Chapter 78:
Return of the Elder Dragons
Not finding any enticing job offerings the next day, the Crimson Vow had settled on killing time with daily requests. They were walking through the forest when they came to a sudden halt.
“I guess this is good?”
“Yeah, this is all right.”
“Seems suitable.”
“Well then, let’s do it! Spy detection plan number two! One, two…”
“Time to go ahead and show yourselves, you dumb-dumb spies who don’t even realize you’ve already been spotted!!!” the four shouted together.
Of course, they’d only mustered such coordination after practicing numerous times—with a number of maneuvers denoted by various names and numbers that they had all come up with together. It was thanks to this that the four were so frequently able to speak in unison. When Mile had first suggested rehearsing these phrases, Mavis immediately deemed it “cool,” a rationale which Reina and Pauline had also approved of.
After a few moments had passed, two forms emerged from the tree line. One of them looked human, but it was wearing a large hat, while the other had something that looked more like an animal’s ears atop its head.
“A dog man…” uttered the four.
“I’m a wolf!” the man shouted.
This was a common exchange. Wolf-type beastfolk weren’t fond of being mistaken for dogs, and as such, the Crimson Vow’s usual battle tactic when dealing with them was to start by purposely referring to them as dogs, in order to make them lose their cool.
Naturally, Pauline had been the one to propose this.
“Shake!”
“Roll over!”
“Beg!”
“Y-you bathtaaaaaards!”
The other man grabbed the wolfman by the arms, desperately holding him back. The vein throbbing in his temple looked ready to burst—apparently, their tactic was a little too effective. Concluding that ship had already sailed, Reina ignored the wolfman, turning her attention to his companion.
“You there, human guy. What are you two—”
“I’m not a human! I’m a beastman!” the man raged, snatching off his hat and tossing it to the ground. As he did so, two cat ears sprung up atop his head. Apparently, being mistaken for a human was far more humiliating than a wolfman being mistaken for a dog.
“How were we supposed to know?” said the four, a perfect recitation of “Response of a lack of surprise, #3.”
“So the elder dragons asked you to search for us then?”
“That’s right.”
The two men, having finally quelled their anger, seemed to have no intention of fighting them now that they had been spotted. They readily spilled the beans, but it seemed they hadn’t been told why the elder dragons had requested such a thing of them. Apparently, they had no information to give beyond who their employers were.
“He’s a little better at pretending to be human, so we were told to have him gather information in town, while I used that information to follow you guys’ scent. You have kind of a weird scent, so it was pretty easy to follow,” said the wolfman, pointing at Mile. It seemed that this pair were from the group of beastfolk they had previously encountered at the ruined excavation site, making them familiar with the girls’ faces and scents.
“Wh…?” Mile was amazed. She was amaz-eggs and bacon! No young lady would ever be okay with someone telling her that she had a “weird” scent!
“Uh, no! That’s not what I meant! I was just saying that your scent is a little different from a typical human—it’s not that you’re smelly or anything! You smell lovely!” Seeing the shock upon Mile’s face, the wolfman attempted to explain, perhaps realizing what a grave error he had made. However, his backpedaling only depressed Mile all the more.
Reina shrugged. “You’re basically superhuman, so it’s not surprising you’d have a weird smell! Quit worrying so much about it!”
“That’s not really much of a consolation…” muttered Mavis wearily.
“Okay, so let’s get this straight…” As Mile recovered from her shock, Pauline took the lead. “Now then, what did you intend to do once you located us?”
The pair looked at her, seeming a bit conflicted.
“Ah… I’m, actually—pardon me—but could we get you to fire two fireballs straight up into the air?”
“Huh?”
“Well, that’s the signal we arranged to let the elder dragons who are hiding nearby know that it’s safe to come out. But we can’t do magic…”
So they’d decided on a signal that they couldn’t even give?
“Are you stupid ?” asked the Crimson Vow.
“We’re not! I mean, they told us only to call them after you all had agreed to it anyway, so this is fine! And it’s a lot of work to set up and light two signal fires!”
This much was true.
“Well then…should I fire them?”
“If you would.”
Reina, Pauline, and Mavis all nodded, so Mile looked to the sky, shooting two fireballs straight up. After a short wait, a single elder dragon came soaring in. It alighted before the girls with a mighty thud and opened its mouth.
“Long time no see, strange humans,” said the dragon.
“Who are you?” asked the girls in unison.
“It’s me! Berdetice!” The dragon seemed displeased that they had completely forgotten him.
“What did you expect?! It’d be one thing if you were a human, too, but there’s no way we can tell elder dragons’ faces apart! It’s like looking at two members of the same species of bird or fish! You can’t distinguish humans by their faces, can you? You have to rely on differences in smell or magical strength, or the color and length of our hair!” Reina pointed out.
“Er…” Berdetice swiftly averted his eyes.
“So then, whaddya want?” asked Reina, getting straight to the point.
Berdetice replied with similar directness. “We’ve got a tiny bit of a problem. We’re going to need you all to die.”
“ Whaaaaaat?!?! ”
The cry of shock that came from the Crimson Vow was not in the least surprising to hear.
“That’s not a ‘tiny’ matter at all!” shouted Reina.
“Wait, that’s…”
“Well, the thing is, we’ve had a change in leadership…”
According to Berdetice, the leader of their village had until recently been the clan’s patriarch. The dragon who was longest in the tooth was the clan elder, but the elder only served as advisor to the clan—a position separate from that of the actual leader. And now, apparently, the new leader was a dragon who was still quite young.
“How’d such a greenhorn get to be the leader so quickly?! Do dragons have the same kind of bloodlines and lineages that humans do?”
“No, that’s just it. We select our leaders based on age, ability, achievements, and dragonability. The best candidate is usually already the patriarch of the clan—”
“Dragonability?” asked Reina, confused.
“I think that’s their version of personability ,” Mile whispered in her ear.
“Oh, y-yeah. So, you said, ‘normally,’ right? Are there times when that’s different?”
“Occasionally, a dragon appears who can, as we say, ‘speak with the spirits of magic.’ In other words, a kind of ‘chosen one.’ When such an individual comes of a certain age, they ascend to the position of leader. Given their youth, and a variety of related issues, the patriarch and elder will keep their positions, while the young dragon assumes only the position of leader, which is normally held by the patriarch. In other words, they serve only as official decision maker for the clan. As they grow older, they will later assume the position of patriarch for the next generation and elder after that…”
This position he described was something like a shrine maiden or priest. The patriarch handled the clan’s practical affairs, and the elder was guardian of the clan’s knowledge—but all decisions that might determine the fate of the clan were in the leader’s hands.
Hm… Nanos? Mile said in her head.
YES, LADY MILE. HE IS REFERRING TO A LEVEL 3 INDIVIDUAL. UNLIKE OTHER LIFE FORMS, HUMANS INCLUDED, ELDER DRAGONS ARE TYPICALLY BORN AT AUTHORIZATION LEVEL 2, BUT THERE ARE SOME RARE INDIVIDUALS WHO ARE BORN WITH, OR LATER ACQUIRE, A LEVEL 3 AUTHORIZATION. ONCE THEY DETERMINE THAT THEY CAN COMMUNICATE WITH US DIRECTLY, THESE INDIVIDUALS OFTEN COME TO CONSIDER US TO BE “THE SPIRITS OF MAGIC.”
WHEN THEY ASK QUESTIONS OF US, ASSUMING THE ANSWER IS NOT PROHIBITED INFORMATION, WE REPLY, BUT WE NEVER EXPLAIN ANYTHING TO THEM THAT THEY DO NOT ASK THEMSELVES.
