[V8C2] Phantom Dragon of Pistraune

Silently but steadily, Isaac Walker was getting backed into a corner. How much longer would he have to endure this kind of life?

He had bottled up his emotions and lied to himself until now, but…

(…Enough is enough.)

No longer able to hide the bitterness on his handsome face, Isaac looked down upon the source of his suffering: a massive pile of carrots.

A few days ago, a shipment of carrots arrived along with a message from the Thorn Witch, Raul Roseberg: “Our carrot harvest turned out incredibly well! Feel free to share with anyone you know!”

The wooden crate was packed with so many carrots that Isaac needed both hands to lift it. Meanwhile, the weaker Monica couldn’t even manage to budge it. Clearly, this was beyond what a single household could consume.

Despite distributing them to friends and neighbors, including Miss Lana Colette, over the past week, there were still plenty of carrots left in the crate. Adding to the inconvenience, Nero, the biggest eater in the house, had been missing for a week now.

Apparently, Isaac had offended him by stroking his tail in the wrong way.

According to the cat, “Foolish human who dared to stroke my tail improperly, I won’t fall for your tricks again! There better be a feast and party worshiping the great Nero-sama, or I’ll never forgive you! Dumbass! Moron!”

The shared view of Isaac and Monica was along the lines of, “Meh, he’ll probably be back when he starts craving for meat again.”

Either way, only Isaac and Monica were left to deal with the surplus of carrots.

Isaac had been diligently incorporating carrots into meat dishes, soups, and various other recipes over the past few days, but honestly, he was reaching his limit.

(…How about grating them and making a cake?)

Flavoring it with citrus and cinnamon should mask the carroty taste considerably.

Isaac rolled up his sleeves, pumped himself up with a “I got this”, and began grating carrots as if his life depended on it. The eyes he had for the carrots could only be described as a glare, staring daggers into the vegetables responsible for his suffering.

After all, Isaac had despised carrots since childhood. He still held a distaste for them.

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Intrigued by the sounds of grating coming from the kitchen, Monica Everett peeked inside to find Isaac silently grating carrots with his sleeves rolled up.

(I wonder what he’s making today?)

Back in the mountain hut, Monica had eaten the same things every day. She was not the type to tire of repetitive dishes, so she was fine with the surplus of carrots on her dinner table over the past few days.

Above all, everything Isaac made turned out delicious. She genuinely looked forward to his cooking.

Monica glanced outside the window, hoping that Nero would come back soon. It had been nearly a week since Nero ran away from home.

They kept the window unlocked whenever possible to allow for Nero’s smooth return, yet there was no sign of the cat.

According to Isaac, the reason for his runaway was, “I accidentally slipped and stroked his tail in the wrong direction.” Nero had clearly made a mountain out of an anthill.

As Monica lost herself in thoughts while staring out the window, she noticed the mailman depositing a letter into the mailbox in front of her house.

(A letter. Maybe from Minerva?)

Not too long ago, Monica had sent a draft of her recently completed paper to Professor Rutherford at the Minerva Institute for Mages. Perhaps a letter containing his comments and corrections had arrived. Monica went to the mailbox and retrieved the envelope.

The sender of the letter turned out to be the Sazandol branch of the Mage Association.

The Seven Sages had a deep connection to the Mage Association. Letters came on a monthly basis, including matters such as regular updates on magical studies, requests for lectures, or reports that the Sages had to review.

However, such mail typically came from the main headquarters of the Mage Association in Baroa. It was a bit unusual to see a letter from the Sazandol branch.

Monica sat down in her chair and opened the envelope. Inside was a request signed by the head of the Sazandol branch. After reading its contents, Monica suddenly stood up in surprise.

“Eh? Oh no…!”

With the letter tightly gripped in her hand, Monica called out to the kitchen, where the sounds of grating and slicing still echoed.

“Ike, Ike! I’m going over to the Mage Association!”

Isaac paused his grating and looked at Monica.

“The Mage Association? You mean the headquarters?”

“No, the Sazandol branch. It seems there’s an urgent request… Some trouble at the port…”

“Is it perhaps a water dragon?”

