Chapter 7: Uninvited Guest
On one particular day, after Rio’s life in the village had passed the six month mark...
In the western parts of the Wilderness, on a particular mountain range, a lone griffin was flapping its wings, soaring far up in the air.
Griffins were called the lions of the heavens, renowned for being rulers of the skies, second to only the dragon family. They were extremely intelligent creatures, but had wild temperaments, and mostly inhabited mountain areas. As their upper bodies were birds of prey, one of their characteristic traits was their high-pitched screeches. However, to some citizens of the country, they were beasts to be kept as riding animals.
“M-Mr. Reiss. Is it really okay to be so far out here?”
Two humans sat upon the back of the griffin. One of them — a small boy with the appearance of an adventurer — asked a question to the black-robed man named Reiss, sitting behind him with the reins in his hands.
“Yes, it’s fine. However... if this much is enough to scare you, then perhaps you aren’t quite suited to be a member of our mercenary squad after all, hmm?” Reiss heaved a huge sigh, the question being one he had answered numerous times already.
“N-No, that’s not what I was saying! I-I just wanted to know where we were going. Several days have passed since we entered the Wilderness already.” The boy hurried to explain himself, making him seem all the more scared.
Nature filled the scenery before their eyes. There wasn’t even as much of a trace of a human presence — only dangerous beasts prowled the area, so it was only natural for a fledgling adventurer like him to be scared.
Until just recently, the boy had been part of a small adventurer party that fought weak monsters for pocket change. As a fresh newbie on the scene, every day was a hurdle to cross— until one day, he was approached by Reiss, who invited him into the famous mercenary squad named after griffins: The Heavenly Lions. He had considered Reiss to be a rather shady figure at first, but once The Heavenly Lions were brought up and he was told they were scouting out young adventurers to personally train, he decided to at least hear him out.
Thus, after being shown the insignia of The Heavenly Lions — and even a griffin itself — the boy’s desire to become a hero had been easily piqued, and he found himself cheerfully agreeing to joining the squad before he knew it. Once he did, he was immediately given a mission to complete as an initiation task. Events continued to progress right before his confused eyes, until he eventually found himself casually riding on the back of a griffin, half-regretting everything.
“Fufu, we’ve arrived at our destination. Let’s descend here,” Reiss said, controlling the reins in his hands to lower the griffin down the mountainside. The mountain they landed on was made of exposed bedrock and was lacking much vegetation.
I-If I’m going to do this, I’ll do it right! I’ll get better! By the time they arrived at their destination and touched down on the ground, the boy had made up his mind.
“Let’s go,” Reiss said, suddenly walking off.
“Yes!” the boy nodded with great enthusiasm, running after him.
After walking towards the summit for around an hour, they came across a large cavern right before the peak.
“Oh, are we going in there?”
“That’s right. Preliminary investigations have already been completed. The master of this cave should be out hunting for food at this time, and won’t be returning for a while, so there’s no need to worry,” Reiss explained in a calm tone, making the boy sigh in relief.
“You can wait here. I shall return in a few minutes.” With that said, Reiss said nothing more and entered the quiet cave. Then, true to his words, he returned from the cave a few minutes later.
Thank goodness. Now we can go back, the boy thought. But just as relief was flooding through him, he noticed the item Reiss was carrying with both hands and stiffened in shock.
“M-Mr. Reiss, what is that?”
“Can’t you tell? It’s an egg,” Reiss answered indifferently.
“W-What kind of egg?”
“Oh, are you curious?”
“Ah, no...” Scared to find out the truth, the boy reflexively shook his head.
Though it was indeed just an egg, it had a diameter of over 30 centimeters. Its shell was so thick, it looked like it would require a blunt weapon to crack, and its weight was easily 10 kilograms, too.
“Here. I am handing this to you.”
“Hweh?” The boy let out a dumbfounded noise.
“You need to hold this egg — I have to steer the griffin, after all. I’d love to put it in the bag, but we can’t afford to throw away our food for the return journey, now can we?”
“...R-Right.” Unable to argue against Reiss’ detached explanation, the boy nodded awkwardly.
“Good. Now, shall we return to the griffin?”
Reiss walked off, the boy hot on his heels. He didn’t want to stay here any longer, and he felt completely numb as they returned to where the griffin was waiting.
“W-Won’t the parent be mad? What if it tries to retrieve its egg? I mean...” The boy asked with a twitching smile before they mounted, stricken by his worries.
“It’ll be fine, of course.” Reiss pasted a creepy smile on his face as he answered. “How far do you think the distance is from here to Strahl?”
“Right... Of course...”
“Let us return, now. Make sure you hold onto the egg tightly, understand?” After he received a nod of acknowledgment from the boy, Reiss ordered the griffin to take off. However, the direction they were traveling towards was not Strahl, but the great forest where the spirit folk lived. Later that night, a tremendous and terrifying wail echoed in the cave Reiss had visited.
◇◇◇
Finally, the day of the Grand Spirit Festival arrived. The main stage of the ritual was to be held in the spirit shrine built near the roots of the giant tree that Dryas protected. It took half a temporal hour (or roughly one regular hour) to walk there from the village. With the exception of the minimum level of security, nearly all of the spirit folk — over ten-thousand of them — had gathered in the magnificent grounds of the shrine.
The spirit of the giant tree, Dryas, stood on an altar placed on the shrine’s dance stage, looking down at the elders prostrated before her — among those present included Syldora, Dominic, and Ursula.
“Under the divine blessing of the Great Spirit, may her grace and protection be with the spirit folk for all eternity...” A solemn atmosphere dominated the entire area as Syldora and the others offered their prayer.
Once the ritual prayer was completed, the elders stepped down from the stage. Then, Sara, Orphia, and Alma appeared on the stage dressed in ceremonial attire, and began their song and dance of appreciation towards Dryas.
Dryas looked down at the three of them happily.
“They’re so pretty...”
Underneath the dance stage, Latifa was watching the magical dance of the girls in admiration. After the three girls finished their performance, Syldora took to the stage once more and began to speak in a stately tone.
“Ladies and gentlemen! The Spirit Festival has once again commenced safely. This is all thanks to your untiring efforts, daily prayers, and dedication to the spirits over the past year. Let not your gratitude to the dream spirits ever wane.” Syldora was by no means speaking loudly, but the amplification effect of wind spirit arts easily carried his voice across the whole area.
“Now, let us continue the ritual,” Syldora’s voice continued, making Latifa flinch hard.
Every year during the Grand Spirit Festival, it was custom for spirit folk children who reached a certain age to be introduced to everyone in the village and receive a blessing from Dryas. Latifa was one of those children this year. Furthermore, those who received Dryas’ blessing would be graced with a slight increase in total ode and spirit arts affinity, though it wasn’t as much as a spirit contract would grant.
Rio noticed Latifa’s nervousness and reached out to squeeze her hand. In response, Latifa lifted her head and pulled together a brave smile.
Syldora called out the names of the children to come up to the dance stage. There, a simple introduction and greeting was given for the villagers to familiarize themselves with the children. Next, Dryas placed a blessing kiss on their forehead, and the bodies of the children would glow with a soft light.
