https://ncode.syosetu.com/n5562hc/75/
Quick thanks to the donation from Weirdacin. I appreciate the love, and have a nice day everyone.
Subjugation Complete
“Now that the healing’s done, shall we quickly track down these monsters?”
“Yeah. We can go.”
Ran and Lily looked like they were enjoying themselves, but Peony was still in a bad mood.
“Haa…. why’d we have to come this far…. huh? What’s that?”
Peony pointed up towards the sun. When I squinted my eyes, I managed to find a bird flying above us. That’s a pretty impressive wingspan.
“A bird? No, that’s…. a dragon!?”
Lily’s scream was our sign to brace ourselves. How the hell are we going to take something like that on without Nerine’s magic tool?
The dragon adjusted its direction, gliding through the air straight towards us. That distant outline quickly became something with a lot more weight to it, and I had to leap to the side to dodge out of the way.
I scrambled to my feet and hurriedly looking behind me where I found four trails carved into the ground where the dragon’s legs had touched down. No question about it. It’s targeting us.
“Oi oi…. what are we supposed to do about this?”
Ran put on a smile, but the tone of her voice made just how uneasy she was obvious.
“We have no other choice than to defeat it. Peony, get back on your horse and call for Nerine. Grab the two idiots too while you are at it. Tell everyone in the mansion what is going on. They should be able to call for support.”
It’s actually amazing how well Peony was able to react to me. She nodded her head and mounted the chestnut horse by herself, rushing back towards the mansion while sticking to the shadows as she flew by.
“To start, perform your Sword Dance Liffy. We will check to see how effective my attacks are and move from there. Ran, protect Liffy in the meantime.”
Lily was able to give out instructions quickly. This must be her first time fighting a real monster, but the strength of her heart makes the respect for her I feel outgrow even the overwhelming sense of terror brought on by the massive death lizard in front of us.
Lily pointed the tip of her blade towards the dragon over four times her height.
In order to support that Lily even a little, I did my Sword Dance.
The dragon’s attention was focused entirely on Lily who was the only one of us to be advancing on it. Lily’s ability looks as sharp as it always has, but the dragon was able to deftly flip the sword away with a brush of its claws, preventing a decisive blow.
Lily was quick on her feet, but all it took were a few swings for her sword to reach its limit and shatter in a high-pitched screech.
“Ran! Switch!”
Ran jumped forward as if she had just been waiting for Lily to give the sign. As they passed each other by, I helped the only way I could and switched from the Sword Dance to the Kata.
“Liffy, if the worse comes to pass, you should escape on your own.”
Lily spoke when she reached me. There’s no way I’m doing that, but Lily won’t just let it go if I tell her that.
“I’m concentrating, so save it for later.”
Whatever it was that Lily said to me, I didn’t hear her. That’s the only choice I have.
Are we going to die here like this? Even if we managed to squeeze out an escape, all that will be left in our futures is an embarrassing, disgraceful performance in the second screening.
It doesn’t mean anything to me, but Lily, Ran, Nerine, and Peony are different. The four of them are the closest to being heroes, and whether they end up becoming one or not, they will become a laughing stock to the whole world.
But if we didn’t need to do this kind of judging the first place, we never would’ve been out here, and we could be sitting back somewhere nice, relaxing.
Heroes are supposed to be mascots, so there’s no need for them to participate in these kinds of fierce battles.
Heath told us once, “There were many people who declined this year,” and is that because they knew how severe the second screening was going to be? If this was widely known beforehand, only people interested in joining a guild would have signed up. At least, I wouldn’t have signed up back then when I got the application.
There’s a poison spreading through my heart. I wanted to be happy before I died.
Only regrets are welling up in my mind. At that moment, a fireball came careening through the sky from behind and me caused me to flinch. The fireball ended up crashing against the dragon’s neck.
Not missing the chance, Ran used her increased strength and punched the dragon’s right leg.
An ear-splitting roar from the back of the dragon’s throat shook the ground beneath me. The series of hits and kicks from Ran’s martial arts split scales apart, and a shower of blood sprayed out. The dragon flung open its wings and backed away to gain some distance from Ran, but by then, one of its legs had been torn off its body. It didn’t look like it was going to be fatal, but the damage was obviously severe.
“Lily-san! Thanks for waiting! It’s finished!”
The voice was Nerine’s. It was fast. By now, Peony shouldn’t have even reached the mansion, yet here she was with Nerine riding with her.
Koha and Sawa were riding in a carriage right behind her, so the fireball must’ve come from one of them.
Knowing Nerine, she probably thought finishing the magic tool as soon as possible would somehow fix her relationship with the rest of us. I could never be more thankful for Nerine’s naivete than I am now.
