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The dragon’s body fell to the ground and stopped moving. After that arduous fight, the time all players had been waiting for finally arrived. It was time to see what loot they had obtained.

In large scale raids like these, the loot was individually given to each player. Obviously, some would end up having better luck than others, and in Suzaku’s case, he was rather lucky. The first one was more of an accident, as the black sword he had picked up from within the dragon’s mouth was given full ownership to him.

The sword seemed to be the base form of a weapon that could be evolved further down the line. But many of the materials required for that came from other Corrupted Dragons, so once he saw the list of materials, he just closed the window.

Other than that, he had also obtained some scale armor called Dark Dragon Breastplate, which was black and went along nicely with his clothes that had gotten dyed red. He also obtained a dagger type weapon, called Dragon Tooth, which looked like a fang on a handle and would serve him well as a secondary weapon.

All of that got him in a good mood, but just as he was about to start celebrating, he noticed a blinking global notification for the game.

«The player Suzaku has obtained the title Dragonblood Hero»

“HOLD ON A SECOND?!”

He was not prepared for that. He had completely ignored the possibility of him gaining such a title, as he assumed one of the two girls would get it instead.

But now his name had been broadcasted to everyone in the server, and he stared emptily into space as life vanished from his eyes.

“Bahahahah… Congratulations, hero!” The blue haired alchemist lady with cat ears laughed loudly seeing that, and then congratulated him while patting his shoulder. Seeing that, the other players nearby realized that was Suzaku, so they clapped happily for his achievement.

“No, but why? I really think those two did a lot more than me.” Saying that, he glanced at Hinagiku and Lycoris, hoping they would help him out.

“We both weren’t in the draw to begin with.”
“It’d be weird if we got it, considering we’re part of a Demon Lord’s guild.”

Both of them had radiant smiles as they also congratulated Suzaku.

“Ah…huh? I…see…”
“By the way, they’re also something like two of the Demon Lord’s four generals.”

It all made sense when Jade mentioned that. Suzaku had noticed that the two girls were incredibly powerful, so it made a lot of sense if they were some of the top players overall.

“Well, it was still the three of you who did all the heavy lifting.”
“Thank you for helping us out when we messed up!”
“I’ll look forward to your future exploits, newly crowned hero!”

The other players did not seem to have any complaints with Suzaku gaining that title either, leaving him no choice but to resign himself to it, and so he shrugged with a complicated smile while everyone clapped for him.

Eventually, the celebration was over.

Suzaku had anticipated that things would get dangerous around Wyndham, so he had rented a room in an inn within the Neutral Interaction City Valhalant, so that his companion Da’at Criferd could stay safe.

Everyone in the city had heard about Suzaku though, so it took him a while to reach the inn. But once he was there, he was welcomed by a tackle from the young girl.

“Congratulations, Suzaku!” She beamed a bright smile at him, congratulating him as well. That made Suzaku feel a bit embarrassed, so he looked away.

“…You were watching?”
“Mhm. They were showing it here in the inn, so I watched e~verything.”

That made sense. There were monitors in the lobby and rooms of the inn, which could display broadcasts.

“And… You did really well. And you looked cool too.”
“…There was nothing cool about any of that.”
“You were cool for me!”
“…What does that even mean?”

Suzaku could not win against that girl, who was always so direct with everything she said about him.

“Oh whatever… I’m hungry now. It’s a special occasion so let’s eat out somewhere.”
“Yay! …Kyah?!”

Da’at approved of the idea right away and happily headed out, but after taking barely a single step, she tripped.

“Hey…are you okay?”
“M-Mhm. Thank you. I just tripped…”

Suzaku quickly caught her, and then squatted down to check what had caused that.

“…The strap is broken.”

She was currently wearing the same white sandals she had been wearing when Suzaku first met her. She had probably worn those sandals for a long time, and washed them countless times as well, which had made the strap deteriorate to the point that it broke.

Hmm, it seems she really stayed here the entire time.

The sandals did not look like she had cleaned them in the last few hours, but there was also no major dirt on them or on the girl’s delicate and fair skinned feet. So he continued thinking to himself.

Does this mean I actually just imagined her voice back then?

“…Suzaku?”
“Ah, sorry. I guess we’ll have to make a stop at a shoe store first.”
“Are you sure?!”

Da’at’s face lit up with happiness hearing that.

“I mean, you do need something new to wear. I don’t know if this can still be repaired after all.”
“Ah, but I don’t want to go there barefoot. Carry me Suzakuuu~”
“I guess I have no choice… As you wish, Your Highness.”

Sighing as he said that, Suzaku picked the girl up and carried her on his shoulder like a bag of rice.

“Hrnghh… You’d be more careful carrying me if I was an actual princess…”

Hearing the girl’s complaints, which he had gotten used to, made Suzaku realize that hanging out with her had essentially become part of his daily routine now. And the fact that he was not really displeased with that fact was a bit surprising too.

◇◇◇

That same night, sometime after the event was over in Wyndham, Crim went alone to visit the battlefield.

Walking through the charred trees and ravaged land left behind by the fight against the Corrupted Dragon Fafnir, Crim tried to find the spot where she had seen that suspicious girl earlier during the event.

The ground under her feet was moist, with clumps of mud sticking to her shoes as she walked, which was something unpleasant she had to endure. Focusing her eyes to see better in the darkness of night, she eventually found what she was looking for.

Which was a set of small footprints, likely left behind by a girl.

They looked like they had been left by sandals too, and tracking her led Crim to the outmost walls of the city, over which the footprints crossed to go away from there.

“…She didn’t go back to the city to then?” Looking at the direction the footprints headed to, Crim muttered to herself, remaining hidden in the shadows.