Episode 4.9 (1/2)

Afterward, they were constantly on the move for two days. Lecan took two stamina recovery pills each day, four in total but its efficacy fell down the more fatigue he piled up. He slept like a log after they had dinners.

The day after that was moss gathering. Shira had prepared several pots wrapped in straw beforehand and carefully sealed 14 kinds of moss inside those pots.

After dinner, Lecan who was practicing <Ignition (Yutel)> suddenly recalled something.

”That reminds me, since Cold is supposed to be classified as Light and Heat type magic, does Cold Breath is one too.”

”Cold Breath?”

Lecan explained about the huge magic beast he encountered in Zaidmahl Territory's backwoods.

”Oh dearie me. That was probably the Earth Dragon Toron.”

”Dragon! So that was a dragon kind huh.”

”I can't think of anything else from the features you described. Defeating that thing alone, you really are a monster aintcha.”

Lecan was a bit annoyed to be called monster by a monster, but realizing that it was a mighty foe, he was overcome by a powerful emotion.

”Cold could only be used to cool water or create ice at most, it's mostly regarded as useless magic. I've fought a mage who controlled some powerful Cold magic though. But I've never seen Cold Breath before. Either way, magic used by magic beasts is a bit different than the type of magic classified by humans. I have no idea which classification Cold Breath falls under.”

”How many kinds of dragons are in this world.”

”That would be Earth Dragons, Fire Dragons, and Flying Dragons. You can run into tamed earth dragons and flying dragons if you go to big cities like the royal capital. Only small dragons can be tamed by humans though. Earth Dragon Toron is an unusual dragon, you see. It's one of the special dragons called Nine Primes of which it's said that only one specimen exists in an era. Some legends tell Toron as <Dragon of Harvest>, and the land where it inhabits in shall be meet with prosperity. Apparently in the past, Toron lived at the place where the royal capital stands today.”

”Dragons employed by humans huh.”

”Only the small earth dragons and flying dragons though. A kind of flying dragons called <White-Neck Dragons (Slaszam)> can be tamed to let people ride them, but only dragon knights under direct control of the king are allowed to. As for earth dragons, the kinds suited for battle are under jurisdiction of the army, while docile earth dragons fit for transporting goods are owned by big merchants. By the way, you've got Toron's material with you, don't you. Can you let me see it.”

When Lecan confessed that he immediately took the magic gem out of Toron after beating it, thus its body had turned into dust, Shira flew off the handle.

”What have you done! Dragons are a mass of precious materials! And it's Toron's materials, something you can never get your hands on ever again. What stupid things have you done. Even if you're tired out after the battle, as long as you don't take out the magic gem, the body would stay for two or three days, no, since it's a dragon, it'd still be there even in a year! Besides, you've got yourself a <Box (Luuf)> that can take in the entire dragon whole! You good-for-nothing!”

True enough, thinking back, what Lecan did was quite wasteful, but he was dead tired and needed to go back to Zaidmahl house asap, and to put the thing in his <Storage>, he would have to cut it apart into small pieces. He didn't have the leeway to do all that at all.

In hindsight, he could have gone back leaving the corpse, and then returned to slowly dismantle it after telling Zaidmahl house that he would be absent for several days, but he was preoccupied by other things at the time, he really didn't have the luxury to come up with that. Either way, hindsight is 20/20. It wasn't the case at the time.

However, from the point of view of the researcher-minded Shira, it truly was an inexcusable huge blunder, no doubt.

While Shira was continuing to disparage him, Lecan took out Toron's magic gem right before her.

Shira immediately fell silent.

”That's... that's the Earth Dragon Toron's magic gem, isn't it?”

”That's right.”

”Can I touch it?”

<TLN: If you're reading this novel at any other site than Sousetsuka.com you might be reading an unedited, uncorrected version of the novel.>

”Of course.”