An Achievement or Something

Leaving Igni to Ontentoo, we headed back to the village.

I was getting carried on the way back as well, but

We wound up not having to bring anything more back huh. Lets hurry up and go back.

Eh, wait up Wataru. Whatre you doing?

Preparing to go back down?

Thats a cliff though?

Its the shortest route back. We just didnt take it on the way up since the ascent wouldve been a bit much.

No way, no, nope, no way!

Ill be as careful as possible, but you do know youre going to bite your tongue if you keep talking yeah?

Hey Gozoh, get him to stop! This is basically vertical!

Whatre you on about? This is easy enough to just walk down. Kehma, you should stop swinging your legs, youre going to trip him.

Seriously

We were able to return in just fifteen minutes and thats good and all, but it was way scarier than even the jankiest of rollercoasters.

But like, both Meat and Ichika made it down casually wait, am I the odd man out here? Or maybe its because I was being carried? Either way, its a good thing I relieved myself before we headed back.

Mm, you made it back safe and sound huh.

Ooh~, welcome back~

The ones to greet us upon our return were Rokuko and Nerune. Rokuko was waiting with a triumphant pose for some reason though?

Did Ontentoo contact her?

I figured it was about time you all got back Kehma, could you get down here and crouch a bit?

Hm? Whats up?

I got off Watarus back and bent over as instructed.

W-We-Welcome b-back d-d-dea ! W-Welcome back!

Yeah, so could you stop hitting me? No clue if youre embarrassed or something but could you not?

Welcome back dear? What? Did I come back from a business trip or something?

Rokuko aside, Wataru was called over by Nerune too. Yeah, so I knew they were getting along but it was to the point of her welcoming him back?

Sooo, Wataru-san~? The flame dragon scales~? The horn~?

Ah th-there were some, uh, circumstances so, its not what I said, but how about some fire rat fur or red slime fluid?

Aah! Sorry, we wound up making up with the dragon so I couldnt really get them!

Then neeext time~, I can expect souvenirs~?

Yeah! Leave it to me, please!!

With that, Nerune returned to the inn after leaving Wataru super eager to please her.

Ah, so shes got him whipped. Whend that happen?

Wataru. I know its me saying it, but are you alright?

Im fine. Rather, I feel great.

Yep. A whipped perv.

Oh, no, I dont mean like in an M way or anything. More like, uhh, a cat?

So you see Nerune as a cat sith or something?

There are cat siths1 in this world!?

I saw them in the catalog at least? They were monsters though.

With that, other villagers realized that wed returned. Around five of them.

Oh, its true, theyre back! And none of em are dead either!

But what about the dragon meat!?

Theyre all alright! Howd it go!?

The villagers all talked over each other.

Ah, yeah. Were all good. It worked out somehow.

Th-That so? So you defeated it after all? Even though you had Hero-sama with you, you did it with so few people

Well, its not like we defeated it mmm, how should I put it? .

I turned to Gozoh, giving him a look that asked him to do it but not say too much.

Ill start from how it ended. We disciplined the dragon with Kehmas secret method, so we dont have to worry about the flame dragon anymore.

Eh?

Disciplined a dragon? Haha, great joke, Gozoh.

Its the truth. I saw the dragon bow with my own eyes. It even apologized for burning that field. Right, Wataru?

Man, Kehma-san did basically all of it this time! He and Kuro-chan took it on themselves!

Crap, Wataru didnt get that that was in the too much category!?

Hold up. The disciplining parts a misunderstanding, we just came to an agreement.

HEEEEY! OUR VILLAGE CHIEFS A DRAGON TAMER!!

Seriously!? Thats WAY cooler than a dragon slayer! Im proud to be in this village! Our village chief got justice for my radishes!

Wait what!? Im not a tamer though!? Hey!

Like that, the matter of me personally subduing the dragon quickly spread throughout the village.

Why though? Id even tried pushing it all off onto Wataru

Hey guys dont press all your achievements on me why do you think you were all brought?

