11 Dragon-chan’s escort trip, and a disaster

Dragon-chan's escort trip, and a disaster

By the time I was twelve, I had given Douglas enough training in magic that he was able to get enough achievements to be promoted to an S ranked adventurer, and he could use S rank magic of Water, Light, and Dark, in addition to his previous S rank Fire and Lightning, as well as being able to combine Fire with any of the others at A rank, not to mention combining Fire and Lightning S rank magics. He could use A rank Spatial, Ice, and Wind magic, while only Earth was at B rank... Well, Time magic is something he can combine with Dark and Spatial, but he can't use it on its own, so technically not even F rank? Regardless, I chose to party with him on some quests, now that he had lost the rest of his last party. When, on my twelfth birthday, we saw a request to guard a merchant ship through some pirate infested waters, we both chose to take the request, as we wanted to go sightseeing in another country. We got to Mireera, the merchants unloaded their cargo, and we spent time visiting various spots. On our way back, we went through a foggy area, only to discover that there were three pirate ships hiding in it. We were surrounded.

"Hand over your cargo, your women, and your weapons. You seem to only have one person as your guard, so you have no chance of winning against my 47 pirates!" (Pirate Leader)

"Not quite. They have two guards, and either one of us would be enough to take out 100 pirates" (Nene)

"Us? You are a guard? Don't make me laugh. You couldn't beat me if I had both hands tied behind my back while I was wearing a blindfold. Wanna try?" (Pirate Leader)

"Nah. I'll beat your whole ship in one spell. You are already dead (Omae wa mou shindeiru)... Well, already wishing you were dead" (Nene)

"What?! (Nani?!)" (Pirate Leader)

"{Target Hostility} {Curst Flames of Gehenna}" (Nene)

Just like that, one ship was filled with people who had collapsed in agony, and I did the same to the other two ships soon after. Afterwards, I moved the pirates to the hold of one of the ships, then we had some of our people move to each ship to take the ships with us on our way back.

A week before we were going to get back, I saw several plumes of smoke in the distance, and as we got closer, we discovered that the volcanoes had erupted on nine of the islands, including all three of the ones we inhabited. I shifted into a Dragon and flew over, to discover the palace had collapsed, gotten buried in lava, and then covered in ash. I searched for survivors, and learned that my father had died when the palace collapsed, while my mother was on one of the other islands. When I went over there, I found her, in Dragon form, with her wings burned off, her legs, tail, and most of her body burned badly enough that, though she was alive, she couldn't move, and there was enough poison in her body that I couldn't heal her. She passed on her title as Empress, and all of the powers that came with it, such as access to the Imperial Hoard and Imperial Summons, before dying in front of my eyes. I went back to the ship to tell them what had happened, and that we had nowhere to return to, no family or friends left alive that my detection magic could find on any island, and the creatures of the sea had woken up and been put into a frenzy due to the eruption, so no ships could make it out either. We were truly alone, and I was thinking about that and how I was alone all the time on Earth, when I realized it was the same date as it was on Earth when I was brought to this world, but it wasn't the time to even think about celebrating that.

"What do we do now? Where should we go? East? West? North? South? Wherever the winds take us?" (Nene)

"Not to seem like I have no sympathy for your grief, but... This does leave us the option of looking for Yuna, as we have no other goals at the moment, nothing really tying us down either" (Douglas)

"Mind if I ask a question? Am I the only one confused by your transforming into a Dragon?" (Merchant Captain)

"Nope. I'm confused too" (Merchant A)

"I guess I should explain that... My name is Nene Drachen, formerly the princess of the Drachen Empire, now Empress of the Empire with the death of my parents" (Nene)

"Oh... Terribly sorry, please forgive my rudeness, your maj-" (Merchant Captain)

"Stop that. I don't stand on ceremony. I really hate it, and besides, the Empire seems to be nothing more than a name now that our last territories have been rendered inhospitable for anyone at all. I have decided to live as a normal person, well, a normal adventurer, for the time being" (Nene)

"Understood, milad-" (Merchant Captain)

"Stop that. My name is Nene. You can call me that, or, as I'm on your ship and am younger than you, Nene-chan. If that won't work for you, I guess that you can address me as Nene-san or miss Nene, as much as I would rather you not. The most respect I want to hear from you is what you'd give to an S rank. I don't want to be confused for a noble or, worse, royalty, by anyone who overhears us. I want to live a somewhat normal life, free from expectations of Noblesse Oblige. I do intend to act with generosity and honor, but I don't wish to have people tell me that I have to act with the social responsibility befitting a noble or member of royalty" (Nene)

