32: What a Deal!
"Dragon Slaughter Slash!"
[Grrrrrgh!]
The sword sliced across the dragon king's snout, and he let out a piercing scream.
"Hah!"
[Khhiiiiiick?!]
Aquaril, who had activated her [Quick Cleanse] skill, swung her sword with lightning speed and severed the dragon king's tail. The pain was so intense that tears streamed down the dragon king's face.
With attacks coming from both front and back, the dragon king was completely bewildered.
No matter how much power the [Flame Dragon] skill granted him, turning him into a small dragon, he was fundamentally a mage. A mage who used powerful magic from the rear while protected by his allies.
How could someone like that properly wield the strength of a dragon, the symbol of fantasy?
Moreover, one must not forget that this world had status windows and stats.
Using the Flame Dragon skill raised all stats by a whopping five points.
But aside from wisdom and mana stats, the dragon king's stats were low, so even after a five-point increase, they were still lower than ours.
[Kwaaaak!]
And the biggest problem was that a mage stood before us without a shield. It was a fatal mistake.
"Get lost, you ants!"
The dragon king swung his broken front claws and half-severed tail in an attempt to shake us off, but it was useless.
[Kwaaaaaak!]
Flame erupted from the ground like a geyser, and flames shot up. He had used the [Fire Zone] skill again, which had cut off our retreat.
"Kk!"
The scorching heat rising from the floor scorched my skin. Remarkably, the dragon king's mental fortitude in preparing magic under such circumstances was praiseworthy.
'Should I retreat for now?'
I thought of backing away from the burning ground. But because I had a lingering desire to kill the dragon king with just a little more attack, I couldn't easily choose to retreat.
'Damn it! Why isn't the stamina bar showing?!'
In Fairy Masters, one could check remaining stamina through the stamina bar for both one's own fairy and enemies. But in reality, there was no stamina bar.
If I could see the stamina bar, I could have immediately decided whether to retreat or keep attacking without hesitation... How frustrating.
[Kwaaaaaak!]
At that moment, the dragon king screamed again. It was because Aquaril, who had cut off his entire tail, had now attacked his hind leg. His left hind leg was split open to the point where bone was exposed.
"... Fine, let's go!"
Seeing that, I chose to attack instead of retreating. I would fight relying on the main attribute, trusting the flames rising from below.
[Kk?!]
The dragon king's eyes widened. Aquaril had finally succeeded in cutting off his leg. I took the opening and thrust my sword into his protruding eye like a frog.
[Kwaaaaaak!]
"Now die, you monster!"
"N-no! If I die, my fairies will...!"
"Live happily in the afterlife with your fairies!"
Thinking this was my last chance, I pushed the sword with all my strength.
Thud!
[!!!!!]
The sword hilt completely disappeared into the eye socket. The dragon king, with eyes wide open and body trembling, collapsed sideways.
The flames that had been blazing on the ground also vanished. Since they had been maintained by the dragon king's magic, they disappeared the moment he died.
Master [Brangis Plago (★★)] has been defeated.
[[Beginner Quest Chapter 2 Clear] has been completed.]
Obtained [500 gems] as a reward.
The [Greed] attribute is absorbing the [Fire] attribute of [Brangis Plago (★★)].
A new attribute has been added.
I confirmed the dragon king's death and my legs gave out, collapsing onto the floor.
"Ah, it's hot, damn it!"
The flames had disappeared, but the ground was still scorching hot from the fire. In the end, I had to get up again.
"Master."
Aquaril, who had attacked the dragon king from behind, approached me. She had suffered greatly as well. There were traces of soot on her clothes and ash on her skin.
"Yeah. You worked hard, Aquaril. You're truly the greatest fairy."
"... Hehe."
Aquaril smiled at my praise. Even though her previous master had died, she showed no sadness. By becoming my fairy, she had completely discarded her affection, love, and devotion to the previous master. In its place stood the current master, me.
"I'm exhausted. Really exhausted."
I sighed. There were no major injuries, and we had won, but the battle with the dragon king had definitely been tough. We had fought his fairies first, then immediately followed up with the dragon king.
The fatigue was no joke.
'Today... I was really lucky.'
Through this battle, I realized how much I still lacked and how easily I could become complacent.
If the dragon king had been in his right mind, we would never have won.
If the dragon king had rained down magic while protected by his fairies?
We wouldn't even have been able to approach the dragon king, and in the worst case, we would have lost our lives. His flame magic was that dangerous.
"Aquaril."
"Yes, Master."
"Quickly, let's loot all the treasure the dragon king has gathered and take a break."
"Yes, Master. I'll guide you."
The battle with the dragon king was over, but my work wasn't finished yet. I had to secure the spoils before I could rest.
I followed Aquaril back to the dragon king's palace.
*****
"Master! Master! Big deal!"
"What the hell is all the fuss now?"
As Bison Trilly, the prince, ran over shouting about a big deal with his fairy, I frowned.
His fairy Violet was willing to sacrifice her life for him, but she was too noisy. She made a big deal out of even the smallest things.
Given his illustrious record, Bison Trilly felt no special thrill at the mention of a big deal.
"Dragon King!"
"... Why the dragon king?"
"It seems the dragon king has died!"
"... What?!"
But this time, it was truly a big deal.
