# 003 Lost Virginia
# 003 Lost Virginia
In the southern part of the Ameris Kingdom lay a region called 'Virginia.'
Situated on the border with other kingdoms, this area had wide plains and modest mountain ranges, making it reasonably suitable for human habitation—but humans were not the only ones living on the continent.
Beastmen lived there, elves lived there, orcs lived there, and dragons lived there.
These dragons.
Because of a 'dragon,' the Virginia region had its area reduced by half.
Several hundred years ago from the present.
Virginia's regional center was not its current center, 'Richmond,' but a place further northwest called 'Carlston.'
But this region was destroyed.
Because of what?
Because of a dragon.
Unlike dragons in other regions, a terribly ferocious evil dragon was said to dwell in the Virginia territory.
In exchange for protecting Virginia from foreign countries to its north, west, and south, this evil dragon demanded tribute.
-If you offer a virgin over the age of twenty as tribute, I shall protect this land.
Virginia had received the dragon's patronage since before the kingdom was even founded.
Although the dragon's demand for a virgin tribute was irregular—sometimes only three days passed, sometimes it did not demand the next tribute for twenty years—in any case, as long as a virgin over twenty was offered, Virginia became a heaven-blessed fortress that not even the Demon Lord's army could touch recklessly.
And so Virginia was destroyed.
Only half of it.
Historians were still searching for the truth, but according to historical records, the dragon had flown into a rage and roasted all of Virginia with its breath.
Thus the entire city burned, people died, and the place became land where humans could not live.
Much time passed since the old Virginia's destruction.
Yet still, Virginia had not managed to restore the land destroyed by the dragon.
Officially, that was how it happened.
Even if it was a place where no one knew when a dragon might rampage, if empty land existed, humans were bound to appear who would pioneer it and settle down.
-It's only been fifty years! It's land where our grandfathers and grandmothers died...would it be okay?
-It's been about a hundred years, surely a dragon won't come bursting out?
-Hey, honestly it's been two hundred years, would a dragon show up?
-Honestly, it's been three hundred years, wouldn't it be better to just build a city over here? How long do we have to keep living crammed together on narrow land bumping into each other?
Present day.
This place, 'Lost Virginia,' meaning the old Virginia, now had quite a lot of people living in it.
The city, worthy of being called a small city, was built for a single purpose.
To catch the legendary dragon.
* * *
<Lost Virginia, in front of the inn.>
"Dragon Slayer's Rest?"
"That's right, warrior. This place is precisely a rest stop for those who will become great dragon slayers. Heh heh."
The man who appeared to be the innkeeper tried to butter me up, but unfortunately, he had the wrong person.
Because I was a dragon.
"Wouldn't a dragon get angry if you use a name like that carelessly?"
"It sure might. But would you believe it if I said our inn has a full two-hundred-year history?"
"...The sign is certainly quite old."
Beyond merely old, I could feel the traces of two hundred years.
It had been reinforced using mana, but even the time contained within an object could not be converted into mana.
"It is an honor to stay at an inn boasting such a long history. I will be staying alone for about a week, so please leave three meals a day at my door on your own."
"Understood. However, for that amount of money..."
"Will this do?"
I handed the innkeeper two gold coins.
The innkeeper gulped at the brilliantly shining gold coins and gave a troubled smile.
"Um, guest."
"What."
"Do you need anything else besides a room and meals?"
"Hm?"
I stared intently at the innkeeper.
My impression was considerably sharp, fitting a warrior's appearance, so it was only natural for him to become frightened even when I simply watched silently.
"Why do you ask?"
"H-hieek...!"
Moreover, when I let a little mana leak out, he became properly terrified.
"W-well, if I try to serve you with two gold coins...heh heh, it's because a week's room and board leaves a little too much leftover. So for the remaining amount, our inn could, well...fill it with other things..."
He was talking around it earnestly, but humans were the same as a thousand years ago.
"Are there women too?"
"Oh my, of course! As many as you want!"
"Virgins?"
"......."
The innkeeper's expression hardened.
"A joke. As if there could possibly be any virgins among the women an inn arranges."
"Ha, haha."
"Still, if possible, a virgin would be nice."
"...Would a woman with almost no experience with men do?"
"Hmm.... No, never mind."
As a dragon, I couldn't possibly embrace a woman who had been handled by another 'human.'
"I'll bring a woman myself. However, the room might get a bit messy in the process. Use the remaining balance as cleaning and repair costs for that."
"J-just how formidable are you..."
"The strongest in the world."
My equipment was something that had pierced even the Dragon Lord.
Naturally, I must be the strongest!
"Understood. Then here, please register."
The innkeeper brought out a handwritten guestbook.
I quickly wrote down the name 'she' had taught me.
"Welcome, Let's Sex. Our Dragon Slayer's Rest welcomes you, Sex."
The room key the innkeeper handed me was for Room 305.
"Follow me. I'll guide you right away."
I followed behind him into my room.
"Oh."
I realized the innkeeper was paying more attention to me than I had expected.
Even just the bed was wide enough to lay my body down and still have two women comfortably tucked on either side, and the window offered a panoramic view of the passersby on the main street.
"May I ask one strange question?"
"A-a strange question?"
"I've come from far away, so perhaps that's why, but the people of this city are quite peculiar. None of them...well, none of them were trying to deceive anyone."
"W-well, that's."
The innkeeper scratched his cheek and laughed.
"A very long time ago, a High Elf great sage came to visit the ancestors who settled here."
"Huh?"
