I couldn't help but shout out loud, but upon closer look, its shape was a little different from the dragons I knew.
The biggest difference was that the thing before me had no wings on its back. And its appearance was like someone had plastered large, hard-looking scales all over the body of a Komodo monitor lizard. Its total length was probably over fifteen meters — quite massive, and being a dragon, its sense of intimidation was completely different from that of ordinary Monsters.
"Appraisal"
Name… Earth Dragon
Sex… Male
Rank… S
Species… Lower Dragon
HP… 40,000
MP… 15,000
Strength… S+
Defense… S+
Speed… A-
Magic Power… A
Spirit… C+
Growth Potential… B+
Luck… C+
Skills… Earth Magic 8, Abnormal Status Resistance 7, Life Force Boost 7, Physical Enhancement 6, Regeneration 4, Concealment 3
Whether it was because I had seen it with my own eyes or because I had gotten close enough, I didn't know, but I had finally been able to use Appraisal. This Earth Dragon was classified as a lower dragon-type Monster, but judging by its stats, it was likely among the stronger ones in that category. Perhaps in terms of pure strength alone, it was close to mid-tier.
"First, I'll act as bait. While it's focused on me, the two of you rescue Ricky! If possible, head straight through the forest beyond! Follow the river — that'd be best. I'll lure it in the opposite direction!"
With the way I was now, this was definitely a foe I could take on in a fight. But fighting inside the forest would put me at a disadvantage. That meant I needed to lure it out of the woods and onto more favorable terrain.
"Are you sure you'll be okay on your own?!"
Jin asked with concern, but that Earth Dragon felt like it had simply been powering up Wyvern subspecies. Depending on how you looked at it, it was actually an easier opponent now that it couldn't fly.
"I'll be fine. Besides, Slarin and the others are with me."
And since this wasn't a tournament, I could use my Gigant. That alone should be more than enough to tip the scales.
"Got it. Don't push yourself too hard!"
With those words as our signal, Jin and I split off in separate directions.
Timing my move to coincide with Ricky and the others heading my way, I pulled out a disposable sword I had bought from my bag.
It was iron, but thick and sturdily forged — a remarkably durable piece of work.
"Ricky! Keep running just like that!"
I shouted the instruction as we passed each other, then flew straight toward the Earth Dragon and brought the sword crashing down between its eyes.
"GRAAAAGH!"
The blow made the Earth Dragon freeze in its tracks, but it had only left a hairline crack in the scales between its brows — it didn't look like it had done any real damage. In exchange, my sword had suffered terrible chipping along the blade and was now completely useless as a weapon.
"Whoa! It's even harder than I expected… Good thing I used the disposable one…"
My plan had been to distract it and maybe squeeze in a little damage if I got lucky, which was exactly why I had opted for the disposable sword. Thank god I had. Even the one I normally carried might have chipped from that.
"I should pick up a hammer or something next time I— Whoa, damn, that was close! It really does get angry, huh."
While I was sketching out new plans for after our return to the Royal Capital, the Earth Dragon tried to snap its jaws around me.
"Guess I'd better hurry up and get this thing out of here."
I adjusted my speed to keep luring the Earth Dragon along. There were a few times it looked like it was about to give up, so I would occasionally poke at its snout to taunt it.
Sure enough, the Earth Dragon chased me all the way out of the forest.
"Take this!"
I fired off several Fire Bullets, but every one was blocked by its tough scales and dissipated.
"Hard as it looks, huh... Then how about this!"
I aimed for the spot where my magic had hit before and fired three stronger Fire Bullets in succession.
The magic aimed at its foreleg shattered the scales on the first shot.
The second pierced through skin down to bone, and the third blew clean through the other side.
"Guuaaaa! Grrrrruu!"
At that point, the Earth Dragon began growing more wary. It finally seemed to understand that
I actually had the power to harm an Earth Dragon.
The Earth Dragon started to retreat little by little, but suddenly it was slashed from behind.
"Gauw!"
