The Course Of Life

“Hus… band?”

Tooyama repeated the word. It did not sit right with him, as though his brain refused to understand it.

“Ah, husband. You cannot remain a slave forever and still look proper. Kaka, well, today is a good day. That scoundrel’s prophecy was not entirely foolish either. Butler, is the butler here?”

The woman chuckled happily. She clapped her hands.

“I am here, young lady.”

Tooyama’s eyes widened again.

A person. A white-haired old man wearing a black tailcoat. His back was oddly straight, and his hair was sharply set, making him a refined silver gentleman.

No, that was not the point. None of that mattered.

Where had he appeared from, and how? The presence of that old man, who had appeared silently from completely outside his awareness, sent a shiver down Tooyama’s spine.

“Raise this term’s donation from the Dragon Embassy to the Church by twofold—no, threefold. If it had been a worthless prophecy, I was going to let him dry up, but kaka, that vulgar fool’s ability alone is genuine.”

“Understood. I will arrange it immediately. …And this gentleman is…”

His narrowed gaze slid toward Tooyama. A jolt like electricity ran through the core of his body, making his whole body stiffen.

This old man was dangerous. Tooyama’s instincts were sounding the alarm at full force.

“Oh, yes. The slave who killed me. No, truly, it was magnificent. I would have liked to show it to you too, Butler. Kakaka! There are not many chances to experience sinking into a sea of one’s own blood and having one’s body sliced apart from the inside!”

For some reason, the ridiculously beautiful blonde woman began getting excited. Her entire golden hair bounced sideways and twitched.

How did that work? Tooyama did not say the retort out loud.

“Oh, is that so? He did that to your body, young lady… I see, I see.”

“Eek.”

Being stared at by the old man in the tailcoat was enough to clog his throat and make a scream leak out.

Run. His body was screaming it at him.

“Oh, so you understood that just now. Did you see, Butler? My husband is sharp, is he not? He noticed even your difficult-to-detect killing intent.”

The blonde woman’s eyes sparkled as she tugged at the clothes of the old man, who was about two heads shorter than she was.

One could perhaps see them as a grandchild playing with her grandfather. Though her appearance had no grandchild-like feel at all.

“Hoho. Indeed, it seems he is no mere slave… Now then, young lady, what is his name?”

“…Mm. You are rather mean too, Butler. …W-well, that is, for the female to ask the male his name… is a little immodest, is it not?”

The blonde woman curled up shyly and fidgeted. Her white skin, which seemed to shine faintly like fireflies on snow, had turned slightly red.

Tooyama did not understand what point she was getting embarrassed over. Of course, he did not say that out loud either.

“Hohoho. This is the first time I have seen such an expression on your face, young lady. This old man is very pleased…”

“W-what are you people…?”

Two of them. Monsters. He could not picture it. No matter how he thought about it, he could not find a way to get through this situation.

Even Kiriyaiba had been countered and completely shut down. Close combat? Idiotic. He would be broken down and killed in an instant.

The especially dangerous one was that old man. He could not see the bottom of him.

“Ho. Young man, you seem to carry quite a deep karma. You are familiar with blood, and very accustomed to fighting. I see you as a human who has witnessed death many times. I understand how you could kill the young lady once.”

“O-old man, what the hell are you? Y-you’re more of a monster than monsters. I don’t understand.”

He formed the words clearly so his voice would not tremble.

“Kakaka, as expected of my husband! You can even understand how amazing Butler is! See, see, see, Butler? I told you, did I not? He is a very interesting human!”

“Yes, it seems so. Then, as meeting here must be some kind of fate, young man, might I trouble you to accompany us?”

“…That’s unfair. I don’t think I have any choices here.”

Tooyama unconsciously searched his field of vision. The building’s structure, the door that seemed to be the entrance and exit.

There was one escape route, straight ahead. However, the old man and the armored bastard were also straight ahead.

In other words, he could not escape this place unless he got past those two.

“Hohoho. You may try it if you wish. Even as you say that, look, your eyes are searching for the entrance to this Guild tavern. Apart from your impatience, your mind has not slowed down. Hohohoho, you are a good hunter.”

“Mm? The entrance? Why, husband? I have prepared a carriage outside to pick you up. I will send you there, so there is no need to hold back.”

The blonde woman tilted her head in puzzlement. Her abundant golden hair tilted together with her.

“Well, it’s, you know, that. The person I definitely killed is perfectly fine, the contents of that irritating octopus armor turned out to be a stunningly beautiful woman, and that person is saying something about a husband. My head’s starting to go crazy, so I want to be alone for a bit.”

Tooyama sweated as he slowly put strength into his legs. How far could he run in these shabby, worn-out shoes?

