Please Bully Me, Miss Villainess!

Chapter 247 : Seeking and Hiding 1

"Young Lady, don't jest with me."

Upon hearing the girl before him say she wanted to buy his land dragon, the bearded merchant shook his head repeatedly.

"These land dragons aren't for sale. They're my livelihood for doing business."

"Would it be possible if I added more money?"

Due to carrying a storage space, Elsa had a sufficient supply of gold coins on her person. However, it wouldn't do to simply pull out a handful of gold coins and stuff them into someone's hands; that would be far too conspicuous. So she could only try to raise the price within a reasonable range, hoping the other party would consider trading with her.

"If you want to buy some goods from my cart, you're very welcome to, but the land dragons are off-limits. Though, from your accent... you don't seem to be a local. Are you from somewhere else?"

"Yes... I heard there's going to be a war, so I want to take my child somewhere safer."

"I see... You've got it tough too."

Looking at Bebe in Elsa's arms, curiously glancing at various small objects, the uncle's tone softened immediately.

"Then do you know where I might be able to buy a mount around here?"

They were now nearing the borders of Oz Kingdom. There wouldn't be many stopping points in the areas ahead, and it would be very difficult without some form of transportation for the journey.

"That's hard to say... It's a time of war and chaos now. Even if people raised mounts, most have been requisitioned by the army. The few in my caravan only escaped that fate because they're too old and unwanted... Isn't that right, my old friend?"

The bearded merchant sighed, patting the rough, long neck of his companion beside him. The land dragon seemed to understand, responding with a low, gentle sound.

"However, I have heard that recently there are some swift wind dragons that come down from the mountains in packs at night, wreaking havoc in the area. They've already killed over a dozen of the livestock people were raising."

The uncle took a long puff from his pipe.

Previously, he could always buy some good quality dried meat each time he came, but because of this trouble, business had decreased significantly.

"Young Lady, if you really need transportation, why not try lassoing a live swift wind dragon with a rope? Those things run much faster than land dragons, haha—I'm just joking."

Swift wind dragons are creatures with strong personalities. They are agile and quite intelligent.

But precisely because of this, wild swift dragons are difficult to tame.

She had heard Garth mention before that in the Knight Order, they usually artificially breed and hatch dragon eggs that haven't been born yet, imprinting on them as they break out of their shells, and raising them from infancy.

But there are exceptions to every rule. Although the success rate is low, wild swift dragons are not completely impossible to tame. They will only obey the commands of humans they acknowledge.

Packs of swift dragons in the wild are dangerous because they have strong group instincts, supporting each other and fighting in coordination. Some mutated species even have special abilities, making them as troublesome as A-rank magical beasts.

Of course, for Elsa, repelling a dragon pack wouldn't be particularly difficult.

But using violence to subdue them and making those intelligent creatures pledge loyalty to oneself are two entirely different levels of difficulty.

Looking at the "Expel Dragon Pack" quest on the notice board, Elsa hesitated.

She wasn't the type to be blindly confident.

Unless she had sufficient assurance, she wouldn't take such a risk.

She might waste time and energy, end up with nothing to show for it, and only increase the danger.

Elsa began to regret not seizing the opportunity before.

If only she had learned divination from Dorothea, she might be able to divine her own fate now.

But she also vaguely sensed a hint of destiny's guidance.

When in doubt, try taking a step forward first.

Thinking this, she hesitated no longer and tore off the "Expel Dragon Pack" quest notice from the board.

"Mama, Mama~~"

Perched on Elsa's shoulder, Bebe swayed her tail with interest, not wanting to miss out on such an exciting event.

"So! Are we going to catch dragons now?"

"Yes, it's worth a try."

Elsa patted Bebe's head, walking towards the address of the quest giver written on the parchment.

"...You took on the quest??"

The quest giver was the village chief of Bacchus.

Leaning on his cane, he repeatedly looked the dust-covered young girl up and down, eyes wide.

