12 Dragon-chan’s new adventure, and separation

After we stayed the night in Alayzard, Douglas and I decided that we should split up, as having two S ranks moving together would be less beneficial to the country than two moving separately, as well as to our finances, not that either of us cared about that. We both had way more than enough money to retire comfortably at our current ages, and I had enough to buy a large country on top of being able to live out my long, LONG life doing nothing, not that I would want to buy a country at all. With that, Douglas decided to stay in Alayzard for a little while, while I headed west into Erufanica.

"Oh, what do we have here? A little girl? Where are your parents? Why are you crossing the border without any means of transport, guards, or anyone else with you? Why are you crossing in the first place?" (Border guard)

"Short, I may be. Of the age and strength where I would be in need of parents to protect me, I am not. My parents are dead, and the reason I am crossing without any guards is because I am strong enough to take out Tiger Wolves on my own. The reason for my lack of transport is that I don't know how to handle a horse, and I don't need speed. If I need more food than what I have, I can hunt Wolves and Orcs. I'm crossing because I don't have a home to return to, and I'm an adventurer, so I can work anywhere. I just wish to wander" (Nene)

"An adventurer? Don't make me laugh. I'd say you're nine, maybe eleven if I'm being generous. You are too young to be an adventurer" (Border guard)

"I'm twelve, and when I registered in my home country, there wasn't a minimum age. There hasn't been for a few hundred years, actually. If you'd be so kind as to look at my card?" (Nene)

"Oh, right. What's this? Rank D? I still don't believe it. Where are you from?" (Border guard)

"The Drachen Empire... Though it doesn't exist, as of about two and a half weeks ago. A natural disaster wiped it off of the map... Funny thing is, I was once called [Unnatural Disaster] by most adventurers in the empire... And then... I'm one of the only two surviving adventurers from the empire, the other one being the S rank [Impartial Flame] Douglas... Who is in Alayzard right now, we decided to split up once we reached land. I think he's going to be there for the next few weeks, if you want to meet him. Ask him about me when you do. By the way, I've been known as [Miniature Dragon] and [Perfect Princess] in addition to [Unnatural Disaster]" (Nene)

"Well, good luck on your travels... You're gonna need it, as I heard there's a Black Tiger and a few Wyvern packs along the path to the next town" (Border guard)

"I hope I run into them, I love Wyvern Steaks, and I could use the Black Tiger's fur... it makes such a nice sleeping mat, and is a good blanket, the problem is, I only have enough for one of those two..." (Nene)

A few days later, I had run into one of those Wyvern packs, and a week after that, I reached my first town in Erufanica by way of another pack of Wyverns and a pack of seven Black Tigers, among other monsters. The same sort of conversation happened, with him asking why I was on my own, how lucky I must have been to avoid all of the threats, such as Goblins and Wolves, as well as the Wyverns, and after I told him I was an adventurer, how I had to be too young to be one.

"Please, just let me in already, I could use a bath. If you have a good suggestion for an inn with a bath, I'd love to hear it" (Nene)

"Fine. Word of advice, don't bother going to the guild, you won't be able to get a request from them, you're too young. Even herb gathering would be out of the question in their eyes" (Guard)

You can guess where I went after that, right? Next stop, adventurer's guild... I had to report my subjugations, and I wanted to have something to do.

"Hey, pipsqueak! You're in the wrong building!" (Adventurer 1)

"I'm an adventurer who's here to report some subjugations I did while I was coming here from Alayzard" (Nene)

"What, did you kill some herbs? Don't make me laugh. You can't be an adventurer!" (Adventurer 2)

"Please get out of my way, I still want to get the money fo this evening's meal and stay at an inn..." (Nene)

"What rank are you? And how old are you? The only way I can see you as 13 is if you're an Elf" (Adventurer 1)

"D, 12, and I'm not an Elf. Now if you'll excuse me..."

I slipped in between the two men, and went up to the counter, where a template receptionist greeted me with a frown.

