I yelped, but upon closer inspection, the shape was a bit different than the dragon I knew.
　The biggest difference is that the guy in front of me doesn't have wings on his back. And on the outside, it looks like a Komodo dragon with large, hard-looking scales attached to its entire body. It's quite large, with a total length of more than 15 meters, and since it's called a dragon, its sense of intimidation is completely different from that of any other monster.

''Appraisal.''

Name... earth dragon.　
Gender...male
Rank...S
Race... lower class dragon species

HP...40,000.
MP... 15,000.

Strength...S+.
Defensive Power...S+
Speed...
Magic... A
Mental capacity...C+.
Growth Potential...B+　
Luck...C+.

Skills....Earth magic 8, anomaly resistance 7, life force enhancement 7, physical ability enhancement 6, regeneration ability 4, and concealment 3.


　I don't know if it was because I saw it in person or because I came close to it, but I was finally able to use 'appraisal'. This earth dragon is a demon classified as a low-grade dragon, but as far as its status is concerned, it must be one of the strongest of them. Perhaps, if it was only strength, it might be close to the intermediate level.

I'm going to be the decoy for now. In the meantime, the two of you should rescue Ricky! If you can, go straight through the woods! I'll take you along the river. I'll lead you to the other side!

　Now, I would be a good opponent to fight against. But it's hard to fight in the forest. So I need to lead them out of the forest, where they're as easy to fight as possible.

''Will you be okay on your own!

　Jin says worriedly, but that ground dragon is probably like a stronger wyvern subspecies. Depending on how you look at it, it's an easy opponent to fight against as long as it doesn't fly.

''Don't worry. Besides, Slarin and the others are there.

　And since it's not a convention, you can use the gigantics. That's enough to make the change.

'All right. Don't take it easy!

　Taking that word as my cue, I split up with Jin and the others.
　Just as Ricky and the others were coming towards us, I pulled out the sword I had bought as a disposable from my bag.
　It's an iron sword, but it's thick and strong, and a pretty sturdy one at that.

'Ricky! Keep running!

　Giving instructions as we passed each other, I flew straight to the ground dragon and swung my sword down between the ground dragon's eyes.

''Gugya!''

　The earth dragon stopped moving with that blow, but it didn't seem to do much damage, just a crack in the scales between his eyebrows. In contrast, this one's sword had a terrible blade spill and was no longer useful as a sword.

''Whoa! It's harder than I expected.......thank God it's a disposable sword.......

　I used a disposable one because I was hoping to distract and, oh well, do some damage.... Even the one I use all the time might have chipped off.

I'll get a hammer next time. I knew you'd be angry.

　The earth dragon tried to bite me while I was in the middle of making new plans after returning to King's Landing.

''Shall I lead him on quickly?''



　I adjusted my speed to entice the ground dragon to keep flying. There were a few times when the groundhog looked like he was about to give up, so I poked him in the nose every once in a while to tease him.

　With that, the earth dragon chased it out of the forest.

''Eat it!''

　I let off a few 'Firebrit' shots, but they were all blocked by the hard scales and disappeared.

'It's as hard as it looks then how about this!

　I aimed at the spot where the magic had just hit, and fired three shots in a row, firing a stronger fireblit.
　The magic aimed at the paw shattered the scales with the first shot, pierced the skin and reached the bone with the second shot, and slipped to the other side with the third shot.

''Ggaaaa! Grrrrrr.

　Here, the earth dragon began to become more cautious. It seems to have finally figured out that I'm strong enough to harm Jiryuu (myself).
　Jiryuu started to retreat a little bit, but suddenly he was slashed from behind.

''Gawp!''

　Shiroumaru. Shiroumaru, who was chasing behind the earth dragon, cut at the earth dragon with a 'slash' from behind the earth dragon.
　However, even with Shiroumaru's all-out strike, he was only able to peel off a few scales of the earth dragon and could only do a small amount of damage.

　However, the fact that it was injured, albeit only slightly, surprised Jiryuu, and he tried to drop down to a position where he could see both me and Shiroumaru, but this time Slarin's Fireball and Solomon's Rays (Breath) attacked from above Jiryuu, but this time, Slarin's Fireball and Solomon's Rays (Breath) attacked him from above.

　It's not enough to destroy the scales of the earth dragon, but the sudden attack from the sky didn't seem to surprise the earth dragon.

''After all, lower level dragons are generally of low intelligence...''

　I looked at the earth dragon that was about to panic and remembered the wyvern subspecies I defeated the other day.

