361 – Dragon Slayer – 2
Trusting people is a difficult thing.
“Let’s get one thing straight first. We seem to share the same goal: to sever its head. Correct?”
“This is the third time I’ve crossed paths with a Dragon Slayer. But I can’t say it feels all that welcome. There was a time when I took in a child, one who had lost everything to the evil dragon, as my disciple. But no more. Do you understand what happened?”
“Either he was an agent of it all along, or his heart was true, but he was ultimately a pawn in its game. One of the two, I presume.”
“The latter. One day, he transformed into a monstrous form and tried to kill me. He seemed unable to control his own body. His eyes were filled with lament.”
Especially when facing some absolute being who enjoys manipulating individual destinies. It’s akin to fighting a man with a hypnosis app.
The person being hypnotized is unaware that they’re under hypnosis. This is a truly critical detail.
No matter how filled with the desire to kill the evil dragon one might be, if the action itself is a ploy of the dragon, it will only be an obstruction. I know.
The boy and the mage, a single question flashed through their minds.
‘Is this fellow being guided by the evil dragon?’
“……..”
“……..”
But there is, in fact, no way to confirm that truth.
If it were hypnosis, a mental cleansing with magic would suffice. But how can one detect twisted fate, and how can it be reversed?
It’s a monster that arbitrarily steals people’s names, moves the gears of the world to change the protagonist as it pleases, and even creates and stamps out new races. If it has played a trick, it would be so cunning that it couldn’t be revealed.
So, then──
“The dragon must be slain alone, without accepting help from anyone. Lest you become entangled in its machinations.”
“We should pool our efforts to study it, so we can exploit even its attempts at manipulation.”
Therefore──
“Let your exchanges end with the sharing of information.”
“Let us share information and devise methods for safe cooperation.”
“⋯⋯⋯⋯.”
“⋯⋯⋯⋯.”
—
How can we be so incompatible?
It’s so contrary that it almost feels like we’re a good match. My internal fondness for the Sword Saint has increased a little. But he seems to feel the opposite. His wariness has deepened slightly.
I’m feeling a bit pressured.
The boyish Sword Saint had relaxed his body, letting his arms hang naturally, but I saw him swing that sword earlier. His attack delay in that state is virtually nonexistent.
If he sets his mind to it, a blade will fly in an instant. So, I’m charging magic behind my back. And he seems to have read that too. His gaze is subtly, suspiciously directed.
Should I call it killing intent? A rather sharp energy slithers like a viper, so I, in turn, released my own pressure. I won’t be pushed back in a battle of wills.
My party members seem to have picked up on this tense atmosphere as well.
Aisha is concealed within my shadow. She’s warning me of danger with Morse code and wriggling, ready to leap out at any moment.
Flutter.
“⋯⋯Do not resort to violence. Not only is he here, but I am as well.”
“The Azure Magus Tower Lord.”
Yuna cautiously revealed herself. The boyish knight, upon seeing Yuna emerge from behind me, raised his guard by a couple of notches. Yuna whispers softly into my ear.
“⋯⋯Um, you know… are you planning to explain things to the Sword Saint?”
“Yes. Even if he’s distrustful of humans and picky, he’s still an ally. If we can cooperate, we’ll gain a national-level power boost.”
“⋯⋯That thing sealed inside your head, and the daughter created from it, and you changing your race to an information lifeform, and your ability to transform into a Great Aberration, and now you’ve even acquired a Dragonheart⋯⋯?”
“⋯⋯⋯⋯.”
Thinking about it like that, am I suspicious?
-Very suspicious. You even latched onto an Irid coin and secured a close aide position to shake the Empire. If I were that guy, I’d be aiming for my dad’s neck first.
But when you think about it, it’s all thanks to that Sword Saint. He increased the Magus Tower’s funding, so I could create the session, and that’s how I made Irid a player.
-Doesn’t that make it three times more suspicious? That guy seems to be considering the possibility that he’s still a puppet. In that case, he would think that the Evil Dragon used him to create a new false identity…
“Honestly, there aren’t many people as suspicious as you…”
Indeed.
