Half-Dragon Slave Life Ch. 35

Author: Kaburagi Haruka

Translator: ShiroiKaze/Soyokaze Translations

Chapter 35: Epidemic

With Yig in tow, we head to the northern forest.

Of course the cargo is already stowed away in Dimensional Storage, so we’re practically empty handed.

We were attacked by a number of beasts and magic beasts along the way, but they just served as genuine practice for Master or myself.

We exterminated a magic beast called a Poison Wasp, and as we were removing the parts to prove with killed them, Master tilted his head to the side and wondered aloud.

“That’s strange. This magic beast isn’t supposed to live in a place like this…”

According to Master, poison wasps live on tall, volcanic mountains. They aren’t supposed to come down to low elevation places like this forest.

Moreso because they’re weak to the cold and are supposed to be hibernating in this wintry season.

“Did their ecology change or something?”

“That could be~, like, I’m supposed to be a mountain-dwelling disaster beast and stuff too~”

I forget sometimes, but Yig is a dragon species called Fafnir, which is supposed to only live on very tall mountains, according to standard views.

They only come down to near human settlements during spawning season, and hunts the creatures there for nourishment, or something.

She blithely goes to human settlements to buy, and immediately eat, snacks though.

“The information in documents isn’t necessarily correct, is that what you’re saying?”

“Documents left by people have plenty of half-baked parts to them, after all~. “People are creatures that only base things on their own opinions,” that’s what god said!”

“An admonition with deep implications, and yet it feels kinda trivial.”

We were attacked a few more times after that, but something is strange.

Last time we didn’t get attacked at all, so the repeated attacks on their own are odd.

Master and Yig must have noticed something is off too. The hiking mood faded as we switched gears to adventurer mode.

It’s about three hours to the northern campground. Another hour of walking into the woods from there puts you in elf territory.

In other words, we’re already in elf territory. Adventurers who go this far in should get a warning by the elves on guard, but there hasn’t been anything of the sort.

“Something… is definitely off.”

“Mm, Cole isn’t coming.”

“And there’s no sign of any other guards… Eir, are we going in the right direction?”

“We are. There’s a magic response.”

Searching for magic with the horn on my forehead, there’s a definite response ahead.

Elves are a race that excel in magic, so they give a response to this search ability.

“Do you think something happened?”

“Probably.”

“What a paaaaain. Let’s go home.”

“Yig, this is a job you know?”

I coax the ever carefree Yig, and hurry forward.

After the responses of the elves got considerably closer, someone who appeared to be a watchman appeared before us.

“Halt! Past here is elf territory. Entry is forbidden to those with no business here.”

He’s crouching atop a tree with an arrow pointed at us.

Immediately getting ready to attack us doesn’t make them seem particularly gentle.

“We’re here from the Raum Adventurer’s Guild. A daily necessities transport.”

“You lie. You’re awfully light on luggage for someone transporting goods!”

“Ahh–… Eir?”

“Yep.”

At Master’s prompting, I unload the requested goods onto the ground.

The sudden appearance of so many iron goods made the elves shout in surprise.

“Wha?! Where did that come from?!”

“Umm, it’s a type of summoning magic? Because it’s too heavy to carry around.”

“Without a magic circle?”

“Th-that’s uhh… a trade secret!”

“… Fine then. We confirm that the goods were received. The village is busy at the moment; be off with you.”

The watchman is obviously trying to drive us away. Isn’t that a little uncouth?

“Hold on, this was just a request along the way. Is Cole here? Haumea would be fine too.”

“What business do you have with Cole?”

“We just got an invitation. It might be a little rude, but we came over immediately.”

“… Oho, so it’s you lot then. You’re the ones who spread that plague!”

Along with his shout, arrows fired from our surroundings.

They’re not actually trying to hit us, but… plague?

“What do you mean?! And suddenly firing… talk about rude!”

“Silence! Using that new honey gathering method, you plotted to spread a plague in our midst… We’ve already seen through your schemes!”

“What plague are you even talking about?!”

“You still feign ignorance?!”

This time a genuine attack comes.

Obviously I can’t let this pass, so a pull out Agni Blaze and use it as a shield.

I could tell a second attack was coming, so I hurried in close to the base of the tree the watchman was standing on, and felled it in a single swing.

“Whoaaaaa?!”

Of course the watchman standing on the tree didn’t get off unharmed.

Thrown off the falling tree, he falls to the ground. The grasses are deep and full leafed, so he shouldn’t have any severed injuries.

“Kgh, you coward!”

“You attacked us out of the blue, and you’re calling us cowards?”

“Guooooo! What is this? So heavy, get off!”

Yig placed her sword on the fallen watchman.

The sword she’s using right now is Sentinel, that stupidly huge greatsword.

I probably could have lent her Gram, but I’m borrowing that from Mr. Burns. I can’t just toss it over to someone else… though I forget that sometimes.

Besides, the over-two-meters-long slab of iron is extraordinarily threatening, and Yig using it with one hand puts her freakishness on full display.

“Ufufu, heavy? It is heavy, isn’t it? I can make it heavier though. How much can you hold up against I wonder?”

Sentinel has a lightening effect on it, and without that it would be one hundred and twenty kilograms. Even with the lightening on, it’s still about twenty kilos, so it’s easy to tell how ridiculous of a sword it is.

And apparently if you use up the magic power enchanted into it, you can gradually make it heavier.

Of course I said, “there’s no reason to do that,” but… I guess it can be used this way.

“Well then, maybe you’re willing to talk now?”

“I have nothing to say to you—GUAAAH!”

The moment he showed he wouldn’t comply with Yig’s interrogation, she sucked up some of the enchanted magic power.

Something creaking could be heard as the watchman sunk into the ground a bit.

