A few nights later, I was outside the city of Leararat.
One step out of the city and you are in the vast desert of Salaria.
Even now, I was standing in the middle of the desert.
"Uuh. ..."
I turned around at the sound of the girl's groan.
When I turned around, I saw Peiyu and Ivy with their hands wrapped around their shoulders hugging themselves.
Looks like they are cold.
That's as it should be, the temperature in the desert at night drops so quickly that it is hard to imagine from the scorching heat during the day.
For young girls, this cold seems to be too much for their bodies.
"Bahamut, warm them up."
{Will.}
Bahamut responds to my order.
Immediately after, a faint flame appeared around Peiyu and Ivy.
"Ahh, it's warm ..."
Seeing the flames produced by Bahamut, Peiyu's expression became relieved.
Although she had become smaller with her hugging gestures, her body seemed to relax and unwind.
"T-This is....'
Meanwhile, Ivy, witnessing Bahamut's power for the first time, was surprised with her eyes wide open.
"It's Master's power."
"Power ...."
"Master can use all kinds of power. This is just the beginning."
When addressing Ivy, Peiyu naturally looks at her from a superior perspective.
As a senior maid, she often speaks with a nuance of "Don't you know such things?".
Peiyu bragged and Ivy marveled at her.
I looked up at the sky with them in the background.
In the cloudless night sky, a perfectly round moon was high in the sky.
A full moon.
The reason I was waiting at the inn for Oscar's messenger to arrive was that I was waiting for this full moon day.
"Bahamut."
{Yes}
"Is that enough?"
I called Bahamut and asked while pointing at the full moon overhead.
The reason it wasn't Livyathan was that Bahamut was in the middle of warming Peiyu's group, so it was just a coincidence.
{Yes, I cannot complain about the full moon. This will maximize the power of the dragon's veins.}
"Umu."
I gave a small nod.
The reason I came here to Salaria's capital, Leararat, was to unearth a new dragon vein.
But I couldn't get my hands on the veins right away.
The dragon vein in Salaria had been cut off so many years ago that it was even more withered than it had been in Almeria.
Not only is it useless as it is, but it is also difficult to find a dragon vein in the first place.
Then, Livyathan and others made a suggestion.
Dragon veins are greatly influenced by the moon.
They are most active on the night of a full moon and almost disappear at the time of a new moon.
So we decided to wait for the night of the full moon and started by finding it.
And now is the night of the full moon.
"What do we do from here?"
{Use us, Lord.}
"Us, huh? I get it."
I nodded and closed my eyes.
In my mind's eye, I pictured "an image for everyone".
Livyathan.
Bahamut.
Behemoth.
Fuwawa.
Apophis.
Jiz.
I summoned them, recalling the images of those who followed me and were far beyond human beings.
Using the ring as a medium, everyone was summoned.
Livyathan and Bahamut were particularly majestic, but the other four were also giving off a tremendous vibe, some mystical, some intimidating.
Now, let's reach the dragon veins– just when I thought like that.
I heard a thud from behind me.
I turned my back and saw Ivy slumped down on the sand, perhaps having fallen off her back.
"W-What's this ...?"
She was so surprised that the idea of using honorifics seemed to have completely blown over in her mind.
Ivy was not only hunched over, she was trembling all over, and she looked frightened.
"No need to be afraid. These are all my followers."
"Followers."
"And Bahamut was the one keeping you warm today. Come, Bahamut."
"Ha!"
Bahamut responded, nodding its head slightly, but in a different way than a human would.
Bahamut is in the form of a flame dragon.
Even parts of its body look exactly like it is clothed in flames.
"It's so big ... amazing ...."
Bahamut's main body and the flame it emits to keep warm.
Ivy looked at these two alternately and marveled more and more.
Turning around, I faced the six of them once again.
"You see the dragon's vein, don't you?"
{Yes, though it's intermittent.}
"Should it be connected? Livyathan."
{Yes.}
"Can you do that?"
{Probably.}
When Leviathan responded, the other five responded in the affirmative, squirming and nodding their heads.
"If so, do it. I'll leave everything to you. In any case, connect the broken dragon vein."
After I gave the order, the six began to move in unison.
Carrying out the order, they were trying to connect the broken dragon veins.
I watched them.
I let them do it for now, feeling that it would be better if I didn't interfere, so I just watched happily.
Suddenly, a little to the right in front of me, a geyser-like pillar of sand erupted upward from the ground.
"W-What!"
"Master?"
"Umu, stay behind me…"
Just after saying that,
Similar pillars of sand erupted from all directions.
