by Aneko Yusagi
Wyndia heard Gaelion squealing and came running over.
“What’s wrong with Gaelion?!”
“He’s the prankster I mentioned this morning. I caught him in the act.”
“Huh? Gaelion was the culprit?!”
Wyndia looked at me and seemed to be contemplating whether or not to try and protect Gaelion. I guess even she knew better.
“Don’t try to stick up for him. Wrongdoing must be punished.”
“Fine. Bad Gaelion! Causing mischief is not okay!”
“Kwaa . . .”
“What’s going on, Master?”
Filo and Raph-chan heard the ruckus and came over. I guess Filo wasn’t off playing with Melty today. Or maybe she had gotten curious after this morning and stuck around the village.
“Ohhh! He’s getting scoooolded!”
Filo started dancing around happily when she noticed Gaelion was being scolded.
“Gaelion is getting scoooolded! Take thaaaat, dragon! Maaasteeer’s only gonna ride Fiiiloooo!”
“Kwaaaaa!”
Gaelion clearly became upset when Filo mocked him.
“Rafu! Rafu rafu!”
Raph-chan was smacking Filo lightly with her hands and tail as if trying to scold her for behaving in such a way, but Filo went on dancing completely unfazed. I decided to punish Filo too.
“Akyaaaa! Wh . . . why meee?”
“Don’t laugh at others’ misfortune.”
“B . . . buuuut Master does!”
Hmm . . . She had a point there. I immediately deactivated the monster seal.
“Did you just let her win the argument?!” Rat snapped.
“I do laugh at the misfortune of others. So I have no room to talk.”
“Rafu!”
Raph-chan’s squeak was timed perfectly. That’s right. I had no room to talk. I’d take pride in that.
“Really?”
Rat held her head in her hands. She had a look of bewilderment on her face. I’d laughed at the misfortunes of Witch and Trash, and I’d laughed at Glass when she got scolded by Kizuna. Even if there was merit to my objection, my words would hold no weight.
“Umm . . . Just because you two are rivals doesn’t mean that you can treat him like that,” said Wyndia.
“Boo!”
“You know what will happen if you make me mad, right?” I taunted.
“Nooo!”
What was this farce?
“Sheesh . . . Why would you do such a mischievous thing anyway?” Wyndia asked Gaelion.
She stroked his face gently. Gaelion squeaked meekly.
“He says he wanted the Shield Hero to play with him,” she said.
“Huh?”
“You haven’t spent much time playing with him, have you? But you spend plenty of time with that bird,” she went on.
“Hmph!”
Filo and Wyndia glared at each other.
“Hold on, now. Are you saying that Gaelion is going to cause problems like this if I don’t play with him?”
“Kwa!”
He nodded! Was he a little attention-seeker? Sheesh . . . I looked over at Rat.
“Physical contact and spending time with your monsters is important. That’s true for both of them,” she said.
Oh, really? What a hassle! Raph-chan never acted selfish like that.
“Alright then. Filo. Gaelion. I’ll make a little bit of time to play with each of you on alternating days. But if either of you interfere with the other’s time, you lose your play time.”
“Hmph!”
“Kwa!”
The two of them glared at each other and made complaining noises.
“Okay, fine. Neither of you get play time.”
“F . . . fine!”
“Kwa! Kwa!”
They both gave in and agreed to my plan. Raph-chan would get more play time than either of them, of course. I’d play with her all day long if she wanted me to.
“Alright, today is Gaelion’s day.”
“Kwaaa!”
“Whaaat?”
“You’re older than him.”
“Hmph . . . Fine. I’ll be back later, theeen. Come on, Wyndia. Let’s gooo!”
“Okay.”
Filo took Wyndia with her and went out to level.
“Alright, Gaelion. What do you want to do? I’ll play with you until the end of lunch break.”
“Kwa!”
