Half-Dragon Slave Life Ch. 48

Author: Kaburagi Haruka

Translator: ShiroiKaze/Soyokaze Translations

Chapter 48: Intake

Translated by Soyokaze Translations: soyokazetranslation . Com

That flame pillar is nothing to scoff at. We even sent Yig over there just in case, but the flame pillar’s color is plainly different from her breath.

Something abnormal happened.

“Eir, carry me!”

“Mm.”

Master is aware of the abnormality of the situation too. That’s why he ordered me to carry him so we can get there as fast as possible.

I hold Master from behind, spread my wings, and fly into the air.

Voices of surprise could be heard bubbling up around us, but this is no time to worry about it.

We reach the open area on the north side in a matter of moments, and based on a quick look from above, there don’t seem to be any injured. There’s nothing that appears out of the ordinary.

Aside from the molten hot crater left by the fire pillar in the center of the field anyway.

Seemingly the worst case scenario hasn’t happened, so we could calm down a bit. We slowly descend on the area, and call out to Yig and the rest.

“Looks like you’re done here too. So what was that flame pillar?”

“Ah, Rimuru… well, that was…”

Kevin notices us, and looks our way awkwardly.

He doesn’t appear very injured either, but he’s got plenty of scratches. There are also about three other villagers, and Amy standing in a daze. No injuries there.

Next to her was Yig with a finger in her mouth, but when she sees us, she nonchalantly looks away.

“Ahh… that thing from before. That’s Amy’s magic.”

“Hers? But the power behind it was…”

“Tehe.”

In response to Master’s doubts, Yig takes the finger from her lips, and sticks out her tongue.

I could momentarily see a wound on her hand. It was hard to see just by the watch fires, but easy enough to notice with my vision.

“Yeah Boss, uh, well… we were holding the enemy back here, right? But Kevin couldn’t really get a handle on the enemy. Plus Amy’s magic didn’t quite have an effect on the enemy, y’see.”

She was fidgeting strangely, and speaking in an unusually evasive manner.

Normally she wouldn’t hold back, and just get to the heart of the matter. Of course she can read the room… or maybe that’s exactly why it’s hard to say?

With the attitude she’s taking, I’m certain she’s the culprit behind this.

“And?”

“Moreover another two enemies joined in. Like reinforcements? So I was thinking we were lacking all kinds of power to break the deadlock. And so I thought, what about just a little lick of my blood?”

“You gave them your blood?!”

“Yeah. Oh, but just a tiny little bit! Look, it wasn’t enough to cause a transformation like Chief has.”

Yig hurriedly makes an excuse.

Partaking of dragon flesh and blood grants a person great power.

I gained a lot of strength from eating that flesh too, but I suppose Yig carefully gauged how much blood to let Amy lick.

But that flesh and blood can give rise to bodily abnormalities. It’s unmistakably dangerous substances. If it doesn’t agree with their bodies, then their lives could even be in danger.

“… Do you feel strange at all?”

“Oh, you don’t need to worry about that. It was hardly even a drop, seriously the tiniest of bits. As far as the amount goes, there’s a precedent from past experience for it. Ah, not my experience though~”

“So whose… no, never mind. Whenever Yig mentions someone it’s always one of the gods.”

“Mumu, well yes, but come on~”

“Wow, that was a shock. Is this my magic? It was just a fireball though.”

Finally returning to her senses, Amy expresses her thoughts.

She moves her hands over herself, searching for anything weird.

“Amy, how are you feeling?”

“Oh, yeah, not bad. Actually really great?”

“I’m feelin’ good too. My usual axe even feels light, and I managed to easily send a bone wolf flying.”

“That much of a change…”

At Kevin’s previous strength he might have been able to hold a bone wolf back, but defeating one would be rough.

That’s why we put him with Amy on the north side, putting our hopes in their combined abilities. Then two more wolves came as reinforcements though, so that probably went beyond their capabilities.

In a situation like that, the two of them survived, and none of the villagers were injured. So her decision was probably the right one, but…

“She could have gotten Kevin caught up in her uncontrolled excessive power. I can’t believe you would do such a dangerous thing off the cuff!”

“I-I know it wasn’t a good idea~. But they really wanted more power anyway~.”

“Anyway, let’s gather up proof of their defeat, and go back to Coelho’s place. Excuse us, could we ask you to take over the watch?”

Master gives orders to the befuddled villagers. More importantly, it’s questionable whether anything remains of the enemies on the north side to prove their defeat.

Plus with Kevin and Amy’s situation becoming unstable, we can’t let them keep being escorts right now.

We’ll need to discuss how we’re going to coordinate.

“O-of course! It would be our pleasure to accept this task!”

“That was truly heroic. I feel honored just getting the chance to watch him fight.”

“I can brag to my children about what I saw today…”

With faces a mixture of delight and fear, they practically twitch as they reply.

And this time it genuinely was Kevin’s work, so there’s no excuses to be made.

Seemingly aware of this fact, he scratches at his cheek with a complicated expression.

Translated by Soyokaze Translations: soyokazetranslation . Com

~*~

We borrow a room from Coelho and confirm the situation.

People were sent to watch the south side too, so we don’t need to go back there.

They said they would recover proof of their extermination for us too, so we should have it by tomorrow… though they might pocket some of what they find.

“So then, could you give me the details of the situation?”