"Understood, Nene-chan... No, I can't... Understood, Nene. So, where to? Not Mireera, I want to be able to sell my cargo, but just about anywhere else is fine" (Merchant Captain)

"How about somewhere in Erufanica? I hear they have good food and some nice sights to see, with little access to seafood and sea salt, so this cargo will sell well" (Nene)

"One trip to Erufanica, coming up! Actually, there's a city bordering Erufanica that has had no access to the sea for the last few months, due to a Kraken appearing off its shores. Mind if we go there to get better prices while taking care of their Kraken problem? It is a one-city country with good ties to Erufanica, so there's no tax to leave or enter Erufanica, not that that should matter to your purses" (Merchant Captain)

"Sure, let's go there, I've been wanting to eat some more Kraken Sashimi" (Nene)

Two weeks after that, we were a few hours out from the shore of our destination, when we were attacked by the Kraken. I beat it in no time flat, and then stored it in my Hoard. With that out of the way, we went back to our route towards the port. When we landed, Douglas and I turned over the pirates while the merchants unloaded their cargo.

"Huh? How did you avoid the Kraken while moving with four large ships? Thanks for the pirates, I guess, but I would really love to know how you didn't get attacked" (Soldier A)

"We didn't avoid it, I just killed it when it attacked our ships" (Nene)

"I'm sorry, my hearing must be going. I thought I heard you say that you killed the Kraken, but that can't be. You're just a child, and one who can't be more than nine years old. So what was it you said again?" (Soldier A)

"Funny, I heard that too. I guess we are both going crazy in the same way or something" (Soldier B)

"No, you both heard me right. Do you want to see it?" (Nene)

I pulled out the body of the Kraken, leaving the two of them dumbfounded. They only snapped back out of it when I put the Kraken back into my Hoard.

"Brad, do you think we should report this now, or after we get off of our shift in about three hours? A little girl killed the Kraken... no, it was probably that twenty year old next to her, actually. I bet the girl is here and saying she's the one who killed it because they wanted to pull a prank on us" (Soldier A)

"Once we get off of our shifts, I guess. Even if we reported it now, the ships wouldn't be able to go out today,

as it'll be dark soon. Anyways. Can I see your cards? If you don't have one, you can get in with a silver coin, if you don't show up as a criminal when you put your hands on this crystal" (Soldier B, AKA Brad)

We handed over our adventurer's cards, and the two of them looked at each other, shock written clear as day on their faces, as they held our cards with shaking hands.

"Two S rank adventurers? Alex, I think we had better report this to the adventurer's guild. You are faster than I am, so can you go and ask the guildmaster to come over here as soon as he can? Tell him to drop whatever he's doing, whatever it takes, just get him here. These have to be verified before we let them into the city, otherwise we might look like fools if they turn out to be fake cards that they used for evil purposes" (Brad)

"Yeah... I'm on it" (Soldier A, AKA Alex)

After he said that, Alex handed my card to Brad and took off running. He looked at my card, and noticed that it said I was only twelve years old, which made him even more surprised, but he didn't forget to hand us back our cards.

"I see you are only twelve years old... Where do you come from where they let you join at age twelve?" (Brad)

"Have you ever heard of the Drachen Empire? They don't... didn't have a minimum age, just some requirements for minimum strength and skill. That's why I was able to join before I turned six years old" (Nene)

"Before you were SIX?! I guess that can explain why you had the time to work your way up to S rank by the time you were twelve, but still..." (Brad)

"No, I was made an S rank less than a month after my seventh birthday" (Nene)

"S rank at seven years old... That's it, I give up. If I spend more time trying to understand you, I will lose my common sense. Word of advice, being an adventurer before thirteen years old goes against everything we know on this continent, and being S ranked before twenty is unheard of as well" (Brad)

Just then, three people showed up at a run, one of them being Alex.

"So these are the... the S rank adventurers who subjugated the Kraken? I can... can only see the girl as ten years old, so I... I have trouble b-" (Man A)

"Trouble breathing?" (Nene)

"Trouble believing you are old enough to be an adventurer, let alone S ranked. I'm the adventurer's guildmaster, and this is the commerce guild's guildmaster. May I see your cards?" (Adventurer's guildmaster)

"Sure thing. Douglas? You first" (Nene)

"Let's see... Rank is S, aged 22, name is Douglas, joined nine years ago, request completion rate is 763/765, both failures were due to running out of time. Occupation is Mage, magic levels are... five elements at S, three are at A, and the last one is at B. Can use one S rank elemental combo, five A, and enough B that I don't care to count. This is definitely a real card. Welcome to our city" (Adventurer's guildmaster)

