"The Talented Dragon Hides Its Claws" ~ The Eldest Son of the Baron Family, Called Useless, is Actually One of the World's Strongest ~ - Episode 50

Count Blan issues orders in a voice that carries.

“Focus your attacks on the giant’s arms and head!!! Don’t let it stand up again!!!”

“Hah‼”

The soldiers of the Earl’s army focus their attacks on the arms and head, while the mage unit targets everything else.

Normally, when the usually taciturn master raises his voice, even if they don’t want to, knights are the kind of beings that get motivated.

Inside the giant’s head.

“Damn it, damn it!! Why did it come to this…!!”

I’m already at my limit just reinforcing my arms and head, and now they’re using fire magic too? That’s so unfair! I don’t have the luxury of putting out the fire. At this rate, their blade will eventually reach me. What am I supposed to do…?

The plant hero might not have a way to recover on their own from here.

A large black shadow leaped up from beyond the barrier.

“Ryu-kun. Isn’t that a bit off?”

“Yes. It was within the realm of possibility for the other two to start moving at this timing, but I never expected them to be accompanied by something like that…”

“This battle seems like it’s going to drag on in a bad way.”

The true identity of that large black shadow is…

It is a flying dragon wyvern.

“Meteor!!! Fly up!!!”

“Th-this voice is Yuma-kun!? I understand!!”

The plant hero seized a moment of opportunity, pierced a hole in its head, wrapped itself in vines, and threw itself into the sky.

The flying dragon skillfully catches the hero who was thrown into the sky and returns to its own territory.

“Hahaha! Too bad for you, Imperial Army!”

“I’ll repay this humiliation double!”

Deep down, Count Bran and his subordinates, who were convinced they would defeat the hero, couldn’t hide their surprise and regret at having let their target escape.

“W-What did you say…?”

“Is that even allowed…?”

“Do we really have to fight that giant again…?”

I squandered the opportunity that the Chief of Staff created for me… What a blunder I made…

However, at that moment, a “spear of water” was fired from the forest on the left and struck the flying dragon’s leg directly.

As a result, the dragon ended up letting go of the plant hero.

“Huh?”

“Meteor!!!!!!!”

The hero fell straight into the heart of the imperial army.

Using the vines skillfully to land safely, I somehow managed to survive…

“I’m a hero of plant magic.”

“Is he the guy who was trampling on his allies?”

“How dare you harm my friends…!”

That’s right in the enemy’s territory.

“Um, um… I’m sorry.”

Thud.

Due to a series of sudden events, the tent was in a state of confusion, but with the help of someone, they successfully managed to capture one of the heroes.

“You really came after all.”

“To lend a hand just when I’m in a tight spot, that’s quite stylish of you.”

“The range of that spell is truly impressive, isn’t it, Master of the Abyss?”

“Yes. If she has come, it seems like we should tweak our strategy a bit.”

“Yeah. Since the irregularity of the flying dragon has also appeared, I think we should revise it.”

That day, the stalemate continued until evening, and as the sun set, both armies retreated to their original positions. On the way back, under Ryu’s orders, they poured oil on the soldiers’ corpses left on the battlefield and burned them all. This was a strategy to prevent the Hero from using them for necromancy. Of course, the Hero’s corpse was collected for later examination.

The first day’s casualty was Baron Cassano, while the harvest was a single hero and the vice commander of the principality’s knight order. It can be considered quite favorable.

At night, under the canopy.

“The hero’s magic went far beyond our imagination.”

“Yes. The fact that there are still subjugated and undead beings that seem even more dangerous than the plants is just…”

“For now, subjugation seems to be the most troublesome. Just thinking about commanding A-rank monsters like wyverns in droves…”

“That’s not necessarily true. Necromancy, to put it simply, is a magic that creates and controls the undead, so there might be an army of immortals appearing from tomorrow onwards. Unlike monsters that can be dealt with by killing them once, zombies continue to fight even if you cut off their heads.”

“Don’t you have any weaknesses or something?”

“If salt were a weakness, we could just wash it away with seawater in the middle of the ocean, but the Empire isn’t that stupid, so it should be different.”

“The Sorcerer of the Distant Sea is the most famous in the empire, you know.”

There are several magicians publicly acknowledged by the Empire, but Zekkai is the most renowned among them. By the way, don’t forget that there are also magicians who have not even been publicly acknowledged yet and are still secretly acting as the Empress’s hands and feet.

After thoroughly reworking the plan, Ryu went to see the hero’s corpse.

“Commander-in-Chief, this is the plant magic hero we captured during the day.”

“Thank you for your hard work.”

The hero is around fifteen to sixteen years old, has a black moppy hairstyle, wears glasses, and has an appearance that looks just like a student.

“Were you not wearing any items from another world or anything like that?”

“All the equipment was made in the Empire. It is likely that it was retrieved by the Empire.”

“Yeah, that makes sense. There’s no way they would send someone to the battlefield while still wearing such a valuable item.”

“Yes. All the items from the other world are considered to have national treasure-level value.”

“I’d like to think things over for a bit, so it would help if I could be alone.”

“I understand. Then I will return to my duties.”

The knight left the curtain where the hero was being kept, and Ryu was left alone.

“How about it? Do you think you could handle a corpse?”

“Hmm… unfortunately, it seems you are not functioning as a vessel.”

The Dragon King has always devoured the souls of living humans and taken their bodies, so this is the first time he is observing a corpse as a vessel.

“Well, I kind of had a feeling.”

“The remaining two heroes. If they lose their lives in tomorrow’s battle, you will continue to be my host. Be prepared.”

“I absolutely refuse.”

“So, what will you do?”

“Of course, we’re going to sneak into the city now and capture the hero alive.”

“Hehehe… Still as arrogant as ever in your thinking.”

Ryu stepped out from behind the curtain.

And then, I called out to the knight who was guarding the entrance earlier.

“I have a little errand to run, so I’m thinking of leaving this place. If Lord Grace or anyone from the Arden squad comes looking for me, tell them I’ll be back right away.”

Understood.

Where on earth is the Chief of Staff headed…?

Ryu moved away from his side and disappeared into the nearby forest.

A few dozen minutes later, within the city in question.

“Damn it!!! How could Ryu get taken down…! You fool! Why did you let Ryu go?!”

The enslaved hero, Yuma, kicks the dragon in the face repeatedly. The dragon’s face is covered in numerous wounds, indicating that it has been subjected to this kind of abuse regularly. However, the binding of the enslavement magic is overwhelming, so unfortunately, the dragon has no choice but to endure the pain.

The surrounding knights can’t say anything to the hero.

If by any chance you were to say something, you understand that the next target would be yourself.

How sad…

No matter how much of a monster it is, that’s just not right.

Ah, more wounds again. At least they could at least treat them.

The reason I couldn’t put any strength into my legs and let go back then is probably because you, the hero, didn’t give me proper food.

Nearby, the undead hero—Konomi—was complaining to the noble knight.

“Why didn’t you collect the bodies sooner? We can’t create a zombie army like this!!”

“I’m terribly sorry… It seems there are some quite sharp enemy executives, and they set fire to it as we retreated…”

“Sigh, useless. You should have collected it while we were fighting!”

“Even if you say something so unreasonable…”

“Try doing it that easily! This is why dealing with idiots is exhausting.”

“I sincerely apologize…”

“……I could turn you into zombies, you know?”

“Please, spare me that.”

On the rooftop of a building several hundred meters away from the scene, there was a man with a sword.

“All of you are just a bunch of losers, heroes.”