1039: Side - Fannabelta
My name is Fannabelta.
I serve the great Dragon King, Trismegistus-sama, as his most loyal retainer and right-hand woman.
Ah, my poor liege.
Trismegistus-sama always put on a troubled smile as he worked for his kinsman. He could not bring himself to abandon the foolish dragonkin who mistook honor for arrogance.
Since he always disliked fighting, all of those fools looked down on Trismegistus-sama with disdain. They did not even try to hide their att.i.tude.
Yet the moment they found out about his prowess as an alchemist, they had to gall to act as if he was a close friend.
Shameless, greedy, and shallow. Completely incompetent outside of combat. Such was the nature of dragonkin. My liege was a rare breed among them. The only exception.
I advised him many times to abandon those imbeciles and depart this land, but he never accepted my plea.
Because he was the king, and the king was to work for the good of his people……
Even this position of king was forced upon him by the dragonkin. Trismegistus-sama desired nothing more than researching in quiet peace, so they bound him to the nation to utilize his brilliance.
My liege was nothing if not earnest. He could not refuse anything if it was for the sake of his citizens. Thus was the fate of those born as a royal golden dragonkin, or so he always said.
And so my liege found himself babysitting those useless simpletons, spreading revolutionary magical tools throughout the nation all the while.
A tool for maintaining the temperature of a room. A tool for cleansing their scales in an instant. A tool for preserving food.
Their lives grew more convenient, but the desires of the dragonkin knew no bounds. Once satisfied with their food, clothing, and shelter, the next step was war.
They urged my liege to create magical tools useful on the battlefield. A spygla.s.s tool, an earth excavation tool, a wall construction tool.
Their demands escalated with each pa.s.sing day, and my liege solved everything with his genius mind and devotion to research.
Some called this period as the Golden Age of Dragonkin, but such could be nothing further from the truth. It was their most despicable era, in which my liege carried the endless desires of the foolish dragonkin on his back alone.
This was also the age in which my liege began partic.i.p.ating in war himself. The dragonkin forced him to fight. Despite relying on him for everything else, they still made up some ridiculous excuse about him being useless if he couldn’t defeat enemies.
I followed him there as well, piling up mountains of corpses. It must have been around this time when I gained those nicknames. The Cold-Blooded Witch, the Ma.s.sacre Swordswoman, the Golden King’s Shadow.
But regardless of my achievements, I was still an elf. Elves were merely servants to the dragonkin in the Gordicia of old. Those dragonkin b.a.s.t.a.r.ds never accepted me standing next to their king.
They tried everything to tear me from my liege, hara.s.sing me in every manner possible. I was occasionally even separated from him on the battlefield, putting me in great danger.
Well, all the dragonkin making false reports met a terrible fate. First, I froze half their bodies. Then I gradually peeled off their scales over a week’s time, ensuring they died slow and painful deaths as an example. I still remember that fondly.
But this did nothing to end the hara.s.sment. The more influential dragonkin would stop at nothing to have their daughters in my liege’s bedchamber, and they thought I was the obstacle standing in the way.
Such nonsense. The relations.h.i.+p between Trismegistus-sama and I was nowhere near as feeble as a romantic one. I only felt pure loyalty, not the convenient misunderstanding of survival instincts known as “love” or “l.u.s.t”.
No matter what might happen, my unwavering loyalty would always be the only thing driving me. If my liege must take a queen consort, I shall welcome her. Yet these imbeciles did not seem to understand that. I’ve always hated buffoons only capable of viewing things distorted by their own foolishness.
Then, that fateful day came. I fell under attack by several dragonkin and found myself mortally wounded. It seems they had a life dragonkin among their ranks, so healing magic had no effect on my injuries.
As a result, I become the test subject of a certain research project. The creation of Intelligence Weapons.
This research was originally intended to create a sword with an implanted artificial soul, capable of giving advice and serving its wielder on the battlefield. However, we s.h.i.+fted to incorporating a living person once when we were unable to create a satisfactory product……
After several experiments with slaves, we discovered the minds of these swords always breaking down. Putting the soul of a man into the body of a sword proved more difficult than we imagined.
But I could not allow myself to die. I needed to remain at Trismegistus-sama’s side and continue serving him forever.
The experiment was a success. I had somehow acquired the Devotion skill, which seemed to revitalize my mind and prevent me from going crazy.
But this state wasn’t perfect. Little by little, I could feel my mind giving way. I needed to make Trismegistus-sama’s position una.s.sailable while I was still sane.
Trismegistus-sama noticed my condition too. He also thought to create a grand achievement capable of silencing the dragonkin before my eventual descent into madness.
The result was that tragedy.
In hindsight, I must say that we went too far. I should have been the one to advise him against it, but instead I encouraged him. My judgment was undoubtedly clouded by my transformation into a sword.
But the real tragedy for me came later.
Trismegistus-sama became an immortal sinner, locked into an eternal battle with his creation, the Abyss Eater. This was my liege’s punishment for causing that tragedy, and I was given the role of seeing it through.
My Devotion skill evolved into Eternal Loyalty, making me an eternal existence as well.
However, watching my liege’s gradual descent over the ages was nothing short of torture.
「Fannabelta. Thank you for everything today. Let us continue doing our best tomorrow.」
『Please leave it to me.』
「I will. I am so glad that you stayed with me.」
「Fannabelta. Time to go. Show me your strength once more.」
『Yes my liege! Let’s keep up the good work.』
「Indeed, we shall.」
「Fannabelta. It is time.」
『My liege, please try not to push yourself too hard.』
「Very well.」
Our conversations became fewer in number. The emotions faded from his words. The expression vanished from his face. The prison of time proved to be more cruel and terrible than any mortal can imagine.
Yet my loyalty remained strong. I will continue supporting him until the bitter end. Or so I thought, until that incident changed me.
The battle with a divine sword wielder controlling poison and demons. It seems that man was somehow foolish enough to go after Trismegistus-sama’s immortality. The buffoon had no clue how terrifying an eternity could truly be.
He must have thought Original Sin Envy was powerful enough to steal Trismegistus’ immortality, but of course, it was powerless to overturn a divine punishment.
As a result, he set his sights on my skill instead. Though not full immortality, it might become a starting point. Thus, he stole Eternal Loyalty.
This skill forces you to swear your allegiance to another, so I have to wonder what happened to that man. I was already sworn to serve Trismegistus-sama, so that proved no issue to me……
Whatever, why should I care about that simpleton anymore? In exchange for losing Eternal Loyalty, the trade forced Original Sin Envy on me.
It was then that my darkest days started. I couldn’t believe my lack of control over my own thoughts. Moreover, I stopped feeling discomfort as the skill took over.
I wanted nothing less than to end my wretched and incompetent self. Gradually, even these thoughts were overwritten with jealousy, and pushed deep into the recesses of my mind.
And then, the final moment.
『Trismegistus-sama! Put your mana on the blade! Please! At this rate――』
My ugly screams echoed through the air. But soon enough, those emotions faded away.
『GRAAAAAAAAH!』
As I felt myself getting devoured, the balance was restored to my mind. I suppose my impending destruction reduced the impact of Original Sin Envy on me.
Ah, my liege. Thank you so much. Now I can finally disappear…… But will you truly be fine without me? My only worry is if that fake Intelligence Weapon will be able to support you.
Meanwhile, something was flowing into my fading consciousness. Could these be that sword’s memories? A journey with a girl. Intense, joyous, and filled with hope.
So disgusting and…… envious……