Chapter 78: Reinforcements

What do you normally think when hearing the word, “dragon”?

The image of a huge flying lizard that breathed out fire would appear in your head. Or, if you were Asian, a giant flying snake might come to mind.

Of course, Tatsumi was no exception, and he thought of large reptilian monsters when he heard “dragon.”

However.

However, the dragon of this world is neither a European Dragon nor an Asian Dragon.

On the contrary, it was a creature that Tatsumi knew well.

“…A dragonfly…This world’s dragon is…a dragonfly…”

To be honest, he didn’t think that his image of a dragon was entirely true for this world. Even so, to think that the dragon would look like a dragonfly.

He looked at his wife.

“…? Is there anything wrong?” she inquired, tilting her head.

“…That’s right…yeah, that’s right…you were a cockatiel, weren’t you…”

Back in his world, Calcedonia was a bird. He knew that, of course, but it came into his mind again.

In the first place, the cockatiel was a very timid animal.

If an unknown thing approached it, a cockatiel would panic─this was called the “tiel panic”1 among cockatiel pet owners.

Once, while doing some summer cleaning, he put “her” cage temporarily outside. It was the season for insects, and many were buzzing and hopping around the cage.

In these situations, “she” would always panic inside the cage.

“She” might’ve injured a wing on the cage when panicking, so Tatsumi had to quickly calm “her” down.

The summer insects were probably all “strange scary things” to “her.”

By the way, earthquakes are the worst source of panic for “her.” Tatsumi couldn’t count the number of times he woke up in the middle of the night to soothe “her,” even for minor earthquakes.

“…Probably…she doesn’t remember seeing any dragonflies…”

Tatsumi murmured to nobody in particular.

The dragon was hovering about a thousand meters from the city walls by Tatsumi’s estimation.

Was it thinking of the bait-pigs in the farmlands next to the city? Or was it planning on how to hunt the people inside the city?

It wasn’t clear what the dragon was hovering there for, but they were thankful for the extra preparation time.

“Let’s go over the plan.”

While Tatsumi was thinking about his past and cockatiels, Bugarank yelled from the side.

“We’ll attack when the dragon goes for the bait. …Honestly, I don’t think that it’ll do much. Well, any damage is good.”

Tatsumi quietly listened to Bugarank’s words.

If the dragon was as mobile as a dragonfly was, it’d be quite scary.

Dragonflies are one of the most agile flying animals. In fact, dragonflies were one of the insects he couldn’t catch with an insect net when he was a child.

It would probably be hard to hit the dragonfly─no, dragon─with magic and arrows.

“If the initial attack fails or the dragon ignores the bait…Tatsumi. It will be your turn.”

Bugarank put his hand on Tatsumi’s shoulder.

“It might be a dragon, but it can’t dodge teleportation. Go jump to the dragon’s chest and make an attack. After, teleport again back here. I heard from Giuseppe that you don’t need to my help in mana regen, but I’ll be here if you get physically hurt.”

Calcedonia interrupted Bugarank, “Your Holiness, I understand what Your Holiness is saying. However, my husband’s healing is my responsibility.”

The patriarch shook his head slowly.

“I get your feelings, but you have another job today.”

“Another…job?”

“Yeah. We need to restrain the dragon on the downtimes of Tatsumi’s attack. You know, when he’s resting after hitting the dragon? You and the other guy…Jadokh? The two of you will be doing the restraining. To be honest, I’m confident in my melee weapon and healing skills, but I can’t say the same for damaging magic.”

The Holy system of magic was the only one Bugarank could use. Like he said, it wasn’t a system that was suited for the offense. Healing Tatsumi was the best use of his skills in this situation.

Calcedonia couldn’t refuse an order from the Sun God’s Patriarch.

Seeing Calcedonia with nothing left to say, Jadokh entered the conversation, “Umm…sir patriarch? I hear what you’re saying…But won’t you need a little more than just the two of us to restrain the dragon?”

Jadokh with his Lyurn’s Strength and Calcedonia with her magic. It was possible to hit the dragon with their powers.

But, the dragon could easily dodge their arrows and spells, taking its agility into consideration.

More projectiles would hit if there were more people acting to restrain it.

