Episode 20

Horen, the capital of the Kingdom of Konia.

The capital, Horen, had a famous landmark: the tallest, largest, and oldest clock tower in all the Kingdom of Konia.

Not only was it engraved with splendid patterns, but the clock mounted on the tower was studded with jewels whose value no one would dare appraise, and the bell that rang every evening at six was clear and beautiful.

And now, as evening turned to six, the bell rang.

At the deep, resonant sound, just as always, a few people near the clock tower stopped what they were doing and listened.

So did a little boy who lived near the clock tower.

As he always did, the little boy dashed out of his house the moment the bell began to ring. If he ran until he was out of breath, he could see the enormous clock tower in the square.

Before long, the boy reached the square and looked up at the clock tower against a sky tinted with the orange and pink of the setting sun.

But today, there was something different.

On the pointed roof of the clock tower, where no person could possibly climb, stood a white-haired man.

Despite standing in a place fraught with danger, the man had his arms spread wide, as if savoring the wind.

Startled, the boy immediately ran back home, shouting, “Mom, there’s someone standing on top of the clock tower!”

Meanwhile, the someone standing atop the clock tower did not care, even though he had noticed the boy had seen him. He merely raised the corners of his mouth in pleasure and drew in a breath so deep his chest swelled.

Who knew how much time had passed before he finally opened his eyes.

Beneath the coral sky dyed by twilight, his dazzling white hair was tinted the same color. Only his cold blue eyes held a chill gleam.

The pupils, sharply slitted vertically within those eyes, expanded slightly and then contracted. He murmured in a low voice.

“Strangely enough, all the things that get in my way have gathered in this tiny country……”

The man brought together the arms he had spread and stretched them forward, slicing the air with them as though conducting. A smile still rested on his lips.

“I should have killed that wench first before I died. Then there would have been no need for all this repetition.”

After pouring out a string of incomprehensible words, he curled his right hand like a telescope and brought it to his eye. Through the circle of his fingers, his blue eye shone with a brilliance eerie enough to send a chill down one’s spine.

“First, run wild to your heart’s content, brother. You may kill those who stole your life, or kill the wench who toyed with me, or kill the humans gathered like a swarm of ants.”

He narrowed his eyes.

“But not that little one before your eyes.”

His narrowed eyes curved bleakly.

“Yes, certainly not. I have something to collect from that child……”

The moment he finished speaking, the wind that had seemed as if it would never cease stopped, and the little boy who had gone into the house to call his mother came out holding her hand. Then he pointed at the clock tower.

“Look over there, Mom! There’s someone there…… Huh?”

“Goodness, what are you saying is there? Mommy’s busy.”

For some reason, there was no one atop the clock tower the little boy pointed to.

Without a trace, as if everything the little boy had seen had been nothing but an illusion from the very beginning.

* * *

The person who received my apology widened his eyes slightly in surprise. Only then did I notice that his left cheek was swollen.

‘Is that Sion, the one Daiwen mentioned?’

Seeing that his cheek was still swollen made guilt spill through me.

Before long, he composed his expression.

“Please don’t apologize. I was the one who broke something precious to you first, wasn’t I, my lady?”

He and Daiwen twisted their swords at the same time, shaking off “that thing.”

Immediately after, Sion reached out to me, grabbed my shoulder, and pulled me close. I was suddenly embraced in his arms, then just as quickly separated and stood on guard against “that thing.”

Strangely, “that thing” remained still.

No, to be precise, it was staring at Daiwen and Sion without focus. For something that had been frantically searching for the Hugo Knights, its reaction was rather lukewarm.

Daiwen let out a deep sigh and lightly swung his sword through the air a few times, as if checking whether it was intact. Then he pointed toward the banquet hall.

“Rene, it’s dangerous, so go inside. And if anyone else tries to come out, stop them.”

They were quite reassuring words. Well, he was none other than a dragon slayer. He would surely subdue “that” without the slightest trouble.

Even so, I couldn’t flee into the banquet hall. For one thing, I was too worried about Catherine, who had collapsed……

And because of that sudden mission or whatever it was earlier, I simply couldn’t bring myself to go inside.

Of course, I knew that if these two held “that” off properly, it wouldn’t come chasing me all the way into the banquet hall.

But, what if……. What if the two of them lost “that,” and it chased after me?

Death.

I shook my head sharply, trying to erase the horrifying word blooming in my mind. Sion, who stood in front of me without lowering his guard, opened his mouth.

“My lady, please hurry inside……”

He never finished speaking. In an instant, the air around us grew so heavy it was hard to breathe.

With a gasp of surprise, I snapped my head up and saw “that thing,” which had looked dazed until just now, staring this way with its eyes wide open.

It was bloodlust.

“At last, we meet again, you verminous bastards!”

“That thing” roared so loudly my ears rang and my skin prickled. Yes, roared was the right word. It was far beyond what could dare be called shouting.

Without realizing it, I covered my ears and stared blankly at “that thing.” My feet wouldn’t move, as if they were glued to the ground. I had the illusion that the moment I so much as lifted one foot, death would come for me.

“You dare kill me? Mere humans, insignificant humans, dared to kill me!”

Driven into a frenzy, “that thing” finally swung its sword wildly through the air. Each time, the heavy air seemed to tear at my skin.

If Sion had not blocked the way in front of me as if to protect me, I might have collapsed right then and there.

I asked in a trembling voice.

“What is that……. No, what is that person saying right now? Who killed whom?”

“That is not a person right now. It’s a half-dragon.”

A half-dragon?

“Remember the dragon bone I mentioned earlier?”

Daiwen asked in a subdued voice as I stared in confusion.

