Chapter 84: Global Defense System and the Dragon God (Patreon)

The darkness of night.

Little by little, it faded beneath the sun's blazing light.

Dragon God Orsted.

He looked at Ghislaine before him — the woman who had spent the whole night talking with him.

"Thank you," he said seriously. "You've told me a lot tonight."

"Actually," Ghislaine said with a smile, "thank you too."

"After talking with you all night, I'm not so torn up about it anymore. One of them is someone I care about deeply, and the other is my teacher. There's probably nothing I can really do about it."

"So I'll wait — wait until Rudeus finally deals with Hitogami, the biggest headache of all, once and for all. When that time comes, I'll go and ask Rudeus properly whether, for my sake, he'd be willing to bring my teacher back to life."

He nodded slowly...

Dragon God Orsted said seriously, "I've made my decision too."

Just then—

Rudeus stepped out from inside the tent.

He looked at Dragon God Orsted with a smile. "Not running away anymore?"

Hearing that, Dragon God Orsted turned to look at him.

"That's right," he said seriously. "I choose to join your Justice League."

Rudeus nodded and reached out with a smile. "Welcome aboard."

Dragon God Orsted reached out and clasped his hand. "Thank you!"

"Come inside and have breakfast with us," Rudeus said with a smile. "We can talk over what comes next while we're at it — how does that sound?"

Dragon God Orsted nodded. "Sure."

Seeing this, Rudeus turned to Ghislaine. "Morning. Let's eat."

Ghislaine naturally had no objection and nodded.

But as they walked, she found herself watching Rudeus's steady stride ahead of her, and stepped up to ask, "Did you hear everything I said just now?"

Rudeus nodded and smiled. "Yes. Thank you for trusting me, Ghislaine."

Ghislaine laughed. "Well, there wasn't much else to do. Neither they nor I could ever beat you anyway."

Hearing her say that, Rudeus felt genuinely pleased. Ghislaine had grown far more than he'd ever expected — back when they'd first met, she would never have said something so composed and tactful.

Time really was a remarkable thing. It had turned simple-minded Ghislaine into someone like this. But at the same time, it had also taught the extraordinarily talented Dragon God how to give up trying.

Thinking that, Rudeus glanced sideways at Dragon God Orsted, leaving the man thoroughly baffled.

Why? Why was Rudeus looking at him like that?

Had he said something wrong just now? That couldn't be right — he'd barely spoken a few words the whole time.

Just as Dragon God Orsted was starting to feel a bit lost, Rudeus had already led the group to a long rectangular table.

Nanahoshi Shizuka and Eris, already waiting there, broke into wide, radiant smiles the moment they saw Dragon God Orsted arrive as well.

Not bad. Dragon God Orsted was finally joining them.

After Rudeus arranged everyone's seats, he ended up taking the head of the table himself.

"Back in the Great Forest," he said with a smile, explaining to the others, "I had someone track down a few really good seasonings. I've grown quite fond of the dishes made with them since. Why don't you all give it a try?"

Everyone nodded and started eating.

The moment the food touched her tongue, Ghislaine's head snapped up, and she stared straight at Rudeus.

Rudeus only smiled and nodded. "Once everything's settled, you can go home and see for yourself. You don't need to worry. I've already taught the people of your clan a lesson, and the chief himself even wants to become my vassal. When the time comes, you'll walk back into the clan under my name — your standing there won't put you in an awkward spot."

Hearing that, Ghislaine gripped her cutlery tightly. Warmth spread through her, and she nodded firmly at Rudeus.

The Demon Continent...

Roxy, who had stayed home for so long, finally picked up her luggage and set off back down the road she'd come from.

But at that very same moment, Hitogami's apostle, the Nether King, had quietly slipped up behind her — a teal-colored slime.

Just as it was about to cast its illusion...

Tens of thousands of purple lasers came pouring down from the sky, carrying absolute, searing heat. Without anything even close to Dragon God Orsted's overwhelmingly powerful dragon battle aura defenses to shield it, the teal slime was annihilated on the spot!

Startled by the sound behind her, Roxy spun around and found a strange puddle on the ground, scorched into something like glass.

Then Rudeus's voice reached her ears.

"Roxy, keep heading back. That was one of my enemies."

"He couldn't beat me, so he came after you instead."

"But don't worry — I've already finished him off."

"Though... I'm not actually with you right now. I've simply set up a global defense network."

"So go on back without any worry."

"And if you ever need to reach me..."

"...just make a heart at the sky with your hands. That'll do it."

Listening to Rudeus's gentle words, Roxy's face flushed slightly, but she still nodded obediently, took up her staff and white suitcase, and strode off.

Meanwhile, in the ruins of the Citadel of Roa on the Central Continent...

Inside the tent, once Rudeus finished speaking with Roxy, he looked up to find everyone staring at him.

He grinned. "Sorry about that — there was a bit of a situation. My global defense system picked up someone trying to make a move on Roxy. But I've already taken care of it — vaporized him on the spot with laser weapons deployed worldwide."

"I just confirmed his identity, too. Vita, the Nether King — one of Hitogami's apostles, and also one of the targets I meant to take out anyway. If he hadn't come looking for trouble himself, tracking him down would've been quite a hassle."

Listening to Rudeus rattle off jargon that sounded impressive without making any real sense, Dragon God Orsted repeated in confusion, "A... global defense system?"