Dragon Life

“Hey, won’t you go back with me?”

“Hii~! How are you doiing~? Are you doing all riight~?”

Neither all right nor anything close to that, because the Captain hadn’t returned at all; so I had been planning to go to sleep after this. Moreover, since my stomach was full I was feeling sleepy. If you’re reading this.

Miss Kikuko, who rather than having marshmallow melons had marshmallow watermelons, was standing on the balcony in front of me. The daylight had begun to darken too; it was that time when it’s neither sunset nor nighttime. in a site other than.

“Will ya let me in for a bit? There’s somethin’ I’d like to talk about~”

She was sticking to the window, urging me to open it. Although I doubted for a moment about whether to let her in or not, since that troublesome self-proclaimed Demon King wasn’t here and she appeared to be alone, I unlocked the key and invited her into the room. Whitey and the others were probably very tired, because they had been sleeping since the daytime. ‘dragon mt’, it’s because.

“Oh, you’re still in that form. I like it though, since it’s cool!” my free translation.

I noticed that she was getting closer, and then she was tightly pressing her chest against my arm. Outrageous! And I’m really not thinking about how they feel like marshmellow or anything! Ah, but please let me stay like this for a while. was stolen.

“What did you want to talk about?” and now someone is gaining.

Miss Kikuko’s bright red lips drew a bewitching arc. money through adds.

“You’re j.a.panese, ain’t you?”

It was a straight ball, huh.

I took some time to ponder on how to respond to that question, but I couldn’t think of a good answer so I stated it in a simple manner.

“Formerly, I was j.a.panese; currently, I’m a Dragon.”

“He~h, what does that mean?”

I still couldn’t understand it myself. It was doubtful whether the day when I could understand it would come. by posting it on their site.

“That’s right, Maji was saying something like you were a Dragon or the like~? but I got a feeling that was telling me you were j.a.panese?”1

“Uhm… Maybe it could be said that I died on the other side, and only my soul was summoned here and became a Dragon? It’s a confusing situation anyway.”

While I said that, it’s not like I believed that myself. I don’t even believe in the concept of the soul itself. But that was the only way to explain the current situation.

“Eeeh?! You’re dead?”

‘That’s probably the case,’ I answered with a nod, but it seemed like Miss Kikuko did not believe it. She pouted and folded her arms.without my permission.

“What memories do you have that could prove i~t?”

“…Some that, felt like they were dreams.”

“Dreams where you die?”

“No, not like that; they were just normal scenes.”

They were truly trivial and peaceful everyday scenes; about talking with my older and younger brothers about childish stuff, and about playing with our pet cat. However, only the moments where the names were mentioned were filled with noise, and thus I couldn’t catch them. Please use add blo cker.

“Hmm~, in that case, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re dead?”

Thinking about it normally, that should be correct. In the first place, even if I had memories about dying, I wouldn’t want to remember them.

Just by thinking about how I could have died, or what I could have felt as I died, I get depressed.

“Well, it should be fine. Ah that’s right! I came with a proposal today~.”

Miss Kikuko reduced the distance between us and said.

“Hey, won’t you go back with me?”

…Where to? That was obvious. To ‘my world.’ To be accurate, it was to ‘Miss Kikuko’s world.’

That was a very very sweet temptation. To escape, throwing everything away, was also a possible choice. to read on those sites, so.

“I‘d like to go back there, y’know? You see, I was just summoned in a small country far away from here, and at first all people ’round me were all making a fuss like, ‘Our saviour’s here!’ and ‘We’ll be saved now!’ But when I told them that in truth I‘m all weak and that they were totally wrong, they wouldn’t listen to me and time just continued to pa.s.s like that. And then they finally noticed that I had no power at all, so I was like, ‘With this I‘ll finally be able to return home!’ but then they were like, ‘She’s a Demon!’ Ain’t that just the worst? While I was escaping for dear life I was picked up by Maji. So that’s why I just want to return.” That they don’t make money.

‘Because it was terrible,’ she added with a big sigh. from work they didn’t do.

“If there’s a way to go back there, I want to bet on it. If ya come from the same place as me, maybe we can return home together? Perhaps I‘ll figure out a way by thinking of it by myself, but it could work too if we both try to work it out together, right?”

As expected, it seemed that she arrived at this world through being summoned. Although it was said that a summoning couldn’t be performed if one didn’t have that old book, if Miss Kikuko was here it was because, in some country, another summoning method may still remain.