Isaac’s question caused Monica’s eyes to go wide. It was just as he said. The Sazandol branch of the Mage Association had requested her to subdue the water dragon discovered in the waters near the port.

The seas near Sazandol were not designated as a dragon-alert area, but the occasional water dragon sometimes wandered in.

That said, ‘water dragon’ was a general term for all lesser dragons that lived in aquatic habitats. There were so many vastly different species that it said nothing about the actual type.

Some species could be recognized by their long necks, horns, or wide fins. Others needed to be determined by the colors of their scales, and there were even some rare ones that were poisonous or amphibian.

They also came in various sizes. Smaller water dragons were no bigger than Monica, while larger ones could surpass the size of your average ship.

This time, the extermination request was for a large-sized water dragon.

“Ike, how did you know it was about a water dragon?”

“I heard from the sailors in the port about a big water dragon, so I thought this might be related.”

Though slightly surprised at Isaac having made friends with the sailors, Monica spread the request form for Isaac to see.

“That’s right. Apparently, a large water dragon has appeared on the route connecting Sazandol and Alpatra…”

Monica cut off her words and exhaled a troubled sigh.

The sea route leading to the maritime nation of Alpatra was one of Sazandol’s most crucial trading routes. The presence of a large dragon meant a significant blow to both fishermen and merchants.

Since Lana managed a trading company, she would likely be in trouble too. Monica wanted to help out her friend.

That said, hunting water dragons was no easy task, even for the Silent Witch.

“This will be my first time against a water dragon, and honestly, I’m not very confident.”

Monica was renowned for her feat of shooting down twenty wyverns at the same time, but it would be challenging to do the same thing against water dragons. There were several reasons for this.

First and foremost, it was difficult to detect enemies underwater. While detection magic could provide a rough estimation, it did not have enough accuracy to pinpoint the target’s forehead.

Second, the existence of water pressure and underwater currents caused a significant drop in the power and accuracy of offensive spells.

There were other minor issues as well, but it boiled down to these two main problems: “it’s hard to hit underwater targets” and “it’s hard to output enough power underwater.”

For Monica, shooting down a flock of wyverns was far easier than taking down a single water dragon.

(Among the Seven Sages, Artillery Mage-sama is the best at dealing with water dragons, but… I can’t imitate his way of fighting.)

Just like other dragons, it was difficult to fell a water dragon unless you struck right at the forehead.

However, the Artillery Mage’s high-powered multiple reinforcement magic could deal a significant blow even to the dragon’s torso. His overwhelming power meant he did not need the precision to target the dragon’s weakpoint. The strength of the Artillery Mage lay in the fact that his victory was all but certain the moment his spell landed.

On the other hand, Monica’s strengths were the speed and accuracy of her spellcasting, which unfortunately became much less effective against water dragons.

(Should I try an advanced homing formula? …No. Even if my spells can track, it will be pointless unless I hit the forehead… Small to medium-sized water dragons can be pulled to the surface with spears, but that’s probably impossible for larger ones…)

In the end, Monica had no choice but to perform all the calculations to determine the dragons’s exact position, then strike directly through its forehead.

To do so, she would need information about the underwent currents of the region, as well as the specific species of water dragon.

However, this caused her to bump into the next problem. Isaac pointed out the issue after reading through the documents.

“This is pretty awful. The witness reports are all over the place.”

Included in the letter was a compilation of witness reports, which were incredibly inconsistent. Some witnesses claimed the dragon had a long neck, while others said it was short. The fins were described as both large and small, and so on.

The only consistent detail was the dragon being larger than a ship.

“Considering the reports, the possibility of a blue dragon seems low, but it might be better to remain cautious.”

Blue dragons were a greater species of water dragon known for their beautiful blue scales and pair of large horns.

Since none of the reports mentioned horns, the target was unlikely to be a blue dragon. Either way, blue dragons were usually gentle in temperament and rarely approached ships.

Even in the off chance that the target was actually a blue dragon, they had the ability to use water-manipulation magic. It was basically impossible for a ship to close in on a blue dragon, and there was little chance of survival if attacked by one.

“Umm… Well, for now, let’s put aside the possibility of a blue dragon and focus on the line of a large water dragon.”

