Chapter 66: A New Wave (2)
“Surely you didn’t ask because you wanted to drive me out and then enter that mausoleum yourself.”
Airos, who seemed momentarily flustered, soon regained his calm and murmured in a quiet voice.
Fortunately, he seemed more intrigued than annoyed by my question.
“Hmm…”
Letting out a groan, Airos began to blatantly scan me up and down.
He stared at me for a while without saying a word, then nodded as if it didn’t matter either way.
“…Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter. I’ll answer your question.”
“Truly?”
I was surprised at Airos’s easy acceptance.
He let out a small laugh.
“Why are you surprised? You’re the one who asked the question.”
“…To be honest, I asked half out of desperation, half as a gamble, thinking I had nothing to lose.”
I quickly bowed my head to him and added,
“Above all, I know full well that what I said could have sounded very insulting, even if my circumstances were urgent. I would like to take this chance to apologize.”
“Then I shall be honest with you as well, just a little.”
Airos shrugged.
“It’s not that I’m looking down on you, but frankly, even if I tell you, I don’t think you’d be able to pull it off. So I figured it wouldn’t matter if I said it.”
Isn’t that so?
Airos asked, as if seeking my agreement.
“For example, there’s this joke. A child has three ways to kill an elephant with a toothpick. Have you heard of it?”
“I have.”
“Then I needn’t explain further.”
It was a fairly well-known joke.
Poke it until it dies.
Poke it, then wait until it dies.
Poke it just before it dies.
Nonsense.
…And yet, I understood all too well what he meant by saying that.
“When you say drive out, what exactly do you mean? Figuratively? Or literally, physically driving it out?”
“The latter. I want to know a way to drive them out physically.”
I added,
“More precisely, I want to know a way to fundamentally block them from even approaching.”
“Similar, but a different nuance.”
Airos scratched his chin with his fingers.
“Before I answer, I have a few questions. From what you’ve said, it sounds like you don’t want a method to chase away a dragon already settled in its lair, but rather one to repel a dragon that comes charging in… Am I right?”
“Precisely.”
“Then let me ask one more thing. Do you know why they come in the first place?”
“……”
I couldn’t answer right away.
Dragons that would appear over the capital in a few months.
No one knew why they had shown up in the skies above the capital, or what their purpose was.
But I remembered very clearly what began with that incident, and what results came from it.
The very event of “a dragon appearing above the capital” was the trigger that set everything into motion.
Let’s be blunt.
If dragons hadn’t shown up over the capital back then, I would have lived at least ten more years in my past life.
‘…I must stop it, no matter what.’
And if I could find a way to do that—or at the very least, the reason why they flew to the capital—then that alone was reason enough for me to come all this way.
“I do not know. I have not the slightest guess.”
“A pity. If you could simply give them what they wanted, the problem would be over quickly.”
Murmuring regretfully, Airos nodded.
“Then, Lian Gwendil, you must understand that the answer I can give you will of necessity remain vague.”
“I will listen carefully.”
Airos spoke.
“First, dragons almost never leave their homes… in other words, their territory. As you said, they rarely ever go somewhere with a clear purpose. That means, to put it differently, that if they do, they must be greatly agitated. And even in such cases, it’s usually only if their lives are directly threatened, or if their children are in danger—cases that are extremely rare.”
“Then, could it perhaps be that dragons fight each other over territory?”
The sudden rainstorm on the day of the entrance ceremony.
It had been said to be the result of dragons suddenly fighting over territory, and that was what I had believed as well.
That was why I had suspected, however faintly, that the incident at the entrance ceremony was somehow connected to the dragons’ later invasion.
But…
“That’s nonsense.”
Airos’s voice was as sharp as a blade cutting off my words.
I felt embarrassed just for having asked.
“Not even worth reconsidering.”
“Is it that unlikely?”
In response to my question, he spoke with conviction.
“Dragons fighting each other is extremely rare. And cases like what you imagine—physical clashes that shake the surroundings—there were only two such instances in my entire lifetime.”
As he said this, Airos’s eyes twitched slightly.
It was a gesture of discomfort.
“…But such things can no longer happen now. The kind of dragon fight you spoke of is impossible. All the more so if the reason is something as petty as territorial disputes.”
He paused briefly, then continued as if adding an explanation.
“We dragons, when conflict arises, try to resolve it through mutual agreement. If that fails, we turn to our elders to mediate. Even such cases are extremely rare.”
I had never heard anything like this before.
‘In legends and tales, dragons always lived by the strict law of the strong devouring the weak.’
Perhaps sensing my thoughts, Airos let out a dry chuckle.
“Have you never thought about this? If we were truly such belligerent creatures, ready to kill our kin at the slightest displeasure, what would be left of the world around us? We know all too well how vast our power and influence is. That’s why we avoid fighting whenever possible.”
Finishing his words, Airos quietly uncorked his water flask.
He brought it to his nose, sniffed, then gulped it down in one go.
“In any case, to return to the point, there are many ways you might achieve your goal.”
After moistening his throat, he spoke again.
