by Aneko Yusagi
“If you try to do that, it may just come back to life, fueled by its hatred for you,” I said.
“In that case . . . We can still stop it! Naofumi! You raised that dragon, didn’t you?!”
“He did seem fond of me, but it was the villagers who raised him. This one was in charge of him.”
I pointed at Wyndia. Still, he was a cute dragon and I didn’t want to give up on him if possible. It would depend on where he had run off to. We needed to go find him and capture him.
“How do you feel about having killed that dragon, Sword Hero?”
Wyndia glared at Ren as she questioned him with a stern tone of voice. She was a dragon fanatic, so she probably just didn’t want Ren to be the one to kill the dragon.
“I’m sure he probably just killed it because it was an easy target. He probably knew about it from some quest in a game he’d played or something,” I said.
“That . . . That’s true. But I know I caused a lot of people problems by killing it. I’ve heard that region is plagued by disease now. I do feel bad about killing it.”
Ren got depressed so easily.
“I can’t apologize enough. I don’t know how to make up for it,” he went on.
Ren cast his eyes downward regretfully. It didn’t seem like Wyndia was going to push the issue, but something about Ren’s response bothered me.
“You know . . .” I said.
“Huh?”
“I’m only saying this because you seem so naïve, but did you ever stop to think that the monsters you’ve killed might have had families? That they might have been leading happy lives?”
The blood slowly drained from Ren’s face. I guess that thought had never occurred to him.
“Do you plan to go around to all of those families and tell them, ‘I’m the one that killed your family member. I take full responsibility,’ or something? And if you’re going to draw a line and say monsters are monsters, then what about our monsters over there in the monster stable?”
“Umm . . . uhh . . . I . . .”
I sighed. Adolescents were such a hassle to deal with.
“It’s the same whether you eat plants or animals. In the end, you have to take other lives in order to go on living. In fact, it would be even better if you just accept that trampling over others is a part of life,” I explained.
“Isn’t that a contradiction?”
“Huh? What the hell are you talking about? You’re a hero. We have to brutally murder monsters to get stronger so that we can save the world, you know? It’s the law of the jungle.”
I’d heard that even killing humans gave experience in this world. If he wanted to try to insist on some kind of idealistic rubbish, like monsters and humans being different, he would just have to wait until he got summoned to an ideal world.
“So, Ren, whenever you kill a monster, do it with full awareness of the choice you’re making. That is, if you’re serious about wanting to save the world.”
“Fine . . . I understand.”
He didn’t look very convinced. Ren had been spending a lot of time with Eclair, after all. That was probably making him even more of an idealist.
“But even so . . . I want to apologize and try to protect everyone.”
“Uh huh, whatever.”
The guy had a problem. If I didn’t sort him out eventually, he was probably going to go off the rails again.
“We have to go after him,” said Wyndia.
Her icy gaze was fixed on Ren and she had a sense of urgency in her voice. Gaelion was her beloved dragon. I needed that dragon emperor core for my armor too. Worst-case scenario, I might even have to defeat Gaelion to get it back.
“I know. We just have to call Filo back and then we’ll head out,” I said.
We could have gone after him without waiting on Filo. But having her take us would make things much quicker. Sheesh. I hadn’t even gotten to ride my dragon and now I had to put him down.
“Here’s a horse to ride to the neighboring town,” a soldier announced.
I mounted the horse that one of the soldiers had prepared and was about to head off to get Filo. Just then, Eclair come riding up on her own horse from the direction of the town.
“Mr. Iwatani!”
“What is it? I was just about to head your way.”
“It’s an emergency! Melty is calling for you! Something is wrong with Filo!”
“What?!”
“What? Why Filo?”
“Fine. Raphtalia and Ren, you two start making preparations to head out,” I said.
“Understood!” Raphtalia replied.
“Okay. There’s nothing I can do to help treat her, so I’ll get started on preparations like you said,” said Ren.
I left things at the village to Ren and Raphtalia and headed toward the neighboring town.
I followed Eclair to the clinic that had been built in the town. When I stepped into the clinic, Melty came running over. She looked like she was about to cry.
“Umm . . . Filo just started writhing in pain all of a sudden. Please help her, Naofumi!”
“You know I’m not a doct . . . healer, right? Still, I’ll do what I can, of course.”
“Promise you’ll save her!”
Even if I did promise . . . If it was something really serious, all I could do was use the Elixir of Yggdrasil and hope that helped.
“Let’s take a look at her first,” I said.
“Okay.”
Melty and one of the clinic doctors took me to the examination room. Filo was inside, lying there limply in her filolial form.
“Ugh . . . uuugghh . . .”
Filo’s whole body was undergoing the same kind of change that always happened when I used the Shield of Wrath. It looked the worst near her stomach. Actually, it was worse than usual. The sinister aura was flowing out of her body like a dense cloud of smoke. I guess that would have been an apt description. The crest feather on the top of her head was glowing like it was trying to fight back, but the sinister aura seemed to be winning.
“Rafu . . .”
Raph-chan was trying to help by batting at the aura with her hand, but it didn’t seem to have much effect.
