Hentai Dragon King

Dura-san said she identified Margolant’s location based on our direction of travel. That was the biggest hint.

There are three routes from Monvan to Margolant: the northern wasteland crossing, the southern river-crossing route, and the central forest-crossing route. Since Esty-san knows the land, we chose the shortest forest route.

From the information I already have, I should be able to figure something out.

Let me recall what happened since we left.

...

I don’t get it. We defeated a slime, stayed at the hut, liberated the fairy village... lots of stuff happened, but was there a problem with any of it?

Am I missing something?

Let’s try thinking backwards. Instead of remembering what did happen, think about what didn’t happen.

On this journey, something we should have seen, heard, or encountered... but didn’t...

...Ah.

Now that I think about it, we haven’t encountered any other travelers.

We didn’t pass anyone, and even though we stayed two nights at the hut, no one came.

The only trace of travelers was that grave we saw on the first day.

”Esty-san, may I ask you something?”

”Yes.”

”Are there other people besides you who know this forest route?”

”Yes, there are. I learned it from someone else too, and I’m not the only merchant traveling.”

”We encountered a slime on the first day, right?”

”Yes.”

”We threw pebbles so the dead wouldn’t be lonely, right?”

”Yes.”

”There were already about 10 to 20 pebbles there, right?”

”That’s right.”

”How long would it take for that many pebbles to accumulate?”

”Hmm... If a group of pilgrims passed by, it could be just one day. Normally only a few people pass per month, so at most maybe a year.”

”So we can’t tell exactly when that traveler died?”

”No, but when I passed through three months ago there were no pebbles, so it was within that time. Considering how dry the soil was and that the stones hadn’t been blown away by the wind, I don’t think much time had passed.”

”I see... Hey Shepa, can I ask you something a bit unpleasant?”

”What is it?”

”You noticed the smell of rotten meat and realized there was something bad there, right?”

”Yeah.”

”That wasn’t the slime’s smell, it was the smell of the buried person, wasn’t it?”

”Yeah.”

”Can you tell how many days it’s been since they died?”

”I don’t know...”

”Masaru-san, that’s asking too much. This area is naturally cool and winter is approaching, so decomposition is slower. It also depends on how deep they were buried. Since it was in fairly hard wasteland soil, the people who buried them were probably quite strong or had an earth-manipulation skill.”

”I see. Since we don’t know the burial depth, the smell isn’t reliable...”

Hmm. So the shortest time since burial is 1-2 days, longest around 90 days.

There’s nothing particularly strange about that, right?

”I thought the person in that grave left from Monvan, but maybe they were coming to Monvan from somewhere else and died on the way. Does that make sense?”

”Well, it’s more natural to think they traveled for several days and died right before their destination rather than dying within a few hours of leaving.”

”There was that reason for traveling: ’If I get the saint to touch me, my illness will be cured, so I’m going to where that person is.’ Could the dead person have been doing that? Or could they have gotten sick suddenly during the journey and died?”

”Hmm... I don’t think so. It’s hard to imagine a sick person traveling alone. They’d either have family with them or join a group of pilgrims. Even with the smallest group, they’d put the sick person on a horse. Plus, at that distance, if their condition worsened they’d turn back to Monvan. Even if they collapsed, they’d probably take the body back for a doctor instead of burying them on the spot.”

”So it’s safe to assume the buried person came from Margolant?”

”Yes, that makes sense. If you keep going northeast, Margolant is the only place. Beyond that is barren land inhabited by orcs.”

”Can you tell whether that person took the forest route or the northern route?”

”At that location, it’s impossible to tell. The routes merge after that point.”

”You cleaned the hut on the first day, right Esty-san?”

”Yes.”

”Could you tell from how dirty it was whether anyone had used it recently?”

”Ah... There was quite a bit of dust and spider webs. I think no one has used it for the past few months.”

”No one used it! If someone had used it recently, I would’ve noticed the smell!”

”If Shepa says so, then it’s certain. Besides, people without local knowledge can’t take this route anyway. Ah... So that means the deceased person took the northern route.”

