Volume 8
Chapter 40
The guest hall of the
Francilt mansion was so quiet, it was as if time had stopped. Victor and the
others wore expressions of shock, while Vitora smiled meaningfully, as if to
say, "You're finally here."
Then, Victor's shocked expression instantly hardened. Irisdina ignored the
furious gaze from her father and stepped forward.
"My apologies for
suddenly interrupting your meeting. But we, as sisters, request to participate
in this discussion."
"This place is
off-limits to unauthorized personnel. Mena, remove them at once."
The fact that he
didn't raise his voice despite being furious is truly commendable. However, the
low voice, forced out through gritted teeth, was laden with a heavy,
gut-wrenching anger.
"Let them be.
They are, after all, involved. Besides, those resolved eyes... They are very
much to my liking."
The vampire princess,
a joyous smile on her face, stopped Victor. Her gaze was no longer on him, but
on the two girls who had interrupted the meeting. Perhaps due to Vitora's
magic, the fire in the guest hall's fireplace had already vanished, making the
room as cold as the air outside.
"Hmm. It may be
pointless to ask, but I'll ask anyway. Why did you come here?"
"For the sake of
a new contract between you, Vitora-dono, and our family."
"I see. So you
heard the discussion properly. And you understand its meaning."
"Wait! I have not
approved this!"
The mask Victor had
been desperately wearing was torn away.
"Ah, your resolve
is fine, but unfortunately for you, the moment this girl arrived, your
importance plummeted."
Victor's rage was so
intense it seemed it might blow away the freezing cold. But the vampire
princess merely smiled faintly, brushing it off like a willow branch. Her gaze
was fixed on Irisdina and Somia. However, the two sisters sensed that Vitora's
gaze was looking through them, at someone else.
"And you, girl.
You realize it, don't you?"
"Yes. You aren't
looking at us. You are looking only... at him."
"That's right. My
primary interest is that 'Dragonslayer.'
Frankly, I could not care less about anything else."
At Vitora's clear use
of the word "Dragonslayer,"
Irisdina's expression hardened.
"...So you knew
he was a Dragonslayer."
"Yeah. Your
political rival... what was his name? Well, his female adjutant, a woman called
Mekuria, used a familiar to inform me."
"And what did she
ask for? What was her price?"
"Nothing. She
asked for nothing. She simply told me that Nozomu Bountis is a Dragonslayer, and that he defeated my
number one subordinate."
The vampire princess
nonchalantly revealed the source of her information. Vitora glanced at Rugato,
and the old butler bowed deeply, as if to affirm his master's words.
"A Dragonslayer. If such an existence is
here, I must see for myself... Fu, fufu."
A wind-like magic
power blew from the Death-Demon Princess's
body, sending her beautiful, glossy silver hair billowing. Sparkling ice
particles danced in the air, clinging to her hair.
"This is bad. I
just can't help but get excited when I think of Nozomu Bountis. How many
centuries has it been since I last lost control of my feelings like this?"
Vitora mused, deep in
emotion. Her deathly pale skin flushed an ecstatic crimson, and her empty eyes
wavered, like a young girl experiencing her first love.
"No, this is the
first time. The 'real' Dragonslayer,
spoken of in legends. It is impossible to ask me not to be expectant..."
"Guh!"
The next moment, an
exceptionally violent gust of magic power raged. The furniture in the guest
hall was blown away, and the empowered wind stripped the wallpaper from the
walls. The torn wallpaper instantly froze and shattered, scattering like
powdered snow.
"Ah, my
apologies. I am not doing this intentionally. This is simply... normal for me. It
seems I thought about him too much, and my restraints have come off."
Even as she
apologized, Vitora made no attempt to suppress her power. No, she no longer had
any intention of holding back. The moment Irisdina and the others arrived, that
necessity had vanished.
"I was born with
power far greater than any other vampire in history. Just by living, I
indiscriminately affect my surroundings. It is snowing outside even now, is it
not? That, too, is the effect of my power."
