Volume 4 Chapter 1 To The Emdo County
"Sir Noroa! I've registered as an adventurer!"
Cirrul was the center of attention in the gathering hall of a certain adventurer's guild.
It was no wonder that the rough-looking adventurers were staring at the beautiful girl's radiant smile.
But why were some people worshipping her? It was far from Sunpool, so not many people would know that she was a saint.
As usual, the girl stood out wherever she went.
It was as if she was destined to stand in the sun.
The light emanating from Cirrul was too dazzling for a shade-dweller like me. I kind of wanted to keep my distance, but as a "travel companion", I couldn't help but be approached by her.
"Look at this. Now I'm an adventurer too."
Cirrul proudly showed me her brand new adventurer card. She looked at me with sparkling eyes like a wagging puppy. Anyone can register as an adventurer, and even an orphan like me can do it... but it was hard to say that after all that praise and aura.
"Uh, that's amazing. You're Cirrul, so of course you can become an adventurer."
"Eh, eh-he... really?"
Her cheeks flushed slightly as she looked down and smiled shyly. Her small gesture made the surrounding adventurers groan in unison. Many men were muttering curses like "I hope all popular people explode."
"Now I can help Sir Noroa..."
"Hm? Oh, yeah."
I had Cirrul register as an adventurer in order to get a fake ID. Well, if she has adventurer status, I can take her to dungeons and other places. I might ask her for help with various things.
'So, are you done? Then let's go quickly.'
Juju pulled my ear impatiently.
Since Cirrul became my companion, Juju has been in a bad mood a lot.
"Hey, Juju-san! Stop it, Sir Noroa is in pain!"
'Of course, I'm hurting him. Noroa loves pain.'
"Huh... is that so?"
'You didn't know? Pfft, hehe. You don't know anything about Noroa.'
"I-I do, at least that much!"
It seems like Cirrul took Juju's words at face value.
In an attempt to rival Juju, she pulls on my ear.
"Sir Noroa likes this, right? Yes, I know!"
"Ow, ow, ow...! It's going to rip...! "
'By the way, Noroa's "ow" means "super good feeling".'
"...! Sir Noroa is feeling super good then!"
"No, I'm not, so stop blinding me repeatedly."
"Blinding isn't enough yet...!?"
"No, that's not it."
I hurriedly stopped them, as it seemed like the attack was about to intensify.
Why do I have to be lynched for no reason?
"But Sir Noroa likes pain, right?"
"No, I don't like it."
"...eh?"
Cirrul froze.
Then, she slowly turned her face towards Juju.
"...Missy Juju?"
'What's wrong, violent girl?'
"Hehe, heheh..."
'Ah, wait. Stop hitting my crown. I'll go bald.'
"Why do you always harass me like this for no reason!"
'Because it's fun! Is that bad!?'
"...You should repent."
'Hey, stop it! Hitting my crown is a foul! Stop, stop, I'll go bald! Nooooo, I'm going to go bald!!!'
...Well, as you can see from this exchange, the two of them don't seem to get along.
If possible, I'd like to somehow resolve the discord between my travel companions, but I don't have the guts to stick my nose into a girls' fight. I'll just pray that time will somehow heal things.
'Okay, okay, let's cool down? I'll tell you something good.'
"What good thing?"
'Noroa trivia that you can use tomorrow.'
"I'll listen."
Her answer was immediate. I can't believe she was just angry a moment ago.
'You know... Do you know this? Noroa's mole...'
"Sir Noroa's mole?"
'――There are 7 trillion of them.'
"! ... Wait a minute. Let me write this down."
"No, it's a lie."
Why did she believe that just now?
Cirrul is still so easy to fool. She doesn't know how to doubt people. I guess that's her virtue, but she was completely Juju's toy.
It's embarrassing, so I wish they wouldn't fight in public like this...
Oh well. The two of them are done fighting, and we've done everything we need to do in this town.
