Chapter 70 – Dragon 3 Part 1

Translator: SFBaka

Editor: Thor’s Stone

I sorta get why Gloria would want to join my clan. In other words, she wants to become one of our comrades. And I honestly more than welcome her.

But it would be a different story if she wants me to find a male dragon to be her partner in exchange for her allegiance.

“Um, do I have to find a partner for her straight away?”

“……No, it seems she doesn’t require one right away. It looks like Gloria isn’t an adult dragon yet. In human terms, she still hasn’t come of age. I am not exactly sure what growth phase she is under right now, but she is definitely still a juvenile dragon.”

Phew– …That’s a relief. I was wondering what to do if she required me to find one right away. However, to think she still hasn’t reached adulthood at this size. Well, it did seem that the one-eyed dragon she fought was bigger than her.

Gloria’s approximate full height when standing straight up is about twelve meters. The one-eyed dragon, however, was probably more than fifteen meters. If that’s the standard size of an adult dragon, then she does have quite a bit of growing to undergo.

“It seems Gloria is finally questioning just how Captain can understand her will. Should I show myself to her?”

“Of course.”

Man. So she only noticed now huh. Well, I guess Gloria’s still pretty confused about this entire situation.

Iris appeared right beside me after a few moments. Of course, her image was just transmitted directly to our senses by the nanoms. Gloria seemed pretty surprised by her sudden appearance.

Well, of course, she would be. I would probably have the same reaction if I were in Gloria’s shoes.

“Gloria, this person is Iris. She’s a high ranking member of my clan.”

Iris’ military rank right now should be an honorary lieutenant. The rank didn’t normally hold much weight, but in our current circumstances, she’s effectively the second in command of our newly created imperial military division on this planet.

“I’m pleased to meet you, Gloria. I am using magic in order to directly communicate with you through your mind and interpreting your thoughts for the patriarch of our clan.”

Iris transmitted her thoughts to Gloria via images, and Gloria seems to have understood. She then bowed her head to Iris. I wish she didn’t call me patriarch though. It sounds really awkward.

“……She seems to have more or less understood, but now she’s wondering how I can appear and disappear at will just like our clan’s ‘warriors’.”

“That’s…… Well, just tell her that’s just how it is, I guess. We really can’t explain it to her in a way she can understand anyway.”

Gloria started making soft growling noises again.

“……She also just realized that all her wounds are healed. I explained that it was you who healed her, Captain.”

Man. What a delayed reaction. In my opinion, she should have noticed these things first before worrying about finding a male dragon. That’s just me though.

Gloria prostrated herself on the ground like a dog in front of me once again.

“Uh, Gloria, could you cut that out, please. We don’t really do that in my clan. A simple gesture of thanks should be enough.”

I understand that she’s probably just following their traditions as part of the dragon species, but to me, all that prostrating just felt unnecessarily formal.

“It seems she understands, Captain.”

“Great. Um, can you ask her why she initiated a fight with that one-eyed dragon?”

“……She says she simply came to give her greetings since the other dragon entered her territory. Then she saw it attacking a human. She says she couldn’t get through to it since they couldn’t understand each other.”

“It looked to me like they were properly communicating though. Why did she initiate a fight when she saw the other dragon attack a human?”

“……It looks like all dragons are strictly prohibited from attacking humans.”

“Come to think of it, that one-eyed dragon didn’t attack humans at all before those adventurers ended up provoking it. It seems that really is the case. Please ask her why attacking humans is considered taboo.”

“……She says she doesn’t know. However, she did hear from her mother once that humans and dragons used to live with each other in ancient times.”

“Hou! So an age like that existed huh. Interesting. By the way, is her mother already dead?”

“Yes, I’ve confirmed it with her already. It seems her mother passed away quite long ago.”

“I see. So she’s living alone now huh… Why were she and the one-eyed dragon unable to communicate? Was it because the other dragon was basically a foreigner from far away?”

“……It seems to be the case. It looks like the other dragon was from another continent altogether.”

“I see… Since they were from different continents, they shouldn’t have had any opportunity for cultural exchange, so not understanding each other isn’t unusual. However, that fight they had looked somewhat like a duel with proper rules to me. Is that really the case?”

That fight really seemed like an aerial joust with some form of rules that they more or less mutually followed.

“……It seems it really was a formal duel. She was also surprised that the other dragon was able to follow the rules for dueling without them understanding each other’s words. But she’s also angry because the one-eyed dragon didn’t hesitate to break the rules once it seemed like it was going to lose despite agreeing to an honorable duel.”