Latifa’s name was called after all the other children received their blessings.
“Half a year ago, one of our brethren came to join us: the werefox, Latifa.”
After her name was called, Latifa’s went up to the stage, her small body trembling.
“She has suffered greatly at the hands of heartless humans, but at the same time, she is here with us today thanks to the kindhearted human who extended his hand in help. She is an admirable and kind girl.” At Syldora’s introduction, Latifa gave an awkward bow. Then, like the other children before her, she walked towards Dryas’ altar.
“This way, Latifa.”
“Y-Yes.” Urged forth by Dryas, Latifa went right up to her.
“This makes you an official resident of this village. I hope you find yourself at home here,” Dryas said, before suddenly scooping Latifa up in a hug. This was a lot more contact compared to the others, who had only received kisses. The crowd murmured quietly.
Latifa, in shock, unintentionally let out a yelp. “Fweh?!”
“Fufu. You’ve suffered so much until now, I thought I’d give you a little special treatment. I can only do this much for you, but I hope you’ll always find strength in your heart.”
“Y-Yes!” Latifa gave a great, emotional nod.
Dryas then placed a gentle kiss against Latifa’s forehead; a faint light immediately began to shine from Latifa’s body. Despite the unexpected occurrence, Latifa too received Dryas’ blessing.
And with that, the blessing ritual was complete.
If the festival had been following the same progression as prior years had, this was where the closing ceremony would be held before moving on to the banquet. However —
“Lastly, I wish to introduce the one who rescued Latifa. Our one-sided misunderstanding caused him much trouble in the past, but he forgave us, and allowed us to start over anew. Thus, we are greatly indebted to him. Allow me to introduce you to Latifa’s benefactor — and ours too — Lord Rio,” Syldora began his introduction.
With a light nod, Rio climbed up the staircase of the stage. Once he was standing beside him, Syldora continued. “Lord Rio has taught us many interesting food recipes. They are delicious, and they will be served at the subsequent banquet, so do look forward to it.”
The mood over the shrine grounds softened a bit.
“Lord Rio has contracted with a humanoid spirit. This is a truth that has been confirmed by the Great Dryas herself, so there is no mistake. ...Silence!” Syldora barked at the flurried villagers; his words had caused the grounds to burst into noisy chatter.
Until now, Rio’s contract with the humanoid spirit had been kept a secret from those outside of the village council. But they had chosen to play their hand at this very moment. The result was perfect.
“As a member of the village council, I cannot allow someone who has contracted a humanoid spirit to be disrespected — no matter whether he is a spirit folk or not.” At Syldora’s words, the elders all gave great nods of agreement. The aim of their action was to outwardly express the unity of the council’s opinion on the matter.
“Lord Rio is our benefactor. His wonderful personality has been made more than clear over the past six months of his stay here. That is why I am considering accepting Lord Rio as a sworn friend of us spirit folk. Does anyone object?” Syldora inquired in a loud voice, causing a silence to fall over the shrine grounds. Deeming there to be no objections, Syldora continued speaking.
“Then, I would like to humbly request that the Great Dryas grant Lord Rio a blessing kiss as a symbol of our sworn friendship. Lord Rio, Great Dryas.” At Syldora’s urging, Rio approached the altar where Dryas was.
“Fufu. Let’s get along, small human hero.” Dryas smiled. Once she had awarded a kiss on Rio’s forehead, Rio’s body began to glow with a soft light. After a beat of silence, the grounds burst into loud cheers and applause.
“Now, the ritual has come to an end! It’s banquet time! Get ready!” Dominic announced the end of the ceremony as the applause died off.
Immediately, the bustle of the villagers became directed towards the food, and the banquet management staff began the preparations in a fluster. They freely used spirit arts to guide the crowds, set up the banquet area, and distribute the food and drinks efficiently. A young male elf and winged werebeast flew in the air above, acting as messengers, dispatching work orders, and guiding the villagers with voices amplified by spirit arts. Dwarf men were using spirit arts to manipulate the dirt, creating makeshift tables and chairs throughout the shrine grounds at a quick pace.
Meanwhile, Orphia and several other elf girls were using their Time-Space Cache artifacts to bring out completed dishes and drinks one after another, as the men of varying species raced to carry them to every table. Thus, work progressed as the others looked on, and before long all the preparations were completed. The banquet began with a loud toast.
“Gahahaha! You’re sure drinking well today, Rio, my boy!” Dominic held a sake cup in one hand as he laughed heartily at Rio, who was drinking with him.
“Yes — I don’t normally drink because I have practice, but I thought I should at least drink freely today. The alcohol of this village sure is high quality.” Rio said, raising his cup to his mouth.
This wasn’t exactly flattery, but a compliment from the depths of his heart. There were several types of alcohol offered at the banquet, but even the cheapest bulk-produced alcohol of the spirit folk exceeded the quality of what the highest nobility and royalty in Strahl drank. Of course, it went without saying that the progression of drinking was also faster.
“Well, duh! Our village only brews real sake! ’S not like them human-made drinks that they only drink to get drunk!” Hearing the village’s alcohol being commended made Dominic laugh merrily.
“It’s exactly as you say. Now that I’ve had this sake, I can never go back to Strahl’s alcohol.”
“Good riddance! This isn’t even the top tier of the alcohol we make. Just wait ’til you try our spirit folk specialty, Soul Sake!” With a grin, Dominic took out a mythril carafe and glass. He poured its contents into the glass and offered it to Rio.
“This...”
“Shh, just drink.”
The instant Rio peered into the glass, a mesmerizing, mellow scent tickled his nose. A thick liquid filled the cup, drawing Rio’s mouth towards it almost involuntarily. The moment the sake touched his tongue —
“Wuh?!”
The taste was so exquisite, it almost made Rio’s jaw drop. He pressed his mouth closed in a panic, but the intense flavor of the alcohol was already seeping throughout every inch of him.
It was so good, it felt like his soul was slipping out of his body. The sake was probably dubbed Soul Sake for this very reason: because drinking it caused a near out-of-body experience, Rio mused.
Unable to resist the temptation, Rio brought his cup to his mouth for a second sip. Before he knew it, the sake in his mouth had disappeared, as though it evaporated into thin air.
No, the sake definitely passed through Rio’s throat... The taste was just too much for him to process, making it seem as though it had disappeared in an instant. For such a high potency, it was terrifyingly easy to drink.
This was first-rate drink, most worthy of being called Soul Sake. He couldn’t even consider Strahl’s alcohol to be alcohol anymore. Lost for words, Rio’s body shook with the emotions running through him. That was when Dryas appeared, a glass held in one hand.
“What do you think? My sap is in that,” she said.
“Hrrrk!” Upon hearing Dryas mention her sap, Rio choked.
“Kya! Eww, geez. What are you doing?”
“I-I’m sorry. I was just surprised. This is the sap of Your Greatness?”
