Volume 4 - CH 2.1

While Reito and his friends had managed to capture the informants of the empire in Adventure City’s boundaries, a report of the Rotten Dragon showing up in a certain mountain village came through.

The dragon that had attacked the Baltros Kingdom’s Princess Nao and the Valkyrie Knights was under the control of a certain vampire.

The woman went by the name of Kirau. She was the most powerful necromancer in the world, and was a hero of the underworld.

Kirau was talking to the Rotten Dragon laying by her side.

“Hah… Why are you so ugly, my sweet baby?”

“Foo…” the Rotten dragon snored without batting an eye. Kirau smiled.

Kirau looked like a young girl. She used to be an Elf before being turned into a vampire. Her outward appearance hadn’t changed in quite some time.

“After just a little, Gain, after just a little and I will avenge you.”

Kirau had been fond of Gain — the vampire who had killed Bal’s parents — and she was the one who had turned him in the first place.

Kirau took her eyes off the dragon and looked at the four underlings behind her.

The underlings all had blood-red pupils. One of the underlings had an overly developed fang.

“Your turns are coming soon. Be ready.”

“Ok.”

“Understood.”

“Ah, ahh!”

“My head…”

Out of the four of them, two of them bowed their heads in acceptance of Kirau’s order, but the other two were cowering, grasping their heads in pain. Kirau approached the two of them and pet their heads as if they were children.

“You’re really stubborn, huh! Most people’s consciousness is completely under my control. I can’t believe you’re still putting up a fight. It’s no use. Who do you think I am?”

“S-Stop! I don’t want to be another Vampire Gain,” one of the resisting underlings protested.

“Why? You will be young and have eternal life. Isn’t it perfect?”

“I don’t want to be a monster. Ahh!”

“I guess there’s no other way. It looks like it’ll take a little time to subdue you,” Kirau sighed and looked at the Rotten Dragon. She was in the process of healing the dragon.

The Rotten Dragon’s body was already a corpse, so it wouldn’t be able to heal its wounds on its own. After the damage sustained in the fight with the Valkyrie Nights, she had to heal it another way.

She would need a lot of feed.

Aaaaaahhhhh!!

“Oh dear, here they come again!”

A herd of monsters with their bodies rotting away came along.

Goblins, orcs, kobolds, trolls, and blood bears — undead — were lined up in a row. There was a female necromancer at the front of them all, controlling them. She approached Kirau with a timid face before bowing.

“I have prepared more sacrifices.”

“You were really late. Give it to this girl!”

“Y, yes…”

The female necromancer waved her wand and the undead moved in front of the Rotten Dragon.

Making sure they had moved accordingly to plan, she turned her wand to the sky and gave a command to the Rotten Dragon.

“Waaaaaaaa!!” she yelled.

The dragon opened its eyes and let out a roar. She swallowed up all the undead in front of her.

Graaaah!!

The undead screamed as they were swallowed up.

The Rotten Dragon’s body began to change form. Her wound was healed and her body grew more plump. She was 20 meters tall when she was first born, but had grown to a full 30 meters.

“Hoo hoo! Isn’t she beautiful! This is the true beauty of the dragon!”

“…”

“I see I have no use for you, now,” she said as the female necromancer began to drip blood from her eyes and mouth before passing away. The stress of controlling all the undead suddenly disappearing had caused too much stress on her body.

She ignored the deceased woman and selected another necromancer to call in more monsters.

“You look ready. Bring in the next sacrifices!”

“Understood…”

She chose a woman who was standing a distance aways from her four underlings. There were other necromancers standing around her. They were all associated with the Empire.

Kirau turned her eyes to the jewel fastened to her wand. The jewel was a crystal with high purity mixed with a metal called Orichalcum. It was furnished for her by the Empire when she accepted the job.

The Empire who entrusted the jewel to her was half-destroyed. Realizing she no longer had any business with them, she had begun to kill its top management. She had no obligation to carry out this particular job.

In spite of that, she was still planning to attack Adventure City. There were two reasons. First, she wanted revenge against the elves who turned her into a vampire in the first place, so she planned to kill Princess Tina. Second, she wanted to kill Maria of the Hailstorm guild — avenging Gain was just a bonus.

“I won’t forgive those blasted elves and humans! They can all go to hell!”

Her voice was filled with hatred as she mumbled to herself.

After she destroyed Adventure City, she planned to invade the Elves’s territory. It was a perfect plan.

However, she wasn’t aware that a certain human in Adventure City was going to foil her plan. Further, she hadn’t noticed that that very human was already in the midst of forming a strategy against her.

◆◆◆

Three days had passed since the Rotten Dragon had been spotted.

