At
breakfast, once all of the slaves had gathered, I made a quick adjustment to
the slave seal settings and then addressed them.
“I want whoever has
been causing mischief lately, when I’m at home, to come forward now.”
Nobody responded.
On top of that, none of the slave seals activated. Did that mean it wasn’t one
of the slaves? In that case . . . I glared at Ren and the soldiers that were
stationed at the village. They all shook their heads in denial. Who the hell
was it, then?
“Hmm . . .”
“What’s wrooong,
Master?”
“Rafu?”
Filo was eating
breakfast with us today. Raph-chan was sitting on top of her head, like usual.
What was so great about her head, anyway?
“Someone has been
knocking on my door and then running away whenever I’m at home alone.”
Whoever it was
would be gone by the time I could open the door, which meant that the person
had to be really fast. That was true even if they were hiding somewhere. I
could try having Atla or Raphtalia keep watch, but the culprit seemed to have
really sharp intuition and didn’t show up when someone was standing guard. The
worst part was that they came in the middle of the night too.
“Oh? Should I stand
guard?” asked Filo.
“Rafu?”
“The person doesn’t
come when someone is standing guard. I’ll just have to lure them out. I’m going
to catch them no matter what.”
Filo didn’t give a
reaction to my show of determination, which meant that she wasn’t the culprit
either.
“Okaaay!”
“Listen up,
Raphtalia and Atla. I’m going to catch the culprit this afternoon, so I want
you to stay away from my place after lunch.”
“Understood. I’ve
been wanting to ask the master about using life force, so I’ll go do that,”
said Raphtalia.
“But, Mr. Naofumi,
I want to be with you,” Atla replied.
“Didn’t you just
hear me say I was going to lure the culprit out? That goes for all of you.
Don’t come knocking on my door today, no matter what.”
“Okay!” shouted the
slaves.
Of course, if the
culprit didn’t show up, that would make all of them suspects. Either way, after
I finished my late morning training, I headed back to my house to lure the
culprit out and waited for a knock.
Knock, knock.
I warned everyone
to stay away from my place that morning. That had to be the culprit. I wasn’t
going to let them get away today. Even if it wasn’t the culprit, I was going to
catch whoever just knocked!
“Shield Prison!”
I trapped whoever
had knocked on the door in a cage of shields and then opened the door to see
who the prankster was. The prison was shaking as someone crashed around inside.
The trap had been a success.
“What’s going on,
Count?”
“Oh hey, Rat. What
are you doing here at a time like this?”
“I’m just taking a
walk for a change of pace. What’s going on here?”
“I mentioned that
some prankster had been knocking on my door and running away this morning,
right?”
“I guess you did.
So the prankster is in there? I wonder who it is.”
We waited for the
prison’s effect to wear off so that we could see who was inside.
“Kwaaaa!”
I’m pretty sure Rat
and I both had the same look of bewilderment on our faces. I guess it did make
sense to suspect the monsters if the culprit wasn’t a slave. But I never
imagined that one of the monsters would be doing something like knocking on
doors and running away. Gaelion the Knock and Run Dragon flew away as soon as
he was free from the cage of shields. Without hesitation, I brought up the
monster seal settings and delivered him a punishing jolt.
“Kwaaaaaa?!”
Gaelion fell out of
the sky and writhed about on the ground.
Including his tail,
Gaelion was around two meters in length now. He looked pretty much like what
someone might expect a dragon to look like. I guess his tail was a bit on the
fat side though. He had big eyes and still looked cute. He seemed a bit
overweight too. His growth had finally started to level off to a certain
extent. He hadn’t gotten as big as I imagined he would.
Wyndia heard
Gaelion squealing and came running over.
“What’s wrong with
Gaelion?!”
“He’s the prankster
I mentioned this morning. I caught him in the act.”
“Huh? Gaelion was
the culprit?!”
Wyndia looked at me
and seemed to be contemplating whether or not to try and protect Gaelion. I
guess even she knew better.
“Don’t try to stick
up for him. Wrongdoing must be punished.”
“Fine. Bad Gaelion!
Causing mischief is not okay!”
“Kwaa . . .”
“What’s going on,
Master?”
Filo and Raph-chan
heard the ruckus and came over. I guess Filo wasn’t off playing with Melty
today. Or maybe she had gotten curious after this morning and stuck around the
village.
“Ohhh! He’s getting
scoooolded!”
Filo started
dancing around happily when she noticed Gaelion was being scolded.
“Gaelion is getting
scoooolded! Take thaaaat, dragon! Maaasteeer’s only gonna ride Fiiiloooo!”
“Kwaaaaa!”
Gaelion clearly
became upset when Filo mocked him.
“Rafu! Rafu rafu!”
Raph-chan was
smacking Filo lightly with her hands and tail as if trying to scold her for
behaving in such a way, but Filo went on dancing completely unfazed. I decided
to punish Filo too.
“Akyaaaa! Wh . . .
why meee?”
“Don’t laugh at others’
misfortune.”
“B . . . buuuut
Master does!”
Hmm . . . She had a
point there. I immediately deactivated the monster seal.
“Did you just let
her win the argument?!” Rat snapped.
“I do laugh at the
misfortune of others. So I have no room to talk.”
“Rafu!”
Raph-chan’s squeak
was timed perfectly. That’s right. I had no room to talk. I’d take pride in
that.
“Really?”
Rat held her head
in her hands. She had a look of bewilderment on her face. I’d laughed at the
misfortunes of Witch and Trash, and I’d laughed at Glass when she got scolded
by Kizuna. Even if there was merit to my objection, my words would hold no
weight.
“Umm . . . Just
because you two are rivals doesn’t mean that you can treat him like that,” said
Wyndia.
“Boo!”
“You know what will
happen if you make me mad, right?” I taunted.
“Nooo!”
What was this
farce?
“Sheesh . . . Why
would you do such a mischievous thing anyway?” Wyndia asked Gaelion.
She stroked his
face gently. Gaelion squeaked meekly.
“He says he wanted
the Shield Hero to play with him,” she said.
“Huh?”
“You haven’t spent
much time playing with him, have you? But you spend plenty of time with that
bird,” she went on.
“Hmph!”
Filo and Wyndia
glared at each other.
“Hold on, now. Are
you saying that Gaelion is going to cause problems like this if I don’t play
with him?”
“Kwa!”
He nodded! Was he a
little attention-seeker? Sheesh . . . I looked over at Rat.
“Physical contact
and spending time with your monsters is important. That’s true for both of
them,” she said.
Oh, really? What a
hassle! Raph-chan never acted selfish like that.
“Alright then.
Filo. Gaelion. I’ll make a little bit of time to play with each of you on
alternating days. But if either of you interfere with the other’s time, you
lose your play time.”
“Hmph!”
“Kwa!”
The two of them
glared at each other and made complaining noises.
“Okay, fine.
Neither of you get play time.”
“F . . . fine!”
“Kwa! Kwa!”
They both gave in
and agreed to my plan. Raph-chan would get more play time than either of them,
of course. I’d play with her all day long if she wanted me to.
“Alright, today is
Gaelion’s day.”
“Kwaaa!”
“Whaaat?”
“You’re older than
him.”
“Hmph . . . Fine.
I’ll be back later, theeen. Come on, Wyndia. Let’s gooo!”
“Okay.”
Filo took Wyndia
with her and went out to level.
“Alright, Gaelion.
What do you want to do? I’ll play with you until the end of lunch break.”
“Kwa!”
Gaelion wagged his
tail happily like a dog. He had good reaction times, so I figured we could
spend some time playing with my Frisbee Shield. I transformed my shield into a
frisbee and threw it. Gaelion flapped his wings and dashed off after the shield
gaily.
It didn’t make much
sense getting caught up on how things worked in a fantasy world, but the little
guy sure could fly. I chucked the frisbee and when he caught it, it disappeared
for a brief moment and then reappeared in my hand. Gaelion was in good spirits.
He flew back over to me and licked me all over my face. Unlike a certain bird
that never shut up, his innocence sure was refreshing.
I continued to play
with Gaelion for a bit, and after a while, Raphtalia and Atla showed up.
“Mr. Naofumi, did
you catch the culprit?” asked Raphtalia.
“Yeah, it was this
little fella.”
“Kwa!”
“Huh? Gaelion was
the culprit?”
I nodded to
Raphtalia.
“He was sad because
I hadn’t been playing with him.”
“Well, I guess you
had left him completely to Wyndia and Rat.”
“I can sympathize!”
Atla interjected.
“Kwa!”
Atla and Gaelion
shook hands firmly. Why the hell were they getting along so well now?
“Since Raphtalia
and Atla are here, that means break time is over.”
“Kwa . . .”
Gaelion sounded
incredibly sad when he squeaked. But that wasn’t going to make me keep playing
with him. Raphtalia rubbed him on the head and made a suggestion.
“I know he can’t
participate in our training, but surely you could let him watch.”
“I don’t want to
spoil him.”
“That’s too bad,
isn’t it? Off you go,” Atla snapped.
“Kwa?!”
Gaelion looked at
Atla like he had been betrayed. Wasn’t she shaking his hand just a few moments
earlier?
“Why do you always
have to be so extreme?”
Raphtalia was
staring at Atla in amazement. I felt the same way. After thinking for a few
moments, Raphtalia looked at Gaelion and spoke to him gently.
“How about this?
You can watch us train, but you have to do your best to level quickly in
return.”
“Kwa!”
Gaelion nodded
enthusiastically. Hmm . . . He couldn’t speak human language, but he seemed to
be pretty intelligent. Raph-chan was still cuter than him, but I’d have to give
Gaelion props for being humble.
“Well, leveling up
and getting stronger is his job, so I guess if watching us will motivate him,
then that can’t be a bad thing.”
“There you have
it,” said Atla.
“What is that
supposed to mean, Atla? You were ready to turn your back on him without a
second thought just a moment ago,” Raphtalia responded.
“Seriously.”
“Kwa! Kwa!”
And so Gaelion
ended up watching our afternoon training nearby. I wasn’t playing with him, so
it wasn’t like I’d breached the agreement with Filo. But eventually night fell,
and Gaelion still hadn’t left my side.
“It’s nighttime
already, you know.”
Gaelion had forced
his way into my house. He was rather large, so that was a problem. I was trying
to be tolerant, since I’d mostly just left him on his own since he had hatched.
But I was starting to run out of patience.
“You know, Gaelion
might be just what you need, actually,” said Raphtalia.
“What I need?”
“To deal with the
Atla issue. You could have Gaelion run her off before she gets in bed with
you.”
She was suggesting
I use Gaelion as a guard dog, in other words. I was pretty sure I could have
Filo do the same thing. But that sure was a bold suggestion for Raphtalia.
“Little Naofumi!
I’m here to pick up little Raphtalia!”
Sadeena called out
and then stuck her head in the door.
“Oh hey, Sadeena.”
“Oh? What’s this?
Why is little Gaelion in your house?”
“The little guy
won’t leave my side. And now Raphtalia is suggesting that I use him as a guard
dog to keep Atla out.”
“I see. Well, the
children who were most traumatized by their experience as slaves have started
to get much better lately. Before long, Raphtalia should be able to start
sleeping here again. It might not be a bad idea to have him deal with Atla
until then.”
Sadeena seemed to
agree with Raphtalia’s idea.
“Can’t we just talk
Atla into stopping?” I asked.
“I already tried
that. Sadeena did too.”
“Yeah, we did. And
then little Atla said she wanted to marry you. That one surprised me,” added
Sadeena.
I sighed. Atla sure
was brazen. Or something like that. She was just a bit confused after having
been healed. It would pass. Either way, I wasn’t the kind of sicko that would
marry a little girl like that.
“I tried to make it
clear to her. I told her you were a loser that wasn’t interested in anything
like doing the dirty with a girl,” said Sadeena.
“A los—you wench!”
What was she
thinking calling me a loser, of all things?!
“Atla’s reply was
even worse than Sadeena’s remark. She said, ‘It’s okay. Mr. Naofumi will lie
with me when he is ready.’”
I didn’t need Atla
believing in me like that! Oh, hell! What a mess! I wanted to just run away
from it all.
“It would be best
if you just outright rejected her, little Naofumi.”
“I turned her away,
of course.”
That wasn’t enough
to make Atla give up. She had an iron will. She added a lot to our offensive
capabilities and she followed orders without complaining. Her excessive
fondness for me was her only problem. I’d just leave it at that.
“I guess all I can
do is hope that Fohl will hurry up and grow stronger than her so that he can
finally stop her from coming over here.”
I had even considered
selling her off to get rid of her. But she was stubborn enough to ignore the
slave curse’s punishment, so it was plenty likely that she would just escape
and end up right back here. Besides, I didn’t really want to go that far. We’d
just have to come to some kind of agreement.
While Raphtalia,
Sadeena, and I were talking about dealing with Atla, Gaelion started digging
around in my stuff that was lying around the room. Did he find something
stinky? I could hear him sniffing at something. He had his head stuck in a bag
that was full of materials meant to be used for new weapons and equipment.
“Hey! Don’t mess
around with that stuff!”
Gaelion
was a curious little guy. Filo did the same kind of thing every now and then. I
was used to dealing with it. Or that’s what I thought, anyway. Never in my
wildest dreams did I imagine that something in that bag would trigger the
incident that was about to happen.
“Kwa!”
The bag fell over
and everything came tumbling out. First Gaelion was knocking on my door and
running away, and now he was rummaging through my bags. I guess Filo still did
that kind of thing too, though. She would also rummage through my garbage. She
called it “treasure hunting.” I guess Gaelion was no different. Actually, I wouldn’t
be surprised if they were in the middle of some kind of jurisdictional dispute
over who should get to rummage through my garbage or something.
“Oh, come on. Have
some consideration for the person who has to clean that up.”
A bunch of monster
bones, some ore, and the dragon emperor core that had been part of my Barbaroi
Armor all came tumbling out of the bag. The dragon emperor core must have
caught Gaelion’s attention, because his eyes were glued to it as it rolled
across the floor. He started to bat it around, like a cat probably would have
done.
I guess Filo and
Gaelion both liked shiny objects. I seemed to remember Filo being mesmerized by
the dragon core I’d been using before this one. That brought back fond memories
of Romina working with the cores back in Kizuna’s world.
“Kwa?!”
Seeing Gaelion bat
the core around playfully did make me feel a bit warm and fuzzy inside, but
this wasn’t play time. I decided to give him a little scolding and then clean
up.
“Is that a dragon
emperor core?! Little Naofumi, hurry up and take that away from Gaelion!”
“Huh?”
Sadeena suddenly
started shouting at me. There was a look of urgency in her eyes. Gaelion bit at
the dragon emperor core and held it in his mouth.
“Hey! That doesn’t
belong to you. Give it to me!”
Gaelion completely
ignored my reprimand and let the core slide deep into his mouth before . . .
Gulp! He swallowed it whole.
“Hey! Spit that
out!”
I grabbed Gaelion
by the shoulders and shook him. Did the monster seal have some kind of
punishment that could make him spit it out? I pulled up the settings and
started poking around.
And that’s when it
happened.
“Kwa?!”
Gaelion opened his
eyes wide and starting convulsing, like he was having a seizure.
“Kw . . . Gya . . .
Gyuuu . . .”
He broke into a
cold sweat. His eyes were squeezed shut tightly and he was moaning, as if he
were trying to resist something. I could hear a faint creaking sound resonating
from his whole body.
“H . . . hey . . .”
“Umm . . . There’s
an incredibly sinister life force flooding out of Gaelion! There’s so much of
it!” Raphtalia shouted while looking at Gaelion.
“Sinister life
force?”
“Yes! Be careful!”
I turned around to
look at Gaelion, and some blackish, purplish . . . magic power or something was
flooding out of his body. It was visible to the naked eye. I’d seen this color
before. It looked like the aura that surrounded Filo whenever I used the Shield
of Wrath.
“Little Naofumi,
stand back!”
Sadeena faced
Gaelion and readied her harpoon. She thrust it at him and tried to catch his
tail with it, but Gaelion curled his tail up quickly and jumped sideways.
“Gyaaoooo!”
Gaelion looked up
at the ceiling with bloodshot eyes and howled. When he did, a cloud of magical
breath shot out of his mouth and instantly blew the ceiling right off the house.
“Gya!”
With a loud swish,
Gaelion spread his wings out wide and took flight. Alright! I had the monster
seal settings open already, so I’d just use the punishment setting to drop him
out of the sky. I activated the monster seal. But the screen just flickered,
and nothing else happened.
“You blew my damned
roof off! Settle down!”
If the seal wasn’t
going to work, I’d just have to take things into my own hands! I jumped up and
grabbed on to the little troublemaker.
“Gyaooooo!”
“Whoa!”
