Chapter 371 - Chapter 11: Fire Dragon ②
The Fire Dragon returned, so we continued the conversation.
To organize the conditions: the memorial service for the Fire Dragon on the mountain was finished. Regarding the food and drink, through Gwyn-sama's arrangements, it was decided that cask wine would be provided until the food frozen with Cocytus ran out.
After that, it was the transmission of the Megiddo Fire that melted the rock.
"Our method of melting rock is, in short, magical firepower. You, Fire Dragon-dono, must also have confidence in your firepower. Why don't we make this one of the contests?"
When Eleanor-sama said that, the Fire Dragon, hearing Mel's translation, gave a hmpf and laughed through its nose.
"How many rounds?"
"Three rounds. Let's make the first one a firepower battle. Please let us choose the second one. However, we'll leave the third one to you."
"What's the second one?"
"An aerial battle. You, Fire Dragon-dono, already know that we use bowls. We will take off from the ground at the same time, and the one who takes the other's back first wins."
This was cunning. As expected of Eleanor-sama. The opponent didn't know about ultra-high speed. We knew that when we went to the Island of Wyverns, we were evenly matched in a speed contest. Normally thinking, a Wyvern wouldn't lose to a Fire Dragon. The only one who could beat ultra-high speed was the Black Dragon Child.
However, sadly, the Fire Dragon agreed. Previously, Eleanor-sama had said that with Megiddo Fire, we could win even in a firepower battle against a Fire Dragon. If that was correct, two consecutive victories were as good as promised.
The third round was decided to be a monster hunting contest, to see who could hunt and bring back better prey. At that point, Salamander, who had to boil the hot springs, ran out of time, and the second day came to a close.
The dawn of the third day.
Midday, when the Fire Dragon's condition would be at its best. Under the witness of Salamander and Mel, the contest between humans and the Fire Dragon began.
First, the first round. The firepower battle. This wasn't just about winning; we had to teach Megiddo Fire to the Fire Dragon.
"Then, we shall go first."
Eleanor-sama said, and it was the human side's turn.
The target was the cliff of the outer crater. The problem was that since Sianya and I weren't ultra-high-level, we couldn't reach the maximum firepower, but we decided to compensate by firing Prominence from a distance and increasing the number of additional Holy Lances we hit it with.
Eleanor-sama stood in the center, and Sianya and I knelt on either side of her.
"Here we go. Are you ready? Keep firing until you collapse."
As usual, Eleanor-sama said something reckless.
It must have been their first time seeing a three-person magic formation. Both the Fire Dragon and the two spirits were tilting their heads.
In the midst of that, Eleanor-sama began her incantation. Between her hands raised above her head, red light swirled and became a flame. It changed from red to orange, and its shape became that of a dragon's head.
"Prominence!"
The dragon's head flew off. Together with Sianya, I fired Holy Lances at full power one after another. The orange dragon's head became a yellowish-orange, then yellow, then a yellowish-white. We had achieved this much before. Whether we could do more than this... if we dropped the speed too much, the time it spent in the air would increase, making the burden on Eleanor-sama greater. In the short time remaining, I just kept firing.
Whether it became a white flame or not... the dragon's head that slammed into the cliff dug a hole while melting the rock and kept going.
Since I fired seven shots, combined with Sianya, it must have been nearly twenty shots. We had fired at full power in rapid succession in a short time. Thanks to that, both of us were exhausted. So, how was it?
The hole was dug quite deep. Rock that had melted and turned red flowed out from the edge of the hole like sludge. When Eleanor-sama chanted Blizzard twice, a sound like hot iron being dipped in water occurred, and a magnificent steam rose up.
"You do well for humans. You two are advanced mages, right? To be able to do that much is quite something."
Salamander was watching with a composed expression. After all, when it comes to a Great Spirit of Fire, humans working a little hard might not be able to compete.
Since the Fire Dragon said nothing, I looked up at its face, and it was frozen with its huge mouth wide open.
"It seems he's so surprised he can't even make a sound. Well, I suppose it's no wonder. Even for a Fire Dragon, the color of the flame is orange at most, and no matter how hard he tries, it only goes up to yellow. This time, it's the humans' win."
At Salamander's words, Sianya and I met each other's eyes.
"Yay! We won!"
"We won. I'm so glad!"
Eleanor-sama was crossing her arms as if it were only natural.
