Subjugation of King Dragon King Chapter 2 ~ Continuation: The Collapsed Ladies

Shaina = Marian is a wandering knight.

She is twenty three years old.

She became a knight at the age of thirteen. Though her home country held a history of fifty years, it fell to ruin following the year of her appointment to knighthood. With her entire clan massacred, Shaina was the only survivor.

The girl had a natural gift.

The gift of survival.

She was unusually aware of impending death.

She scents out the smell of death and evades it as easily as others would breathe.

At that day, when her home country fell, the imperial castle was set ablaze. An approaching flame with advancing enemy soldiers. In such a dire situation, she, a novice knight was in the very center of such chaos.

She could remember carrying her sword and running. Whether it was towards the enemy or away from them, she could not remember. But she did know that with her sword in hand, she ran as if she was dragging her heavy armor along with her.

As she approached the three forked road leading to the nobles ahead, she sensed something and came to a halt.

As she stopped, a blazing beam from the ceiling fell down before her at the same time.

The beam had fell right before her eyes. If she didn’t stop, it would have been fatal.

Looking at the beam in front of her with astonishment, she didn’t hesitate to jump over it. After the jump was a sea of flames but she didn’t even have time to think about mustering up the courage and leaped inside.

At the same time, soldiers appeared from behind. But thanks to the fire covering up her presence, they did not notice her and ran off to the distance.

It was no coincidence. For some reason, Sharia knew this.

[If I keep at it like this, I’ll be saved]

That same ability showed its strength for the past 10 years.

In little increments, it manifested its power during times where she had worked in various countries as a wandering knight.

And thanks to it, she had become a well known wandering knight at the young age of 25.

Also known as a notorious wandering knight.

It was a humiliating matter.

There were two kinds of famous wandering knights.

The first being someone that calls out to the country that matches his ability, a man who makes room for such opportunity. Once a country that needs him heeds his call, they openly invite him to become a knight in their kingdom. The majority of them are this type. Humans are greedy beings. If they know that their name is famous, it is not unlikely that they will join a country that treats them the best.

The other one is someone with a fault in personality or nature, one who does not call out to a country. As competent as their incomplete ability is to others, their name gains notoriety and the prejudices and rumors makes it impossible for them to be hired in the conventional manner.

And as humiliating as that may be, this was the type of knight that Shaina was.

Well, it isn’t really that their call isn’t heard. There are seasons where ceremonies need to begin and when there are times where supply of labor is short, and if she applies for the job as a knight,
Shaina could also secure an appointment.

Such miscellaneous matters are made to appoint those who hold the title of a knight.

A knight’s official employment comes when after finishing the task, the country asks them to stay and appeal their desire to employ them officially.

An efficient way of recruiting unknown but talented wandering knights, recently this has been the most popular method of doing so.

Currently, every country is looking for capable people, but you can’t tell how good they are if you don’t put them to work. So they hire wandering knights and if they are satisfied with their
work ethic, they will prepare a vacant seat in the knights’ order and welcome them officially. It is an easy to understand method.

The Dragon King Kingdom’s Royal Knights’ order also used this method to gain power.

As for Shaina, she never caught such a call.

There were times during tasks where such hopeful voices were heard such as [If only you were an official knight in my country]. But by the time the task ended, the once lent out hand became no more. [Please think nothing of what I said before]. She didn’t know how many times she had heard such words.

It was humiliating indeed.

Now, the reason why such a girl came to the Dragon King Kingdom is because she had heard talks of the famous dragon slaying mission in the around town.

The Dragon King Kingdom had agreed to the master blacksmith’s goal of using the Dragon King to make his swords. Though it is not known what was exactly said behind close doors, for the country to lend its cooperation meant that the Royal Knights’ order was making their move.

It was a chance.

If the Royal Knights’ order makes a move, it means that the Dragon King Kingdom will be holding a recruitment campaign.

With the Dragon King Kingdom being such a large nation, their knights’ order insists on holding great value to true strength. Instead of relying on rumors and prejudice, if she shows her true strength, they may even hold the heart to recruit someone like Shaina, who has such an infamous reputation.