Gaelion smashed
into me with the weight of his whole body. The impact had managed to just knock
me away and I fell down on my butt.
“Ouch . . .”
Wait a second. He’d
caught me off guard, but even so, would Gaelion really be able to knock me
away? It went without saying that it would take a ridiculous amount of attack
power to overcome my defense rating and break free from my hold. That would
mean he was at least as powerful as Ren or Raphtalia.
“Gyaoowwww . . .”
Gaelion glared at
me with bloodshot eyes. They were no longer the slightly goofy eyes I’d seen
only moments before. They were the eyes of a wild dragon driven by feral
instinct. I could feel a pressure emanating from them that sent shivers down my
spine.
I held my shield
out in front of me and glared at Gaelion as I readied myself to grab him for
real this time. Sadeena and Raphtalia were right there. It could be dangerous
for them, if he used that breath attack that blew my roof off again.
“Gyaooooo!”
Gaelion let out a
loud screech and then flew off somewhere into the distance.
“Something was
clinging to Gaelion. What in the world was that?”
Atla showed up from
out of nowhere and began to comment, but I dashed out of the building to see
which direction Gaelion had gone.
“Wh . . . what was
that?”
The slaves that
were still in the village heard the ruckus and came running over.
“What’s going on?”
“What in the world
happened here?”
“What is it? What
happened?”
Rat and Wyndia both
looked in the direction that I was looking. So did Fohl and Atla.
“Well, actually . .
.”
I told them about
Gaelion eating the dragon emperor core and ending up like he did.
“Emperor core, you
say? You sure have some strange items, Count.”
“You have any idea
what might have happened?” I asked.
“The biology of the
dragon species is still largely shrouded in mystery. I’ve heard of dragons
wanting cores from other dragons, but I wouldn’t have thought it would go on a
rampage like that.”
“Little Naofumi,
where did you get your hands on that dragon emperor core?”
Sadeena grabbed my
shoulder and began to interrogate me.
“It was originally
from a dragon that lived in the mountains near a village in the east.”
“In that case, it’s
highly likely that Gaelion’s body was commandeered by the soul of the dragon
emperor that was in that core.”
Sadeena sure seemed
to know a lot about this kind of thing.
“Inside of that
dragon emperor core is something like an organ that contains the soul of the
dragon within it. I’ve heard that other dragons can use such cores to boost
their own powers or absorb the memories of the dragon it came from,” she went
on.
“Does that mean . .
. Gaelion absorbed the memories of the dragon zombie and that’s why he went on
a rampage?”
“No way . . .”
mumbled Ren.
He staggered
backward, unable to say anything else.
“The dragon that
you defeated is the one that turned into the dragon zombie, right?” I asked
him.
“I have to stop it,
no matter what!” he shouted.
“If you try to do
that, it may just come back to life, fueled by its hatred for you,” I said.
“In that case . . .
We can still stop it! Naofumi! You raised that dragon, didn’t you?!”
“He did seem fond
of me, but it was the villagers who raised him. This one was in charge of him.”
I pointed at
Wyndia. Still, he was a cute dragon and I didn’t want to give up on him if
possible. It would depend on where he had run off to. We needed to go find him
and capture him.
“How do you feel
about having killed that dragon, Sword Hero?”
Wyndia glared at
Ren as she questioned him with a stern tone of voice. She was a dragon fanatic,
so she probably just didn’t want Ren to be the one to kill the dragon.
“I’m sure he
probably just killed it because it was an easy target. He probably knew about
it from some quest in a game he’d played or something,” I said.
“That . . . That’s
true. But I know I caused a lot of people problems by killing it. I’ve heard
that region is plagued by disease now. I do feel bad about killing it.”
Ren got depressed
so easily.
“I can’t apologize
enough. I don’t know how to make up for it,” he went on.
Ren cast his eyes
downward regretfully. It didn’t seem like Wyndia was going to push the issue,
but something about Ren’s response bothered me.
“You know . . .” I
said.
“Huh?”
“I’m only saying
this because you seem so naïve, but did you ever stop to think that the
monsters you’ve killed might have had families? That they might have been
leading happy lives?”
The blood slowly
drained from Ren’s face. I guess that thought had never occurred to him.
“Do you plan to go
around to all of those families and tell them, ‘I’m the one that killed your
family member. I take full responsibility,’ or something? And if you’re going
to draw a line and say monsters are monsters, then what about our monsters over
there in the monster stable?”
“Umm . . . uhh . .
. I . . .”
I sighed.
Adolescents were such a hassle to deal with.
“It’s the same
whether you eat plants or animals. In the end, you have to take other lives in
order to go on living. In fact, it would be even better if you just accept that
trampling over others is a part of life,” I explained.
“Isn’t that a
contradiction?”
“Huh? What the hell
are you talking about? You’re a hero. We have to brutally murder monsters to
get stronger so that we can save the world, you know? It’s the law of the
jungle.”
I’d heard that even
killing humans gave experience in this world. If he wanted to try to insist on
some kind of idealistic rubbish, like monsters and humans being different, he
would just have to wait until he got summoned to an ideal world.
“So, Ren, whenever
you kill a monster, do it with full awareness of the choice you’re making. That
is, if you’re serious about wanting to save the world.”
“Fine . . . I
understand.”
He didn’t look very
convinced. Ren had been spending a lot of time with Eclair, after all. That was
probably making him even more of an idealist.
“But even so . . .
I want to apologize and try to protect everyone.”
“Uh huh, whatever.”
The guy had a
problem. If I didn’t sort him out eventually, he was probably going to go off
the rails again.
“We have to go
after him,” said Wyndia.
Her icy gaze was
fixed on Ren and she had a sense of urgency in her voice. Gaelion was her
beloved dragon. I needed that dragon emperor core for my armor too. Worst-case
scenario, I might even have to defeat Gaelion to get it back.
“I know. We just
have to call Filo back and then we’ll head out,” I said.
We could have gone
after him without waiting on Filo. But having her take us would make things
much quicker. Sheesh. I hadn’t even gotten to ride my dragon and now I had to
put him down.
“Here’s a horse to
ride to the neighboring town,” a soldier announced.
I mounted the horse
that one of the soldiers had prepared and was about to head off to get Filo.
Just then, Eclair come riding up on her own horse from the direction of the
town.
“Mr. Iwatani!”
“What is it? I was
just about to head your way.”
“It’s an emergency!
Melty is calling for you! Something is wrong with Filo!”
“What?!”
“What? Why Filo?”
“Fine. Raphtalia
and Ren, you two start making preparations to head out,” I said.
“Understood!”
Raphtalia replied.
“Okay. There’s
nothing I can do to help treat her, so I’ll get started on preparations like
you said,” said Ren.
I left things at
the village to Ren and Raphtalia and headed toward the neighboring town.
I
followed Eclair to the clinic that had been built in the town. When I stepped
into the clinic, Melty came running over. She looked like she was about to cry.
“Umm . . . Filo
just started writhing in pain all of a sudden. Please help her, Naofumi!”
“You know I’m not a
doct . . . healer, right? Still, I’ll do what I can, of course.”
“Promise you’ll
save her!”
Even if I did
promise . . . If it was something really serious, all I could do was use the
Elixir of Yggdrasil and hope that helped.
“Let’s take a look
at her first,” I said.
“Okay.”
Melty and one of
the clinic doctors took me to the examination room. Filo was inside, lying
there limply in her filolial form.
“Ugh . . . uuugghh
. . .”
Filo’s whole body
was undergoing the same kind of change that always happened when I used the
Shield of Wrath. It looked the worst near her stomach. Actually, it was worse
than usual. The sinister aura was flowing out of her body like a dense cloud of
smoke. I guess that would have been an apt description. The crest feather on
the top of her head was glowing like it was trying to fight back, but the sinister
aura seemed to be winning.
“Rafu . . .”
Raph-chan was
trying to help by batting at the aura with her hand, but it didn’t seem to have
much effect.
“What’s happening
to her? Would using the Elixir of Yggdrasil stop it?”
“That’s unclear.
However, whatever it is, there seems to be a strong curse component to it. It
would probably be best not to expect much, even from the Elixir of Yggdrasil.”
The clinic doctor’s
voice was filled with uncertainty.
“Oh, it’s you,
Master . . .”
Filo moaned
painfully. She looked at me and reached out with her wing. I stroked her cheek
gently. Even though she wasn’t in her human form, Filo squinted contentedly
when I stroked her cheek. She continued to moan painfully.
I checked Filo’s
condition using my status magic. It would notify me of basic abnormalities,
like if she were paralyzed by a poison or something. Filo’s status screen was
all fuzzy and kept flickering. Something was obviously not right.
And that’s when I
noticed it. Filo’s level was lower than I remembered it being. Had she leveled
down? What was going on? Several possibilities came to mind, but from what I
had to go on at the moment, it was impossible to determine which one was most
likely.
“Go get Rat and
Sadeena from the village and bring them here,” I told Melty.
“Okay,” she
replied.
After a few
minutes, Rat and Sadeena showed up, along with Fohl, Atla, and Wyndia too.
“Filo! What
happened?!”
Wyndia ran over to
Filo, clearly worried. Were the two of them even close? Or maybe that’s just
how a monster fanatic would respond in a situation like this.
“Rat. Sadeena. What
do you think?”
“We just got here.
All I can say is that it looks like she’s experiencing the effects of some kind
of curse. Mind if I do a quick examination?”
Rat looked over the
doctor’s medical report and then started poking at Filo.
“I checked her
status and her level is gradually dropping, bit by bit,” I said.
“Judging by this
aura, I’m guessing it has something to do with little Gaelion going on a
rampage.”
Sadeena’s
conclusion seemed to match up with mine.
“But why would
little Filo be showing symptoms like that?” she asked.
“Leveling down?
That means it’s a really powerful curse. Even so, I’ve never seen symptoms this
bad,” Rat responded.
“What do you think,
Rat?”
“I think Sadeena is
right, without a doubt. But . . . Is there some kind of connection between Filo
and Gaelion? I know they don’t get along, but it has to be more than that,” she
said.
“If we assume that
the cause is not the dragon emperor core, but rather the previous dragon zombie
core, then there is a connection.”
“What do you mean?”
“When we faced the
dragon zombie, Filo ended up eating the dragon’s core. What I had was just a
single fragment of that core.”
In fact, Filo had
basically defeated the zombie dragon, and she’d done it by eating its core. It
would make sense that it had to do with what was going on now.
“I see. So Gaelion
going on a rampage would also affect Filo, since she ate the core that caused
his rampage.”
“That’s my guess.”
“In that case,
check Gaelion’s status. I have a feeling that there’s more going on here.”
I checked Gaelion’s
status. Just like with Filo, the screen was all fuzzy and many of the details
were unclear. But . . .
“His level is
rising.”
Gaelion had only
been level 36 before, but now he was level 45. He’d soared right past the
class-up level limit.
“Umm . . . I can
sense a sinister power flowing out of Filo,” said Atla.
“Yeah, we can see
that.”
“That’s not what I
mean.”
Atla pointed at
something. But there was nothing there.
“Little Atla can
sense things that can’t be seen, so she might be able to determine the
direction that the power is flowing.”
“Hmm . . .”
That was certainly
possible. Her abilities were surprisingly useful. The problem was figuring out
where the power flowing out of Filo was going. It seemed to be heading in the
same direction that Gaelion had gone.
“Can we make Filo
throw up the core?”
“Not possible. It
seems like there are fragments circulating throughout her whole body.”
I checked Filo’s
status. Judging from the speed that her level was dropping, she had around two
days left. She would probably return to level 1 before we could find Gaelion.
Actually, that’s assuming we were lucky enough for it to stop there. Worst-case
scenario, she could end up dying.
“Also, I can sense
power leaking from you too, Mr. Naofumi,” Atla said.
“What?”
I checked my own
stats. From the looks of it, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
“It’s coming from
somewhere near your left arm.”
That’s where my
shield was. That meant that power was leaking out of my shield. Now that I
thought about it, hadn’t I absorbed part of the core into my shield? Could it
possibly be leeching off of my shield’s abilities? I checked my list of shields
just in case, but everything seemed normal.
“It . . . seems to
be leaking out and amplifying something.”
“Amplifying?”
I had no idea what
Atla was talking about, but it was clear that we needed to be on our guard.
“Where is the old
lady? She’s always useful at times like this.”
“The master took
Rishia on a trip to go train, along with some of the village children and
soldiers!” Eclair replied.
“She needs to open
up a training hall here in town, damn it!” I shouted.
Why the hell did
she have to go off to train at a time like this?!
“Where is S’yne?!”
“She said she was
going to Zeltoble to earn some money!”
“Oh, come on! Why
can nothing go my way?!”
S’yne would most
likely show up when she noticed something was off though. I’d call for her if I
needed her.
“Anyway, someone
needs to figure out where the old lady went and tell her to come back. We’re
going after Gaelion immediately.”
We would run out of
time otherwise. Atla stepped forward. She had a determined look on her face.
“Mr. Naofumi, I
would like to try something on Filo,” she said.
“What?”
“What are you
doing, Atla?” asked Fohl.
“I’m going to do
what I can to try to slow the power leak.”
Atla reached out to
Filo, who was still lying on the floor, and placed her right hand, and then her
left hand on Filo’s chest.
“Ughh . . . aaah .
. .”
Filo had been
moaning painfully, but she stopped. She opened her eyes and slowly stood up.
“That feels a
little better,” she said.
“Filo!”
“Rafu!”
Melty ran over to
Filo. Raph-chan was squeaking happily.
“That should buy us
some time,” said Atla.
“Alright. Get the
carriage and . . .”
Damn it! We didn’t
have a quick means of transportation. I’d sent our other filolial, Filo
Underling #1, out with the peddling division. We would just have to borrow one
of the filolials from the town.
“I’m going after
Gaelion. Raphtalia, Fohl, Atla, Sadeena, Ren, and Eclair, you’re coming with
me. Umm, valley . . . I mean . . . you and Rat—”
“Pulling Master’s
carriage . . . is myyyy job!”
Filo put Atla on
her back. She had a strong sense of determination in her voice.
“No, Filo! You need
to rest!” Melty shouted.
“She’s right. You
should take it easy,” I said.
But Filo shook her
head in refusal.
“Nooo! I’m going!
No matter what!”
She didn’t have her
usual energy, but she stepped forward and made it clear that she intended to
come with us at any cost. If that were the case, she’d probably just chase
after us, even if I did try to leave her behind. Filo could be really stubborn.
“Fine, but if
anything happens, I’m going to leave you at a clinic and have someone else pull
the carriage.”
“Mr. Naofumi?!”
“Can you keep the
leak under control, Atla?”
“Y . . . yes!”
“Alright then.”
“I’m going too!”
shouted Melty.
She was clearly
fighting back tears. Her best friend was in a predicament. Like Filo, she’d
probably do whatever it took to come with us, ignoring the fact that she was the
princess, of course.
“You better not do
anything reckless. You’re the princess, you know.”
“I’m Filo’s friend,
first and foremost!”
“Alright then.”
Before, it had been
Filo whining about wanting to protect Melty. Filo sure had made a good friend.
“Alright, we’re
heading out first to go after Gaelion. I want you castle soldiers to hurry up
and get word to the old lady.”
“Yes, sir!”
We loaded up into
the carriage, which Filo stubbornly pulled back to the village. There, we
picked up Ren, Raphtalia, and the others and then headed out.
We
had been on the road for four hours. Thanks to Atla, we had just barely managed
to keep Filo’s stats from dropping any further. Even so, her experience points
were still seeping out of her body, bit by bit. The leveling down had slowed,
but the situation was still bad. Just as I had expected, the direction that
Gaelion had gone was leading toward the town in the east where we fought the
dragon zombie.
Pant! Pant!
“Filo . . .”
Atla was riding on
Filo’s back and Melty was steering the carriage. Rat and Wyndia were sorting
out the details of the situation, and Sadeena was keeping an eye out at the
rear. Ren and Eclair were both ready to engage at a moment’s notice.
Filo was clearly
exhausted. We needed to hurry, or things were going to get ugly. Motoyasu! Your
beloved Filo is in trouble! Where the hell was that creep when we needed him?
There couldn’t be a better time than this to come rushing to Filo’s rescue.
Sheesh. The guy wouldn’t go away when he was unwanted, but he was nowhere to be
found when he might actually be able to help.
“If worse comes to
worst, we may have to put Gaelion down. You understand that, right?”
I was talking to
Wyndia. She had been the fondest of Gaelion. He might have belonged to me, but
I figured she deserved some say in the matter. She had looked after him, so I
owed her that much.
“Yeah . . .”
“You consented
pretty quickly there. I expected you to argue a bit more.”
“It’s not like
you’ve given up already, right?”
