novelThe Cheats Were Spread
| ← Ch.033 | Ch.035 → |
Translator: ShiroiKaze/Soyokaze Translations
The next day I was climbing to the mountain's summit again to take apart the wyvern.
To tell the truth, my leg muscles hurt terribly.
The citizens took yesterday as an opportunity to collect zipacna leaves, and today they're processing the medicine, so I'm sure they're busy.
Today is probably the best day for keeping this out of the public eye.
We claimed that the Forest Bear party and a passing magician defeated the wyvern.
Forest Bear is acting as the main representatives of who took it down. Of course, handling it on their own would have been impossible, so we made up the passing magician as an anonymous ally for them.
This way all the attention will be focused on the Bear party, and we can relax and continue on our trip.
"But is this really alright? Saying that we exterminated the wyvern."
"Please don't worry about it. You are a sacrifice for the sake of our own peace."
"A sacrifice, you say..."
"Well, the public eye is a lethal weapon against Yuuri after all. If you guys act as a substitute, it'll actually be helping us out."
Dismantling the wyvern is going to involve some heavy lifting, so Jack, Kale, and Alec were brought along, and I'm acting as the guide for those three to the actual location.
Oh, right. There's one more... the wyvern hatchling riding on my head is also here.
Unfortunately, it hatched so suddenly that I haven't thought of a name yet. I want to give it a really cool name anyway, so I'm still considering it.
"Alec, I'm tired, can I ride on your back?"
"Don't be a baby. Walk on your own two feet."
"If you'd like, shall I carry you?"
"Mister Kale is the manly man I expected!"
"It'll be no problem with how light you are."
"Kale, if you wear yourself out, then it'll be a tough trip back you know?"
"I'll be fine, she's way lighter than the armor I'm always wearing."
We expect that there will be a lot to carry, so the three of them brought backpacks along.
That's where I huddled up and sat inside. If you think about it, I'm lighter than the luggage that my master has been carrying around.
"You're this light, and yet you can take down wyverns; magic must be amazing, huh."
"Yuuri is an anomaly. She's not Master's apprentice just for show."
"Hey, Yuuri, do you think I'd be able to use magic too?"
In response to mister Kale's admiration, mister Jack gets very into the moment. Wait, who said you could just call me 'Yuuri'?
Well, it's better than him calling me brat at least.
"That alone would take time, I won't know unless I investigate it. The most important thing is whether you have the talent to sense magic power or not."
"I've sensed it a bit before!"
Alec puts on a bragging expression. Isn't your sensing power at the minimum?
And as far as spells go, aren't [Light Arrow], [Light Ball], and a lukewarm [Heat Ball] all you can use?
"That's our bro Alec! Are your spells perfect too?!"
"Of course not. Alec's magic is limited to being a hobby."
"Urk, well yeah... as far as both swords and magic go, of course Master is the only one who comes to mind."
"Because our master is a superhuman after all."
"The little miss can't use a sword?"
"I use magic only you see? I can more or less use a bow, but with my body strength, all I can use swords for is gracelessly whacking things."
Martial arts would, of course, be something that takes long hours of repetitive practice.
To handle weapons I need to use [Body Reinforcement], or I won't get anything from it, so I'm in way short supply of those practice hours.
"Wow, if you'd like shall I teach you?"
"You're better off not trying. Yuuri's body strength lets her move faster than the limits for human beings."
"What the hell, that's scary."
For some reason Jack aimed to take a seat as my master, but Alec immediately repelled him.
And besides, it's not like you guys are especially skilled anyway.
~*~
While engaging in idle chit chat, we arrived in front of the cave.
It's not a particularly large mountain to begin with, so it doesn't take very long.
"Jeez, the heck is this... Yuuri, good job on surviving."
"Awesome! The ground is sparkling!"
"It was hot enough to turn it into glass? That ain't no joke."
Seeing the traces of its breath in front of the cave, the three of them let out words of admiration.
Moreover, in the area where the arrow scattered its breath, black char marks can be seen scattered about.
Good job being fine after that, me...
"The wyvern's remains are behind that wall. I'll undo the seal now, so step back a bit please?"
"S-sure."
I remove the [Toughness] from the wall, hit it with a [Wind Bullet] to break it, and behind it a cave appeared.
I carried the wyvern into the back and [Froze] it there, but...
"Alec, take this little one....You behave, alright?"
"Migya!"
"Why? Just bring it along."
"Mister jack, this little one's parent is back there you know? There's no way I can show it something like that."
"Oh—, right... my bad."
He also seems to realize and admit that he made some kind of mistake. He's really growing as a person. Probably.
I enter the cave and release the [Freeze]. After checking the thawed corpse, I returned to Alec and the others.
"Alec, the rest is up to you."
"Yeeep, got it."
Saying that, I hand one of the stones with [Luminescence] carved in it over to him. A 'Light Stone' we called it.
Alec places the wyvern on my head, and they head into the cave together.
Considering its size, I suppose I'll have a bit of free time.
"Now then, what shall I do about your name?"