Furthermore, this involves her strong suit of fighting. Her eyes were set on her long awaited dream. An official appointment.

Once she heard of the rumor, she decided not to lose her chance and began moving. However, the region where she first heard the rumor was a place too far away. Despite using shortcuts within shortcuts, she was too slow, not to mention whether she would be able to arrive in time for either the recruitment campaign or for the first day of the Dragon King slaying mission. Eventually she forcefully pushed herself only to end up with the so called result. She had even unsightly collapsed in the end.

And the man who had saved her.

He still held the vibes of a boy. Most likely eighteen or seventeen. Young.

He had carried Shaina and another girl all the way to this town. Was it his astonishing strength and stamina, or was it his courage? Thinking of the time when she had crossed that deadly wasteland,
she could only admire the power he had to help others.

As someone who hadn’t saved anyone else’s life but her own, Shaina began to hold interest towards the boy.

Though he was difficult to understand at times, gleefully saying that he wanted to become a hero, she thought that she could loosen up her principles around him a little. Such was the great interest she had of him.

★

Two days after Al’s group had formed.

Shaina and the rest passed by those who came back to resupply and got out of town.

Although the so called negotiation/promise was disagreed upon, they somehow agreed to [run away together if things get dangerous] afterwards, and it helped her calm down.

Now, they are in the mountain. Originally, there would be no road here but they are walking on the road created by those who came before them.

Seeing the rivals that passed by, the groups that seemed to have the most chance at success did not have any significant losses. However, those who thought of taking advantage of such groups took heavy damage from the fight against the Dragon Kings. Among them were people who were being carried on a stretcher with fatal wounds. With that being said, there are probably a lot dead as well.

[It’s as you said Shaina]

Al said so with a voice of concern, but to Shaina it was heard as [you knew the answer]. If they had left on the first day in high spirits, she knew that they would have more or less suffered like these people. Without being on the same pace, a group only gathered by one same goal would end up in such danger.

Nevertheless, she didn’t have a basis for her decision.

It’s just vagueness and danger. It’s useless, you shouldn’t go, is what she had thought.

There is no need to dismiss such intuition.

Although her reasoning may be vague, her intuition had never been wrong once. If she had ever been wrong before, she wouldn’t be alive right now.

[That being said, I guess the true contenders really are different]

As if he was remembering the groups that came back, he began repeatedly praising the skillful groups.

Despite being the first day, there were certainly those with astonishing battle feats. Occasionally, a group of Blue Leopard mercenaries with around a dozen members would be carrying back a total of three Dragon King crowns.

Although this dragon slaying mission wasn’t such a contest, it still did its job in aweing everyone around them.

Shaina could remember Al’s glittering eyes when he had saw them pass by.

[Even amongst the Blue Leopard division, those guys are extraordinary. I guess they gathered the cream of the crop huh]

As Shaina said so, Al made a confused expression.

[Cream of the crop? …… No way, there wasn’t anyone that looked that strong amongst them]

[Arara, stop bluffing will you?]

Shaina let out an unintentional laugh and said so teasingly, as if she had seen a kid reacting to someone being praised by saying [Hmph, I’m way stronger than they are].

And so, Al pouted and began to deny her claims.

[I don’t bluff about my strength. It’s just…]

[It’s just?]

[It just didn’t seem that they would have offensive capability to bring down the King Dragon King]

Shaina judged the statement as if it came from someone who didn’t want to admit their loss.

If I wanted to do it, I can do at least that much too. She felt as if this was exactly the kind of words Al wanted to say.

If you could do it, it would be best to prove it, but to say you want to do it somewhere where no one would be looking.. Shaina grumbled as such internally.

[Alright alright. But I don’t plan on fighting multiple Dragon Kings with just the three of us. If things get dangerous, we run. Remember to keep your promise]

[Of course, I understand. I alone am enough to fight against them all so there will be no danger. Leave it to me]

[… Come on]

Shaina sighed.

Extreme vanity isn’t such a great sight to see, and if she leaves it be, this boy will most likely end up thrusting himself into a crowd of Dragon Kings.

