The Strongest in Our Neighborhood - Chapter 77

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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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Our Neighborhood’s Strongest (77)
“These blasted Bermuda pirates—I hope they get struck by lightning and go straight to hell!”
Soc Tramus, Emperor of the Kram Empire, ground his teeth so hard they creaked as he watched the Bermuda Maritime Alliance’s battleships fade serenely into the thick mysterious mist.
He wanted nothing more than to chase after them into that haze, but countless ships had already ventured in only to run aground on hidden rocks, so it was impossible.
“How can we not dispel this mist? Heritia, I’ve given you every resource you asked for. Haven’t you found a way yet?”
Heritia Domar was commander of the Magic Corps and a Rank 6 combat mage.
“My deepest apologies, Your Majesty. We have exhausted every spell at our disposal, yet the mist remains impenetrable.”
“Blast it all! We’ve won this war, and yet because of this cursed mist, I keep watching these cowardly pirates flee—again and again!”
“I am deeply sorry.”
“This is maddening. Why in the world did the dragon create this mist zone around that island?”
“I questioned many fishermen, but none could explain it. All we learned is that several years ago, a massive sea dragon appeared, churned the waters into chaos, and vanished—and ever since, this mist has persisted without fading.”
“I’m losing my mind. So how do these Bermuda pirates navigate so freely through the mist? Our warships can’t enter without striking rocks and running aground, yet their vessels move without a scratch. Explain that!”
“I regret to say I could not uncover the reason, Your Majesty.”
“They say no one in the homeland surpasses you in the Art of Magic, and yet what do you actually know?”
As the Emperor’s voice rose, Heritia Domar could only bow his head in silence, powerless to respond.
Unable to find a way through the mist, the Kram Empire’s fleet had no choice but to turn their bows toward the mainland and retreat. After regrouping, they could only prepare for a renewed invasion from the Bermuda Maritime Allied Kingdom.
Four days into their preparations for that assault, a message arrived at the imperial palace through a communication stone—from the Crown Prince himself.
The Crown Prince’s contact concerned a dispatch that had come from Sapphire Domain.
Two months prior, a Demon Gate connected to a Magical Gate had opened at Sapphire Domain. Demons, demonic beasts, and magical creatures poured forth until the fortress lay in ruins. The entire territory was beginning to succumb to demonic corruption when a dragon and a marquis from the neighboring Smed Kingdom arrived, slew all the demons and beasts and creatures, and sealed the gate.
In exchange, Meiruji Orpien—daughter of Baron Orpien and his sole heir—had surrendered the Sapphire Territory to the dragon and the marquis, and was now serving as interim administrator.
After hearing everything from the Crown Prince, the Emperor tilted his head and turned to the ministers around him.
“Sapphire is that territory up north near the Crerarion Mountain Range, isn’t it?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. It’s the territory that requested a subjugation force when the Bermuda pirate alliance occupied Quardo during the thick of our military campaign.”
“Ah, that’s right—I did receive a report of a gate opening back then. The Quardo campaign was so urgent I’d put it out of my mind. But a dragon, you say? Has there ever been an instance in our imperial records—or any other kingdom’s for that matter—where a dragon closed a gate?”
“Yes, there are documented instances in multiple kingdoms’ histories of dragons sealing gates.”
“Hmm, interesting. I thought dragons were only a nuisance to the realm, but it seems they can be useful too. Still—no matter how devastated the territory has become, it is ultimately mine. By what right did the marquis’s daughter hand over her lord’s land to a dragon?”
“Perhaps, since the territory was falling to ruin anyway, she surrendered it to the dragon in exchange for salvation from the demon scourge.”
“That has a certain logic to it, I suppose. But it’s still my domain. She should have sought my permission first.”
“There may have been no time to request your approval.”
“Ridiculous! My own land, and she gave it away on a whim! Has that girl lost her mind entirely?”
“If the gate remained open for two months, it’s likely she was not in a sound state of mind.”
