Chapter 10 – The Son Powers Up from the Evil Dragon’s Cooking 【Part 2】

Ryuuji, along with his beastman partner, Sheila, headed to a different dungeon from the day before.

(…Thanks to Mom, the dungeon we visited yesterday is a complete mess.)

Incidentally, with all the monsters gone, that labyrinth became much easier for people to enter.

And after a series of super-rare items were discovered within it, it became an incredibly famous dungeon, but…

That aside.

Ryuuji arrived at the dungeon.

He looked at Sheila behind him and said.

“Yesterday was what it was, but let’s do our best today.”

“Yes, I will!”

Huff, huff. Sheila was full of motivation.

“Somehow, Sheila is in top form right now!”

“Me too. My body feels light.”

(It’s probably because I’m excited to finally be adventuring on my own.)

The highly motivated youths decided to get started on their quest right away.

Ryuuji recalled the request he had accepted from the Guild.

“Um… today’s job is to subjugate White Monkeys, right?”

“Yes, it is! The receptionist said they’re fast and probably difficult to defeat!”

Incidentally, the receptionist from yesterday had apparently become their dedicated handler.

It seemed that popular adventurers were assigned their own receptionists like that.

(Even though we haven’t accomplished anything significant yet…) Slaying 1500 monsters on their first day had clearly drawn too much attention.

“Shall we go?”

“Yes, let’s!”

Sheila moved in front of Ryuuji and began to walk with quick, short steps.

“Sheila-san. You’re the rear guard, so you should stay behind me.”

“Hau! You’re right…”

shun… The rabbit girl’s bunny ears drooped.

“Okaa-sama told me to protect you, Ryu-kun… so I just…”

Apparently, she had been trying to protect him. Ryuuji was happy to see what a straightforward and kind person she was.

“It’s okay. I’ll be in front to protect you while you’re chanting your spells, Sheila-san.”

Ryuuji’s class was Swordsman.

He was equipped with a leather shield and a bronze sword.

They were normal items, untouched by his mother’s hand.

Incidentally, these were supplied by the Guild.

The Guild provides adventurers with a set of minimal equipment.

(The money we got from yesterday’s subjugation… I haven’t touched any of it. To me, that’s no different from getting a handout from Mom.)

…He wanted to earn money properly. With his own two hands.

(And then… for Mom…)

It was at that moment.

“Kee-kee!!”

A white monkey leaped out from behind a rock in the dungeon.

“So that’s a White Monkey! Get back, Sheila-san!”

“Right!”

Sheila moved away from Ryuuji and began her magic chant.

“Here I gooo!!”

Ryuuji drew his sword and took a single step toward the monkey.

WHOOSH…!!!

“Huh?” “Kee?”

A dumbfounded sound escaped Ryuuji’s lips.

The monkey that should have been in front of him had vanished in an instant.

“W-Where did it go?”

He looked around, but there was no sign of the monkey.

(I heard they were fast, but to be this fast…!!)

“Ryu-kun!”

He heard Sheila’s voice from behind him.

(Dammit…!)

“Sheila-san!!!”

(The monkey must be attacking Sheila. Crap, for me, the frontliner, to lose sight of the target!)

Ryuuji hurriedly turned around, but…

“Amaaaazing! That was so fast!”

Sheila, who should have been a short distance away just a moment ago… was now incredibly far away.

“Huh?”

And between him and Sheila, there was a monkey.

No, there was a monkey lying on the ground, its torso sliced clean in two.

“W-What just happened…?”

He had only drawn his sword and lunged toward the monkey.

He hadn’t even swung his sword down.

“Ryu-kun… you’re too amazing!”

(I have no idea what’s going on.) But it seemed Sheila, who had been watching from behind, understood the situation.

Ignoring the monkey’s corpse, Ryuuji went over to Sheila.

“Sheila-san. What happened…?”

Sheila then explained.

“You charged forward with the speed of lightning, Ryu-kun! You slipped past the monkey’s side, and then it was split in two!”

…Apparently, I.

Had moved incredibly fast.

“You’re a master, Ryu-kun! Even moving that fast, your sword went shwing!”

…I have no memory of swinging my sword.

…………

He was starting to get it now.

Something was happening to his body.

And without a doubt, that overprotective-of-all-overprotective mothers had schemed something.

