Matan’s Shooter

TL: xLordFifth

ED: 

Bottleneck grinned and patted his forearm. “It’ll probably be ready in a week or so. Come and collect it then!”

“Okay, do your best!” Leeha responded.

Chuckling heartily, Bottleneck exclaimed, “Of course! After witnessing the birth of a dragon, I feel invigorated. I want to put that energy into creating a masterpiece. I can’t wait for you to see it!”

Leeha pondered about Blaugrun’s abilities, wondering if the dragon’s presence could inspire the driving force of life, as described in the achievement. “It gives a little impetus,” he thought.

Leeha’s next destination was the royal palace, and he attempted to teleport to Fibiel’s capital. However, his head began to ache.

“Hey, Blaugrun-ssi. Let’s teleport?” Leeha asked the dragon.

[Kyuu! Kyuuu!] Blaugrun responded.

“No need to be shy. You can teleport, right?” Leeha reassured the dragon.

Leeha knew that Blaugrun was not merely a pet, but a partner. This was evident by observing the relationship between Alexander and Bailephus. And as for soulmates like Kuma, they couldn’t be moved using teleportation.

“Hmm, I have to move and summon- hmm?” Leeha muttered as he realized that Blaugrun had flapped its tiny wings and landed on his shoulder.

[Kyuu!]

“……You actually understand everything I say, right? Are you afraid I’ll ask you something, or are you doing this out of embarrassment? You pretended to be cool when you first met me, but now that you’re reborn as a hatchling, you’re shy and pretending to not know, right?” Leeha teased the bronze dragon, who tilted its head at a 15-degree angle.

Despite Leeha’s lighthearted tone, the hatchling continued to behave as if it didn’t understand. But the exchange still brought a smile to Leeha’s face.

“Haha, alright, alright. Let’s go then.” Leeha activated the crystal ball, ready to teleport to their next destination.

After 10 seconds, the turquoise-colored hatchling that sat on Leeha’s shoulder moved with him to Aelstock.

After checking the hatchling on his shoulder, Leeha tilted his head.

‘Does it move together when it’s close to me? It isn’t even a mass teleport… Or is it because of a dragon’s mana sensitivity? I need to be able to communicate 

to ask!’

The face of the bronze dragon, which looked like it was smiling, was naturally cute.

Leeha suddenly remembered Blaugrun’s handsome face when he was in human form, and he was even a little pleased.

“There will come a day when I will see it again. I’m going to the palace now, so please stay still and don’t stand out too much, Blaugrun-ssi.”

[Kyuu!]

“Ah, now that I think of it, I can select three items from Blaugrun-ssi’s lair. And since you’ve been reborn, can you allow me to take a few more? After all, we are now ‘partners’ forever, and even a big shot like you-“

Leeha was glad to have a good companion to accompany her during the tedious journeys she usually found herself on. While conversing with Blaugrun, she made her way into the royal palace.

“Leeha-ssi!”

“Ah, Nara-ssi.”

Upon Leeha’s entrance into the palace, Shin Nara warmly greeted him. Leeha couldn’t help but wonder if Nara had also logged in as soon as she arrived home, given that there seemed to be no significant time difference between their logins.

“Did you get home safely?”

“Of course. I logged in right away. I had a feeling you might be here, so I didn’t bother to wash my face before logging in. Hehe.” Nara replied, smiling at Leeha’s words. Her cheerful mood was infectious and lifted Leeha’s spirits.

“We were supposed to meet next week, but we met again so soon.”

“So, you don’t like it?”

“I do.”

Leeha shrugged his shoulders in response to Nara’s pouty expression, as he had expected her to react that way. As they walked towards the central palace in the royal palace garden, Nara suddenly noticed a peculiar creature. “By the way, what’s that? What kind of doll is on your shoulder?” she asked curiously.

“Ah, this…”

[Kyuuu?]

As Nara approached to get a closer look, Blaugrun peeked out from behind Leeha’s head and made eye contact with her. The creature was smaller than a puppy and had soft scales that did not resemble dragon scales yet. Nara’s expression softened immediately as she saw the cute face of the creature, which was unexpected for a reptile. “Whoaaaah?! Leeha-ssi! What is this? Where did you get it? Is it a summon?” she asked, brimming with excitement.

Leeha hesitated for a moment before replying, “Well, it’s a bit complex…”

“Come here, come here~ chuchuchu”

[Kyu, Kyuuuu.]

As Shin Nara excitedly spread her arms, Blaugrun took off from Leeha’s shoulder with a flap of its wings. It flew at a slow speed, just as Leeha had expected, but Nara watched in anticipation as the dragon waddled through the air.

“Whoa, it’s flying! Hooooow! It’s so cute! Amaziiiiing!” Nara exclaimed in delight.

Blaugrun gently landed on Nara’s hand and nuzzled its nose against her wrist, showcasing the unique charm of a dragon that had never been experienced by anyone in Middle Earth before. Leeha couldn’t help but be surprised by the sight of the turquoise-scaled bronze dragon.

‘Blaugrun-ssi…you’re male as well,’ Leeha remarked, recalling that when Blaugrun had taken on human form, he was male. Since he had been reborn using his mana, there was no possibility of changing genders. Leeha looked at Blaugrun, who had surrendered himself to Nara’s caressing hands, with a hint of pity. However, he was not jealous. Blaugrun was too adorable for him to feel any such emotions.

“Where did you get it? Why does it look like a dragon? Who summoned it?” Nara continued to ask questions while petting Blaugrun. Leeha felt overwhelmed and didn’t know where to begin explaining.

