A Period for that Story

TL: Nickwonton

Editor: Cannongerbil, Striker, Xenthur

Hey, it’s been some time, hasn’t it? Sorry for the delay, there have been some issues that prevented me from seriously working on the Dust spinoff, and to be honest it still continues to this day. However, thanks to Nickwonton who gracefully picked up where I left off, this translated version of Chapter 3 of Dust is now available. He did most of the work this time, so send all your thanks to him, I mostly just touched up the work they provided.

Anyway, enjoy.

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Part 1

My companions and the other adventurers are stuck dealing with the remaining enemies. Guess I have no choice but to go!

“I’ll leave them to you! I’m going after the ones who went into the town!”

“Yeah, go ahead! I’ll handle this place!”

“Make sure you protect the lady, you hear!?”

“Clean it up quickly and come back home!”

With the words of encouragement from my comrades behind me, I rushed towards the gates of Axel.

The gates had been opened slightly in order to transport the wounded back. Now they were forced open, and the soldiers that were guarding it were now laying at the side.

“Hey, are you okay!?”

“Y-yeah, somehow. Nevermind me, go after the monsters! They split into two groups, one went towards the adventurer’s guild… The other headed for the rich residential areas… Cough… Gurk!”

The soldier suddenly coughed in the middle of his sentence, spitting out a large amount of blood.

If he’s spitting out that much blood he must have suffered severe internal damage. It might be too late for him.

“It’s fine, don’t talk anymore!”

“Don’t worry, this is just the wine I drank earlier to calm my nerves.”

Right, I’ll just leave him be.

Leaving the soldier behind, I ran into the town, but which way should I go?

The closest place would be the adventurer’s guild. There should be wounded adventurers there…

If they were attacked now, they wouldn’t be able to fight back. Still, I couldn’t just ignore the other group.

“Faitfore, I have a request for you.”

“What is it, Dust?”

I loosened the straps on my carry bag and let Faitfore down.

“I’m going to go after the monsters that went this way. Can you go after the other ones? You can change back to your dragon form, just make sure you protect the people there.”

“Okay.”

Faitfore nodded twice, and I ruffled her hair in response.

Her human form would be unable to keep up with the monsters. Transforming back would most likely cause the rumours of a white dragon to spread once again, but that’s the least of my concerns right now.

“Oh, Dust-san, what are you doing here?”

I looked up at the voice and saw a man dressed in a full-faced, suspicious looking helmet atop a white horse.

This is the strange noble who bought my used helmet in the past and is still wearing it now. I mentally called him the helmeted bastard.

“Is that girl… She can’t be… Dust-san’s child!?”

“Of course not! Now is not the time to be talking about that! Can I ask you to do something?”

“Yes, of course!”

The response came within seconds before I could even tell him what I wanted.

Well, it’s a good thing that he’s so quick to agree, so I won’t push him on that.

“Take her and go after the monsters! And don’t tell anyone what you see there!”

“It’ll be our little secret! I won’t tell a soul! I’ll take this secret to my grave!”

“O-Oh, well, thanks.”

It kinda bothers me that he’s breathing heavily, but I’ll ignore that.

After gathering my thoughts, I rushed in the opposite direction of the white horse.

---

The door to the adventurer’s guild had been completely smashed open, and several shouts were coming from inside.

My mind couldn’t help but come up with the worst-case scenario, but I pushed them aside and ran off into the guild.

“Are you guys… Alive…?”

The scene that greeted me caused my thoughts to freeze in their tracks.

The group of ogres and the wounded adventurers facing off, that I can understand.

But why is Sir Vanir stuck between both sides as they glared at each other?

“Dammit, we can’t let them destroy the guild! Protect the guild and the staff!”

“You don’t need to tell me twice.”

The adventurers, weapons in hand, took up positions in front of the guild staff.

They are wounded, but instead of running away they choose to stand their ground.

“Everyone… Even though you constantly cause headaches for us by always messing around and making us clean up your messes, complaining about why the commission fees are so high, and hitting on us when you get drunk, you really do care about us. It made me marry late, but I’m glad I became a receptionist at the guild.”

Luna and the other receptionists seemed moved by that display of bravery by the adventurers.

“Of course I’ll protect you. We won’t get paid if we don’t, after all!”

“Eh?”

“I sure as hell ain’t putting in this much effort and getting this battered for free! If this place gets destroyed, I won’t even have enough money for drinks tomorrow!”

“……”

After hearing the adventurers’ true feelings, the guild staff froze and fell silent.

Personally I think it’s better than putting on a false front and dressing it up, but oh well.

“Hah, I acknowledge your guts at least, but do you really think you can take on us ogres with those broken bodies of yours?”

One of the ogres, who stood a head taller than the others, stepped forward and taunted the adventurers. It seems to be acting as their leader.

Ogres aren’t like goblins or other small fry, they are fierce and fairly powerful monsters.

At the very least, they aren’t enemies a low-level adventurer can take head on.

“True, we might not be able to defeat you with our wounds like this. But still, there are times in a man’s life where he cannot back down no matter what!”

“Um, we’re women though.”

Despite knowing that they have no chance of victory, the adventurers nodded, refusing to run away.

……It may seem cool at first glance, but they’ve been sneaking glances at Sir Vanir all this time.

The ogres clearly wanted a fight, but yet they refrained from attacking. Just like the adventurers, they’ve been sneaking glances at Sir Vanir, clearly finding his presence concerning.

As for the center of attention himself, he simply pulled up a chair by a table and began leisurely sipping tea.

Wait a minute, if Sir’s body is made of dirt, can he even taste anything?

Nevermind, that’s not important right now.

“Um, Vanir-san, we’re in a bit of a tight spot right now. If you could help us fight these guys, it’d be a great help.”

“Oh, do you wish to consult with me about some difficult matter?”

Sir pulled a crystal ball from somewhere and placed it on the table.

“Welcome to the consultation office, troubled adventurer. No matter your difficulties, allow me to resolve it through divination.”

Is he seriously entering Consultation mode now?!

Sir provides consulting services in the corner of the guild ever so often… Or rather, he usually resolves issues with his accurate predictions.

This isn’t anything new for him, but why is he doing it now?

“Oh, um— we want you to fight, not tell fortunes.”

“Wait! That’s the former Demon King’s General Vanir-sama! What are you doing in human territory?”

The ogre who seemed to be the leader approached Sir Vanir, immediately making his tone more polite.

He seemed to know of Sir. But wasn’t that statement dangerous? If those guys learnt that Sir was formerly a Demon King’s General, they might cause a ruckus—

“Ah, so he was a Demon King’s General.”

“His face was plastered on the bulletin board with the bounty. See, I told you he was the real deal.”

“With such a conspicuous mask and unique character, it’s obvious to anyone.”

In the end, no one was surprised at all. Everyone accepted this revelation without causing any trouble.

