The Fiery Uninvited Guest (2)

Two days later, at the Intelligence Department of the Crossline Kingdom.

"Send a letter to the Desert City Alliance. Tell them the Crossline Kingdom intends to join when the volcano investigation team is assembled."

Melanie issued her orders to the agents with weary eyes.

"How many of our agents are currently deployed to the Western Border?"

"Twenty-five in total, Director."

"Send at least twenty more. The more chaos there is, the more intelligence from the City Alliance will come flowing in."

She had already spent two sleepless nights working around the clock to assess the damage in the west. Only after issuing her final directive did she allow herself to lean back in her chair.

"Haah... just when things were finally wrapping up in the north, now it's the west causing trouble."

A deep sigh escaped her.

Lamia's hand drifted absently toward the crystal orb. She thought of the Central Officer, and just as she was about to pour her mana into it—

"Oops."

She quickly drew her hand back.

He must be busy too, right about now.

Whenever she felt worn down like this, she used to reach out to Nathan now and then to vent her complaints. But that was a thing of the past. With refugees pouring in from the west without end, an excuse as flimsy as "I just wanted to see your face" simply wouldn't fly. She had no wish to burden a man who was already swamped with work.

So Melanie suppressed the impulse deep in her chest.

That was when it happened.

One of her informants came sprinting into the office, clutching a letter and gasping for breath.

"D-Director! Urgent report from the Magic Academy!"

"The Magic Academy?"

Melanie's brow furrowed at once.

Why would the Academy be contacting us at a time like this?

Ordinarily, they only sent letters requesting access to ancient texts or excavation sites. But right now, the kingdom was at its highest state of alert—Code Red.

Unless it was something enormous, there's no reason a courier would come running with a letter like this.

She took it and read it immediately.

And she nearly fainted from shock.

"...I'm sorry, what?"

There are laws in this world that simply cannot be broken. One of them is this: once magic is shattered, it cannot be restored.

The instant a spell is broken, its mana scatters beyond recovery—the only option is to redraw the entire formula from scratch and cast it anew. And yet this report was refuting that truth head-on.

Melanie read the phrase again, as if she couldn't possibly have seen it right.

[Shattered for 8 seconds, then restored.]

Which meant that someone had analyzed the defensive magic enveloping an entire face of the nation, briefly dismantled it, and then reassembled it perfectly intact. All in a span of time this short.

"Th-that's impossible."

And there was one more reason this could not be happening.

"That defensive spell was cast a full kilometer above the ground!"

It had been woven at a dizzying altitude where no one could ever hope to approach—a formula constructed by the first President of the Magic Academy, a man they had called a genius.

"Who on earth could break something like that—and how!?"

Unless some winged monster existed out there, it was an event that could never, ever occur.

That same night, late.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Thud, thud.

Having finally finished the day's work, I opened my mouth as we made our way home.

"You both worked incredibly hard today. I imagine it was even busier than usual."

The answers came back from either side of me.

"Ah ha, ahahaha..."

"Uuuu..."

Erzena and Elaine laughed without a trace of strength in their voices. Not a shred of their usual liveliness and brightness remained.

Can't blame them, really.

The border was at its highest state of alert, and with three times the usual number of people trying to leave the country, the Immigration Office today had been practically hell itself.

Erzena had spent nearly six hours pouring out her divine power in the recovery ward, leaving her utterly drained. And Elaine had, in her quiet way, been using her telekinesis to restrain terrified refugees and travelers so they couldn't stampede in a panic.

But it's not going to end today.

Natural disasters never settle down in a single day.

So I offered what encouragement I could.

"Just a little more tomorrow, everyone."

"..."

"..."

Silence.

The two of them, now reduced to a state nearly identical to my Five Senses Officers, could only glare at me like mortal enemies instead of answering.

This was the first time either of them had ever shot me such a look. I had no choice but to shut my mouth.

And about five minutes later, home sweet home finally came into view.

Standing before it like an impregnable fortress was a three-meter-tall golem, guarding the door.

"Guard Captain."

Grk-grk.

A statue of a figure, bowing its head at once to look at the three of us.

Clunk.

With that stiff reply, it stepped aside from the door.

Erzena pouted, apparently displeased by something.

"I told you to drop the 'former Saintess' already. Just Erzena is fine."

At the title so bluntly revised, her mouth fell open.

"V-village maiden... you really didn't have to go that far..."

Watching her chat with the golems now as if they were old friends, I couldn't help but smile a little.

You'd hardly think she wasn't one of them.

The two of them headed inside first, and I paused for a moment before following.

Come to think of it, I do owe the border guard quite a bit.

From the pilgrimage onward, right up to covering for the Princess's abilities—if not for them, I'd have suffered through far more than I did. And yet I had never once thanked them.

"There have been many occasions lately for which I am deeply grateful to you all. As Chief Officer of this ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠border, I wish to express my sincere thanks."

Stiff as ever.

"I'll be arranging with the Magic Academy to have every member of the guard's mana core inspected soon. Please at least accept that much."

But no answer came ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠back.

Unnaturally long.

"...Guard Captain? Is something the matter all of a sudden?"

