Chapter 119

I Regret Being Bored

The Hero Gray and Thief Gise were suffering.

The imperial command handed down by the royal family was to 'search for dragons' and 'search for a qualified maiden'.

They had managed to find a dragon, but it escaped. As for the maiden, they didn't know what characteristics she needed to have in order to be qualified in the first place.

The best option here would be to head to Warren and listen to the stories from the dragons themselves, but Gise had already failed at doing this with the Land and Storm Dragon before. If they are going to talk to the others, that would require a middle-man to introduce them. What's more, neither of them wanted to bring the three idiots to Warren. There were some very important spots there that couldn't be defiled.

"So Gise, do you have any good ideas?"

"Why are you asking me? The three idiots have a sharp sense of smell in the weirdest of places."

They were two troubled souls.

"Oh, that's it! We can do that!"

"What is it Gise?"

Gise's plan was to meet up with Duke Marsfield and immerse themselves with the order he had recently received. They'll act as escorts as part of the Duke's personal guard. Then Gray and Gise would be able to move freely, and they could use the Duke as their middle-man to introduce them to the Warren Council and the contracted maidens.

"Brilliant Gise, let's go with that!"

With Gray's approval, Gise started giving out orders for departure to Dams, Peach, and Cliff. Those three had been running on a dwindling supply of pocket money for the last month, so they began preparations for the journey as fast as they could with the prospects of being able to play for the first time in a long time looming over their heads.

In this way the Brave Party joined up with the messenger for Duke Marsfield, and all six people used {Leap City} to travel to the Citadel City.

This was the city of Warren.

The second phase of construction had begun for the city, and as Lily Garden and Cross Town grew, more people moved out to the residential housing in the city suburbs. Together with Cross Town and the tourism facilities, the new shops dealing with everyday goods came to operate under the guilds. By the way, the apartment complexes are owned by Ellis Finance, but since the Merchant Guild acts as a management company, it involves very little work on Ellis's part. It was the definition of easy profit.

The main draw of these apartments were the shared bath and toilets. These were a simplified design of the ones used inside the bathhouse. Although the residents' usage of the facility was free in principle, it requires the users to join the management union for the multi-family residences. This would require them to help in cleaning the baths, toilets, and helping to provide any maintenance for the sewer system. Those who cannot agree to these conditions are not allowed to move in, and those who slack off on these duties can have their lease canceled. Of course, if you were to pay 1000 ril to the Merchant Guild, you can arrange for a cleaning agency to do the work for you.

Because of these favorable conditions, numerous city residents had moved into the apartments, and the even the game a.s.sistant girls had moved into a building together close to work.

Meanwhile, the construction of hotels in the city had been proceeding smoothly, and tourism had been gradually increasing. A route had already been developed to procure seafood from the western fishing village by the Merchant Guild, and the menus of the city's restaurants had been enriched. The demand for seafood was especially high in the gatchih.o.m.o's Revitalizing Home.

With all of this going on, Ellis had grown incredibly bored. Maria had nailed her down, not allowing her to go off on her own outside of town. It had been confirmed that an inquiry would be arriving in a few days from the Citadel City, so all of the Dragon Maidens and their dragons were to remain nearby.

Reeve and Su-chan could fly through the sky. Frau and Fe-rin were also enjoying a leisurely walk on the air. Even Claire had her feet off the ground while riding high on Pi-tan's back. Meanwhile Katie and Ah-nyan were having fun at the live house. That just left Ellis with a completely open schedule.

"Rchin, should we go get a cup of tea?"

"Let's, Ellis."

That's why Ellis decided to go with what her dragon would have wanted to do, and with him in her arms, she took him to the usual Jewelry Box Teahouse.

Meanwhile, in much more serious yet carefree circ.u.mstances were the unthinking Lady Bluegreen and the frivolous Storm Dragon combination.

"Su-chan, this feels great."

"Right Reeve."

The blue duo were dancing through the sky, letting the wind pa.s.s them by. Since their minds were connected through the contract, communication between the two was fast and could be done telepathically. As the two of them continued dancing in the clouds, every once in a while they'd take a battle pose and simulate a real battle in the mid-air.

As the two continued, the girl and dragon moved further and further northward. It was up there that Reeve noticed a carriage moving at an abnormal speed with a squad of surrounding cavalrymen protecting it.

Meanwhile, Su-chan could feel the existence of monsters chasing behind it.

The girl's voice rang in the angelic dragon's mind.

"Su-chan, we're going!"

"Roger!"

In a downward dive, the dragon shot towards the ground and at the herd of monsters chasing the carriage below.

"Ellis banned us from using your Ultimate Release Su-chan."

"Hmm, then how about this."

With Su-chan's words, a new technique engraved in Reeve's mind came to the surface. {Breath Release}.

