chapter_0210

211 – The Hero Party That Wants More Crumbs

211 – The Hero Party That Wants More Crumbs

The Dragon extermination party’s procession went more smoothly than expected.

Knowing that the Hero had set out, bandits didn’t dare to attack her. At the territories visited along the journey, people came out to welcome her, ready to write a new narrative.

“Hero!”

“We love you!”

“You’re so beautiful!”

“Please defeat the Dragon!”

News that the Hero was going to hunt the Dragon had already spread across the continent.

It wasn’t the Empress who had arranged this.

She had said she didn’t want to make a big fuss about this expedition.

-It hasn’t been long since we defeated the Demon King. I don’t want to give the people a new threat to fear in this situation.

Rather, she wanted to carry out this extermination secretly.

Even if the Hero had captured the Demon King, the emergence of a new enemy like a Dragon would threaten public safety.

The suggestion to visit each territory along the way came from the nobles.

-The Hero who even caught the Demon King. Could she not catch a Dragon? The Dragon will be exterminated and disappear anyway, so how about using this chance to promote once more? The greatness of the Hero and Your Majesty, that is.

At the words to further elevate the Empress’s reign through the Hero, the Empress looked at Nikki.

-I will follow Your Majesty’s words.

Under pressure from several nobles, the Empress reluctantly accepted their opinion.

So the reason we ended up parading like this was because of the opinions of various nobles.

Perhaps it’s because public safety in the provinces would automatically improve when the Hero visits.

The Hero’s visit would strike fear into the dark streets.

If she caught the Demon King, what about mere criminals?

So naturally, during the procession period, criminal activities would decrease, and they likely calculated that there would be a sense of crisis for a while, preventing movement.

“How is it? Do you feel like the Hero now?”

Nikki didn’t seem to dislike the cheers of the people either.

Her face was full of triumph as she spoke, her lips twitching.

“She certainly looks like the Hero.”

“Hehe, they’re welcoming a very precious guest.”

“Seeing her like this, she doesn’t look like a masochist who wants to lose to a Slime.”

“D-Don’t say it like that…”

She frantically tried to cover my mouth.

“They won’t hear.”

Because I applied some magic.

“…Alright.”

“But it’s unexpected.”

“What is?”

“The other nobles. If they were going to hold such a grand event, I thought they would have asked to include their own children, but how is it that there’s not a single one?”

“Well, that’s because I rejected them all. What noble would dare to confront the Hero?”

“Ah…”

I had forgotten because she was too familiar.

That the masochist Hero before my eyes was the Hero who defeated the Demon King with her own hands.

That she was someone even powerful nobles wouldn’t dare to challenge.

“It’s better without noisy flies,” she said with a smile.

Just as I was about to be intoxicated by the sweet strawberry scent, Yuris approached.

She looked at Nikki and me with half-open eyes.

A sweet perfume scent emanated from her.

A different floral scent from Nikki’s strawberry – the scent of lavender tickled my nose, and Nikki’s expression stiffened slightly.

“Lord Yuris seems quite comfortable with Max? You’re even speaking informally.”

“Oh, this?”

Yuris smiled and put her arm around my shoulder.

“We’re close enough to be arm in arm like this!”

“Y-Yuris…?”

Ever since we had been intimate in the past, Yuris had started speaking to me more casually.

Not just the comfortable formal speech she used with her subordinates, but an even more affectionate tone.

But I don’t think we were close enough to be arm in arm like this.

“Max looks awkward though?”

“Awkward? He’s just surprised because I suddenly put my arm around him. Right?”

Yuris’s eyes were desperately shaking.

Say yes!

It was a look that desperately pleaded.

“We do speak casually to each other. We met often after all.”

“Is that so?”

“You heard him, right?”

Just as Nikki was biting her lip in frustration, Eileen intervened.

“Everyone, please stop. The believers are watching the siblings. I ask that you be aware that you are the Hero’s party.”

A sweet honey scent also emanated from the Saint’s body.

“Inferior species,” Reina clicked her tongue, standing a step behind Eileen.

Reina, who didn’t spare the words “inferior species” even for Yuris.

It seems she didn’t use to say such things to her before.

‘She changed after visiting the Elven Forest.’

She feels like she’s become even more extreme.

The scent from her body seems to have become a bit cooler too.

I felt like I was going to lose my mind from the scents of the women, each with their own distinct fragrance.

They were all so fragrant that I thought I might lose my senses.

Hmm, I should keep my distance until the expedition is over.

Otherwise, I feel like something might really happen.

Aurora was watching them with a mechanical smile.

The lord’s entourage approached us.

Baron Helm, who manages Helm Castle.

“Welcome, everyone!”

We entered, receiving the lord’s hospitality.

Helm Castle, where we arrived, was the territory and castle closest to the Ice Mountain Range.

The founder of Helm Castle, Baron Helm, was said to be a half-dwarf, half-human, with thick muscles and large arms.

With his bushy beard and sharp eyes.

He looked just like a dwarf, only taller.

Dressed in thick bearskin clothes that could withstand the cold, he stood before us looking no different from a mountain bandit.

