Inheriting the Novel

The Value of a Hero (2)

"Do you know what happened when that thing first appeared?"

Maria glanced at me with a sly look.

... There must have been quite an uproar. How many people can ignore a giant dragon suddenly appearing in the sky?

"If it hadn't been for Kisea, who came with you, there might have been a major battle."

"I'll be more careful from now on."

"I'll try to believe you."

She said she believed me, but Maria's face didn't look like she trusted me at all.

[You've caused a bit of trouble so far.]

'Trouble? Most of those things were unavoidable.'

[Still, you didn't really have to bring a dragon to your domain, did you?]

'If I hadn't, I would've had to kill it. That seems like a waste, doesn't it?'

At my words, Grancesia replied in an exasperated tone.

[A waste! Even just the hide or bones would've been useful... Though, since it's such a young dragon, the quality probably wouldn't have been that great.]

'Exactly. That's why it's more beneficial to keep it alive and make use of it.'

Is there anywhere else in the world with a domain that keeps a dragon?

That alone would greatly enhance the value of my domain.

Besides, even though it's young, it still properly counts as an adult dragon.

It can use magic and Dragon Tongue, and when traveling long distances, we could use the dragon for transportation.

In truth, in the latter case, since we have the magic tower, there probably won't be much need—but just having these options was already a huge advantage.

"Anyway, thank you. Thanks to you, the domain seems to have been well maintained."

"... I just did what I was supposed to do."

At my compliment, Maria looked a bit embarrassed and glanced away.

Given her title "the eternal girl,"

Maria's appearance was so youthful that she looked like a little sister—there was something endearing about her.

Trying not to make it obvious, I gently patted Maria's head as she looked away.

"... Clay, you're not thinking of me as a child, are you?"

"Ah, sorry."

"Hoo... Okay. But please praise me a bit more. It's been really hard for me lately."

Having spent most of her childhood alone, Maria was vulnerable to affection. Perhaps because of that, she looked obviously pleased even at a little praise like this.

She tried to hide it as much as she could, though.

'Anyway, I should check on the other two who are fighting right now.'

The noise was so deafening that my ears were ringing. Thinking about Maria having to work all this time while listening to that racket made me feel really sorry.

Bang! Crash!

The noise was coming from the newly constructed training ground for the knights' practice.

Moving there with Maria, I could hear chats from the knights and soldiers gathered at the training ground.

"Why are those two always fighting over there?"

"I don't know either."

They seemed used to it by now, responding indifferently even though a battle between Sword Masters was unfolding before their eyes.

'Huh?'

As I got closer to the training ground, I could see the two people fighting.

Contrary to my expectations, it wasn't Teo and Kisea fiercely fighting on the training ground.

Teo was standing a little distance away, looking uncomfortable, while the two fighting were Kisea and Ian.

"What is that guy doing here again?"

As I muttered in disbelief, their sword strikes came to a halt. They must have heard me.

"Oh, Clay! Long time no see!"

Kisea ran up to me with a bright face and a cheerful smile.

In contrast, Ian looked quite haggard.

"I thought Kisea might be here, but..."

"Her Highness the Princess gave an order."

"Her Highness the Princess?"

"Yes. She said she wouldn't be able to return for a while, so she commanded me to help you in her place."

Now that I think about it, the reason Riya stayed at our mansion was to protect and assist Genova's head.

Since she had business in the empire, she had left Ian in charge instead.

'So, does that mean we have three—no, counting me, four Sword Masters in our domain?'

What is this? We have more Sword Masters than the empire itself.

Even I thought this was kind of cheating.

"Ah! It's the head!"

"Count Vanhart has returned!"

As I appeared at the training ground, the knights and soldiers gathered around.

Their numbers had clearly increased since before I left the domain.

"I've only selected the minimum number for now. There's still a mountain of reserve applicants."

"That many?"

"Yes. Didn't you look at the documents earlier? Ever since you became one of the Seven Heroes, we get more than a hundred applications a day."

The name value of the Seven Heroes had a much greater impact than I had thought.

Who knew that so many would want to become a knight of our domain? I was moved, but also found it to be a rather troublesome situation.

'If I leave things as they are, applications will keep pouring in.'

If it goes on, it'll get to the point I can't focus on other work because I'll have to sift through all the applications.

In a way, I brought this on myself.

So, I felt the pressing need to organize things somehow.

Of course, Kisea, not knowing—or maybe not caring—about my thoughts, gently tugged on my sleeve.

Maria's eyes twitched a little at that, but she didn't stop her.

"Clay, I was waiting for you!"

"You were waiting for me?"

"Yes. Since we didn't get to have a proper fight during the Seven Heroes Convocation... I wanted to spar with you."

Her once timid demeanor was nowhere to be seen—her eyes flickered violet, or almost red, and she grinned slyly.

At her smile, Ian flinched, and Teo's face went stiff.

'I can guess what's been happening here without even seeing.'

With a sword in hand, Kisea was someone who radiated murderous intent.

She was good at controlling it, but to regular people, that menacing aspect could be terrifying.

"Later."

"... Huh?"

"I need to deal with all the work piled up first."

When I replied briefly, Kisea seemed a little disappointed but didn't force it.

"Alright. There's plenty of time anyway."

... Plenty of time?

How long was she planning to stay in our domain, really?

As if reading my mind, Kisea giggled.

"There are lots of people here who'll play with me besides Clay, you know."

With that, Ian and Teo looked extremely gloomy.

It seemed Kisea really was the main source of all the noise at the training ground.

