Chapter 1214 - Duke-Rank and Maid-Rank ⑨

After having a delicious dry curry at Iris-san's bar, I accompanied Alice again to certify Duke-ranks. Though I say that, since the certification for the Phantasmal King camp had already been completed, the only place we'd be heading towards now would be the Dragon King camp.

As for the Dragon King camp, I had heard that Frea-san is the strongest subordinate, so I guess the one being certified would be Fafnir-san and Frea-san.

When we moved with Alice's Teleportation Magic, I saw a sheer rocky mountain ahead of us, and at the top of that mountain, Frea-san was standing upright in her dragon form, arms crossed in unison with her wings.

Her appearance as she stood like that looked quite cool. Even though the person herself was bothered by being a small-sized Dragon, her physique of nearly 5 meters is quite huge from a human's point of view, really making her look strong... No, rather than looking strong, she actually is the Dragon King's strongest subordinate and is undeniably one of the strongest in the world...

(...My comrade and Shalltear-sama?)

[Hello, Frea-san.]

(Ahh, I've troubled you back at the Harmonic Symphony. I'm glad to see my comrade doing well.)

[It's not me who was looking for you this time, it's Alice.]

Frea-san knows that she can communicate with me through that magical wavelength back in the Dragon Carnival, so she spoke to me in her dragon form, so I responded to her and told her that it was Alice, not me, who was looking for her.

But then, it occurred to me. We are talking through that magical wavelength, and I remembered that beings who aren't monsters normally couldn't recognize this as words... but what about Alice?

(Shalltear-sama is?)

[Yes, it's me. Well, it's nothing important. I'm just making some adjustments regarding the Peerage system, and I'm raising about two people from each camp to Duke-rank. So, from the Dragon King camp, Fafnir-san and Nidzveld-san will now be authorized as Duke-rank. And so, I'm here to certify you both.]

(Oh my, Duke-rank huh... Although this body of mine isn't quite ripe yet, I'm very pleased to see the results of my training in this form. Of course, I have no intention of stopping here.)

[I'm glad you're pleased.]

[...Alice, you can normally understand Frea-san's magical wavelength huh.]

[I basically remember the language and magical wavelengths of every creature that exists in the Demon Realm and Human Realm, so I can understand the language of monsters even other than Dragons.]

Even though she was nonchalantly saying that, this guy really is outrageous.

As I was admiring Alice's awesomeness as usual, she suddenly moved her gaze in another direction.

[Ohh, it seems like Fafnir-san came just right in time.]

[That indeed seems to be the case. He was probably just in the vicinity, and sensing the magic power of Shalltear-sama or my comrade, he had come to greet you. Fafnir is quite serious after all.)

Hearing their conversation, I also moved my gaze and saw a large black dragon... Fafnir-san heading our way.

Fafnir-san gently lands in front of us and lightly bowing his head, he spoke.

[Miyama-dono, Shalltear-sama, excuse me for interrupting your conversation. I just happened to be in the vicinity and thought I would say my greetings.]

[Hello, Fafnir-san.]

[Why, you've got quite the timing, Fafnir-san. I also have business with Fafnir-san...]

Incidentally, Fafnir-san, unlike Frea-san, is able to normally converse with others while in his dragon form. Rather, it seems that Frea-san, being the Special Individual Wyvern, was a special case as she had underdeveloped vocal cords, and the High-ranking Dragons can generally speak the humanoids' language.

When Alice informed him that she was adjusting the Peerage system and certifying Fafnir-san as a Duke-rank, as she had done with Frea-san, Fafnir-san was surprised at first and stiffened, then he deeply bowed.

[...Thank you very much. I will continue to do my best to live up to the wonderfully prestigious title.]

These were serious words spoken with a typical Fafnir-like manner, but I felt that he was suppressing his inner joy because his voice sounded livelier than normal.

Towards such a Fafnir-san, Frea-san lightly clapped her hands, seemingly applauding him.

(I congratulate you too, for your efforts in training yourself everyday to be worthy of being the Head Subordinate.)

[My gratitude. I hope I can continue to devote myself to being Magnawell-sama's servant and not be ashamed to name myself as such.]

(That's a good dedication. How about it? Now that we are both Duke-ranks, let's aim for a higher level and have a mock———–)

[I refuse!!!]

(———–battle... W- Why...)

[I- I still have work to do, s- s- so I will be excusing myself. Miyama-dono, Shalltear-sama, I bid you farewell.]

Spreading his wings, Fafnir-san flew away, looking like he was escaping.

Frea-san, who was left behind by him, sorrowfully muttered.

(...Putting aside normal training, why do Eingana, Fafnir and Grandiereus extremely dislike mock battles? I think mock battles are very great for training though...)

...Hmmm, from what I feel from Eingana-san's reaction back then and Fafnir-san's reaction this time, it seems that they really hate having a mock battle with Frea-san.

Perhaps, or rather, there was definitely some sort of reason for this... My guess is that it's mainly because of Frea-san...