My Slain Dragon Bride

Chapter 82: Chapter 82

Chapter 82 - An Outing

The high autumn sky and the maple leaves painted in every color.

There was not much time left for them.

Soon they would all fall as dead leaves, becoming a blanket that covered the ground.

It was late autumn.

’Beautiful.’

Looking up at a landscape she had only ever looked down upon thousands of times felt refreshing.

Perhaps because of that, Valdrova could not take another step.

The sensation of becoming a part of it all felt unimaginably precious.

’An outing...’

Not a campaign to simply hunt down Monsters, but an outing taken purely to lift her spirits.

It was such a trivial thing, yet she could not calm the pounding of her heart.

What if I make a mistake?

I mustn’t make a mistake...

Repeating those words to herself, she took a deep breath.

Only then did she finally begin walking.

’I wonder what kind of village Mr. Ferda built?’

After centuries of seclusion, Valdrova was seeing a village for the very first time.

It was none other than the village being built beneath Valdrova Castle.

’This is... a village?’

The last village Valdrova remembered consisted of houses built from stone, earth, and wood.

But what was this before her now?

There were nothing but tents.

People had gathered around the tents, busily working.

’So civilization has declined this much in the meantime.’

Valdrova could not hide her disappointment.

When she had spoken with Luri, she had clearly heard that humanity was enjoying an age of prosperity...

Had Luri lied just to keep her from worrying?

"Hey there, who might you be, mister?"

As she stood there blankly staring, someone approached her.

Startled, Valdrova quickly turned her head.

It was a man in his thirties who looked as though he had spent years working on rough ground.

Valdrova was completely overwhelmed by him.

It was not simply because he looked intimidating.

’A human... spoke to me.’

It was merely a symptom of her social anxiety.

Someone other than Ferda had walked right up to her without hesitation and asked who she was.

For a moment, it felt as though time itself had stopped.

What should I say? Should I run away?

"What’s wrong? Why aren’t you saying anything? Don’t tell me you’ve taken an Oath of Silence?"

An Oath of Silence?

She had no idea what that was, but Valdrova nodded anyway.

The man immediately accepted the explanation without asking further questions.

"Ah, I see. So you’re a knight who’s sworn an oath to Alte. Are you a wandering knight hoping to receive a knighthood from Valdrova Castle?"

Shake, shake.

"No? Then you must be someone from a Knight Family who became an adventurer... Though it looks like you’ve arrived a little too early. We’re still in the middle of building the village. We need to get the houses built first..."

The man clicked his tongue.

Tilting her head, Valdrova pointed toward the tents.

Weren’t those the houses?

"Huh? What are you talking about? Those are only temporary shelters until the village is finished. They’re not houses!"

Ah, so those were not houses.

Valdrova scratched her head awkwardly.

"You really don’t know much about the world, do you? Well, I suppose it happens. Those are temporary barracks. What we need now are proper communal barracks."

"Houses that can keep out the winter winds and let people warm their hands by a fire. We have to build them before winter arrives if everyone wants to stay warm."

"..."

"They say the Empire is putting out recruitment notices to bring in more workers, but not a single damn person has volunteered. Know why?"

Shake, shake.

"Because nobody wants to be dragged out to the front lines, that’s why. Honestly, I’d probably feel the same. Life inside the wall is dangerous enough, so what kind of hell do you think it is outside the wall? These young folks would rather tremble in fear and die safely inside the Empire. They’ve got no spirit. No guts at all."

"..."

"So tell me, mister. Are you strong?"

Strength...

Strength was the only thing she possessed.

That was why she was known as the Dragon of the Aspect of Fire and the Aspect of Strength.

Without much confidence, Valdrova nodded.

"As it happens, we’ve got a few people like you already. I’m the foreman of this construction site. If you’ve got the strength, how about lending us a hand? If you’ve got somewhere else to be, I won’t stop you. But if you’re planning to stay out here in the Far East, we need to finish building this place as quickly as possible."

The man offered Valdrova a construction job.

Even though she appeared to be a knight or an adventurer, they desperately needed manpower and could not afford to be picky.

After hearing the offer, Valdrova slowly looked around once more.

People living in tents.

Though they wore padded winter clothes, every cold gust made them hunch their shoulders.

’It must be very cold.’

Sleeping inside those tents would surely be even colder.

’Then the least I can do is...’

After thinking for a while, Valdrova nodded.

"As expected of an adventurer... Wait... you’re actually agreeing?"

Nod, nod.

"Huh."

The man stared at her with wide eyes, as though she were some kind of oddball.

In truth, he had made the same offer to several adventurers before, but this was the first time anyone had accepted.

Who would willingly do this kind of backbreaking labor?

"All right then. I’ll let the administrator know. My name’s Hanson. You can just call me Foreman... Ah, right, you’ve taken an Oath of Silence. I’ll give you a name tag later whenever work comes up. Just use that to call for me instead."

