Dragonlord

Ep 93. It's Not Too Late. (1)

10 minutes ago…

“…Think they’re afraid of us?”

“That does seem to be the case.”

Once the sun had risen, the two dragons busily went about refilling the expansive crater Serenis had made last night which had become a little too noticeable in daylight. Several villagers were now also out and about, a majority were simply gathered around to watch the village’s two strange guests. And every time Raizel glanced at them, they’d hurriedly turn away around to avoid the youngling’s eyes.

“…I get that they’re scared, but what’s up with them just watching us like animals?”

“Who do you suppose told them what we are, child?”

“Goldie?”

“…”

When Serenis stared at Raizel with thinned, disappointed eyes, the youngling shrugged and reluctantly correct herself.

“…Fine. Aldrid.”

“And what do you suppose Aldrid is to these villagers?”

“Wasn’t she one of those deity sh…oh.”

With Rozerre’s unsettling influence now washed away, the village was just as Serenis had expected: wary and cautious. A rural village was wont to be on guard of non-human visitors, especially if they’d just blown up the town’s only tavern on their night of arrival.

Aldrid had checked for villagers to make sure no one had been harmed by last night’s events, but if the deity had gone around telling them who the two dragons were while she did so – which did seem to be the case – it wouldn’t have been surprising to see the farmers gathering their pikes and axes to drive out the two dragons.

Alas, while the two dragons were rather unwelcomed guests, they were also the company of a worshipped deity: the villagers couldn’t dare to drive them away, but no one was brave enough to welcome them with open arms, either. The result was the current awkwardness where everyone was warily watching from a distance, too scared to approach any further.

“Meh. Still better than what it was yesterday.”

“…Hm. I suppose.”

Serenis snickered at the youngling’s grumbling. True to her words, the villagers’ alertness was much better in comparison to the jarring brashness they’d experienced the day before. As some would say, silence was golden.

But even that silence was soon broken by a low, authoritative voice that split the crowd in half.

“Excuse us.”

As the gathered villagers made way, a group of four men, all dressed in black-gold military armor, appeared from their midst. One of them was on horseback, his gaze focused on the two strange individuals repairing the paved ground.

“Sir. They match the reported descriptions.”

“Hm.”

After narrowing his eyes further, the leading officer quickly dropped off his mount to approach the dragons before him, the other men following closely behind. The man in lead didn’t seem bothered one bit as they came to a stop before Raizel’s glaring eyes.

“The hell do you want?”

“…”

After a brief scan, the officer shot a demeaning look towards Serenis before turning to address Raizel.

“Two nights prior, a pair of winged figures – a human, accompanied by a half – were spotted flying across the continental border. Numerous witnesses pointed to the invaders’ destination being in the direction of this village.”

“So?”

“Invaders will not be condoned. Unless proven otherwise, you are both guilty of trespassing the empire’s borders.”

“…?”

It took Raizel a minute to realize the ‘human and half’ in the officer’s description were referring to her and Serenis. Apparently, dragons weren’t even an option in their mind.

But even with that realization, two things baffled Raizel: one, despite the villagers being perfectly aware of what she and Serenis were, none of them seemed keen on stepping up to inform the four soldiers.

And two, the steel dragon recognized the moon-piercing sword crest embedded unto their breastplates.

‘…Isn’t that…’

But even as the steel dragon glared at the men with sickened eyes, they were too lost in their idle chatter to even notice.

“You sure they’re the right ones? Neither of ‘em look capable of using magic to fly.”

“Doesn’t matter. As long as we have someone to hold responsible. Even if they aren’t, nobody’s gonna care about outskirt folks like these.”

“We can just turn in the girl and sell the half ourselves, can’t we? Their price’s been rideiculously high since the army bought most of ‘em.”

Once Serenis’ empty gaze met one of the soldiers hungrily staring at her figure, she briefly scanned her surroundings once more.

Seeing how reluctant the villagers were to intervene, she could guess that the four men before her were of at least some authority. And apparently, said authorities were keen on selling the ‘half’ before them to a market as if they were selling potatoes.

But even more concerning was the seething hatred in Raizel’s eyes.

Seeing the youngling holding back an unusual amount of anger, Serenis gently touched Raizel by her shoulder with concerned eyes. But the steel dragon was quick to shake off the hold, not even bothering to look back.

“Don’t worry. I’m just gonna ask them something.”