“An addled girl gives away my territory to a dragon. I wouldn’t be satisfied even if I had her torn limb from limb and fed to the lions.”
……
“Setting aside her punishment for now, I need to reclaim that territory from the dragon. How do we manage it?”
“We could recover it by defeating the dragon in combat, but… the cost in lives would be catastrophic.”
“How catastrophic are we talking?”
“If my Magic Corps and the knights led by the three Sword Masters fight prepared to die to the last man, we’d have a high probability of slaying the dragon.”
“What do you mean ‘high probability’? And ‘prepared to die to the last man’ means we could all be killed, doesn’t it? That’s hardly a guarantee!”
“Y-yes, Your Majesty. A dragon is an extraordinarily powerful creature.”
“So what you’re saying is we cannot reclaim Sapphire.”
“Yes.”
“So if the enemy is a dragon, we have no recourse? Neither against this blasted mist nor to recover the territory?”
……
“Haah! If the dragon takes the side of that foolish girl, I cannot even punish her, can I?”
“Realistically speaking, no, Your Majesty.”
“This is infuriating. Since we can do nothing against a dragon anyway, what if I asked it to dispel the mist around Quardo in exchange for keeping Sapphire? How does that sound?”
“I could convey Your Majesty’s wishes, but whether the dragon would agree is uncertain.”
“If the dragon has any conscience, it took my land—it ought to do something in return, shouldn’t it?”
“In principle, yes. However, since the dragon’s deeds in eliminating the demons and creatures occupying Sapphire and sealing the gate constitute a considerable service, it would be difficult to press demands upon it.”
“If we cannot demand, then we must ask?”
……
“Without that mist, the pirates lose all their advantages. They won’t be able to raid as freely as before, and we can open new sea routes. Don’t you see?”
“Indeed. The fishermen of the nearby coast could return to deep waters as in the old days, which would increase our harvest of seafood considerably.”
“So the mist must go. Very well—my mood is foul, but since this dragon has taken Sapphire, let us make the request. Crown Prince.”
—Yes, Father.
“You heard the conversation between us and the ministers, didn’t you?”
—Yes.
“Send an envoy to the dragon and ask it to dispel the mist that blankets the waters around Quardo in exchange for keeping Sapphire.”
—Understood, Father. But what if the dragon refuses your request?
“What else can we do? We cannot fight the dragon, so we must ask what terms might persuade it to lift the mist. If it agrees, then we gain our prize. If not, we must resign ourselves to enduring the pirates’ depredations as we do now.”
—Understood. Then I’ll first contact the acting lord of Sapphire Domain through the Communication Stone and sound out the dragon’s intentions.
* * *
Jang Gain looked at the map while listening to Dimitrion Marshal’s explanation, his expression shifting to one of surprise.
“It takes a whole month just to reach Hailong?”
“Yes. We can ride horses to the foothills of the Crerarion Mountain Range, but after that we must cross the pathless mountains on foot. And considering all the monsters we’ll encounter along the way, it could easily take more than a month.”
“When I came, the dragon’s Spatial Movement Magic brought me here in an instant. The return journey sounds like it’ll be brutal.”
“That kind of spatial movement was only possible because it was a dragon.”
“I should never have driven Aleingde Mir away, knowing this would happen.”
“Though Aleingde Mir is a high-ranking mage, he cannot perform spatial movement like a dragon can. If he had been here, the journey would have been shortened, but it still would have taken at least two weeks minimum.”
“He had that flying Chimera Wyvern… ah, that wyvern—I killed it myself. Next chance I get, I should acquire some kind of flying Chimera.”
“If you have the funds, that would be ideal. But when is the dragon supposed to arrive?”
“I tried reaching him through the Communication Stone to find out when he’d return, but he’s not answering. It seems he’s fallen into a deep sleep.”
“Ah! So we either wait for the dragon to return, or we’ll have to cross the Crerarion Mountain Range ourselves.”
Jang Gain considered for a moment, then shrugged.
