Chapter 2-2 : Appraising The Dragon

 

Everyone was staring at the body of Zirnitra that was floating in the air.

Queen Kushana was the first to speak out while the others were still frozen.

「…I thought it would only be a part of it… but you took out the whole thing from that small magic bag… I’m surprised.」(Kushana)

「I put it in immediately after I killed it, so I think it’s still warm.」(Mylia)

「I see.」(Kushana)

The Queen nodded several times while observing Zirnitra’s corpse, and then she returned her gaze to Mylia.

「Mylia, let me buy this dragon’s corpse.」(Kushana)

「Eh? Your Majesty, do you want to buy it? I was thinking of selling it to a monster material shop in the city but…」(Mylia)

「Ahahaha! You will make an uproar if you take out this giant corpse in the middle of the city.」(Kushana)

The Queen rarely laughs, so the scene of her laughing made the tense air in the audience room relax a little.

Queen Kushana likes capable people.

She would hire anyone who would most likely benefit the kingdom regardless of their status.

One of the reasons why she established the Royal Girls’ Academy was because she wanted to raise talented women.

Now that the kingdom was lacking talented magicians, the Queen would gladly welcome Mylia to her Royal Girls’ Academy.

However, she wasn’t aware that Mylia was extraordinary and lacked common sense at the same time.

「Ah, you’re right! I didn’t think about it.」(Mylia)

The Queen lowered her eyebrows and smiled at Mylia who gave an honest reply.

「We will definitely get good materials out of this dragon’s body. Moreover, there are a lot of magic stones on its scales… Finance minister, I leave the assessment to you.」(Kushana)

The man who seemed to be the finance minister bowed to the queen once.

He then called several people, and they started taking notes while observing the dragon’s body.

While the finance minister and his subordinates were doing their job, Mylia looked around.

The knights guarding the door looked very curious about Zirnitra’s corpse. They seemed itching to observe it up close.

On the other hand, Amnesia, who was standing among them, didn’t seem to care about Zirnitra at all. She kept looking at Mylia with worried eyes.

「”Mylia”, was it?」(female magician)

The female royal magician, who tried to stop the queen from ordering Mylia to take out Zirnitra’s corpse earlier, turned to Mylia.

「Y, Yes?」(Mylia)

「I’m Dalia de la Germell, a royal magician.」(Dalia)

「I-I’m Mylia de laー」(Mylia)

「ーI’ve heard your name earlier.」(Dalia)

Looked like Dalia had an impatient personality.

She interrupted Mylia while she was speaking.

Mylia was about to say, “I’m sorry”, but she immediately closed her mouth.

「You’re now using gravity magic, aren’t you? Where did you learn it?」(Dalia)

Dalia’s sharp eyes, that were behind her glasses, were on Mylia.

(Uhh, I can’t say that I was taught by an elven master…)

「I learned it myself. Aside from gravity magic, I also learned levitation magic to fly in the sky.」(Mylia)

「You can use levitation magic, huh? I’m impressed.」(Dalia)

「Thank you!」(Mylia)

「…Amnesia.」(Dalia)

Dalia turned to Amnesia.

「Tell me in detail how she defeated Zirnitra.」(Dalia)

「Understood.」(Amnesia)

Amnesia told Dalia how Mylia countered Zirnitra’s shockwave attack with her cat-shaped barrier, and a giant black cat popped out of the barrier and sent a powerful ‘cat punch’ to Zirnitra’s face. After that, Mylia attacked Zirnitra’s neck with explosion magic when it couldn’t move, and then cut its neck with a wind blade after the thick scales around its neck were destroyed by the explosion.

Amnesia looked kinda nervous while explaining.

She doubted that everyone would believe in absurd things like a cat-shaped barrier, a black cat who can send a dragon flying with a punch, and explosive magic that can destroy a dragon’s scales.

「ーーand that’s how she defeated Zirnitra.」(Amnesia)

「……….」(Dalia)

Dalia looked at Amnesia with doubtful eyes.

It was hard to believe, but Dalia didn’t think that Amnesia was lying.

She knew that Amnesia was an excellent and respectable person who had been appointed as an examiner by the queen herself.

「Mylia, I’m going to attack you with my magic. Block it with your cat-shaped barrier.」(Dalia)

「Huh?」(Mylia)

Mylia was confused, but a person with an impatient personality like Dalia wouldn’t wait.

She pulled out the wand from her waist and pointed it at Mylia.

「Your Majesty, may I?」(Dalia)

「Go ahead. I want to see how Mylia fights too.」(Kushana)

「Thank you very much… Mylia, are you ready?」(Dalia)

「Eh? Ehh!?」(Mylia)

「Ah, is it too difficult for you to use your cat barrier while using gravity magic? I will ask the other magicians here to lift Zirnitra’s corpse for you.」(Dalia)

「No, you don’t have to. I was just surprised. But… Are you sure you want to do this?」(Mylia)

「…What do you mean?」(Dalia)

「My cat barrier is a counter spell, so if you attack me, a cat will pop out and strike you back. I’m afraid I will end up hurting you, Dalia-san.」(Mylia)

Suddenly, Amnesia quickly approached Mylia and whispered to her.