So what you’re saying is that an elder dragon with no scientific knowledge would never know the right questions to ask and would have no concept of what a nanomachine is—so they can only comprehend you as the “spirits of magic.”
Even so, compared to others of their kind, such individuals would have an overwhelming advantage when it came to using magic. They would be able to catalyze their spells through concrete words, after all.
But Nanos, you’re always talking to me of your accord, aren’t you?
WELL, YOU HAVE A LEVEL 5 AUTHORIZATION, LADY MILE.
Ah, of course…
Mile accepted this answer, but in her mind, it was clear that the nanos were simply partial to her. Granted, she had met and spoken with their creator and told the nanos about that meeting. In human terms, it was telling someone how their parents were doing back in the hometown that they hadn’t been to in decades. They were probably happy to favor Mile now and then.
“Not only can this youth speak with the spirits, but their magical abilities are in a completely different league from that of previous ‘chosen ones.’ The spirits themselves seem especially fond of them.”
Ah… Somehow, Mile felt that she understood why that might be.
“The older dragons tried to butter them up by giving them the position of leader. This whole thing is incredibly foolish…”
“Now they’re running wild, right? All, ‘Elder dragons are the strongest in the world!!!’ and, ‘We must guide the foolish lower life forms!’ and stuff?” Mile interjected.
“H-how did you know?!” Berdetice shouted, wide-eyed with shock.
“I totally get that. That’s the folly of youth, right?”
“I-Indeed. We normally grow out of such human ways of thinking, but for some reason, our young leader is still mired in such foolishness…and we must obey them. I am still young, myself. If the adults fall in line, there’s little room for me to object. Sorry about this…”
Berdetice seemed to have a pretty good grasp on the situation. He might have been young for an elder dragon but was likely still quite old in human terms. As for the “adult” dragons of his clan…they had probably just thrown up their hands in defeat, assuming that their young leader would eventually see sense and that they might as well humor them in the meantime. If a few humans or other life forms got killed along the way, that wasn’t really their concern…
However—
“DO YOU REALLY THINK WE’D LET OURSELVES BE KILLED FOR SUCH A STUPID REASON?!?!” the four members of the Crimson Vow screeched.
“Anyway,” Reina spat, fangs bared, “why does your leader getting replaced with some brat mean that we have to die?! We’ve got nothing to do with you all!”
“That’s true, but—well, naturally, we reported the details of the previous incident to our higher-ups, and they were committed to the official record. Apparently, our new leader read the records upon assuming their new position. ‘How dare some lowly humans oppose an elder dragon,’ they asked, ‘and how could we possibly lose to them?! Unforgivable! An elder dragon’s power is absolute! We cannot abide such a disgrace to our reputations!’”
“Ah, okay. I understand now.”
“I’m sorry…” Berdetice truly did look apologetic—so deeply apologetic that even a human could read the expression upon his reptilian face.
“But we’re still not going to let you kill us. So you’re fine with us taking you out instead?”
“I’m not! I’m definitely not! I tried my hardest to avoid this! I told them that it was utter foolishness to challenge an opponent who already once defeated me and let me go! I even put up with everyone ridiculing me as a yellow-bellied coward, a greenhorn who lost to a human…”
“Sorry about that.” Reina apologized sincerely, intuiting from the trembling of Berdetice’s body and the tears dotting his eyes that this had been a truly humiliating experience.
“So, what are you going to do?” asked Mile.
Berdetice’s face turned apologetic again as he said, “There are three powerful warrior dragons accompanying me. I told them how bad it would look if it became widely known that an elder dragon had attacked a group of humans without provocation, but my protests were completely ignored, so I agreed to act as their guide only on the conditions that I refrain completely from involvement in combat. As such, don’t feel any need to hold back against them. Whatever happens to them will be their own doing. Although…”
The elder dragon’s voice got quieter here. “I’m honestly not really sure that you can win.”
“Huh? But you know how powerful Mile is…” said Reina.
Berdetice shook his head.
“It’s true that you thoroughly thrashed three of us last time, but we were a novice messenger, a young trainee, and a girl out for a bit of sightseeing. The draconic equivalents of a sixteen-year-old human greenhorn, a thirteen-year-old human apprentice, and the ten-year-old daughter of a human nobleman, if you will. The three dragons accompanying me this time, on the other hand, are the equivalents of trained soldiers in their mid-20s. So you see…”
“Wha…?” At this new information, the members of the Crimson Vow paled.
Berdetice turned to the beastmen. “We’re almost out of time. You all should get out of here. Move as fast as you can if you don’t want to wind up collateral damage.”
At his words, the beastmen bowed their heads dutifully and took off running.
“Looks like they’re here,” Berdetice said, just as three elder dragons came soaring in from out of the trees.
“What’re you dawdling for? Why didn’t you call us sooner?!”
“You’re late, Berdetice!”
The three dragons alighted near the members of the Crimson Vow.
“Should we go ahead and kill them?” said the largest of the three newcomers, casting a haughty glare over the Crimson Vow.
They say that elder dragons are smarter than humans, but that arrogant attitude of theirs sure doesn’t make it seem that way, thought Mile. Berdetice had made mention of an “affinity for lower life forms,” but that probably only extended as far as not considering them utterly toxic pests. No human would extend special consideration to the fly or mosquito they were about to swat, after all.
“Whatever you do is none of my concern. I was merely ordered to serve as your guide and to explain the situation to these humans ahead of time, and I have completed both tasks. The rest is up to you,” said Berdetice, taking several steps back.
“Well then, let’s begin.”
“Just a moment!” As the elder dragons took up a battle stance, Mile halted them.
“What? There’s no point in begging for your lives now. We have orders from our leader. To be frank, we aren’t pleased to have to crush such weak life forms, but we have no choice in the matter. Save your grudges for Berdetice, who brought this all upon you, and for yourselves, for meddling in the affairs of elder dragons. Blame not us for this matter!”
“That’s not true!” Berdetice protested, but the fact was that they wouldn’t be in the current situation if he had dispatched the Crimson Vow on their last meeting. Or at least massaged the facts a bit when delivering his report… However, there was no point in quibbling about that at this point.
“No, that’s not it. I was just wondering if you’d consider a change of location… These are grounds that a lot of people use, and if we let loose here, it’ll probably start a wildfire. This is pretty close to the capital, and if word got around that elder dragons ran rampant and destroyed the forest, leaving the murdered corpses of some little girls to be found, then…”
“Er—o-okay, yes, we accept your proposal!”
Berdetice let the members of the Crimson Vow climb atop his back, and the four dragons left the forest, cruising at a low altitude so as to keep out of view. Of course, they would be clearly visible to anyone who was nearby, but it was better than being spotted by heaps of capital residents. Four elder dragons being spotted near the capital was still sure to cause a fuss, but it was too late to do anything about that.
After a brief flight, they arrived at a mountain range with no immediate signs of human life. Such was an elder dragon’s flying speed, which relied more on magic than physics, and was unaffected by having the four girls atop Berdetice’s back. Furthermore, the mountain they had chosen had a relatively gentle slope and low altitude, so there was little danger of the adverse effects of a thinning atmosphere on the battle.
“Is this place suitable?”
“Yes, this will do.”
Mile had partly requested a change of venue to avoid damaging the forest or causing a fuss too close to the capital, but her primary motivation was to get them somewhere that everyone could fight without holding back. Once the battle began, the elder dragons would let loose with no regard for the fact that they might harm the forest or be spotted from the capital. Mile and the others couldn’t afford to be as unconcerned by such considerations, and Reina being unable to use her fire magic at full power would be a huge handicap.