“Please make yourselves comfortable! We will provide all services during your stay!”

It was the moment when the worry disappeared from the face of the lord who had been troubled by the Dragon’s appearance.

It couldn’t be helped.

The neighborhood was already not wealthy due to the Ice Mountain Range, and suddenly a calamity called a Dragon appeared.

He must have been wondering whether to evacuate or make a last stand.

“Don’t worry. There’s a high chance the Dragon isn’t here, and even if it is, we’ll exterminate it!”

Nikki exclaimed, pounding her chest.

Why does that line feel like a rehearsed act?

She wouldn’t have done it on purpose to show this image to the people of the territory.

‘Is it something like the Hero’s dignity?’

Max didn’t know.

That it was an awkward act boldly attempted by a female who wanted to show a better side of herself to the male she liked.

The oblivious man might never realize it for the rest of his life.

And so the Hero’s party arrived at the entrance of the Ice Mountain Range.

“So first we need to confirm where the Dragon is located.”

Nikki unfolded a map marking the Dragon’s traces based on eyewitness accounts.

In the middle of the snow-covered Ice Mountain Range.

There were eyewitness accounts from a total of 5 locations.

They said a white-skinned, red-eyed Dragon had threatened them.

“Everyone said the Dragon was awake. But here’s the thing. I heard that when a Dragon is awake, it surely devastates the surroundings? To punish those who woke it from its sleep. So why hasn’t it attacked yet? That’s what I’m curious about.”

Nikki looked around at her gathered companions as she spoke.

The answer came not from her companions, but from Baron Helm.

“Based on our current speculation, we’re also saying it might not be a Dragon. We think it could be a mutant White Wyvern or Drake.”

A mutant.

I looked over the testimonies.

It didn’t kill, only threatened and sent them away.

They heard it tell them to get lost.

It conveyed its will.

And so on.

It seemed unlikely to be just a destructive monster like a Drake or Wyvern.

It was clearly an intelligent being.

However.

‘It is strange that the Dragon didn’t devastate the surroundings…’

Couldn’t there be some other reason?

“Hmm, that’s not it.”

There was someone who had the same thought as me.

“If it were a Drake or Wyvern, they would all be dead already. They were all beings with self-awareness.”

It was Aurora.

She calmly listed 12 reasons why it was a Dragon.

“There’s a high possibility it hasn’t fully awakened from its sleep yet.”

Everyone fell silent at the mage’s extensive knowledge.

This is why Aurora was dispatched together.

The mage’s knowledge, that is.

“You think the same, don’t you? Sir Max?”

Aurora smiled and spoke to me after finishing her words.

“I agree. It’s likely a Dragon. The problem is, we can’t immediately know how angry the opponent is, or what state it’s in.”

Everyone nodded.

It is a Dragon.

We continued the meeting based on this premise.

“This is where the Dragon is expected to be.”

Nikki pointed to a huge natural cave located in the Ice Mountain Range.

“I think it’s probably using this place as its lair. It’s been inaccessible, so very few people have gone inside until now, and all explorations were thwarted at the entrance… but given the current circumstances, the Dragon probably made it deliberately.”

It intentionally cut off the path so no one but itself could come.

“Let’s talk more tomorrow about how to explore. For today, let’s end here. Our priority now is to rest from the journey. Let’s recover our condition and decide on the departure date tomorrow.”

Nikki ended the meeting that had gone on for 2 hours.

“I will guide you to your lodgings.”

I was assigned a room through the lord’s servants.

Was it because we were the Hero’s party?

I received quite a luxurious room.

Not only was there a bed, but a leopard skin rug was placed in the center of the room.

“Even a fireplace… This is nicer than my home.”

It was even a room with a bathroom connected to it.

Truly top-class facilities.

I immediately took off my clothes and headed to the bathtub in the cozy room.

Splash.

I relaxed comfortably, soaking my body in the hot water.

“I’m melting. Melting.”

Just as I was stretching out comfortably in the bathtub:

Knock knock knock.

“Max, are you in there?”

A woman’s voice was heard from outside the door.

It was Nikki.

“Huh? I’m bathing right now. Just a moment.”

I had left the door connecting the room and bathroom open since I was about to bathe.

If she came in like this, it would be a disaster.

I’d end up showing my naked body to the Hero suddenly.

Even if it is my room.

I have a sense of shame too.

“No, this is perfect actually.”

What? Perfect?

What does that mean?

“I’m coming in.”

“W-Wait a moment!”

As I was about to get out of the bathtub, I made eye contact with Nikki who opened the door and came in.

“Ah…”

Without wearing anything.

I, who came out of the bathtub wet and naked:

Plop.

Ended up standing in front of Nikki with my penis exposed.

“Wow…”

Nikki’s eyes went not to my eyes, but downward.

Nikki’s face turned bright red.

“It’s bigger than the Orc penis I saw on the battlefield…”

Gulp.

She swallowed.

“I-I came to ask something about tomorrow’s penis, no, schedule, but… Asking doesn’t mean asking about the penis, it’s…”

Nikki continued rambling, unable to take her eyes off the penis.