Though she can’t sense any danger at the moment, Shaina made plans for such events in her mind. She planned to hit the boy from behind and make an all out run for it.

Right now, they are approaching the meeting of two paths in the Dragon King Mountain.

This whole region is still on the outskirts of the Dragon King territory and is covered in green. Knowing that a bit further east lies the wasteland, it is miracle how many trees there are in this region. In truth however, it is not as miraculous as one may think. Taking the shape of the mountain into account, it is most likely that the rain only falls on this side of the mountain.

One theory is that the King Dragon King Kazakt sucked all the mana out of the wasteland to preserve his powerful mana.

Though it is nothing more than a mere superstition, we are talking about an ancient dragon that has leaped beyond the human mind. Surprisingly, he may actually be doing this.

(No way right…)

Shaina thought so intensely as she glanced at Al to the side.

What if he actually believes this story and plans to become a hero because of it?

For example, by restoring the wasteland to its former green pastures, he could save a couple starving in poverty…

(Ridiculous)

Shaina shook off her notions.

First of all, that’s not what it means to be a hero.

[Stop]

Said Chiki who was ten meters away with the palm of her hand facing towards the group.

Chiki immediately lowered her back. If the person leading the front tells everyone to stand still, it is common sense to follow suit. Though Shaina’s instincts hadn’t sensed anything yet…

However, Al started walking towards Chiki as if he hadn’t heard the [stop] and placed his hand on her small head.

[Oi, if I tell you to stop, stop. Why do you think Chiki is the one staying on the front? Also, don’t put your hand on my head. Are you making fun of me for being small?]

[I’m not making fun of you Chiki san. You’re just really small and cute]

[Oi knight, get this kid to stop treating me like a child]

Shaina shrugged her shoulders and caught up with them. Looks like there was no danger after all.

[It’s fine isn’t it? Just take it like the cutie you are]

[What?]

Leaving Chiki who was voicing her displeasure to the side, Shaina began to look forward.

[Wait…!]

There was danger up ahead.

It was five [Corpse Eaters] who had just been alerted by the rowdiness and started groaning.

[Corpse Eaters] are four legged dog-like beasts. Their face is both similar and not so similar to that of a dog. With a three sectioned lower jaw and two sectioned upper jaw, they pick on corpses and bugs as their food.

Just imagining how they eat sent shivers down Shaina’s spine.

[Gururururu….]

They got their name [Corpse Eater] from favoring dead flesh, but their ancestors were heretic monsters made by magicians of the past during the great war to counter the demon race’s artificial undead monsters.

Though recently they have evolved to become more independent, their ferocious behavior still matches that of their past ancestors.

First off, they hunt in packs. Though since they prefer corpses, they do not actively go hunt for prey. But if they are interrupted during their feast, they will gather a pack of three or more of their kin and attack the intruder. When they are eating, [Corpse Eaters] are cold hearted and fierce.

And apparently, right now they were in the middle of their feast.

Seeing the five angry [Corpse Eaters] approaching them while glaring, Chiki’s cheeks puffed up.

[Chiki tried to tell you to stop]

[Enough with that and lower yourselves!]

Shaina screamed as she pulled out her sword and stood in front of both of them.

At that moment, the five [Corpse Eaters] kicked the ground.

One charges at the front while two follow behind. The left over two begin to encircle them from both sides. It’s to make sure there is no way to escape. They are fast, and seem to move with experience. A five beast hunt. Living in a place where dragons dwell, they move as veteran group hunters of this harsh region. What strong specimen.

[Watch out!]

As she alerted the two at her rear and one beast leaped forward. There was no time for hesitation.

Shaina pursued the beast and leaped.

[North God Style Reverse Technique First Dan: “Sliding Avalanche”!]

She went above the beast and aimed for the [Corpse Eater] in mid air.

To take the upper side of a leaping opponent. One can see that it is a useless act. Four legged beasts who leap end up exposing their defenseless under belly. So, the right response would be to cut through the lower side accordingly.

But Shaina leaped above.

This was because she saw the two [Corpse Eaters] hiding behind the shadow of the leaping first beast, preparing to attack from below.