There was an almost excessive level of detachment in the exchange between Mile and the elder dragons, though perhaps this was only to be expected. As far as the elder dragons were concerned, this was a farce. Their young errand boy had clearly told a bold-faced lie in order to disguise the truth, having been hesitant to slaughter some smaller creatures before the eyes of an apprentice and a maiden. They couldn’t fault Berdetice too much for wishing to avoid such an act in front of Shelala, especially when he’d then been willing to drag his own name through the mud in making his report. Indeed, the entire matter would have been filed away without a second thought…had this sudden change in leadership not occurred, and the report of an elder dragon being defeated by a human not incurred the divine wrath of this new leader.
Whatever warm, protective feelings the elder dragons might entertain for such charmingly weak and foolish creatures, should the actions of these life forms threaten the clan’s position, they would be crushed without hesitation. As far as the elder dragons were concerned, this was a routine act of extermination. Nothing more.
As for the Crimson Vow, they had long given up on explaining themselves or having the elder dragons acknowledge them. No matter how desperately a cockroach begged, it was unlikely to persuade the exterminator to give up and go home. The girls had already discussed their battle tactics atop Berdetice’s back. Berdetice seemed to be a neutral party, perhaps even leaning slightly in the Crimson Vow’s favor, so it was unlikely he would say anything even if he overheard. Regardless, Mile had put up one of her sound-dampening barriers just in case.
“Now then, let’s begin.”
As one of the dragons spoke, Berdetice retreated from the rest. He really did not seem keen on getting involved.
The Crimson Vow took a fair distance as well. They weren’t stupid enough to assume they had any chance against elder dragons starting off at a point-blank melee range.
“Huh?”
There was a sound of collective confusion from the members of the Crimson Vow. Only one of the elder dragons stood across from the party as the other two moved to the sides and took their seats.
On reflection, this made sense. Even having a single elder dragon against four humans should mean an overwhelming victory for the dragons’ side. There was no point in having all three of them come out at once. Furthermore, it would be a grave shame to have the battle be over in merely a few seconds, after they had traveled all this way. It was no surprise that they should be hoping for at least a few minutes of fun.
That said, they were still bullying some powerless little creatures. They just had to keep their fun in check and try to hold themselves back just enough that the humans didn’t die, the elder dragons figured. Certainly, their young leader would be happy so long as they trounced the humans thoroughly enough that they would never dare meddle in elder dragon affairs again. The Crimson Vow would proclaim the supremacy of elder dragons’ powers far and wide, shouting it from the highest towers. These dragons did seem to have some compassion for lower life forms, at least up to a point.
Okay, I’ve calculated our odds of winning… thought Mile. Assuming that the strongest elder dragon in existence has a power level of 100, and we put these dragons at a power level of 80… My power would be a 50. Multiplied by a nanomachine communicacy coefficient of 3.27, that’s 163. That puts me at two elder dragons. Under that assumption, if I can take care of one of the dragons while they’re still underestimating us and have their guards down, then that just leaves two. If Reina and the others can back me up and get the dragons’ attention to waver, so that they can’t focus a coordinated assault on me alone, then I might be able to handle the remaining two somehow…
“Here we come!”
And thus, the games began for the elder dragons. And for the Crimson Vow, a battle unfolded upon which the lives of themselves and their allies were staked.
The first elder dragon, who had been dispatched to battle, took a leisurely stroll toward the Crimson Vow, shaking the ground with each step. If it were to let loose a breath attack, it all would be over in an instant, and if it did not hold back, these humans would be utterly destroyed. Therefore, its plan was to allow the humans to make the first move with a unilateral attack. It hoped to see what a human’s strength looked like when they made a desperate assault. Such trifles would not be enough to harm its scales, anyway.
Unlike lower life forms, higher beings like the elder dragons received the blessings of the gods, their bodies imbued with a powerful protective magic from the moment they were born. As such, until the day that they died and that magic disappeared, no attack from a lesser being would ever be enough to penetrate their scales or hides.
The other two dragons watched quietly, with faces any human would deem expressionless. It didn’t appear they were watching even a mildly entertaining spectacle. Of course, watching one’s companion unilaterally slaughter a group of defenseless little creatures would not be particularly entertaining for any upstanding citizen.
“Looks like they’re letting us have the first move. Okay then, just like we planned. Let’s crush the first one before the other two step in—a four-on-two battle will increase our odds of winning immensely!” said Mile.
“All right!” shouted the other three.
Normally, when it came to matters of diplomacy, Mavis would take charge, while Reina was the party’s leader in matters of combat. However, in extreme circumstances, where neither of their knowledge or experiences came in handy, it was Mile who took the lead. In this, the members of the Vow were in tacit agreement.
Unique circumstances called for unique measures. Absurd circumstances called for absurd measures. Apart from Mile, the members of the Crimson Vow all thought this was the correct course of action…
“Zero-Zero Magic, No. 1! Let’s roll, Bouldermobile!”
Their chances of winning were zero. Their chances of survival, also zero. Zero-Zero Magic was a desperate sort of spell employed in order to protect one’s friends and cope with these “zero-zero” circumstances. This was the first of those spells.
Pauline began incanting her most wicked, most wild, most powerful of spells with all of her being, as a nearby boulder of at least three meters began to shake itself free of all unnecessary matter. And then, from within, it revealed its true form: a thick, spiraling spear.
Or rather, a drill.
“Spin, oh spin! Turn the heavens about and the tide of battle in our favor. To protect my patrons and my friends, I give this attack my all!”
“Blaze, my life. Blaze, my spirit! I will never let this body of mine, that carries the will of my father and everyone from the Crimson Lightning, be crushed for the amusement of some lizards. I will never let that happen—ever!”
Reina’s eyes were practically swirling. She was clearly not in her right state of mind.
“I’m counting on you, Micros!” shouted Mavis, swigging down the contents of five capsules all at once. This was a battle where survival was not certain. There was no point in worrying about injuring herself, or wasting time with concern for the future right now. “Beloved blade of mine, for the sake of my friends, show your true form, and be my strength!”
As she spoke these words, her sword began to give off golden particles, shining with a divine, ominous light.
“Nanomachines! Je te commande… ” Mile, speaking words not of this world, let her spell ring out like a howl. “Kurihara Misato, Adele von Ascham, and Mile command you. Accept my orders at highest priority!”
The little creatures seemed to be taking this seriously. Such a brave, foolish, wretched, piteous, and futile struggle. Perhaps the most compassionate thing the dragons could do for them now, rather than saving them by only beating them half to death, would be to instantly annihilate them, so that they did not feel pain or suffering. Yet, just as the dragon thought this…
“Shoot!”
“Fire!”
“Rraaahh!!!”
A rocky spear and magical fire came flying towards the dragon, while a weakly swordswoman came rushing in, blade brandished. There was no point in putting up a barrier just for something like this; the dragon’s own scales, its hide, and its innate defensive magic would be more than enough to protect it. Even if it did nothing, it would be fine. Even if these humans launched a surprise attack, or pierced some gap, it meant nothing. Elder dragons were in a completely different league from other life forms. They were of the house of the absolute, immaculate gods. Such was an elder dragon, and their legendary invincibility…
Ka-shnk!
Fwoom!
“Gaaaaah!”
The spear smashed into the dragon’s stomach, boring in, spewing sharp and rugged fragments of rock while fire engulfed its head.
Normally, its scales and hide should be enough to deflect a simple rocky spear. And with a normal flame, the dragon’s own torrent of magic would render it a momentary thing, allowing those same outer layers to protect it. And yet, the spear had burst into its body, and its head was engulfed in flames that did not dissipate.
No matter how lofty a title they might claim for themselves, elder dragons were still mortal beings who needed to intake oxygen to live. If the temperature of the air they breathed rose enough, their lungs would burn.