It was at that moment.

“Kee-kee!!”

Suddenly, a monkey appeared behind Ryuuji.

It seemed to have been watching its companion get killed from the shadows.

It had hidden its presence and launched a surprise attack on Ryuuji.

But.

SHINK…!

A crisp, clean sound.

And the next thing he knew… the monkey was on the ground, its torso sliced in two.

“Wh-Wha-What!?”

Ryuuji had been completely unaware of the monkey’s appearance.

He had been perfectly ambushed.

And yet… Ryuuji had repelled the enemy.

No…

“Ry-Ryu-kun!? Behind you! Behind you!!”

Sheila, her eyes wide, pointed at Ryuuji’s back.

“Behind me…? Wh-Whaaaaaat!? What is this—!!”

When Ryuuji looked behind him, around the area of his backside…

A tail had sprouted.

It was a dragon’s tail.

“W-What the hell is thiiiiis!!”

The moment he shouted at the top of his lungs.

“Kee-kee!” “Kee-kee!” “Ooky-kyo!” “Ookeeey!!”

Four White Monkeys charged at Ryuuji in a large group.

Ryuuji tried to ready his sword, but…

SHWIN-SHWIN-SHWIN-SHWIN…!!

SLICE-SLICE-SLICE-SLICE-SLICE-SLICE…!!!

…Faster than Ryuuji could move.

With divine speed… the tail moved automatically and sliced the enemies in two.

…………

Ryuuji was dumbfounded by the sheer absurdity of it all.

He was surprised that a dragon’s tail had grown, but he was also surprised that the tail moved on its own.

The tail was covered in scales. The scales had sharp, pointy spikes, which must have served as blades.

“That’s amazing, Ryu-kun! To beat them with your tail!”

(Shouldn’t you be commenting on the fact that I grew a tail…?) Ryuuji thought.

But, thinking about it, from Sheila’s perspective, Ryuuji was the son of the dragon Karma.

She probably thought it wasn’t strange for him to have a dragon’s tail. (…Come to think of it, I never told her I was human.)

“Um… Sheila-san. Actually…”

He was about to explain, when.

“UGOGOGO! OOHOOO!!!”

…A giant white ape, easily ten times the size of the previous White Monkeys, dropped from the ceiling.

THOOOOM!!!

“W-What is that?”

“It must be the boss of the little monkeys!”

He was momentarily soothed by the cute term “little monkeys.”

The boss ape, as if to say, Revenge for my followers!

Came charging at Ryuuji.

“OOHOOOOOO!!”

The tail moved quickly, but the boss ape swatted it away with its hand.

The boss ape’s giant arm swung around and attacked Sheila!

(Look out!)

“W-Waaaaaah!!”

Even though he knew it was no match for him, Ryuuji leaped in front of Sheila.

He raised his leather shield.

(…There’s no way this thing can stop a monster like that.)

He closed his eyes, prepared for the end, but it was at that moment.

CLAAAAANG!!

KRA-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!

The sound of something colliding, and then the sound of something hitting something else at tremendous speed, happened in succession.

“Hah!?”

When he opened his eyes, the boss ape was gone.

The ape was embedded in the wall far in the distance.

“Wh-Wha? Whaaaaaat!?”

As he wondered what on earth had just happened,

squeeze.

Someone hugged him from behind.

He looked and saw Sheila, sobbing her eyes out, thanking him. “Thank you…”

“Sob… amazing… so cool…”

“Um… Sheila-san? What happened?”

According to Sheila,

Ryuuji had raised his shield. The boss ape had crashed into it.

Ryuuji had braced himself, and the ape had been sent flying back at incredible speed.

“Sob… waaaah… Ryu-kun, thank you…”

…………

(It has to be Mom.)

(It’s because of Mom that I can suddenly move insanely fast, that a tail grew from my butt, and that I’ve become ridiculously sturdy.)

(But when could she have done something…?)

The only thing that came to mind was this morning’s meal.

(She served dragon tail and everything. She must have put something in that food!!)

…Incidentally, when he got home and confronted his mother, he found out that the breakfast had apparently included the following super-rare items:

【God Cow’s Milk】 (Increases speed)

【Dragon Meat】 (By eating the flesh and blood of a dragon, one can obtain a part of it)

【Sage’s Garlic】 (Increases defense)