With this, it was one win. Since the contest was three rounds, if we won the next aerial battle, we'd get the Fire Dragon Stone or whatever it was called.
Just as I thought that, I heard a hmpf! from the Fire Dragon's nose.
"He says he'll try as much as he can."
"That's how it should be; as expected of a proud dragon."
It was Eleanor-sama.
She always says that spirit is important. Even if it's an opponent, she likely hates admitting defeat without doing anything.
As if responding to Eleanor-sama's expectations, the Fire Dragon took a deep breath, then more, then even more, and still more... and exhaled all at once.
The flame was orange. The flame that hit the cliff was gradually raising the temperature of the rock, and it slowly turned red, until finally, it began to flow as molten lava, creating a depression.
The Fire Dragon was still breathing fire from its mouth. It was working hard, but the amount of rock melting was negligible. The match was as good as decided. Moreover, it was breathing continuously. It might suffocate.
"Beatrix, create a wind. It's the same as a bellows. We'll assist!"
"Eh? Ah, yes!"
Eleanor-sama unleashed Tornado Wind toward the rock. Normally, it creates a vortex of wind standing perpendicular to the ground like a tornado, but it merged with the flame the Fire Dragon was breathing, creating a horizontal vortex of flame toward the sheer cliff.
The Fire Dragon's flame was sucked into the vortex and slammed into the wall with a roaring sound. Its color began to turn yellowish. The speed at which the rock melted increased.
"Favorable Wind!"
Furthermore, Beatrix sent wind.
"Wind Barrier!"
Wilson-san created a tube made by hardening the air. The front was wide and the back was narrow. In short, it was a funnel. He brought that narrow end near the base of Eleanor-sama's Tornado Wind.
"Beatrix! Send wind into that funnel!"
"Okay!"
The wind Beatrix created passed through the funnel Wilson-san made and sent wind into the front of the tornado Eleanor-sama had raised. There was a roaring sound of wind.
Finally, the flame began to shine with a pale yellow color, just like the one we had unleashed, and at the same time, the diameter of the hole grew larger and larger.
"Go for it! Go for it!"
"Yes! Gooo!"
It was a collaboration of wind and flame. Mel and Salamander also began to cheer.
The humans also sent cheers.
The dragon gradually leaned forward, and finally, it went down on all fours, its tail pointing straight up, and worked hard to breathe fire.
Its plump belly began to cave in.
Whether it was having trouble breathing or not, it was working hard while its eyes rolled, but finally, as if it had suffocated, it collapsed forward and fainted.
Since the Fire Dragon had rolled its eyes and keeled over, Eleanor-sama and Wilson-san thrust the tube made of Wind Barrier into its half-open mouth with its tongue sticking out and were intermittently sending air in.
In time, it successfully regained consciousness and opened its eyes while coughing. After a short while, it sat cross-legged, raising only its upper body.
We had it drink the Finis wine we had poured into a basin to revive it and cast Recovery at full power. After having it bathe with Mary's Shower, it finally caught its breath.
"Well, we can call the first round the humans' win."
It was sighing at Salamander's words.
"However, we have learned that if humans and dragons cooperate, they can achieve that much. This is a great discovery and surely a good signpost for future coexistence and co-prosperity."
Eleanor-sama was pointing toward the cliff where a large hole had been opened. A little distance away was the hole opened by Megiddo Fire. The Megiddo Fire one seemed to have more depth, but the hole from the dragon-human collaboration was on a different level in terms of diameter. It was many times larger. Moreover, the surface had melted and had parts that were smooth like glass, shining in the sunlight.
"Unfortunately, the Megiddo Fire we showed you is something that increases power by combining fire magic with the holy magic Holy Lance. Likely, it cannot increase the power of your flame, Fire Dragon-dono. Instead, by combining several wind magics, we were able to create a flame of that magnitude. Did you see it? The brilliance of the flame in the latter half. It was shining beautifully, just like the sun. I have never seen such a beautiful flame before."
At Eleanor-sama's words, the dragon also regained its spirits.
"Well, it's the same as when I and the wind team up; a tremendous flame is created."
Is that so?
When I looked at Mel, she was shaking her head.
"I won't do it. The terrain would change, and all the living things around here would die."
I really hope she never does that.
The second round followed.
I told it to stop since it had fainted once, but the Fire Dragon wouldn't listen. It probably didn't think it would lose in a firepower battle, so it might have become stubborn.
