A fragment from the past.

On their way to the armor shop, Connor whispered to Alice.

"Hey, can you cast detoxification magic on Lydia later?"

Alice smiled and responded that she already did it in the morning and that she already knew why!

As Lydia saw the confused look on Connor's face she giggled a little.

"So that's why he called you before! I should have guessed!"

She then proceeded to tell Connor that it's a tradition to have an experienced someone teaches you the ins and outs if you're getting married soon. And that Alice should have learned of the uses of detoxification magic when she was learning it.

We've been thinking of a way to tell you about it, but it's seen as weird to teach someone of the opposite gender about those things, a man teaches a man and a woman teaches a woman.

Connor laughed slightly at himself trying to hide his happiness that Alva and Alice didn't know about the aphrodisiac and the toys.

Then something clicked in Connors's head, he turned toward Alice with an expressionless face and asked her.

"When did you learn about detoxification magic and its uses?"

"When I was twelve I guess!"

Connor facepalmed.

"So you are saying that you are conservative to not teach people about these things until they are about to get married but you have no problem teaching a kid that can use magic?"

Alice gave him a face as if she didn't understand his question. But Lydia responded by saying that it is normal since developing magic is the last part of mental growth to humans, which means that if you can use magic you're considered a full-fledged adult that can make reasonable decisions for himself.

If you apprised a newborn baby, he won't have mana.

And at some time in his life, he will lose consciousness for more than a day, that is the sign that the baby has developed magic. It's considered a cause to celebrate.

"Surprisingly you lack a lot of common sense! Where did you live until now?" Alice asked.

"That's… something we talk about it when we are alone."

As Lydia heard this she warped her hand around Connor.

"What! you don't trust me? if I was too rough with you then I'm sorry." Lydia looked kind of guilty.

"It's not like that! It's just that Alice should at least be the first in something, right? can't you let her have this?" Connor said, trying to get his way out of this.

"You're right! I'm the first wife after all. I can't bully Alice-sama, but you're telling me later!"

"Thank you for your understanding!" Connor said with a pained smile.

I can't tell her that I trust Alice more than her, I can't oppose me because of the Holy maiden skill and the fact that Lydia and Alva serve Alice not me.

"Look, we are there!" Alice pointed that they reached the armor shop.

The shop was far larger than the last.

Armors are piled up at the door, you can hear people talk from the inside.

It's a lively place.

"Excuse us!" Lydia opened the door.

As soon as they entered, a man rushed toward them.

"How can I help you?" The man said.

He doesn't know who Alice and Connor are, did he not hear the news?

Well, it's nice being treated like a normal person.

Lydia was about to smack the man flat but Connor stopped her.

"We need armor for me and this young lady, if it is easy to move in them it is for the best."

Connor put a hand on Alice's shoulder.

"Then it will be Leather or brigandine! We need to take your measures then!"

"Someone come here and take the young lady to her measuring room!" He shouted.

A woman came running toward them, she bowed in front of Lydia and mistook her for the customer.

"Please follow me this way!"

Lydia stopped and told her that it's not her, and pointed to Alice.

"Not me, The young lady here!"

The waitress turned toward Alice and apologized.

She then guided Alice to the measuring room.

Connor told Lydia to go with Alice just in case. He doesn't feel right leaving her Alone since her attacking power is practically zero.

Better split the team as evenly as possible.

"Please follow me, young man, I shall take your measurements." the man said.

"Yeah," Connor replied.

At the measuring room, Connor asked the man since the mood was a little awkward.

"What's your name, didn't tell us? right?"

"My bad, you can call me Aron, how about you?" he replied with a smile.

"Connor, nice to meet you, are you the owner?"

"It's my pleasure Connor-san, and no I'm not the owner I'm just the manager here!"

"Is that so? Who is the owner then? Can't he be present?" Connor asked.

"The owner is the blacksmith that makes the armor, he should be at the forge."

"Hey kid I wanted to ask you, I can't understand who is the most important person in your group, are you an adventurer or traveler party? or guards of a noble?"

"It's kind of weird and even if I don't get it, I should be the most important person, Alice is the richest, and Lydia is the strongest!"

Our relationship is like rock paper scissor, Lydia is the rock, And Alice is the paper and I'm the scissor.

Aron's eyes opened wide.

"Did you say, Alice? Blond hair and blue eyes? Alice Von Eric? The dragon princess?" Aron started to panic.

"She was called something like that, yes!" Connor replied.

"But wasn't there a rumor that she brought a hero yesterday and became the holy maiden?"

Aron is having a fearful smile, sweating while shaking as he looks at Connor.

"That's gotta be me?"