To be witnesses yeah? And I didnt say anything about Salamander-dono.

We really didnt do anything. Theres nothing for us to press onto you, everything was your doing.

Come on, isnt taking over my troubles a splendid achievement?

That could not be called an achievement. Also, wouldnt this be enough to allow you to become a B-Rank adventurer, Kehma-san?

The guild people know about me currently having two ranks.

So this means therell be a chance for those ranks to be equal yeah, its likely.

Ugugugu, but wouldnt that make me be B-Rank on the surface as well? B-Ranks are basically aristocrats. Aristocrats are troublesome. Yeah.

No way, I still havent even done the advancement from D-Rank.

No, Kehma. I know you really dont want to work, but this matter could even make Roppu and I become B-Rank. Even with me honestly saying that we didnt do anything.

Yeah If we told the whole truth, you going straight to A-Rank wouldnt be a stretch, Kehma-san.

Wait. Whats that now? Why?

Dragon subjugation is a great accomplishment that would normally require several B-Rank parties to accomplish with many deaths. In other words, you could say that just surviving it would make you B-Rank. This was just two parties, and even though IS-Rank came along, I didnt help at all. Even then, Kehma-san, you really just did it with your own partya party of just you twoand challenged the dragon. Uninjured. And you even managed to make it docile thats already A-RankInhuman, no, S-RankSuperhuman. Get it now?

Now that he put it like that, I started to understand the significance of what just happened.

I think I was undervaluing the existences known as dragons too much.

The only dragon Id met and known well was Redra, one that was casually lovey-dovey with Ontentoo Id fought

her in that Dungeon Battle back then, but I probably just couldnt understand how much of a threat she really was.

No, I still dont understand. Its the same for the Core No. 5, the Dragon King, the one at the summit of all dragonkind. The only feeling I get toward them is just like Oh, that persons pretty dangerous huh.

I mean, Kehma-san, even if we obscure your achievement as much as possible, your plan made it so that we succeeded repelling the dragon with no casualties. Thats impossible to deny.

Right this world has lie detecting magic tools.

Crap we cant hiding anything if they ask to deeply, huh.

Eeh, dragon subjugation I mean, hmm. Cant B-Ranks handle that much?

Im trying to tell you thats impossible. I couldnt even face a dragon and get out uninjured, alright? Id have to prepare myself to lose an arm or two. Something that would take even recovery magic two or three days to bounce back from.

Seriously? B-Ranks are unexpectedly weak or maybe dragons are just too strong?

Well, youre definitely B-Rank now at least. Congratulations.

I want to decline it though?

That means youd have to quit the adventurer guild. I dont recommend it.

Then Ill quit adventuring and just be an ordinary village chief or a Beddhist father.

Either way, Im pretty sure that Haku-sama will summon you to elevate your rank. Youd be sentenced to death if you refused, probably.

Ah Ill do it if its Haku-san. Id have to. No lese majeste for me! Because its Haku-san. Because its Haku-san!

Well, organization heads authority is far reaching, so theres not much trouble youd have to deal with. Oh, how about we head to the capital together? Ill drop my escort price down for you!

Ill go through another route. And no way Im going to pay for an S-Rank escort.

Ill give you the friend bonus, youd only have to pay for food and transportation!

In that case, maybe I could ask him to?

Ive never been to the imperial capital through the normal route, it might be a good opportunity if I have a hero escorting me. I dont even know the normal route there, after all.

Well sure, why not. If thats all, lets do it.

Yes! Im going to go prepare for the trip now then! Oh, Kehma-san, you have [Storage] right? How much of its open? You should put tons of water and food into it.

Unexpectedly happy about it, Wataru spoke Actually, I guess hes always like that.

Later that day, the successful dragon subjugation party engorged themselves on the alcohol Id brought[Certain Dragon Slayer].

Haha, nah, its just normal Japanese sake! I didnt give it any name like that! And it doesnt kill anyway!

1. So cat sith could either be referencing the Final Fantasy version of them, the actual Celtic myth version of them, or maybe some other JP reference.