A rare sight indeed—a young woman with a small child on her back, running like that.
Moreover, if her speed was so great that an ordinary person’s eyes could scarcely follow, it was all the more strange.
A young woman with pointed ears and the small child riding upon her.
Needless to say, it was Airaits and Freya.
“Little one, is this the right direction?”
『No! A little more to the left!』
“I can’t see your text with you on my back.”
At that, Freya stretched her head forward, bringing it right beside Airaits’s face.
『More to the left!!!』
“…If you shove your face in like that, I can’t see ahead. You impudent little brat.”
『I’m not a brat, I’m Freya!』
“Fine, so move your face.”
Movements so swift that ordinary eyes could hardly follow.
Her original body had been exceptional as well, with base stats pushed to the limit, but the elf body she had obtained this time was no less impressive.
No, perhaps even more so.
Elasticity and flexibility that simply could not be obtained through base stats alone.
And her agility surpassed even that of her original body, which had already boasted maxed-out stats.
Even carrying Freya, she moved swiftly, following the dragon’s trail.
“Are you holding on properly?”
When focused on running, there were moments when Freya’s weight could not be felt at all.
So light that she could not even tell if Freya was still firmly attached to her back.
『Of course!』
At that, Freya suddenly stuck her head forward again, displaying characters like a brilliant neon sign.
『Hurry!』
“I am hurrying.”
『I think we’re almost there!』
“I know that much too.”
『They must be in battle!』
“If you keep stating the obvious, put your head back in.”
『Something… doesn’t feel right!』
“So you think I can’t see?”
By now, Airaits could also pinpoint the exact direction.
Even without Freya’s words, a massive energy could be felt distinctly.
Lightning striking the dark-clouded sky in the distance.
Thunder mixed in the trembling air.
Between those flashes, a gigantic form slowly came into view.
A dragon the size of a castle.
『What you see over there is Erial! It’s huge, right?』
“Quite impressive.”
『Up close, it’s even more amazing! Incredibly strong, so magnificent it makes your heart tremble, and when fully awakened, incredibly wise, and they say it can keep using magic too!』
“Hmph. Even so, one skill from Hio would probably kill it, no?”
『Gasp! (꒪ȏ꒪)』
She spoke as such, but Airaits could clearly feel it too.
Was this not the body of an elf, originally blessed by nature and the most noble of all?
The battlefield in the sky.
The colossal masses of energy felt from that place.
The presence of each and every being there was so overwhelming that residual energy spread even to where they stood.
She could feel them clashing, each carrying their own conviction.
Even among such beings gathered together, the greatest was undoubtedly the caliber of the dragon’s soul and its overwhelming magical power.
Alongside it, some other, new energy—an abyssal energy—swelled in size like magical power.
The presence derived from it was clearly superior to the other two beings.
『The mage will surely return Erial to normal.』
“Return to normal. You mean that dragon will become our ally?”
『Of course! Then Mister Regarda will be happy, and Mister Isidore and Mister Mutins will be happy too!』
“You really believe everyone will be happy if that thing comes to its senses.”
『I’ve heard Erial is strong and wise and can do anything. So it’ll be able to solve a lot of problems!』
“Strong, beautiful in form, and wise, so there is nothing it cannot do.”
『Yes!! I read in a book before that Erial is…』
If the conversation proceeded that way, Airaits could not help but harbor a question.
So she interrupted the rapid-fire flood of Erial praise that Freya was excitedly spouting out.
“You are a piece of the dragon.”
Listening to Freya’s words, it almost sounded like—
“You’re speaking as if you admire the dragon.”
—as if she and the dragon were separate beings, and she admired it from afar.
As far as Airaits understood, Freya was also a part of the dragon.
Yet in Freya’s words, which treated them as distinct entities as if they were entirely different beings, there existed a powerful longing.
What followed was silence instead of an answer.
Freya was uncharacteristically at a loss for words.
Airaits did not add anything further either.
Some time passed like that.
『Well… Erial and I are clearly the same, but different beings.』
“I can’t see what you’re saying.”
『Ugh…』
Freya pressed her face right beside Airaits’s face again.
