Volume 6 - CH 3

Chapter 3: The Narrowing Distance Between the Two 

“Cold... High... Scary...” 

Right now, I was flying through the skies, being carried by the dragon priestess. 

My body was wrapped in the dragon’s hand, so it was reasonably warm, but my face was directly exposed to the wind, and it was very cold. 

That, and it was scary being this high up. It had nothing to do with acrophobia—I’m pretty sure anyone who suddenly found themselves skydiving with no past experience would be scared. That was what this was like. 

“I apologize for the inconvenience,” the dragon priestess said. “However, a dragon only lets her partner ride on her back. Please forgive me for carrying you like this.” 

The dragon priestess sounded apologetic, but I wasn’t convinced that was the problem here. 

“No, it’s not that I wanted to ride on your back...” 

Honestly, the only reason I wasn’t even more freaked out was that only my head was exposed. If I’d been riding on her back, feeling the speed and wind pressure with my whole body, I’m confident I would have passed out. 

The members of our Air Force fly this high, too... I realized. 

The dragon priestess asked, “Are you afraid of high places, Sir Souma?” 

“Huh? Uh, yeah. Kinda...” 

“In that case, I will go faster so we can arrive at our destination sooner.” With that, the dragon priestess accelerated rapidly. 

“No, that doesn’t mean I want you to go fasteeeeeerrrrrrrrrrr!” 

I screamed the loudest I had that day. 

“Eek!” Naden shrieked. 

Having left Crystal Castle, she’d been on her way back to her den when the biggest jolt she’d felt all day had hit her. 

This wasn’t like mere static electricity; this was like squeezing your foot tightly when it was numb from you sitting on it for too long, or suddenly having someone grab your sides. It was that sort of ticklish and stimulating feeling. 

Naden rubbed her cheeks and said, “I thought it might be my cheeks, but could this be—” 

She was then interrupted by something else. 

“You there, worm,” a high-handed voice said snootily. 

When Naden turned to react, there were three girls there. One was a beautiful young girl with defiant eyes and rolls of curly hair who looked like the epitome of haughtiness, while the remaining two were her blue- and green-haired flunkies. 

The girl with rolls of red curls was Ruby; the flunky with the short blue hair was Sapphire; and the flunky with the long green hair was Emerada. 

Naden had been walking on a little road in the forest. The three of them were standing to block it. 

With a look of utter contempt on her face, Naden walked toward the three of them. “Oh, look... the three stooges.” 

“Who’re you calling stooges?!” Ruby exclaimed. 

“Well, should I call you drag-ons instead?” Naden quipped. 

“Huh? Where is that pause in the middle coming from?” 

“From how this keeps dragging on. You keep coming to bother me for no good reason.” 

As one might have guessed from this exchange, Naden hated these three. This country was unwelcoming, both in a geographic and diplomatic sense, so many of the dragons had inward-looking personalities, too. That was why there was no shortage of dragons who mocked her as a “wingless dragon” or “worm.” 

Dragons prided themselves as being creatures revered as godbeasts, so most of them wouldn’t tell Naden how they looked down on her to her face. But they still said it maliciously behind her back. 

These three were the only ones who would openly mess with Naden. 

Red-haired Ruby mockingly said, “Hmph! I heard you were called out by Lady Tiamat, so I came to see if you finally got yourself thrown out. Well? Was she mad?” 

“Too bad for you, then,” Naden shot back. “There wasn’t anything she was upset about.” 

“Hmph. Then why were you summoned?” 

“I don’t see how that’s any of your business. Now get out of my way.” 

Naden tried to pass the three of them, but Ruby immediately blocked her. 

Naden tried to turn back the way she had come, but Sapphire and Emerada had sealed it off. 

“...You three, cut it out, would you?!” 

When Naden glared at them, Ruby took on a nasty grin. 

“Oh, yes, it’s the Contract Ceremony soon, isn’t it?” 

Naden gulped. The three circled around her, with Ruby closely scrutinizing her face. 

“It’s so romantic,” Ruby said. “The young dragons and knights all meet, the noble knights offer their hands to the dragons, and the dragons accept their hands to become lifelong partners. It’s the highlight of every dragon’s life. The moment when we can be said to shine our brightest.” 

Naden was silent. 

“On that most important of days, I wonder if there will be a knight who would deign to choose you.” The corners of Ruby’s lips turned up, and her fang-like canines peeked out. It was an unpleasant smile. “Dragons prefer strong knights. Strong knights produce prosperous descendants, a mark of pride for any dragon. Knights prefer magnificent, majestic dragons. For the knights of Nothung, the dragons are their partners both in marriage and on the battlefield. In order to distinguish themselves in battle and to move up in the ranks—not to mention survive—they’ll choose strong, majestic, and ferocious dragons.” 

Triumphant and mocking, Ruby’s words beat against Naden’s ears. 

“But what about you? Will there be a knight who would choose you? You, who have no wings, don’t breathe fire, and can’t fly? Even if there is, what will he do? Is he going to ride you? Watching the rest of the dragon knights fly through the sky while he fights on a dragon that’s little better than a horse? Ahaha, what an idiot. He won’t be moving up in the world, that’s for sure!” 

Bzzt! 

Ruby jumped backward as that sound suddenly came from Naden. 

