'I'm very sorry about that!

'Hahaha ...... is fine. Well, I guess it's a rather common story, yeah.

Apparently, this was the first time for the inn to have a dragon invade the hot spring.
It is said to be an endemic species that originally inhabits the mountains outside the town. It's been twelve years since they've been in town and this is the first time they've entered the inn's hot springs.
That's true. There's no way an inn can be built on a hot spring where dragons come in here and there.

It seems that the main reason for this was that the bandits had left the place unmanned and the guards were lax, but I smiled and forgave the innkeepers, who were all on their knees, looking as if they were about to die.

Accidents are a fact of life for hunters. I had experienced a lost dragon, a lost giant demon, a lost cyclops, and a lost treasure house, so I had no chance. I had too much bad luck.
Sometimes I even have the impossible fantasy that I'm being drawn to them.

If the customer had not been a hunter, there would have been deaths, but since there were no deaths in reality, I hope you will be careful from now on.
Now that the dragon has been defeated unharmed, all I have to worry about is Tino's mental health.

Tino's eyes looked tired even after he put on his clothes. I called out to him several times, but his usual smile didn't come back.
I thought it was unavoidable for him to fight naked because of the suddenness of the battle, and I turned my gaze away from him as much as I could, but I guess the shock was too much for someone of Tino's age.
I think my senses were numbed by the fact that Liz didn't pay any attention to such things.

'That's right, ......, let's have a boiled dragon today!

'What? You're going to eat a ...... dragon?

Tino, who had been disheartened by Citry's smiling hand, looked up.

Dragons are not a very common food. They're rare, and blood, flesh, and bones all sell equally well.

But our party didn't care much about profit, so it was customary to eat a portion of the dragon on the day we hunted it.
I don't remember how it started, but our wild kids (Luke and Liz) would eat anything, even centipedes and spiders, so dragons were not so bad.

'Hey, Cry-san. You like dragons too, don't you? Today is the first dragon that Tee-chan has hunted!

Citri spoke in a cheerful voice. Tino's eyes are black and white.
Apparently, he's trying to make Tino forget his bad memories by putting a positive spin on the story. It's possible that he's just being honest, but I'm in on it.

'Yes, yes, dragons are delicious, aren't they? I'm looking forward to it.

Not only the dragons, but all of Citri's food is delicious, and I don't think we should be camping out in the middle of nowhere, but I won't point it out. But I won't point it out. I don't think there's any need to come to an inn to cook, but I won't say that either. I'll just leave it as a compliment.

'Tino is strong. Well done, well done.'

'I'm sorry, .......'

Tino turns his head and answers in a small voice. He sounds embarrassed, but happy. One more push.
Citri follows up with more enthusiasm.

'It was so cute, wasn't it, Tee-chan, to fight a dragon dressed like that with no weapons or armor?

'Yeah, yeah, I guess so. ............ What?'

'............'.

I'm not sure what to make of it. He turned down, his face red up to his ears, and was shaking. He quickly distanced himself from me.
No, I'm not looking. I'm not looking. I swear. There's no time to watch when a dragon is on the loose. I didn't show it on my face, and I didn't do anything concrete, but I was in a hurry at that moment.

Sitri winked at me self-consciously. I wanted to complain, but Tino was nearby, so I had no choice but to give a small sigh.





'What ............? There's a dragon in the hot springs?'

When Liz came back from looking for the dragon in the hot springs, she rolled her eyes when she heard the story.
I went to the mountains to look for it, but apparently I came up empty there. We went to the mountains to look for the dragon, but apparently we were unsuccessful there.

In the room, Tino is sitting on the tatami, his body shrunk and looking up at his master.
He looks somewhat anxious, but I wonder if he thinks he will be angered by his prey. Liz would never do such a thing.

She listened to me with a serious expression, but when she heard that Tino had won a fierce battle with a hot spring dragon in the nude, she smiled like a flower and jumped on Tino, who was sitting on the floor.
She hugged Tino, who let out a short scream, and stroked his head.

'Aaah! Congratulations on your first dragon, Tee! You're finally a 'dragon slayer'.

'What? What?

'We should celebrate by eating a dragon today! Right, Cry?

'Yes, yes, yes.

'What? What? Is that how it is?

The master's joyfulness confused Tino, and he looked at me. I've never heard of it before, but since Liz said so, it must be something like that.
Liz's mood was better than it's been in a while. I guess she's proud of her student's growth. And it also shows the growth of Liz as a master.

He patted Tino on the back,

'But if you were going to do it, I wish you had done it where I was. It's such a great memorial--'

'If you were here, you would have defeated her, right? We've already killed enough dragons for one day.

