Level 1 Strongest Sage ~

Book 9: Chapter 22: Ryuushin’s Motive

The academy was still on vacation the next day, so I took Hinata and the rest of the villagers to the lair of the evil dragon to retrieve the remains of the people he killed.

The bones of Hinatas parents were probably there, too.

She also told me about her parents yesterday.

A dragon wallowing in evil lived in this cave, so monsters would spring out here until this place was purified.

It would take several centuries if they waited for it to be purified naturally.

Moreover, the generated monsters would be B-rank at best because of the influence of the evil dragon, which was originally an attribute type.

There was nobody in Hinatas village who could defeat B-rank monsters.

Thats the reason why I decided to help collect the villagers remains as much as I could whenever Im in the village.

I took around twenty villagers with me, including Hinata, but it would be an impossible feat to carry the bones of several hundred people in just a single day.

Still, itd be difficult to protect the village from the monsters if I took more than that with me.

I also had the Shadow Dragons protect them, but theres no saying what might happen, so I decided to limit the number of people going with me to twenty.

Itd be dangerous so I truthfully wanted to leave Hinata out of it, but she insisted to come along, so I agreed on the condition that she wouldnt leave my side.

The toxic miasma of the evil dragon had already shredded the clothes on the remains, so it was impossible to tell which remains belonged to which person, so the only thing we could do was to bring all of them out and carry out a memorial service for them.

The villagers were dumbfounded when they saw the sight of the mountain pile of bones.

They were totally shocked because of the devastation that only a few of them could cry.

Afterward, all of them wordlessly started to immerse themselves into the job.

While we were working

C-Chief! Ryuushin-sama! W-Were in trouble!!

One of the villagers came running towards the cave.

It was the girl who brought the food to me several times during the feast last night.

I had been doing roundtrips between the innermost part of the cave and the entrance while carrying the remains, and she came just right when I was outside.

Youre in such a hurry, whats the matter?

Did something happen?

A s-subjugation team, a subjugation team for the evil dragon is coming here!

The girl who just rushed towards us explained while gasping for breath.

Subjugation team? If its the evil dragon, I already did away with it.

Thats the problem. The other villages arbitrarily submitted a request to the Adventurers Guild for the subjugation of the evil dragon!

W-What did you say!?

The blood drained from the village chiefs face.

Whats wrong with that? That scum dragons no longer here, so the subjugation team will just go home right away, right.

Thats

Ryuushin-sama, clients needed to pay the Adventurers Guild appropriate fees based on the commission requested. The commission this time is related to the subjugation of the evil dragon, soit would require a tremendous amount of money.

The village chief explained.

Hinatas village and the four surrounding villages had been working together collectively as a single community for centuries. When powerful monsters appeared, the five villages would pool their funds in order to hire adventurers who would defeat it, apparently.

This communal arrangement was a time-honored pact and was still in effect even today.

They used magic to form the contract, so they couldnt void it.

Even if Hinatas village claimed that it wasnt the one who commissioned the subjugation of the evil dragon, they still had to pay the fee. Even if the reward for defeating the dragon wasnt necessary, just imagine how huge the amount of money needed to gather people that were strong enough to defeat the evil dragon was.

Worse, our village does not have any capital. In that case

The village chief awkwardly glanced at Hinata and at the girl who came running.

D-Dont tell me

We have more young maidens than the other villages. Previously, there were times when the other villages would urge us to hand over our maidens in exchange for capitalIn the worst case scenario, there would be no other way but to give them away as brides.

Of course, the village chief and the other residents would also work, but they could only earn so much.

Thats because the evil dragon had already eaten most of the youth and able-bodied people who could work hard labor.

Hinata was particularly popular among the men of other villages, and they said that they would willingly compensate quite handsomely if she was given as a bride.

Hinata was very dark when I looked at her.

D-Dont mess with me!

As if Id let the girl I like to be sold just like that!!

I saved her from the evil god when she was on the brink of death, you know!?

...Hey.

Y-Yes. Ryuushin-sama, what might it be?

The messenger girl who told us about the subjugation team approaching responded.

Do you know how many people they have in that subjugation team?

I-I saw three. Granny said that they were probably the vanguard scouting the area.

It seemed that the vanguard were being guided by the men of the four villages as they head towards us.

This girl knew a shortcut from the village to this cave.

This place was a bit farther from Hinatas village compared to the other villages, but its possible to arrive here first even if they were coming from there by using that shortcut.

Thanks to that, we bought some time to consider our move.

Thanks for letting us know. Ill do something about it.

I patted the girl on her head while saying so.

Ryuushin-sama, what do you plan to do?

Im going to tell the vanguard that I already defeated the Evil Dragon, and Im also gonna declare that Hinatas village is under my rule now.

Theres no way they could collect the fees from a village that was under my, the Kokuryuus, control.

W-wouldnt the subjugation team attack Ryuushin-sama then!?

Hinata was worried about me.

Ah~ Im so happy.

No worries. Im quite strong. Hinata saw it too, right?

The punch that I dealt to the evil dragon was meant to be a feint, but it crushed him, instead.

I dont think Im gonna lose, even if that team was strong enough to defeat an evil dragon.

Besides

If I went out in this form, that subjugation team might even run for their lives, dont you think?

I morphed into Kokuryuu.

Whoa!

H-How heroic!!

...Cool.

Ryuushin-sama, y-youre a-amazing!!

Hinata, the chief and the surrounding villagers all cheered out.

It felt really great.

When Im with Halt, nobody bats an eye even if I turn into Kokuryuu.

I was getting more fired up because of their praises.

Everyone, hide here just as a precaution. I might intimidate them, just in case.

It might be unnecessary, but Im going to make them pee their pants by my roar.

Ryuushin-samaplease dont do anything dangerous, okay?

Yeah, its fine.

If its to protect Hinata, Im willing to go all out, though.

Oh well, I guess itll be alright.

Theres no one who can win against me when I turn into Kokuryuu.

Oh, theres an exception, but yeah, thats not a human, thats a Bakemono for crying out loud.

By the way, that Bakemono isnt an adventurer yet, so I dont think hell come all the way here to join the subjugation team.

Thats why its fine.

Hinata, the chief and the villagers hid near the cave entrance.

No monsters would appear here if they stay within the vicinity, and I also dispatched the Shadow Guards as lookouts just in case.

Alright, come here, subjugation team!!

Halt-sama, thats

Yup. No matter how I look, its that guy, alright.

Eh!? W-Why!?

The Bakemono that could beat me black and blue with his bare hands was now heading towards me.

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T/N: Pitiful Ryuushin T.T