Chapter 149 - Cataclysm (4)

SWOOSH... SWOOSH...

A faint sound could be heard from somewhere.

In my daze, I simply listened quietly to that sound.

The sound gradually grew louder.

SWOOSH. SWOOSH.

It was undoubtedly the sound of something flapping its wings.

An incredibly relaxed and leisurely wingbeat, and thus an infinitely arrogant one.

[AAAAAAAAAH!]

At that moment, a clear cry rang out.

My eyes snapped open.

I saw the ceiling of the tent shaking violently in the wind.

I quietly blinked my eyes.

I couldn't hear anything. Not that chilling cry, nor the arrogant sound of flapping wings.

THUMP, THUMP, THUMP.

Despite that, my heart was still beating like crazy.

"Y-Your Highness?"

A heavily hoarse voice rang out just then. Two blurry figures suddenly entered my field of vision.

As I focused my eyes, the hazy world became a little clearer.

Adelia, looking as haggard as could be, was looking down at me. Her gentle, kind eyes quickly welled up with tears.

"Ah..."

Beside her was Gunne's ambiguous face, neither smiling nor crying.

I stared at them quietly before abruptly sitting up.

My head spun. I squeezed my eyes shut and opened them, forcefully shaking off the dizziness. I pushed my uncooperative body up from the bed.

My heart was pounding wildly. The sound of flapping wings still lingered in my ears.

Enduring the vertigo, I headed for the tent's entrance.

I pushed aside the thick fabric and stepped out. I looked up at the sky.

"Ah..."

There was nothing there.

There wasn't a single cloud in the clear, pristine sky.

The entity that had made my heart beat so wildly was nowhere to be seen either.

Only then did I let out the breath I had been holding.

My energy suddenly left me, and I stumbled.

"Y-Your Highness!"

The startled women supported me so I wouldn't fall.

"Was it a dream."

I was relieved. At the same time, I was disappointed.

And then I was taken aback.

Just what had I imagined, and what had I expected, to feel both relief and disappointment?

While I was lost in thought, Adelia and Gunne laid me back down on the bed.

"How many days has it been?"

"It's already been ten days since Your Highness lost consciousness. I thought Your Highness would never wake up..."

Adelia answered while struggling to swallow her sobs. But tears soon came rolling down.

I raised my hand to wipe her tears, but I lacked the energy, and my arm quickly lost strength.

Adelia caught my dropping hand and pressed it against her cheek again.

Gunne tapped the back of my hand with her finger.

I turned my head and saw her lips moving.

Asking if I was all right now.

"I'm a bit weak, but that will get better after I eat and rest..."

Only then did she smile brightly.

"But what about that Eli bastard and the other guys?"

At my question, Adelia hurriedly wiped her tears with her free hand and replied.

"There was an uproar while Your Highness was unconscious! The young lord of the Eli family seems busy running around trying to figure out what happened."

Her voice was somewhat excited. She looked exactly like a child bragging about her own heroic tales.

I smiled and quietly waited to hear just how incredible of a story she would tell.

"My goodness. A dragon! Your Highness should have seen it!"

The corners of my mouth, which had been slowly rising, froze in place.

"What?"

Turning her head at my remark, Adelia's face instantly grew fearful.

"Y-Your Highness. Why all of a sudden..."

"Say that again."

I knew well enough what my face must look like right now. Even my voice alone was incredibly fierce.

But I couldn't bring myself to comfort Adelia.

"A dragon appeared?"

From the moment I heard the word 'dragon' in her sentence, my heart started pounding like crazy again.

"Y-Your Highness. U-Um. A dragon did appear. People said it must be a Fire Dragon... We thought something terrible would happen, but it just passed by..."

Adelia babbled with a face that looked ready to cry at any second.

In her rambling words, only the term 'Fire Dragon' pierced my ears.

I thought I had been dreaming.

But it turned out to be reality.

The dragons that had vanished hundreds of years ago had returned to the world.

And not just any dragon, but the most powerful Fire Dragon.

Gunne moved her lips and gestured.

Telling me to calm down. That I needed absolute rest right now.

But my heart had long since escaped my control.

CLENCH.

I clutched my chest. It hurt as if my heart was tearing apart.

Agnes might have shouldered the spiritual burden I had to bear, but she did not bear the physical toll my body had to endure.

The mana and physical strength required to recreate [Myth] had to be fully borne by me alone.

As the price, my heart was left completely empty.

There wasn't a single speck of mana left.

For now, I needed to leave it in that state.

Until my heart, which had turned to mush after discharging an unbearable amount of mana in a single instant, hardened again.

But that very heart, which required absolute rest, was churning on its own and indiscriminately absorbing energy.

Would it be this agonizing to swallow a handful of hot sand after suffering from thirst for half a month?

