I’m a humiliated, incompetent person, but I alone can talk to dragons, so I can choose all the SSS skills and loophole items I want to. I’m going to become famous and respected, so, to the people who humiliated me – Go die in a ditch - Chapter 13

Translator: Jasper Kadowaki | Editor: NovelMultiverse

It was evening at the dragon shed. 

While Louise had already slipped into her slime bed early, Colette and I faced each other. 

“Wait one second,” said Colette. She then started to cough up tens of jangling copper coins, one after another. 

Colette was a Mushkhushushu type, which meant that unlike most other dragons, she had four stomachs. Three of those stomachs weren’t used for digestion, and they were used simply to store things for later use. 

These stomachs could expand tremendously, and Mushkhushushu-types were, at their largest, many times their empty selves. 

I gathered up the copper coins and counted them up. 

“Sixty, sixty-one, sixty-two… Sixty-two reals in total. That’s all of them, right?” I said. 

“Yup, that’s all of them. Oh, and I’ve already paid the installment fees,” said Colette. 

“All right, thanks. Good job,” I said. 

“What’s all of this worth, anyway?” she said. 

“What’s it worth?” 

“Yeah,” said Colette, staring at me. 

I pondered on how to even answer such a question. 

It was worth a decent amount. It’s often said that 1000 reals is a normal amount for a grown man to make in a month. So, sixty-two reals in a day… If one were to consider the installment payment Colette had already made on top of that, she was earning about 1.5 times the amount the average man would be making. 

When I thought about it like that, it was quite impressive, and to be honest, Colette was earning enough to put food on the table for all three of us. 

I was trying to put all of those thoughts in order and explain it to her, so I fell silent for a moment.

I was going to answer, and then I swallowed the words that were about to come out of my mouth. 

I saw the look on Colette’s face. 

Most people couldn’t discern facial expressions on dragons, but as I could understand their speech, I could generally work out their facial expressions, too. 

Colette’s expression at that moment was one of expectation. It was similar to how a dog looked when wagging its tail and expecting a treat. 

When I thought about what it could be that she was expecting, I realized that it wasn’t an explanation or some sort of analogy that she wanted. 

“It’s worth an amazing amount. You’re amazing, Colette,” I said. 

“Hah!” she said. “Oh, yeah, well, obviously. If you give me a job to do, I’ve gotta at least show some effort.” She was being modest, but the joy in her face was undeniable. 

I had guessed correctly. Things like sixty-two reals and installment payments and average income meant nothing to her. All she wanted was some praise and love.

Colette looked truly content with the praise she had gotten. At the same time, the stylish ribbon on her head (used to gauge her dragon energy) was now gently billowing with a faint light.

It seemed I might have been right about that, too.

　　　　　☆

The next day, after I had seen Colette off as she set out to the Milleaf Mountains, Louise and I headed to the government building at City Hall.

As we got on the road, I climbed onto Louise and rode her into town.

As Louise carried me on her back, I inspected the guild map. The map showed Colette heading out to the Milleaf Mountains. 

The map was a useful tool that I had acquired after establishing our guild. Ever since I had gotten it, I was trying different things to test it out. As a result, I realized a few things. 

First of all, it was possible to center the map not only on myself but also on anyone in the guild, including Louise and Colette. At the moment, I watched the map as it was centered on Colette. 

She had just entered the Milleaf Mountains and was now wandering about the mountain paths. 

“She’s in such a hurry. It’s still morning – she should take it easy,” I muttered, watching her move about. On the map, she was just a dot of light, but it was moving around so rapidly that I could tell Colette was hustling. 

I thought to myself that she really didn’t have to work so hard. 

“She wants to impress you,” said Louise. 

“Hmm.”

“That girl was giggling all night, last night,” said Louise. 

“Giggling?” I asked, tilting my head and wondering what it could mean. 

“She was remembering what you said and laughing. Every time she thought about how you praised her, she couldn’t help giggling to herself.”

“Ah, really?”

“It’s not a bad thing to compliment her from time to time, but if you overdo it, she’ll never shut up with her giggling, so take it easy, okay?”

“Hmm, yeah. I guess that could be an issue,” I said. 

I smiled, with a bittersweet feeling. 

I didn’t know for sure to what extent Colette had been giggling to herself, but from what I had gathered from Louise, she was doing it because she was happy. 

She was happy when praised.

If I stopped complimenting her just because Louise asked me to hold back on making her so happy, I would feel a little bad about that. 

If Colette enjoyed being praised, I wanted to be able to praise her whenever she did a good job. 

The fact that Louise felt uncomfortable with that was…

“Give me some time to think about it,” I said. 

“…It’s fine. I’ll get used to it,” said Louise. 

“Really?”

“I mean, you’re going to keep complimenting her, aren’t you?”

“Well, yeah.”

“You’re letting me sleep as much as I want, so I can’t really say much.”

“Yeah… You’re a good, kid, too, you know?”

“Oh, stop it,” said Louise. 

“The fact that you’re being thoughtful of her feelings is a great thing.”

“…It’s not a big deal,” said Louise. She was brushing it off curtly, but that actually made it easier on me. 

If we could all just be thoughtful of each other like Louise was, the world would be a better, more peaceful place, I thought. 

Before we knew it, we had reached the government building. 

I jumped off of Louise and said, “All right. I’m going to go look for some work. Wait here for me, okay?”[Read this novel and other amazing translated novels from the original source at the “Novel Multiverse dot com” website @ novelmultiverse.com]

“I’ll take a nap while I wait,” she said. 

“Yup,” I said, smiling, leaving Louise behind, and entering the government building. 

