Chapter 74 – Dismantling and Materials 2 Part 3

Translator: SFBaka

Editor: Thor’s Stone

Gloria began staring at Ella, brought her head closer to the young girl, and growled softly for some reason. She seems to be saying something.

“She says it’s her first time seeing such a tiny human.”

“Ah, that’s because Ella is a human child. She’s still quite small, right?”

“She’s asking if she’s Captain’s child.”

“Of course not! She’s not my kid, okay. I’m not even married yet, so how can I have a kid?”

She continued saying something using soft growls and grunts.

“She says she’s worried about bringing a small child like her out to a hunt.”

“Hm? We’re not planning on monster hunting today though?”

“Captain, it seems that Gloria thought we were going out to hunt today. I’m sorry. It seems I wasn’t able to explain to her properly.”

Ah, I see. Did she think so because we went to the sea of trees instead of somewhere near Gantz? If Teo and Ella weren’t here, we could have certainly moved out to do a bit of hunting.

“Sorry, Gloria. We’re not going hunting today.”

After I said that, Gloria’s head hung down in dejection. Ah, so she was looking forward to it that much huh. I’m sure she was really happy when she thought she’d be able to hunt together with her new Clan.

“What is Gloria saying, Alan?”

“It looks like she thought we were going for a hunt today. I’m at fault because I didn’t manage to explain things to her well.”

“I see. Okay then. Let’s go for a hunt, Alan! I feel sorry for Gloria somehow.”

“But…… Yosh, you’re right. Let’s do a bit of hunting then. It would be good for everyone to see just how Gloria fights as well.”

“”Oooh!””

With our numbers coupled with Gloria, I’m sure Teo and Ella won’t come into any harm. Fortunately, we managed to discover a small Orc settlement near here two days ago. It was about an hour’s walk from where we were. There were only two or three of those crude open-air huts, so it must be a newly established settlement.

There were about thirty-five Orcs residing in the settlement. Their number was a bit lacking compared to our usual targets, but I guess it should be fine since we did set off in the afternoon.

“Okay, Gloria. Let’s go for a hunt then. There’s an Orc settlement nearby so let’s go and attack it.”

Gloria raised her head and cried out in joy once more. I asked Iris to guide Gloria. She immediately took off and headed into the forest.

“Teo, Ella. I’m sorry. I wasn’t really planning on taking you guys out to hunt monsters.”

“It’s okay, big bro. I also want to become an adventurer someday. So it’s gonna be great if I can watch how real adventurers go on monster hunts today.”

Un. But since Gloria was raring to go, I don’t really think you’d be able to watch how adventurers go about monster hunting all that much, Teo.

Ella, who was riding on top of my shoulders, seemed to be enjoying herself and didn’t seem to mind at all.

The path toward the Orc settlement was pretty smooth so we were able to arrive near it in less than an hour.

We used hand signs to communicate and silently approached the settlement. Since there were a lot of us, it took quite some time for everyone to get into position, but we were able to safely approach the settlement without getting noticed.

Yosh, let’s start the attack.

(Iris, tell Gloria to start the attack.)

『Roger.』

The drone video feed showed Gloria standing by high up in the sky. It seems Iris already informed her to start the attack, and after a brief turn, she dived straight down. When she arrived less than 150 meters from the ground, she released a Fire Grenade.

Wait, what’s with that crazy amount of magic power!? That’s not just a grenade. This is bad!

“Everyone, get down on the ground, now!”

Everyone frantically threw themselves flat on the ground. The Fire Grenade released by Gloria landed in the middle of the settlement and caused a tremendous explosion.

“Begin the attack!”

We stood up straight away to attack the settlement, but I don’t think we’d have much to do anyway. Gloria landed on the epicenter of the blast with considerable force and slammed her tail toward the Orcs who managed not to get caught up in her earlier attack. Five Orcs were blown away by her tail swipe in a flashy manner.

Gloria ran with great speed while flapping her wings and caught the stunned Orcs one after another with her claws and slammed them onto the ground. After a few rounds of tail swipes and claw grabs, there were no longer any moving Orcs remaining.

So it really turned out like this huh. It’s just as I expected.

It took less than ten seconds after the Grenade explosion for Gloria to finish the job. This can probably be described as a total massacre.