“Well, Moi is simply a part-timer working in a magic item shop now. Speaking of, would thou be interested in any of our excess inventory?”

“No, wait! Why is a former Demon King’s General working in a magic item shop?! You must be making way less money!”

I hadn’t realized the Demon King’s Generals were on a payroll.

“This buffon is too noisy. Moi is a ‘former’ Demon King’s General. That contract only applied to my former body, thus, in this different body, Moi is now free. Thou should think before making such unreasonable statements. Now, cease occupying Moi’s precious time, thou art preventing Moi from doing business. Shoo, shoo!”

Sir waved his hand as if shooing away a fly, and the ogre shut his mouth.

Upon seeing this, one of the adventurers hurriedly stood in front of Sir Vanir.

“Vanir-san, can you tell us how to win this fight?”

“Ah, finally, a customer. Well, that is a different matter. Moi shall determine the future at a very low price… Oh, so that is how it is. This is quite fortunate for thou, thou can spend money to hire a strong devil.”

Oh, this is exactly what I’d expect from Sir.

The adventurer who asked the question seemed to understand and leaned over the table towards Sir Vanir.

“How much would it cost to buy this devil for our side?”

“Wait a minute! If you want money, I have it! How about 100,000 Eris!”

The Ogre Loudly interrupted.

“Hey, cut that out! We’ll give you 200,000!”

“How about 300,000!”

“400,000– no, 450,000!”

“How much money does everyone have on them right now? Hurry, take it all out!”

The bidding for Vanir’s help had begun.

The price soared rapidly in a short period of time. Although I wanted to participate, I didn’t have any money. Not only that, but the money I borrowed from Sir hadn’t been repaid.

So, I could only watch from the sidelines.

“701,000 eris!”

“Then we’ll give him 701,005 eris!”

Both sides seemed to be approaching their limits financially, so they started raising the price only slightly.

“Ten million.”

“Huh?”

I heard an absurdly large number.

“I will pay ten million eris.”

It was Luna, the receptionist, who walked over in front of Sir Vanir.

“Have you lost your mind?”

“No, I want to use the 10 million eris from the Guild’s treasury to buy Vanir-san.”

The unexpected development silenced both sides.

Luna looked serious, and Sir Vanir looked at her with joy.

“Oh, fuhahahaha! Yes, Moi likes thou very much, human woman with little prospects of marriage! Moi shall be bought by thou for ten million eris!”

“Thank you very much, Vanir-san. So, could you solve this monster problem right away?”

Luna smiled and motioned towards the Ogres.

“Understood, this concludes the auction. Now, witness the new-and-improved Vanir-Style Death Ray!”

Sir Vanir began to shoot beams of mysterious light at the Ogres running around.

Seems like I can leave this place to Sir.

There was no reason to stick around to watch the conclusion, so I ran out of the guild to hunt down the other group of monsters.

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Part 2

“It should be right around here…”

I had questioned the townsfolk that I had passed as I followed the path the undead had taken, but what they told me was bizarre.

“The undead and monsters ran out straight ahead without even looking at us. So we didn’t suffer any damage, but it was really scary!”

“Yeah, yeah! The undead seemed to be completely out of control while the other monsters were desperately trying to keep up with them.”

That’s what they had said. Others said similar things, and for now there didn’t seem to be any damage done to the town.

That’s good and all, but still, what were they after?

I kept thinking about it the whole time I ran, but I still couldn’t figure it out.

“Bah, I can’t figure it out, no use thinking about it!”

I immediately discarded those troublesome thoughts and ran forward.

There was also another concerning thing on my mind at that moment. That is, I knew this road. I’d walked it several times, in fact.

After passing through several alleyways, what appeared in front of me… Was Kazuma’s mansion.

“Their goal is to defeat Kazuma, the one who killed several Demon King’s Generals?”

Well, then they came all this way for nothing. Kazuma and the others should have been near the Demon King’s Castle by now, they may have even broken into it.

“But… Doesn’t Aqua-sama always seem to inexplicably draw undead towards her? Could it be that her residual smell attracted these undead?”

Anyway, I can’t let them destroy Kazuma’s mansion. My best friend asked me to protect his home, I hadn’t forgotten.

I slowly approached the manion and heard screams from inside.

There should be no one in Kazuma’s mansion. Maybe the neighbors were involved?

“Let me make it in time… Huh?”

Just when I had started to worry, I saw a white horse standing outside the mansion, along with the helmeted bastard and Faitfore.

“What are you doing! Can’t you see the mansion is under attack?”

They looked back at me, their expressions completely unfazed.

“Oh, it’s Dust-san. It’s not so much the mansion is being attacked as the mansion is attacking.”

“Yes, it’s probably fine.”

“Stop talking nonsense!”

I pushed aside the two who were saying some nonsensical things to take a look at the mansion myself, at which point I was greeted by an incredible scene.

“Ugh! The vines in the field are tying me up! Let go of me, let go!”

“Gah! The vegetables are exploding!”

“The zombies and skeletons are just bone meal in the garden now!”

The undead were exploding and scattered about in the garden.

Other monsters of the Demon King’s Army got caught in the plant stems and vines, or were blown up by vegetables that flew out of the garden, or were hit by wine bottles and rocks thrown from inside the mansion.

Wait, was someone in there? I tried to look inside, but I couldn’t see anyone.

“What’s the matter with this cat and chicken? Come on, get out of here! Be careful, or I’ll kill you.”

There was a black cat and a chicken near a monster who was trying to cut himself free of the vines.

The black cat was the Explosion Girl’s cat that had wings and a weird name. The chicken must be the chick with the grand name that Aqua-sama cared for.

“Hey, don’t play with those little animals… No, no, no!”

“Why are you so nervous all of a sudden? What’s the matter?”

The monster that had been staring at the animals suddenly broke down.

“I just used appraisal magic to observe the status of those two, and that chicken’s level is way too high! And that black cat’s class is ‘Evil God’…”

I caught snatches of the demons’ conversation, but are those two really that powerful?

I must have heard it wrong; I’ll just pretend I didn’t hear anything. This mess was complicated enough without adding extra problems.

The demons didn’t seem to notice us. I watched them carefully while carrying Faitfore.

Their attention was focused on the vegetation and the two animals, leaving their backs wide open, so we easily took care of them

---

“Well, that takes care of that… Faitfore, what are you eating?”

“Sticky potatoes.”

I was wondering what she’d been doing so quietly, and it turned out she’d been eating the vegetables scattered all over.

“Spit that out! Don’t just eat whatever you find on the ground.”

“Give it back—”

I snatched the sticky potatoes that Faitfore had taken and put them in my pocket. If I threw it on the ground, she’d just pick it up and eat it again.

After I convinced her with “I’ll let you eat something more delicious later”, I put Faitfore, who was still having a tantrum, on the white horse.