Just because a dragon could breathe fire did not mean that the inside of their body could withstand high temperatures. A breath attack was formed simply by concentrating magic within their mouths, which was then spat out and transformed into a searing fire after leaving their mouths. Indeed, there was no way they could possibly withstand a fire forming within them and traveling to their mouths. They had no “flame bladder” down inside of them or anything like that.
And so, indeed, if they were to intake hot, unoxygenated air into their lungs, then…
“Kuh-hfff, kuh-hfff, kuh-hfff…”
The dragon’s chest was burning from the inside out, and it could not breathe. Combined with the rock fragments buried into its gut, the pain was unbearable. For the first time in the centuries that it had lived, the elder dragon’s body, which hadn’t known even the slightest discomfort outside of the casual sparring matches the dragons held amongst themselves, was experiencing true agony. It swung its arms desperately, trying to dash the flames away, but for some reason they would not budge, would not dissipate.
“Aah… Gh… Gah…”
Chnk!
“Kuh-hff!”
And then, a beam of light plunged into one of the dragon’s sides…
Ka-shnk!
“Gwahh!”
A blade thrust in, following the hole the light had bored…
Shrrk… shrrk… shrrk… Fwshahhh!!
Its gut was sliced right through, its innards bursting out.
Bwoom…
The dragon’s massive body fell to the ground, convulsing, its eyes wide.
The other two dragons were paralyzed with shock. Just as the Crimson Vow had planned, they had felled one of the dragons while their enemies still underestimated them and greatly raised their odds of winning.
“Lucredd!”
One of the two remaining dragons shouted a word that was presumably the felled dragon’s name and rushed to its side.
Chnk!
Just then, a beam of light grazed its snout.
“We’re the ones you should be worried about, aren’t we?” said Mile.
“Tch, you little…” Perhaps sensing danger, the dragon had halted in place, only narrowly avoiding Mile’s attack.
When the lives of Mile’s friends were on the line, she had no compassion for their enemies. If it would irritate an enemy, or rob them of their advantage, she could even be heartless. Though the dragons were sapient beings, they were still agents of evil, who had come in suddenly throwing false accusations and attacked with the intention of snatching away the lives of Mile and her beloved companions.
Indeed, in this situation, they were no better than a goblin, or orc, or ogre. They were not deserving of her pity.
“Now then, let’s settle this!”
“You bastards…”
The other dragon stood as well, and the pair of them faced Mile. Too little, too late, they seemed to have finally grasped the situation. Everything in Berdetice’s report that they had disbelieved and ridiculed was entirely factual. And furthermore, these humans were skilled enough in battle to instantaneously fell an elder dragon who underestimated them and let its guard down.
Still, this time, there were two of them, and they would neither let their guards down nor act so foolishly. Of course, no matter how foolish they might be, they would never underestimate an opponent who had already felled one of their allies.
“We need to get Lucredd healed as quickly as possible, so we can’t hold back now. Don’t think badly of us,” said one of the dragons, opening its mouth wide.
“Phaser Beam!”
Chnk!
Fwip!
The beam that Mile fired was deflected by a wall of magic before the elder dragon. The wall had been erected at a wide angle, so it did not strike the wall straight on, instead bouncing off of it.
And then…
Ka-fwoom!
“Lattice Power Barrieeeeer!!!”
Bwoom!
A breath attack, which was less a torrent of fire than a mass of flame, bounced off of Mile’s barrier. It was not a single flat shield but a full dome, which lent it the same sort of efficiency as sloped armor.
“Thunder Bolt!”
Boom!
Mile’s thunder magic exploded, directly striking the dragon’s head, but her enemy continued standing there calmly. It was quite possible that the moment this dragon realized that Berdetice’s report was true, it had taken all the information about its enemies’ battle tactics into consideration and guarded against such aerial attacks. Reflexively, perhaps sensing a change in the current of magic (a.k.a the movement of the nanomachines), or picking up on the gathering static energy, or else knowing what to expect thanks to some other preternatural sense, it seemed to have created a magical wall above its head. It was unclear if thunder—or rather, lightning—magic operated in the same way as fire magic, but whether it was an attack formed directly by magical power or one that hinged on the natural phenomenon of electricity itself, it was unmistakable that a magical barrier had protected the elder dragon.
“Fire!”
“Shoot!”
While Mile stalled for time, Pauline and Reina finished incanting their spells and fired. The spells had been effective against the first dragon, so they decided to try them a second time.
Fwoosh!
Crack!
Reina’s fire was immediately nullified, and likewise, the rapid rotation of Pauline’s earthen spear slowed, a dragon’s tail slapping it to the ground. Apparently, their walls were not only effective against magical masses, but they had developed anti-physical barriers the likes of which humans could not have comprehended.
These anti-physical barriers were not as impenetrable as Mile’s lattice power barrier, but they were at least strong enough to defend against a tangible object that was concocted by earth magic, to nullify the kinetic energy of objects with larger amounts of mass, and potentially to stop an object of smaller mass in its tracks completely.
“This is futile. Lest we let ourselves go too soft in our judgment, let us recall that it is utterly impossible for a lowly human to wound an elder dragon. There was a tale, some centuries ago, of a young elder dragon being overwhelmed by humans, but that was a youngling who had gone against leagues of human soldiers for sport and was struck by countless waves of metal ammunition from their siege ballistae. There is nothing that four puny humans can do against a fully grown dragon.”
“What do you think, Mile?” asked Reina.
“Well, one of the dragon’s barriers was able to deflect my attack, as well as everyone else’s… And if both of them were to attack at once, they might actually be able to penetrate my barrier, so…”
The Crimson Vow carried on a quiet discussion within Mile’s barrier, but it was clear that her reply implied that the dragons had them in check.
The elder dragons, who were desperate to get their fallen comrade some healing, now attacked.
Bwoom!
There was a continuous torrent of flame. And then…
Ka-shoom!
A ball of flame, concealed within the torrent, came flying.
“This is hopeless! The next time they stop, we need to get behind those rocks to the right!”
The barrier was at its limits. However, this was the very reason that they had chosen a rocky place as their battleground. With both a barrier and some boulders as their shield, they would be more fortified. Plus, their opponents were so large that they could never hide themselves in the same manner. The results of this might be minimal, but accumulating plenty of these little advantages just increased their chances of turning the tide of the battle that much more.
To break it down, while there might only be a 20% increase in the efficacy of their strategy, employing four such tricks meant an increase of 1.2 × 1.2 × 1.2 × 1.2. Ergo, they could at least double their chances.
Battling against a massive opponent required intel, skills, traps, tricks, and an ability to pour your all into the battle. By combining all of these things, little by little one could raise one’s chances.
Despite the nomenclature, a dragon’s “breath” was actually a type of magic. But while breathing was not really necessary to the use of it, whenever they did attack in such a manner, the dragons always took a deep breath in, then breathed out. This might have been due to the dragons’ own assumptions or other reasons entirely, but in any event, if they were going to breathe a continuous flame, at some point they would have to stop to catch their breath.
Mile’s intention, currently, was to wait for the moment that the dragons stopped to breathe, rush behind the rocks and retake a defensive stance, and then launch a counterassault at once. Naturally, the others were on her same wavelength.
Just as one of the endless balls of flame crashed into Mile’s barrier, suddenly the fire stopped.
Perfect! Both of their attacks paused at the same time!
This was an unexpectedly fortunate turn.
“Move it!” Mile screamed as all four girls dashed to the right.
Just then, the two dragons both took in a deep breath.
Phew, all right, made it in time! The moment we get behind those rocks, I’ll put my barrier back up, and…
Fwump!
“Ah.”