It was Shiromaru. He'd been chasing the Earth Dragon from behind, and had now struck at its rear with Slash.
However, even Shiromaru's full-power blow could only peel off a few of the Earth Dragon's scales.
It dealt only minimal damage.
Still, even that minor wound startled the Earth Dragon. It tried to pull back to a position where it could keep both me and Shiromaru in sight.
But this time, Slarin's Fire Ball and Solomon's Light Ray came raining down from above.
Neither had enough power to destroy the Earth Dragon's scales, but the sudden aerial attack sent it into a state of utter shock.
"So lower-class dragons really are generally low on intelligence, huh..."
Watching the Earth Dragon on the verge of panic reminded me of the Wyvern subspecies we'd hunted down recently.
"Come to think of it, I still need to bring that Wyvern subspecies over to Jan and the others."
I remembered that the inspection of the Wyvern subspecies was still pending, so I decided to finish off the Earth Dragon quickly.
"Well then, let's do this!"
As I closed in on the Earth Dragon, I summoned a Gigant. Only my right hand had been swapped out for the greatsword I'd had Kelly's workshop make for me.
The Earth Dragon froze in place, its eyes fixed on the enormous arm that had appeared out of nowhere.
It really was slow-witted. Its only chance of survival was to keep moving and force a breakout escape, yet here it stood completely still.
"Gwagya, gogya, buggya, gyuhyaa..."
I struck the Earth Dragon between the brows with my left fist, slashed at its neck with the greatsword in my right, knocked it into the air with a left uppercut, then drove a right-handed strike into its throat.
"Oops, what a waste!"
Blood gushed from the Earth Dragon's throat. Monsters of this class had blood that held real value, so I used magic to freeze the droplets before they could fall.
That was when large droplets of water came raining down from above. It was Slarin.
Slarin gobbled up the blood I had frozen. If it had been Shiromaru or Solomon, I would have hurried to make them spit it back out, but with Slarin there was no problem. It had probably seen me freezing the blood, understood that it was something useful, and was storing it in the Magic Bag inside its body.
Eventually the bleeding stopped, and the Earth Dragon ceased all movement.
I laid it on its back to keep the remaining blood from spilling, and that was when I spotted Garat running toward us from the distance.
"Hey! Tenma, I'm here to back you up... actually, looks like I'm way too late..."
Garat's face went rigid as he looked at the fallen Earth Dragon.
"What about the other two?"
I had assumed Jin and Ricky would be arriving behind him, but it turned out the two of them were still on standby at the previous base.
According to Garat, the moment Ricky rejoined the other two, the tension that had been holding him together seemed to snap and he collapsed. So they carried him back to the base together. Still, Garat had gotten worried about me, and being the lightest on his feet, he had come to check on me and ideally jump in as backup.
"Well, it was a completely wasted trip. If you'd been just a little faster, maybe you could have staked a claim on part of the Earth Dragon's share!"
He slapped me on the back as he said it. In this case, since the other three had contributed nothing toward taking down the Earth Dragon, the whole thing was mine for the taking.
Well, I'll share a little. Within reason, of course.
"For real?! Thanks a ton!"
He was overjoyed. In truth, he hadn't contributed to taking the thing down, but he'd participated in the operation, so Jin and Garat had a right to a share. Ricky, well...
discoverer
—I'd chalk that up as a bonus.
We could have butchered the Earth Dragon right then and there, but to avoid wasting its blood, we decided to haul it back instead.
"But hey... where are we gonna butcher this thing?"
Garat's question was perfectly reasonable, but one place in particular had come to mind.
"The royal castle. We had to go there anyway for the Wyvern subspecies matter, so I'll take care of it while I'm at it. They'll definitely have"
butchering staff
"on hand... Besides, if I butcher it somewhere else, there'll be"
people
"who show up out of curiosity and cause a commotion."
The King, the Grand Duke, the Minister of Military Affairs, the Princess... and finally Maria and the others would show up in a rage and turn the whole place upside down. Probably. Definitely. Absolutely...
