"Waaaaaah! It's a dragon!!"
People, gripped by terror at the appearance of the massive White Dragon, all fled into the lord's castle.
"Damn it, that bastard was a dragon?! I knew something was off!"
"Take cover, my lord!"
The lord's retainers dragged him into the castle as he attempted to throw punches at the dragon.
The enraged dragon slammed its tail against the ground, causing the entire castle to shake and stone fragments to rain down from the ceiling.
"Stop it right now! The castle will truly collapse at this rate!"
When cracks began forming in the ancestral castle walls, the lord went berserk and rushed back outside.
"No! My lord! It's dangerous!"
His retainers threw themselves forward to restrain him.
[ROOOOOAAAARRR!!]
Everyone screamed and flattened themselves against the ground as the dragon's roar—designed to instill fear in weaker creatures—echoed through the air.
Surprisingly, Dian, who stood before the dragon, didn't flinch at all.
Seemingly angered by this, the dragon raised its foot and stomped down on Dian.
"No!!! Brother Dian!!!!!!"
Scala grabbed a crossbow from the ground and rushed forward.
She aimed at the dragon's head and fired.
However, when the dragon stomped its foot, the ground shook so violently that her quarrel missed the dragon by a wide margin.
"Scala! Stop it!"
Her brothers pulled Scala back inside as she was loading another quarrel.
"But Brother Dian!!"
"There's nothing we can do right now! No one can stop an angry dragon!!"
Suddenly, a dimensional gate opened high above the lord's castle—right above the dragon's head—and Dian fell through, wielding the greatsword of the nameless swordsman.
"It's Lord Dian!!"
When Dian's greatsword struck the dragon's crown directly, scales exploded outward, scattering in all directions.
"Aaaah! Get inside, get inside!"
As scales nearly the size of a person crashed into the ground, her brothers lifted Scala and retreated into the castle.
BOOM- CRASH-!!
"Nooooooooo!!"
When the falling scales shattered the outer walls of the castle, the lord lost his mind and foamed at the mouth.
"Nooooo! I'll strip every scale off that thing and sell them at the fish market!!"
"My lord! Just because it has scales doesn't make it a fish!!"
Meanwhile, Dian had mounted the dragon's head and began striking downward with his greatsword, working his way down the creature.
Head, neck, shoulders, collarbone, arms, chest, belly, thighs, calves, tail.
Then back up to the spine, leaping to methodically slice at the wings.
Like a chef tenderizing meat, Dian systematically struck every part of the dragon's body. The dragon howled in pain, begging for mercy.
[I was wrong! Please forgive me!]
But Dian showed no mercy, and eventually the dragon couldn't endure anymore and collapsed onto its side.
BOOOOOM-!
The highest spire of the lord's castle finally crumbled, sending an enormous cloud of dust into the air.
"Brother Dian!"
Scala shook off the restraining mercenaries and threw herself into the dust cloud to find Dian.
After searching frantically, she finally spotted a human figure in the distance.
As she approached, she saw it was Dian standing with his arms crossed.
At his feet lay the greatsword, broken in two.
Before him knelt a naked man, bowing his head deeply.
But his head... the crown was completely bald...?
He definitely had a full head of hair before transforming, so why...?
Could it be that when the greatsword struck his crown earlier and the scales fell off...?
In that moment, Scala felt not just hostility toward the dragon that had attacked Dian, but also a profound sense of pity.
"Ah, Scala. This guy was the dragon."
Dian smiled lightly when he spotted Scala.
"I thought he seemed too strong for a human."
"Y-yes... But his head..."
"We've agreed to forget about the ransom. Right?"
"That's correct!"
Dragon Tarkanik shouted while bowing his bald head.
"Additionally, I will provide ample compensation for any mercenaries who died or were injured during the territory battle!"
Dian nodded with satisfaction.
"Good. And you'll cover all repair costs for the lord's castle too?"
"Of course! I'll empty my nest's treasury if necessary to restore the collapsed spire and damaged outer walls!"
"And the two broken doors."
Tarkanik looked perplexed.
"B-but I didn't break those..."
"Hmm. You took a hostage, which made me come here and break those doors. So ultimately, the broken doors are your fault."
"I... I understand! Your reasoning is absolutely correct!"
Tarkanik bowed his head even lower.
Scala couldn't comprehend the situation at all.
She knew Brother Dian was strong.
But she never imagined he could beat a dragon into forced polymorphing and make it kneel.
Even Sir Linus couldn't do this...
Just what is Brother Dian...?
# # # # #
Everything was finally settled.
The nameless swordsman who had secured victory in the territory battle with impossible strength and crushed the Reblanc Mercenary Corps was White Dragon Tarkanik.