Now that we’ve protected the mansion (sorta), I rode the white horse across the town and searched for any other monsters that may have broken in. By the way, the Helmeted Bastard kindly let me borrow the horse.

“If I rode on the same saddle that Dust-san’s hips clung to, it would be just like as if we became one.”

He was mumbling something, but I was in a hurry so I ignored it.

I paid a visit to the magic item shop just to be safe, and saw the Penguin suit deftly overwhelming the monsters with it’s nimble movements.

I thought he was just a mascot; I didn’t expect him to be a watchdog too… Although I guess it would be ‘watch-bird’.

Since Kazuma’s mansion and the Magic Item Shop were fine, I needed to get back to the front gate as soon as possible. I was worried about Lynn and everyone.

“Dust, it’s noisy there.”

“Uhh! Why did you grab me all of a sudden!”

Faitfore grabbed my cheek and turned my face to the side.

Listening carefully… There definitely was a noise.

That’s the direction of the police station. Was some idiot really taking this opportunity to cause trouble at the police station? If that’s all it is, the police will be able to deal with it even without my help. But if it’s a monster…

“If I lend them a hand now, I might get treated better the next time I have to pay the cells a visit.”

“You aren’t honest.”

“Tsk, that’s not true.”

Despite my harsh tone, my body subconsciously began moving in the direction of the commotion.

---

“There’s a pervert – there’s a perverted demon here!”

“This guy is clearly a pervert, so why is he so strong!”

“Who are you calling a pervert?!”

The strangest arrest I’d ever seen was happening in front of the police station.

A demon man wearing only his shirt and underwear was swinging a sword and causing a scene.

“Suddenly-appearing perverted demon! This is a warning! Throw down your weapons immediately and do not resist!”

“Stop talking! Damn it, damn it, how did I get here? I was just at the Demon King’s castle… Where’s that fast-talking scumbag! Calm down, I have to stay calm and conduct myself like a knight. Damn, how am I supposed to figure this out. What do I do now?”

He kept waving his sword like a child having a fit, so the policemen were unable to get close. It seems that some of them were already been cut down, several policemen were lying bleeding on the ground

He looked just like an ordinary pervert, why was he so strong?

If the police tried to capture him they would end up with at least a few casualties.

But, I should be able to deal with this problem on my own.

They usually arrest me without even giving me a chance to speak, but it’d be nice to see them crying and thanking me.

I probably shouldn’t fight in front of the police with Faitfore clinging onto me like that. They might charge me with something else.

Getting off the horse, I told Fairfore to quietly wait for me on the horse, before breaking to the center of the commotion.

“You guys are no match for him, move aside and don’t get in my way.”

I pushed a policeman aside and walked forward. This guy took me into the station two weeks ago on the charge of ‘I couldn’t be innocent.’

“It’s Dust, what are you doing here? Are you really still lazing around when all this is going on? You’re really…”

“No! I came here to help because I saw you were in trouble. Be thankful and don’t arrest me again. Anyway, hurry up and get the injured to safety.”

“Is this a necessary sacrifice… I’m sorry, please hold him back as long as possible. We’ll send help right away after we take care of the injured. That pervert might not look like much, but he’s dangerous, be careful!”

I lazily waved at the worried policeman while keeping my back to him.

Normally, he would’ve just yelled and scolded me, but it seemed he was actually worried.

“Hey, pervert! I’m in a hurry, so let’s get this over with.”

“Who are you? I was suddenly teleported to this random place, and now I’m really starting to get angry. Well, since you want to fight, I’ll take my anger out on you!”

He immediately crouched down and clenched his longsword, taking the stance of a practiced warrior.

I raised my spear in answer to his challenge and breathed quietly.

He seemed to understand my strength at a glance, and began to carefully edge closer. Another step forward and he would be in my spear’s range.

At that moment, he suddenly stopped moving and raised his sword overhead. Was he trying to draw me out?

I didn’t want to spend too much time fighting him, so I took on his challenge.

I stepped forward and stabbed forward with the spear at the same time. The spearhead moved quickly towards his chest, but bounced off the sword as he swung it down.

Then, he shortened the distance in one breath and swiped the sword horizontally.

I saved myself from falling as I dodged. I jumped back up, trying to sweep his legs with the spear, but he quickly blocked it with his sword.

“Not bad for a pervert.”

“I’m not a pervert! My name is Noss! You’re not too bad either, I’m impressed that mere humans still have this level of skill.”

He was a bit like Sir Vanir. In this world, your appearance and strength aren’t necessarily related. If I let my guard down, I’ll be taken out in an instant.

I kept my distance, stabbing at him periodically with my spear which was deflected by his sword strikes.

He’s strong. He’s definitely a strong enemy, but he has a weakness when it comes to defence.

Although he blocked the attacks I put a lot of force into, he let the lighter, faster stabs get through. Because of this, the number of cuts he took was slowly increasing. It was slow going, but it did seem to hurt him.

“Ugh, this level of attack would be nothing if I had my armor.”

From the barely audible whisper, I guessed that dressing like this was not actually his hobby, but he just didn’t have his armour on for some reason.

In that case, I’ll target his weakness.

“I hereby declare that my next attack will take you down fair and square.”

“Hah, you sound confident, well try it if you can!”

I lowered my body and sprinted forward, stopping just at the edge of his sword’s attack range. Then, I took something out of my pocket and threw it at his head.

“Ha, such a ridiculous display! That’s almost clever, using a projectile like this!”

The pervert sliced upwards towards the thing I threw, cutting it in half with his sword. And I stabbed the halves repeatedly.

“Ha, it doesn’t hurt to attack my head…Ugh! It’s so itchy!”

A white, sticky material flowed down the body of the pervert, and he grabbed his bare neck, arms, and feet.

I had thrown out one of those potatoes Faitfore had been eating. This potato was actually a taro root, which causes severe itching when it touches the skin.

Since it was a vigorous and aggressive taro root, I thought the itching ingredients would also be very intense. It seemed I was correct.

The pervert rolled all over the floor looking pitiful, so I used the shaft of my spear to knock him unconscious.

Since we were in front of the police station, it seemed fine to leave him. He’d be thrown in prison here.

“Who even was that guy anyway?”

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Part 3

Although it took longer than I expected, I finally returned to the front gate to find that the adventurers and the undead had already finished their fight.

Some of the adventurers seemed to be injured, but most of the adventurers were still up and seemed alright. After confirming that my party was safe, I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Looks like you took care of things on your end, Dust. The undead here have been wiped out, so all that’s left is…”

Taylor patted me on the shoulder and praised me, but his eyes weren’t on me, but on the battlefield.

His eyes were fixed on the enemy’s base camp.

Although it looked like there weren’t many left, each monster remaining was far more powerful than any of the low level monsters from before.

I could probably take most of them one-on-one, but these guys would be way too much for everyone else.

“Ahhhhh, I just want to drink a bunch of beer and relax!”