"That'll work great Su-chan!"

"Understood Reeve! We'll blow them away in one shot, so let's make it showy! Be sure to praise me lots afterwards too!"

Reeve activated the {Breath Release} technique. As she did, the Storm Dragon opened its jaws, aiming for the monsters in the far back of the herd. There was an second where nothing happened, but then with a flash of light, an explosion cracked through the air.

This was the High Voltage breath. A stream of lightning gouged out the earth and the monsters standing on top of it.

Due to the High Voltage breath of the Storm Dragon, numerous monsters in the back of the herd were electrocuted, and as for those monsters that the breath missed, they were close enough to the attack to be left paralyzed from the stray electrical currents.

"Reeve, I can't do anything about the ones too close to the carriage! Please!"

Even if Su-chan hadn't said anything, Reeve had already jumped from his back.

Su-chan had gotten closer to the ground, but it was still a long way down. Yet she held no fear.

Reeve fluttered down to the ground like a leaf in the wind, and at the same time, her hands wrapped around the hilt of her Dark Mithril katana.

The monsters that had already come upon the carriage, tearing away at its roof, had no choice but to become a cloud of red mist as she took their places.

"Knights! Take them!"

The escorting knights regained themselves at Reeve's shouts and charged back to finish off the paralyzed monsters.

Meanwhile the Storm Dragon had floated closer to the ground nearby.

"Reeve, everything's okay now."

"Su-chan, we should try to remain inconspicuous even if we were a little flashy back there. Let's leave this place immediately."

Reeve jumped onto Su-chan's back. However, her figure was perfectly seen by the two women inside the carriage.

The first was a little girl who clasped her hands together as if she were offering a prayer and murmured, "Ah, Dragon Knight."

The other woman was a bit older, and instead of marveling at the sight before her, she confusedly threw herself out the carriage doors.

"You! Aren't you Reeve! Hey, look over here!"

With her b.u.t.t in the fire, Reeve panicked and told Su-chan to quickly rise to a higher alt.i.tude and return to Warren.

"What's wrong Reeve?"

"Bad, we've been leaked."

Reeve would only say that, and so the Storm Dragon silently flew back to Warren, their previous carefree ride now seeming like a lie.

Oblivious to what was currently going on with Reeve and Su-chan, Ellis was killing some time with Rchin.

They traveled to his usual place at the Jewelry Box Teahouse, but when they got there, Aiful had on an unusually serious face. Sitting opposite from her was Plum, the owner of the nearby boutique.

The two of them were talking about something on the deck while the shop was relatively empty. It looked like Plum was complaining about something to Aiful.

"Ellis, let's have some tea."

Ellis quit observing the two women when Rchin spoke up, taking him to his usual favorite spot and ordering his tea.

"Of course. I'll get it right away."

Aiful's smile was her usual n.o.ble one as she headed back inside the store.

"Hah..."

Plum on the other hand was looking quite depressed. Ellis tried talking to her.

"Has something happened Plum?"

"No, it's okay Ellis. It's not a big deal."

Plum said she didn't want to bother her, but Ellis was too bored to let this slip by.

"I might be able to help you."

"..."

Ellis tried prying her for more information, but Plum remained silent.

Aiful then returned with the tea, setting a cup down in front of Ellis before taking the other one in front of Rchin. The dragon took his usual sunbathing position, becoming as still as stone.

Aiful meanwhile was able to retake her seat next to Plum.

"Aiful, I wonder if I could help Plum out," Ellis tried asking her.

"....."

"Plum, why don't you try talking to Ellis about it?"

"....."

"Well, Aiful?"

Ellis wasn't going to give up on this, so Plum took a deep breath and decided to tell her about himself.

Then there was Master's Hideaway.

Berunal, the alias Berudeus was using when she was in her female form, had arrived in Warren. She had white skin like porcelain and hair as black as the night. She had eyes that drew you in and thin, bloodless lips. She had an elegant gait to her walk as she approached the receptionist and repeated the same line she had done so many times before.

"I'd like to exchange some money please."

However for some reason the receptionist responded so much more differently.

The receptionist looked miserable seeing Berunal's abundant b.r.e.a.s.t.s wrapped up in a stylish dress, and after a single glance, she met Berunal's eyes and frowned.

"Women aren't allowed to enter here on their own."

"Huh?"

"Once again, women aren't allowed to enter here on their own."

Berunal wasn't sure what to say. When she was in a male form, the receptionist welcomed him with a warm smile, but as a woman, she wouldn't even be let in the store.

Berunal though about this for a time before asking the receptionist with a straight face,

"What if I were to tell you I'm a man?"

"Masakatsu will see you out now."

With the receptionist's cold words, the bouncer showed up like magic.

In this way, Berunal was carefully chased away from the store.