Chapter 582 – 582 – Dragon Subjugation!
“L-Lelia, Ms. Lelia? The promised time, you say…”
“Darling promised! If there’s no one else to accept me, you said you would! Heh, heh, hehehehe! Either way, I’m going to die soon, so it’s the same as having no one to accept me! So, it’s a wedding! Wedding, wedding, wedding, wedding!!!! Darling! Let’s get married!”
Ms. Lelia grabbed my shoulders with both hands, shaking me back and forth while shouting desperately.
“Before I die, I want to get married and then die!”
Ah, she’s completely beyond reasoning right now.
Last time, I managed to calm her down by playing along, but the situation of fighting a dragon had completely sent Ms. Lelia into a frenzy.
“Amazing…”
“That’s… Sol’s strongest force.”
Mr. Raipha and Ms. Gracia were in awe of Ms. Lelia’s state, but for different reasons.
“Ms. Lelia, please calm down…”
“No, no, no! Don’t call me Lelia, call me Honey! Call me Honey like you did last time! Waaaaah!!!”
“Honey?”
“Did you call Ms. Lelia that last time, Rant?”
“Well… it was obviously just to humor her drunken ramblings.”
As expected, the genius Ms. Tikia immediately understood the situation.
First, let’s wake Ms. Lelia from this drunken stupor.
I grabbed Ms. Lelia’s shoulders with my hands to prevent her from resisting, then spoke to her two subordinates who were looking at her pitifully from behind.
“Please.”
““Cure.””
The two immediately used Cure on Ms. Lelia.
“Ehehe! What, are we going to hug here? Darling, you’re so impatient…”
The red flush on Ms. Lelia’s face gradually faded as she was healed, returning to its pale white color.
Then, Ms. Lelia took her hands off my shoulders, took two steps back, and then…
“I’M SO SORRYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!”
She performed the bowing and begging she had shown me before.
“…Ah, I just want to die here.”
I heard Ms. Lelia’s small, regretful mutter.
◈
“I’m really… really sorry, Mr. Rant. I’ve shown such a disgraceful side of myself so many times…”
“Ahaha, it’s okay, Ms. Lelia.”
I’m used to it now, after seeing it so many times.
“I’ve shown such an embarrassing sight to the others as well…”
This time, Ms. Lelia bowed her head not to me, but to my lovers.
“Hahaha, it’s okay, it’s okay.”
“Please don’t worry about us.”
“That’s right, Lelia, sis. We’re family~.”
“People can change drastically when they drink.”
Everyone spoke to Ms. Lelia with understanding.
However, Ms. Gracia and Mr. Raipha were deep in thought about something.
“Excuse me… Mr. Rant, who are these two?”
“It’s Ms. Lelia’s first time meeting them. These two are my lovers, Mr. Raipha and Ms. Gracia.”
When I called their names, Mr. Raipha and Ms. Gracia spoke to Ms. Lelia.
“Ah, I’m Raipha Tizan, nice to meet you.”
“I’m Gracia Locke.”
“M-Mr. Rant’s lovers… D-Did you perhaps get new lovers after breaking up with me?”
“Yes. To be precise, we became lovers before we met in the Magic City.”
“I-I-I see…”
Ms. Lelia seemed to be losing her spirit.
“…The Captain is down.”
“Even if it was a promise made while drunk, she must have had some expectations. Oh, what should we do with our Captain?”
There were many things I wanted to say to Ms. Lelia, but let’s proceed with the request first.
“Ms. Lelia, I came here in response to High Priest Maren’s request for help. I just met with High Priest Maren.”
“O-Oh, I see. High Priest Maren… Yes, yes! Of course, I knew! High Priest Maren is a thoughtful person! He wouldn’t just tell me to subjugate a dragon alone! Hahaha! With Mr. Rant by my side, I feel more secure than ever.”
Let’s just ignore the fact that she called High Priest Maren a fool and an exhibitionist just now.
