Running in the direction of the scream, Chrysus checks it out.

'Have you ever fought, Yowaningen, Childrens? I have not, sir!

'...... Oh, of course you have.'

Krus glanced at me and rolled his eyes. I shrug my shoulders with a half-smile.

I'm unlucky. Because of my bad luck, I've encountered various demons in my life.
Since I've been out of the Imperial Capital, I've had fewer such opportunities, but I've already encountered most of the powerful and rare phantoms. Strangely enough, the rarer they are, the easier it is to encounter them. It's not so rare anymore.
Of course, to be precise, I have encountered them, but never fought them. My role has always been to activate the warding fingers while pretending to be a nihilist.

A guest on the same floor, perhaps having heard the voice, came out of his room with an expression of not knowing what had happened. It would have sounded like a joke if I told them that a dragon had appeared. This is especially true since the guests staying at the inn are probably rich and comfortable.

Dragons are a rare beast to begin with, but childrens are one of the rarest. Needless to say, it is not the kind of beast that appears in the city. I remember it because of its impact.

Without stopping, I activated the Mirage Form I had on my arm and recreated the childrens' form I had seen before.
I'm sure you've heard of it. I'm sure the treasure will come in handy.

What appeared in front of him was a dark blue dragon. It was about the size of a large dog, two sizes smaller than the hot spring dragon he had seen at the hot springs in Surus. It had large indigo wings and a long tail, giving it the appearance of a dragon at first glance.

'Childrens are very small dragons that form groups. They are good at flying and breathe cold air and ice breath. Each one is not as strong as the average dragon, but they can be tricky opponents.

I'm not sure how long it's been since I was attacked by a pack of childragons ......, but I'll give you some information on childragons for the first time ever.
It's not the most durable or powerful of dragons, but its winged maneuverability, powerful ice breath, and its ability to move in packs make it a very dangerous dragon. In some cases, it may be more troublesome than ordinary dragons.

I hadn't been useful in a long time, but Crus just blinked at me and said.

'And?

'? Well, what do you mean?'

Kryss pauses, his face reddening as he closes in on me.

'Do you have any other information, sir? Do you think I'm a fool, Yowaningen? I know such basic information!

It seems I'm useless today. I don't have any other information.

'......'s weakness is fire.

I'm not sure what to do, but I'm sure I'm not the only one. Give me instructions! I don't know what to say.

I don't know what you're talking about. ...... I don't know anything. I'm not sure what to do, but I'm sure I'm not the only one.

And that's when I opened my eyes.

What crossed my mind was a gift from Citri.

I had a bad feeling about this.

It's not every day that a dragon suddenly attacks a human village. They are usually found in unexplored areas where mana and materials are thick, and even when they do attack, there are usually signs beforehand. Dragons are like disasters.

No matter how unlucky I am, there is no such thing as a dragon attacking the inn where I am staying with pinpoint accuracy. It's hard to say for sure because of the example of the hot spring dragon, but I don't think it will happen twice in a row. If this is the norm, you will die.

If this is the case, then there is a strong possibility that this incident was not an accident, but a man-made one.
And if that is the case, the most likely culprit is--

'Well, of course, ......, yes, I have an idea.

'You have an idea? I do!

This time, Krus's eyes widened in surprise, and he raised his voice an octave higher than usual.
Frowning, he excused himself.

'But I can't give you any details yet. It's still a matter of speculation, and I probably shouldn't say anything.'

The person most likely to be the culprit is, after all, Cicely.
I'm not sure what to make of this, but I think it's a good idea. At the very least, it must be the work of a superhuman who has sucked up a lot of mana material.

I'm starting to feel cold. I think I'm gonna puke.
The possibility that the meaning behind the heart symbol was to signal 'I'm sending you a childrens' made me want to return to the Imperial Capital right now.

Common sense dictates that this is impossible, but we must not think with common sense. If I asked Citly to send Childrens to me, he would definitely do it.
I didn't even ask him to do it this time, but what I'm trying to say is that the culprit is Citori.

After all, I said there would be dragons, and there were. Considering the gift of chocolates, Sitri must have been nearby, so there is a possibility that he could have overheard my conversation with Franz. As you can see from her actions at the Gathering of the White Swords, her finely tuned nature sometimes leads to "overkill".

Therefore, we must hurry. If the Emperor were to be seriously injured, Citly would be caught. He won't get a reduced sentence for no offense. Well, it's too late now when you've poisoned him, but the lesser the crime, the better.

Come on, Krus. I'll hurry. We have to protect the Emperor!

'? I don't need to be told what to do.

I'm not sure what to do, but I'll do my best.
I'm not sure if you've seen this before, but I'm sure you've. I really want a ring that will not tire me when I run.

There was no one at the front of the stairs. The Knights must have been on guard, but they must have gone to help.
Krus shuddered. The air must have been chilled by Tyldra's power. I'm still comfortable thanks to my 'perfect vacation', but that's another annoying trait of Childrens.

'Crus, you're the vanguard. I'll back you up from the back.''

'? Yowaningen, you're an idiot, sir!

'This is the way we do it! Don't worry, the main one is Telm!



He pushes Crus, whose face turns red, and runs up the stairs.

The third floor was a battlefield. The first thing I saw was a broken window. The large windows, which had been there to let in a lot of sunlight, were broken, and thick shards of glass were strewn all over the carpet.
There was not a single childrens upstairs, but they may have entered through the window. No matter how thick the glass was, there was no way it could keep out a dragon.

'Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!

