Dragon Bane
Honestly, Matillo hadn't given much thought to the strange events of late.
Ever since Crete's destruction, the affairs of the world had ceased to hold his interest.
Crete was always on his mind.
The sleepless nights had gotten better, but forgetting was still as impossible as ever.
So Matillo had no idea what the Anomalies even were. He didn't worry about Alice, either, who'd gone off to deal with them.
That a greenhorn he'd only just met was already working with the Association was impressive enough on its own. And a prospect like Alice would surely handle the job just fine.
"Mm."
As always, Matillo ate alone in his workshop.
A sudden loneliness settled over him.
To feel this emotion again after ten years — something he hadn't felt in so long — caught him off guard.
Wonder if that bandana brat'll even drop by.
Matillo chewed his food with deliberate thoroughness.
The door to Matillo's workshop was always shut. But he no longer locked it and shut himself away completely the way he once had.
Part of it was that he'd grown closer to the workshop craftsmen after the special subjugation request. The other part was waiting for Alice, who might show up at any time.
Creeeak—.
He'd only managed three spoonfuls when the door swung open without warning.
Matillo didn't even turn around.
"Who is it."
"It's me."
That languid voice snapped Matillo fully awake. He turned to look at the door.
The cool autumn wind slipped through the gap and tousled a head of white hair.
Matillo rose, murmuring the name under his breath.
"Alice?"
Alice, standing in the doorway, blinked at him.
"You called me by name."
"You nearly gave me a heart attack. …Didn't think you'd be back this soon."
"Things worked out that way."
Alice's answer was utterly matter-of-fact — as if she hadn't gone anywhere at all.
Matillo sat back down. Alice dragged over the chair beside him and settled into it.
"How's your back?"
Matillo shrugged at the question. He appreciated the concern, but a wound like that was nothing worth fretting over.
"Healed ages ago. So, kid — you take care of the Anomaly?"
Alice shook her head.
"No. Not yet."
"Then what? You here to convalesce or something?"
Convalescence was as good a word as any. Alice gave a vague nod and looked at him.
"What were you working on when I got here?"
"What else… Anomaly investigation."
Matillo scratched his head, looking a little awkward.
"The craftsmen got a kingdom commission recently. That have anything to do with it?"
"It does."
"No idea who slaughtered all those monsters like that. Without the Anomaly, they'd have been restricted for sure."
Alice said nothing.
That was me, though…
Matillo scraped at his rice with his spoon.
"Well, I turned it down. Had my own work to do."
"You have work?"
"What, you think I'm just some old coot who locks his door and does nothing all day?"
"Yeah."
"…Guh."
Matillo scowled and made a pained sound. After a moment's deliberation over whether to show her, he nodded and stood.
"…I've never shown you the back of the workshop, have I?"
"Nope."
He'd always gone in alone and come out alone. Matillo studied Alice for a beat, then nodded.
"Right. Follow me."
He shoveled one last huge mouthful of rice, emptied the bowl, and rose, shuffling off at a leisurely pace.
Matillo wanted, somehow, to settle the past. Finishing what he himself had failed to do — that was his goal now.
He opened the door to the workshop's inner chamber, a place he had never shown a soul.
"Watch your step."
The room was packed with pieces of every kind. Armor, of course, and weapons strewn about in every direction. Matillo nudged a helmet out of the way with his foot. Alice stepped past it.
He really put everything into this.
Even this room alone showed the sheer volume of trial and error he'd endured. But these weren't everything.
What Matillo had been building inside the workshop all this time was something else entirely.
Alice blinked at the massive cannon occupying the center of the room.
The barrel tip was carved into a dragon's head, and the bore alone looked to be a full meter across.
Here, Matillo had been forging weapons for one purpose only: vengeance for Crete's destruction. To bring down the dragon that had soared so high, shining so brilliantly, and drop it from the sky.
"What is this?"
At first, Matillo hadn't felt any need to name the weapon. It was the life's work he would spend his remaining years completing — so he'd prepared a name with meaning. He just never expected to introduce it to anyone.
"It's the Dragon Bane."
The dragon's ruin.
Alice ran a hand along the barrel, eyes gleaming.
"Have you ever fired it?"
"No. Not yet…. Where exactly am I supposed to test something like this?"
Matillo clicked his tongue.
"And making a single shot is hard. Too much work goes into each one to fire it off casually. Someday, though…"
"Then how about this."
Alice made a proposal.
"…There's a place where this weapon would be useful."
"What?"
"It's classified. You willing to hear it?"
The way she said it carried the weight of a door that, once opened, could never be closed again. Matillo felt a faint chill from her. In Alice's eyes as she looked at him, he could see a hunger — an obsession that said this weapon had to be used.
…Does she need it that badly?
Matillo nodded.
"All right. Let's hear it."
At his ready acceptance, Alice began to speak, slowly.
An Anomaly where time itself had twisted. And within that Anomaly, a monster that had appeared — the ancient calamity, the Starving Earth Dragon, Disastro.
What came from Alice's mouth was far more serious than Matillo had imagined.
