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

Space Jump. Why I can use it even though I am not of the Long-Eared Tribe is beyond me as well. I was just curious about it and jumped around a bit while playing with Priscilla-chan. At first I got very dizzy and nauseous, but then I got used to it. It was around then I somehow became able to use it.

The moment I thought about jumping, I was Space Jumping. Even Old Sleigstar and Mistral were surprised. They didn’t know why I could use it either. Still, being able to use Space Jump now gives me confidence in my ability to running away. It’s why I was certain I could escape when I was surrounded by the patrolling soldiers.

But there is a disadvantage.

My sure kill strike, my personal compulsion weakening technique uses a large amount of dragon spirit. At any rate, it’s powerful enough to weaken my opponents and bring them down in a one go. Also, for some reason, Space Jump consumes a large amount of dragon spirit. While Priscilla-chan and the Long-Eared Tribe use their spirit power to jump, I use my dragon spirit. I wonder why?

Either way, with all that, I won’t be able to use either of those two techniques very much for now. My pitiful dragon spirit still has a long way to go. I will collapse if I push myself too much.

As can be seen from my fight just now, I’m scraping against my limit.

This is why I can’t explain the details of my technique to Ludriad-san. And even if I could, I wouldn’t anyway. My special move is strong because it is a secret! 

Ludriad-san takes note of my bashful evasive attitude and doesn’t pursue the issue.

“Well then, what matters is that you are safe.”
“Hmph, I don’t want to be told something like that by someone completely unwilling to lend me any help.”
“Hahaha, if the situation became dangerous, of course I would have helped.”
“I wonder if that’s true…”
“Of course it is. If I didn’t, a terrifying woman would have struck me in the back with a blunt weapon.”

As Ludriad-san says so, he turns his head towards the small path going through the wheat field.

“Ah…”

Standing a little bit behind Ludriad-san is Mistral. In one of her hands is a jet-black cane. She isn’t alone either. With her are Ruiseine who is wielding her long sword and Priscilla-chan. 

“Huh, since when did you guys get into here?”

I don’t notice at all.

Mistral responds to my smile with a complicated expression. Ruiseine is shocked. Priscilla-chan, why are you looking at me with sparkles in your eyes like that?

“Good grief, don’t make us worry about you so much.”

Mistral puts away her black cane as she approaches me.

“Oh, how surprising. As I thought, Ernea-kun is amazing.”

Ruiseine holds Priscilla-chan’s hand with her free hand as she approaches me.

“Ahaha, did you happen to see that?”
“Yes, we’re watching from the beginning until the end.”
“We even saw that heartless man callously forsake Ernea.”

Mistral glares at Ludriad-san.

“My, my, what a dreadful woman.”

Ludriad-san narrows his shoulders and gives a timid reaction to Mistral’s glaring.

“Well then, since your guardians have show up, I’ll be getting back to work.”
“Ehhh, they’re not my guardians!”

Did he say that because I look very young? N-no way, right, I’m not like Inea…

“Haha, it’s a joke, a joke.”

Uuugghh, so he’s teasing me! Mistral comes to my side and pats my head upon seeing me frowning.

“As I thought, I can’t get used to that chicken after all. What if you change it into something more powerful?”
“Uum, it’s good enough for now since I want to make my opponents lower their guards. I could rapid fire high powered shots like how Mistral did, but the range would be entirely different.”
“You’ve sure studied hard.”
“Nnnmto, onii-chan is amazing!”
“Now, now, there’s still more to go.”

Priscilla-chan happily jumps at me. Ruiseine watches with a tranquil expression.

That’s when Ludriad-san kicks one of the nearby fallen, fake dragon tribesmen and forces him to wake him up.

How violent…

Ludriad-san grabs the man by his collar as he groans and regaines his consciousness. He climbs onto his horse and questions him.

“Well then, let’s hear your objectives.”

Where does his usual irresponsible attitude go? Ludriad-san suddenly displays a sharp presence as he interrogates the fake dragon tribesman.

As I thought, this person is actually amazing. Now that I think about it, even though they were fakes, he wasn’t disturbed even when facing those scoundrels calling themselves the dragon tribesmen. He didn’t even all that bothered watching my fight. I guess that means both me and those fake dragon tribesmen are still within his acceptable limits.

I have the feeling that even Mistral is wary of Ludriad-san for some reason.

“W-what are you saying?”

That man’s eyes have yet to regain their focus, yet he is still acting dumb.

“Yeah, well… You can keep saying that, but I’ll can just torture you if you keep acting all innocent.”

With those words, Ludriad-san pulls out a dagger from his chest pocket and presses it against his palm.

“I’ll try to stab your hand the next time you try to play dumb. If you say you don’t know again, I’ll twist it. With each lie you say, I’ll take off a finger.”

Just like I thought, he’s going to torture him here. Ruiseine too, as a shrine maiden, promptly responds to the word “torture.” A sharp glare from Ludriad-san, however, makes her flinch. That shows how ghastly Ludriad-san’s presence is right now.

“W-wait!”

The man, witnessing the exchange between a shrine maiden and Ludriad-san, seems to believe he really will be tortured. He yanks back his hands and changes his attitude. Ludriad-san, however, fixes the man’s arms in place before anyone even notices what he’s doing.

“Fumu, so you feel like talking now, eh. In that case, who are you guys, and what are you planning to do?”

Even though Ludriad-san is smiling, his eyes aren’t smiling at all. Yes, he’s very scary right now.

I take a glance of Mistral and Ruiseine. They’re expressions completely contrast each other’s. While Mistral dully stares at the collapsed, fake, dragon tribesmen, Ruiseine gulps down her nervousness as she watches Ludriad-san and that man.

Mistral pretends not to care, but she keeps her ear focused on Ludriad-san. She’s probably keeping watch on the knocked out people. It’s possible that they could wake up.

Besides, Ruiseine will definitely stop Ludriad-san if he really tries to torture him.

As for Priscilla-chan, she’s hugging me while playing with Nymia.

Speaking of Nymia, I completely forgot about her. She has been obediently hanging onto my shoulder this entire time. None of my intense movements shook her off. As expected of the dragon tribe.

“W-we were hired. We were told to call ourselves dragon tribesmen and go one a rampage.”
“Heeeh, by who?”

The man smiles. Ludriad-san draws that face closer to his firm one.

“Heh, hehehe. If you guys hear who our client is, I wonder if you can still keep living.”
“Out with it already!”

The man falters for a moment after seeing that his words didn’t affect Ludriad-san at all. He says, “Heh. Our client is the hero, Ristia-sama!!”

---

T/N: This translator may or may not fallen in love with Ludriad-san… ?

<37.1 The Arrest in the Wheat Field
38.1 Second Time as an Errand Boy>