Ch.309[Chapter 309] Dragon and Imoogi

At the time when preparations for the expedition were complete, Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica began walking along the path, blending in with the personnel of the 3rd Corps who were departing.

“It’s here. Wait here for someone who will guide you.”

The ninja butler whispered quietly to Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica.

Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica nodded slightly, then discreetly slipped away toward the forest.

Until the moment when the 3rd Corps had all passed by and only the forest shadows remained desolately, Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica held their breath and waited for the guide who would soon arrive.

And the person in charge of guiding them appeared from behind those desolate forest shadows.

“I’m sorry. I’m late. You’ve been waiting… Oh? Sir Dominic?”

“Lady Hime?”

Sir Dominic was surprised to learn that the guide was Unryu Hime.

When Musashi had explained the operation, he had only mentioned a guide without revealing their exact identity, which led to this surprise.

“…It seems Lord Musashi played a little prank on us.”

“Indeed.”

Unryu Hime nodded at Sir Dominic’s words.

In fact, Unryu Hime also had no information about who would be helping with the infiltration.

Musashi had only told her a location, saying there would be helpers there, but she had no idea it would be Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica.

Unryu Hime thought that her father must have been trying to forcibly bring them together.

“Well, regardless of who it is, business is business. Now, let’s go through this forest.”

Unryu Hime, like the professional kunoichi she was, separated personal matters from work as she spoke and entered the forest.

Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica, having no objections to her words, silently followed Unryu Hime into the forest.

Though it was still early evening, darkness falls quickly in forests.

While Unryu Hime, who had learned techniques to maintain visibility in darkness, wasn’t particularly bothered, Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica were having considerable difficulty in this darkness.

They each had only one eye, and the vision in their remaining eye wasn’t particularly good.

Instead, Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica simply trusted in their sturdy bodies and walked forward, but they bumped into trees about twice every five seconds.

Since this was a mission requiring quiet infiltration, Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica had to remain silent despite the pain, simply continuing to move forward.

Unryu Hime was aware of this, but lighting a fire would be too conspicuous, so she had no choice but to slow her pace.

Still, the forest eventually came to an end, and Sir Dominic, Sir Dominica, and Unryu Hime successfully emerged from the opposite side.

“This is the target point. Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica, you need to go left from here and occupy the entrance.”

Unryu Hime conveyed the message quietly enough that only Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica could hear.

It was one of the miscellaneous skills learned by kunoichi and ninja.

Sir Dominic nodded at Unryu Hime’s words and suddenly looked to the right.

Before going left, he wanted to check what was on the right.

To the right was a sheer cliff, and its height was considerable.

It would take a full day to climb up from below.

Sir Dominic now understood why Musashi had been reluctant about Sir Dominica’s proposal.

Infiltrating from this direction was not feasible.

At the bottom of the steep cliff was a lake of immeasurable depth, with boats floating on it.

The junk ships with red sails each flew different pirate flags, and beneath the flags, the Chinese character for water (水) was written in white on a black background.

Sir Dominic suddenly remembered that Unryu Hime was afraid of pirates.

Sir Dominic hurriedly turned his head to look at Unryu Hime, but she was just standing with her head turned away and eyes closed, not appearing to be in a panic.

“Have you overcome your trauma about pirates?”

Sir Dominic looked at Unryu Hime with surprised eyes.

“Not completely. But…”

Unryu Hime said, with a bead of sweat running down her forehead.

“They’re at a distance, and they’re not in a position to harm me. I can endure this much now.”

That’s right.

Just as Sir Dominic had grown in Gacharland, Unryu Hime had grown as well.

Although her fear of pirates hadn’t completely disappeared, it had progressed from severe to somewhat better.

Sir Dominic nodded at Unryu Hime’s words.

In reality, those junk ships were below the cliff, and there seemed to be no way for them to climb up here, so Unryu Hime’s words made sense.

“Anyway, let’s start the mission quickly. I’m better, but not completely cured. Just looking at them makes me want to throw up.”

“Ah, understood.”

With those final words, Unryu Hime leaped over the wall and disappeared.

Given that she was going over the wall rather than back into the forest, she must have received some kind of orders as well.

Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica stared at the wall where Unryu Hime had disappeared, then without needing to decide who would speak first, they said to each other:

“Let’s go.”

“Let’s go.”

Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica began to move left along the wall to find the entrance.

