Chapter 537: Dreaming of a hero
Thanks to Apple’s inspiration and Maia’s dedication, so far the people of the craftsman village had continued to advance without anyone dying.
“We could set up a camp around here”
“Camp?”
“It’s a defensive base against the hero corps. We would have retreated further if we could……”
Tetes looked around.
“One of the reasons we moved so far is, of course, that if we were too close to the palace, the frequency of battles would increase. The distance between the battlefield and the commander is simply directly related to the number of operational orders. ……One more reason is that if we set up camp, the villages behind it will inevitably come to our rear. Do you understand what this means?”
“……Don’t talk to me like you’re testing me”
“It takes this much effort to take care of one village and a few hundred people. If you involve many villages, it takes so much power to control so many people. We don’t have the skills or the manpower to effectively lead the people, do we?”
“……I don’t know if we can just let them live their lives as they have been and just shut up”
“If this were, for example, in the Southern Great Plains, where people are more accustomed to warfare, they would probably do so out of fear of what would follow if they kept quiet……but this is a closed kingdom where a dictator has established a reign of terror. Everyone is afraid of the heroes and the royal court. What does it mean to have a lot of those people behind your back……?”
“……You mean the possibility of being hit from the back?”
“I don’t know if it’s Neia-san and the others or Maia-san, but there’s no guarantee that they won’t reach out to Master or Apple-san. Of course, the people in the countryside are amateurs, so it can’t be prevented, so we’ll have to be very careful about that……I’m willing to pay, but the problem is with those people”
“Ah……”
The villagers of the craftsman village.
“The people who have betrayed us directly, what will the peasants, who are afraid of the heroes, do? I can’t think of any way to protect them……if they start to mess with the villagers for fear of solidarity sanctions. The only precautionary measure I can think of is to warn them in the form of Maia-san”
“……If we set up camp here, showing off with Maia’s dragon body will also be ineffective……”
“That’s what I mean. It’s a bit of a quandary, though……”
In that light, Tetes’ strategy of escaping as deep upstream as possible is correct. By reducing the number of people we carry as much as possible, we can reduce the danger behind us and if we can group all the people within sight of Maia, we can reduce the risk of any act of fear of the heroes. Now that there is a possibility of a long battle, we cannot avoid thinking about how to handle the villagers we are protecting. However……it has been over a week of marching and the fatigue of the craftsman villagers is approaching its limit. Some of them can’t handle it with their spirit alone.
“Once we set up camp, anything behind us from here will automatically be considered an enemy on the royal palace side. Like the artisan villages, it will no longer be morally possible to abandon them after that happens.”
“……Yes”
From fugitives, they will sit back as rebels. To do so in a kingdom in a long, narrow valley is to devour the land beyond. And even without consent, it would be harsh on Neia to abandon her village to the enemy once she has already 「Need」 to protect it. The cause of 「Saving the people」 would be shaken.
“……If at least one more horse……Laila would be a luxury, maybe Ray or Emma would be there”
“You make them full-time protectors of the people of the craftsman village”
“That’s one thing, but they can move the craftsman villagers through the air while plugging in the shingles. Even though we can only carry a limited number at a time, it’s perfect if we can move them without fatiguing them. It’s worth it, no matter how many times you have to go back and forth to do it”
“……Yes, that’s right. If we could do that, then everything would be fine”
What happened to Ray, Emma and the elders? As long as I exist, the will of Rainer will not create coercion for all the unaffiliated dragons. That would stalemate the winds of the Crystal Palace of the silver dragons, but on the other hand, it would also mean that there is a good chance that they would eat each other with the other Rainer-affiliated dragons if they tried to side with me. And dragons are not afraid to lay down their lives for their beliefs. The more they are unable to touch the riders, the more likely they are to be killed in a brawl between dragons that took place in a place unrelated to the riders. I’d like to believe that the fact that there are no dragon shadows on the pursuers so far means that they are doing just fine, but we’ll never know anything from here…….
“So what do we do? Shall we set up camp?”
“What will that do? Can we give the villagers a rest?”
“At least a few days of rest. After that, if we persist, they will be able to move slowly to a safe zone”
“……You say, but you don’t have a home, do you?”
“Yes. From there, there is nothing we can do until 100-man commander Dianne arrives”
Even though I’ve made my own decisions up to this point, the breakthrough into a new era is left entirely to Dianne. There’s nothing that can’t be done, but with just the four foreigners including Maia, Neia and the hero, there’s nothing we can do in terms of time or ability. We need a stable political situation, labor force and materials. Without them, it would not be possible to allow the hundreds of people who had abandoned their homes to live comfortably.
“Then let’s make this a defensive position. Tetes, prepare a windbreak barrier and grass for sleeping”
“Yes, yes”
“Maia flew downstream to search for any sign of dragons or Rainer. If you see any sign of dragons or Rainer, come back immediately. And Neia, follow her”
Maia and Neia would not be so easy to defeat, even if they were facing Rainer, but if I lead them to my location, they would be safer because of my position as a dragon rider.
“What shall I do?”
“You and Apple will join me in gathering fuel and preparing a meal”
Brian nods and obeys me. And whether it’s because I’m the dragon rider or because Tetes, the brain of the group, is standing up for me, he doesn’t object to my taking the lead. I have a very hard time giving him a reason to object when he says, 「Why are you calling the shots?」……well, I’m glad that the one who happened to become my ally was a mild-mannered hero. All the others had their own quirks.
