Punish Me Instead (13)
I turned my head and there stood Brione across the open field. Behind her, a dimensional gate swirled with blue and white light.
"Huh? What are you doing here?"
"I stopped by the city to check on Atergar's movements, heard the news, and came straight here."
Check her movements, my ass. She was here to make sure I'd properly dealt with Atergar.
Brione tilted her head slightly as she eyed the massive corpse of Lurtjog, smoke still rising from it.
"But... no matter how I look at it, this seems like a blue dragon..."
"It's Lurtjog."
"What...?! Lurtjog?"
Brione's eyes widened in shock as she examined the body more closely.
"We searched high and low for any sign of him and came up empty... and he was here? And this..."
The cross-section of Lurtjog's severed neck was charred to a crisp by Atergar's flames, giving off a mouthwatering, golden-brown aroma.
"Atergar's doing? Then where's that red dragon?"
"Over there."
Brione stepped around Lurtjog's huge body and spotted Atergar hidden behind it. Exhausted, Atergar lay slumped to the side, her belly heaving with ragged breaths.
"What...? What the hell is going on here...?"
I gave Brione a quick rundown of everything that had happened. How Atergar had settled in Myanfeld to escape Lurtjog in the past. How she'd been chased off by me, only to return and get ambushed by Lurtjog right away. How Lurtjog had torched Myanfeld and pursued her all the way here. And how I'd finished off Lurtjog.
Brione already knew pretty much everything about me anyway, so there was no point hiding it.
"You okay? No injuries?"
Brione approached me hesitantly and asked. I spread my arms wide to show I was fine.
"More importantly, you dumped Atergar on me and came to check if I'd handled her properly, right? So what's your plan now?"
"Dump? What are you talking about, Bertrand?"
"Come on. You guys sometimes treat me like some muscle-headed brute."
Brione stared at me silently, then sighed.
"Fine... you're right. It is what it is. Taking on a dragon would've cost too much, so I kept the refugees pinned here hoping you'd sort it out."
"What if I'd ignored it?"
"I figured you wouldn't."
I let out a hollow chuckle.
"Well, I had my own reasons for taking this bastard down anyway."
"Then that red dragon..."
"Don't worry about her. I'll handle it."
Brione looked worried, but I shook my head firmly.
"Business done? Head back. The bad dragon's dead, Rosens is safe. I've got dismantling and sorting to do."
"Dismantling?"
"You gonna let a dragon corpse just rot?"
Brione shut her mouth and stared at me.
"You're really... not hurt anywhere?"
"I told you, no. Lots to do, so get going."
"Okay... I'll explain it all to Her Majesty."
"Good. Sort out the refugees quick."
I turned from Brione and inspected Lurtjog's body from various angles. Chopping this up and divvying it out would take more than a day or two. I'd have to call Pelle to slice off the byproducts and apply her preservation ritual right away. Primary processing and finding buyers... that'd take a full month at least. But if I could sell it all off properly, the money would be insane.
Completely ignored, Brione gave me one last weary look before returning through the dimensional gate. Once it vanished, Atergar slowly lifted her long neck.
「I'm hungry. After working me this hard, shouldn't you at least treat me to some meat?」
I smacked her huge rump with the sword's scabbard.
「Ow! Why'd you hit me! You gutless moron dragon-fuck— Aaaah!」
"You got the nerve to ask for food right now? After blasting flames at my head?"
「When did I! That was at that gross dragon! You don't know shit... Kyaaak!」
Atergar flailed to get up and away from me. I grabbed her tail, yanking it as I relentlessly whacked her ass with the scabbard.
「It hurts! It hurts! You're a crazy pervert beating up a little girl!」
"All talk, no sense."
After several solid smacks, Atergar let out a yelp.
「Stop hitting! Please! No more!」
Atergar clawed at the ground with her forepaws, sniffling.
"Did you do wrong, or not?!"
「I did wrong...! I did, so please stop... Forgive me...!」
Atergar finally shed thick tears that plopped to the ground.
A little later, I dragged Atergar down the narrow path. Trailing behind me was Atergar in human form, clutching her butt with both hands, sniffling as she toddled along.
"It hurts... mean human..."
Atergar muttered, sniffling snot.
Heading north along the road with Atergar in tow, I spotted Lurtjog's wagon-sized head lying there.
Up close, it was a real mess. Half-smashed from the high fall.
"Aigoo... wonder if this is even usable as a trophy now."
Atergar could've thrown some sassy remark here, but surprisingly, she kept her mouth shut and just watched me carefully.
"Let's take it back to the inn for now."
Atergar and I each grabbed one of Lurtjog's head horns and dragged it back to the inn.
