The King Who Sleeps Beneath Erchia
The Red Dragon King.
The truth was, we knew nothing about him. There was only a hypothesis that such a being had once existed in the distant past.
Dragons themselves were a confirmed existence — they still turned up in recent records from time to time. But the Dragon Kings were another matter entirely. Whether they had ever truly existed was treated as something closer to legend. They were said to have lived in ages past, yet no conclusive proof of that existence remained.
In that respect, they were not so different from the Goddess. Her influence still seemed to linger in the present age, but no living person had ever actually seen her, and so there were those who simply refused to believe. At least the Goddess had left traces behind — the Holy Sword, the World Tree. The Dragon Kings had not even that.
And so even among those who believed in the Goddess, many were convinced the Dragon Kings had never existed at all. Someone had once remarked that it would be more romantic if they had. Unfortunately, dragons had never been humanity's allies, so it was hardly a romance worth entertaining.
"But do the Dragon Kings actually exist?"
"It's a hypothesis, nothing more. Religious structures of a sort were discovered in the dragon nests that have been found, so whether it was a king or a god, there is no doubt that someone once ruled over the dragons."
"I see."
"It's been so long that whether they still exist is an open question. But when someone older than anyone else in this room mentions the name, I suppose they must have been real."
"Excuse me — if you put it like that, I sound ancient. Please stop."
I was a little surprised. So she was self-conscious about it. This from a being who neither aged nor died.
"So did the Dragon Kings exist, then?"
"They did, long ago. They were evolutionary forms of monsters — a kind of subspecies. High intelligence fused with a vicious nature: they possessed every worst quality a monster can have. And above all else, they were strong."
"I can imagine. An ordinary dragon is already a national crisis. A Dragon King would be something else entirely."
Being called a king did not automatically make one the strongest — but there was no need to spell out what the title required among dragons, who were monsters themselves. In the human world, a king did not have to be the most powerful person in the realm. Among monsters, a king had no choice but to be strong.
"Then how did the Dragon Kings disappear?"
"What's that supposed to mean, Lois?"
"If they were that powerful, some record of why they vanished ought to have survived. Humanity has nothing. No explanation for the Dragon Kings' disappearance at all."
"Mm."
The Goddess wore a thoroughly uncomfortable expression.
"Did you deal with them as well, Goddess?"
"Well, it wasn't just the Red Dragon King. Dragon Kings of every kind rose up and tried to invade humanity. The people of that age had no power whatsoever to fight them. So I forced myself to use more power than I should have."
"...I see. But why are you so flustered? You acted on humanity's behalf. That's exactly what a goddess would do."
"Ahem."
"...Lois."
I understood, somehow. And the Goddess, it seemed, could tell that I had understood. She called my name and shook her head. Even so, she apparently did not want to look too unseemly in front of Olivia, on whom she had bestowed her mark — though if I had actually said she looked unseemly, she would probably have gotten angry.
Perhaps she was surprisingly full of humanity. Or perhaps, conversely, it was we humans who were the ones overflowing with a goddess's grace.
"What? What is it? Am I the only one left out? You two just did that knowing-look thing."
"I believe it would be better to simply tell her, Goddess. Lying is a sin, is it not?"
"There is such a thing as a white lie, from time to time."
"A lie that anyone could uncover just by visiting a library hardly needs to be dressed up as a white lie."
"..."
"So what is it, really?"
"Around the dragon nests, there are enormous pits on the scale of natural disasters. They felt too unnatural to have formed on their own, but nature does occasionally take shapes that look almost artificial, so the current conclusion is that they're natural formations. Even so, there are still people who insist they're man-made. The dragon nests of today are called the Nests of Heaven's Punishment — a tangle of superstition and a paradise of unsolved mysteries, said to be the place where the sky itself delivered its judgment."
I let out a small sigh.
"W-wait. Then those pits are..."
"W-well, to kill the Dragon Kings, you had to go that far or they simply wouldn't die. Exerting power from a sealed state is unimaginably inefficient. After I did that, I was so thoroughly spent I couldn't even think for quite some time."
So when the Dragon Kings gathered to wipe out humanity, she had judged that the people of that age had no hope of stopping them. Sealed, mortally wounded, she had wrung out everything she had and annihilated them all. The Dragon Kings would have been off their guard, and if they had all been in the same place, it wouldn't have been impossible — but still. Incredible.
I thought for a moment, then spoke to the Goddess.
"If you could do that, couldn't the Evil God have done the same?"
"I may not look it, but I held the advantage over the Evil God when it came to sealing arts. That kind of physical interference would have been possible only for me. If the Evil God could have done it, he would have done so a long time ago, and often."
That was true enough.
"Anyway — why is the Red Dragon King in Erchia?"
"Mm. You have it backwards."
"How so?"
"Erchia was built in the place where the Red Dragon King already was."
"What?"
"I slaughtered the other Dragon Kings with my own hands. But not the Red Dragon King. He has been sleeping all this time, deep beneath Erchia."
"'Slaughtered' has a rather frightening ring to it."
"Well, how else should I put it? No — that isn't important right now. Among the Dragon Kings, the Red Dragon King is the undisputed strongest. He is certainly more powerful than the monster who was the current Demon King."
