Dragon Luna
I couldn't understand it.
The monsters that should have been protecting my master were tearing into her instead.
Thud—
Thud—
Thud—
"Woohoo~ Subjugation complete~ Nice work, Divine Spear Hero, Light Hero, and oh, you too, Yuki~"
"Is she actually dead for sure?"
Poke— poke—
"Stop that, Divine Spear Hero. It's unsightly. Yuki, hold this for a moment."
"Y-Yes... understood."
The woman who had once been a dragon had returned to the fragile form of a young girl. Her slender body, pierced again and again by spears, only twitched now—whether from lingering life or mere muscle spasms, no one could tell.
Calm down. Master is a dragon.
That stubborn vitality of hers. I can't write her off as dead yet.
My head... stay cold...
Stay cold...
The man called the Divine Spear Hero spoke up.
"Wasn't that way too easy? She was completely helpless against the monsters you tamed with your skill, Taming Hero~"
A girl who looked no older than fifteen, her long hair twisted into twin tails, answered with a smirk.
"Dragon-san doesn't attack monsters, it seems~ What a dumb dragon~"
The one known as the Light Hero cut in.
"Enough chatter, both of you. We're here for a greater cause. Make sure the finishing blow is clean."
Then the Light Hero raised his blade as if to drive it into my master.
I have to stop him.
"You bastard—!!!"
It lasted only a single second.
The time it took for my head to be crushed under a boot.
I hadn't even drawn my sword properly... My body had moved first, completely unlike me.
My mistake.
"Saintess~ He really came, just like you said?"
A familiar name reached my ears.
There's no way that bitch is here...
"It's been a while, Aaron."
A familiar voice.
Pinned under a boot, I could only roll my eyes toward the sound. There stood a face I could never forget.
The Saintess.
"Saintess! What the hell are you doing here?! What do you have to do with Master?!!"
I screamed without even noticing the dirt filling my mouth.
"Stay still, Aaron. I don't want you getting hurt... I'll tell you everything. Everything you're curious about—and about me as well... ♡ My little puppy, Aaron... ♡"
Her tone was wrong.
I thrashed, and the Divine Spear Hero's boot ground harder into my face.
"Have you lost your mind too, Saintess?! You bitch—ugh!!"
"Wait! What do you think you're doing, Divine Spear Hero!!! If Aaron dies, you're finished too!!"
"Haa~ Yes, yes~ Our great Saintess is so fond of this filthy fake..."
"Saintess-san~ You've been waiting forever to meet Melon? -san, haven't you~"
I had no idea what they were talking about, but I needed even the slightest opening...
Great... Saintess...?
"That's right, Aaron! I became the Great Saintess just for you, you know?"
"You bitch!! Explain everything!! Was this all your doing?!!"
The Saintess slipped my hand between her breasts as she spoke.
"Poor Aaron... Trembling like a dog that's lost its parents..."
"Shut the fuck up and start talking, you bitch!!"
Still crouching, she looked down at me.
"Haa... At this rate we can't even have a proper conversation. Calm down a little, Aaron... ♡"
She murmured quietly to herself.
"The one who loves you is only me... Me!"
And then, like a madwoman, the words began to pour out of her.
"I've been watching only you from the very beginning... ♡ Your gallant, righteous figure... That noble ideal of yours!! I adored it!! Those so-called heroes claim they're the real ones! But I know the truth, Aaron! You're the real hero! My light! My sun! My salt! Only you are my love... ♡ The day you saved me! I was reborn! I don't believe in any goddess... You, Aaron, are my god...! Looking only at you! Forming a party of just the two of us and following your noble ideals—I truly... truly felt like a Saintess then... But you tried to destroy our little nest yourself... Was it a trial from the Goddess...? That bitch Stella!!!!"
The Saintess seized the hair of the fallen Stella and yanked her head up.
"Ugh..."
"You slut!"
Thud—
"If only you!"
Thud—
"Hadn't been there!"
Thud—
What the hell is going on...?
Why is the Saintess doing this to Stella?
Wiping blood from her white holy robes, the Saintess spoke.
"Hoo... I showed you something embarrassing. I got a little too excited without realizing it..."
"I was willing to tolerate her being brought into the party... But then! She confessed the disgusting feelings she held for you to me. How was I supposed to endure that?"
Her smile was pure nightmare fuel.
"Bringing Yuki along was perfect timing. I worked hard to help that man make sure the stupid Stella and Lisa would betray you, you know? And then, like a proper Saintess, I planned to heal the wounds of their betrayal and claim you for myself..."
I glared at her as if I meant to kill her on the spot.
"So Master was in the way, is that it?"
The Saintess smiled sweetly.