Would it be this excruciating to swallow a blade, unable to overcome hunger after starving for ten days?

I had to groan through a completely different kind of pain than a flesh wound.

Even so, I somehow endured the pain and suppressed my raging heart.

My frantically beating heart did not easily calm down, but I was at least able to stop more energy from gathering.

However, the terrible agony remained.

"Keugh."

The groan I had held back finally slipped through my teeth.

If this continued, my heart would be shredded to pieces, so I expelled the gathered energy with all my might.

FWOOSH!

The pain subsided, but a terrible sense of exhaustion crushed me instead.

I endured and endured, but ultimately lost consciousness once again.

* * *

When I regained consciousness again, many people were looking down at me with worried faces.

The Prince of Dotrin, old Burk and his veteran knights. And my party.

I asked how long I had been asleep this time.

"About half a day has passed. It's night right now."

Fortunately, not too much time had passed.

"Can you help me up?"

At my words, Gunne supported me.

As I barely managed to sit halfway up, Adelia quickly propped a pillow behind my back. It wasn't very soft, but that made it all the more comfortable to lean against.

"Huu, huu."

I leaned back and caught my breath for a long while before asking.

"The war?"

"We traded a blow each, and right now it's in a lull."

Doris briefly told me what had happened while I was unconscious.

The massive military achievements accomplished by the Wyvern Riders and the subsequent surprise attack operations.

The disturbance that occurred among the Imperial Army who had hidden amidst the giant trees.

"... So just as we were about to take flight to completely obliterate their supply base! The beast appeared."

Doris's long story naturally reached the topic of the Fire Dragon.

"It was truly terrifying. Honestly, I thought our Azure Sky Knights would be fully capable of facing a dragon. Until I saw that beast, I truly believed that. What an arrogant and foolish thought that was."

Doris shuddered.

Then he quickly laughed cheerfully and joked that he had nothing more to worry about now that the descendant of the Dragon Slayer was awake.

But fear flickered in the eyes of the prince who was chattering with feigned cheerfulness.

No matter how hard he tried to pretend otherwise, he apparently couldn't hide the terror etched into his soul.

It was only natural.

If one's spirit remained intact after witnessing a dragon, that would be even stranger.

When I said nothing, Doris continued to babble on obsessively.

Saying that he had realized anew the greatness of the Leonberk family. That he honestly couldn't believe they fought and won against such a monster.

Quietly humoring the prince's chatter, I ended up flashing a bitter smile.

The Fire Dragon was a monster on a completely different level from the Mad Dragon, which had now merely become the lyrics of the Poem of Slaying Dragons.

The oldest existence in the world. The mightiest dragon among all mighty dragons.

The emperor among dragons was precisely the Fire Dragon.

I could guarantee it; even if the entire expeditionary force that climbed Mount Frost were to return alive and gather in one place, they wouldn't be able to do anything about the Fire Dragon.

That wasn't a guess, but close to a certainty.

Because there had already been many failures.

The generals and elite legionnaires of the Giant race.

The Warlords and berserkers of the greenskin race.

The Meisters and iron cannoneers of the Dwarven race.

The High Elves and Sentinels of the Elven race.

Among those who challenged the Fire Dragon, not a single one could be said to be lacking compared to the founder of Leonberk and his knights.

But they all failed. And miserably at that.

The Fire Dragon was a true monster.

To think that such a monster had descended upon this world once again.

The silver lining was the fact that this extremely arrogant entity had little interest in the affairs of the world.

All dragons were like that, but the Fire Dragon was even more so. It even looked down on other dragons, considering them insignificant.

That was why it was alone.

It formed no relationships with anything.

It merely existed.

Unless someone provoked it first, it would never go out of its way to wreak havoc.

I explained this to the others, appropriately leaving some things out and adding others.

"Thank goodness. Honestly, I never wanted to fight that thing."

Doris, who had been relieved, suddenly asked as if something had occurred to him.

"But if a dragon is that kind of entity, it wouldn't pose much of a threat. So why did the Royal House of Leonberk go through all that trouble to slay the Mad Dragon?"

"Why do you think the Mad Dragon was called the Mad Dragon? It was called the Mad Dragon because it was a crazy dragon. It was too human-like to be considered a proper dragon. It even possessed a profound interest in building its own kingdom."

"I see! So that's why it's the Mad Dragon!"

I had merely stated the obvious fact that the crazy dragon was, in fact, a mad dragon, yet Doris was astonished as if he had just heard an incredibly surprising tale.

He was a frivolous prince, as always.

After that, Doris aimlessly rattled off various questions. Then, he suddenly looked at me with a deep gaze.

"As a member of the Dotrin Royal Family and as a knight of Dotrin, I express my gratitude for the dedication and sacrifice you have shown. Thank you truly. Thank you. Thanks to you, many of our allies lived."