“You’re right. I
haven’t.”
“I understand. I
know it’s not your fault. But . . . No. If it does come to that, I’ll probably
argue more then.”
“I see. But I won’t
let you stop me.”
“I know that! But
that’s our last resort, right?!”
She knew she
couldn’t stop me, but she had to try. Even if she knew that Gaelion was the
reason that Filo was in pain, she was still fond of him. Of course putting him
down was a last resort. I wanted to avoid doing that, if at all possible.
“I
hate the heroes!”
Tears were
streaming down Wyndia’s face.
“I’m used to being
hated.”
She made it seem
like the other heroes had somehow wronged her too. Ren was acting kind of
fidgety. Maybe he knew something I didn’t.
“And? What do you
want me to do?” asked Sadeena.
She was still
keeping an eye out at the rear. It’s not like I expected anyone to ambush us
from behind, but we were more likely to run into monsters, since we were
traveling at night. Several had already come chasing after us, in fact. Sadeena
made quick business of them with her harpoon and a few magical spells. Atla and
Melty were covering the front. Filo was basically unable to fight. Just pulling
the carriage was already a struggle for her right now. I didn’t want to push
her limits.
“That’s it. Very
good,” Atla said.
“Rafu!”
Atla seemed to be
showing Raph-chan how to control the leakage of power from Filo’s body. The
speed that her level was dropping seemed to slow even further.
“I’m busy thinking
about how to get Gaelion to return to his usual self. Just keep an eye on our
surroundings, Sadeena.”
“Will do!”
Rat broke her
silence and jumped in on the conversation.
“If you want to
save Gaelion, I think making him throw up the core might work. It would be best
to do it as soon as possible too.”
“I would imagine
so.”
“You’ll probably
just have to hold him down by force and stick your hand down his throat.
Normally you would use a special tool to keep him from biting your hand off,
but . . .”
“That shouldn’t be
a problem. Don’t underestimate my defense rating.”
“Yeah, I guess we
don’t need to worry about that with you, Count.”
“Hey, Rat, can’t we
use medicine to sedate Gaelion?” I asked.
Rat held up a
syringe full of some drug and showed it to me.
“This is a really
strong anesthetic. It’s strong enough to knock out even a dragon for a bit.”
“I see. I’ll be
counting on you then.”
Gaelion’s level was
slowly rising. His stats got a boost from the adjustments on my shield too. And
now, he was even leeching stats from Filo. It would be like fighting a dragon
version of Filo. I was just lucky that I had Raphtalia and Ren there with me.
If nothing else, we had plenty of firepower.
“We should talk
strategy before anything else. Rat, it’s probably a good idea to weaken Gaelion
a bit, right?”
“Yeah. If
possible.”
“Alright. Sadeena,
when we find Gaelion, your job is to weaken him up a bit. After that, Raphtalia
and Ren can use their skills to pin him down.”
“What about me?”
asked Wyndia.
She was trembling.
“You can’t fight,
can you?” I asked her.
“I can! If Gaelion
might end up getting hurt, then I should be the one to do it! Things could get
dangerous, otherwise.”
She sure had a
strong sense of responsibility.
“Even if that’s
true, what can you do?”
“Now, now. Little
Wyndia is quite the magic user. Right?”
“Yeah!”
Oh? I guess she
could be our resident sorceress then.
“Not to mention, she
can use the Way of the Dragon Vein,” Sadeena added.
“What?!”
Did she just say
Way of the Dragon Vein?!
“What kind of magic
is that?! I want details!” I shouted.
“Hmm . . . It’s
magic that you use by borrowing power from things around you. I guess you could
say it’s magic that borrows power from the Dragon Vein. Learning it makes it
easier to use cooperative magic and counter-magic.”
Ost had used a
similar type of magic, now that I thought about it. I’d just assumed that she
was using her own power, but apparently that wasn’t the case.
“You’ll understand
what kind of magic it is later, so let’s focus on coming up with a plan right
now.”
“Fine. I’m going to
consider you part of our offense,” I told Wyndia.
Alright, that
should be enough to put up a good fight. In fact, I was even a bit worried that
Raphtalia and Ren might end up killing Gaelion.
Several hours
passed, and we arrived at the town in the east. The morning sun was just
starting to rise. Filo was a quick runner, but Gaelion sure could fly fast. On another
note, dark clouds seemed to be gathering over the mountains near the village.
“Oh! It’s the
Saint!”
“You mean it’s the
Shield Hero!”
The villagers
noticed us and started making their way over. Wyndia grabbed some sheets and .
. . hid under them, for some reason.
Facing the
villagers probably wouldn’t be comfortable for Ren either, so I told him to
stay hidden in the carriage. He seemed okay with coming out, but it wasn’t hard
to imagine things getting messy if he did. Although, to be completely honest, a
lot of it had been the villagers’ own fault. They had no right blaming Ren if
they couldn’t even be bothered to get rid of the dragon corpse before it ended
up causing problems.
“We heard a dragon
howling this morning. All of the villagers came outside to see what was going
on, and the mountains already looked like that.”
“I see. I saw a
dragon fleeing toward this direction and followed it here,” I said.
“Hooray!” shouted
the villagers in unison.
I didn’t tell them
it was my dragon. I had a reputation to keep, after all. The others seemed to
realize that and kept their mouths shut.
“Alright, Filo.
You’ve done enough. You, Atla, and Raph-chan, stay here and rest.”
“But Master . . .”
“We don’t have far
to go. Gaelion should be just over there. Don’t push yourself, Filo.”
“But . . . I want
to go too.”
“No. If you push
yourself, it’s only going to make things worse. You’re already near your limit.
I’m not going to take you any further.”
“B . . . buuuut!”
Filo started
whining. What could I do to calm her down? The way things were, she would
probably just end up following us without permission. If I used my portal to
send her to Zeltoble or something, there’s no way she would be able to make it
back here in time, but . . . hmm.
“Little Filo, you
realize that little Naofumi is just thinking of your well-being, right?”
Sadeena started
trying to persuade Filo to back down.
“But I—”
“We’re all worried
about you, little Filo. You understand that, right?”
“But . . . buuut .
. .”
Filo felt helpless.
She covered her face with her hands and began to cry. I’d never seen Filo like
this before. The way she was crying now was different than the way she cried
when she was put on display in Kizuna’s world. It showed just how powerless she
felt now.
“Filo, wait for us
here. I promise we’ll put a stop to whatever it is hurting you!”
Melty chimed in to
help convince Filo. That must have done the trick, because Filo slumped down
compliantly.
“Just stay here and
relax. We’ll go take care of this and be back in a flash,” I told her.
“Rafu!”
“I’ll stay here
with you,” Atla told Filo.
“Sounds good. Atla
and Raph-chan, I’m leaving Filo up to you two.”
“You can count on
us!”
Atla and Raph-chan
both responded confidently.
“Alright. Let’s go
bring that knock-and-run prankster back.”
The
rest of us walked off toward the mountains covered in dark clouds.
“I’m
pretty sure it was somewhere around here. Ren, do you remember?”
“Umm, yeah . . .”
As we climbed up
the mountain, it was clear that the surrounding ecosystem was still in a state
of disarray. The land appeared contaminated, and it was obvious that there was
some kind of magical disturbance. I never imagined that we would end up back
here. Wyndia looked back toward the village and glared with hate in her eyes. What
in the world had happened to her?
The last time we’d
been here, Filo had just plowed through any monsters that stood in our path. We
hardly had to fight at all. But this time was different. Fighting off monsters
was taking up a lot of our time, and they just kept coming too.
“I call upon the
power of the Earth to come to me and take form. Earth Vein! Lend me your
power!”
“Dark Fire
Palette!”
When Wyndia
finished her incantation, black flames sprang forth and engulfed the monsters
in front of us. Her magic seemed slightly different than the magic Ost had
used, but something about it did feel similar. I guess this was the Way of the
Dragon Vein.
“That sure is
strange magic,” I said.
“Yeah. I was never
taught the more difficult spells, but they all borrow power from our
surroundings,” Wyndia replied.
“I see.”
“Father could use
much more difficult spells.”
I wondered if her
father had been some kind of wizard or something.
“Let’s see if we
can get you using some spells that are slightly more difficult,” said Sadeena.
She began twirling
her harpoon around. She turned toward a different monster that had just
appeared and pulled out a flask that she had bought at the village down below.
“I, Sadeena, draw
forth the power of this holy water that it may manifest itself. Dragon Vein!
Vanquish the enemies before me!”
“Saint Aqua Blast!”
Sadeena used an
incantation similar to Wyndia’s and called forth a glowing mass of water that
smashed into the monster and killed it.
“Do you understand?
Borrowing power from your surroundings means that sometimes there will be
compatibility issues. When that’s the case, consider using the items that you
have on hand.”
Sadeena handed the
flask to Wyndia.
“That has holy
water in it, so it works really well against the monsters here. But the effects
will weaken if you overuse it, so be careful.”
“Oh . . . okay.”
“That . . . was
really impressive,” Melty mumbled.
She was staring in
awe, not sure what to make of the unfamiliar magic.
“Oh, I might have
you help cast some cooperative magic, little Melty.”
“Huh?!”
I’m pretty sure
Melty had taught Filo how to cast cooperative magic, so she could probably pull
it off.
“Don’t worry,
little Melty. You’ve got more than enough potential. It even shows in the color
of your hair. I’m counting on you!”
“No, no, no, no!”
Melty was refusing
like her life depended on it. I guess the magic really was difficult to use.
Sadeena and Filo made it look easy, but they were probably just abnormal. Wait
a second. What did the color of someone’s hair have to do with their potential
to use magic?
“You’ll make a
perfect match! You can do it, little Melty!”
“Ugh . . .”
Melty’s level
wasn’t very high though. Sadeena probably shouldn’t expect too much of her.
“Let’s prepare for
it, just in case. Come, we’ll talk it over as we move along,” Sadeena said.
They continued
talking as we made our way up the mountain. Before long, we came to the spot
where we’d found the corpse of the dragon zombie. It had taken us three whole
hours to get there. The land was completely and utterly barren. To think that
the area would still be contaminated . . .
“. . .”
Ren stared silently
at the plot of land. This was where he’d left the corpse of the dragon he
slayed. I guess you could say he was staring his own mistake in the face.
“Ren, keep your cool.”
“I know . . . I
decided to take responsibility for my mistakes. I’m prepared to live with what
I’ve done. That’s why I’m fighting.”
Wyndia was glaring
at Ren . . . I think. Her expression seemed to be a complex mix of emotions. I
couldn’t tell if she was upset, sad, or if she had just given up caring.
Whatever it was, it was safe to assume that she had some kind of personal
connection to Ren’s issues.
“I wonder where
Gaelion is,” I mumbled.
“Over there,
probably.”
Wyndia pointed to a
recess deep in the mountains. As if in response, a black haze began gathering
in that direction.
“Oh my! That sure
looks dangerous,” said Sadeena.
“I guess we have no
choice but to go check it out,” I replied.
I looked over at
Wyndia.
“You know how to
get over there?”
“Yeah. This way.”
Was Wyndia from
around here or something? Maybe she’d been from a hidden village of
dragon-worshipping demi-humans that was wiped out by an epidemic after Ren
killed the dragon. Then she got caught and ended up a slave, or something like
that. And that magic she was using earlier was unique to the secret village.
Raphtalia’s story wasn’t all that different, so it was possible.
“There!”
We’d been walking
for another two hours or so. Wyndia looked back at us and pointed ahead. Of
course, that two hours included time spent fighting monsters. Filo didn’t have
much time left, so having to waste it clearing out monsters pissed me off.
Gaelion was lying
on the ground in front of the entrance to a cave. Was he asleep? He was
absolutely motionless. We stayed hidden in the shadows as we approached. Our
plan was to get close and then trap Gaelion in my Shield Prison. Then we would
close in on him, and just as the prison disappeared, we would hit him with our
magic to weaken him. After that, Rat would knock him out with her anesthetic.
If that didn’t work, Raphtalia and Ren would restrain him, and once he was
anesthetized, I would take the core back. And that would be the end of it.
Assuming things went as planned, anyway.
Shield Prison had a
range of five meters. Gaelion was still around twenty meters away. We had to
get closer. I used status magic to check his level. He was level 55. That meant
he had already stolen 20 levels from Filo. And he was still doing it. He wasn’t
going to stop.
“Gyaaoooo!”
Gaelion suddenly
awoke and disappeared into the cave.
“Damn it!”
I guess we’d
failed. Then again, closing in on the cave would be a lot easier now. Once
there, I kept my back against the wall of the cave and peeked inside. Gaelion
was looking all around the cave, as if he were searching for something.
“I wonder what he’s
doing.”
“He’s probably
searching for his treasure. Treasure that the villagers stole,” Wyndia replied.
“It must be some
unfinished business of the spirit in the core that commandeered Gaelion’s body,”
said Rat.
“All because I . .
. killed . . .” Ren mumbled.
Wyndia started
yelling at him.
“Stop brooding
already! It’s annoying! Get over it, like the Shield Hero said!”
“Yeah, I know I
need to. But . . .”
“Oh my god! Hurry
up! Let’s go!”
Wyndia dragged him
into the cave. She did have a point. Taking action would be better than
standing around brooding indecisively.
“Alright, let’s
go,” I said.
We began to
approach Gaelion.
“Gyaaooooo!”
Gaelion roared, and
some kind of black sludge began oozing out all over his body.
Throb!
My shield throbbed
when Gaelion roared. What the hell?! Nothing like that had happened before when
he roared.
“Mr. Naofumi . . .”
“Rafu!”
I heard voices
behind us. I turned around to see Filo dragging Atla and Raph-chan toward us.
Her eyes were glazed over.
“Atla?! What are
you doing all the way up here?!”
Fohl called out to
Atla in surprise when he saw her.
“What the hell are
you three doing here?” I asked.
“Shortly after you
all left, Filo suddenly began writhing in pain. We tried to get things back
under control, but it wasn’t working. Then she took off running.”
“Rafu! Rafu rafu!”
Raph-chan was
smacking Filo on the head and trying her best to bring her to her senses, but
Filo was in a stupor. She showed no sign of responding.
“Every now and
then, Filo would come to her senses and start to turn back. But whenever she
did, some kind of power would come flowing toward her and draw her back this
way. Then she would end up like this again,” Atla explained.
“What about all of
the monsters you must have encountered on the way here?”
“They kept their
distance, almost as if they were trying to avoid us. We didn’t have to fight at
all.”
Damn it. I guess
Filo did have the dragon zombie core circulating throughout her whole body.
Maybe that was why I couldn’t use my portal in an area with this level of
corruption. Shit. I should have sent Filo back to our village before we came up
here.
My shield was doing
some kind of weird throbbing thing, Gaelion was right in front of us, and now
Filo had shown up here in a weakened state. What the hell was I supposed to
do?!
“Ugh . . .”
“Filo, do you
recognize me?” I asked her.
“M . . . Mas . . .
ter . . . Mel-chan . . .”
“Yeah, it’s us.
We’ve got this. You need to get out of here. You can’t be here right now. Who
knows what could happen.”
“Filo!” Melty
called out.
“Ugh . . . I’m . .
. scared. Something inside of me . . . ugh . . . Stop . . . uuuughhh!”
Filo grabbed her
chest and started writhing in pain. And then, just like Gaelion, black sludge
began to ooze out of her body.
“Whoa!”
“Ahh!”
“Rafu?!”
Atla and Raph-chan
lost their hold on Filo and were sent flying. The black sludge engulfed Filo
and began rapidly creeping toward Gaelion.
“Hurry up and stop
that sludge!”
Clearly, something
really bad was about to happen. Bad for us and bad for Filo too.
“B . . . but Filo
is inside of there!”
“She’s right!”
Raphtalia and Ren
were hesitant to act. Deep down, I felt the same. If we attacked the sludge, we
might end up harming Filo. Was there nothing we could do to stop it?
“Sadeena! Can you
paralyze it with your lightning magic?”
“I’ll give it a
try!”
Sadeena quickly
began to cast a spell and pointed her harpoon at the sludge engulfing Filo.
“Zweite
Thunderbolt!”
Sadeena’s magic
landed a direct hit on the sludge engulfing Filo. But the sludge simply jiggled
a bit and kept on moving. Sadeena took out the flask filled with holy water and
began to cast another spell. She must have been using the Way of the Dragon
Vein this time.
“I, Sadeena, call
forth the power of this holy water to manifest itself. Dragon Vein! Vanquish
the enemies before me!”
“Saint Aqua Blast!”
Sadeena spun her
magic into the water to form a mass in the palm of her hand. It went flying and
smashed right into the sludge.
“—!”
Oh! That one seemed
to have an effect!