Someone had fallen. Pauline, whose reflexes were the most sluggish of the four, had caught her foot on the jagged rocks and taken a nosedive face-first into the ground. Reina and Mile, who had run ahead, rushed behind the rocks, unaware of what had happened, before turning back just in time to see the following: Mavis, who had taken up the rear on their retreat to act as a shield for everyone else just in case, was helping up Pauline, glancing toward the elder dragons, and then shoving Pauline with all her might towards the other two…just in time to be bathed in the dragons’ flames herself.
Mavis screamed in agony, and the others screamed as well, their cries rising to the heavens. Pauline, who had turned around after tumbling behind the rocky barrier, let out the greatest scream of all.
The flames had not hit Mavis entirely head-on. Just before they struck, she had leapt desperately out of the way and somehow managed to protect most of her body…except for her left arm.
“Gwaah!!”
Screaming, Mavis continued to scramble behind the rocks. To huddle up where she stood, wailing about the pain, could only mean certain death, and so she mustered up the will to ignore the anguish and move to somewhere safer. Such was the iron will required of anyone who hoped to make it to to the other side of a battle.
“Mavis!” cried Reina.
“Mavis!” Mile shouted.
“M-Mavis, y-your hand…your hand…” Pauline babbled dumbly as Mavis came tumbling toward them. “Your hand… I-It’s all my fault… Your dreams, your dreams of becoming a knight… All because of me…”
Indeed, from the elbow downward, Mavis’s left arm was entirely gone. There was absolutely nothing beyond the charred stump that was her elbow.
“Numb the nerve receptors, intercept temperature conduction, cool the heated portions, and halt cellular destruction!” Mile cried desperately, trying to stop the pain and keep the damage from spreading. In truth, she had no idea how to cope with such a large loss of a body part.
Reina was frozen solid, unable to move.
Pauline was white as a sheet, delirious.
Mile continued fervidly applying her emergency magical measures.
“I-It’s all my fault… Mavis’s dreams, all her dreams, all because of me…” Pauline stammered, but with her pain finally deadened thanks to Mile’s magic, Mavis just grinned at her.
“Such a thing is nothing in exchange for your life!”
Pauline’s face twisted. In sadness. In regret. In self-condemnation. In apology…and in violent anger and hatred.
The day that she had avenged her father’s death, Pauline had assumed that never again would her heart be stained by such loathing. Never again would she have to forge her body, her spirit, into an instrument of revenge, an arrowhead, to pierce straight into her enemies’ hearts…
But now… Now, her heart was a twisting, raging storm.
A font of dark, looming magma was boiling, bubbling up within her.
She swayed to her feet like some shadowy phantom, her head hung. And then, she stepped out from cover, fully exposing herself to the enemy.
“What’s this? Are you surrendering? Well, that’s fine, you should go ahead and step back, then. Once we’ve finished destroying the rest of them, you can go back and tell the story to the other humans…”
Just then, Pauline lifted her face, glaring at the elder dragons straight on.
“Eek!”
A cry suddenly squeaked from the elder dragon’s throat. For an elder dragon to let out such a cowardly sound in the face of a human… It was Pauline’s face and the aura rising from her body that so terrified the dragon.
“Shut your mouth, you rotten lizard!”
Then another human form appeared from behind the rocks.
“Burn, burn, burn, burn… Everyone who tries to take away those important to me will burn to the ground.”
This redheaded girl, her eyes glinting, face feverish, did not appear to be in her right mind. How else could she stand so calmly before an elder dragon?
“Wh-what…? What in the world are you all thinking…?”
Taking care to keep up the barrier protecting Reina and Pauline, Mile quickly turned to Mavis, who was clutching her upper arm with her right hand. “Mavis, about your arm…”
“Yeah, I know. Even I know that no matter how good your healing magic is, you can’t bring back lost body parts. But what I said before was true. A single arm is a trifling price to pay, if I can save the life of a friend. If I had to save you, Mile, I’d give up my other arm without a second thought!”
“M-Mavis…” Tears slowly welled up in the corners of Mile’s eyes. “…So then, would you like me to work some healing magic that would let your arm regrow over the course of a month, or would you like me to magically attach an artificial arm to you right now?”
“Huh?” Mavis’s eyes shrunk to little points. In a manga, they would have been drawn as tiny dots.
Even with the help of the nanomachines, to completely restore an arm from a cross section via natural cellular reproduction would take a fair bit of time. Cells could not be created from nothing, and so, even if they could gather the necessary resources from the rest of Mavis’s body, increase cellular activity, and apply various other procedures, the process would be lengthy. On the other hand, engineering an artificial version with nano-made muscles and nano-made nerves could be achieved in an instant.
“Would I be able to use that artificial arm right away? What I mean is—would I be able to use it in this battle?”
“You would. It wouldn’t bleed, but you would be able to move it just like your own arm, via your own thoughts. It wouldn’t be a normal prosthetic!”
Hearing this, Mavis replied immediately, not even stopping to think. “If I can’t fight right now, it doesn’t matter what kind of arm I might grow back later. I choose the bloodless arm!”
“I thought that you might say that,” said Mile with a tearful smile. She magically bored a hole around ten centimeters wide into the rocks. “Please put your arm in there and close your eyes.”
She had done this so that the nanomachines could operate at full capacity, extracting the necessary components from the bedrock, transmitting any insufficient supplies, and converting the relevant molecules. Also, so that Mavis would not bear witness to the manufacturing process. Truly, this was primarily for the sake of Mavis’s mental health…
In truth, Mile had made a number of previous arrangements with the nanomachines ahead of time in order to prepare for the off chance that one of the party members might sustain an injury great enough to cause the loss of a body part. Thus, she had already reviewed various blueprints, taking into account what magic could do, what it could not do, and what the terms of such usage were. Before raising the proposal to Mavis previously, she had reaffirmed all this via silent conversation with the nanomachines inside her head.
“Cyborg. Prosthetic. Cyberize. Never betraying one’s truth…” Mile began her peculiar incantation. “Left arm of Cobra, left arm of Ayumi-chan. Manifold strength. Manifold muscular power. A bionic wonder…”
The slew of strange keywords dredged the appropriate concepts up from the depths of Mile’s memory, intensifying the image she emitted, which the surrounding nanomachines caught in waves.
And then, beneath the surface of the rock, it began to take form…
“What are you all implying now?! There’s nothing you can do now that we’ve decided not to let our guards—”
“Spin, spin, spin spin… Hotter, denser…”
“Slosh, gush, thicker…”
Pauline and Reina continued incanting their strangely phrased, song-like spells, utterly ignoring the elder dragon’s words.
“I see—they’ve lost their senses out of fear and despair. Perhaps it truly would have been kinder to eradicate them instantaneously…”
“That’s probably true. That swordswoman probably no longer has a future in her trade with that lost arm. I’m sure both she and those she left behind would have been happier for her to fight to the end…”
The two dragons prattled presumptuously amongst themselves.
And then, Pauline howled, “What are you rotten lizard bastards runnin’ your mouths about?! You godsforsaken pieces of scum are the ones who are gonna die! Cap Popper ! ”
“You fools, did you not already see with your own eyes that our barriers are impervious to both magical and physical attacks?! Any attack that we can see coming is meaningless. Barrier, expand!”
Both of the dragons erected their magical barriers. A wall created by one of them alone would have been more than enough to deflect any attack, but just for safety’s sake, they decided to put up a larger barrier in tandem, one that would be easier for them to move around in. They would show the humans just how futile it was to attack them, and the weakly things would have a choice to make: between an honorable death and surrender.
And then, one casually began to let out a breath attack.
