chapter 38

The two sides that abate the waves. (0.5)

This is trouble. It has become something absolutely troublesome. (1)

No, actually if you asked me if its really that troublesome, its not so much of a matter of life and death so its not troublesome to that point, however, since anyhow I became unable to do something that I could do normally until now, I cant help but be perplexed.

What is it?

As I suddenly became quiet, the Captain who was still hugging me asks with a curious face.

I worried a little about whether I should tell him or not, but I decided to tell him.

[I cant turn back into a human.]

I became unable to take on my human form, the form of the village girl I became used to. I could take on a human form by sucking a breath, and take on my Dragon form by exhaling, so this is almost like I have forgotten how to breathe.

Is that what troubles you?

When I nod, he says I see. I received in return an answer that seems to lack any interest.

How anticlimactic.

[Thats all you will say?]

Because youll be you no matter what form youre in.

Or rather is the Captain happier that Im in my Dragon form? Is that how it is? It is likely because he likes large Dragons.

Still, this body frame is too large. I cant afford to remain encamped in this place forever. And every time a stranger pa.s.ses by and becomes surprised because of me it gives me an indescribable feeling.

Once again, I decided to give it a try.

Closing my eyelids, and visualizing the appearance of the village girl clearly is the first thing to do. The maroon hair tied in two and the dark blue pupils. The white ap.r.o.n above the dark red clothes. At the base of the neck there is a ribbon tied of a conservative dark blue color, and the skin gives off the feeling of being healthy.

I do that but what is this? She who was floating in the back of my eyelids moves her mouth and smiles at me, then disappears slowly into the darkness.

So she laughs in such a manner.

An amiable laughter different from my own. Despite being something I imagined myself, it is lovely.

She disappears and I feel myself shrinking gradually, so I open my eyes and find that my vision is lower in alt.i.tude. Recalling that I should look down to my body, I become glad at finally seeing the familiar figure of the village girl.

I did it!

But, at that moment, I was surprised because the Captain had fallen.

Wh, what happened!?

I hastily help him sit up, but he is in a limp, frail state and his complexion is also not good.

Somehow, I cant gather strength in my body.

As I thought, youre still not back to normal. Obediently return to your room.

Hmmm But I wonder what this is, I suddenly, felt my strength leaving me.

His strength left him suddenly? How odd, even though we were talking just like usual right now.

Could it be its my fault?

That he collapsed the moment I took on my human form makes me wonder if maybe its actually related to it somehow or other, so when I try taking on my Dragon form again, the Captain says he felt a little better.

As expected.

Probably the magical power, that until now had been supplemented to me by eating other human beings, is all being taken from him now. I was vaguely thinking that it was odd. I had forgotten completely but I havent felt even a little bit hungry since then, and the state of being always satisfied was strange.

I am plundering the portion of magical power that I need to live from him.

And the more I use it, the Captains magical power will be consumed and he may end up collapsing like just now. And, that means, that he was asleep for about a week was because I had gone on a rampage? The memories starting from the time I rampaged until now What a thing! (2) I am guilty! Isnt it my fault!?

Because it seems that I will rob him of it regardless of my will, it is not impossible for it to happen again by mistake. It makes me feel dread.

You are thinking of something again.

As I was all depressed, my forehead was poked.(3)

I wonder if my face is so easy to read.

Its something very difficult to say, that is it might be my fault that you collapsed.

No, it is my fault, I say, correcting my words, talking about how Ive been taking away his magical power and so on, yet he narrows his eyes in a pleasant laughter.

Ill maintain you. (4)

Stooop! Its not a situation to be laughing at me!

I, Im not fine with just being mantained! Please tell me if theres anything I can do!

Anything?

Anything!

I wont feel satisfied otherwise.

Eh, but please let it be something within the scope of things that I am able to do.

Like flying, or hunting, or fire-breathing, or roaring, and since my body frame is large then I may also become a protection against the wind.

When I say this in a serious manner I get laughed at again. Im desperate over here though.

Come to think of it,you have such abundance of magical power yet you did not become a magician.

If we had that tool that can measure magical power that Madeleine was talking about, then it would show an outrageous result. I think it is such a mysteriously strong power that it wouldnt be strange if he was invited into the Morante Family. In the first place, by which spirit was he blessed? The magical power that pa.s.ses through him and overflows into my body is something I hadnt experienced before, which cant be said to belong to the wind, to fire, to water or to the earth. Tender and vigorous, but delicate, of a pleasantness I hadnt felt before.

