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 4

Translator: Jasper Kadowaki | Editor: NovelMultiverse

 

The next morning, after I got changed, I went out to the backyard.

Louise was in the corner of the yard, bathed in sunlight, balled up, and sleeping.

“Louise,” I said.

“…”

Louise said nothing and stayed balled up, but she opened one eye and looked at me.

“I’m going to go look for a job, but what do you want to do?” I asked.

“…Keep sleeping.”

“All right. I might need you to work in the afternoon, but until then, you can keep sleeping.”

“…Mmkay.”

I left Louise at the house and set out.

Since I could talk to her and have a conversation with her, I could easily tell that she was still a little bit on guard with me.

Just now, I could tell that she was thinking: “He said I could keep sleeping, but can I, really?” It was in her tentative tone of voice. 

Well, I fully intend on letting her get her sleep, though. She’ll figure it out, eventually.

I walked down my usual route and headed to the center of town. I arrived at a government office building, a short distance from the center of town, and walked up to the bulletin board in the first-floor lobby.

Now, what kind of job requests do we have here, today?

I had Louise, now, so I was hoping there was a request for a transportation job.

Keeping an eye out for something like that, I scanned the notice board.

“Oh! He’s here, he’s here. Hey, darling!”

“Huh?” I turned around, as someone was calling me.

There was a middle-aged lady there.

“Um… Rose-san, right?” I asked. 

The lady named Rose cracked a smile.

She was an employee at this government office building, and she managed the assigning of jobs to dragon knights taking requests from the bulletin board.

I had received two assignments from this office in the past, and Rose had managed the processing for me both times. Her personality matched her appearance. She was a friendly, warm, middle-aged lady. She was concerned with neither heroics nor trivial matters. She was friendly and liked to get to know people very well, very quickly. 

“I was looking for you,” she said.

“For me?”

“Yep. I have a little favor to ask of you, darling. What do you think?” she asked.

“…It’d be my pleasure,” I said, and laughed.

She must have been banking on me helping her out one day, and so she had taken care of me with the job applications. It looks like the time for me to repay her came earlier than expected.

I followed Rose. She led us to a back room behind the counter where she processed the job requests from the bulletin board.

It was set up like a guest room, and she offered me a seat.

“What do you need me for, specifically?” I asked, to start the conversation.

“Well, Princess Katrina had put in a good word for you. There aren’t many freelancers that live up to her standards,” said Rose.

“Is that so,” I said.

I nodded. 

As a side note, a freelancer was someone like me – a dragon knight who didn’t belong to a guild. There were lots of other names for it like “hedge knight”, but “freelancer” was the most common term.

“Well, with that in mind, I’d like you to take on another job for us,” said Rose.

“I understand. What kind of job is it?” I asked.

“It’s a search mission,” said Rose.

“A search mission?” 

I tilted my head to the side. A search mission wasn’t usually a job for a dragon knight…

“Of course, it’s not just any old search mission,” she said, and suddenly her demeanor changed.

“It’s top-secret,” she said.

“Well that doesn’t sound… very relaxing,” I said.

“Believe it or not, the princess has gone missing.”

“The princess?” I asked, keeping my eyes locked on Rose’s, and my head tilted in bafflement.

Why was this princess always getting into trouble?

There was a possibility that she was simply a princess by name.

In other words, Katrina could simply be one of those types of girls who is called a “Princess”.

Of course, it was still possible that she was a real princess of a kingdom, and in that case…

“The fact that she’s missing is, of course, top-secret, as well.”

“…I understand.”

So she really is a genuine princess?

If Katrina were just a regular girl called a princess as a sort of nickname, Rose wouldn’t be bothering to keep this all so secret.

A real princess – a royal daughter. And now I was being asked to find her.

“Could you please fill me in on the details?” I asked.

“Have you heard of Mount Himyar?” 

“Himyar… Do you mean that mountain a short ways north of here?” 

“Yep. That’s where all contact with the princess’s caravan was lost.”

“Lost all contact,” I muttered.

“It happened last night. We want to know her current situation, first and foremost.”

I did hesitate, for a moment, but…

“All right. I’ll accept the job.”

I decided that I would take the challenge.

　　　　　☆

I went back home, and then, a well-rested Louise and I headed North to Mount Himyar.

On the way there, we decided that I would ride Louise.

She was a small-sized dragon, but she had the strong gait of a horse, and the ride felt smooth, easy, and safe.

However, it wasn’t all pleasant.

My brow was furrowed, and I was deep in thought.

When I was speaking to Rose, the reason why I hesitated on taking the job was because it was possible that the princess was already dead.

I didn’t really know anything about the situation she was in, but the fact that no one had heard from her at all since she went missing meant that there was a good possibility that she was actually already dead.

If that turned out to be true, things would get complicated.

However, if the princess was still alive, and I successfully managed to bring her back, it would be an undeniably stellar achievement on my record. Nothing beats rescuing a member of a royal family.

I did waver for a moment, but after weighing the risks and rewards, I took the job.

