Three Days as a Dragon
A pillar of magnificent nature — the greatest column that tunes the material world.
And so a single world: that is the existence known as a dragon.
Then, little dragon, do you know?
That when you were born, every world was moved by the birth of a new tuner.
And that the world who rejoiced most of all was the mother who now cradles him.
But, exalted dragon, do you know?
That there is no eternity in this world, and that the end never arrives at a moment one can foresee.
And so the end came.
What crushed him was overwhelming mana, and the authority of one who had ascended to divinity through a complete Circle.
The dragon's tongue thundered across the world. Those words carried power, and the world trembled in terror — yet they did not reach a single man.
"Sigarmata. It is thou who art arrogant."
The man raised his hand.
Incomprehensible magic gathered into points, and those points joined into a line.
Nothing in the material world had ever surpassed its keenness, nor ever would again.
"Among all things that can be born in this world, there is no such thing as 'eternity.'"
Seok—.
As his hand fell, the dragon's head was severed.
The dragon's body, vast and heavy, toppled with agonizing slowness.
Kuuung—!
A bone-chilling roar of impact.
And that was the end.
Thus a thousand-year world was destroyed by a single man's hand.
That was the end of the one called the Evil Dragon — Sigarmata.
This Dragon Heart will be of no use, I suppose, the man thought, surveying the corpse. He sighed and shook his head.
Then, suddenly, he noticed something occupying a corner of the lair…
Their eyes met.
Thump. Thump.
His heart pounded.
It was terror, and overwhelming… sorrow.
"Hah."
The man made a shocked expression, then murmured,
"You poor thing."
"So… this is Luke?"
"Probably. Seems that way."
"Hmm… looking at it like this, it does kind of resemble her."
Platinum-blonde fur. A right eye of teal and a left eye of gold. A pair of horns whose material matched Luke's own, and animal ears rising from the top of the head.
And even the cute bandage on the nape of the neck.
"Uh… shedding doesn't usually do this, does it?"
Daphne's voice was pure bewilderment.
No — not just Daphne. Every forest keeper present wore the same expression.
"Is it a real dragon?"
"Idiot, why would a dragon have fur? That's a… magic beast!"
"I think a magic beast makes even less sense…"
"But even like this, it's kind of cute."
"I want to pet it."
Watching her colleagues spit out their assorted bizarre theories and impressions, Yerna let out a long sigh.
"More importantly — Luke was never the clingy type, was she, unni?"
It was Sorbi who spoke up.
"Right? I'm pretty thrown by that myself…"
Certainly, Luke had never seemed fond of such intense physical affection. The always-composed Luke had never once flung herself into Yerna's arms for no reason.
Or had she? Come to think of it, she was a bit more forward with Shirud…
At any rate, she had never done it with Yerna.
But right now, Luke had draped her neck over the crown of Yerna's head and was holding her tightly in her arms, gazing down at her as if she were a precious doll.
Even the tail swayed gently back and forth like a cat's — utterly harmless.
Yerna reached up and lightly stroked Luke's cheek.
Luke slowly closed her eyes and opened them again, as if savoring the touch, then nuzzled her face into Yerna's hand.
—Kyiiuung—.
"Doesn't seem like she'll hurt anyone…"
The sheer size was intimidating, but her behavior was no different from an oversized cat.
"But unni, looking at this, it's straight out of a fairy tale. The one where an elf princess gets kidnapped by a dragon."
"I'm not a princess."
"Princess, forest-keeper captain — same difference, right? You're both the head of a group."
"You two, stop joking around."
Yerna sighed heavily.
"What are we supposed to do in a situation like this? A person turns into a furry dragon in an instant."
"I have no idea."
"Some kind of transformation magic?"
Yerna shook her head at her colleagues' guesses.
"I already tried Disenchant. It didn't come off. Doesn't seem to be magic — more like a physical trait."
"What kind of physical trait just changes like this out of nowhere?"
Among beastman traits there was something similar called beastification… but that characteristic had long since vanished from the modern beastman races.
Could this be an effect of the human experimentation?
Yerna's expression grew grave.
"Then what do we do? Who do we call? A vet? A biologist? A mage?"
"This is prime research material."
That was the moment.
Luke hugged Yerna even tighter.
"…Lu?"
Cradled in Luke's arms, Yerna could feel it.
That faint trembling…
As if she were afraid.
Afraid? Of what?
Then it struck her.
If Luke had truly undergone human experimentation, and had been suppressing those memories by imitating "Luke Irushi" all this time…
Then what about now?
Right now, no matter how you looked at her, this was nothing like the clever, confident Luke of before.