The sight of it roaring with its wings spread wide was so cool I'd want to show it to the dragon-loving old men.
However, no matter how you think about it, the opponent was bad. We had the ultra-high-speed bowl by the pair of Eleanor-sama and Wilson-san, which had the backing of having surpassed Mel and the Wyverns.
For flying, lighter is better. It was planned for the two of them to go, but Salamander said he would ride. That was fine, but then he told me to come too, and for some reason, I ended up riding as well.
No matter how you think about it, it would be aerobatic flight. I cast Calm, and just in case, I cast Defend to harden my body and crouched at the bottom of the bowl.
"What's wrong? Are you afraid of flying in the sky?"
While smirking, he crawled up onto my shoulder.
"You'd better hold on tight. It'll be quite fast and they'll be swinging it around, so you'll be blown away."
"Oh my, how scary."
After saying that with a laugh, he hopped from my shoulder and clung to the inside of the bowl like a lizard.
"Well, here we go. Are you ready?"
We kept a distance of about a hundred paces.
The Fire Dragon was poised to fly at any time with its wings spread.
On our side, Eleanor-sama was in charge of the bottom bowl, and Wilson-san was in charge of the one covering it from above like a lid. It was the usual combination.
"Ready, go!"
With the signal, the bowl jumped up into the sky. Seeing that, the Fire Dragon ascended slowly. No, because the bowl was fast, it might have just looked that way.
"Oh! Is this that ultra-high speed?"
"No. This is just high speed. It's nothing like the real thing."
Salamander dug his claws into the bowl. Unbelievable. The bowl had been hardened to a rock-like hardness.
While I was surprised, this time it started a turn as if drawing a large circle in the horizontal direction. Because I was crouching, it must have been heavy. The bottom of the bowl was tilting as if it were being pushed outward. It would be terrible if I lost my balance and fell. I went down on all fours and clung to the bottom of the bowl.
Meanwhile, the Fire Dragon floated in the air, stopping at the center of the circle the bowl was drawing and watching us.
The match would be won if one could take the opponent's back for the time it takes to count to five. The judge was Mel, so there would be no mistake.
"Shall we give it a light brush?"
When Eleanor-sama called out, as we went behind the dragon, she changed the angle at a right angle and headed toward the dragon.
This side was in trouble. I slammed my side into the bowl, and from the impact, I also hit my head. My consciousness flickered for a moment.
When I came to, we were being chased by the dragon.
"What happened?"
I asked Eleanor-sama. I was sure we were supposed to be charging from behind the dragon.
"Teleport. He got us."
Te-Teleport? The dragon?
"Hey now, is it strange for a dragon to use Teleport? When it comes to magic, we're far more senior than you humans. It's just that the magic we can use is limited."
Come to think of it, the Black Dragon Child was being taught magic by an elf.
That means...
"That's right. I taught him. He was a help to me, after all. I, who can only do short-distance movement, taught him, so he can't jump far either, but for now, that's enough."
I had underestimated him...
We were making fine turns left and right so as not to have our back taken by the dragon, but the moment we took its back, it would instantaneously move right behind us.
"What shall we do? Shall we use Magic Reflection?"
At this rate, we'll lose. We'll lose as soon as time runs out. After that, we'll have no choice but to hide our presence and sneak up behind it. It should be fine if we cast Illusion and Magic Reflection on the outside of the bowl's bottom and lid. If we once escape into the forest or the clouds, we might manage somehow.
"No, we'll stay like this. Even if we hide our presence, we can't catch him if the opponent periodically moves instantaneously. Let's stay like this and bet on a momentary chance."
Eleanor-sama said, and Wilson-san nodded.
In other words, it means we're at our wit's end.
We were working hard, but as expected, it was a stretch. Because it was aerobatic flight, we landed in less than two hours. The Fire Dragon landed slowly and laughed through its nose with a hmpf.
"With this, it's one win and one loss."
"Rather than that, it's a draw. Let's decide with the third round."
It was Eleanor-sama. She likely hates the word 'loss' itself. She went out of her way to change the expression.
"The third round is monster hunting. What is the strongest monster around here?"
Even a dragon wouldn't be able to lie when asked so directly. For a while, it feigned ignorance, but in the end, it spoke.
"A Hydra? So they were still alive."
Apparently, it's a snake that lives in the marshland north of the outer crater.