So, we can finally go collect cursed equipment.
"Well, you two. Let's go."
* * *
"Hmm..."
After Cirrul's adventurer registration was completed.
In the forest outside the town, Cirrul was making a pose like she was praying with her hands together. She had a difficult look on her face and groaned as if she had a headache. She looked like she was praying for something, but she wasn't. For Cirrul, this prayer pose was the one that allowed her to concentrate the most.
After a while, Cirrul's body suddenly swelled up and she turned into a dragon.
'Yay, I transformed!'
Cirrul made a fist pump with her front paw and wagged her tail innocently.
The forest shook, the ground cracked, and the animals screamed. Scary.
'What the!?'
Juju fell off my shoulder from the vibration, but whatever.
"You were able to transform in about ten seconds this time."
'Yes, it's a new record!'
――Three days after the Sunpool incident.
After repeated experiments by Beast & Rose, it was found that Cirrul could freely transform into a dragon.
When she becomes a dragon, her stats increase dramatically, and she can even breathe fire and fly. Apparently, she can do almost everything that a dragon can do.
However, it seems that she still needs to "kiss someone she truly loves" to turn back into a human.
Beast & Rose is a powerful piece of equipment, but it also seems to be quite difficult to use.
At least, I need to be by Cirrul's side until she finds someone who can love her properly. If she transforms into a dragon in her sleep without me there, we'll be back at square one.
Even so, it's a good sign that Cirrul has started to face the cursed equipment. If she keeps being pessimistic, neither the cursed equipment nor the wearer will ever be rewarded.
Besides, Cirrul seems to like Beast & Rose quite a bit. Maybe it's a big deal that there's a way to overcome the Cost, even if it's just a temporary solution. But I'd really appreciate it if she didn't keep trying to experiment with transforming into a dragon. I really don't want to kiss a reptile on a regular basis.
'Alright, let's fly!'
"Understood."
I picked up Juju, who was sulking on the ground, and climbed onto Cirrul's back. Cirrul flapped her wings, and my body lifted off the ground. It's the familiar sensation of floating.
At first, I got dizzy from the excessive shaking and speed, and my insides felt like they were floating, making me feel sick right away. But once I get used to it, it seems that even the discomfort turns into a feeling of exhilaration.
Maybe because dragons glide through the air, it feels like I'm riding the wind itself. If she increases the speed a little, it even feels like I've become the wind.
The view from the sky was scary at first, but I gradually started to enjoy it. The vast view stretches to the far horizon without anything obstructing it. The humans walking on the ground all look like ants, and I realize how vast the world is.
Once I get used to it, riding a dragon is great.
On the other hand, Juju still seems to suffer from severe motion sickness. She seems to have decided to sleep whenever she rides a dragon, and she usually uses my hood as a hammock and snores softly.
'...mumble mumble...Noroa's, earwax...earwax...'"
I wonder what kind of dreams she's having. I'm really curious to see what's happening to my earwax, but I'll hold back because she'll go ballistic if I wake her up. Either way, it's better for her to stay asleep.
'Missy Juju is also cute when she's always asleep.'
Cirrul chuckles.
Indeed, Juju isn't cute when she's awake. But it's not like she's very cute when she's asleep either. She has bad sleeping habits, so I often get kicked in the head, and she always drools all over my hood.
'I wish she could just sleep forever... After all, she's also getting in the way of me and Sir Noroa.'
Cirrul's dark muttering voice came from up ahead, carried by the wind. I was too scared to ask, so I just pretended not to hear it.
After a while of soaring through the sky,
'Huff... puff... S-Sir Noroa...'
Cirrul called out, panting heavily. By the way, I found out later that Cirrul is not very good at exercise, and she doesn't have much stamina even in her dragon form.
"Uh, are we taking a break soon?"
'No, that's not it... I think we've just entered the Emdo County.'
"Eh, already?"