“Just as I
expected. That thing is derived from some kind of curse. Normal attacks aren’t
going to be effective against it,” she said.
“What should we
do?” I asked.
“Well, little Filo
is the host, and without a host . . .” Sadeena replied.
“No way . . .”
whispered Melty.
“That’s not an
option!” I shouted.
“In that case, our
only option is to attack using divine magic,” said Sadeena.
Eclair stepped
forward. She held her hand to the blade of her short sword and it took the form
of a magic sword.
“That I can do!
Hiya!”
Ah, that’s right.
Eclair had an aptitude for using light magic.
“I’ll give it a go
too!”
Raphtalia had an
aptitude for illusion magic, which was a mixture of light and dark magic. I
guess that meant she could use light magic too. Although, not as well as
Eclair.
“Light Stardust
Blade!”
Eclair’s sharp
thrust, along with a cloud of twinkling stars that shot out of Raphtalia’s
katana, went smashing into the sludge. Eclair’s sword created a small opening
in the sludge. Raphtalia’s skill made a much larger opening.
“—?!”
But Raphtalia
pulled her katana away before the skill completed.
“Any more than that
could be deadly for Filo. I could see her through the opening in the sludge,
and she was writhing in pain every time the stars hit it.”
I checked Filo’s
fuzzy status screen. Her life force had dropped substantially. Shit! Just when
I thought we might be able to stop this thing!
“We still have to
stop the sludge somehow,” I said.
“Naofumi! The
sludge from Gaelion!” Ren shouted.
I looked over just
in time to see the masses of sludge engulfing Gaelion and Filo come crashing
together at breakneck speed. Damn it! We hadn’t been able to stop them! They
oozed together to form a single mass, which began to swell up.
“Gaelion! Listen to
me! Please!” Wyndia called out.
“Stay back! Do you
have a death wish?!” I shouted.
The throbbing of my
shield intensified. Something black rushed out of the shield and engulfed
Gaelion. He began absorbing even the surrounding air, or perhaps “cloud of
corruption” was a more accurate description. Cracking sounds came from all over
his body as Gaelion slowly grew more and more massive.
“I have a feeling
this is starting to get really dangerous. You have any idea what’s happening,
Rat?” I asked.
“Why would I know?!
It looks like your shield is just making things worse!”
“Yeah, I got that.
There’s some kind of throbbing coming from the shield.”
We retreated from
the cave, and the sludge came crawling out after us. Then it took on a clear,
physical form. Standing a massive twenty meters tall, a fully-grown dragon was
towering over us. The dragon’s eyes were filled with darkness. I didn’t know
what to make of its expression. Nothing about it reminded me of Gaelion
anymore. Filo . . . was nowhere in sight.
Damn it! Don’t die
on me, Filo!
“GURUUUUUUUUU!”
Gaelion took in a
big gulp of air. I recognized that motion. That was his breath attack for sure.
“Everyone, get
back! Shooting Star Shield!”
I cast Shooting
Star Shield and got ready for the breath. The others got behind me and took a
defensive stance. Sadeena pulled out a second flask and began casting a spell.
“I, Sadeena, call
forth the power of this holy water to manifest itself. Dragon Vein! Protect
us!”
“Saint Aqua Seal!”
Sadeena’s magic
engulfed me.
“Little Naofumi,
that should boost your fire resistance and help protect you against curses,
just in case.”
“Thanks.”
If I could
withstand this first attack, then we had a chance of winning. Surely the dragon
wasn’t as powerful as the Spirit Tortoise. Black flames poured out of Gaelion’s
mouth and shot toward us. Shooting Star Shield dissolved instantly.
What the hell?!
Shooting Star Shield had been able to withstand the full weight of the Spirit
Tortoise stepping on it for several moments. His breath had melted it away in
an instant! The flames continued barreling toward me. I summoned Air Strike
Shield, Second Shield, Dritte Shield, and E Float Shield to protect us.
It felt like my
whole body was being incinerated. I almost passed out from the pain. If nothing
else, the intensity of the attack was on par with the Spirit Tortoise’s
electric attack.
“Mr. Naofumi!”
shouted Raphtalia.
“Holy hell . . .
What’s with this intensity . . .”
“Saint Aqua Seal is
peeling away. The power of that breath and curse must be incredible,” Sadeena
said.
I had managed to
withstand the attack somehow. I cast healing magic on myself and glared at
Gaelion. These burns . . . There was no doubt about it. Those were dark curse
burning S flames. The dragon standing before me looked like Gaelion, but the
monster seemed to have the same abilities as my Shield of Wrath. On top of
that, Filo was stuck in there somewhere. This enemy might prove more difficult
to deal with than the Spirit Tortoise had been. I had to consider that
withdrawal might be our best option.
“Hey, Rat. Can we
weaken that thing and pull Filo and the dragon core out of its stomach?”
“I’m pretty sure
you’ll be eaten.”
“You’re probably
right. It might be better if someone just cuts Gaelion’s stomach open.”
Wyndia was calling
out to Gaelion and trying her hardest to get through to him, but it didn’t seem
to be working. I’m sure he would have responded . . . if this had been an anime
or something.
“We can’t afford to
hold back anymore! Raphtalia, Ren, and everyone else! Attack him all at once!
Weaken him!”
“Understood!”
Raphtalia shouted.
“Got it! I’ll do my
best to save Filo and Gaelion!” exclaimed Ren.
“Of course!”
“Wh . . . what kind
of monster is that thing?! Can we really beat it?!”
Fohl had waited
until now to start wavering.
“What are you
saying, Brother? This is Mr. Naofumi’s life we’re talking about. As his
subordinates, it is our duty to carry out our mission, even if it means risking
our own lives.”
“I won’t let you
sacrifice yourself, Atla!”
These two . . .
This was no time for silly banter!
“If we injected
that anesthetic now, do you think it would stop him?” asked Sadeena.
“I’m pretty sure
your lightning has a better chance of stopping him,” I said.
“Oh? I’ll do my
best then!”
She needed to stop
messing around and attack already.
Anyway, even the
strongest enemy probably wouldn’t be able to withstand the ridiculous amount of
firepower that Raphtalia and Ren could dish out. That’s why I was glad Ren was
on our side now.
“Go!”
When I gave the
signal, Raphtalia and Ren crouched down low and then rushed at Gaelion. They
each used their weapon to unleash their respective skills. It was just as I’d
expected. Ren’s curse didn’t interfere with his combat, and he’d powered up his
weapon, so he was faster than Raphtalia.
“Stardust Blade!”
“Shooting Star Sword!”
The two attacks
were essentially the same skill. The skills crossed, and their streams of
shooting stars went flying toward Gaelion.
Of course,
Raphtalia and Ren both followed through and swung at Gaelion’s shoulders. Ren’s
sword failed to penetrate Gaelion’s scales. Raphtalia’s katana sliced through
the scales but stopped just after cutting into Gaelion’s flesh. With a loud
clang, sparks flew from both of their weapons . . . and they bounced off?! But
Raphtalia’s attack had managed to penetrate more deeply and sent black sludge
splattering into the air.
“What?!”
“He . . . he’s
tough!”
“Ouch . . . my hand
. . .”
Raphtalia and Ren
both shook their hands painfully. Gaelion swung his hand at them forcefully in
retaliation, but they both dodged and returned to my position.
“Hold on a second .
. .”
Ren and Raphtalia
were both heroes, technically, and they hadn’t been holding back. And yet their
weapons had been stopped? What the hell?
“Lightning Strike
Harpoon!”
Sadeena leapt high
up into the air and threw her harpoon at Gaelion’s stomach. When she did, a
bolt of lightning went smashing into Gaelion. The flash of light blinded me
momentarily.
The harpoon had
gone hurling toward his stomach at lightning speed. I was sure the attack
landed. But Sadeena’s harpoon failed to pierce it. It made a hollow thud,
similar to the sound my shield made when I defended against an attack, and the
harpoon bounced off and went flying through the air.
“Oh my . . . My
finishing move didn’t even pierce his scales, did it?”
Sadeena landed on
the ground and caught her harpoon out of the air. She back-stepped and returned
to our position.
“Ren’s and
Raphtalia’s attacks were ineffective! Of course yours would be too, Fohl and
Atla! Get back here!”
It didn’t make
sense. Ren and Raphtalia were both suffering from the effects of curses, but I
still couldn’t imagine anything being this tough!
The flash of light
had blinded Gaelion. He was groaning and rubbing his eyes with both hands.
Seeing if magical attacks would be effective was an option, but I wasn’t going
to hold my breath. Still, nothing good would come from standing around and
twiddling our thumbs.
“Shit! He’s fast!”
Gaelion was moving
really quickly now, and that only made things worse. It took all Raphtalia,
Ren, and I had just to keep up with the speed of his attacks.
I stood at the
forefront and took the impact of Gaelion’s claws. Ugh . . . One of his claws
dug into my shoulder. He had a good amount of attack power too, apparently. I
guess I was just lucky that it wasn’t enough to deliver a fatal blow. Gaelion
took in another big gulp of air. He was going to use his breath attack again.
“Oh, no you don’t!
Everyone, hide behind me!”
“Understood!”
I called out and
had everyone gather behind me. They would be easy targets otherwise. Gaelion’s
breath was on the same level as the Spirit Tortoise’s electric attack. If it’d
hit anyone other than the Shield Hero, they would have been vaporized.
Flames worthy of
being called hellfire engulfed my body.
“Count! Zweite
Heal!”
Rat started healing
my wounds. It sure was nice having someone other than myself around that could
help heal.
“Should we try
using cooperative magic, Sadeena?!”
“But, little
Naofumi . . . If you’re busy assisting me with magic, who’s going to protect
us?”
She had a point. If
I tried to cast cooperative magic with her, I wouldn’t be able to focus on
defense. Gaelion was surprisingly strong. If I switched my focus to casting
magic, he would break free from my hold. I could tell everyone to avoid his
attacks, but I wasn’t confident Melty and Rat could pull that off. It would
have been nice if Ren could take over defense temporarily, but I had a feeling
that wouldn’t work either.
“Little Melty and
little Wyndia! You two help me cast cooperative magic! We’re going to stop
little Gaelion!”
“Umm . . . okay! We
have to save Filo, no matter what!” Melty replied.
“Naofumi! Watch
out!” Ren shouted.
I was holding on to
Gaelion’s claw and he was clearly upset. He opened his mouth and tried to bite
down on me. I took one of my hands off of his claw and used that hand and my
foot to keep his jaws from closing on me.
“Crazy . . .”
Ren was staring at
me with a look of amazement on his face as I stood there in the mouth of the
dragon.
“If you have time
to stare, then fight!”
“Sorry!”
Ren leapt toward me
and Gaelion and swung his sword.
“Dragon Buster!”
Flames burst out of
his sword, took the shape of a dragon, and shot toward Gaelion. It was the
first time I’d seen that skill. It was probably especially potent against
dragons.
“GURUUUUUUU!”
Gaelion turned his
attention to Ren. Or was Ren his target to begin with? Maybe a leftover
fragment of consciousness that belonged to the dragon emperor Ren had killed
was driving Gaelion to take revenge.
“Ren, if you feel
like you can’t dodge an attack, use me as a shield.”
“I will!”
I could sense
hatred. Gaelion seemed to be primarily focused on Ren now. But I still had to
focus on defense. Ren’s defense rating wasn’t high enough to keep him safe. I’d
really expected him to put up a better fight. It’s not that he wasn’t fast. But
it still only felt like perhaps two-thirds of my own speed. He was always one
step behind. I wasn’t sure if it was because of his curse or if there was some
other reason.
“Rafu!”
Raph-chan used her
illusion magic to back Ren up. She was making Gaelion see multiple copies of
Ren, which made it hard for him to concentrate on any single one. Thanks to her
help, Ren seemed to be able to attack without much danger of being harmed.
“Cursed earth! Cursed
Dragon Vein flow! Let us expel this congestion by . . .”
I looked back to
see Melty, Sadeena, and Wyndia chanting their magical incantation in unison.
Little flickers of light that looked like fireflies began to gather around
them.
“GURUUUUUU!”
Gaelion clearly
didn’t intend to let them finish the incantation. He took in a huge gulp of air
and prepared to unleash another one of his breath attacks. I stood in front of
Melty and the others and readied my shield. When I did, Gaelion leapt high up
into the air, faced me, and opened his mouth. He planned to attack from above!
“Shooting Star
Shield! Air Strike Shield!”
I jumped up onto
the Air Strike Shield and shielded Melty and the others from the breath. Ugh .
. . My whole body was engulfed in the flames. Burns began to form on my skin. I
was already weakened by a curse to start with, and these cursed flames only
added to the pain. Gaelion followed up by thrusting at me with his claws. I
could tell he was going to try to bite down on me again.
“Dragon Vein! Hear
our petition and grant it! As the source of your power, we implore you! Let the
true way be revealed once more! Give us the power to overcome the obstacles
before us!”
The flickering
lights began to draw together. It was clear that the three of them had their
awareness focused on me.
“This might
surprise you at first but stay calm. You’ll be fine. Trust me! Now, little
Melty!”
“Cooperative
magic!”
“The Great Deep!”
“Zee Wille!”
Maybe it was just
my imagination, but it seemed like they had cast different spells.
Water suddenly
appeared around us, with the three of them at its center. It was like we were
in a massive aquarium. Gaelion seemed to be choking. He looked like he was in
pain as he swam around trying to escape from the aquarium. Something like this
had happened to us before at the coliseum. But maybe something was different
this time. For some reason, Ren was writhing around and choking too.
Gurgle, gurgle . .
.
That reminded me!
Ren sunk like a stone in water! He couldn’t swim!
“Little Ren, you’re
going to be fine.”
Sadeena put her arms
around Ren, who seemed to be drowning. She brought him over to me.
“The spell doesn’t
affect anyone that isn’t considered an enemy, so you’re not going to drown,”
she told him.
“Huh? Oh . . .”
I guess that meant
it could be used to choke enemies.
Pant . . . Pant . .
.
“I’m exhausted . .
.” Melty whispered.
“Yeah . . .” Wyndia
replied.
The two of them
were slumped down on the ground, out of breath. I took some magic water out of
my shield and tossed it to them.
“I guess you would
be. Leave the rest to me,” Sadeena said.
Sadeena floated up
weightlessly into the water of the magic aquarium and began swimming toward
Gaelion, who was still struggling to escape. She was incredibly fast. Gaelion
thrashed about and finally managed to leap out of the water. He prepared to
spit fire, but before he could, Sadeena burst up out of the water in front of
him. She was enveloped in a mass of water that was shaped like a Chinese
dragon.
“Dragonfury Dual
Blades!”
A loud splash
echoed out and Gaelion fell back into the water and sunk to the bottom of the
aquarium. The attack must have damaged him, because blood was dribbling out of
his stomach.
“Gaelion . . .”
Wyndia whispered
his name quietly, and then stood up and screamed out.
“Gaelion!”
“One more! Orca
Strike!” shouted Sadeena.
The water swirling
around her formed a tail that smashed into Gaelion’s stomach.
“He sure is tough!”
she said.
“We’ll help! While
we’re attacking, you and Mr. Naofumi can cast that spell!” Raphtalia exclaimed.
She and Ren headed
toward Gaelion.
“Will do!”
“Gaelion!”
Wyndia continued to
call out to Gaelion repeatedly.
“Please! Come back
to us!” she screamed.
“Hey! Wait!”
I called out for
Wyndia to stop, but she ignored me and ran to Gaelion. It wasn’t that I
couldn’t understand how she felt, but she needed to think about the situation
we were in.
“GURUUUUUUU!”
“Gaelion! Listen to
me! I’m begging you! Return to your normal form!”
Wyndia’s voice
echoed out, but Gaelion wasn’t listening. I rushed toward Wyndia to get in
front of her and protect her. But Gaelion was too quick. He opened his mouth
wide and was about to swallow her whole.
“Air Strike—”
I tried to summon
my Air Strike Shield as quickly as I could. But before I finished . . .
“Father! Stop this
already!”
Wyndia screamed out
at the top of her lungs.
“GURU?!”
Gaelion
stopped dead in his tracks.
“Father?”
“Huh?”
“I had a feeling
that might be the case. I guess I was right,” Sadeena said in a whisper.
She and Rat were
nodding as if everything suddenly made sense.
“Yes. The dragon
that lived here . . . was my father.”
Wyndia nodded and
faced Gaelion as she responded. Huh? Did that mean Wyndia was raised by a
dragon? She looked exactly like a dog-type demi-human, the same as Keel.
Nothing about her looked like a dragon. Well, her hairdo did strike me as a bit
odd. It was strange. It reminded me of both a dog and a lizard at the same
time. But could a dragon zombie even . . . No, wait. I guess her father was
probably still a normal, living dragon when he raised her.
