Sage Breniachetra (1)
The dragons that appeared in Apolis Tales had been shaped, in no small part, by fantasy novels.
Magic that shattered common sense. A heart that welled with mana. Breath that crushed an opponent merely by being exhaled. In short, they were ridiculously strong — strong enough to earn the epithet the race closest to the sun.
And yet they barely showed up in the game at all. You could have treated them as a race that simply didn't exist and lost almost nothing. How did the strongest species on the continent end up with less screen time than scenery? Because they were pathologically indifferent. Spectators who ignored anything outside their own interests. No matter what catastrophe unfolded in the world, they never lifted a claw. They weren't going to die anyway, so why bother. Being the strongest also meant being the most numb to crisis. They scarcely even dealt with other races. Arrogance taken to its logical end: a people so superior they would rather be lonely than keep company with anyone else.
"Clitia, how do I look like this?"
There were, of course, always exceptions.
"Can't you hear me?"
"I can hear you."
Never in a hundred years would I have guessed a dragon would refuse to leave me alone for even a second. Feeling something odd stir in my chest, I reached out and lightly ruffled the blonde girl's hair.
"Bre… what was your real name again?"
"Breniachetra. You can call me Breny."
What kind of name needed that many syllables. Dragon names were a nightmare. I couldn't keep calling her Barky forever, though, so I was going to have to get used to it.
"I'm thinking. Give me a second."
"Okay."
"Go back to the first form for now."
Breny nodded, and in a single breath the girl became a grown woman.
"How's this?"
"Not bad."
Which appearance she ought to live in was a genuinely serious question.
"Is the outward look really that important?"
Riella, who had been watching from behind, posed the doubt of a complete amateur.
"It is. The Sage is the Hero's aide."
Leading everyone was the Hero's job as leader. The Sage's role was to support that Hero from the side. The two of them would be glued together for most of their waking hours, which meant the psychological distance between them had to be as small as we could make it.
"We can't give her a face the Hero would find off-putting or strange."
"Ah. Right."
Riella shook her head as if to say I should do whatever I wanted.
"Though in the end you're only doing this because you want to lose to the Hero. How very impressive of you."
"Shut up."
I wasn't a Saintess right now, so chasing my own selfish interests was perfectly fine. I'd been asking the Goddess for forgiveness through prayer on the side, so there was nothing to feel guilty about.
"O radiant sun, today's apology will be delivered tonight."
"I'm sure the Goddess will just love that."
I let what Sun-bask said go in one ear and out the other.
"Are you done yet? I want to rest."
"I'll pick now."
Breny kept whining, so I shook off the stray thoughts and forced myself to decide.
"Then let's go with the second one."
"Okay!"
Breny changed again.
"You like this one?"
"It suits you perfectly."
A girl who was neither too young nor too grown. Blonde hair gathered to one side, giving her a neat, composed sort of charm. All told, she looked about a year or two younger than the Hero. The smaller the age gap, the easier it would be for them to get close. I could already see it — the Hero and the Sage living like older and younger sisters, laughing and chattering. I could practically hear them.
"Can I go play now?"
"Do whatever you want. Just stay in that form."
"Got it."
The instant permission landed, Breny scampered off and flopped onto the daybed. She'd been the same as Barky: born for cuteness, not toughness. Nothing like any other dragon. That was closer to a defect than a virtue.
"Clitia, shall we go make some plans?"
"We should."
The three days Riella had promised were up. It was time to begin the Sage's mental training.
"Drink."
The Tower Master's room. I sat in a chair near the window and took the cup Riella held out. Pink water with a few flower petals drifting on the surface — the same tea I'd drunk while trapped in her illusion magic.
"I told you this tastes bad."
"It'll be different from last time."
Figuring I might as well, I took a sip. A faint floral fragrance unfolded across my tongue.
"It's good?"
"Right?"
It really was different. A taste like flowers blooming wide and smiling inside my mouth.
"This is a fragrance even illusion magic can't recreate."