"Ok, well, here's my card. The age being what it is is due to being from the Drachen Empire, where there aren't any age restrictions on becoming an adventurer" (Nene)

"Well, let's have a look... Rank is S, age is twelve, name is Nene, guildmaster's note that the full name is Nene Drachen, joined a bit over six years ago, request completion rate is... 882/882? Wow. Anyways, occupation is Magic Knight, magic levels are... all are S, even the combos?! This certainly is a real card, but I would recommend you get a new one for the time being, so that you can attract less attention, as most people don't look at the age anyways. You can keep your old one, don't worry. I can even copy over the recommendations of three different guildmasters and the Seal of the Imperial family, as well as the titles like Dragontamer, Wolf Wrecker, Viper Eviscerator, Wyvernslayer, Worm Wringer, Behemoth's Bane, Kraken Killer, Hero of the Drachen Empire, and so on... Actually, what did you do to get that seal, anyways?" (Adventurer's guildmaster)

Incidentally, all of those titles can only be given to those who killed a group of three or more of that monster alone.

"I was born as their daughter, I guess... Nene Drachen? Drachen Empire? Did you not notice that?" (Nene) "Oh... I guess I wasn't thinking. That explains why that note is there. That way, only guildmasters can see that

you are anything but a commoner, just like we are the only ones who can see those titles, recommendations,

and the Imperial family's seal" (Adventurer's Guildmaster)

"Oh good, I was hoping that most people wouldn't be able to see those things... And yes, I would like another card with a lower rank. Maybe... rank D? It's high enough that I can take C rank requests without any problems, but low enough that I won't be attracting too much attention, I think. You can make a note on it that only guildmasters can see that says that I'm actually rank S, but it's not needed" (Nene)

"That sort of note is something I can't make, actually. Come with me to the guild, and I'll make you a new card. Allow me to welcome to our city of Alayzard. Wait, first, can I see the Kraken?" (Adventurer's guildmaster)

I pulled out the Kraken's corpse, and then used magic to extract the stone, which he then analyzed, declaring that it was, in fact, killed that same day.

"Thank you. Thank you for killing this thing, now we can go back to fishing. We can't thank you enough, but allow me to treat you to our best inn and our best food after we stop by the guild to get you that new card, and announce the news to everyone. Oh, right. Did Douglas help to kill that thing?" (Adventurer's guildmaster)

"No, he was busy puking up his g- OW! Douglas... Don't kick me like tha- HIIIII! Douglas... Douglas... please... stop... my ears... they're really sensitive... please... stop... STOP..." (Nene)

I grabbed his hand, claws digging into the sensitive inside of his wrist, as I removed my ear from the grip of his playfully torturous fingers.

"I've told you time and time again, my ears are NOT for playing with. Touching them is, for beastkin, similar to grabbing someone's breasts... next time, I'll punch you so you can puke some more. Understand?" (Nene)

"You said that last time. Besides, I was puking to lure the Kraken to us, so I did help" (Douglas)

"Stop it. You know that it wouldn't have cared if there was vomit in the water or not, when there's a ship around for it to eat the contents of... But I'll admit, you did make the suggestion to come here to deal with it... Fine, if it wasn't for Douglas, we wouldn't have come here to kill the Kraken, so in that way, he helped" (Nene)

"Understood, I'll add the title Hero of Alayzard to both of your cards at the guild" (Adventurer's Guildmaster)

"And I won't mention what Douglas did to you to anyone. Also, I'll be the one treating them to our best food and our best inn. I am the master of the guild they did more for here, after all" (Commerce Guild's guildmaster)

"If both of you want to do something to thank us, how about the adventurer's guildmaster treats us, while the commerce guild's guildmaster gives the merchants that came with us a good deal on their cargo?" (Nene)

"I can get behind that idea" (Commerce Guild's guildmaster)

"I'm fine with that. Now, let's head to the guild!" (Adventurer's guildmaster)

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My second card is as follows. Things in (parentheses/round brackets) are only visible to guildmasters, things in [brackets/square brackets] are only visible to guildmasters of a country's capital and to rulers of entire countries:

Name: Nene [Drachen]

Age: 12

Occupation: Magic Knight

Adventurer Rank: D

Titles: (Wyvernslayer, Kraken Killer, Dragontamer, Worm Wringer, Behemoth's Bane, Wolf Wrecker, Viper Eviscerator... Hero of the Drachen Empire, Hero of Alayzard) [Drachen Imperial princess]

Other notes: The Drachen Empire has no age restriction on adventurers (Seal of the Drachen Imperial Family)

Arc 1: Drachen Empire fin