If they held a competition to pick the person who looked most like a minion of the Evil Dragon in this Empire, I could probably win a prize just by breathing. Even I would vote for me.
But does that mean I give up on cooperation? No. The Sword Saint’s abilities had an enticingly high degree of expandability; my mouth watered just thinking about it.
If he had the power to cut what couldn’t be cut, couldn’t he perhaps unilaterally attack the Evil Dragon’s spirit sealed within my head?
If that were possible, I could simply visit the Sword Saint every morning and sit ramrod straight in front of him. And the Sword Saint could just regularly spend some time behind me, pummeling the Evil Dragon with true damage.
No matter how much the Evil Dragon may soar and strut, if it gets stabbed for ten years straight, some of it is bound to die!
Of course, judging by the Sword Saint’s personality I glimpsed today, there’s a non-negligible chance he’d just say, “Wouldn’t killing you be a small sacrifice to kill the Evil Dragon, too?” and attack. That’s why it’s even more imperative that…
I gain his trust.
And fortunately here… there’s a way!
I released the invisibility magic I had placed on Ping and pushed him forward. He was shivering all over, probably quite cold, but this was his moment.
“Allow me to introduce you. This is the Hero Ping of the Goddess Church. Go on, say hello.”
“Uh, err…”
“…A Hero appearing after transcending many years? But for a Hero, his skills seem to be lacking. Looking at his body, it seems he has diligently trained, but that’s all. He would amount to no more than a mercenary.”
“What age do we live in these days that you so barbarically focus on brute force? He is a godfather to His Holiness the Pope, and a highly respected Hero among the citizens of the Holy City. On top of that, he has the authority to call the Goddess directly.”
That’s right, the Goddess.
If I had the Goddess’s notarization – she who absolutely loathes the Evil Dragon – the Sword Saint would have no choice but to believe me, unless he was senile or demented, right?
“That… is currently in my head.”
“…………”
I gave the Sword Saint a brief explanation. About the Evil Dragon living in my head, and that I had obtained the Dragon Heart. That I had completely thrashed the named Black Magician, and that all that was left was to deal with the Dragon Body.
I skipped over the complicated or troublesome parts. Like Aisha.
It was a good thing I mentioned the Goddess. The Sword Saint’s fingers twitched, but he listened to my story to the end. He fell into deep thought.
“The explanation is mostly finished, and now all that remains is the proof time. We’re going to use the Hero Ping to contact the Goddess. And prove my purity. Wouldn’t you agree that now it’s time to consider the word, ‘cooperation’?”
“What you say…makes sense. The traces of him disappearing like that. If such a thing happened, it would fit.”
“Now, Hero Ping. Please contact her for help. The fate of the world depends on you.”
I patted Ping on the shoulder. Ping, in a fluster, awkwardly knelt down on the spot, clasped his hands together, and prayed.
“U-uh, that’s what they said. Goddess… Actually, I don’t really know what they’re talking about…”
[ADVICE: Do not get involved and leave the scene. Recommended action – Lie on the floor like a child, wailing and begging to be sent back (Message sent due to free benefit)]
Hero Ping opened his eyes wide and said. I was also surprised, opening my eyes wide. Because I, too, had heard the Goddess’s contact through eavesdropping.
“…The Goddess told me to run away?”
“…………?”
Silence.
Question.
Why did the Goddess give such an off-the-wall answer when all I asked was for her to certify that I hadn’t been swallowed by the Evil Dragon, that I was a trustworthy ally? She’s usually like a machine, processing inputted commands as they are.
A fleeting solution. Whether she explains it or not, the result will be the same anyway.
I shouted reflexively.
“⋯⋯Aisha, block it!”
“『Impede』.”
-『Dragonscale Citadel』!
Crackling crunch──!
Jet-black dragonscales erupted in layers from my shadow. The young knight’s blade grazed across them. With an ominous snap, scales shattered and scattered.
