A certain event happened in the afternoon of the second day on our flight aboard the airship.

“A strategy meeting?” [Fahren]

“We’ll be arriving at our destination the next day so there should be things to discuss about before that.” [Tanaka]

“...That’s true.” [Fahren]

This exchange took place an hour before in my room with the noble mage.

And so, we summoned everyone and had all party members gather to exchange ideas. Everyone, including Sophia-chan whose role was non-combative, assembled together in an area resembling a huge living room.

Resting on the sofa, we all faced each other with a drink in our hand.

In hindsight, wasn’t that the first opportunity we had to gather everyone in one place, including the noble mage? Considering his so-called high ranking position, he must have ended up being isolated most of the time. I have a sneaking suspicion that he creates these situations occasionally.

The blonde haired loli?

Displaying her tsundere characteristics, she had magnificently blended into the group.

She’s actually a good person but she plainly hates this ugly middle-aged ossan. Well, that’s natural for most people. If I were a woman, I don’t think I would ever come to like an ugly middle-aged old man like myself either. That’s a given.

“Anyway let us begin our session in devising a countermeasure to defeat the dragon.”

Without further delay, the one leading the session was the ugly middle-aged old man.

Yeah it was me.

I’m sorry.

Congregating around a short table, we began our discussion after everyone was seated. There were two three-seater sofas and one box-shaped one-seater sofa. The three members of team group sex were seated on one while the other one was occupied by me, the noble mage and Mercedes-chan. Sophia-chan seated herself in the remaining sofa.

“First of all, we will be deciding on the formation to take on that day.” [Tanaka]

I cut to the chase at once.

I shared the scene that I had envisioned beforehand.

Despite my interpretation, I was actually giving a trivial explanation, like having no intel on the last boss of an internet game.

“Allen-san and Mercedes-san will be the vanguard while me and Fahren-san will be the rear guard. Ester-san and Sophie-san will be supporting from the side.” [Tanaka]

Actually, that was all.

“As for the responsibilities of the rear guard, I will be in charge of healing and also aiding the people around. Fahren-san, Ester-san and Sophie-san, please help in the terms of firepower.” [Tanaka]

I’m not really sure about the two loli bitches but, this role should be well-suited for the noble mage.

We’ll have to do our best in various ways this time.

“For the two vanguards, please do your utmost to draw the attention of the dragon but it’s not necessary to be on the offensive. Prioritize your safety first.” [Tanaka]

“W-Wait a minute!” [Mercedes]

Mercedes raised her hand.

In spite of her drained complexion, she opened her pale-blue lips, voicing out.

“Regardless of the circumstances, such an important role of leading as a vanguard against a Red Dragon is just too..” [Mercedes]

She looked like she couldn’t spit out what she wanted to say in the presence of the noble mage.

Especially since the noble mage was just sitting right beside her.

In any event I guess an unpleasant task was still an unpleasant task to her. Thank you very much for voicing out your desperate opinion without reservation.

Is the Dragon that dangerous?

“If you lose just an arm or a leg, I’ll be able to restore them immediately so please rest assured.” [Tanaka]

There were proven results.

“But!” [Mercedes]

Mercedes-chan still persisted in it.

Glancing at Allen from the corner of my eye, I saw him glancing down at his feet spiritless. Because he had the all-important task of protecting the blonde-haired loli, there was no room for him to object. However, the look of reluctance on his face portrayed his desire to not participate if possible.

I can’t give up, I thought. If this dragon extermination quest falls apart, my house would be mortgaged due to debt and someone from somewhere would take it away from me. That must be prevented at all cost. In order to avoid that, I have to kill one or two dragons by any means.

“Mercedes-san, I understand your reservations.” [Tanaka]

“Then!” [Mercedes]

*glance*glance* The lady knight threw occasional glances at the noble mage, intimidated by his gaze.

“Nevertheless, this is a serious national issue. Her Royal Princess, the King’s beloved daughter, is currently on the brink of death. There have been many great rulers who ended up abusing their power and taking the wrong path after losing their love ones. Looking back through history, you can see this is true, can’t you?” [Tanaka]

For the sake of convincing her, I mixed in facts with non-existent details noncommittally.

“Of course, I can’t say that it’s inevitable. However, you can’t refute the possibility either. Therefore, as citizens staying in his country, it might not be an exaggeration to say that this mission is a crusade that will determine the fate of the entire country.” [Tanaka]

“A-Aren’t you disrespecting the King with that speech!?” [Mercedes]

The desperate look on Mercedes as she protested was cute.