''Come to think of it, we should take the wyvern subspecies to Jang and the others.

　I remembered that the Wyvern subspecies had left an inspection, so I decided to quickly kill the earth dragon.

''Let's go then!''

　I summon the Gigant while approaching the earth dragon. Only my right hand has been replaced with a large sword that I had made in Kelly's workshop.

　The earth dragon stops moving as its eyes are drawn to the huge arms that suddenly appear.
　It seems that he is not very smart after all. The only way to survive here is to keep moving and escape by forcing your way through.

''Gogya, gogya, bogya, gugya.......''

　A left fist strike to the earth dragon's brow, a right large sword strike to the neck, a left uppercut to levitate him, and a right blow to his throat.

'Oops, too good to be true!'

　Blood gushed out of the earth dragon's throat. A demon of this class has value in blood. So they use magic to freeze the falling blood.
　At that time, a large drop of water fell from the sky. It's Slarin.

　Slarin swallows the blood I've frozen. If this were Shiroumaru or Solomon, I would rush to spit it out, but with Slarin, there's no problem. Perhaps when he sees me freezing the blood, he understands that I need it and keeps it in the magic bag inside his body.

　Eventually, the blood stopped and the earth dragon stopped moving completely.
　So I placed the earth dragon on the ground on its back so that the rest of the blood wouldn't spill out, and I saw Garratt come running from a distance.

''Oi~! Temma, I'm here to help... or rather, I guess it's completely too late...

　Garratt's face was drawn up as he looked at the lying earth dragon.

''Where are the other two?''

　I expected Jin and Ricky to arrive later, but apparently they were waiting at their base yesterday.
　According to Garratt, the moment Ricky met up with them, he collapsed due to a loss of tension. The two of them carried him to the base, but they were worried about me, so Garratt, who is light, went to check on me and was planning to come in to cover me if he could.

'Well, it was a complete waste of time. If I had been a little earlier, I could have claimed my share of the Earth Dragon!

　And I was patting myself on the back. In this case, the other three had contributed nothing to defeating the Earth Dragon, so I would have it all to myself.

''Well, I'll share some. Within the bounds of common sense.''

'Seriously? Thank God!

　I was pleased with that. In fact, he didn't help defeat them, but he was part of the operation, so Jin and Garratt had the right to be. Ricky was... well, he interpreted it as a finder (encounter) and that was an added bonus.

　I could have dismantled the earth dragon right here, but I decided to take it back to avoid wasting as much blood as possible.

''But, well ... where are we going to dismantle it, this?

　Garratt's question is most likely, but there was only one place I could think of.

'The King's Castle. I had to go there to deal with the wyvern subspecies anyway, so I'll deal with it there as well. There's no doubt that there are dismantlers (knights) there... and if you dismantle them elsewhere, there will be people who will come and cause a commotion because of the curiosity...

　A king or a grand duke or a warlord or a princess... and then, at the end of the day, Mary and the others will come in anger and make a big deal out of it. Maybe, surely, definitely....
　If you're sure there's going to be a ruckus, you might as well pick a place where there's no problem with making a ruckus.



　Garratt doesn't want to get involved in that mess. Well, I don't want to get involved in it either.

But if we put this thing up for auction, I don't know what it's going to fetch I'm sure it's going to be a big deal.

Yeah, so I won't let him out! It's a hassle to go through the interruption process and all that... By the way, is the earth dragon good?

　I've heard that wyvern is good. I don't know about the subspecies, but I think it's probably good. Jiryuu....looks hard, but if it's cooked for a long time like beef muscle, it might be good.

''Some of them are up for auction, and I'm not really worried about money... and looking at our members, I'd rather eat them than sell them.

　At those words, Garratt looked at Shiroumar and Solomon and nodded.

'Well then, let's head over to the djinn and theirs. It's a big hunt, so let's get the hell home.

　I put the earth dragon in my bag and headed for Jin and the others, but it was farther than I expected, so I grabbed Garratt on the way and flew away.



'Oh Tenma, you're safe.............................Hey Garratt! When did you become a Temma's boy!

　Jin started teasing us as soon as we got back.
　I guess what Jin meant was that he compared me grabbing Garratt's backpack and carrying it to a parent dog carrying a puppy in its mouth.

'Temma, you can leave out that share you mentioned earlier, Jin.
Okay.

　The djinn didn't know what that meant, and he burst out laughing for a while, but when Garratt told him what it meant, he got down on his knees and apologized.




