Deadline Is Raining in the Status Window - Chapter 83

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Wow, this is the first time I’ve seen Eugene on the battlefield, and he looks incredible. The weapon he’s holding is even larger than a claymore, yet he wields it in a single hand. It’s too massive to call a sword—too thick, too heavy, too crude—more like a block of iron, really.
“Come on, come on! Everyone charge! Full assault!”
The Border Earl’s surprise attack stripped the Eastern Dragon of its earlier dignity, and it cried out in disarray. As both sides advanced, Sera’s voice split the battlefield.
“I announce to all forces and all Dragon Tribe Members!”
Sensing something grand was about to happen, Reina Letem and I struck the drums and strummed the guitar with a flourish, setting the mood.
“Listen to my song!”
There she goes—our Princess Sera. No fear, no shame.
Indifferent to the crossfire and skills erupting across the battlefield, Sera belted out her song. Her vocal tone seemed deeper than before. Surely she didn’t waste points on some singing skill, did she?
Not that I have room to talk, having abandoned foresight for inspiration.
“What in the world are you doing!”
Eugene rushed forward from the stage, voicing the obvious question. If you asked what we were doing, the answer would be: holding a concert on a battlefield. Beyond that, even I’m lost.
“We’re singing!”
“I have ears, so I can hear that! But why are you singing!”
“I don’t know! Evan Laef told me to!”
Ah, the Princess is cruel, dumping it all on me. Eugene Brandenburg, the killer of the battlefield, glared at me before quickly turning his attention forward. A dragon’s breath attack came flying from a distance, aimed directly at the stage. Eugene hastily assumed a defensive stance.
“Haaah!”
A metallic clang rang out from Eugene’s greatsword as something like an empty bullet casing ricocheted away. It seemed to be a weapon similar to my pistol, and the defensive magic contained in the bullet enveloped the area around the stage.
“Two shots remaining! I can’t block any more than that!”
Though he used magic, we suffered no damage thanks to Eugene’s brute strength. Without yielding a single step against the breath, he blocked everything, then swung his greatsword to extinguish the lingering flames and prepared for the second incoming attack.
“Evan Laef! Are you in your right mind!”
“I am!”
“You madman!”
Oh, now that we’re getting closer, you’re dropping the formalities? The usually taciturn friend had vanished, leaving only the nagging Eugene Brandenburg.
He rattled on about how I didn’t value my own life, questioning whether I had any sense at all, while Reina Letem found my scolding amusing and cheered Eugene on for more.
“Reina Letem, you’re just as bad!”
“Why am I getting dragged into this!”
“Damn it!”
The second dragon breath attack came. This time it was an ice dragon—a barrage of frozen explosions poured from the sky, and frost clung thickly across Eugene’s entire body as he blocked it with defensive magic.
“One shot left! Please fall back before it’s too late!”
“I shall not become your slave!”
“This is not the time to sing!”
Indifferent to Eugene’s anger, Sera sang to the very end. Then, adjusting her microphone, she addressed those who had no interest in the stage.
“Thank you for listening! Next is our band’s second single!”
Eugene was shocked. That’s right—you never dreamed this would happen. After the festival ended and you headed north, we sought out the Department Head Professor and obtained a second song. A concert with just one song seemed incomplete, so we practiced hard.
“Listen! Love is a Starving Blizzard!”
Though the title contained the word “love,” making it seem like a love song at first glance, it was composed by Bruno Kenin, the Former Dean, so this song also criticizes the Empire. It carries the meaning that the Empire’s advance is like a starving blizzard, freezing all the land it passes through so that not a single sprout can grow.
“Let’s dance in blizzard!”
Ah, forget it—I’m excited! Let’s dance!
Since Sera was bouncing across the stage with infectious energy, I found myself bouncing in place too, gripping the strings. If our band’s first song was the type you’d want to savor properly, this one was bright and made you want to sing along with everyone.
Yes, folk songs are all about singing together.
“This will be our last song!”
Compared to the dragons soaring through the sky with excellent mobility, even the earth dragons crawling along the ground had made their way near the stage. Just as a massive collision between the two forces seemed imminent, Eugene’s greatsword cleaved a lower dragon that resembled a toothed worm in two. Though covered in body fluids, Eugene stood firm as if his feet were rooted to the earth—a sight to behold.
“Come on! Evan, join in too!”
“A love dance through the blizzard!”
Seeing that, Sera’s excitement peaked, and she held the microphone to my lips. I sang in harmony with her. Even though I was singing carelessly, because Princess Sera sang so beautifully, our voices blended together in perfect harmony.
“Please, just stop already!”
But Eugene seemed frustrated. I found it strange to see him so excited in a way I’d never witnessed before, and stranger things continued to unfold. People gathered around Eugene, and laughter spread through the crowd.
“Why not, young master! It sounds wonderful!”
“We can’t let the front lines collapse! Protect the Princess!”