『Erial and I are the same, but different beings!』
They were clearly the same soul, for was not the dragon originally a being of such high caliber?
It could separate a fragment of itself to create a distinct living being, and thus Freya was born.
And yet the other fragments before her had excelled in many aspects befitting pieces of a dragon, but…
『I’m a piece that can’t do anything—the most useless piece in history.』
Honestly, she could not even find the reason why she had been born.
Isidore and the other elves always said there must be Erial’s will behind it.
They told Freya herself that she would surely lead Arilreia from that high place someday.
Because they told her so.
Because they held hope when they looked at her, she had tried endlessly, but nothing worked out.
Not magic, nor the dragon tongue.
She could not even speak, a mute who had to borrow the power of an artifact.
『The only thing I could do was imagine.』
Imagining and longing for the appearance of the awakened Erial—that appearance which she could not remember and had only seen in pictures.
When magic would not manifest despite challenging it all day.
When feeling dejected and frustrated by circles that would not complete, she would recall that image of Erial.
Then her heart would feel much more at ease.
Though she was less than a good-for-nothing who could do nothing, her true body would be beautiful, strong, and wise.
『Anyway, once Erial returns, everything will be resolved! It’s okay now! ٩( °ꇴ °)۶』
If only she could, she would gladly trade her own disappearance to awaken Erial.
After all, no one would notice if such a small fragment vanished.
Despite her thoughts, Freya displayed text with a brave expression.
Though she could not see that expression, Airaits did not stop running and spoke flatly.
“Don’t hold such excessive admiration, no matter what.”
Even though she did not know Freya well yet, she knew this from her own experience.
“You want to become like that dragon.”
Freya surely wanted to become like that.
Longing for it so intensely.
How could she not notice that heat right in front of her?
A dragon which she herself described as incredibly strong, incredibly beautiful, and incredibly wise.
“If you want to become like that, admiration alone won’t suffice.”
In Airaits’s eyes, Freya needed to steel her heart more.
Of course, she probably could not understand that right now.
“There is no denying that you are a piece of that dragon, after all.”
『Then, Big Sis, don’t you admire the mage?』
“Admiration and love are entirely different things.”
『(｡・ω・｡)?』
Though it was hard to understand, her answer was vigorous.
『Yes! Big Sis!』
“Don’t call me Big Sis.”
『Yes! Big Sis!』
In that manner, the two diligently pressed forward.
At this speed, they would not need much longer to arrive.
In the sky above, the dragon’s form was growing ever larger, and the chaotic battle was slowly becoming visible as well.
It was around that time.
As the two’s words gradually dwindled and they gazed at the sky with quietly mounting tension—
in the direction they were headed, the distant sky began to split.
A sacred light filled that rift.
The figure of a goddess revealed itself above the storm clouds.
Before they knew it, the lightning and thunder had ceased, and what poured down was a golden radiance.
A rapturous, sacred miracle.
Within it.
“….”
The dragon was falling.
* * *
A life in which I could not protect anything.
A truly worthless existence.
Looking back, it was surely a life that had meaning.
A life that had goals and hope.
But what remained in a life reflected upon at the brink of death?
A life completed through protection—I could not protect anything, so what could remain?
I had surely stood before Erial.
I stood with my back to that figure writhing in agony and lamented.
At that time, the mage was not looking at me.
The mage’s eyes, turned elsewhere, were full of questions.
Now, too, my eyes are filled with questions.
Surely I had been in front of Erial.
The undead body that does not rot was burning away and would soon crumble completely.
That was certain.
Then why am I still alive?
Lying on my back looking up at the clouded sky?
Why has my body, which was turning to ash, become whole again?
If I could not protect, if there was nothing to protect, I had at least tried to die together.
Was even that too much to ask?
I stagger to my feet.
Turning around just like that, a gigantic dragon comes into view.
A dragon lying on the ground, quiet as if it had fallen asleep.
Could the mage have accomplished something?
To put Erial back to sleep and find a way to purify its soul.
Would they not tell me so?
I realized that thought was wrong before I could even take a single step.
Because I could not feel its soul.
The dragon’s soul, which had always existed, had now completely vanished.
With nothing felt at all, it was impossible not to know.