“What’s happening to her? Would using the Elixir of Yggdrasil stop it?”
“That’s unclear. However, whatever it is, there seems to be a strong curse component to it. It would probably be best not to expect much, even from the Elixir of Yggdrasil.”
The clinic doctor’s voice was filled with uncertainty.
“Oh, it’s you, Master . . .”
Filo moaned painfully. She looked at me and reached out with her wing. I stroked her cheek gently. Even though she wasn’t in her human form, Filo squinted contentedly when I stroked her cheek. She continued to moan painfully.
I checked Filo’s condition using my status magic. It would notify me of basic abnormalities, like if she were paralyzed by a poison or something. Filo’s status screen was all fuzzy and kept flickering. Something was obviously not right.
And that’s when I noticed it. Filo’s level was lower than I remembered it being. Had she leveled down? What was going on? Several possibilities came to mind, but from what I had to go on at the moment, it was impossible to determine which one was most likely.
“Go get Rat and Sadeena from the village and bring them here,” I told Melty.
“Okay,” she replied.
After a few minutes, Rat and Sadeena showed up, along with Fohl, Atla, and Wyndia too.
“Filo! What happened?!”
Wyndia ran over to Filo, clearly worried. Were the two of them even close? Or maybe that’s just how a monster fanatic would respond in a situation like this.
“Rat. Sadeena. What do you think?”
“We just got here. All I can say is that it looks like she’s experiencing the effects of some kind of curse. Mind if I do a quick examination?”
Rat looked over the doctor’s medical report and then started poking at Filo.
“I checked h
er status and her level is gradually dropping, bit by bit,” I said.
“Judging by this aura, I’m guessing it has something to do with little Gaelion going on a rampage.”
Sadeena’s conclusion seemed to match up with mine.
“But why would little Filo be showing symptoms like that?” she asked.
“Leveling down? That means it’s a really powerful curse. Even so, I’ve never seen symptoms this bad,” Rat responded.
“What do you think, Rat?”
“I think Sadeena is right, without a doubt. But . . . Is there some kind of connection between Filo and Gaelion? I know they don’t get along, but it has to be more than that,” she said.
“If we assume that the cause is not the dragon emperor core, but rather the previous dragon zombie core, then there is a connection.”
“What do you mean?”
“When we faced the dragon zombie, Filo ended up eating the dragon’s core. What I had was just a single fragment of that core.”
In fact, Filo had basically defeated the zombie dragon, and she’d done it by eating its core. It would make sense that it had to do with what was going on now.
“I see. So Gaelion going on a rampage would also affect Filo, since she ate the core that caused his rampage.”
“That’s my guess.”
“In that case, check Gaelion’s status. I have a feeling that there’s more going on here.”
I checked Gaelion’s status. Just like with Filo, the screen was all fuzzy and many of the details were unclear. But . . .
“His level is rising.”
Gaelion had only been level 36 before, but now he was level 45. He’d soared right past the class-up level limit.
“Umm . . . I can sense a sinister power flowing out of Filo,” said Atla.
“Yeah, we can see that.”
“That’s not what I mean.”
Atla pointed at something. But there was nothing there.
“Little Atla can sense things that can’t be seen, so she might be able to determine the direction that the power is flowing.”
“Hmm . . .”
That was certainly possible. Her abilities were surprisingly useful. The problem was figuring out where the power flowing out of Filo was going. It seemed to be heading in the same direction that Gaelion had gone.
“Can we make Filo throw up the core?”
“Not possible. It seems like there are fragments circulating throughout her whole body.”
I checked Filo’s status. Judging from the speed that her level was dropping, she had around two days left. She would probably return to level 1 before we could find Gaelion. Actually, that’s assuming we were lucky enough for it to stop there. Worst-case scenario, she could end up dying.
“Also, I can sense power leaking from you too, Mr. Naofumi,” Atla said.
“What?”
I checked my own stats. From the looks of it, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
“It’s coming from somewhere near your left arm.”
That’s where my shield was. That meant that power was leaking out of my shield. Now that I thought about it, hadn’t I absorbed part of the core into my shield? Could it possibly be leeching off of my shield’s abilities? I checked my list of shields just in case, but everything seemed normal.
“It . . . seems to be leaking out and amplifying something.”
“Amplifying?”
I had no idea what Atla was talking about, but it was clear that we needed to be on our guard.
“Where is the old lady? She’s always useful at times like this.”
“The master took Rishia on a trip to go train, along with some of the village children and soldiers!” Eclair replied.
“She needs to open up a training hall here in town, damn it!” I shouted.
Why the hell did she have to go off to train at a time like this?!
“Where is S’yne?!”
“She said she was going to Zeltoble to earn some money!”
“Oh, come on! Why can nothing go my way?!”
S’yne would most likely show up when she noticed something was off though. I’d call for her if I needed her.
“Anyway, someone needs to figure out where the old lady went and tell her to come back. We’re going after Gaelion immediately.”
We would run out of time otherwise. Atla stepped forward. She had a determined look on her face.