Footwear really is important. If I get through this, first it’s shoes. Shoes. He thought such carefree things and escaped from reality a little.

“Mm, I see. If that is the case, then you may go breathe some outside air for a little while.”

“…Young lady, that was human sarcasm. This gentleman is trying to flee from us.”

“What?! Why?! I did bathe quite thoroughly today, and I arranged my hair with first-class fragrant oil made from the honey of a hundred Mobembembe leaves, given to me by Mother! I-I dressed up! W-why is my husband running away?!”

Wait, is this one an idiot? Tooyama looked at the blonde woman, who was shouting while looking slightly tearful.

“…Whoa, what’s this? She’s cute. No, not that. There’s too much of a difference in temperature between you people and me. I make a point of not accepting offers that sound too good. More importantly, why are you so friendly to the person who killed you? I can’t understand that.”

He bought time while a little of his true feelings slipped out.

But it was true that he did not understand. He did not know what logic was at work, but this blonde woman and that armored bastard were undoubtedly the same person, and Tooyama had killed her once.

The killer and the killed. Between them, there should only be emotions such as resentment and hatred.

And yet he did not feel that from the blonde woman. Rather—

“Ho? Are you perhaps not from the Empire? Dragons are such beings. A higher species born into this world with seven lives. They have the role of becoming mates with the one who defeats them and then giving birth to stronger offspring, chosen lives… It is common education even in the Kingdom.”

The old man’s atmosphere loosened slightly.

“Oops, the otherworld setting just came out all at once. I’d better go to this world’s library soon…”

Stimulated as an otaku by the sudden worldbuilding explanation, Tooyama still braced himself again.

“Hoho, that is a good attitude. …Hm? Oh my, you… Ho, how rare. You are someone who holds a landscape in your heart. I cannot tell what sort of landscape it is… I see. It seems something unpleasant lives there.”

“Mm? Butler, is something wrong?”

“No, no, young lady. This gentleman appears to be confused. It may be somewhat rough, but perhaps it would be better to take him to the mansion by force.”

The atmosphere suddenly changed somehow.

The soles of his feet went numb. Run, run, run.

Something that sensed danger, cultivated through three years of explorer life side by side with death, informed Tooyama of that.

Here, that message appeared in the world again.

There were three arrows, pointing respectively at the Guild entrance door, the old man, and the blonde woman.

It makes the goal sound so damn easy. Tooyama clicked his tongue at the message and spat inwardly.

Even without being told, he had no intention of doing anything to those two. It was impossible. With his current combat strength, there was no way he could win.

“Mm, do not hurt him too much. My husband is already part of my collection.”

“Whoa, a naturally condescending and inhuman statement. So you really are just that damn irritating armored bastard inside, only your appearance changed.”

He bantered while searching for an opening. The armored bastard should have had quite a lot of pride. If he angered her, perhaps there would be some room to exploit—

“Kaka, ah, those eyes are nice. They send shivers through me. If some ordinary human spoke that way, I would want to annihilate them, but for some reason, when you say it, my heart leaps wildly. Ah, it hurts. It feels good.”

“Oh no, is this one invincible?”

No good. For some reason, instead of getting angry, the blonde woman looked happy.

She pressed her cheeks and turned her face away. What kind of bug made it so that even with her face turned away, he could see no openings whatsoever?

“Hoho, to be loved by a dragon means such a thing, young man. Now then, this will be my final verbal request. Would you please accompany us?”

At the voice of the old man, the old man in the tailcoat, he clearly felt the air change.

He knew this sensation. It was like the blank instant when a monster species was about to attack him—

“Sorry, but I was told in class meetings not to follow strangers.”

Tooyama had no choice but to laugh now.

The air grew tense, and then—

The old man’s figure vanished. He truly vanished.

“Ho.”

“Uwah?! O-old man?!”

It was coincidence.

The instant the old man vanished, he happened to have his arms positioned around his solar plexus.

Before he knew it, the guard made by Tooyama’s crossed arms received the ridiculously hard fist of the old man, which had been thrown at his solar plexus.

Creak. A sound rang out that should not have.

“Oh, this is surprising. To think you blocked the first blow. Hoho, kinetic vision—no, it was intuition. A reaction unique to a living being who has seen death many times. I do not dislike it.”

“You bastard, what did you buy to get that kind of speed… Huh?”

Clunk. A strange sensation around his jaw. He had seen nothing.

But he understood. He had been punched in the jaw.

A sensation like his knees had vanished. Ah, this feeling was the same as that time.

By the time he realized it, Tooyama had collapsed onto the floor.