“I’ve arranged something…hey. It looks like they finally came,” Bugarank stopped talking and turned around, “You’re late, both of you! The dragon could start moving at any moment now, so hurry up!”

Tatsumi looked back and saw two people running up the stairs.

And these were two people whom Tatsumi knew well.

“E-Eru and…M-Morga!?”

Yes.

In front of Tatsumi was the owner of The Elf’s Resthouse and the Freedom Knight.

After they finished climbing the stairs and caught a breath, they smiled.

“Sorry for being late! At the request of the Church of Savaiv, I came to help everyone! Though, the news was quite sudden, so it took a while to get here.”

“I guess His Holiness Chrysoprase wanted us to work with people we already know. I was asked personally by His Holiness, so I couldn’t refuse.”

Eru, the founder of spirit magic, and Morganeich, an equal to Calcedonia. The task of restraining the dragon would be many times easier with these two.

“My my, I’m so very happy that the landlady is helping us in this war. Also…my maiden heart is already beating, thinking about fighting alongside this handsome man.”

As he was talking, Jadokh was shivering in anticipation. To make it even worse, he used one of his four eyes to skillfully wink.

Morganeich was shivering in a different way, but he soon stopped and started to prepare seriously. It seemed like he was just going to ignore Jadokh.

Calcedonia was glaring at Morganeich for some reason.

Morganeich wanted to talk to his old friend, but Calcedonia quickly turned her head before he could open his mouth. He lost his chance.

“Hey, heyyy, Tatsumi? Is Calsey still mad about what happened a year ago?”

Morganeich couldn’t understand Calcedonia’s attitude, so he asked Tatsumi why in a whisper.

“A-Actually, Morga. She’s not mad about that, but about the recent spotted lynx…”

“Spotted lynx?”

“At that time…after I lost to the monster, you helped me by giving advice, but actually…Calsey wanted to be the one who gave me that advice…”

Calcedonia’s secret plan was to help the downcast Tatsumi with the advice and be “the good wife supporting her husband.”

But, Morganeich stole her role without her knowing and ruined her plan. From her perspective, it was something akin to netorare.2

“I-It’s like that…? S-So I…ummm…did something bad to her…?”

Morganeich tilted his head, half in shock and half in confusion. Immediately after, Bugarank’s voice boomed through the ramparts:

“Brace yourselves, men! Our customer is going for the welcome feast!”

Bugarank was pointing to the front.

Following the finger with their eyes, they saw the dragon swooping down to the pigs.

The dragon lifted its transparent wings, and did a nose dive towards the ground.

Just before it hit the ground, it violently beat two of its four huge wings in a very dragonfly-like manner.

Wind from its wings hit the ground, and massive amounts of dust rose. It wasn’t intentional, but the dust cloud masked the dragon’s body, and the warriors couldn’t attack.

“The dragon──!!”

Taülorde was flustered for a moment, but the dragon had to have landed. Now was the chance.

Besides, the giant crossbows were already aimed at the pigs. There was a high chance to hit the dragon’s large build even without vision.

“Crossbows! Fire!”

At Taülorde’s command, the ten-odd crossbows were shot at once.

Twaaaangggg. Around ten huge arrows flew towards the dragon in the dust cloud.

The powerful arrows were boosted by the strong propulsion of a drawstring that needed many men to pull back. Their speed was immense.

To top it off, the normal bows, crossbows, and spells were being sent to the dust cloud.

However.

However, the dragon flew out of the dust cloud before any of the attacks could hit it.

It had grabbed the pigs with its relatively small legs and was chewing one in its mouth.

As it was ascending, it swallowed the pig.

Blood fell like rain from the dragon.

The defenders could only look up regretfully at the uninjured dragon.

“Tatsumi!! It’s your turn!! Everything’s prepared!!”

Bugarank called out to him, but Tatsumi was already gone.

Only a few specks of golden mana were left. He had used Instant Transition.

And the defenders saw something.

A shadow abruptly appeared next to the giant dragon, and it swung its sword at the dragon’s head.

And when the sword and the dragon’s huge eyes─those eyes dyed in a deep crimson─touched.

A golden radiance bursted out.

okamepanikku, probably Japanese only

If you don’t know what that is, you’re better off not knowing. Trust me.