"That person said that the reason Lost Virginia was destroyed was because a 'lie' was told to the dragon."
"......."
That's right.
They committed the terrible act of deceiving me by offering non-virgins as tribute, claiming they were virgins.
"Ever since then, the people of this region have tried as much as possible not to lie or commit fraud. They grew up hearing that since childhood, you see."
If you lie, the evil dragon will come and drag you away in the night.
* * *
Lost Virginia.
This city, which preserved the scenery and rustic charm of the countryside intact, was said to have been built after I destroyed the old city of Carlston.
It was said to have begun when people who could not bear the murderous taxes of the then cities of Virginia and Richmond escaped the cities and staked their lives to build houses.
As time passed little by little, it became a village, then as people gathered it became a city, and ultimately it attained its present shape, they said.
Then why on earth was the inn called the Dragon Slayer's Rest?
"A place that does business catering to adventurers gathered for a dragon hunt. Honestly."
Humans truly earned money in creative ways.
While I, the dragon, stayed still, they made money by providing a place to rest briefly, maps, meals, and the like to the brave souls who came to kill me.
'They wouldn't want to bullshit while making money off guys about to die.'
Even though they knew the adventurers never returned.
I was still alive.
Over the past several hundred years, there may have been many who came to kill me, but not a single one had ever killed me.
In the first place, humans who actually faced me directly numbered maybe one every ten years or so.
The rest were dealt with at the line of the guardians protecting the entrance, and even if they bypassed or defeated the guardians, passing through the countless traps and guardians laid out beyond was no easy task.
Still, those who came before me?
I killed everyone except the virgins.
Even the surviving virgins, I violated and violated again until death, to briefly obtain a new sensation while the high elf rested.
Not a single adventurer who entered my lair ever made it back alive.
The people in this Lost Virginia had been making their living like that.
'How insolent.'
I wanted to flip everything over at once, but if I did, a fuss would break out elsewhere about the evil dragon awakening or something.
Therefore, I had to teach them a lesson in another way.
What method would be good.
Grumble.
I was hungry.
First, I would think about it after having a 'meal.'
A woman suitable for establishing a relationship....
"Hm?"
A dangerous sound came from outside.
I opened the window and scattered mana toward the direction of the sound.
-P-please don't....
-Just form a party with us, yeah?
-I-I said no. I have companions...!
-When your companions come, we can just all party together. Right?
"Oh ho."
A considerable beauty.
The archetypal human woman of this world, with blonde hair and blue eyes, wearing a mage's robe.
Her height barely reached my waist, but I could sense it even from afar.
That the woman wearing that mage hat and staff was a 'virgin'!
Tap.
I stepped on the windowsill and flew through the air in a single bound.
Then I landed in front of the robed woman and extended my hand toward those who were flustered at the sight of me.
"Stop."
Flinch.
Toward those who were trying to flirt with the woman, I emitted mana to threaten them.
"She is a woman who will be with me."
In bed.
"Wh-who the hell are you!"
"Disappear."
I flicked my fingers at the men trying to rape the woman.
I had threatened them by scattering mana, but it seemed being in front of a woman had provoked their male pride.
Though what did it matter.
For upholding pride, their opponent was a bad match.
'It's a waste of mana to use against guys like these.'
It was also a waste to kill them.
And dealing with the corpses after killing them was bothersome too.
Above all, I didn't even want to deal with men who already had their cocks standing erect trying to rape a woman.
"Let's go."
"Wh-who are you...?"
I grabbed the woman's hand, but she panicked and tried to shake off my hand.
'So tactless.'
"What the! She's not even your companion, fuck!"
"Don't tell me you just barged in passing by to save her? Oh man, what bullshit!"
"Why have you bastards been cussing up a storm since earlier?"
I strode steadily toward the men and raised my hand.
"Young brats."
Wham.
Without giving them time to block, I smacked the head of the blond man at the very front.
The man collapsed face-first into the ground, his brown skin instantly flaring red, and I stepped over his stomach as I walked past and reached out toward the next target.
"Did your mother teach you to swear carelessly at someone you're meeting for the first time?"
"Th-this crazy bastard?!"
The black-haired, slit-eyed man tried to draw the sword at his waist.
Before he could draw it, I reached my hand straight out, grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, and hurled him sideways.
Crash!
The slit-eyed man slammed into the wall and slumped down.
Toward the muscular man, less muscular than me but still brawny, I waggled my fingers.
"Gonna charge, or gonna scram?"
"You son of a bitch!"
"This one's got a filthy mouth too."
He seemed to be a martial artist, closing the distance with quick footwork and pulling his shoulder back.
Most likely he intended to drive a straight punch into my face.
Displeasing.
A man's fist, not a woman's, slamming into my sacred face?
Unforgivable.
The only things allowed to strike my face were the hands and feet of a woman resisting with her whole body.
Therefore, I suppressed him while minimizing physical contact.
"Shallow."
I quickly slipped inside his guard, dodged the punch, and simultaneously swung my fist sideways.
Pow!
At full power, I struck the waist.
And before he could spit from the pain, I kept driving force into the fist and blew his entire body away.
Craaash!
The muscular bulk slammed on top of the slit-eyed man.
The three men who had tried to rape the woman instantly lost consciousness and planted their heads on the ground.
"U-um...."
The woman who had been silently watching from behind finally opened her mouth.
She approached me with a tense face, but licked her lips with her tongue and bowed her head.
"Th-thank you! For saving me!"
"Mm. Only natural."
"Ah...."
Whatever she was thinking, that wasn't it.
"Because I saved you to rape you."