The battle strategy that Golden Research had come up with against this Stampede was to introduce more tanks and healers.

　In the past Stampede wouldn't pose that much danger to the attackers, but this time the danger would be much higher since they would be dealing with a dragon. Fearing the possibility of an accident, Leon had persuaded the attacker women to go behind the scenes this time. Fortunately, there were currently many attacker positions, so it was enough for the golden investigation attacker to go to the back.

　Instead, Leon would handle the frontline attacker by himself. This is a battle strategy where tanks and healers support Leon and other groups and make the most of it. Leon gladly accepted the battle method that Eunice had devised, and this time he was taking on the role of a supporter of each organization with an emphasis on safety.

　And Leon had been personally asked by Weiss of the Red Demon Squad to provide support to Alma. However, Weiss had also told him to never touch her at first, so he hadn't touched her until the ice dragon fought back earlier.

　Leon had swiftly carried the three attackers who had been fatally wounded besides Alma inside the barrier and delivered them to the white mage who made healing his profession 《Nariwai》 to save their lives. Thanks to this, the Red Demons were able to avoid the loss of four people's lives.

　Combat Cry flies in a straight line from multiple tanks to the ice dragons coming near the barrier. However, the ice dragons seemed to recognize Leon's figure, who had saved Alma, and seemed to be aiming at him.


''Enchanted Flameu!


　As soon as Leon granted the longsword a flame, his figure was scraped away and he found himself giving a slash to the ice dragon's wings. The flames granted to the sword drew a trajectory along Leon's movements and scattered around the ice dragon.

　With the golden blessing and the support of the musicians, Leon's AGI (agility) was at S. His movements, which incorporate a fly, are no longer even difficult to follow with the eye. Even the ice dragons have been stuck unable to keep up with his quickness.

　Leon gives slashes around the broken wings and shaved scales from the meteo stream. And a few of the tanks are flying one combat cry after another to get the ice dragon's hate.

　The ice dragon let out a scream as if it was annoyed with Leon who was flying around a little bit, and tried to catch Leon by blowing cold air out of his body. But by the time the cold air is about to touch it, Leon has already retreated. Then he ran around until the cold air stopped.

　It seems that the ice dragon can't leave the cold air out all the time either, and after a bit of time the cold air will subside. After confirming this, Leon slammed his longsword down while rotating his body like a solitary musician.


''d*mn, that's hard!''


　The scales, which have been cooled like steel by the cold air, flicked the sword at the scales, and I waved my right hand, which was tingling and numb. But fortunately, the slash passes through the scales and wings that Alma had injured. For a while, Leon attacked around that area, overwhelming the ice dragon alone.

　The ice dragon also ate the Meteor Stream twice, and its movements were slow because it had crashed and its wings were broken and worn out. Just when it seemed that it was time to take the ice dragon's hate with the Combat Cry that the tanks were releasing, a red line pierced the ice dragon's side.

　Weiss, the Red Demon Clan leader, was holding a crossbow that was dyed in crimson and shooting a series of red arrows. The ice dragon was visibly frightened as it received the arrows, which were enhanced by the Phoenix Soul (Phoenix Soul), and the ice dragon was visibly frightened.

　Weiss' unique skill was quite compatible with the ice dragon, so he had already defeated one of the ice dragons to come to his aid. From behind him, a white mage was flying in to follow him on the fly.

　Weiss turned to the group of golden investigators and saw that Alma was gone. Then he raised his red crossbow as if to say that he would take care of the rest.


You can't take your prey, you know!


　Leon happily turned his fangs and poked his longsword at the spot where Weiss' arrow had pierced him. The visibly changing color scales were much softer than before, and the longsword stabbed easily.

　Weiss stared at Leon, who drew his longsword and flew next to him and stopped in a flash. His eyes looked very cold, despite the feverish weapon in his hand.


''........I'm enough on my own.
That's my line!
...and Alma...
He's fine. But it was a close one. If it weren't for me, four of you would be dead.
So I'm leaving it to you. I thank you.


