Chapter 89

In the evening, at the Persoron base.

The former estate is still largely in ruins, with about half of it left unrepaired and untouched.

I walked around the Persoron, observing the surroundings.

"Master, what are you doing?"

"It's Louise."

I stopped and turned around.

Louise, who had just woken up from a nap, was coming over with dirt still on her cheeks.

She stopped in front of me and looked around.

"Looking for something?"

"Yeah, just scouting."

"Scouting?"

"I'm thinking about starting to work on areas we haven't touched yet. I want to start by building Patricia's dragon house."

"Maybe I'm fine as I am."

"Huh? Why?"

"Patricia is big and soft, so it feels really good to snuggle up and sleep."

"Ahaha, is that so?"

I imagined the scene.

Louise, a small dragon, sleeping next to Patricia, a large dragon.

I remembered a friend who had both a dog and a cat, and the scene of a newborn kitten curled up in the embrace of a large dog at their house.

"So, I'm fine as I am."

"In that case, I'll build it for Patricia. Maybe you can go to Patricia and sleep together."

"That's an option."

Louise was taken aback and nodded.

Patricia, the newest addition, seems to be doing well, which made me feel a bit relieved.

"Oh!"

"What's wrong?"

"Collette is back."

"Okay. Let's go welcome her."

"Sure. Hop on, Master."

Louise said that and crouched down.

I patted her and climbed onto her back.

There was no need to ride on her back to move around Persoron, but since she seemed to want to do it, I went along with it.

With me on her back, Louise headed towards the entrance of Persoron.

After about a minute, we arrived at the entrance.

There, we saw Collette sitting there.

"Hmm."

In the sunset, Collette looked less energetic than usual.

I patted Louise's back, a gesture to stop and show appreciation.

After Louise stopped, I jumped off her back and went over to Collette.

"Welcome back, Collette."

"Ah... I'm back."

"Yeah, you look tired."

"A little. By the way, here's today's earnings."

Collette said that and spat out a few leather pouches from her stomach.

They were familiar-looking pouches, filled with coins.

"I haven't counted, but it's probably a little over ten thousand."

"Got it, thanks. Are you okay? You really look tired."

"Um... sorry, can I take a day off tomorrow? I'm tired from both mining and transporting dragon equipment."

"Sure. Take a day off. Don't push yourself."

"Thanks."

Collette said that in a weak voice, a response that was clearly different from her usual self.

Collette then walked into the dragon house with a sluggish gait.

I and Louise watched her go.

"Collette looked tired."

"Yeah."

"She works too much. She needs more sleep."

"You sound convincing, Louise."

"Sleep is important, Master."

"Yeah."

I nodded.

I think Louise is right about that.

...Well, Louise herself tends to sleep more than the others.

I thought about preparing a good meal for the tired Collette—

Suddenly, a huge explosion sound came from the distance.

It wasn't just the sound; the ground shook from the explosion.

"Master, over there!"

Following Louise's direction, I looked towards the opposite side of the entrance, the "back door" of Persoron.

I could see dust and black smoke rising from that area.

Something was wrong, so I started running.

"Master!"

"It might turn into a fight, Louise, stay here!"

"Okay!"

After stopping Louise, I ran at full speed.

I cut through Persoron and arrived at the scene of the explosion.

On the back side of Persoron, Emma was fighting.

"Sir Cyril! I'm sorry! There are too many of them!"

"Don't worry!"

I said that to the apologetic Emma, then looked around to assess the situation.

The opponents were lions.

About 7 to 8 female lions were surrounding Emma, and a bit further away, the leader of the pack, a male lion with a magnificent mane, was standing.

This male lion was not just a regular lion.

It was twice the size of a regular lion.

Not only that, its mane looked like it was on fire.

Furthermore, it was surrounded by crackling electricity.

"A Thunder Lion."

I immediately recognized this distinctive monster.

The Thunder Lion roared at the sky.

The female lions it was leading all pounced on me at once.

"Nine-Fingered Flame Bullet"

I extended both hands and fired countless flame bullets at the female lions.

The female lions yelped and fled in all directions.

It seemed they were just regular lions.

With that out of the way, I turned my attention back to the male lion—the Thunder Lion.

I locked eyes with the Thunder Lion.

I could feel the boiling rage in its eyes.

"Nine Heavens Flame Dragon"

I pulled out my hair and blew it.

The hair turned into a paper figure—my dragon person figure.

I set the paper figure on fire and charged it forward.

The flaming paper figure attacked the Thunder Lion from all sides.

The Thunder Lion roared again, dropping lightning to counterattack.

The paper figures dodged and attacked from all directions, setting the Thunder Lion on fire.

The Thunder Lion was engulfed in flames.

After thrashing around for a while, it roared with all its might and blew the flames away.

The Thunder Lion, still smoking, glared at me.

After a moment of staring, the Thunder Lion turned around and left.

"Phew..."

It seems we successfully drove it away.

If it had been a serious "clash" with that class of monster, it wouldn't have been easy.

It was good that it wasn't that serious.

"Amazing, Sir Cyril, to drive that away so easily."

"The other side wasn't that serious. More importantly, are you okay, Emma?"

"Ah, yes, I'm fine."

"Good."

I was a bit relieved to hear that.

"I'm sorry, Sir Cyril... I caused you trouble."

"No, don't worry about it."

"I'm really sorry... I found them while patrolling, but I couldn't handle them alone."

"Understood."

I nodded clearly.

I turned around and looked at Persoron.

Collette, Emma.

There was one common issue.

A lack of manpower.

Maybe we need to increase the number of our dragon companions a bit more.