Gaelion wagged his tail happily like a dog. He had good reaction times, so I figured we could spend some time playing with my Frisbee Shield. I transformed my shield into a frisbee and threw it. Gaelion flapped his wings and dashed off after the shield gaily.
It didn’t make much sense getting caught up on how things worked in a fantasy world, but the little guy sure could fly. I chucked the frisbee and when he caught it, it disappeared for a brief moment and then reappeared in my hand. Gaelion was in good spirits. He flew back over to me and licked me all over my face. Unlike a certain bird that never shut up, his innocence sure was refreshing.
I continued to play with Gaelion for a bit, and after a while, Raphtalia and Atla showed up.
“Mr. Naofumi, did you catch the culprit?” asked Raphtalia.
“Yeah, it was this little fella.”
“Kwa!”
“Huh? Gaelion was the culprit?”
I nodded to Raphtalia.
“He was sad because I hadn’t been playing with him.”
“Well, I guess you had left him completely to Wyndia and Rat.”
“I can sympathize!” Atla interjected.
“Kwa!”
Atla and Gaelion shook hands firmly. Why the hell were they getting along so well now?
“Since Raphtalia and Atla are here, that means break time is over.”
“Kwa . . .”
Gaelion sounded incredibly sad when he squeaked. But that wasn’t going to make me keep playing with him. Raphtalia rubbed him on the head and made a suggestion.
“I know he can’t participate in our training, but surely you could let him watch.”
“I don’t want to spoil him.”
“That’s too bad, isn’t it? Off you go,” Atla snapped.
“Kwa?!”
Gaelion looked at Atla like he had been betrayed. Wasn’t she shaking his hand just a few moments earlier?
“Why do you always have to be so extreme?”
Raphtalia was staring at Atla in amazement. I felt the same way. After thinking for a few moments, Raphtalia looked at Gaelion and spoke to him gently.
“How about this? You can watch us train, but you have to do your best to level quickly in return.”
“Kwa!”
Gaelion nodded enthusiastically. Hmm . . . He couldn’t speak human language, but he seemed to be pretty intelligent. Raph-chan was still cuter than him, but I’d have to give Gaelion props for being humble.
“Well, leveling up and getting stronger is his job, so I guess if watching us will motivate him, then that can’t be a bad thing.”
“There you have it,” said Atla.
“What is that supposed to mean, Atla? You were ready to turn your back on him without a second thought just a moment ago,” Raphtalia responded.
“Seriously.”
“Kwa! Kwa!”
And so Gaelion ended up watching our afternoon training nearby. I wasn’t playing with him, so it wasn’t like I’d breached the agreement with Filo. But eventually night fell, and Gaelion still hadn’t left my side.
“It’s nighttime already, you know.”
Gaelion had forced his way into my house. He was rather large, so that was a problem. I was trying to be tolerant, since I’d mostly just left him on his own since he had hatched. But I was starting to run out of patience.
“You know, Gaelion might be just what you need, actually,” said Raphtalia.
“What I need?”
“To deal with the Atla issue. You could have Gaelion run her off before she gets in bed with you.”
She was suggesting I
use Gaelion as a guard dog, in other words. I was pretty sure I could have Filo do the same thing. But that sure was a bold suggestion for Raphtalia.
“Little Naofumi! I’m here to pick up little Raphtalia!”
Sadeena called out and then stuck her head in the door.
“Oh hey, Sadeena.”
“Oh? What’s this? Why is little Gaelion in your house?”
“The little guy won’t leave my side. And now Raphtalia is suggesting that I use him as a guard dog to keep Atla out.”
“I see. Well, the children who were most traumatized by their experience as slaves have started to get much better lately. Before long, Raphtalia should be able to start sleeping here again. It might not be a bad idea to have him deal with Atla until then.”
Sadeena seemed to agree with Raphtalia’s idea.
“Can’t we just talk Atla into stopping?” I asked.
“I already tried that. Sadeena did too.”
“Yeah, we did. And then little Atla said she wanted to marry you. That one surprised me,” added Sadeena.
