Chapter 082: Ghislaine and Dragon God (Patreon)

Night fell quickly. This was the night!!!

Thanks to Rudeus's little arrangement, Ghislaine had been thoroughly spooked. Even lying in bed trying to rest, she couldn't stop replaying his words in her mind.

Something about beating Dragon God Orsted outright. Something about the enemy being Hitogami, one of the oldest of the Seven Gods. It was honestly a bit too terrifying!!!

Wait, no!!! Suddenly, Ghislaine remembered something.

The swordsmanship she'd trained in had been learned at the Holy Land of Swords, and the Sword God surely counted as her master.

Under normal circumstances, if anyone went looking for trouble with the Sword God, she'd take issue with it and step in without a second thought.

But just now... Eris had already explained to her why Rudeus had to act. It was entirely because Hitogami intended to move against Rudeus and his family, so naturally Rudeus had to strike back at Hitogami's followers.

It was a perfectly reasonable explanation. So what was she supposed to do!??

For a moment, Ghislaine — only just recovered from her fright — sank right back into a tangle of conflicted thoughts. She tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep.

So she simply sat up in bed and decided to go outside for a walk, to clear her head a little.

But just as she finished getting dressed and pushed open the tent flap to step outside, she spotted — not far off — a powerfully built, white-haired man with a cold, forbidding face!??

At first glance, Ghislaine knew she had never seen this man before. So... why had such an uninvited guest suddenly turned up in the camp!??

Just then, Dragon God Orsted sensed her behind him and turned to look her way.

Watching him turn, Ghislaine felt the overwhelming aura of a true powerhouse roll off him, and her hand tightened around the weapon at her waist without her meaning to. Faced with his inhuman, golden, beast-like eyes fixed on her, she forced down the fear rising in her chest.

"Who are you!!? What are you doing here??" she demanded.

Dragon God Orsted answered slowly. "Ghislaine, I'm Orsted."

Ghislaine nodded. "Right, Orsted — what are you here to do??"

But just as the words left her mouth—just as Dragon God Orsted opened his mouth to answer—Ghislaine suddenly leaped backward, hard.

Her body trembling slightly, she stammered, "You— you just said your name was— Dr-Dragon God Orsted!!!??"

Watching her finally catch up to the reality of it, Dragon God Orsted asked in a calm voice, "Could you tell me about this person, Rudeus?"

Ghislaine frowned slightly, recalling what Eris had told her earlier, and her nerves settled a little.

"I'm someone Rudeus knows," she said. "Does it mean anything to you if I answer??"

Dragon God Orsted nodded. "Could you tell me about him?"

Ghislaine thought it over and nodded in agreement. She couldn't sleep anyway, not with all this business about the Sword God weighing on her — talking to someone might help.

Though the someone sitting across from her happened to be Dragon God Orsted, a conversation partner she never would have dared imagine.

She took a deep breath, pressing down the restlessness in her chest, and sat down on a rock facing him. But she still chose to keep her gaze averted, glancing sideways instead.

Honestly, the pressure of looking Dragon God Orsted straight in the eye was simply too much.

Thinking back over everything from when she'd first met Rudeus up to now, Ghislaine gathered her thoughts and slowly began telling him how she felt about him.

Meanwhile, in the tent where Rudeus and Eris were staying, Rudeus — who had just lain down beside Eris — caught a stream of photon-information sent down from the Elemental Sprites floating above his head.

Through it, he saw Ghislaine sitting together with Dragon God Orsted, and the corner of his mouth curved up slightly.

Truth be told, he already knew about Ghislaine's connection to the Sword God's side. He could have simply kept quiet and struck first without a word.

But after thinking it over, he decided in the end to tell Ghislaine everything, plainly and clearly.

After all, she'd spent a good deal of time by his side, and Rudeus didn't much like the idea of hiding the truth from her.

Besides, compared to the hot-tempered Ghislaine of before, the Ghislaine of now — having been through so much already — was still simple-minded in some ways, but she'd at least learned to think things through.

As for why intelligent beings stood at the very top of the food chain — it simply came down to this: intelligent beings were better at thinking.

And as for how Hitogami had managed to toy with Dragon God more times than anyone could count, it likewise came down to Hitogami being better at thinking.

As for Dragon God Orsted — after fighting him, Rudeus had exchanged a few brief words with him here and there. Add to that what he'd already known of Orsted from the anime he'd watched back in his old life, and putting it all together, he realized that even after everything Orsted had lived through, the breadth and depth of his thinking still fell far, far short.

Most of the time, Dragon God Orsted focused mainly on whatever was right in front of him.

Simply put — Hitogami could plan ten, even dozens, of steps ahead in a single stroke, while Dragon God's idea of planning was to have no plan at all.

His whole attitude boiled down to 'I'm just that strong,' and his starting point was always 'I can regress anyway.' Worst case, if this attempt failed, he'd just let it slide and regress again!!

Compared to Hitogami — whose personality was thoroughly rotten and who loved toying with others — the one thing Dragon God Orsted actually had going for him was his sincerity.

As long as he ran into some capable allies, things would basically be settled in his favor!!!

But if no capable ally dropped out of the sky to lend him a hand, then in a fight between Dragon God and Hitogami, Hitogami was bound to crack the secret of Dragon God's regression technique — and finish him off for good. That was always how it would end!!!

Still, Hitogami was, after all, someone who lived for entertainment. Since he didn't have many other pastimes, simply killing Dragon God outright might not even be all that fun for him.

Toying with Dragon God in every way imaginable, breaking him down bit by bit, was probably a lot more entertaining.