Master broaches the subject, and receives the explanation.

According to Kevin there were only three bone wolves at first. He held back two of them with his shield, while three villagers stopped the third. Then Amy used fire magic to damage them, which was managing to push them back.

A single attack from her magic wasn’t enough, but it was clearly doing damage. If it was just the three enemies, then they would have been victorious.

But soon enough two more bone wolves appeared, and the situation started to change.

Yig maintained the battle by taking charge of the extra two for a bit, but the villagers were put in a panic, and Amy’s magic seemed like it might hit them.

In light of this she couldn’t focus on her magic, and the battle turned on its head.

Yig saw this and thought of taking care of it herself, but then she heard Kevin mumble to himself in frustration.

“At this rate I’ll never get stronger. Guess I’ll never really be a hero.”

That’s when Yig decided to give Kevin her blood.

After spending four months with him, I understand.

He may get carried away easily enough, but he sincerely wishes for strength, and he’s not a bad person deep down.

And I know Amy, who has been tagging along with our training for three months, also honestly desires power.

Despite seeing the overwhelming, heartbreaking difference in strength Yig and I have every day, she still practiced together with us.

So Yig decided ‘they’re worthy of bestowing my blood to’.

While fighting she bit her finger, and suggested that they would gain newfound power from her blood.

At first they were discomforted at the prospect of gaining power that wasn’t earned themselves, but the villagers seemed like they were about to be routed, so they came to a decision.

Of course Yig told them she would handle everything if she had to, so it wasn’t forced on them.

Due to licking the blood, both of their abilities noticeably rose on the spot.

Even Amy could easily dodge the bone wolves now, and Kevin stopped their heavy attacks like they were nothing.

Then soon enough, a single swing from Kevin’s axe blew two bone wolves away. When all of the enemies were stuck together in one place, Amy blasted them with a fireball.

And it seems that’s what the fire pillar we saw actually was.

As the name suggests, fireball creates a ball of fire. It’s thrown, and wherever it strikes, the magic explodes.

Though its power depends mostly on the abilities of the caster, it’s not enough to make a pillar of flames.

At most it can blast away wooden walls, or leave scorch marks in stone walls.

But the one we saw was powerful enough to turn even bones to ash, melt the ground, and leave a crater.

Just how much Amy’s magic power increased is easy to grasp by seeing the traces of the battle.

“I see. Well, there’s a lot I want to say about power and all that, but…”

“I know, we messed up. But even if Yig protected the villagers, it’s not like she’ll always stay here with us, or even be around. I wanted to be able to take the things down on my own.”

“Your desire for strength is something I get. But dragon blood, depending on the amount, can cause full-on transformations in your body. I wanted you to be in a safe place and have a healer nearby when you did it.”

“Yeah, sounds like something a doctor would say.”

“Kevin.”

“I know, I know, I’m sorry. But I want you to understand that it was an emergency situation.”

Yes, an emergency situation.

What was previously four bone wolves turned into eight tonight. Double the numbers suddenly came knocking.

At the rate they’re multiplying, it wouldn’t be strange for sixteen to appear next time.

“Undead… and high level bone wolves at that, popping up one after another. I don’t want to think about this.”

“Yeah, there’s definitely something here.”

“Bone wolves only appear if there are evil spirits anyway. If their numbers decrease that’s one thing, but if more are appearing, that means evil spirits are on the rise?”

“But I sure do smell some rotting meat~. This isn’t just their smell alone.”

Yig’s nose seems to be picking up something.

While there’s nobody around to see, I expand my horn to try and get a wider range on my magic search. A gigantic reaction comes from outside the village in the forest to the west.

“Master Rimuru, I’m getting something from the west forest. It’s pretty big.”

“West… the villagers did say that’s where the saw that titanic figure.”

“Mm. This doesn’t look like it’s just their imagination.”

“In which case, Coelho’s strengthening of the village’s defenses was a great move. Actually it’s plenty of help even now.”

“His crisis management ability seems pretty high. It’s almost too much for a simple village elder.”

“Making such solid fencing just from some rumors and rumblings was certainly an extreme policy. Defending was easy thanks to that though. It’s eight bone wolves, y’know? If that many attacked from all sides, that would be way too much to deal with.”

I imagine the situation Kevin described.

The unsuspecting village chief, and no fencing around the village. Eight bone wolves surround the village to attack.

No matter how fast me or Yig fly, we can only each protect one place at a time.

Of the remaining six places, Kevin and Amy, then Master together with the villagers could handle two of them at best. The other half of them would be free to run wild.

Just thinking about how the chief’s wife or the village children would face those fangs makes my spine freeze.

“We’re lucky.”

I shiver and hug my own shoulders.

This village in the middle of a forest resembles my home town.

From the bottom of my heart I suddenly feel glad I could protect a village like this.

As I’m shivering, Master gently holds me close.

“In any case today we got off with eight of them, but there could be more next time. We need to find where they’re coming from quick.”

“Sounds good.”

“First we’ll talk to the guys who saw the figure tomorrow, then we’ll head west. And you two, cut with the flirting already, seriously.”

“Eir was shaking! I was just consoling her, alright?!”

Translated by Soyokaze Translations: soyokazetranslation . Com

Master’s quip seemed to relieve some of the tension in the air.

Right, I’m going to protect this village!

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