Rumors Are Never Worth Believing (1)
The uniform and matching cap, specially crafted for the empire’s elite forces, sat perfectly adjusted on her head. Yet no matter how she fixed it, the military discipline that had long since fled showed no signs of returning. Had it ever truly been there in the first place?
With an expression that screamed I really, really don’t want to do this, the dog tag dangling from the neck of the woman soaring through the sky read Wolfgang Leonhardt. If the people of the empire ever learned this fact, most of them would refuse to believe it.
To the citizens of the Bahamut Empire, Wolfgang Leonhardt was the war hero who had led them to victory in the Winter War. She was the savior who had delivered the empire from a century of endless winter. Naturally, they held her in the highest regard, their hearts filled with grand illusions of what such a hero must be like.
So the sight of her drifting through the sky with a face utterly devoid of motivation would have shattered every last one of those fantasies. This was definitely not the image of the great savior they had pictured.
But unfortunately…
She really was Wolfgang Leonhardt.
Or, to use a more grandiose title: the war hero who had brought victory in the Winter War. The savior who had rescued the empire from the apocalypse of endless winter. The great hero Wolfgang muttered to herself,
Apparently even thinking it to herself wasn’t enough anymore. She had finally spoken her true feelings out loud. At least there was no one around to hear her. Still, she had her reasons for complaining.
The gloomy, ash-gray sky was dragging her already sour mood even deeper into the abyss, robbing her of what little motivation she had left. It was so bad she seriously wondered if someone had cast a curse on the heavens themselves.
The curse that steals all motivation!
Muttering this ridiculous conspiracy theory, she lifted her head. Her single sharp golden eye, previously hidden beneath the brim of her cap, locked onto the massive monster gliding ahead of her.
Clicking her tongue in irritation, Wolfgang still didn’t forget to pull out the orb from her coat. It looked more like a crystal ball than anything else. Soon, a familiar voice echoed from within it.
Nest, this is Nest. Eagle, do you copy? Over.
“What the hell is that?”
It’s a callsign! What if the kingdom is listening in?
“Let them listen if they want.”
Honestly… So, any unusual activity on your end?
The voice coming through the orb was already laced with resignation. Maybe it was because her subordinate already knew her personality. The surrender had come faster than expected. Thanks to that, Wolfgang could cut straight to the point.
“I’ve located the magic dragons. Commencing extermination immediately. Over and out.”
What?! Wait a second! You were only supposed to be on reconnaissance…!!
Click.
Not wanting to listen to her adjutant’s nagging any longer, Wolfgang immediately cut the connection. As she tucked the orb back into her coat, a massive shadow began to swallow her whole.
The creatures covered in ominous purple scales looked remarkably similar to the dragons of legend. However, unlike those wise and majestic beings, these monsters showed not a single trace of intelligence no matter how hard one looked.
The skies were still a domain humanity had yet to conquer. Any talk of “later” was meaningless here. To the predators that ruled these heights, humans were nothing more than prey.
Magic dragons. That was what people called the predators of the open sky.
Although the apocalyptic winter that had been the empire’s eternal enemy had finally come to an end, that didn’t mean the entire empire was safe. Dangerous monsters still ran rampant, and because the Bahamut Empire’s territory was so vast, the problem was far more severe here than anywhere else.
The magical beasts, starved after a century of endless winter, had begun attacking people with increasing frequency. But now that the Winter War had ended and the empire had regained some breathing room, they had no intention of tolerating the threat any longer.
The reason the Vendetta Legion had been deployed this time was precisely to exterminate these magic dragons.
Though they had been corrupted by demonic energy and reduced to little more than beasts, they were still descendants of dragons. The flames they breathed from on high carried enough power to make anyone understand just how terrifying a true dragon’s strength must have been.
It was only natural that ordinary citizens, and even well-trained elite soldiers, would be reduced to nothing more than a single meal in front of such creatures. The damage must have been catastrophic for the emperor himself to issue a direct imperial decree.
She did feel some sympathy. Being devoured by monsters like these… just imagining it was enough to make one writhe in agony.
But sympathy aside, Wolfgang couldn’t help but feel deeply resentful that she had to personally step forward for such a serious matter.