"Kyaaaaah!!"
Della, who had been waiting by the roadside with hands clasped, let out a piercing shriek. She'd seen the half-crushed head trailing blood.
"D-dr... dr... dragon...?"
"It's fine. It's dead."
Della couldn't even look straight at it and turned her head away.
To avoid drawing attention, I dragged the head to the inn's backyard.
"Euuugh...!"
Idi, hearing I was back, poked her head out the back door, freaked out, and bolted inside.
"Don't go out...! There's something horrifying...!"
I heard Idi blocking the other staff from coming out.
Rich coming from the girl who'd boiled and shrunk human heads.
I crossed my arms and eyed the head again. Too big for indoors... I'd have Ukun mount it nicely on the inn's outer wall.
"Outta the way! Move it! Hahaha! A dragon head!"
Right on cue, Ukun burst from the bathhouse side, hammer and saw in hand, hyped up and yelling.
"Hey, dwarf. Work this up and hang it on the inn wall."
"Perfect! Half a day'll do it!"
"Don't strip the bones completely— just clean up the gross bits here."
"Huh? Ain't it a trophy?"
I bellowed for Pelle. She soon emerged from the back door.
"Have her cast the preservation ritual after. Fresher the better, right?"
"Haha! Spot on!"
"Gonna head to city hall quick. Get to it."
As I stepped into the front yard, Atergar trailed timidly behind.
"Hey."
"What."
"Can I go back to Myanfeld now?"
I shook my head.
"No. Stay here."
"Why?! It's all over, so I can go home now!"
"I saved you, so pay your debt."
"Eek! Knew it! You're gonna lock me in the inn, exploit me, and do weird stuff!"
I cleared my throat awkwardly, fiddling with the Holy Sword's hilt. Atergar yelped and hid behind Ukun—who was even shorter, so she was fully visible.
As I was about to exit the front yard, Marim shuffled in, groaning.
"Aigoo... aigoo... Half-elf does the dirty work, human boss pockets the cash..."
She was a wreck—clothes singed here and there, hair frizzed and charred.
"Good work, Marim."
"Yessir... yeah..."
I chuckled, pulled a gold coin from my pouch, and flicked it to her. Marim's face lit up; she blinked and snatched it mid-air.
"Blessings upon you, boss!"
"Bullshit."
I ruffled Marim's hair and left the yard.
The city was utter chaos. Roof debris from Lurtjog's rampage littered the streets, and citizens emerging from basement shelters looked terrified. Guards rushed about, trying to control the crowds.
In the square before city hall, Hildeva was deep in serious talk with Lambert.
Hmm... How much had Lambert told Hildeva...?
As I approached, they both turned to me.
"Everyone's here."
"Bertrand. No damage to the inn?"
"Lucky..."
I glanced at Lambert. He gave a short headshake. Hadn't said a word yet.
"I just heard everything from the guard captain about the north road incident. A dragon fight?"
"Yeah. Came to get a read on things myself."
Not that there was much to assess. I was the only one who knew the full story.
"It happened so high up, the whole city saw it. The blue dragon is definitely dead?"
"Certain. I confirmed it myself."
Hildeva tilted her head at Lambert's reply.
"Then that red dragon... the one that hit Myanfeld, Atergar, right...? What about her?"
Lambert looked to me, so I quickly spun a plausible answer.
"Saw her fly north from the inn. She flew low, so probably not visible from town."
"I see...? So what the hell happened? A blue dragon shows up at the refugee camp out of nowhere..."
"Maybe something like this."
I carefully cut in as Hildeva trailed off.
"That blue dragon took over the empty Myanfeld nest, got his ass handed to him by Atergar?"
"So he fled into the refugees, came here, and Atergar chased him down... that it?"
I nodded and kept going.
"Yeah. But with Bue blocking the south road, no escape, so they settled it here."
"And Atergar, having slain the blue dragon, saunters back to her nest in Myanfeld?"
"Probably."
Hildeva nodded slowly.
"Makes sense... For the report, we'll frame it as a hypothesis and request verification from the palace intel division."
Hildeva thanked me and hurried into city hall. Then she paused, turned, and yelled.
"This goes without saying...!"
"Our little secret!"
Hildeva flashed a charming smile and went inside.
Alone now, Lambert stared at me.
"Captain. Time to explain earlier?"
"No. Stabilizing the citizens comes first. We'll talk later."
"Understood."
Lambert turned and left the square without delay.
Hmm... That wraps things up for now. City hall and the palace would handle cleanup. Time to get back to processing dragon parts.
I'd just arrived at the inn for tools when an enraged yell exploded from the backyard—Ukun, furious to his core.
"No way in hell, you bastards!"