Clang-clang-clang-clang
The emergency all-clear bell rang.
Only then did the people open the shelter doors and come up to the surface.
“Mom.”
“It’s okay. Gina. It’s all over now.”
Lena embraced her daughter.
Her body trembled.
It wasn’t only because of the cold dawn air.
The roars of the wyverns and the blare of the horns of terror that had shaken the entire city last night still lingered in her ears.
‘It’s quiet.’
The terrible silence filling the streets frightened her.
It felt all the more so because it seemed to herald death and despair.
‘Alex.’
Her heart pounded.
She recalled her husband running to the city walls the moment the emergency bell rang.
Her husband’s smile as he kissed their daughter and her, telling them not to worry.
Would she be able to see that again?
Her heart lurched.
She prayed and prayed that today, of all days, the goddess would hear her prayers.
“Mom. Will Dad be okay?”
“Don’t worry, Gina. Dad is strong. He’ll be safe.”
Lena muttered as if making a promise to herself.
“Everyone, come outside! The battle is over! The city is safe!”
In the distance, she saw a soldier shouting at the top of his lungs.
Lena—and the other women—ran toward the soldier.
“Thomas! Is Thomas safe!”
“My younger brother’s name is Jason!”
“Lucas! Please!”
The people’s faces were filled with fervor and desperation.
The soldier silently took out a roster.
Bracing herself for someone’s screams and tears to burst forth, Lena checked the roster.
“Al… ex?”
“Huh?”
“What?”
The people blinked.
The list was strange.
“The casualty list… why isn’t it there?”
“The injured list is only one page? Why?”
The documents that should have been dozens of pages were far too thin.
The people’s gazes turned to the smiling soldier.
“That is the entire list.”
“What? What do you mean…”
“It’s not that I dropped or forgot anything along the way. There are no casualties. The injured are only about thirty or so.”
“……?!”
Desperation, fervor, fear, and resignation vanished, replaced by bewilderment, daze, and confusion.
“D-don’t lie! Wyverns attacked us! The Iron Scale tribe launched an assault; this can’t be everything!”
Lena thought the soldier was telling a clumsy, well-intentioned lie.
But the soldier didn’t lose his smile.
“It’s only natural that it’s hard to believe. I was the same when I first heard the report.”
The soldier recommended they go to the western wall.
“Go see for yourselves. That will be the quickest way.”
The people were bewildered by his voice overflowing with confidence.
“You’d best hurry. All the citizens of Kazan will be moving to see that sight.”
*
Lena walked, holding her daughter.
She met countless citizens.
Their expressions were no different from Lena’s.
Disbelief, and the faintest glimmer of a ‘What if?’
‘Something so absurd.’
She had prayed countless times until now.
But not once had those prayers been answered.
With every attack, family, friends, and neighbors had disappeared.
She had thought it would be the same this time.
Because miracles could never overcome reality.
“Ah.”
The moment she reached her destination, Lena sank to the ground on the spot.
She wasn’t the only one.
Men, old men, old women, children—countless people sank to the ground, lost for words.
So surreal was the reality reflected in their eyes.
“O, Goddess.”
Giant corpses were visible.
Corpses of wyverns that were all too familiar to the people of Kazan.
But what astonished the people was their number.
Twelve.
As many as twelve monstrous beasts lay sprawled in the middle of the street, burned, torn, and mangled.
The soldiers clearing away the wyvern corpses were all smiling. Not a single one was crying or angry.
Faced with a reality akin to a miracle, the citizens all looked to the goddess.
“Am I, am I dreaming right now?”
An old man staggered forward.
A senior soldier stopped the soldier who tried to block him.
He knew who the old man was.
He was the very one who had personally delivered the tragic news to the old man who lost his son and granddaughter in the Iron Scale tribe’s raid two years ago; he couldn’t not know.
“O, ooooooh.”
The old man, who had been stroking the cold, stiff head of a wyvern, trembled.
“A dream, it’s not a dream. It’s real, it’s real! The wyverns are dead! The wyverns are dead!”
“Yes, Elder. The wyverns are dead. Not a single one survived.”
“Who is it? Just who delivered heavenly punishment to these damnable bastards? Who in the world is this noble benefactor? Hmm?”
“It is Sir Daniel.”
“Sir Daniel?”
The old man’s eyes went wide.
“That mage?”
“Yes. That very mage, Elder.”
The soldier took the old man’s hand.
“The Magic Knight of Kazan, Sir Daniel, rained down flaming thunderbolts upon the wyvern riders. Thanks to him, not a single person died last night. Everyone is safe.”
“Ah, aaaaaaaah!!!!”
The old man sank down and wept aloud.
For the past two years, he had only ever shed tears of sorrow, but today was different.
“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!”
