Chapter 3.2 – The Evil Dragon Goes to Town With Her Son

…The problem with this mother of his was that she sometimes said perfectly reasonable things.

“I’m going to be an adventurer, so money won’t be a problem!”

“Is that so? Then what town will you work in? Do you even know where the town is, or the Guild?”

…Now that she mentioned it, Ryuuji knew almost nothing about the outside world.

“It seems you learned a few things from that long-eared woman, but you don’t know much about the outside world, do you? Aren’t you worried?”

At his mother’s words, Ryuuji’s anxiety began to grow.

The sweet temptation to let his mother come with him reared its head, and he violently shook it off.

“I’ll manage somehow! I’m leaving by myself!”

Then Karma muttered in a low voice, “Is that so…”

“Then it’s time for my last resort.”

As she spoke, she summoned destructive lightning in her right hand.

“If you refuse to let your mother come with you, I’ll be forced to destroy this planet. Are you okay with that?”

T-this woman… She’s planning to tag along by holding the planet hostage…!

“Mother will destroy it, you know? I’m serious.”“…Alright, I get it, sheesh.”

And that was how he ended up leaving home, accompanied by his mother, Karma.

You couldn’t call it living alone… but still, he had managed to make it to the outside world.

His mood brightened, but looking at his dragon mother beside him made it plummet.

Back in the present, it was around eleven o’clock.

Leaving the gates behind, Ryuuji walked down Kamiina’s main street.

Incidentally, they had gotten to town in an instant using his mother’s 【Hyper-Teleportation】 skill.

It was an ultra-rare skill that allowed her to jump to places she’d never even been, all in a moment’s notice.

“What’s wrong, Ryu-kun? Gasp! Are you feeling unwell?! I-I’ll cast healing magic right now! 【Max Heal】!”

It was a Transcendent-tier Light Magic—a rank even higher than Supreme-tier—that could completely restore health, fully charge MP, cure all status ailments, and even heal any injury or illness.

But it, too, was a waste.

After all, there was nothing wrong with Ryuuji’s body…

“I don’t need it…”

“Th-then why do you look so gloomy?”

It’s your fault, Mom… he couldn’t bring himself to say.

He couldn’t say something so cruel to the parent who raised him.

“It’s nothing… Don’t worry about it.”

“…What a, what a wonderfully kind child you are.”

Karma burst into tears, squatted down on the spot, and began to sob pitifully.

“The way you act so tough just so you don’t worry your mother… That kindness makes me so happy I could die.”

A beautiful woman was shedding buckets of tears, sprawled on the ground.

She instantly drew the gazes of everyone passing by. His mother, even in her human form, was already beautiful enough to stand out.

“Stop it! Just stop it already! Get up, will you!”

He yanked Karma’s arm and pulled her to her feet.

“Sob… Tonight, we’ll make red bean rice. It’s the anniversary of the first time Ryu-kun pulled me up like that.”

Incidentally, other anniversaries included 【The Day He First Called Me Mom】 and 【The Day He First Took a Bath With Mom】.

For Karma, all 365 days of the year were an anniversary.

“Stop talking nonsense and let’s go.”

Ryuuji let go of her hand and was about to walk away, but…

tug.

Karma grabbed his hand and refused to let go.

“No, let’s just hold hands like this as we walk.”

She said it with a completely straight face.

“Why?!”

“Look. There are so many people. At this rate, you’ll get separated from your mother. That would be a disaster. Therefore, we must hold hands.”

Even as she said that, Karma could use a non-elemental magic called 【Search】.

Using Search, she could grasp her surroundings in an instant.

Even if they got separated, she could find him in a heartbeat.

But Karma didn’t mention she could use Search. Her reason was simple: if she did, she wouldn’t get to hold her son’s hand…

“No way, it’s embarrassing! I’m absolutely not holding your hand!”

“There’s no need to be embarrassed, is there?”

But as Ryuuji and Karma held hands, the people on the street continued to stare.