Her body had grown larger — and yet she seemed even more like a child…
Yerna realized what Luke was afraid of.
Could the lost memories have come back?
Most likely the trauma from the experiments had been triggered.
Yerna's expression hardened with resolve as she thrust out a hand.
"Hold on. For now, let's just watch her condition like this."
At Yerna's words, the forest keepers first looked blank, then pushed back hard.
"What? No, we need to turn Luke back as soon as possible."
"Exactly. The kid turned into some monster form and you want us to just leave her?"
"Right. We don't even know why this happened!"
Beside them, Daiton — who had been listening with his arms folded — finally spoke.
"Yerna's right."
"What, Panty Man? Taking Yerna-unni's side?"
When Sorbi shot him a sidelong glare, Daiton's face flushed as red as his hair.
"No! That's—!"
He'd been bathing and had come running out in a hurry — there hadn't been time to get dressed.
At the time, he'd genuinely thought it was an emergency.
I've already made a fool of myself in front of Luke twice…
That terrifying magic that made you slip on nothing at all… Daiton shuddered once at the memory, elbows and knees still stinging from scraping the floor.
"Just hear me out. Say we show Luke to a mage or a researcher. You really think those people would have some brilliant solution?"
"More than that — would they even believe she's Luke? We're half-doubting it ourselves right now, aren't we? To them, she'd just be a weirdly shaped monster."
At Daiton's words, the forest keepers looked at him with mild surprise.
"Hmm…"
"Still…"
"He has a point."
Kirke, Sorbi, and Daphne all hummed in unison after hearing him out.
He wasn't wrong.
"For now, let's just monitor her condition. Luke seems confused right now, too…"
She was probably just acting strange for a while because of the confusion.
And if it was Luke, Yerna had a feeling she would find some way through this.
"So for the time being, this stays between us. Got it?"
Daphne nodded.
"Yes, understood. The dorms are too conspicuous, so we should move her outside. As far as I know, there's a clearing off the patrol route. Let's put her there for now."
"What if she runs away?"
At Kirke's concern, Sorbi looked at Luke — who was glued to Yerna and refused to let go — and shook her head.
"I don't think she'll run, honestly."
Maybe she thought Yerna was her guardian?
Then Daphne spoke up as if something had just occurred to her.
"What about the GPS data?"
"I already registered her as an ally under captain's authority, so it should be fine for a while. If we take turns staying with her, the dots will just look like one."
"Ugh, I give up."
Kirke threw up both hands in exasperation and raked her fingers through her hair.
"What the hell is even going on."
And on that point, everyone present agreed.
In a clearing deep in the forest, there was a platinum-furred monster.
"Here, Luke. Today's meal."
—Kyiiuung.
The high, cute cry was far too mismatched with that bulk to call her a monster.
Yerna, as if already used to this, pulled a skewer from the basket and held it high over her head.
"This is the first time unni's ever made these. How are they?"
Not sure if the seasoning's right, haha — Yerna laughed sheepishly. Luke regarded her steadily for a moment, then snapped up the skewer and chewed with little munch-munch sounds.
"Ah! Eating the whole skewer again."
Was her digestive system even okay with that?
Doesn't seem to be a problem for now…
It might have been an issue in human form, but apparently it was fine like this.
Yerna couldn't read the facial expressions well, but the gestures that came through were thoroughly satisfied.
She pulled another large roasted skewer from the basket and held it up.
Once again, Luke bit down without a second thought.
This… kind of feels like I've become a zookeeper…
It was the strange feeling of keeping a pet in secret from your parents.
Though if they were found out, the fallout would be far greater than that.
Yerna watched Luke happily devour the food, then went and sat down right beside her.
"Haa… Luke, it's already the third day. Isn't there some kind of solution?"
She ran her hand over Luke's body, feeling the soft, fluffy fur.
What if this was Luke's true form?
If this appearance were discovered, she would inevitably become a subject of special protection — or research — and then they would be parted forever.
If Luke became happy that way, it was an ending Yerna could accept…
But there's no way she'd be happy in a research lab.
Hadn't Luke fled from a laboratory in the first place?
—Kyuuung?
Oblivious to the speed at which Yerna was fretting, Luke tilted her head in a puzzled expression, then gave Yerna's face a long, sweeping lick.
But Luke's tongue was as rough as a cat's — viciously so…
"Ah—! Ow, that stings!"
—Kek. Gnn… Gghn…
Startled by the cry, Luke slumped and planted her head against the ground.
Yerna flailed in panic, then stroked Luke's forehead and apologized.
"No, I— sorry for yelling?"
—Kyiiing…
"There, there…"
Yerna exhaled a long, heavy sigh.