When the steel dragon took a step closer the leading officer, he was staring back at the two dragons with a most peculiar gaze. The second glance he spared towards Serenis was even more demeaning.

“A human girl, concerned about a half? That’s rather curious.”

“…I’m gonna ask you once. If you don’t answer, I’ll kill you all.”

“…?”

The four threw the youngling a confused, mocking look. Upon hearing the threat, the lead officer instinctively fixed the grip on the hilt of his sword, unsheathing a small bit to let the sunlight reflect off of its dim, hazel blade.

But Raizel only scoffed at the weapon in response. Following suit, a giant, scaled mass of metal was flung out of the steel dragon’s back, bashing onto a massive tree far behind her. After suffering a brutal wound to its trunk, the tree sunk down to the ground with a deafening thud beside Raizel’s enormous tail, causing the nearby villagers to flee in fear.

“Don’t even try.”

“…”

…And that was all that was needed for the officer to sheathe his blade back in.

After the noise of the falling tree whittled down, the steel dragon hissed her question in a furious voice.

“Are you four from the empire?”

“…We…”

The officer audibly gulped in fear. A terrifying realization began to settle within him as he studied the metallic tail, accompanied by a paralyzing fear of what he was talking to. To make matters worse, he wasn’t certain what answer was appropriate here.

Unfortunately, lying was useless with the crested armor they wore. And even if he were to fool Raizel for the time being, all it would take was one native to recognize their crest.

“…We…are.”

“…”

Raizel took a heavy step forward, ground lowly rumbling beneath her foot. The men behind the leading officer began to step back in fear, though they all knew that running away was futile before the entity they faced.

However, moments before Raizel could swing her summoned at their heads, the youngling felt a firm grip pulling back at her hand. When she turned around, Serenis was looking at her with pained eyes, shaking her head.

“…Stay your hand, child.”

“Lord, they’re all from that same damned empire. You might not have been there, but they came at us first!”

“If they truly were responsible for the kin’s misfortune, then I will punish them in your place. Do not sully your hands.”

“…”

Another minute passed by as Raizel contemplated between shaking off Serenis’ hold against listening to her. The youngling frowned in conflicted anger, but eventually lowered her hand and turned away from the empire’s soldiers.

“…Tch. Fine.”

After reluctantly withdrawing her tail, the steel dragon shot the soldiers another glare. Serenis instead stepped forth, her gaze lowering towards the leading officer’s waist.

She then reached forward, gripping the hilt of the officer’s weapon before swiftly pulling out the blade without permission. A dim glow shone from the metal, its smooth, brown surface bathing in sunlight.

“…? What are you…”

Serenis then summoned a ball of fire into her other hand, dipping the blade straight into its glow. But instead of melting or cutting through the spell, the magicked ember was reduced into bits of harmless mana as soon as the blade made contact. It only took moments before the spell dissipated into thin air.

Finally, Serenis raised her pressuring gaze to meet the officer’s.

“Where did you acquire this blade?”

“…It’s a weapon given to all officers of the empire.”

“…Where did its make hail from?”

The officer opened his mouth to answer, but closed it back without a word. His eyes darted around nervously before he stammered out his next answer.

“I…cannot tell you.”

“…”

This wasn’t regular metal. In fact, it wasn’t even metal to begin with. If anyone would know, the dragonlord would.

- ‘Hey Serenis, look! I made your daughter a ring from my shell!’

- ‘…I am NOT giving her to you.’

- ‘What are you saying?! It’s not THAT kind of ring! Hey princess, tell your mother she’s wrong!’

She ran her fingertip across the blade’s length. Unlike the rugged warmth she remembered, it was cold, and unnaturally smooth.

‘…What’s your shell doing in a human’s possession?’

A long sigh escaped the dragonlord. No demon remained on this star aside from her own kin; if her gargantuan friend was still alive, there was no way she wouldn’t have been able to sense his existence at Vulka’s grave.

Then, this weapon was merely a piece of his corpse. A corpse that humans had somehow acquired to wield for themselves.

That had to be the case.

“What does your nation seek to accomplish with weapons like these?”

“…I’m afraid cannot tell you that, either. Kill us if you must.”

“…No matter.”

Neither Serenis nor Raizel had the ability to make someone speak their mind. Threats and tortures could supposedly go a long way, but Serenis wasn’t too keen on employing such methods herself.

And she didn’t need to. A far better option was right there, hurriedly approaching the dragonlord with his mother.