What in the world is this person?

Im bad at it. At magic.

He said with a wry smile in reply to my question.

Its surprising. Though if I had to say then rather than a Knight who belongs in the physical faction, in terms of the appearance he looks more like someone from a magician lineage or the like. (5)

I had been practicing with LeBlanche for a while. But I couldnt control my magic, and ended up destroying a part of the castle so it ended there.

A lot of people got angry at me. Even if you have magical power you wont be able to use it if you have no talent, lets remember that.

Because its something useless to me, I wont mind if you take as much as you like.

But you may end up collapsing again like just now.

Because the magical power is taken regardless of my will and theres no mean to moderate it, Im sincerely anxious.

In any case, it may still be better to refrain from taking on my human form for a while. I wonder if his condition isnt improving because of my rampage which caused me to thoroughly s.n.a.t.c.h his power.

And besides, this familiar form to which Ive grown attached to makes me feel a little uncomfortable. It seems almost strange to me that Ive come so long while spending my time as a human which, from the top of the head to the toes has no scales nor wings nor fangs, without thinking about it.

Having become unable to remember the human memories that I recalled so much, since then I also can no longer see those daydreams that used to be so frequent. As I thought, maybe they were just dreams. A part of me also feels a little lonely, but my real feelings are that Ive become at ease. Before I was suffering, sandwiched between my human and Dragon thoughts, but if I had to say it then now my Dragon thoughts are surpa.s.sing the others, and Im not as troubled as I used to be. Like this I can clearly say that I have only one line of thought.

I have been established as a Dragon.

Maybe it can be said like that?

However, I wonder if its because of such a thing that the Earth Dragon cant be separated from the contractor.

Hm? Eh? Does this mean that I cant be separated from the Captain for a life time?

Returning to my Dragon form, I caught the fluttering glimpse of a familiar blonde at the edge of my vision.

It is certainly the time frame for the Prince to come by. As I turn my line of sight, the Captain follows up and turns his sight as well. The Princes eyes focus on our figures and accelerates the graceful pace that he had been walking with, and towards the end he ended up running.

You, you guys, when did you- !!

He alternates his gaze in between mine and the Captains faces while gasping for breath. This is the first time I saw the prince running so seriously like that. Since he always comes walking gracefully I thought him to be someone who cant run.

Turning his gaze to me, he smiled broadly, delighted.

You finally woke up! You are quite stubborn too!

[If you say so then you are the same. Thank you very much for coming everyday.]

Really. Coming to meet me every day, talking and then going home, hes had a hard time. (6) Moreover, despite having a busy position he shaved time off from his official duties in order to come here. I thank you for all the stories you told me.

You were listening after all, huh.

The Prince nods in satisfaction.

[It went in one ear and out the other.] (7)

What!?

[Just kidding.]

S, so you have also become capable of joking

His reaction is funny. It is presumptuous to ridicule the prince of a country! is what he should be saying, but I know his good-for-nothing style so I want to joke with him. Joking up to only this degree, I shouldnt get punished. The fact that the Captains also laughing means that this is not something to be blamed for.

At that moment, a trembling in the air could be heard faintly in the distance.

[Dont you hear something?]

Thinking it was weird and looking up at the sky, a white object was floating in the distance. I thought it may be a cloud but it seems thats not the case. The Captain and the Prince as well follow my lead and tilt up their necks to stare at that.

Straining my eyes to look at the gradually approaching object, its figure starts to becomes clear. Is it a b.u.t.terfly? But unlike a b.u.t.terfly it does not spread its wings entirely, and they are horizontal. (8) And its larger than a b.u.t.terfly. And far from a b.u.t.terfly, its even larger than a human.

That which is dyed golden when hit by the sunlight is .

That is!

The Prince notices the objects ident.i.ty gasps, his eyes wide.

A loud neigh resounds.

Its an Unicorn.

Also, its quite large.

When the Unicorn lands in front of our eyes, it folds down its big, snow white wings. Its figure which is even sublime is bigger and of a more muscular and solid const.i.tution than the Unicorn I met previously. Noticing there seemed to be someone riding on its back, the Prince made a bitter face at them.