Messy brown hair, no more than 17 or 18 years old, she looked--

"Don't joke around... You think just you, a woman alone, can handle that pack of cunning swift dragons?"

The village chief's hand gripping his cane trembled with anger.

Even for the sake of the reward, there should be some limit to one's shamelessness, right?

"...There's no helping it."

Elsa sighed.

Then she picked up a branch from the ground and pointed it at the broken fence nearby that had been damaged in an attack.

"Then allow me to prove my abilities, Village Chief."

Nourished by magical power, vines grew from beneath the fence driven into the soil, filling in and repairing the broken parts.

Soon, under layers of entwinement--

"Y-You're actually a magic user, my lady??"

Having witnessed this, the village chief and the villagers behind him were dumbfounded, all kneeling on one knee.

...Eh?

This reaction startled Elsa in turn.

She had only used the most basic growth magic, yet these people's reaction was far too exaggerated.

In the academy, there were many people who could use magic of a similar level, so Elsa instinctively felt this level was 'ordinary', forgetting that in this world, 90% of people were ordinary folk who couldn't use magic at all.

Even among the remaining 10%, having magical aptitude didn't necessarily mean becoming a qualified magic user. Therefore, those gathered at magic academies—could be said to be one in ten thousand chosen ones, favored by the magic god Oz.

In such a remote border region, the appearance of someone who could use 'spells' was naturally extremely rare.

"This lowly one truly has eyes but failed to see—"

"There's no need to be so dramatic..."

Elsa hurriedly helped the old man up.

"Alright, since I've already accepted the quest—could you all please explain the situation to me in detail?"

The village chief respectfully invited Elsa inside, his attitude completely different from before.

Following behind her, Bebe stuck out her tongue, making a face at this fickle old man.

"I see... So you're saying that for the past three days, dragon packs have been attacking the village, is that right?"

"Yes, our village has suffered heavy losses because of this! Please, magic user, you must help us!!"

The situation was similar to what was described on the quest notice. Observing everyone's expressions, Elsa felt a hint of doubt in her heart.

"However—as far as I know, semi-dragons with a certain level of intelligence like swift wind dragons don't trouble humans without reason."

Changing the subject, Elsa narrowed her eyes.

"Can you tell me? Do you have any clues about why the dragon pack came to attack?"

"Well, about that..."

The village chief hesitated, his gaze shifty as he looked behind him.

Then, a young man with a hunting bow on his back, who had been silent for a long time, stepped forward voluntarily.

"To be honest... esteemed magic user, this trouble was all caused by me."

The young man's name was Kevin, the village chief's son-in-law.

It turned out that three days ago, Kevin went up the mountain to hunt, intending to catch some food. While hunting deer, he accidentally shot and wounded a young dragon whose scales had not yet fully grown.

"...So that's why they came to cause trouble."

When your child gets hurt, as a parent, of course you'd come to demand an explanation.

Hearing the reason, Elsa actually began to sympathize with the swift wind dragon pack.

"If they were just ordinary swift dragons... we might have ways to deal with them, using bows and arrows, torches, or smoke to drive them away... but this pack of swift wind dragons is different!"

Kevin said, his face turning pale.

"...Different?"

"The leader of that swift wind dragon pack is extraordinary!! Its scales are silver-white like moonlight... extremely bizarre!! —And it can use terrifying magic!!"

Kevin would never forget that moment of eye contact under the moonlight.

Those golden vertical pupils seemed to pierce straight into his soul, the killing intent nearly freezing his blood.

"Silver-white scales without a trace of other colors?? Is what you're saying true??"

Hearing this, Elsa could no longer sit still, her tone becoming excited.

After being granted the title of Grand Magician, she had interacted with many people from the cavalry, seeing all sorts of swift wind dragons in various colors and patterns.

But... a white swift wind dragon, she had only ever seen one in her entire life.

It was Sphinx!