Then it really was the sort of thing even royalty couldn't get their hands on.
"It's pink, so I thought of you every time I drank it."
"Then why'd you bombard me out of nowhere?"
"……"
I stared at the speechless Riella for a long moment, then slowly opened my mouth.
"Anyway. Let's sort out the problems."
Breny was too young. And being young wasn't even the half of it — she had far too many qualities that didn't fit the Sage's office. I intended to boil them down into something easy to follow.
"Tower Master, you first."
I asked for a report from the one in charge of the magic side.
"Breny can barely use magic. The reason's the same as I told you before."
"She was abandoned, you said."
About half a year ago, right when she should have been learning magic, Breny had been found dumped in front of the Purple Magic Tower. The culprit was obviously some dragon with not a scrap of paternal or maternal instinct — and they'd even slapped a memory-alteration spell on her before throwing her away. The worst of the worst.
"Still don't know who did it?"
"It's a dragon. If they decide to hide who they are, even I have a hard time tracking them."
Magic skill that even the Tower Master struggled to chase. Truly a broken race.
"The problem is she can use dragon-specific body-transformation magic just fine."
"Isn't that a good thing?"
"Not even slightly."
Riella went on with her usual frown.
"It'd be better if she learned from the very bottom. Dragon magic has a completely different manifestation system from ours."
"Have you tried teaching her the tower's magic?"
"Of course I have. She still can't even draw a magic circle properly. I don't think she understands it."
A dog stuck having to teach a human how to bark. If I had to put it in an analogy, it was roughly that kind of mess. A headache from every angle.
"Where exactly is the 'super genius' part supposed to be?"
"If you're only looking at raw talent, she is a super genius. She just can't apply any of it."
At this rate we were going to end up with a Sage who couldn't use magic. A disaster among disasters.
"What does our defeat enthusiast think the problem is?"
My turn to report.
"Her physical abilities are better than Erin's."
The difference between an ordinary girl and a dragon. One would bleed from the lightest scratch. The other could graze someone and leave them a bloody wreck.
"That's an advantage."
"It's only an advantage if you actually use it."
Breny was sturdy and frail at the same time. She would have been fine after taking ten hits, but she trembled from taking just one. She'd never been hit much. She still had no idea how tough her own hide really was.
"That's more than one or two flaws. Did the Goddess mix things up and pick the wrong kid as Sage?"
"……"
"Sorry. My bad."
There was no way the Goddess had made a mistake. There had to be a deep meaning in it. There had to be a reason she'd excommunicated me without a word, too.
"So how are you planning to do this 'mental training'? Do you have a method?"
"Of course I do."
We just needed to write a scenario. Same as when we'd been waiting in the Dirt Goblin dungeon.
"Use some imagination. You're a mage."
"Imagination?"
I'd had the operation planned for a while.
"Let's put on a children's play."
Breny carefully dipped her feet into the gently running stream. Water slid past in an unhurried current, and every so often a little fish bumped against her skin and tickled. Doing this cleared her head. It felt good. The smile that always sank when she was alone lifted its face with real strength now. A peaceful heart.
Before long, though, she pulled her feet back out. It was too chilly to leave them in.
Uncomfortable.
She still couldn't get used to a human body at all. Walking on two awkward feet. A field of vision higher than she was used to. Skin that bruised if you looked at it wrong. If she listed every hardship there would have been no end to it. No matter how she turned it over, living as a puppy had been better. She even wondered, sometimes, whether she might actually be a dog and not a dragon at all.
Even so, Breny stubbornly kept the human shape. Because this way, she could become just a little more like the kind, trustworthy people around her.
"Hurry up and come back…"
It had been quite a while since the two of them left, saying they had something to do. They still showed no sign of returning. She hated being bored. The feeling of being alone never got easier, no matter how many times she sat through it. It was the same when she tried to recall the memories that had been painted over in black. To Breny, loneliness was a terribly tedious darkness.
