Mount Dragon King.
This mountain that is located in the northern part of the kingdom is a precious abundant source of valuable ores.
However, as its name indicates, many dragons live on this mountain. The other monsters wandering around are also significantly stronger than the ones from anywhere else, affected by the close proximity of the dragons.
But despite that, there is still a bustling town at the foot of this mountain., where there aren’t so many monsters.
On the road connecting this town to the royal capital, a female knight of the kingdom named Grace is currently in a crisis.
“Kuh! It’s escaped to the sky again.”
Her face warps with frustration. Her eyes are directed towards a dragon that is flying in the sky.
One of the subordinates of the Dragon King who reigns over this mountain. This dragon is currently assaulting Grace.
“…… Forget it. Run, Grace.”
“Your Highness?! Didn’t I ask you to hide?!”
Hearing a voice directed towards her, she whirls around and sees her lord, Prince Heinz.
His good looks that have been praised by many women is now stained with fear, but his body is radiating unyielding resolve.
“I myself do not have the ability to run away from this. But it is not so for you.”
“What are you saying?! How could a knight abandon her lord to run away by herself?! Even if I do, my life as a knight would be as good as over. Are you ordering me to die, Your Highness?!”
“Yes, please die. Die as a knight, and live as a woman. Don’t you have a man that you’ve fallen for?”
The prince smiles, as if he’s forgotten about the dragon circling in the sky.
That scene strikes Grace dumbfounded.
“…… Your Highness?”
“I’m sorry, Grace. Though we are milk siblings, binding you close to me as a knight was merely my selfishness. Unable to tell you my feelings, yet begging for the impossible from you just because I didn’t want to let you go. But it seems that even that is over now. In the face of death, I can finally discard my status and resolve myself to stand before you as a man.”
“……”
Grace does not know how to respond. The prince smiles as if to reassure her, then takes her sword from her hands.
“Now go, Grace. I at least am skilled enough to delay that thing for a while. For the sake of the man who loved you, for the sake of the man you love, live on.”
“…… Your Highness.”
So saying, the prince turns his back towards Grace and calmly walks forward.
Towards the dragon who seems to be the ruler of the sky.
“…… Your Highness.”
Still reeling from shock, Grace cannot do anything other than merely watching him go.
She has been with him ever since she can remember.
He has always been there for her, through all her tomboy antics, keeping up with a wry smile.
She doesn’t love him romantically. But still.
For Grace, Heinz is important to her like a big brother.
“Your Highness…… YOUR HIGHNESS————!!”
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“Oh my, isn’t this Grace? What a coinkydink!”
“…… Hah?”
Suddenly hearing a new voice addressing her, Grace turns around. Standing there in the as always almost-bursting attire is none other than Onee.
He’s shouldering a heavy-looking sack, and is probably on his way back from some request.
“Y-, Y-, Y-, Yuki-dono?! Why are you here?!”
“What do you mean ‘why,’ you silly. Mount Dragon King is a wonderful earning spot for us adventurers. But the monsters really are strong. I got quite a scare when I came upon a basilisk that petrified the lower half of my body.”
Apparently Onee only got a scare when half of his body got petrified.
Apparently he undid the petrification with ‘fighting spirit.’
Apparently everything is meaningless in the face of Onee’s burning passion.
“Grace too, what are you doing he-…… oh my, what a hunk.”
“?!”
Seeing the figure of the prince standing in readiness to clash with the dragon, Onee’s face turns enraptured. Two different forms of anxiety assault Grace’s heart.
Despite already being locked on by the dragon, now even Onee has locked on.
Even if the prince lives through today, would he still remain a prince (sexually speaking)?
“Wait, His Highness!!”
While she was occupied with talking with Onee, the dragon has begun a steep descent towards the prince.
Though the prince knows how to use a sword, even he would not get out of this clash unscathed.
“Yuki-dono! Please, His Highness……!”
When she turns around to beg for his help, she finds Onee with his back to her, standing in a strange pose while holding a stone in his hand.
“No~mo, HIDE～O!”
(T/N: Reference to a song written by DIAMANTES for Nomo Hideo, a super famous Japanese pitcher who joined the Dodgers in 1995.)
Then, along with an enigmatic call, he whirls his body around and hurls the stone.
It is the so-called ‘tornado pitching’ style, but of course otherworlders don’t recognize it.
More like, probably even the younger generation of Japanese won’t recognize it either. Onee’s age is in danger of being exposed.
“With just a stone……”
“GISHAAAAAAAA?!”