Nerine stopped her horse next to us and handed the magic tool over to Lily. It has a simple, long cylindrical shape that make it clear where the magic would probably be coming out of.
“It’s already charged with magic, so just put this trigger here to release the spell!”
Lily aimed the end of the cylinder at the ground a ways away and performed a trial shot. There was a sharp bang as a blue bullet fired outwards, and the area touched was immediately wrapped up in ice.
“Good. Thank you Nerine. You’ve saved us.”
After a quick thank you, Lily approached the dragon, took aim, and aimed the magic tool at its wings and remaining three legs.
I immediately began with my Kata again.
The dragon fell to the ground, and the ice creeping across its limbs was doing its job. Ran’s movements looked almost leisurely as she deftly hopped up the dragons body, and with the strength increase of my kata, she continued her work of ripping off the dragon’s limbs one by one starting with its wings.
With another shot of ice magic aimed at the dragon’s neck, Lily was able to stop its movements completely.
All that was left was to snuff out the last bit of life still burning in the dragon’s chest. Ran slowly walked up its back and neck, squaring her feet in preparation of one final attack. The creature’s last moment. I couldn’t help but close my eyes and look away as the dragon’s death roar echoed in the air.
After the noise dimmed and vanished, I peeked over to check how the two of them were doing. At this point, Lily and Ran were both soaked in the blood that had poured out of the wounds of our enemy and gave each other a firm handshake.
The rest of us finally felt comfortable enough to approach the unmoving corpse.
“Woohoo! We did it! We can slay dragons after all!”
“It is a bit sad to see that a bit of magic is going to be necessary after all. It’s too convenient.”
It was a scramble for life. And that was just me. These two came into direct contact with the monster as the vanguard, so they would’ve had to make up their resolves early on. I was just dancing in the background, so I’ve only begun to understand what it is we’re going to be doing.
Even so, if it was up to the dragon, we would’ve either been either burned to a crisp or ripped apart by its teeth. This was the best result for us to survive.
“Hey! Did either of you two take out this thing’s eye?”
Both Lily and Ran shook their heads at Koha’s question. That was enough for Koha to start happily jumping up and down before he rushed over to Sawa. The two celebrated together, repeating the same thing over and over again. The dragon is missing one eye.
“This guy! This bastard! You’re everyone’s enemy! Well look at you now! Serves you right! Did Dad taste good to you? It’s too bad, dying in a place like this!”
It’s not like it means anything to me, but still, happy smiles are infectious. I found myself feeling happy for them even as Sawa and Koha were madly kicking at the dragon’s corpse over and over again.
Nobody was going to stop them though. This dragon could have been a human being, and we’d still do the same. Let them work out their frustrations until they’re satisfied. That was the tacit understanding the rest of us shared.
After about ten minutes, it looked like the two of them were finally satisfied. Sawa pulled out a knife, pried open the dragon’s still lips, and began carving the blade into the dragon’s gums.
She cut out two large fangs from the flesh and threw one of them to me. It stunk and was still lukewarm, causing my nose to wrinkle up.
“W-What?”
“It’s a charm. I wanted you to have one. You can sell it for money if you want, or you can use it as an accessory. Sorry, but I’ll take this one for everyone’s graves.”
I would think it’d be fine just to bring both of them, but since we were the ones who killed it, they probably thought they needed to pass on the ‘spoils’. Getting past the grossness of it all, I probably could sell this for a decent amount. It would also look cool as a necklace, so either way, it’d be a good idea to take it.
“Lily, you want it?”
“N-No. I have no need for it.”
Glancing around at the other members, they were all shaking their heads. They all looked grossed out, so I decided to wrap it up in a large leaf and bring it home myself.
Now that Sawa and Koha were feeling refreshed from their revenge, they put on a more formal demeanor and knelt down in front of us.
“Thank you for avenging our family. We have finished what we needed to. We would like to thank you properly, so would one of you be willing to hire us?”
Hiring you as thanks? That’s some attitude they’re taking, especially after everything they’ve screwed up on since they got here.
“I…. have more than enough servants at my mansion, so that would be….”
“I’m from a farming family, and our fields aren’t big enough to need help.”
“The church has no need of any kidnappers.”
Lily, Ran, and Peony immediately turned them down. That just left me and Nerine. I don’t have any money to hire any servants, and I don’t have anything I’d want these two to do for me anyway.
When I glanced to the side, I met Nerine’s gaze. I signaled her with my chin, and she grinned. I guess that answers that.
“I’ll hire you! I’m going to need someone to charge up my magic tools, so you two will be perfect!”
I’d never call these two reliable, and when they’re paired up with the equally unreliable Nerine, I can’t say I feel anything other uneasy. But all three of them look so happy to be working together that I couldn’t bear to say anything to them.
Experimental Translations 