Moreover, I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t want to return. For me who didn’t have a family, the family within my memories made me jealous. There were also times when I thought, ‘If only I could go back over there.’ The times I thought of wanting to return over there were not few in number. I didn’t know when a war would occur, not to mention the critical situation of the possible revival of the Demon King and the Demons. Rather than such a world; to go that peaceful world.

“…I’m happy that you made me this proposal.”

“…So then!”

Miss Kikuko’s face lit up, however I continued with a ‘But,’ while bowing down my head a little.

“I’m sorry. Even if I can go to our original world, it may be possible for me to be truly dead. Besides, since I have no memories, I wouldn’t know how I should live on. First if all I currently am a man-eating Dragon. Without the Captain, my Contractor, I’ll just be a ferocious Dragon that will have to keep on eating humans to subsist. If such a creature goes to that peaceful world, it will cause nothing but chaos.”

Managing to return together and then everything is a Happy Ending afterwards; reality is not such a sweet one. It won’t do not to think about what comes after that. As long as I am a Dragon, I can never leave this world.

When hardening my determination and gazing at Miss Kikuko, although she was a person of intense emotions which changed at a fast pace, strangely, her expression at the moment was one I couldn’t read. Perhaps you could even say she was expressionless; maybe she didn’t like my reply.

“…I see.”

Her long eyelashes were pointing downwards.

Perhaps my words were a harsh thing for her. But, I can’t go back there. It’s not like I won’t go, but that I can’t.

When those eyelids opened once again, a pair of soft colored eyes appeared. Looking closely, that did not seem to be her real eye color. A thin line bordered the irises; those, were contact lenses. Her hair that was of the same tawny color was faintly black at the roots. She may have dyed it. Perhaps, because of that color, she too came to have hateful feelings towards this world.

“It seems this was just a fool’s errand… I’m sorry; I was too ecstatic. I got carried away since I found a person who might have come from the same place as me, you see~. But well, this is something I thought of just now, but if you died over there and that’s why you came to this world, then through dying here, it may be possible that we could get back there?”

“Miss Kikuko, are you planning on dying?”

“No waaay! It was just a thought! …Well it’s fine. I‘m currently having fun with Maji, and no matter what I said I just can’t bear to leave him alone y’know? Well, I’m glad I could talk to you today! There’s so little people who can actually say my name properly.”

Be that as it may, I hardly have any memories from when I was j.a.panese though. It could be said that what I knew was only at the level of p.r.o.nunciation, vocabulary and common general knowledge. I knew more before, but as soon as the contract was formed those memories were deeply sealed at some place.

Still Miss Kikuko continued to laugh merrily.

Come to think of it, why was she cooperating with the Demon King? What he intended to do was, as Timo said, an absurd mistake. To build world peace over the sacrifice of thousands of people; such a thing can’t be called peace at all.

I inquired about it in an indirect way, and to that she replied in a gentle tone.

“Because I like him, so I‘d like to lend him my support for everything he does. Even if that will interfere with you guys, Iapologize beforehand. Sorry ne~.”

Because she liked him, she would like to support whatever her partner did. Did Timo feel like that too?

“Since I did manage to talk to you, should I be returning for no~w? Surely Maji will come pick me up… Hm?”

Miss Kikuko, who had turned around in order to go back, came to a halt. Wondering why, I payed attention to the surroundings with all my senses, and noticed that the inside of the castle was in a flurry.

“That’s some disturbance, isn’t it?” (Vito) 

Troubled and shouting voices, and even screams and something that resembled warning bells began to resound. It was just as if we were suddenly under a surprise attack. Even the sound of somebody running through the corridor beyond the door could be heard.

“Uhm, did something happen?” (Kikuko) 

Miss Kikuko became alert, and at stepping out into the balcony she let out a small scream. I hurriedly chased after, but for a moment I was left standing there in mute amazement, with my mouth hanging open, as I gazed at the thing that was spreading out to cover my whole field of sight.

— There was a great darkness right there.

The cloud-like darkness from before couldn’t possibly be compared with this one. It was a round, jet black darkness. It wasn’t the darkness of the night. Up there in the sky, it opened its big mouth as if to swallow everything up. There were small black lights swirling round and round at its very center, shining down their dull light onto the ground, appearing like an armed attack. It was almost like a bombardment.