“Ehhhhhhhhhh?!?!?”
As if in ridicule of Grace’s worries, the stone accurately strikes the dragon’s head, inducing a high-pitched scream.
Don’t underestimate stones.
Even on earth, there was someone who killed a giant with a stone. Cú Chulainn, who is pretty much Onee’s historical counterpart, had also left behind many achievements on battlefields using stones.
Possessing high lethality, capable of long distance attacks, easy to supply. Stones is the all-purpose weapon granted to humans by the gods.
(T/N: References to David and Goliath, then Cú_Chulainn and Morrígan.)
“Oh my, sleepy-sleep after only one round? How slovenly.”
“……”
So says Onee while fiddling with another stone upon seeing the dragon fall to the ground, no longer moving.
Grace knew that Onee was strong, but never did she imagine him strong enough to take down a dragon.
Incidentally, defeating a dragon solo is an incredible feat achieved by very few in history, and merits the title of ‘Dragonslayer.’
This was the moment when Onee’s name going down in this world’s history was set in stone.
“Th-, this is?!”
“Ah, Your Highness!”
At any rate, the prince is safe and sound, so Grace hurries to him in a fluster.
“Grace…… it seems that I had somehow escaped from the jaws of death. Is that man the person who saved us?”
“Y-, yes. He is an adventurer and……”
“It is my greatest honor to meet you. My name is Yuuki Kokushou.”
“…… Hah?”
Seeing Onee name himself while on one knee like a knight, Grace’s eyes widen in shock.
Whatever else Onee might be, he is Japanese. There is no way that he would forget to be respectful before someone important.
But for the Grace who’s only ever seen Onee in his normal self, this scene is pure abnormality.
It’s a secret that his manliness caused her to fall for him again just a little bit.
“Kokushou-dono…… I’ve never heard of your family name before.”
“As my birthplace is in a strange land from far away, this would not be strange at all.”
“Strange land…… ahh, so you are……”
So murmuring, the prince shoots Grace a meaningful look.
Already exposed. This is a crisis in several levels.
“Kokushou-dono. Your skill in defeating a dragon is indeed magnificent. At risk of sounding ill-mannered, would you be interested in serving me as a knight?”
The prince’s abrupt digging of his own grave. Behind him, Grace is dancing a merry jig due to the fretfulness almost bursting through her limits.
(W-, wait a second. Yuki-dono should have no interest in becoming a knight.)
After all, Grace herself has already invited him numerous times, all to no avail.
He himself had also mentioned how he disliked stiff and formal things, so surely he will be turning the offer down.
“…… It would be my honor to accept.”
(WHY?!)
Grace is screaming inside her own head, but the two men are proceeding with the talks at a quick pace.
The prince performs a simplified knighting ceremony for Onee, using Grace’s sword.
When Onee keeps his mouth shut, he actually looks very much the part.
“…… Yuki-dono. Why?”
“…… Lately, there have been other countries also pestering me with invitations. Now that there’s a prince directly inviting me, how can I refuse? I am not so impudent.”
It seems that Onee was under danger in several meanings of the word, and was seeking refuge under a country’s flag.
Despite having been able to evade everything to this point, he had begun seriously considering the matter. Then a prince’s direct invitation at that moment.
He might be unreasonably strong, but the inside is surprisingly a rather reasonable person who could not say no to the bitter end.
“Don’t you worry, I won’t lay my hands on the prince.”
“I-, is that so.”
Onee being who he is, he won’t approach the prince for a one night stand.
Upon hearing this, Grace breathes a sigh of relief.
“…… But well, even though the prince is off-limits, there might be wonderful men among the other knights.”
Was it lucky or unlucky that Grace did not hear Onee’s small mutter?
Today, too, the otherworld is at peace.
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“…… He actually defeated a dragon.”
“…… He sure did.”
At the same time, in Takamagahara.
Upon checking in on Onee after a while, Amaterasu-sama and Tsukuyomi-sama just happened to witness him breaking through the limits of being human, and are stunned in astonishment.
“…… Maybe it was actually a pseudo-dragon that’s actually just a lizard?”
“No, it was a real dragon, through and through.”
Depending on the place, the dragon race are revered as gods, or as existences approaching the realm of gods, on the same level as giants.
Such a dragon…… with a single stone.
There probably isn’t any other existences aboveground that can match Onee.
“…… If Susanoo learns of his, he would definitely happily go pick a fight.”
“That world would become entirely flattened, so don’t.”
Onee is now being treated as a kaijuu.
Today, too, Takamagahara is at peace.