I sighed. Atla sure was brazen. Or something like that. She was just a bit confused after having been healed. It would pass. Either way, I wasn’t the kind of sicko that would marry a little girl like that.
“I tried to make it clear to her. I told her you were a loser that wasn’t interested in anything like doing the dirty with a girl,” said Sadeena.
“A los—you wench!”
What was she thinking calling me a loser, of all things?!
“Atla’s reply was even worse than Sadeena’s remark. She said, ‘It’s okay. Mr. Naofumi will lie with me when he is ready.’”
I didn’t need Atla believing in me like that! Oh, hell! What a mess! I wanted to just run away from it all.
“It would be best if you just outright rejected her, little Naofumi.”
“I turned her away, of course.”
That wasn’t enough to make Atla give up. She had an iron will. She added a lot to our offensive capabilities and she followed orders without complaining. Her excessive fondness for me was her only problem. I’d just leave it at that.
“I guess all I can do is hope that Fohl will hurry up and grow stronger than her so that he can finally stop her from coming over here.”
I had even considered selling her off to get rid of her. But she was stubborn enough to ignore the slave curse’s punishment, so it was plenty likely that she would just escape and end up right back here. Besides, I didn’t really want to go that far. We’d just have to come to some kind of agreement.
While Raphtalia, Sadeena, and I were talking about dealing with Atla, Gaelion started digging around in my stuff that was lying around the room. Did he find something stinky? I could hear him sniffing at something. He had his head stuck in a bag that was full of materials meant to be used for new weapons and equipment.
“Hey! Don’t mess around with that stuff!”
Gaelion was a curious little guy. Filo did the same kind of thing every now and then. I was used to dealing with it. Or that’s what I thought, anyway. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that something in that bag would trigger the incident that was about to happen.
Chapter Six: Level Drain
“Kwa!”
The bag fell over and everything came tumbling out. First Gaelion was knocking on my door and running away, and now he was rummaging through my bags. I guess Filo still did that kind of thing too, though. She would also rummage through my garbage. She called it “treasure hunting.” I guess Gaelion was no different. Actually, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were in the middle of some kind of jurisdictional dispute over who should get to rummage through my garbage or something.
“Oh, come on. Have some consideration for the person who has to clean that up.”
A bunch of monster bones, some ore, and the dragon emperor core that had been part of my Barbaroi Armor all came tumbling out of the bag. The dragon emperor core must have caught Gaelion’s attention, because his eyes were glued to it as it rolled across the floor. He started to bat it around, like a cat probably would have done.
I guess Filo and Gaelion both liked shiny objects. I seemed to remember Filo being mesmerized by the dragon core I’d been using before this one. That brought back fond memories of Romina working with the cores back in Kizuna’s world.
“Kwa?!”
Seeing Gaelion bat the core around playfully did make me feel a bit warm and fuzzy inside, but this wasn’t play time. I decided to give him a little scolding and then clean up.
“Is that a dragon emperor core?! Little Naofumi, hurry up and take that away from Gaelion!”
“Huh?”
Sadeena suddenly started shouting at me. There was a look of urgency in her eyes. Gaelion bit at the dragon emperor core and held it in his mouth.
“Hey! That doesn’t belong to you. Give it to me!”
Gaelion completely ignored my reprimand and let the core slide deep into his mouth before . . . Gulp! He swallowed it whole.
“Hey! Spit that out!”
I grabbed Gaelion by the shoulders and shook him. Did the monster seal have some kind of punishment that could make him spit it out? I pulled up the settings and started poking around.
And that’s when it happened.
“Kwa?!”
Gaelion opened his eyes wide and starting convulsing, like he was having a seizure.
“Kw . . . Gya . . . Gyuuu . . .”
He broke into a cold sweat. His eyes were squeezed shut tightly and he was moaning, as if he were trying to resist something. I could hear a faint creaking sound resonating from his whole body.
“H . . . hey . . .”
