Volume 9 Chapter 1 (1/2)

It was finally the day for the dragon's trial. I was currently getting ready in the room lent to me.

The previous day, we had such a great party. The alcohol and food were all first class.

I was especially surprised about the food.

In terms of cooking techniques, Avalon's chefs had the edge. Instead, the reason behind why even I, someone who was so used to delicious food, was surprised was the quality of the ingredients used. They were definitely of finer quality than those found in Avalon where the best things in the world have gathered.

When I asked how that was so, I was surprised again.

Apparently, the meat used were item drops from monsters.

A fixed time after a monster has died, it would turn into blue particles of light. There would be nothing left of the deceased monster except for items that could drop at fixed rates.

Among these item drops were meat items.

Basically, these meat items were categorized into pork, beef, poultry, and lamb meat, while some rare monsters dropped uniquely named meat. They were also graded as inferior, average, superior, and first-class.

Naturally, the higher the grade of the meat, the better tasting it was. And the flavor of the first-class meat items, which unsurprisingly could only be dropped by B rank or higher monsters, was enough to make any gourmet feel ecstatic.

Because nobles and other wealthy people were willing to pay large amounts of money for the first-class meat items, adventurers would often dive into dungeons looking for such things. A lot of the time however, before these adventurers could get out of the dungeon with their loot, they become exhausted and die.

According to what I heard, the food served to us used what was recovered—and later preserved—from those adventurers.

”I guess I should have known that unfamiliar flavor.”

A Demon Lord that ran a so-called orthodox dungeon would surely be familiar with the deaths of their monsters within the dungeon as well as with item drops.

However, I didn't run such a dungeon.

In fact, I built Avalon primarily so that I could avoid the deaths of my monsters as much as possible.

…and then, it hit me. I finally understood why [Time] Demon Lord Dantalian said that last night's feast was something only he could have prepared. Certainly, I wouldn't have been able to serve the same food.

While arriving to that conclusion, I used the water from a water jug in the room and washed my face.

Good, my eyes look perfectly awake. Let's go.

◇

Next, I went toward the [Time] Demon Lord's arena.

Already rushing to the audience seats were the [Time] Demon Lord's monsters. Their excitement for the fierce fight between S rank dragons were visible on their faces.

A few moments after I arrived, my dragon did too.

His name was Duke, and he was a Black Dragon of Death Siegwurm.

Just like yesterday, he was wearing the tailcoat suit that his Dwarf Smith wife had made for him.

”Good morning, Duke. Were you able to get a good night's rest last night?”

”Not really, my lord. I can't stop picturing defeating the world's strongest dragon and taking its place.”

”You're as reliable as ever, Duke.”

A few moments after that, Stolas and Enlil the Storm Dragon Knight Bahamut came along.

Enlil dropped down from Stolas's shoulder and reverted to his true form: a large, jade-green flying dragon.

Each of his scales were filled with astonishing amounts of magic power. So much so that each one glimmered like an emerald.

Stolas standing side by side with Enlil while he had a stoic countenance in that form, it was truly a sight to behold.

”Enlil, what good wind we have today, right? I hope you'll fight well together today and emerge victorious.”

”GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAA”

Enlil replied with a forceful roar.

Seeing that, I could tell Duke also wanted to transform into his real form, but his had a time limit and that vexed him.

At any rate, the challenger side was complete.

Now, all we needed to do was wait for the champion.

And right on cue, they arrived. With their appearance, the [Time] Demon Lord's monsters cheered. The whole place shook because of it.

Three Demon Lords climbed up the stage.

One was a beautiful looking young man, one was beautiful brown-skinned woman with wolf ears and a wolf tail, and the last one was an old man whose body was thoroughly trained.

They were the three strongest Demon Lords. [Time] Demon Lord Dantalian, [Beast] Demon Lord Marchosias, and [Dragon] Demon Lord Astaroth.

If these three were together, there was nothing they couldn't do. Even world domination would be easy.

The [Dragon] Demon Lord then walked toward the center of the stage.

He then crossed his arms and assumed an imposing stance.

”Come!”

When he shouted so, dragons that each had crazy amounts of power appeared from all directions. Each of them had been made with the ability to level up and had been trained to the utmost. As if that wasn't enough, each of them had [Berserk], allowing them to go against even S rank monsters. Each was a monster capable of destroying a country.

And there were 19 of them.

They landed in such a way that they surrounded the arena's stage. They then roared. It wasn't meant to threaten, but rather to revere something, to request for something's affection.

As if to answer those roars, a crack appeared in the sky. That crack was then pried open from within.

And what emerged was Caesar the Emperor Dragon Typhon.

Standing at over 20 meters tall, he was large even by dragon standards. His reddish-brown body was wrapped in some kind of golden light. There was something malicious but at the same time holy about it.