Maou no Hajimekata

"... I didn't think you were going to do anything to help Lady Marina."

Back to the dungeon from the moon, Xana said with a sigh, finally opening up from the heavy pressure.

"Say what. There's no way we're going anywhere."

"What measures did you have?

As far as Zana's concerned, Oulu just seems to have done Marina a favor honestly. Or are you going to say that stupidity is the best measure?

"What do you think I took you for? Above the moon is not an environment in which humans can live. You were safe because I was protecting you with magic, but if it went out, you would have burned to death or drowned instantly. So Marina couldn't kill me."

If I had thought about things like that and swallowing, I would have used a pretty eggy hand than I thought. Xanah is stunned knowing she was being held hostage without her knowledge.

"That's a flaw in his ability. Even if you can pull the best, you can't know why it's the best. You've decided it's best not to kill me."

"... I knew you were that kind of guy..."

"Well, actually, I'm not going to be hostile to Marina, so it's like insurance. Never mind."

To Xanah with her head, Oul switched to "more than that".

"The problem is with the trials he's given me. Can you solve this with your abilities?

"There's no way you can!

Zana's ability is, in short, Marina's power. Match pumps are also a good place to solve Marina's trials. Xana screamed at the suggestion of the insane Oulu.

"I don't remember being given such a condition... but I don't know what else to do"

"I mean, do you know what Master Marina demanded?

"I don't."

The test imposed by the goddess of the moon was to gather together five treasures.

"You agreed not to even know...? Master Marina told me to bring it to you as a treasure to be found in Yamato's old story. of a story so famous that even I know it."

"Hmm. If you're so famous, don't you get it without much effort?

To Oul's words, Zana answers with a deep sigh.

"The other way around. Because it's famous for not getting it." A bowl of Buddha's stones ", held by the saints of the outside world and glowing themselves." Penglai's Ball Branches "with silver roots and golden stems and pearl fruit." Fire Mouse Leather Coat "that won't burn if you put it in the fire. In" The Ball of the Dragon's Neck, "" The Kian Shellfish of Swallow ". I don't even know where they are."

The story says that the princess who returned to the moon sought these treasures. I don't know if Marina was the princess or anything, but she's the goddess of the moon. Maybe it has something to do with it.

"I don't know if this is a far-flung rejection."

"That's not true. If you refuse, you just have to say no."

Unlike in the case of the princess of a story proposed by a noble opponent, the position is better for Marina than for Oul. Sure, it doesn't seem necessary to bother poking at unattainable conditions to make them give up, but that's why I didn't really think Zana could get it.

"Why are you so confident?"

"Let it be decided"

Ask Oulu, who nevertheless does not show how distressed he is, he answered naturally.

"Because the dungeon has everything"

"In the meantime, I've gathered everything I can think of."

Since Oulu ordered me, about a month. And those who dwelt in the dungeon were gathering together objects of thought in their hands.

"In the meantime, we didn't find a creature named Fire Rat, so take this one instead"

Superintendent of the Great Ranch supporting the labyrinth table. That's what Mio, a samurai known by the two names of demon kings of the beast, said and offered, was a small lizard about a foot (about thirty centimeters) long. Even so, it's not just lizards. Fire lizard (Salamander), whose scales are engulfed in a burning flame.

"I don't mind replacing you, but what you're asking for is skin. Why did you bring the whole thing"

Kill and peel the skin of the fire lizard, and the flames will go out. But it's what was originally wrapped in flames, so throwing it on fire won't burn it, and it seems to meet Marina's stated conditions.

But what Mio offered was a live fire lizard. Less worried about a fire in a stone labyrinth, but still nothing like taking them around. I mean, why doesn't Mio hold such a creature and bear one burn?

"Though I have no hesitation in dedicating myself or this child if Master Oul so desires. Wouldn't it be pathetic to be told that it was still unnecessary after killing and peeling?"

Don't worry, Mio said with a smile.

"Fair enough. Next."

"Yes. What about the balls on the dragon's neck?

Oul stares at the treasure balls offered by Eunice. Bright white balls just enough to fit in the palms of both hands. It looks tight, but when I touch it, the surface is slightly rough.

"Is this... the one that brushed the bones of the true dragon"

"Your answer! You got it."

That touch, from the weight, immediately showed that it was not a mineral but a bone. But the amount of magic it contains is something that I don't think the unspeakable wreckage will have.

A dragon, such as a creature whose bones have so much magic... it is also unlikely to be anything but a true dragon with a pair of wings and four hands and feet, not a family member or a subspecies.

It doesn't belong to Methus.

"Yeah! I've got him. Speaking of which, I never defeated a dragon, so I thought," Hey, Dingrad. "

"Dingrad? So this is Defikito's bone?"

To Oulu's inquiry, Eunice nods. Far west of the heart of the dungeon where the Ouls are based, when it comes to Fire Dragon Defikito, which lives in Dingrad, it is a bad dragon famous enough to stand alongside the oldest dragon Metus.

He is a younger dragon than Methus, but unlike Methus, who was a grown man if he didn't get his hands on him from here, he was much more afraid because he would strike people at random every few decades.

"You knocked him out by yourself."

"Yeah. It might be a little cheating to use the power of the English Spirit,"

The look on Eunice's face, which nodded proudly somewhere, clouds quickly though.