A large number of refugees had come pouring in from the villages and towns on the outskirts of Adventure City. Everyone had learned of the Rotten Dragon.

The herd of the undead born with the appearance of the Rotten Dragon had already attacked a few hamlets, and casualties were created. The villagers were looking for protection.

Meanwhile, in the Black Tiger’s Guild, a strategy conference against the Rotten Dragon was taking place.

The three Guildmasters, Bal, Maria, and Gigan were gathered, along with Alto — the general of the Baltros Kingdom. He had been stationed there by the Kingdom. He was only 16 years old. He had inherited his father’s post, but he himself had no battle experience.

Alto looked displeased as he spoke, “It’s been a while since I’ve seen you three. The last time we met was when we had the conference about the Hunting Festival two months ago.”

“Oh really? I don’t remember you. Do you, Bal?” Maria said.

“Don’t ask me. I’m not sure.”

“No, he was there! Did you two forget?”

Maria and Bal were annoyed at Alto’s presence, but Gigan gave him the courtesy of a serious reply.

Alto tightened his fists. He felt like he was being taken lightly. But, it was certain that he was just a novice in this group. He composed himself.

He tried to continue the conversation.

“How is the Rotten Dragon? Can you inform me about its condition?”

Maria answered, “From what my subordinates have told me, it hasn’t moved from the mountain village in which it was born. Weather-altering magic or some sort of magical instrument is being used to keep black clouds gathered above the village blocking the sun.”

“There’s magic to manipulate the weather? Is that real?” Bal was skeptical.

“I’m not sure. It’s possible the miasma from the Rotten Dragon is forming the clouds. The bigger problem is a large number of the undead appearing in the surroundings of the mountain village.”

“The Rotten Dragon and the black clouds are the cause?” Gigan asked.

“There’s no doubt about it. The miasma has been spread across the mountain village transforming the undead in the area. There have already been hundreds of undead spotted. They’ve overtaken the area.”

“If you have managed to obtain so much information, how come you have not informed us in the Royal Army?”

“What’s in it for us if we tell you guys?”

Alto fidgeted in his seat.

Maria was being rather rude, but neither Maria nor the always serious Gigan bothered to correct her. Adventurers had little trust for the Royal Army. Adventure City was governed autonomously of the Royal Army.

Even the ordinary civilians of Adventure City didn’t trust the Royal Army. They relied on adventurers and wouldn’t call in soldiers even if trouble occurred.

There were even a few soldiers of the Royal Army who had deserted to the city when the dragon’s existence was confirmed. Maria didn’t believe they wouldn’t prove to be much of an asset in a fight.

Maria sarcastically asked, “Where are the Royal Army reinforcements? When will they arrive?”

“It’s just…” Alto stuttered.

Maria pressed further, “Three days have passed. I know for a fact that the messengers we sent to the Royal Capital have made it. In spite of that, why haven’t they given us a reply?”

Bal and Gigan chimed in, “I was also curious about that. What’s going on? Tell us!! Is the Kingdom planning to help us?”

“They said to do what you can with your extant army”

Maria sighed at Alto’s response, and Gigan made a stern face. Bal clicked her tongue.

It looked as though the Kingdom intended to forsake Adventure City and prioritize the defense of the Royal Capital.

Alto was flustered, “B-But, we are also prepared to subjugate the Rotten Dragon. We have been recruiting humans capable of using Holy Magic, the weak point of the undead!! If you equip weapons with holy magic, you should also be able to handle the Rotten Dragon, right?”

“If it were ordinary undead, that would be enough preparation… General Alto, how about you help the refugees from the hamlets in the area instead of worrying about the defense of the Royal Capital? If we make use of the monsters gathered for the Hunting Festival, they should be able to help carry the guards and luggage for the refugees.”

“I-I’m appointed to protect this cityl!!” Alto shouted, but Bal shouted back even louder, scolding him.

“Are you saying that the people who live outside of the capital don’t matter!? Listen to the adults when they speak!! Defending the people!! That’s the job of a soldier!!”

“Nggh… My apologies.”

Unable to give a proper reply to Bal, gritting his teeth at his own incompetence, he left the conference room.

The three Guildmasters watched him leave and then stared at each other. They all sighed.

“Did I go too far?” Bal asked.

“I don’t think you said anything wrong. He’s not a bad kid though.”

“He is thinking about the city to the best of his abilities. I’d like the king to learn something from him.”

“Hey, don’t insult the king in front of me. He used to be a great person before… Before the event.”

“Let’s change topics. That story makes me shudder.”

“My bad.”

The moment the topic changed to the king, Maria got in a bad mood. Bal apologized.