A simultaneous attack from above and below.

Furthermore, the two attacking from behind will arrive faster than the one who leaped forward. Humans are not adept at dealing with enemies above their heads. Being occupied with the first beast, no matter how dexterous, they would still fall behind. That was how perfect the attack was. Even humans who hold much pride in their teamwork would not be able to perform such a beautiful combination.

And someone who could respond to such an attack would be Shaina, who had been trained to deal with such crisis with her ability. Thanks to her instincts, she knew that they would attack from below.

[Dairyaaaaaaaaaaaa !]

As if she was dancing, she landed one straight cut towards the neck. It was only to the degree of landing a small cut into the artery but it was enough to take a life. Even if these beasts were made from heretical arts, their weaknesses are still similar to that of a dog.

The [Corpse Eater] landed and collapsed while spilling a geyser of blood.

[Buwu!?]

The two remaining [Corpse Eaters] lost sight of Shaina. By being above the beast that had initially leaped forward, she was able to secure a blind spot.

It wouldn’t take them one second to find her, but it was enough time for fatality.

[North God Style Righteous Techinque Second Dan: “Heavenly Flower Circle”]

Shaina disposed the two beasts with one stroke of her sword. The point of her sword that had cut a bit short earlier inserted itself into the windpipe of one beast below, and with a circular movement cutting upwards, she used that same force to drive into the head of the second beast, breaking its skull.

[Are the both of you–]

The remaining two beasts. Shaina immediately looked around her surroundings, worrying about her companions’ safety.

[– It seems you guys are fine]

The remaining two beasts were already lying defeated on the ground.

The one in front of Chiki had all its limbs sliced off. By the time Shaina looked, it was still breathing but Chiki with a blank expression and a weird knife at hand, ended its life with a thrust.

In front of Al stood a headless corpse. With blood coming out of its neck, it’s head was nowhere to be found. She looked at her surroundings to find it but to no avail.

A headless dog and a silver armored knight without a hint of blood on him. If one were to change their perspective, it could be quite a fantastical view. If it was a noble with a perverted hobby, they would most likely be holding a painting similar to this very scene she was witnessing.

During the short time she watched, the once alerted Chiki began to relax and go limp.

[What is it knight, are you our parental guardian or something?]

Chiki said so mockingly as she wiped the blood off her knife.

And on Chiki’s head rested a hand.

[Well well Chiki san, worrying about your companions’ safety after defeating an enemy up ahead is the right thing to do]

Al said as he stroked her head.

[Mu? Does that mean that we are the bad ones for not worrying about her safety? That being said, stop stroking my head]

[I can’t stroke your head?]

[It’s not that you can’t. It’s not like it’s something that decreases in quantity. If Al wants to stroke my head, you should do it to the degree that it won’t become a hinderance to our work. But you are not stroking my head because you want to, but because my head is at the right place at the right time!]

[….. I’m glad that both of you aren’t hurt]

Al gave off a fresh smile.

Chiki’s face turned red and screamed [So I was right huh! What do you think a person’s head is huh!]

Shaina looked at the scene with a bittersweet smile and laid her gaze towards Al’s sword on his back.

She never paid attention to it until now but the blade seems to be over a meter long.

To draw, make stance, cut and sheathe. The bigger the sword is, the more time it takes to make such movements. A sword of that size would make such faults pretty noticeable.

The sword that Shaina holds has a single short blade with a length of only fifty centimeters. The reason why it is curved is because her fighting style emphasizes on the speed of drawing her sword and slashing.

And thanks to it, even when fighting against three [Corpse Eaters], she is able to keep up in speed.

If she were to hold a sword the size of Al’s, she would have had a hard time fending off the three beasts.

(I wonder when he pulled it out)

Swords carried on the back are heavier than those carried on the side.

Such were the words of one famous swordsman.

Swords on the back are much harder to draw than those on the side.

There is a good reason why swords are generally carried on the side.

Wait, but wasn’t he carrying the sword on his side when we left the inn?

[Huh? Al, why are you carrying your sword on your back. Didn’t you have it on your side earlier?]