“That’s right. It’s called Soul Sake, isn’t it? As the spirit of the giant tree, I’m the soul that resides in the sap used — hence the name. My sap is even used in elixirs,” Dryas said proudly.
“I-I see...” If the sap produced sake of this quality, then it could certainly be used as a miracle component for medicines too.
“I’m impressed, though. Only dwarves can drink that sake properly. You must be a heavy drinker, Rio,” Dryas said with wide eyes.
“You got that right, Your Greatness! It’s almost a shame a guy like this is a human. Now drink up, drink up!” Dominic agreed cheerfully as he refilled Rio’s glass. The dwarf elder had already consumed a fair amount of alcohol himself, but his face still appeared just fine.
“It really is a potent alcohol. It’s almost scary how easily it goes down despite that.” Rio looked at his Soul Sake-filled glass with reverence.
“Right? Normally they end up like that.” With a pleasant smile, Dryas directed her gaze behind Rio, who turned around and followed her gaze. There he saw —
“O-Orphia?!” Orphia was stumbling over her own feet, heading towards Rio. Her face was so red, it was evident she was drunk with just one glance.
“Mashter Riooo, are you... drinkin’...?” Orphia asked with a slurred lisp, flopping down in the seat next to Rio. The difference between her usual gentle self was so great, Rio was dumbfounded.
“U-Umm, Orphia, haven’t you had too much to drink?” Rio asked with a twitching smile, sending her words of concern.
“Ah! I’m... I’m fiiiine. This... ish barely nothin’...”
You’re clearly not fine at all! — Rio wanted to yell. Suddenly, Orphia sidled up right against Rio.
“Mooore importantly, Rioooo! When will you shtop shpeaking sho shtiffly?!”
“...Umm, I speak stiffly?”
“Yesh! You shpeak like yer tryin’ to dishtance yourshelf.” Orphia held her eye contact with an oddly steady gaze. She spoke so insistently, Rio couldn’t help but shrink back.
“I’ve gotten sho closhe with Latifa, yet it baaaarely feelsh like I’m fwiends with Rio. Ish been half a year shince you came here. Thish can’t be right...”
At a loss for how to deal with a drunk Orphia, Rio looked to Dominic and Dryas for help. But the two of them had disappeared from where they were drinking mere moments ago, standing far in the distance and laughing at Rio instead.
They abandoned me! — Ah, it’s Sara! Just as despair overcame Rio, he noticed Sara coming his way and heaved a sigh of relief.
“Good grief! Orphia, you’re causing trouble for Rio!” Sara said, holding her glass with both hands as she sat down and glued herself to Rio’s hip.
Judging by her appearance, Sara still seemed to be clear-headed and sober, but Rio could feel that something was terribly wrong. In all the time they had spent living together, he knew that Orphia and Sara weren’t the type to touch him so proactively.
“Erm... Are you drunk too, Sara? Haha...” Rio asked, looking into Sara’s eyes.
“Y-Yes. Umm, I may be a little drunk.” Perhaps she really was, as her cheeks reddened when she nodded. Her eyes darted about the place, and her tail also twitched restlessly. She pressed herself even closer.
“Right... Shall I cast a sobering spirit art on you?” Feeling his body being squished in from both sides made Rio pull himself together and ask.
“N-No! I’d get even more embarrassed if you did that!” Sara shook her head in a fluster.
“Thash right. Lishen to Shara,” Orphia spoke up in agreement.
Even more embarrassed... That implied she was feeling a certain level of embarrassment at the moment. And yet, she still chose to stick to him this closely. Rio calmly tried to discern what the reason for that could be.
However, the girls clinging on each side of him made it very difficult to think.
How did it end up like this? Rio lamented to himself.
Both Sara and Orphia were both of such high status, they could be considered the village’s princesses... and they were extremely beautiful as well. Rio couldn’t stand being in this situation, but it was the type of circumstance where it wouldn’t be strange if all the men around him glared daggers in his direction.
Then, as though to deal the finishing blow: “Hmph! Orphia, Sara, that’s unfair!” Latifa suddenly hugged Rio from behind him.
“Are you drunk too, Latifa...?” Rio dropped his head in resignation.
Her face was as close to him as possible, and he could smell the faint scent of sweet Soul Sake from her mouth. Far in the distance, Rio could see Ursula cackling happily with Dryas and Dominic. He immediately concluded that this was their dirty work.
At that very moment, one more figure appeared and called out to Rio. It was Alma.
“Good evening, Rio. May I join you too?”
“Yes, of course.” Rio nodded in delight. Alma’s eyes still had a modicum of reason within them.
“Honestly, just because Soul Sake tastes good doesn’t mean you can drink as much as you like,” Alma said with amused exasperation as she moved to sit facing Rio. They were less than an arm’s length away from each other, but it was the perfect distance to be able to converse without yelling over the noisy banquet happening around them.
“Looks like you’re not drunk yet, Alma.”
“Dwarves have a high alcohol tolerance.” Alma smiled faintly at Rio’s relieved face.
“Alma shooo cuuute!” Orphia, sensing the faint change of expression in Alma’s face, suddenly hugged her.
“Wah! That tickles, Orphia!” Despite her embarrassment, Alma didn’t resist.
Sara giggled. “Alma used to be such a crybaby, always following me and Orphia around. She was so cute... But now she’s become a boring, mature adult. Can you believe she used to call us Sis?” She said, revealing old stories of Alma to Rio. Rio and Latifa looked at Alma in surprise.
“W-Wah! Sara! What are you saying?! You’re too drunk!” Alma tried to stop Sara in a panic, but it was too late.
“I want to hear more about Alma when she was little! Right, Onii-chan?” Latifa laughed in excitement, turning to Rio.
“Right,” Rio agreed teasingly.
“N-Not you too, Rio... D-Don’t you think we should be using this time to deepen our friendship instead?!” Alma yelled, face blushing a deep red.
“Thash right! I wanna be better fwends wif Rio! But Rioooo keepsh trying to maintain hish dishtance!” Orphia latched onto the topic Alma brought up, emphasizing her earlier statement.
“W-With me...? But I’m already living with you...” It took a beat before Rio could find a response, but he couldn’t quite deny the distance he had been trying to keep. They may have been living under the same roof, but Rio had definitely spent the whole time keeping his walls up while interacting with them.
“It’s true that we have been living together. You help us with our training and teach us how to cook, too. H-How should I put this... Even though Latifa’s learned to love us like older sisters, there’s still this sense of distance when it comes to you. And that feels a little... l-lonely, you know? We’ve become sworn friends now, so...” Sara’s cheeks blushed crimson as she avoided Rio’s gaze and spoke with a sharp tone.
“We jus’ wanna be better fwendsh. Ehehe,” grinned Orphia. In the end, it all came down to that one simple phrase.
So that’s why they’re being so clingy... and bold... in their actions. Though I don’t think it was the right way to approach this... He was happy they decided to express their feelings in such a straightforward manner. Rio glanced sideways at Latifa, who had climbed onto his back and was peeking over his shoulder. She was grinning happily as she watched over the course of events.
Was Latifa behind all this? Sara and the others don’t usually act this way.