He was of the same clan as Hindrasta, a young dragon who had only recently reached adulthood and ventured into the world.
His purpose was to gather wealth for his nest to establish independence.
When dragons pass their hatchling stage and reach adulthood, they leave their clan's shelter to find their own territory.
Then, over a very long time, they fill their nests with treasures.
After much consideration, Tarkanik had taken inspiration from Hindrasta, who had been active in the human world.
He had polymorphed into a strong mercenary to accumulate gold through mission fees and hostage ransoms.
Plus a little entertainment on the side.
"What if you got exiled like Hindrasta?"
"Hindrasta wasn't exiled for venturing into the human world, sir. He was exiled because he lost to humans and brought shame to our clan."
Ah, so that was the reason. If Hindrasta hadn't encountered Linus and me, he wouldn't have been trapped in human form for a thousand years.
The repair costs for the lord's castle were settled by transferring ownership of the scales that had fallen from the dragon's body.
The lord, who had been foaming at the mouth and trying to pull out the dragon's remaining hair, was relieved to hear this.
In a much-improved mood, the lord immediately paid the promised fee for driving away the nameless swordsman—the mission reward he had promised me.
He was so happy about saving the ancestral castle that he completely forgot I was the one who subdued the dragon.
The Reblanc mercenaries were sent back to their headquarters.
Hindrasta and I needed to go to Tarkanik's nest to collect compensation for the Reblanc Mercenary Corps.
Someone suggested removing the polymorph and pulling out a few more scales, but that was rejected.
A dragon's scales serve as a kind of shield or armor, making them extremely precious and taking a very long time to regenerate.
So Tarkanik was reluctant to have his scales deliberately removed, and the mercenary corps, needing immediate cash, preferred to receive an equivalent amount in gold or precious metals anyway.
"So now the Head Professor, who fought with Sir Linus during the war, is beating dragons into submission, extorting money from them, and going directly to a dragon's nest where no human has ever set foot before, possibly to take a cut for himself..."
Orendi muttered to herself like a madwoman while opening a dimensional gate.
"It's almost confirmed he's a secret prince from the Demon King Assassination Task Force, but still, how could he just jump down from the sky and do that to a dragon? Seriously, this is ridiculous..."
By the way, where's Hindrasta? I haven't seen her for a while.
Ah, there she is.
"Hey! Hurry up!"
"Don't rush me...!"
Hindrasta approached with an awkward gait, hunching her upper body and pressing her thighs together.
This scene looks familiar somehow...
My gaze unconsciously dropped to Hindrasta's skirt.
The dark stain around her crotch and her wet knee-socks made it clear she had wet herself.
Why does she always pee herself like that?
"Excuse me, sir... doesn't it smell like something in here?"
Tarkanik, covering his private parts with the broken sword hilt, asked when Hindrasta approached.
"Shut your mouth, you bastard! You're a naked bald pervert!"
"Why are you suddenly getting angry? And what do you mean, pervert?"
Hindrasta snapped, and Tarkanik fired back.
"You're the pervert! What kind of dragon goes around as a pink-haired twin-tailed busty girl? It's completely inappropriate!"
"Quiet, quiet. Don't fight. Members of the same clan shouldn't fight."
As I separated the growling dragons, Orendi opened the dimensional gate to the nest.
"I'm coming too!"
Scala ran up just as we were about to step through Orendi's dimensional gate.
"Aren't you supposed to be at headquarters?"
"I want to go with you, brother."
"I'm not sure if that's okay."
Dragons don't tolerate others entering their nests.
Hindrasta and I were extremely rare exceptions.
"Can she come with us?"
"Of course! Absolutely!"
Fortunately, Tarkanik gave his permission.
So we headed toward Tarkanik's nest through the dimensional gate.
The first thing that greeted us beyond the gate was an incredibly stupid-looking pot-bellied obese ogre.
It was leaning against a small boulder, scratching its belly with a wooden club that ogres typically carry around, using it like a back scratcher.
Behind it, a large cave opened its mouth—presumably Tarkanik's nest.
"Gasp?! An ogre?!"
Scala, the last to exit the dimensional gate, grabbed her sword hilt in surprise, and Tarkanik stepped forward.
"It's my pet. It's docile."
"What?! You keep an ogre as a pet?!"
"Dragons usually employ a few monsters to guard their nests."
Scala looked around.
"I don't see any others besides this one."
"Since I was away for so long, the smarter ones probably ran off. This one's too stupid and lazy, so it just stayed here."
Indeed, the ogre didn't attack the strangers, just grumbled something while continuing to scratch itself. I've never seen such a non-aggressive ogre before.
"Everyone, please come in."
We passed by the yawning ogre and entered the nest.