Tsuyokute New Saga (LN)

The following afternoon, Kyle once again came to the [Flame Dragon of Dawn]. This time, he was alone, however. The others were currently preparing to head off for the forest, for that matter. Inside the bar, several groups of adventurers were currently chatting, but the second Kyle entered, all their not-so-benevolent gazes focused on him. Looking at the wall, the quest he had given out was hanging on the wall still, not to mention in the corner where nobody would look, making it evident that he wasn’t welcome.

I really am being hated…

Or so Kyle commented in his mind, but it was exactly as he had anticipated, which is why he ignored all of them, and instead headed for the counter, talking to the owner who evidently wasn’t happy to see him.

“Judging from that look on your face, nobody offered to accept my request, huh.” Kyle hid his internal feelings and faked a dejected expression, to which the owner nodded. “Right, what a shame…” Kyle let out a faint sigh, about to turn around in order to tell the owner to take the quest back down again.

However, a voice called out to him before that.

“Let me just tell you. No clue when you’re planning on departing, but no amount of a reward will get people to join you.”

The owner of the voice was a tall-statured fighter. Kyle didn’t remember seeing him here the day prior. His equipment was evidently high-class, used to its extreme, and the atmosphere to him told stories of wild battles.

“Um…Can I ask for your name?”

“Getsuga.” He named himself, not showing any glimmer of amiability.

Judging from the fact that the other adventurers and the owner weren’t breaking between his words, it must mean that he was respected quite a lot. Kyle was about to name himself, but Getsuga didn’t bother much with that.

“This is a bad time. Recently, there’s been a lot of poaching.”

“Poaching? I thought hunting monsters in this country was not limited?”

In Eddos, monsters are one of its special products. Hunting them was recommended even.

“That is true, but there exists an exception. Namely, the self-governing dominion of the dark elves. You’re not allowed to trespass there.”

Dark elves—a race even more unsociable than elves, and you never see them around other humans. They aren’t much different when it comes to the appearance of a normal elf, but their skin color was darker, almost tanned, the exact opposite of the elves’ snow-white skin.

“The dark elves had been living in that forest way before Eddos had been founded. They agreed to a non-invasion pact, and without their permission, you can’t enter their grounds. That being said, never did anybody actually get their permission.” Getsuga showed a bitter smile like he had remembered the past. “Following that, many of the mythical beasts, especially the Unicorns, are co-existing with the dark elves, so you can’t hunt them.”

Unicorns looked like white horses, with a horn growing from their heads. These horns were usually used as ingredients for healing medicine, making it a popular target. As a result, you barely see them on the continent, and their numbers were much higher here in the forest. This however led to the price of the horns growing, making them popular targets again.

“Recently, there apparently had been people ignoring this, and still invaded their territory. As a result of that, they’re high on alert right now…Or rather, fully hostile towards us, so we get attacked just by approaching. Through some trouble, we had people barely escaping with their lives, and in order to reach the [Nest of Dragons], you need to pass through their dominion.”

“I see…And fighting the dark elves inside the forest is like having a death wish.”

You could even call it foolish.

“One more thing. The dragons have been oddly active lately.”

Although Eddos was known as the country of dragons, you could see one dragon flying by in the distance barely once a year. It really made you feel like the world humanfolk and dragons lived in were far too apart. However, the reports over the past month were quite different from that, as there had been witnesses many more times. A group of adventurers went hunting in the mountains, spotting a dragon flying by awfully closely.

“According to eyewitnesses, it seemed to be the same dragon, appearing in various places…We wouldn’t want to needlessly aggravate it. That’s why we’re trying to hold off from entering the forest.”

“I see…so that’s why.”

Kyle finally understood why so many adventurers were here at noon. A chance encounter with a stimulated dragon was probably something all adventurers wanted to avoid.

“And finally…you must be aware of our reason, no?” Getsuga glared at Kyle with a sharp gaze.

Kyle started to feel a bit guilty and scratched his cheek.

