Chapter 518: Starting from the Dragon people  Village

A full year had passed since the youngest honorary viscount, Tauro Jirosugar, who had been the talk of the royal capital, and his B-rank team, Black-Golden  Wings, had suddenly vanished.

For the first month, people thought they had simply set off on a journey somewhere. By the second month, however, when even the Adventurers’ Guild could not confirm their survival, rumors of their deaths began to circulate. After half a year, public interest faded.

And by the time a year had passed, with adventurers constantly coming and going, their name had been almost completely forgotten.

“We’re the team Black-Golden  Wings, the ones who disappeared from the royal capital a year ago and have been lying low ever since! And this man here is our leader—the youngest honorary viscount, Lord Tauro Jirosugar!”

An adventurer proclaimed loudly as he entered the adventurer’s guild in a town near the border with the Empire.

“Tauro Jirosugar? Who’s that?”

“I kinda remember hearing that the youngest honorary viscount was born from among adventurers about a year ago.”

“Oh, that one! …But didn’t I hear he died?”

The town’s adventurers whispered among themselves about these seemingly arrogant newcomers.

“We’ve just returned from a special mission in the Empire this past year. The rumor of our deaths was a cover for that purpose. During the mission, many of our comrades died and the members changed quite a bit, but as you can see, our leader Lord Tauro, has returned alive and has changed in appearance. Look—this honorary viscount insignia on his collar proves it!”

The man proudly showed proof that Tauro was indeed an honorary viscount.

“That insignia looks real…”

“So the team called Black-Golden  Wings infiltrated the Empire and has come back?”

“Just as you’d expect from an honorary Viscount!”

The members of “Black-Golden  Wings,” including the man calling himself Tauro, walked proudly through the adventurers who made way for them and headed to the reception counter.

“Please present your adventurer tags to verify your status.”

After confirming the honorary viscount insignia, the receptionist asked for their tags as a formality.

“…All right. Here you go.”

“Tauro” handed over the tag hanging from his neck to the receptionist .

He looked a little tense.

The other members also presented their tags, though they didn’t seem nervous.

“I’ll check these now. …Hm? The response is slow? …Ah, there it is. —Yes, confirmed: Lord Tauro Jirosugar. I have confirmed that you are the person in question. Let me see the activity record for the past six months… There is a lot of activity history on the side of the Empire’s Adventurer’s Guild. Welcome back to the Kingdom of Sart’s Adventurers’ Guild. You are now cleared to operate here again. —Please.”

When the receptionist returned the tag, Tauro visibly relaxed and put it back around his neck.

“All right! Now leader can finally move around openly as a famous figure again.”

One of the companions slung an arm roughly around Tauro’s shoulders, acting even more arrogantly.

The receptionist couldn’t help but find it odd that the companions seemed more overbearing than the honorary viscount himself. Still, the honorary viscount was accompanied by five companions.

All of them wore their hoods pulled low over their eyes.

She had checked all their tags. Three of the adventurers were from the Empire, while the remaining two were from the Kingdom of Sart.

And yet, wasn’t the honorary viscount the one who looked to be in the weakest position among them?

Though suspicious, the receptionist found both the insignia and the adventurer tags to be genuine. So despite her doubts, she welcomed the return of the “Black-Golden  Wings.”.

Meanwhile, in the Dragon people  village, three humans who had blended in with the village, one half-beastman, and one Dragon people —a total of five people, all dressed up, were visiting the tribe leader Ryuuga.

“Lord Tauro, if you were to continue training for another year or so, you’d become even stronger.”

Seeing how robust Tauro and the others had become, Chief Ryuga invited them to extend  their training.

“No, please spare us from that… I’m still fine, but I really don’t want to see Aeris and Zion muttering to the wall again like they were about three months ago.”

During their training in the Dragon’s Den, everyone had been going through hellish times, tailored to their individual aptitudes. They were pushed so relentlessly that there wasn’t even time to encourage one another, and the only time they could meet was once every few days in the dormitory lounge.

When he saw Aeris and Zion then, they were emotionally blank, muttering something to themselves facing the wall.

Yes—the training was so brutal that their minds were on the verge of breaking down.

When everyone finally returned to normal during the “emotional adjustment,” as the Dragon people  called it, conducted in the final month of training, Tauro had truly felt relieved.

“As for you, Lord Tauro, even the supervising officers were astonished. They said you were the first person your age to maintain conscious will at all times. Everyone did very well. Ankh’s age was a concern, but perhaps his past experience paid off, as the officer was impressed with how well he was able to endure it. Ragune, of course, is a Dragon person herself,  so we knew how to handle her, and it was easy to schedule her training.”

Chief Ryuga gave his assessment of them all.

“Haha… It was tough for me too, you know.”

Tauro could endure the harshness of the training in the Dragon’s Den, which pushed him beyond his limits, largely because he already possessed abilities like Status Abnormality Resistance and Super Recovery Regeneration.

Even so, it had been extremely painful. For Aeris and the others, it must have been even worse.

“…I don’t think I ever want to do this again…”

Aeris muttered honestly.

Fortunately, she managed to avoid adding any ominous catchphrase to the end of her sentences.

“I can’t count the number of times I’ve been forced to die and then resurrected… Damn it, just kill me!”

Ragune had already completed her foundational training, so it seems she was subjected to even more dangerous exercises. Some unsettling information slipped from her mouth.

“…I’m sorry everyone. I made you all go through all that because of my selfishness. Damn it, let me die…!”

Ankh seemed to have acquired a dangerous catchphrase as well—though he was otherwise fine.

“…I’m glad everyone made it back safely. I nearly broke down so many times. Damn it, I choose to live!”

Zion had apparently come the closest to mental collapse, but she perservered by focusing solely on becoming stronger for Tauro, to whom she owed so much. Her catchphrase, at least, remained her usual positive one.

“Hahaha! You’re all exaggerating. In the traditional Dragon Den of the Dragon People, there are rarely any fatalities, and we are careful not to turn anyone into an invalid!”

Chief Ryuga laughed as he pointed this out.

—No, you did let people die and then you just resurrect them!

All of Tauro’s group silently delivered a collective mental retort to Chief Ryuga.