Chapter 76 – Gloria Part 1

Editor: Thor’s Stone

Ah, that was so much fun! I was able to fly in the sky with everyone from the clan!

I don’t understand the human language, but Iris said everyone had lots of fun as well. I’m glad I was able to be of use to the clan.

It feels a bit lonely to live apart from the other clan members, but it can’t be helped because the rest of the members were living in the human settlement. Once the new settlement we were building is finished, I would be able to freely live with everyone, so I’ll just have to be patient.

I promised to meet with everyone again with the clan head and took off for my nest.

Things are now very different from those boring days spent only sleeping because there was nothing else to do. Now, every day was so much fun!

It’s fun to meet everyone from the clan, and best of all, I have others to talk with now. Iris was staying with me all the time. So I’m no longer lonely like before.

I talked about a lot of things with Iris. We talked about my race, the forest, the creatures living here, the clan head’s clan, and the empire.

There were still a lot of things I didn’t understand, but there’s one thing I’m sure of. I’ve really managed to join a very amazing clan.

I was immediately taken into the clan and given a warrior rank named ‘private’. It seems this word means ‘excellent warrior’ in their language. It’s one rank higher than a normal warrior of the clan.

Normally, those who newly join a clan must start from the very bottom, so their treatment of me was very favorable.

Only four humans in the clan have a higher rank than mine. There’s the clan chief, Iris, Selena, and Sharon. They were all far more high ranking than I was.

At first, I couldn’t understand the idea of a clan with members who were not warriors, but it seems this was pretty common in the human world. I’ll have to get used to it eventually since I joined a clan with a human chief.

But even so, this does not mean the clan members who were not warriors weren’t able to fight. In other words, I think those who have been conferred the honor of being warriors are the ones who have proven themselves in battle and possess considerable strength.

It seems your rank as a warrior will rise if you’re able to earn enough merits. It’s a good rule. It was nice and easy to understand.

According to the rules of the dragon race I’ve heard from Mother, our position in the clan is decided mostly through blood relations, and it was very difficult to raise one’s rank unless you were considerably stronger than the rest of your peers.

As long as you’ve joined the clan, you need to contribute to it in order to earn merits. That’s only natural. Of course, I have absolutely nothing against the rule of raising one’s rank through merit.

Iris is able to understand what I want to say just through thoughts even if I don’t put them into words. It was very easy to communicate with Iris because of this.

However, beginning last night, she had started speaking in dragon language from time to time. She sounded strange at first, but as she repeatedly spoke in our language, she gradually improved.

It felt quite strange to hear the words of us dragons from the mouth of a human, but I eventually got used to it before long.

While I was flying toward my nest, I heard a high-pitched sound. It was the sound I hear whenever the other warriors of the clan approach me. I ended up feeling nervous.

The high-pitched sound gradually became louder and louder, and a black warrior appeared before me.

“Hello, Gloria.”

The black clan warrior spoke in dragon tongue! So it was not only Iris who was capable of speaking our language. The other clan warriors were capable of speaking it as well.

『This is one of our clan’s warriors, Corporal D-10.』

I heard the voice of Iris within my mind.

Corporal. If I remember correctly, a warrior of this rank commands five other warriors of a lower rank. It is one rank higher than a ‘private’.

The clan warriors who fly in the sky have bodies that were pitch black in color and didn’t seem to move any body parts at all when in flight. They weren’t flapping any wings, but they were still able to fly. They were quite a mysterious race.

They also didn’t look like living creatures and I felt they were somehow strange and scary. I didn’t think one would actually talk to me in such a friendly way.

“Nice to meet you, D-10.”

Maybe I’ve already met him before, but the warriors all looked the same, so I really couldn’t tell them apart.

“If it’s alright with you, shall we compete with each other and see who reaches the nest faster?”

A race!? That sounds so fun! That’s what I thought for a moment, but I calmed myself down shortly. Perhaps they were trying to test my capabilities as a warrior. Yes. They were surely testing me to see if I was truly worthy of being a warrior of the clan. I might not be able to match them, but I shall do my very best!

『Well then, I shall give the signal for the start of the race. Are you both ready?』

“”Yes!””

『Go!』

After having dinner, I called Sharon and Selena over before returning to my room.

“I’m thinking of seeing Gloria right now. Do you two want to accompany me?”

“That sounds great! I also want to get along more with her.”

“Of course, I’ll come as well.”

“Okay then. We’ll begin communications in three minutes.”

“Understood.”

I went back to my room and contacted Iris.

(I’m planning on seeing Gloria with Sharon and Selena using AR mode communication. Would that be alright?)

『Of course, you may. I’m sure she’ll be happy as well.』

(Okay then. I’ll be calling her in a minute.)

Yosh. It’s about time. As I kept up the call with Iris, the view in front of me changed, and Gloria and Iris appeared before me soon after. Sharon and Selena stood with me in between.

“Good evening, Gloria.”

“Eh!? You can also speak dragon tongue, chief!?”

What the heck!? I heard the unfamiliar voice of a woman. Chief? Don’t tell me……

“Iris! This voice! Don’t tell me–?”

『It’s as you think. I’ve finally completed a working version of the dragon language translation system. I’ve now put it into trial operation.』

“That’s great! Now we’ll be able to communicate smoothly with each other.”

“Just what is going on, chief?”

“I, Selena, and Sharon have become able to talk to you directly as well just like Iris, Gloria. From now on, we’ll be able to talk with each other anytime we want.”

“Eeh!? Is that really true? I’m so happy!”

“Lieutenant, just how did you decide on this type of voice?”

“Voice? I didn’t really pay attention to what voice was used. Does it not suit her?”

“It doesn’t fit her at all. She sounds completely different from my image of her. What do you think, Selena?”

“Certainly. She sounds a little too mature……”

“Yes! Exactly! I’d feel bad for Gloria if we didn’t make her voice sound a bit younger! What do you think, Alan?”

Sharon seems to be quite fixated on Gloria’s voice. Sharon, who was usually calm, was now acting very insistent.

We’re the only ones who would be able to hear her voice anyway, and it’s not like Gloria’s able to hear her human voice either, so I didn’t think it mattered much. But……

“If that’s the case, then why don’t we just adjust her voice pitch so it would fit her image more?”

“Understood! Let’s do that right away!”

Sharon, Selena, and Iris gathered up and started discussing among themselves.

I inspected Gloria’s nest in the meantime. I heard from Iris that her nest was located in a cave, but rather than a simple cave, it was a wide underground cavern.

It was really wide, and the ceiling was probably about fifty meters high or so. Gloria could probably fly inside here, actually.

I don’t know if it’s due to the composition of the rock walls or bioluminescent organisms living inside the cave, but it certainly didn’t resemble your typical gloomy and dark cavern. It was sufficiently bright.

The two girls seemed to be quite busy discussing stuff, so why don’t I have Gloria guide me inside her cave first.

“Gloria, can you show me around your cave nest?”

“Understood!”

Gloria replied with a child-like voice that kinda resembled Ella’s. Hey! No matter how much you wanted her to sound younger, isn’t this a bit overdoing it? No, maybe they’re still in the middle of adjusting it. If they really end up deciding on this voice, then I’ll have no choice but to step in.