Kobayashi, Whose Fate Was Changed

But in reality, because of the mountainous terrain, it would take them at least ten kilometers to get there, and they would have to cross one or two mountains along the way.

A normal person can walk about 5 or 6 kilometers on flat ground, but in the mountains, even if you jog, it is difficult to cross or go around two mountains to reach your destination in two hours.

Honma Meiko knew very well that if she had been teleported here alone, she would not have been able to reach the location marked by the agency within two hours.

However, because of Miyauchi Hiyage's presence, his teleportation ability could directly traverse the distance between mountains. She only pointed out the direction, and Miyauchi Hiyage was already teleported from one mountain to the top of another.

It's not that Miyauchi Hiyage doesn't want to achieve everything in one step.

However, this area is also in an unstable space region. Even if there are no more large-scale spatial fluctuations, you need to be careful when using teleportation to avoid contact with those unstable spaces during the teleportation process.

A one-kilometer teleportation trip would be the safest option.

After spending more than ten minutes, Miyauchi Hiyage found another place where he could teleport, reducing the distance by another kilometer.

"However, it seems that the remaining path cannot be directly teleported through."

Within a two-kilometer radius of the core area of the unstable space, micro-spatial fluctuations were still frequently occurring. He stood on the mountaintop for four or five minutes, but still couldn't find a safe route.

Fortunately, we are less than three kilometers away from the final core area, so time is not so tight.

"Maintain your breathing rhythm," Miyauchi Hiyage instructed Honma Meiko Ripple Breathing while hurrying along, adjusting her breathing rhythm accordingly.

As long as you can maintain your breathing rhythm, you can convert the resulting Ripple into physical strength.

Originally, Miyauchi Hiyage planned to carry Honma Meiko on her back for the last stretch of the journey when she could no longer maintain her breathing rhythm.

But Honma Meiko was willing to invest heavily.

Miyauchi Hiyage guided her from the front, while she used her Reading Points to add points to her Ripple Breathing, allowing her to get used to the new breathing rhythm as quickly as possible.

One point of Reading Points is equivalent to a week of normal cultivation for an average person. However, this is actually a fixed value, taking the effect of a week of normal cultivation of Ripple Breathing by an average person with both talent and comprehension.

The girls who received the Diary were mostly protagonists in their respective works, and all of them possessed some talent.

Their talent and comprehension are generally above average.

Shiina Mashiro, for example, was very talented, so it only took her a week, plus two or three points of Reading Points as a final breakthrough aid, to adjust her breathing rhythm without much difficulty.

If she simply relied on brute force to accumulate Reading Points, it took Honma Meiko about ten Reading Points in half an hour to forcibly adjust her breathing rhythm.

However, the effects after the adjustments were completed were quite noticeable.

A breathing method that is more suitable for one's current physical condition can also generate more Ripple.

Adding to the Ripple effect from the ten-plus Reading Points, Honma Meiko felt that she hadn't felt so light and agile in many years.

With more than half an hour left in their two-hour time limit, they finally entered the core area of this unstable space.

Upon entering this area, Miyauchi Hiyage and Honma Meiko frowned almost simultaneously.

There seemed to be a bloody smell in the air.

Although she couldn't tell what kind of creature's blood it was, Honma Meiko still felt a wave of nausea.

It was only Miyauchi Hiyage quickly taught them how to temporarily block their sense of smell using Ripple that they were able to continue moving forward.

As he moved forward, Miyauchi Hiyage pondered in his mind.

He had been attacked by that "god-level" power when he used the Eyes of Destiny to spy on things.

Could it be that the smell of blood is coming from that "deity"?

A wounded god?

Miyauchi Hiyage continued reminiscing about the many isekai works she had read, then pulled Honma Meiko as they continued walking forward.

It didn't take too much time.

Following the increasingly strong smell of blood, four or five minutes later, after rounding a forest, a colossal creature they had never truly seen before appeared before them. Honma Meiko almost couldn't help but gasp in surprise.

It's a dragon!

This must be a dragon!