An overwhelming
presence. Even from Irisdina's perspective, Vitora's intimidating aura was in
no way inferior to that of Zonne or Azel of the dragon clan. A freezing magic
raged. But within that storm, Irisdina sensed the presence of another power,
one that wasn't magic.
"This is... not
just magic power..."
"Ah. It is the
power you call 'elemental essence.'
My late father told me. That I am an 'atavism.'"
"Like a..."
"A monster, you
would say? Fufufu..."
Vitora's red lips
twisted into a terrifying, mocking laugh. A crimson crescent, carved into her
doll-like face. Her appearance was so dreadful it was chilling, and yet so
beautiful it was impossible to look away.
"Now then, shall
we begin?"
"Mena, get them
out of here!"
Just as Vitora began
to step toward Irisdina, Victor leaped, rushing at the Death-Demon Princess. Mena moved in sync with him. But Vitora
didn't even glance at the father and attendant, who were acting for the
daughters' sake.
"Rugato."
"Yes."
At the tranquil call
from that ominous yet beautiful face, Rugato moved. With the delicate speed of
flowing water, he drew a magic circle and activated his spell. He bound Victor
and Mena, forcing them to prostrate themselves on the floor.
"Guh!"
"Now there will
be no interruptions. So, let us begin."
Vitora finally stood
before Irisdina and Somia. The vampire princess peered into the eyes of the
girl who would be her sacrifice, and her amused, upturned lips twisted even
further.
"Hmm,
fascinating. You show no fear or anger, even before me. Even my own people feel
no small amount of awe and terror..."
"It is because I
have decided. How I will live my life... and how I will use it."
"Hoh..."
Even as Vitora
revealed her true nature, Irisdina did not break her dignified stance. A fear
so intense it should have buckled her knees was assaulting her, yet her voice
was surprisingly firm.
"In the end, I
cannot bend my way of life. If I do, I will no longer be myself. And that... is
likely worse than death to me."
Irisdina's hand
scooped up her own pure white hair. It was the bond between her and the man she
loved. A calm, relieved smile, one unfitting this tense situation, graced her
lips. At this sudden, unexpected expression, Vitora's eyes widened, and for a
moment, she lost her composure. Ignoring Vitora's shock, Irisdina continued her
soliloquy.
"I had a path of
escape. But I chose not to take it. In that case, I will accept whatever
happens next."
"...! Good. In
that case, I have nothing more to say."
While inwardly
marveling at the human girl who had, if only for an instant, stolen her senses,
Vitora followed the urging of her own impulse and plunged her fangs into
Irisdina's neck.
***
A space of pure white
light. In this strange place with no up or down, Nozomu let out a confused
voice.
"Where is
this..."
"It's nice to
meet you... Nozomu Bountis."
At the sudden voice,
Nozomu turned. What he saw was a shining earring. The light-bearing earring
grew in intensity, forming a large sphere, which then began to change into a
human shape. When the light subsided, a single, beautiful man stood there.
"You are..."
"Mikael. The
former partner of Tiamat, whom you have taken in. My step-daughter... has been
in your care."
The White Dragon
Prince. With a dignified appearance and gentle tone befitting such a title,
Mikael introduced himself.
"It may be late
for this, but I wanted to talk. With you, who took her in, who harbors the
flames of vengeance, and yet walked a different path from us."
Mikael. The white
dragon from Tiamat's memories. The one she hated most. Nozomu had wanted to
speak with him, but now that they were face-to-face, he felt an indescribable
emotion welling up in his chest.
"Talk...?"
"You wanted to
know about her, about 'Tet,' and about her power, didn't you?"
"Yes... how can I
control Tiamat's power?"
"...First, no
matter how much that fae girl helps you, it is likely impossible for you to use
Tet's power as spirit magic, as we do. Perhaps, with many long years, it might
be possible, but the premise is that you have almost no aptitude for it."
At Nozomu's wish,
Mikael paused as if in thought, then stated, "The possibility of you using
spirit magic is practically zero."
