Chapter 235

Aegir POV

Claire is holding her head in distress in front of the dragon .

Apparently, she was depressed for two reasons .

Uuuu what a waste .

It cant be helped . I didnt know about the dragon blood either .

Claire will be using her subordinates from the merchant company to disassemble the dragons corpse .

Its natural to want to utilize the scales that can deflect cannonballs and the bones that even my Dual Crater cant penetrate .

The first step when it comes to dismantling a living being is the draining of blood .

If neglected, the body will rot in no time .

Because Claire is a more than capable merchant, she works fast .

When I got there, most of the blood was already drained .

Its all good . If we have enough to help the injured citizens recover, thats plenty .

Whatever little blood left inside the body is scraped together and the treatment of the injured commences .

From what I saw with the woman I saved earlier, even the tiniest amount is shown to be effective .

If we sold such an outstanding healing medicine, how many tens of thousands of gold would we make I wonder if there is any left .

Unwilling to give up, she orders her subordinates to cut open the area near the heart .

Claires subordinates swung down their hammers and pickaxes countless times before looking back at her with helpless expressions, presenting their broken tools while shaking their heads .

In the first place, our iron tools cant even take this corpse apart .

She heaves a heavy sigh .

The subordinates particularly proud of their strength who she gathered tried their best but were not able to take a single scale off .

They also tried to get through the stomach area where there were no scales, still they could not do so .

Ill get the dwarves to cooperate later . Perhaps their tools will work .

It will have to be after they sober up though .

Each of them being able to drink a whole barrel surprised even Irijina .

Haa this kind of incompetence, it hasnt happened since the days I was first starting out .

The only thing she did so far was extract the precious blood from the area I cut open .

For the go-getter Claire, it is a rare failure .

Where did you say? Ill help you out .

The disheartened Claire has become quite pitiable .

I unsheathe the Dual Crater and approach the dragons corpse .

Nn its kind of red . Whatever .

I slash at the wound near the chest area .

A single line runs through scale and skin, cleanly opening up a slit to reveal the heart .

it wasnt that easy to cut through during the fight .

I wonder if there is any blood left .

Claire doesnt hesitate to reach into the slit with her hands .

Its quite the shocking scene to see a beauty get her clothes dirty with blood while rummaging through another living creatures internal organs .

As expected of someone who didnt rise up in the world as a mere woman, she sees profit more than she sees it as something disgusting .

!? T-this is-!

In that moment, I hear the sound of grains rolling out .

A huge amount of a certain something appears to spill out from inside the heart .

What are these, jewels? Or maybe rocks?

The red objects range from the size of a persons thumb to the size of a persons fist .

I thought they were rubies at first, but these things are a darker red and dont look pretty at all .

Theyre brittle .

When I press them hard with my fingers, they crumble and turn into powder .

Dont tell me-!

Claire doesnt falter, taking a knife and stabbing the back of the hand of a chubby subordinate beside her .

how cruel, he made a sound like a filthy pig .

Drink this!

She pinches a small fragment off the larger granule, stuffs it into her subordinates mouth and watches the wound .

Claire is a pretty frightening boss .

Its healing as I thought, these are coagulated orbs of blood!!

If you were going to test it, then well, it would be a waste to mark up Claires smooth skin for that .

In this case, the man should endure this much .

Were taking all of it out! Eeei, Ill do it myself!

With a running start, she jumps head first into the wound .

Practically her entire body went inside the corpse .

What an admirable merchant soul she has .

I also asked for assistance from Rafen . Someone should be coming soon .

I told them they definitely have to bring Tristan and his excessively extensive knowledge, knowing he always has spare time .

There is still some left in the heart . Stick your hand in their and scrape it out! This organ is in the way, hold onto it for a bit!

Claire isnt listening anymore .

Maybe Ill fondle Lauries ass or something .

I grab the tiny ass of Laurie, who is standing beside me rather than helping Claire .

Kyaan!

Oops!

I thought for sure Laurie politely stepped away but she let out a scream .

It was unexpected and surprised me .

Laurie appears to be just over ten years old but shes actually a clever 17 year old girl who has lots of experience being a merchant as Claires right hand .

She takes advantage of her childish face and body to the fullest, one of her specialties being negotiating with men in bed .

Speaking from personal experience, she has made me ejaculate unwilling before .

Aau its not that I dont want toIm just a little conscious of hauu

This girl with her sharp mind and superior acting skills is blushing and hesitating to say what she wants .

She repeatedly sends me brief glances before shyly averting her eyes .

Whats wrong? Do you have a fever?

If she is sick or injured, the greatest medicine is right in front of her .

N-no . Its not that . please continue .

Laurie gets closer to me and sticks out her ass .

I wonder whats wrong .

Telling me I can fool around with her actually makes it harder to do .

Ill still do it though .

Ah aahn

A childs ass doesnt feel all that great to fondle .

However, the reactions of the rather sensitive Laurie excites me .

If this is acting, shes something else . Lilian better watch out .

A Few Days Later . Lintbloom .