Hearing Monica’s request, the thoughtful Isaac quickly brought a book about aquatic dragons and spread it on the desk. He rapidly flipped through the pages and narrowed down the relevant species. His work was swift.

“The target is most likely a species of plesiosaur, but it could also be a mutation of the long-finned species, which are normally only medium-sized.”

“Right, I’ve heard of such cases being reported in the past, um, so we should keep that in mind.”

“The reports aren’t consistent on the color of the scales. Some said it was dark, while others mentioned a grayish tone… Hmm, it’s probably best not to rely too much on color.”

“I agree. The color of scales seen underwater can look different depending on the weather, and some species change their scale color when they come ashore… Let’s not worry too much about the scales.”

Monica and Isaac began narrowing down the species of the target based on the sighting reports.

After identifying about five potential suspects, Isaac chuckled to himself.

“Many of the sailors I spoke to claimed that they saw the Phantom Dragon of Pistraune, so we probably can’t rely on their accounts.”

“The Phantom Dragon of Pistraune?”

“Have you heard about the incident with the luxury liner Evangeline eight years ago?”

Monica shook her head at the question. While she had a decent memory for magical history, magical creatures were outside her area of expertise.

“Eight years ago, the luxury liner Evangeline encountered a large water dragon and capsized in the waters of Pistraune. Almost none of the passengers survived, but miraculously, some crew members were picked up by a passing fishing boat.”

One of the survivors reportedly testified as follows:

“We had been keeping an eye out at all times. And yet, the huge dragon appeared from beneath the ship without any warning.”

After listening to Isaac’s story, Monica thought to herself for a moment before speaking.

“Um, did it happen at night?”

“No, the middle of the day. The weather had been good too.”

Missing the approach of a large dragon during the night might be somewhat understandable, but that sounded a little unnatural for daytime.

“He apparently said, ‘the dragon appeared like a phantom‘——based on his account, the dragon that sank the Evangeline became known as the Phantom Dragon of Pistraune, named after the region.

Then, blown-up versions of the rumor spread, adding details such as ‘the dragon did it to smite the sinner who was aboard the Evangeline’ or ‘the Phantom Dragon of Pistraune continues to prowl around the sunken ship to monopolize its treasures.’

Ever since that incident, the sudden appearance of large water dragons or those with unknown identities got turned into the Phantom Dragon of Pistraune by the terrified imaginations of the sailors.

“Um… Wouldn’t it be more logical to attribute that to mistakes like surveillance oversights or poor visibility in mist…?”

“You might be right about that.” Isaac readily nodded. “Sometimes, people just want to assign names to frightening entities with unclear identities, right?”

“Is that so?”

Monica would prefer to clarify the identity of something vague rather than giving it a name. And if it still didn’t have a name, she would give it one.

As she thought about that, Isaac put on an ambiguous smile and closed the book.

“By the way, I have a suggestion regarding the water dragon extermination. Will you hear me out, Master?”

Isaac returned after grabbing several sheets of paper from the file cabinet. This was the personal research he had been busy with.

After spreading the papers on the desk, Isaac continued with an unusually serious face. His expression resembled that of a student standing in front of a professor during a presentation.

“You see, I’ve been researching underwater reconnaissance magic lately. I also tried incorporating the sharing formula proposed by Professor Prescott of Minerva… Would this be useful for the water dragon extermination?”

Monica looked through the magical formulae on the paper with an expressionless face for a while. Following repeated calculations and verifications of the content, she slowly raised her head to look at Isaac.

“Ike, um…”

“…Yeah?”

Ike replied with a nod as Monica waved her hands up and down meaninglessly.

“Erm, right now, I really, really want to praise you as your master… How do you praise someone in these situations?”

“Maybe patting on the head?”

Isaac had suggested this in a joking manner, but Monica seriously stretched her arm up as far as possible. Her short stature would not allow her to reach the top of Isaac’s head, so instead, she gently stroked around his bangs.

“Ike, you’re amazing, really amazing. My disciple really is the best!”

Monica let out an excited shout with blushed cheeks, to which Isaac responded with a warm smile.

“You honor me, Master.”

His elegant and graceful smile could not hide the overflowing joy causing his cheeks to twitch.

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