Hector Why are you here. (9)

After gallantly getting off from the Unicorn, that personage comes over while sporting an unpleasant smirk.

I tried to imitate a certain Prince, however, unexpectedly doing this myself is also a good and refres.h.i.+ng thing.

Dark blue short hair tinged with purple, and golden pupils. An appearance that is younger than I thought. The cold, sharp glint in his eyes that seems likely to kill a person with only a glare, this is undoubtedly, His Majesty of Tiruzoto Kingdom. A mood tingling with tension blows at his sudden visit.

What on earth have you come here for!

Well, wait. Dont yell like that.

Wondering if he came alone, I survey the surroundings but am unable to detect any attendants and not even the presence of other people.

As he comes walking closer, he s.h.i.+fts his line of sight from the Prince to me.

We meet again, oh Black Earth Dragon. Black, it still is a wicked color. It is a forbidden, sinister color which bring misfortune.

As his pupils narrow as he says, how magnificent, I shuddered. (10) I dislike those eyes. I retreat back out of instinct, and in my place the Prince steps forward to stand in between His Majesty and I.

That mild-mannered Prince is glaring at him with a taut look.

You cant say that so categorically, can you. And she has performed enough achievements for this country to overturn the olden ways of thought. If you insult Our Sacred Beast, you wont be forgiven.

Hahah, dont make me laugh. After all you are a small country which cannot make us withdraw without borrowing the power of a Sacred Beast.

And it seems to you that you have enough decency to be saying that?

Exploiting the Unicorns in order to end the war any sooner is too reckless. Even more so when it means they may have ending up annihilating everyone.

Well use what we can use. And besides we are not in the same situation as you because we dont have just one Unicorn. We have plenty to take their place. And arent you the same. At the advent of your long-awaited Sacred Beast arent you actually snickering on the inside.

Sacred Beasts arent tools. And shes an important friend of mine, she cant be replaced!

In regards to the Prince who declared that so clearly, His Majesty from Tiruzoto Kingdom sighed out an I give up, and raised both hands.

What do we have here; in comparison with the Alvina King, Prince LeBlanche is thoroughly soft on his underlyings. Well, unexpectedly I dont dislike this foolishly honest side of you.

I do hate you. Come over here and Ill beat that rotten nature of yours into shape so you can have a fresh start!

The other person emits a laugh which includes an I ended up being hated, huh feeling.

Cool. What to do, the Prince is cool. I feel happy because I never thought he would stand up for me. Theres no way I wouldnt feel happy when being told that were friends, and that I cant be replaced.

Golden pupils are directed to my neighbor.

I see, so that is your contractor. I want him, too.

I dont know what his criterion is for saying I dont dislike you or I want you, but its strange. He is staring at us using the gaze one would use to look at a mere thing, at something inorganic, instead of a person or a living thing. This is directed towards the Prince, and also towards me. The eyes he is using to stare at the Captain are creepy enough to cause chills. When I recall that he had said that he was going to obtain my contractor too I bare my fangs and threaten him with a low growl.

The Captain is leaning against me, but he too is in a bad mood as he apparently wants to come forwards in front of the Prince. Yet hes taking the precaution of placing one hand in his sword-wearing waist.

It wont do to use ordinary methods it seems. Well, up to the point I obtain this country itself, then?

From obtaining my contractor to obtaining the country, it became a too large of a plan. Just how self-centered is this person, to be thinking the world spins around himself.

I had been thinking that, but unfortunately this time the matter that has brought me here is not this. Since now is not the time to be so leisure.

Then what did you come here for.

To have a discussion.

He laughs with a grin.

A discussion? What are you plotting. If you have matters to discuss then they can be settled through letters.

Unfortunately, The Great Me dislikes formalities such as correspondence and letters. (11) If what we could discuss in one visit is discussed by exchanging letters then no progress will be made. It takes too long.

I wonder if that means that hes someone whod normally just ride over here? Although Im in no place to be saying anything about other people in that respect.

When His Majesty of Tiruzoto Kingdom frankly says this, he narrows his sharp eyes.

This continent will be attacked by demons sooner or later. Wont you form an alliance with us?

As expected, I cant come to like his confidently laughing face.

In this world, stuff such as demons are nothing but fictional creatures which only appear in fairy-tales.

There is no way we can believe him.