Chapter 70

To give the conclusion first, there was not even one millimeter of the sort of clichéd sexy development where he got flustered by Kururu reacting to the pain in some alluring way.

First of all, Kururu had genuinely been in pain, and the way she endured it had been far removed from anything sensual.

In fact, she had kicked him fairly hard several times.

On top of that, Kururu was stubborn, so after provoking him that much, she probably could not bring herself to say they should stop midway, and he could easily imagine that if he had suggested calling it off himself, she would have flown into a rage.

And for his part as well, he was doing something that would remain on Kururu’s body for the rest of her life, so the level of seriousness was completely different.

As a result, the atmosphere had somehow become strangely intense, and Iiria, who had been watching the work out of curiosity, had excused herself early on.

By the time he drove in the last needle into Kururu’s painfully reddened back, which had grown redder with every step of the process, he felt the same limp exhaustion as after finishing a marathon.

He let out the breath he had been holding and set down the needle.

When he wiped it with a clean cloth to check the carved marks, some places really had started bleeding after all.

He must have been gripping the needle far too hard, because he had almost no grip strength left.

Naturally, he had not felt Kururu’s soft skin at all. If anything, when he rested his elbow, her bones had felt so bony that some of his fantasies about a maiden’s body being soft and warm seemed to have faded a little.

“…Is it over?”

Perhaps she had been in the next room, because Iiria poked her face in.

“For the time being…”

His throat was so dry that for a moment he even thought about drinking the water he had used to wash the needle.

When he asked for something to drink, the young lady lord nodded rapidly and hurried off to fetch it.

“It is over.”

When he said that to Kururu, who had not moved an inch, her scruffy tail, parts of which had become stuck standing on end, moved only a little, weakly.

“…I di—”

“Hm?”

When he asked back at Kururu’s muffled voice as she lay face down, Kururu looked at him over her shoulder.

Her eyes looked angry, and also as though she had been crying.

“I did not think… it would hurt this much…”

If a half-naked, teary-eyed girl said that to him, he thought he might have felt a little more flustered, but all he felt was the sense of accomplishment from having finished, and the thought that this was exactly what he had told her.

“And apparently it is still going to be rough for a while.”

“What?”

“I have heard it gets incredibly itchy.”

Naturally, there were probably no painkillers in this world… though perhaps there were, but they were likely primitive narcotics of some kind.

He wondered whether it might be better to have Gerario share some of his tobacco, but Kururu sitting beside Gerario and puffing smoke would make her look exactly like a delinquent. It might suit her, but Iiria looked like she would cry, so he wished she would not.

“…”

Kururu collapsed face down.

Just then Iiria came back carrying drinks, and stared blankly at Kururu’s condition.

To distract herself from the itchiness, Kururu threw herself into cooking for a while.

Apparently, as long as she was swinging a wok with all her might, she could forget the itch.

The dishes, centered around stir-fries made while she furiously worked the pan with a terrifyingly bad-tempered expression, were well received by everyone.

Then one day, news was brought by one of the company men working at the harbor.

A fleet flying flags dyed with the Bax Company crest had arrived.

The word fleet, rather than ship, sent tension through them.

They sent for Gerario, and also dispatched a messenger to call Dodol and the others from the mine, while Kururu, whose itchiness seemed to have eased considerably by now, ran toward the harbor without even waiting to disguise herself as Dorasutel.

If they had come to occupy Jirenu Territory, then they would have to meet them in battle.

When he arrived, panting for breath, around four ships were anchored offshore.

“Are they armed?”

When he called out to one of the beastfolk from the company who had been squinting from the pier, the man first greeted him as Lord Yorinobu, the dragonslayer, and then answered.

“There are definitely soldiers visible… but they are observing us as well. One of our companions is at the prow.”

At that moment Gerario arrived.

“Hah, hah… what the hell? I heard the fighting had started and came running.”

Gerario, fully armed, said that, then turned to the brat who had been sent to fetch him and ruffled the boy’s head all over.

“If they are anchored out there, they are probably just checking things out. Or it could be a feint.”

He had not considered that possibility.

If they truly intended to attack, there was no way they would all come leisurely through the front entrance.

“Balan is running over there with the beastfolk. You people really do lack experience.”

He had no excuse.

“Honestly, this was supposed to be my retirement pension, but I am being worked properly after all.”

Gerario grumbled that, but peace in this territory mattered to him as well.

In particular, both the rescue of the girls who had suffered terribly because of Nodon and the others, and the plan for Dodol and the others to improve the food situation through livestock raising, had apparently struck a chord with Gerario.

“Well, most likely a ship that happened to be offshore at the time headed for the provincial capital and reported that something had happened. And the first thing they would think on the other end is rebellion. The ruling power did just change hands.”

He nodded in understanding.

And by the time Kururu, finally disguised as Dorasutel, came riding up on horseback, Gerario’s earlier words made sense as well.

If they kept their ships out there, they would make perfect targets for magic.

In other words, the other side had judged that things probably were not very dangerous and had shown themselves.

“Hey, beast-brother, you people have that special greeting of yours that shows no hostility, right?”

When Gerario said that to the beastman, the beastman looked slightly surprised, then raised both hands and waved them as though sending some kind of signal.

“I see. The reason you know our customs so well must be because that smell belongs to Master Tsatsaru.”

“Huh, I smell like Tsatsaru? Seriously?”

Gerario made a disgusted face and flapped at his clothes.

Apparently Tsatsaru occupied the kind of position in beastfolk society where he was called master.

“Yorinobu, do we need magic?”

Kururu spoke to him then. Her eyes were shining brightly, probably because she was dying to use magic.

Since the itching from the tattoo had settled down, Kururu had been taking lessons from Gerario again on how to use magic.

Apparently she was desperate to test the results.

According to Kururu, after getting the tattoo, it felt as if she could control the world.

“At the moment, it does not seem necessary. Ah, the ship—”

Ahead of them, a small boat was being lowered from one of the large ships.

Together with the soldiers aboard, there were also some well-dressed humans.

Relieved that things probably would not turn violent immediately, he let out a breath.

“Now then, let us see what kind of reaction they have to the dragon story.”

At Gerario’s words, the tension instantly returned.

According to popular belief, the appearance of dragons indicated the richness of a magic stone mine. And there had been two of them.

Talk that this weak little territory might have a terrifyingly rich vein would beat on those people’s swollen greed like a drum.

“What if we take them hostage?”

Kururu said that as though she could hardly wait for it to turn into a conflict.

“That is only worth doing if someone of that value is on that ship.”

At Gerario’s calm reply, Kururu fell silent. Perhaps because he was teaching her how to use magic, she was fairly docile in front of him.

Drawing the attention of all the people gathered at the harbor, there were two well-dressed figures aboard the small boat.

One was the familiar face of Cole.

The other was someone he did not know.