With that thought, Rio couldn’t help but smile. The girls had gone this far out of their element just to become closer friends with him. That fact made him very happy.
“W-What’s so funny?” Sara asked with a red face. She was either drunk, or feeling embarrassed by how directly she had expressed her desire to be closer friends.
“Nothing, I’m just happy. Thank you, everyone. It’s part of my personality that I’m not very sociable with others, so I would be very grateful if we could continue to get along well.” Rio smiled gently, looking around at the girls and bowing slightly at them.
“Y-Yes! We would love that!”
After blinking blankly for a moment, Sara and the others nodded in delight. They took each other’s hands and jumped around with noisy cheers.
“Now we can all be best friends!” Latifa said happily from where she clung around Rio’s neck.
“Gahaha! Looks like that’s all settled. Here, I brought some food and sake over... Now you can deepen your relationship with this.” Dominic suddenly appeared out of no where and approached the group with a hearty laugh. Ursula stood behind him.
“I knew you two would be involved as well...” Rio said with a troubled look.
Ursula gave a good-humored cackle. “Oho, it looks like everything went exactly as planned.”
“Grandfather Dominic, what is the meaning of this?” Alma looked at the proffered food and drink curiously.
“You’re a dwarf, too, aren’t you? All you need to do is eat, drink, and laugh, of course!”
“Please don’t include me in that muscle-brained species stereotype of yours.”
“Gaha! What a handful this one is! How about it, Rio, my boy? She may be a little uptight with her jokes, but she’s a beauty, and she’s got her cute moments, too. Now that you’re a sworn friend of the spirit folk, how about you take a spirit folk bride with you?” Dominic brought up with a blinding smile.
“Umm, that’s a bit...” Rio struggled to respond.
“D-Don’t say such absurd things!” Alma blushed furiously and objected, causing Rio to force a smile on his face.
“That’s right. You need to consider how the person feels... Especially when it comes to women,” Rio said, making Dominic look at Alma in surprise.
“Why? Don’t you like Rio, Alma?”
“N-No, it’s not that I dislike Rio or anything. It’s just that I’m still young, so there are other things I’d like to do first...” Strangely, Alma replied to Dominic quite seriously, her face red.
“Alma ish so cuuuute. Then... I’ll be Rio’sh bride, too!” Orphia said, petting Alma’s head.
“Ohoho. You can’t lose to them, Latifa. You too, Sara.”
“Yup!”
“W-Why am I included?!”
Latifa nodded innocently, while Sara yelled her protest in a panic.
“Gahaha. Rio, my boy, you should just take all four as your brides. The spirit village allows polygamy, after all,” a red-faced Dominic jeered, laughing loudly and boorishly with Soul Sake in one hand.
“It seems like this old man has finally reached the status of a full-blown drunk...” Alma shot Dominic an exasperated glare.
The others laughed at the sight. Before he realized it, Rio was laughing too. He couldn’t even remember the last time he had laughed this hard... it was a happy moment in time.
While they laughed, chatted boisterously, and watched the entertaining side shows that performed, the majority of the spirit folk in the grounds had passed out drunk. Latifa, Sara, Orphia, and even the alcohol-tolerant Alma had fallen asleep next to Rio. Alma had been tipping back the stronger drinks to hide her embarrassment, resulting in her current predicament.
“Hm. This is quite the spectacle,” Ursula said to Rio with an uneasy smile.
“If that’s what you think, then please make an effort to stop them next time,” Rio replied fluently while his face was flushed red.
“Bwahaha! Were you not having fun, Lord Rio? You could have used spirit arts to sober them up at any time, but no one would do such uncouth things at festivities like this. Why don’t you loosen up a bit more?”
“No, I’ve had enough fun.” Rio shook his head with a slightly strained smile, then looked over at Latifa, who was sleeping happily.
“I’m thinking of telling Latifa soon.”
He didn’t specify what. Ursula would understand what Rio needed to tell Latifa even without him saying it.
“...I do believe it’s still a bit early, but that may actually be for the best,” Ursula said, gazing lovingly at the sleeping Latifa.
◇◇◇
The day after the Grand Spirit Festival...
Rio woke to the morning rays filtering through his window. None of the other inhabitants of the house were awake yet, so he cooked a thin porridge for everyone — that was easy on the stomach — and ate alone. After leaving behind a note, he went outside, and wandered aimlessly around the village. In the aftermath of the banquet yesterday, there were far fewer people awake and walking outside than usual.
Rio made his way to the deserted village square, then proceeded to lie down on the ground, face-up. He closed his eyes and felt the wind against him, and he remained that way for what may have been several hours.
“Onii-chan?”
An anxious voice sounded from above his head. Rio blinked his eyes open, and Latifa’s face looked back down at him.
“How did you know I was here?” Rio asked with a somewhat strained expression.
“I’m a werefox, remember? I have a good sense of smell, and I’d never forget Onii-chan’s scent.”
“Oh, that was right. So what’s up? You don’t look too good.”
“No, I’m okay. Onii-chan wasn’t there when I woke up, so I got really scared for a moment. I thought maybe Onii-chan had left and gone far away.” Latifa smiled with a look of deep relief, shaking her head.
“...Hey, it’s been over half a year since we came to this village, right? Are you having fun living here?” Rio suddenly asked, a contemplative look on his face.
“Hm? Yup! It’s super fun! Sara and the other girls are here, Vera and the other kids are here, Ursula and the elders are really kind, and most of all — Onii-chan’s here!” Latifa nodded, beaming with a carefree smile. Rio felt a twinge deep within his chest, but he had to keep going. After several seconds of hesitation, he spoke.
“...Latifa. I’m thinking of leaving this village after a while.”
Unsure of how to break the ice, he ended up phrasing it rather bluntly. He watched for her reaction.
At some point, while he had been distracted, all traces of emotion had disappeared from Latifa’s face. She was frozen stiff, looking at Rio’s face blankly, even though she had been smiling so cutely mere seconds ago.
“You’re... leaving?” Latifa managed to ask in a hoarse voice.
“Yeah, I have to leave. You remember how I was originally heading east, right?” Rio answered her truthfully with a serious face, purposefully pushing back his own emotions.
“...No.” Latifa mumbled in a quiet voice, but Rio continued to speak anyway.
“I won’t be able to bring you with me, Latifa—”
“N-No! Never!” Latifa yelled loudly, as though to drown out Rio’s voice.
“Latifa, please, listen to what I have to say.”
“I’m not listening! I don’t wanna!” Latifa fretfully backed away. Her eyes darted about, before she suddenly broke out into a run away from Rio, refusing to listen to him anymore.
“Hey, Latifa?!” Rio called after her fleeing back, but Latifa made no move to stop. Perhaps she had applied the physical enhancement spirit art that she learned from her recent progress in training, because her small and light frame ran like the wind.
Where is she going? Rio wondered, expression darkening.
At the very least, she wasn’t heading in the direction of the house. She was running off in a direction away from the center of the village. Rio’s movements had been numbed by his guilt towards Latifa — even if he chased after her now, it was obvious any conversation they’d have would only turn sour.
