"Thinking of running now? A little late for that. Yagami-style Draw Slash — Flying Dragon!"
The blinding arc of the draw-slashed blade burst from its sheath, leaving a silver streak in the air. In the instant the air split, a razor-thin but astonishingly fast slashing blade flew from Minami Yojuro's weapon and shot toward the Venom Dragon that had already flown a great distance away.
The dragon, having put a huge gap between itself and the human, thought it had escaped—after all, the human hadn't followed in pursuit. Unless the human used long-range magic, it seemed impossible for him to catch up.
Its scales were highly resistant to magic, so ordinary spells would rarely harm it. It was sure it had broken free of danger.
But as it flew, an inexplicable spike of mortal dread suddenly rose in its chest. When it glanced back to see what was happening, a brilliant streak of blue light filled its vision.
Before it could react, the blue light passed through the dragon's body—and then there was nothing.
The once-soaring dragon lost the color in its eyes. With a breeze that seemed almost gentle, the massive body of the Venom Dragon was split cleanly in two in midair!
"BOOOOM—!"
Only when the two halves of the dragon crashed to the ground did the elf girl finally come fully to her senses, staring at the dismembered corpse in stunned disbelief.
When Minami Yojuro first appeared, she had wanted him to run—she didn't want him to die for nothing, because to a human adventurer the Venom Dragon was not something one could usually defeat alone.
What she hadn't expected was that Yojuro would be this powerful. Not only could he trade blows up close with a subspecies dragon, he'd cut the beast clean in two with a single, masterful stroke!
"Reverse the mountain's might, break through the wicked, crystals gleam—footfalls thunder, peaks respond, clouds descend—turn the mountain over.
Bakudō No.73 — Overturning Mountain Crystal!"
While she was still gaping at how Yojuro had felled the dragon, a triangular, inverted-crystal defensive barrier suddenly enveloped her.
At first, the elf thought Yojuro was acting with ill intent. Summoning the last of her strength, she forced herself upright, tightened her grip on her sword, and glared warily at him.
"I didn't want to meddle, but since I already helped, if I let you die here then my effort would have been for nothing.
…So don't make me regret it."
"If you don't get that poison in your body treated soon, you'll probably end up just like that thing over there.
And also, please stop moving around so much. You don't have much fabric left covering you—if you keep squirming, it's… distracting. Makes it hard for me to focus on healing you.
Trying to use seduction as compensation won't work either. I saved your life, and now I'm treating you. Those fees will be calculated separately."
Hearing Minami Yojuro's words, the elf girl—whose face had still been tense with wariness—glanced down at her current state. In an instant, her cheeks flushed bright red.
She let out a soft, embarrassed cry, quickly crouched down, and glared at Yojuro with a mix of shame and indignation.
"Just who are you? Why are you so strong? And what kind of magic was that—being able to completely block the Venom Dragon's poison breath?"
When she realized that the inverted crystal barrier wasn't meant to imprison her but to shield her exhausted body from the corrosive miasma outside, her guard finally began to lower.
And when Yojuro used Kaido to heal her wounds and purge the poison, her surprise only deepened.
In this world, almost everyone could use magic, but few could wield recovery or healing spells. Adventurers usually relied on potions to recover from injuries.
As a member of the elf royal line, she possessed a hereditary storage magic and carried both healing and antidote potions in her spatial inventory.
But strangely, when Yojuro had offered to heal her, she hadn't mentioned them at all—almost as if under some inexplicable compulsion.
"Seriously, are you some kind of curious baby? Why so many questions?
I look this handsome, so naturally I'm this strong. What's so strange about that?
Don't you know you can't just pry into other people's secrets? Besides, you didn't pay me an intel fee, so why should I tell you anything?"
The elf girl could only stare at him speechlessly. After this short encounter, she had more or less figured out what kind of person he was. So, without another word, she reached into her spatial inventory and pulled out a pouch of gold coins, tossing it to the ground.
"My so-called treatment fee and intel fee—I'll pay them all at once. Now will you answer my questions?"
When Yojuro saw her pull items from thin air, he was stunned—so this world had spatial magic too.
But then his eyes locked onto the pouch on the ground. From the heavy thud and the glittering coins that spilled free, he realized with shock—it was filled to the brim with gold coins!
A wealthy lady. No, a super wealthy lady!
Why? Because the two A-rank commissions he'd just taken—"Conquer the Underground Labyrinth" and "Subjugate the Venomous Lizard Beast"—had rewards of only ten and fifteen gold coins respectively.
And in this world, a single gold coin was enough for someone to live in decadent luxury for at least three days.
Yet this elf girl—no, this elf rich lady—had just casually tossed him a pouch that easily contained close to a hundred gold coins. That was equivalent to ten A-rank commissions in one go!
In that instant, Minami Yojuro thought: saving her was so damn worth it!
"Hello, boss! My name's Minami Yojuro. Don't you think this Overturning Mountain Crystal was a little too plain? I can totally make a deluxe, more comfortable version for you.
And that Kaido I used just now? That was only the standard version. There's actually a premium, deluxe package too. Boss, would you like to try it?"
When she saw Yojuro's attitude shift so dramatically the moment she threw down the pouch of coins, the elf girl could only freeze on the spot, utterly dumbfounded.