“Right…that being said, you’re awfully friendly despite that?”

“I’m not friendly in the slightest…Just telling you everything I know so that you’ll leave quickly.”

Indeed, his tone didn’t sound friendly by any means.

“Yeah, I’m thankful for the warning…so, I’ll pull back my request.” Kyle walked towards the wall, pulling off the white paper.

“You sure? You’re not getting your money back you paid in advance.” The owner seemed surprised for a moment.

After all, Kyle put a large sum of money to simply put up that request.

“I don’t mind. I was just naive thinking that if I paid enough, people would be willing to join.”

And I achieved my goal already, Kyle added in his mind and was about to leave the bar.

“One last thing I want to ask. Why do you want to reach the [Nest of Dragons]?” Getsuga seemed curious about Kyle, and asked him.

“…Just to have a talk, is all.” Kyle gave a vague answer with a smile and left the bar behind him.

Outside, Kyle started walking down the main street. Right after, a single individual wearing a hood on their head appeared in front of Kyle without making any sound.

“…How did it go?”

Despite that individual walking in front of Kyle, he could perfectly hear their voice.

“Just as expected. Anything on your end, Minagi?” Kyle responded to the shadow—Minagi.

To any random passerby, it must look like they were simple strangers walking separately.

“No problems here. It’ll take a few days, and then the rumor about you heading for the [Nest of Dragons] will be going around smoothly.”

Kyle never expected to find adventurers that were ready to join their adventurer. The only reason he put in the request for help was to spread the news that he wanted to head to the [Nest of Dragons], nothing more. At the same time, he had Minagi going around spreading the rumors in town. Equally, he kept his reason for wanting to head to the [Nest of Dragons] a secret as well.

“Still, you sure do the craziest things.”

“It’ll come in handy later, so I wanted to spread the news…The more I stand out, the better.”

It was Kyle’s goal to become a hero that was known by every single individual on the continent.

“I bet that negotiating with the dragons might be a necessary step for that, but…are you really doing it?” Minagi sounded oddly doubtful in regards to that.

“Yeah. It may seem ridiculous, but it’s necessary. I have good chances of success as well.”

Not to mention that this is something I cannot skip out on, Kyle added in his mind. After all, this could influence the doom or preservation of humanfolk. When it came to history itself, dragons usually stood on neutral terms when it came to the two opposing sides of humanfolk and demons, but during the [Great Invasion] that occurred in Kyle’s previous life, the dragons sided with the demons, attacking humanfolk.

In regards to that, Shildonia was oddly shocked, despite holding great knowledge of demons. She found it hard to believe that the prideful dragons would serve under the demons, not to mention to attack humans. Shildonia judged that the dragons must have gotten indebted to the demons in some way. In fact, Kyle remembered that the dragons’ attacks were oddly unorganized, almost as if they were unwilling to attack in the first place. If the dragons were brimming with motivation to rot out humanfolk, it would have happened without a doubt, so Kyle considered that stroke of luck.

However, relying on luck alone won’t get him anywhere. Either Kyle had to make sure that the dragons would stay neutral, or possibly even become allies of humanfolk. That was the intention behind the negotiations.

I also need to know the reason why they supported the demons…or rather, were forced to.

The dragons had absolutely no reason to team up with the demons. That being the case, Kyle had to at least make sure they wouldn’t find one later down the line. Shildonia herself judged that they had good chances of succeeding. When humanfolk had possessed the greatest force and power, during the ancient days of Zaales, there were negotiations with the dragons, although now dating back a thousand years and more. Shildonia was brimming with confidence that they wouldn’t attack without certain conditions.

“It still is hard to believe that this Shildonia is supposedly the legendary [Magic King], though…” Minagi remembered the time she was having a battle with Shildonia for the food at the banquet of the Empire and put her index finger on her temple as if to suppress the pain. “Whatever, about the other thing. How should we—”

Continue, is what Minagi meant to say, but a voice called out to them before that.

“Please wait a moment!” it was an oddly tense voice.