"Therefore, you
have no choice but to wield Tet's power as your own. As the pure, untainted
power of a spirit of ruin, a calamity that destroys all, dyed in her screams
and hatred."
Nozomu nodded
slightly. He had been forced to understand his own lack of aptitude for
contract magic. Still, "practically impossible" meant there was a
tiny possibility. At the same time, Mikael noted, that possibility was entirely
due to the efforts of a certain fae girl.
"That is why you,
yourself, must control her power."
At Mikael's
declaration, Nozomu took a deep breath. Shina's embarrassed smile. Irisdina's
happy smile as she danced. He looked at his hands. He was holding the hair
ornament he'd made for Irisdina, and the spare mithril bell. The ornament, with
its purple Crowea flower, white
ribbon, and promised bell. Resolve welled up in his chest.
"So, why does
Tiamat hate you all so much? I thought you and she were comrades?"
"Ah, we were. But
our nation was destroyed. The cause... well, in a word, we all just got our
wires crossed."
Mikael continued. Alharant
had indeed prospered, becoming an ideal nation where humans, beasts, and
spirits lived in harmony.
"But, at the same
time, that became a great threat to others. Because there were other human
nations besides the one we built."
And, Mikael continued,
the people of Alharant, too, had become intoxicated by the power they had
obtained.
"But you were in
harmony with the spirits and beasts, weren't you? Why would you think that
way?"
"At first, we
truly were. We shared our consciousness, respected one another. But that was
only harmony within Alharant."
Unlike the powerful
dragons and spirits of fairy tales, most normal spirits have weak wills and are
easily influenced. The humans in Alharant began to feel disdain for other
humans who were not in harmony with the spirits. That disdain turned to
contempt, and the spirits and beasts slowly began to synchronize with them.
Before they knew it, the three groups came to believe their own values were
absolute.
"Within our small
community, humans, beasts, and spirits all made their world smaller. They
depended on each other, grew drunk on their power, and came to think their values
were the only right ones."
Nozomu held his breath
at Mikael's story, told with a faint smile, like a sinner's confession.
"Perfect harmony
was probably impossible from the start. If anything, what we created was
chaos..."
Mikael closed his eyes
for a moment, looking up as if at an unseen ceiling, and continued. Over time,
the embers of conflict grew, and hardline factions increased within Alharant.
"And, faced with
our rampaging 'children,' we dragons
also split. Some began to say we should no longer interfere with humans. Our
unity frayed. And then, the other four dragons, besides myself and Tet, decided
to destroy Alharant."
"You... abandoned
the people you had saved?"
"Yes. Among the
hardliners, some even appeared who held clear malice toward us dragons. Some of
them even had power we couldn't ignore. But even so, Alharant was still a
nation that could only maintain harmony with our power..."
Recalling Tiamat's
memories, Alharant was a land built upon the convergence of multiple dragon
veins, a place where the dragons' power had tamed the wild nature. If their
help disappeared, it would once again become a land of rampant disaster. In
other words, the other dragons believed they had to "clean up their own
mess" while they still held the power of life and death over their people.
From a human perspective, it was an infuriating story.
"That's...
arrogant."
"Ah, arrogant,
I'm sure. But they are dragons. The pinnacle of the spirits who uphold the
logic of this world. They could not leave alone an existence that threatened to
bring an excessive distortion to the world. Alharant was already, potentially,
holding that much distortion."
And so, the dragons
other than Tiamat decided to destroy their own nation.
"But Tet alone
didn't give up. Even as the others who had helped found Alharant abandoned it,
she kept telling herself, 'It's not too
late. We can still fix this.'"
Tiamat's past flashed
in Nozomu's mind. She, who had seen herself in the powerless people beaten down
by irrational disaster, and had desperately tried to save them. The "thank you" she received from those
she saved. How much of a salvation had that been for her? Nozomu, who had only
been able to stand up again thanks to Irisdina and the others, understood
Tiamat's feelings painfully well.