He even bowed his head in polite thanks, so I told him not to mind it as I was merely paying off a debt.

But he promised he would definitely repay this debt someday, thanking me several more times.

At this rate, I'd have to listen to his thank-yous all day long, so I kicked him out.

As the prince left, old Burk hesitantly approached.

"I heard everything from His Highness. No. I heard it. You're the legitimate heir of the Royal House of Leonberk, they say. And here I thought you were just a capable mercenary. If I have committed any discourtesy, I apologize."

"You haven't committed any discourtesy, and I am indeed a mercenary right now. So just act as you always have."

"Shall I?"

At my words, old Burk promptly agreed without much hesitation.

"I've always thought this, but you're too sly, old man."

"Could I be worse than a prince who plays the role of a mercenary in another country and cracks jokes with an old man?"

The old man, who had been laughing heartily, suddenly shut his mouth.

"Hmm."

Seeing the old man—who hadn't hesitated for a second when I asked to be treated like a mercenary—suddenly hesitating, I abruptly grew anxious.

"My true identity and our past contract are separate matters. So don't even think about stiffing me on the promised pay."

"I, Burk Berten, have never broken my word in my entire life."

"If you're not planning to withhold the money, then what are you fidgeting about? You look like a puppy that needs to take a dump."

"Now that you've revealed your identity, you're just saying whatever comes to mind."

"So what is it you want to say?"

While we were bickering, the veteran knights nudged their superior.

Startled, old Burk bowed his head to me.

"I am sorry. If my words caused you any burden, I sincerely apologize. This old man made a slip of the tongue without knowing any better."

First the prince bowed to express his gratitude, and now the old noble was bowing to apologize.

I could only laugh.

After kicking them all out as well, this time that Eli bastard started bothering me.

"Did you really have to go that far! This isn't even our kingdom, so why did you fight while putting your life on the line?"

Whether he had participated in a battle while I was away, the guy—covered in bruises and with a busted lip—pestered me for a long time as if his facial muscles didn't even hurt.

Half of it was nagging about fighting and risking my life in another country's war, and the other half was saying that we had done enough and should return to the kingdom.

I kicked that Eli bastard out by replying that I would think about it once my body recovered.

Gawain's trio, with faces just as messed up as the Eli bastard's, looked at me wordlessly before disappearing.

They didn't even say hello.

"Despite how they look, Sir Gawain and his comrades also visited the tent every day to check on Your Highness's condition."

"Weren't they just checking to see if I was dead?"

"Of course not."

"Oh, Adelia. Adelia. The world isn't a bed of roses like you think it is. Those guys and I will never get along. I know it, and they know it. Adelia, you're the only one who doesn't know."

Normally she would have stopped right after hearing my words, but Adelia defended Gawain's trio to the end.

Gunne tapped the back of my hand with her finger.

[While you were away. Madman. Rampage. Wounds. All of them. Her.]

At those words, I ended up laughing in disbelief.

It seemed her trait had acted up again, causing her to go on a rampage. And it seemed she kept defending them because she felt sorry for inflicting those minor injuries on them in the process.

I was quickly able to grasp the situation.

"You have such a kind heart, Adelia. Why worry about such trivial things."

At my words, Adelia avoided my gaze with an awkward expression. Behind her, Gunne gestured.

[Rampage. Worse than a battle. Not trivial.]

As if sign language wasn't enough, she moved her lips for me.

Please don't lose consciousness ever again.

She must have suffered quite a bit, as a look of exhaustion washed over Gunne's face, a woman who rarely showed her emotions.

I just laughed.

But I wasn't laughing on the inside.

Why had the Fire Dragon, which vanished right after the Great War, revealed itself at a time like this? Was this also a special omen?

While thinking over and over, I suddenly remembered what I had forgotten due to the Fire Dragon's overwhelming presence.

The bizarre phenomenon that had felt somehow too strange and ominous to be called an eclipse.

Just then, someone spoke to me in my mind.

[It is not just the Fire Dragon.]

It was the voice of the Sword Marquis, who had bidden me a grandiose farewell, telling me to be happy.

"Anne?"

When I called her name with gladness and questioning, she cleared her throat.

She seemed somewhat embarrassed for some reason.

But that was only for a moment, as she spoke with an unprecedentedly stern voice.

Saying that the world had changed. And that even at this very moment, it was changing violently.

A change I hadn't perceived due to my depleted mana.

[No, rather than a change.]

Agnes's dry voice dug into my ears.

[It feels as though it has regressed to the past.]

She said everything was identical to the era when the Great War took place.

If there was one difference,

[It is that the masters of the world are now humans.]

It was simply that the masters of the world had changed.