REFDL 18

Kyaaaah!

“Eeek!”

“Aaah! Spear! Bring me a spear!”

Crack!

“Aaah!”

I rampaged like a mad beast.

I bit, clawed, and lashed out with my tail at anything in sight.

If they ran, I chased them down and killed them. The soldiers, who had initially tried to fight back, scattered like a swarm of bees.

The villagers, quick-witted, grabbed the village chief and fled to the open village hall.

Rotol followed the village chief, wailing loudly.

Good

“Don’t run! Look closely! It’s still young!”

“It’s just a whelp!”

“Don’t be afraid! Form ranks! We’ll stand in front!”

The knights calmed the chaos. The soldiers regained their calm in an instant and aimed their spears at me again.

Grrrr.

Scary!

My hind legs trembled. Hidden in the darkness and shadows, it was a blessing in disguise that my fear wasn’t visible to my opponent.

Grrrrr!

I bellowed even more terrifyingly. But the knights didn’t retreat.

Then, an old knight with a white beard raised his sword and stepped forward.

“I am Jisen of the Marsetta family! I have slain dragons before! Believe my words. That one is still an immature spawn. It hatched from its egg mere months ago! Even an ordinary spear can easily kill it!”

Huh?!

Really?!

Come to think of it, my body does feel sore all over.

“…….”

Did I screw up?

Seeing me falter, the soldiers’ eyes changed.

Yeah. I think I screwed up.

But I can’t back down now.

The villagers gathered at the village hall. Rotol, Mirim, and Odan.

If I run, they’ll all die. I steadied my trembling legs.

Grrrrr.

Strike first, win first.

I opened my mouth wide and spread my wings fully.

Kyaaaah!

I let out a magnificent roar.

Then I swung my tail first, since it was the part that takes relatively less damage even when hit.

“An ambush!”

“Behind, behind… Gah!”

“….?!”

I was just as shocked as they were. Reinforcements?

I had reinforcements?!

Swoosh!

Surprisingly, I really did.

Hooded swordsmen slaughtered the soldiers from behind.

My bewilderment was brief.

Grrrr!

I immediately joined the attack. It wasn’t as easy as the first time. The soldiers’ attacks were manageable, but the knights’ strikes left gashes.

My thigh and side were slashed.

Ah… it hurts, but I’m okay!

It’s true. I can endure it.

Tears streamed down my face.

I wanted to faint from fear!

But somehow, I gritted my teeth and pinned the knight I’d just attacked under my front paws.

“Ugh!”

Then. A hooded swordsman, pushed back by the combined attack, bumped his back against my leg. He froze. I was startled too.

“Die!”

The knight I was facing turned to target him.

I wrapped my tail around the hooded man, shielding him. I blocked the attack first, then crunched the knight’s upper body with my jaws.

“……!!”

The hooded man, startled out of his wits, stared at me for a moment…

“Nitan! You idiot……!”

A sword grazing my neck snapped me back to his senses.

But the name, and the voice that called it, felt familiar.

My instincts sounded an alarm. I forced my stiff neck to turn.

“…… !”

I recognized him immediately.

There couldn’t be another face in the world as beautiful as that.

It was him.

‘Fate’.

The man who had tried to kill me on the cliff.

His dark gray eyes glowed vividly even in the darkness. He skillfully parried the blade and thrust his sword into the opponent’s chest.

The man who swung his sword to shake off the blood turned his head around.

Our gazes met.

“……”

“…….”

That day.

The premonition I felt on the cliff was now flickering even more intensely than before.

‎

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3. The dragon headed for the capital!

The battle ended before dawn.

The knights, sensing the tide had turned, were the first to flee. The remaining soldiers panicked, needlessly throwing away their lives, only later abandoning their weapons and fleeing into the forest.

Aaargh!

Aaargh!

Amid the chaos in the forest, screams echoed briefly before fading into silence. Monsters had heard the commotion and swarmed in. How many of them survived to return to Denos was unknown.

It wasn’t particularly important anyway.

The sun shone.

The horrors of the previous night were laid bare. People emerged from the village hall.

“Ah.”

“Ha.”

They gasped, their pupils dilating, but that too was fleeting.

Soon, people were fully occupied with cleaning up the devastated village.