A few days after the dragon was slain, a few soldiers arrived from Rafen to help with the restoration of the city and the dismantling of the dragon corpse .

In addition, Tristan, who I personally named, wasnt the only one who came . Leopolt and Adolph also tagged along .

With the two of them here, I didnt think I needed to stay and was about to take two women to a separate room in the inn so I could spread their legs and lick their pussies, but Celia intervened, kicking away the girls and dragging me with her to the meeting we are presently holding .

Other people present are Claire and Laurie, as well as Balbano, who brought a chair specially modified for those with short legs .

Everyone here is within reason, but its quite funny that the mayor of the city of Lintbloom wasnt asked to be present in a setting like this .

What was his name again?

My will is his will .

Claire said that .

So, what is his will anyways?

Claire grins, picks up the scrap paper on the floor and throws them in the garbage bin .

Aegir-sama?

Hm, I was just doing some thinking .

I lift up my head as I reply to Celia .

Claire seems to be arguing with Adolph .

The dismantling of the dragon will proceed somehow, borrowing only the help of the dwarves . Your assistance is not needed .

That is fine, but the dragon in the city if we treat it as a livestock without an owner, then the rights naturally belong to the feudal lord .

Claire smiles at me after glaring menacingly at Adolph .

These two go up against each other fairly often .

Perhaps its unavoidable due to their line of work .

Laurie is sitting next to Claire as usual and constantly staring at me .

But whenever I look back at her, she looks down and averts her eyes .

In any case, its quite astounding to call a dragon here .

Adolph and Leopolt exhale .

Why are they looking at me like that, I did my best to kill this thing so they could at least thank me .

As expected of Lord Hardlett . Ive never seen a man as heroic as you . Are you satisfied with that?

Stop that Leopolt, hearing you say that makes my whole body break out .

Rather, all of you gathered here because youve actually got nothing to do, right?

Lintbloom is one of the most important cities in this territory of ours . I will rush over whenever there is any damage .

That may be true for Adolph .

But Im surprised Leopolt would come when he isnt normally concerned with domestic affairs .

Since we havent yet recovered all of the lost equipment, I cant increase costs to do any training . If its maintaining the usual, she is more than capable . More importantly, our first priority should be dealing with this unknown threat . It looks like we were somehow able to limit the threat to just one this time .

The woman Leopolt is referring to is Myla .

I think shes capable in her own right, but Leopolt doesnt trust many people besides himself .

If you treat Myla as a novice, shell get angry though .

I trust Lord Hardlett to a certain extent, dont I?

Stop, I will actually start developing something on my skin!

Lets get back on topic .

Leopolt wants to stop the meaningless banter .

There is one more thing before that though .

someone wake Tristan up .

Hes got some nerve to sleep as soon as he arrived .

I really cant believe he would sleep in an official setting like this .

Whats wrong, Celia?

Its nothing . Its just like the Kingdoms ceremony .

What is she talking about?

Now that Celia has woken Tristan up with a bunch, we can finally get this meeting going .

So in the end, how much of the dragon blood were you able to collect?

One buckets worth .

Only that much? thats unexpectedly less than I thought .

When it comes down to it, we still have a full bucket of that monstrous special product .

Adolph points out in a cold tone while Claire clicks her tongue .

lets decide how well distribute it now .

Its very likely for disputes to break out over this stuff later .

She already has unpleasant feelings in the past regarding the wheat and Libatis merchants .

I dont want to increase her dissatisfaction anymore .

Why is it necessary to share the blood of the dragon that Hardlett-sama defeated in Hardlett-samas territory with you?

UUuuuu I poured my heart into this city . And now its been burned down to this extent, so the least you could do is let me earn back some profit from selling this elixir, or else Laurie and the rest of them would strangle themselves no, we would have to sell our bodies off to other men to pay back loans before that .

Claire presses a handkerchief to her mouth and sniffles . Adolph, dont you feel sorry for her?

From what I saw, there isnt even ten percent of damage to the structure for housing machinery .

Dont be like that . Even if we want to sell it on a wide scale, we would end up borrowing Claires help anyways . Quarreling is inevitable too . Lets just secure enough for us to use .

She is several times more knowledgeable than us when it comes to selling the medicine for the highest price .

Getting enough for the family to use is good enough .

Thats right, it would create chaos among the soldiers and citizens if you distribute it unevenly .

Thats-

Adolph also nods slightly .

Dragons blood is powerful enough to bring the dead back to life, but there isnt enough to go around .

Naturally, it would make those who didnt get it unhappy .

Keeping it all to myself would be mean though, so I would give it out secretly if really needed .

Of course, Ill be prioritizing women and receive their bodies as compensation .

Fuhahahaha .

Your reprehensible thoughts are showing on your forehead .

What, where!?

I touch my forehead but I dont feel anything .

Damn Tristan, you tricked me .

It seems Adolph has finished talking to Claire while I was busy having delusions .

so the sale of the medicine will be divided in this ratio and tax will be applied .

Hohoho, please take it easy on me .

The dragons blood will be treated as a special medicine and only the essential amount was left for us, while the rest was sold to Claire .