“Wh-what’s that?! Ain’t that too fast!? But Maji said that we still had some time!”

“Too fast, you say? Just what is that thing!?”

Especially the black lights at the center. They seemed to be getting bigger little by little.

“Well now, that’s the beginning of their attaack! The Demons and the Demon King; when the Rule of Blackness appears it destroys the ground underneath, and there is where they are resurrected! Oof, we need to escape fast, that thing will start shooting within one day!!”

Th-That’s terrible! I have to tell someone!! Whom? Lord Cleric!? But things had already grown into such a state of confusion, and surely everyone who sees this sky will inform others about this state of emergency. What to do? But I can’t be sure of that! Anyway I have to go!

“Wa-wait, where are you goiing!?”

I ran over to the place where Lord Cleric’s group was, slipping through the people who were trying to escape the Rule of Blackness and the panicking soldiers. It was like a separate residence not that far away from our room. Although Lord Cleric woukd be making preparations to perform the ceremony by tomorrow’s morning, and was now in a state where he couldn’t be interrupted, this was not the time to care about that.

“Lord Cleric!”

As I threw open the unlocked door, Lord Cleric greeted me as if he knew I would be coming here. He was wearing his usual white one-piece. The room was arranged in a way that gave it some church-like sacredness, and normally I would be too perplexed at that mysteriousness to enter. However, now was a state of emergency.

To the side, there was Timo and the Captain, and Lady Rosa. They wore tired expressions, so their magical power was probably being severely squeezed out.

“Oh my, you came earlier than I thought.”

“That’s because, Miss Kikuko…”

It was because she noticed what was happening outside the earliest. However, I couldn’t articulate properly since I ran with all my might. While I tried to take a deep breath in order to adjust my breathing, I heard Miss Kikuko screaming outside.

“Noo! What’s this! It’s so disgusting!!”

When I looked back, I saw that she was being attacked by a large and black luminescent body, which emited a dull light. 

“Miss Kikuko! Why are you here…!?”

I wondered if she might have chased after me, even though I was certain she would return to the place where the Demon King would pick her up. When I tried to go help her, Lord Cleric stopped me by grabbing me by the arms.

“That is the origin of the Demons that the Rule of Blackness gives birth to. It is dangerous to leave them alone, but it is even more dangerous to approach them; they will suck out your soul.”

“Then what do we do!”

“In the current circ.u.mstances there’s nothing that we can do, but physical attacks should be effective if it takes on a physical form.”

“It-, It hurts…”

The black light was sucking on Miss Kikuko’s soul and was gradually taking form.

Why is this happening! All I can do is stand by and watch!?

I had to helper right away, but the hands that I tried to stretch towards her were retained. The luminous body settled for a form one size larger than a human being’s, and when the light died down, Miss Kikuko collapsed on the spot, and what appeared instead was a disgusting figure which couldn’t receive another name more appropriate than ‘Demon’. It had two curved horns, and eyes that had no white area; its head was like a cow’s, but physically it was exceedingly close to a human being. It was repeatedly breathing in a rough manner, and was glaring at us with a frenzied gaze.

What in the world was that?

My instincts were telling me that this was the most dreadful thing I had encountered so far. 

“Stand back.”

The Captain stepped out in front of us while pulling out his sword, but his steps were unsteady. He was probably fatigued to the point his vision became blurry, since he wiped his eyes from time to time.

“Do-, Don’t! It’s dangerous!”

As I grabbed the hem of his clothes in order to stop him, his body staggered with a strong tremor. 

“Are you all right…!?”

Miss Rosa intercepted his body, preventing him from falling to the ground. While it looked like they were cuddling, she was actually supporting them both. Even though she was supposed to be tired too.

“A surprise attack, and at such bad timing! This is the worst! Run away, you all!”

Probably Timo couldn’t use her full power either, since she was urging us to escape with a frustrated expression.

“I see, its aim ought to be just me. Please run away, everyone.”

What was this guy thinking? It was Lord Cleric who should be escaping all the more!

“It’s pretty fast, but it can’t be helped, can it?”

Lord Cleric made a rare bitter smile.

And then the Demon came charging at us; its roar almost made me think that the sky was falling apart. There surely are very few people who’d be able to stand an attack by those muscular arms. The Demon headed towards its target, Lord Cleric, with its arms held high.

“Rain!!”

