Ch.220Chapter 220 – Pupils (1)

Rorona was currently in a predicament.

“…I’m going to get scolded.”

Looking at the corpses of monsters that had been enthusiastically hunted down, she let out a quiet sigh.

“This doesn’t work as a test at all.”

The monsters that had periodically attacked Kei’s group—their true identity was that they were monsters Rorona herself had deliberately lured and sent.

Though young, she was still of dragon lineage. It was easy enough for her to use fear to stimulate their terror and drive them somewhere or guide them.

And it was also possible to tame and strengthen them.

“…I should have somehow made that centipede escape.”

The centipede she had deployed on her master’s orders after noticing Kei’s group while they were gathering information for a few days before entering Ferarius.

In fact, that centipede was one of her livestock that she had been raising freely in these mountains. It was a specimen she had taken special care of, but she had deployed it without hesitation on her master’s orders.

‘I made sure the dwarves in the surrounding villages were injured but not killed, and I went through the trouble of ordering the dwarf village chiefs to guide them to exterminate this centipede… what a waste.’

Thanks to that troublesome work, it was good that Kei’s group had set out to exterminate it, albeit with some skepticism.

If only there hadn’t been unexpected interference.

‘Damn Emiris Order.’

She hadn’t expected the Emiris Order, who had been pursuing them, to suddenly appear there.

At first, she had intended to remain a bystander, but when they fell into danger due to the magic of the one called the Saint, Rorona had no choice but to sacrifice the centipede to help them escape.

She couldn’t let them die without properly demonstrating their abilities, especially after achieving the primary objective that needed to be confirmed.

‘Still, my plans were completely ruined.’

Rorona sighed.

She had planned to strengthen the centipede and subtly hinder them to create an unfavorable battle situation, then see how they would overcome the crisis, but things had become more difficult.

“If it weren’t for them…”

She slightly gritted her teeth again about the Emiris Order.

Because of that order, she had to release her livestock into the surrounding area.

It was to mobilize them to stop the order if necessary, but…

As a result, she had no monsters to mobilize when she tried to test them again at this volcano.

As a last resort, Rorona had guided suitable monsters toward them, but it was clearly insufficient.

“All the monsters have become trophies.”

She had expected it somewhat, but she had still slightly hoped that at least one or two of them would get injured.

“I might as well have given a goblin a treasure chest and had it teleport all over the place—that would have been more of a test.”

Rorona sighed once more.

“…At least I confirmed that he can wear the dragon armor, so that’s fortunate.”

At least one thing her master had instructed her to confirm. If Kei hadn’t been able to wear the armor, Rorona wouldn’t have tried to save them by sacrificing the centipede.

“Let’s forget about the failures so far. What matters is from now on.”

Having regained her composure, Rorona soon used magic to check on Kei’s camp. She spotted the night watch guarding the camp, just in case.

“…The night watch is an interesting person.”

She saw a blue-haired female swordswoman guarding the fire at the center of the camp. Rorona smiled slightly at the sight of her.

‘She was quite fun to tease.’

Though she looked fine now, she had actually been on the verge of death. When Rorona first found her, she looked like a complete beggar, so she had teased her without thinking…

The reaction was better than expected, so she had continued to provoke her afterward.

Of course, as a result, that swordswoman seemed to have developed quite a dislike for Rorona.

As she was observing her…

Suddenly, Rorona found the eyes of the mask meeting her own.

“Ha. Even at death’s door, you’re no ordinary person.”

At this distance, even human mages wouldn’t notice they were being watched. True, she was a demon, but noticing her from this distance was no ordinary feat.

‘Moreover, the direction of her eyes…’

That swordswoman hadn’t just noticed her; she had precisely located her. Her lips were even moving slightly. Judging by the shape of her mouth, she was probably cursing.

‘In other words, she even realized who was watching her.’

In this area, she was the only one that swordswoman would look at and curse. Though now, due to the contract with her master, that swordswoman wouldn’t attack her…

“…I think I teased her too much, and I’m a bit afraid of the consequences.”