“I get what you mean, Dust. Working so hard like this, I’m going to become a proper upstanding man at this rate.”

“Dust, Keith, what’s so bad about that? We are almost done, so just hang in there for a while longer.After the war is over, I won’t interfere with your indulgent and depraved lifestyle for a while.”

Normally, Lynn would kick our asses and force us to help. It’s rare for her to have such an attitude.

Keith and I looked at each other, then bumped fists and laughed.

“Don’t forget what you said! When this is over, I’m not doing anything for awhile!”

“No taking it back. Dust, we’ll have a great time afterwards!”

“Alright, I give up… I really can’t do anything with you two.”

“I’m glad we got them motivated, but is it really okay…”

Lynn and Taylor, the two serious party members, sighed deeply. I wasn’t sure what they said, but I chose to ignore them.

“Okay, let’s get back to work. Can you guys still fight?”

After I asked the other adventurers, everyone raised their weapons.

“Of course! I’m only just warmed up!”

“There’s only a few of them left now, we can still beat them.”

“Beer always tastes better after hard work.”

Although they were all bruised and battered, everyone was still full of bravado.

They’re probably barely holding on, but it’s fine. If you’re not going to put on a good front here, then when are you going to do it?

Several adventures were unable to fight and were sent back to Axel for treatment, but I recognized all the remaining ones.

These guys… Were all regular customers of the Succubus Shop. In fact, that shop was the most important motivator amongst the warriors of Axel.

After the morale boost, we approached the enemy base camp directly.

The other party seemed to be planning to fight us head-on, staying still and waiting for our arrival.

The enemy troops numbered only about fifty, so we outnumbered them; however, the enemy’s monsters were all incredibly strong.

If this was a quest, every single one of them would’ve required a party of veteran adventurers to defeat.Seeing these sorts of odds, most people would be terrified.

Thinking of that, I turned around and looked back, only to find the adventurers all smiling arrogantly.

“Hey, hey, I’m really eager to fight. I’m so excited, I’m shaking all over.”

“Ha, even now, you’re still such a novice. Look at me, I’m not scared, you could learn a thing or two!”

“You look like you’re about to cry out of fear! I haven’t been scared once!”

…No, they were scared half to death.

I can’t blame them. To be honest, I also—

“I really want to go home.”

“What are you saying!? You can’t give up here.”

When I muttered this, Lynn immediately yelled back at me.

Complaining wouldn’t change anything, that much was clear.

I left the shaky adventurers in place and walked forward. Taylor, Keith, and Lynn followed behind.

“You guys can stay behind me.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I said I wasn’t going to let you steal the limelight.”

“Yeah, as the captain and a Crusader, how could I cower and hide behind someone else?”

“We’re a party. We gotta be together wherever we go.”

I’ve got one reliable group of party members.

As long as I had them backing me up, I could keep going forward, no matter how strong the enemy was.

I slung my spear over my shoulder and took a big step forward.

“Humans, do not tread any further. If you come any closer, I’ll be forced to attack you.”

A loud voice shook my whole body, so I stopped.

The enemy’s formation split in two, and a human figure appeared in front of us.

It was a wonderful beauty who looked out of place on this battlefield. She raised a charming smile and looked at me with a cold gaze that chilled my spine.

She wore a deep V-neck white shirt on her upper body and a long skirt with slits on it on her lower. The fullness of her chest and posterior was impeccable.

Just looking at her, I could tell she’s completely my type. I wanted to ask her to sleep with me for a night, but judging from her statement… It seems she was the commander-in-chief of the Demon King’s Army.

“Beautiful onee-san, are you the leader?”

“Yes human… Oh, that human man has an enticing aura. Just looking at him makes me hot and aroused. If you’re willing to switch sides, I will save your life and make you very satisfied every day.”

Was she joking and teasing me? I looked at her suspiciously, but it didn’t seem to be a joke. Was she serious?

At the idea of being seduced by such a beautiful onee-san, my heart began to waver.

“Hey, do I look like a man who will be deceived by good looks?”

“That’s exactly what you look like.” x3

“You guys stay out of this!”

My party and the adventurers had all responded so quickly in unison.

“It’s a great proposal, but I’ll pass. But if you want, I can rub your chest a few times— Gahh!”

I felt a shock on the back of my head. I didn’t need to look to know that it must have been Lynn hitting me with her magic wand.

Just how many times does she need to hit me before she’s satisfied?

“This human is very funny. Oh my, how rude of me, I haven’t given you my name yet. I’m the commander-in-chief in charge of the attack on Axel. My name is Rouzelli. Pleased to meet you… Or not. Anyway, you’ll die here.”

Since her voice and manner were attractive, I didn’t really want to attack her at all. However, when she revealed her threatening aura that made her previous sexy aura immediately vanish, I couldn’t help but swallow nervously.

“Huh— but this was quite the surprise. I heard this was the town of beginner adventurers, but to think that such a town could reduce our forces by this much. If this continues, I won’t be able to show myself before His Majesty the Demon King and the Generals. So, although it’s a little embarrassing, will you please just die miserably with the residents of this town?”

As she spoke, she tried to come off as charming and sexy by tracing her fingers along the curves of her body. I was reminded of a certain someone whose eyes would light up and say ‘that’s really worthy of reference!’

“That’s really worthy of reference!”

That’s right, she’d sound just like that.

“Wait… Why are you here?”

“Huh? No one was there just now, right?”

Lynn and my other party members didn’t seem to know how she got there either.

Loli Succubus had appeared next to me and was eagerly observing Rouzelli.

“I finished spreading rumors, so I came back. I felt like if I stayed there any longer, I’d have gotten caught up in fighting on their side. That woman is really sexy! One day, I want to also become that kind of attractive and beautiful woman.”

“That’d be impossible.”

“Grr!”

After I pointed out the obvious, she puffed up her cheeks and glared at me.

“Oh, what a cute little girl. Although she’s not much for reinforcements… where did you come from?”

“Ah, I came out of the ground.”

“The ground?” x 5

I looked at the ground where Loli Succubus pointed, but I could only see dirt. I looked harder, but didn’t see anything special about the ground.

“Hey, what do you mean ‘from the ground’—”

I was about to ask, but the soil in front of me suddenly swelled into a familiar shape.

“Fuhahaha! It is actually Moi! Oh, I do enjoy this type of surprised negative emotion.”

With that familiar laugh, the dirt changed into a familiar form — a demon wearing a mask.

“Sir! What are you doing appearing like this? Ah, forget it, but is it really okay for you to be seen by the Demon King’s Army?”

“Ah, yes…”

“Th-that mask is, Va-Va-Vanir-Sama!”

Rouzelli screamed as soon as she saw Sir Vanir… Wait a scream?

I glanced at her and found her face pale and fixed with a look of extreme terror.

“Sir, what did you do to her?”