Gloria turned toward the corpse of the one-eyed dragon which was about thirty meters away from us and lightly roared in indignation.

So that exchange of Flame Grenades was really a duel between dragons huh. So that means the last close range scuffle was against the duel rules.

“Please ask her what is considered a violation of the rules specifically.”

“……The other dragon should have performed the ritual of surrender once it realized that it would not be able to win. Since it did not do so and disregarded the rules, what it did is considered an absolute disgrace.”

I see. After hearing that, the sense of guilt I felt from finishing off that one-eyed dragon lessened a bit. But there’s also a possibility that the rules they followed were different in some ways since they were both from different continents. Oh well. There’s no point in thinking about that now since I wouldn’t be able to confirm it anyway.

“Can you ask her how we should dispose of that dragon’s corpse?”

If Gloria wants to perform something like a ceremonial burial or something, I would regrettably have to comply.

“……She says we can deal with it as we wish, Captain. She says she hasn’t tried it personally, but she heard from her mother that dragon meat was quite delicious. It seems that in the ancient past, there was no ritual of surrender, and the winner directly devoured the flesh of the loser in a duel.”

“Uh, even so… I kinda don’t feel like trying dragon meat, honestly.”

I can no longer see Gloria as a mere monster after all that’s happened. So it felt kinda uncomfortable to think of eating the carcass of a dragon that looks just like her. I guess I would probably have a bite if the meat’s already been processed though…

“Okay then. Should we bring this dragon corpse back to Gantz somehow…? Any suggestions, Iris?”

“Let’s see. Judging from its weight, using a number of drones to carry it back would be unfeasible. We have no choice but to cut it up before transporting it.”

“Yeah, I guess so. I would have wanted to preserve it in pristine condition since you said the scales and blood were valuable, but it can’t be helped. But butchering this guy will be quite troublesome as well y’know. I mean, look at it.”

Even if we do butcher it and transport it back piece by piece, bringing it directly into Gantz was out of the question. We’ll have to bring it to a spot within the forest near the city instead. And if we carry the parts inside the city via wagon, it would still need a lot of work. Hm. How should we go about this?

“Gloria has been listening to our conversation and has understood the gist of the problem. She’s volunteering to carry the corpse for us.”

“What did you say!? You’re saying she can actually fly while carrying a dragon corpse several times her size?”

“……She could, but only if she absorbs the stones you brought with you, Captain. It looks like Gloria can’t do it without using those stones.”

“Is she talking about the magic stones we harvested from the Orcs!?”

“That’s correct.”

I see. So that’s the case. It looks like dragons really do have the ability to perceive magic power. That explains how the one-eyed dragon knew that the Fire Grenade I launched at it wasn’t a simple Fire Ball spell and dodged straight away. If she really can perceive magic power, of course, she’d be able to spot the magic stones inside the jute bag.

I took out three magic stones from the bag and showed them to Gloria.

“How will she use these?”

“……It seems she’s going to eat them.”

“……She’ll eat magic stones!? Is that really okay? Uh, well, it probably is, but… I see. So she’ll increase her magic power by devouring the stones huh? I heard dragons use some form of magic when they fly as well. So if they eat magic stones, they’ll be able to enhance their flight capabilities huh?”

If dragons achieve flight through some form of magic power manipulation, something like that should be highly possible.

“……It seems that really is the case. Gloria is offering to carry it all the way to our clan’s base. She says she’s looking forward to seeing what our base looks like…”

“Ah… Um, Gloria. We can’t really bring you to the place we’re staying at right now. Um… Gloria’s body is pretty big, right? So it would be a bit difficult for us to bring you there.”

Iris conveyed my words and Gloria hung her head dejectedly. It seems she thinks the clan, no, I, was ostracizing her.

Based on all of her actions and gestures until now, I was able to feel just how importantly Gloria regarded joining and getting accepted by a clan.

“No, that’s not it. We’re in the middle of building a new base you see. You probably already saw it too. It’s that place deep in the middle of the forest.”

Since Gloria lived in the depths of the sea of trees, she should already have witnessed Iris and my little construction project.

When Iris conveyed my words to her, she sees to have cheered up and became excited.

“……She’s very surprised that the place she saw was actually our base. Gloria says she’s going to move to our base as well.”

“Yeah, alright. Please prepare a wide and comfortable nest for her.”

It looks like I managed to convince her regarding the base. Phew. That’s great. I can’t possibly take Gloria back to our current Clan Home after all.

“Alright then, Captain. Shall we have Gloria carry the dragon corpse straight away?”

“No, there’s something I need to do before that first.”