Timo run over to Lord Cleric, but was restrained by the hand.

“Timotea Norris, escape!”

“I refuse! What we were doing just now wasn’t completed so you’re bound to fail! And I told you I’d follow after you, didn’t I!”

That’s right, we can’t lose Lord Cleric here!

With no time to think I slipped my body between Lord Cleric and the Demon’s menacing arms. I heard a voice shouting my name, but I concentrated my nerves throughout my body and turned in order to receive the impact from right in front.

— But, at that time, I received an impact from the back which caused my body to shake greatly.

“…Eh?”

“Get out of the way!”

The one to enter my blurry field of vision, was Miss Kikuko.

I was falling to the ground, and she stood in front of Demon in my place. She was giving it her all even if her soul had been sucked on just now. 

“—- I got it. I remembered, earlier. I remembered it all…. That’s why, see you again… — Itocha-chan!”

In her last moments, she said as such, while smiling at me. 

The swinging arm pierced through her chest. 

It’s a lie. Stop. Such a thing.

A regular human won’t be all right after receiving such an attack. 

When the arm was pulled out, it gave raise to a splash of blood, and her body went down.

The sweet smell of blood tickled my nose.

“…Why.”

— Why did she protect me? What did she understood, what did she remember? Who is Itoka-chan? I don’t get it, I don’t understand at all!

The taste of blood spread in my mouth from where I was chewing on my lip.

I picked up the Captain’s sword that had rolled onto the ground and stood up. My arms were trembling. It wasn’t out of fear. It was because of frustration.

The Demon focused again on the target that it failed to kill while repeating its wild breathing.

I won’t let it do it.

My body was moving on its own. I aimed the sword, grasping it tightly. I didn’t know how to use it, I didn’t know how to cut with it, but I didn’t need to know how. 

T r o w i n g   i t   w i l l   b e   e n o u g h.

My body moved on its own. 2 It wasn’t like a dagger that could be used as a throwing knife, but it was more that enough to hit such a big target. There was no audience this time. I did not expect that the special skill that was pa.s.sed onto me by the older sister who lived in the neighborhood would be useful in such a place. …What am I talking about? I have no time to think about that now though. 

I breathed in, held it, and threw the sword. It drew a distorted orbit, but the sword pierced the lower abdomen of the Demon’s back.

The Demon screamed and turned towards me.

If only I had another sword. My vision circled around, and my eyes went to a dagger which was on the wall as a decorative item. That size, it was just right. Before the Demon charged at me I quickly grabbed it by the blade, not from the handle, and focused. Failure was not permitted.

The target was, its head.

“—-!”

The thrown dagger penetrated its head brilliantly, and after convulsing for a bit its eyes rolled back and it and fell down. Then it dispersed as a black fog.

“Hah…”

I finally breathed out.

— Lately, I may be forgetting the act of turning into a Dragon. Although certainly it would have been dangerous, as by returning to my original form in this narrow building, it would have become half destroyed and Lord Cleric and the others would have been squashed under the rubble.

But something was odd. I saw a face for a moment at the instant I made the throw; that face was. 

“Kikuko!? Kikuko!! Hold on!! …Don’t die!”

Before I knew it, the Demon King was approaching Miss Kikuko who laid at the center of a puddle of blood.

You were too late to come.

“I ask you, please open your eyes… Kikuko…!“

Miss Kikuko would never wake up again. Lord Cleric readily used recovery magic too, and the wound closed up, but she would not come back. It all happened within a moment. Now it seemed as if she was asleep, wearing that smile that she gave me at the end.

“Shiiit…!! Just why!!”

A sorrowful cry. And then, Miss Kikuko’s body became tinged with light and started to disperse in midair. It was quite mysterious, as the glittering shine resembled a crystal of light. 

“Wha-, what’s this.”

“…Since she was summoned, her soul belongs to her original world. It should have returned to the reincarnation circle where it must exist.”3

The Demon King desperately tried to collect that light, but his hands just grabbed the air, and so the light shone one more time, and it conspicuously disappeared. Even the puddle of blood that had overflown disappeared, and now even the fact that Miss Kikuko had been there seemed to be an illusion.

“Dammit…! It’s your fault! If you all hadn’t done any unnecessary things!!”

He hit the floor as he cried and yelled.

“I curse you, all of you!! I will absolutely never forgive you!!”

Why is it that I just kept being protected?