People crowded in front of the stage and began defending us from the Dragon Tribe Members. Looking around, there seemed to be another reason for the gathering. In areas distant from here, the intelligent dragons we knew—sentient beings—were rampaging, and those with siege weapons and magical armaments were fighting them. But on our side, there were only lesser dragon species without intelligence.
They’d been breathing fire and causing chaos earlier, but now the destructive attacks had subsided, and units with spare capacity could dispatch personnel. Something had clearly changed since the performance began.
“Here it comes! Be careful!”
“It’s the Dragon King!”
The people in front of the stage screamed as a massive dragon tore through the sky above. Whether size was the criterion for selecting the king of dragons, this creature—twice the body mass of other specimens—descended with its copper-red body gleaming brilliantly, attempting to land in front of the stage.
Rather than fear, I was struck by the realization that it looked far more like a golden dragon. No matter how I looked at it, it wasn’t just red—there was a metallic sheen to that copper-red color. And there was another puzzling detail.
“Everyone, cease combat!”
As the copper-red dragon extended its arm, metal walls rose from the ground with a rumble. That one is clearly using metal magic. Where do you find a red dragon that uses metal? No matter how I look at it, isn’t that a gold dragon? I wasn’t the only one thinking this, because Sera, who had stopped singing at the command to cease combat, muttered in bewilderment.
“You’re right, Evan—it really doesn’t seem to be a red dragon.”
“That one uses metal, so why is it known as a red dragon?”
“…Fire restrains metal.
(The five elements’ mutual restraint relationship: fire’s attribute constrains and suppresses metal’s attribute.)
Is that it?”
When I brought up the five elements, Sera and Reina Letem muttered that geomancy was important. It seemed we were all equally confused.
“Why do you hesitate? Continue the song.”
Even as the Dragon King spoke to us, the Brandenburg Military’s attacks continued, but the Dragon King deflected them with one hand, rendering them ineffective as he watched us. The Dragon King was truly worthy of the title.
“More importantly, play that endless rain song again. I saw it in the video Hubert sent.”
Hubert? At the familiar name, I looked around and spotted a figure in black clothing dangling from the Dragon King’s feet. Seeing them wave toward me, it was probably Hubert. But why were they dressed in a gown again?
“Excellent! Then we’ll start from the beginning!”
Sera recovered her composure quickly. She truly had the makings of an emperor.
After Sera encouraged us and focused Sunbird, Reina Letem, and me on the performance, she requested the stage director adjust the production. At her words to start from the beginning, activity erupted below the stage, and behind the Dragon King, the dragons that had been attacking the Northern Forces until now began sitting in orderly rows.
“Border Earl! We’re ceasing combat too! Shouldn’t we show proper respect to the Dragon King!”
“B-but Your Highness! They are demons!”
“I am of the Royal Family! If that one is a king, then a king he is! If all are equal before heaven, then there must be corresponding dignity and courtesy!”
Sera spouted sophistry.
The Dragon King nodded at those words.
He probably didn’t understand what she was saying at all and simply nodded because it sounded impressive. This was a conclusion I’d drawn based on what the Department Head Professor and Hubert had said about the Dragon King’s nature.
“I like that little one. What’s your name!”
“I am Sera Crowell and the Third Princess of the Crowell Empire, but none of that matters now! We are simply a band—we are Dekarucha!”
“Excellent!”
The Dragon King was so delighted that he began clapping, and the dragons in the back rows, who had been watching for his reaction, followed suit. It seemed the hierarchy in this realm operated much like it did in human society.
“Then listen! Our band’s first song! The Rain That Never Ends!”
The stage lights illuminated, and as the performance began, a massive white screen unfurled behind us—a dramatic shift from before. Images cascaded across it, revealing the band’s history and each member’s character profile in rapid succession.
Princess Sera had no intention of stopping after just one song. I was flabbergasted, but I kept my fingers moving across the strings, watching the text stream across the projection.
“Hueeeey! A heart of ice, cast out and rejected!”
Dragon King, don’t get emotional reading my profile. Seriously. Stop it.
“Familiar solitude, a gentle heart concealed beneath caustic words.”
Don’t mutter that while looking at me. I’m not that kind of person.
Uncomfortable under the Dragon King’s gaze, I turned away—but Sera misinterpreted the gesture and thrust a microphone toward me, insisting we sing together. I furrowed my brow in protest, but finding no way out, I relented. The Dragon King let out an ecstatic shriek.
“A gentle heart concealed beneath caustic words!”
That’s not it at all. The urge to punch something seized me, and my grip tightened on the guitar pick—which promptly shattered into fragments.
Left with no choice, I tore a button from my outer jacket and hurled it into the air, then activated my Judo Freezing skill. I carefully shaped the button’s edge into a sharp point and froze it, continuing the performance as my buttonless fur coat fluttered like a cape in the wind. I was freezing to death.
“Hueeeey! A heart of ice!”
Stop looking at me like I planned this. And I’m already suffering because Hubert insisted we maintain the school uniform concept—my legs are exposed below the thighs, and now the cold wind was cutting through my upper body as well.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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