With his short stature, Ryuuji was probably seen as a young child by the onlookers.

They looked at his mother, and then at him, with fond smiles.

Fwoosh… His face flushed red. He was so embarrassed.

“Anyway, just let go of my hand!”

“Hrm. If you truly wish for me to let go, then you must pry my hand away yourself.”

“There’s no way I can match your strength when you’re at the max level…”

“Then it can’t be helped. Shall we just quietly hold hands and take a walk around town?”

Karma beamed, a huge smile on her face.

Apparently, she was happy to be walking through town holding her son’s hand.

Sigh… Ryuuji walked on, sighing to himself. Ugh, the stares from everyone are piercing…

“By the way, Ryu-kun. Where are we off to now?”

Karma asked where they were going.

“For now… there’s a place I want to go.”

“Where is it? An amusement park? A toy store? I saw a soft-serve ice cream shop over that way, you know?”

He sighed. Seriously, stop treating me like a kid…

“…The Adventurers Guild.”

That’s right—Ryuuji knew about adventurers from what the Observer had told him.

Working together with friends to delve into dungeons, find treasure, or slay evil monsters…

Yes, friends.

For fifteen years, Ryuuji had never properly met anyone other than his mother and the Observer, let alone had friends his own age.

That’s precisely why Ryuuji yearned for an adventure with friends more than anyone.

And it’s why he had decided to become an adventurer the moment he started living on his own.

“An adventurer? But Ryu-kun, you could even become a king if you wanted to.”

Sure, with the strongest evil dragon for a mother, it would probably be possible for her son to become king by holding the planet hostage…

He had absolutely no desire to do that.

“It seems the Adventurers Guild is near the central plaza. Let’s go.”

Apparently, she had already grasped the local geography with her Search magic. Led by his mother, Ryuuji headed for the plaza.

It was a large plaza with a fountain in the center.

“Whoa…!”

Ryuuji’s eyes sparkled with delight as he watched the water spouting from the fountain.

“I’ve never seen anything like that!”

“Hmph… Your mother can do that too, Ryu-kun. If I use the water magic 【Great Waterfall】.”

Incidentally, Great Waterfall was a supreme-tier water magic.

It was a powerful and wicked spell capable of making a massive amount of water rain from the sky, washing away the entire town in an instant.

“You don’t need to use it… Hey, what’s that?”

Just then, Ryuuji spotted something odd. A bronze statue stood in the plaza.

“Huh? H-huh?”

Ryuuji did a double take. The statue had a form he felt he’d seen somewhere before.

“What is it?”

“Hey… doesn’t that statue look just like you, Mom?”

Where he pointed, there were two bronze statues.

One was of a man holding a sword. On its pedestal was written: 【Hero of the Nation, The Hero Yuuto】.

The other… was a giant dragon.

“Do you think so? Your mother is much more slender, you know.”

But no, the huge size, the jagged teeth—it’s a spitting image of her evil dragon form.

“Why is there a statue of you…?”

He glanced at the pedestal, and it read:

【Hero of the Nation, The Heroic Dragon, Karma Abyss】

“…”

Ryuuji couldn’t believe his eyes.

“Hero of the… Nation? Heroic Dragon?”

…Come to think of it, he had heard from the Observer. That a hundred years ago, his mother had defeated an evil god who was trying to destroy the world.

In other words… because she was the one who saved the world, the Hero of the Nation—or rather, the Heroic Dragon…

She was treated as an equal to the Hero who defeated the Demon Lord.

“…”

Ryuuji stared at his mother.

“Oh my. If you stare at me so intently, you’ll make your mother very happy.”

…This mother of his was the Hero of the Nation. Which meant he was the hero’s… son?

No way.

His mother might be an amazing person, but he was just an ordinary guy.

He could never call himself the son of a hero.

It was too presumptuous; he wasn’t worthy.

So…

“Hey, Mom. Promise me something.”