“If that is the case then I’ll pay the price by curing the illness of Her Royal Highness Princess.” [Tanaka]

I stared at her with a straight face.

“Even if you are one of the knights, you report me directly and blab anything you want, that’s fine with me.” [Tanaka]

“!....” [Mercedes]

The other party couldn’t even utter out a single sound.

It was decided for real then. That was cool of me.

Though only on the exterior.

“I do think that it will be very troublesome. But, I would like everyone to lend me your power. This mission will be impossible by myself. The keystone in succeeding the dragon extermination expedition this time is the trust from everyone here. All for one and one for all, not leaving anyone out. If it’s not for this Dragon Slayer team, it will not be possible to accomplish this mission.” [Tanaka]

The little girl in the town has said it before.

I believe in the little girl.

Since I am a lolicon.

But I do like huge breasts too.

“....Yesterday, didn’t you feel anything even after receiving that violent torrent of magic?” [Fahren]

He directed his gaze at Mercedes-chan who was sitting next to him.

Owing to that, she trembled violently. She was freaked out.

“I-I’m sorry. The torrent you meant..” [Mercedes]

“Don’t you think you should consider what happened? Didn’t this person display magnificent proof yesterday? Even after witnessing that, you still can’t comprehend? This is why those who can’t understand magic are worthless.” [Fahren]

He directed his glance here the moment he said ‘this person’.

Apparently he was talking about me.

“Mm.....M-My humble apologies!!” [Mercedes]

Mercedes-chan got up from the sofa frantically and prostrated.

*kosu kosu* Her forehead was rubbing against the carpet profusely as she stretched out and bowed.

Had she kept it up, the surface of her forehead would have grown.

Just how scary is the nobility?

Although, what the noble mage said sounded ambiguous. Was the ‘magnificent proof’ referring to that bullshit reasoning? I didn’t get what he meant either but it was better to let it slide. I should just go with the flow.

“Now, now Fahren-san. Let’s just get along. There will be other opportunities later.” [Tanaka]

“....Fuun, fine then. I will overlook it this time to save this person’s face.” [Fahren]

“T-Thank you very much!” [Mercedes]

As though she has just narrowly escaped death, tears could be seen welled up in her eyes as she couldn’t contain her composure.

I wondered if I would be feared like this too once I became a noble. I started considering it, maybe being a noble wasn’t too bad. Having a voluptuous beauty prostrate before you is the best. That might be my next goal after I complete the youth-restoration potion someday.

I’ll aim for something like a duke.

“Anyway, it might be a simplification to your roles, but that’s all I have.” [Tanaka]

I continued looking at the people around.

“Does anyone have anything to ask?” [Tanaka]

At my question, the blonde haired loli raised a query.

She seemed to be in pretty good mood, probably because she reconciled with Allen.

Her complexion improved too so she’d most likely gotten over her motion sickness.

“Is there a more concrete strategy?” [Ester]

“...Let’s see.” [Tanaka]

She hit where it hurt most, despite being a non-virgin.

I don’t have anything like that now.

I was just going to wing it. After us, the deluge. 1

That’s because we had someone with the maximum level of recovery magic as well as the noble mage ossan. We also had two vanguards so I thought we should be able to get by somehow. Mercedes-chan ought to be around level 35 so she’s was quite strong too. She was peerless when she was fighting against the military police when we broke out of prison.

“I guess the important thing is our battle position.” [Tanaka]

“Battle position?” [Ester]

Thus I’ll get through it by giving an appropriate reply.

In my school days, that was how I drew out the large-scale boss from the internet game I was addicted to.

“I’m not really sure as well but since the opponent is a dragon, the thing that we need to take note of mostly is its breath. In order to avoid that, we need to have sufficient space among ourselves and make use of the terrain as shields. By taking all these into account in advance, an advantageous positioning will enable us to make a definite pre-emptive strike.” [Tanaka]

Utilizing the topography of an area is one of the strongest tradition used by low level characters when they hunt for high level MOB. 2

Rather, any internet games that don’t provide geographical features as cover are consequently trashy games.

Just who decided that? It was me. I decided that just now.

