The Dragonslayer

By the time they returned to the village, everything had ended.

Cordova's soldiers invaded. A platoon from Cordova ordered the village to subordinate, ordering them to submit a hostage as proof.

The village chief, who naturally refused, had a spear pierced through his chest.

It was a warning.

Irina, who had suppressed herself so far, let loose.

She blew off the head of the soldier that did such a horrible thing to the gentle Ojii-chan.

Fighting commenced.

Irina overran the enemy with an overwhelming force and Maal set the villagers that couldn't fight free.

The beastkin that could fight did so as well.

Before Irina's fighting potential, Cordova's troops were scattered as they fled. However, she couldn't defend all of the villagers.

There were people who had sustained severe injuries. Even so, they were able to be healed with recovery magic. But those who stopped breathing completely…

There were three beastkin corpses.

Among them was the village chief that talked with Ria about the beastkins' future on that night.

The blood that clung to their fur was completely washed away.

Their families weeped and howled in front of them. Violently. Perhaps, they were desperately trying to endure their emotions.

Ria watched on from a little distance away.

"I will.. crush Cordova."

Towards Ria's cold voice, everyone nearby turned towards her.

Towards Ria's eyes filled with determination, everyone nodded in return.

They didn't stop. They wouldn't forget this feeling.

The war was about to begin.

The Manesh kingdom wasn't really a kingdom.

Because on this continent, there were only five kingdoms recognized by the empire.

Due to the millennium one thousand years ago, excluding the areas around the empire, human society practically collapsed.

In order to rebuild the continent, the three imperial princes, the imperial princess, and the emperor's younger brother of the time dispatched their forces to various places.

One person, Leyte Anaia, founded the Casalia kingdom.

One thousand years has passed since then and the human race has increased their territory, birthing new cities. Manesh was one of those cities' names.

One of Manesh's feudal lords separated from Anise and was enfeoffed into a duke by the king at the time, establishing the Manesh dukedom.

So speaking accurately, Manesh is still a dukedom since its king is a duke. But other than for compelling reasons, Manesh calls itself a kingdom on formal occasions, the duke calling himself as a king.

Since they had married the Casalian royal family many times, it wouldn't be wrong to think of them as semi-royal.

Incidentally, it was the same with Cordova. Although they were Casalian nobles, it was just a count.

But now that they improved their armaments and increased their war potential, they started trying to approach Casalia.

Now, even though this was Ria's take on it, it was still puzzling to her.

Ria was a Casalian princess. Although she was an illegitimate child, she was unmistakably recorded as a princess in the family tree.

And though it was a bit confusing despite being the cause herself, she became the ogres' queen without being recognized by Casalia.

It might be thought of as her trying to usurp the county. Ria was quietly worrying about it.

When she passed through the ogre village on her way back to Anise, she was told the state of affairs when all of the ogre tribes' elders recognized her.

Although her father was visibly troubled by the current circumstances, he could probably deal with it somehow.

At any rate, there was no way Ria would feel like calling herself an independent sovereign from Casalia. At most she would be made a titular duke, she'd be fine with being recognized as a head of family.

Ria didn't want descendants. Ogres wouldn't follow any human other than Ria.

Cordova's invasion was stopped for the time being. If she could destroy Cordova, they just needed to weather the storm known as the millennium.

That should take something like ten or twenty years. With that much time, Ria should still be alive.

A new order would be born so long as they could make it through the millennium. At that time, Ria would entrust the political power to someone and go out to travel.

In any case, Ria wouldn't birth any children. Even if she established a country, it'd just be a single generation of Ria.

 

 

"Manesh, huh. Isn't the Dragonslayer there?"

One night, Serge asked about it again while they camped. He was asking Irina.

"Though there are wonderfully strong dragons, they can lose."

Regarding humans that killed dragons, Irina didn't have any particular sentiments.

Beasts compete with other beasts to kill each other, so it couldn't be helped that humans would also contest against dragons. Such was the way dragons thought of the subject.

Even if acquaintances were killed before their own eyes, and one certainly was killed recently, they would completely resign themselves to it once they calm down for a moment.

Such were the living things known as dragons.

"But the heck, why would someone feel like attacking a dragon?"

Though heroes born to kill dragons were well-known even in in the countryside Serge grew up in, he didn't know the details.

Truthfully, neither did Ria nor Carlos. Irina knew a lot about it though. Well, perhaps it's better to say knowing about them would be natural?

The underlying cause was, again, Cordova.