Standing still and clenching his fist, Rio hesitated, wondering if he should chase after her anyway.
◇◇◇
Latifa panted harshly as she continued to run aimlessly.
“Hah... hah...”
Her surroundings were changing at a dizzying speed, but she didn’t stop running. Right now, she just wanted as much distance from Rio as possible.
No, no, no, no!
Her heart was entirely focused on getting away from him. In her mind, as long as she didn’t have to listen to him, he wouldn’t leave.
This presented a contradiction: even though she didn’t want him to leave, she was trying to leave him. Thankfully, there weren’t many people walking around the village because of the banquet, which had run late into last night. In this way, she wouldn’t run into anyone who would question her behavior and try to stop her.
Before she knew it, Latifa was outside of the village. She had no idea how much time had passed; it may have been a minute, ten minutes, or even an hour.
With all other presences completely gone from her surroundings, Latifa finally came to a stop.
A tranquil silence had fallen over the forest, with no sounds other than the chirps of birds and cries of small animals. The village was surrounded by several layers of strong barriers; while it had its weaknesses, it was generally protected from outsiders under most circumstances. Even if there was a trespasser, the warriors of the village would come running immediately.
Furthermore, there were no roads in the forest, making it very easy to get lost — though Latifa could make her way back to village using her sense of smell at any time. There was no need for her to fear getting lost or running into dangerous creatures.
And yet, at that moment...
Latifa noticed that the skies above her were rather noisy, and looked up. Through the gaps of the trees, she saw several of the village’s warriors flying through the air, conversing in rather loud voices. It was Sara, Orphia, and Alma.
They could be searching for her — realizing that, Latifa looked around in a panic, but sighed in relief when she noted that she was still alone.
With that, she ran off once more, putting further distance between her and the village.
◇◇◇
While Rio was speaking to Latifa in the village square, far above the skies near the great forest, a single griffin was soaring through the air.
“Mr. Reiss, did we pass through a forest this large on our way here?” The boy, who was carefully carrying the large egg, asked Reiss in a worried voice. Reiss was manning the reins of the griffin.
“Did we, I wonder?” Reiss answered indifferently. His gaze was fixed sharply on the great forest below them, so he was barely paying any mind to the boy.
Statistically speaking, most of the force field should cover the ground below. However, the closer the distance to village, the more the barrier would protect the sky, too. I would love to carry this out in a smart way, but I only have three pawns to use, and who knows when that will come for its egg. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, I suppose — I shall have to speed things along, even if it’s a bit more risky. Reiss looked coldly between the boy, the egg in his arms, and the griffin between his legs. With a small chuckle, he adopted a gentle tone as he addressed the boy. “Shall we take a water break? I’d like to let the griffin rest a little, too.”
“Y-Yes, sir. But will it really be all right? Resting in a place like this.”
“Well, it does seem like a peaceful forest. This is a rare opportunity... Why don’t you make some memories instead of being afraid? You may never lay your eyes on nature like this again.”
After that, Reiss lowered the griffin down next to a suitable spring. At the moment, they were located within half a temporal hour away from the village, if traveling by air.
The boy led the griffin to the spring by the reins. After he tied it to a nearby tree, the griffin began to drink the spring water. Then, the boy moved to refill his canteen with water, too.
“Now, I’m going to take a little look around this area. I shall be back soon, so swallow this and wait here for me.” Reiss handed the boy a small stone. The stone was transparent, like a jewel.
“Swallow... this?” The boy, understandably, expressed some resistance. Very few people would willingly swallow jewels for fun, after all.
“It’s a type of artifact. A precaution prepared in the unlikely event that I am separated from you. As time passes, it will slowly dissolve inside of you. The absorption itself will pose no harm to you. But, if you don’t want to eat it, I won’t force you...”
“I-I’ll take it, if that’s all it is!” Taking Reiss’ words for what they were, the boy hurriedly accepted the jewel and swallowed it with some water.
“Good — now I can leave without worrying.”
“You’ll be back soon, right?”
“Indeed. If anything happens, feel free to leave me behind and get away on the griffin. You should run in that direction, by the way,” Reiss said, pointing where the giant tree was hidden from perception by magic barriers.
“Okay!”
“Oh, and one more thing. Do carry the egg with you carefully. In the unlikely event that you need to run, of course.”
“I understand.” At Reiss’ emphasis, the boy nodded with a huge, exaggerated smile.
“Now, if you’d excuse me.”
With that, Reiss slowly wandered off into the forest. Less than a minute later, the boy’s figure by the spring was completely out of sight.
“I’d love to take the remaining eggs back right now, but I must wait for that to arrive in search of the decoy egg first. The demi-humans could also appear at any moment, so I must make haste.”
Reiss gave a small sigh. Immediately after, his body started to float in the air. He rose high into the sky before flying away, placing distance between himself and the village.
◇◇◇
Meanwhile, Latifa was still running through the forest. A four-meter long bird — Orphia’s contracted spirit, Ariel — had been flying above the forest near the village. Orphia and Uzuma were also patrolling the skies, along with several other warriors from the village.
“Another intruder, huh? That makes two in the past six months. These aren’t very peaceful times,” Alma murmured from where she sat on Ariel’s back. Sitting next to her, was Sara.
“It’d be fine if they just left like this,” she said. “And if they’re human, we can just ask what their motive is. Uzuma, make sure you don’t make the same mistake as that time with Rio.”
“I-I know that!” Sara’s stern warning made Uzuma nod in guilt from where she flew nearby.
Their urgent flight continued for another quarter of a temporal hour (roughly 30 minutes). Sara’s group arrived in the vicinity where the greatest ode reaction was observed; all they had left to do was investigate the area and locate the target.
“Orphia, are there any suspicious ode reactions nearby?” Sara asked.
“...Two near the spring over there.” Orphia replied a few seconds later.
“There’s a human! And that’s... a griffin!” Uzuma spotted the target instantly with her sharp vision.
“...Let’s descend into the forest first. Then, as we discussed earlier, we’ll listen to what they have to say, peacefully. If the human tries to make a run on the griffin, we’ll restrain them.”
At Sara’s orders, the party moved down into the forest and towards the spring.
◇◇◇
The boy paced in circles around the spring.
“He said he’d be back soon... Damn it!”
Thirty minutes had passed since Reiss left to explore the area. Yet there was still no sign of his return. Just then, the bushes nearby started to rustle.
“Mr. Reiss?!”
The boy’s expression brightened as he turned towards the sound. But the moment he spotted who had appeared from the bushes, the color immediately drained from his face.
“D-Demi-humans...” The boy murmured in shock at the sight of Sara’s group. Sara’s group seemed to be able to hear his words, as their expressions furrowed in the slightest.
“We would like to talk to you. Will you come with us quietly without putting up a fight?”
“Eh? Ah, umm... haha.”
The boy moved his left hand to his waist in a panic, pasting a fake smile on his face as he cautiously backed away towards the griffin. He shot a glance towards where the egg was.
“...What kind of egg is that?” Sara asked in suspicion and looked at the egg.