If a commotion was guaranteed to happen anyway, it made sense to pick somewhere where making noise wouldn't be a problem.
"W-well, Tenma's on good terms with the royals, so... we can sort out our share after that..."
Garat clearly wanted no part of that kind of commotion. Then again, neither did I...
"Still, if we put this thing up at auction, who knows how much it'd fetch... It'd definitely cause a huge stir."
"Exactly, which is why it's NOT going up for auction! The entry procedures and all that are a hassle... By the way, are Earth Dragons any good to eat?"
I'd heard Wyverns tasted pretty good. No idea about subspecies, but they were probably fine too. Earth Dragons... they looked tough, but if you slow-cooked them for hours like beef tendon, it might just work.
"We could put it up for auction, and we're not exactly strapped for cash... Looking at our members, though, eating comes before selling."
At those words, Garat nodded, looking at Shiromaru and Solomon.
"Well then, let's head over to Jin and the others. It's a big hunt, so let's get back quickly."
We put the Earth Dragon in the bag and headed toward Jin's group, but the distance was greater than expected, so midway I grabbed Garat and flew the rest of the way.
"Oh, Tenma, you're safe and—wait, hey, Garat! Since when did you become Tenma's pup?!"
The moment we returned, Jin started teasing us.
What Jin meant was that he was comparing the sight of me carrying Garat's pack to a mother dog carrying a puppy in its mouth.
"Tenma, when we divide up the shares earlier, Jin can be left out."
"Got it."
Not understanding the meaning, Jin laughed uproariously for a while, but when Garat explained it to him, he prostrated himself and apologized.
"I was wrong! Please, put me back in your good graces!"
Seeing Jin's desperate bow, I decided to forgive him. It seemed that in his hurry to rush toward Ricky's location, he'd left his prey behind. And when he went back, the prey was gone.
As Jin and the others were talking about this, Ricky looked uncomfortable a short distance away. That was understandable. While it was due to Jin and the others' carelessness, Ricky also shared some of the blame.
When Ricky was taking prey out of his bag to hand over to Jin and the others, Slarin, for some reason, approached them.
And then, spat out a boar and a deer.
"Whoa! Wait, this is the boar I hunted!"
"And this is the deer I took down!"
After spitting out Jin and the others' prey, Slarin then swallowed one boar and one deer each.
Jin and the others were bewildered by this action, but Slarin was trying to communicate something to me.
"Huh?... Yeah... Ah, I see, got it. Jin, Garat, Slarin says, 'I guarded the prey you left behind, so as reward, I'll be taking a portion of it.'"
Slarin bounced its body to affirm. So that was why Slarin and the others had been a little late... Clever little thing.
"Wha—!"
"No way!"
Jin and the others were stunned, but if Slarin hadn't gone back for them, it wouldn't have been strange for all the prey to have disappeared.
Slarin's methods were a bit underhanded, but in cases like this, Jin and the others' actions were often seen as "abandoning the rights to the prey." Besides, it seemed they figured they'd still turn a profit from the Earth Dragon share I'd be giving them, so they didn't complain.
Still, they were pretty frustrated about it...
But today I
animals
hadn't been hunting, so they must have gone out and secured the prey on their own.
"Well then, let's head back. We can sort out the Earth Dragon share on the way."
Since I had no intention of cashing in this Earth Dragon at the Guild, Jin and the others' share was to be a portion of the materials instead. So I decided to have everyone pick out which parts they wanted ahead of time.
Jin took one upper and one lower fang each, Garat took the claws from the forelegs, and Ricky took the sharp spines that had been growing along the back.
I also decided to give each of them one scale and several kilograms of meat on top of that. I didn't know yet if the meat was even edible, but since it came from an inferior dragon, even if it couldn't be eaten, there should be no shortage of takers for research purposes or the like.
As we drew closer to the Royal Capital, we spotted a rather imposing-looking group up ahead.
Upon closer inspection, it was a group full of familiar faces.
"You there, in the carriage! Halt!"
A man at the front of the group rode up on horseback.