“Good. It seems the second blow landed properly. Hoho. Even so, I am one who barely occupies the lowest seat among Tower-Class Adventurers.”

Still, what a sturdy body. It seems you have been eating good food.

The carefree voice of the old man falling down from above grew distant.

“Damn it, o-old man… That was a good… hit to the jaw…”

Even his own light words faded into the distance, and Tooyama’s consciousness sank.

………

…

“A-ah, wahwahwah, G-Hoarding Dragon-sama, and Sir Butler, what exactly is this…?”

It was right after Tooyama had sunk to the floor.

From behind the Guild counter, a slightly plump man wearing a well-tailored waistcoat emerged timidly, and behind him walked a cool beauty with a fine figure.

They were the lord of this city, the margrave, and the person in charge of the Adventurers’ Guild, the Guild Master.

“Oh, the lord. Your belly is as plump as ever. Nothing much. I found what I was searching for, so I will now take him back to the Dragon Embassy. Oh, yes. In five hours, there will be an announcement from the Dragon Embassy. At the Dragon Council Chamber, I will explain this matter and how it has been resolved. You are permitted to bring that money-grubbing bishop woman and the city’s representatives to the Dragon Embassy.”

The lord was shocked inwardly.

W-what? She’s in an amazing mood!! This dragon is smiling from ear to ear.

If he said it out loud, even as a noble, it would unfortunately not be strange for him to be reduced to ash. Because of that sad power relationship, the margrave, Sapan, hid his surprise while giving a full, ingratiating smile.

“Y-yes, understood.”

“Understood, Hoarding Dragon-sama. …As for these unconscious adventurers… did they do something rude to you?”

The Guild Master had her usual iron mask. She calmly threw a question at the dragon without shrinking back.

So cool!! While Sapan shamelessly gazed in fascination at the Guild Master’s attitude,

“Hm? Ah, it is fine, it is fine. I am in a good mood today. I am not irritated enough to idly kill beasts without reason. However, Guild Master Marie. The difference in quality among adventurers truly is terrible. They range widely, from Tower-Class Adventurers who approach my level to inferior creatures such as these. Would it not be better to consider measures to raise the bottom level?”

“…Haha. We are grateful for your words, our guardian deity, our Dragon Shrine Maiden. We will prepare some kind of measure today and report it to the Dragon Embassy.”

As expected, the dragon was in an exceptionally good mood.

It was hard to think she was the same monster who had reduced more than thirty Church Knights who challenged her over the past month to ash or severed heads.

Normally, it would not have been strange at all if the adventurers crawling on the ground here and not moving had already had their lives taken by the dragon at this very moment.

That was the sort of being this creature was. And yet—

“Kaka, humans are interesting. From those who foam at the mouth and collapse before my authority, to those like you who face me directly, to those like the lord who deal with me while harboring something in their bellies, and then those like my husband who direct killing intent at me. Good. Truly good.”

The blonde woman, the Hoarding Dragon, laughed.

“I need not be bored. Beloved mortals, beloved children of change. Be at ease. Then, let us meet again in five hours.”

That smile was gentle and filled with affection.

Enough that the margrave and the Guild Master were both entranced.

“Young lady, let us go. This old man will carry him.”

The butler easily lifted the unconscious slave man, the man who, unbelievably, had killed a dragon once.

“Mm, if possible, I would…”

“Young lady, your face is bright red. Can you touch him?”

“…Mm. As a female, is it immodest to touch an unconscious male? To become a chaste lady like Mother, the first touch should indeed come from my husband… Hmm, I suppose I must ask Mother again about how she and Father first met.”

While the Hoarding Dragon groaned, “Mmmmm,” the butler had already swiftly carried the man and headed toward the Guild entrance.

“Young lady, we are leaving.”

“Ah, wait, Butler! Carry him a little more carefully, more gently! Ah, do not carry him like a princess! I will do that myself one day!”

Boing. The Hoarding Dragon ran glidingly through the Guild, shaking her golden hair as she caught up to the butler.

It was almost as though—

Almost as casual as a grandchild and grandfather who had come shopping at a store and were going home.

The storms that had visited the Adventurers’ Guild departed.

Left behind were the low-ranking adventurers who had wet themselves, and two long-suffering people who oversaw this city’s adventurer functions, half at a loss.

“Marie-kun, Marie-kun. What was that?”

“A dragon… A higher life-form that found her mate.”

“I see. …I don’t want to go to the Dragon Embassy after this. Do you think she’ll forgive me if I say I have Ancient Nihon language cram school?”

“Please take the day off, my lord.”

At the same time, the two let out deep sighs at the premonition of stomach pain that was about to visit them.