Before Shaina could open her mouth, Chiki asked. She probably asked out of reflex.

That’s right. Al was holding the sword to his side just earlier. She remembered thinking that he was carrying such an unnecessary long object just to flaunt.

[Oh this? … Fufu, it’s a secret]

Al said so secretly and moved the sheath in a circle from his back.

Suddenly, the sword appeared at his side.

[Ooh!]

Chiki raised her voice in admiration.

A mechanical sheath. And a technique to make such movements.

Shaina remembered seeing the technique before. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t tell from who. It wasn’t something used by the knights she had fought. It was something that couldn’t be forgotten at first sight.

Where did I see it.

At the very least, it is not a technique shown by ordinary folks as a way of showing off.

[By the way, Shaina san’s school. Is it the North God Style?]

Shaina’s thoughts were interruped by Al’s question.

[… Yep, you’re right]

She wanted to congratulate him on finding out so easily but soon remembered that she shouted her school name as she used the techniques. Her master would always tell her to shout the technique names, and it had become a habit to do so. It wasn’t something that was too out of place though, after all it was the disciple’s responsibility to spread the name of the school.

[The North God Style is sure rare isn’t it. Where did you learn it?]

[The first dojo I entered was the North God Style. Now that I think of it, I’ve never met any fellow students of the school…]

[My father was also a member of the North God Style]

[That is…]

What to say.. As Shaina stopped in her tracks, Chiki raised her voice.

[Oi Al, and knight]

The two of them looked towards the voice.

Chiki began approaching the area where the [Corpse Eaters] had gathered.

[Look, its their food]

The place was a wide open space created in the middle of the woods. It probably wasn’t like this from the beginning. Multiple trees blown away by sheer force, the scorched earth, one could tell that this was originally a small space only used by animals that wanted to cross.

The reason why this place had such a huge space burnt open was most likely due to the rampage of Dragon Kings.

How many Dragon Kings rampaged?

The answer was on top of the surface, with all the scattered human remains.

This disastrous open space were the remains of a battle.

Although more or less eaten by the [Corpse Eaters], the corpses still had most of their original form intact. The smell of rot was not strong either.

[This corpse, it seems to belong to a member of the magician group]

Shaina affirmed accordingly.

Robes that held a color that couldn’t be differentiated from being burnt, unnaturally scorched surroundings, depressed earth, wet branches despite it not raining. These were definitely traces of magic.

[It seems they fought numerous Dragon Kings and lost]

[I wonder how many they fought]

[Taking the scope of the battle into consideration, probably three to five]

As Shaina replied, she began to feel an little odd.

If it were three to five Dragon Kings, it is probably right. Anything more than that would increase the scope of the battle and in turn would open up the area a lot more. If there were less, it would be the opposite.

But it’s still weird.

There was no way a magician group like the [Grass World Leaf Tree] would be defeated by such few Dragon Kings.

They are a group of magicians specialized in battle.

Battle magicians are just simply strong.

They are different from the novice magicians that became adventurers because they had nothing else do. The title of magician is given to anyone that can use magic, but to become battle magician requires a strict examination from the magicians’ association.

These magicians remember all their magic by heart to prepare for battle. Combustion, Freeze, Impact types are some examples of the variety of attack spells they know. As for defense, they use Bulwark, Holy, Regional types and Healing, Flying, Haste types for support spells.

The highest ranked battle magicians would also learn martial arts that put warriors to shame, so the notion that magicians are weak in melee combat does not exist. They are adept at staff wielding martial arts, hold high enough concentration to chant spells during hand to hand combat, and durable enough stamina to execute such spells.

Surely, swordsmen mature faster and as long as there are techniques to defend against magic, the swordsman is stronger if they are on the same level of training.

However, in terms of fighting monsters, a magician engaged in battle holds much more advantage than the swordsman.

The effectiveness of magic.

For example, there is a spell called [Fire Lance]. This spell transforms fire into a lance, and while holding its mass, it pierces through the enemy with intense heat.

This spell becomes stronger as the heat gets higher and higher.