“No way . . . That
means . . . I . . .”
Ren was stumbling
over his words. Wyndia glared at him.
“Your brooding is
so annoying! Just shut up for now!” she shouted.
Ahh, so that was
why she glared at him every now and then. And that was why his masochistic
desires annoyed her so much.
“It’s extremely
rare, but it’s not unheard of. There are stories of wild monsters raising human
or demi-human children. Usually it’s either a wolf-type monster or a dragon,”
said Rat.
“Oh jeez, don’t
tell me you have some kind of wolf-boy here too . . .” I mumbled.
“Stop this,
already. Father, there’s nothing left here. I know you probably feel hatred for
the hero that stole everything from you. But that doesn’t mean it’s okay to
hurt others. Stop this before you do something that you’ll regret!”
“GU . . .”
Gaelion let out a
tortured groan and backed away. He covered his ears with his claws, as if to
say he didn’t want to listen.
“I refused to let
it go before now. I couldn’t bring myself to forgive the heroes. They stole my
happiness. They stole Father’s happiness. But the Shield Hero is . . .
different. He’s kind to everyone at the village. He’s not like the other people
in this country. The people that whipped me. He’s not like the villagers that
stole your treasures and laughed about it!” Wyndia explained.
She was crying as
she told Gaelion about what she’d been through, in an attempt to get through to
him. The reason he was covering his ears was because it was working . . . or
was it?
But to think a
dragon would raise a demi-human child . . . Maybe he’d planned on taking
advantage of her after she’d grown up. Did the fact that I was even considering
that just prove I’d spent way too much time playing games?
“Please. Return
that body to its owner. That baby dragon is named Gaelion, just like you,
Father. And he’s still alive in there! Return the power that you stole from
Filo too. Father . . . You don’t belong in this world anymore!”
“GYAOOOOOOO!”
Gaelion started
clawing at his forehead. Had she convinced him?!
But just when I
thought it had been a success . . .
“Watch out!”
Ren leapt forward
and guarded Wyndia from Gaelion’s claw.
“Gaelion!” she
shouted.
Her attempt to talk
some sense into Gaelion had failed. Of course things wouldn’t work out so
smoothly. He still had Filo trapped inside of his body, after all.
“I guess that
didn’t work. Wyndia! I—”
“Let me go!
Gaelion! Listen to me! Please!”
And then Wyndia
suddenly fell motionless, as if she’d just seen something unbelievable.
“Who . . . are you?
You’re not Gaelion!” she shouted.
“Huh?”
Wyndia glared at
Gaelion with hostility burning in her eyes.
“Gaelion and Father
were just there! What did you do with them?!”
Wyndia’s demeanor
changed completely. She was seething with rage now. I looked over at the
massive dragon that had been Gaelion. Its black body began to turn purple, and
the mass of black sludge that had been surrounding it began to disappear.
“Oh? So you noticed
my presence, did you, little girl?”
The dragon spoke,
and I joined Wyndia in glaring at him. I thought it might be the voice of the
dragon that had been her father before he died, but that wasn’t the case,
judging by her reaction. I needed to figure out who this new enemy standing
before us was.
But wait . . . I’d
heard this voice before. It was the same voice that had whispered to me when I
cast All Sacrifice Aura.
“Who the hell are
you?!”
I shouted at him
with menace in my voice. The enormous dragon slowly puffed his chest up
proudly. After a brief pause, he replied calmly.
“Hmph. I guess I
should introduce myself,” he muttered.
The dragon placed a
hand on his chest and gave a patronizing bow.
“I come from
another world. There, I was the Dragon Emperor. I’ve been referred to as the
Demon Dragon as well. I am the ruler of all monsters. Shield Hero, this should
all sound familiar to you.”
That brought to
mind what had happened in Kizuna’s world and the weapons that Raphtalia and I
were always using. They both had “demon dragon” in their name.
The Demon Dragon
had asked me a question. If there was any chance of talking things out, maybe
this was it.
“Yeah. You’re the
dragon that tried to take over Kizuna’s world, right? I’m pretty sure Kizuna
said she defeated you.”
The Demon Dragon
confirmed my suspicions with a nod.
“I’m glad you seem
to understand. That’s right. The Hunting Hero and her party crushed my
aspirations once.”
“And why would that
Demon Dragon be here now?”
“Hmph . . . Shield
Hero, are you really going to pretend like you have no clue?”
I had a really bad
feeling about this. Romina told me that the dragon emperor core she used in my
Barbaroi Armor had been created by combining fragments of the dragon emperor
and dragon zombie cores. And going by what Rat and Wyndia had said, as well as
Gaelion’s current state, the corruptive tendencies of dragon emperors extended
even to their consciousnesses. As a result, the remnant of the demon dragon in
my core fragment, which had commandeered Gaelion’s body, went out of control.
It made sense.
“So your
consciousness remained in the core fragments, which I used in my shield and
armor. And now you’ve taken over Gaelion’s body.”
“Very good. You
catch on quick, Shield Hero,” he replied.
“And? I’m guessing
you’re not here because you decided to help us out by suppressing my rampaging
twit of a dragon.”
“You guess
correctly. I’ve finally found a body that will allow me to act freely! Surely
you don’t think I’m going to just relinquish it to you, do you?”
The dragon clearly
didn’t have friendly intentions. In that case, dealing with this opponent would
likely be even more dangerous than fighting a dragon that was merely causing a
violent disturbance.
“What have you done
with Filo?! Return her at once!”
Melty stepped
forward and shouted at the dragon angrily.
“You must be
referring to the monster that people call a filolial in this world.”
Rip!
I heard a tearing
sound and the demon dragon’s chest split open. Something crept forward into
view. I could see Filo being held in place by tentacles or something. Her arms
and legs were tied down. It looked like she had been stitched onto the dragon’s
beating heart, as if she were now a part of his body. Filo seemed to groan with
each beat of the heart. The tentacles were pulsating and glowing, as if to
signify that they were stealing her power.
“Ugh . . . ughhh .
. .”
“Filo!”
Melty started to
take a step forward. But before she could move, the Demon Dragon cast a spell
instantly, without even reciting an incantation. A black beam of light shot out
toward Melty’s feet.
“Watch out!” I
yelled.
I instantly grabbed
Melty and pulled her back. It was clear that the dragon didn’t intend for the
beam to hit her, but the way she had lunged forward made it a close call.
“Naofumi! Let go!
That’s Filo!”
“Calm down!
Charging at him recklessly is not going to convince him to give her back!”
The Demon Dragon
placed a hand on his chest, as if to signify his agreement.
“Ugh . . . Mel-chan
. . . Master . . . It hurts . . .”
Filo opened her
eyes ever so slightly and called out to us. But the Demon Dragon clearly had no
intention of returning her. He smirked.
“The Shield Hero is
correct. The filolial is a sacrificial offering that gives me power. Do you
really think I’ll just hand her over to you?”
“Nooo . . . Ugh . .
.”
With a cracking
sound, the Demon Dragon slowly drew the exposed Filo back, deep into his chest.
“Filo!”
Melty reached out
toward Filo and grasped at the air. I held her back and glared at the Demon
Dragon.
“Do you really
think we’re going to just accept that and leave?” I asked.
“I have no plans of
letting you leave like this, of course. However, perhaps we can make a deal.”
“What do you want?”
Whenever there was
mention of negotiating in a situation like this, it always ended up being a
ludicrous proposal. It reminded me of that famous line from a certain dragon:
“If you want to be my ally, I’ll give you half of the world.” Even if you
accepted the offer, things turned out badly.
But there was
always a possibility that the Demon Dragon might be reasonable. It wouldn’t
hurt to hear him out.
“My aspiration is
to rule the world. Humans are weak, stupid, and selfish. Why should the world
belong to them?”
“Such a cliché.
You’re going to complain about humans being unfit to rule the world?”
How predictable.
The triteness of it all made me roll my eyes.
“But surely you
understand, Shield Hero. You were selfishly summoned to this world, and then
framed and persecuted simply because someone didn’t like you. Surely you understand the arrogance of the people of this world.”
“. . .”
He wasn’t wrong.
The countless injustices that I had suffered were all a result of that arrogance.
“Those fools reign
over this world like it belongs to them. Deep down, you know that their savage
deeds are unforgivable. I could feel it when I was in your shield.”
“Well, you’re not
wrong.”
It was a selfish,
rotten world where they relied on the heroes to fix things any time something
went wrong. If I could, I’d abandon my mission, immediately return to my own
world, and forget it all. Like it had all been a bad dream.
“Of course, I will
take care of the waves as well. Having the world destroyed is no good for me
either. But that’s only if the world belongs to me.”
His offer sounded
good so far. But there were always strings attached when things sounded too
good to be true. He’d referred to Filo as a sacrificial offering, and he was
sucking away her power. He’d hijacked Gaelion’s body. That was plenty of
evidence that things wouldn’t all be so rosy.
“Mr. Naofumi . . .”
Raphtalia had been
trying to calm the frantic Melty down. She placed her hand on my shoulder. I
knew what she wanted to say. It was a dirty, rotten world, but there were still
people here trying their best to do what was right. I couldn’t care less if the
worthless fools all died. But there were people that deserved my protection
too. Of course I understood that.
“What an arrogant
creature! I should defeat that thing, right, Atla?!” Fohl shouted.
He started to step
forward, but Atla stopped him with a quick poke in the stomach.
“Ugh . . . Why did
you do that, Atla?”
“We’re not strong
enough to face that creature yet. Our opportunity to act will come, but right
now, we need to wait for Mr. Naofumi’s instructions. We should focus on
mustering up as much power as possible until then.”
Atla began focusing
her awareness as soon as she finished speaking.
“A . . . Atla?”
Her focus was
incredible. She stood there motionless, as if she could no longer even hear
Fohl’s voice. Her position was somewhere around two meters behind me.
“That’s enough of a
prelude. Let’s hear your conditions already,” I announced.
Even if the
negotiations were going to end in failure and we had to continue fighting, it
still made sense to hear him out. This enemy was too strong to just try and
settle things our own way, without considering what he had to say. Ren’s and
Raphtalia’s attacks were ineffective.
Such incredible
strength. There had to be something to it. If I could find out what that was by
talking to him, I was sure I could figure out a way to deal with him.
“Right down to
business. I like that. These are my conditions. Everyone here — other than the
Shield Hero —will pledge their allegiance to me and become my minions. And then
you will snuff out the Hunting Hero and her companions who shattered my
aspirations once before!”
What a joke. Was he
really going to present it like that and still expect us to agree? He might
have been a powerful dragon, but he had absolutely zero potential as a
politician. And what did he mean by everyone other than me pledging their
loyalty?
“Do you really
think they would agree to that? And why did you specify everyone other than
me?”
Everyone around
glared at the Demon Dragon and nodded. In situations like this, it was only
normal to force the leader, which was me right now, to pledge their loyalty
too. The Demon Dragon stared at me. The look in his eyes . . . It wasn’t quite
contempt. It sent a shiver down my spine. His eyes reminded me of a starving
monster staring at its prey.
“Like the filolial
offering, you are nothing but another source of power. I need no pledge from
you. You, too, will become a part of my body and continue to supply me with
power for all eternity. In return, I will exact revenge on the rotten humans
for the both of us!”
“Huh?!”
So the bastard
intended to make me a part of his body and use me as a power source, just like
Filo!
“Surely you didn’t
think that the filolial was my only source of power. Take a good look at the
situation. It is your rage that gives me power!”
“That must be what
Atla was talking about when she said there was some kind of power leaking out
of you and amplifying something,” said Raphtalia.
“No wonder the
dragon is so strong . . .” Rat mumbled.
She had a look of
annoyance on her face. Wyndia glared at me.
I looked at my
shield. My rage . . . I pulled up the Shield of Wrath on my status screen. The
screen was all fuzzy. A lot about the dragon reminded me of the abilities of my
Shield of Wrath, including the breath attack Gaelion had used before turning
into the Demon Dragon. In other words, the Demon Dragon must have been using me
as a medium to sustain such massive power. And since I was the source of that
power, he wanted to assimilate me into his body to continue leeching that
power.
“Go to hell! Do you
really think anyone would agree to such terms?!”
“Oh, not at all. I
fully understand that you will try to resist. This is not a negotiation. This is
the strong exploiting the weak.”
The Demon Dragon
let out a fierce roar. When he did, a rain of magical attacks poured down upon
us.
“Damn you! We won’t
let you take Naofumi! Shooting Star Sword!”
“That’s right! We
won’t let Mr. Iwatani fall sacrifice to such wretched aspirations!”
Ren intercepted the
Demon Dragon’s magical attacks with his Shooting Star Sword skill, and Eclair
cast a spell that formed a shield of light. It formed a barrier around me that
would help protect me, even if only a bit.
“We will let you do
no such thing!” shouted Raphtalia.
She used Light
Stardust Blade with her magic sword to help crush the onslaught of magical
attacks.
“Give Filo back!”
cried Melty.
She must have
summoned up some great, latent power in the face of imminent danger. She
started rapidly casting spells and firing them off at the dragon’s magic.
“Damn it . . . Even
if our attacks hit him, they only send sparks flying!” grumbled Ren.
Ren’s attack power
must have been higher than the Demon Dragon’s, because he was successfully
quashing the dragon’s magical attacks. But Ren’s attacks weren’t powerful
enough to pierce the Demon Dragon’s armor.
“Mr. Naofumi,
please protect the others. Ren, let’s take the fight in close quarters,” said
Raphtalia.
“Got it!” Ren
replied.
Raphtalia gave Ren
the signal, crouched down low, and then sprang at the Demon Dragon.
“Hiyaaaa!”
She thrust her
katana at him with incredible force. Ren followed her lead and swung his sword.
“Thunder Sword!”
Lightning shot out
of Ren’s sword and went hurtling at the Demon Dragon. But it failed to even
scratch the dragon’s scales. Raphtalia’s attack, on the other hand, made a
sharp slicing sound, as if she had cut through something. There was a cloud of
black, noxious gas surrounding the Demon Dragon and it looked like she had cut
through that.
“Ugh . . . I
suppose I should launch a counterattack too. Try not to die. I’d like to try to
gauge my own strength.”
The Demon Dragon
didn’t have a single scratch on him, and yet he had groaned in pain. Just what
had Raphtalia cut? I had no idea, but it certainly seemed to have an effect.
The Demon Dragon flapped his wings and lifted up off of the ground. He began to
shine as brightly as the sun, and a cloud of black flames filled the air.
“Raphtalia! Ren!
Get back!”
I summoned my Air
Strike Shield and Second Shield in front of Raphtalia and Ren to protect them
from the attack. As instructed, they both fell back. Good. That should be
enough.
“Experience my
power firsthand! Flames of Purgatory! Solar Prominence! Dark Nova!”
The Demon Dragon’s
mouth snapped open, and near his chest a black sun took form. Black flames
showered down toward us. I held my shield up toward the sky and cast E Float
Shield, Shooting Star Shield, and Dritte Shield.
“Melty! Sadeena!
Anyone! Cast whatever defensive magic you can!”
“O . . . okay!”
Melty nodded and
began casting along with the others. Scorching flames poured out of the black
sun and exploded.
Ugh . . . The
intensity of the attack was even greater than when I’d been hit with the
ceremonial magic spell Judgment. On top of that, the flames would curse
anything they touched, and now they were engulfing my body. Bit by bit, my skin
melted away. The pain followed moments later.
“Little Naofumi!
Keep holding on! Saint Aqua Seal!”
Sadeena used the
holy water to reduce the amount of damage I took. I could tell that the flames
would delay any healing. There was no doubt about that since my Shield of Wrath
was the source of their power. The holy water was clearly very effective
against curse elements. Healing wouldn’t be a problem as long as the curse
effects weren’t delaying it. Thankfully Rat was helping a bit by casting her
own healing magic.
After several
moments, the flames died away. The area in front of me had been transformed
into a field of smoldering ash.
“Hmph. Killing you
would mean losing a source of power. That attack is not quite powerful enough
to deliver a decisive blow. That’s its downside.”
“Ugh . . .”
I cast healing
magic on myself and got ready to continue the fight. I had no doubt that he was
trying to weaken me so that he could assimilate me into his body.
“Naofumi, you’re
his target! You need to stay back, no matter what!” Ren shouted.
“Mr. Naofumi! The
Sword Hero is right! Be careful! The dragon is clearly trying to weaken you!”
Raphtalia added.
The Demon Dragon
was taking a moment to recover after unleashing such a massive attack.
Raphtalia and Ren took advantage of the opportunity and leapt at him to resume
their attacks. Earlier in the fight, the two of them had attacked at the same
time and the compounded effect had left a faint mark on the Demon Dragon’s
scales.