'I'm sorry! Get in a good mood!

　Seeing a very desperate Jin on his knees, I decided to forgive him. Apparently, when he was heading to Ricky's place, he ran off in a hurry and left his prey behind. And when he returned, he found that his prey had disappeared.

　While Jin and the others were talking about this, Ricky was awkwardly looking at them from a little distance. That would be true. This was carelessness on the part of the djinn and the others, but Ricky was the cause of it.
　For some reason, when Ricky was about to take his prey out of his bag and hand it to the djinn and the others, Slarin approached the djinn.
　Then he spat out a boar and a deer.

'Whoa! That's the boar I hunted, isn't it!
This is the deer I killed!

　After spitting out the djinn's prey, Slarin once again swallowed the boar and the deer, one by one.
　The djinn are confused by this action, but Slarin is trying to tell me something.

'What? Djinn, Garratt, and Slarin say, 'I protected the prey I left behind, so I'll take a portion of the prey as a reward.'

　Slarin is bouncing his body in affirmation. That's why Slarin and the others were a little late that time.......shrewd.

''Nah!''
Seriously?

　The djinn were surprised, but if Slarin didn't collect them, it wouldn't be surprising if the prey were all gone.
　Slarin's methods are a bit dirty, but the actions of the djinn and others in these cases are often seen as 'giving up the rights to the prey'. Besides, they thought that since they would get a share of the Earth Dragon from me, they would make money from it, so they didn't complain.
　However, he was quite regretful........
　I'm not hunting any animals (edible meat) today, so I guess I got it on my own.

''Well then, let's go home. Let's summarize the story of the earth dragon's share while we leave.

　This time, the earth dragons were not going to be redeemed by the guild, so it was decided that the djinn's share was part of the materials. Therefore, we decided to decide ahead of time which materials we wanted.

　For the djinn, it's the top and bottom of their fangs, for Garratt it's the claws on their paws, and for Ricky it's the sharp spines that grew on their backs.
　We decided to divide it up with an extra scale and a few kilograms of meat for each of them. We don't know if the meat is edible yet, but since it's the meat of a low-grade dragon, even if it's inedible, there must be many people who will take it in for research or something.

　When we were nearing the royal capital, I saw some kind of shadowy group.
　When I looked closely, I saw that there were many familiar faces in the group.

''You there! Stop!

　A man at the head of the group approaches on horseback.

'The direction you guys came from has brought me information that a ground dragon has appeared, do you know anything about it?

　The man is talking to Ricky in the groom's seat.　

'I've got him, then. Mr. Squad Leader.

　Turning to Ricky, I replied by pulling out the window. The person who approached me must have been the squad leader of the First Order.

'What? ...... Is that true!

　It seems that it was the squad leader of the First Order, after all.
　This is the person who was thrown by Mr. Dinh as a weapon when he participated in the knight's training before. Well, that time I kicked this person who flew at me, but.......
　Then I remembered them because I had greeted them a few times when I showed up at the royal castle.

　This group seemed to be made up of the First Order and the adventurers.

''If there are adventurers here, did you have a call for me?''

　The answer to that question is yes, he said. But the call was made yesterday afternoon, and we were already gone, so they gave up.
　Some of the members here were active in the convention, such as "The Dragon Shooter", "Rowen Glynn", "Blue Hornet", and others.
　However, since none of them were present at the house banquet, when I asked the squad leader, he said that none of them were in a position to move.

　First, the 'Sword of Dawn'. Due to the absence of Jin and Garratt, they did not participate due to their lack of strength.
　Seigenteimers A, B, and C' is a hangover.
　I ate too much of "Gunjo's Flowers (Three Girls)".
　Amur also ate too much.
　Blanca gave priority to finding a souvenir for his wife.
　Grandpa is hungover.
　Other than that, he's out of commission.

　And as far as I know most of the reasons are as far as I'm concerned, as far as I'm concerned!

　Fortunately, it's not compulsory, so there are no penalties, apparently. Originally, the members who participated in the banquet were adventurers from other towns, except for the people from Kukri Village, so it was not calculated, but the people who went to ask for help must have been surprised.

''Anyway, if you defeated it, let me out once. I want to see it with my own eyes.

　So he took out the earth dragon in front of everyone's eyes.
　Everyone seemed to think it was a little smaller individual, and they were surprised at how much bigger it was than they expected.

''This is the four of you........''

No, it took Tenma alone to kill him. We didn't do anything.