「Hey, Mylia, you should call her Lady Germell…!」(Amnesia)

(Woops!)

「I-I’m sorry, I mean, Lady Germell…」(Mylia)

「I don’t mind. You can call me Dalia-san. And you don’t need to worry about me. I’m a royal magician, you know?」(Dalia)

While saying that, Dalia raised her glasses and smiled at Mylia.

She looked so excited.

(I feel like this person is dangerous in various ways!)

At that moment, Mylia had a feeling that she shouldn’t get involved with this person too much.

「Ready yourself! Fireballー!」(Dalia)

A fireball that was large enough to swallow Mylia was fired from Dalia’s wand.

It flew toward Mylia while making a loud sound of burning oxygen.

「She will kill that girl!」
「That girl will become charcoal! 」
「What a poor girl!」

The people in the audience room started shouting.

While hearing their voices, Mylia recalled her training with Titania and immediately imagined a cat barrier while circulating her magical power in her body.

(This person is crazy!ーー Cat-shaped defense magic, activate!)

Mylia extended her right hand forward and deployed a cat-shaped barrier.

The big fireball hit the barrier, making a loud blasting sound and causing a strong wind to blow everywhere.

The fireball pushed the barrier back a little, but then it bounced back toward Dalia and transformed into a red cat.

「ーー!!」(Dalia)

Dalia was a little surprised that her fireball turned into a cat, but she didn’t lose her cool.

She swung her wand to the side, and then the wand transformed into a sword.

「Haaー!」(Dalia)

The red cat delivered a ‘cat punch’ but Dalia managed to dodge it and then quickly cut the cat’s body in half with her sword.

Funyaaaーー……

And then the cat screamed and disappeared into thin air.

(Ehh!? She cut my magical cat with a sword!? Master never told me that you can cut magical power with a sword. How can she do that…?)

Mylia was impressed by Dalia’s sophisticated sword technique.

「….I can’t believe you can easily repel my fireball… Not only that, you even made it turn against me…」(Dalia)

Meanwhile, Dalia was also impressed by Mylia’s cat barrier.

She couldn’t hide her surprise.

「I understand now… Mylia, I’m sorry for attacking you all of a sudden.」(Dalia)

Dalia turned her sword back to a wand and lowered her head to Mylia.

「N-No. Me too. I’m sorry forー」(Mylia)

「ーNext, show me your explosion magic.」(Dalia)

「Wait, what?」(Mylia)

(At first, I thought that the queen was the scariest person here, but it looks like I was wrong!)

「I can’t use explosion magic here. It’s too dangeー」(Mylia)

「Just do it. Quick.」(Dalia)

Dalia took a stance while making a “come on!” gesture with her hand, ready to receive Mylia’s explosion magic.

(Khh, this person! Didn’t her mother ever teach her to listen to what people say!?)

Amnesia couldn’t ignore this.

She stepped forward and tried to stop Dalia.

「Lady Germell, Mylia’s explosion magic can blow a dragon’s thick scales into pieces. It has a ridiculous destructive power. This room is quite large, but I think it’s too dangerous to use it here.」(Amnesia)

「I will definitely block it, so you don’t need to worry about it.」(Dalia)

「Pardon me, I might sound rude but I don’t think you can do it… Mylia, don’t do it.」(Amnesia)

Amnesia looked at Mylia with desperate eyes.

Mylia nodded to Amnesia.

「Don’t worry, Amnesia-san. I won’t… This is not a spell to use on people, so I can’t do it. I’m sorry, Dalia-sanー I mean, Lady Germell…」(Mylia)

「I told you you can call me Dalia-san… Hahh… I understand. I will give up for now.」(Dalia)

Dalia undid the stance and pushed up her glasses with her fingers.

「However, I will ask you the same thing again the next time we meet.」(Dalia)

「A.. Ahaha…」(Mylia)

(I have to avoid her at all costs!)

Amnesia looked at Mylia and nodded, trying to tell her to be careful.

Mylia knew what Amnesia was trying to say. She nodded back at her.

「Are you done with your business?」(Kushana)

「Yes, Your Majesty.」(Dalia)

「Then, I will read the report from the finance minister.」(Kushana)

A finance officer handed a paper to a maid, and then the maid brought it to the queen on the throne.

Without changing her expression, the queen began to read it.

「I will buy the corpse of Zirnitra the elder dragon for 1,800 gold coins. Bring the gold here.」(Kushana)

(Say whaaaatー!?)

Mylia thought that there was something wrong with her ears.

