Chapter 42 – And Then Visitation Trial (3)
A chill ran down my spine.
I had gooseb.u.mps all over my body and my knees wouldn’t stop trembling.
My molars clattered and the jaws that I put strength into to stop it started to squeak.
“The peak of the four dragon species, don’t make light of Dragon Kings, human.”
Yule-san intimidated me while smiling like she was enjoying it.
It felt like time has stopped around us.
The air tangled around my arms and I couldn’t move.
It was difficult to breathe.
The intimidating air rained down like rattling beads, and just standing here depleted my strength.
“M-mother, stop it!”
“Fue, yaaaaaaaa!”
“Hic, Fueeeeeeeee!”
Jaja and Nana couldn’t endure that atmosphere and burst into tears.
“Oops, my bad. Sorry, did grandma scare you?”
At that moment, everything was released.
I regained control over my body and took large gulps.
Sweat was pouring out.
My heart was pulsating.
If I lost focus, I might even collapse into the bed.
“Aaaaaa! Fuyaaaaa!”
Jaja was strongly gripping onto my clothes.
I spontaneously firmly embraced her.
I needed that warmness and softness more than anything right now.
“Gyaaaaaa!”
“Nana, come here.”
When Aoi extended her arms, Nana immediately left Yule-san and stretched out both hands towards Aoi.
“Oh, as expected Aoi is the best?”
Of course, ya monster.
You would want to be embraced by a kind mother rather than someone who gives a premonition of death just by being there.
“Fuyaaa… aaa…”
After burying my face in Jaja for a while, it seems like she stopped crying ad started pulling my hair.
“… Thank you, Jaja.”
I feel like I was protected by Jaja.
I really wanted to inform her of my grat.i.tude, so I quietly muttered.
“Aa.”
You’re welcome, she replied.
In my imagination.
“Mother… why are you like that towards humans”
Aoi questioned Yule-san in a sorrowful voice.
“Hm, that’ right. It’s such a cruel story that I never told you before.”
“What story…?”
While comforting Nana who was still unsettled, Aoi put herself on guard.
“Alissa’s story.”
“Alissa?”
Aoi tilted her head.
It seems like it was an unfamiliar name.
“The wyvern, Sati’s daughter, Aoi.”
“Uncle.”
When I realized, a fluffy rat was sitting on the bed.
He was gnawing on a rice cracker that he got from who knows where while waving his staff around.
“You… where were you?”
“I was getting lunch in the kitchen. Since your younger brother isn’t here, there wasn’t anything satisfactory.”
This b.a.s.t.a.r.d, was he just doing as he pleases?
“Who’s Sati-san?”
“A dragon that was older than me, in the same generation as my mother. The daughter, Alissa, was twenty years younger than me.”
A lot of past tenses…
“What happened to Auntie Alissa?”
“She was s.n.a.t.c.hed.”
“Eh?”
Aoi froze in place.
The arms she was hugging Nana with increased in strength.
“A story when I was still a child, around 2000 years ago. Before the worlds collided.”
“At that time, the sky dragon tribe, led by the Sky Dragon at the time, lived in a huge valley near the fort city where the tiger tribe lived.”
The fluffy rat, Alba Germain, suddenly began to add.
Somewhat proudly, and a little lonely.
“How nostalgic. It was a peaceful area of our tribe, protected by a strong wind wall that would even knock down a huge tree. Though the place was destroyed and everyone scattered…”
Yule-san continued to speak while gazing at the sky outside the window and remembering.
“Alissa was still young. Wyverns were a dragon species that boasted of their flying speed, I mean that was the only thing she could do, but Alissa was too small to do anything else. There were also times when she pulled me along for a walk.”
“Well, wyverns are still dragons, and wouldn’t lose to beastmen when grown.”
“One day when Sati left to hunt for food, Alissa had enough time to get out of the valley. She was a very curious child. She always whined that she wanted to fly outside the valley, and was always scolded by everyone.”
Yule-san narrowed her eyes and continued looking at the sky.
I could only see the side of her face, but she looked very sad.
“No one noticed that Alissa had slipped out. Winter started and there wasn’t a lot of food, there was also no room left in any nest. There were many unfortunate coincidences.”
Aoi nestled closer to me.
Aoi grabbed my sleeves anxiously, and was hugging Nana who stopped crying.
“It happened that a caravan from a faraway country had come to the entrance of the valley. It was a place that was considered taboo by the local beastmen. Perhaps they came to look for ores. After all this time, it doesn’t really matter.”
