Overlimit Skill Holder
Book 1: Chapter 24

What I stated was just a hypothesis. However, my hypothesis was adopted because there were no other strong ideas presented at that moment. The submaster was reluctant to the very end, saying「Are you really going to listen to a child?」But Joseph-san shut him down with,「Do you have another idea? And this goes without saying, but you will take full responsibility for it, right?」

It seems that the skill orbs unearthed from Six Mine are transported to and sorted in the city. I’m not sure if the dragon can detect even the skill orbs already absorbed by humans, but it’s better to hold down the place where a large number of skill orbs are stored for now. Therefore, the adventurers headed to the government office known as “Skill Administration Bureau”.

It was a dull three-storey stone building, but the windows were fitted with iron bars, which made its atmosphere quite imposing.

Soldiers were guarding the entrance. When Joseph-san informed them,「A dragon is approaching! There is a high possibility that this building will be targeted!」they just laughed him off.

「Are you drunk?」

「Oh yeah, you said that your nephew saw a large snake in the city, right? Perhaps this guy mistook it for a dragon?」

「Hahaha, that must be it.」

Although the adventurers were seething with anger towards the soldiers, Joseph-san still calmly tried to persuade them.

It would’ve been helpful if either the guildmaster or submaster were present, but the guildmaster was absent, and the submaster gave a shitty reason saying, “It is my job to keep the guild in check when the master is absent,” and avoided going to the place which might turn into a battlefield.

It was an obvious lie.

「Dante-san, will Mimino-san be alright?」

We weren’t able to join up with Mimino-san. She probably wasn’t even aware of the situation.

「Mimino will be alright. If she goes to the guild, she’ll replace out that we’re over here. She might be short, but she’s smart and clever.」

“Smart and clever” certainly fits Mimino-san.

「Even so, it doesn’t seem like Joseph can persuade them. If this continues, the adventurers will grow impatient.」

The adventurers behind Joseph-san were already having unsettling conversations such as, “Is it worth it to protect these guys?”, ”Do you want to escape?”, etc.

「Or rather, is this really the time to be doing this? And when will the dragon reach the city?」Raikira-san asked, frustratedly.

「I don’t know. Ask the dragon.」Dante-san replied.

「I don’t even want to see a dragon in the first place.」

「We arrived at this city at a poor time. And Joseph got the short end of the stick, too. That guy quit being an adventurer to settle down in this city, and got married to a young woman just recently. He kept speaking lovey-doveyly of his new wife endlessly through the night.」

「Thank you for that information I didn’t need to know, ossan.」

「You can at least sympathize with me who had to sit through that all night long.」

「You were reeking of alcohol, after all.」

…When will the dragon come, huh?

It took about 7 days since I left the mine and wandered through the forest before I reached the city

Since the speed of traveling through the forest was slow, it is unlikely that I could have traveled more than 30 kilometers a day. And I did not head for the city in a straight line, so the distance between the mine and the city should be less than 200 kilometers.

…And the magic transmission arrived about an hour ago, I think?

So, how fast is a bird?

Is a dragon faster than that?

If it was fast… Even if it’s at 70km/h, it will arrive in less than 3 hours!

Did they make the magic transmission immediately after the dragon flew? Can communication tools be carried around? If they were late in making the transmission, the remaining time would be 1 hour, or less…!

「…R-Raikira-san, Dante-san.」

「Ah?」

「What’s wrong, Reiji?」

「I think the dragon might be just upon us…」

「What?!」

「What did you say?!」

「Can anyone lift me up onto the roof!? I want to check from a high place!」

Dante-san looked around restlessly and,

「Joseph!」

「…Wait, Dante. I’m trying to persuade them.」

「Just come here! It’s an emergency!」

「!」

Joseph-san walked over with heavy steps.

「Joseph, take Reiji’s right side. I’ll take the left.」

…Hmm?

「We’re going to do that?」

「Yes, the thing we did when we defeated the goblin horde.」

「At that time we threw a goblin’s corpse strapped with explosives into the middle of the horde, but this time we’re throwing Reiji, huh.」

…Wait a minute! Those words sound disturbing! Gah!

They grabbed my shoulders and waist from left and right.

「Reiji, look up. There’s a walkway outside on the 3rd floor. You can see an iron ladder there, right? Climb up from there.」

「No, wait–」

「3, 2, 1!」

I flew.

「Holy shiiii—!」

Awesome, people can fly. I guess people who do pole vaulting experience this kind of thing every day. But I can’t. Or rather I never want to do this again.

I was hurled up by the explosive force. It felt as though I was floating in mid-air. The walkway on the 3rd floor was in front of me in no time.

「Ha!」

I clung onto the iron railing tightly. Rust crumbled from the railing, probably because it was unmaintained.

…Oh crap! It’s going to break!

I hurriedly crawled up and got inside the walkway.

…Thank you, 【Physical Strength Enhancement】… Without you, I would have fallen and got thrown up again.

「—What are you guys doing!」

「—Go check the situation first!」

Below, one of the soldiers and Joseph-san were arguing. And the other rushed into the building – which means, he’s coming for me!

…Aah, looking at Raikira-san laughing at a time like this, and Non-san giving me a thumbs up, is kind of pissing me off!

I immediately climbed up the iron ladder and went up to the rooftop.

The rooftop was a sloping roof, and it was not well cared for, either. Dust had accumulated on the surface of the clay roof tiles.

I carefully stood on the roof, not wanting to lose my footing, and looked around. There were almost no buildings over 3-storey in the surrounding area, so I could see over a wide area. Forests spread beyond the walls surrounding the city, and mountain ridges could be seen beyond.

…Is that huge building over there the Duke’s castle? Wow, there is indeed an airship-like thing anchored at the castle — Wait! This is not the time for that!

…Um, let’s see, mine, mine… Which direction is the mine in?!

「Hey, kid! Come down right now!」

The soldier appeared quicker than expected on the walkway on the 3rd floor.

「Wait a minute! I’ll get off soon! I’m just checking.」

「What do you want to check! Listen, what you are doing is a crime!」

「—It’s here.」

「If you come down right now, I’ll let you go with just a warning. It was the bad adults who threw you up here. And… what did you say?」

「It’s here.」

I was stunned.

「The dragon… is here.」

There was no doubt that the dragon was heading straight for us.

Yellow body and huge wings.

I felt that the silhouette I saw on that night sky was the same as the silhouette that was flying towards us.

But — Was it really so big?

「It’s here!!! A yellow dragon! It’s heading straight for us!!!」