"…You're trying to fight something like that?"
"Yeah."
"And for that, the royal family personally commissioned the craftsmen at a high rate."
Matillo touched his mouth lightly.
If the world learned of this, it would plunge into chaos. The Association and the royal family's handling of it had been correct. Matillo had no intention of spreading this around. He only regretted not having helped.
"Turning it down is making me feel downright embarrassed…"
"You turned it down?"
"I usually just make armor or work on this thing, you know. If I'd known it was something this serious, I wouldn't have refused."
Matillo, who didn't care about pay, had passed the commission to craftsmen who needed the money more than he did. But if he'd known the situation, he could have contributed far more.
The day he failed to protect Crete flashed through Matillo's mind. A city burning. And himself, drowning in helplessness, staring up at the dragon soaring high into the sky. That was all he could do.
Dragon Bane.
It was a tool for bringing down a creature that took to the heavens. A weapon steeped in humanity's malice toward the monster that had taken everything. And a war machine carrying the desperate wish that such a tragedy would never happen again.
"…If you take this weapon, will it help?"
Matillo looked at Alice. Perhaps the reason she wanted this weapon so badly was the same — a desperate struggle to prevent that kind of catastrophe.
Matillo felt a kinship with her. Because both of them were people from whom monsters had taken everything. Miserable humans who kept struggling to the end, even knowing they could never reclaim what was lost, even knowing they could never go back.
Alice crossed her arms and nodded.
"Of course it will."
We'll need people, though, to haul a weapon like this.
Alice touched the corner of her mouth, gazing at the Dragon Bane. Then another matter came to mind.
"Right."
"What."
"Make me some gear. Not leather armor — proper, sturdy plate. And repair the Bloodshell Sword."
Matillo asked,
"You bring materials?"
"They're outside."
"You didn't butcher them like a complete mess again, did you? I told you to dress them properly after you kill a monster."
"……"
Alice froze, saying nothing. Matillo pressed a hand to his forehead and sighed.
The sword's condition was a disaster — he didn't even need to look.
An unexpected windfall, you could call it.
I'd never imagined Matillo was building a secret weapon like that.
Dragon Bane.
It was a war machine I'd never even seen in the game. But looking at its size and sheer bulk, there was nothing ordinary about it.
I'd felt like nothing we brought against Disastro would be enough — but having something like this put my mind at ease.
More than anything, what man could look at a weapon that massive and not feel his eyes light up? And the name was cool, too. The dragon's ruin — almost like he'd made it on purpose.
Matillo said he'd talk to the Association himself about transporting the Dragon Bane. The remaining time went into forging and repairing my gear.
The armor, reinforced with materials from monsters I'd killed in the wasteland, wasn't half bad — the base frame was solid enough. The monster materials actually blended well, giving it a thick, substantial look. Even if it made moving a little awkward, it ought to hold up.
The armor was good enough. What remained was the Bloodshell Sword — and I got thoroughly chewed out by Matillo over it.
"Wow. The condition is a work of art. Absolute art. It's packed with flesh and scraps of meat. Won't even rinse clean. See between the carapace plates here?"
"…Yeah."
"How the hell did you even use this?"
"…I hunted hard. Really hard."
I did my best to keep it clean, okay? But through a craftsman's eyes, the flaws must have been everywhere, because Matillo grumbled nonstop. Even as he complained, though, he worked on it with fierce dedication.
"Got any other weapons?"
"I don't think a situation where I'd need to switch weapons is going to come up."
"Fair enough."
Fighting a monster like that — would there even be time to rest? I'd decided the best approach was to face it with the Bloodshell Sword, the best weapon I had. Elder Species materials were definitely high-value, after all.
Matillo finished cleaning the carapace sections of the Bloodshell Sword's blade and handed it back to me.
"When you kill Disastro, bring its materials too. They'll be rare for sure. Wouldn't mind getting my hands on them. What'll you make then?"
"Dunno."
A greatsword, probably. It stuck to my hands better than any other weapon…
Anything was fine. As long as we could kill Disastro first.
Three days of hard work, and my personal preparations were done. I tried on the armor in front of Matillo.
"Fit all right? I tried to keep it from restricting your movement as much as possible."
"It's fine."
The clanking every time I moved was a little annoying, but everything else I liked. If I had to complain, it was a lot heavier than the leather armor — but even that was within acceptable range.
"Thanks."
"Heading out now?"
"Yeah. We leave tomorrow. Gotta go get ready."
"Right."
Matillo swept up the scraps left from cutting and processing materials as he spoke.
"For the record, I'm coming too."
I stared at him in surprise.
"…Why?"
"I'm firing the Dragon Bane myself."
Matillo gave a dry little laugh.
"I want to see it. Whether all my effort wasn't for nothing."
"…It'll be dangerous."
"I know. I could die. But it'll be less dangerous than for people like you, fighting up front."
Matillo said it casually.
"Don't die."
Noah, Pina, Matillo… Why was everyone so desperate to plant death flags?
I nodded at his words.
"I'm not dying. No way."
I couldn't die until this story was finished.