The old man smiled. For the first time in two years, he smiled, and he shed tears as he smiled.
Starting with the old man, wails were heard from here and there.
They were wails of joy.
People laughing and crying multiplied like a contagion.
“Mom. People are crying.”
“It’s because they’re happy.”
Lena looked up at the sky.
The sun was rising.
For the first time in Kazan’s history, a morning arrived where no one grieved.
“Daniel.”
“Sir Daniel.”
“Magic Knight Daniel!”
The people shouted the name of the miracle in unison.
The two syllables of the hero’s name spread throughout the entire city, along with tears.
*
The mornings after the Iron Scale tribe’s attacks had always turned the entire city into a funeral hall.
The gloomy, melancholic, and dismal atmosphere would continue for days.
Today was different.
The citizens of Kazan, who had been disoriented that morning, regained their energy and laughter by noon as if nothing had happened.
The miracle of zero casualties despite having repelled the Iron Scale tribe.
The alcohol prepared for funerals and to honor the dead was converted into celebratory toasts to bless this miracle.
“Just how in the world did he catch those monsters?”
“Hurry! Hurry up and tell us! I’m getting dizzy just thinking about it!”
The soldiers surrounded by citizens grinned broadly as they answered questions.
“Sir Daniel was the first to detect the wyverns’ raid yesterday. How? I don’t know either.”
“When the wyverns descended, I thought, ‘Ah. We’re going to die.’ But Sir Daniel didn’t even bat an eye and summoned demons to charge at the wyverns!”
“When the demons wreathed in blue flames collided with the wyverns and exploded, I thought we were done for. Guess I was mistaken because I’m completely ignorant of magic. Before long, the wyverns faltered and crashed instead of gliding. What happened? They’re demons. Demons! They cursed the wyverns as they died! I’m sure of it!”
“The ones that crashed were still intact. But they would’ve been better off dying with broken necks. Because black rain fell on their heads.”
“Fire and lightning fell from the sky! I’m not lying. You all saw the wyvern corpses, right?”
“The wyverns cried out. As if they were in agony.”
“The wyverns burned and the barbarians were crushed to death. It was utter chaos, I tell you.”
“Lunatic, was it Lunatic something Rain?”
“It’s Dark Flame Rain, you idiot!”
“Then what’s Lunatic?”
The excited soldiers spewed out words enthusiastically.
At a glance, they sounded like absurd nonsense.
But the roster showing zero casualties, and the evidence of the wyvern corpses, proved that this was a miraculous truth.
“Praise Magic Knight Daniel, everyone! He is the savior who has come to protect Kazan!”
“Magic Knight Daniel! Magic Knight Daniel! Magic Knight Daniel!”
Someone chanted the name of Magic Knight Daniel.
“Sir Daniel isn’t human. He’s a calamity in human form.”
“Yeah. A calamity.”
“But he’s our very own calamity, isn’t he?”
“Then isn’t that a good thing?”
Someone shouted “our very own calamity!”
“He caught twelve wyverns alone! There’s no problem calling him Dragon Slayer, right?”
“Now that I hear it, you’re right, so I’ll stay quiet.”
“He is the reincarnation of Siegfried!”
Someone shouted “Dragon Slayer” at the top of their lungs.
An untimely festival broke out in Kazan.
The people sang Daniel’s name like a song, he who was the protagonist of the festival.
Names changed, nicknames attached, and legends were made.
The birth of a hero!
Excited, the people praised the hero, shouting what they thought was the greatest title.
“I am Daniel the Black Flame!”
“Take this! Dark Flame Rain!”
Children ran through the streets playing at casting magic with their hands.
“Cheers!”
“To the hero of Kazan!”
Taverns that had opened from the morning were packed to the brim.
Laughter never left the mouths of the adults raising their glasses.
A bard standing atop a table plucked his mandolin.
【He split the night sky and called forth a black sun.
Praise him. The Dragon Slayer! The calamity of Kazan!
The sky was dyed with the blood of demons,
and by the hero’s hand, the dragon’s neck was sent flying.
Magic Knight Daniel, our very own calamity.
Be eternal, forever and ever~】
“Excellent! Sing it again!”
“Long live Sir Daniel!”
Even those who would normally complain that this wasn’t even a song spared no encores or tips at this very moment.
Yesterday’s terror no longer existed.
All that remained were the excitement and smiles brought by a miraculous myth.
Then where is the mage who became a myth, and what is he doing now?
“Ugh. I’m dying.”
“Sir Daniel says he’s dying!”
“Healer! Call a healer. Hurry!”
“No. That’s not it.”
‘I can’t even pretend to be dying. Honestly.’
Daniel, lying on his sickbed, sighed.