"We've received reports that an Earth Dragon appeared in the direction you came from. Would you happen to know anything about it?"
The man was addressing Ricky, who was sitting on the driver's seat.
"If that's the case, I'm the one who took it down, sir. Division Commander."
Instead of Ricky, I leaned out the window to answer. The person who had approached was supposed to be a division commander of the First Knights Order.
"Huh?... Wait, Tenma! Is that true?!"
Sure enough, it was indeed a division commander of the First Knights Order.
This was the guy who'd been hurled at me by Din as a substitute weapon during the knights' training exercise. Well, back then I had kicked him away mid-flight, but...
After that, I'd run into him at the royal castle a few times and exchanged greetings, so I remembered him.
This group appeared to be made up of the First Knights Order and a number of adventurers.
"So there are adventurers here. Does that mean I got summoned too?"
The answer was apparently yes. However, the summons had gone out yesterday afternoon, and by that point we were already gone, so they'd written us off.
Among those present were members who'd made a splash at the tournament — the "Dragon Strike Squad," "Lohen Grynn," "Blue Hornet," and others.
Not a single person who'd attended the banquet at my place was here, though. When I asked the division commander about it, he said none of them were in any condition to move.
First, the "Dawn Sword." Jin and Garat were absent, leaving them short on fighting power.
The "Seigen Tamers A, B, and C" were hungover.
The "Beauty of Gunjo" — the three girls — had eaten too much.
Amour had eaten too much.
Branca was busy hunting for souvenirs for his wife.
Grandpa was hungover.
Everyone else was considered unfit for combat.
That was apparently the situation... Most of those excuses were pretty pathetic!
Fortunately, the summons wasn't mandatory, so there were no penalties. Apparently, the members who had attended the banquet — apart from the people of Kukuri Village — were adventurers from other towns, so they hadn't been part of the calculation. Whoever had gone to recruit them must have been quite surprised.
"At any rate, if you took it down, bring it out for us to see. I'd like to confirm with my own eyes."
So, I brought out the Earth Dragon in front of everyone.
They all seemed to think it would be a smaller individual, and were stunned by how much larger it actually was.
"You four brought this down..."
"No, Tenma took it down by himself. We didn't do a thing."
Jin stated flatly to the speechless squad leader.
The other adventurers looked surprised to hear that. After all, saying "we didn't help at all" was the kind of thing that could easily tarnish their own reputations.
Normally, when people said something like that, they'd add things like "well, we helped a little" or "we focused on providing support."
"Well, no point in lying about it. If anything, you could say our support consisted of staying out of Tenma's way so we didn't drag him down!"
Garat's phrasing was a bit odd, but it seemed to resonate with the other adventurers.
Normally, taking down Monsters of this class required a team of around ten skilled adventurers.
So, if someone claimed they'd defeated it alone, it would naturally be dismissed as a tall tale under normal circumstances.
But I had a track record. The Guild's official records treated it as unofficial, but rumors had spread among the nobility and people connected to Kukuri Village, and after demonstrating my power at the recent tournament, my title of "Dragon Slayer" had taken on a certain air of credibility.
Moreover, the core of the adventurers present here were the very ones who had fought against me.
For them,
losing to "just a kid"
was less embarrassing than losing to a "Dragon Slayer" — in some ways, it was actually more convenient for them.
So while nobody knew for sure what they really believed, on the surface at least, they seemed to accept it.
"I'm sure this is the Earth Dragon mentioned in the report. However, since we were dispatched under His Majesty's orders to subdue it, we can't exactly go back and report that it had already been taken care of. I'm sorry, but could you give us detailed information about where you found the Earth Dragon? The subjugation is no longer necessary, but we still have investigation work to complete."
The knight order had gone so far as to hire adventurers and deploy troops. Even if they were heading back, they needed to show some kind of results or they'd lose face.
They probably wouldn't go so far as to demand I hand over the Earth Dragon, but deep down, that was exactly what they wanted to say.
"Would it be possible to have the Earth Dragon examined together with the Wyvern subspecies?"
