Kochugunshikan Boukensha ni Naru

Translator: SFBaka

Editor: Thor’s Stone

『Why don’t you give it a try, Captain?』

“…That sounds interesting. What should I do?”

『Let’s use that.』

Iris was referring to the newly developed item for use precisely for situations like this – a clump of nanoms I call the Nanom Ball. When Cleria lost her limbs, I transfused my nanom-filled blood to her in order to heal her, but that method was very inefficient.

In order to perform a nanom infusion immediately in times of emergency, I created this ball made up of a cluster of countless nanoms. I made this by taking in rare metals in order to increase Nanom’s reproduction rate. In the end, I managed to produce Nanom Balls with a diameter of 2 centimeters. There were 12 of them inside my pouch.

It takes about an hour for the nanom cluster to form into a spherical shape within my mouth, so I had quite a bit of trouble producing these.

“Yosh, give me some instructions.”

『Please check if it has any small scratches on its head.』

I moved toward the dragon’s head and found a small wound on top of it.

『Please press the balls on the wound. You would need ten of them.』

I lifted the dragon’s scales and pressed the Nanom Ball on the open wound. The Nanom Ball immediately liquefied and seeped into the wound. Very soon, I’ve already managed to use up all ten Nanom Balls.

“How long would the process take?”

『For the time being, I will give priority to communication functions and neural control. It will take three hours to establish neural control and at least 5 hours to achieve simple communication functions.』

“I see. I hope it stays passed out until those are finished. Okay then. I’ll continue treating its other wounds.”

『Please leave the wound where the nanoms were transplanted open.』

I don’t know what that’s for, but okay. I healed as many visible wounds as I could except for the head wound, and consumed another three magic stones.

“It looks like I’ll need to camp out here for the time being. I don’t have anything to do now, so I guess I’ll go get ready for camping out.”

It was already near evening and it was beginning to get dark. And I don’t want to camp in a place with a dragon corpse and drenched in dragon blood. I guess I’ll have to put up with the few pieces of dried meat in my pouch for tonight.

A little ways away from the dragon, I made a makeshift bed by piling up mowed grass and some large and wide leaves as cushions. I also lit up four bonfires on four corners of the camping spot to ensure that I had enough illumination.

Come to think of it, it’s been a while since I camped out like this all by myself. Before I met Cleria, this was how I lived daily. It felt like something that happened so long ago.

Oh, there’s a call from Selena.

(Alan, I’m making my regular report. We have arrived at the camping site without problems, and we are now making camp.)

(I see. Good work. … There are no problems on our end as well. Everyone has already returned back to the Clan Home. I’ll leave everyone there to you then.)

(Roger. Selena out.)

I refrained from telling Selena and the others my current situation to prevent them from worrying unnecessarily. It won’t make any difference even if they knew. B Team should be about to reach the Clan Home by now.

Three hours have passed since the nanom transplant. It’s already turned completely dark. The dragon was still fast asleep. Well, it’s not unexpected. It rampaged around a lot after all. It should have really exhausted itself.

『Captain, please touch the wound where you infused the nanoms.』

I still don’t know what it’s for, but I just did as I was told. I walked back to the dragon’s head, lifted its scales, and poked my finger into the wound.

『Information successfully obtained. The makeup of the body tissues such as the nervous system and brain are very similar to satirons, as expected. I cannot perform fine control yet, but initial neural control has been established. With this, this dragon no longer poses any danger.』

I see. It’ll take more time to establish the communication function so Iris used my nanoms as a relay to obtain the necessary data huh.

Since she already took control of the dragon’s nervous functions, it was definitely safe. Most creatures would be helpless once their sense of sight and hearing was taken away after all.

It should be fine to heal the wound on the dragon’s head now, so I immediately healed with magic. And so, the wait continues.

『The basic communication function has been successfully established. Total neural control is almost complete as well. Now, I will proceed with analyzing the dragon’s thought patterns in order to establish an understanding of it.』

(I’ll leave that all to you, Iris.)

After about three minutes, the dragon finally began to twitch. It was probably a sign that it was starting to wake up. After a few more moments, it finally raised its head. It looked around the place as if checking out where it has woken up to.

“Is alright if I got closer?”

『Of course it’s fine. I have taken control of its limbs. It cannot walk and certainly cannot fly right now.』

“I see… I kinda feel I’m doing something really bad to it.”

『It’s necessary to ensure safety. It would only have to put up with it temporarily until we establish a complete understanding of its nature.』

When I approached it, the dragon’s head movements seemed to indicate its surprise, and at times, it would frantically shake it.

“Can you show me what you’re having the dragon see as well?”