Why had she enlisted in the military in the first place? It certainly wasn’t for the empire’s future or any heroic sense of pride. It had been purely for her own survival.
Of course, through the Winter War she had obtained the greatest power in the world. But that was no reason to willingly stick her head into dangerous situations like this.
Yet there was one thing that forced her to head toward danger anyway.
She was a soldier. A soldier had the duty to protect the citizens of the empire.
Naturally, man-eating monsters like magic dragons were the highest priority for extermination. And since her abilities had been proven during the war, it was only logical that the extermination order would fall to her.
Which was exactly the opposite of the peaceful retirement she so desperately longed for.
In truth, right after the Winter War ended, she had tried to withdraw from the front lines. If she couldn’t be discharged immediately, she at least wanted to be reassigned to the rear to minimize danger as much as possible.
But the empire’s high officials wouldn’t allow it. They had desperately tried to stop her.
……
When even the chancellor, the archduke, and the emperor himself came to persuade her, she couldn’t possibly tell them to their faces that she just wanted to retire so she could laze around and do nothing.
Thanks to that, she was still serving in the military. Whenever orders came down from above, she had no choice but to risk her life once again.
Wolfgang dramatically increased her firepower and shot even higher into the sky. Soon she spotted something the size of an entire island flying through the air.
It was none other than a magic dragon.
A colossal magic dragon so enormous it could be called a moving mountain. That was the homeland of all magic dragons, and their mother. The island-sized beast was the Magic Dragon’s Nest.
More precisely, the nest itself rested on the creature’s massive back. It was constructed from tree branches, steel beams, and even clay made by grinding up the bones of beasts and humans. The saliva-mixed clay was far stronger than any steel humans could forge.
In other words, infiltrating the Magic Dragon’s Nest was difficult, and destroying it was even harder.
“Seeing it in person… it really is terrifying.”
An island-sized magic dragon flying through the sky, and a nest built from human bones. After taking in the entire horrifying sight with her own eyes, Wolfgang spoke her honest impression aloud.
Monsters were ultimately creatures that far surpassed humanity. That was why she always felt fear whenever she fought.
What if my power doesn’t work? What if it’s stronger than me?
Paradoxically, that was exactly why she fought alone.
If her power didn’t work, she planned to turn around and run immediately.
What? Heroic pride? Self-respect? Did that put food on the table? Did it let her live longer?
In the end, if you died it was all pointless. Her top priority had always been survival.
But she couldn’t just abandon everything she had built up until now and run away. The honor, wealth, and power she had accumulated were too great to throw away so easily. They might be less important than her life, but they weren’t easy to give up.
Paradoxically, that was what kept her fighting like this. Because she didn’t want to lose what she already held in her hands.
Yet because she hated danger, she wanted to be discharged. Even if it meant distancing herself from power, she could still keep her honor and wealth. Enough money to never work again in her life, and the respect of everyone around her.
For extremely selfish, personal reasons, she fought once again today.
Her body, which had already reached another sky above the sky, began to plummet toward the Magic Dragon’s Nest.
There was no such thing as holding back for her. She went all out from the very beginning.
She accelerated. She accelerated endlessly. Faster than anyone else.
The flames that had been burning hot beneath her feet instantly spread across her entire body. Like a person on fire, her nearly invincible physique crashed into the nest like a meteor.
But she wasn’t simply falling. Using the tremendous acceleration of her descent, she instantly shifted her posture.
A flaming kick from the highest point in the sky. Its power was no less than that of a real meteor.
Meteor Strike
The moment her flaming kick connected with the Magic Dragon’s Nest, a tremendous explosion tore through the sky with enough force to rip the heavens apart.
It was a scene straight out of hell.
The destructive power of a meteor impact was perfectly reproduced in midair. The only victims were the magic dragons themselves. Both adults and hatchlings were reduced to nothing but ash.
Wolfgang simply watched from above as the burning Magic Dragon’s Nest plummeted toward the ground. There was no doubt she had poured every last ounce of her power into that strike.
“Whew. That was scary. Time to head back and rest.”
If her opponent had been human, things might have been different. But against monsters, she always went all-out from the start. It was the survival strategy of someone who was, at heart, a massive coward. She made sure they never had the chance to pull any dirty tricks.