"Swayed by her
desperate cries, I also decided to lend Tet my strength, right up to the limit.
For Tet, who was shunned by her own kind, Alharant was her identity."
Empathy for Tiamat,
and a tightness in his chest. Nozomu grit his teeth.
"And then, that
incident happened."
"Incident?"
"One of our
comrades tried to stop Tet by force. And he died."
Died. At that word,
Nozomu's eyes widened. Ignoring his shock, Mikael continued.
"His elemental essence was absorbed by Tet...
and she began to rampage. Her rampaging power killed the other comrades who
tried to stop her, and Tet absorbed even more, different, excessive
power."
The ones who tried to
stop her died, and the source of the problem only grew stronger. It was the
worst possible domino effect.
"We dragons are
pure beings. Originally, we cannot inherit the power of a dragon who governs a
different elemental essence
attribute. But Tet was special. She could take in different elemental essence and make them her own.
It must have been an aptitude she was born with."
But even with that
aptitude, the massive amount of foreign power she'd absorbed consumed her body
and mind. Uncontrollable power and a cracking mind. Nozomu, who had also taken
in a dragon's power, understood the feeling of being torn apart.
"But even then,
she was barely holding onto her sanity. And I... I was the one who broke that
final chain."
Mikael's expression
twisted with a regret he couldn't possibly hide.
"At the time, I
had gone to the other dragon and human nations for a final negotiation. When I
returned, what I saw was Tet... having absorbed our friends' souls, rampaging,
and having destroyed most of the nation we held so dear."
In other words,
against her own will, she had laid hands on the very people she'd wanted to
protect.
"She said... she
said she hadn't meant to kill them. I didn't believe her. I... I called her a 'traitor'..."
The rest of the story
was as the legends told. Tiamat's reason was completely consumed by rage, and
her hatred turned on the dragons who denied her, the humans who betrayed her,
and the world itself. She destroyed Alharant, annihilated the rival human
nations, and bared her fangs even at the dragon clan. And Mikael, taking
responsibility, became the lynchpin of the seal, sealing her away along with
the land she had destroyed. When Mikael finished, an indescribable silence fell
between them.
"Well, that's
enough of our past."
Nozomu was momentarily
taken aback by the sudden change of topic, but he shook his head, refocusing.
He had wanted to know Tiamat's past, but what he wanted even more now was a way
to control the power he'd taken.
"There are two
ways to control her power. One is to control it with your own Ability. But I
don't know when that will become possible. And besides... things are getting
pretty bad out there."
"!"
Mikael waved his hand,
and a round, mirror-like object appeared behind him. It showed Shina,
surrounded by guards, her expression hollow. And Irisdina, convulsing as Vitora
bit her neck. What is going on!? As if sensing his turmoil, Mikael continued.
"The old fae,
fearing your existence, tried to pull his great-granddaughter away. By forcibly
sealing her mind."
Even after pulling her
away from her great-grandfather, Shina's doll-like expression didn't change. In
the floating mirror, Mimuru was grabbing her shoulders, desperately calling her
name, but the girl just stared into the void with empty eyes.
"The white-haired
girl, not wanting to worry you, decided to become a sacrifice herself. To
martyr herself for her noble, fleeting conviction."
Irisdina, her blood
being forcibly infused by Vitora, collapsed to her knees, clutching her
shoulder and trembling. From the fang marks on her neck, black, vein-like lines
began to spread across her pure white skin.
"Both of them are
women who have formed a strong bond with you. Just like Tet and I, once."
Mikael revealed, one
after another, the secrets Irisdina and Shina had so desperately hidden. The
facts, hurled at him like a raging wave, sent Nozomu's thoughts into a
whirlpool.
"The ritual the
fae girl performed on you was originally their marriage ceremony. A ritual to
bind souls at a deep level, a bond that lasts until death. And for your sake,
she willingly gave up the power to achieve her own dream."
The Blood Pact Ritual. The most sacred of
elven rituals, and one that was meant for marriage. It was the shape of the fae
girl's feelings for him, her wish to become his strength.
