The goddess’s touch they had glimpsed when they had almost reached the battlefield.
And the falling dragon.
It was only natural that unease welled up in Freya’s heart.
And then, after a short while.
『……Huh? Huh?』
Even the presence of the soul she had felt so clearly vanished completely.
Only then was she certain that something had gone terribly, terribly wrong.
Just as she had expected, the atmosphere at the scene was disastrous.
The sight of the dragon lying as if dead in the pouring rain.
Regarda staring at it blankly, and Hio behind him.
Heavy raindrops beat fiercely down upon them, yet not one of them moved.
Though the sound of rain should have filled the air, they were wrapped in silence.
『Uncle Regarda!』
Freya, standing with her feet on the ground, called out to Regarda with all her might, but the silence remained unbroken.
Freya had been born unable to speak.
No matter how brightly she flashed her ornate letters, once the other person had turned his back, they could not reach him.
They could only converse when they were facing one another.
『Uncle Regarda…….』
Even so, Freya slowly approached Regarda.
Though she knew her words would never reach him, she kept speaking to him.
The first story she had heard after opening her eyes to the world had been about her original body, Ariel, and the knight who protected her, Regarda Obier.
She had thought it was wonderful.
A knight who had endured a thousand years, far beyond his lifespan, for the sake of protecting one single being.
A knight who, together with a great mage, sealed a dragon deep within the island, and from that day onward began protecting all of Arilleiya.
The more she admired him, the heavier the sense of responsibility became.
Because if she failed, Regarda’s mission would never be fulfilled.
And so Freya, too, had done her utmost for her mission.
To awaken Ariel and return her to her original state.
Everyone had said that this must be her mission, so surely it was.
Though she was a half-wit who could not even speak.
Though she was a foolish fragment of a dragon who could not properly complete even a single Circle, everything depended on her hands.
Arilleiya’s expectations, and Regarda’s long mission and hopes as well, all rested in her painfully inadequate hands, so she had done her best.
Because she had done her best, she could understand, however faintly.
How empty it felt when all of it came to nothing.
When the mage ultimately summoned the dragon and began purifying it, even amid her joy, there had been a hollow feeling in one corner of her heart.
Then what use did she have now?
Now that someone else had resolved what she had believed to be her mission, why did she exist?
For what purpose had she needed to be born?
She could not fathom the intention at all, and the conclusion she reached about herself was rather miserable.
A “failed work,” or “Ariel’s mistake.”
If not that, why would anyone have gone out of their way to create someone as useless as her?
Though she had reached such a conclusion, the reason her heart had not sunk into the deep abyss was thanks to the help of many people.
—If you keep trying, someday you’ll manage it.
—Let’s try together, Freya.
The encouragement of the mage Hio.
—Because you exist, all the people of Arilleiya are able to hold hope and live with vitality. Thank you, Freya.
Isidore’s gratitude.
—Are you not a great dragon, Lady Freya?
The words of countless people like that had piled up, one upon another, and supported her sinking heart.
Because she knew that.
Because she knew just how much strength every one of those words could give, Freya approached Regarda.
Toward that empty back, which stared endlessly at the dead dragon without regard for the pouring rain, she continued to speak.
『It’s all right…… It’s all right, Uncle Regarda.』
Even she, who had lived such a short life, had felt that degree of emptiness. What, then, must Regarda be feeling now?
Perhaps comparing it to her small experience at all was absurd.
A man who had endured a thousand years for the sake of a single being.
Who could dare fathom how he felt now that it had ended in an instant?
Even so, Freya did not stop walking.
Because the back that had always stood firm with unwavering conviction now looked far too precarious.
『Everything will be all right.』
She did not know what words she ought to convey. She did not even know what she was saying.
Of course, they were words that would not be conveyed.
How could mere letters that could not carry emotion possibly comfort him?
Even though Regarda’s gaze would never turn this way, Freya continued approaching him.