Nod, nod.

"Before we get started... wouldn’t you rather take off that armor?"

"...?"

Armor? This?

Valdrova pointed at her helmet.

"Yeah, that armor."

Clank!

Valdrova was so startled that she violently shook her head.

"How are you supposed to work while wearing something like that?"

Shake, shake!

"It can’t be because you’re trying to save face around other men... Don’t tell me you can’t show your face?"

Nod, nod!

"Huh... You can’t show your face, and you’ve sworn an Oath of Silence too. You’re quite the mysterious one."

After trying several more times to convince her, Hanson finally gave up.

What did her clothes matter?

As long as she could use her strength, that was enough.

Hanson immediately put her to work.

He led Valdrova toward a pile of logs.

"You see these logs here? Carry every one of them over to the fellow cutting lumber over there. Simple enough, right?"

Nod, nod.

"All right then, head over to that end. We’ll lift them together and load them onto the cart one by one. Ready? One, two... Hng... Huh?"

Something was wrong.

He had put strength into lifting it, yet there was no resistance whatsoever.

Unless the log had somehow been made from bundled feathers, such a thing was impossible.

With growing suspicion, Hanson lowered his gaze.

The log was floating in the air.

The knight standing on the opposite side had lifted it all by herself.

With only one hand.

As though it weighed nothing at all.

The helmet stared straight at the foreman.

Where should I put this?

"Ah... over there... would be fine."

The casual "mister" vanished from his speech, replaced by respectful honorifics.

Valdrova simply walked away carrying the log.

She held it by one end as she casually carried it off.

Even the strongest men could not hold up an entire log simply by gripping one end.

"Um... isn’t it heavy?"

Nod, nod.

Seeing that she looked completely unbothered, Hanson cautiously asked another question.

"Could you perhaps carry two at once?"

Valdrova nodded and effortlessly lifted two logs.

Again, with only one hand.

"And... how many more do you think you could carry?"

"...?"

Valdrova tilted her head.

She honestly did not know.

Well, she could always find out now, couldn’t she?

Thinking that, she continued adding one log after another.

Eventually she stacked ten logs together and lifted the entire pile.

She was now carrying enough logs to fill two carts by herself.

"..."

Hanson stood there with his mouth hanging open.

Nor was he the only one shocked by the incredible display.

"What the...?"

"Is that person carrying all of those alone?"

Naturally, everyone working nearby turned to look.

A knight clad in full armor carrying ten logs at once was enough to make people whisper among themselves.

’Was that the wrong thing to do?’

The moment she noticed everyone staring at her, Valdrova panicked and immediately set the logs back down.

Coming back to his senses, Hanson shouted at the crowd.

"What are you all staring at?! Get back to work!"

Growling as he threatened them, he finally drove the workers back to their stations.

Hanson then approached Valdrova and comforted her.

"Oh, Sir Knight, please don’t worry. Anyone who treats you like some kind of spectacle will have to answer to Hanson personally! I’ll knock some sense into them myself!"

Hanson demonstrated a chopping motion with his hand while making whoosh sounds with his mouth.

To him, Valdrova was an irreplaceable top-tier worker.

After much coaxing, Valdrova resumed working.

Even if he had not gone that far to reassure her, she had intended to continue anyway.

’We have to build the houses quickly.’

She wanted to help everyone sleep in warm homes before the freezing winds from the north arrived.

At the very least, she wanted them to sleep without worry.

For someone as simple-minded as she was, that was the very best she could do.

"That’s enough for today. Thank you for your hard work, Sir Knight!"

Following the foreman’s gaze, Valdrova looked up at the sun.

It had already begun sinking toward the west.

Thinking there was still time left, she moved to continue working.

But Hanson stopped her.

"Ah, that’s enough. The sun’s already setting, isn’t it? Once the sun goes down, it’s time to rest and prepare for tomorrow. Everyone’s exhausted, aren’t they?"

Ah... I see.

Valdrova nodded.

Hanson walked over to where the workers had gathered.

That was where everyone turned in their work tokens and collected their wages for the day.

He submitted Valdrova’s share as well and collected her pay.

Returning with the money pouch, Hanson grumbled.

"Those damned cheapskates. One person finished a week’s worth of work that would’ve taken four men, yet instead of paying fifteen people’s wages, they only paid for ten. Aren’t they just filthy scoundrels?"

She wasn’t really sure.

So she simply nodded.

"It’s always the people at the top who are the problem. That Regent named Ferda must’ve been the one who ordered this! Young as he is, he’s stingy as hell—... Gulp!"

Hanson hurriedly shut his mouth.

From beyond the shadow of that helmet, he could feel a gaze that seemed to be glaring directly at him.