They gathered the bodies and collected the weapons. Some spat on the corpses. The knights did not stop them.

Valak was found dead. Trampled beyond recognition by countless feet. The bodies moved outside the village were set ablaze.

The knights officially revealed their identities. They apologized to the villagers for involving them and for arriving late.

The people were at a loss.

“Wh-what? The Imperial Knights?”

…High-ranking individuals!

Any budding resentment withered before it could sprout.

“……”

The dragon had remained in a corner of the village throughout the entire ordeal. The villagers discovered him only after they had finished cleaning up the village.

“Huh?!”

“A, a dragon!”

Their startled eyes witnessed an unbelievable sight. The dragon looked dejected.

“……?!”

Had they seen wrong?

They rubbed their eyes and looked again.

His head hung low, his tail tightly coiled around his crouched body. There was no strength left in him. To anyone watching, he looked heartbroken……!

People recalled the events of the previous night. And Rotol’s words, she claimed the dragon was her friend.

‘Could it be?’

‘No. Even so, that doesn’t make any sense…….’

‘Then what happened last night made sense?’

‘…….’

Someone who had been staring at the dragon muttered as if spellbound.

“……Max?”

……That’s it!

People silently agreed vehemently.

The neighborhood’s official mutt. Max.

The dragon before them acted exactly like Max.

Especially that look Max gave when scolded for stealing jerky: ‘I didn’t do anything wrong, why are you yelling at me?’

But this dragon truly hadn’t done anything wrong. Hadn’t he saved the village?

‘He even came running before the knights did.’

But scary is scary, so no one dared approach easily, just pretending not to notice…

“Oh my, Village Chief!”

“You mustn’t get up!”

Thud.

The village chief, with a sobbing Rotol clinging to his thigh, stood before the dragon, supported by others.

“……”

After staring at him for a moment, the village chief bowed his head.

Ah?!

The dragon, possessing a human soul, jumped up. Rotol rushed toward the restless creature. As Rotol ran toward him with arms wide open, the dragon lowered his head out of habit and accepted her against his forehead.

“Waaah! Thank youuuu! Waaah!”

The dragon purred softly.

“Waaah!”

Rotol cried even louder.

Kaelus, standing at a distance, watched the scene with a complex expression.

* * *

Several hours later.

Even Mirim’s father, the hunter, had regained consciousness.

Following Rotol and the dragon’s heartwarming reunion, and his testimony, the villagers completely opened their hearts. Hesitantly, they approached and then discovered the wounds scattered all over the dragon’s body.

The people generously brought out medicinal herbs to treat the dragon.

Kyaa!

“Oh dear, it hurts. What should we do about that pain?”

“Just bear with it a little longer. We’re almost done.”

Kyaa!

“There, there. Eat some jerky.”

Even while crying, he dutifully ate the jerky.

“……”

Kaelus looked speechless.

The knights desperately held back their laughter. They couldn’t laugh in front of their displeased superior. Especially not when that superior was the Duke, who was as sharp as a knife when it came to dragons!

Haa

Kaelus pressed his thumb to his temple and asked.

“Nitan?”

The knights pointed at the dragon.

Half out of concern for his pain, half out of fascination.

Among the villagers petting the dragon. A figure, a head taller than the rest, was crying softly while patting the dragon.

“……”

Drag, drag, drag…

Nitan, dragged along by the scruff of his neck, interjected.

“We must take him away.”

Then, before Kaelus could say anything, he preempted him.

“No, Captain. Look at the mood in the village right now. Do you really think you can tell them we have to kill that dragon in this situation?!“

His voice was low. The villagers didn’t hear it.

But the Kremlis did. The Kremlis, happily gobbling up the jerky being tossed his way, let out a ‘kya?!’ and turned to look this way.

“Wow, he really understands us.”

“I wasn’t sure on the cliff…”

They glanced at Kaelus.

He gritted his teeth and said.

“I’m not killing him.”

“…Huh?!”

The knights rushed forward in horror.

“You cowardly Denos scum! Poisoning the Captain?!”

“The antidote! We must get the antidote first…!”

“Captain, don’t die!”

“……”

Kaelus glared at the knights.

Huh… That’s not the look of someone unwell? That familiar killing intent! Their captain was perfectly fine.

The knights deflated instantly.