Was there nothing I
could do? If I paired up with Sadeena, we could cast our cooperative magic
spell, Descent of the Thunder God, on Raphtalia and Ren. That should increase
their attack power. Sadeena must have realized what I was thinking, because she
nodded and took my hand into hers. But was that really all I could do? I
couldn’t help but wonder.
The job of a
shielder was to block the opponent’s attacks and to create openings for allies
to attack. If they had some leeway, they could assist the other party members
while helping to keep them alive. Naturally, that’s exactly what I had always
done. There was nothing else I could do.
“Hmph . . . It
looks like I’ll need more power. Let’s try this then,” whispered the Demon
Dragon.
He started to
concentrate. Naturally, his movements also slowed, but Raphtalia and the others
still couldn’t land a decisive blow.
If he was leeching
my abilities, then . . . Wait. Leeching my abilities? It was safe to assume
that he was using the abilities of the Shield of Wrath. Ren had implemented the
power-up methods, and yet his attacks were still ineffective. I was the only
one with a high enough defense rating to pull that off. The Demon Dragon even
said that he was using the Shield of Wrath as a medium. So what would happen if
I intentionally failed a power-up attempt on the Shield of Wrath?
“He’s using my
shield as the source of his power. I’m going to try intentionally failing a
power-up attempt on the shield.”
Ren turned to me
and nodded.
“That makes sense!
I hadn’t thought of that! Give it a try, Naofumi!”
“Huh? What do you
mean?” asked Rat.
“Failure is always
a possibility when powering up our weapons. If I intentionally cause it to fail,
then the Shield of Wrath will be weakened. In other words, the shield that is
supplying his power will become weak. And that means . . .”
“The dragon will be
weakened too!” she exclaimed.
“Exactly. If he’s
getting his defense from my shield, then that should make it possible to harm
him with our attacks. I’m sure of it!”
I made up my mind
and got ready to power up my shield. And that’s when it happened!
“Did
you really think I hadn’t thought of that?”
“What?!”
The Demon Dragon
cast a spell and magical symbols appeared on my shield. The power-up screen
suddenly appeared in front of my eyes.
Would
you like to attempt to power up Shield of Wrath from +7 to +8?
Huh?
Wait! I hadn’t done anything! The cursor moved to “yes” on its own and the
power-up attempt initiated.
“What did you do?!”
“Heh . . . I’m sure
you’re smart enough to have figured out what’s happening. I’m not against
trying my luck either, you know.”
Warning:
Power-up level will be reset to 0 upon fail —
The
Demon Dragon selected “yes” before the warning even finished displaying. There
was a clunking sound and the power-up symbol appeared.
+8
power-up successful!
Shit!
Why the hell did it have to be successful at a time like this?! Ugh . . . I
nervously looked over at the Demon Dragon.
“Bwahahaha! I enjoy
a good gamble from time to time! Heroes! Feel my power!”
The Demon Dragon
swung his tail. He was even faster than before! He flapped his wings and a
powerful wind rushed through the air!
“Ugh . . .”
Damn it! Just when I
thought things couldn’t get any worse! At the very least, I needed to cast
support magic on Raphtalia and the others.
“Zweite Aura!”
I wasn’t prepared
to lose to this powered-up Demon Dragon. I cast my support magic on Raphtalia
and Ren.
“Air Strike Shield!
Second Shield! Raphtalia! Ren! Use those as footing and to protect yourself!”
“Understood!”
“Thanks!”
The Demon Dragon’s
scales were glistening. In MMOs, it was common for a shiny effect to be added
to a weapon’s appearance whenever a high-level refinement was successful.
“Umm, hey, Count.
Is it just me or . . . Did he not just get stronger?”
“Yeah. He’s
interfering with my shield. But I’m not just going to stand by and watch!”
Two could play this
game.
“Careful now! I
can’t have you going and causing trouble, my little medium.”
Locked.
When
I tried to power up the Shield of Wrath, that was the message that appeared on
the screen. Shit! I couldn’t power up my own shield! What the hell?! In MMOs,
every now and then someone’s account would get hacked and they would lose
control of their character. That’s what this felt like!
The Demon Dragon
immediately attempted another power-up. Once again, he chose “yes” for both
prompts immediately.
+9
power-up successful!
. .
.
“Whoa!”
Ren was unable to
dodge the next attack. He went flying and smashed into the wall.
“Ren!”
“I . . . I’m okay!”
He and Raphtalia
could no longer keep up with the Demon Dragon’s attacks. They were lagging one
step behind now.
“Count?!”
This piece-of-shit
shield! Did it want to kill me?! This was its chance to fight back by failing
and weakening that bastard! If he succeeded again, we were screwed. And of
course, the Demon Dragon attempted another power-up.
+10
power-up —
I
immediately jumped out in front to protect Raphtalia and Ren. The swipe of the
Demon Dragon’s tail threw me flying through the air.
“Ugh!”
My surroundings
spun around before my eyes at high speed. As if to finish me off, a second
swipe sent me smashing toward the ground.
“Mr. Naofumi!”
“Naofumi?!”
I had been tossed
around like a ragdoll. Tossing me through the air was a feat that not even Kyo
or the Spirit Tortoise had been able to manage. The Demon Dragon’s scales were
glittering brightly now. Or was I just seeing stars after being tossed through
the air?
Shit. The Demon Dragon
was steadily powering up to a level far beyond anything we could handle. But
powering up was a double-edged blade. Go ahead, keep making
attempts! The power-up level was sure to reset before long. And I was
running out of power-up materials, so when it did fail, that would be the end
of it.
“Hmph. I guess
that’s enough powering up,” he announced.
“You’re running
away from a little power-up? I expected more of a demon dragon with aspirations
to rule the world,” I taunted.
I’d just have to
taunt him and force him to power-up until he failed. But the Demon Dragon
looked at me scornfully and puffed up his chest.
“I will not fall
for your weak attempts to taunt me. I’ll have plenty of time to make more
attempts after I make you mine!”
He saw through my
plan!
“Count, is
everything okay?”
“Does it look okay
to you?”
What the hell? He’d
hacked my account and now he was powering up my equipped weapon a ridiculous
amount. It was like he stole my weapon and managed to turn it into an
ultra-rare item, after it was no longer mine. This really sucked. It made me
want to curse the whole world.
“Zweite Heal!”
“Healing again?
Don’t think I’ll let you do that so easily. Anti-Zweite Heal!”
The Demon Dragon
sighed and nullified the healing magic that Rat had cast.
“Naofumi!”
“As the source of your
power, I command you! Let the true way be revealed once more! Unleash an attack
like a blade of water and slice him through!”
“Drifa Aqua Slash!”
Melty focused her
attention . . . Wait, since when could Melty use drifa-level magic?
“Anti-Drifa Aqua
Slash!”
Once again, the
Demon Dragon sighed and nullified her magic effortlessly.
Damn it! He was
obviously adept at using magic. I wouldn’t have been surprised if “Magic” were
his middle name. Now that I thought about it, I hadn’t really seen Kizuna or
any of them use much magic. They probably could, but they might have gone
without, when fighting the Demon Dragon. It wouldn’t do much good if he just
nullified the spells as soon as they were cast.
“Now then, I guess
fighting you without holding back is the least I can do.”
The Demon Dragon
began to cast a spell. The speed of his incantation was even quicker than
before.
“Superb! With the
power of the holy weapon, nothing is impossible!”
Would
you like to attempt to increase rarity from SR to SR+?
Once
again, he ignored the warning and continued. Something told me things were not
going to get any better.
“Umm, he seems to
keep growing scarier and scarier . . .”
“Goddammit!”
“Ugh! Shooting Star
Sword!”
Ren’s Shooting Star
Sword went flying at the Demon Dragon, but it didn’t even make him blink. The
attack wasn’t even making sparks anymore.
“What was that? Are
you trying to tickle me?”
“I have no choice.
I’ll over-power-up my weapon too!” Ren shouted.
He opened up his
settings and started attempting to power up his weapon, but he was forgetting
one very important thing. He was still suffering from a curse with effects that
reduced his luck.
“Ugh . . . It keeps
failing!”
“Stop trying!
You’re being reckless! If anyone should try, it should be you, Raphtalia!”
“U . . .
understood!”
Maybe Raphtalia
could catch up to the abilities of the Demon Dragon, even if only a bit. I
would have her attempt a power-up with a possibility of failure. Wait, did she
even have something like that? I had no idea.
But damn, when my
luck was bad, it was really bad. What the hell was with this string of
successes?! I’d lost track of how many times the Demon Dragon had been
successful now. If it had been the Soul Eater Shield, things sure would have
been a lot easier on me!
Around the time I
saw the letters “LR” appear, I jumped out to protect Raphtalia and Ren and was
tossed through the air, once again. Success again?! What the hell?! The
likelihood of that being successful was probably even lower than powering up to
+11! But dodging wasn’t a choice with the others there behind me. I had no
choice but to guard against the attack.
“Ugh!”
I took the full
brunt the attack, which had been bolstered by the newly increased weapon
rarity. Damn, that hurt. I just wanted to go home now. It was bad enough when
he was just feeding off of Filo’s ridiculously high attack power, but now he
had powered himself up and even increased his rarity. Could it get any worse?
Was there no end to my bad luck?
This wasn’t funny
anymore. The next attempt to increase the rarity had to fail! He would be
weakened this time for sure!
Increase
to AF successful!
Was
it impossible for this bastard to fail?!
“Hahahaha! No one
can stand up to me now!”
The fiendish Demon
Dragon was covered in a bright, blinding gloss from head to toe. He towered
before us, calm and confident.
“Surely you have no
chance of stopping me now. Shield Hero, accept your fate as an offering and
give me your power!”
Damn it . . . I’d
always relied on the Shield of Wrath to save the day when the going got tough,
and now I was paying for it, with interest. I was facing a beast that had all
of the same abilities as I did. If I didn’t overcome this obstacle, everything
I had worked so hard for would have been for naught. But what could I do against
such a savage enemy?
“Feel my wrath!”
The Demon Dragon
swiped at me with his claws. I cast Shooting Star Shield and summoned all of my
skill-based shields to guard against the attack.
“Impudent fool!
Hmph!”
His claws smashed
right through all of the summoned shields and even shattered my Shooting Star
Shield. I went flying through the air.
“Ugh!”
“Mr. Naofumi!”
“Now then . . .”
The Demon Dragon
squinted and puffed his chest up, as if to say he was merely toying with us. He
began to cast a spell.
“Great power in this core
stone of mine! Hear my plea and . . . ”
An unfamiliar
incantation echoed throughout the air surrounding the Demon Dragon. Actually,
the incantation seemed to follow a pattern similar to what Therese had used for
her magic.
“I won’t let you!”
shouted Raphtalia.
She leapt forward
and swung her katana in an attempt to interrupt the incantation. Ren followed
her lead. But the Demon Dragon continued to focus on the incantation, as if to
imply that their attacks would have no effect on him.
Their attacks
couldn’t harm him because he had my defense rating. There was no doubt about
that. But there had to be something we could do. There just had to be! I
imagined what it would be like to fight myself. I tried to think of what attack
would annoy me the most right now.
“Sadeena! Help me
cast Descent of the Thunder God! As quickly as possible!”
“Sure thing!”
I started reciting
the incantation with Sadeena.
“What are you
doing, Naofumi? Things are completely one-sided now. We can’t win like this,”
said Melty.
“Don’t worry! Ren,
Raphtalia, imagine you’re fighting me. Use any defense ignoring and defense
rating skills you have!” I shouted.
“G . . . got it!
I’m pretty sure I have a few!” Ren replied.
“Understood!”
shouted Raphtalia.
“. . . show yourself! I am
the Dragon Emperor, ruler of the world. Form a barrier to obstruct them!”
“Demon Dragon!
Encompassing Mirrors!”
When the Demon
Dragon heard my plan, he twitched and stopped reciting for a brief moment.
Immediately after, he initiated the spell.
“Life Force Blade!
Guard Breaker!”
“Eagle Blade!”
Raphtalia and Ren
each focused their attention on their own blades and then fired off their
skills. Both of their attacks smashed into a transparent wall before reaching
the Demon Dragon.
“Damn . . . A
barrier!” Ren shouted.
“It’s like your
Shooting Star Shield, Mr. Naofumi!” Raphtalia added.
With a loud crack,
the barrier shattered and dispersed.
“Hahaha! Did you
think I wouldn’t be prepared for this? Fools!”
That Demon Dragon
bastard! I assumed he had been casting a magical attack, but it had been
defense magic! Raphtalia and Ren tried again using different skills, but those
attacks were also blocked by the barrier the dragon had created. It was safe to
assume that there were multiple layers.
“Raphtalia.”
“Yes? What is it?”
I used my eyes to
communicate my intentions to Raphtalia. I looked at Raphtalia’s and Raph-chan’s
tails several times and acted like I was focusing my attention. Raphtalia
seemed to understand what I wanted her to do. She nodded. Next, I looked over
at Wyndia and Melty. Wyndia just stood there looking confused, but Melty sighed
and nodded. She must have understood what I was asking her to do.
“Power of two, lend your
strength to support them! Re-spin the threads of fate and turn their defeat
into a victory!”
“Now then, I
suppose it’s time to add the finishing touch. One that will kill all but the
Shield Hero, of course.”
Having secured
himself from attack, the Demon Dragon began reciting another incantation. But
his oversight was the chance we needed to win. Only worrying about attacks from
Raphtalia and Ren was a big mistake. He paid no attention to the fact that
Sadeena and I were reciting an incantation. At best, it would just be a buff
for Raphtalia, and he would have no problem dealing with that. I’m sure that’s
what he was thinking.
But he was
forgetting something important. Sure, Eclair hadn’t reached her full potential
and probably couldn’t even keep up with his speed. Rishia and the old lady
weren’t here, so it probably seemed like there was no one else to worry about.
But . . .
“Dragon Vein! Hear our
petition and grant it! As the source of your power, we implore you! Let the
true way be revealed once more! Give us the power to overcome the obstacles
before us!”
“Descent of the
Thunder God!”
The Demon Dragon
kept his attention focused on Raphtalia and slowly continued to recite his
incantation. It was obvious that he considered her to be the primary threat.
But had he not noticed while he was in my shield that there was someone else
who could unleash a barrage of the attacks I feared most? And this whole time,
she’d been focusing her mind to prepare herself!
“ATLA!”
I turned to Atla
and cast Descent of the Thunder God on her. With the slave maturation
adjustment, Atla was level 45. But she had an inherent grasp of the essence of
the Hengen Muso style. She was a fearsome opponent that had impressed even the
old lady!
“My time has come!”
Lightning poured
down onto Atla. Bolts of electricity jumped from her skin and turbocharged her
speed.
“I’ve only observed
Eclair, Rishia, and the master, but I’ll do my best to mimic their movements!”
“I’m counting on
you!”
“Bwahahaha! To
think such a low-level weakling would dare face me! Insolence!”
“We’ll see about
that! First Mirage!” Raphtalia shouted.
“Rafu!”
Raphtalia and
Raph-chan used their illusion magic, and poof!
Multiple copies of Atla appeared.
“What?!”
“. . . show yourself! I
am the Dragon Emperor, ruler of the world. Strike down these foolish mortals
that would defy the Dragon Emper — ”
The Demon Dragon
swiped at Atla and her copies violently with his tail and wings, but Atla
parried the attacks as easily as if she were waving off flies. In fact, the
attacks might not have even been making contact at all. Forgetting that any one
of those might be the real Atla would be a dire mistake.
“Annoying little
insect! So be it. I’ll stop this incantation and buy some time.”
The Demon Dragon
stopped reciting his incantation. I could feel the partially-formed magic
hanging in the air.
“Great power in this core
stone of mine! Hear my plea and show yourself! I am the Dragon Emperor, ruler
of the world . . .”
He began to cast a
different spell. Incredible! To think he could pause one spell midway and cast
another at the same time!
“Take this!”
Atla thrust at the
Demon Dragon. There was a loud cracking sound and his barrier shattered in an
instant.
“I’m not finished!”
she shouted.
I have no idea how
or where she had been storing up energy, but she continued to launch a string
of fierce attacks without pause.
“Demon Dragon!
Explosive Assault!”
Explosions filled a
wide area surrounding the Demon Dragon. He planned on just blowing Atla away!
“Not on my watch!”
I shouted.
I leapt in front of
Atla —I didn’t know if it was the real Atla or just a copy—to protect her.
“You underestimate
me! It will take more than that to stop me!” she shouted.
Atla ignored the
explosions and held her hands out in front of her. That was all she had to do
to shift the direction of the Demon Dragon’s explosions. It was as if she had
altered the direction of the wind or something. Incredible.