She cast healing magic on her ears and asked the queen to confirm.

「Y-Your Majesty… Did you say a thousand and eight hundred…?」(Mylia)

「Hm? You didn’t hear me? Yes, I said a thousand and eight hundred gold coins.」(Kushana)

「A-A… Th-Thousand…. E-Eight… Hundweds…!?」(Mylia)

(For real…? One gold coin equal ten silver coins, so a thousand and eight hundred gold coins equal… eighteen thousand silver coins…!)

「What’s wrong? Are you dissatisfied with that? Haha! You got some nerve for a freshman. I understand. I will give you 2,000 gold coins. Is that enough?」(Kushana)

「T-t-t-t-two thouzannーー!?」

(That will be 20,000 silver coins! That’s insane!)

Mylia finally began to notice that she had done something ridiculous.

 

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8 Comments

  1. Hey… isn’t this kind of. *Exactly* the same story as “8th Son? Are you kidding me?”

    Like. I’ve been following this for months but um. I’m just now noticing, I’ve read this all before?? Beat for beat even. This is the same story.

    In that story, he’s the 8th son of a poor knight’s house way off in the middle of nowhere at the edge of monster territory, who is neglected by his family and eats black bread and clear watery soup every day. They think he’s a useless idiot that can’t work or contribute to the family. After he gets a fever, he suddenly remembers his past life in Japan. Taking advantage of the fact that he’s useless and doesn’t have to work, he sneaks into his father’s study to find magic books and learns that he has aptitude for magic and practices in secret. Then he coincidentally finds a great master in the forest behind his house who teaches him how to use magic. He has a crazy amount of mana. He goes out and while fighting monsters to practice magic, he uses magic to extract ore from nearby rocks. Then he teleports to the nearby town, where he sells the monster parts for money and buys soybeans. Sometime in the middle his older brothers set out from home to go and make it big in the capital. After months of experimentation, he finally invents soy sauce with the soybeans. Then he sets out to go to the nation’s capital to apply and become a royal magician. His magic master gives him an item bag and a whole bunch of fancy enchanted clothes as a parting gift. On the way, they’re attacked by a giant bone dragon, which he kills singlehandedly, saving everybody. He stores it in his magic bag. They get to the capital, he’s summoned by the king to reward him for killing the dragon and being a totally out of common sense magician who will make great contributions to the kingdom. Then he takes out the dragon corpse in the throne room, the king wants to buy it, and says “finance minister I leave it up to you” and the finance minister inspects it…

    next thing that should happen is that the finance minister tries to haggle the price, she gets a noble title and becomes famous in the capital as a dragonslayer, and the queen tries to recruit her and give her a job. Because that’s the next thing that happens in 8th son…

    This is. the same thing??? All the same things happened! All that’s different is that it’s genderbent and everyone is sexist??? I can’t even tell which one is the original, they’re way too similar, it’s *exactly* the same story. Umm? There’s aesthetic differences but otherwise, all the major story events are the same.

    It definitely has to diverge from here though, right? Because the next thing that happens is he inherits his Magic teacher’s estate, gets a political fiancee (the high priest’s daughter), then there’s a whole arc about how the female side characters following him argue over him and then one-sidedly (without his input) decide they’ll be his concubines together because otherwise they can’t compete with the legal fiancee, then it turns into a harem story. Mylia can’t inherit an estate because Titania isn’t a noble(?) and also isn’t dead! Also Chloe is clearly the canon wife, mylia definitely can’t set up a harem, shoujo novels don’t do that… I think. And they seem to be setting up for a school arc. So.. will it be different then? I think I stopped reading 8th son about there so I don’t know any further, I won’t even notice if it does or doesn’t diverge, I don’t know what happens next.

    I have no opinions. I’m just purely surprised. I’ve never encountered something like this before. Am I going crazy? Is it just like, the same author or something?

    1. It does seem similar except that Mylia didn’t use an airship to travel to the capital. Ha, ha.

      I wouldn’t doubt that lots of japanese or western stories get copied into other languages with the original authors getting zero credit. For example, the original story Tree of Aeons at Royal Road was copied by someone at the chinese-owned Webnovel site and of course fees were charged to read it. Authorship was claimed by the person who was selling it at Webnovel. The original owner found out and contacted Webnovel who did nothing about it because it was making money for them. Only after a LOT of fans of the original author started making noise about Webnovel supporting plagiarism for money did Webnovel shut down access to that story by western users. So I wouldn’t doubt that the full chinese versions of many stories are published and sold on chinese sites that we westerners cannot access due to our western IPs being blocked.

    2. Well in the 8th son, you could say that each wife he has represents the amount of times the mc was a pushover and went around doing tasks and getting engaged as a reward, so I think it will definitely diverge here

    3. It’s a similar premise, but this one doesn’t seem to have a harem, and instead leans more towards food and friendship…

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