“Oh, umm, I wonder...” The boy picked up the egg in his right hand as he gauged their faces for their reactions.
“Please refrain from making sudden moves. We do not wish to do this the hard way, but we do have appropriate countermeasures prepared if we sense any hostility from your actions. Will you answer our questions?” Sara asked sincerely as she attempted to negotiate a compromise.
In actuality, humans very rarely passed through this forest. Because of this, the village warriors — including Sara — did not have much experience with situations like this. There was no protocol for this situation.
When Rio had intruded half a year ago, their wariness had caused them to act rashly, making them lose their calm and causing Uzuma to go into a frenzy. That was why they had reflected on that experience and chosen to take the calm approach this time. However —
“S-Sorry!”
The boy tucked the egg into his side and pulled out a knife hidden at his waist, moving to cut the rope that tied the griffin to the tree. Then, he jumped onto the griffin’s back.
“H-Hold it right there!” Sara yelled in a panic.
But the boy ignored her order and directed the griffin to take off into the air.
“We have no other choice! Sara, give the order to attack!” Uzuma yelled as she activated the spirit art she held ready in her hand. The other warriors immediately prepared themselves to go on the offense.
“Kuh! Aim for the griffin! Make sure you don’t kill the human boy!” Sara commanded, and several of the warriors launched less harmful spirit art attacks into the air.
But griffins weren’t called the rulers of the skies for nothing: with their high intelligence, they could detect the low power attacks directed at them and calmly make maneuvers in the air to avoid them.
“Kaaaaah!” The griffin let out a high-pitched screech and flapped its wings as it suddenly sped up.
“I-It’s fast! Get after it -- that’s the direction of the village!” Sara yelled, taken aback. The warriors of the village all kicked off the ground and flew into the air.
“Sara, get on Ariel!”
At some point, Orphia had materialized her own contract spirit. Alma had already hopped on its back, so Sara hurried to join her.
“Yes, let’s go!” Sara’s group immediately took to the skies, flying high above.
◇◇◇
“Ugh, why can they fly?! Damn monsters!” The boy yelled, seeing the warriors of the village chasing him.
He had taken to the skies on the one-off chance they wouldn’t be able to fly after him, but he hadn’t expected the pursuers to be able to give chase in the air. If anything, this made the situation even worse than before.
“Hey, fly faster! You’ll be killed, you know!” he shouted wildly, ordering the griffin to accelerate using the method that Reiss has taught him.
Because of his desperate orders to accelerate — or maybe because of the stress caused by the attacks it had just received — the griffin huffed in agitation as it sped up. However, it still wasn’t enough to pull away from the village warriors behind him. If anything, they were closing the distance between them, little by little. Realizing that it was only a matter of time before he was caught, the boy’s panic increased.
Just then, a black shadow covered the boy’s vision. A large mass descended upon him at a rapid speed, coming to a stop just before him.
“Huh...?” The boy let out a dumbfounded noise. He didn’t understand what had just happened.
“Kaaah?!”
Meanwhile, the griffin noticed that something had obstructed its path and dropped its speed immediately. As a result, they barely avoided colliding with it.
However, the sudden movement had sent the boy flying, along with the egg that had been tucked into his side. The boy’s face twisted with fear as he instinctively curled around the egg. Once he had secured the egg within his grip, the boy fell through the tree leaves and branches at a high speed.
He felt the branches snap against his body, the powerful collisions causing pain all over. In the middle of his descent, he let go of the egg he had been carefully carrying, and landed on the ground, back-first.
“Gah!” A groan of pain escaped the boy’s mouth at the same time the egg made contact with the ground.
A huge crack ran along the shell, and the contents started to leak out. At that moment —
“W-What?!”
Latifa’s timid figure appeared; she had been running around the forest aimlessly when a boy had fallen near her.
“A-Are you okay?”
Once she had spotted the fallen boy, she ran towards him in a hurry.
“Huh? A human...?” Latifa froze at the boy’s human appearance. But, despite his species, she couldn’t cast aside someone so battered and injured.
“Are you all right?” she asked, and cast the healing spirit arts she had just learned the other day.
“Ugh...” the boy groaned, and weakly opened his eyes.
He found himself face to face with Latifa, who had twitching fox ears growing out of her head. His face twisted with fear.
“Eek! Stay away, monster!” he yelled, turning pale.
“Wh-Wha... Kya!” Latifa flinched and backed away, trembling.
After the boy pushed her away, he fled in a panic, face screwed up in pain. Only Latifa and the cracked egg were left behind — or so she thought, when...
“Kyaa?!”
Suddenly, a large black mass dropped from the sky, snapping the branches of the trees as it fell. The force of its impact easily blew Latifa away.
“Ugh... Eek?!” Latifa opened her eyes from where she laid.
Before her eyes was a dragon-like creature, with its front legs and wings constructed as one limb, its whole body covered in black scales, and with a height of 20 meters. It stared down coldly at Latifa.
This was a Black Wyvern — a member of the superior wyvern subspecies, and it sat at the top of all other demi-dragons. Its combat abilities were believed to be greater than all but pureblood dragons themselves. Even amongst demi-dragons, they were of a completely different caliber than the Winged Lizards that Latifa and Rio had encountered in the Wilderness.
“D-Dragon...”
To Latifa, who had never seen a real dragon before, the Black Wyvern’s form had a presence that was just as overwhelming as a true dragon.
“Grrrooaar!”
Latifa had been trying to get to her feet when the Black Wyvern’s roar made her cower. She let out a squeak and fell back down onto the ground. As she began to slowly back away, the Black Wyvern shot her a glance that said she wasn’t worth its time, before looking around at its surroundings.
Then, once it spotted the cracked egg —
“GRAAAAAH!”
It let out an even greater roar at the heavens, and its enraged and menacing eyes locked onto Latifa. The Black Wyvern twisted its body with a snap; Latifa thought that it was turning itself around, but a whip-like tail swung out horizontally, and the sound of air being sliced through rang throughout the air. The trees, which grew everywhere in their surroundings, were all mowed down at once.
Latifa’s scream fell on deaf ears as it was drowned out by the thunderous crash made by all of the trees that were sent flying.
◇◇◇
The village warriors came to a screeching halt at the grave situation that had suddenly befallen them. Right after the enraged Black Wyvern suddenly descended upon the boy on the griffin, another Black Wyvern appeared — and it was leading several other wyverns.
“Lady Sara, it’s a flight of the flying dragon subspecies!” Uzuma immediately identified the intruders as she confronted them, as the wyvern herd menacingly flapped their wings from a distance.
“Nobody panic! They wouldn’t come this far out for nothing. They won’t attack immediately and it doesn’t seem like they’re here to hunt... Oh no, don’t tell me...!” Sara trailed off, remembering the egg the boy had been carrying moments ago.
“Sara, it’s the egg! What if that boy just now stole that egg?” Alma and Sara came to the same conclusion.
“If so, this is bad. Both he and the egg are in the forest...” Sara bit down hard on her lip, furrowing her brow.