“There you are!”
shouted the Demon Dragon.
He swung his arm at
me. I leapt backward without even looking. If it were the real Atla behind me,
I knew that she would respond accordingly. Atla seemed to ignore me. She jumped
sideways, right into the Demon Dragon’s claws and then disappeared.
“Too bad. I guess
that wasn’t the real one,” I taunted.
“Indeed. Don’t
think that you can see through my illusions so easily. And if an attack like
that is all it took to defeat Atla, my life would be a lot easier,” Raphtalia
added.
I had the urge to
make a wisecrack about that last comment, but in a way, I guess it was proof
that she was confident in Atla’s abilities.
“Grr . . . Do not
interfere!” shouted the Demon Dragon.
“You’re gravely
mistaken if you think such haphazard swipes can stop me!” Atla taunted.
The Demon Dragon
was holding his claws and tail out and spinning around in an attempt to hit the
real Atla. She deftly hopped up onto the tip of his tail and stood there confidently
with her hands on her hips. Incredible. It was like in a manga or anime, when a
warrior would jump up on top of the enemy’s blade mid-swing.
“This is the last
one!”
Atla didn’t attack
the Demon Dragon’s tail, but instead charged at the dragon himself and thrust
the heel of her palm into the final remaining barrier. When she did, a loud
crash echoed through the air. Using the same movement as the old lady had when
she destroyed Kyo’s barrier, Atla shattered the Demon Dragon’s barrier
completely.
“But I’m still not
done!”
Atla landed on the
ground for a brief moment, but then shot back up like a bullet. She delivered a
sharp jab to the Demon Dragon’s shoulder, and instantly the Demon Dragon’s
shoulder burst open!
“Wha . . .
Gaaahhhhhh!”
The Demon Dragon
seemed confused for a moment, but then immediately began writhing in pain from
his split-open shoulder.
“I’m far from
finished!”
The Hengen Muso
attacks, and Atla’s imitations of them, could be fired off continually. That
was something that neither Raphtalia nor Ren could do with their skills.
“Wyndia! Let’s do
this!” shouted Melty.
“Okay! Give us back
Father and Gaelion!” Wyndia replied.
Their cooperative
magic began to take form around Wyndia. She took aim at the Demon Dragon, who
was still thrashing around in pain.
“Cooperative magic!
Saint Rain!”
Small droplets of
rain began to fall throughout the area. Their spell used the rainclouds that
had been formed by the cooperative magic Sadeena and I had cast, so the
incantation and evocation had both been quick. Black smoke billowed up out of
the Demon Dragon’s wound each time one of the droplets made contact.
“You insolent
fools!”
Moments earlier,
the Demon Dragon had been confident of his victory, but now his eyes were
burning with hatred. Flames erupted from all over his body. That sure looked
like quite the feat!
“You won’t hit me
with an attack like that!” Atla exclaimed.
Atla was unscathed,
and the rain that Melty and Wyndia had called forth showered the flames.
“Now then, Demon
Dragon. Want to guess what I was doing while Atla, Melty, and Wyndia were
making a fool of you?” I asked.
Sadeena and I had
been reciting an incantation continuously this whole time. This kind of magic
was a hassle since it required you to solve a little puzzle, but there was no
way around it if you wanted to cast the spell. Still, I was able to keep my eye
on what was happening while doing it, so I guess I had gotten used to it.
“Wha—?!”
“Time for the
second wave! Go, Eclair!” I shouted.
“My turn, is it?
Leave it to me! Mr. Iwatani and Ms. Atla, feast your eyes on the true essence
of the Hengen Muso style!”
Sadeena and I
finished casting Descent of the Thunder God on Eclair and she charged forward.
But I noticed that she had been focusing herself before springing to action.
“Oh! That’s the
Muso Activation technique that the master was lecturing about the other day! I
didn’t know Eclair could do that!”
Ren was playing the
narrator character.
But that
explanation didn’t tell me anything! Why the hell was he acting like Rishia
now?! I was still stuck sparring with Raphtalia and Atla. Nothing he was saying
made any sense to me!
“Haaaa!”
“Grr! Do you not
realize who I am?! Weak, pathetic humans!”
The Demon Dragon
seemed to be struggling now. He let out an infuriated howl. His regenerative
capacity must have been incredible though, because I could see his wounds
closing up almost immediately after they had been inflicted. That was a bit
worrying.
“It doesn’t matter
how impressive your support magic is if I remove it!”
The Demon Dragon
began reciting an incantation. I guess he was going to try to nullify the
support magic that we had cast on Atla and Eclair. The effectiveness of their
attacks began to decrease. Had the support magic expired? I checked Atla’s
status screen and the effect was still in place. That meant that he must have
used magic to . . . Ah, he must have lowered his own defense rating.
“Alright, Demon
Dragon. Now you get to experience the struggle of being the Shield Hero.
Raphtalia, Ren, you’re up!”
“Understood!”
shouted Raphtalia.
“Will that work?”
Ren asked.
I gave him a silent
nod.
“Instant Blade!
Mist!”
“Shooting Star
Sword!”
Raphtalia’s
powerful quick-draw attack and Ren’s specialty, Shooting Star Sword, split the
Demon Dragon’s stomach right open.
“Gah! You make
light of me . . .”
“If you raise your
defenses, we use defense rating attacks. If you lower them, we use brute force
by switching to pure attack power. I’m sure you realize that producing more
barriers is useless too.”
The same tactics
had been used on me before. I’d managed to survive somehow by using cheap
tricks. But if L’Arc and the others had been able to fire off those attacks
repeatedly, I would have been in the same situation as the Demon Dragon. He was
experiencing firsthand the very scenario that I always worried about.
The black sludge
around the Demon Dragon had been regenerating immediately before, but now, for
some reason, Raphtalia was slicing through it like it was soft tofu and it was
disappearing each time she did.
“Grr . . . Stop
struggling! You belong to me! Resistance is futile!”
The Demon Dragon
suddenly began making awkward movements. What was going on?
“Grr . . . I won’t
let you escape! Stop trying to fight! Grrraaaaahh!”
He started
thrashing around as if something was fighting back from within his body.
“Grr . . . urgh . .
.”
Something near his
chest seemed to be . . . trying to escape? The Demon Dragon pressed down on his
chest, but a beam of magic began to leak out from under his claw.
“Ugh . . .”
“Everyone, attack!
It looks like this is our chance!” I shouted.
“Weak, pathetic
humans! Don’t get . . . cocky!”
“Hmm? Are you sure
it’s okay to be paying attention to us? I don’t know what’s going on with your
chest, but attacking you there can’t be a bad idea!”
“Here I go!”
shouted Atla.
“Indeed. That seems
to be his weak point. Let’s go, Ren!” said Eclair.
“Okay!” Ren
replied.
“I’m not in the
mood to lose!” Raphtalia exclaimed.
On my signal, Atla,
Eclair, Ren, and Raphtalia all attacked and sliced right through the arm that
the Demon Dragon was using to press against his chest.
“Urghhhh . . .
gahhh!”
The Demon Dragon
nearly fell over backward from the pain of having his arm severed. The arm
began to regenerate immediately, but the pressure on his chest was gone. With
the restriction removed, the thing that had been struggling inside burst
through the dragon’s chest wall and showed itself. A tiny baby
dragon—Gaelion—came flying out, holding Filo by the nape of her neck.
“Gaelion!”
“Gy . . . gya!”
The Gaelion that
appeared looked like he had just hatched. The experience points that had fueled
his growth had been sucked right out of him. Even so, he had fought back to
protect Wyndia. To protect all of us. The fact that he brought Filo out with
him was proof of that.
“Filo!” shouted
Melty.
“Ugh . . .”
Nice! Filo was
still alive. I held her up in my arms and cast my healing magic on her. The
Demon Dragon was busy fighting Raphtalia and the others and couldn’t afford to
pay attention to what we were doing.
The thing about
magic was that casting spells required a certain amount of concentration. The
pain the Demon Dragon was experiencing most likely made that impossible for
him. And now, two sources of his power—Gaelion and Filo—had escaped, which
would undoubtedly weaken him even further.
And then the Demon
Dragon’s already black appearance grew several shades darker and he glared over
in our direction. He was staring at Wyndia. Wyndia returned to where Melty and
Sadeena were standing and took in a deep breath.
“Sadeena. I . . .
I’m going to defeat that Demon Dragon!” she shouted.
“Okay!” Melty
replied.
“It looks like
that’s our only choice,” said Sadeena.
The three of them
began casting cooperative magic. They were reciting the incantation incredibly
fast this time, as if driven by Wyndia’s determination. And then, before I knew
it, a tiny Gaelion was flapping his tiny wings and hovering over them,
assisting with the incantation.
“Grr . . . I’m not
going to play nice anymore! Gaaaaaaa!”
The Demon Dragon
started to lose form. He began to look more like a mass of black sludge than a
huge dragon. On my status screen, I noticed that his name changed from Demon
Dragon to Wrath Dragon. The abilities of my powered-up Shield of Wrath had
combined with a fiendish dragon to create the Wrath Dragon. Was Wyndia’s father
in there too? What a miserable dragon.
I stepped forward
to protect Wyndia and the others. Gaelion flew over to me and hovered right
behind me.
“It’s dangerous
here. Stay back.”
“I can’t do that.”
“Wha?!”
Gaelion spoke! But
it must have been telepathic communication, because the voice seemed to come
from within my head.
“Don’t act so surprised.
You’ll give me away to Wyndia and the Sword Hero.”
“You must be . . .”
It must have been
the father Gaelion. He was still occupying the body of baby Gaelion.
“It makes me happy to see
how much my daughter has grown, Shield Hero.”
Umm, daddy getting
emotional is not what I was interested in. I’d have to ask why he was still
inside of Gaelion later. That issue obviously hadn’t been resolved at all.
“You’ve noticed, haven’t
you? Your rage has coalesced with the Dragon Emperor from another world.”
“Yeah, I got that .
. .”
“That thing is the
embodiment of your anger. Now that it has lost this host body, it is sure to
come chasing for you. You must defeat it before the true rampage begins. If you
do not, it will pursue you to the ends of the earth and beyond.”
“Got it. Ren,
Raphtalia, let’s finish this!”
“Understood!”
“Okay!”
My companions were
the whole reason I’d been able to push the enemy into such a tight spot. The
gold star went to Atla this time.
“You need not worry. I’m
going to help you attack now. Once we force that thing to spit up the demon
dragon core, your sidekick can finish it off!”
“So the usual game
plan.”
“You’ve got this!”
Sheesh. I couldn’t
help but feel like we still had other unresolved issues, but maybe it was just
my imagination. Gaelion joined the party, which increased the speed of our
incantations. The Wrath Dragon unleashed a breath attack. It was weaker than
before, but still too powerful to take head-on.
“Haaa!”
Atla simply held
her hands up and the Wrath Dragon’s flames were parried away. How did she do
that? That girl had some formidable defense capabilities. The Wrath Dragon
persisted in attacking me. It needed a new host.
“There’s no rule
that says I can’t dodge just because I have a shield, right?”
The Wrath Dragon
came at me with an onslaught of entirely straightforward attacks. I maneuvered
back and forth, dodging them. The attacks were focused solely on me, so there
was no need to guard against them in an attempt to protect the others. Since
his attack pattern was so straightforward, dodging the attacks wasn’t too
difficult, as long as I kept an eye on his speed.
“Here I go!
Stardust Blade!”
“Shooting Star
Sword!”
Ren sure loved
using Shooting Star Sword. He was always firing it off as soon as there was an
opening.
“Find the core
stone and make him spit it out! That will weaken him even further!” I shouted.
“Like pure flowing
waters, let our intentions wash away hatred, resentment, and the curse upon
this land. Let our desire to save the world manifest as strength! Dragon Vein!
Grant us a miracle!”
“I, Gaelion, command the
heavens and earth! Transect the way of the universe and
rejoin it again to expel the pus from within! Power of mine! Awaken the
strength to sever this flow of emotions before me! ”
Thanks to my
shield, I could tell that Gaelion was reciting a high-level incantation. The
shield sounded like it was working in overdrive as the translation appeared on
the screen in front of my eyes. Sadeena must have noticed something, because
she was looking over at Gaelion.
“Erasing Aqua
Slash!”
“Annihilating Wave
of the Water Dragon!”
Gaelion and the
three of them completed the incantation. Immense magical power began to form in
front of Gaelion.
“Huh?!”
Wyndia yelped out
in surprise, and Melty slumped down onto the ground, exhausted. Sadeena gripped
her harpoon and dashed toward the Wrath Dragon. Gaelion held on to the freshly
formed ball of magic and took in a big breath.
“Little Naofumi!
Little Rat! Back me up!” Sadeena shouted.
“Okay!” replied
Rat.
“Zweite Aura!”
“Fast Power! Fast
Magic!”
Rat and I both cast
support magic, increasing Sadeena’s attack speed.
“Let’s do this,
little Gaelion!”
“Gyaowww!”
Umm, the real
Gaelion would have made a “kwa” sound.
Gaelion took in a
big breath of air and blew it into the ball of magic. A massive torrent of
water erupted from the ball and shot at the Wrath Dragon. Sadeena leapt into
the torrent and began swimming in circles, creating a vortex. I thought
Raphtalia and Filo came up with flashy attacks, but these two had outdone them.
“It’s like watching
a fight between the gods,” Fohl mumbled.
“There’s no place
for you in this fight, Brother,” Atla replied.
“Ugh . . . I’m going
in!” Fohl shouted.
“You stay right
where you are,” I ordered.
Fohl was being left
further and further behind. I had a feeling he’d be dead in no time if I let
him join the fray. I couldn’t have that. Paying no heed to Fohl, Sadeena went
spinning forward in a special attack that looked like something a five-part
transforming super electromagnetic robot might do. She drilled right through
the Wrath Dragon and the torrent that Gaelion had produced vanished.
“D . . . did that
do it?” Sadeena asked.
She landed on the
ground and looked back at the Wrath Dragon. She was breathing hard. Of course,
I checked the Wrath Dragon for signs of life too.
“Not yet! Also . .
.”
Atla immediately
dashed toward the Wrath Dragon and leapt at him like a lion pouncing on its prey.
She dug her fingers into his windpipe.
“The core is here!
Without this, he’ll be nothing!”
The core was
floating there in midair and shining brightly.
“Leave it to me!”
Raphtalia shouted.
“It’s in your
hands, Raphtalia! It would seem you’re the only one here that can defeat this
dragon-shaped black mass of emotion!” Atla replied.
Raphtalia must have
already been preparing to attack, because her katana was glowing brightly. With
the demon dragon core exposed, the Wrath Dragon opened his mouth fearfully when
he saw Raphtalia. He turned his back to her and prepared to flee toward the
sky.
“You’re not getting
away!” she shouted.
“Air Strike Shield!
Second Shield! Dritte Shield!”
I summoned my
shields to form steps. Raphtalia dashed up the steps and sliced at the Wrath
Dragon.
“Instant Blade!
Mist!”
“Gyaaaaaa!”
Still in midflight,
the Wrath Dragon was split clean in two. He let out a nightmarish shriek and
his body fell back down to the ground. It was as if Raphtalia’s blade had
created a blast of air that sliced the dragon’s body right in half.
“Father . . .
Forgive me. I will dwell on the past no more,” Wyndia whispered.
“. . .”
Wyndia
pressed her hands together and cried. Gaelion looked on silently from behind.
Seeing his daughter grow up was probably making him feel emotional.
Raphtalia
landed back on the ground, shook the sludge from her blade, and sheathed her
katana.
“You’re the MVP
today, Atla,” I said.
Her training had
been limited to sparring with me and Raphtalia, and yet she had managed to pull
off a performance like this. She got a passing mark, for sure. On the other
hand . . . I looked over at Fohl. To think that I had expected so much more
from him when I purchased the two of them.
“Wh . . . what are
you looking at me like that for?! Damn it! Atla! I swear I’m going to get
stronger! You just watch!” Fohl shouted.
“Please do try,”
Atla replied.
She gave her
brother a word of encouragement, but it was clear she had little interest in
whether or not he was actually motivated.
“Umm, thank you,
Atla,” said Raphtalia.
“Everything I did
was for Mr. Naofumi.”
It was exactly the
kind of response I’d come to expect from Atla.
Thank goodness. I
guess that took care of this mess. Well, I still needed to have a talk with
Gaelion later.
“Kwa?”
Gaelion flew over
to Wyndia and started licking her face. Had he returned to normal? Or was daddy
putting on an act?
“Gaelion, are you
okay?” Wyndia asked.
“Kwa!”
“Give me back what
you stole!”
Filo stood up and
started shouting at Gaelion.
“Settle down, Filo.
You still haven’t fully recovered,” said Melty.
