Chapter 38: Expedition To The Volcano
The carriage left the royal capital.
We drove the road to the Duego Volcano.
A man was pulling the reins of a horse on the platform, and we were riding on the back of the carriage.
Meryl, sitting next to me, leans on my shoulder.
「Mufufu~ The right to sit next to papa is mine?」
「Kuu... If only I'd use choki in that rock-paper-scissors game to determine who would sit next to father... I'd be next to him now.」
(T/N: "Choki" here refer to scissors)
Elsa was looking at her hands in frustration.
「Elsa always use guu like she's some kind of idiot. If I use pa, I'll never lose.」
(T/N: "Guu" is rock and "Pa" will be paper)
「I am a knight. I will fight fair and square with only my fists. I'm not going to win with weak hands like choki or pa.」
Scissor and paper are weak hands?
「The origin of the rock-paper-scissors hand is that gu is a rock, choki is a pair of scissors, and pa is a piece of paper or cloth. Guu is not a fist or anything.」
「Eh? Is that so?」
「If you value the pride of a knight, you should fight with choki, the scissors, which is comparatively close to a sword. Then you could have won the game earlier.」
「Uu... I make a blunder.」
「Just as what you expect from Anna, she knows her stuff.」
「This is common sense. Common sense.」
「I have exposed my lack of education. I am ashamed of myself...! Father will think I'm a muscle head woman who can only uses swords...!」
「I don't really think so.」
She's my beloved daughter.
Just stay healthy and live.
「You guys are so carefree. We don't even know when the monster will come out ....Why are you heading to a volcano at this time of year in the first place?」
「It's for the sake of investigation. There have been sightings of a huge monster in the volcano. We're going to see if it's an Ancient Dragon.」
Even if it was a different monster, I would still try to take it down because it could cause damage if left unchecked.
「The Ancient Dragon are that thing, isn't it? More than ten years ago, it burned down an entire village at the foot of the mountain. The village was a sea of fire and looked like a picture of hell. At the time, I also heard about the tragedy through the rumors.」
That's what the coachman said.
「However, the masters must be very enthusiastic if you went out of your way to look for such a scary monster. It's not a subjugation mission, so there's no reward, is there? Do you have some kind of history with it, sir?」
「...」
He hit me where it hurts.
There's a history between me and the Ancient Dragon.
It's not just me...
There was also a history between his daughters and it.
My daughters' hometown was burned to the ground, and they were separated from their real parents, all because I couldn't defeat it.
I tried to cover up the coachman's words, but there was a strange pause due to my agitation. It would be unnatural to say anything now.
However, if I don't say anything, they'll pry.
As I was thinking this, Anna spun the words for me.
「It's not about history. If you leave it alone, it might cause damage. Then that's a good enough reason. Right?」
「Anna is right. Father is a man who sees the big picture. I'm sure he took up his sword for the sake of the people of the Royal Capital. And so do I.」
「I just tag along because papa was going~」
「Hahaa. As expected of the father of a knight captain and guild master. That's an admirable way of thinking. I don't think I'll ever be able to emulate that.」
The coachman seems to be convinced by the answer.
I was helped by my daughters.
However, their words are not wrong either.
If we leave the Ancient Dragon alone, it will cause the same kind of damage again. We have to defeat him before that happens.
The carriage drove along the road for a while and then entered the deep forest.
A huge tree, no less than several hundred years old, stood dense and towering. It was dark as if it were night, even though it was daytime, because the trees' leaves covered the sky.
The air was cool and fresh.
We walked straight down a dark path lined with huge trees on either side.
「Please be careful. There are many monsters living in this forest. If we're lucky, we can get through without encountering them.」
The coachman said as he was pulling the reins.
「If that's the case, maybe we're just unlucky today.」
「Eh?」
「The demons are surrounding the carriage in the distance. Can't you hear them? You can hear their footsteps on the ground in every direction.」
「Eeeeh?!」
About ten seconds after the coachman screamed.
A black shadow popped out from the bushes ahead.
Blood Wolf.
A ferocious wolf monster. Sharp claws and fangs, and muscular legs. It was a moderately troublesome enemy that slaughtered its prey in a well-organized pack.
One by one, red eyes emerged from the bushes and trees around us.
In the blink of an eye, there were nearly ten of them.
We got up from our seats in the back of the carriage and went down to the ground.
Anna is a non-combatant, so she's on standby.
I called out to the coachman as well.
「I want you to stay on the carriage. Don't move an inch. As long as you stay here, I can guarantee your safety.」
「A, aa..., but will it be fine? with only three people...」
「Might be a little too much for me.」
「Eeeh!? O, oi, if you die, it's the end for us too!? Do you understand that!?」
「Hmmm? I think you've misunderstood something. No, no, no. It's not us that's in the bad spot, it's the Blood Wolves.」
As I said that, I pulled out the sword I had at my waist.
「To be honest, one person is more than enough for me. I feel a little bad for them if all three of us takes them on.」
☆
A few minutes later...
The carcass of the Blood Wolf was lying in front of us.
There were nearly ten of them in the pack, but we killed every last one of them.
Of course, we were unharmed.
「Well. I guess that's about it. By the way, both of you were moving well. You're in better shape than usual, aren't you?」
「Fufu. It's been a long time since I've been able to fight with father, so I got excited.」
「Buu. There was more magic I wanted papa to see. They're too weak. They're not even good for warm-up exercises」
「It's the real deal...」
The coachman had a fearful look on his face.