“I will listen carefully.”
“Just give them a good smack.”
“Pardon?”
Despite my flustered reaction, he answered without concern.
There was not even the slightest hint of humor in his plain and straightforward tone.
“If you know they’re approaching, then you can roughly calculate their path, can you not? Lie in wait at the right spot, then give them such a hard strike they’ll be startled out of their wits. Dragons, surprisingly, are rather timid creatures. Aim for the inverse scale, and the effect will be even better.”
“……”
“Of course, a fight may break out on the spot. But at the very least, Lian Gwendil, you would achieve what you intend.”
“That is….”
As I struggled to find an answer, he spoke again.
“Otherwise, call their True Name and persuade them.”
At those words, my breath caught in my throat.
True Name?
“Dragons may have many names, but the meaning of the True Name is unlike any other. The moment a dragon feels its own blood and awakens to its self as a dragon, it instinctively knows its True Name. From what I can see, you are like a priest… and priests need no explanation about what the True Name means, do they?”
“Yes… I know it well.”
I gave a weary answer.
“I also know that it would be faster to behead one than to learn its True Name. If another being learns it, the dragon becomes bound to that being. What dragon would willingly tell another its True Name?”
“That is correct. Not even to one’s parents, or to one’s children, or to one’s spouse does one reveal it. That is the True Name.”
Airos spoke in a voice as if to say “what else could it be?”
“As I said before, I am merely telling you the methods.”
After a pause, he spoke again.
“More than that, I have a sudden question. Will you answer it?”
“Yes, of course.”
“In truth, I do not know what knowledge you have that makes you so certain dragons will come.”
Clink.
He gave his flask a small shake, letting the sound ring, as he muttered,
“But I can tell that you truly believe dragons will invade, and that is why you are earnestly seeking a way to stop them.”
Muttering thus, Airos glanced at me and asked,
“That is why I am all the more curious. Must this problem be solved by you, and you alone?”
“……”
At his question, I could only fall silent.
In truth, his doubt was natural.
Arpentia Academy already had Professor Windy May, famed as a dragonslayer, along with many other outstanding talents.
If the immense threat of a dragon appeared, surely such figures would be the ones to step forward.
If the matter could be settled with just that, I too would have simply hinted to Professor Windy May or a few others and left it at that.
‘But they already failed in my past life.’
And I too had already failed in my past life.
Knowing such a chance would never come again, I only wished not to repeat my regret.
Even knowing it was beyond my ability, I struggled on for that reason alone.
“…It seems I asked a needless question. If that were possible, you would not be asking me in the first place.”
Seeing my silence, Airos sighed softly and muttered,
“Since I’ve unsettled you, I shall tell you a method slightly more feasible than what I’ve said before.”
“And what is that?”
“Seek out another dragon and ask them to mediate.”
He gently set the empty flask at his feet as he spoke.
“This, I believe, would be your best method. There need not be a dragon of especially great power. If one of their kind intervenes, then no matter how urgent the matter, they will at least allow a moment for conversation.”
Airos sighed once more.
“Whatever it is, I wish you well. Few will believe your words as I have, so surely it will be a thorny path. I do not know what you wish to accomplish, but I hope you fulfill it.”
It was a gentle dismissal.
With those words, I knew he would offer no more help.
‘…Well, to expect more help than this would indeed be absurd.’
I bowed deeply, expressing my gratitude.
Then, just as I was about to return to the Headmaster, who was waiting a little distance away for our talk to end—
“There was once a dragon who said that destruction and strife were the nature of humankind.”
“Pardon?”
Suddenly, Airos’s voice called after me, spouting words without clear meaning.
“But someone once said this: that by uniting and forging bonds, humans prospered, and that was what set them apart from beasts. More than that, it allowed them to rule part of the continent.”
He smirked faintly and looked at me.
“Seeing you just reminded me of that. It has been long since I saw someone bound by so many rare connections.”
Murmuring thus, Airos slowly rose to his feet.
Light.
Bright light soon enveloped him once again.
When it faded, he had returned to his original form, spreading his wings.
[Value those bonds well.]
With those last words, he beat his wings and soared into the sky.
“Ugh!”
I shielded my face with my arm against the flying dust and fierce wind, and by the time I lowered it, Airos was already a tiny speck in the distance.
Watching that, I could only mutter,
“…What on earth was he even talking about?”
Dragon, demon, elf.
Do all the long-lived races only speak in riddles no one can understand?
Brushing the dust off my clothes, I muttered to myself.
Time to go back.
Just as I thought that and turned away from the mausoleum—
Prick.
“Ugh.”
Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain near my collarbone, as if pricked by a thorn.
It was just beside where the Brand was engraved.
“…An insect bite?”
I checked lightly, but saw nothing unusual.
The pattern was unchanged.
“Is something wrong?”
“No, nothing at all.”
At the Headmaster’s call, I hastened my steps.
If Cecilia had seen it—
Cecilia, who remembered everything with photographic clarity—she would surely have said this about his Brand.
Just a little.
Ever so slightly, the Brand had grown.