“Who knows, Moi does not recall seeing her before.”

Although his masked face wasn’t exactly easy to read, he seemed to really not know her. Rouzelli just kept pointing at Sir, opening and closing her mouth like a fish.

That clearly wasn’t going to get us anywhere, so I started asking some questions.

“Sir doesn’t seem to know you, but you seem to know him. How is that?”

“He doesn’t remember? After everything he did… In the Demon King’s Castle, every day he cruelly toyed with us!”

Rouzelli was starting to get fired up. The other monsters were also holding their heads and shaking as if they were distressed with her.

It didn’t seem to be a lie or a joke. Sir Vanir really had done something incredible.

“Describing it like that is an exaggeration. After all, even in the Demon King’s Castle, Moi needs to eat. Moi would pretend to be Wiz or another popular female general and lure them into the bedroom before revealing it was a trick. Or, give out high-calorie pills disguised as diet pills and reveal the truth a month later. That is all Moi recalls.”

“That’s exactly it, aaah!”

“Sir, that must be it!”

Rouzelli and I screamed at the same time.

Sir tilted his head and pretended to not understand, but I could tell he was faking it.

“Vanir-san, that really does sound like too much. Also, as a woman, that sort of prank doesn’t sit well with me. Wait, did you say you pretended to be me?”

“Do you have any idea how hard it was to lose all that weight!? Ahhhhhhhhhhh! Even Wiz-sama is here!?”

Seeing Wiz poke her head out from behind Sir, Rouzelli screamed again.

She was quite the screamer, it was getting a little absurd.

“Long time no see. I remember you; you’re Rouzelli, a candidate for General. How are you doing?”

Wiz seemed to remember her and greeted her kindly.

“Wait, how could you two be here?”

“Because Moi works at a shop in this town with this incompetent shopkeeper.”

“In this town? Working at a shop? Huh?”

I wondered if she didn’t understand, or didn’t want to believe it. Rouzelli looked around in a panic suspiciously.

I decided to ignore her behavior for now.

“Sir, let’s get back to my question. Is it really okay if your identity is completely exposed?”

“About this matter, Moi has concluded that there is no need for concern.”

“Since Vanir-san doesn’t think it matters, I’m also relieved even though I haven’t asked him to clarify why yet. What are you going to do?”

Wiz simply believed in Sir Vanir’s confidence and followed him.

….At this time, my heart was filled with an ominous feeling. Why would Wiz just believe it? She had spent a lot of time with Sir, so it may have been something I wouldn’t understand.

“Must thou even ask such a question? Moi shall annihilate this group and leave not even a single survivor of the Demon King’s Army in this world.”

“Ah, so that’s it… Wait, what? Are you really going to do that?”

“So that’s why you don’t care that they know your identity, you really are incredible!”

When I heard Sir’s proposal, I was immediately relieved, but my party members had mixed expressions. I couldn’t tell if they were surprised or dumbfounded.

“…Vanir-san and Wiz-san were members of the Demon King’s Army before? Although I could have guessed about Vanir-san, I would never have suspected Wiz.”

“If what he just said is true, does it mean they’re going to betray the Demon King and help us?”

“I don’t get this at all.”

This new information seemed to throw them all into chaos.

I was curious about how the other adventurers were taking this, so I turned to look… But they weren’t listening. To be precise, they were far too busy to listen.

“I’m not sure why, but the monsters all seem to be in pain, this is our chance! Let’s kill them now!”

“Use magic and arrows to crush them!”

“Hey, fight! We can’t lose here!”

The adventurers had entered battle mode while saying stuff that made me question which side was the Demon King’s army. Everyone was fighting desperately, paying no attention to us.

The monsters also seemed to be aware of the difference in the atmosphere, and they were getting ready to receive us from a distance… No, that’s not right, they were trying to escape from Sir Vanir in the chaos.

I could tell because, even though they were fighting, the monsters would sneak a peek at Sir Vanir from time to time. This definitely hurt their focus in battle.

Perfect. Thanks to this, the adventurers could fight evenly with the monsters. Thank you, Sir Vanir.

“Vanir-sama, Wiz-sama, will you really stand on the side of the humans?”

“Well, Moi merely joined the Demon King after his repeated requests, just to pass the time. Moreover, Moi is now a former General, and as such, a free agent. That inept shopkeeper is a General in name only who is responsible for maintaining the barrier.”

“Yes, this is the case. My contract is to remain neutral and not interfere.”

“Then, since these people are enemies of the Demon King’s Army, wouldn’t siding with them violate the contract?”

Rouzelli’s words were reasonable. They were now interfering everywhere, and their position was far from neutral.

“Yes, since I am assisting Axel, perhaps that can’t be considered neutral anymore.”

“Then the current situation is considered a breach of contract?”

Rouzelli, who had been full of despair, seemed to think this development would be beneficial to her, her expression suddenly changing to hopeful.

“However, the condition for me to maintain the barrier and remain neutral is that only adventurers or knights in combat occupations should be attacked.”

“We haven’t dealt with anyone other than adventurers! So—”

Rouzelli trailed off. A chill released from Wiz’s body surged, making her speechless.

Since we were so close, we were also affected by this blast.

“Ugh! It hurts! Quick, let’s hug together to keep warm.”

“Get away from me. You can bear with it for a little while!”

“Although I typically don’t reject beautiful women even if they’re cold to me, this is a little too much.”

“…Hey, can you guys not hide behind me?”

We used Taylor, the most burly figure, as a shield and hid behind him.

Although he complained, Taylor didn’t usually have much chance to shine. This was a good opportunity for him to be useful. He should be thanking me.

“Just die miserably with the residents of this town.’ Isn’t that what you said just now? This town is very important to me, and I will not let you hurt my shop or my precious customers!”

The cold vortex of Wiz-centered madness was getting bigger and bigger as we scrambled to get away from it. If we stayed here we’d be turned into icicles.

“It’s been a long time since she acted like the Ice Witch.”

Sir Vanir said with his arms wrapped around us. The surface of his body was all frosted.

Wait, when did he escape?

“Wiz actually has such a terrifying side.”

“She used to lose her temper often, and she would get furious whenever Moi teased her. She would constantly come to me to vent intense negative feelings; it was like a high-quality bento delivery.”

Sir’s analogy was a little unnerving.

Putting what happened in the past aside, Wiz was now willing to seriously take part in this war, for which I was really grateful. Our combat power had greatly increased, as seen from the Explosion magic and this current situation.

Sir Vanir seemed to have been bought by Luna and was willing to help, so he would definitely win.

“It’s our victory, it seems.”

“Delinquent adventurer, this kind of careless remark seems to be called ‘raising a flag’. Kazuma said that such cursed remarks would attract phenomena completely opposed to the content…”

“Ah, I’ve also heard Kazuma talk about that. But, it seems pretty obvious who’s going to win here.”

