A New Ally – Part 01

It was ten days after the Fire Drakon Catastrophe that adventurers returned from Cotton-elka to Pond. The Rank B party, Four Eastern Stars, immediately headed for the royal capital to receive their next assignment, while Pia and the rest went to Pond’s guild.

The adventurers—those who were commissioned to kill monsters and escort the villagers—entered the guild triumphantly. Adventurers hanging out in the guild knew that they had successfully defended Cotton-elka after a fierce battle, and when they proudly held up the Spirit Magic stones and Spirit gems they had collected, they were greeted with thunderous applause.

Pia, Priscilla, and Paula came to the counter, wearing solemn looks.

“I’m glad to see you all safe,” said Freya, the receptionist.

“Where’s Pippin?” Pia asked.

Pippin was a man from Cotton-elka who had come to Pond to report the crisis.

“You didn’t see him? He left for Cotton-elka the day before yesterday. He had recovered his strength, and he thought the village was safe. I think you missed each other on the road.”

“I-I see. That’s fine, then.”

“Is something wrong?” Freya asked.

“Um…”

The three girls lowered their heads. “We’re so sorry!”

“What?!”

“Oh, my.” Gloria put on a dark smile. “I can’t believe you’d make these girls apologize to you.”

Freya didn’t know what to say. “Wh-Why are you apologizing?!”

“You were all concerned about Cotton-elka, but we thought you wouldn’t do anything and left abruptly.”

“I understood how you felt, and the guild just did what it was supposed to do. So please raise your heads!”

The girls slowly lifted their heads. Freya breathed a sigh of relief.

“We’d like to apologize to the guildmaster, too.”

“He’s not around at the moment. He was summoned to the royal capital’s guild because of the Fire Drakon Catastrophe. Oh, that’s right. You all saw that Fire Drakon up close, didn’t you?”

“No, not really. Fire just suddenly erupted from the Forest of Deception, and a huge creature flew off in the direction of the capital, and then came back. Then it disappeared. That’s all we know.”

“I see…”

What she said was consistent with what the previous adventurer had reported. The Royal Capital and nearby cities were grappling with what to do about the Fire Drakon. There was scarce information available, and several high-ranking parties had been dispatched to investigate the Forest of Deception. They were killing the monsters that had escaped from the dungeon, which made Cotton-elka safer and more secure.

Despite the imminent destruction of Cotton-elka, neither the government nor the nobility took action, except for the Four Eastern Stars. However, now that the danger of the Fire Drakon was looming over them, their attitudes had shifted. The Adventurers’ Guild in Pond, the branch closest to Cotton-elka, was inundated with non-stop inquiries about the creature. Freya was on the brink of losing her mind.

“So, um… we’ve decided to quit being adventurers. There are only three of us, and we feel like we’ve reached our limits.”

“Wh-What?! Why?! After what you’ve been through, I’m sure you can find new party members.”

“We want to help rebuild the village, so we’re heading back. Right, Priscilla?”

“Yeah. There’s not enough manpower in the village,” Priscilla replied.

Although Priscilla was often in a daze, she was excellent at detecting hostiles. The village would be very grateful to have someone with experience as an adventurer. And they wouldn’t even need to pay her.

“I-I see. And what about you, Paula?”

Paula shook her head. “It pains me to say this, but I’m different.” She paused. “I will live to serve Lord Hikaru!”

“…Huh?”

Freya let out a scream that echoed throughout the guild.


The view from the horse changed. The streets of the royal city came into view up ahead. Sara pulled her horse next to Selyse, who was riding up front.

“Oh, there it is,” Sara said. “I haven’t seen the royal capital in a while. I kinda missed it.”

“That disturbance… I believe they’re calling it the Fire Drakon Catastrophe. I just hope it doesn’t plunge the city into chaos.”

“I don’t know about the commoners, but I’m pretty sure the nobles are panicking.”

“I’ve never seen a creature like that before!” Serika chimed in from behind. “It’s more powerful than the White Dragon, I bet!”

“Why do you sound excited?” Sara asked. “The moment I saw it, my gut said it was bad news.”

Selyse chuckled. “You wouldn’t have stood a chance anyway. You saw how fast it was. Your spells won’t hit it.”

“Speaking of which! I wonder what happened to that Mage?!”

Serika was referring to the Mage who was killing monsters secretly and unleashed a powerful Spirit Magic against the White Dragon.

In Selyse’s luggage was a milky white gem entrusted to her by the village chief of Cotton-elka. The girl who dealt the finishing blow on the dragon—or so Selyse believed—should be entitled to a reward as well. But she had disappeared.

Although she had mixed feelings about the matter, Selyse thought about sending a little extra to Cotton-elka, including the girl’s portion.

“I wonder what happened to that black-haired boy we saw on the way to Cotton-elka,” Selyse muttered.

“Ah, that boy you were curious about, surprisingly. Maybe he didn’t make it to Cotton-elka.”

“It’s just a hunch, but I think he was in Cotton-elka.

Sara and Serika were intrigued by Selye’s statement.

“But he’s not a Mage, right?” Sara asked.

“He definitely seemed more like a rogue type to me!” Serika said. “Sara’s friend!”

“He’s not my friend, but yeah, he didn’t seem like a Mage at all. Plus the one who finished off the White Dragon was a girl.”

“Right. Things don’t add up… Sophie seems to have something in her mind,” Selyse said, turning to Sophie. She had been frequently lost in thought ever since the battle with the White Dragon.

“We’re the only ones here, so maybe you could talk to us now?” Selyse suggested.

In Cotton-elka, there were always villagers or other adventurers nearby, so Sophie kept her concerns to herself.

“There are two things bothering me,” Sophie began. “First is the honorable Fire Drakon.”

“The honorable Fire Drakon?”

Sophie nodded gravely. “I was born and raised in the Church and have read through many scriptures and myths. In all of them, the drakon is a messenger of the gods. Would it really turn against humans?”

“Maybe it found His Majesty’s insanity too much?” Selyse remarked.

“Oh, daring, are we?!” Serika quipped.

Criticizing the king, especially as a Rank B adventurer, could lead to major problems if someone heard it.

But Selyse seemed unfazed. “His Majesty is the kind of person who would abandon a village in need. If that Fire Drakon was the guardian deity of that vast forest, of Cotton-elka, that could be why it threatened him.”

“Right. You think that Fire Drakon killed the Dungeon Master,” Sara said.

“You don’t agree?”

“I don’t. I told you that I went to the deepest part of the dungeon.”

The day after spotting the Fire Drakon, Sara went back to the Forest of Deception to scout the place. She found a dead dungeon and the remains of a large number of monsters—piles of ashes.

The ashes contained Spirit Magic stones, Spirit gems, and ores, but some of them had been collected. In the sixth level, in particular—a supposedly nonexistent floor—the huge gemstone that was supposed to be there was gone.

There seemed to be a room further in, but it was almost completely charred by flames. As a matter of fact, after Hikaru and Lavia escaped, the heated air incinerated the door, the Dungeon Master’s room, and everything else.

“Drakons don’t take Spirit Magic stones.”

Sara’s opinion made a lot of sense.

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