"Well, either way, my plan was completed the moment I met that trash Yuki. Once that lizard was out of the picture, you'd be perfectly isolated. Nothing could have been better. How soft a world did these people come from? The mere fact that they were from another world was incredibly useful. They're so stupid they're easy to handle."
The Light Hero objected.
"Don't lump me in with him, Saintess. Unlike Yuki, I have no interest in your filthy mouth or body. I move solely for the greater good and the safety of the world."
The Saintess smiled with her eyes.
"Greater good and just cause... Heh. Fine, whatever you like."
What the hell is the Saintess even saying?
She killed Master just to have me...?
"What the fuck even is this 'other world' you keep talking about?!"
"Aaron... The other world is exactly what it sounds like. An other world. You simply never knew. It existed in ancient times, and it exists in this era as well. Just by coming from another world, they receive absurd power... Though to my eyes they're nothing but worthless, vain humans..."
She emphasized her voluptuous figure as she continued.
"Is that why, I wonder? A little temptation and they fall so easily. Fufufu... That idiot Yuki still seems to think it's his own charm..."
She held up an empty vial that looked like a potion and gave it a little shake.
"The aphrodisiacs supplied by the Church were remarkably effective. Humans drowning in lust... They're truly ugly, aren't they, Stella? Hehe..."
The Church was involved? Why the hell...?
"Even if you used Yuki, there's no way you could have gotten the power to take down Master... What did you do, Saintess?"
"You can see them, can't you? Heroes who put trash like Yuki to shame?"
She glanced at Yuki.
"Even trash is convenient when they're official heroes. I met both the Light Hero and the Divine Spear Hero through Yuki, you know."
"Why the hell would bastards like you go after Master...?"
"Do you really think this kind of behavior would be allowed in an autonomous zone?! This place has been sacred for ages. Capturing the master of this mountain will never be forgiven..."
The Saintess grabbed someone by the hair from behind and dragged them into view.
A familiar face... Silvia, the Guild Master of this region.
Silvia avoided my eyes as she spoke.
"Aaron, I'm sorry... I'm sorry. I'm sorry... I had no choice. Forgive me..."
The Saintess opened her filthy mouth again.
"Aaron... You know, right? Autonomous zones, guilds—none of that means a thing here."
The Light Hero wiped the blood from his blade on my clothes as he spoke.
"Nothing is more important than the greater good. The Kingdom decided it, and that is all."
"Greater good, my ass—!"
"Power balance. I doubt you'd understand even if you heard it, but this country is nowhere near the Empire. We're sandwiched between the great powers of 'Zakar' and 'Bon,' and both of them covet our abundant resources."
"What the hell does that have to do with Master?! If anything, Master's existence—!"
For the first time, the Light Hero truly opened his mouth.
"Look at the result. No matter how strong those ancient beasts are, this is how they end up. They can't possibly stand against heroes from another world. Every nation has already summoned heroes of national-level power. Compared to that, we have only me. For the sake of greater national strength! No—for something beyond that—we need a sacrifice of equal worth!"
The Divine Spear Hero laughed heartily.
"Light Hero, saying stuff like that makes the rest of us look bad... I don't care about any of that! I'm sick of human women—I'm here looking for rare, nice bodies!"
"I just wanted to try taming a monster called a dragon~ Too bad Dragon-san seems to be dead... Oh! Should I ask a necromancer instead? Hehe~"
"Ah...!"
The Saintess yanked Silvia's hair as she spoke.
"Well... I traded the information I obtained. Information is power, isn't it, Silvia?"
Silvia could only tremble in helplessness.
"The Kingdom wanted a powerful sacrifice and was preparing a dragon hunt. And I knew the detailed information and location of a dragon more powerful than any other that could be found in this country... Of course they wanted it. My only condition was that I get to have you... Still, the one who helped the most in taking down that lizard was you, Aaron."
"What...?"
"You once brought dragon scales for Luna, didn't you? Reverse engineering. A concept proposed by someone from another world. The word is different, but of course our world has similar ideas... The important part is that the concept he proposed was reverse engineering using the skills Analysis and Combination. Thanks to that, we could pierce even that lizard's hard scales."
My vision went blank.
Did I kill Master...?
Because of me...
Is Master dead...?
"As a bonus~ The monsters on this mountain? No matter what I did, I couldn't tame them~ But with equipment made from those scales~ They became nice and obedient~"
You bitch...!
That was when it happened.
Broken, full of holes, those pitiful wings.
Her wings fluttered.
There was no elegance left in the motion.
Her gentle self was gone.
Only the desperate will to protect someone remained as she wrung out every last drop of strength.
Luna burned what little dragon life she still had left.
"Aaron!!! Run!!"