Chapter 14: Explosive Impact

Far out in the sky—what Rin pointed to.

It was a gaping vent still yawning in the mountainside.

「No, isn’t that just reckless!?」
「It’s fine—Sensei can do it.」

In short, she was telling me to bore a straight hole through the earth with my breath and make a waterway.

「If you can punch a hole in a mountain, carving a trench in the ground should be easy, right?」
「No, not easy at all.」

Granted, it would be far easier than digging by hand. But it was far too dangerous.
A hole that clean meant the rock and soil hit by the flame had probably all but vaporized.

If a human ever took a blast like that, there’d be no saving them.
There was also the issue of firing angle. Punching through a mountainside is one thing, but carving a trench means I’d have to breathe downward. I don’t know what lies under this world’s surface—what if I overdid it and magma spurted out?

Of course, it’s not certain my breath could dig that far—but it’s wiser not to underestimate a fire dragon’s capabilities. I knew that well from experience.

「Then just shoot from below.」

After hearing me out, Tia said that as if it were nothing.

「From below?」
「I’ll dig a huuuge hole for Sensei to go in!」

I couldn’t help widening my eyes; Ruful pumped her fist.

…I see—if I breathe fire just under the surface from underground, hugging the ground…
That would indeed remove the risk of opening a shaft clear down to the depths.

「But it’s still dangerous. If anyone stepped into the path…」
「On the day, I will inform everyone. I will not allow anyone of the prairie folk to approach.」

Luka declared that in a crisp, resolute tone.
If someone as cautious and responsible as she was said it so plainly, she must be confident.

「Even so, can I really breathe along the exact route you evacuate?」
「I’ll check it properly from the sky, so it’ll be fine.」

Saying that, Rin rummaged in her bag and pulled out a red‑covered book.

「If you breathe from here toward this way, I think it’ll be safe.」

What lay open there was a map so precise it couldn’t be compared to the one we’d been using.

「Where did you get something like this?」
「Huh? I drew it.」

She must have sketched exactly what she’d seen from the sky.
It was more a beautiful painting than a map: the puffed, bunched leaves of the forest, the rippling grass across the vast prairie, the rivers running through it, even scattered trees—rendered with striking realism.
And yet it perfectly matched the scene in my memory.
It was, so to speak, a hand‑made aerial photograph. With this, we could narrow the direction with considerable precision.

「But… even if I don’t mess up the direction, I’m not confident I can put out the same power as back then.」
「Shall I recite that spell for you word for word?」

When I said that, Nina answered so. Her expression didn’t change, but the gleam in her eyes was the one she wore when she was teasing me.

『Sorry, Nina.』

What came from her mouth was Elvish. Right—back then Dalga couldn’t speak Japanese yet, and I had addressed him in Elvish.

『Then this woman here and you are mine from now on. Got it?』
『Of course not.』

Wait, you’re starting from there!? Nina even changed her tone and reenacted both my and Dalga’s parts by herself.

『Heh. Then how about a fight?』
『Yeah, let’s do that…』
「Okay, okay, okay!」

I finally gave in and shouted. Honestly, that whole episode is halfway to a black mark in my past.
Nina knew that and deliberately started from the conversation to rub it in.

「Fine, I’ll do it! I’ll do it!」

With that, I shifted into dragon form.

「We haven’t dug the hole yet.」
「I’m not doing it right this second. But I do need to practice.」

The only time I’d ever breathed at full power was that fight with Dalga.
I wasn’t even confident I could reproduce it.

「…You’ve gotten bigger again.」

Nina stared at my body and muttered it, sounding a little resentful.

「Can’t be helped—it keeps getting bigger on its own.」

Apparently even when I live in human form, my dragon body keeps growing. Which means every time I transform after a while, I end up bewildered by my own size.
…Well, Nina’s hardly grown at all. Not saying where, but…
Looking at the younger Light Blue makes it clear that’s her personal trait, not something about elves as a race.

While I was thinking that, a stabbing, needle‑sharp gaze shot my way, so I hurriedly lifted my eyes to the sky.

A full‑power breath has high convergence. That hole bored as if by a tube proves it. If I fire straight up, it shouldn’t affect the surroundings.

Fluffy clouds floated here and there, and a gentle breeze stroked my cheek.
…Come to think of it, the weather was just like this that day too.

「From my scales, redder than red; from my fangs, harder than hard; from my lifeblood, hotter than heat; from my eyes, brighter than bright—」

Nina staring at me, looking disgruntled; Ai, still tied with rope, looking at me anxiously.
Dalga smiling with complete contempt, looking down on us.
Those sights flickered through my mind.