“It’s better to wait for the dragon. If we somehow managed to cross the mountains in over a month and arrived at Hailong only to have the dragon show up, it’d feel incredibly wasteful and frustrating.”
“That would be the case.”
Whinnnnny…….
As the three men heaved deep sighs, the sound of horses neighing drifted from the distance.
Turning to look, they saw Meiruji’s party returning—the group that had left to borrow supplies from neighboring territories.
The three men sitting on the castle wall widened their eyes at the sight of what looked like over a hundred carts overflowing with cargo.
“Just days ago, they seemed frustrated because all the surrounding lords were refusing to lend supplies, but now that the dragon showed his face directly, they’ve practically sent along enough materials as if they were being plundered.”
When the three men descended from the castle wall and arrived at the square where the carts were entering, Meiruji and her companions paid their respects.
“We are deeply grateful, Duke Jang Gain. Because you sent the dragon to personally speak with the surrounding territories, we were able to borrow such an abundance of supplies.”
“There’s quite a lot of materials and a tremendous number of people. Did you perhaps bring back all the residents who had fled to neighboring territories?”
“We brought back residents and also borrowed craftsmen from other domains to help rebuild the destroyed city.”
“Ah! Even craftsmen from other territories. So that’s why there are so many people. But wasn’t it a bit excessive to borrow this much, even with the dragon showing his face?”
“I did make rather excessive requests, but I judged it would be acceptable. And I suppose those lords have some conscience—that’s why they granted my requests.”
“If they had a conscience, they would have sent reinforcements when word came that a Gate had opened in Sapphire Domain. They’re simply lending these supplies reluctantly because the dragon showed himself.”
“Hehe, in truth, I’ve been thinking the same thing myself.”
Jang Gain smiled faintly as he noticed that Meiruji’s face was brighter than when he’d last seen it through the Communication Stone days ago.
A woman with this kind of resourcefulness didn’t seem to need his interference.
* * *
“Phew! I’ve finally finished digesting all the Demonic Qi.”
After the dragon left, Jang Gain spent every spare moment using Qi Circulation Cultivation to digest the Demonic Qi he had absorbed.
Once the digestion was complete, he retrieved a Duke-rank Demon Finger from his Pocket Dimension in order to absorb more Demonic Qi.
Whoooosh…….
As Demonic Qi wafted from the demon finger, the surrounding air grew murky and began to darken.
“Because it’s from a Duke-rank demon, the concentration of Demonic Qi is extraordinary.”
Using the Absorption Seal, he drew in the Demonic Qi spreading through the air, and a smile formed naturally at the corners of his mouth.
With this much Demonic Qi, he wouldn’t need to go searching for Demon Gates for a while.
As he absorbed the Demonic Qi, Jang Gain drew his sword and raised his Sword Aura to test it.
Crackle-crackle-crackle…….
The Sword Aura, which had been about as thick as a fat noodle until yesterday, had changed to the thickness of chopsticks under the influence of the Demonic Qi.
‘If I absorb all the Demonic Qi from this finger, I won’t fall short of the dragon.’
He’d come to this conclusion from having fought Noxcasarsis directly before and having fought alongside him as well, so he knew firsthand how strong the dragon was.
He swung his sword, sending the Sword Aura flying, and it cleanly bisected a boulder the size of a house.
After absorbing as much Demonic Qi as he could from the demon finger, Jang Gain placed it back into his Pocket Dimension and began his Qi Circulation Cultivation again.
“Duke Jang Gain is currently in cultivation and cannot be disturbed.”
While he was deep in Qi Circulation Cultivation, Leodosn Terra’s voice reached him.
“Then once Duke Jang Gain finishes his cultivation, please summon me, as I must deliver a message from the Crown Prince.”
“Understood.”
Jang Gain gradually stopped his Qi Circulation Cultivation upon hearing Meiruji’s voice. And before she could leave, he spoke.
“What did the Crown Prince say?”
“Ah! Duke Jang Gain, have you finished your cultivation?”
“Yes, you may come in.”
“Very 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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