However, it is useless against a human opponent. This is because it doesn’t take much heat to kill a human and if the opponent is armed with anti fire magic equipment, it wouldn’t matter how much the heat is raised and the spell would be nullified. Of course such equipment is very expensive so no individual would be able to put their hands on one, but the possibility of such an event occurring is still important.

On the other hand, such a high power attack is very useful against monsters. Especially when it comes to gigantic beasts like Dragon Kings, whom have a huge body surface and capacity, making it hard for the average swordsman to land a one hit kill. However, with magic, landing such a fatal blow is much easier to accomplish.

There is also a problem when it comes to a dragon’s physical defenses. The scales that are near impossible to cut open with a sword could be destroyed with a well prepared spell.

To get back to the point, it isn’t likely that four to five Dragon Kings were enough to win against a magician group that had their eyes set on dragon slaying.

However, the magician group was defeated and their corpses layed on the field.

What a weird occurrence. For a group that should have held an overwhelming advantage to be laying dead without a single dragon corpse in sight.

To find out the reason why, Shaina began to search each corpse.

[…!]

She had found the reason on one of the corpses. The body of a man with a surprised face. A corpse wrapped in a high quality robe, grasping tightly to a high grade staff.

[… A sword wound]

And it was an ambush to the back. A wound that a Dragon King would not be able to inflict.

Then why would they have such a wound.

There is still something weird going on. The number of corpses.

If Shaina’s memory served right, the magician group held around thirty members. The corpses fallen here don’t even cover half that amount.

It was possible that the Dragon Kings ate them but Shaina suspected the intrusion of a third party.

It was thanks to them that the corpses had been concealed.

The theory was as such. A group holding ill intentions towards the magician group attacked and annihilated them while they fought the Dragon Kings. To erase their own tracks, they made it look like as if the Dragon Kings were the ones responsible for the massacre. The rest of the missing corpses were probably burnt or buried. The one body she had just found was most likely a result of them leaving it behind thinking that the [Corpse Eaters] would come to eat away at the evidence around three days later.

Putting whether it is the correct answer or not aside, the undeniable truth is, is that a magician was attacked in the back by a sword.

Then the question is,

[Who is responsible…]

Logically, the most likely suspect would be the Blue Leopard division that came back with three to four Dragon King heads. It matches the number of Dragon Kings that attacked this area.

The least suspicious group would be martial arts group that only use their bare hands. Though that isn’t to say that it would be impossible for them to inflict such a sword wound. After all, they are closer to swordsmen than they are to magicians. Nevertheless, they who view swordsmen as weak men who rely on weapons and despise the use of swords, would it be possible for them to use such tools to harm someone from behind? The possibility is slim to none.

Perhaps it wasn’t the work of a group.

Maybe it was the work of a serial killer inside one of the dragon slaying groups. They would have most likely approached the magician group during their fight against the dragons and massacred them on the spot.

If one were to think too seriously of any coincidence, the possibilities would be endless.

[… Huh?]

Shaina just realized that her two fussy companions were out of her sight.

She thought that she had left them behind, but there was no need for such concern. They were standing on the other side of a tree with a thick trunk.

They are staring at the roots of the tree for some reason.

Looking closely she found three [Corpse Eaters] laying dead around them.

[…What happened?]

[Well, it’s that]

Chiki held a confused expression.

Al nodded his head in assurance.

As Shaina walked around the tree to where they stood, she saw a tree hollow.

Inside the tree hole was a little girl wrapped in a tattered robe.

[A survivor]

Chiki briefly explained, but anyone with an eye could see that.

Though there were no noticeable wounds, she seemed worn out. Probably used up all her mana and stamina as well.

[Let’s return for the day. We have to take care of this girl once we reach town]

An act without hesitation. A feeling of familiarity comes forth. A movement prioritizing one’s safety while seemingly not caring about what their identity is or what event had occurred.

Knowing she had been in a similar situation, Shaina instinctively opened her mouth.

[Is it your hobby to save people collapsed on the ground?]

Such an astonished voice was let out.

(source: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n9673bn/3/)

TL Note: The Mushoku Tensei gacha game is out. It’s a dream come true. Time to empty my wallet and cry about shitty pulls.