Well, we wouldn't have made it back alive if we didn't. .......

Tino's eyes widened, as if he'd just given up his dragon for his little apprentice. But maybe Citri is just saying what she thinks is appropriate.
She's a good judge of character, but she doesn't like the idea of a head-on fight. In the past, when Citry fought, Luke, Liz, and Anthem were usually in front of her. The root is the rear guard.

'Eh? Cry-chan, do you want to go to the hot springs with me again? I want to fight a dragon too!

'No, no, no.'



They said they were going to strengthen the security of the whole city, and there probably wouldn't be a second body.
In the first place, the main bath is badly damaged and will be closed for a while, so we'll have to put up with the bath in our room during our stay. If a dragon comes to the open-air bath in your room, you're finished.

In the first place, there was no way I was going to say yes to a dragon fight, but Liz looked at me and pouted.

'What? You're always so cool with Tee. Cry-chan, aren't you being too patronizing to Tee lately?

'!

'That's right, ...... Cry, who's more important, Tee or me? Please answer me clearly!

'!

Tino is bewildered when he sees Lise with a dragon in her head and Sitri with a bad temper.
If it were a line, it would be, 'What? What? Am I being favored? That's about it. If you're influenced by the common sense of high level hunters, you'll never get it back. .......

But fortunately, I'm feeling a little better. It's best to forget about the bad stuff.

Liz looked down at her student with a quizzical expression on her face.

'But, was Tee strong enough to beat a dragon with her bare hands? Have you been cutting corners in my training?

'? No, it's not that, sister! You know, ......... ......'

That's what I was thinking too.

Tino is talented and has been trained by Liz to the point of torture. But still, she was level 4 and this was her first dragon.
Dragon slayer" is a title that has become commonplace because dragons have a strength that sets them apart from others.

The dragon that was in the hot spring this time had a joke name and was probably the lowest of the dragons, but even so, it was not an opponent that could be defeated in the nude.

Tino's lips quivered for a while, then he looked at me fearfully and said in a whisper.

'Well,......, since that ...... monster's mask took over, my body is lighter, or rather, I understand how to move my body a little better, Or rather,''

Really? ....... It's true that the mask was said to bring out latent abilities, but does it also work like that?

It is true that the masked Tino's movements were outstanding at that time. He showed enough power to take a bite out of Rees, who would normally be beaten to a pulp, even if only temporarily. He seemed to be conscious, so it was no surprise that Tino remembered how to move his body at that time.

Hey, don't be silly. Bring out my potential. Let's get real.

Finally, Tino shrinks back and says as if begging for forgiveness.

'No, no, but I don't want to wear it anymore. ............ Yes.'

'Wow. I didn't know it worked like that. ...... Cry-chan, can I borrow it?

'Yes?

The desire for strength is as strong as ever.
I'm not sure if you've seen this before, but I'm sure you've. While Tino's eyes widened, Liz looked at it gloomily and put it on without hesitation.

A tentacle stretches out to the back of his head and holds it in place. Sitri is watching the situation with great interest.
The masked Liz was silent for a while, but then she clicked her tongue loudly and forcibly slid the tentacles away, removing the mask.

He returned the mask and cowered his shoulders.

'You can't use it. ...... I was told that I couldn't use it for security reasons, because it would be more than the specified ability.

'......!

I'm sure it's not.
In fact, it's the exact opposite. You saw how unmotivated those stationary tentacles were when I was there! It's a far cry from the tentacles that stuck to Liz.
But there's a lower limit and an upper limit. It looks like it's harder to use than I imagined. I guess it's for Tino only.

Then, Citri clapped his hands. With a big smile on his face, he said.

'Let's leave the mask aside for now and celebrate. This time, they have a weakness, so they can borrow our kitchen, and I think we can get through most of it. It's a boiled dragon, a boiled hot spring dragon!

It's like being boiled in a hot spring. .......
But I have no objection. It's the hunter's way of overriding the pain with joy.

I looked at Liz, who was in a good mood at the growth of her apprentice, and Tino, who was thinking about something, and stood up in a relaxed mood.

'What's the matter, sir?

'I'm going to go get Hailo and the others. We can't eat all the dragons with this many people, and celebrations are supposed to be big, right?

I hadn't gotten along with Mr. Hiichiro and the others very well since we left the Imperial City. I didn't share meals with them, and I didn't see them in town.
I heard that they were criminals, and they must have been following me for some reason that I don't understand, but they have been my guardians up to this point. I think he deserves at least a last look.