Ever since taking this form, Luke had been acting more and more like an animal, and it was making her increasingly anxious.
Every time she saw Luke like this, the uneasy thought flickered through her mind that she might never come back.
No. No. Luke will come back.
Thinking that, Yerna suddenly remembered she had brought the cello, and spoke to Luke.
She had once asked Lua Erast — who had looked after Luke before — what was good for memory loss, and had received the answer that redoing things one used to do was helpful.
And if that still doesn't work?
If it really doesn't, you'd have to use mental magic, right? But why? Who has amnesia? Is it Luke? Are you trying to restore Luke's memories?
Ah, something just came up — I have to go! Sorry! Let's talk next time!
"Urgh…"
Yerna made a small pained sound.
She had nearly drawn suspicion.
She had shown Luke all sorts of things over the past few days, but none of them had worked particularly well.
She'd shown a test sheet, and Luke had shredded it to pieces like a toy.
She'd shown a phone, and Luke had tilted her head, then licked her hand.
She'd shown the box Luke used to climb into, and Luke had tried to get in again — only to sit on it and flatten it completely. That had at least been a similar reaction…
Wondering if the power of love might work, she'd brought Daiton over — and Luke had hit him.
Watching Daiton go flying with a guek, Yerna had thought:
What? Does Luke hate Daiton?
She'd been certain Luke liked him.
Anyway, the point was that three days of various attempts had all failed.
So this time, she couldn't help but hope.
This might be the last chance.
Yerna looked over at Luke, who had wandered over to a tree and was now clawing furiously at the bark with her nails, then lifted the cello case and called out.
"Lu, look at this! You used to play this all the time. Do you remember?"
—Kyiiing?
Interest piqued, Luke approached Yerna, lowering her head and tilting it.
A cuteness completely mismatched with that enormous frame… no, that wasn't the point.
Yerna cleared her throat a few times, then drew the cello from its case.
"Well? Does anything come to mind?"
—…
Luke's reaction was different this time.
Her gaze locked onto the cello, and she went completely still, concentrating.
Thump. Thump.
She honestly couldn't help hoping at a reaction like this. Yerna felt her heart hammering as she fixed a tense gaze on Luke.
And a moment later—
—Kyiiing—.
The cello sang.
By itself.
"What?"
Yerna startled so hard she nearly dropped it — and Luke swiftly caught it.
What Luke did next was astonishing.
Hmm. Hmm.
She wove humming into the melodies the cello was playing on its own.
From music as cute and delicate as a bird in flight,
to a passionate, powerful performance as if a dragon were crushing the world beneath it.
A performance that crossed between calm and fervor, lightness and grandeur.
She almost imagined the entire forest responding to the trembling of the air that the melody created.
An unprecedented duet of the spirit tongue and the dragon tongue — a performance that, by itself, seemed to influence the world.
Yerna could barely hold onto her senses as she listened to a performance that went beyond awe into something almost frightening.
And so that endless performance, which had seemed as if it might go on all day, finally began to subside only as the sky turned yellow.
—Uuung—.
Pluck.
The cello strings that had been trembling so fiercely and so calmly at last announced the end of the duet.
And when the performance was over—
…there stood Luke Irushi.
"Yerna. It seems I have caused thee worry once again."
Yerna froze for a moment like a broken golem. Then, belatedly grasping the situation, she burst into tears and cried out,
"Luke!"
Yerna pulled her into an embrace.
She had no idea what had happened — but that Luke had come back was more important than anything else.
"I thought you were never coming back… Do you have any idea how worried I was?"
"Haha… Forgive me, Yerna."
"No — it's not something you need to apologize for…!"
Luke patted Yerna's back and hummed in a calm, measured tone.
It was so soothing, so much like a lullaby, that Yerna slipped into sleep as if her consciousness were simply dissolving.
The emotion carried in that humming — calm enough to put Yerna to sleep — was something else entirely.
I must be going mad. Did I truly do such a thing?
—That's right, Luke. Isn't it hilarious?
It is not amusing in the least. Pai, why didst thou not aid me sooner!
—Because it was fun?
Thou art truly…
Embarrassment? Regret? Resentment? Well — it was a feeling difficult to define.
But at times like this, the spirit tongue was truly convenient.
It could convey these complex, hard-to-explain emotions all at once.
—This time / this moment was really fun! Next time / another time, can we talk in that voice / language?
That meant: operate the Dragon Heart again.
Lacking experience in inscribing Circles with the Dragon Heart, she had made this blunder.
Having realized which part she had gotten wrong, Luke firmly resolved that there would be no such mistake next time — and thought:
As if I would ever do such a thing again.