Manesh's governing body racked their brains about what to do about Cordova's military might, turning to a prohibited magic.

Originally, the empire handed down the secret processes for it through the five royal families.

It was the magic to summon heroes.

"With Rufus-sama's vigorous developments in magical knowledge and enlightenment, I wonder if it leaked from there somehow?"

Lulu pictured her deceased teacher's face.

At any rate, Dark Dragon Valis ordered a dragon to go attack Manesh so that they wouldn't so simply summon a hero.

As Valis planned, the hero summoning ceremony was interrupted and most of the mages who knew the details of the ceremony were killed.

But then something Valis didn't plan on happened.

Manesh's leadership held carefully selected elites in reserve, confronting the dragon.

Even though they're said to be elite, they were human. In order to truly fight against a dragon, they needed five people.

The royal court's head mage and the knight leader of the time both died in the fight.

The three people remaining were called Dragonslayers. However, one of them was not front from there. Where they came from wasn't known.

Gonbei.

Ria looked at Serge's face. They were obviously a reincarnated person.

"You know, this Gonbei person. Isn't it an alias for the Great Sage Azelford-sama?"

Serge predicted such a thing.

The Great Sage Azelford was alive during the millennium one thousand years ago, now living in the Sacred Mountain Cyrus, monitoring over the demon tribe's territory to the north.

There was a magic city at the foot of Mt. Cyrus with an institution that taught magic established in it. Many mages gathered there from across the continent, working hard studying.

Not that the imperial capital had disappeared, it probably wasn't wrong to call it the most prosperous place of magic research.

If it really was the Great Sage Azelford, they certainly should be able to defeat a dragon. It wouldn't be strange even if they had knowledge concerning reincarnated individuals.

At any rate, it's because he fought together with the hero against the previous millennium's demon king.

"Then there's the Queen-sama?"

Irina expressed her doubt. It was a natural doubt for her though.

"She's called the Queen of Dragon Eyes, I wonder if she has the Dragon Eyes gift?"

Dragon eyes. It was a gift that roused Ria, it could intimidate opponents, as well as strip them of their abilities.

If it's the Manesh royal family that married those from the Casalian royal family that inherited dragon's blood, it was a Gift that could appear.

"And being able to survive fighting against a dragon, wouldn't you have to be skilled with magic too?"

Shizuna chipped in. Fighting against a dragon was a dream for warriors.

Actually fighting one, let alone winning, surviving was almost impossible.

Incidentally, it seems that queen Guinevere evaded the royal palace until a dragon invaded.

Intimidation would inflict a deep-seated fear and strip you of your abilities at the best of times. It must have been dreadful.

But now that she's become a queen she's actually quite charismatic. She was splendidly ruling the kingdom.

Manesh's ability to contend against Cordova after having its war potential decrease sharply will definitely depend on the queen's capability.

"From what I heard, she's a through and through tomboy though."

Since Ria was part of a royal family, she had information on other countries' royal families.

"As for me, I know most about the woman named Carla."

She mainly caught Ria's interest because she directly stabbed the dragon with a sacred sword. An existence that ended a tremendously huge life force.

Carla Raparb Uslan. She was sixteen years old at the time. She's now the commander of the queen's elite guards. It's said that she is also employed by the marquis.

She was originally picked up by a lower class noble and studied abroad at a magic academy due to her expected talents. Studying until the age of fourteen, she went to work for the royal palace as a knight after returning home.

She then became the best friend of Guinevere, a princess at the time. She fought together against the dragon, defeating it.

Currently nineteen years ago. Single, and it seems she does not currently have a lover either.

"A magic swordsman huh? The same as me."

Ria muttered. She wanted to fight against her by all means, her voice practically oozed with that feeling.

"Well, if we can forge an alliance, I might be able set up a contest…"

Carlos was amazed. If he thought about it, even Reyas was troubled by her.

She wouldn't be able to escape the bout against Ria. He couldn't suppress his sympathy for the woman named Carla.

"Let's get some sleep. We'll arrive in Manesh lands tomorrow."

Everything would have to wait until they actually met. Ria concluded it like that.

 

 

The territory of Manesh was a place where there were many humans. Ria gave herself an image change.

She covered herself with a mask.

She wasn't just now breaking out with a case of chuunibyou, though. This was a necessity.

This wasn't ogre or dwarf lands, Ria's beauty stood out too much in human society.

After entering human habitation, various troublesome things popped up so she made a mask that would cover the top part of her face.

