The dungeon has been parasitized

Chapter 107 Precious

"Haha... Actually, there's nothing wrong with the forest. I got these from other caves."

"I see... But what kind of magic cores are all these?"

"Uh, they're all magic cores from winged serpent dragons."

"A winged... winged serpent dragon?!"

"Y-you, you mean... a pterosaur?"

Upon hearing that these were the magic cores of the Winged Serpent Dragon, the Ratfolk were shocked once again, and their mouths, which had just opened, closed again.

"You're kidding... Are you talking about the winged serpent dragon, the servant of dragons?"

"Yeah, a snake with two wings and two legs, the kind that can fly."

Yanami nodded obediently, but the rat-people still found it somewhat unbelievable.

After all, while individual winged serpent dragons aren't particularly strong, they are definitely not weak monsters. And most importantly, they appear in large groups, so you'll encounter a huge horde whenever you run into one.

One pterosaur is nothing special, but a swarm of pterosaurs is an extremely terrifying situation, like a locust plague.

"You took care of those terrifying guys?"

"Um……"

Yanami hesitated, unsure how to answer them, so she asked Klein for advice.

"Klein, how are we going to explain this? If I say I killed so many winged serpents myself, I don't think they'll believe me, right?"

Indeed, Yanami's displayed strength wasn't that high, so it's hard to believe she solved it on her own.

But how do you explain it?

In reality, it was all the fishmen's doing, and Yanami was just the fisherman who reaped the benefits.

I feel it's not a good idea to say it like this, it might have a bad influence on the rats, just like Yanami is using the fishmen... although Klein really is using them.

Tell them that actually, the winged serpent dragons fought other monsters and were eventually picked up by Yanami.

This may seem like a valid point, but as the saying goes, "A common man is innocent, but possessing a treasure is a crime."

If you don't demonstrate enough strength, carrying so many magic cores would actually be dangerous.

Klein thought for a while and finally came up with a relatively safe answer, which he then told Yanami.

"Uh, if you don't want to answer, that's fine..."

Because Yanami was in a daze for a long time, the atmosphere became cold. Hyacinth and Daisy looked at her awkwardly, not knowing what to say next.

"Ah, it's okay... but it's really not convenient to talk about it."

"Then there's no need—"

"No, no, I can tell you."

Yanami smiled and waved her hand, interrupting Hyacinth's words.

"I was just thinking that if I were to tell you, you might not be willing to believe it..."

"Don't want to believe it? But with so many magic cores in front of me, I don't think I'll be surprised by anything you say."

"Yes, yes."

Daisy nodded in agreement, while the guard listened to their conversation in silence, seemingly very curious.

"Don't be surprised when I tell you."

"Oh... go ahead and tell me, but the way you're being so serious is making me nervous."

Hyacinth and Daisy couldn't help but straighten their chests and look at Yanami with some seriousness.

"You should remember that I am skilled at taming monsters."

"Yes, that's right. Not only did you tame the Shadow Wolf and the Thunder Crocodile, but you can also manipulate plant energy. Thinking about it now, it really feels incredible."

"I was really startled at the time."

As they said this, Hyacinth and Daisy both subconsciously looked at the inexplicably docile Shadow Wolf lying on the ground.

"Actually, I tamed a dragon. These are the magic cores of the winged serpent dragons that were next to the dragon. They died in battle, so I had to take the usable materials."

After Yanami finished speaking, Hyacinth and Daisy fell silent. They stared blankly at Yanami, their only movement being their blinking eyes, which were blinking due to their confused minds.

"W-what?!"

The belated gasp echoed through the cave once more; Hyacinth's mouth hadn't closed since.

"That was so loud... Didn't we agree not to be surprised?"

Yanami's ears hurt from their loud noise, so she took a step back and patted the side of her head.

Hyacinth ignored Yanami's words and took two steps forward with disbelief and excitement.

"You...you mean you tamed a dragon?!"

"Yes."

"A true dragon, an ancient dragon, with two wings and four legs?!"

Hyacinth grabbed Yanami's shoulders and rocked back and forth, as if she couldn't express her excitement and disbelief otherwise.

"Uh, that's probably true, but... please calm down."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

Hyacinth paused for a moment, then released her grip on Yanami's shoulder and rubbed her hands together awkwardly.

"No wonder you were able to obtain so many winged serpent dragon magic cores... So that's how it is."

"Wow, that's amazing."

"Do you believe me?"

Hyacinth and Daisy's expressions were slightly complicated, and they didn't seem to believe Yanami's explanation.

"Well... rather than believing it, it's more like having no choice but to believe it. After all, there really are so many winged serpent dragon magic cores, and that incident happened recently... but I still find it hard to believe that a proud dragon could be tamed."

"That matter?"

"Some time ago, we heard the roar of a dragon, so we all thought that another dragon had awakened."

"The dragon's roar almost made us think the world was about to end."

"Oh, so that's what you're talking about."

Yanami nodded thoughtfully, and Hyacinth and the others looked at Yanami in surprise, as if she really knew something.

"Wait—the dragon's awakening, could it be because of you?"

"Well..."

Yanami deliberately feigned hesitation, and Hyacinth leaned close to Daisy's ear and whispered something.

("Judging from her appearance... could it really be related to her?")

("N-I don't know, but I feel we should discuss it with the leader... We can't just talk about these things here, can we?")

("Hmm...that's true.")

"What's wrong?"

Yanami looked at the two who had suddenly started whispering, somewhat confused.

"N-nothing."

"Is that so? As for the dragon's roar, actually—"

"Ah, I'd like to ask you to talk about that later."

Hyacinth quickly stopped Yanami, preventing her from continuing.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we hope you can meet with our leader, because... you seem to know something, right?"

Yanami looked into Hyacinth's eyes but didn't answer immediately, making Hyacinth feel a little nervous. But then, Yanami smiled.

I guess so.

"Well then... let's move the stuff first. We almost forgot about the important matter. Besides, we need to report these hundred magic cores to the leader."

Yes, that's right.

Although it was a bit unexpected, it seems that taming a dragon was the right choice.