Continuing to strive in order to offer words that would never reach.
* * *
—Tell me honestly.
Fournel’s voice whispered furtively, like that of a devil.
—When that child had just arrived, what were you thinking?
At Fournel’s question, Hio shrugged with an expression that said he had no idea.
“Hm? I wasn’t thinking anything.”
—Tsk, tsk…… You may as well try deceiving a ghost. Be honest. Did a rather fine idea not occur to you? For the record, I was in favor.
“What are you talking about…… Don’t tell me you mean something like, I was thinking of killing the perfectly fine Freya, extracting her soul, and then performing Kreutzwald-style necromancy on Ariel’s body? Not at all. I wasn’t.”
—……You thought that far, did you?
“…….”
Hio was at a loss for words.
Of course, he had no intention of actually doing it, but it was true that the thought had occurred to him.
Freya had originally been a part of a vast soul.
What soul could possibly meet the conditions for Kreutzwald-style necromancy better than hers?
There was, however, an extremely serious problem: he would have to turn the soul of the perfectly fine Freya into a dead soul.
That was why he had thought of it, but had no intention of carrying it out.
—As expected, you will make an excellent necromancer.
“……In any case, it seems there’s no need for that anymore, so that’s a relief.”
—I agree. Since ancient times, dragons and all things related to them have been veiled in mystery and full of wonders…… but this truly is mystical.
The scene they watched from a short distance away after stepping back.
It was nothing special.
Freya, having arrived at the scene, was merely approaching Regarda.
And in doing so, she was naturally drawing closer to the dead dragon, Ariel.
But what if, in the process, Freya’s body shone like a star?
What if it seemed as though she were scattering faintly away?
—This is hidden magic inscribed by the dragon herself.
Freya was already magic in and of herself.
—Judging by the activation condition, it is the dragon’s death. Or that child approaching after the complete extinction of the soul.
The truth that could be understood from that was rather cruel.
—The dragon must have foreseen that she would die.
And so she had separated the purest soul and sent it up.
Leaving magic upon it so that, someday, Freya could take the place of the body that would be left only as a shell.
“There will be all sorts of severe side effects.”
—Naturally. The difference in their levels is extreme, and there is no guarantee that the child will be able to handle the body of a supreme lifeform. The dragon, more than anyone, would have known the worth of her own body.
The body of a dragon, its soul departed and only its shell remaining.
If this truth became known, it would not be strange at all for a war on the scale of the continent to break out over possession of it.
On what part of that small, young soul—of that purely innocent soul—had she placed her faith, to entrust such a heavy burden, such a vague plan?
—They say dragons have a method to annihilate their own bodies because those bodies invite countless greed. And yet, instead of doing so, she sent that child……
The answer was simple.
“……She must have known that Regarda was still here.”
She must have known that the only one she could rely on had continued carrying out his mission until now.
Could there be any other reason?
Regarda Obier.
Because the dragon’s knight had promised.
Because she knew that he would, without fail, keep his promise and protect his mission no matter what it took.
Even as she foresaw her own extinction, she trusted in that and created Freya.
Perhaps that had also been her wish that Regarda continue living.
“In any case, it’s truly an astonishing sight.”
With each step Freya took, her body gradually crumbled, becoming stardust that scattered into the air.
The stardust that shone in the exceptionally deep darkness gathered one by one and entered Ariel’s body.
『It’s all right…… Everything will be all right.』
The only ones who failed to notice were Freya herself and Regarda, who had lost his senses.
But even failing to notice had its limits.
Before long, Freya had arrived directly behind Regarda, and that star-like glitter had surpassed all bounds.
Only then did Regarda turn around, but.
『Regarda.』
All he saw before his eyes were fragments that had become stardust, flying away as they embroidered the night.
And behind Regarda, who had turned his head, the dragon’s heavy eyelids began to move, little by little.
—A wondrous magic indeed.
At some point, the rain had stopped.