After hustling the Hero-in-name-only to safety, I adopted a fighting stance and declared,
“I’m proving I’m not a double agent, alright?!”
“I understand. The probability that you are an ally is high. But⋯⋯ the fact that *it* is sealed in your head means that everything ends if only you die, does it not?”
“Is this old man crazy?! Besides, whether my death is the dragon’s death, or its liberation, is something you don’t know, is it?!”
“Even so. If you were to be defeated by a minion of *his*, and your body seized, a great calamity would occur. Therefore, it’s necessary to ascertain what level of combat ability you possess⋯⋯.”
He’s saying he wants to test me.
If I die during the test, it doesn’t matter, since I would have died later anyway. If I live, that means the Evil Dragon’s sealing vault is sturdy, so it’s a win-win. Is that his mindset?
Heat surges up.
Sss──
“『Subtraction』!”
Swish.
The flash that erased all the information Yuna cast was cleaved in half by the trajectory of an ordinary longsword and scattered.
Aisha, who only had her upper body poking out from my shadow, fired dragonscales like a machine gun, but they lost their momentum with a single swing of his and crashed to the ground. He can cut even that?
“Oh-ho, I understand completely. But⋯⋯ if you started a fight, you were prepared to suffer a rough fate, weren’t you?”
“If you can kill me, then try to do so. I have a sense of shame, you see. Even if I die, I won’t leave behind resentment or curses. Even in the afterlife, I’ll cheer for dragonslaying.”
“No, I won’t kill you. Why would I reduce our forces with my own hands? Instead, I’ll subdue you, package you nicely, and throw you, still alive, to my shorts-loving junior at the Magic Tower.”
“⋯⋯⋯⋯?”
That’s not the end of it. After going through this ordeal, if I find out you don’t even have any useful information? Then I’m holding a third round table conference for the organization of evil.
And I will accept Yuri’s and Aisha’s suggestions without limits.
Good. I’ll play along.
Considering it positively, this was a chance to gauge the Sword Saint’s capabilities. Dumping today’s combat data straight into the Celestial Demon Module might even earn me a 2.0 title.
The situation was favorable, too. The Sword Saint might be renowned for his strength, but my own crew wasn’t exactly pushovers. And then there was my secret weapon.
I retrieved the black heart from within my coat. It possessed a form somewhere between mineral and living creature, pulsing rhythmically despite the absence of any visible veins.
I greedily inhaled the mana radiating from the dragon heart, storing it within myself, and declared,
“『Dragon Heart』, one-minute time limit, restricted activation.”
Wooo──!!
And then, a world layered over the world.
—
#1: Railroad Crossing
His vision warped. Illusion magic, perhaps?
The boy swordsman tightened his grip on his longsword, observing his surroundings. A master’s observation was swift, employing all five senses.
Rustle. Beneath his feet were pebbles, and… rails. Elongated rails crafted from iron.
A temperate climate. He knew not its purpose, but a black cable stretched along the path, some three meters overhead. Beyond the gravel and iron road was foliage. The horizon, a sunset.
And.
Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang──!
From the distance, something made of iron hurtled toward him with a deafening racket. Long, large, and fast. A contraption of a form he had never before witnessed.
He must evade it.
He must evade it, yet his body remained stubbornly still.
“……”
Thud, thud, the iron behemoth drew closer. Calculation was unnecessary. It possessed a physical force sufficient to easily pulverize a human being.
As if held captive by a nightmare. A single finger trembled, barely able to twitch.
Beyond his expectations. The initial plan was to push the crazed mage to the brink of death, to witness his true nature. There was no better method for confirming a person’s inner self.
He refused the Goddess’s validation because he trusted not even her. Had she been a truly benevolent deity towards humanity, she would have punished the Evil Dragon long ago; and if she was incapable of capturing the Evil Dragon, then she was no god at all.
And, most decisively.
” … wasn’t the Ascent, said to be incomplete?”
He had distinctly heard such a thing…?
Crash──!!
The boy knight was struck head-on by the train.