Chapter 538: The Handover and What Comes Next
The fake Tauro—known by the nickname Moteo—was captured by the real Tauro and his party and handed over to a nearby military facility.
Since it was a matter involving the Empire, and the items included elaborately forged adventurer tags, honorary noble insignia, a drug that could transform oneself into a dragon, and the fact that Moteo’s ability Charm appeared to have been enhanced by some sort of technology, it was deemed appropriate to hand him over to the Royal Army.
In addition, there were surgical scars on Moteo’s chest. Using his ability True Eye, Tauro noticed that a magic stone had been embedded in his chest.
At first, they were wary, suspecting it might be a different type of technology from the potion that caused dragon transformation. However, it seemed to be a technique designed to enhance his abilities.
The reason was simple: when Tauro lightly interrogated him, Moteo testified that after the surgery, he had become far more popular than before.
“It looks like the Empire is developing all kinds of technologies,”
Tauro muttered.
After handing Moteo over to the military, Tauro and the others were thanked by the Royal Army personnel—and at the same time, asked not to speak about the incident.
From the military’s perspective, there was a high likelihood that information about their facilities had leaked due to their own blunder. On top of that, there was confirmed involvement of the supposedly nonexistent Imperial special forces unit “Golden Lions”, as well as the presence of several special technologies that absolutely needed to remain classified.
Of course, Tauro and his party had no intention of telling anyone, so they all signed a pledge not to tell anyone before leaving the military facility.
As for Moteo, who had been handed over—he would likely be subjected to unimaginable torture. That was how serious this incident was.
He would probably be forced to divulge everything he knew about the Empire, though it was doubtful just how much information he actually possessed.
“Tauro, what are we doing next? We’ve finally dealt with the impostors—should we keep adventuring in the north?”
Aeris stretched and sighed as she asked about their future plans.
“Yeah. I think it would be best to inform Ryuuga-san, the chief of the dragon race about this, just in case… but considering how busy the Dragonkin are with conquering Babylon, maybe it’ll be better for us to gather information on the Empire ourselves.”
“I see. The north’s probably going to be unstable for a while anyway. From an adventurer’s standpoint, that means plenty of work—so this might be just the right time.”
Ankh said with a knowing grin, always quick to grasp situations like this.
“I agree. A potion that turns people into dragon-like beings isn’t something we can just overlook,”
Ragune said, apparently just as interested in the Empire’s movements.
“I also agree with whatever you say, Lord Tauro!”
Zion chimed in as usual, ever Tauro’s yes-man.
“Then it’s decided! We’ll be adventuring in the northern regions for the time being!”
With that declaration, Tauro motioned for everyone to form a circle.
““““?””””
Aeris and the others were made to form the same circle they usually used when moving via Spatial Transfer inside dungeons.
“Alright then— let’s ‘teleport’ to the city of Swen!”
As he spoke, Tauro activated the ability teleportation” that he had stolen from the fallen hero Alexa.
The group that had been forming a circle disappeared from the spot in an instant.
However, they reappeared only a few hundred meters away.
“…Yeah, guess moving everyone over a long distance at once was too much!”
Having lost a massive amount of mana, Tauro let go of the hands they’d been holding for the circle and slumped down on the spot.
“Leader! You just casually ran an experiment with multiple people using ‘teleportation’, didn’t you?”
Ankh, who had realized they’d moved instantly thanks to the change in scenery, pointed this out with an exasperated look.
“Tauro…! I’ll help you with your experiments, but what if something went wrong when you dragged everyone into it?!”
Aeris puffed up angrily.
“she’s right, Tauro. —Still, didn’t we move a fair distance? I don’t see the military facility anywhere,”
Ragune unusually angry, scolded him, but looked around in admiration.
“That was amazing, Lord Tauro! …But I’d really appreciate a warning beforehand,”
Zion praised him first, but clearly wasn’t thrilled about the surprise experiment.
“Ahaha… sorry. I really thought it would work. The amount of magical power required to move alone wasn’t that great, after all. But it seems that once you add more people, the mana consumed skyrockets.”
With a wry smile, Tauro pulled a mana recovery potion from his Magic Storage and drank it down.
“Good grief. Still, the fact that we can all move this far together is a useful discovery. Seems handy for avoiding sudden danger.”
Ankh said optimistically, since he hadn’t personally experienced being abducted or stabbed via teleportation during the fight with the fallen hero Alexa.
Ragune and Zion, on the other hand, had nearly died from that very tactic, so the sudden use of 『Teleportation』 may have been quite chilling.
Especially for Zion—without her abilities, she might have actually died—so the abrupt Teleportation probably brought back some unpleasant memories.
“Sorry, everyone. I’d actually tested traveling alone quite a bit, so I was sure it was safe. But now I know that adding multiple people completely changes the conditions. Thanks for bearing with me. In this case, I think I using Ragune’s Dimensional Corridor combined with my dungeon-based Spatial Transfer should work best for long-distance travel to specific locations and teleportation for short hops. Next time, I’ll try transporting one person at a time.”
After apologizing, Tauro came to a conclusion that would be useful for future adventures.
“Ah…! Now that you mention it, Tauro—after defeating the Alpha Dragon, didn’t you gain some ability from Random Steal (Small)?”
Aeris asked, recalling the ability that had granted Tauro Teleportation in the first place.
“Well… according to what I confirmed with the Dragonkin in the Dragon’s Lair, my ability only works when the target is human. It seems I can’t plunder abilities from an Alpha Dragon. Maybe turning into a monster with a potion means they’re no longer recognized as human. Maybe they aren’t recognized as human because the drug had transformed them into monsters.”
Tauro reported this with a disappointed expression.
“They didn’t even look human anymore. Can’t blame the ability for that,”
Ankh chuckled in agreement with Tauro.
“It would’ve been convenient if you’d learned dragon breath like me!”
Ragune said cheerfully, then demonstrated by unleashing a loud roar of fire-breath—, a style unique to the dragon race but something she almost never used.
“Ragune-san … is that useful for anything other than arson?!”
Zion asked, sounding halfway serious and halfway joking.
“Hahaha! Yeah, at that power, you’d burn everything down!”
Tauro laughed and agreed with Zion.
Aeris and Ankh laughed along in agreement.
“That’s a bit harsh, everyone! I can’t control the output properly, you know?!”
Ragune protested—then ended up laughing with everyone else anyway.