* * *
Was it an auditory hallucination?
“Regarda.”
It was unmistakably a voice calling him.
A voice he could never forget even if he tried.
So familiar that it felt instead unfamiliar, it was undoubtedly Ariel’s voice.
“Ariel……?”
Though he knew it could not be, he turned around, and what appeared before his eyes then was a terribly small…… yet equally bright dust of stars.
What was this now?
He had known that one unfamiliar presence and one familiar presence had appeared.
He had known that the familiar one among them was Freya.
Regarda had also been aware that she was approaching him.
There had simply been no reason, no meaning, to pay it any mind.
No—he had simply lost the meaning of living itself.
Freya was one of the fragments of Ariel’s soul.
He knew that fact, but because of it, he also knew that the two were different beings.
Ariel was not clumsy, did not struggle over basic magic, did not smile brightly like a child, and was not someone he had to worry would catch cold when night fell.
And so the two were different beings.
And the one behind him was certainly Freya.
Not Ariel, but Freya’s clear presence.
It had definitely been so.
Then.
“…….”
What was this dazzling stardust?
Was this not unmistakably Ariel’s magic?
There was no way he would fail to recognize it.
As if…… just like back then.
It was exactly like the magic Ariel had first shown him when he had still been young.
“What…… are you trying to tell me, Ariel?”
What had she wanted to tell him through Freya?
What was it she wished to convey to him, even calling forth such splendid stardust?
The answer to that.
—Uh…… Huh?
Came from behind him.
—Why did everyone get so small…… Huh? My, my voice!
It was not an illusion.
Ariel’s voice.
The one chattering with it was clearly Freya’s young soul.
A fragment far too small compared to the original.
A faint soul that, far from governing the body, would instead be devoured by it if left as it was.
Regarda turned, and the sight of that dragon filled his vision.
—What’s going on…… Ah, Uncle Regarda! Are you all right?
Because he was Regarda. Because he was Regarda, who knew Ariel better than anyone, he immediately understood what had happened.
Ariel.
—So this was your choice.
The dragon who, as far as he knew, had been wiser than anything else in the world.
Could such an Ariel have failed to foresee her own irreversible state?
And so Regarda quietly looked up at the dragon.
The green dragon who had become Freya, not Ariel.
A fragile soul that seemed less capable of presiding over the wind than of being swept away by it.
—My body feels a little strange…… Waaah! What is this!
Instead of eyes that had always been tranquil and profound, green eyes now sparkled with all manner of unease and worry, curiosity and interest.
—A, a dragon! I’ve become a dragon, Uncle Regarda!
Regarda knew that this phenomenon could not last for very long.
A supreme body required a soul befitting it.
Without one, before long, it would exhaust itself and be devoured.
To govern a dragon’s body, the level of the soul would have to be raised quickly.
—I’m a dragooon! And I have a voice toooo! Wooow!
And in this world, the only one who knew how to do that was likely Regarda.
It would not be greatly difficult.
He simply had to teach her.
Though he had never done it himself, the years he had watched from beside her, the years he had remembered and reminisced, were endlessly vast.
A dragon’s etiquette, dignity, how to walk, how to fly, how to transform the main body.
He simply had to teach her.
—But…… why am I a dragon……?
Just as Ariel had once taught him.
Now, he simply had to teach Freya.
—Freya.
For a dragon’s knight was one who was always with a dragon.
—As the last dragon, carry yourself with dignity.
As Regarda said those words, a faint smile settled on his lips.
Whether it was a smile of regret at sending off an old friend, a smile at her choice.
Or whether it was a laugh brought on by Freya’s awkwardness, perhaps even he did not know what that smile meant.
However, what he would have to ponder was this.
—I, too, shall fulfill my mission as the last dragon’s knight.
Had he kept his promise to be smiling when she opened her eyes again?
Or had he not?
—There is much to teach you.
It was something he would have to ponder slowly as he lived on.