Everyone from the Clan was stunned silly.

“Yosh, let’s go.”

When we got near her, I saw that Gloria seemed quite proud of her actions. Recently, I’ve been able to get a handle on Gloria’s mood through her gestures.

“Nice work, Gloria. You were pretty amazing. We didn’t even have to do anything.”

Gloria seemed quite happy to be complimented.

“However, it would be nice if you left the bodies intact next time so we can harvest their magic stones. We collect those magic stones, you see.”

Of course, I won’t fault Gloria for firing off a Grenade. It’s partly my fault anyway since I didn’t explain things to her properly earlier. Gloria replied that she understood.

“That was amazing, Gloria! As expected of a dragon!”

Gloria became even more elated when she got praised by Cleria.

“Yosh. Let’s start collecting the magic stones and subjugation proofs now.”

Since there were more than a hundred of us here, the work was over in a flash. We unexpectedly managed to collect thirty magic stones and subjugation proofs. This much should be enough.

Gloria started talking with grunts again.

“She’s asking if we won’t eat the meat.”

“Oh, no, we won’t eat them. ……You can go ahead and eat them if you want.”

After I said so, Gloria grabbed an Orc corpse and began to devour it.

“……Orcs don’t seem all that appetizing though.”

“Alan, I’ve actually heard that they eat Orc meat in some northern countries. It seems it’s actually pretty decent.”

“Eh!? Really? Well, they do look like pigs, so maybe they taste similar to Big Boars.”

“Alan-sama, I had actually managed to sample Orc meat once. I heard that they used to eat them often in the village where I’m from back in the day. It was rich in fat and was relatively tasty.”

The one who said so was Walter.

“I see…… But I still don’t feel like eating them. Well, if there’s no other choice, then I guess I would though.”

I have an aversion to eating the meat of humanoid creatures. It was also a bit shocking to see Gloria grab an Orc and devour it. Since they have a different food culture here, then I guess it won’t be bad to try it sometime.

After eating four Orcs, Gloria seemed to be satisfied.

“Yosh, let’s return, everyone.”

We walked to the place we met up with Gloria earlier and got there after an hour. Gloria landed in front of us once more.

“Gloria, let’s meet up again after three days.”

Iris seems to have explained our plans to her. Gloria roared in agreement and took off to return to her nest.

“Alan-sama, Gloria-dono’s attack was truly amazing.”

“Yeah, it sure was. First was a surprise attack using explosion magic. Then she dove down at great speed and finished things off with powerful tail swipes. There shouldn’t be a lot of monsters that are able to go against those kinds of attacks.”

“Truly a mighty dragon sung about in legends.”

Adjutant Dalshim seems to have been pretty impressed by Gloria’s attacks.

We soon arrived back in Gantz and returned to our Clan Home after ordering some of the men to exchange the magic stones for cash.

“Thank you very much for today, big bro! It was really fun!”

Ella and Teo returned to work while looking greatly satisfied.

Of course, Gloria was the topic of everyone’s conversation even at dinner.

It seems everyone was happily discussing possible battle tactics incorporating Gloria. They really were honest-to-goodness knights and soldiers. Sheesh. I was also interested in the topic, but I refrained from joining in since the conversations were centered around Adjutant Dalshim and I didn’t want to rain on his parade.

I then asked Cleria about something that I’ve always been interested in.

“Ria, I’m not familiar with the greetings used by aristocrats. Are there some rules about proper etiquette I need to take note of?”

“Of course. Oh, come to think of it, not only would you need to meet with nobles, but there’s a good chance of you needing to meet with the king as well. This is bad, Elna. We really need to teach Alan about proper court etiquette.”

“That’s true. It completely slipped my mind.”

“Uh, it’s fine if you just teach me about proper greetings and stuff you know.”

“Alan, it’s not that simple to learn proper court etiquette. We have to begin practicing now, or else, there’s a risk of you embarrassing yourself in front of the nobles.”

“Is that how it is? Okay. Start teaching me after dinner then.”

And so, it was decided that I would undergo a crash course on noble etiquette by Cleria and Elna.

It was quite the lineup since I was gonna get taught directly by a former royal princess and a noble daughter. I’ll try to learn as much as I can.