As I was thinking about all of this, we arrived at the foot of the mountain.

“I guess we’re here,” I said.

“What are we going to do, here?” asked Louise.

“We’re on a search mission. Can you track by smell?”

“I’m not great at it, but I’d do better than a human.”

“Alright, then help me out… Here,” I said, and I took an envelope out of my pocket. It was a note that Rose had leaned me – penned and signed by the princess herself.

I rubbed it onto Louise’s nose.

Louise sniffed at it.

“What do you think?” I asked.

“She’s here,” Louise replied, immediately.

“You can tell, already?” I asked.

“I think she’s got some kind of fragrance on her.”

“Yeah, perfume, maybe? She seems like she would wear perfume.”

“Perfume reeks. I heard about it from a human once, but that’s where you squeeze a whole bunch of flowers into one little droplet, right?”

“I guess so.”

I wasn’t really an expert on it, but I felt like I had indeed heard something like that before.

“She’s using something like that, so I realized real quick.”

“All right, can you go after the scent for us?”

“Roger that!”

Louise responded, and with me on her back, she headed out on the mountain path.

The mountain path was so rugged that I knew that if I had to climb it on my own, I would be exhausted on the way back down, but Louise handled it with ease and climbed up smoothly.

“I mean, you’re something else,” I said.

“For what?” she asked.

“I had heard that dragons had a keen sense of smell, but yours is really this good, huh?”

Louise laughed and said, “It’s nothing too crazy.”

She got in a good mood from that, though. She responded with joy as soon as she was complimented, so I got into the habit of encouraging her.

“Hey, this is work, right?” she asked.

“Yeah.”

“If things turn out well, give me a treat, okay?”

“A treat? Yeah, all right. Is there something you have in mind?”

“A sleeping stall.”

“A sleeping stall?”

“A nice, dry, fluffy one!”

“Got it. Well, yeah, I’ll get you a sleeping stall, if you want one…”

“Really?!”

“Whoa.”

Louise must have been overjoyed, as she leaped up a little.[Read this novel and other amazing translated novels from the original source at the “Novel Multiverse dot com” website @ novelmultiverse.com]

It was a sudden jolt, and I was almost thrown off, so I ducked down on her back in a panic.

“Hey, hey. That’s dangerous. Walk a little slower,” I said.

“You’ll really get me a sleeping stall?”

“Yeah, I’ll get you one.”

“All right! Well then, I’m gonna do my best on this search mission!”

“Whoa!”

Louise got extremely excited all of a sudden. It was like my warning to her went in one ear and out the other, and she started bounding up the mountain path at a tremendous speed.

I ducked down and held on tight, and laughed to myself, a little bit.

…We don’t need guys like you who apply emotions to tools.

“…”

I suddenly remembered that line that I hated, and my expression hardened.

That exchange between Louise and me just now would be impossible from the guild’s point of view.

However, I had made my decision.

No matter what the guilds of the world deemed as “normal”, I had decided that I would continue to work with dragons how I want to – in my own way.

“Ack!”

Just as I was thinking that I was getting used to the speed while ascending the mountain, Louise had suddenly hit the breaks.

I came dangerously close to being thrown off, yet again.

“Wh-What is it, this time?” I asked.

“Right under here,” said Louise.

“Huh?”

“The person that this smell is coming from is under here.”

“Under here…”

I frowned and leaned over Louise’s side to look at what was below us.

There, right beside us… was a cliff.

“Are you serious? Right here?”

As I continued to peer over the edge, I saw some ten meters down the cliff, a partially broken carriage.

Around the carriage, there was a group of many people that were dressed like soldiers, all fallen over.

I could see at first glance that some of these people had definitely died upon impact from the fall. 

“From down there?”

“Yup.”

“All right. Now, how are we going to get down…”

“You just want to go down there?”

“You could manage that?”

“Easy peasy,” said Louise, and jumped off of the cliff with zero hesitation. 

She used a few parts of the cliff that were sticking out as footholds and started descending like a waterfall. In just a few seconds, we touched down lightly next to the fallen carriage.

I got off of Louise and stood before the carriage. I took out the envelope and saw that the same emblem on the envelope was carved into the side of the carriage. There was no doubt about it – this was the princess’s carriage.

I took a look around us. There were fallen soldiers everywhere. It seemed we were too late to save any of them. 

Does that mean, the princess, too?

I swallowed nervously and reached out to the carriage door to look inside. 

The moment my hand touched the carriage’s curtain – Crack!

Sparks went flying, and my hand was blasted back.

“Wh-What?” I said.

“Looks like a barrier,” said Louise.

“A barrier?”

“Want me to get rid of it?”

“…Yeah, please.”

“Roger that!” said Louise, and opened her mouth. A single spear of light flew out of her mouth and shot the carriage. 

As soon as the spear of light hit the carriage, something broke apart, and it looked as though glass had been shattered and flying in every direction.

“It’s gone,” said Louise.

“Thanks, that’s amazing.”

“Ehehe,” laughed Louise.

She seemed happy to take the compliment. 