Something felt off. Golems so rarely fell silent.

Grk-grk.

The Guard Captain slowly lifted its head upward, gazing at the sky.

And then came the words:

"I'm sorry, what?"

A bombshell, dropped without warning.

"W-wait a moment...!"

The instant the words ended, the Guard Captain wrapped itself around me.

And exactly one second later—

BOOM!

Something vast and heavy dropped out of the pitch-black sky. Right in front of us.

Its silhouette was invisible, backlit as it was by the moonlight.

"A-an enemy attack!?"

Shing.

The golem stepped in front of me and drew its greatsword.

Then the intruder spoke from the darkness.

"Are you... the Central Officer, Nathan Kell?"

The words rang out as if driven straight into my mind. A chill crawled up my spine.

It knows my name.

Which meant it had come for me.

Having waited precisely three seconds, the golem lunged at the intruder without hesitation.

"W-wait, Guard Captain!"

Too late.

The Guard Captain's sword thrust into the darkness toward the hidden figure. No—the moment before it could pierce home.

"Hold, puppet. Stay as you are. I have no time to spare for you."

A single intricate magic circle painted itself across the empty air. And then—

CRACKLE-POP!!

A violent shower of sparks burst from the golem's mana core, and the entire body froze solid on the spot.

"G-Guard Captain!! Are you all right!?"

Crackle... crackle-crackle...

With an ominous hiss, tiny sparks leapt from every joint of the Guard Captain's body.

The golem spoke calmly, but faster than usual.

But I couldn't move. Like a herbivore frozen before a beast of prey, both my legs had turned to stone.

"..."

Because I had seen it.

It had all happened in the blink of an eye, but I had seen it, clear as anything.

Those eyes, blazing like fire.

Thud, thud.

At last, the presence that had been hiding in the darkness stepped into the moonlight.

"Good... heavens..."

My gaze climbed higher and higher. And then I saw it—truly saw it.

Beautiful scales that scattered the moonlight like silk, and fangs as thick as my forearm. Wings vast enough to smother the entire night sky, and a tail so long that even standing in the light, I could not find where it ended.

I knew what this being was.

Something that had lived in the age of myths—a natural disaster given flesh. To even speak its name felt like an act of sacrilege.

"A... dragon..."

And it spoke.

"Grant me your aid."

Was I dreaming?

Or had I simply worked myself so hard today that I was seeing things? Or had I been drinking? My mind could not keep up.

My heart was pounding like a lunatic.

A dragon.

That being was standing before me, and it had called out to me.

Okay, let's... think about this calmly.

No. There was no calming down. How was anyone supposed to stay composed with a dragon bigger than my own house looming in front of them?

Worse, the most reliable thing I knew—the Guard Captain of the border guard—had been knocked out of commission with a single flick of the wrist.

Damn it all...

I seized my mind with both hands and shouted as loudly as I could manage.

"Wh-what do you want!?"

"..."

The dragon said nothing.

In that crushing silence, only eyes smoldering like a wildfire looked down at me. But something was off.

Sssshhh...

I could faintly hear something sizzling, burning away. And a fishy, very fishy smell of blood was slowly spreading through the air.

Haah... haah...

Every time the dragon breathed, an ominous metallic rasp followed. I slowly lowered my gaze.

"...!!"

Only then did I see.

"You're—you're wounded!?"

Hundreds of wounds carved into its belly, its wings, its forelegs, its neck, its back. Blood pouring ceaselessly through the cracks between its broken scales.

Sssshhh...

That sizzling sound was the dragon's scorching blood drying and crusting in the night air.

Unable to hide its pained expression any longer, the dragon spoke.

"I have... little time... left to me..."

What on earth was going on?

Just then, a phrase from the Chief Officer of the West flashed unbidden through my mind.

Something has happened to the master of the volcano.

No way.

I asked, as carefully, as gingerly as I possibly could.

"C-could it be... are you the master of the volcano?"

"...That... I am."

The ominous premonition had been right on the mark.

Oh, for crying out loud.

Any ordinary dragon would have been enough to knock me unconscious. And here was the very architect of the western disaster, standing right in front of me.

But why?

I couldn't figure it out. No—I simply couldn't understand.

All I did today was work the immigration desk and come home late.

What was wrong with the world that this trial had come to me?

But one thing was certain: this being of myth was dying, here and now.

Squeezing out every last drop of courage I possessed, I asked the dragon.

"When you say aid—aid with what, exactly?"

"..."

The master of the volcano stared at me in silence for a long, long moment.

Thump.

Then it drew out something it had been hiding deep within its breast and set it down between its forelegs.

Something oval-shaped. Something unbearably familiar.

"...An egg?"

It was far too large to be called an egg. It would have been big even for the largest bird in the world, and far too hot to have come from a kraken. But without a doubt, it was an egg.

The dragon opened its mouth slowly.

"I would... entrust my descendant... to you."

Had I misheard?

What was this? Why would you hand your child to me?

The dragon, reading the face I wore—my face now carrying hundreds of questions—added a brief afterword.

"Raise it."

The number of my questions grew into the thousands.

"...I'm sorry, what?"