”Is it possible someone with local knowledge was in a huge hurry and traveled the forest route without staying at the hut?”

”That’s possible, but... if they were coming the opposite way from us, they would have stayed at that hut, right? There wasn’t any other place to sleep between the hut and Monvan. If coming from the opposite direction, that hut would be the last place with a roof.”

”Yeah...”

Hmm.

Am I overthinking the dead person?

But I don’t feel like anything was wrong at the hut or the fairy village either.

If there had been, Lucia would have handled it.

It must be something from the first day.

What could it be that made Dura-san specifically warn me...?

Warn...?

That’s it! A warning!

”Earlier, the knight in Monvan was contacting the capital’s captain with some communication magic tool.”

”Yes.”

”Can that reach Margolant?”

”No, it’s a very rare magic tool. It’s only in important military locations. Margolant doesn’t have one.”

”So when people from Monvan want to contact people in Margolant, what do they do? Rich people send letters, normal people use word-of-mouth, right? And they ask merchants like you, Esty-san.”

”Yes. You know well. There are requests at the merchant guild to deliver letters to certain places. Then I go to the trading post and ask, ’I’m heading to Margolant, do you have any letters going that way~?’ Right now I’m carrying two verbal messages, though I can’t tell you the contents.”

”That’s it!”

I understand now!

It’s full of assumptions, but one story is coming together.

The traveler who died right before their destination was a resident of Margolant. They took the risky shortest route, minimized rest, and were heading to Monvan but died just before arriving.

The reason they had to do that was—

”The person buried there died while rushing to Monvan to ask for help because something happened in Margolant—an attack by someone or an outbreak of disease, some kind of emergency.”

The people who buried them probably didn’t know about Margolant’s situation and continued toward it.

Since there were no signs of use at the hut, they must have taken the northern route.

The northern route takes 20 days, so a round trip would be 40 days.

The abnormality still hasn’t reached Monvan.

The fact that Dura-san specifically warned me means she observed something from space. In that case... war?

Dura-san said ”Please ejaculate. Cum quickly.”

”Ittte kudasai” didn’t mean climax and cum, it meant ”go quickly / hurry and get there.”

I didn’t need to overthink it. I was the one who arbitrarily interpreted it as climaxing. Dura-san had been clearly saying ”Please go quickly” from the start!

I didn’t need to think so hard about the northern route, southern route, or the dead traveler.

I just need to get there fast!

”There’s a high chance Margolant is being attacked by someone! Let’s hurry. If we gain altitude we’ll be able to see farther.”

We were flying low and slow because if we went too high, Esty-san might miss landmarks.

The even bigger reason was that high altitudes are scary.

Even I, who has flown on airplanes before, find it scary, so Esty-san and Shepa must be even more scared. But the people of Margolant might be in danger.

”Esty-san. I’m going to increase altitude to search for Margolant. Is that okay?”

”Th-that’s...”

”It’ll be fine. Even if you’re so scared you wet yourself, I’ll drink it!”

”Don’t drink it! Just let it flow normally—wait, I won’t wet myself!”

”We’re going high, okay?”

”...It can’t be helped. Understood!”

”Then both of you, hold on to me tightly!”

”Yes.”

”Yeah!”

Esty-san’s tail wrapped around my stomach. She probably grew extra tails to secure herself and Shepa.

”I don’t want to miss the fairy village’s position or the river, so can we ascend slowly?”

”Understood.”

I slowly increased altitude as instructed.

It gradually got colder, then started warming up again.

Esty-san must have used some kind of power.

Without instruments I can’t be sure, but we’re probably around 1,000 meters up.

Below us spread a patchwork of dark green and light green land. Several dark green winding lines that looked like valleys or rivers snaked across it. To the north was the brown of wasteland and the blue of the sea.

Somewhere in this vast untouched wilderness should be Margolant, ruled by the weak-anus female knight Iria.

Can we find the castle in the middle of all this untouched nature?