“Hmm, it’s mine for now, and… it really is a dragon. It wasn’t what I originally wanted-”

As Leeha was about to talk, a high-pitched voice came from the entrance of the central palace! It resonated.

“Ha Leeha!”

“Oh, is that Ram Hwayeon?” Leeha asked, recognizing the voice.

“I need to explain a lot of things, so we’ll need a lot of time…what are you doing?” Ram Hwayeon asked, appearing at the entrance of the central palace.

Step, step, step.

Hwayeon quickly approached with a brisk gait and her eyes fell upon Nara, who was engaged in conversation with Leeha. Nara stepped away slightly when she saw Hwayeon approaching, with Blaugrun still perched on her hand.

[Hyu, kyuuuu…….]

With his dragon’s instinct sensing that the eyes of the two women collided, Blaugrun flew back and sat down on Leeha’s shoulder.

“Hello, Ram Hwayeon-ssi?” Nara greeted Hwayeon.

“Ah, hello. Thank you for your hard work. I’ve been wondering, aren’t you more concerned with defending the palace than defending the capital these days? With the royal guards in place, I’m questioning whether there is still a need for the Sacred Knights,” Hwayeon expressed her concerns.

Meaning, if you’re the defender of the capital, why are you in the royal palace?

“Of course. There are a lot of unreliable outsiders coming in and out claiming it’s for the peace treaty, so I have to be vigilant. We can’t just trust the NPCs, can we?” replied Nara.

Meaning, t’s because of ‘unreliable people’ like you.

Bzzzzt-!

Contrary to the gentle tone of the two women, their eyes were making sparks. If there was a strong wind, the red and black hair of the two women would have soared into the sky. Even Leeha, who was next to them, couldn’t say anything about the women’s fighting spirit.

“Then, Shin Nara-ssi, please look after me while patrolling around the palace. We’re a little busy with the peace treaty. Let’s go, Ha Leeha,” said Ram Hwayeon, gesturing for Leeha to follow her.

“Oh my goodness, didn’t I just tell you? I am guarding the palace because of the peace treaty. I go around to protect the people inside the palace, so I will escort you.”

“Huhut, no, there’s no need. The central palace side is fine, so it would be better if you just go to the eastern palace or western palace.”

Bzzzt, bzzzt—!

‘Euk, it looks like Blaugrun’s lightning magic.’

The paralyzing effect of the pressuring atmosphere created by the two women was akin to magic, rendering Leeha unable to move.

“What are you doing, let’s go quickly.”

Tok-!

Ram Hwayeon broke the stare-down with Shin Nara and grabbed Leeha’s wrist with force, causing him to feel flustered. However, as they were about to leave, a strange feeling nagged at Leeha, as if something was amiss.

“Leeha-ssi?”

“Leeha-ssi?” Shin Nara asked with a smile, but it wasn’t a friendly smile.

“Come quickly! Aren’t you doing a quest? All the nobles are gathered in the conference hall, you just need to enter and your quest will be completed.” Ram Hwayeon pulled Leeha’s arm roughly. He can resist, but what should he do in this situation?

“Oh, excuse me- that- I came here today because of the peace treaty. W-wait, Ram Hwayeon! Nara-ssi-”

“Okay, understood. Well then.”

Watching Leeha being dragged along, Shin Nara lightly bowed her head! And turned her back. The sacred knight’s cape fluttered on her back.

“Ah…”

What could Leeha do with her cold expression? Leeha was having a headache, but he couldn’t think about it right now. 

“First of all, I will tell you the information we got from Minis. Listen carefully!” It was because Ram Hwayeon’s mouth did not rest even when they were walking quickly.

“Users?”

“Yes. Okay, according to our intelligence. We were wondering why 

Minis is being lowkey, so we looked into it, and heard that there were users who were together with the chimera. Besides, that user- Phew, what’s going on in Middle Earth? Don’t be surprised. The user that is with the chimeras-”

“..Is it Faust?”

“What? How did you know?”

“I heard it from somewhere.”

“Ts, then you should have told me!”

“No, no, I heard something different. I didn’t know that he was going with the chimera.”

All that Leeha knew Faust followed Bluebeard while Bluebeard was with Kuzgunak’sh. After Kuzgunak’sh death, he hadn’t seen much of Bluebeard or Faust.

“Hmph, but you didn’t know that Faust isn’t the only one, do you?”

“What?”

“Right before the recent uproar started, three more people left the guild Faust belonged to. Of course, Faust left the guild first.”

“Hmmm……. them what could be-”

“On the same day, didn’t renowned outsiders from Minis also leave? Besides, their occupations were warlock, sorcerer, and black mage respectively.  On the same day, three outsider-level users at the same time, their occupational group is also similar to the dark magic system……. Doesn’t it seem suspicious?”

Ram Hwayeon’s intuition was definitely great. A quest related to Bluebeard hadn’t even appeared for her yet. She was collecting and categorizing information on her own, on the contrary Leeha had gathered information by completing the Three Musketeers and dragon-related quests.

“You can’t contact all three of them?”

“We couldn’t. The whispers were blocked. It was the same with Faust. Faust is going around with chimeras, and there were unknown users beside him……. It fits perfectly. And how great it was to be for newcomers. It was as if someone was only telling us which cities were good to attack.”

Ram Hwayeon trembled. Even though she wasn’t particularly attacked by the chimera, Faust, the unknown users, and the chimera’s attack on Minis gave Leehan an idea.

‘Well, it is worth it.’

The reason was simple. Ram Hwayeon had a personal debt against Faust during the national war. It was because Faust cut off all the supply routes passing through the marching plain and reduced her contribution.

.(To be continued…)

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