“Then, let’s head to Misley right away…”
“Wait a minute, honey.”
Just as Ms. Lelia was about to leave without looking too embarrassed.
Mr. Raipha spoke.
“Lelia, was it? The 13th Knight Commander of Sol.”
“Yes, I am the 13th Knight Commander.”
“I heard it from my honey. He said that, aside from our Yaseo King, you were the strongest opponent he had faced. Hearing that, honestly… as a martial artist, I’m extremely curious. I want to know how strong you are, since my honey acknowledged you. Right, Gracia?”
“Yes, honestly, I’m really curious too, Ms. Lelia. With my honey’s power, we can reach Misley quickly. So… would you mind sparring with me and Raipha for a while?”
“Sparring… Yes, of course! Let’s do it! It’ll be good to warm up before facing a dragon!”
Ms. Lelia accepted Mr. Raipha and Ms. Gracia’s request very enthusiastically, perhaps to shake off any lingering traces of her earlier behavior.
“Ah… then we’ll be going now. Actually, we’re still on duty.”
“Please take care of the Captain, Mr. Rant.”
Her subordinates left the Adventurer’s Guild, entrusting Ms. Lelia to me.
Seeing how they indulged Ms. Lelia’s drunken antics even while on duty, they must be very good people.
And so, we moved to the Adventurer’s Guild training grounds with Ms. Lelia.
For the record, I ignored the gazes of the adventurers who were still looking at Ms. Lelia with pity.
“Then, please come at me anytime.”
In the center of the training grounds.
Ms. Lelia, Ms. Gracia, and Mr. Raipha were facing each other.
Mr. Raipha said that since she was someone I acknowledged, he would attack her at the same time as Ms. Gracia, and Ms. Lelia had readily accepted the offer.
So, it was a 2-on-1 situation.
“Then, I’ll go all out from the start!”
“The strongest power of Sol! I will witness it!”
““Mana Release!””
Mr. Raipha and Ms. Gracia released their mana to the maximum from the start, activating their Mana Release.
Flames swirled around Mr. Raipha’s gauntlets, and Ms. Gracia’s sword was engulfed in swirling winds, with the guards separating on both sides and moving to her thighs, emitting gusts of wind.
I’ve seen both of them like this many times in dungeons recently.
““Haaaaaaah!””
Mr. Raipha quickly created a platform by deploying bounce shields around him, then kicked off the ground and advanced, while Ms. Gracia paused for a moment, gathered her mana, and then charged forward in one go.
“Crimson Lotus Fist!”
“Wind Boost!”
Mr. Raipha stepped on the bounce shields he had scattered in the air, confusing Ms. Lelia’s vision, and then unleashed a Crimson Lotus Fist from her right rear.
Just as Ms. Lelia’s body slightly turned towards Mr. Raipha, she released even more mana, increasing her speed.
To anyone else, it would look like Ms. Lelia was about to be hit from two directions.
But having already seen her spar with Noah and Ms. Ninya at the same time, I knew.
Clang!
I expected that Ms. Lelia would be able to block it easily, just like now.
Just before the two attacks reached her, Ms. Lelia took out a sword and shield from her inventory, quickly grabbing them and blocking Mr. Raipha’s fist with the shield and Ms. Gracia’s sword with her one-handed sword.
“You’re both fast.”
“It’s not like you can say that while blocking so easily!”
“To block Wind Boost so casually, you’re amazing!”
Mr. Raipha quickly created some distance, then kicked off the bounce shields from various directions, launching a series of attacks, while Ms. Gracia focused on one direction where Mr. Raipha wasn’t attacking, swinging her sword.
However, Ms. Lelia calmly deflected Mr. Raipha’s meteor shower of punches with her shield, using minimal movements, and parried Ms. Gracia’s storm-like sword attacks.
Mr. Raipha and Ms. Gracia had opportunities to level up while hunting in dungeons.