From among these pillars of sand, a lizard-like silhouette of a monster could be seen.
It was a reasonably large size, large enough to swallow a human or so whole.
"M-Monster!? Why!?"
Peiyu was surprised, while Ivy looked a little frightened with a furrowed brow, but not surprised.
I was somewhat convinced that this was the reaction of local people.
"The Empire has most of the monsters under control, but Saralaria is a frontier, and I hear that there are stray monsters that are not completely under control."
"Such a thing! M-Monsters are here."
"Let's go back to the city, it will be fine."
Compared to Peiyu, Ivy is still somewhat calm.
She suggested — to return to the city.
"No worries. Bahamut, I entrust you with the dragon's veins and the girls."
{Will.}
Bahamut responds.
Shortly after, I picked up the Livyathan – the demon sword Livyathan.
I returned Leviathan to its original size, which I usually hide in my ear hole.
Clutching the demon sword that felt comfortable in my hand, I gave Peiyu and Ivy a quick glance.
"Stay still, Bahamut will protect you."
"Y-Yes."
"What are you going to do–"
Before I could answer Ivy, I leaped out with Livyathan ready.
Appearing out of the sand pillar, it dexterously crawled on the sand and approached us.
It looked deadly from its face and was ready to attack me.
In that case, I approached it from my side.
I swung Livyathan and slashed at the first lizard I saw.
As might be expected of a monster, its scales were harder than those of an ordinary fierce beast.
However, it was not a problem.
As soon as I put more force into the slash, Livyathan's blade sliced the lizard in half in a single strike.
The lizard was cut down with a single stroke.
Rolling on the ground, it made a surprised face, as if it did not know what had happened.
That face – I thrust the Leviathan at its head.
The lizard, pierced through the head, jerked and convulsed, and then it died and stopped moving.
I waited for a moment, but it did not seem to revive.
I heard that some types of monsters come back to life even after being killed, but the lizard did not seem to be of that type.
If so, then.
Without hesitation, I sprinted with Livyathan at ready.
It was a little harder to run on sand than on level ground, but much better than on snow.
Running on such sand, I cut down and disposed of the lizards one after another.
I knew that they would not revive, but their vitality was still higher than that of ordinary ferocious beasts.
Focusing mainly on the head, I cut down and pierced it, making sure to take it down and choke the life out of it.
"Kyaaaah!?"
I heard Peiyu scream.
When I looked, I saw several lizards charging toward them.
Upon closer inspection–
"Mhmm, are they getting huge?"
{It must be because those little flies were drawn by the dragon vein and hit by it.}
Livyathan replied.
I see, so it is the effect of the dragon vein.
For me, knowing the effects of dragon veins – high concentration magic power, it is not surprising that the body is affected to the extent that it grows to a giant size.
With this in mind, I sprinted even faster, jumped into the bosom of the lizard about to attack the two of them, and swung Livyathan.
As I had expected from its giant size, its scales had become harder, but they were just as hard as I had anticipated.
Since I strengthened my swing from the beginning, I sent the giant's head flying as before.
The flying head drew a parabolic line and fell in front of the girls with a thud.
At a glance, they were frightened for a moment, but no harm came to them, so I left them alone and jumped on another lizard.
It was only about five minutes in time.
I wiped out the lizards that had been attracted to the dragon's veins, whether they were gigantic or not.
"Fumu."
Shaking Livyathan to remove the blood, I returned it to its size and hid it in my earhole once again.
Then I returned to where I was before.
When I returned, I saw Peiyu's sparkling eyes and Ivy's surprise.
"It's amazing! Master's fighting figure is really cool!"
"Really."
Peiyu, knowing that I am "strong," was frankly impressed.
Meanwhile, Ivy, who witnessed me fighting for almost the first time, was amazed.
"You were such a ... strong person?"
"What are you talking about, weren't you there during the bandit pursuit?"
"T-that was ..."
"Don't say that, Peiyu. At that time, it was mostly Livyathan. This must be the first time she's seen me take things into my own hands."
"Oh, I see. ... that's how it is, isn't it?"
Peiyu is convinced by my words.
On the other hand, Ivy is still staring at me.
"Could it be that you didn't need ... John-sama's help or anything ... like that?"
"Hmm? Oh, you mean that night."
I gave a small nod.
"Well, if you are asking if I really need it, I didn't need it. I was only trying to help John with his feelings and his filial piety."
"I see. ..."
Ivy nodded in agreement.
A little later to Peiyu, her face also expressed her emotion.