Aron started apologizing but Connor stopped him saying that he doesn't feel right with people apologizing to him out of nowhere.

After they finished the measurements, Aron sent an urgent private message with it to the blacksmith telling him to stop everything he is doing and work his team to the bone to get these armors done by tomorrow.

After they got out, Connor asked Alice about how money works, to which she was surprised but answered without any question.

The Currency is in the Dimiourgian coins, Dimiourgia is the kingdom they are in.

100 Copper coins = 1 Silver coin.

100 Silver coins = 1 Gold coin.

100 Gold coins = 1 Royal coin.

A commoner family of two people and three kids should be able to survive normally with 40~50 Silver coins a month.

As they got close to the inn they spotted a white carriage parked in front of the door.

Alva is standing next to it speaking to a man.

The man is the carriage owner, Alva didn't find any white carriage for rent so she was negotiating with this man to see if she could rent it from him for even just a half-day.

He agreed with the condition that they return it before the evening since he has to stock up in the evening so he can deliver some ration to a church/orphan at the nearby village by tomorrow morning. A white carriage is the symbol of a holy mission.

If you saw one you should clear the road and let them pass.

Weirdy enough even some bandits started respecting that and won't attack one!

Alice wanted to march to the church to deliver her speech in one since they are talking about the hero.

Why doesn't everybody drive a white carriage, you say? A carriage is not cheap and the white dye used is rare and pricey also each carriage has a god symbol on it.

The carriage Alva found has the symbol of Avander the god of life, birth, and renewal.

The church in this town is dedicated to him too.

Alva gave Alice and Connor new clothes to change to.

Alice got a white priestess cloth and a veil while Connor was given a paladin white armor, it was so heavy that he wasn't able to hold it in his hands.

"Let's get into the inn to change, after that, I want to have a quick word with you Connor-sama!" Alice said.

Lydia helped Connor change into the heavy armor since she had experience in wearing them before.

Connor found it too heavy to move in so he had to use [Enchantment magic] so he could move somewhat normally in it.

"The fuck is this armor? are they usually this heavy?" Connor asked Lydia who was in front of him.

"Well, this isn't real armor it's an ornament armor designed to be flashy and look good it wasn't made so someone could wear it to battle but this the best-looking armor we can introduce the hero in it."

So it's like a really uncomfortable suit that you only wear for an interview or a cosplay.

As Connor was thinking Alice walked in.

"Look who's here, it looks good on you! you look… Holy?" Connor tried praising Alice.

Alice smiled a little as she replied to Connor.

"Thank you but I feel a little uncomfortable in it since it's Mary-sensei cloth, it's quite big for me. Any way you look good too, but can you move in that thing?"

"Yeah, I can manage it!" Said Connor while spinning his arm.

"Well, I wanted to talk to you two," Alice said with a serious look on her face.

Alva entered the room too to listen.

Alice explained what they are going to do.

A speech in the church to get more followers and more public support while explaining what happened yesterday with the dwarf.

They need to make a good impression on people, while still not showing a weak side.

The stick and the carrot, both need to be present while keeping a clear distinction in status between the hero and the other.

So she told both Alva and Lydia to not speak directly to Connor, they are a paladin of the holy maiden.

They need to ask the holy maiden to get permission from the hero.

Also, they can't call Connor with his name, Alva and Lydia if they spoke to Connor they need to start with "This humble servant." While Alice will call him hero-sama.

Alice will do the talking while Connor will sit on a throne/chair a few feet behind her.

He won't talk directly to people, instead, they will ask Alice and he will tell her the answer through the link so she can relay them to the people that the role of the holy maiden after all.

Alice ordered both Alva and Lydia to never make a move unless given a direct order from her or Connor no matter what happens.

After they finished they headed to the carriage.

Alice and Connor in the carriage while Alva and Lydia drove it.

they reached the church.

A crowd of people was waiting and as soon as they saw the carriage coming they started cheering.

"Woah!! there a lot of people out there, didn't you say a small speech?" Connor asked Alice who was sitting in front of him.

"It appears that a lot of people decided to come to see the hero, my speech is still short and small!"

The carriage stopped.

Lydia and Alva got out of the driver's seat and shouted to the crowd to clear a path for the hero and the holy maiden.

The crowd cleared a path for them to the church.

Alice is walking just behind Connor and Lydia and Alva on both sides. Mei is sitting on Alva's shoulders with a ribbon on her.

When they reached the doors of the church Mary was already kneeling in front of the door along with a priest and a sister.

"We welcome you to the church of Avander, please make use of anything or anyone as you want Hero-sama," Mary said.

"Let's get in first," Connor said to Mary.

The who was with priestess Mary opened the door for them and closed it after they entered.

