A Child's Desperate Plea
In the deep sea, where storm clouds had swallowed even the faint sunlight that once filtered down, the darkness was absolute. Halfway between the true abyss and the coastal shallows, a colossal shell was shattering into fragments. It was no rock. It was the protective carapace of a crustacean the size of a small passenger ship. Its owner had long since been ripped apart by impossible water pressure and claws like forged steel. Now the shell followed its master into death.
The being responsible for the demolition gleamed with scales that radiated a deep blue even in the lightless depths. Each breath purified the waters tainted by the crustacean's blood. Each sweep of its claws split both shell and sea. Behind the Azure Dragon, who worked with focused intensity, rose a mountain of corpses—carcasses of giant crustaceans identical to the one before him. Roughly one hundred and fifty of them. They were the minions of the One-Horned Whale the Azure Dragon had eradicated over the past three days. Every creature in that mountain had been the size of a ship.
He had stopped counting the smaller, tuna-sized ones long ago. He estimated their numbers had reached the thousands.
The Azure Dragon continued the grim work of clearing the ocean of their bulk, his mind already turning toward the next objective.
This is exhausting.
He had finally finished the day's quota. The hermit crab he had just dismantled was the last. Given his current condition, he could have handled another ten, but he deliberately stopped. To play with her again next time… he needed to conserve strength, or tomorrow's schedule would suffer. Without hesitation, he swam upward from the abyss.
It had been roughly five days since he began confronting these mid-tier creatures—the ones he had classified as such, each the size of a small boat. He never learned what species the first swarm belonged to, only that they came in a horde. After he slaughtered them, a truly massive crab appeared. Its size momentarily startled him, but the beast proved far less formidable than its bulk suggested. In the end it was torn into five pieces, its death serving as a grim tutorial for what lay ahead.
After that, mindful of their enormous size, he had patrolled the border between his domain and theirs, systematically eliminating the mid-tier threats. The reason he took time to dismantle the carcasses was twofold: their sheer volume, and the hope that the debris might impede the survivors' movements. He could not block their attacks entirely, but slowing them would allow him to dispatch the rest more methodically.
Yet the changes were not limited to his enemies. The Azure Dragon himself had grown in three significant ways.
The first was reinforcement. The power inherent in his Water Resonance had deepened. What had once been a mere utility—assisting his body—had evolved. Now he could wield the raw force of water itself. The most effective application was water pressure.
Although he could manipulate water, his current opponents lived within it. Most water-based attacks were useless against creatures that called the ocean home. Water pressure, however, was different. He had once heard what happened when deep-sea and coastal species exchanged environments. Some deep-sea creatures, exposed to the crushing force of undersea pipes, simply exploded. Water pressure shaped life—and ended it.
When he turned that principle against his foes, their once-impenetrable shells shriveled and shattered in moments. It is more tiring, of course. Relying solely on the water's power rather than his own body increased his fatigue, but the results were undeniable. He used it frequently.
The second change was increase. His total mental strength had grown. Not through deliberate training or study, but naturally, almost as a byproduct of survival. If he were honest, it was somewhat embarrassing: he had simply crashed against his limits again and again. Mental exhaustion, unconsciousness, awakening. Then exhaustion once more. The cycle had repeated until his reserves expanded. He could now maintain the bodily assistance aspect of his power almost constantly, except while sleeping.
The third was discovery. This one, however, remained uncertain. I still cannot tell if this is real or my imagination. He suspected he had uncovered a new trait, yet without a way to test and prove it, even he lacked confidence. Still, even without it, his progress was genuinely encouraging.
It is about time.
His thoughts had wandered long enough. The protagonist of his next schedule would be waiting. His enormous body sliced through the currents, rising toward the coast.
When he lifted his head above the waves and scanned the cliff, Rachel stood there to greet him. But her demeanor was markedly different from usual. Anxious?
Before he could ask, she pulled something from within her clothes and thrust it toward him.
"Th-this! Here…!"
In her small hands lay a rosario encrusted with jewels and platinum. The child's eyes trembled violently as she held it out.
"P-please help me…!"
The rarer or greater the desire, the greater the price required. Everyone knew this. Yet the Azure Dragon doubted that "everyone" usually included small children. Rachel, however, seemed to understand the principle perfectly. Knowing her request was far more difficult than simply asking him to play, she had brought not only the usual wooden berries but this clearly valuable rosario as well.
He wondered how a child living in a place surrounded only by forest had obtained such an object. He also found it difficult to guess what kind of help would warrant such payment. Fortunately, the rapport built over days of playing together allowed him to simply ask.
Calming the child came first. Unlike the bright, purely smiling Rachel he had come to know, she now radiated intense anxiety. Her fingers fidgeted constantly, her gaze darted about, betraying the fear that filled her.
"Y-yes…"
Fortunately, she was an intelligent child and obeyed quickly.
"…Well."
Her small voice echoed across the cliff, darkened by heavy clouds. The story was simple enough. Rachel and her father moved frequently between villages for reasons she did not understand. During their last stay, she had fallen ill with an infectious disease. Her father had left her in this area and gone to a nearby village to buy medicine. He had promised to return within a week. That deadline was this morning.
So she wants me to help find her father because he is late.
Having lived as a human adult in his previous life, the Azure Dragon recognized this as an ordinary child's worry. There were always "adult circumstances"—terrain difficulties, unexpected delays, disputes with villagers—any number of factors that could push back a return. Yet telling her this would not erase her fear. Her anxiety seemed deeper than a typical child's, as though she had experienced such abandonment before.
Shaaaaaaa…
The storm clouds, swollen with seawater, began to unleash rain. It had come sooner than expected. He decided to send her home for now.
She nodded vigorously.
She shook her head.
What? She refuses?
"Together…"
She wanted to search with him? It seemed so. Rachel clutched her skirt tightly, staring at the ground. Rain or scolding, nothing would sway her. Her determination was absolute.
She shook her head again.
Another shake of the head.
"…!"
She looked prepared to stand there until the cliff itself drowned. In the end, he permitted her to accompany him. Relief flooded her face. The death-grip on her skirt finally loosened.
Though he had agreed, he had reasons for wanting to search alone. I had planned to swim along the cliff. Doing so with Rachel present would feel like water torture for her. He needed another method.
Then a memory surfaced.
…When I first arrived in this world.
He had been falling from the sky, yet not in a straight plunge. He had glided like an airplane or hang glider, slicing through the air before dropping into the sea. He had fallen at nearly a forty-five-degree angle. If he could maintain that angle smoothly, perhaps he could remain aloft for a long time.
Speculation became action.
I will use water pressure to launch myself like a cannon.
"…?"
He enveloped Rachel in a membrane of water to shield her from the impact, then dove beneath the surface. He created powerful pressure behind himself.
BOOM!
The sudden pressure differential sent his massive body rocketing outward. He shot skyward as though launched from a cannon. The height, however, was insufficient. A simple jump had its limits.
Then he heard laughter—faint, playful, coming from every direction. A sudden gale enveloped him. The wind embraced his water-freed body and carried him upward until the clouds themselves seemed close enough to touch. He thought he heard more of that mysterious laughter, but Rachel's dazed state demanded his attention.
As their ascent slowed, he instinctively sharpened every sense. His falling speed bled away. His enormous form began to glide smoothly between the winds.
…Success.
"Waaaah…"
A boundless sea stretched beneath him. Three weeks after falling into this world, the Azure Dragon finally beheld its true scenery.