If possible, we should aim for the wings. Since our main objective is to retrieve its liver and not simply defeat it, we should restrict its movement as much as possible.” [Tanaka]

“Hmm, it seems that you thought this through.” [Fahren]

“If we can land the first successful hit at that time, I would like Fahren-san to take charge of it..” [Tanaka]

I passed the subject to the noble mage indirectly.

The probability of anyone defying this person should be zero.

“I don’t mind it. I was planning to do so from the beginning.” [Fahren]

“Thank you very much. Then, we can probably press on with that.” [Tanaka]

Okay. It’s perfect.

I was able to deceive them well.

“Richard’s daughter, it’ll be good if you remember the current conversation well.” [Fahren]

“What do you mean by that, Lord Fahren?” [Ester]

“What this person said is truly valuable for one who wishes to challenge a dragon. In future, if you were to decide on practising magic, this trip will prove to be an invaluable experience for you.” [Fahren]

“.....Yes. Thank you for the advice.” [Ester]

The blonde haired loli nodded meekly.

Come to think of it, this person is a student from ossan’s school.

Her lack of tsundere-like mannerisms was proof of her respect for him.

But well, he was flattering me a lot.

I’m really sorry. I was actually just spouting out random details without a real plan. I wanted to come clean, but the scam strengthened the party’s bond. I wasn’t about to break it. This noble mage is seriously easy. He’s probably been too convenient.

“I hope you can learn as much as you can.” [Fahren]

“Yes, I understand.” [Ester]

However, the dissimilarity in the treatment between her and Mercedes-chan is as different as night and day. Mercedes had been prostrating in front of him, and now he was providing career guidance to the blonde haired loli in a warm-hearted manner.

“Then, does anyone else have anything to ask...” [Tanaka]

I directed my question to the group again.

This time, Sophia-chan was the one who raised her hand timidly.

“What do you need to know?” [Tanaka]

“Erm....w-will I be participating too?” [Sophia]

A reasonable question.

“If you are referring to the upcoming battle, then no. I would like you to carry on with your current duties as our cook. I’ll be counting on you to stay here and take care of things in the airship once we reach our destination. This is also an important job.” [Tanaka]

“Ah y-yes! I understand!” [Sophia]

Sophia-chan nodded with an extremely joyful expression on her face. Sophia-chan with happy smile get!

So she can smile at someone like me too.

A trivial sense of accomplishment came over me.

“By the way, I actually have a question for Fahren-san in that respect....” [Tanaka]

“What’s wrong?” [Fahren]

“Where is this airship scheduled to land?” [Tanaka]

“We are planning to land at the town located at the foot of Mount Pepe.” [Fahren]

“I see. That means we’ll be proceeding either by foot or carriage from there.” [Tanaka]

“Umu.” [Fahren]

As expected, we wouldn’t be landing in a dragon-infested area directly.

Well, that’s true. If the battle reaches the airship, it would be troublesome if we were to end up damaging it.

“The Red Dragon is living in the vicinity of the river mouth located at Mount Pepe. Its existence is currently considered to be at the top of the ecosystem in the neighbourhood. Moreover, just a few levels below the Red Dragon, demons such as flare wyverns and salamanders are also inhibiting the areas.” [Fahren]

“I see.” [Tanaka]

The terminologies used in fantasy were gushing out, barraging me endlessly.

It was like reading a walkthrough from a game book out loud with a straight face in a company meeting.

It was unbearable.

“Therefore, we should probably consider the contacting the locals in the surrounding area..” [Fahren]

That was when it happened, cutting off the noble mage mid-sentence.

*Zzuzuunn* Just when I thought it was just a low sound reverberating through the room, the whole living room suddenly started wobbling furiously, shaking in all directions.

The shaking was really intense, probably at the scale of magnitude 7 or 8.

“Uuuoooo-!?” [Tanaka]

I let out a scream unintentionally.

Similarly, the other people also raised their voices out of surprise.

Something definitely went seriously wrong.

In the midst of the intense tremor, all the members scrambled to the deck.

Rinkage’s Footnotes

1. “After us, the deluge” is a French expression, attributed to Marquise de Pompadour, the lover of King Louis XV of France. The alternative form is “Après moi le déluge”.

Definition: “After my reign, let chaos and destruction come”.

(someone who acts irresponsibly, without worrying about the consequences of his actions)

The original raw in Japanese is “後は野となれ山となれだ”.

2. MOB = generic term for any non-player entity whose primary purpose is to be killed for experience, quest objective, or loot.