"Ah... I’m sorry. No matter what, you’re a knight, and I shouldn’t have spoken so disrespectfully about a noble. Please forgive me. It’s just the grumbling of a middle-aged man who hasn’t accomplished anything."

"..."

"If it were up to me, I’d empty my own pockets and pay you myself. But for now, please accept this instead. In return, I’ll make sure to become a useful connection for you later on as an adventurer. What do you say?"

Anyone even slightly familiar with the adventuring profession would have known just how meaningless those words were.

However, Valdrova had absolutely no idea what the man was talking about.

So she simply nodded.

"Hahaha! As expected, you’ve got real generosity of spirit! Here you are."

Hanson held out a heavy pouch to Valdrova.

The jingling sound coming from inside was strangely familiar.

’It sounds just like the gold coins piled up in the treasury.’

It sounded much like the noise they made whenever she lightly tapped the pile with one of her claws.

Valdrova accepted the pouch.

"Come to think of it, Sir Knight, this is your first time here. Do you have somewhere to stay? If not, I could prepare a bed for you..."

Experiencing life like a human had been enjoyable, but she could not stay here.

Valdrova nodded and absentmindedly pointed toward Lonely Mountain.

Then she suddenly realized her mistake and hurriedly pointed in the opposite direction instead.

"You’re not planning to leave this place forever, are you?"

Hanson asked with an uneasy expression.

When Valdrova shook her head, the color returned to his face.

"Ah, so you’re just staying somewhere else. Understood. If you ever feel like helping with the construction again, please come by anytime. Having someone like you around would be an enormous help!"

Unable to reply, Valdrova simply kept nodding.

I should leave before things get awkward.

With that thought, she turned around.

"Sir Knight?"

"...?"

"I thought you said you were going home. Where are you going?"

Valdrova’s feet had unconsciously started heading toward Lonely Mountain.

Oops.

That’s not the direction I pointed.

Looking embarrassed, Valdrova turned around and began walking in the direction she had indicated earlier.

Seeing that, Hanson burst into laughter.

"Take care on your way back! And don’t run into any Monsters!"

After exchanging farewells, she walked farther and farther away from the village.

Once the village disappeared from sight, Valdrova made a wide detour before heading straight toward her Lair.

The return trip took only three seconds.

Pushing open the enormous iron gate and returning to her home, Valdrova lay down exactly as she was.

Still wearing her armor, she stared up at the pitch-black ceiling.

’What... was that?’

It had been such a strange day.

The entire day had flown by in the blink of an eye.

She was not tired, yet she barely understood what had happened.

All she had done was move around, over and over again.

And people had admired her.

’...Was I actually helpful?’

The thought that simply doing that had been enough left her feeling oddly dazed.

Valdrova untied the bundle resting on her chest.

Ten Copper Coins for each worker.

A total of one hundred for the work of ten people.

She carefully stacked the coins and silently looked down at them.

Money that humans gave me.

’Money they gave me because they were grateful.’

They had thanked her.

’They said they wanted to see me again tomorrow.’

The images of those people became vivid in Valdrova’s mind.

Not the frightened expressions she had always known—

But bright, smiling faces.

’Humans... want me here.’

She had no idea how to express the overwhelming emotions welling up inside her.

Her heart felt as though it would burst from happiness.

More than anything, she wanted to share this joy with someone.

"Luri..."

The first person who came to mind was the young girl who knew her better than anyone.

The kind-hearted child who had faithfully served her for so many years.

"...I can’t tell her."

Valdrova reflexively covered her mouth.

Luri was loyal, but when she became angry, she was scarier than anyone else.

She would undoubtedly start lecturing her about the dignity of Dragons and all sorts of things.

That would only make both of them worry more, so it had to remain a secret.

She needed someone other than Luri to share it with.

"Then... Mr. Ferda?"

A gentle man.

She always wanted to have something new to talk about with him.

And this—

This was a wonderful topic.

Her heart tingled.

She found herself smiling for no reason, and her body fidgeted restlessly.

She wished Ferda could somehow soothe this feeling inside her.

’No... not yet.’

Valdrova hugged the pouch of Copper Coins tightly to her chest.

She wanted to tell Ferda.

But not now.

This village was being built according to Ferda’s will.

She wanted to keep saving these little earnings and someday surprise him with a gift.

One day, when this village prospered...

She wanted to tell him that she had been one of the pillars supporting its foundation.

That she had helped build it with her own hands.

That destruction was not the only thing she was capable of.

She wanted to see the expression on his face.

She wanted to hear what kind of praise he would give her.

So she decided to keep it a carefully guarded secret.

Even so, the feelings in her heart overflowed before she realized it.

"Mr. Ferda..."

Valdrova softly whispered his name with deep affection.

"I... was able to help you, Mr. Ferda."

That was the single step Valdrova had taken forward.

The beginning of a small change.