I poke at the nose of the wyvern on my head. Let's go through some possible names and watch its reaction.
~*~
"Momo" ((Thigh))
"Migya!"
"Tebasaki" ((Chicken Wing))
"Agya?"
"Ponjiri" ((Chicken Tail))
"Mugyu~"
"Negima" ((Chicken and spring onions))
"Yuuri, what're you doing?"
Did they finish dismantling it? Alec came out. Whoa, he's covered in blood.
"I was thinking of names to give this little one. But he's not really responding well to any of them."
"Yeah, I'm well aware that you have horrible taste in names."
"Shut up. How does it look in there?"
"Though it's not the worst, it's hard and the blades aren't going through very well. If we want to dismantle it, then we'll need some better tools."
"Maybe we'll have to divide it into several parts and come collect those?"
I want to bring some of its meat home, even if it's just a little bit. I want to try dragon steak at least once.
"For starters, freeze the cuts for us. Blood is pouring everywhere from it."
"Mister Jack, you sure don't give anyone a break, do you? And it seems the dragon-types have magic power hidden in their blood, so please fill up some of the water bags with its blood if you could."
"Sure thing, the amount of blood isn't going to decrease anyway."
"It will decrease! Actually, present progressive form: it IS decreasing you know?!"
In the end, the knives we brought broke, and we don't have anything left to use, so we had to make a fresh start of it.
Rather, maybe it would be best if I use [Telekinesis] and carry the corpse to the city?
"... Do you think it would be best if we bring the corpse back to the city and dismantle it there?"
"Hmmm, if we do that, then it'll become an instant spectacle though."
"We still can't go anywhere for a few days anyway. Shouldn't we just make the trip a few times?"
"I personally don't have the stamina for that."
"Couldn't Kale carry you?"
"Why don't you carry her?!"
Jack and Kale are teasing each other as usual. Maybe they have too much stamina left over?
I want to use everything other than its flesh for manufacturing, so if possible I'd rather not sell it. I do still have the income from the bandit extermination, so maybe I'll procure a large carriage for this thing?
If I do that, then our caravan will become 3 carriages, but... well, it should be fine.
"When we get back, I'll have to get mister Elric's permission to increase the number of carriages."
"Yuuri, you plan on bringing this thing back?"
"There's no way I could abandon such good materials, is there?! I'll even make weapons for Alec and mister Kale!"
"Seriously?!"
"Me too?!"
"Not you, mister Jack."
"Aw, come on..."
Said mister Kale in delight, and mister Jack who looks like he's seriously going to cry.
It's just a joke! Please, you're an adult, don't cry.
"With that as a joke... making that as well, I also want somewhere to manufacture all this. I wonder if there's a place I can borrow?"
"Oh boy, Yuuri's got her magic tool nerd face on."
"It's one of the gifts of our master's education!"
"That wasn't a compliment, you know?!"
In any case, finding a place to process the materials can wait until we return. At this point we'll head back to the city for a bit.
With that in mind, we started piling up the meat and scales we managed to cut away, but that's when I noticed something odd.
It felt like the amount that Alec, of course, mister Jack and even mister Kale can carry is increasing.
"Hmm? Mister Kale, you can still hold more?"
"Yeah, keep piling it on!"
"But you've already got about 100 kilograms on your back...?"
Is his... strength or endurance rising by a huge amount?
It couldn't be because of the wyvern blood he's drenched in?
"How strange, a simple wyvern isn't supposed to have this effect, but..."
"Isn't it just some temporary effect?"
"Let's... put a momentary hold on bringing this back. We might be carrying hazardous goods."
I intended on bringing it back, selling the meat to a butcher and having a barbecue party in the middle of the town or something, but... if it turns everyone into superhumans, then it will spell big trouble.
Rather than me, we need someone with more book smarts like mister Oreas—no, maybe we should wait until my master recovers and have him look at it?
Oh, come to think of it, I have "Appraisal". Let's try taking a look with that.
Anyway, until we discover what's really going on, I'll seal away the corpse. But before that—
"Before I seal the corpse up, I'm gonna get a quick bath in that blood!"
"Yuuri, calm down! Aren't you the one who just said it could be dangerous?!"
"This is my chance to escape from being a total weakling though!"
"Well, if we leave it alone at this rate, then the blood will all be sucked into the ground. It would certainly be best to take care of it now."
"That's right, well said mister Kale!"
I dashed to the back of the cave... Oh, I pushed the wyvern(?)'s child onto Alec, of course?
I packed together the ground beneath the partially butchered corpse with [Clay Wall], and reinforced it with [Toughness]. Now the blood won't be sucked into the ground anymore.
Then I raised its surroundings, and once it had pooled there, I cast [Freeze] on it.
"Now, what will "Appraisal" tell us..."
—Demon Dragon Fafnir.
The successor to a legendary fire dragon species' bloodline. It is said that the fire it breathes can kill gods and scorch the earth.
"......... Thaaaat's not a wyvern."
| ← Ch. 033 | Ch. 035 → |