“Well then, show me your skills.” 

Ludriad-san is seriously uninterested in helping. He stands behind me, carefree, as though this were some sort of spectacle. My right hand is finally released, but I can’t help but feel a bit doubtful.

From what I can tell, he’s the squad leader of the patrolling soldiers. I just wish he’d maintain order whenever he sees a problem in front of his eyes.

Well, I can’t really count on someone who isn’t motivated.

Also, this is my chance to prove that I can solve this problem myself. Fortunately, even though these fake dragon tribesmen have grim appearances, they don’t come off as that big a threat. I’m always competing against Mistral after all. In my eyes, these more than twenty scoundrel, fake, dragon tribesmen are nothing compared to a sole Mistral.

My determination is met with grins full of ridicule. They’re completely looking down on me. Well, it can’t be helped. They’re burly men with various weapons in their hands while their opponent is a young boy with nothing more than a strange wooden sword on the right side of his waist. Still, I’ll teach them to resent their current behavior.

I draw out a wooden sword of the spirit tree with my left hand and then raise my right hand over my head. Afterwards, I concentrate and polish my dragon spirit. I draw power from the dragon vein and refine it into dragon spirit within my body just like during my training. From there, I converge it into my raised right palm.

The fake dragon tribesmen can’t feel my dragon spirit at all. They’re completely at ease as they watch my movements. If they were real dragon tribesmen, they would have been surprised by my polishing of dragon spirit. Them not reacting at all is proof that they are fakes. With that confirmation, I release my gathered dragon spirit with a yell.

“…”

“…”

“…”

A chicken appears under at my feet. It appears from a deep emerald haze. That’s right, this is my own special technique!

Well, even if I give it a fancy title, it still just looks like a chicken. Not just the fake dragon tribesmen, even Ludriad-san, stare at the chicken.

The chicken which manifested from my dragon spirit, which moves exactly like a genuine chicken, walks towards the fake dragon tribesmen.

“…”

Even now, the fake dragon tribesmen can’t make sense of the strange situation happening before their eyes. They simply watch on in dumbfoundment.

The chicken continues into the midst of the fake dragon tribesmen without concern. Once there, it vanishes. Afterwards, a green mist surrounds the fake dragon tribesmen.

“Ha?”
“…What are you even trying to do?”

The fake dragon tribesmen look at me as though I’m a fool.

“Tch, I can’t believe we just went along with a fool…!”

They get over their shock and irritation settles on their faces. As one of the fake dragon tribesmen goes to move, he collapses.

“Wha…”
“Ogh…!?”

They collapse one after other with expressions of anguish. This confirms that my technique was a success.

“W-what’s…”

However, it seems like some of them still can endure it. They stagger about as try to fix their grips over their weapons.

Mumumu, they must have magic power.

The moment I think that, I’ve already jumped behind a fake dragon tribesmen who hasn’t collapsed. I strike him down with the spirit tree, wooden sword, I hold in my left hand. Following that, I immediately jump to another one and take him out with a spin kick.

The remaining two are a bit far away. Even though they’re shocked by my sudden movements and are staggering about, they continue to grip their weapons. Still, at that same moment, I appear behind them. As they lose sight of me, I knock one down with my sword. The other turns his head, but I deck him in the solar plex.

I suppressed all of the fake dragon tribesmen in a flash. My satisfaction doesn’t last for long, though. I’m overcome by dizziness sit down on the spot.

Ludriad-san, after confirming that the battle has finished, claps as he makes his way over to me.

“No way, you’ve really shown me something interesting. I didn’t think you this much of an expert. My eyes couldn’t see you at all.”

He approaches me with a smile. Then, he looks around at the fallen fake dragon tribesmen around me.

“I’m curious about what kind of technique you are using. If possible, I’d really like for you to teach me.”

Even though Ludriad-san seems to be very interested, that’s impossible. I cannot teach him the technique I used, it is an application of my dragon spirit. I created it after that experience against the demon swordsman in the ruins and through the advice of Mistral and Old Sleigstar.

At that time, even though I had almost no dragon spirit, I was able to draw an abundant of energy from the dragon vein. Doing that, however, repeatedly depleted and replenished my dragon spirit. It led to my weakening and needing to stay in bed for a long time.

So, what would happen if I forced my enemies to have dragon spirit? The results can be seen by the fake dragon tribesmen.

I condensed the polished dragon spirit and refined it into the form of a chicken. If you’re asking me why chicken, the reason is to make my opponents let down their guards. I could refine it into the forms of an arrow or spear, but my opponents might try to avoid it then. Furthermore, the range of this technique is quite narrow too. While it can’t be helped with the lack of my ability, I want to avoid leaking out that information. As such, I refined my dragon spirit into something weird.

Once the chicken gets inside the middle of a group, it vanishes. It returns to its original form as dragon spirit and spreads around the area. In regards to the fake dragon tribesmen, they were forced into a situation where they used up dragon spirit and therefore had to replenish that loss.

I had a hard time developing that part, but it worked out well.

Some of the fake dragon tribesmen were able to avoid collapsing. That is because they had magical power, something allowing them to resist the weakening. It’s a possibility I already considered. Jumping into their blind spots and strike them down.

There was no way for Ludriad-san to catch my movements. I was teleporting, after all.

---

E/N: This is really long. I’m splitting it into two parts. The second will be released later this week.

<36. Be Careful of the Drunkard
37.2 The Arrest in Wheat Field>