79 Episode 78 Yaryu and the Blade Cane (1/2)

Two sub-dragons, should I go with them?

Yes, right now if you can. We've come a long way from Desibatore and the others, and it's difficult to even gather enough strength quickly enough to fight one of them.

How far is it from here?

The second closest city, Krakenia, is about a day's ride away by horse, and the closest city, Ikarinia, is about three hours away, but the task force is in Krakenia in case it falls, so we'll head there first.

That's close enough.

I'm not in Desibatore, I'm in Akkaden, which is about two days away by horse.

If it is far from Desibatore, then it is probably inland, on the other side of Desibatore from this city.

Since the strength of adventurers generally decreases the further away they are from the realm of demons, the lack of strength seems to be quite serious.

In other words, it is not surprising that there are few adventurers who can be counted as a force against the dragons.

And there are two of them.

If left unchecked, they will probably die, or perhaps the nearest city has already died.

You have no choice but to go.

All right, do you have a map or something?

”No map, but there's almost a straight road between the cities, so you shouldn't get lost, just go through this gate ......

According to the description, as I feared, Krakenia is just on the other side of the Decibatore from here.

The lack of magic swords is tough, but adventurers have dealt with dragons without magic swords before, albeit in large numbers.

If you have a blade staff made of metal lizard metal, which is physically one of the strongest except for magic swords, and magic mobility and defense, you should be able to get by.

Okay, I'll go then, I'll go now.

Besides, I'm tired of reading.

I know I need to do some research now that I've found a sub-dragon that apparently won't appear if I defeat it.

I think I've figured out the language system pretty well now, so let's let the scholars do the rest, shall we?

Then I flew around for an hour or so, being careful not to lose my way.

I had arrived in Krakenia.

The city itself is pretty ordinary.

But there are a lot of people.

It's not an unusual crowd like at a festival, but more like a lot of people squeezed into a city that is supposed to be empty.

As far as I could see from the air, it was not uncommon to see people camping out in the open.

I wondered if they were refugees.

The first place I was told to go was to the Sublong task force of the guild in this city.

This was the first time I'd ever seen a dragon-control headquarters (until now, I'd killed dragons as soon as I encountered them before they were built), but it was different from the huge ”○○control headquarters” I'd seen on TV.

In this world where there is not that much information to gather, this may be just right.

All of them are unfamiliar to me, but one of them seems to be the one to talk to me.

”So you're Kaede. I've heard rumors about you.

”Well, yes.

What kind of rumors?

What kind of rumors? I've heard that you can fly at the speed of a sublong, and that you can withstand a sublong's attack, is that true?

I'm not sure if it's true or not. In the event that you've got a lot of money, you'll be able to get a lot more than that.

If you can fly at low altitude without thinking about the damage around you, you can make it faster than the dragons we've seen so far. If you exceed the speed of sound near the surface, the shock wave will be terrible, so you don't want to do it in a city or where there are people.

”Oh, I see. Then we can use one of the strategies I've been preparing.

”Prepared?

Yeah, in case Kaede comes and her abilities are as rumored. To be honest, I thought the probability of using it was low, but I've prepared a number of special strategies. After all, with the strength we have, we have little chance of winning in a proper fight.

That's how bad it is. ......

So, what's the plan?

You don't mean to say that you're going to let me go in alone and take them both out, and then run away when they get dangerous, do you?

I mean, that's already not a strategy.

”Basically, we're going to stand by, and Benov over there will give us detailed instructions, but we're going to stand by and try not to provoke the dragons.

The ”other side” is probably Ikarinia.

But I don't understand the meaning of the operation.

”Stand by?　Do I need to do that?

”No, here's the problem. According to the reports we're getting now, we've managed to lead the dragons into the forest, but we don't know when they'll attack again, in fact, we haven't heard from them yet, and it's not surprising that they're already attacking us. It's a great way to make sure you're getting the most out of your money. I'm sure you'll be happy to hear that. ......

I'm not sure what to make of this.

I'm not sure what to make of it. I'll give you six days to do something. By then, reinforcements should be arriving from Desibatore.

I don't want to do a decoy mission.

I don't want to do a bait-and-switch. Well, while the swords may reduce our firepower, the magic gives us much greater mobility.

Even if there are two of them, you can distract them and run into the forest and then shake them off.

Come to think of it, I wonder how adventurers without speed like me would have left the dragons they led into the forest behind.

I don't think it would be easy to lose them.

...... Let's not think about it.

I understand.

”Yes, please. And give this letter to Benov.

The distance was about three hours, but Icarinia was less than ten minutes away at my speed.