An Achievement or Something

Leaving Igni with Ittetsu, we headed back to the village.

I was carried on the way back as well, but…

"We didn't end up adding any luggage, so let's hurry on down."

"Huh, wait, Wataru. What are you doing?"

"Preparing to descend?"

"… Isn't this a cliff?"

"It's just the shortest route that was a bit too steep to use for climbing. That's all."

"Scary, scary, scary!"

"I'll be as careful as I can, but you'll bite your tongue if you keep talking, you know?"

"Hey, Gozoh, stop him! There's no way we can descend something this close to vertical!"

"What're you talking about? We can just walk down this normally. Oh, Kehma, don't swing your legs around, you'll scrape them."

"Seriously…"

The trip back took only fifteen minutes compared to the three hours going up, which was great and all, but it was way scarier than any janky roller coaster.

But like, both Niku and Ichika slid down the slope like it was nothing… what, am I the weird one here? Or does being carried just amplify the fear? Either way, thank goodness I went to the bathroom before we headed back.

"Mm, you made it back safely."

"Ooh, welcome back."

The ones who greeted us upon our return were Rokuko and Nerune. For some reason, Rokuko was standing with her hands on her hips waiting for us.

Had Ittetsu contacted her?

"I figured it was about time you got back… Kehma, could you come over here and crouch down a little?"

"Hm? What's up?"

I got off Wataru's back and did as she asked, approaching and crouching down.

"… W-Welco… ba… ki… nnh! W-Welcome back!"

"Alright, alright, could you stop hitting me? I don't know if it's because you're embarrassed or what, but stop hitting me."

"Welcome back, fath—"? What was she trying to say? Am I coming home from the office or something?

Rokuko aside, Wataru was being called over by Nerune as well. Yeah, I knew they were getting along, but had they reached the point where she'd come out to welcome him back?

"Sooo, Wataru-san? Where's my souvenir? Where are the flame dragon scales? The horn?"

"Ah… th-there were, um, circumstances… so, as a substitute, how about some fire rat fur or red slime fluid…?"

"…"

"Aaah! I'm sorry, we reconciled with the dragon so it wasn't really the atmosphere to be collecting that stuff!"

"I'm expecting something rare next time, alright?"

"Yes! Leave it to me!"

And with that, Nerune returned to the inn, leaving behind a fired-up Wataru.

… Wow, she's got him completely wrapped around her finger. He hasn't been showering her with gifts behind my back, has he?

"Wataru. It's me saying this, but is that really okay?"

"I'm fine. Rather, it feels good."

Yep. He's a lost cause. Total pervert.

"Oh, no, I don't mean it in an M way or anything. It's more like, how do I put it, serving a cat, you know?"

"I see, so Nerune looks like a cait sith to you or something?"

"There are cait siths in this world!?"

They were in the DP Catalog, so they probably exist. They might be in the monster category though.

Meanwhile, the villagers noticed we'd returned as well. About five of them.

"Oh, it's true, the village chief and the others are back! And no one's missing!"

"Huh, what about the dragon meat?"

"Everyone's safe! So, what happened?!"

The villagers spoke over each other.

"Ah, yeah. We're all good now. It worked out somehow."

"I-Is that so? So you did defeat it? Even with the hero there, that's impressive with so few people…"

"The thing is, we didn't exactly defeat it… hmm, how should I put this?"

I shot Gozoh a look that said "you explain too, but don't say anything unnecessary."

"… I'll start with the conclusion. Thanks to Kehma's secret plan, we disciplined the dragon, so this village doesn't have to worry about the flame dragon attacking anymore."

"Huh?"

"Disciplined… a dragon? Hahaha, what kind of joke is that, Gozoh-san?"

"It's the truth. I saw the dragon bow its head with my own eyes. It even apologized for burning the field, right, Wataru?"

"Man, Kehma-san was incredible this time! It was practically a one-on-one fight with just him and Kuro-chan!"

Crap, the scope of "unnecessary" didn't get through to them. Not even to Wataru.

"Hold on. Saying we disciplined it gives the wrong idea. We just reconciled with it."

"Heeey, the village chief is a Dragon Tamer!"

"Seriously!? That's even more impressive than a Dragon Slayer! I'm gonna go brag to everyone that the village chief avenged my radishes!"

"Wait! I didn't tame it! Hey, come back!"

And just like that, the news that I'd taken down the dragon spread through the village in no time.