Exposed to the biting cold, Rouzelli’s body surface had been frosted over, leaving her trembling. Wiz moved slowly closer to her.

No matter how you looked at it, it was a sure win.

“If this phenomenon lasts a little longer, Wiz won’t lose, but don’t underestimate her. She will most definitely commit some outrageous mistakes… After all, it is the destitute shopkeeper who is the reason for her own poverty.”

“Sir, you think too much… Hey, did Wiz suddenly fall down?”

The blizzard stopped abruptly, and Wiz was lying face down on the ground.

Huh? There was no warning at all, what was going on?

My thoughts couldn’t keep up with this unexpected sight at all, making me speechless, but Rouzelli, who had been intimidated by Wiz, seemed to be the most surprised of everyone. She stared at the immobile Wiz.

“She really didn’t think about it in advance. How can she make herself burn with anger with the name Ice Witch? Moi can’t bear this troublesome matter.”

Sir Vanir sighed, as if only he understood the situation.

“Wiz suddenly fainted, how could this happen?”

“The Explosion magic is to blame. Using that magic consumed a lot of her mana, and even more was used up in the previous offensive and defensive battles. As such, unleashing more magic will lead to this sort of consequence.”

Ah— of course! The Explosion Girl also couldn’t move immediately after finishing her spell. Although Wiz had more magical power than Megumin, the previous battles should have almost exhausted her reserves.

“I… I’m not quite sure why, but that’s one less threat!”

After recovering, Rouzelli felt relieved and became arrogant once again.

“Wiz may be out of the fight, but we still have Sir Vanir here, did you forget? You have no chance of winning! Go on Sir, show her what you got!”

After I finished what I wanted to say, I gave the scene over to Sir Vanir.

“Tossing all the responsibility over to someone else, how despicable!”

“Even I’m not that much of a scumbag.”

“I can’t believe we’re in the same party.”

My party began talking badly about me behind my back.

When I looked back, they immediately looked away and moved in the other direction… Don’t pretend you don’t know me!

“It doesn’t matter if you want Moi to clean up, Moi can’t do that.”

“Sir, come on. Don’t be lazy, please help. Wait, what do you mean unable to do that… Oh, so that’s it.”

I looked in the direction Sir had indicated with his chin and saw Rouzelli shrink her body into a trembling ball and begin to grow a pair of wings from her back.

Her swelling body tore her clothes from the inside, revealing a body covered in bright red scales and two horns sticking out of her head.

To most, this scene would have been quite amazing, but to me, it was actually unremarkable.

Huge wings grew from Rouzelli’s body that had now swelled several times in size. What appeared before my eyes was one of the strongest monsters known to the world — a dragon.

Judging by the scarlet scales, it’s a red dragon.

It rose into the sky with its wings open and deftly hovered in mid-air.

“In the air, even Vanir-sama cannot attack me. It’s humiliating to take this form in front of humans, but you can consider it a parting gift. After many years, dragons can learn the ability to assume a human form. Are you so scared that you can’t speak? I can’t blame you… Huh? Why don’t you have any reaction? Couldn’t you at least be a little more desperate and scream in fright?”

“Even if you say that…”

I replied impatiently to the voice that I heard not in my ears, but echoing within my mind.

Looking at this dragon, although she was very different in appearance and speaking fluently, my only thought was ‘Faitfore will be able to speak clearly like this in the future.’

My friends had seen the process of Faitfore changing from a human to a dragon several times, and naturally they were used to it.

“Fine, no matter, anyway, you’ll surely become afraid sooner or later. Try to attack me with magic or bows and arrows. Any attack is no match for my scales.”

Keith and Lynn tried releasing arrows and magic. Even considering that their power was weakened by the distance, Rouzelli’s hard scales blocked everything, not showing any harm at all.

“Hehe, there is nothing you can do now. Long-range attacks don’t work, and you can’t come closer. Come now, beg for mercy… Hey, why did that young girl suddenly take off her clothes?”

Rouzelli felt she had the upper hand and gave a great speech, but Faitfore ignored it and took off her clothes.

Lynn and the others hurriedly erected a human wall around Faitfore, so no one could see her.

“Oh well, it’s because otherwise her clothes will get torn, which would upset her. After all, she seems to like that dress very much. She’s even folding the clothes. Good job, Faitfore.”

“Un, Lynn taught me to do that”

“This kid does learn quickly.”

Even in this situation, she can take off her clothes and neatly fold them. She really grew up. I patted her head as a reward, and she squinted happily.

“How can you act so carefree! Do you even know what’s going on now? How dire things are?”

Red Dragon asked, tilting its head.

Even though we were very exposed to attack, it had not attacked us yet. It really believed there was nothing we could do.

“Because there’s nothing to worry about. Everything will be alright. Sorry to keep you waiting so long.”

I turned around and stabbed the bottom of the spear into the ground, smiling maliciously.

Strong wind gusts came from behind me, and dust was blown all around.

After the wind stopped, Faitfore, who had turned into a dragon, appeared.

She unfurled big white wings and roared into the sky.

“Rahhhhh!”

“How did a white dragon appear in such a place!?”

‘She needs to be surprised quite a few times a day to be satisfied, huh?’ I thought and jumped onto Faitfore’s back, but Lynn also jumped up and sat behind me.

“We’ll also need support with long-range attacks,” Keith protested.

“I’ll be more relieved if Lynn is with me.”

Not only would her magic be comforting, but her presence would also help me too.

“Then I want to go too!”

“At times like these, think before you speak, Keith.”

Keith also wanted to jump on, but Taylor grabbed his neck.

After pulling Keith off, Taylor held him down with one hand and gave me the shield he usually used with the other hand.

“This is all I can do. I expect you to come back.”

“Ah, dammit! I’m letting you have the best chance to shine, so make sure you kick her ass, you hear?”

“Leave it to me. I’ll leave the rest of the enemies to you, Keith, Taylor.”

I took out the spear, Taylor took out his sword, Keith took out his bow, and we all overlapped the points of our weapons.

Faitfore fluttered her wings vigorously and flew into the air.

The red dragon flew higher and higher, as if to escape, and we followed after her too. We wanted to be seen by as few adventurers as possible, so this suited us just fine.

After flying some distance from the battlefield, the red dragon finally stopped and looked at us.

“So, you can actually keep up with my speed. I never thought I’d meet a rare white dragon in such a place, but I was even more surprised that there is a human that can easily control it. Do you have the rare job, the Dragon Knight?”

“You guessed it. Although, it’d be more accurate to say that was what I used to be.”

There was really no reason to hide that now, so I just told the truth.

“Oh? A Dragon Knight. I have indeed heard of a knight in the neighboring country who was the youngest to become a Dragon Knight.”

“Yep, that’s me.”

“I knew it! I heard that you are a dragon tamer who could charm any dragon. That’s why I feel hot in my chest when I see you. Now, how about you stop riding that white dragon and ride me instead?”

