108. A Symptom on Veldora's Body?

Jean, Lisa, and Albedo had no idea why Veldora, who laid his back against the wall, laughed out loud all of a sudden.

Sensing their gazes, Veldora glanced at them.

"What? I'm reading this sacred text, don't mind me!" He said.

"..." Everyone fell silent hearing that, even Ryūhei couldn't be spared.

'Fuck that sacred text!'' Ryūhei retorted in his mind.

Ryūhei thought Veldora was laughing because he was going to say he would take care of the dragon. But, to think that he laughed because of the manga. He felt he wanted to smack Veldora right now.

"Read the atmosphere, you fool!"

"Eh?? Am I the wrong one here?" Veldora turned his gaze dejectedly.

"Isn't that obvious?"

"Ugh. Then, what are you guys talking about just now?"

"A dragon is causing trouble in this city. And Miss Lisa warned us not to sell manga and games here because it will be dangerous."

"Then, where's the trouble? It's not like my older brother and sisters are here anyway."

That makes sense.

In the novel, Milim, his niece is an example. Although she wasn't a True Dragon like Veldora, her strength was way too strong compared to the Archons of this world.

And Veldora didn't seem to put other dragons beside his family in his eyes. Therefore, the earlier remark was pretty much normal for him.

Ayaka shuddered when she heard Veldora had siblings and they could defeat him. Her instinct already told her that Veldora was too dangerous. But, if his siblings were even more powerful, she couldn't imagine how powerful they were. Hadn't Ryūhei accompanied her, she would probably have frozen on the spot the moment she saw Veldora.

Feeling her chaotic emotions, Ryūhei immediately wrapped his arm around her as he whispered to her.

"Are you feeling uncomfortable?"

"No, I'm alright." Ayaka tried to be strong. If Ryūhei could be calm and strong like that, she believed she could do the same. After all, she could be considered a perfectionist lady. She would try her best to appear better than she expected in front of others.

On the other hand, Veldora's remark sounded like a kind of joke in Jean, Albedo, and Lisa's ears. Yet, his confidence, or rather his attitude was too nonchalant as if he had defeated one before, although three of them didn't see Veldora wielding a Vision.

Out of curiosity, Jean asked him.

"Sir Veldora, was it? Are you an adventurer?"

Even though Jean didn't know what race Veldora was from, she had read in a book that Veldora's appearance resembled the Oni from Inazuma. And she read that an Oni was usually strong physically. It could be seen from Veldora's body as well. Even so, Jean didn't believe that Veldora was strong enough to defeat a dragon. After all, he could hide his presence from others. So, others would only see him as a strong, muscular young man.

Meanwhile, Veldora just noticed Jean and Lisa. The moment he saw her, he seemed to be fascinated by them… For a moment though.

"*Ahem* Heh heh heh. Naturally! How nostalgic. But well, it was in the past. Why did you ask?"

Albedo immediately concluded that Veldora was an experienced adventurer as soon as he said that. Moreover, long-life races were not rare. So Albedo was sure that Veldora was older than he looked.

"Jean. Let me ask him." Albedo said to her before speaking. He didn't give her more reason, but she trusted him.

"Alright." Jean nodded.

"Sir Veldora. You said you were an adventurer, so you should also understand how strong a dragon is, right? It's just that dragons have various powers. Hearing what you said earlier, I'm sure you've fought a dragon. But the dragon this time is quite different. The dragon that attacked this city had the power to destroy this city. It's quite miraculous that this city is still intact even though it has been attacked several times."

"That is proof that Lord Barbatos has been protecting us." Lisa added.

Meanwhile, Veldora, who heard Albedo's words, frowned.

"Destroy this city?" He asked to confirm. And Albedo nodded.

"Yes. I'm afraid the dragon you met was—"

Veldora suddenly interjected Albedo with his laugh.

"Gya ha ha ha ha. If you say so, then don't take my words seriously."

Albedo knitted his brow because of his laugh as if he didn't really care whether the dragon was causing trouble in the city, nor he was afraid of the dragon with a power to destroy the city of Mondstadt.

That's normal. Veldora can even blow a country to smithereens, let alone a small city.

At that moment, Ryūhei stepped forward and bowed to Jean.

"Excuse me for his rudeness, Master Jean. Veldora is just like that. Aside from being an ex-adventurer, he is a battle maniac as well. Thus, he tends to brag about himself since he defeated a lot of powerful monsters in the past."