　Like Tsutomu, Weiss had intended to split up the ice dragons and kill them all one by one in his original plan. But due to Alma's strong request, Weiss reluctantly left one ice dragon to her. So when Leon directed his anger at her, Weiss thanked her, even though she resented Alma a bit.

　Then, after storing a mechanical crossbow in his magic bag, Weiss held a longsword similar to Leon's. Immediately the longsword in his hand turned a deep red color.


''Why don't you go somewhere else?　I'm good with ice dragons.
Sorry, the rest of the house is full!


　The two of them were conversing with each other while dealing with the ice dragon. Weiss' longsword, which was turning a deep red color, melted and split the ice dragon's scales one after another, and Leon attacked the scaled parts one after another.


''Why don't you go towards the black dragon?''
'Camille-san, Garum, and Tsutomu are there, and they've got all these other baquettes. There's no point in me going there.
...of the nobility, then.
Is old man Melcho there?
..........


　Weiss gave up on those words for the last time and silently began attacking the ice dragon. You're still a difficult guy, Leon said to himself, and he and Weiss cut down on the ice dragon.


''Huh.........''


　The Golden Examining Tanks, who were shooting Combat Cry below them, let out a sigh when they saw the two men doing whatever they wanted. From what they could see, the two men alone were overwhelming the ice dragon. They even felt that if they messed with them, they would rather drag their feet, they felt frustrated.

　And the ice dragon was promptly defeated by the two of them. Weiss, who ignored Leon's request for a high-five afterwards, quickly left.


　--▽▽▽--


　And the dragon slaying battle that started in the morning ended with the victory of the labyrinth city by noon.

　As a result, Aldrete Crow had four fire dragons. The nobleman's private army had one ice dragon and two fire dragons. The Red Demon Corps had two ice dragons. The guild had two black dragons. The guards were able to defeat one of the lightning dragons and complete the task as planned. Afterwards, with Weiss' testimony, the results of the ice dragon unit were given over to the golden investigation.

　The nobleman's private army stranded two fire dragons that had crashed in a battle using anti-monster mages, and defeated them along with four Aldrete Crow summonses that came to their aid. The ice dragons were defeated by Melcho alone. I specialize in humanoid monsters, Melcho blurted out, but he was overheard by everyone.

　The lightning dragon, which was considered the least injured and troublesome from prior information, was fought mainly by Bruno, the director of the guard group, and won a brilliant victory. He's shrunk!　And Bruno was sadly holding his hair, which had been charred by the lightning, but despite his dumbness, his success was phenomenal. If Bruno had not been able to defeat the thunder dragon, there would have been many casualties.

　By the time it was approaching noon, everyone had finished reporting on their achievements, and to my surprise, they had managed to get through the dragon defeat without any casualties. Tsutomu looked a little surprised at that result. This is because he thought there would be deaths from the Red Demon Corps, the Guard Corps and the nobleman's private army corps.

　Especially the security corps that was in charge of the thunder dragon, Tsutomu had expected that there would definitely be deaths from the security corps, and he greatly revised his assessment of the security corps.

　After that, the process of recovering the fallen dragons began while preparations for a large scale cookout by the nobleman's private army were underway. One by one, the dragons turned into corpses, led by intermediate and low-ranking searchers, were brought into the barrier.

　Even a single scale of the dragons' materials can generate a great deal of G (gold), which will help fund the reconstruction of the northern city. The dead dragons are dismantled on the spot by a group of dismantlers, cut into pieces, reduced to as small as possible, and then placed in a giant magic bag with custom-made seams.

　After Leon had spotted the northern side and confirmed that the stampede had not yet arrived, the searchers were served bread and warm soup. Meat with bones, etc. were served. The contrast between Amy, who was nibbling on the meat with bones in a classy manner as if she was worried about being seen by the public, and Garum, who was gobbling it down, was stark.


(I think they already knew that.)


　Tsutomu remembered that there was quite a bit of people around him watching Amy eat at a great pace in the Fisherman's Restaurant, but he didn't tell her.