So I decided to throw them a lifeline. If I brought the Earth Dragon to the knight order, that alone would increase their workload. More work meant more reports to the higher-ups, which also meant they could justify that the troop deployment hadn't been a mistake. Simply put, it meant more operational funds and salaries.
The squad leader was overjoyed with my proposal. It was like a trophy had fallen into his lap without any effort on his part.
But, at the end of the day, this was
a transaction.
They
would receive
a record stating they had been
involved
in the Earth Dragon
incident,
while I, on my end,
would get free labor for the dissection of the Earth Dragon
and curry favor with Lyle,
the head of the knight order.
Naturally, all the materials from the Earth Dragon were my rightful property, so I made sure to communicate that clearly.
Since a mere verbal agreement at this point wouldn't suffice, I had the squad leader put it in writing, and one of the knights took it back to the Royal Capital. The contract would be decided by Lyle.
Well, it would almost certainly go through. After all, that man had been causing all sorts of trouble ever since he first met me, and apparently most of his salary was managed by Maria. In other words, even though he was the top of the military, he was essentially receiving his allowance from his mother.
It might be his own fault, but you had to feel a little sorry for him.
"Tenma! Well done!"
After parting ways with the subjugation team and heading back to the Royal Capital, we proceeded straight to the royal castle. Waiting for us at the gate was Lyle.
Surrounding him were guards and gatekeepers, standing by. Lyle’s first words seemed directed less at me and more intentionally meant for their ears.
( Tenma, sorry, but play along with me. )
He whispered to me while patting my shoulder.
"Sir! I discovered an Earth Dragon, so I took the liberty of dispatching it on the way."
The guards and gatekeepers nearby were astonished at my words.
That was only natural. The creature called an Earth Dragon was, under no circumstances, something you would casually…
take care of…
on the way.
Normally, you would flee with all your might upon discovering one. If you managed to escape, it became a story you could brag about for a lifetime, and just the act of reporting it could potentially earn you a reward.
"On the way, you say... Truly impressive! Then, shall we proceed?"
Led by Lyle, we headed towards the knights’ training grounds. Naturally, we couldn’t exactly bring out an Earth Dragon right here, so the training grounds were chosen as a spacious area where it wouldn’t matter if it got dirty.
"Anyway, Tenma... I’m sorry, but would you say you went to that forest because I instructed you to? Of course, I’ll pay you accordingly and won’t claim any rights to the materials. However, please let the knights’ order have a share in this Earth Dragon subjugation."
Consulting with me inside the carriage where the surrounding guards couldn’t hear, Lyle laid out his proposal. Just as I’d predicted.
"That’s fine with me… but there are certain conditions, you understand?"
My conditions were five gold coins apiece for the four of us. This included payment for our silence.
In addition, I requested that he purchase the materials we had acquired. For this, I insisted on a price above market value.
Regarding the materials, he would buy the shares belonging to the three of me, plus the share from our joint hunt.
He was disappointed that I refused to hand over the Earth Dragon, so we agreed he would instead procure a quantity of Wyvern subspecies materials as a substitute.
"So, Lyle, you just hitched a ride on Tenma’s success, huh?"
As soon as we arrived at the knights' practice grounds, Lord Lyle was caught by Lady Maria. It seemed that while one of the guards had gone to secure the training field, Lady Maria had found out and gotten there ahead of them.
When I asked why she had gotten there ahead of them, apparently it was because "Lyle seemed like he was plotting something."
"Mother, that was a deal that Tenma and I made with 'both parties in agreement'..."
Right now, Lord Lyle was being made to kneel formally in front of Lady Maria. Since I wasn't particularly told to do anything, I decided on the spot near the middle of the practice grounds where I'd release the Wyvern subspecies and Earth Dragon, then had the knights prepare for the dissection.
To be precise, it wasn't that I was giving orders—it was more that Tida was issuing my instructions as orders to the knights.
"Lyle, I'm not angry about you tagging along. What I'm angry about is that you tried to make this
a feat for the knights
without telling us. Do you understand?"
