Chapter 31
When we entered the guild, there were more adventurers than yesterday. But they weren't even giving Rikila-san hostile looks; they were absorbed in conversations with their companions.
——I saw it too. It was seriously huge.
——It must've been pretty early in the morning, right?
——I'd love to ride one at least once.
I headed for the counter and asked a female staff member if I could look around the training grounds. She replied,
"That's fine, but no one's using them today."
"Oh, really?"
"Yes. Josef-san, the training officer, contacted us from home to say he was taking the morning off——"
A hangover. I get it.
"——The other adventurers have been carrying on like that since this morning. Did you see it? Apparently, a magical airship arrived. It must have been just after sunrise, but I was asleep and missed it. I hear it's currently at the duke's castle."
"A-airship!?"
Something like that exists?! I had no idea. I'd never even seen one.
"That's right. Apparently, there are only a handful of them in the Keithgran Federation, but His Majesty Gefert's 'Heavenly Princess's Castle' has come to this ducal capital."
"Oh? Is the king riding in it?"
"No, no, that's not it. Apparently, the Adventurers Guild is involved somehow, and the Guildmaster was summoned first thing this morning..."
"You."
The submaster appeared with a sullen look on his face.
"Do you have time for idle chatter?"
"Ah, s-sorry... Anyway, feel free to look around the training grounds."
"Thank you."
I wanted to ask a few more questions, but with the submaster still glaring at me, I decided to quietly leave. Then another staff member called the submaster from the back, and he hurried inside. He shouldn't have come out in the first place. Honestly.
"You were talking for quite a while."
"Ah, yes. We were... I could have heard more if the submaster hadn't shown up."
"Oh, that disagreeable bastard."
Wow, he went straight for the jugular.
"Huh? Reiji, aren't you going to the training grounds?"
"It seems no one's using them today..."
It was such a huge disappointment. This was a chance to learn a Talent, too... But it couldn't be helped. I'd give up on it here and focus on practicing in the field. I would master a Talent!
"Then, for now, let's wait for old man Dantes to come over."
"Yes."
"I heard something interesting, too."
As we moved to a corner of the guild, Rikila-san told me about it. It seemed he'd been listening in while waiting somewhere inconspicuous.
"Is that about the magical airship?"
"Hm? No, not that."
Oh, so that's not it.
"Apparently, a child who wandered onto the scene saved a caravan being attacked by monsters on the highway."
"He saved them? A child?"
"That's what they say—it was magic no one had ever seen before. You know the Eight Paths of Magic, right?"
"The eight types of magic classified under the Talent Jewel 'Magic Affinity,' right? Like Mimino-san's Flower Magic."
"Right. The two rare ones are 【Light Magic】 and 【Dark Magic】, aren't they? I've never seen either one, though..."
Rikila-san seemed to be in a good mood as he talked. Was the lean, muscular tsundere beastman finally entering his dere phase?
"Apparently, it was some kind of dark-type Skill. The monster attacking the caravan was a Lizard Centaur, with the upper body of a dragon-person and the lower body of a horse... But even its tough scales were sliced clean through in a single strike."
"...Please, wait a moment."
As I listened, I felt a prickling sensation at the nape of my neck.
"Could it have been a black, sword-like slash... that cut down the monster?"
"Yeah, exactly. What, did you hear about it from a guild staff member too?"
"————"
I knew that black slash.
Lark.
That was Lark!
"Rikila-san! Who told you that!? Tell me who can give me the details!"
"H-hey, what's gotten into you all of a sudden—"
I was pressing Rikila-san for answers when—
"——Adventurers, listen!"
The submaster had somehow come out from the back and appeared on our side again.
His face was deathly pale, and the paper in his hand trembled violently. The sight was so alarming that the adventurers stopped talking and strained to hear every word the submaster said.
"An emergency transmission has come in from Six Heavens Mine! A 'dragon' is flying toward the ducal capital! From this moment forward, the guild is issuing an emergency summons and requesting every adventurer to mobilize for the defense against the 'dragon'!"
The guild erupted into chaos, like a beehive that had been poked with a stick. Some people sneaked out of the guild, some cornered the submaster and other staff members for answers (because there was far too little information), some discussed speculation among their companions, and some remained calm and composed (those people were high-ranking adventurers in fine, gleaming armor).
I no longer had a chance to ask Rikila-san about Lark...
"Hey, what's all this commotion?"
It was Dantes-san, who had just arrived. Apparently, he'd only gone to pick up the exit permit he had requested yesterday, then come straight to the guild.
"A 'dragon'...?"
After hearing what had happened, Dantes-san furrowed his brow.
"Yeah. What do you make of it, old man?"
"I'd heard that slaves had rioted at Six Heavens Mine, but nothing about a dragon. Still, if there was a magical transmission, I suppose it must be true... But we're clearly short on information."
Dantes-san folded his arms and seemed to sink into thought. Then, when our eyes met, he looked away awkwardly.
"...Dantes-san, I—"
"Reiji, you don't have to say it."
He cut me off at once. Ah, even with everyone in such a state of alarm, how kind these people were. Rikila-san could have asked me about it after hearing the words 'mine' and 'dragon,' but he said nothing. Non-san stood behind me, gently wrapping both arms around me.
I had been in a forest not far from the mine, with a tattoo on my hand marking me as a slave.
It was obvious that I had escaped from the mine—
"No, I'll tell you. I saw something that seemed to be a 'dragon.'"
So if danger was approaching now, I had to speak up here.
The submaster had called it a 'dragon.' I had felt that it was more like a 'giant bird,' though.
I eagerly told them about the thing that had appeared above the mine, the one that seemed to be a 'dragon.' At first, Dantes-san and the others looked concerned for me, but once they realized how grave the matter was, they listened with serious expressions.
"——So that's what happened. After something like a rain of light came down, I never saw it again."
Everything fell silent.
Before I knew it, not only Dantes-san but the other adventurers were listening intently to my story.
The submaster was the first to react.
"You. If what you just told us is true, then that would mean you're a slave who escaped from the mine..."
"Well, well, this has turned into one hell of a situation."
The person who cut the submaster off was—
"Josef!"
the bald, heavily muscled training officer himself. When he spotted Dantes-san, one corner of his mouth curled into a grin and he raised one hand. Dantes-san raised his own, and the two traded light banter as their palms smacked together. "You treated me to quite a feast yesterday." "Idiot. I was the one who invited you, so of course I did."