‘Damn. At this rate, I won’t recover in two or three days. Well, I beat all the wyverns, so they won’t say anything even if I lie down for a few days, right?’
With idle worries, the contract worker closed his eyes.
He felt as though his mind would drift away from the lethargy, as if he had come down with a terrible cold.
*
Dark mana is not a convenient power.
When you fire a cannon, the barrel receives the shock.
Magic is the same.
The stronger the magic’s power, the greater the recoil the caster must bear.
Now, here’s the question.
Among 5th Circle dark magic spells, “Dark Flame Rain” is considered unrivaled in raw destructive power—a magic specialized in firepower. Just how severe is its recoil?
“I see. So the recoil from overdoing it to protect Kazan was too much.”
Having heard the court mage’s report, Rainer was silent for a moment.
The hand holding his teacup trembled faintly.
“How serious is it?”
“Had there been surplus mana, it would have been fine, but this time is different. He consumed his mana until it was literally depleted, putting him in a state of mana exhaustion, and on top of that, the recoil from dark magic overlapped… In my opinion, he must take absolute rest for at least a week.”
“Is that so.”
The people in the office, including Rainer, sighed in relief.
When he had suddenly collapsed less than ten minutes after the battle ended, they had panicked thinking something had gone terribly wrong, but hearing the mage’s words, it seemed fortunately not to be that serious.
“Assign the highest-grade healer to him. At least ten attendants to wait on him. Station at least six skilled knights as guards in three shifts.”
“Understood.”
“You said he’s resting in his quarters now? I shall pay him a sick visit, so prepare accordingly.”
“You must not, Young Lord.”
“What?”
Rud blocked him.
Rainer furrowed his brow.
“Why do you stop me? Surely you don’t intend to make me a scoundrel who ignores the hero who protected Kazan.”
“It is for the Young Lord’s safety.”
“My safety?”
Cyril stepped forward.
“Have you forgotten? Last night’s raid targeted the Young Master directly.
“……!”
“There is a traitor within Kazan.”
Cyril and Rud’s gazes fixed on Rainer.
“We have no information on how many there are, what their capabilities are, or anything else. Until we find out and eliminate the traitors, the Young Master must not leave the castle.”
“Even so, a sick visit…”
“You cannot. Have you forgotten? The wyverns of the Black Mane tribe were not annihilated.”
“Tch.”
Rainer bit his lip.
Rud was right.
The Iron Scale tribe’s dive-bombing raids are basically divided into vanguard and rearguard attacks.
What Daniel handled was only the vanguard.
The eight wyverns that had circled above Kazan and retreated last night flashed through his mind.
“Damn. It can’t be helped. Handle it as quickly as possible.”
“Thank you for heeding my opinion.”
Rud bowed at the waist.
Cyril approached Rainer, who had slumped into a chair with an annoyed expression.
“Young Master. Rather than being disappointed now, there is something you must do.”
“Something I must do? What is it?”
“You must write a letter.”
“A letter? A get-well letter to Sir Daniel?”
“That is important as well, but what I mean is a report letter to the Grand Duke.”
“……!?”
Rainer’s expression changed completely.
“You need not write falsehoods. Choosing Sir Daniel over other permanent positions was the Young Master’s choice. Even if you report yesterday’s events exactly as they happened, the Grand Duke will recognize this as an achievement shared by Sir Daniel and the Young Master.”
“My achievement…”
“Surely the Young Master knows best what results that will bring.”
He couldn’t not know.
The Iron Scale tribe, hated by all in the North.
He had succeeded in capturing twelve of the Iron Scale tribe’s wyverns, and with an unbelievable record of zero casualties at that.
He could clearly see what reaction his father would show upon hearing this report.
He would become the true successor to the Northern Grand Duke, not merely a candidate.
The fulfillment of a dream.
His heart pounded at the mere imagination.
“…I never thought the cornerstone solidifying the position I so desired would be completed like this.”
Rainer looked out the window.
He saw citizens coming and going on the peaceful street where the sunset was falling.
The peace of Kazan and the power of the future.
Rainer laughed emptily, having received these two gifts simultaneously.
“I should be giving gifts yet I’ve received a grand one instead. This is too large a debt.”
“You need not think so complicatedly. If you’ve incurred a debt, you simply pay it back, do you not?”
“It’s too large to bear.”
“Once you become the Northern Grand Duke, you will pay it back in no time.”
“Hahahaha! Indeed. Cyril. You are right.”
Rainer’s laughter echoed through the office.
There was a mountain of work to do.
The report letter, damage assessment, organizing merits, budget allocation, and more.
But strangely, he didn’t feel exhausted or tired.
The reason was simple.
‘Because Kazan is smiling.’
From this fact alone, strength welled up from nowhere.
“Hurry and rise, Sir Daniel. There are so many people waiting for you.”