Why? I tried to push all the troublesome credit onto Wataru…

"Hey, you guys. Don't push your achievements onto me… why do you think I brought all of you along?"

"To be witnesses, right? And I didn't say anything about Salamander-dono."

"We really didn't do anything, you know. There's nothing to push onto you, it's obviously Kehma-san's achievement."

"Come on, taking the troublesome stuff off our hands is a fine achievement in itself, isn't it?"

"That's not what achievement means. Also, this probably means you'll be promoted to B-Rank adventurer now, Kehma-san."

The guild folks knew I was in a dual-rank situation.

If there was an opportunity, they'd try to raise my rank to unify them… yeah, that seems likely.

Ugh, being B-Rank publicly too? B-Rank and above means nobility, right? Nobles are a pain. I know that from experience.

"No, there's no way a double promotion from D-Rank could happen."

"No, Kehma. I get that you really don't want to work, but this matter will probably make even me and Roppu B-Rank. Even if we honestly say we didn't do anything."

"That's right… If we told the whole truth, you'd probably go all the way to A-Rank, Kehma-san."

"Wait. How does that work?"

"Dragon subjugation is a great achievement that multiple B-Rank parties accomplish while taking casualties. In other words, just participating and surviving could be considered B-Rank level. We had two parties, and even though I came along, I didn't do anything at all. From there, Kehma-san, you essentially fought with just one party, no, actually just two people, challenged the dragon, came out uninjured, and on top of that, disciplined it… That's already A-Rank territory, no, S-Rank territory. Do you understand?"

Now that he put it that way, I started to grasp the significance of what happened.

I'd probably been undervaluing the existence known as dragons far too much.

The dragon I knew best was Redra, and between her and Ittetsu, they were pretty easy to interact with… Even though I'd fought her seriously in that Dungeon Battle, I still didn't grasp the actual threat she posed.

No, I still don't grasp it even now. Honestly, even the Dragon King, meaning Core Number 5, the one who should be the pinnacle of dragonkind, all I feel is something like "man, that guy has it rough too" and a sense of familiarity.

"Besides, even if we try to downplay Kehma-san's achievement as much as possible, the best we can do is 'we succeeded in driving off the dragon with zero casualties thanks to Kehma-san's secret plan.' We can't say anything less than that because it won't hold up under verification."

Right… this world has lie-detection magic tools.

Damn… if they dig too deep, there's no way to fudge the details.

"… Ugh, dragon subjugation… I mean, hmm. Can't B-Ranks handle that much?"

"That's what I'm telling you, it's not possible. Even I'd have a hard time facing a dragon and coming out unscathed, you know? I'd have to be ready to lose an arm or two. The kind of injuries that take recovery magic two or three days to heal."

Seriously? B-Ranks are weaker than I thought… no, maybe dragons are just that strong?

"Well, you're definitely B-Rank now at least. Congratulations."

"I want to decline though."

"That would mean quitting the Adventurer Guild. I wouldn't recommend it."

"… Then I'll just quit adventuring and live as a regular village chief or a Beddhist priest."

"Either way, Haku-sama will summon you for this and grant you a peerage. If you refuse, you'll probably be charged with lese-majeste and executed."

Ah… Haku-san would do that. She'd definitely do that. She'd apply lese-majeste at every opportunity. Because she's Haku-san. Because… she's Haku-san!

"Well, it's not like there are many downsides to the leader of an organization having authority that's recognized outside of it too. Oh, how about we travel to the capital together? I'll give you a discount on the escort fee!"

"I'll go by another route. There's no way I could pay an S-Rank's escort fee."

"I'll give you the friend discount, so you'd just have to cover the travel and food expenses along the way!"

… If that's the case, maybe I should ask him.

I've never traveled to the imperial capital by a proper route, and having a hero as an escort would be a good opportunity. I can't really discuss the capital without knowing what the journey's like.

"Well… sure, if I get summoned, I'll take you up on that."

"Alright, then I need to start preparing for the trip now! Oh, Kehma-san, you have [Storage], right? How much space do you have free? You should stock up on lots of water and food."

Wataru said cheerfully… well, I guess he's always like that.

By the way, that night's dragon subjugation celebration got really lively, partly thanks to the sake I brought out, which they dubbed "Secret Plan: Dragon Slayer."

No, that's just regular sake! Stop slapping names like "Secret Plan" or "Dragon Slayer" on it! And I didn't slay anything!