Louise pulled down her eye mask, curled up in a ball, and started napping right away. 

As I went into the building, as usual, I went over to the bulletin board in the first-floor lobby. I checked it to see if there were any new job requests posted. 

“What’s this?”

I was looking at something that wasn’t a job request, at all. It was something I had never even seen before. It was a public commendation of the Lindworm Guild. 

It was a posting that said that the Kingdom was commending the Lindworm Guild for its achievements over the past year, and lauded it as an exceptional guild that should be seen as an exemplary organization. 

“I guess I should expect no less from them,” I muttered. 

I couldn’t say I agreed with any of their methods, but I had to admit that I was impressed by the “exceptional track record” they had managed to build up. 

A guild with a record like that was a safe bet for anyone looking for help from a dragon knight. Anyone who asked Lindworm for assistance could be confident that they would help, and that kind of dependability was crucial. 

“I’ve gotta do my best to get a commendation like this, one day,” I said. 

“Hah! That’s never gonna happen.”

“What?” I said, turning around. 

There stood Rui, a guy that I knew from the Lindworm Guild. He looked at me with a triumphant look on his face. 

“Hey, could you not sneak up on me like that?” I said. 

“A one-person guild shouldn’t even be talking about wanting to get a commendation. If you keep saying reckless stuff like that, the people around you are just going to laugh at you,” he said.

“…Is that right?”

I wanted to say that one should always clearly define their goals, but I stopped myself and swallowed my words. It would be pointless to say something like that to Rui.

“I mean, it’d be kind of pointless for you, anyways,” said Rui. 

“Pointless?”

“Yeah. Yesterday, five new dragon knights came by the Lindoworm Guild wanting to join after they saw this commendation.”

“Huh,” I said. That many people. 

“Pretty experienced ones, too. They had more than ten years in the game. Lots of B-ranks and C-ranks, even.”

“That’s quite impressive,” I said. 

I really did think it was impressive. It wasn’t just the guild itself I was impressed with, but the quality of knights it was attracting, and the recognition it was receiving from the Kingdom. 

B-rank and C-rank level knights were committed professionals who never stopped working, and they were famous enough that I probably would have heard of their names once or twice. 

Dragon knights of that caliber were competing to get in to Lindworm Guild. That was a clear sign of greatness. 

“If only you had put in a little more effort when you were with us,” said Rui, grinning at me. 

“Nah, it’s fine,” I said. 

“Oh, you’re going to act like it doesn’t hurt? You know, if you’ve got regrets, you should just come out and say it. No one would fault you for that,” he said. “If only you held out for a bit longer.”

“I’m not acting like it doesn’t hurt, or anything like that,” I said, with a bitter smile. I was actually starting to feel a little disgusted. Apparently, this was what people like Rui thought of me. 

As a matter of fact, I had no regrets at all. I was actually glad I left Lindworm and felt relieved that I was out of that guild. 

My philosophy just didn’t mesh with theirs, at all. 

I was impressed with the commendation Lindworm had received, but I wasn’t experiencing any feelings of wanting to go back or regretting leaving. 

“Hah! All right. Whatever you say,” said Rui. He didn’t understand where I was coming from, at all. He had already decided for himself that I was holding back feelings of regret. 

He can believe whatever he wants to believe, I thought to myself, coolly. 

In the end, this interaction only reconfirmed what I always knew – that Rui’s (or Lindworm’s, rather) philosophy towards dragons would never be in agreement with mine. 

　　☆

In the evening, after Louise and I had completed our job for the day, we returned to the city of Boisrussel. 

The city was bustling, as always, but something seemed off. 

The city was indeed bustling, but it also felt rowdier than usual. 

“I wonder if something big just happened,” I said. I hopped off of Louise and stopped a passerby and asked him about it. 

“I heard a dragon escaped,” he said. 

“Escaped?”

“Apparently it was making a huge ruckus, and there’s a panic to capture it.”

“Wow… A dragon escaped, huh?” I said. It wasn’t something you heard about every day. 

It wasn’t something that I really participated in, but usually, breeders and dragon knights kept a strict grasp on their dragons. You almost never heard about dragons fleeing their masters… At least, I had never heard of such a thing. 

It weighed on my mind, a bit. 

“Master…” said Louise. 

“Hm? Oh,” I said, as I turned and saw Louise looking rather sleepy. 

Her eyelids were drooping, almost closed, and she was swaying from side to side. 

I guessed she was pretty much done for the day. 

“If you’re sleepy, you can go on home and get to bed,” I said. 

“Mmm… If it’s just a little while longer, I can hold out…” she said. 

“All right.”

She said she could hold out a bit longer, but she really did look rather sleepy. 

I wanted to find out more about the escaped dragon, but I couldn’t stay out with Louise in the state that she was in. 

I decided I would go to the government building with Louise, and report that we finished our job and close up shop for the day. 

As we got to the government building at City Hall, Boom! 

I felt something smash right into me. 

I took the tackle and fell backward on my butt.

“Ow, ow, ow… What the hell?” I said.

“Please, help me!”

“Huh?” I asked.

This voice – the words being spoken to me seemed to be coming from a dragon!

Once I regained my bearings, I looked over at whatever tackled me. It was, indeed, a dragon. 

I actually recognized the kid. This dragon was one that I knew from Lindworm. 

“Argh! I can’t stand it there, anymore!”

“Oh…” I said, furrowing my brow. 

This dragon was an important asset of the famous guild that many veteran dragon knights were vying to get into, and now it had escaped and was asking for my help…[Read this novel and other amazing translated novels from the original source at the “Novel Multiverse dot com” website @ novelmultiverse.com]