Lady Maria's lecture continued.
"Tenma, what shall we do next?"
"Ah... I've never dressed down a reptile this size before. For starters, could you round up some sharp blades and butchering tools, plus anyone who has experience dressing down lower dragons?"
Hearing my words, Tida gave instructions to the knights.
"Listen, Lyle. This could be a case that goes down in history! If you're going to make a deal, you should do it with that in mind! Luckily I caught it, but if you weren't careful... no, even if you were careful, other nobles would find a way to take advantage!"
The lecture was still going.
"Tenma. The blades and tools will be ready, but apparently there's no one with experience inside the castle."
"Then at the Guild... actually, Grandpa might know. Sorry, but could someone go ask?"
"Then we'll go!"
Jin and the others, who had been holding a tea party (aka being sidelined) in the corner of the training ground, volunteered and borrowed a carriage from the knights before heading out.
"Listen! You always have this habit of thinking things are simple— Are you even listening?!"
The lecture, which was gradually going off on tangents, continued on and on.
"By the way, Tida, where's Luna?"
"Luna's studying right now. She's probably with Grandpa and Great-Uncle—"
"—together."
"Working on something, I'd bet."
It was a curious way of putting it, but it probably just meant she couldn't come here.
"Can't be helped, I suppose... Well, let's take a break until Grandpa gets here."
I set up a table on the spot and started pulling out tea and snacks.
Fortunately, we had plenty of topics to fill the time.
While Tida and I picked at snacks and chatted about the Earth Dragon and other things, I noticed Maria's voice had gone quiet.
I turned to look—her lecture seemed to have ended, and Maria was making her way toward us. Behind her stood Lyle, eyes hollow and vacant.
"Mind if I sit here?"
Before I could even answer, Maria pulled out an empty chair and settled into it. Behind her, Lyle stood with hollow eyes.
"How are we changing the Earth Dragon deal?"
I spoke up only after I saw Maria had sat down.
"As expected of you. Well, we're not actually changing Tenma's conditions. What's changing is the trading partner—'not Lyle, but Tida'—and also, the Earth Dragon was not slain
because the royal family ordered it—
that's the story we're going with."
The first reason I understood. Basically, it was about building up the achievements of Tida—the future king candidate—and strengthening the bond between Tida and me. Since this change also had benefits for me, I could accept it.
The problem was the second part. If we were building up Tida's achievements, it would make more sense to leave records indicating the royal family had given the order.
Whether she sensed the doubt Tida and I were sharing, Maria smiled gently and began to explain.
"It's simple, really. If there was a royal order behind this, anyone who thinks about the situation would figure it out right away. Besides, a noble might press you on that point and cause unnecessary trouble. So it's better to write in the records from the start that Tenma cooperated with the royal family out of
good will.
That way, it'll be much easier to handle things down the line."
And that was how it went.
With Lyle's approach, it could end up being framed as "the royal family used their authority to make me hand over the Earth Dragon." People close to me would probably see through that, but the general public might believe it, and the Reformist Faction would most certainly exploit it.
So the idea was to minimize criticism while making the most of the facts.
I didn't really care personally, but if I had to choose between the Royalist Faction and the Reformist Faction, I'd go with the Royalist Faction, since I knew more people there.
The old me might have said I didn't want to get involved in factional disputes and headed off to some unfamiliar place, but at this point, getting dragged in was inevitable no matter what, so it would be more convenient to make my position clear.
After all, the top members of the Royalist Faction and
for the time being,
I were on good terms. There was no reason not to use that.
"There's no problem... but just to be clear, I'm only
a willing collaborator,
you know."
"Yes, there's no problem at all. Tenma simply
likes
the royal family, that's all—just an ordinary person."
Tida was visibly uncomfortable with the scheming conversation between me and Lady Maria, but it seemed he understood that he was right at the center of it all.
By the way, throughout the entire conversation, Lyle hadn't moved a muscle, but Lady Maria's laughter
alone
was reacting to, turning pale while trembling.