I reached out to the curtain again. This time, my hand wasn’t blasted back.

Then… I looked inside.

Inside was a person wearing a dress, which could only be the princess. She was passed out… but it seemed like that was all. 

When I put a finger to her nose, I could feel her breathing. I looked over her body and didn’t see any major injuries. 

“She’s lucky to be alive,” I said.

“She must have been protected by the barrier,” said Louise.

“…That makes sense.”

I didn’t fully get what had happened, but that was a logical explanation. I tried lightly slapping the princess on the cheek. I also tried shaking her by the shoulders.

Then, it must have worked, because she was coming to.

“Unn…gh”

The princess slowly opened her eyes.

“What on earth happened… Ah! Kyaaahhh!”

As soon as she awoke from her daze and saw me, the princess screamed in fear.

“You – who are you! How dare you?”

“Calm down, please. I’m not a creep. I’m here on a search mission for you,” I said.

“A search mission? …Ah!” said the princess.

She took a look around her and calmed down at once.

She sees the dead soldiers and calms down? This princess is really something else.

“That’s right, I…” she said, trailing off.

“It looks like you’ve realized what happened,” I said.

“Did anyone besides me survive?”

“No… It doesn’t look like it.”

I looked around, again.

“It appears you were saved by this carriage,” I said, “But the others weren’t so lucky.”

“I see…” she said.

“Well, let’s get you out of here, first of all.”

“Wait, these people – we have to…”

“I haven’t forgotten about them. We’ll come back for everything else, later.”

“…All right.”

The princess resigned herself to this plan and accepted it.

I led her out of the carriage and brought her before Louise.

“A dragon, I see,” said the princess.

“Yes. I’m terribly sorry, but I have to ask you to get on her back. It won’t be as pleasant as riding in a carriage, I’m sure.”

“No, no. Thank you.”

The princess got on Louise without a fuss.

“Can you carry the two of us at once?” I asked Louise.

“Sleeping stall.”

“Of course.”

“No problem.”

Louise responded, still in a state of excitement. As soon as I jumped on, she started walking. The Balaur-type’s especially stable gait was coming in handy. It was so stable that I didn’t have to worry about having a literal princess on Louise’s back while she walked.

The princess was staring at me.

“Is something the matter?” I asked.

“You’re a dragon knight, aren’t you?” she asked.

“Yes, a freelancer.”

“A freelancer… I see.”

For some reason, while she stared at me, she frowned.

“Is something wrong?” I tried asking, again.

“A freelancer, meaning… what exactly?”

“Oh, it just means I’m not tied down to any guild.”

“Not in a guild… Why is someone as great as you not in a guild?”

“What?”

She’s really prodding me with a bunch of questions, despite us just having met.

I didn’t know what she was getting at, so I decided to just answer her questions honestly.

“I’m really nothing special, you know? Why would you think that?” I asked.

“This little one,” said the princess, sitting atop Louise and gently laying a hand on her back.

“When this child looks at you, you can tell by the look in her eyes that she loves you with all her heart.”

“…Hmm?”

“This is the first time I’ve seen it in a dragon, but it’s not so different from when I’ve seen it in other animals. This child truly loves you.”

“Is that so,” I said, and looked at Louise.

Louise didn’t enter the conversation. She just kept walking nimbly down the mountain path.

“I have heard that a dragon knight that is loved by dragons is a top-class dragon knight,” said the princess.

“Well, I don’t know about that.”

She’s not wrong.

“So why is a top-class dragon knight like you a freelancer?”

“Well, you know, there’s this and that.”

“Right… I see,” mumbled the princess, with a strange tone of voice.

　☆

I brought the princess back to the city of Boisrussel and led her to the government office.

After hearing what had happened, Rose rushed out of the office building in surprise.

“You found her already?” she asked.

“Yeah, it’s the princess.”

“W-Wait just a moment. I’ll call my superior,” said Rose, and ran back into the building in a hurry.

Since I had brought her back earlier than expected, I wondered whether my payment would be higher and whether I would get an even better commendation. 

I was busy with thoughts like this at that moment.

“Um…” the princess said to me.

“What is it, princess?” I asked.

“Thank you very much – really. I’m not sure how I could ever repay you.”

“Please, don’t mention it. It’s my job, after all. I will receive my due payment from the government office, so please, don’t worry about that.”

“I see… Um, please take this,” the princess said, and pulled a cloth out of her pocket, and presented it to me.

I took it and looked at it seriously.

“This is…” I said.

“Please, keep this with you. It has my emblem on it,” she said.

“Ah, yes,” I said. Looking at it again, I noticed that it had the same emblem as the one on the envelope and the carriage from before.

“If you ever need my help, please bring this to the palace and ask for me. I’ll do anything I can to help you,” she said.

“… Thank you very much,” I said, and lowered my head, respectfully. 

Apparently, as a bonus prize for completing the mission, I had obtained a connection to the princess.[Read this novel and other amazing translated novels from the original source at the “Novel Multiverse dot com” website @ novelmultiverse.com]