In other words, the two of them were even stronger now than when they sparred with me.
But even so, they were no match for Ms. Lelia.
Of course, it wasn’t like Ms. Lelia was completely overwhelming them.
At least, in my eyes, I could see that Ms. Lelia was reinforcing her body with mana to block their attacks.
“At this rate, I’ll be at a disadvantage.”
“What do you mean, disadvantage!”
“You seem pretty relaxed.”
“No, actually, I’m putting in quite a bit of effort. So, I’ll try a little harder. …Protection!”
Ms. Lelia slammed her shield down, and a circular mana sphere formed around her, starting from that point.
“Hup!”
Then, as Ms. Lelia poured mana into it, the mana sphere grew larger and pushed the two of them away.
“Whoa!”
“Ugh!”
Clang! Clang! Clang!
As the two were pushed back, the bounce shields that Mr. Raipha had created shattered as they collided with the Protection that Ms. Lelia had created.
As the two who had been pushed back regained their footing, Ms. Lelia deactivated the Protection she had deployed and put her sword and shield back into her inventory.
Instead, she took out what looked like gauntlets and equipped them, then took a stance and said.
“Now, come.”
“Not even my honey, but a Tizan challenging me to a martial arts match… you’re subtly stirring up my competitive spirit!”
“Raipha, don’t get too excited.”
“I know!”
Mr. Raipha and Ms. Gracia charged in at the same time.
This time, without deploying bounce shields, Mr. Raipha closed in on Ms. Lelia, launching a series of punches and kicks in a continuous barrage.
““Haaaaaaah!””
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
Mr. Raipha and Ms. Gracia’s attacks rained down like a storm, but Ms. Lelia smoothly deflected them like flowing water, or sometimes intentionally deflected the weaker blows with a light tap.
Of course, this was how it looked to my eyes, but to anyone else, it would seem like Ms. Lelia was also moving very fiercely, fighting against the two of them.
But the two who were facing her directly would probably feel the same way as I did.
The three of them continued their battle for more than three minutes.
“We need to leave for Misley, so let’s finish this soon.”
Boom!
As Ms. Lelia said that, she kicked off the ground and rose vertically.
“What!?”
“Into the sky?”
Ms. Lelia, who had jumped into the air, quickly put her gauntlets into her inventory, and then the large bow that she had been aiming at the camera when I first saw her in Miss Solario.
That bow was now in Ms. Lelia’s hands.
Ms. Lelia didn’t take out a quiver.
But as if that didn’t matter, Ms. Lelia drew the bowstring.
Whoooooooom!
At that moment, mana gathered in Ms. Lelia’s hand, and a single arrow was created, starting from her hand.
The entire process took less than a second, and it was only after the action was complete that Mr. Raipha and Ms. Gracia recognized the arrow.
“Gracia!”
“Ugh!”
Whoooooooom!
As Mr. Raipha called out Ms. Gracia’s name, Ms. Gracia immediately unleashed a whirlwind upwards.
“Haaaaah!”
Whoosh!
And Mr. Raipha punched towards the whirlwind, firing flames, and the whirlwind of flames swirled towards Ms. Lelia.
But faster than the whirlwind of flames could reach Ms. Lelia.
“Prison Arrow.”
Ms. Lelia released the bowstring.
Phew!
The fired arrow easily pierced through the whirlwind of flames and split into two.
The two split mana arrows fell precisely above the two of them.
Mr. Raipha and Ms. Gracia tried to move to avoid the arrows.
However, the mana arrows changed shape, splitting into multiple arrows and simultaneously embedding themselves into the ground, creating a prison made of mana.
As the name suggested, it was a prison of arrows.
Thud!
Ms. Lelia landed lightly on the ground and spoke to the two who were trapped in the mana prison.
“Is this enough to confirm my skills?”
She looked reliable and sharp, like a true paladin.
『She’s completely different from when she was drunk.』
Mr. Bain, please don’t point that out.