When I looked at him silently instead of answering, he swept back the hair stuck to his forehead with sweat. For an instant, I glimpsed a gash on his forehead. It was clean, though, as if he had wiped away the blood.

Somehow, he looked seriously unwell. Not simply because his forehead was cut, but as if he had a fever.

“It contains a dragon’s spirit. Publicly, it’s called a dragon’s mana, though.”

“What is that?”

“A dragon’s spirit, exactly as it sounds. When dragons die, they stubbornly refuse to disappear, and their spirits dwell in their bones. And when those bones fall into human hands, they erode them like that.”

Daiwen let out a long breath and continued.

“There. Do you see the pommel?”

With the thin-bladed sword, he pointed at the handle of the sword held by “that thing.” More precisely, at the jewel attached to the end of the handle.

“That pommel looks familiar, doesn’t it?”

“Oh, that’s……”

“Yes, the one that was on the cane earlier.”

Sure enough, as he said, that jewel was the pitch-black gem that had been set into the handle of the count’s cane.

“What? Why is that jewel on a sword……”

“When a dragon’s spirit erodes a human, the bone transforms. In other words, that cane turned into a sword. That stupid count must have taken back the cane that had been taken from him……. and then been eroded by the dragon’s spirit.”

“Eroded?”

“To put it simply, the spirit of the dragon we killed last time has entered that count’s body.”

“……Why on earth did the count have such a dangerous object?”

I asked once more, unable to understand, but Daiwen very visibly changed the subject.

“In any case, it was dangerous, so we confiscated the staff from that count. Looks like he somehow took it back. To steal it from Hezard... I didn’t think much of that count, but he’s quite something.”

Is that really what you’re saying right now? I wanted to snap back at him, but I held it in.

At any rate, I now understood what had happened earlier. For example, the scales that had sprouted on his body, or the way he had talked to himself as if two people were having a conversation.

If all of that was because of the dragon, then it made sense. I had a strong feeling that the arm that had been cut off growing back might have been because of that too.

“Then you Sirs can easily defeat that much, can’t you? Right?”

Judging from the way Daiwen had said “we” killed it, Sion must also be a dragon slayer. Since its shell was human, it should be even easier to subdue.

But for some reason, neither Daiwen nor Sion answered me.

I hadn’t asked expecting an answer, but it made me strangely uneasy.

“Why aren’t you answering? Sirs, aren’t you dragon slayers? Aren’t you people who kill dragons like it’s nothing, like eating meals?”

“Why do you think?”

The ones I had asked were Daiwen and Sion, but the answer flowed from “it,” the half-dragon.

Startled, I turned my head to see the half-dragon giggling as he lowered his waist like a beast again. His coarse hair, which fell to his shoulders, slid down.

“Because they’re not confident, you primitive thing.”

The half-dragon kicked off the ground. At the same time, Daiwen, who had been nearby, rushed out. The moment the two collided, a sharp clang of metal rang out. His reaction speed was astonishingly quick.

Unlike his lack of answer, seeing Daiwen easily block the half-dragon’s attack reassured me.

‘Then I’ll get Catherine...’

I hurriedly moved my feet, then stopped and tugged on the hem of Sion’s clothes. He had been watching the two face off, as if he had no intention of helping Daiwen, but when I pointed to the people who had collapsed, he silently followed me.

“It looks like a lot because it’s the blood of three people, but the wounds aren’t that fatal. It seems they were all simply knocked unconscious in a single blow.”

After quickly looking over the three of them, he spoke as if to reassure me.

“What about stopping the bleeding? Don’t we have to stop the bleeding?”

“It should be fine as long as we raise the wounds above their hearts.”

“Don’t say something so ridiculous. These people aren’t battle-hardened knights like you, Sir. They’re ordinary people.”

“But the only cloth I have to apply pressure with is this small handkerchief.”

Cloth? Cloth to apply pressure with? When he said that with a troubled expression, I didn’t think twice before lifting my skirt and tearing at my petticoat.

Sion seemed slightly surprised, but soon tore the cloth I handed him into several strips and staunched their bleeding.

I brushed Catherine’s sweat-soaked forehead with my fingers. Hearing that her wound wasn’t fatal made my heart much lighter.

Just then, I heard the sound of cloth tearing again by my ear.

When I lifted my head, Sion was biting the small handkerchief in his teeth and tearing it in half.

‘But he already stopped the bleeding for all three of them. Why?’

As I stared blankly, he tore away the blood-soaked hem of my clothing and wrapped the handkerchief over it. When the throbbing sensation came back to life, I realized faintly that I, too, was injured.

“Fortunately, it doesn’t seem to be a deep wound. Even so, it’s still dangerous, so please evacuate at once.”

“...Uh, um. Even if I say I don’t want to, are you still going to send me inside?”

At the words I barely managed to spit out after hesitating and hesitating, Sion moved only his eyes to stare at me. It seemed as if he were asking what I meant. Flustered by that gaze, I started babbling whatever came to mind.

“I-If I go into the banquet hall and that half-dragon happens to follow me, then everyone will die, right?”

“....”

“If I’m destined to die no matter what... then rather than dragging others into it, dying here would be... I-I know it sounds strange, but....”

What on earth am I saying?

I lowered my gaze and let my words trail off. To think I was saying such pointless things to someone I was only meeting for the second time—and whose first meeting with me had undoubtedly been the worst.

Well done. At this rate, I’ll even tell him I’ve possessed a character in a novel.

“Who is dying?”

Then he asked, utterly dryly. When I lifted my gaze at that indifferent question, I saw Sion’s blue eyes.