“Let’s stop there, Yig. Sorry about that, she’s a bit short tempered. Even I don’t know what she might do.”

Master tries to patch things up with the watchman… or seems to, while mixing a threat in.

In other words, hurry up and talk, or I won’t stop her next time.

“A barefaced lie!”

“I’m a healer. I have knowledge concerning illnesses, so I might be of some help.”

“You’re the ones who caused it in the first place!”

“That’s that part I don’t get. Giant bees shouldn’t have particularly strong poison or pathogens in the first place.”

“What?”

There are cases of deaths from the venom of giant bee stings.

“We really don’t know anything. If there’s a plague spreading, then maybe we can help you out?”

But those are extremely rare cases. Going into shock from the pain of being stung is the most common killer. Next would be blood loss from the wound.

Death from the venom is only going to happen if you’re particularly susceptible to it.

“I’m sure something else is at the center of this. I have a good relationship with Cole and Haumea. Can you believe me on this?”

“Haumea too, eh? … Very well, I’ll take you to the village.”

And so we were led to the elf village, but naturally we had to bare constant hostile stares the whole way.

~*~

The elf village was quite fantastical.

A view of tree houses in disordered placement across the forest makes for plenty of interesting spots that could become tourist attractions.

I’m sure children would get excited by the sight. Excited.

“Eir, your eyes are sparkling?”

“Th-they are not. You’ve got a glint in yours too, Master Rimuru.”

“I think you’re both the same there~.”

“You weren’t brought here for sightseeing. Hurry along, this way.”

They could at least let us take a look around I think. But with patients waiting, there’s a fire lit under Master’s medical professional spirit.

Hurried along with a short, “let’s go,” we didn’t have much choice.

We climbed a stairway built in the cavity of a conspicuously large tree, and were led to the largest house in the village.

At the entrance we removed our footwear, and were brought to a spacious room with fragrant grass carpeting the floor.

An elderly elf waited on a slightly elevated space in the back.

“Welcome, guests. It would seem our brethren have made quite the blunder, eh?”

“Elder?!”

“No, it wasn’t really a big deal.”

Even though we had a rather hazardous encounter, Master answered with a straight face like it was nothing.

“Hoho, you’ve appeared grandly with a dragon in tow. Is that not dangerous?”

“You don’t need to worry about her. Yig is… well, she’s whimsical. As long as you don’t hurt her, it’ll probably be safe.”

“probably is not good enough!”

“Calm yourself, Dahsa. That is a flaw of yours.”

“But Elder!”

“Now then,Cole and Haumea have been called for. Might we chat for a bit until they arrive?”

“Sure, I don’t mind. I’m interested in hearing about this plague attacking the village.”

Master gets straight to the main point. Seems he didn’t feel the need to skirt around it.

“You are a healer I hear?”

“Yes. Well I’m still training really. I believe I can help with what little ability I have.”

“Indeed. It began a few days after we were taught the new honey gathering method. Several in the village broke out in fevers. We thought it to be a simple cold and left it, but their condition only beca,e worse each day. After a week, they could no longer get up by their own strength.”

“In a week… It advances quite fast then.”

“The common factor between them is they consumed the giant bee honey. Thus the villagers became cautious of you all.”

“May I see the honey?”

“Very well. Dahsa, bring it.”

“Yes sir.”

After a while, Dahsa came back shouldering an earthenware pot.

Inside was honey, filled to the brim.

“May I have a sip?”

“You may.”

Master stuck a tablespoon into the pot, and brought it to his mouth.

After a moment he knit his brows, then tried casting detoxify spell.

“Just as I thought…”

“Poison?!”

Dahsa suddenly stood at Master’s reaction.

“No, the honey isn’t poisoned. If there was any harmful poisons in it, the detoxify spell would react and I should know.”

“As I had thought.”

“Besides, Mister Cassian, you knew too didn’t you? You have a Medicine Appraisal gift after all.”

“HO, so you were aware!”

The elder seems genuinely surprised by this.

I was reminded that Master has a Limited Appraisal gift, and can tell what gifts a person has.

“At the very least you knew it wasn’t because… you knew the honey wasn’t the cause.”

“Well yes. However, I couldn’t very well keep quiet that most of the ones who went gathering contracted the illness.”

“There is some other cause here, is what you’re saying.”

“If we knew what that was, we wouldn’t be struggling.”

“The ones who went harvesting contracted it, which means something probably happened over there. Could you guide us that way?”

“I don’t mind. We would also appreciate if you could help with our sickly.”

“Yes, I was thinking of making that the priority today.”

“I extend our appreciation to our guests.”

Just as we were settling that, Cole and Haumea arrived.

“Perfect timing. Guide our guests to the ill. I am feeling a bit tired; I’m going to lie down.”

“Eh, uhh… what now?”

“Elder, please at least tell us what’s happening.”

The two were put into confusion by the sudden order. The elder waved his hand dismissively, seeming to say he’d rather not bother.

I guess that means we have to do the explaining.

Master ended up telling them about the circumstances, and getting their cooperation.

---

Translator’s message: So I’ve decided to get off my lazy butt and finish translating this series. But more importantly, I just found out about a recent development concerning this series. Last December (3 months ago) the author announced that the Hero’s Daughter manga would be wrapping up (as anyone who was keeping up with it may have noticed already). And…

This series, Half-Dragon Slave Life, would be getting a manga adaptation…! However, the title for the manga has been changed to: 【世界樹の下から始める半竜少女と僕の無双ライフ】(Sekaijuu no Shita Kara Hajimeru Hanryuu Shoujo to Boku no Musou Life). There are actually 3(!) chapters available already, though I don’t know if any translation groups are looking at it. Anyway, wanted to share in case anyone else wasn’t aware! I’ll finish up another chapter by next week.

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