Before them lay a giant green dragon, its body at least ten meters long, curled up on the ground.

No, because it's a curled-up position. If the opponent were to fully extend their body, they could probably be twenty or thirty meters long!

Even though it was the first time she had seen her, Honma Meiko was still able to recognize her.

After all, the other party's image is almost no different from the dragons created in Western mythology.

The green dragon lay on the ground, its body only undulating slightly.

Seeing the dragon's current condition, Honma Meiko couldn't help but have a look of emotion on her face.

Because a sword was gleamingly stuck into the body of this enormous green dragon.

A Western-style greatsword, with a very ancient design, about two or three meters long, had about half of its blade piercing into the green dragon's body.

A greatsword that's only two or three meters long doesn't seem to be able to cause any fatal damage to this green dragon's massive body, does it?

But in fact, even Honma Meiko could see that the green dragon was weak at this moment.

The curled-up emerald green body looked even more desolate in the darkness.

That strong smell of blood was probably the dragon blood flowing from the green dragon's wounds.

Seeing its body curled up on the ground, barely alive, Honma Meiko received another request for her Diary at that moment.

It's another choice between two options.

Killing the dragon before her with her own hands is considered an S-rank mission, and she can draw a reward related to "Dragon Slayer". However, she will also be marked as "Dragon Slayer" and all dragons will subconsciously be hostile to her in the future.

Alternatively, you could pull out the holy sword from the dragon's body. Although it's only an A-level quest with only one random draw, there's a chance you could win the Dragon Clan's favor.

However, such an action might displease the god who threw the holy sword at the dragon before him.

Is it a choice between becoming a dragon slayer and being ostracized by other dragons, or saving the dragon and then being ostracized by the gods?

It just seems that no matter which option she chooses, it's something she can't accomplish.

Honma Meiko looked at the giant green dragon in front of her, which was on its last breath, with mixed feelings.

Perhaps the weakened dragon also sensed her gaze.

The giant dragon opened its eyes, which were almost the size of a person, hovered over Honma Meiko and Miyauchi Hiyage for a moment, and finally landed on Miyauchi Hiyage.

That unpleasant look I got earlier must have come from this human.

Of course, under the suppression of this holy sword, her own power had long been rendered powerless, so she naturally had no way to respond to the man's rudeness.

The very thing that had just responded to the man's rudeness was the holy sword that was piercing her body.

Is this a human being hated by the gods?

Such thoughts arose in the mind of the dying dragon.

Chapter 205: Kobayashi's Kobayashi Changed

After Tohru learned the magic to transform into a human, she followed her father's wishes and observed humans up close in human form for many years.

Over the years, she has seen many people.

Most humans are foolish; human history is essentially a history of wars, and the purposes of these wars are so boring and inexplicable.

For territory, for rights, for money.

Anyway, she still can't understand why humans fight over these things.

However, this does not stop her from still enjoying traveling the world in human form.

Because there are still a few people who are able to use their clever minds to create many interesting items that even she finds enjoyable.

But no matter who they are, even criminals who have committed heinous crimes, the so-called gods rarely take action themselves to punish these mortals or display their divine power.

Because humans are a race favored by the gods.

Even heretics, who are utterly ostracized among humans, can feel the favor of those evil gods through them.

Just like the seemingly frail girl standing in front of her now as she lay dying, she could feel a special, almost divine power protecting her.

It must have been the power emanating from the other side that blocked the attack of the holy sword for them; otherwise, their spirits wouldn't have been able to withstand the attack.

Then, Tohru turned his gaze to the boy.

Even in the human world, this would be considered an extremely rare occurrence.

There was no trace of divine attention on the other party, including that of an evil god.

It was as if he were immune to all gods; from his birth until now, it seemed that no god had ever cast even a glance at him.

This is indeed rare. After all, even if a god merely glances at the human world from the heavens, he can see the entirety of a town in a single glance. No matter what, the people living in this world must have entered the sight of some god.

Moreover, even if they were not actually watched by the gods, they wouldn't trigger the Holy Sword's automatic counterattack just because of some spying.