It seemed she would need to win her favor a little.

“…Well, what shall I do tomorrow?”

Rorona said with a slight smile.

Although she had lost the centipede and had only confirmed the minimum requirements…

Her master’s orders were not yet complete.

+

The next day.

After breaking camp, we were walking along an extremely narrow mountain path.

Well, calling it a path was generous—it was more like a cliff.

“This kind of path seems like only mountain goats would use it.”

Sera said with difficulty, almost clinging to the wall. The backpack she was carrying swayed precariously with each of her movements.

Of course, the reason Sera was struggling was for a different reason.

“Ugh, my chest keeps hitting the wall…”

Every time she passed a slightly protruding part of the wall, Sera struggled a bit. And Chris, who was following beside her, was quietly praying with slightly dead eyes.

“Lady Evgenia, please grant this young lamb infinite patience…”

Chris was completely unaffected by the occasional irregularities in the wall. Though she probably wouldn’t do anything extreme, I turned my head forward again, slightly scared by her increasingly lifeless eyes and rapidly moving lips.

“It’s fortunate we have mages.”

“Isn’t it?”

Asam, who was right in front of me, said with a smile. She was working with Beatrice, who was at the back of our group, casting magic to lighten our weight so we could safely climb the cliff.

Thanks to that, as long as we were careful not to slip, there was no risk of falling from the cliff.

“Well, we’re also more stable because we’re all tied together with Bea’s chains.”

Asam proudly mentioned the chains tied around everyone’s waists.

“Did you have a hand in making these chains?”

“I practically made them. When Bea changed her fighting style, I did some thinking and created them.”

“Fighting style?”

“Originally, Bea fought like most mages, casting spells and then firing them. Then she switched to strengthening her body with magic and diving in to fight.”

Asam thought for a moment and then quietly said:

“…Well, that kid is terrible with weapons but moves her body well. She said it’s not much different from dancing.”

“Dancing?”

“According to her. To me, it looks more like brawling than before.”

Asam said that, but I was slightly convinced. Beatrice did seem to fight with a certain rhythm and freedom, so perhaps her style evolved from a combination of brawling and dance movements adapted for combat.

“By the way, moving while casting magic like Bea does is much harder than it looks. You have to almost perfectly control the flow of magic.”

“Hmm.”

The flow of magic. That seems like something that would be good to learn.

“Why, thinking of learning it?”

“I think it would be good to learn it well.”

“Then ask her to teach you. Bea actually likes teaching more than she appears.”

I nodded at Asam’s words. She did teach Sera a little magic almost every day. I had also heard from Chris once that she was happy because Sera was learning at an incredibly fast pace.

“Speaking of which, I’ve finished preparing what you requested.”

“Really?”

“Yes, you can definitely expect results.”

Asam was probably referring to when I asked Beatrice to help me become stronger. When did she prepare it?

“She prepared it by cutting down on sleep.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

Asam spoke lightly and then continued quietly:

“…That kid usually loves her sleep. She used to hate reducing her sleeping time without reason, but this time she looked happy.”

“Huh?”

“Nothing. Never mind.”

Asam brushed it off.

Meanwhile, Mask turned her head toward us and spoke:

“Just ahead! Just a little more effort, everyone!”

Looking beyond Mask, I could indeed see the cliff ending and a small open area.

After carefully climbing onto the open area, Peri immediately sat down.

“Whew… I was so tense…”

“Me too…”

Eina, who seemed to have been equally tense, sat down next to Peri. In Peri’s case, she was massaging her arms slightly, probably from tensing them too much out of fear of falling.

While Chris and Sera began to take care of the two, I looked at a large hole in one corner of the clearing.

“Is that the entrance to the lair?”

“More precisely, there’s a magic circle drawn there that leads to it.”

Mask said with a smile.

“Now the dangerous part is over… no, since we’re crawling into a lair, I suppose the more dangerous part is just beginning.”

“But we’re guests, aren’t we?”