As they were walking in the hall Lydia and Alva seemed a bit restless so Connor asked them what the problem was and they replied.

"We are being watched!"

Who can it be? we are in a church!

"Whoever is watching come out, I'm not angry!" Connor said nothing.

A moment a bunch of sisters and priests started showing from behind the closed doors and from behind the curtains about 15 people.

"So it's you guys!" Alice said.

Mary is furious as she shouted at them.

"By Avander name didn't I tell you to not spy on us like this."

"Well, well. Calm down Mary-san that's bad for your health. forgive them for this time, can you? " Connor is trying to calm the snapping Mary.

"If that's what the hero wants, so be it!" Priestess Mary responded.

"Alice, you seem to know them?" Connor asked Alice.

"Yes, some of them were my colleagues in the year I spent here."

Alice's friends, did they come to greet her?

"Hello, I'm the hero are you Alice's friends?" Connor tried talking with them.

One of the sisters spoke saying that they heard that the hard-headed Alice actually managed to meet the hero and even became the holy maiden.

It's hard to believe.

Connor asked them how is that? so a priest responded saying that even though Alice was from the Avander belief she worshiped the hero more than her actual god Avander and it was quite obvious.

Another sister spoke saying that whenever Alice spoke she always spoke of the hero, and in the end, she was kicked out of the church.

Connor turned toward Alice.

"You didn't study here for a year, you got kicked out after only a year." Connor is about to explode laughing.

Alice's face is burning red.

"For real Alice, if it wasn't for Kinryuu's protection, you could have ended with a worse punishment!" Mary added.

"Kinryuu protection? I heard of Kinryuu but how did he do it?" Connor asked Mary.

"When the problem with Alice started to show up the church gave Alice a warning that if she continued her tongue will be cut, Kinryuu caught wind about that and came to this city."

Mary started telling her story.

Kinryuu landed in front of the church, everyone inside got out to see what is the reason for a dragon to visit.

Kinryuu was angry but too calm compared to an angry dragon, and as the head priest at the time approached him Kinryuu made a threat,

"I'm here to warn you, humans, that if you touch a single hair of Alice Von Eric I shall burn this city to the ground!"

He then flew away without saying another word.

The church didn't heed his warning.

A week later on the day of delivering the punishment on Alice.

It was morning and I was changing my clothes to get to work.

Did I felt a sharp pain in my chest, was I sick? No!

The mana in the air was boiling, raging, something with immense mana is close.

then came the roar it was loud enough that the entire building started shaking, I felt as if my ears would explode.

I hardly managed to walk to the window and when I looked at the sky I saw him, he was several times his size the last time I saw him.

Just him being close is almost killing everyone, he was considered of us last time he came to deliver his warning.

The last time he came he suppressed his mana and shrunk his size to not wreck the city.

Now he isn't holding back, no he is flying too high up, is he trying to keep us at a safe distance so we don't just die?

The blue sky started getting cloudy, lightning is generating around the dragon.

When I saw that I instinctively knew, that our doom was coming.

The dragon breath is coming.

Fear took over me, I pissed myself.

All I could do is watch our death coming.

The dragon realized his breath with a thunderous sound that boomed through the city.

The buildings cracked from the sound alone, my ears started bleeding and my vision is blurry, an immense pain is seeping through my body.

But wait I'm still alive? Did he miss? no, it can't be that, did he spar our lives.

I crawled my way to the room on the other side of the building and looked outside.

I can see flames rising from outside the city walls.

What did he hit outside?

The dragon then landed in the middle of the city with his large body, even the largest house in the city can't be tall over its talons.

He walked toward the church trampling the building in his way.

I can't seem to feel the oppression of his mana, he probably suppressed it before coming close.

I cast healing magic on myself and set out to see if there is anyone who needs healing.

Dragons are also known as agents of chaos and destruction.

It's widely known that angering one of them is a really bad idea.

An old dragon can level an entire kingdom in days.

The last time he came, he looked fairly young so the church thought that they could fight him off with the few hundred soldiers in the town.

They ignored his warning.

By Avander now that I think about it even if he was a young one we would still lose a few hundred soldiers in the fight, why did we think that ignoring him was a good idea in the first place?

Why did he come in that form then? Was he trying to deceive us? No, it can't be dragon are known for their pride and arrogance they won't steep that low and always give a fair warning before attacking and he gave us one.

I noticed a few injured people, so I started healing them. Their injuries weren't that bad.

The more I heal the more I realize, the damage to the city structure was huge but the people's injuries weren't that bad and I haven't been able to find a single dead person.

I started to think… maybe… he is going easy on us.

Then I heard him speak, even his voice was different, it was deeper and more intimidating.