She put on a hood as well, so she finally didn't stand out due to her looks. Though she was now standing out in another meaning, it didn't come with any more strange troubles.

Beauty's a sin.

And so, the group safely arrived at Manesh. Though Ria, who was hiding her face, was stopped at the castle gates, she showed them the dagger that bore Casalia's royal crest. It was pretty helpful.

They rented the most expensive room at Manesh's number one inn.

While Carlos sent a messenger to the royal castle, Ria spoke.

"Alright, so how about let's go to the public bath?"

Despite their room coming with its own bath, Ria said that.

The public bath. In other words, naked girls. She could look at as many as she wanted.

This was one of the wonderful facilities Manesh built.

"Why do you love baths so much…"

Though Shizuna muttered to herself in amazement, Ria whispered in her ear.

"You won't be sleeping tonight, so make sure you prepare yourself."

Since Irina wouldn't separate from Maal, Ria took a double room with Shizuna.

Shizuna's breathing changed as her cheeks blushed. Certainly, she didn't want Ria to see her body dirty.

Her lower region readied itself as she recalled that night.

However, Shizuna's expectations would be dashed.

They left for the public bath while carrying bathing supplies. It was good when the bathtub was huge, everyone would talk with each other.

When their group began to walk down the main road towards the public bath, a noise came from the distance.

"Carla-sama…"

"It's Carla-sama…"

"Carla-sama…!"

The pedestrians spontaneously split apart to form a path.

Many people riding horses were going down the center of the road towards the royal palace. In the lead, was her.

Ria thought that since she was a nineteen year old unmarried noble girl, what problem could there be?

With one look, she understood.

Every pedestrian stopped walking, burning the image of this woman into their minds. They were murmuring her name incoherently.

To say it simply, she was too beautiful.

It was like Ria was enthralled by looking at the woman.

No, not like she was enthralled.

She was literally enthralled by her.

Her blue eyes were clear like the boundless sky.

She silvery hair flowed in the wind like sparkling stars.

Ria invoked her Dragon Eyes in order to learn more about the woman.

Carla Raparb Uslan.

Level 198.

Though level 198 was amazing, that wasn't what all.

That wasn't enough to surprise her.

The problem was her gift.

 

 

[Dragon's Bloodline]

 

 

Yes, she had the Dragon's Bloodline.

Moreover, she had released many of the Gift's contents.

Limb Regeneration, Organ Regeneration, Herculean Strength, Roar, Intimidation, Sixth Sense, Dragon's Fighting Spirit, High Speed Regeneration, High Speed Recovery, Spacial Grasp, Ultra Attraction, Magical Power Perception, Limit Break, Breath Reduction, Robust Health, Perpetual Youth, Diamond Body, Magic Resistance, Keen Senses, Body Strengthening, Internal Strengthening, Bone Strengthening, Supercompensation, Consumption Reduction, Magical Power Consumption Reduction, Sleep Reduction, Heat Resistance, Paralysis Resistance, Poison Resistance, Disease Resistance, Impact Resistance, Mental Resistance, Petrification Resistance, Corruption Resistance, Curse Resistance, Absorption Resistance, Bewitching Resistance, Confusion Resistance, Acid Resistance, Hypnosis Resistance, Blind Resistance, Charm Resistance, Mind Control Resistance, Mind-Reading Resistance, Pain Tolerance…

But that wasn't all.

It wasn't just Dragon's Bloodline.

While it was an incredibly high-level thing, that wasn't the only Gift she saw.

That girl definitely held another Gift.

 

 

[God's Bloodline]

 

 

I see.

I see, I see.

I understand now.

If someone has both a dragon's and a god's power, they should be able to defeat a dragon.

As for why Valis viewed her as a problem, I can understand now.

"N-Nee-chan…"

Among the people overwhelmed by her beauty, only Ria and Serge saw the woman's true nature.

Then, Ria laughed.

 

 

In front of the bodyguards, in front of Carla to be precise, a single girl walked out.

"Impudence!"

"Clear the road!"

The girl lowered her hood and took off her mask.

Seeing her beautiful face, the bodyguards' words were interrupted.

The bodyguards saw those beautiful features often.

Queen Guinevere of the Manesh Kingdom. Black hair darker than black, golden pupils more pure than gold.

Even though they couldn't call her her twin, they definitely looked something like sisters.

"Dragonslayer Carla-dono."

Ria spoke with feelings of excitement coming from the depths of her heart.

"I would like to have a contest with you."