“Umm . . . There’s an incredibly sinister life force flooding out of Gaelion! There’s so much of it!” Raphtalia shouted while looking at Gaelion.
“Sinister life force?”
“Yes! Be careful!”
I turned around to look at Gaelion, and some blackish, purplish . . . magic power or something was flooding out of his body. It was visible to the naked eye. I’d seen this color before. It looked like the aura that surrounded Filo whenever I used the Shield of Wrath.
“Little Naofumi, stand back!”
Sadeena faced Gaelion and readied her harpoon. She thrust it at him and tried to catch his tail with it, but Gaelion curled his tail up quickly and jumped sideways.
“Gyaaoooo!”
Gaelion looked up at the ceiling with bloodshot eyes and howled. When he did, a cloud of magical breath shot out of his mouth and instantly blew the ceiling right off the house.
“Gya!”
With a loud swish, Gaelion spread his wings out wide and took flight. Alright! I had the monster seal settings open already, so I’d just use the punishment setting to drop him out of the sky. I activated the monster seal. But the screen just flickered, and nothing else happened.
“You blew my damned roof off! Settle down!”
If the seal wasn’t going to work, I’d just have to take things into my own hands! I jumped up and grabbed on to the little troublemaker.
“Gyaooooo!”
“Whoa!”
Gaelion smashed into me with the weight of his whole body. The impact had managed to just knock me away and I fell down on my butt.
“Ouch . . .”
Wait a second. He’d caught me off guard, but even so, would Gaelion really be able to knock me away? It went without saying that it would take a ridiculous amount of attack power to overcome my defense rating and break free from my hold. That would mean he was at least as powerful as Ren or Raphtalia.
“Gyaoowwww . . .”
Gaelion glared at me with bloodshot eyes. They were no longer the slightly goofy eyes I’d seen only moments before. They were the eyes of a wild dragon driven by feral instinct. I could feel a pressure emanating from them that sent shivers down my spine.
I held my shield out in front of me and glared at Gaelion as I readied myself to grab him for real this time. Sadeena and Raphtalia we
re right there. It could be dangerous for them, if he used that breath attack that blew my roof off again.
“Gyaooooo!”
Gaelion let out a loud screech and then flew off somewhere into the distance.
“Something was clinging to Gaelion. What in the world was that?”
Atla showed up from out of nowhere and began to comment, but I dashed out of the building to see which direction Gaelion had gone.
“Wh . . . what was that?”
The slaves that were still in the village heard the ruckus and came running over.
“What’s going on?”
“What in the world happened here?”
“What is it? What happened?”
Rat and Wyndia both looked in the direction that I was looking. So did Fohl and Atla.
“Well, actually . . .”
I told them about Gaelion eating the dragon emperor core and ending up like he did.
“Emperor core, you say? You sure have some strange items, Count.”
“You have any idea what might have happened?” I asked.
“The biology of the dragon species is still largely shrouded in mystery. I’ve heard of dragons wanting cores from other dragons, but I wouldn’t have thought it would go on a rampage like that.”
“Little Naofumi, where did you get your hands on that dragon emperor core?”
Sadeena grabbed my shoulder and began to interrogate me.
“It was originally from a dragon that lived in the mountains near a village in the east.”
“In that case, it’s highly likely that Gaelion’s body was commandeered by the soul of the dragon emperor that was in that core.”
Sadeena sure seemed to know a lot about this kind of thing.
“Inside of that dragon emperor core is something like an organ that contains the soul of the dragon within it. I’ve heard that other dragons can use such cores to boost their own powers or absorb the memories of the dragon it came from,” she went on.
“Does that mean . . . Gaelion absorbed the memories of the dragon zombie and that’s why he went on a rampage?”
“No way . . .” mumbled Ren.
He staggered backward, unable to say anything else.
“The dragon that you defeated is the one that turned into the dragon zombie, right?” I asked him.
“I have to stop it, no matter what!” he shouted.