…

After traveling quite a distance along the wall, Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica finally succeeded in finding the entrance.

The entrance was a golden gate decorated with dragons holding orbs in their mouths, and judging by how wide open it was, it seemed they were complacent, thinking no enemy would dare infiltrate this far.

“This seems to be getting a bit easier.”

“Indeed. How fortunate we are.”

Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica passed through the gate and entered inside the wall.

There, people dressed in white clothes and wearing official hats were moving busily, helping those who would die in the upcoming battle to resurrect.

Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica briefly looked at each other, then nodded without needing to decide who would go first.

Since Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica had split from one, their thoughts were the same.

Sir Dominica went first.

Sir Dominica took out a musket from the holster at her waist and fired a shot into the air.

At the loud bang of gunpowder explosion, the startled people’s attention focused on Sir Dominica.

“From now on, we are taking control of this golden gate!”

“What? What are you talking about!”

One of the people wearing an official hat shouted angrily.

He strode forward, approaching Sir Dominica.

“Do you know where you are, raising your voice like that! This is-“

The man in the official hat was shouting and pointing his finger, but his actions were so frivolous that they lacked any real presence.

However, he must have been in a fairly high position, as the people around him began to join in, pointing fingers at Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica and whispering, creating an atmosphere where if this man were allowed to continue speaking, troublesome things would surely happen.

Of course, those troublesome things did not occur.

And the man in the official hat did not continue speaking.

This was because Sir Dominic, following Sir Dominica’s action, struck the man with his shield.

Whether the man had very low health, or Sir Dominic’s attack landed as a critical hit, despite Sir Dominic’s low attack power, the man collapsed to the ground and disappeared in a flash of light.

Sir Dominic’s special ability [Flag Bearer] activated in response to his attack, causing a flag to fall from the sky.

The flag with Ferallant’s emblem fell right next to Sir Dominic, who was waiting with his hand extended and caught it.

“If anyone has objections, step forward! I am Sir Dominic of Ferallant!”

Sir Dominic stepped forward majestically, holding a shield in one hand and the flag in the other.

Sir Dominic swept his burning gaze across the crowd.

Those whose eyes met Sir Dominic’s flinched and dared not maintain eye contact.

This was partly due to the reputation of Sir Dominic of Ferallant, but also because they had just witnessed the man in the official hat being miserably defeated.

“You scoundrel-! How dare you humiliate me! Om- Om bani bani-“

The man, who had somehow resurrected, was enraged by his death experience and charged at Sir Dominic again.

He seemed to be a mage or shaman of some sort, as he was muttering spells while keeping his distance, and seeing this, Sir Dominic gave Sir Dominica a sidelong glance as a signal.

Understanding what the signal meant, Sir Dominica aimed her gun at the man in the official hat.

Sir Dominica slowly pulled the trigger of the musket.

As Sir Dominica’s special skill [Shock and Awe] activated, the man in the official hat fell into a stunned state on the spot.

“W-what is this!”

The man tried to move his body in panic, but the crowd control skills of these two, who ranked in the upper tier in such abilities, were not so easily broken.

Sir Dominic slowly approached the man.

With the flag in one hand and the shield in the other, he approached the man directly, his gaze fixed on him.

Sir Dominic stood right in front of the man and, for some reason, smiled.

“I needed an example, and this works perfectly.”

Sir Dominic said this and struck the man with his shield.

The man once again collapsed to his knees.

This time, it seemed a critical hit didn’t occur, as he didn’t disappear in a flash of light.

However, in his stunned state, his death was only a matter of time.

Sir Dominic stepped firmly on the stunned man with his military boot and muttered quietly.

“Nothing personal. Just doing what needs to be done.”

Having said that, Sir Dominic raised the flag.

More precisely, he positioned the pointed bottom part of the flag near the man’s heart.

The flagpole pierced the man’s heart and was planted in the ground.

Thus, the man, in his fallen state, unable to even properly resist, turned into light and disappeared.

The man resurrected again, but unlike before, he kept his mouth shut and remained still.

He knew that if he acted out again, he would suffer the same harsh fate as before.

Nevertheless, Sir Dominic, leaving the flag planted in the ground, stepped forward, crossed his arms, and said:

“Next.”

Sir Dominic boldly glared at the people.

Though he had only one eye, that gaze was like a mountain king, and the burning fighting spirit in his eyes was like a blast furnace.

The people, suppressed by Sir Dominic’s presence, dared not step forward.