"But I didn't have any balls around my neck... for once, I tried to polish it spherically"

"I guess."

To the best of Oulu's knowledge, the skeletal structure of a true dragon is roughly the same regardless of species. And the fact that there are no balls in his neck is checking Methus' carcass.

"Though the dragon's body is a huge chunk of magic all over its body. Whatever it is used for, it will be useful. Next..."

"Check this out"

It was Gnome, a woman running a merchant in the labyrinth, who offered a brilliant golden branch to Oulu, who could circle her gaze around her. In the branches in his hand were large pearl fruits, and green jade (emerald) leaves grew.

"... let me make it"

"I asked a Dwerg craftsman with the best arms. It will be 25,000 gold coins."

If Oulu could spot the visit at a glance, Norm answered with a sales grin pasted.

"In the story, didn't the crop get spotted?

"No, I don't exactly see through it. The artisans who made the branches discovered that they were pressing for payment."

The great witch of Yamato, Tena, is familiar with the legacy of this hand on boulders. Answer Oulu's question even so.

"We have already paid enough for the craftsmen this time. If Your Majesty can't pay you..."

Norm then leaned beside Oulu,

"We will pay you physically, so you will not complain."

I made a joke and said that.

"Lil, arrange the gold coins."

"Oh, my goodness."

Pushing each lip pointing gnome competent user demon, Oulu takes the next item.

"Is this..." The Bowl of Buddha's Stone "?

"Yeah, that's right."

It was Marie who nodded at the oul looking at the white and deep plate for her hand.

Simple ceramic plates with no particular decoration, but with a hint of light.

Now, I feel little magic.

No, not most. You can say that not even a skilled magician Oul can be found, which means he has no magic at all.

That was extremely unnatural, as a substance present in the demonic palace of Oulu, full of magic.

"I think I saw it somewhere..."

"Oh, isn't that my bowl!

Looking at the plaque, Merizand shouted unexpectedly. If you ask me, it is a bowl of pottery that Merizand usually uses for his meals.

"I see. Hotke was a kind of saint."

If the dishes made of stone used by the saints were 'pots of stone of the Buddha', then the pottery bowls used by Merizand, the Virgin though the original, would certainly hit it.

The reason behind the phosphorescence is that it is stained with reason that leaks out of Merizand. Magic and reason are mutually extinguishing things, so naturally they don't have magic at all.

"Wait. Huh! What are you going to use that for!?

Merizand desperately stops Oulu from trying to miss the bowl when something decent finally comes out. It is a dish that has been used to stain the leaked rationality. I was very ashamed of what it was to be taken by others, let alone Oulu.

"What are you talking about? I would have explained that I would dedicate myself to the goddess Marina."

"Stop it! Yeah, Marie, get off me! Tell him to let go..."

Merizand desperately tries to resist, but she is just a girl who has no physical qualities, even though she is a former Virgin. Marie drags me lightly and makes me leave.

"Well, next..."

"We have it here. It's a swallow-born shellfish."

It was his best disciple, Spina, who took a step forward in front of Oulu, who could look away at this one with the eyes of livestock as if it were going to be sold to the market.

"... let me see"

I had a bad feeling at that point, but I can't ignore it, Oul urges.

"Yes."

Nod, somewhere happily Spina strips the cover from the bird cage in her hand.

What an indescribable creature he was in it.

"... what is this"

"It's a swallow-born shellfish."

Spina repeats foolishly. That, as an approximate form, did also look similar to swallows. Unless your whole body is covered in shell-like scales and your legs are even numb and fake legs like snails.

"... a magical creature"

"Yes, it's a synthetic beast with swallows and pepper shells"

What makes "Swallow Shellfish" different from the other four treasures is that swallows and shellfish… a kind of takaragai also exists. But since those two species are completely different creatures, it is unlikely that swallows will produce shellfish.

If so, Spina thought it would be good to make such a creature.

"This is a swallow but at the same time a kian shell. As it grows, its properties as a shellfish gradually disappear, its swallow properties become stronger, and..."

Spina puts the birdcage on the floor and takes out another, cobbled crate.

There is water in it.

"Strong shellfish nature, gives birth to children"

The strange shellfish from which the beak began to grow lay in it.

"Settled... Did you"

"And my name is?

As Oul told him to groan, Spina tilted her neck.

"Synthetic beasts multiplied by two or more organisms basically have no reproductive capacity and are a one-generation existence. Even if you have reproductive abilities, your child's generation cannot reproduce or grow up well in the first place. but very rarely, there are those that have normal reproductive capacity and generalize as species. That's what they call 'fixation'."

The most famous example is Kimyra, a warcraft with the head of a lion in the body of a goat and the tail of a snake. It is said to be a synthetic beast made by magicians hundreds of years ago, but nowadays it settles as a species and reproduces and increases with each other. Therefore, the Warcraft of Chimera is specifically referred to as Chimaira.

But such a presence exists only to the point of counting the long history of witchcraft, and it is also a product of coincidence, and I had never even heard of Oulu, such as the technique of deliberately creating it.

"Then we are settled. This child is the fourth generation."

I don't know if I know what that teacher thinks or not, Spina says something like that.

It will no longer even extend Oulu far in the field of magical creature making. The Demon King could only stare at his disciple, who had at some point gone far away.