She tried to calm
Filo down.
“Kwa!”
Gaelion glared back
at Filo for a brief moment, but then looked over at the Wrath Dragon.
“I think he says
what you’re looking for is over there,” said Wyndia.
“Is this tiny baby
dragon really Gaelion?” asked Raphtalia.
“Yes. He pushed
himself too hard and ended up like this, I think.”
“Give me back my
experience points!”
Now Filo was
shouting at the liquified corpse of the Wrath Dragon. She’d had a real streak of
bad luck lately. It felt like her luck had been on the decline ever since
around the time we went to Kizuna’s world. They made a freak show out of her
there. Motoyasu latched on to her after that. Then he stole her carriage. And
now she had leveled down after being forced to become a sacrificial offering to
the Demon Dragon. Maybe I should treat her to a really good meal.
“Now then, all
that’s left . . .”
I looked at the
demon dragon core stone that Atla had pointed out. Without a doubt, that core
is what had been the driving force of the Wrath Dragon. That thing had been in
my shield and in Raphtalia’s katana too. Absorbing it back into my shield would
be dangerous, but just leaving it lying around would be even more dangerous. I
would just have to store it away somewhere very carefully. I could use it as an
armor core stone or something.
Filo was still
shouting at the Wrath Dragon’s corpse when it suddenly turned into a black
light, which then made its way back into my shield. Some of the light also
enveloped Filo and then disappeared. Once most of it seemed to have finished
returning to my shield, I suddenly heard an extremely unpleasant voice.
“There will always be
rage in your heart. I will retreat . . . this time.”
I guess we might
not have completely defeated it. I’d just have to hope that there was no next
time. I’d do my absolute best to avoid relying on the Shield of Wrath from now
on. It was a beast of a shield, powered up beyond belief. If I used it again,
it was likely that I would finally lose myself to it.
“Kwa!”
Gaelion jumped up
onto my shoulder playfully and began frisking about.
“Heeeey! Master is
supposed to play with me!” Filo shouted.
“I don’t have time
to play with pets right now! Let’s go home already.”
“Buuut . . .”
“How do you feel, anyway,
Filo?”
“My body feels
better. But Gaelion didn’t return very much of what he stoooole.”
I checked her
status. She was level 41 now. That was quite the drop. Gaelion, on the other
hand, was level 60 now, despite having fled from the curse of the Demon Dragon,
without looking back. Their levels had basically been swapped.
“Give it back!”
Filo shouted.
“Kwa!”
Gaelion jumped off
of my shoulder. He and Filo began fiercely glaring at each other.
“Kwa! Kwa kwa!”
“I think Gaelion
says he has no idea what you’re talking about. He says he’s the Shield Hero’s
favorite,” said Wyndia.
“Boo!”
Gaelion made the
opening attack. He slapped Filo on the cheek with his tiny tail and laughed.
“Give it back! Give
it back! Give it back!”
“Kwa! Kwa! Kwa!”
“Rafu?”
Gaelion and Filo
started exchanging blows. Raph-chan stood between them with a look of disgust
on her face. This had all been Gaelion’s fault to begin with, and he didn’t
seem to feel bad about it at all. In that case . . .
“Now, now, then.
We’ll just give Gaelion back to Filo, body and all. Maybe she can get some of
her experience back if she eats him,” I said.
I grabbed Gaelion,
forced Filo to turn into her filolial queen form, and then pried her mouth open
and stuffed Gaelion in.
“Kwaaa?!”
“Stop that!”
“What are you
thinking, Naofumi?!”
Wyndia and Melty
interfered.
“Boo! Stop trying
to make me eat weird things, Master!”
“But you love
eating. Eating a dragon might make you feel better.”
“Noo! Dragons are
yuuucky!”
So the little
glutton was complaining, was she? She needed a more balanced diet.
“Filo, stop being a
picky eater.”
“Nooo!”
“That’s not the
problem here! Think about what you’re saying, Naofumi!” Melty shouted.
“Mr. Naofumi, let’s
not encourage Filo to pick up any strange eating habits,” said Raphtalia.
“Yuuucky!”
“Stop trying to
make Filo do weird things!” Melty exclaimed.
She hugged Filo and
then started glaring at Wyndia.
“This mess is all
that thing’s fault! We should get rid of him!” she said.
“He’s back to
normal now!” Wyndia replied.
Oh, jeez. What a
hassle. I needed an escape from reality. I hugged Raph-chan and started petting
her showily in front of Filo and Gaelion.
“Boo!”
“Kwaaaa!”
Filo and Gaelion
glared at Raph-chan with envy in their eyes, but that wasn’t my problem.
“What are you
trying to do?!” Raphtalia snapped.
“They’re both
causing trouble! Raph-chan is well-mannered, cute, and unselfish. She’s the
best!”
“Rafu!”
Raph-chan waved her
hand at Raphtalia. For some reason, Raphtalia looked at Raph-chan with the same
look in her eyes that Filo had.
“You know, I feel
sorry for you, Naofumi,” said Ren.
Frankly, this was
all his fault, when it came down to it.
“You bastard. You
better not try to say this was all some quest triggered by leaving that
dragon’s corpse to rot. That would just piss off everyone that got tangled up
in this mess.”
“I . . . I
wouldn’t!”
Ren shook his head
back and forth violently. But I really could imagine him saying that. That it
was a quest with a rare boss encounter and defeating that boss would get you an
epic weapon . . . Something like that.
“Anyway, we’re
going home!” I shouted.
“Things sure are
always exciting with you around, little Naofumi!”
Sadeena cackled.
This kind of thing was nothing to joke about. Sheesh.
“Filo, let’s go
home.”
“Okay!”
“Kwa!”
Gaelion crawled
between my legs.
“I can’t walk with
you there! Get out of the way!”
“Kwaaaa!”
Gaelion started
glowing brightly and then suddenly grew to the size he had been before
swallowing the demon dragon core. No, he was a bit bigger. Around four meters
long. With me already on his back, he used his tail and arms to grab on to
Wyndia, Sadeena, Rat, and Atla, and then took flight. Just before lifting off,
Raph-chan jumped on to his head and was hanging on to his horns.
“Wha?! Boooo!”
Filo cried out with
disappointment in her voice.
“Mr. Naofumi!”
Raphtalia looked
awestruck. I didn’t know what to say either! I had no idea he could transform.
“Kwa!”
“Boo!”
Gaelion flapped his
wings loudly and flew up into the air.
“Big sis! Sword
lady! We have to hurry and go after them! Carrying Master is my job!”
Filo wasn’t going
to let Gaelion win. She took off running in an attempt to get the remaining
party members to hurry up.
“You look
comfortable up there. It reminds me of riding Ethnobalt’s boat in the other
world,” said Raphtalia.
“A . . . Atla!”
Fohl had a look of
urgency on his face. But without a carriage, I’m sure there was no way he would
be able to catch up with us.
“You never get a
break, do you, Mr. Iwatani?” asked Eclair while looking up at us.
“Jeez . . . This
little guy sure is pushy,” said Rat.
“Rat, did you know
that dragons could transform like this?” I asked her.
“I’ve read about it
happening on very rare occasions, but I’ve never heard of a case surpassing
what filolial variants can do.”
From up in the air
above, I looked down at the area below us. I noticed that the dark color of
corruption had faded away from the land.
“Did you notice it
too, Count? Gaelion was sucking up the corruption from the surrounding area
while he was running amok. This seems to be the result,” Rat said.
So that was what
happened. I wondered if this area would finally become truly peaceful. It
occurred to me that I could probably use Portal Shield now. I gave it a try.
“Portal Shield!”
Nice. It seemed
usable, as far as I could tell. A little warning message popped up to let me
know that if I registered this location, it would teleport me to the ground. I
chose to continue with the teleport and focused my awareness on the surrounding
area. Raphtalia and the others were out of range. It probably wouldn’t be a
good idea to leave them behind.
“Leave Master
here!”
Oh? Filo was
running after us in a mad dash below. She seemed faster than she should have
been after having lost so many levels. I checked her status again just to make
sure. Huh? Her stats that had been reduced by the curse were back to their
normal values. Ah, no wonder! That’s why she didn’t seem to be weakened that
much.
But why was Filo
the only one that had the effects of the curse removed? Maybe the Demon Dragon
had leeched away the remnants of the powerful All Sacrifice Aura. That had been
the source of the curse, so the consequences would have gotten sucked away with
it. I was super jealous. That meant that Filo was no longer cursed. If she
leveled back up, she would be faster and more powerful than before. All’s well
that ends well, I guess.
“Kwa!”
“Gaelion, you’re on
your way to becoming a fine dragon. Keep it up, and someday you’ll be as great
as my father was.”
“Your father is
hiding in plain sight, you know.”
“What are you
talking about? My father . . . is dead.”
Wyndia brushed me
off. She didn’t believe me.
I had Gaelion put
us down near the eastern village. I teleported everyone back to the village
from there. I guess there’s no need to mention that the eastern village
residents were thrilled that the mountain had returned to its initial state of
beauty.
“You sure are something,
Shield Hero!”
That’s what they
said. I sure had fooled them. But to be honest, from what Wyndia and Gaelion
had said, the villagers only got what they deserved. I thought a lot less of
the eastern village residents now.
“Master
rides on my back!” Filo shouted.
“Kwaaa!”
The heated battle
between Filo and Gaelion resumed as soon as we got back to the village. Gaelion
had transformed back into his baby form again.
“Oh, whatever. It
makes no difference who I ride.”
“It does too!”
Filo sure was
stubborn. I sighed.
“Whatever. Play
time goes to you for the next few days, so settle down.”
“Yaaaay! But Master
is supposed to—”
“You’re going to
lose your play time if you keep pushing the issue.”
“Kwa . . .”
“You’re the one
that caused that mess, so you’re grounded. But I might let you join me and Filo
for some extra play time if I’m not busy, so behave yourself.”
Gaelion tottered
off to Wyndia and started crying.
“Kwaaa!”
“Why are you nice
to that bird, but you bully Gaelion?” Wyndia snapped.
“Is it that hard to
understand? He has to be punished.”
“Well, Mr. Naofumi
does have a point. That was no small incident,” said Raphtalia.
“Rafu!”
Raphtalia and
Raph-chan both nodded in unison.
Sob . . .
Gaelion was hanging
on to Wyndia and crying, but I saw him steal a glance at me. It reminded me of
a bully feigning tears whenever a parent showed up. That just pissed me off.
“That attitude just
got you in more trouble.”
“Kwaaaa . . .”
Now he was crying
for real.
“Ha! That’s what
you geeeet!”
“Filo!”
Melty and I both
shouted at Filo together. She looked away and started singing. Sheesh . . .
This one acted just like a little brat too.
“Anyway, Filo, your
curse is gone now, so I want you to get out there and level.”
“Okaaay! I’ll go
with Mel-chan and we’ll level together! Then you can play with me, Master!”
I had no idea why
she was dragging Melty into this, but she sure seemed excited. Oh? Melty didn’t
look too enthusiastic.
Melty spoke up.
“Listen, Filo. I don’t have time for that. I have a ton of work I have to take
care of back at the town that Eclair is running.”
“Buuut, Mel-chan!
You were just saying you were too weak and wanted to level uuuup!”
“I didn’t mean
right this instant!”
“But, Mel-chan!
When the townspeople were being lazy and said they’d do something the next day,
you got mad at theeeem! You said, ‘If you can do it tomorrow, then you can do
it now!’”
“I have other
things to do!”
“Buuuut, Mel-chan!
Before, you said, ‘You’ll never get anywhere in life if you don’t do the things
you want to do just because you’re busy!’”
Oh, boy. Filo was
in her but-but-but mode. When she got like this, the back-and-forth would just
go on and on until she either got her way or the other person just refused to
respond anymore. Still, who knew when Filo would get another chance to level if
she didn’t go now.
I looked at the
assistant that had come to fetch Melty and motioned him over with my eyes. We
talked quietly so that Melty couldn’t hear us. The assistant was worried about
Melty’s level being so low too. She was a hard worker, so her magic proficiency
was far ahead of her level. But regardless of that, many of the higher-ups
wanted her to raise her level before she was put in charge of running the
country. Really, the fact that a child was spending so much time on public
affairs probably wasn’t a good thing either.
“Rafu!”
Raph-chan called
out from on top of Filo’s head. She stood up on her hind legs and slapped her
hand against her chest, as if to say, “Leave it to me!”
“Alright then.
Knowing you’ll be there is reassuring, Raph-chan,” I said.
“What’s so
reassuring about that?” Raphtalia snapped.
I was sad to see
Raph-chan go, but Melty and Filo should be fine if she went with them. I was
sure she would make it more enjoyable anyway. It was time for Melty and Filo to
realize just how cute Raph-chan was.
“Eclair.”
“What is it, Mr.
Iwatani?”
“You’ve been
relying on Melty too much. Melty is going out to level now. You’re the town
governor, so I’m ordering you to take care of your own busywork while she’s
gone.”
“M . . . Mr.
Iwatani?!”
“I don’t want to
hear any complaints from you either, Ren. Melty has been taking care of all of
the tasks that Eclair has been putting off.”
“F . . . fine. But
I can help her out a little bit, right?”
I guess if he
really wanted to help, that was fine.
“Mr. Naofumi, what
are you trying to do?” asked Raphtalia.
“This is a good
chance to address the issue of Melty doing all of Eclair’s work for her,” I
replied.
Raphtalia sighed.
“Well, it’s true
that Melty is working much too hard for her age,” she said.
Melty needed to go
out and play every now and then too. Filo would watch out for her, I’m sure.
“It’s decided.
Allow me to make the proclamation. Melty, Her Royal Highness the Second
Princess, has set out on a journey of personal growth with her cherished bird!”
“What’s going on,
bubba?” asked Keel.
I made the
announcement in front of Keel and the other villagers. Keel looked tired. She
was yawning the whole time.
“N . . . Naofumi?
What did you just call me?” Melty grumbled.
“It’s just your
official title. Eclair, you tell the residents of your town the same thing.”
“U . . .
understood.”
“So that settles
it. Filo, take Melty and go level.”
“Yaaaay!”
“Wait a second,
Naofumi! You can’t just decide something like that on your own!” Melty
complained.
“It’s okay, Melty,”
I replied.
“What’s okay?!”
“I didn’t decide on
my own. Your assistant agreed to it too. And Eclair is going to take care of
your work for you. Go play with Filo and have a little bit of fun.”
“Stop messing
around!” Melty shouted.
“All that’s left is
to decide whether or not to set you up with the slave maturation bonus. I’m
pretty sure the queen would give us the go-ahead.”
The queen
apparently wanted me to marry Melty, so she would probably let me do anything I
wanted to her. I just needed Melty to agree to it.
“No thanks!”
“Oh? That’s too
bad. Oh well. Off you go!”
“We’ll be back,
Master!”
“Wait, Filo! I
never agreed to—”
Before Melty could
finish, Filo grabbed her by the collar with her beak and threw her on her back.
With Melty on her back, Filo flapped her wings and took off running while
yelling, “Here we gooooo!”
“Naofumi! I won’t
forget this!”
Melty’s voice
trailed off as she got further away.
“Melty, Her Royal
Highness the Second Princess, we eagerly look forward to your development!”
I made an
exaggerated saluting motion. In a final display of spite, Melty nonsensically
tore an accessory off of her outfit and threw it at me. Of course, since she
was riding on Filo’s back and Filo was sprinting away, it didn’t actually hit
me. It just fell on the ground. That girl was always screaming so hysterically.
Did I really upset her that much? All in all, she wasn’t that bad though.
“Rafu!”
Raph-chan was
sitting on top of Filo’s head and waving to me. I was counting on her to watch
those two helpless dolts.
“Now then, it’s
morning already. I’m tired . . .”
“I’m sure Melty is
tired too. We were still fighting just a few hours ago,” Raphtalia said.
“Filo is in good
spirits, so they’ll be fine. I’m sorry, but I don’t have the time or energy to
be worrying about those two right now. Raph-chan is a different story, of
course.”
I decided to cancel
my training for the day. I would just make breakfast for the slaves and then
take a nap. I was completely exhausted.
“Alright, everyone.
Once you finish eating breakfast, I want you all to get to work.”
And then, out of
nowhere, S’yne suddenly appeared at the village.
“Did something———?”
Oh, yeah . . . I
had totally forgotten about her.
And
just like that, things had finally returned to normal for us.
Hi. I’m Designer of Blog Magic. I’m CEO/Founder of ThemeXpose. I’m Creative Art Director, Web Designer, UI/UX Designer, Interaction Designer, Industrial Designer, Web Developer, Business Enthusiast, StartUp Enthusiast, Speaker, Writer and Photographer. Inspired to make things looks better.
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar