feel uneasy about it. That’s why I want to borrow Kuro-dono’s power to use his Night Vision skill,（Dark Vision）」

「I see」

Gallios nods on listening to Rember’s explanation.

「What do you think about it, Kuro？ I’ll go along if you decide to go」