Scouting

Leaving Dea-kun protected behind a barrier and in Arthur's care, I headed out to scout the mountain solo.

"Oi! Come on out, you scrub dragon! I'll beat you to a pulp!!"

I punched down trees here and there as I searched for the dragon.

I'll collect the fallen trees and turn them into lumber. Resources are precious, can't let them go to waste!

"Come on, isn't this your territory? Heeey, dragon, where are you～?"

A wild boar was running away, so I grabbed it. Maybe I'll make some boar hot pot for lunch.

I dispatched it quick and splattered the blood around to bait out some prey.

"Here you go, fresh meat～. Come on out, Dragon-kun～?"

Instead of a dragon, wolves showed up. Are their noses better than a dragon's, or what? You mutts. Well, I don't dislike dogs, so I'll let them go. Shoo, shoo. At least go call a dragon for me.

One particularly big wolf lunged at me, so I gave it a solid kick. Once that one went flying, the rest of the pack scattered.

"Haah, not coming out, huh…"

… I'm making all this ruckus and it still won't show its face.

"Hah, Spatial Magic Search!"

I scanned about a one-kilometer radius… Let's see. A handful of oni tribesmen. Several dozen decent-sized beasts. Small animals and bugs, ignored.

The oni men seem like they're fleeing, though. Oh, is that because I'm rampaging over here?

"Guess I'll push deeper into the mountain."

I used Spatial Magic to teleport deeper in and scanned again… Oh? An orc. These make great meat, you know. The evolved ones taste bad, though. This one's fair game.

"Hello, and goodbye!"

Without a shred of restraint, BOOM! I swept through the area and bagged the orc. Lopped off its head, grabbed it by the legs, and spun it around to drain the blood by centrifugal force. Blood sprayed everywhere, which should attract beasts… wait, it's those wolves from earlier. They took one look at me and bolted. Their faces practically screamed, "Why are you ahead of us?!"

Oh, and I'd also overtaken those oni tribesmen. They veered off to the side in a panic.

GROOOOOOAAAAARRRRR!!!!

Oh. A dragon's roar. I looked up to find a black-scaled dragon beating its wings, staring down at me from the sky. Looks like it finally showed up.

"The hell ya doin' on my turf!?"

"Hey there. I've been looking for you, Dragon-kun. Is it true you asked for sacrifices?"

"Hah? Ah, is that what those oni nearby have been saying? … Wait, a human's speakin' the Draconic!? What in the world!!"

The dragon's eyes went wide with shock.

"What's the big deal? Dragons understand human language, so it shouldn't be weird for a human to speak Dragon."

"Well, I s'pose that's true. Then lemme start over: You! Stop wreckin' my turf!!"

Just when I thought it had calmed down for a second, it charged right at me.

"Orya!"

"HURGHBLEHHH!?"

One punch right across the jaw. And just like that, nice and docile. Now then, shall we have a proper chat, Dragon-kun?