One of the Black Wyverns had descended to where the boy had landed in search of the egg. If the egg was safe, it was likely that the wyverns would avoid a confrontation and simply return to where they came from. However, if it wasn’t... the worst-case scenario flashed through Sara’s head, making a chill run down her spine.
After some time, the Black Wyvern below them let out a roar towards the skies, as the herd of flying dragons above beat their wings in a show of furious grief.
“It doesn’t seem like that’s an option anymore. This is very bad. The village is right there...” Alma’s face scrunched up.
The Black Wyvern on the ground swung its tail and razed all of the trees in the area. In response, the flying dragons in the air attacked Sara and the others.
“Orphia, Alma! We’re going to take care of those two Black Wyverns! Uzuma, you lead the other warriors and eliminate the remaining wyverns!”
“Understood!”
The other members of their party moved out as soon as Sara gave the order. As they faced the approaching wyvern herd, each warrior released their most powerful specialty spirit arts. However, as many of the spirit users present were of a flying type, most of those present specialized in wind abilities.
Spirit arts could manipulate natural phenomena, but the laws of nature could only be influenced, not completely dominated. Depending on the strength of the arts user, one could ignore the laws of nature to bring about unnatural phenomenon. When the village warriors used their spirit arts, the surrounding winds blew violently, attacking the flying dragon with blasts of air launched from blades of wind and ode.
However, even if they managed a direct hit against the wyvern’s skin, they had no effect other than a mild physical attack. At most, it slowed them by a fraction. There was not much else it could do against the large frames of what were, easily, ten-meter-tall examples of a typical sub-species. Wind elemental spirit arts had a wider and more adaptable range of use compared to other elements, but it also had a lot less power. Especially in a case where the opponents had such large bodies, in most circumstances, a spirit art of great scale had to be used to not be outmatched.
“Tch, we can’t use high power spirit arts while we’re flying! Spread out! Form pairs so that one can act as bait as the other maximizes their physical enhancement and aims for where their armoring is weakest!” Uzuma ordered, causing the warriors to scatter.
Meanwhile, Sara’s group had drawn the attention of one of the Black Wyverns.
“I can see why they call it the closest sub-species to the pure dragons. I’ve heard that true dragons have special skin that completely repels ode... These flying dragons seem to possess a similar effect,” Alma said with a bitter smile. The girls had already fired spirit arts at the Black Wyverns to confirm their suspicions, noting that they weren’t able to deal much damage.
“Isn’t there a more effective method, Alma?!” Sara asked, turning to look at Alma as she rode on Ariel’s back.
“It’s a simplistic strategy, but we can only attack it with spirit arts that bring about more physical effects. Rather than using ode to materialize energy and give it a physical form, doing it this way would lessen the difference in power by quite a bit. I’ll take the one on the ground... Can you two handle the one in the air?”
“We have no choice... Understood. We’re leaving the ground unit to you, Alma!”
“Sara, please lend me Hel. We’ll fight in coordination with my Ifritah.”
“Got it. Hel, help Alma out!” Sara said, materializing a silver wolf in midair that turned to head towards the ground.
“Thank you very much. May the fortunes of war bless you!” Alma said, jumping off of Ariel’s back and summoning “Ifritah,” a spirit with a form similar to that of a lion. She hopped on its back and fell downward.
Once the four-meter-long lion and wolf had both landed safely, they ran towards the Black Wyvern as it prowled on the ground.
◇◇◇
Immediately after the Black Wyvern had obliterated the trees with its tail, Latifa was blown away by the force of the wind. She was blasted up ten meters into the air, but she managed to catch herself, thanks to her light frame. In a worst-case scenario, she would have hit the trunk of a tree back-first.
“Uugh...”
Despite her ordeal, she somehow managed to stand, and broke into a run to get away.
“Graaaah!”
“Eek?!”
The Black Wyvern roared, making Latifa’s body tremble with a jolt. She glanced over her shoulder just in time to see the beast open its impressive mouth and inhale deeply. Air flowed into its lungs, expanding its torso a bit. Then, fireworks burst from its mouth as the Black Wyvern exhaled it all in one go. A line of searing heat extended outward, burning down trees and attempting to fully envelop Latifa’s body whole.
But, just as it was about to make a direct hit —
“Latifa?!” Alma weaved through the gaps and appeared, slamming the mace in her hand against the ground with a powerful amount of force. The ground rose up high, forming a thick wall to protect the two of them.
“A-Alma!” Latifa hugged Alma, overcome with emotion.
“H-Hey! We’re in the middle of a battle right now. Why are you all the way here?! Wait, let go of me first. It’s not over yet — it’s coming! Get on Hel’s back, quickly!”
“O-Okay!”
Latifa hurriedly climbed onto the back of Sara’s contract spirit. Meanwhile, Alma got onto the back of her own contract spirit Ifritah once again. As soon as the two had securely climbed on, the wolf and lion spirits both leaped high into the air, just as the dirt wall Alma created crumbled into pieces.
The Black Wyvern’s tail emerged from the rubble, and Hel’s wolf form leaped into the air and spat out an icy breath at the beast. Immediately after, Ifritah’s lion form struck similarly with a breath of fire.
A combined ice and fire attack — once the Black Wyvern’s body had been exposed to such dramatic temperature changes, Alma leapt from Ifritah’s back, down towards the wyvern. She enhanced her physical body with spirit arts, and swung her mace. The Black Wyvern roared, whipping its tail towards Alma as she leaped at it. Alma’s mace and the Black Wyvern’s tail collided with each other with a shrill sound.
“Kuh, that isn’t enough to finish it?!” Alma frowned, using the recoil from the impact to leap backwards. After landing on the ground, she looked at the Black Wyvern’s tail to check for damage, but it was still completely unharmed.
“A-Alma, let’s run away! You can’t win against it... it’s impossible!” Latifa yelled from Hel’s back.
“No! If I run away, the village would be — kya!”
The Black Wyvern wasn’t about to wait for Latifa and Alma to finish their conversation; the jet black demi-dragon waved its tail in a fit of rage, aiming its attack on Alma in particular. Alma leapt in the air and evaded the attack, but there was no opportunity for her to launch a counterattack.
“Alma?! Hel, Ifritah, go help Alma out! I will too!” Latifa ordered.
At that, both Hel and Ifritah broke out into a run. Latifa jumped off of Hel and dashed hurriedly towards Alma.
Honestly, she was scared — but seeing Alma under assault made her unable to stay on the sidelines any longer.
“L-Latifa! You mustn’t come this way!”
“I-It’s okay, I can fight too! H-Hey, you! Over here!” Latifa approached the Black Wyvern and provoked it, making it switch its attack target to her. In that time, Ifritah picked Alma up on her back and temporarily retreated to the safety zone. Hel backed Latifa up as she faced the Black Wyvern, helping redirect some of its attention. From what Alma could see, Latifa was using her light movements to evade the fierce attacks of the Black Wyvern. But she couldn’t keep that up forever. “Kuh... Ifritah! You help Latifa and Hel distract the enemy. I will use that time to prepare a large-scale spirit art!” Alma ordered after a moment’s hesitation.