Naden’s hair began to stand on end, and her body was wreathed in pale blue electrical discharge. Her voluminous hair spread out, wriggling in the air like tentacles. 

Naden turned to Ruby, pointing a finger at her as she said, “Shut your filthy mouth. If you don’t, I’ll paralyze you.” 

There were three dragons, red, green, and blue, hanging in the air; it was none other than Ruby and her flunkies. The three flapped their membranous, wyvern-like wings as they looked down at Naden. 

“What’s the matter? Weren’t you going to paralyze us?” In her red dragon form, Ruby seemed to have become even more spiteful. “Oh, right. Even if you can control electric shocks, you can’t hit us if you can’t fly.” 

“Shut up!” Naden yelled. 

“Who would ever choose you?” 

“Shut up, shut up, shut up!” 

“You had better participate in the ceremony. Don’t run away. Though I’m sure no one will choose you, it would be good to see you put in your place.” 

“Ngh!” Naden cried. 

Naden ran away, turning her back on Ruby and the other two. 

Damn it... Damn it... 

She didn’t want to let them see her tears of sadness and frustration. If she cried, it would only let them bask in their sense of superiority. Not a chance. 

Though I’m sure no one will choose you. 

As Ruby’s words echoed in her ears, she imagined the other dragons mocking her at the Contract Ceremony. 

Pai and Lady Tiamat told her to participate, but she wouldn’t let anyone make a laughingstock of her! 

Who... Who would go to the stupid Contract Ceremony?! 

Naden vanished into the forest. 

Having adjusted to flying at high speeds, I spoke to the dragon priestess as we got closer to the Star Dragon Mountain Range. 

“So, I wanted to ask a question.” 

“What might that be?” she asked. 

“This Dracul place, where the dragons live—it’s on top of those mountains, right?” 

“Yes. That is correct.” 

“I’m still fine now, but if you carry me up there, am I going to be all right when it comes to air and whatnot? I’d rather not suffer from altitude sickness.” 

This was the Star Dragon Mountain Range, a series of mountains the size of Mt. Fuji. The Dracul Plateau itself was kept in a state of perpetual spring by Mother Dragon’s magic, and the air there was no different from the air at ground level, but what about the route there? 

If I was going to be going through an experience equivalent to suddenly being chucked to the top of Mt. Fuji, that would be hazardous to my health. 

The dragon priestess shook her head. “You need not fear. Once we enter the Star Dragon Mountain Range, Lady Tiamat’s magical power will directly transport you the rest of the way to Crystal Castle in Dracul.” 

...So there you had it. Basically, it was going to be another teleportation like I had experienced earlier. 

“In that case, couldn’t she have just transported me to that castle or wherever to begin with?” 

“Lady Tiamat can only exercise her fullest power within the Star Dragon Mountain Range. In other lands, her abilities are greatly restricted. When you get to be as far away as that village, she can only teleport you short distances.” 

...Could a few kilometers really be called a short distance? 

Well, it seemed she couldn’t suddenly send dragons anywhere on the continent, at least, so that was a bit of a relief. I didn’t even have an inkling of any intentions to oppose her, but it was still unsettling to have her unilaterally hold the power of life and death over me. Though, well, I could certainly tell that Mother Dragon was on an entirely different level from other creatures. 

While I was thinking that, the dragon priestess picked up speed. “We will soon enter the Star Dragon Mountain Range. Please, brace yourself for transportation.” 

“Brace myself? How am I supposed to do that?” 

“Don’t be surprised if the scenery around you suddenly changes.” 

“Oh, so that’s what you meant...” 

The dragon priestess’s speed slowed, and when she had almost come to a stop... 

...the scenery changed. We had just been in midair, but now the floor was beneath my feet. 

The dragon priestess set me down, and I was finally able to get my feet back on terra firma. 

I looked around, wondering where I might be. It was bright, so I could see well, but it was an incredibly vast space I’d found myself in. There was a white wall in front of my eyes, but when I turned to look behind me, the wall on the opposite side was a long ways off. This place might be larger than a domed stadium. 

When I looked up to the ceiling, still thinking about that, I gulped again. It’s not a wall?! 

What I found myself looking up at was a giant dragon’s head. Right now, I was at the breast of a massive dragon that was sitting like the sphinx. That head... It was the same dragon I had seen in my dream. 

Did that mean this supermassive dragon was Mother Dragon? I’d thought she was big when I saw her in my dreams, but because it’d been a dream, her size had been kind of hazy. When I saw her up close and personal like this, she seemed even bigger than I’d assumed in my dream. 

I heard a voice from above. “You’ve done well. Let us have some time alone.” 

The dragon who had carried me this far said, “Understood.” 

She bowed her head, and was then erased. Mother Dragon probably teleported her away. 

While I was still dumbstruck, Mother Dragon addressed me in a gentle (though psychic) voice. “Now then, I think it would be much too haughty of me to remain in this form when before the master of a nation.” 

With that said, her body began to shine and then shrink down. When the brilliant light subsided, I beheld a woman who was roughly the same height as me. Her face was covered by a veil, so I couldn’t tell her age or appearance, but the woman was wearing a shining, silver robe-like garment, and had a well-balanced figure. As with the arms of the Venus de Milo, not being able to see her face made me imagine it to be incredibly beautiful. 

“Is that... your human form?” I was awestruck, but somehow managed to get those words out.