Chapter 71 – Dragon 4 Part 1

Translator: SFBaka

Editor: Thor’s Stone

Now then, since I’ve successfully introduced Selena and Sharon to Gloria and vice versa, we’ll have to tackle how to transport this one-eyed dragon corpse back to Gantz next.

Even if Gloria can carry it, she can’t just waltz into Gantz without warning. If she did that, the city would most probably go into a panic.

Well, people going into a panic to a certain degree was probably unavoidable, but I want to lessen the impact as much as I could.

After all, I’ll have no choice but to inform the city officials and related people that a dragon will be coming over somehow before we could safely transport the corpse.

“Iris, I’ll have to go back to Gantz first to make some preparations. Even if Gloria can carry the corpse back, I’ll have to make sure the people there would be aware to avoid panic.”

“Understood. That certainly would be the best course of action. Well then, we should be able to transport this corpse before evening.”

“Yeah, that should be the case. But I’m still worried if Gloria really can carry it the entire way.”

Iris conveyed my words to Gloria and she replied with soft growls like usual.

“She says there probably won’t be any troubles. And even if she ends up lacking the power to lift it by herself, we should be able to supplement it with the help of some drones.”

“We can do that?”

“The drones will use their Flexible Arms to hold the corpse in place and fly in tandem with Gloria.”

She then displayed a simulated image of the process on the virtual HUD. In the image, Gloria was grabbing both of the dragon corpse’s shoulders, and four drones grabbed one limb each.

I see. So they’ll use those flimsy-looking arms huh. Those can actually extend to a surprisingly great degree huh. It does look quite feasible.

“Can the arms turn invisible in stealth mode as well?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Alright then. Let’s go with that. I’ll contact you once I’ve gotten everything ready back in Gantz. I’ll leave the Orc magic stones with you for Gloria to eat. I’ll leave things here to you then.”

“Understood. I’ll continue analyzing the dragon communication method for the meantime.”

I spread the Orc magic stones on top of a large rock so Gloria could reach them easily.

“Alright then, Gloria. I’ll see you later.”

Gloria cried out in reply.

(Long-distance sprint mode.)

『Roger.』

It took us four hours to travel all the way out here, but it only took me about an hour to sprint back all the way to Gantz.

I eventually ran into a group that was waiting at the spot where the sea of trees broke off. Of course, it was the B Team. There were 45 of them in total. There were five men who went after Selena’s team after all.

“Alan-sama!”

“Huh? So you guys were standing by here the whole time? It would have been better if you guys returned back to our Home you know.”

“Alan-sama! We’re glad you’re safe!”

“Ah… How great!”

“Of course I’m okay. Well, it was a close shave this time though.”

“We’re truly relieved! But to think you were able to go up against a dragon all by yourself! As expected of Alan-sama.”

The one who exclaimed happily was Satellite Team 8’s leader, Kenny, who was part of the late earl’s men.

“Well, I managed it somehow.”

“Alan-sama, how exactly did you manage to lose the dragon though?”

I’ve been waiting for someone to ask such a question. I’ll have to arrange my story properly.

And so, I told everyone about my encounter with the one-eyed dragon, the magic the dragon used, how I retaliated with my own spells, and so on.

“Dragons can actually use the legendary explosion magic spell!?”

“Yeah. That really surprised me as well. And in the middle of all that, another dragon actually appeared.”

“Another dragon!?”

“I was really shocked, but its appearance turned out helping me quite a lot since I was about to get hit with explosion magic at the time. The other dragon actually rescued me. After that, the two dragons engaged in a mid-air duel. It was an impressive battle with both dragons launching out explosion magic at each other.”

“Ah! I think we also managed to hear the noises caused by that battle. So those noises were caused by two dragons fighting.”

“The fight between the two dragons was truly a life-and-death battle. They fought each other in a long and grueling match until they were both practically in tatters, but the dragon that helped me was about to lose. And so, even though I felt it was ill-mannered of me, I barged into the fight and attacked the one-eyed dragon with spells until I finally brought it down.”

“…………Um, did you just say you managed to defeat a dragon, Alan-sama?”

“Yeah. I did manage to bring it down, but that’s only thanks to the other dragon whittling down its strength you know?”

“…So you really defeated a dragon?”

“Yeah, that’s right. Well, the dragon was already pretty beat up though. That’s why I managed to defeat it somehow.”

The one that actually landed the finishing blow was a drone, but there’s no reason to tell them that, is there? I’ll have to take credit for the dragon’s defeat here.

“Unbelievable!”

“Oooh! How impressive, Alan-sama!”

“A Dragon Slayer……”

“After that, I treated the dragon that helped me with healing magic, and it seems that dragon became attached to me as a result.

So I spent my time trying all sorts of stuff to communicate with it until a while ago. That’s why I only managed to come back at this time.”

“…Weren’t you worried that the dragon might attack you as well?”

“Of course she won’t do anything like that. She was very obedient you know.”

“……When you say ‘she’, were you referring to the dragon, Alan-sama?”

“Yeah, that’s right. I managed to communicate with her somehow after spending an entire night with her. Human beings like us can do anything as long as we put our hearts into it after all.”

Uh, I was aware I was pushing it with that excuse. Now then, what should I do next?

“……There’s a lot of things I don’t get, but anyway, as expected of Alan-sama!”

You’re just gonna accept it like that!? Uh, maybe they don’t completely believe me, but they’re just choosing to go with the flow.

“So Gloria told me she was going to carry the corpse of the defeated dragon over, so I came back in order to arrange everything. Oh, Gloria’s the name of the dragon I managed to get along with.”

“…Do dragons really have names?”

“That’s right. I was also surprised that dragons actually held intelligence comparable to us humans. If so, then them having names isn’t so surprising, right? She even offered to become one of our comrades. In other words, she wants to join the Clan. I already accepted her, so I’ll introduce her to you all later.”

“………So the dragon became a member of our Clan and will be bringing the corpse of the dragon you defeated to Gantz later?”

“That’s how it is. Well, I understand that you find it hard to believe such a story. If I was in your shoes, I’d probably react the same as well.

Well, it would be fine once Gloria comes over later. You’ll believe it then, even if you don’t want to.”

“No, that’s not… We all believe in Alan-sama.”

“Alright. In any case, let’s make our way back to Gantz for now. There’s a lot of things to arrange after all.”

“Understood.”

I asked the B Team about what they’ve been up to since we separated as we walked back, and they told me they’ve been waiting on standby the entire night after Walter and the rest set off to catch up to A Team.

It’s true that they would have no trouble dealing with monsters with their numbers, but most of them were kept awake almost the entire night due to their worry about my safety.

I definitely need to show my gratitude for their concern later.

After walking for 15 minutes, we finally reached Gantz’s city gates. It was a little over 1 o’clock in the afternoon already, and there weren’t any people waiting in line outside in order to enter. We went through the gate after undergoing the customary inspection of the guards.

“The five of you follow me. As for the rest, wait here first.”

It would seem more convincing to explain stuff with more people instead of just me.

“Understood.”

First, I’ll talk to Captain Guido, the leader of the gate guards. I knocked on the door of the gate guard garrison. I’ve visited this place a couple of times already so I was quite familiar with it.

“Hi. I’m Alan, the leader of Shining Star. Is Captain Guido in?”

I called out to one of the guards inside.

“Oh, it’s you guys. You have some more bandits for us?”

“No, it’s not bandits this time. I have something else to report though. And it’s quite urgent.”