Part 7: Osaka’s Auntie Battles with Dragons
Chapter 30: Let’s Beat Up the Dragon
Translated by Zzonkedd
Edited by Gumihou
Notes from Gumihou: Hello everyone, let’s welcome our latest Japanese – English translator, Zzonkedd-san! We’ll be translating this novel together from now on, wa. So, please give him a warm welcome ~
That day, Haruna and Natalia stayed over at the Yakomai Estate.
The plan was to strike while the iron was hot, thus they wanted to set out immediately at sunrise for the dragon subjugation mission. As expected, the Head of the Family wanted them to stay for a bit longer and, perhaps, to gather a bigger force for the mission. It was no surprise that Haruna refused to listen.
Impatience was certainly one of Haruna’s defining traits.
After soaking in the luxuriously large bathtub while having the utility of magic to heat up large amounts of water, both Natalia and Haruna changed into their nightclothes. These nightclothes were meant for pampered noble skins, and therefore were very luxurious and gorgeous.
Natalia’s natural disposition as an Adventurer automatically appraised the nightclothes and estimated that these would probably fetch about four gold coins each at the open market. Then, she sighed and turned her attention onto an open map. The area where the dragon would appear had been clearly marked out.
“I never imagined that I would one day be involved in a dragon subjugation mission… ”
Ordinary Adventurers rarely had the opportunity to even catch a glimpse of a dragon, let alone participate in a dragon subjugation mission.
Just like how an average practitioner of Judo never took part in the Olympics, Natalia never expected to meet the day where she had to actually take down a dragon.
“What’s up, why are you staring so hard at the map of Nagoya?”
“What is this na-go-ya? I’m looking at the high mountains of Bazhe. That’s where the dragon is supposed to appear!!”
“Nope, if we speak of dragons, Nagoya comes to mind. It’s filled with dragon worshippers there.”
“Dragon worshippers? You mean the people there worshipped dragons as gods? I mean they are animals close to gods so, I guess it wouldn’t be too strange at all.”
The conversation wasn’t really going anywhere at that point.
“By the way, are dragons in this world really that ferocious? I mean if they really go on a rampage, surely we’d be seeing a bit more tragic news.”
Haruna, who had been living in this world for a while now, found this place to be relatively peaceful. Though the fantasy nature of this place meant that quite a few injuries and deaths happened due to Adventurers challenging the dungeons or going on subjugation missions, wars between demons and human military were barely heard of.
“Well, of course. Dragons are highly intelligent creatures and therefore not placed in the same category as monsters. They are known to refrain from pointless wars and refuse to participate in senseless violence. Something serious must have happened to upset the dragons. The question is, what could it be?”
If they knew the answer to this question, there would be no need for them to go on this subjugation quest.
“Well, let’s just go and ask them why they are upset. There’s no harm in that, right?”
“Yeah… no, you’d probably be just fine, but my life will be on the line!? As I thought, isn’t it better to go with the subjugation team?”
“But, you know that Platinum Rank Adventurers are really rare, right? I’d probably be asked to take command of a team or something, do you think they’d be able to understand my commands?”
‘Ah,’ thought Natalia immediately: The answer to that would most likely be impossible. She had a sudden image of Haruna at the lead, throwing onomatopoeic commands such as ‘Get that one, with a bam! There’s an opening, hit it with a pow and slash!’ The soldiers under her charge would definitely be confused by such ‘orders’.
“Don’t worry about it. I will protect you, wa,” said Haruna without any hesitation, with her chest puffed up with pride as she grinned.
“You really are manlier than any man, aren’t you…” said Natalia who became slightly embarrassed by Haruna’s words.
///
The next day, both Haruna and Natalia headed out on high-quality horses from the Yakomai stables and headed westward.
As expected of the high mountains of Bazhe, there were barely any humans living in the surrounding area. Nevertheless, it would still be quite problematic to have a dragon causing havoc in that region. Ignoring the matter and hoping the problem would just disappear was not an option.
However, it was practically impossible for regular human beings to mediate the problem, which was why most of them elected to not approach the mountain at all and just moved down to the foot of the mountain.
“With this population size, it’s going to be quite difficult to set up shop in this place, naa.”
“Surely this is not the time to set up a branch shop, right?”
Haruna began gathering information from the people living at the bottom of the mountain. Being typical country folk, the people around the bottom of the hill were a bit wary of outsiders.
“Old man, I need to know something, is it okay to tell me, na~? Of course, I am not asking for information for free, here are some candy for you, ya~ If you take the opportunity now, I’ll add in some salted kelp[1] to your loot de ~”
Haruna’s character was such that it was nearly impossible to maintain any type of wariness against her.
Overwhelmed by the excessive friendliness, the evacuees began to talk. After putting the gathered information together, they understood the following –
・The people had been offering food to the dragon as tribute. The reason being that due to their large forms, food collected from the mountain alone was not enough for the dragons.
・In exchange, the dragons would help rescue people stranded in the mountains, inform the people where the avalanche spots were and help them in any way they could.
・ On top of that, the dragons would also keep an eye on strangers who came to pick medicinal herbs or hunt in the mountains. In other words, the dragons were the ones in charge of deciding who had the right to enter the forest.
・ So in conclusion, the dragons’ relationship with the villagers was quite good.
・However, at some point in time, the dragons became unhappy with the food tribute.
・ It turns out that the dragons began demanding specific things, and when the villagers failed to bring the correct tribute, that’s when the rampaging started.
“So in the end, what did they want?” asked Natalia, who was quite good at digging for specifics.
According to the villagers, it was some sort of food they had never heard about before.
Naturally, since none of them knew what the dragons wanted, they were unable to give it as tribute. All of this which led to the dragons getting angry.
“I guess the trouble all began from this unreasonable demand?”
“As expected, asking the dragons is the way to go, ne”
“In the end, it still comes down to this …”
Natalia herself was really frightened, but since Haruna could not be stopped, she had no choice but to tag along.
They ascended the mountain by following a well-worn trail. On the way up, they came across a pair of dragons, one on each side of the road acting like gatekeepers. They were about twice the height of an adult human and 3.5 to 4 metres in length. Their turquoise scales sparkled brightly under the sun.
“Those who past here without permission-”
“- will be destroyed.”
The dragons said one after the other, speaking in tandem. While it was quite difficult to read their expressions, they were clearly far from being welcoming.
“Cocky aren’t you? Bring it on, if you dare, ya! This isn’t enough to bring me down, de!”
[Gumihou: Oh, Haruna-san. Never change~!]