Defeating the Black Wyvern would require a considerably high-powered spirit art, but there was nothing that she could activate on the spot. She needed all the help she could get, so she was grateful for their efforts in distraction.
“Latifa, buy me a little time, but without endangering yourself! Retreat once I give the signal!”
“O-Okay! ...Kya?!”
Just as Alma gave her instructions, the Black Wyvern changed its attack pattern. It had only used its tail to attack up until now, but this time, it suddenly leapt forward. The irregular action made Latifa freeze up for only a moment, but that moment was all it needed.
Latifa would be crushed under its weight.
Just as Alma thought that, a seven to eight meter-wide ball of ice came shooting from behind her, colliding head-on with the Black Wyvern’s body, heavily knocking back the jet black demi-dragon. Immediately after, a gust of wind blew past Alma, closing in straight for Latifa.
“Huh...?” Latifa let out a slightly dumbfounded noise.
She thought her body had gotten lighter for a second... But before she realized it, she was being snugly held in the arms of her most precious person — Rio.
“Sorry I’m late, Latifa,” Rio apologized with a slightly darkened look on his face.
“It’s... okay. I’m... sorry... too. For... running away...” Latifa blinked blankly for a moment, before that expression gave way to a steady stream of tears as she apologized to Rio.
“We’ll talk later. Everything’s all right now — you can step back,” Rio said, smiling as he patted her head and lowered her to the ground.
He had been in the middle of his walk when he hurried to intervene, so he was without his weapon. But Rio showed no hesitation as he glared coldly up at the Black Wyvern, which towered far above his head.
Soon after that, he was off. Jumping high into the air at a tremendous speed, he kicked the chin of the Black Wyvern from directly below it.
“Grah?!” The Black Wyvern’s large frame bent backwards, and a sound of pain uttered from its mouth.
Without pausing for a breath, Rio gracefully twisted his body and aimed a slashing kick with the outer edge of his foot at the opponent’s neck. The jet black demi-dragon staggered, taking a stumbling step to one side.
“Its skin is so rigid... Guess it wouldn’t be that easy,” Rio said, frowning slightly in midair. He had kicked it with the intention of incapacitating it, but the attack hadn’t done much damage to the Black Wyvern.
“Graaaah!” the Black Wyvern raged, aiming a breath of fire at its opponent.
However, Rio stuck his left hand out and fired a blast of wind, deflecting the incoming fire breath. The flames that just left the Black Wyvern’s mouth went rushing back in.
“Gyreeh?!” The jet black demi-dragon screeched in pain — it seemed as though fire directed inside its mouth was its weakness.
Rio smirked and launched an enormous ball of fire into the Black Wyvern’s mouth. At the same time, he used wind spirit arts to float smoothly in the air and move above the opponent’s head. He put both hands together, and swung them down with all his might. With a loud thunk, the Black Wyvern’s mouth was slammed shut, and a large explosion took place inside immediately after.
An incredible amount of heat and shockwave energy was produced inside its mouth, and the Black Wyvern shook its head furiously as it bent backwards.
A dark blood was beginning to brim in its enraged eyes; it staggered for a while, before collapsing heavily to the ground.
“A-Amazing. You defeated it so easily...” Alma muttered in amazement, having watched Rio easily take care of the beast all by himself, without any need for assistance.
“It seemed like the inside of its mouth was its weakness. Thank goodness that was easy to figure out,” Rio said with a bitter smile, and landed softly on the ground beside her.
“No, even if that were the case...” Alma replied in astonishment.
The opponent was over 20 meters in size; it was no small feat to get close enough to the face to fire inside it. One could have easily been crushed by its jaws and eaten.
“Onii-chan!” With a sidelong glance at Alma’s dumbfounded state, Latifa jumped at Rio.
“Oh, it looks like they’re done up there too.” Receiving the force of Latifa’s embrace with his whole body, Rio looked up at the sky with a faint smile tugging at his lips.
Alma looked up too. There, the warriors were yelling triumphantly at the scattered flight of wyvern subspecies that were trying to flee. The other Black Wyvern was still alive, but it was running away, along with a significantly lower number of its kin than when it first attacked.
Then, Orphia and Sara (the latter still on Ariel’s back), came down from above.
“Alma, you’re amazing! How did you defeat it? ...Oh? Rio and Latifa are here too?” Orphia started speaking in excitement as she looked at the Black Wyvern on the ground, before she noticed Rio and Latifa with widened eyes.
“Rio defeated that Black Wyvern all by himself,” Alma confessed with a forced smile.
“Eh, by himself?! That’s amazing! I’m not surprised — it’s Rio, after all!” Orphia praised with a radiant smile.
“No, it was nothing. Hey, was anyone injured on your side?” Rio diverted the topic with a shy smile.
“We’re all fine. It may have been more dangerous if the battle had dragged out, but thankfully, the others all ran away,” Sara explained after landing.
“Sara, why do you think the wyverns in the air ran away?” Alma asked.
“Probably because that Black Wyvern there was defeated. While we couldn’t defeat the remaining one, this was all thanks to Rio. Thank you very much.” Sara answered, bowing her head at Rio.
“It was nothing... I am Latifa’s brother, and everyone’s sworn friend, after all.”
Shaking his head bashfully, Rio gave a small shrug of his shoulders.
◇◇◇
“Hah... Hah... Hah...”
The boy was running through the forest, panting for breath. Both the griffin and his travel supplies were gone, and all he had left were the clothes on his back and the weapon in his hand.
He was all alone in this great forest, with no idea of where to go or what to do.
“Why the rush?”
A person appeared out of view and asked the boy in a calm voice. The boy looked around his surroundings in a panic, but couldn’t find the owner of the voice.
“I’m over here,” The voice said from above. The boy whipped his head up and saw Reiss floating in midair.
“A-Aaah... M-Mr. Reiss?!”
“So you actually managed to survive that situation... To be honest, I’m surprised,” Reiss said, sounding impressed as he landed on the ground.
“W-What do you mean ‘actually’?! Were you watching the whole time?!” the boy yelled in anger, not caring about how Reiss was flying in the air, nor the politeness of his own words.
“Heh heh. Contrary to expectations, your true personality was so repulsive, I was inadvertently captivated. They say a person’s true colors are revealed when their life is in danger... and it seems they were right.”
At those words, the boy’s self control snapped completely.
“E-Enough of your bullshit! I nearly died! You’re the one who brought me to this shitty place... So, apologize! How will you compensate for this?! I won’t forgive you!”
“Heh. Heheheh. You’re an interesting person, so this is a shame. Are you sure you want those to be your final words?” Reiss asked with an arrogant smile. He held a small, clear, jewel-like stone between the thumb and forefinger of his right hand.
“H-Hah? Is there something wrong with your head? Give me that jewe-” the boy ranted, and Reiss crushed the jewel between his fingers. An expression of agony suddenly came across the boy’s face, and he fell to his knees.
“Goodbye.”
With those words, Reiss took to the skies once more.