　Jin quipped to the squad leader, who was exclaiming.
　The other adventurers showed a look of surprise at that. After all, saying that they didn't help in any way could hurt their reputation.
　Normally when they say that, they say that they helped a little, or that they were concentrating on covering up.

Well, there's no point in lying about it. It's more like I was covering for you by saying that I didn't want to drag Tenma down!

　Garratt's way of saying it was strange, but it seemed to have gotten through to the other adventurers.

　Normally, to defeat a demon of this class, it takes 10 skilled adventurers to defeat it.
　Therefore, it's only natural for people to think that I was the only one to defeat them.
　But I have a history. It is unofficially listed in the guild's records, but rumors are spreading among the nobility and those involved in the Kukri village, and the demonstration of power at the recent tournament has lent credence to the term "dragon killer.

　Moreover, the core of the adventurers here are the ones who fought me.
　I'm sure you'll be able to find a way to make the most of it.
　So I don't know what the truth is, but on the surface it seems that they believed it.

I'm sure that this is indeed the ground dragon that was reported. However, I can't report that he has returned because he was exterminated by His Majesty the King's order to go and defeat him. I'm sorry, but tell me more about where the earth dragon was. The defeat is gone, but there is still something left to do, including investigation.

　Even as a knightly order, they went to the trouble of hiring adventurers to go out to war. It's not a good idea to go back, but it's not cool if you don't achieve anything.
　It's true that I'm not going to ask you to give me a ground dragon, but I'm sure you'll want to say that secretly.

''I would like to have this ground dragon examined together with the Wyvern subspecies, is it possible?

　So I decided to give a little help. If I take the earth dragon to the knight's group, that alone will increase the work of the knight's group. More work means more reports to the upper echelons, so we can also say that leaving the army was not a mistake. Simply put, it means more funds for activities and salaries.

　The squad leader was very pleased with my proposal. It was as if the credit was rolling in without any effort.
　But this is just a transaction. You can give them the record that you were involved in the case of the earth dragon and this one (me) can secure free labor for the dismantling of the earth dragon and sell the debt of gratitude to Lyle-sama, the head of the order. Of course, I have the right to all the materials of the earth dragon, so I'll make sure to tell him that.

　In the meantime, I can't make a promise here and there because it's only verbal, so I asked the squad leader to write a stroke and one of the knights took it back to the royal capital. The contract would be decided by Lyle-sama.
　Well, I'll have to make it out of ten, though. After all, that man has done a lot of things since the first time I met him, so it seems that most of his salary is being managed by Maria-sama. In short, he's the head of the military and yet he's getting his allowance from his mother.
　As expected, I feel sorry for her, even though she deserved it.





'Temma! Well done!

　After separating from the defeating party and returning to the royal capital, I headed straight to the royal castle, where Lyle-sama was waiting for me at the gate.
　Around it, guards and gatekeepers are also waiting. Lyle-sama's first voice seems to be deliberately saying it to them so that they can hear it, rather than to me.

(Sorry, Temma, tune in.)

　Lyle-sama whispers to me, tapping me on the shoulder.

'Ha! I found a ground dragon, so I killed it while I was at it.

　My words startled the guards and gatekeepers who were around me.
　It's natural. It's not the kind of thing that you would kill a creature called an earthly dragon just for the sake of ....
　Normally, if you find one, you should run back as fast as you can. It's also a way for you to get rid of the problem, and it's a possible reward for just reporting it.

You can't get away with it. Then let's go!

　With Lyle-sama's guidance, we headed to the knights' training grounds. As expected, we can't take out an earth dragon here, so the training ground was chosen as a place where it could be large and dirty.　

''So, Temma I'm sorry, can you pretend that the reason you went to that forest was because of my instructions? Of course, I'll pay you for that, and I won't claim the rights to the material. Just let me bite the Knights to slay the Earth Dragon, too.

　Lyle-sama comes to me in the carriage to offer me advice without being heard by the surrounding guards. Apparently, it seems to be as I expected.

I'm sure you'll be happy to know that it's a good idea, but there are some conditions, right?

　As a condition of our offer, five gold pieces to each of the four of us. This includes a hush money.
　In addition to this, we will also buy the materials we got from them. This is a higher price than the market price.

　It's a good idea to buy the materials from the three of us, except for me, as well as the ones we hunted together.
　They seemed disappointed that I refused to buy the earth dragon, but instead they decided to accommodate some of the materials for the wyvern subspecies.





'So Lyle took advantage of the Temma.

