Ep 137. I Did? (5)

Ep 137. I Did? (5)

Ep 137. I Did? (5)

Crash!

“...”

“Screeeee!”

“......”

“Over here! Arrows!”

“...Mnghh...”

Stirring awake, Light rubbed her eyes whilst her ears twitched to the incoherent noises. Distant yells and curses were echoing throughout the cabin, some of which didn’t sound all that far away.

As the half girl arose, Ilias also slowly opened her eyes, feeling the weight on her tail suddenly disappear. The youngling shook herself awake, looking around in a daze.

“Light...? What’s wrong?”

“...Do you hear that?”

“Mm?”

As Ilias also turned towards the direction of the noise, the red dragon began to pick up on rather familiar sounds. People were shouting, metals were clashing – and inhuman things were screeching.

“Oh...that’s new. You don’t hear those things often in cities. Then again, I guess we’re not really in a city...”

“People are fighting, right? Shouldn’t we go help?”

“Mm...they’re fighting, yeah. But they probably don’t need our help. We can still go see what’s going on though!”

“Huh?”

While the half girl blinked in confusion, Ilias briskly rose to her feet, stretching the soreness away from her body. After grabbing hold of her sister’s hand, the youngling pulled Light along as usual.

“C’mon! The early wyrm gets the bird!”

“...Isn’t that backwards?”

“Huh? Uh...don’t think so?”

Worm. Wyrm. Close enough.

Probably.

✧ ✧ ✧

“Sheesh, piss off! Whatever did I do to you pests?!”

“You do reek of blood, child.”

“I can’t do anything about that! Besides, I’m made of iron, that’s how I usually smell anyways!”

“...Fair point.”

Serenis sat upon a snow-covered boulder by the cavern’s entrance, observing the horde surrounding Raizel with an amused look. Her morning visit had turned out to be quite the entertaining show.

Wolves and bears of all shapes and sizes had gathered overnight in front of the youngling’s temporary lair, banding together to drive away the foreign beast that had invaded their territory – and hopefully steal away the source of the bloody scent that their invader reeked of. The dragonlord even felt sorry for the family of bears that seemed to have lost their homes overnight.

Unfortunately, the beasts’ claws and fangs posed little threat against the yawning metal dragon. While their attacks failed to even chip away Raizel’s skin, every retaliating strike sent another beast to oblivion.

‘...Such is the law of the wild.’

Eventually, the cunning few began to realize how hopeless it was to challenge the metal dragon before them. With fear spreading like wildfire amongst the horde, it wasn’t long until the first few wolves began to flee. The rest were quick to follow thereafter.

Raizel snorted in a mix of annoyance and triumph. She scraped her bloodied foot against the snow, picking up one of the wolves she’d killed.

“Ugh, talk about a wake-up call. I’m not even hungry right now...Lord, do you want these?”

“Huh? Can I help you?”

“Does your...friend...do this often?”

“You mean Ilias? What about her?”

“Breathe fire, I mean.”

“...Uh...”

As far as Light was concerned, a red dragon breathing fire was perfectly natural. In fact, most people would agree that there was nothing to be surprised about.

But as far as the Asardans were concerned, Ilias was just a peculiar-looking half. A peculiar-looking half that had horns, two wings, a tail, inexplicable strength and...apparently an inflammable throat.

So, instead of explaining the entire concept of dragons to the warrior, Light opted for a much, much simpler explanation: one that wasn’t necessarily true.

“She’s, um...oh, you know how Aymeia can summon fire? Ilias is the same.”

“Aha, as expected of Lady Aymeia’s retainers! So all of you can breathe fire!”

“Uh...sure.”

Was she lying? Yes.

Was she worried about being found out? Not really.

Before their weird conversation could proceed any further, the bear collapsed onto the ground with a loud thud. Splatters of snow put out the embers blazing on its hide, leaving a motionless, smoking beast in the middle of Chell.

“There! Easy-peasy!”

After defeating her largest foe, Ilias then turned towards the hordes of smaller beasts that were still flooding the gate. She audibly growled while faking a vicious expression, forcing the wolves to slowly retreat in fear.

When the youngling loudly stomped her foot onto the snow, the wolves yelped in unison, fleeing out the broken gates.

As the attacking horde left their settlement, Chell’s warriors began to loosen in tension. Many let out triumphant battle cries, rejoicing in the hunt’s successful outcome.

But Light alone remained alert, narrowing her eyes over the fallen bear. Even when Ilias turned towards her to celebrate victory, the half girl didn’t even register her sister’s voice.

Instead, Light’s eyes were fixed on the thin black strand poking out of the bear’s fallen corpse.

‘...What is that?’

The black strand wriggled left and right, its length stretching further and further as the whole piece slithered out of the bear’s smoking body. Its figure then trickled down into the snow beneath, burying away into the depths of white.

Soon after, a thin trail of rippling snow raced across Chell’s floors in silence – straight towards an oblivious boy that had been watching the fight from afar.

“Wait, look out...!”

“...?”

As Light called out in desperation, the boy momentarily glanced towards the shouting half girl.

But before she could get another word out, the snow beneath the boy’s feet exploded upwards to reveal a long, pitch-black creature. Standing just at about a grown man’s height, it was too big for a worm, and too thin for a snake – but it was nevertheless alive, screeching through its open, gaping mouth.

The boy immediately fell backwards, trembling in fear of the screeching creature. The boy clenched his eyes shut, fearing the worst as the black strand lunged towards him.

But before the creature’s gaping maw would reach the boy, a sudden warmth instead enveloped his figure.

When he opened his eyes after a few seconds, the black creature was being held by a blazing grip around its throat, wriggling helplessly in the air. Strands of orange hair danced about the blaze surrounding them while the figure’s concerned voice called out to the boy behind her.

“Are you alright?”

“...Um...um...uhm...”

At first, the boy didn’t know what to be scared of more – a giant black tapeworm, or walls of fire that had encased him whole.

But when his eyes met the figure’s worried gaze, a surge of relief washed the boy’s worries away.

These flames weren’t going to hurt him. Ever.