The Power in Words (4)

Someone once asked me why I had become a dragon hunter — how I ever intended to catch such monsters, how I, a mere human with neither magic nor power to my name, could possibly kill a being of myth.

And every time, I gave the same answer.

To this day, we still fear other beings. Spirits, the other races, species gifted with bodies and abilities far beyond our own — this world is far too cruel for powerless humans to survive in. Ours is a fate of trembling in constant fear, of living with the heart of prey. Some among us have even cast themselves down beneath those beings, worshipping them, offering up sacrifices.

No. It must not be so. We must not be the ones ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠who fear. We must become the object of fear.

And so, I did it. Though time was the first to close its hand around the dragon's throat, in the end it was I who snuffed out its breath. 'I did it. I killed a being of myth. And this will not be the last.'

That, surely, was a revelation from the heavens — a revelation to bow our heads no longer before beings like natural disasters, before the other intelligent races, but to conquer them in turn and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠open a world truly made for mankind.

And so I clothed myself in the dragon's corpse, tearing out its teeth and claws to forge into weapons. To slay the last dragon, master of the volcano, and thereby show the world that mankind alone is truly great — that, surely, was my destiny.

And yet...

"Do not move, you savage, heinous terrorist!"

Why do they brandish spear and blade at me, instead of praise and awe?

Then the man standing behind the guards spoke.

"Drop your weapon and surrender. This is your ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠final warning."

At the sight of him, certainty crystallized within me.

'That Central Officer is, without question, the dragon's lackey.'

Where great power dwells, there are always those who come to grovel at its feet.

"Do you truly believe a force this paltry can dare to bar my way?"

Kaban gave his dragon-claw spear a light sweep to the side.

— KRAKOOM!

Dozens of pieces of furniture caught in the spear's arc went flying and slammed into the wall.

"My desk!!!"

The Taste Officer shrieked.

Undeterred by the girl's despairing cry, Kaban took a single long stride forward.

He crossed the line.

— Vrrrmmm.

As he drew nearer the Central Officer, the dragon armor responded with ever greater ferocity. Dragon scales turn aside magic — even scales torn from a corpse. A spear that could pierce anything, and armor that could repel even spells.

'Even the ferocious monsters of the Urakaras Mountains steered clear of me, clad as I was in a dragon's corpse.'

To him, the border was nothing more than a line drawn across the earth. For one destined to be a hero, there were no limits, no constraints.

One more step forward. Until the Age of Man dawned — until the dragon hunter became the tamer of dragons. One step until history recorded him as the man who ruled myth and made even the other intelligent races tremble in fear.

And so Kaban opened his mouth to the guards one last time.

"Move aside. This is my final warning. I have words for that man."

Those barring his path now posed less threat than fleas.

"If he only answers me, no one need come to harm."

But they were human. For one who would become a hero, he wished to do them as little harm as possible — and so he granted this final mercy.

"O you who serve what ought never be served. Answer my question."

Unlike himself, standing proud and alone before dozens of soldiers, the Central Officer — reeking of a dragon's aura — cowered behind his soldiers like a coward, eyes narrowed to slits.

"There is no negotiating with terrorists."

"Then I shall make him speak."

The man had sealed his own fate. Kaban slowly leveled the spear's point at the Central Officer. Before destiny, sacrifice is inevitable — for the great cause, some blood simply must be spilled.

At last, as the man trained his spear on me, I clenched my teeth.

'So it begins.'

The situation carried a different weight than the Changeling incident had. 'Back then, it had been closer to a surprise attack.' But not now. These were countermeasures laid in advance, built on the assumption that the man had survived and would inevitably come here in search of Mnassil.

Truth be told, if Elaine and Erzena were committed to the fray, this would be over in an instant. The dragon armor Kaban wore deflected magic — armor that boasted, quite literally, the finest defense in existence. But telekinesis and holy power are not magic. Besides, I had seen it with my own two eyes: that staggering torrent of power that had wrenched the dying Mnassil back from the brink by sheer force.

'But that card must be saved for the very last.'

As Incansus had said, if they stepped in, the fallout afterward would be more than we could bear. Which meant it had to end here — and that meant using everything I had, right now.

— Thud. The dragon hunter took one more step forward.

At that moment, I shouted.

"Border Defense Force!!"

The answer came at once from outside the building.

— KROOM, KROOM.

Golems standing nearly three meters tall came striding through the downpour, one ponderous step at a time.

"Now what the hell is that?"

Ignoring Kaban's mutter, the captain of the Border Defense Force, who had reached the very front, spoke.

"That man is the principal threat Incansus spoke of," I said, pointing at the dragon hunter. "An illegal entrant with no record on the immigration registry — a being who seeks to harm our highest-priority protectee."

Bluish eyes gleamed through the sheets of rain.

At the sight, Kaban — briefly thrown off balance — let out a snort of pure incredulity.

"Ha. You mean to stop me with puppets animated by mana?"

Just puppets.