Although it tried to tempt me with a charming voice, the dragon-shaped body that it was trying to seduce me with made me unsure exactly how to react.

Also, Faitfore turned her head towards me with protesting eyes, which made me really concerned.

“Sorry, my partner is the only one for me, I’m not about to cheat on her with any other dragon— Pfft, ah! Don’t lick my face! Hey, I’ll lose my balance, stop it!”

Faitfore seemed to be satisfied with my answer judging by how she licked my face with her big tongue, completely blocking my view.

“Oh I got rejected. It doesn’t really matter, the law of the dragon race is for the strong to eat the weak, and so all must obey the strong. I will defeat you and that girl and made you mine by sheer force of will.”

“I don’t hate strong women, but there’s already someone I love”

I don’t need to say anymore to get the point across. She’s right here—

“Oh? This is news to me. You actually have a lover?”

“Gah?”

Why are you both looking at me like that? Of course I’m talking about you two!

It would be too embarrassing for me to explain it clearly here. To hide my embarrassment, I rubbed their heads rudely.

Faitfore was very happy, but Lynn stared at me angrily.

“What are you doing? My hair’s all messed up now!”

“You sure are an insensitive woman!”

“What do you mean!”

I figured she would have understood. I confessed to her before, so uh… Huh? Lynn’s neck was red. Is she also hiding her shyness?

“Can you be serious? Don’t flirt in front of me. We’re fighting!”

“Sorry.”

“I‘m sorry.”

“Uuu—”

We apologized after being reprimanded.

This dragon seemed to be the type that could see peoples’ faces and communicate. That being the case, I thought that I might be able to negotiate with it.

“So uh, you’re sure you’re not gonna retreat? You do realize that even if you beat me, you’ll have to face Sir Vanir, right?”

“That, uh — well, I actually do really want to run away with my tail between my legs, but I can’t do that. That’s the trouble with being in charge. The Demon King’s army is doing its utmost to capture the Capital and Axel at the same time. If I can’t win now, it’ll cause all sorts of problems.”

The Dragon sighed and held her cheeks in her hands. It was a surreal scene.

“You could always just leave the Demon King’s army. Since you’re a powerful dragon, I can help introduce you to other jobs.”

After all, I know better than anyone which countries are looking for Dragon Knight candidates.

Rouzelli can communicate fluently, so she would be easy to control.

“Dragons who don’t have lairs are usually looked down upon, and it’s very easy to live in the Demon King’s Army. And I’ve killed so many people… It would be too embarrassing if I finally surrendered to humans.”

“I see. Well, I guess it can’t be helped. I’ll do my best to defeat you!”

Rouzelli seems to have strong reservations in her heart; it would be useless to talk anymore.

“Oh, how nice, you really… He’s a good man. Come on, it doesn’t matter who wins or loses. Let’s fight to our hearts content!”

We separated a distance and faced each other head-on.

The Red Dragon was about twice the size of Faitfore. Although Faitfore had superior speed, in a contest of strength she would have no chance of winning at all.

As a Red Dragon, Rouzelli would have the Fire attribute. So she would have fire resistance and would only be slightly injured if attacked with fire breath.

On the flip-side, we had to pay close attention to fire attacks. Faitfore has fire resistance, and I would benefit from that through our contract. However, Lynn was a different matter. If she got caught up in a breath attack, she’d be incinerated.

“Make sure to avoid her Fire Breath at all cost.”

I patted Faitfore on the neck, brought my mouth to her ear, and gave her instructions.

She seemed a little puzzled at first, but after seeing Lynn behind me, she nodded vigorously. She’s a pretty smart kid, I could see she understood.

Right at this moment, Rouzelli opened her mouth wide, almost as if she’d guessed my worries.

Flames emerged from her mouth.

“Faitfore—!”

I just managed to turn Faitfore aside in time to dodge the flame breath.

We flew past our opponent, and I immediately turned around behind her.

“She’s weakest from behind!”

I wanted to stab my spear into her weak back, but she flicked her tail hard at me, so I immediately went on the defensive.

If a human took a blow from a dragon head on, he wouldn’t get away lightly. I tilted the shield Taylor gave me to receive the blow, letting it slide off the shield.

Despite that, a shockwave ran through my body. My contract with Faitfore had given me some part of her powers, so I was able to withstand it.

“Wow! You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m okay.”

Although I answered Lynn in a relaxed tone, I was becoming more and more anxious.

Only dragons who have lived for a long time can transform into a human. I was mentally prepared from the beginning for this to be a difficult fight…but Rouzelli was even more powerful than I’d anticipated.

She outclassed Faitfore in every way except speed.

I managed to make a few attacks, but they were either blocked by the tail or deflected by the red scales.

Lynn casted spells at her whenever she was able, but Rouzelli showed no signs of pain. Her magic resistance was incredibly high. Anything short of a high level magic spell from a Crimson Demon would be powerless against her.

The power gap is so great, could it be that she…

“Hey, aren’t you, like, super old?”

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! What are you saying all of sudden! See how shiny my scales are? I’m still young and spry!”

The Red Dragon started waving her hands in the air, protesting strongly.

Younger people don’t use the term ‘young and spry.

“Because the longer dragons live, the stronger they get. Since you’re so strong, I assumed you must be old.”

“Don’t say such rude things! That’s right, I may be considered a seasoned dragon, but the main reason I’m so strong is because of his Majesty the Demon King. Haven’t you heard? As long as His Majesty is alive, the power of his subordinates will increase greatly. If the Demon King was defeated, my ability would greatly decrease.”

“Uh, isn’t that kinda like cheating?”

“Dragons are already incredibly strong, so with that added bonus… No wonder she’s so powerful.”

I completely agreed with Lynn’s statement.

We could dodge her attacks and get within range to attack, but even then we couldn’t penetrate the scales. Although I wasn’t sure how much her power was strengthened by the Demon King, our only chance would be if she lost that added strength.

… But it was useless to hope for something so far-fetched.

“Hehe, where is that majestic attitude now? Come on, stab me with a spear.”

Because our attacks were all ineffective, Rouzelli got arrogant.

Shee hovered in mid-air and coaxed me with her index finger.

How dare she provoke me in such a hopeless situation!

“This, this bastard!”

“Hey, she’s just trying to provoke you, don’t be fooled. Calm down, calm down. Don’t worry, you can do it.”

Hearing the soft whispering voice in my ear, my raging anger suddenly faded.

This situation seemed… Familiar

It was when I first joined Lynn and her team.

* * *

At that time, I hadn’t completely lost my habits from being a knight. I misjudged the distance of an attack because I wasn’t used to my longsword. As a result, my partner was attacked and we fell into a crisis.

“Damn it, this is my fault! Run away! I’ll take care of this one and buy time for you to escape!”

Just when I was about to make up for my failure by charging the monster, I fell forward from a sharp impact on my back.