"I gave a gentle warning but you ignored it, throwing dirt in my face!"

…

"Let's make one thing clear for you 'human', don't mistake this with what will happen if you laid your hands on Alice. This is merely for taking me lightly, you are very much alive aren't you?"

…

"That will do, remember that no other dragon will be this forgiving!"

Was he talking to someone? I could only hear the dragon's voice.

He then flew away. and as he launched the wind from his wing smashed a few buildings.

The aftermath.

No one dead let alone badly injured, every injured person could be healed with Low-tier healing magic.

People under the rubble were found inside balls of shining light that looked as if they were made from glass. Unconscious but unharmed.

Some also reported that pregnant women, children, the sick, and the elderly lost consciousness and were covered in that light just moments before the mana wave hit.

It was him, the dragon who protected them.

In the end, it looks that the one who spoke to the dragon 'Kinryuu' was the head priest of the church.

They agreed that excluding Alice from the church was a solution, they aren't harming her while also not having her in the church and the dragon agreed.

Later Alice confirmed that the balls of shining light were Kinryuu's barrier magic.

The dragon breath destroyed half of the northern forest along with three-quarters of our farmland.

For all the damage received, 'Bluemill' has to stay in the red for around three years and rely on Alice's father Alen Von Eric to support it to survive the winter.

This town never forgot the fear of a dragon rage after that and no one dared to mess with the dragon princess Alice Von Eric.

"And that's the gist of what happened." Mary finished her story.

"He totally flexed his strength on you," Connor said with a stunning face.

"And now that dragon princess has come with the hero too, of course, it's hard to believe! Alice are you trying to conquer the world or something?" one of the sisters commented.

"Alice you never told us, but do you know how old kinryuu is?" Mary asked.

"He didn't tell me how old he is in years, but he said that he is considered to be a great wyrm."

As soon as Mary heard this word she stopped in her tracks.

She started praying.

"Thanks, lord Avander this town survived, no thank lord Avander that this whole kingdom…"

"Hey return to use, what is a great wyrm?" Connor tried snapping Mary back to reality.

She then explained to them how dragons are categorized by this age.

The older the dragon is, the stronger he becomes, of course a dragon that trains will be even stronger.

The age category for dragons are:

Wyrmling ages 0-20 years the dragon just hatched from his egg and can take on multiple people.

Young wyrmling 20-50 years the dragon now is used to his innate powers and can take on tens of people.

Young 50-200 years the dragon now is almost an adult, he is stronger but still too young to mate. He can take on hundreds of people, this is what we thought kinryuu was.

Adult 200-500 years, the dragon is even stronger and more active since in this age they will try to impress their mate with how much strength they have and usually rampage. they can take on thousands of regular soldiers and they can be a threat to kingdoms.

Ancient 500-1000 years, the dragon raw strength won't increase but their wisdom does and they sometimes develop some innate magical powers, they won't be that active and won't be that eager to mate and their rampages became less, they become more talkative a dragon in this category won't kill without a reason, taking on them with just number is basically impossible, to take one down you need extremely powerful individuals and a lot of planning.

Wyrm 1000-2000 the dragon loses his ability to mate but his physical and mental powers drastically increase and he gains the ability to freely morph his physical body. taking on this dragon without a higher power is simply stupid and is a death wish.

Great Wyrm over 2000 years old. The dragon reached his natural peak and will stay at it until he dies, he can still get stronger by training though. The mere existence of the dragon can kill weaker creatures around him from the concentration of mana around him. So what is stronger than an overpowered dragon? yes, an even stronger dragon who can order dragons. As a fact, dragons that reach this age are considered as leaders among their kin and act like kings. If you start a fight with a great wyrm you can expect a bunch of wyrms to join the fight, so good luck surviving.

As he heard this Connor remembered something.

"Alice you said that Kinryuu makes maps and sells them right?" Connor asked Alice.

"Yeah, I said that he makes maps for every kingdom with a weather forecast for some."

"And how often did he come to give you a ride?" Connor asked while sweating.

"Every couple of months I say 5-6!" Alice said with a straight face.

Connor's face palmed as he realized the scope of what kinryuu is doing.

"So he can fly around the whole world in the span of a couple of months and make detailed maps for every kingdom and throw a bonus weather forecast on top! Yeah, mapping the entire world in 5-6 months by flying around." Connor started laughing.

"Connor-sama are you alright?" Alice asked Connor.

"You don't seem to get it, so to say it bluntly Kinryuu is a fucking mad monster!"

"Calling me a fucking mad monster is a bit disrespectful, don't you think so? Hero-san-yoo?"

The voice of an old man came from across the hallway.