Which was another way of saying that Olivia, as she was now, might not be able to handle him. No — in her prime, Olivia had supposedly overwhelmed the Demon King outright, so there was no telling how a fight would go in her present condition. What I could tell was that he would be no easy opponent for her as she was now. And if other enemies had been prepared besides, Olivia could not deal with all of it alone.
"Let's organize what needs to be done."
"There's too much, Lois. I'm counting on you."
"You mustn't leave too much on Lois's shoulders, Olivia."
"Don't worry. It's a matter of the right person in the right place. I'll do what Olivia cannot. Olivia will do what I cannot. That's all."
"An ideal relationship of trust. I like it!"
"In any case, let me lay it out."
I raised a finger.
"First: encounter and punish Alex at the Human Alliance Conference. ...As for the punishment, a surprise attack that kills him outright would be best."
"Right."
"Second: meet with Velita and confirm the Stigma. If she doesn't have it, search for the true Saintess, who is likely to be in Erchia."
"Oof. I am not cut out for that."
She really wasn't. Information gathering was the sort of work better left to other people.
"Third: the information we just heard from the Goddess regarding the Red Dragon King."
"But do we even need to worry about the Red Dragon King? If he's just sleeping at the bottom of everything, we can leave him alone, can't we? Alex isn't necessarily going to go poking at him."
"No. The likelihood that he will is high."
"Why?"
"The venue of the Human Alliance Conference changes every time. So does whoever designates it. The one who designated this conference was none other than the Kingdom."
"..."
Olivia fell silent.
"I don't know whether Alex is aware that the Red Dragon King lies beneath Erchia. But the fact that the Kingdom chose Erchia of all places — honestly, assuming he doesn't know strikes me as far too optimistic."
"And Alex already betrayed humanity. Waking a sleeping Red Dragon King is well within what he might do."
"Goddess. Honestly speaking — if Olivia fought the Red Dragon King as she is now, who would win?"
"Combat isn't exactly my specialty, but."
This from someone who had nearly taken the Evil God's head in a war. I decided to let that pass.
"As she is now, Olivia would lose. Nine times out of ten."
"Hmph."
"..."
"Olivia? Are you angry?"
"No. It's the Goddess's word, isn't it? Like fate, I guess."
"I don't possess that kind of binding force, but..."
She was being all awkwardly crumpled about it, which was strangely endearing. She really did feel like a 'human' who just happened to be enormously powerful and possessed of various divine authorities.
"This just got interesting."
"What did? It doesn't seem the least bit interesting from where I'm standing. Would you tell me what you're thinking?"
"She said I can't beat this Red Dragon King or whatever in my current condition. But what if I win anyway? Can you think of anything more satisfying than that?"
"Please don't start sounding like your old self."
"Huh!? I am!? I hate that!!"
So she had no self-awareness. For all her protests, she was a woman who could fairly be said to be loved by the sword and worshipped by it — and she did not, it seemed, dislike swinging a blade and fighting. Then again, it was a rare sight for anyone to hate the thing they were best at.
"Anyway. All I got is that there's a mountain of things to do in Erchia."
"You don't understand a thing..."
"That's all Olivia needs to know."
"Is that really enough...?"
The Goddess's form wavered, a faint tremor running through her.
"Goddess?"
"I'm reaching my limit... I wanted to regenerate your body, but in my present state it will be difficult. Find the Saintess. Find her. Your arm, especially. I can feel the aura of a curse. If the one who treats it is not a Saintess, that curse will fall upon whoever tries to heal you."
The arm.
Unlike her head and her heart, the arm had been severed by Alex. And I hadn't sensed any curse from it at all? Olivia herself hadn't either? I might have understood it while the Curse of the God of Death was still active — but even after that curse had been undone, neither of us had felt a thing.
How thoroughly had that bastard hidden it?
It was less a curse than a weapon designed to afflict whoever tried to treat her. It was no exaggeration to say he had arranged it so that if, by some miracle, someone attempted to lift Olivia's curse, the curse would strike that person instead. The curse itself had likely been made to prevent the arm from regenerating. In other words, any healing meant to restore Olivia's arm would turn the curse against the healer. And in the worst case, it would lie dormant until she took a serious wound, then activate and torment her.
So that was why Olivia had so often complained of pain in her arm. And the Goddess's words just now meant that even the fruit of the World Tree had failed to erase it completely — that the curse still remained in the arm.
A chill ran through me. He hadn't wiped it all away.
"Olivia. The mark."
"Ah — yes."
Olivia lifted her hand as if it were the most natural thing in the world, and the Goddess laid her own hand over the back of it. Light shimmered between their fingers, and the Goddess spoke.
"For a time, communication will be possible. It isn't something you can use often, but it will surely be of help."
"...Goddess. From now on, you should stop choosing heroes by strength alone. Otherwise you'll end up with a Rogue Hero — or someone like me, who doesn't belong with the title at all."
The Goddess looked faintly surprised, and then she smiled.
Slowly, the light and mana around us faded away. She closed her eyes, and what remained was no longer the Goddess but the Shrine Spirit, its body falling as the divine presence withdrew.
I caught the Shrine Spirit in my arms as naturally as breathing. Olivia looked down at the back of her hand.
"Lois."
"Yes."
"When we get to Erchia, can you tell me the to-do list again?"
"Ah... of course."
She didn't remember a single thing...