"It's B-rank. Like the Lindwurm, it has no direct connection to the Demon Lord's army, but it is a monster."
It's a monster that has actively attacked humans since long ago, and apparently, it has wiped out villages many times. For humans, it was nothing but a calamity, and they had apparently engaged in bloody battles of either annihilation or extermination. It was said they were once all over the island, but humans worked hard to advance their subjugation, and now it was thought they had been driven to extinction.
"It has eight heads, but even if you slice them off, they grow back. It has a powerful poison, and since it breathes poison like a mist from its mouth, even approaching it is difficult. Usually, it lurks in a marshland where poison has accumulated, and it attacks by manipulating that poisonous liquid with the water magic Clump Water or Maelstrom. In other words, it's a difficult foe that magic also has trouble working on."
According to Salamander, because of that poison, it's an opponent that even a dragon can't fight and come out unscathed. It's like a nemesis, and it seems humans, dragons, and Hydras have been engaged in territorial disputes.
"That Hydra is a pair, and lately, only the male has been hunting excessively. Surely the female must be protecting the eggs. If the hatched snakelets grow up, they will undoubtedly look for new territory and move all over. He says if we don't strike them now, they might come inside this outer crater or go down to the villages where humans live."
At Salamander's words, Gwyn-sama's complexion changed.
"As long as they live quietly in the poisonous marsh, humans just shouldn't approach. However, if they breed and attack human villages, we must defeat them even if it means mobilizing the whole country."
He half-drew the sword at his waist, then snapped it back into the scabbard.
"Henry, what do you think?"
When Eleanor-sama said that, Henry-sama looked at Roberts-sama. Roberts-sama swung the spear he held in his hand and pointed it straight ahead.
Henry-sama took out the scroll of full diplomatic authority from his breast pocket.
"Fire Dragon-dono. Winning or losing has become irrelevant. Profit and loss are fine too. More than that, won't you lend us your strength? Let us join hands and cooperate to defeat the Hydra."
The one who was pleased by Henry-sama's words was Gwyn-sama.
"Fire Dragon. If you lend us your strength, I shall have cask wine offered to you. Of course, you don't have to mingle with humans. We shall simply revere you as the guardian deity of this land and offer wine at the altar on our own. Once a month. Let's see, five casks... no, how about ten casks?"
Ten casks a month means a hundred and twenty casks a year.
"He'll get drunk. Fire Dragons drink everything they have all at once if it's there. We can't have a repeat of the Fire Dragon on the mountain. Keep it to five casks a month."
Salamander said that and translated.
The Fire Dragon thought for a while, but then exhaled through its nose with a hmpf and nodded. And it said something like guon guon.
"He says he'll join hands. He says if we fight the Hydra honorably without being ashamed of each other and successfully subjugate it, he may give us the Fire Dragon Stone. Ah, and it seems five casks of wine a month is fine."
Gwyn-sama looked at Henry-sama.
Henry-sama looked at Eowyn-sama, then at Edward-sama and Sianya.
"We shall cooperate. Coexistence and co-prosperity are the wishes of our Northern Gram. We require no reward."
Eowyn-sama agreed easily.
"Sianya, what about you? Primordia shall also cooperate."
"Yes. I do not know how powerful a B-rank monster is, but as fellow inhabitants of the island, we shall fight together with everyone. Of course, like everyone else, we require no reward."
Edward-sama said, and Sianya replied.
With this, all the royalty were in agreement.
"Sorry to interrupt while you're all excited, but we're civilians, so we'll take a reward. Is the employer Finis?"
It was Beatrix. As usual, she didn't hold back at all.
"Hydra fangs and skin can be sold for a really high price. The meat can be used as a miraculous medicinal stone, just like the Lindwurm's. If there are two of them, even at a low estimate, it should come to a hundred gold coins."
That's amazing. A profit of over fifty gold coins per creature would be a record. It was amazing during the Lindwurm time too, but that was because there was a magic stone, and the profit itself was snatched away by Eleanor-sama... I mean, incorporated into the national treasury.
"Fire Dragons eat anything, but even they won't eat a Hydra. You take it all."
Salamander said something generous.
"In that case, we shall hire Jeanne and the others through the Finis Royal Family. The reward will be all the profits from the Hydra—in other words, a success fee."
"It's a deal."
Beatrix said, and the Hydra subjugation by dragons and humans was decided.