Dragon parts were top-tier materials for the creation of magic items. From their scales to their claws to their internal organs to their brains, every part of a dragon was tremendously valuable. Even finding a dragon dead of natural causes would be cause for celebration, but it had been decades since the last recorded capture of a living specimen.
“It seems the dragon was captured while unconscious, but woke up while it was being transported through the city and flew into a rage, only for its anger to be immediately quelled by an adventurer, who then put it to work as the guardian of the city,” the chairman reported. A dragon protecting a city. It would be hard to imagine a more formidable line of defense. “I believe we can guess at the answer, but which adventurer was it who performed this miraculous feat?”
“Erm...” Melissa said, timidly raising her hand again. “That would be mine...”
Once again, the eyes of the whole conference were on her. Melissa had no choice but to continue.
“The dragon has been registered as a magic beast in her service, so I’m afraid using it for materials is out of the question. However, I must reiterate that she has given us a dragon. If a threat beyond the scope of humanity ever attacks the Royal Capital, we’ll all be extremely grateful to have such a guardian watching over us.”
It had been a heavy blow to the royal laboratories, which had been transporting the dragon to use as a test subject in their experiments, but such is life.
“She really does have a preposterous amount of talent, this Miss Kanata Aldezia...” a guildmaster said.
“An ordinary receptionist would have their hands full managing an adventurer like that,” another opined.
“I suppose we’re lucky it was Miss Melissa who was placed in charge of her case!”
Melissa, for her part, had mixed feelings about the girl who had been the cause of so much overtime, but the assembled guildmasters simply seemed delighted with her performance.
“Now, our next topic,” said the chairman. “We’ve heard rumors of a demon army from the Dark Continent advancing on the Royal Capital...”
“That...was mine as well,” Melissa said. At this point she was on the verge of tears.
“Unbelievable!”
“Yet again!”
One after another, the topics of discussion related back to Kanata, and each time Melissa was left explaining the situation. Internally Melissa wanted to vanish on the spot, but her pride as a guild staff member combined with the fluency of her explanations gave her the strength to stand up to the pressure from the guildmasters. And as she recounted meritorious deed after meritorious deed performed by her charge, the conference members’ respect for both her and Kanata only continued to rise. The growing opinion of the room seemed to be that only Melissa was qualified to handle the reins of this monstrous adventurer. By the time the meeting was over, the guildmasters didn’t seem to be regarding her as a mere assistant at all, but a full equal. There was no doubt in their minds that one day she, too, would hold the position of guildmaster.
† † †
“Now, our final topic for today’s meeting,” the chairman began. “This concerns a high-priority request that we would like to see resolved as quickly as possible.” With the dragon serving as its guardian, the Royal Capital might as well have been protected by a wall of invincible steel, but that did not mean that the city was without its woes. There were many things besides the danger of rampaging monsters that threatened the livelihood of its people. “This request comes from the crown itself. It is, however, a matter of utmost secrecy. Any adventurer given this task will have to take great pains not to be found out.”
The chairman went on to explain the general details of the request. In recent years, a certain drug had been growing in popularity among those who made their living through battle. There were many types of potions that temporarily raised the user’s combat ability, but this drug was a dangerous substance forbidden by the crown and circulated in black markets. It raised the imbibers’ spirits as well as pushing their physical capabilities past their limits and increasing their reserves of magic power by a considerable amount. The effect lasted for only a short time, but it was easily comparable to high-level enhancement magic. That short time frame was a boon to the sellers as well, as a fighter would have to purchase a new dose every time they used it in combat.
“What makes this drug a dangerous substance,” the chairman said, “is the toll it takes after the fact.”
The royal laboratories had investigated, and found that the abnormally strong effect of the drug placed a proportionately heavy strain on the human body. Moreover, because of the short duration of the effect, users would take the drug many times, increasing the damage with each dose.
“This is an illegal substance, forbidden by the laws of the kingdom. But of course, a battle with a magic beast is a matter of life and death. If a drug like this can save you from dying, many people would gladly sacrifice some of their future life span. Some of our fellow adventurers will have gotten their hands on it as well.”
The drug enabled its users to easily defeat magic beasts they would ordinarily be unable to fight. When the effect wore off, their strength would vanish as well, so some adventurers had taken to using the drug habitually to clear requests above their regular ability, leaving themselves ruined in both body and mind. The whole reason the guild divided adventurers by rank was to prevent them from taking requests beyond their ability. It was a system that increased the life spans of adventurers as well as the rate of successfully cleared requests. This drug carried the risk of damaging the system in place for the adventurers’ protection.
“Even without the request from the crown, this is a matter we have an interest in looking into ourselves,” the chairman concluded.
The guildmasters seated around the table all began to talk at once.
“And here I was thinking it was a good thing to see our rate of successful requests going up...”
“I knew there was something strange about all these injuries we’ve been seeing lately, though.”
“They must be using the drug to clear requests that would ordinarily be impossible. The injuries would happen when the effect runs out in the middle of combat. Or perhaps even a result of side effects...”
“I’ve been seeing more and more adventurers’ bodies giving out on them, forcing them into an early retirement. This drug certainly does explain some things...”
“If you look at these numbers, you can see proof of the damage this drug is doing,” someone volunteered. It seemed that some of the guildmasters in attendance had expected this topic to come up.