Erial.
I call out, but no answer returns.
Staggering, I arrive before Erial.
The dragon body remains the same.
The green scales returned once more.
Endless magical power.
A strong body without a single scratch.
That quiet, prone figure was just like a thousand years ago.
No different from a few days ago.
Soon the mage will come grumbling.
And yet, as always, will begin the purification magic.
I would stand blankly beside it, feeling Erial’s soul slowly returning.
Feeling the slowly returning hope, I would protect its side as always—did it not seem like that would be enough?
Of course, this was a vain delusion.
A soul no longer felt.
Eyelids that would never lift again.
A voice that could no longer be heard.
What should I have done?
Where and what had gone wrong?
Was the timing wrong?
Should I have started after resolving the ominous Gate?
No, if only I had completely blocked the Gate so that no energy could leak out.
If only I had accepted death meekly a thousand years ago, without holding vain hope.
If only I had been by Erial’s side that day from the very beginning.
Would something have changed?
At least, might you not have had to suffer and perish so?
I cannot know where in the past things went awry.
I know only one thing.
That everything has become meaningless.
Even the endurance of a thousand years.
The hope, the mission, harbored all this time.
The promise to meet with a smile, the resolve to surely protect.
One who lived to protect had not protected a single thing.
What have I done?
What value did my thousand years hold?
The answer came.
That it held no value whatsoever.
Now there is nothing left to protect, no reason to protect.
Not even vain hope remained.
Erial sleeping peacefully.
A dragon that has entered eternal rest, never to awaken again.
Gaze still fixed on the dead dragon, I slowly open my mouth.
“…Please, kill me now.”
I feel as though I have been left alone in the world.
* * *
“…Please, kill me now.”
Regarda speaks thus, gazing endlessly at the dead dragon.
What words could be spoken to him?
I could neither kill him as he wished, nor tell him to cheer up and try to live.
Whatever the reason or process, it was Hio who killed the dragon.
Would not the very act of uttering any words be a deception toward him?
Countless sentences I wished to convey flashed through my mind.
I’m sorry.
It is my fault.
If only I had directly captured the Gate.
If only I had predicted that the dragon exposed to that energy could awaken.
Even so, Erial would want you to live.
Of course, not a single one was uttered aloud.
Because I had already seen.
The eyes of Regarda, who had endured steadfastly for a thousand years.
Those pupils that once gleamed with conviction, now emptied.
The eyes of one who has lost all hope, goals, mission, and reason for living.
Whatever words were spoken, they would not return Regarda’s goals or reason for living.
They would not be able to fill that empty heart.
“…I was the most pathetic dragon knight in the world, but.”
Regarda opens his mouth once more.
In his emptied eyes, only the image of the dead dragon remained.
“…Still, let me at least share death with you.”
The meeting after a thousand years of waiting was all too brief and heartbreaking.
If only they could be together at least in death.
If there is a next life, I wish to face you long there, at least.
“…I beg you. Kill me.”
Raindrops begin to fall from the thick, laden storm clouds.
It soaks Hio’s head.
It settles upon the dead dragon too.
It trickles down below Regarda’s empty eyes.
It had always been like this.
Wherever the Thunder Emperor passed, thick storm clouds always lingered.
Lightning is splendid and majestic, but heavy weeping always follows in its wake.
It had always been so.
The village of Delphir where the Thunder Emperor first awakened.
The war at Waileudley Plains.
The tragedy at Imenia Academy.
The villain at the summit of the Gray Castle.
He had called upon the power of lightning to prevent misfortune, yet lightning only brought storm clouds in the end.
Dark storm clouds eventually pour down rain.
Swoosh—no one bothered to block the pouring rain.
The already-dead dragon need not be mentioned, and one who was as good as dead was no different.
Amidst it all, only Hio looks up at the sky pouring down rain.
Because he knew.
He waited, knowing from much experience.
It had always been that way.
In Delphir village.
In Waileudley.
At Imenia Academy and the summit of the Gray Castle.
Because it had always been so, Hio knew.
That when lightning ceases, rain falls.
And when the rain ceases,
『…Mister Regarda!』
—that the sun would surely rise again.