“I also wasn’t interested.”
Alba Germain set the rice cracker to the side.
It was a difficult atmosphere to tell him to not put it on top of the bed.
“The worst thing was that Alissa was weak, she wasn’t able to judge whether it was dangerous or not, she was also timid and cowardly. The caravan consisted of a combination of demons and beastmen. The caravan who found a young dragon flying out of the valley, shot Alissa down with the demon’s magic.”
Yule-san wrinkled her brows.
Her arms were crossed, and her hands were tightly gripping onto her arms.
“There was the strong boar tribe in the caravan. After she fell, writhing in pain, numerous boar tribe restrained Alissa. Alissa was scared and crying until the end. Poor Alissa…”
“W-why do you know about it in such detail?”
Aoi accidentally let her opinion slip out.
Certainly, Alissa was always alone in the story.
I wonder who on earth saw it?
“That’s of course from those that were a part of the caravan. I was going to say earlier, but half of the beastmen and demons who were involved in this were quickly torn apart by Sati and half were killed in three days. Of course that includes the guy that told us this.”
Aoi’s body was completely stiff.
She was trembling a bit.
I couldn’t ignore it, I held her shoulder with my left hand, it seems like it rea.s.sured her a bit and her body relaxed.
“We knew that Alissa didn’t return on that night. Our entire clan came out and searched for her. Those demons mixed into the city, we finally got information out of some people in the underworld and shady merchants, and we managed to get information of Alissa’s whereabouts three days later.”
“I was in a period of hibernation that I have every decade at the time. I slept for about four months. If I were there, that wouldn’t have happened. I still regret to this day.”
Alba Germain closed his eyes and looked up at the ceiling.
Unlike his usual shameless appearance, he was quietly lamenting the past.
“And then, Alissa was found. Do you want to hear in detail of what state she was in? It was too cruel and inhuman, although I say that, I didn’t see it directly, because the adults didn’t show me. I came to know of it later. “
I could hear the sound of Aoi swallowing next to me.
Jaja had the thumb of her right hand in her mouth and started playing with Nana.
As for me, I imagined the scene while listening to the story, and replaced it with Jaja or Nana, and I was about to throw up.
“Oh, by the way Alissa isn’t dead.”
“Eh?”
I thought that she was dead from the flow of the story.
Aoi seemed to be the same, and made a short and surprised voice.
“To be precise, she can’t even die.”
What?
I don’t understand.
“She has parts missing around her body. Although dragon’s have strong vitality, Alissa, who was still young, couldn’t recover completely. She has grown up like so.”
“That’s right, and also her spirit.”
Alba Germain added, and Yule-san nodded.
That is to say…
Too cruel…
“Horror that surpa.s.ses imagination and the pain that lasts forever, Alissa’s spirit was shattered into pieces. She still lives with Sati in a place where no one approaches. I sometimes search for them, but they don’t know who I am and can’t reply. But only I’ve seen it, that child who was smiling so brightly…”
Yule-san stared at her clenched fist and shut her eyes.
And then slowly opened them.
“Now then, after listening to the story, you show know that you can’t trust beastmen, demons, and the just as greedy humans, right? Ai”
Yule-san looked at Aoi with a serious look.
“B-but! Kunpei-san is a very kind human! Shouhei-san and father is also very kind…”
“Do you still not understand, you idiot daughter!!”
“Hii”
Her sudden loud voice scared Aoi.
Jaja and Nana were also surprised and stopped.
“We dragons are not stupid! There are various different beastmen, humans and demons! I know that! But not you! Think about the girls!”
“… Jaja, Nana”
Aoi looked at the twins.
The two opened their eyes wide in surprise, they noticed their mother’s gaze and began to move.
“Ahー”
“Ee”
Jaja reached out to Aoi.
I lifted Jaja by the armpits and pa.s.sed her over to Aoi.
Aoi carried both twins, one in each arm.
Aoi looked at them back and forth and trembled.
“This brat and his family are kind? That’s splendid, they helped us, but Ai, no Aoi. Coming down to the human world means that people with evil thoughts will come. The same as Alissa, do you also want Jaja and Nana to experience it?”
“S-such things!”
That’s not good.
Absolutely not.
But what she’s saying is…
“So, leave the human world. I will stay until the twins grow up enough. I will go against the traditions of the sky dragon, but I can not let their lives be changed.”
“T-that can’t be…”
Aoi looked at me with eyes that were pleading for help.
But I could not respond to those eyes, I didn’t have an answer.