Indeed, when I looked down at the ground, I saw that there were a lot of pastures, even though it was early summer. It was exactly what I had heard about the Emdo County. The Emdo County has little flat land and the soil is heavy clay, making it a difficult environment to grow crops. Oats and beans might grow, but wheat, barley, and root vegetables do not. Therefore, agriculture is centered on livestock, and most grains are imported.
"I can't believe we're already here..."
Come to think of it, Cirrul's flying speed is pretty fast. It's hard to tell when we're flying because the scenery goes by slowly, but we can travel between cities in just an hour. Normally, it takes half a day to a day to travel between cities.
"Which means the capital city should be close."
I compare the roads I see on the ground with the map to get a sense of my location.
'But, Sir Noroa... why are we going to the Emdo County?'
"What do you mean, why? The Emdo County is like a holy land for equipment enthusiasts, isn't it?"
'Uh, uh, I'm not sure about that...'
Really? I thought she wanted to go to the Equipment Holy Land since she didn't object.
"The Emdo Territory has a small population, so its commerce and industry are well-developed. They're especially known for equipment production. World-famous equipment production areas like the capital city Ketu and the commercial city Torchmarina are all there. And it's not just the quantity of their equipment that's impressive. They also have a lot of craftsmen who can make C-rank equipment, the highest rank of equipment that can still be produced in the modern era. That's why 'Emdo-made' has become synonymous with high-quality equipment. Even the 'Monthly Equipment Mania' magazine that I love to read often features articles about the Emdo Territory, and I've always wanted to make a pilgrimage there."
'H-huh... I couldn't really understand what you said because you were talking so fast, but you mean you wanted to go there, right?'
"Yeah. Since I was born into this world, I have to make a pilgrimage to the holy land."
Cirrul's ability to fly is really a lifesaver. If I were traveling on foot, it would take months to get to the Emdo County. And since there are no checkpoints in the sky, I don't need to spend a lot of money on travel expenses.
Plus, Cirrul's ability to fly can also be useful for searching for cursed equipment.
"Oh, Cirrul. Stop."
I checked the Compass Eye (Ra Shingan) in my left eye, and the needle was pointing almost straight down.
It seems like there's cursed equipment where the needle is pointing.
Thanks to Cirrul, the Cost of the Compass Eye (Ra Shingan) has been greatly reduced. Since my travel speed has increased significantly, I can set the 'range limit' to a lower value. Even if I randomly expand the search area, I'll probably be able to reach most places just by enjoying my 7-day aerial journey with Cirrul.
In fact, I still have a lot of time left before the Compass Eye (Ra Shingan)'s time limit.
"I guess that means there's something around here since it's pointing down."
'I can only see a forest, though...'
"Hmm, I haven't heard any rumors about an undiscovered dungeon around here. There might be an ancient ruin or two, though."
Either way, the Compass Eye (Ra Shingan) isn't designed to be kind enough to tell me what's going on around here, so I'll have to find out for myself with my own 2 feet. If I'm unlucky, I'll have to excavate the ruins buried underground. Or rather, if my luck is 0, that's a very possible scenario, so it's scary.
"Well, let's just land somewhere."
With that in mind, I looked down at the ground to see if there was an open area.
"...Huh?"
I saw something unnatural on the artificial line that snaked through the forest, peeking out from the gaps in the trees ―― a road.
"Cirrul, lower your altitude a bit."
'...? Okay, I got it.'
Cirrul circled and approached the ground. It seems dragons aren't very good at hovering in place, which is a bit inconvenient. It might be because Cirrul is clumsy.
"Hmm..."
I leaned out a little from the dragon's back and focused my gaze even more. It would have been nice to have some telescopic equipment for this, but I can't ask for too much.
As we descended for a while, the ground gradually came into view.
And what I saw was...
An overturned wagon and knights with drawn swords surrounding it.
――They were clearly in the middle of a battle.
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