　Lyle-sama was caught by Maria-sama as soon as they arrived at the Knights' training grounds. It seems that when one of the guards went to secure the training ground, Maria-sama found him and beat him to it.
　When I asked Maria why she went ahead of me, she said it was because Lyle seemed to be planning something.

''Mother, that story was dealt with by me and Temma after 'both parties agreed'........''

　Currently, Lyle-sama is being made to sit upright in front of Maria-sama. I wasn't told anything in particular, so after positioning the wyvern variants and ground dragons out around the middle of the training area, I have the knights prepare to dismantle them.
　Although, to be precise, it's not in the form of me giving orders, but rather Tida giving orders to me.　

'Lyle, I'm not mad at you for taking the flight. What I'm angry about is that you tried to take credit for the Knights (for your own pocket money) without telling us. Do you understand?

　Mary's sermon continues.

'Mr Temma, what next?'

?

　Hearing my words, Tida instructs the knights.

'Look, Lyle. This is a case that could go down in history! If you're going to make a deal, you should take it into account! Fortunately, it's a good thing I'm the one who noticed, but if I'm not good... no, even if I'm not good, the other nobles will take advantage of me!

　The sermon continues.

'Mr. Temma. They have all the knives and tools available, but as far as I can tell, there are no experienced people in the castle.

'Then the guild... or maybe Grandpa will know. I'm sorry, but can someone please go?

Well, we'll be there.　

　In a corner of the training grounds, the djinn who had been having a tea party (out of force as it was called) ran for office and borrowed a carriage from the knights and left.

'Good! You always have a habit of thinking of things so easily like that... I'm asking you!

　The sermon, which has been getting progressively derailed, continues.

'By the way, Tida, where's Luna?'

'Luna is learning. She's probably working on it (...) with her grandfather and great uncle.

　He said it in a way that bothered me, but I guess that means he can't come here.　

'Well I guess that's not an option then, let's take a break until Grandpa gets here.

　We put a table out there and take out the tea and snacks.
　Fortunately, there's plenty to talk about to pass the time.

　As I was picking the snacks with Tida and talking about the earth dragon and other things, I couldn't hear Maria's voice anymore.
　When I turned around, the sermon seemed to be over and Maria was approaching us. Behind her, Lyle-sama is also there, with vacant eyes.

''Is it okay to be here?''

　Before Maria-sama could hear my reply, she sat down in the empty chair. Behind her, a vacant-eyed Lyle-sama stood behind her.

''How would you like to change the deal for the Earth Dragon?''

　I watched Maria sit down and then opened my mouth.

'That's what I'm talking about. Well, I'm not changing the terms on the Temma side. What I'm changing is that my business partner will 'change to Tida, not Lyle,' and that 'I didn't slay the ground dragon at the behest of the royal family (...).'

　I understand the first reason. The point is to create an achievement for Tida, the 'future king candidate', and to strengthen the connection between Tida and me. This change is understandable because it's something that benefits me as well.
　There's a second problem. If I'm going to give credit to Tida, it would be better to leave a note in the dossier saying that the royal family gave the order.

　Perhaps sensing my doubts and Tida's, Lady Maria smiled and told me.

'It's simple. It's easy to find out that the royal family had orders, considering the circumstances. It may be that the nobleman will find out about it and put you in unnecessary trouble. Then it would be better to mention from the beginning that Tenma is cooperating with the royal family as a courtesy. That way, it will be easier to do later on.

　That was the reason.
　With Lyle-sama's method, it could be said that the royal family used their power to make me give up the earthly dragon, etc. Those closest to him would think that this is not true, but the general public might believe it, and the reformers would certainly use it.
　So, he says, he's trying to minimize the criticism and still make the most of the facts.

　I don't mind, but if you ask me which side I'd rather be on, the one I know the most, the royalist side.
　Not long ago, I might have said I didn't want to join a faction battle and go somewhere unknown, but in my current state, I'm sure I'll get involved anyway, so it would be more convenient to make my position clear.
　After all, he's on good terms with the heads of the royalist faction for now (...). There's no way we can't take advantage of this.

''There's no problem.......but I'm only a favored collaborator (..........).

'Yes, there's nothing wrong with that. Temma's just a regular (...) guy who likes the royal family, you know.　

　It's not that I'm not a good person to talk to, but I'm a good person to talk to.
　I'm sure you'll find that Lyle didn't move a bit during the conversation, but he did respond to Maria's laughter, turning pale and shivering.