In that instant, all nineteen golems stopped dead where they stood.

— WEEEEEEENG!

And then, suddenly, a strange sound began to rise from the Defense Force's mana cores.

"..."

Steam vented from the seams of their joints with a menacing hiss.

Our Defense Force captain. Quite a lot has built up lately, hasn't it. Good news — an angry golem is every bit as frightening ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠as a spirit.

But that wasn't all.

— Sssshk.

Suddenly, from the shadows near the entrance behind Kaban, figures dressed in black revealed themselves.

"...!!! Who the hell are you people now!?"

Kaban whirled in alarm, leveling his spear at them with a shout. But they brushed the dragon hunter aside without a glance, offering me only a slight nod.

"Central Officer. We came when the alarm sounded — though it seems you could use the help after all."

"Agent R. Right on time. Good to see you."

It was Agent R, together with the Intelligence Department's own covert operations agents — the personnel Melanie had arranged with Incansus to send. With the Evil God Cult and the Black Hand locked in their war up north, every agent pulled from that front had been rerouted straight to us.

Before him: me and the guards. At his flank: the Border Defense Force. Behind him: the agents of Intelligence.

Only then did Kaban realize it was he who stood surrounded.

"Mr. Kaban Vladbich. Allow me to state this once more." I straightened my disheveled clothes and continued in a brisk, official tone. "You did not enter this country through lawful procedure — you entered as an illegal immigrant, and not content with that, you had the audacity to threaten this officer outright. Do you acknowledge these facts?"

I held both a false pretext and a true one.

The dragon hunter roared, mad with rage.

"You...!!! Do you truly believe this serves the future of humanity!"

I couldn't have cared less about that.

"Please observe discipline. There are no exceptions at the border."

Upon this mercilessly drawn line, the law is equal for all. Even the last dragon keeps the laws of this land — a human like you has no business scorning them. This is a place even the Pope may not enter at will.

'Had you simply followed the entry procedures, I could never have stopped you.'

The only weapon an immigration officer like me possessed was the immigration regulations themselves. Had he merely complied, this dragon hunter would have ranged across our entire country without restraint, hunting for Mnassil.

'But you did not. As if you stood above discipline itself.'

It had been the same every time. With the Pope. With the Changeling. With the mercenaries smuggling their contraband. Every last one of them had grand plans — the will of God, the orders of an employer, and so on and so forth.

'And yet in the end, not one of them ever managed to cross this line called the border.'

A single rule: follow the entry procedures. That one thing, they could not bring themselves to do.

The more I thought about it, the angrier I became.

"The future of humanity? The Age of Man?"

You certainly know how to run your mouth.

Who was it who hounded Mnassil — who had been waiting peacefully for death — until she raged? Who was the monster who proclaimed he would tear her child from its mother? Who left thousands upon thousands displaced, brought down a volcano, and dragged countless souls into the greed-pit called the Gold Rush?

And after all that, he speaks of the Age of Man.

Arrogance.

Looking at Kaban — slathered head to toe in the most human and most repulsive thing of all — I spoke as though chewing the words up and spitting them out.

"A man who cannot keep a single rule set down by men — and yet you dream so very, very grandly."

"You...!!!"

Struck to the quick, the dragon hunter ground his teeth and tightened his grip on the spear.

"What would a petty examiner know of the hour that opens an age? You are nothing but a man shackled by trifles, too blind to even recognize the great cause!"

"I know one thing. That you are not cut from the cloth of heroes."

No one in this world wants a hero like you.

"Too powerless to protect even yourself, you hide behind your soldiers — but you certainly talk well. If you have words for me, step forward!"

"That much I cannot deny."

I have no power. Yes — that is a fact beyond denying. But that is precisely why the state exists. Why organizations exist. To accomplish what no individual can, to restrain the strong when they run wild, to punish those who cross the line. 'And... to protect victims like Mnassil from monsters like you.'

And so I could not back down. Slowly, I raised one hand.

"Guard detail. Border Defense Force. And our agents."

The guardians of the rules, awaiting the order, seized their weapons as one.

— Chk, chk. — Grrggk. — Krrriiik.

The margrave's soldiers, wound tight with tension yet yielding not a single step. The Border Defense Force, faithfully guarding this place since the day the border was drawn. The agents of Intelligence, ever serving the nation from the shadows. Intelligent beings all, citizens of this kingdom — and every one of them human.

'How very strange.'

The man who would open the Age of Man — and not a soul stands at his side. A hollow laugh escaped me at the irony.

"Do you truly mean to spill blood!? Would you drive every one of them to their deaths!?"

A voice thick with horror — words that could only come from a man who firmly believed he could destroy every last one of them.

'Base and arrogant, to the very end.'

At the sight, my resolve only hardened. I would never let a threat like him slip away.

Lowering the hand I had raised, I spoke.

"Arrest the suspect."

As one, piercing the roar of the downpour, they all shouted.

"For Count Reyes!!!"

"Commence operation."

The hunt for the dragon hunter had begun.