My surroundings suddenly changed. The only ones that existed in a seemingly dark space were me and the dragon. And then, a Goblin appeared right in front of us. The number of Goblins increased gradually. At first, there were two, and then three, and so on. In no time we were completely surrounded by Goblins.

And then, they all disappeared. The next monster to appear were Orcs, and the earlier process was repeated again.

『I am currently recording its reactions when being shown these images. I will probably obtain enough information to establish a simple form of communication with it after a night.』

So this process will continue overnight huh. In a sense, that’s quite terrifying.

(Understood. I’ll leave it to you.)

My normal vision was restored. I do hope the dragon won’t go crazy from something like this though.

『Captain, please wake up.』

Oh, so I fell asleep. I was thinking of staying up all night but ended up falling asleep instead. Wha– It’s already nine in the morning!

“You could have woken me up earlier.”

『There wasn’t anything I needed you to do anyway. In any case, I have finally managed to gather enough data to establish communication. Let us try it right away.』

“Yosh, go ahead.”

I looked at the dragon and found it looking down dejectedly. Well, it experienced that kind of mental torture for the entire night after all. Of course, it’ll run out like this. Is it okay? Mentally, I mean.

The dragon suddenly raised its head and looked around, as if its vision was now clear. The moment it saw me, it dropped to the ground like a dog.

『This is a gesture of obedience. This is a greeting for the head of its clan.』

“………Head of its clan?”

『Of course, I’m referring to you, Captain.』

“…Uh, when did I even become the head of a dragon clan?”

『It’s the opposite. The dragon has joined your clan instead.』

“…Why the heck did that happen?”

My relatives would definitely have a field day if they ever found out a dragon joined the family.

『It is a custom of the dragons. If they surrender to an opponent of a different clan, and the opponent accepts, the defeated dragon would have to leave its former clan and join its opponent’s clan instead.』

“What the heck!? Then this guy won’t be able to go back to his original clan?”

『There is no need to worry. She is the last surviving member of her clan.』

“She? You mean this dragon’s actually a [1]female creature!?”

『Captain, that statement can be considered a form of harassment. Your wording implies that a creature of her intelligence is no different from an animal.』

“No, that wasn’t my intention. Sorry, let me take that back.”

Damn! You’re one to talk! You were performing something that can be considered a form of torture to her all night, you know!

“I see. So she’s the last surviving member of her clan. But…”

The dragon started to make a series of low growling and grunting noises.

『She has a question. She is asking if those black things were the clan’s warriors. She’s probably referring to the drones.』

Iris was probably not translating the dragon’s grunts directly, but reading and interpreting her thoughts instead.

“Yeah, that’s right.”

『All units, lower your altitude to fifty meters and execute Formation A. Cancel stealth mode.』

When she heard the sound of the drone’s engines, the dragon stood and looked up at the sky. Before long, the drones dropped down in a tight formation.

The dragon laid down on the ground like a dog again. But this time, she did it in front of the drones. She didn’t seem to show any intention of moving from her spot as long as the drones were around, so I had them disperse and go on standby again.

When the drones disappeared, she turned toward me again and made more of those growling noises.

『They looked to be superb warriors, is what she’s saying. She has another question. She’s asking how many warriors there are in the clan.』

“There are 82 drones currently in service.”

The dragon seemed to be taken aback. She laid down in front of me again. She made some more growling sounds as she continued to lie down.

『She is saying she is happy to have been able to join a clan with such strength. She is apparently worried that the rest of the clan will not approve of her joining though.』

“Um… They do, I guess.”

The dragon got up and raised a loud roar toward the sky. That’s some serious sound volume!

『She is expressing happiness due to being accepted into the clan.』

Her roar finally abated after a short while more.

“By the way, do you have a name?”

It felt weird to always address her as ‘dragon’. She should have a name, at least.

Iris conveyed the meaning of my question to her.

『Guroarua.』

“……Sorry, but can you run that by me again?”

『Guroarua.』

It’s no good. It’s just a grunt variation. At least, humans won’t be able to pronounce such a name correctly.

“Yosh. I got it. Your name is Gloria. It’s a really girly name, and it fits you very well.”

Gloria seemed pleased when she heard her name get praised. She growled and grunted again.

『She doesn’t have high standards. Her only requirement is for the male to be young and healthy.』

“………Uh, what the heck are you talking about?”

『In dragon society, the clan chief is the one who decides the partner of every dragon in the clan. She just told you her requirements for a potential partner.』

“…Wait, so, I gotta find a strapping young dragon lad and introduce him to her later on?”

『That’s how it is.』

Is it just me, or are things actually proceeding in a very weird direction…?

[1] TL Notes: Alan referred to Gloria as ‘mesu’ (雌) at first. This is a term used to denote a female animal or plant as opposed to a human (or in this case, a sentient dragon). That’s why Iris said he was being rude.