How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom: Volume 6

1. Auflage 2018
ISBN: 978-1-7183-0910-4
Verlag: J-Novel Club
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 319 Seiten

Reihe: How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom

Souma has received an invitation from the godbeast, Mother Dragon, ruler of the land of dragons, the Star Dragon Mountain Range, to attend the Contract Ceremony, where contracts between knights and dragons are formed. When he arrives, Souma is guided by Mother Dragon to meet the flightless dragon Naden. Having found a special talent in Naden, who has always been taunted for her inability to fly, Souma tries to make her realize her own value, but, at the same time, Mother Dragon issues an oracle.
'A storm is approaching the Star Dragon Mountain Range.'
And so, Souma ends up confronting a calamity that transcends human knowledge?!
The revolutionary administrative fantasy series, volume six!

Autoren/Hrsg.

Dojyomaru

Weitere Mitwirkende

Fuyuyuki

Mccann, Sean

Leseproben

Knowing that, Pai sighed all the more at her disappointing friend. “Sigh... I don’t know which is worse: this, or when you had your head full of dreams, reading too many romance novels.”

With the past suddenly brought up, Naden coughed in surprise. “I-I was just reading books! It’s not like I was reading romance novels, okay?”

“You were obsessed with them. Saying things like, ‘I’d put love before duty!’”

“I read ordinary adventure stories, too!”

“Dragons don’t usually read human books to begin with...”

The reason for that was simple. Since the only country that had diplomatic relations with the Star Dragon Mountain Range was the Nothung Dragon Knight Kingdom, not many products from the nations of mankind made it here. If one wanted to acquire products from the nations of mankind, one had to go to those nations directly, leaving the Star Dragon Mountain Range. Most dragons were not interested enough in the world outside, or in products from the nations of mankind, to do so. Those like Naden, who used every opportunity she could find to go outside and come back with foreign products, were a rarity.

“Wait, where did you get that receiver anyway?” Pai asked, startled.

“Hmm? I found it at a flea market in the empire. It was broken, basically a piece of junk, but when I gave it a little zap, it started showing things. Hee hee! It was a great find.”

As she said that, Naden’s black, lizard-like tail slithered toward the simple receiver. When it got there, there was a clicking sound, and the image on the receiver vanished.

Naden could store electricity in her body. By releasing that stored electricity, though Naden didn’t understand the principle behind how it worked herself, she was able to turn the simple receiver on and off. There were definitely other creatures that could store electricity in their bodies, but Naden was probably the only one who could control it so skillfully.

Watching her do that, Pai shrugged in exasperation. “You’re skilled in the strangest of ways, you know that, Naden?”

“Hey, I was lucky enough to have an electrified body. I’m not going to let that go to waste.”

“I know, but is that really something a dragon should be doing...?”

In Dracul with its everlasting spring, the dragons who had yet to form a contract lived their lives as they pleased. They did things like fly around in dragon form, play in the water, and go hunting.

There were times when the dragon priestesses who served under Tiamat would teach them about dragon traditions, the outside world, and reading, writing, and arithmetic; but other than that, they could each use their time to do whatever they liked.

Among all those dragons living in that old-fashioned way, Naden was probably the only one who could use tools from the outside world so skillfully.

Pai asked her with some exasperation, “Are you really a dragon?”

“...I wish I knew that myself,” Naden said, her gaze returning to the screen.

Pai got a look on her face that said, “Oops, I screwed up.” That subject was probably painful for Naden.

“Um, uh... So, this music program thing? What is it?” Pai asked, trying to change the subject.

“They broadcast cute girls in cute outfits singing and dancing for the people to see,” Naden said. “It’s fun just watching it. Though, from what I hear, the ones who are the real creators and masters of broadcast program production aren’t the people of the Empire, they’re the people of the Elfrieden Kingdom. It’s a shame I don’t get them on this simple receiver.”

“The Elfrieden Kingdom? You mean that country where they summoned a hero, and he became their king?” Pai asked, surprised. When she heard the name “Elfrieden,” the image that came to mind was a very traditional, or, to put it less kindly, old-fashioned kingdom.