　After that, Luke and the summoners gave everyone a chance to touch each other with four monsters in tow, and the press coverage and the cheers of the people made it a topsy-turvy affair. Tsutomu emerged from the wave of enthusiasm and went to the northern barrier alone, sitting on a bench and looking out over the northern side.

　The dragon's attack was prevented. And that too without any casualties. That made Tsutomu happy and relieved. But if this was a dragon feast, an even more powerful dragon would appear after this. I'm sure there are several candidates for this, but they are all troublesome.

　Even if it does appear, there are multiple candidates, so countermeasures are difficult to take. Therefore, Tsutomu was trying to formulate countermeasures while making various predictions in his mind. A nobleman's barrier magic. Anti-monster magic tools. The strength of the searchers. How to move them to defeat the dragon.


You are not going to go?　It's a great opportunity for you to make a name for yourself.


　The one who called out to the expressionless and thoughtful Tsutomu from behind him was Melcho, who had his hands behind his back and placed them on his waist. Tsutomu recognized the grandfather as an important man in the aristocracy, so he stood up and straightened his posture, a little nervously. Then Melcho waved his hand in a cumbersome manner.


'Don't worry about it. I'm just an old man. I'm just an old man.
Thank you very much.


　Nevertheless, Tsutomu is meeting Melcho for the first time. He naturally felt his shoulders rise in nervousness as Tsutomu had the scary impression that the nobles had cut off the explorers. Melcho sat down on a bench some distance away from Tsutomu, touching his fine white beard.


'You look quite gloomy,' said Melcho. It's not as if they made it through this unusual stampede without any casualties.
Well the stampede isn't over yet, you know.
But there are only a bunch of monsters left. I don't think we need to be so careful. Besides, I heard from Camille that you were very successful in the Black Dragon War. I've heard from Camille that you did very well in the Black Dragon War. What would you do if you weren't so pleased?
'That's true. Sorry.


　Everyone in the guild had noticed that Tsutomu was looking unenthusiastic after defeating the black dragon, and they were concerned to make him feel better. Tsutomu regretted that he was certainly sorry for seeming to put water on the table while everyone was happy.


'But I have a bad feeling about this. Let's see, Melcho-san was the head of the nobleman's private army corps, right?　If you don't mind, could you make sure we're vigilant, just in case?
A bad feeling. Do you have a basis for that?
I don't have any proof, to be honest. But the fact that the dragon is here makes me uneasy.


　Since he couldn't say that the basis for this was his knowledge of the game, or something like that, Tsutomu kept his mouth shut. Melcho immediately noticed that Tsutomu seemed to be hiding something, but he didn't pursue it. I'm sure that Tsutomu is indeed an enigmatic figure, but he doesn't do any harm. He was rather a beneficiary, providing information that I could not have known.

　I'm sure that if he pursued this, Tsutomu would leave the city, so Melcho kept his mouth shut and crossed his arms, wondering what to do.


I'm not sure. You can't tell him directly, but I'll keep it in mind. In fact, Tsutomu's advance information has helped me a lot.
Thank you.


　Tsutomu was reassured by Melcho, who tapped his head with his fingertips, and bowed deeply. Then from behind him, a voice that was amplified by some kind of loudspeaker magic tool began to flow out.


"Ah, ah, Tsutomu, Tsutomu. Can you hear me? Please come to the central square immediately! I'm getting a reporter. Please come quickly!


　Amy's voice, amplified by the loudspeakers, echoed around them. As Tsutomu held his head in place, wondering if it was a sign of a lost child, Melchow let out a ho-ho-ho, hermit-like laugh.


'Here, why don't you go?'
'Yes, sorry. Thank you for listening to my baseless story. Now,


　Prompted by a smiling Melcho, whose face broke out in a smile, Tsutomu made his way to the source of the voice. Then, after finding Amy with the loudspeaker and looking accusingly at her, she poked her head in a mocking poke and flicked her tongue out.