Of course, Leviatano was big. Big enough that being close to its head meant that Elna was still high above the water's surface. Then again, from her perspective, it probably felt like she was one step away from her grave.
Well, I thought, time to get started. I formed a square barrier around Elna and Leviatano, and then gradually expanded it.
The barrier shoved aside the water, creating a part in the ocean and pushing away nearby ships in the process. Before long, it reached the ocean floor and dry ground appeared.
"Hmph! Putting up a barrier so you can fight me on-one-on? That shows real fortitude. Do you truly have such great confidence that you can defeat me, little girl?"
"No. I'm not confident at all... All I can say for sure is that this is the most horrible place I've ever been in my entire life."
I could understand how she felt.
Even with the ocean held back by the barrier, she was surrounded on all four sides by a wall of water. It must have been the very definition of hell for her. And yet, despite that, Elna raised the holy sword over her head.
"That won't stop me from fighting, though! I need to prove to my friend that he doesn't have to worry about me!"
Elna began filling the holy sword with mana, and it gradually started to glow as it converted that mana into spiritual energy.
"Huh?! What is that?!"
"O holy sword of the stars... Release your power to destroy my enemy!"
The blade kept growing brighter and brighter in response to her voice until it blazed almost as bright as the sun. Elna then gripped that blazing sword tightly in her hands and charged.
"You think you can defeat me?!"
Leviatano was ready and counterattacked with its water breath.
That beam of water, powerful enough to cut through any and all material, bore down on Elna, but she blocked it with the holy sword and continued to make her advance.
"No?!"
"Hiyaaaah!"
The holy sword began slicing through Leviatano's water breath, and Elna surged forward.
"Light Burst!"
Her deadly attack cleaved Leviatano's one-hundred-fifty-foot-long body cleanly in half.
However, that wasn't all it cut through. It also sliced easily through the barrier I'd created.
"Oh shit!"
I rushed down inside the barrier, which was quickly filling with water, grabbed Elna in my arms, and flew her up to safety.
"Hey! Put me down!"
"Seriously? How about a thank you for saving you from the panic attack you were breaking into from all that water?"
"It was your job to save me precisely if something like that happened! Don't make it sound like I owe you anything! In fact, I'd say it was your fault for making your barrier too soft!"
How many people could there possibly be on the entire continent who'd evaluate my barrier as soft? That was first time I'd ever heard it, at least.
I came close to replying with my true thoughts on that matter, but I managed to hold myself back. Besides, my job wasn't over yet.
"Sorry I didn't make the barrier more resilient. Now that you broke it, I've got a lot of extra work to do," I replied while working to plug the hole she'd made.
I then raised the entire barrier out of the ocean and opened another hole to drain the water out.
Elna watched me with a puzzled look.
"What are you doing?"
"A dragon's body goes for a lot of money. Even more for an S-class-designated one. This one should bring in enough to restore the city."
"Interesting. I thought you'd claim it as yours since you were the one who defeated it. Guess I was wrong."
"Normally a monster's body would be the property of whoever subdues it, but this is a special case. The country that suffered the damage should use it."
"Hmmm... Maybe I underestimated you. I didn't realize you could be so thoughtful."
"I'm different from a heroine who just goes around swinging some special sword."
"What was that?!"
Elna tensed with anger.
Ignoring her, I slowly set Leviatano's corpse down on dry land, among all the devastation. Elna could explain to the duchy later why I'd left it there for them. Once the corpse was in place, it was time for me to be on my way.
"All right, I'm off then."
"Wait! Just how do you know Arn?!"
"How do I know him...? We're co-conspirators. We've come up with and are implementing a scheme together. You'll have to ask him for the details. It'll be up to you whether you get him to tell you or not," I replied half-teasingly, then made a short-distance transfer to Albatro's castle.
I'd returned thinking I should fetch Trau and take him with me. But when I arrived...
"L-Lady Eva. W-would you mind modeling for me, sometime? I-if possible, if you could imagine me as your elder brother, and refer to me as such, it would greatly expedite the progress of my manuscript!"
"Oh... Um...well..."
Yeah, better just leave them be.
I quickly abandoned my original idea and transferred back to my room in Rondine, speedily changed clothes, then cast an illusion on my Silver attire and packed it away in my luggage.
After eliminating all traces of my Silver persona, I lay down on the bed.
"Ahhh... That was exhausting, as always," I muttered to myself while drifting off to sleep. I had the niggling suspicion that I was forgetting something important, but I didn't have the physical nor mental strength left to figure it out.
9
"Oh man, this is bad. This is really bad!"
It was a few days after we had slayed the sea dragon. Upon receiving a summons, I had left Rondine and sailed over to Albatro's harbor. There was one nerve-racking issue on my mind the whole time.
"How could I have forgotten to tell him?!"
Yes, I had forgotten to let Leo know about one very important thing: the fact that Eva was infatuated with him. There had been so many things to do that such a little, personal issue had completely slipped my mind.
Knowing Leo, I hoped he'd find some clever way to deal with her, but you never knew when it came to affairs of the heart. The smallest thing could become a gigantic problem. It didn't help that Eva was the princess of a grand duchy.
From what I'd heard, Leviatano had appeared not long after the fleet of ships from Rondine had reached Albatro and the grand duke had disembarked in the harbor. At that point, Eva and Leo would not have spoken to each other yet. The question was what had happened during the next few days. Given what I knew of Eva's personality, it seemed highly unlikely she hadn't gone out of her way to contact him.