As expected of Lord Buster’s younger sister, the diligent Tetes has learned many spells that can be used in daily life, which is helpful. If it took that long to wash the villagers’ clothes, they would catch a cold, but with magic that disperses moisture, they can dry their clothes at high speed even at night. Thanks to the windbreak barrier, they don’t freeze in the night wind while waiting for their clothes to dry.
“Don’t stare at the women just because they’re naked”
“Ah……yeah. Don’t worry, they’re all out of range”
Perhaps because life was too poor, the women in the craftsman village are not very interesting looking as far as I’m concerned. I still have a strong obsession with looks. I feel like I’m being forgotten. The exception being that the elves, cat beasts and the women who polish their skin in the miraculous spring of Polka are very good looking. Even by such standards, the women in the craftsman village are a bit too poor in some respects. Not in the sense that they have poor breasts or anything like that, but in the sense that they are bony.
“Tell everyone that we’re going to rest here for a while while we serve the food”
“Yes”
“Understood”
Tetes and Apple serve the food. After Brian prepared the barley porridge and grilled meat, he started dozing off, leaning against the wall. ……Maia is on the search and there is no enemy faster than Maia’s wings. When it comes to safety, does it mean safety? I didn’t dare wake him up, but I still climbed up the cliff path to wait for Maia and the others to return and settled on top of a small rock to look downstream. It is no exaggeration to say that I chose this spot because the terrain is convenient for keeping watch. In the valley below, I could see small groups of villagers gathered around a number of campfires, eating. I myself was quite full from the taste. ……I’ve gotten used to eating monster meat without the use of purifying salt. Celesta people originally ate it normally, so I knew there was no real harm in it, but you get used to it.
After a while, Maia returned as if melting out of the indigo evening sky.
“So far, it doesn’t look like the hero corps has arrived”
“I flew near the Dragon Palace too, but there was no movement. I’m wondering what happened to Ray-san and the others……?”
“The dragons don’t kill their own kind unless they have to. Let’s hope it wasn’t too terrible”
Maia and Neia reported down near the rocks and then looked at each other, both taken in by the smell of the food in the valley.
“Go ahead and eat, both of you. I’ll stay here and keep watch”
“……I’ve seen it all and my ears can hear farther than Andy-sama’s eyes can see
“Still, please let me pretend that I’m helping you once in a while. Maia hasn’t eaten for a while. It’s not a very good meal, but go ahead and eat and build up your strength”
“……Yes”
“Me too”
The two run down the cliff path. From a distance, both of them are still fresh 「Girls」 and don’t look like they have the strength to support such a difficult situation. I looked up at the starry sky, which looked wider than it had in a long time, while thanking them again for their efforts. Even in this valley that looked like another world, the stars were the same as in Polka.
After a while, Neia came up with a meal in her hand.
“May I sit next to you?”
“Yes”
Lately, Neia has always had a blank look on her face and been difficult to approach, but it’s unusual for her to come up to me like this”
“……I miss Trot’s food”
“I agree. I feel bad for everyone in the craftsman village who seems so happy about this”
“Once again, I wish I could feed everyone a meal like that someday”
Saying this, Neia scoops up a bowl of porridge with skewers of meat marinated wildly and puts it in her mouth.
“……What’s the matter with you, then? You haven’t even sat near me lately”
“I wasn’t avoiding you……but I felt bad for Tetes-san and Apple-san”
“You shouldn’t have bothered. I’m not going to be able to do anything more than flirt with the girl as much as I want if she looks unhappy about it”
“……Huhuu. As usual, you say the lines that make you feel powerless without any regrets”
“No, no, I’m still pretty frustrated about this. However, I think you probably know better than other people who are even stronger that there is a limit to what one person can do”
“……I guess so”
Neia adorably bites off a skewer of grilled meat, puts it down and looks at the starry sky as she follows my gaze.
“……I’ve been overwhelmed by how strong you’ve been lately”
“No, I don’t think I’ve had any strong moments at all”
‘No, you are strong. You don’t stand still in the middle of any storm. You walk with your feet, one step at a time, in whichever direction you please. Before you know it, the wind is at your back……”
“I think it’s just ýour imagination”
I personally think that I’m a bit of a swayer. Does it look like that from the side?
“I’m always doubtful. Whether I’m right or if it would have been better if I didn’t exist. ……You always look as if you’ve been waiting for it, even when you meet with unexpected circumstances. As if to prove with your own body that you are the master of your own destiny, no matter how ineffectual. Even on this journey”
“……That’s just desperate. Always”
“But that’s why everyone believes in you, I’ve come to realize”
Neia looked at me and smiled.
“Sharon told me that she was proud to have been discovered by you. ……I think I understand that feeling a little better now that I’ve seen it”
“O, Oh?”
“The more I think about what’s going to happen next, the more it pains me. But when I thought of the future that I would have as your woman……as your female slave, holding your child in that Polka after everything was done, I felt like that alone was full of light”
“……Is that so”
I’m amused, but I laugh as I take Neia’s hat and place it in my lap, patting her head lightly. Maybe it’s escapism. I’m not sure if it’s an escape, but if she sees the possibility of a future with me, then I’ll accept it.
“I’m telling you, it won’t be just one or two”
“Eh?”
“Children. ……You should plan on having at least four”
“……You’re being greedy”
“Don’t think that if you give birth, you’ll be excused from your role. I’m not only erotic, but also very possessive”
Under the stars, Neia and I kiss. The flash sword ran a light streak of light at the edge of my vision, but I didn’t say anything in particular.