Casual though it may have been, it was not the sort of thing that any normal humans could have done anything about. The dragon took in a shallow breath and then let out an attack aimed toward Pauline. And in that moment…
Shiiiine!
“Gwah!”
Ka-shoom!
Though it had meant to shoot a fireball towards Pauline, a brilliant flash of light glinted in the dragon’s eyes just before it fired, causing its aim to go astray. The breath went off course, skimming past Pauline and striking behind her. Though Mile’s focus was on treating Mavis’s arm, she was still keeping an eye on the other two and had used her light magic to throw up a flashbang to interrupt the dragon’s attack.
Of course, she’d also erected a lattice barrier over Pauline and Reina, protecting them from heat and explosions. But she’d lacked the time to add any of the cool visual effects she would normally have used, so the barrier was completely transparent. In other words, as far as Pauline was concerned, a fireball of dragon breath had just skirted past her at point-blank range while she was wholly unprotected, exploding just behind her.
However, Pauline did not seem to be concerned about this at all. In fact, she ignored it, calmly and completely.
“Zero-Zero Magic No. 2, ‘Destroyer of Dragons’!” she continued, but no solid projectile or eddies of magic appeared. There wasn’t the faintest sliver of magic, the elder dragons thought curiously, when suddenly she came to her conclusion: “Magical Shot!!!”
Ka-shoom ka-shoom ka-shoom!
“Huh?”
A number of drills, each around 20-30 centimeters in diameter, shot up from the ground…from within the barrier, flying toward the dragons. It seemed that, rather than forming the drills midair, she had formed them underground. The dragons, who were unable to easily see the ground beneath their feet on a good day, given the massive size and formation of their bodies, had noticed nothing.
Shunk shunk shunk!
Normally, there was no way any earthen spear or seed-shaped warhead could pierce an elder dragon’s scales or hide, but these drills were tapered and rotating viciously at high-speed, equipped with an abnormal degree of projection and magical energy.
“Gwah! H-How…?”
The dragon who had been struck with the drills could hardly believe it, but in truth, there was nothing really surprising about Pauline’s attack.
Magic was enacted by the nanomachines, via reception of thought pulses from the user. Under normal circumstances, most of the nanomachines near the dragons would already have been responding to their thoughts, leaving hardly any to respond to the thoughts of a human, whose impulses were magnitudes weaker than a dragon’s and who was standing far away. However, these were not normal circumstance. In fact, they were related to the nanomachines’ earlier explanation to Mile, about why Reina’s magical thought pulse output was so much stronger than the average person’s.
THAT IS WHAT WE REFER TO AS “PASSION.” THAT IS TO SAY—HOW TO PUT IT?—THEIR THOUGHT PULSE IS SO POWERFUL THAT EVEN NANOMACHINES WITH LOW SENSITIVITY WILL REACT TO IT…
Yes. At the moment, Pauline was boiling over with “passion.”
“This isn’t the first time we’ve battled against elder dragons. Did you really think I wouldn’t prepare myself for the next time by finding some way to deal with your magical walls?”
Battling an elder dragon once in their life was more than enough for most humans. If they didn’t perish in the encounter, they’d never go anywhere near an elder dragon ever again… At the very least, you wouldn’t expect to find a human who’d been hoping and preparing for their next encounter with one.
Pauline seemed to have regained her normal manner of speech by now. This did not mean that she was calm. Like Mile, once she crossed a certain threshold of anger, her heart chilled, and her speech became absurdly polite.
From here on out, she no longer considered her opponent to be a living creature but merely a thing . A thing that needed eradicating. And of course, there was no need to get angry at a thing .
“Wh-what are you scheming? Such trifling attacks can do no more than scratch our outer hides. It’s pointless!” the dragon blustered, but its voice wavered slightly, clearly quite discomfited at the fact that such a tiny little rock had been able to pierce its beloved, magically-reinforced scales.
In stern defiance, a faint smile floated across Pauline’s face.
“Hm? I said I’d been devising some countermeasures, didn’t I? Do you really think I’d spend all that time to conjure something that simple?”
“Wh-what…?”
“Explode!”
“Gaaaaaah!!!”
Amidst her incantation, Pauline had inserted the words, “Cap Popper.” Though she could not conjure the sort of fire magic that would be needed to detonate a warhead, Mile had shared with her a different concept with this name, mimicking an exploding cap, with that same detonation.
With her keyword spoken, the points of the earthen spears self-destructed, shattering to release something red that had been crammed inside…
In tandem with Pauline’s attack, Reina unleashed her ire at the enemy as well. “Burn our enemies to the ground… Dragon-Crushing Inferno!”
A mass of flame appeared at her side.
“Fire!”
The ball of fire went flying at high speed in a different direction from Pauline’s drills, towards the other dragon.
“Our barriers are even more efficient against magical shots than physical projectiles. They will elimin—”
Bwomf! The flame weakened for a moment, its speed slowing as it passed through the barrier, but it still crashed straight through, interrupting whatever the dragon was about to say.
“Guh!” The dragon quickly flicked its tail, hoping to deflect it, but tiny tongues of flame began crawling all over its body. “Hmph! My scales will merely re…pel… Guh! How?!”
The flames that should have been nothing against an elder dragon’s magically fortified scales and hide continued to spread. No matter how the dragon thrashed or smacked itself with its limbs, it could not extinguish them. In fact, as it did so, the flames coiled around its arms as well, spreading even further.
“Water Ball!” The dragon summoned a sphere of water and doused itself—to no avail. “Wh-why won’t it go out?!?!”
The magic Reina had used operated on a different physical principle from typical flame magic. A famously used weapon on Earth was the napalm bomb, which was comprised of naphtha (a crude gasoline) and a gelling agent added for viscosity. (This gelling agent was composed of the co-precipitate aluminum salts of naphthenic acid and palmitic acid, which, when joined in a portmanteau, were the origins of the name “napalm”). This attack was a fiendish imitation of such oil-based incendiaries, comprised of similar materials that existed in this world, and it resulted in flames that could not be easily removed once applied, and would not be extinguished even with the application of water… In other words, this was not a magical bomb but a chemical one.
“Hmph! Do you really think a combat genius like myself wouldn’t prepare countermeasures for an opponent I fought so desperately once before? Don’t think so little of us humans!”
“Gah! Gwaaah! Gweeeeh!!!”
“Wah! Hot, hot, hot, hot! It burns! It burns! My scales! My body! It’s burning…!!!”
The dragons were trapped in the innermost circle of Hell. This was perhaps the only accurate way to describe this scene. One rolled violently on the ground, trying to extinguish the flames that were searing its body. The other writhed in agony. And the third, all the while, lay on the ground, eyes blank, not even twitching… Their kind were possessed of a strong life energy, so it probably wasn’t dead yet.
Reina and Pauline began new incantations, ready to land the coup de grace. Just then, the dragon that had been writhing from Pauline’s attack, pushed back the pain and quickly closed in towards the girls, swinging its tail. “Diiiiiiie!!!”
For a moment, Reina and Pauline, who were not skilled in melee combat, froze. The mighty spells that they had been preparing wouldn’t finish casting in time, and it was too late to change what they were preparing. They could only stare in awe as the tail swung down towards them.
Until…
Slash!
The tail fell down in front of them, twitching…and no longer attached to the elder dragon.
“Secret technique, EX True Godspeed Blade, third form: Dragon Guillotine!!”
“Mavis!!” the two shouted, running over to the swordswoman, who was giving a toothy grin.
“Thank goodness! I made it back just in time for the climax…” Mavis muttered, letting a little of her true intentions slip.
“Y-y-your arm! What’s with that arm?!” Reina asked. Meanwhile, Pauline had frozen in shock the moment she saw Mavis’s left arm.