Back then I’d been terrified of him—but after seeing so many of the Sword Clan, I can tell now:
Frankly, Dalga back then was full of openings. If Yutaka had been there, he could’ve taken Dalga down easily and saved Ai and the others.

You are the spear that sears all, the sword that annihilates all, the arrow that pierces all, the hammer that shatters all—

The memory sharpened further, and things I hadn’t noticed then came back—the air temperature, the sound of the wind, the smell of the smoldering fires in the village.

And even the anger that set my chest ablaze.
Looking back, that may have been the one and only time I was that furious.

Bundle it, bind it, become a single flash that bores through all—

A strange sensation welled up. I wasn’t angry at all now, nor did I have any reason to be.

Yet as I dredged up the memory, something began to churn in my chest.
A prickling sensation like something searing itself in—almost within reach, and—

Thy name is—

My clawtip caught hold of it—

dragon breath (Fire Breathing)!

And then it slipped away.

With that sensation, flame burst from deep in my throat and lanced straight up into the sky.

The instant the crimson pillar of light touched the clouds, waves of shock rippled out across the sky. Chased by that, the white clouds blushed scarlet, and with crackling thunder they scattered sparks again and again.

It became a torrent of lightning, racing across the air and over the ground, leaping from cloud to cloud. The countless glowing fissures skittered across every last cloud, scouring the sky from end to end—a sight that would have convinced anyone the end of the world had come.

Screams rose from all over the village, and we could only stare in stunned silence.

Fortunately, the damage didn’t reach the ground. As the deluge of lightning devoured the clouds, it subsided; what remained was a sky dyed a pure, endless blue.
…It won’t… fall… right? The sky…

Tia asked, tentative and fearful.

No one could laugh it off as baseless worry.
* * *


That night.


When I happened to wake, Nina—who should have been sleeping beside me—was gone.
Sharing a bed when we weren’t husband and wife might be questionable, but between Nina and me it was long past the point of fussing. Back when we lived a primitive life we didn’t even have futons, much less a bed or a house, and we slept huddled together. That habit had simply persisted to this day.

Well, when I was married to Ai or Yuuki, Nina was considerate enough to sleep elsewhere.

Whoa…

I stepped outside to look for Nina and involuntarily let out a sound at the star‑filled sky.

Night falls quickly in this world. With no streetlights, people go to bed as soon as the sun sets, so you surprisingly rarely look up at the night sky. A cloudless night like this was all the rarer.
…Which, really, was entirely my fault. My full‑power breath had wiped out the clouds, and they still hadn’t returned. I had no idea how far I’d blown them away.

After that, the plan to dig the canal with my breath was unanimously scrapped. Who could imagine what would happen if I fired that on the ground? We’d just have to develop things steadily, little by little.

Ah… Sensei.

Following a faint sound, I headed over.

The one gazing up at the moon there wasn’t Nina but Light Blue.
Come to think of it, Nina had said something about the full moon. Maybe this was related.

Hey, Light Blue. What are you doing out so late?

Elves who live in the forest have frighteningly keen night vision. On a night with stars and a bright moon like this, it’s practically daytime for them—but even so, wandering around felt unusual.

Mm… I was just, looking at the moon a bit…

Light Blue cast her gaze down as if weighed by something. She hadn’t simply been admiring how pretty the moon was.

If something’s bothering you, I’ll listen. I am your teacher, after all.

When I said that and sat down on the grass slope, sure enough—after a slight pause, Light Blue plopped down beside me.

Um… so…

「Yeah?」
「I… um, that stupid monkey… Yutaka, and I—」
「Mm‑hm.」
「Um, well… how do I put it… we… l‑like each other.」
「…Yeah…」
What!?

I barely managed to swallow the shout.

Y‑you’d noticed, right…?

「…Well, I had my suspicions.」
Sorry, I hadn’t noticed at all! Even so, I puffed myself up and pretended.

But now that she’d said it, way too many things clicked into place.
No wonder Nina called me an idiot and kicked me!
I see. Since you call him a stupid monkey every time, you’re worried he might hate you?
Ah, that part’s fine. Yuu‑chan says he doesn’t really mind being called that.

「Oh, he doesn’t…?」
Wait, what? Did she just say Yuu‑chan?
The girl who was always glaring and yelling “stupid monkey” at Yutaka was now soliloquizing with the look of a maiden in love; I could only stare, slack‑faced.

So, um… what I’m actually worried about is something else—something much bigger.

Right—she’d said earlier, “we like each other.” They’d already confirmed their feelings.

…Wait, so Yutaka likes Light Blue too? I hadn’t gotten that impression at all.

Um, this might be… but—
Then what on earth was she worried about?
I, um… might have… his baby.

…Seriously?

Then what on earth is she worried about?

「I… um. I might be… carrying his baby.」

…Seriously?