Facing the three blue dragons floating in the air, a knight in familiar armor of the Kingsguard charged.
He roared loudly and swung his sword down, but the tip of the sword, which was filled with woven spirit, surprisingly did not even scratch the dragon.

It wasn't that the sword was slow. It was the sheer agility of Childrens' movements.
Too agile, in all directions. The three-dimensional evasion of Tyldra was astonishingly agile even to the casual observer.
The knight's blade was sharp and impressive even to the untrained eye, but it seemed that he lacked experience fighting small, quick phantoms.

I deleted the illusion of Childrens that I had left out and blurted out.

'It's smaller than I thought.

The childrens that the knight was dealing with was two sizes smaller than the one I had met in the past.
My phantom is about the size of a large dog, but the childrens that the knight is dealing with is only about the size of a cat.

The childrens that completely avoided the sword fight glowed faintly. It's a sign of breath.

It's not the time to be talking about it, sir! I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to do that.

Crucis shouted, hitting the floor with the long staff he was holding.
The change was instantaneous. The sparks of fire that had been created before his eyes quickly flared up and took the shape of a bird. Attack magic.

A glittering bird of flame flies without a signal. Its speed is no less than that of a childron.
The Childrens stop their breath movements and float away from the soundless, high-speed flames. Then, just as its head turned toward me, its blue body was engulfed in flames.

The bird of flame that had once evaded me turned and struck me again.
A tracking attack spell--I'm not a magician, but to use an attack spell of this level in an instant is no mean feat. I knew that Crus was not weak, but this is the first time I've seen him in combat.

'You're good, that's great!

''Shut up, do you think I'm stupid? 'The Flaming Swarm!

Krus casts a new spell without taking a breath.

The childera that was hit by the bird of flame was not dead. Its wings were scorched, but it still had enough energy to float in the air. The remaining two childras were also fully prepared for battle and were hostile to us.

The countless sparks of fire that were produced turned into birds of a smaller flame than before. Then, they all began to fly at once.
The flaming bird and the ice dragon collided with each other, and a white vapor rose up. The knight who was fighting was completely left behind.

The knight who had been fighting was completely left behind. Crucius leaned on his staff and spat.

''The magic power--''

'What? It's already gone!

I know that spirit people have tens of times more magic power than humans! The words that came out unintentionally were met with a glare from Crus.

'? It's the Yowaningen's fault, sir! I'm not very good with fire magic. That's right!

'But if it was Lucia...'

But if it's Lucia...' I'll punch her! Make sure you protect me! Hey, you guy, get out of the way! You can't use range magic!


The bird of fire and the dragon of ice were dominated by the former. You'll be able to get a lot more than just a few.


............ Now that you mention it, could it be that ...... Childrens weakness is not fire?

I'm not sure what to make of it. I'm sure it's really a fire weakness, Yowaningen!

'But, hang in there, hang in there!

'Shut up! Shut up, sir! "Flame Heat Killing Wind"! Hah, hah--'

A red glowing wind calmed the corridor. I'm not sure what you're talking about. It almost crashed for a moment, but quickly recovered and flew wide as if it had recovered.

I'm not sure why I'm doing so well when I have so many weaknesses, sir!

Krus sweat poured down his forehead and stubbornly glared at the dragon.
But his long, slender limbs trembled, and his breathing became ragged. He was nearing the end of his magical power. Apparently, the charge of the warding fingers had come farther than he had expected.

At that moment, the knight man who was standing near the wall kicked the floor. He jumped into the magically heated air and swung his sword at the wobbling Childrens with great force.
It's a great way to make sure you don't get caught in the middle of the action. This is a great way to make sure that you don't end up in a situation where you're not the only one.

Without even looking at it, the knight man slashes at the other childrens. It's a flowing series of blows.
The slashed blade snatches the body of one of the childrens, and the other one makes a big move to evade.
The knight shouted in a muffled voice while attacking violently.

I'm not sure what to do, but I'm sure I'm not the only one. I've had enough of this place, and I'm not going to let you--'

'All right. Let's go, Crus.

A man attacks, his face turning red. His movements were sharper than at first.
Tyldra is injured. I don't think she'll be defeated that easily. If I may say so, for his sake, we should put the Emperor first.

'Huh? Are you serious?

I silently removed the chain from my waist, activated it, and threw it.
The dog's chain landed on the floor with all four legs and jumped directly to Childrens in the air.



Please don't break it.

I closed my eyes as if in prayer and said to the stunned Crus.

'Come on, it's okay now. Let's go.

If we don't hurry, it won't be a joke if even one of us dies.

Sitri will give you a serious lecture later.









A room in the inn. Looking up at the shouting ceiling, the man gave a small, mouth-only smile.
I was surprised that there was no attack at all, but the curse was successfully activated this time as well.

In the event that you have any questions regarding where and the best way to get in touch with us, please feel free to contact us.

The dragons that are sucked in will not stop until they kill the target.
In the face of a real, angry dragon, the knights of the Kingsguard who have been escorting him will realize their own powerlessness.

By now, the Thousand Transformations must be in a panic. It's the dragon you want.
Or did he read the part where the man cursed him?

The Thousand Transformations he observed was a man contrary to the rumors. His every move seemed pointless. To top it off, he even made the obvious mistake of causing a delay in the Emperor's itinerary. He didn't seem to be worthy of attention.
There had been some changes to the plan, but things were going so well that it was hard to believe that the Level 8 Hunter had intervened.
If things continued as planned, the man's goal would be accomplished without any problems.

There were some concerns, though, and the man frowned, breaking off the thought.

Either way, the job would remain the same. What is required of a man is not to judge. He just has to do what he has to do and do it faithfully.