“Mr. Naofumi, I would like to try something on Filo,” she said.
“What?”
“What are you doing, Atla?” asked Fohl.
“I’m going to do what I can to try to slow the power leak.”
Atla reached out to Filo, who was still lying on the floor, and placed her right hand, and then her left hand on Filo’s chest.
“Ughh . . . aaah . . .”
Filo had been moaning painfully, but she stopped. She opened her eyes and slowly stood up.
“That feels a little better,” she said.
“Filo!”
“Rafu!”
Melty ran over to Filo. Raph-chan was squeaking happily.
“That should buy us some time,” said Atla.
“Alright. Get the carriage and . . .”
Damn it! We didn’t have a quick means of transportation. I’d sent our other filolial, Filo Underling #1, out with the peddling division. We would just have to borrow one of the filolials from the town.
“I’m going after Gaelion. Raphtalia, Fohl, Atla, Sadeena, Ren, and Eclair, you’re coming with me. Umm, valley . . . I mean . . . you and Rat—”
“Pulling Master’s carriage . . . is myyyy job!”
Filo put Atla on her back. She had a strong sense of determination in her voice.
“No, Filo! You need to rest!” Melty shouted.
“She’s right. You should take it easy,” I said.
But Filo shook her head in refusal.
“Nooo! I’m going! No matter what!”
She didn’t have her usual energy, but she stepped forward and made it clear that she intended to come with us at any cost. If that were the case, she’d probably just chase after us, even if I did try to leave her behind. Filo could be really stubborn.
“Fine, but if anything happens, I’m going to leave you at a clinic and have someone else pull the carriage.”
“Mr. Naofumi?!”
“Can you keep the leak under control, Atla?”
“Y . . . yes!”
“Alright then.”
“I’m going too!” shouted Melty.
She was clearly fighting back tears. Her best friend was in a predicament. Like Filo, she’d probably do whatever it took to come with us, ignoring the fact that she was the princess, of course.
“You better not do anything reckless. You’re the princess, you know.”
“I’m Filo’s friend, first and foremost!”
“Alright then.”
Before, it had been Filo whining about wanting to protect Melty. Filo sure had made a good friend.
“Alright, we’re heading out first to go after Gaelion. I want you castle soldiers to hurry up and get word to the old lady.”
“Yes, sir!”
We loaded up into the carriage, which Filo stubbornly pulled back to the village. There, we picked up Ren, Raphtalia, and the others and then headed out.
We had been on the road for four hours. Thanks to Atla, we had just barely managed to keep Filo’s stats from dropping any further. Even so, her experience points were still seeping out of her body, bit by bit. The leveling down had slowed, but the situation was still bad. Just as I had expected, the direction that Gaelion had gone was leading toward the town in the east where we fought the dragon zombie.
Pant! Pant!
“Filo . . .”
Atla was riding on Filo’s back and Melty was steering the carriage. Rat and Wyndia were sorting out the details of the situation, and Sadeena was keeping an eye out at the rear. Ren and Eclair were both ready to engage at a moment’s notice.
Filo wa
s clearly exhausted. We needed to hurry, or things were going to get ugly. Motoyasu! Your beloved Filo is in trouble! Where the hell was that creep when we needed him? There couldn’t be a better time than this to come rushing to Filo’s rescue. Sheesh. The guy wouldn’t go away when he was unwanted, but he was nowhere to be found when he might actually be able to help.
“If worse comes to worst, we may have to put Gaelion down. You understand that, right?”
I was talking to Wyndia. She had been the fondest of Gaelion. He might have belonged to me, but I figured she deserved some say in the matter. She had looked after him, so I owed her that much.
“Yeah . . .”
“You consented pretty quickly there. I expected you to argue a bit more.”
“It’s not like you’ve given up already, right?”
“You’re right. I haven’t.”
“I understand. I know it’s not your fault. But . . . No. If it does come to that, I’ll probably argue more then.”
“I see. But I won’t let you stop me.”
“I know that! But that’s our last resort, right?!”
She knew she couldn’t stop me, but she had to try. Even if she knew that Gaelion was the reason that Filo was in pain, she was still fond of him. Of course putting him down was a last resort. I wanted to avoid doing that, if at all possible.
“I hate the heroes!”
Tears were streaming down Wyndia’s face.
“I’m used to being hated.”
She made it seem like the other heroes had somehow wronged her too. Ren was acting kind of fidgety. Maybe he knew something I didn’t.
“And? What do you want me to do?” asked Sadeena.
She was still keeping an eye out at the rear. It’s not like I expected anyone to ambush us from behind, but we were more likely to run into monsters, since we were traveling at night. Several had already come chasing after us, in fact. Sadeena made quick business of them with her harpoon and a few magical spells. Atla and Melty were covering the front. Filo was basically unable to fight. Just pulling the carriage was already a struggle for her right now. I didn’t want to push her limits.
“That’s it. Very good,” Atla said.
“Rafu!”
Atla seemed to be showing Raph-chan how to control the leakage of power from Filo’s body. The speed that her level was dropping seemed to slow even further.