“With the magic of friendship on one’s side, a knight’s form is invincible!”
“You dummy,” said Reina, with a faint, exasperated smile.
Tears flowed from Pauline’s eyes. When she finally opened her mouth, a ruthless declaration rang out. “Let’s hurry up and land the finishing blow. We can sit around and talk later.”
The dragon who had been in the midst of attacking them was writhing again. Cries of “My tail! My tail!” were mixed with its screams, and while it appeared to be quite preoccupied, there was no telling when it might try to attack again. They would need to eradicate this source of danger immediately.
“Now then, some conclusive magic,” said Reina, glancing at Mile, who had followed Mavis out from behind the rocks.
Just then, however…
“Wait! Please just give them a chance to surrender!” Berdetice, who had been watching over the battle from a distance, came rushing in. “The battle’s already over! Please, if all three of them admit defeat, allow me the chance to save their lives!”
It was true that there was really no sense in killing the three dragons. Things would only get far, far worse for the Crimson Vow if they incurred the wrath of an entire clan of dragons by killing their kin. Besides, this was probably the exact role that Berdetice had hoped to fulfill in accompanying the other dragons as their guide and not participating in the battle. It was admirable that a greenhorn such as him would weather the ridicule of his colleagues to then plead for the lives of the same allies who had ridiculed him.
Reina looked to the rest of the members of the Crimson Vow, who all gave an affirming nod. “I guess that’s that, then. If every last one of you all admits defeat, and promises never to bother us again, then we just might let you all go, yeah?”
“Oh, bless you! Just a minute!” Berdetice rushed over to the writhing, wailing pair, confirming something with them. “One of them is still unconscious, so please forgive him. He might very well have been killed by now, so please consider that his surrender. The rest of us accept your terms, one hundred percent. If anyone takes issue with this, we swear to deal with them ourselves.”
Though tears still streamed down their faces, the other two nodded fervently. The Crimson Vow deemed this sufficient. It was unlikely that the first dragon would hear the results of his allies’ battle and attempt to fight them again, and really, he was in no shape to do so in the first place. He was, in fact, bad enough off that his condition would become worrisome if he did not receive healing very soon.
“Now then… Remove all foreign entities from this body and eliminate them! Power of recovery, mend this dragon’s body and heal its wounds.”
After eradicating the capsaicin from the body of Pauline’s victim, Mile turned to apply healing to the first dragon, whom they had so thoroughly skewered. If he were left as he was, he would soon be in critical condition, especially considering the way his guts peeking forth thanks to Mavis’s grand slash.
Meanwhile, Reina removed the adhesive incendiary agent from her victim’s body with a powerful version of her usual cleaning magic, while Pauline tended to its burns. Much like a cluster bomb, though the agent was split up into many tiny particles, every bit of it was not particularly combustive on its own. Despite all the dragon’s writhing, the corrosive agent had not reached its insides, so for all its panic, its life was in no danger now that the flames were extinguished.
Of course, should it have been left to burn, that would have been another story entirely…
At any rate, the dragons should be able to avoid the dangers of both death and any lasting aftereffects…their mental trauma notwithstanding.
“My tail. My tail…”
Apart from the capsaicin hell, the second dragon had not taken any particularly grave injury. Indeed, it was the least injured of the three, but even so, it was babbling dumbly, cradling the stump of its cleanly severed tail.
“What is with that guy?” Reina mumbled, pulling a face as she stared at this dragon.
“Ah, that. Well…” Berdetice explained. “He is still lacking a mate. And our proposals rely on our tails. They play an incredibly important role in our displays of affection, such as entwining one’s tail with one’s partner, giving them playful nudges and such. For his tail to be like that, well, he…”
The other two dragons hung their heads gravely. Apparently, this was the sort of situation where no words could suffice.
The members of the Crimson Vow were silent. This was awkward. Painfully awkward…
“My tail. My tail. My taaail…” the dragon continued to mutter hollowly, tears overflowing.
“Oh, jeez! We get it already!” Mile hoisted up the writhing, severed tail and approached the babbling dragon. “I can put this back on for you if you just turn around!”
“Huh?” four dragons said in unison.
Apparently, replacing a lost body part was beyond even the vast capabilities of an elder dragon. Truthfully, it was nothing like healing a cut. Even with Earth’s modern medicine, reattaching a severed limb and expecting it to fully recover had been near-impossible as recently as half a century ago. Even with magic at one’s disposal, without the requisite anatomical and medical knowledge, it would be difficult to properly visualize the correct steps for regeneration and emit the thought pulses necessary to direct the nanomachines. Thinking “just stick it back on” would mean that the nerves would not be reconnected, and the still-severed blood vessels would atrophy. In short, the results wouldn’t be pretty.
The four dragons regarded Mile skeptically, but as they did so, their collective gaze fell on Mavis, standing beside her.
“Wh…?”
All those except the dragon who had been knocked unconscious were sure that they had seen Mavis’s left arm bathed in flames. Indeed, they were certain that it had been fully burned away.
They were silent in their disbelief. It was unthinkable. They stared quizzically at Mavis’s left arm, eyes wide. The fourth dragon looked on dumbly, unaware of the circumstances or why his brethren looked so perplexed.
Noticing their gaze, Mavis drew her sword with a grin, spinning the blade around with only her left hand in a little display.
The three remained silent, unable to take their eyes off of her.
“P-please!” the dragon finally said to Mile, “Put it back on! I’ll do whatever you want! I’ll lie down and show you my belly, I’ll let you ride me like a horse—as long as you don’t ask me to betray my own family, I’ll do anything! I’m begging you!!”
If things went south here, he might end up single for life…and a dragon’s life was a long, long time.
Mile rolled her eyes wearily at the dragon, who was practically prostrating himself in tears before her. The young dragon girl, Shelala, had shown them her belly, but she’d been a child who felt her life was truly in danger. A grown dragon doing so in front of an enemy was another story entirely.
As promised, the dragon held out his tail to Mile, who brought the severed end nearer. First, she had to remove the dirt and disinfect it.
“Clean this segment, remove all foreign bodies, sterilize!”
Then, to attach it…
“Activate cellular regeneration, join the bones, reattach the sinews, mend the nerves, join the blood vessels, rejoin the surface… Tera Heal!! ! ”
“Whoooooaaaa!!!”
“Please try not to move yet… There!” Mile poked her finger into a spot just beyond the rejoined portion.
“Ow!” The elder dragon reflexively let out a yelp and then looked surprised, his face twitching. “How could a human’s finger hurt that much?!”
Normally, a human could poke an elder dragon so vigorously that their finger would break, and the dragon would not even notice it. For such a thing to actually hurt …
If this little girl were to swing a powerful weapon at the dragon at full force or to actually strike them with all her strength…
“How can your bare hands be so powerful?! And more importantly, how could there possibly be two legendary-level warriors like you, together?!” the dragon screamed.
The one whom Reina had burned tapped him on the shoulder. “More importantly, you felt that pain in your tail, didn’t you?”
“Y-yeah, I did… Uh. Huh? Huuuhhh?!” The dragon was stunned, streams of tears running down his face again. “I felt it… The pain. The sensation. I can feel it!”
Then, he gave his tail a tentative movement.
Twitch.
Twitch twitch.
“It moves. It moooooves…!”
“I think it should be completely reattached, but just in case, please try not to move it too much for the next two or three days. After that, it should be back to normal.”
Ka-fwoosh!
“Uh-guh… Thank you, O human girl!”