It should be noted that even for her, it was only after she initiated a war against the gods that the gods personally hurled this sword at her. It was the gods' will to kill her, not the holy sword's own will.

So, is this boy, rejected by the gods and the holy sword, some kind of great demon king hiding in the world, evading the gods' pursuit?

Thinking about the stories of heroes and demon kings that I had read in the human world.

Although the "demon kings" in those stories were mostly Dragon Clan, Tohru couldn't help but have this thought in his mind.

So, what do these two people want to do when they come to this space, which has become unstable because of her war with the gods, and stand before her, the dragon who is about to be killed by the holy sword?

Do you want to enslave me?

Or should he kill himself, bathe in his own dragon blood, and then forge his body into what is known as a "divine artifact" in the human world?

Since things had already come to this point, she had no power to resist anymore. No matter what the other party wanted to do, she could only let them do whatever they wanted with her body.

However, one should at least die with some understanding.

So she asked the boy a question.

"You impudent person, despised by the Holy Sword, what is your purpose in coming here?"

If you can hear a woman's voice, it means the other person is probably a female dragon.

Hearing a giant dragon speaking Japanese in front of him, Miyauchi Hiyage didn't have much to complain about.

After all, in the world of Japanese anime, there are very few isekai (another world) where people don't speak Japanese.

It's like in the Ultraman universe, a bunch of Aliens are thinking of taking over Earth and appearing in Japan, and then the Ultraman who protect the peace of the universe keep coming to Japan.

Even if someone doesn't actually speak Japanese, you can use reasons like "communication magic" or telepathy to tell the audience that what they're saying isn't actually Japanese, but rather that they're being presented as such through some means.

Moreover, Miyauchi Hiyage recognized the other person the moment they met.

Tohru.

It's not the Norse god Thor with the hammer, and there's absolutely no connection between the two.

From "Kobayashi's Dragon Maid", she is the daughter of the End Emperor, the leader of the Dragon Clan belonging to the Chaos Force in this world, and a genuine "Dragon Clan girl" who has lived for ten thousand years.

The current situation should be at the beginning stage of the plot - Tohru, who is disgusted with the endless war and the constraints of his identity, decided to end everything and gain freedom on his own after traveling the world for many years. After going to the realm of gods to start a war, he was naturally suppressed by the gods of this world with a holy sword and fell here.

So, is the unstable space between Asahigaoka and Chichibu City caused by the battle between Tohru and the gods in this world?

How much alcohol did Kobayashi drink to be able to miss his stop on the tram after work, then stumble into the mountains, cross the World Rift, find Tohru, and pull the Holy Sword out of his body without saying a word?

Miyauchi Hiyage couldn't help but think this to himself.

So, what happened to Kobayashi at this time?

Now, unleash your talent as a drunkard and pull out this two- or three-meter-tall holy sword with your bare hands to win the heart of this Dragon Maid!

Miyauchi Hiyage knew that different characters had different compatibility.

Kobayashi was in a dazed, drunken state when he rescued the other person. He then led her in an awkward dance while drunk and shared a bunch of random, nonsensical knowledge with her. In doing so, he won over this seemingly mighty but actually very fragile Dragon Clan girl.

But it seems he no longer receives that treatment.

His spying just now sounded like it was a counterattack from that holy sword, but Tohru should have noticed it too.

He's already been labeled as rude by others, and any attempt to get closer will likely only make him seem like someone with ulterior motives.

However, this is exactly what Miyauchi Hiyage wanted to do.

It's still unknown whether Tohru in front of us is the holder of the Diary, but even if she isn't now, given the strength of the Dragon Maid world and the number of female dragons, there will always be a female dragon here who will be able to get the Diary the future.

Moreover, keeping a dragon at home is too conspicuous, especially since the other party is likely to lure Kanna's little dragon over as well.

With two dragons possessing true divine power, and potentially guiding even more dragons to his world in the future, he'll likely never have a moment of peace in his equally complex and uncharted world.