Chapter 15: Dragon's Rage

No way. It can't be. Why—
How… unbelievably foolish of me—

A welter of confusion and regret swells within me.

「Ken. Tell me.」

Swallowing it all down, I asked.

「What was he like?」

I can regret it as much as I like later.

「Reeaally big man… red hair, strong man.」
「I knew it.」

No doubt about it. Dalga.
He got me drunk and abducted Ai and the others in the meantime.
If that’s the case…

If so, then he invited me to his village intending this from the start.

I may have been drunk, but my memory is clear. I never told him the way to the village.
Which means he had his men shadow Gai-san and the others, wrung the details of our village out of me, and headed here last night or this morning—there’s no other way.

If so, I should still make it in time. I hurried into the sky.

「O hard thing that wards all, red thing that glitters in sunlight—dragon scale that once was part of me, become my ears and carry sound, become my mouth and send my voice!」

Racing full tilt through the air, I murmured the spell.
It used the scale I’d left in Dalga’s house as a conduit, to carry messages.
In sorcery, things that were once one are thought to remain connected even when split in two.

Surely magic in this world could do the same.
I’d left it behind on a whim—nothing to lose if it failed, a bonus if it worked—but now I waited for a response as if in prayer.

『Let go of me, you savage!』

At once Nina’s spirited voice came through, and I felt relief from the bottom of my heart. If she sounds that lively, they probably haven’t done anything terrible to them yet.

『Shut it. Long‑ears are all flat and boring. We only needed to bring this one…』
『Don’t you touch Ai!』
『Whoops.』

With the whoosh of a swinging blade, something was cut.

『Get it through your head. Your worthless sorcery doesn’t work on me.』

Apparently he’d cut the plants Nina was controlling.
My heart nearly stopped.

『What a nuisance. I was thinking of turning you over to them, but keep screeching and I’ll kill you.』
『Go ahead and try!』

Trading barbs—but that’s bad.

『Stop!』

When I raised my voice, the commotion snapped to a halt.

『Where are you!?』
『That lizard bastard, huh? Where the hell are you?』
「Sensei!」

Then three voices rang out at once. Good—Ai seems to be safe, for now.

『Listen. Lay a finger on either of them and I’ll burn your village to ashes.』
『Hah.』

Dalga sneered at my threat.

『The coward who’s been quivering before me sure talks big.』

He’d seen right through my fear of him.

『That’s right. I’m a coward.』

But—

『Which is why I’m terrified of losing things, too. Get this: I can fly where your vaunted brute strength can’t reach and breathe fire down on your village with ease.』

I’m not so young that I’ll meekly bow to threats from a punk who’s lived barely a quarter as long as I have!

Even Dalga fell silent at my nasty threat.

「Sensei!」

When I touched down in Dalga’s village, Ai and Nina started to cry out and run to me, but he held them back. Both were bound with rope, but I saw no obvious injuries. It didn’t look like they’d been brutalized—enough for me to breathe, for the moment.

『Hand the two of them back.』
『Fine.』

Swinging that stone blade of his in a broad arc, Dalga said,

『But only if you beat me.』
『Why should I have to accept that?』
『I kept our deal, didn’t I? Now it’s your turn to do as I say.』

I hesitated, unsure how to answer.
Unlike me—lousy at hunting—Dalga is clearly seasoned in combat.
If it came to a straight fight, I didn’t feel I could win.
His blade sliced the Behemoth’s neck with ease; it would probably pierce my scales as well.
Even if I tried to take to the air, at this range his leap would likely reach me first.

In short, as things stood, like it or not I had to fight him.

『You’re the one who took them by force.』
『So what?』

What do I do? What do I do.
I groped for words while I racked my brains.

『Forcing someone is wrong. You’re at fault, and you’re obliged to return them.』
『Hah?』

Dalga wore a look of open scorn.
Even I knew I was saying something foolish.
In this world, in this age, talk of obligations and ethics is useless. Even in my previous life, where law was codified and ethics loudly proclaimed, brute force steamrolled fairness all the time.

『What are you yammering about? I took them. They’re mine. Why the hell should I give them back?』

He meant every word; he declared it without shame.

『But if you insist, I’ll give this one back.』

With that he shoved Nina forward.

『If you become mine instead. How’s that?』

I see—that was the aim.
Why I was left unhurt after I passed out—that question cleared up now.

『Ai… you’ll return the girl over there too?』
『No. I’m making this one my woman.』

Dalga was adamant.

『If you don’t like it, that’s fine by me.』

The very fact he’s bothering to negotiate means he doesn’t want to fight me outright. Yet at the same time he’s sure he’d win if we did. This is his best compromise.

Then it can’t be helped. It can’t be helped, I told myself.

『…All right.』
『You idiot—what the hell are you saying!?』

The moment I nodded, Nina kicked up a fuss.

『I’m sorry, Nina.』

I met her eyes, sighed, and bowed deeply.
Please—understand. I whispered it in my heart.

『…Fine.』

Reluctantly, Nina lowered her gaze.

『Then take this off.』

With a sullen look, Nina thrust out her chest; Dalga sliced through the ropes binding her with his sword. For a blade of mere stone, its edge was remarkable—and so was his skill, cutting only the cords with such a massive weapon without nicking her.

『Then from now on this girl and you are mine. Got it?』
『Of course.』

I said.

『Like hell that’s okay.』
『Hah. Then shall we fight?』

Dalga ostentatiously flashed his sword.
He knew I was afraid of it.

『Yeah. Let’s do that.』
『What?』

When I nodded, Dalga knit his brows in puzzlement.

『When I give the signal, we start. All right?』
『Signal?』

Ignoring his question, I began an incantation where I stood.

「You who are redder than my scales, stronger than my fangs, hotter than my blood, brighter than my eyes—」
『Hey, what’s this “signal” supposed to be?』

It can’t be helped. It can’t be helped.

「Thou art the spear that scorches all, the sword that destroys all, the arrow that pierces all, the hammer that shatters all—」
『What are you mumbling?』

Dalga doesn’t understand.
Neither Japanese nor even the very idea of an incantation.

「Bind and bind and become a single flash that pierces all.」

Honestly. Every last one of them.
Treating Ai like a thing, over and over again.
Customs and practicalities of this world and age be damned—there has to be a limit.

So it’s only natural that my patience snapped.
That’s what I told myself.

Ai isn’t a thing.
She’s my—precious—

「Thy name is—」

—my very first student!

「Fire Breathing!」

A flash lance forth from deep in my throat.




「Ha—」
『Ha…』

When everything settled, Dalga and I met each other’s eyes.

「Ha ha…」
『Ha, ha, ha.』

Laughter slipped out of us, from one or the other first—I couldn’t say who.

「Hahaha—」
『Hahahahahahaha!』

All we could do was laugh.

「Th-this isn’t something to laugh about!」

Nina shouted.

Right—because she read my gesture and realized I was about to breathe, she leapt to shield Ai and got them out of the line. The fruit of long practice, after getting doused by my sighs so many times.

The flash—my full‑power breath—cleaved Dalga’s stone blade clean in two, pulverized his house behind it, then carved a straight corridor through the forest beyond, and for good measure punched a wind‑hole halfway up the mountain behind that. Through the big round mouth gaping in the mountainside, the blue sky shows clear as day.

Faced with that, what else is there to do but laugh?

『Next time, I won’t miss.』

At that, Dalga prostrated himself at once.

At any rate, when I threatened him like that, Dalga immediately prostrated himself.