* * *

"My lair's not done yet? Hurry up!"

"We'll get it done soon!"

Following the direction the dragon had flown, I now found the dragon hunched over, pestering a group of workers.

"Why are we building that thing a lair, anyway?"

"Well, we can't just let it sleep on the street, can we?"

Maria replied in a flat tone.

According to her, as soon as the dragon arrived, it demanded a place to stay.

That place turned out to be a mountain behind the mansion, and there was nothing Maria could do but go along with the dragon's demands.

"I told you, unless I order otherwise, you can smack it around a bit if you don't like it."

"No matter how hard I hit, I can't even leave a scratch on a dragon's scale."

Maria's grumbling only made me feel more sorry.

If I thought about how Maria must've felt when she first saw the dragon...

"Hey."

Feeling guilty, I raised my voice and called out to the dragon.

『How dare you—Huh?!』

Seeing me, the little dragon's eyes went wide and she lowered her head.

『O-oh! Elder brother! I've been waiting for you!』

"Who are you calling elder brother?"

Her groveling left me speechless.

Was this really a dragon?

Maria was so stunned, her mouth hung open in disbelief.

"You told Maria to give you a house, didn't you?"

『Me? Come on, no! I just needed a place to sleep, so I just asked for somewhere to stay, that's all.』

What a smooth talker.

But because her head was so high up, my neck started to ache as I kept talking.

As I rubbed the back of my neck, she panicked and suddenly glowed brightly.

"Sorry I made you uncomfortable with my big body. Is this okay now?"

Once the sparkling faded, a small girl with black hair stood before me.

She looked about the same age as Maria.

There were horns like Riya's on both sides of her head, but unlike Riya's, they were curled like a sheep's.

"You're pretty good at this social stuff."

Maria remarked, seemingly surprised.

I was, too. I didn't expect her to use human Polymorph before I even asked.

"... Wait, you're female?"

"Yes."

"Then why call me 'elder brother'?"

"It just sounds more respectful that way."

I couldn't make sense of dragon sensibilities.

Well, this was the same dragon who stirred up trouble after ruining a game—so maybe she just had a quirky temperament.

Most dragons, after making a mess of their games, would simply return to their territories, not go on a rampage.

You could say she was human-like—in a good way—or just odd, in a bad way.

"But Clay, what's this dragon's name, anyway?"

It sounded like Maria was about to refer to her as "Miss Dragon" but couldn't quite bring herself to do it.

I mean, seeing her like this would shatter anyone's illusions about dragons.

Honestly, Riya looked way more like a dragon.

"She said her name was Mersaya, I think."

"Yes, that's right! But you can just call me Saya, elder brother."

Again with the "elder brother, elder brother"—it was getting on my nerves.

It was odd enough in dragon form, but in the appearance of a little girl, it was even stranger.

"Just use my name, will you?"

"Huh? Should I call you Mr. Clay, then?"

"I'd prefer you drop the honorifics altogether."

What would people think, listening to this?

"That's hard. Since we've made a contract, I have to use honorifics for you, elder brother."

Unlike her carefree expression earlier, she looked extremely serious as she said this.

Back in Darsha, I'd used Dragon Tongue to make her enter into a contract in exchange for sparing her life.

She's to obey me, and cannot harm any human without my order.

This contract lasts until I die.

For a dragon, being made to obey a lesser human was a suitable punishment.

If she'd actually slaughtered people, it would've been different, but since she only got carried away with mischief, this is where it ended.

"So Mersaya will be staying in the domain from now on?"

"That's right."

"What about food expenses...?"

That seemed to be Maria's main concern.

With such a huge dragon, it was a reasonable worry.

"Dragons mainly subsist on magic power. They don't need material food."

"Oh, really?"

"Yes. If that weren't the case, all the dragons who enjoy games for centuries would have starved by now."

Now that I think about it, that made sense.

As I nodded, Maria looked relieved.

"Anyway, don't boss the workers around for no reason. Behave yourself."

"Of course! I plan to stay by your side like family."

The word "family" bothered me a bit, but I let it go.

'Alright, now I've checked on Mersaya...'

Considering the lazy nature of dragons, mersaya likely wouldn't come out much once her lair was built.

I was more worried about managing Teo and Kisea, but as long as I paid some attention, it'd be fine.

'Now, what's left is...'

* * *

"Sehenz is currently headed east."

Jade handed me a document.

It described Sehenz's whereabouts after the Seven Heroes Convocation.

"The east? That's where Setram is, isn't it?"

"Yes. I'm not sure what's going on in Setram, but it seems he's headed there to help with a demonkin problem."

Demonkin and Setram.

Both were entangled with me in various ways, which made things complicated.

[Why do you want to find Sehenz anyway?]

'The story was originally supposed to start wherever Sehenz went.'

But then the Seven Heroes Convocation happened, and Sehenz stopped by Mount Tylaris in the middle of his mission.

So he must have left before the Convocation even ended.

'That means the place where Fabian and Kisea met was probably near Setram.'

Teo was probably in the same area.

But chasing Sehenz to Setram was tricky on many levels.

'They called me a heretic, didn't they?'

It was obvious Setram was monitoring me—and regarded me as an enemy.

[Then why not drop by the Atell Family and ask for a little help?]

'The Atell Family?'

At Grancesia's suggestion, I thought of Michelle.

Jerta had said Michelle was confined in the Atell Family's mansion.

'Maybe I can find something out from them.'

Something about Setram felt off.

I was certain they were involved in some incident in the original story as well.