“Ow! Hey, what are you doing!”

Looking back, I saw, with hands on her hips and an angry face, Lynn.

“New Guy, don’t try to be a hero. You used to be alone right?”

“That’s, that’s right…”

She bought her face right in front of me; I could feel her warm breath.

“Remember, we’re a team. If you can’t win alone, ask a party member for help; if you fail, ask a party member for help. On the other hand, if a party member is in danger… You understand what I’m saying?”

Here, she clapped her hands down on my shoulders and smiled at me.

“Let’s do it together. Don’t worry, you can do it!”

* * *

“Hey, why are you in a daze at a time like this? Snap out of it!”

Lynn’s scolding brought my consciousness flying back from the past.

“You saved me again.”

“Again?”

Don’t you remember Lynn?

“Just talking to myself. Okay, let’s attack again. Lynn, I’ll need your help.”

“Finally, my turn to show off. I’ll show you I’m not a woman who needs to be protected. Right, Faitfore?”

“Hoooo!”

These two were really starting to get along pretty well.

As a counterattack, Faitfore spit out flames of her own, but Rouzelli didn’t seem to take them seriously and seemed as if she was going to go right through them.

“Just as I expected, Freeze Gust!”

After Rouzelli passed through the flames, a cold white mist appeared in front of her.

She collided with the cloud. Since Red Dragons have magical resistance to fire, this cold air should be effective.

“Graaaaaah! You really got me! Where did you go!?”

The impact of the cold air had stopped Rouzelli’s movements while she shook her head and yelled fiercely. We took this opportunity to move to a higher position than her.

…What’s with that reaction just now? Cold may be her weakness, but her reaction was exaggerated. She may be trying to deliberately draw us in by making it seem like she was weakened. Although I remained skeptical, she seemed really uncomfortable.

“What, that’s strange. The magic worked.”

The caster herself was also taken aback.

We could see the red dragon looking around in panic below us, and it seemed every movement was much slower than before. Did the cold drop her body temperature?

I don’t think so. It seems that her overall state was worse than before, so our magic may have begun to work.

Deterioration means… It was impossible… Perhaps it was!

“Have you succeeded?… Kazuma!”

“What are you so happy about, this is no time to be laughing!”

Did I really laugh? If I really had guessed right then this was a great opportunity created by my best friend for me.

“Lynn, hold on tight!”

Faitfore quickly dove, head down, almost falling straight towards the ground.

“Kya…”

I heard Lynn let out a short shout behind me, but it seemed she was able to close her mouth.

Lynn tightened her grip on my belly, showing how desperately she was enduring the fear and speed of falling.

Although the wind blasted against my face, I kept my eyes open and stared at a certain point on the red dragon’s back.

The only scale on a Dragon that grows upside down, the Gyaku (Inverse) scale, is the weak spot of any dragon. I brought my spear down with all my might on that scale.

The spear penetrated deeply into the dragon’s body

Rouzelli immediately lost her strength and fell to the ground.

Both the adventurers and the Demon King’s Army saw the dust and smoke from the impact of Rouzelli slamming into the ground. After realizing that their commander had been defeated, the monsters began to retreat one after another.

After confirming that the crisis was resolved, we chose to land in a place hidden from the battlefield. I carried Faitfore, who was back in human form, back to the front gate where my party and the other adventurers were waiting.

---

Part 4

“Hey— are you guys alright?”

I waved my hands and ran towards the group of adventurers.

Although everyone was sitting on the ground exhausted, most likely from the sense of accomplishment from protecting the town, they seemed to be in good moods… Well, at least they were before seeing me.

They all frowned or gaped at me.

“You ran away again at the last moment! How dare you show your face here! The enemy weakened all of a sudden, so we managed to make it through somehow, but we had a really hard time with it, you know!?”

Even the enemies here have weakened. Kazuma, you really succeeded.

“You always show up only once the situation is safe… Dust, you trash, scum, evil devil!”

“You’re trembling, even though you were hiding somewhere safe, you’re still afraid?!”

Seeing that the group was alright made me happy, but they continued to curse at me.

They had no idea how much work I put in behind their backs!

“I’m trembling because I’m so angry with you! Who are you calling afraid, huh? You don’t know how much I’ve contributed secretly! Taylor, Keith, tell them of my heroic deeds!”

I threw the topic to my two party members, but they just shared a look and sighed deeply.

“Yes, um, you really worked hard.”

“Yeah, you did great, okay?”

“That’s all you have to say? Come on, now’s the time to praise me!”

After I yelled at my party members who gave such lame responses, they leaned forward and whispered.

“…Dust, if you want to hide who you and Faitfore really are, we can’t really talk about what you did.”

“Yeah, to praise you while hiding that is impossible.”

When I heard that, I was speechless.

To proclaim my heroic deeds, I would have to reveal my true identity.

I certainly don’t want outsiders to know the Dragon Knight’s past, but protecting Faitfore is much more important. The White Dragon is a rare and valuable species. If her identity was exposed, she would definitely be targeted by thieves.

Putting Faitfore first, I decided to swallow my pride.

“Don’t lower your head, tell us what you did now!”

That’s right, even though they had no right to say these things, I had to endure it.

“Don’t go silent because you can’t think of a reasonable excuse! You’re usually so talkative, but now you shut up! Coward!”

Patience…

“That’s why women don’t like you. Of course, your attitude is probably why you’re still a virgin.”

……

“Who are you calling a virgin! You’re all a bunch of nasty bastards! Well, you’ve all been tricked into this war! All you women who thought you could go confess your ‘feelings’ to Kazuma and leech off of his success for life, I got you! That was just a rumor I started. Idiots, morons, you fickle women deserve to be tricked! Now you can come crawling back to all us men with ‘bad attitudes.’ Oh, and as for you guys, I also lied about all those teasing dreams! How does it feel to have been horny because of a plan that I made? Ah hahahahaha!”

Ah, that felt great. After I had said everything I wanted to say, I felt much better.

After my counterattack, everyone was stunned speechless.

“Humph, why are you still gaping at me… Hey, wait, we already beat the Demon King’s Army, so stop pulling out your weapons. A celebration is no place for violence.”

Everyone drew their weapons and began to inch closer to me.

“Wait, wait, I was wrong. I’ll reflect on it! Can’t we talk about this? I’m against violence. How about we all get a drink!”

With my furious pleading, everyone seemed to calm down a bit. They stopped, put down their weapons, and heaved a collective sigh.

“You’re just like Kazuma, your only gift is annoying others…”

“Hey, don’t confuse me with him. Kazuma does it unconsciously, I did it on purpose.”

I clearly explained the difference between myself and Kazuma, but then I heard the sound of metal sliding on metal.

Adventurers were redrawing their sheathed swords.

Then they all stared at me, took a deep breath, and said,

“You’re even worse!”

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