Startled by Violet's words that the dragon king had died, Bison Trilly shot up from his seat.
"What kind of nonsense is that? The dragon king has died!"
"T-today at dawn, bandits invaded the dragon king's palace! The soldiers tried to stop them, but it was useless! So, while the soldiers were fleeing in panic, the palace suddenly exploded!"
"What?"
Bison Trilly couldn't understand a single word from his fairy's mouth. At best, he understood that someone had invaded the palace targeting the dragon king.
"Calm down and explain properly!"
"The dragon king fought with the bandits and lost! Now there's the dragon king's corpse in the palace garden!"
"....."
'The dragon king has died?'
At the news of the dragon king's death, Bison Trilly's heart began to race rapidly. If that terrifying man had died, it was an opportunity he could never miss.
Some people mocked the dragon king as a coward who only locked himself in his palace, but Bison Trilly, who knew his true nature, did not agree.
It was true that the dragon king was cowardly. But his strength and ability were real.
If he had truly been a cowardly man, he would never have ruled as the ruler of Indigo until now. How else would he have joined hands with Princess Lily, who competed for the position of king against the dragon king?
The dragon king was no easy opponent.
'Who killed the dragon king?'
Could it be Princess Lily, the ally?
The first thing that came to mind was Princess Lily. She was the only master besides the dragon king and himself.
'... No, it can't be her.'
But Bison Trilly, who knew Princess Lily's abilities well, shook his head. If she had been strong enough to defeat the dragon king alone, she would never have stayed still until now.
Her ambition toward the throne was stronger than his own.
'Then, from outside?'
The next thing that came to mind were masters from other cities.
Bison Trilly was the Indigo token and had lived his entire life in Indigo. But he knew there were other cities outside and that masters like him existed.
The dragon king himself was not from Indigo but a master from outside.
'The possibility is highest from that side. Masters from outside came to Indigo!'
Since Bison Trilly knew Princess Lily's abilities well, he concluded that the killer of the dragon king was 'masters' from outside.
During this, he had concluded they were 'masters' because he didn't think masters from other regions were stronger than himself. He couldn't admit that a master from another region had defeated the dragon king alone when he himself couldn't defeat the dragon king.
The prince had a strong sense of superiority.
"... Where is Talia?"
"Talia? She's probably in her room. But why?"
"Why the hell? I have to go to the palace right now! I have to see with my own eyes whether the dragon king really died! Hurry, bring Talia! Bring all the family soldiers too!"
"Y-yes! Understood, Master!"
If the dragon king had truly died, it was an opportunity for him. Since a battle had occurred where the dragon king died, the opponents would be fine too.
'I... will become the king!'
Thinking that his lifelong wish was right before his eyes, he rushed toward the dragon king's palace with his body boiling.
*****
"Wow."
Entering the dragon king's treasure warehouse, I couldn't help but exclaim. An enormous amount of gold coins, no, gold ingots, were stacked higher than my height.
"Is there a gold mine nearby? Why are there so many gold ingots?"
According to the dragon king's policy, I had heard that Indigo did not engage in trade with the outside world. They had maintained an extreme isolationist policy where money circulated only internally.
Moreover, since Indigo was a city but not that large, it was hard to believe there were this many gold ingots.
"Huh? How did you know, Master?"
"Huh? What?"
"The gold mine. There is a gold mine near Indigo. I don't know the details, but it seems we can extract gold ingots for at least another ten years."
"Really?"
At Aquaril's words, I clicked my tongue. A gold mine that could be mined for another ten years?
'Should I just settle here?'
Hearing about the gold mine, I felt like I wanted to root myself in Indigo. In fact, Indigo was the best place to quietly build up strength.
Gems could be obtained by mining the gold mine, and growth stones could be obtained through the Relay Dungeon where the Uroboros was sleeping.
Originally, I had planned to move to Chinnimoni, the city that would become the stage for Chapter 3 after defeating the dragon king.
Since I knew the ending of this story, I had planned to follow the Fairy Masters story as is. It was the best way to utilize the information I had.
But if there was a gold mine, I could stay here a bit longer, grow sufficiently, and proceed with the story... It wasn't bad...
'... No, that's not it.'
As I continued thinking, I shook my head.
If I stayed in Indigo for a long time, the information I knew would become meaningless. No, it would become meaningless.
In the game, if I didn't progress the story, the enemies wouldn't grow. They were given life only when I progressed the story.
But as I've said many times, the world I'm in now is reality.
Real-world enemies grow as fast as, or faster than, me.
To quickly reach the same level as them, I had to stop resting in Indigo and keep growing by following the story.
"Master? Why are you like that?"
"Huh? Ah, no. Anyway, shall we start counting the loot?"
At Aquaril's call, I snapped back to my senses and rubbed my hands together, approaching the pile of gold ingots stacked like mountains with a bit of exaggeration.
Gold ingots ultimately had the same value as gold coins, so no matter how many there were, I could put them in the inventory. I put the gold ingot pile into the inventory.
[2,010,000,000 gold]
"O-one, ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand... twenty billion?!"
Confirming that ten million gold had instantly become twenty billion gold, I nearly dropped my eyes. Well, it wasn't that surprising a figure, given that it was a city and there was even a gold mine.
Anyway—
"What a deal."
After just one battle, I had gone from pauper to rich in an instant.