Surely we wouldn’t do anything strange inside someone’s home.

“The opponent is a dragon.”

Mask seemed to think the other party might do something strange.

“We don’t know what orders that rascal received from her master. It’s better to stay alert.”

“Rascal?”

“That Lorona or Ronana or whatever her name is.”

Mask said curtly.

“You think she’ll try something?”

Mask nodded slightly.

“Just so you know, I can’t protect you if that rascal and her master attack due to our contractual relationship.”

In other words, we would have to handle it ourselves. If she’s warning us this much, we should definitely be careful.

“As Mask said, our opponent is a dragon, so it wouldn’t be good to judge by our common sense.”

“I agree with the guild leader lady.”

Somehow having overheard our conversation, Ib and Beatrice approached. Beatrice pointed behind her with her thumb and spoke:

“How about we rest a bit so Peri and Eina can recover?”

“It would be good to be fully prepared in the meantime.”

I nodded at Ib’s words.

Since we’ve essentially reached our destination, it wouldn’t hurt to prepare a bit more before entering.

“Then let’s take a short break and depart.”

“Thank goodness…”

Eina exhaled deeply and slumped down. As if that was a signal, everyone began to act on their own.

Chris sat quietly against one wall to rest, and Sera, sitting next to her, appeared to be checking the remaining quantities of her alchemical tools.

“The lair will be hot, right?”

“It’s inside a volcano. Let’s prepare magic. I hate the heat.”

“Yes, maybe a barrier-type…”

I could see Beatrice and Asam discussing magic to use inside in comfortable postures. Lara, Eina, and Peri were resting in their own ways, while Mask was keeping watch with her sword planted in the ground.

“Ib?”

“I’m right here.”

Somehow having arrived without me noticing, Ib was standing next to me with a smile.

“Looking at other people when I’m right beside you—that’s too much.”

“Sorry.”

“Next time, please look for me first.”

Ib said with a smile.

“By the way, Kei, why don’t you get some sleep?”

“I think we’ll be heading in again after just a short break.”

“Even if it’s just for that short time, it would be good for you to rest a bit.”

Ib raised a finger as she spoke.

“Honestly, you’ve been more tense than usual, haven’t you? Because of the other dragon.”

“That’s true.”

Since this mountain was a dragon’s territory, I had unconsciously been more tense than usual.

“…But even if I rest, it would only be for a few minutes.”

Given that we had agreed to rest briefly before continuing, I wouldn’t get much rest even if I tried to sleep. Ib smiled and said:

“Even for those few minutes, there’s a big difference between closing your eyes and not. Don’t worry and rest for a bit.”

Ib reassured me.

“I’ll be watching over you.”

“…Alright.”

It would be rude not to accept when Ib was showing such goodwill. I leaned against a nearby wall and rested my body.

Perhaps because the tension had drained after climbing the cliff, my body felt somewhat fatigued.

“I’ll wake you when it’s time to leave, Kei.”

“I’ll get up soon.”

I quietly closed the two eyes inside my helmet.

+

“Huh?”

It felt like I had just closed my eyes for a moment. I opened them because something felt strange, and I found myself in a familiar space.

“Hello.”

“Pia.”

The white-haired woman nodded with a smile. And behind her stood a black-haired man.

“We meet again.”

In response to Yuto’s greeting, I quietly turned my head to Pia.

“…By the way, why am I here…”

“Hmm, it seems to be because of that person.”

Pia spoke quietly.

“The one who’s been calling you.”

“…Are you referring to the master of Ferarius Volcano?”

“Yes. So that’s what you call the volcano you’re in now.”

Pia smiled, saying she wasn’t good with geography.

But Pia’s words bothered me a bit.

“When you say ‘the one who’s been calling me’… do you know who’s calling me?”

“Yes, I do.”

Pia said lightly.

“Because they’re right there.”

As Pia finished speaking, I quietly turned my head.

“…What is that?”

It was an enormous eye. A reptilian pupil was looking down at this place.