However, unlike regular products, the profit on sales will have tax applied on it .

Good grief, when negotiating with a woman, it feels like Im facing off against two people .

Adolph complains about unfairness but judging from his expression, it seems he was able to reach common ground with her .

In the first place, both him and I are amateurs at business and will fail remarkably if we tried .

The normally generous Adolph clashing with Claire like this should be because he has me and my citizens in mind .

Let me pat his head .

Dont make such a disgusted face .

Merchants will do business, politicians will make policies, soldiers will fight wars losing sight of your own role is the start of failure . Owowowow, my head is splitting!

I grab Tristans head when he mumbles some philosophic mumbo-jumbo .

Nicely said, your role is my staff officer so open your eyes wide and keep giving me advice .

There are plenty of other parts we can use from the dragon, right?

Its bones and scales even deflected my Dual Crater after all .

If we process them, theres no doubt some powerful equipment can be made .

Hmmm .

But Balbano and Claire dont look too excited .

Its true there is nothing harder and sturdier than this

Whats the problem?

Its too durable . It is extremely difficult to process these materials even using dwarven tools .

Balbano kicks his feet while folding his arms and growling .

Its scales can be taken off somehow . Removing it is possible, but it isnt so easy to work with .

Apparently the tool they used as a shaving edge got worn down instead .

As of now, the only thing we can really work with is the skin .

And it took several artisans with a custom-made knife .

Claire takes out a shield made with dragon skin .

It doesnt look any different from a shield made out of cow leather from what I can see .

I try holding it in my hand and I dont feel any difference either .

It is considerably lighter than iron or steel .

There is a remarkable difference in its performance though . Im proud of my strength and yet I couldnt penetrate it even after countless thrusts with a steel sword .

Hooh Id like to see that . Someone hold it .

Leopolt takes the shield and quickly passes it over to Tristan .

Eeh, me!? With my strength, Ill be sent flying

Hmph!

I draw my Dual Crater and thrust it straight at the shield which Tristan holds out above his head .

My sword cleanly pierces through the shield and grazes the top of his head, stabbing into the wall behind him and cutting several strands of his hair which slowly drift to the floor .

Hooooawawawa

What, I ran right through it .

please dont use your Dual Crater . That sword even sliced off the dragons scales .

Celia comments with a sigh .

Sorry, I forgot .

After that, I tested the shield using a steel sword, slashing and thrusting multiple times, and I certainly couldnt get through .

If I couldnt do it with my best effort, Im sure nobody could .

This is nice . I definitely want armor and a shield like this .

Being light is a plus too .

It looks capable of protecting Celia or Myla .

As for Irijina, she always ran around with a full set of metal armor, so shes fine .

We have plenty of materials, so now its a matter of how much we can increase the speed of manufacturing .

If we can have an entire squad fully equipped with equipment like this, it will become our trump card .

Even Leopolts curiosity was piqued .

Its the best when the victor of the fight can be decided before the soldiers actually cross swords .

On the other hand, Tristan doesnt seem too interested .

Rather than a frontal assault, this guy prefers attacking the enemys weak point or using clever schemes after all .

Tristan appears to be drinking tea in a composed manner but his hand is shaking more than usual .

Im sorry about earlier . I should have been a little bit more off .

wait a minute . Did you just say a bit off instead of completely off?

I thought it would be fine since they said it was an impenetrable shield .

It missed you anyways, so its all good .

Tristan slumps his shoulders dejectedly and then glares at Leopolt .

Leopolt-san, you had part in this too for pushing the shield on me!

The only sword Lord Hardlett had on his hip was that one . It was self evident how the simple-minded Margrave would act next .

You guys, dont fight .

Were moving on to the next thing .

So we really cant do anything about the scales or bones?

I thought the scales would work better than the skin as armor, but we cant use it if we cant process them .

After all, we cant just carry the scales and run around the battlefield .

Balbano replies regretfully .

Umu, weve used up ten files and could still only grind a little powder off the scales . Cutting or bending is out of the question .

Cant we use it as a shield as it is without processing it?

How about attaching a string behind the scale and using that as a shield?

One scale is the perfect size for a shield .

Its not impossible, but here .

Balbano uses both hands to pick up one scale and tosses it .

What is it, all of a sudden?

After I catch it with my right hand, Balbano hands it to Celia beside me .

Heres what I mean . Here, Celia .

Yes, Ill take i- gyaaaah!!

As soon as Celia tries to hold it, she gets pinned under the scale .

Heavvyyyy, its crushing meeee!

I quickly grab it off her .

If we make the scale into a shield, its too heavy and nobody can carry it around besides you . Even I have to exert a lot of strength just to carry it, so I dont think its fit to be used as a shield . Im sure it can even deflect cannonballs though .

I see so its impossible for the other soldiers to use it .

I tried bending it with several thousand kilograms of weight but it didnt even budge, and its hardness stayed the same after I put it in the blast furnace . This is bone, you know .

Alright . Just keep trying different things here and there if you find a way to process them, let me know .

Adolph, Claire, and I are sad because of the unsatisfactory