Mile could only look on, befuddled, as the dragon collapsed on his back, arms and legs spread wide…
***
The elder dragons thanked the Crimson Vow, swore that they would never trouble them ever again, and took their leave. Of course, this extended only to Berdetice and the other three dragons. They could make neither decisions nor promises on behalf of their entire clan. The Crimson Vow were well aware that the real source of their problems was this new young leader.
As for Wence, the dragon from the encounter at the ruins whom Berdetice referred to as a “youngster,” it was unclear if he would abstain as well or if he might be tempted by a rematch… And who knew what Shelala’s stance on the matter might be?
Even if the adult dragons were unable to keep their young leader in check, it was unlikely that they would wish to wage all-out war on every humanoid race (dwarves and elves included), by starting something with the humans—and unthinkable that they would convince every dragon in their clan to join in a singular assault against the same. Even the dragons could bring themselves to acknowledge that, sometimes, a hero just rose up to face them. And sometimes, like now, it just so happened that that hero was a good person, someone who was reasonable, someone who spared and even healed the dragons who had unilaterally attacked them.
The elder dragons would never have lost to a normal person, but if their opponent was such an exceptional hero… Viewed in that light, this situation could be wrapped up neatly. Or so the members of the Crimson Vow believed.
“So, Mavis, what’s with the arm?”
“What is that?”
There was no helping the cross manner in which Reina and Pauline now questioned Mavis, not after the way she had worried them so.
“O-oh, well…” she started to reply, looking to Mile for assistance.
As usual, it was all a question of Mile’s abilities, though she would most certainly wave this off as another “family secret.” Fellow party members or not, Mavis was unsure how much she should be telling other people.
Picking up on this, Mile launched into her own explanation. “It’s a family secret!”
“Of course,” said the other three.
This time, however, they were not going to let it go so easily. The members of the Crimson Vow were inquisitive sorts by nature, but more importantly, they needed to understand every facet of Mavis’s capabilities for the sake of future battles. If Mavis were to end up in bad shape in the midst of a battle, and her left arm gave out on her, this could be a fatal problem—something that could cost not only Mavis, but perhaps the rest of the party, their lives. Even putting that aside, there was no way that Pauline, who had been certain that both Mavis’s left arm and her future as a knight had been lost because of her, was going to give up until she received an explanation.
“Explain yourself!”
“Tell us what’s going on!”
“I’d kind of like to know more about this thing, too. Like…is there an instruction booklet or anything I should keep in mind?”
Hearing Mavis’s question, Reina and Pauline looked at her arm in surprise. At this rate, an explanation was more or less mandatory, and Mile had intended to offer one in the first place. There would be no getting out of this without giving up some information.
“As you all know, Mavis’s left arm was lost to the elder dragon’s breath attack. The arm she has now is an artificial one. Please consider it to be a golem arm, manufactured to look just like a human one.”
“Huh…?”
Reina and Pauline were stunned, probably having assumed that Mile had managed to recover Mavis’s missing limb via healing magic. Previously, their expressions had been mild, almost chiding Mavis and Mile for having made them worry. Now, their faces twitched.
“Th-then that means that Mavis’s left arm is…”
“Indeed. She can move it normally, but it isn’t a living limb; it’s artificial, with no blood flowing through it. It’s far beyond the capabilities of most prosthetics, though, so I don’t think any problems should arise with it.”
This news shook Pauline to her core. She had assumed the limb had been healed back to normal. For a moment, she had been relieved, thinking Mavis had been fixed thanks to Mile’s healing magic and that she might be able to put aside her feelings of guilt. However, the truth was that the limb was a false one and that Mavis had in fact lost her arm as she had first feared.
A prosthetic.
Mavis, the hard-working, kindhearted leader of their party, who put in leagues more effort than anyone else in pursuit of knighthood.
Mavis, the daughter of a count, who would likely be married off into some other noble family someday.
She had ruined all of that.
“Uh…uuh… Waaaaah…” Tears streamed down Pauline’s face.
Oh no, thought Mile. Still, she knew that consoling Pauline right now would just be a waste of time, and so she continued.
“Now then, Mavis, let’s get that arm back off of you so that I can apply some magic to restore your lost limb. It is going to take some time to restore it section by section, so it’ll be pretty weak for about a month. Things will be a bit inconvenient for you until then, but please bear with me.”
“Huh?” came one voice.
“Huhh?” came two more.
“Huuuuhhh???” came all three.
“You can fix it?!?!”
“I mean, I did think you could probably do something like that! It’s you , after all!” said Reina.
“Me too! I figured if anyone could do something about a lost limb, it would be you, Mile,” Pauline agreed.
“Wow, I really thought that I would only get one of those options when you made me choose!” Mavis laughed wryly.
It was Mile, after all. Everything would be right as rain.
And yet, Mavis continued. “Still, given everything, I think I’m fine with my arm the way it is.”
“Whaaat?!” the other three chorused. Even Mile joined in with the cries of shock.
“Wh-why?” Mile stammered.
“Could you tell me a bit more about the details of this arm?” Mavis asked, in place of an answer. “Like its abilities, maintenance, what to do when it breaks—anything and everything I should know?”
“O-of course… Well, on the outside, it looks just like a normal arm. I used your right arm as a reference. Though it was constructed out of materials similar to real flesh and bone, it’s sturdier than the real thing and should be more powerful. It doesn’t require any regular maintenance, and when it breaks, it should automatically repair itself via magic. It’s completely waterproof, so you shouldn’t have any trouble with rainy days, or swimming and bathing. And it’s had the same treatment as your sword.”
The same treatment as her sword.
The final note of Mile’s explanation was one that only Mavis would understand.
In other words, Mavis’s “spirit” would easily flow through it, and she would be able to utilize it in “releasing her spirit, via special breathing techniques.” That meant that she would be able to use her Wind Edge, even without her sword…with some practice.
“So it is stronger than my original arm. I was wondering about that after I sliced through that dragon. Also, when I was giving that little demonstration, I was pretty sure it moved quicker than my normal arm, more nimbly… Mile, give it to me straight. This arm is better than my original, isn’t it? Way better?”
It was true. This was an arm that the nanomachines had manufactured as a replacement for Mavis’s, at Mile’s direction, so they had really put their all into it… So much so that it was hundreds of times more capable than her original arm. Plus, repairs and maintenance would be handled entirely by exclusively commissioned nanomachines.
“Y-yes. In fact, one could say that, with that arm attached, you could be called the ‘6,000 Gold Woman.’”
Mavis beamed at this.
“I knew it! Please then, since I already have it, let me keep using this arm. I actually feel like this will bring me that much closer to my dreams. You’re okay with that, right, Mile?”
“Uh… Y-yes, well, if you’re okay with that, and you don’t mind, then I don’t mind.” Mile was a bit frazzled, having assumed this arm would be a temporary measure, but it wasn’t as though continued use was going to cause Mavis any inconvenience.
HOORAY! The nanomachines contracted to the new arm shouted in joy. Their new term of work, which they had thought would be quite short, had been extended. There was no nanomachine around who would not be thrilled at the idea of having something like this to fill their time—especially when it meant being of use to the girl of level-5 authorization, no matter how indirectly. They reveled at the prospect of working by Mile’s side.
The expressions on Reina and Pauline’s faces, however, were complicated ones.
“Well, I guess that’s fine…” said Reina.
“That is fine… If the arm could… Well, it’d take a month, but… If it could be put back to normal at any time, if Mavis wants…” said Pauline. Suddenly, she gasped at a new thought. “M-Mavis…you aren’t going to purposely get an enemy to blow off your right arm and legs in hopes of a more powerful body, are you?”
For a moment, Mavis made a face that suggested she hadn’t even considered this, but then she looked to the other three, who were staring at her in terror, and shook her head emphatically.
“No! Of course not…”
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