Naden waggled a finger at Pai and tut-tutted her. “You can forget everything you think you know about Elfrieden. Oh, wait, they’re the Kingdom of Friedonia now, aren’t they? I don’t have all the details, with my information coming from the Empire, but it sounds like they’ve been growing in power really fast under the new king’s program of reforms.”

Naden picked up the simple receiver with her tail and played with it.

“I think the way he took the Jewel Voice Broadcast, something the royal family had only used to make one-sided announcements of things that were already decided, and used it to create something fun like these broadcast programs shows incredible foresight. Unlike this country, which never changes, the Kingdom of Friedonia is pressing further and further ahead. I’d like to meet this hero king of theirs myself. Maybe I’ll land in Friedonia next time I go out.”

Pai stomped her feet in indignation. “Good grief! What are you thinking?! It’s almost time for the Contract Ceremony, you know? There’s no way you’ll be allowed to do that at an important time like this, when our futures are going to be decided!”

“That doesn’t... really matter,” Naden said. “I’m sure no knight would ever choose me. I mean, after all.”

“...”

Naden’s eyes filled with resignation.

There was nothing Pai could say in response.

Though she, Naden Delal, was a dragon of the Star Dragon Mountain Range, she had no wings with which to fly through the skies, and she could not breathe fire. Her appearance was very different from the other dragons, too.

That was why the other dragons called her a worm (saying she was long, thin, and not much else) behind her back. That was part of the reason why Naden tended to hide away in the cave. Pai was one of Naden’s few friends, but there was nothing she could do for her about this.

“Erm...” Pai said, thinking frantically. “B-But you can shoot lightning, Naden!”

“...What good is that? No knight will choose me as a partner. If they did, they’d be the only knight who couldn’t fly, you know?” Naden averted her eyes.

The dragon knights of Nothung were famed across the continent.

These knights, who rode atop the already tough and powerful dragons, would soar through the skies, tearing through enemy lines and burning everything away with dragon fire. Though they were a small country, the dragon knights had been responsible for making the Nothung Dragon Knight Kingdom capable of fighting on even terms with the Empire, even if it was only on the defensive. There could be no place for the flightless, fireless Naden in their ranks.

“You’ve got it good, Pai,” Naden sighed. “A pretty white dragon like you... I’m sure you’ll have your pick of the litter.”

“...I’m sensing some hostility in those words.”

In the ceremony held to form contracts with the dragon knights, the knight would first choose a dragon to become his mount, and then the dragon would decide whether to accept or not. That meant a dragon who received multiple offers would have her pick of them. Naden was probably thinking that Pai was sure to have that.

“Maybe I should just leave the country?” Naden asked, moping. “I could probably pass myself off as a sea serpent.”

From what Pai had heard, the race known as the sea serpents and Naden in her human form looked quite similar. As for what made them different, the antlers on Naden’s head were bigger, and sea serpents lacked the ability to transform like true dragons, but there were few enough of them that no one would notice unless she said something about it.

Pai groaned in exasperation. “If you take a defeatist attitude, you’ll become a defeatist at heart!”

“But...”

“Besides, didn’t Lady Tiamat give you a prophecy? It’s going to be fine.”

The dragons who would attend the Contract Ceremony in any given year were chosen by Tiamat. The will of the individual and how old they were didn’t come into it. Those dragons who were chosen would receive an oracle from Mother Dragon at the beginning of that year. Naden had been one of them.

That was definitely what Tiamat had said to Naden, who had all but given up on her future. Tiamat said it with the gentle eyes of a mother. Naden couldn’t imagine that Tiamat had been lying to her. However, at the same time, she couldn’t see that prophecy coming true.

“That’s... got to be something Tiamat said to console me,” Naden said at last. “Even I don’t know what my value is. What is a complete stranger supposed to see in me?”

“But, from what I hear, Lady Tiamat has never had a prediction fail to come true.”

“Fine, I’ll be the very first failure. Hurray for me.”

Pai groaned. “You’re such a defeatist.”

“Pai, if you keep making that groaning noise, you’re going to develop black spots like a cow, you know?”

“Moo! Moo! Moo!” Pai exclaimed.

While watching Pai get angry out of the corner of her eye, Naden sighed.