"The white-haired
girl decided to cut you, who was originally unrelated, away from this cursed
fate. She believed it was the best thing she could do for you."
That was the
conviction the proud girl could not yield. Her strength, which he had admired
and been captivated by. At the same time, it was the image of her crushing her
own, other feelings.
"!"
Nozomu's thoughts,
thrown into chaos, instantly turned to anger. An anger at himself, for not
knowing, for not noticing. He bit his lip, suppressing the urge to scream.
Mikael watched him, a look of envy on his face. For him, even that anger was an
emotion he had long since ceased to feel. In this empty, white space, he had
become an existence that did nothing but serve as a lynchpin to seal Tiamat.
"Now, I will tell
you the other method. The one you truly desire. It is to kill me, here, and
take my power."
"...Eh?"
"I am the
lynchpin sealing Tet. If you kill and absorb me, controlling her power will
become easier. My father likely gave me to you with that intention."
Even if his form had
changed, he was still a dragon. If Nozomu killed him, the succession of power
and memory—the usurpation—would occur without issue. At Mikael's resigned
words, Nozomu's boiling anger instantly cooled. Ignoring the confused Nozomu,
Mikael spread his arms, looking down at him with eyes that had given up
everything.
"Now, strike me
down. With this, you will be able to control her power. And you... you will be
able to save them."
Before he knew it, his
beloved katana was in his hand. The blade that had cut down his enemies and
carved open his path. Its dull gleam seemed to question him. He looked at
Mikael, then back at the blade. He closed his eyes, let out a soft breath, and
slowly spoke.
"The path... Tell
me how to return to Arcazam."
"You... won't
strike me down?"
"It's true, I
desperately want to do something about this power. I've always wanted that.
But... I didn't take up this katana because I wanted to kill, and I didn't get
this power because I wanted revenge."
Once more, Nozomu
looked back on his path. Wanting to support Lisa's dream, only to be betrayed
by his best friend and spend his days in misery. He ran, and ran, and ran, living
days where he could change nothing, but he never left this city. He met his
master, he lost her, he met Irisdina and the others, and they supported him,
and somehow, he was able to stand up again. He had been supported, he had been
encouraged. That's why he could get back up, even when he was broken. That is
precisely why Nozomu thought:
"My dream... is
not something I can get by killing you here. That's what I believe."
"Is that
so..."
He slowly sheathed his
katana. Seeing this, Mikael smiled. It was a gentle smile, different from the
resigned one he'd worn before.
"Thank you... for
telling me about Tiamat."
"No... thank you.
For listening. I've kept silent for so long, but... I think I just wanted to
tell someone..."
"Yeah... I
understand. I... felt that way too, once."
The dregs that sink to
the bottom of your heart and accumulate. Everyone has times when they need to
spit that out. It was the same for a dragon as it was for a human. Nozomu gave
a wry smile at the surprisingly human-like spirit.
"To return, you
must break this mirror. It connects this space to the outside world. If you
shatter it, a path to the place it reflects will open, if only for a
moment."
"I see..."
Following Mikael's
words, Nozomu stood before the mirror.
"Well then..."
"I'll pray for
your good luck."
Nozomu placed his hand
on the hilt of his sheathed katana, closed his eyes, and took several deep
breaths. He relaxed, and relaxed, releasing all the tension from his body. With
every breath, his mind grew clearer. His distracting thoughts vanished, and all
that remained were three scenes from the past. Lisa, making a promise in their
home village. Irisdina, crying at her sister's death. Shina, beaten down before
her nemesis. And at the root of it all, one, certain feeling.
"Ah... I see.
Just like Anri-sensei said... It was there from the very beginning."
It was the first
emotion he had ever held. By facing the past he had run from, and overcoming
the present, he had found it: the signpost to his future. There was no more
hesitation.
"Here I
go..."
He drew his blade.
Shattering the mirror before him, Nozomu threw himself into the vanishing
fragments.
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