"Hey, I'm—" Before Veldora said further, Rimuru's body swallowed his head to keep him from talking.

Jean, Lisa, and Albedo were stunned by this and took their stances for a battle.

"Ah, calm down! Rimuru did that to prevent Veldora from bragging."

And after a while, Rimuru returned to normal while Veldora was panting heavily. He complained.

"Rimuru, my buddy. You didn't have to do that, you know!"

While Veldora was complaining to Rimuru, Ryūhei said to Jean.

"See! The two of them are getting along pretty well. So please don't take that stance as if you want to eliminate my little friend."

"Sorry." Jean let out her breath. "But, are you sure you want to stay here for a while? There's no guarantee that the dragon won't come here."

"Yes. I planned to open a branch in this city or in the north. So, you can consider me as a person who is scouting a strategic spot for my future branch."

"I see. It's understandable. But, the risk is too big in this case. The danger is too obvious."

"Businessmen are not afraid of risks and they only look for opportunities after calculating a high percentage of opportunities. Moreover, we are the danger… Dangerous enough to destroy businessmen in the same industry." Ryūhei declared with a smirk shown on his face.

But, Jean understood. Calculating the opportunity versus risk was the trait of businessmen. Eventually, Jean could only sigh and let them do as they pleased.

Then, Ryūhei took all of the manga and novels that Lisa had ordered. As he took out Nozoki Ana, he said while pointing at the manga.

"By the way, this one is not for kids. So be careful."

"Peeping Hole?" Jean twitched her cheek and glanced at Ryūhei weirdly. However, after glancing to his side, which was Ayaka's direction, Jean's cheeks suddenly reddened.

Since he is the owner of the Shueisha Publishing Company, which means he is a manga artist, Jean thinks that the Nozoki Ana manga was inspired by what he did to Ayaka.

Not paying attention to Jean, Ryūhei chatted with them for a bit before going to dinner. Before Ryūhei, Ayaka, Veldora, and Rimuru left the Knights of Favonius HQ, Ryūhei gave them something.

"Here the games, Let's Get Rich, Uno, Domino, and Othello. Please give these to Klee! Her desire to craft explosive objects is a genetic inheritance from Alice. And I heard Master Jean did a good job of preventing Klee from doing something reckless with her bombs. Yet, I'm not suggesting you prohibit her too much, or it will be disastrous. It would be better if you divert her passion to something interesting once in a while."

Those three were stunned when Ryūhei mentioned Alice. When they asked how he knew Alice, Ryūhei answered by pointing to the young lady beside him after he received the payment.

"Alice came to her house and invited her to be an Idol. It was around a year…or probably more than that. I forgot. Well then, excuse me!"

Ryūhei and Ayaka bowed before they disappeared from Jean's office.

After a while, Albedo opened his mouth.

"Except for the lady called Ayaka, both Ryūhei and Veldora were unperturbed when they heard about a dragon that occasionally came to this city. Instead, they seemed eager to meet the dragon. And about Veldora and the slime called Rimuru, I sensed something amiss about them."

Lisa nodded and said, "That slime, eh? That's certainly true. I didn't mention this in front of them because of the odd feeling. Typically, when life arises from the elements, it either descends and becomes a slime, or ascends and becomes a Crystalfly. However, that slime called Rimuru didn't carry any elemental energy as if it wasn't born from elemental energy condensation. Moreover, Ryūhei and Veldora were too calm even though they heard that the dragon was capable of destroying the city of Mondstadt. But, what do you mean by sense something amiss from Veldora?"

"I don't know much about Ryūhei, but Veldora was an adventurer in the past as Ryūhei also confirmed, and he is a long-lived race based on his words and appearance. However, his appearance is too strange."

"Hmm? Which one?"

"He is an Oni from Inazuma, right?"

"Based on his appearance, yes."

"But why is there a symptom of the Eleazar disease that should appear in a few natives of Sumeru?"

"Now you mention it… It's strange indeed…" Lisa couldn't help but contemplate for a while.

When she was still studying at Sumeru Academy, she often heard about the incurable disease, Eleazar, a unique disease in Sumeru because it only affects natives.

However, Lisa didn't think that Veldora had it since he seemed fine, unlike the people who were afflicted by that disease which caused them to suffer. But, if it wasn't the Eleazar, then what? Lisa couldn't think of anything.

Just then, Jean's voice resounded.

"You two, look at this!"