５７. Warriors

Good day, this is Jilbagias who is back in the rocking carriage after we’re done with our business.

 

In fact, the carriage hardly shakes around. Thanks to the paving road built by the Corvut tribe, and special type skeleton cushion installed in that carriage, the journey while riding carriage became really comfortable.

 

――We left the speckles cat beastfolk tribe village after one day of rest.

 

『Nevertheless, village chief. Your intuition turned out to be spot on.』

 

When I called out to the village chief, he prostrated immediately.

 

『M-My deepest apologies!』

『…Eh? What are you apologizing for?』

『Well, I’m the main reason why you decided to enter the fortress a-!』

『Become the prey of the giant lizard along with my troops.』

 

I shrugged my shoulders. Just as I had expected from a veteran warrior who survived numerous battlefields, his intuition was the real deal. He was truly admirable for his willingness to sacrifice himself.

 

… By the way, the missing men from the village were found on the 2nd floor of the fortress in a completely dried up state.

 

Here I thought that the power to suck one’s life force out was a specialty of the darkling. Never expected that the white dragon could do the same.

 

『Maybe they offered their life force on their own instead of being sucked out.』

 

… Am I the only one who felt that it was more vicious than heretic dark arts that forcibly sucked out life force?

 

Losing those young helping hands in such a small village was a huge blow. Ergo, the threat of the environment aside, I thought that the village would survive…

 

 

「… The easy trip turned into a disaster eh.」

 

In the carriage.

 

Sofia who was sitting down feebly on the sofa in front of me while reading a book.

 

By the way, on both of my sides were Liliana who was sleeping soundly, And Garounya who leaned on me. Just the usual line up.

 

Sofia had finally woken up right before our departure restored from 『Burnt to crisp』 to 『Ain’t that just a tan?』.

 

By the way, the first thing she said right after seeing me was 「Who are you?」

 

It seems her memory was rather fuzzy-Though it was rather convenient if she lost her memory of seeing demon god Ante- it turned out she was just at a loss to recognize me after the explosive growth of my magical power.

 

According to Ante,

 

『We recognize someone based on their magical power.』

 

――Though she muttered “So it’s the demon god’s deed…” after she realized it was me, she seemed to have forgotten her anger about the reason for the disaster that befell on us which was caused by a blunder of a hobgoblin.

 

『The hobgoblin who was responsible for this incident is DEAD MEAT!』

 

This was the first time I saw Sofia truly pissed off since I was born.

 

Faravugi was the second culprit who literally roasted her to crisp alas―― His corpse had already been dismantled by the night elves. Currently it was being loaded onto the carriage.

 

Just as expected of the night elves, the race with the most knowledge about creatures, their job was neat. Naturally, it was the 『Sword Saint』 Verossa who did the heavy lifting. No one could rival him in dismantling a huge target.

 

Faravugi’s head was frozen with magic to be identified by the dragon race. Every single one of the dragon’s flesh, scale, fangs, claws, and horn.

 

His fangs, claws, and horn were excellent weapon material. Since it had a light attribute, it was really effective against the darkling, thus it was useless for us, the darkling.

 

… It might be useful for me.

 

Take the scales of the white dragon for example, they will provide high magic resistance if it was processed into scale mail, it was most usable equipment for demon race warriors against forest elf spellcaster or the hero.

 

But for the night elf, would feel prickling pain even before they gained the resistance…

And lastly, the flesh of the dragon―― was edible, and could be enjoyed as grilled meat. Most of Faravugi’s meat was eaten by the beastfolk villagers. Maybe that was their way to avenge the fallen young men.

 

I hadn’t actually wanted to participate in the feast to eat the dragon meat, I might’ve killed him but, I lost my appetite after my conversation with Faravugi during the battle alas…

 

The meat was so delicious… It was super juicy, and thanks to the remaining magical power of light in the meat, the meat became more chewy… In short, it was packed with delicious components.

 

Since we couldn’t finish all of the meat, the remaining meat was given to the beastfolk in that village, they would process it into dried meat.

 

By the way, none of the night elves ate the meat since the remaining magical power of light would literally scald their mouth.

 

「Let’s ask the dwarf blacksmith to process the scales once we’re back to the castle. Since it’s the scales of the patriarch of the white dragon, it must be first grade materials. I can expect something really good from it. We should’ve enough for that――」

 

Sofia had already counted the chicken before they hatched to hide her poor physical condition.

 

「Ah…」

 

I’ve guessed about it before but, there really are dwarf craftsman in the demon kingdom.

 

Dwarven country located in the northern part of the continent on the alliance side but―― Different from the elven race who band together, the dwarves were individualistic folks, kind of hermits. Some of them wander around as enchanter blacksmiths, some live in hidden small villages, some get caught in the middle of war and die, some get caught and forced to work till they die due to their skill.

 

Platy’s enchanted spear was obviously a dwarven-made product.