"We're back."
"Riella!"
The voice she'd been waiting for. Breny ran to Riella as she stepped through a door that opened in midair, and threw herself into her arms.
"Why were you so late!"
"Sorry. It took longer than I thought."
She'd been hurt that they'd been gone all day, but she decided to forgive them. They were right in front of her now, weren't they.
"Getting used to it?"
The human she'd recently become close with came through the door next.
"I'm used to it."
"Don't lie."
"It's super uncomfortable!"
"If it's that hard, just go back to being Barky for a bit."
Softness tucked inside a blunt tone. Clitia radiated a dangerous aura, like something demonic, but her nature was surprisingly gentle. Kind-hearted humans could be trusted. That was a way of living her instincts had taught her.
"Neither of you is going anywhere now, right?"
"You like that so much?"
"Yeah!"
This place called the Magic Tower was full of unfamiliar humans. And every day, from somewhere underground, the sound of someone suffering drifted up, which frightened her. An environment she could not endure alone. That was why she wanted to cling to — or at least lean on — the only two beings she could rely on.
"We'll be watching from the side, so go learn some magic."
"Ugh, do I have to?"
"You don't want to?"
Clitia went still and stared at her. Eyes that had settled into something cold and dark. The misunderstanding had been cleared up, but the scariness was exactly the same. Even knowing she was kind, Breny flinched.
"Okay, I get it, so please don't look at me like—"
"What's that?"
She wasn't looking at Breny. Her gaze was fixed on something further back. Wondering what it was, Breny followed her eyes and found a strange phenomenon. A black hole had opened in the ground. Black fog surged up from it and swallowed Clitia in an instant — an attack that landed before anyone could even react.
"What's wrong? Does it hurt?"
Clitia was clutching her head as if in pain. Breny still had no idea what was happening.
"Heh… heheh."
Then Clitia started to giggle, low in her throat, in a voice that was nothing like her own.
"At last — success! I have been revived! Heheh, hahaha!"
Bizarre laughter kept spilling out of her. Even at a glance, this was not normal.
"Who are you! What did you do to Clitia!"
Riella shoved Breny behind her and shouted in a somehow unnatural tone.
"Me? If I were to introduce myself…"
The fog slowly thinned. At the same time, Clitia's eyes dyed themselves in black light.
Demon King's army. Four Heavenly Kings. First Heaven. Soul Binder.
What does any of that mean?
She didn't understand a single word. The terms were far too difficult for Breny.
"This can't be…"
Riella, on the other hand, seemed to understand everything. Her mouth fell open in shock.
"What's going on?"
"Clitia's body has been stolen by a villain. Be careful."
Meanwhile the villain stretched a hand forward with wildly exaggerated gestures.
"To commemorate my revival, I shall begin by eliminating you two!"
A black sphere heavy with ominous energy came flying. Riella tried to raise a defensive spell, but she was too late.
"Run…"
Struck dead-on by the sphere, Riella crumpled weakly to the side.
"Now it is your turn."
The dark gaze turned on Breny. Her body trembled. She wanted to run, but her legs shook and would not obey.
"Clitia, snap out of it!"
"No use calling out so desperately. I am already— kh!"
The dark light faded.
"Listen carefully."
A voice full of worry and apology. The real Clitia.
"Are you okay? Did you break free?"
"Only for a moment. The only hero who can save me is you."
Clitia staggered, forcing the words out.
For someone who claimed there was no time, the speech went on rather long. Then the dark light claimed her eyes again.
"What a pointless effort. You think a coward like that could ever defeat Lord Kbalt?!"
"……"
Breny's eyes gleamed cold. Someone kind — someone she wanted to rely on — was in danger. And she was angry. Angry at the villain who had stolen a precious person's body.
"Wait! I'll save you!"
Breny burned with fighting spirit, slowly circulating the mana that surged up from her heart.
This is more fun than I expected.
There was no way for Breny to know what the collapsed Riella was thinking.