"May I help you? I assume you are trying to put up a request, as you can't be old enough to-" (Receptionist)

"I'm 12, but I'm a D rank adventurer nonetheless, due to my home country having no age restrictions. I'm here to report that I subjugated seven wolf packs totaling 167 wolves, one pack of nine Tiger Wolves, three goblin herds totaling 442 goblins as well as each herd having a Goblin King, not to mention a pack of seven Black Tigers and two packs of Wyverns, a total of six, and I have 37 Orcs, 12 Ogres, and a Blood Ogre on top of that. I have the Goblin's Magic Stones, as well as the corpses of everything else, including the Goblin Kings and Wyverns" (Nene)

The room erupted into laughter, and someone said that even an A rank party couldn't kill that much, let alone store it.

"I'm sorry, did I hear that right? 12 years old but an adventurer, D rank, killed 167 Wolves, 9 Tiger Wolves, 7 Black Tigers, 37 Orcs, 12 Ogres, 1 Blood Ogre, 442 Goblins, 3 Goblin Kings, and 6 Wyverns in two weeks? And you have all of them with you? Please get out, I don't have time to waste on jokes" (Receptionist)

I took four item bags filled with 100 Magic Stones each, as well as several dozen loose ones, out of my Hoard. I set them on the counter, and the room fell silent.

"Now do you feel like I might be joking? I have the rest of the things with me too, so I'd like to sell them" (Nene)

"I have trouble believing it, but... Let's go to the freezer room and have you show us the Wolves" (Receptionist)

"How about I show you the Tiger Wolves and Black Tigers first? They'd take up less space" (Nene)

"Sure, but we'll need to get our best dismantlers to take off the skin of the Black Tigers..." (Receptionist)

I grabbed the stones, followed her into the freezer room, trailing several adventurers, and saw four big beefy men waiting with mithril knives for my Black Tigers, which I pulled out without a moment's delay.

"Well, looks like you were right about the Black Tigers. Guys? Time to get to work!" (Receptionist)

"Hold on, I want to show you something, and it'll get the skin off without touching the meat" (Nene)

I used a claw to create a small hole at the base of its throat, and then used water magic to fill it with water.

"What are you doing? That'll ruin the meat!" (Dismantler A)

"I'm using magic to keep it from entering the meat, it is instead going in between the flesh and the skin" (Nene)

I then used magic to freeze the water, cleanly separating the skin from the rest, before I melted the ice and slit open the Black Tiger's belly to drain it and get the skin off easily.

"OK, have fun dismantling the rest of that one, I'm going to skin the others" (Nene)

"Wait, how did you cut it open? Did you use a mithril knife? I didn't see one though. Magic?" (Dismantler B)

"No magic, I simply used my claws" (Nene)

I proceeded to show them my claws, before doing the same process to the other six Black Tigers and the Tiger Wolves, storing most of the Black Tigers' skins in my Hoard, as well as some of the Tiger Wolves' skins. The others I would sell, along with most of the meat and all of the magic stones. Two hours later, I handed them the Orcs, Goblin Kings, and the Blood Ogre, before going to collect the money I got from the guild. It was enough to live off of for a few years, but I didn't care about that. I just asked the Commerce Guild for recommendations for a good tailor who can work with Black Tiger pelts and Greater Hydra skins, and heard that the best and also the closest one they knew of was in the Capital, unless you were to count ones working exclusively for nobles. As I didn't, I decided to head to the Capital. With any luck, I should be able to get there before the inns completely filled up with people there for the King's birthday celebration. I planned to use as much money as I wanted to get my cloak replaced with one made of Greater Hydra skin and lined with Black Tiger fur. The Greater Hydra skin was to make it still look slightly shabby, but it would heal itself when cut. The fur was to make it more comfortable, as well as to add some significant protection... for a normal person. For me, it was just there to make it feel nice and to keep the clothes I wore underneath from getting cut. My scales would protect me from basically anything, even mithril or orichalcum weapons. The only times I can remember getting hurt was when my mother sneezed on me... as her sneezes, like mine in dragon form, came with great bursts of dragonflame. Well, there was also the time I stubbed my toe getting into the bath. I mean, one can't really have armor on when bathing with others in a public bath, right?