 

I mean, the demon race couldn’t manufacture anything but stone and bone after all.

 

「By the way, I also was enlightened to a new combat form.」

 

I brushed the bones strapped on my belt. Though I did feel sorry for the dwarven blacksmith who got caught by the demon kingdom, they would assist me to forge my weapon.

 

――The fusion of sword and spear received quite the high praise from Verossa.

 

『Wonderful…! Your Highness, that’s truly a brilliant breakthrough…!』

 

Even the tempo of his breathing was rising by several beats.

 

I recreated the spear-sword for Verossa to try and use as reference but, it seems this weapon was ill suited for him.

 

『It’s tough. I myself am used to handling the sword but, it becomes really heavy once I try to brandish it.』

 

Sword saints couldn’t strengthen their body with magical power. They had to use their specialized weapon with their own, raw physical strength. Even Verossa who trained his human body had a hard time to use the spear-sword that had too much centrifugal force.

 

『The weapon’s range is truly wonderful but, it won’t be a problem for me to get close in if I used my normal sword…』

 

Dammit, this guy really didn’t hold back.

 

I’ve become quite powerful after I used up my saving alas, I still couldn’t win against Verossa in terms of pure skill…

 

Anyhow, it couldn’t be helped if he said that my new combat style was weak. Thus, I’ve been having a mock combat with Verossa during our break, it was to master the new combat style called spear-sword.

 

「…」

「… What’s matter, Garounya?」

 

When it comes to training, it was Garounya. She seems to be rather crestfallen after the battle against Faravugi, and yet, she kept training her martial arts during our break.

 

And though I’ve been fluffing her as she leaned on me, her mind was obviously wandering to another place.

 

「… I really am useless. I can’t even become my masters shield…」

 

Garounya’s ears became crestfallen as she spoke.

 

「You’re wrong, had you not used your body as a cushion to reduce the damage when I got blown away by Faravugi, all of us might’ve died that time.」

 

Yeah, her role of cushioning me back then saved our a*sses.

 

It might look like a trivial matter but that trivial matter allowed me to turn the table. If my body crashed against the wall as it is and Faravugi used his claw strike right at that time, I might’ve died for real. And Liliana wouldn’t be able to help me either.

 

――I’ve told her so many times and yet, she doesn’t seem to believe it.

 

It seems she was really frustrated that she couldn’t do anything during that battle except for becoming my cushion.

 

Alas, the beastfolk which fall behind in terms of magical power were of no use against the dragon―― Not to mention it was a patriarch class dragon.

Garounya’s frustation might come from the fact that she was painfully aware of that fact.

 

I was a human in my previous life. Who knows how many times I felt jealous of the elves or demon race who owned huge amounts of magical power.

 

I understood Garounya’s frustation alas, I don’t know what i should say to her――

 

「… Verossa-san, you’ve become sword saint after training for fifty years right?」

 

Said Garounya while looking at her outstretched hand with sharp claws growing from it.

 

「I… No matter how long I train… Or how much I persist… I will ended up becoming an old granny…」

 

Beastfolk―― Had a short lifespan. The oldest among them was only 70 years old.

 

Their golden age was even shorter than the human race.

 

That’s why the fist saint of beastfolk was respected even by the demon race. The demon race respected the beastfolk who trained like madmen in the way of martial arts and mastered the logic of the world in their short lifespan.

 

While being scorned as a lowly race, many beastfolk who distinguished themselves in the demon kingdom were the beastfolk’s king existence who was a fist saint.

 

There was even a rumor that the first demon king, Raohgias had an arm wrestling contest with beastfolk’s king in the old days, and ended up getting his hand planted on the ground in a second.

 

Naturally, the body enhancement with magical power wasn’t involved in that match since it would be unfair.

 

Can you believe that? Such a story about the demon king defeated in an arm wrestling match was spread around among the demon race who hate to lose, and in the demon kingdom on top of that.

 

That story alone was enough to show just how highly regarded a fist saint was. Even the demon race thought something along the line of 『It can’t be helped if we lost to the fist saint in terms of physical strength』.

 

For the beastfolk who were inferior in terms of magical power―― The fist saint was their star of hope.

 

「… I, lack of training.」

 

Garounya muttered quietly while clenching her fist.

 

「Even if it takes me years… Or a dozen years… I will definitely become stronger.」

 

Though she didn’t say it loudly, she was obviously aiming to become a fist saint.

 

「By then… I might have already become an old woman though.」

 

She muttered anxiously while looking at me.

 

「… Even then, am I still allowed to stay by your side, Master?」

 

I held Garounya’s shoulder.

 

「Of course.」

 

Garounya purred happily hearing my remark.

 

To be honest, your loyalty was wasted on me, Garounya.

 

I wonder what would happen once you become an old woman? Would you curse me by then?

 

I’m really happy knowing that you’re willing to serve me wholeheartedly though.

 

 

 

… If the demon kingdom still exists by then, that’s it.