Volume 2, Chapter 11
Hestallion, the land where Asubell, the guardian dragon of summer, lived.
Just because it was summer didn’t mean the sun always blazed overhead. Along with the relentless heat, the season also brought a rainy stretch of violent storms. It was the monsoon season.
Asubell Adrian belonged to the water clan, so he was unusually prone to drawing in the rains, and ships bound for Hestallion had no choice but to struggle through them.
For that reason, experienced sailors would use magical instruments to observe the weather far out at sea, and only launch when the storms had calmed.
“If the rains last long enough, we might not be able to depart for a whole week. Just when it seemed we’d finally dealt with the Serpent Sea issue, we’ve gone and run into another variable.”
“...You don’t look bothered at all.”
As Casio pointed out, Airen wore a cheerful grin.
“Come on, what are you talking about? I’m just trying to turn everything into an opportunity!”
“An opportunity?”
“If we’re stuck here and all we do is complain, we’re wasting time. Since we’ve unexpectedly got room to breathe in the port, it’d be good to look into local specialties and gather news from other nations. Don’t you think so, Jin?”
Jin, whose superior had turned to him with a bright smile and a request for agreement, nodded.
“Yes. Since the plan to meet Winter Bell has fallen through, it might be awkward for you to sit around empty-handed.”
“Oh, now hold on. Empty-handed? Empty-handed, did you say?”
Confronted with his adjutant’s cold reaction, Airen clenched both fists and cried injustice.
“We brought back a dragon priest, didn’t we? We’ve gained a valuable new comrade!”
And then he promptly slung an arm around Seherbian’s shoulders.
“Isn’t that right, priest?”
“...”
Jin had lost the words to answer. With a sigh, he shook his head, while Airen flashed a smug grin.
Strange people.
Seherbian slipped quietly away from Airen and moved through the chuckling squad members to stand at the end of the pier, White Staff in his arms.
「The recent safety level has dropped too low.」
As if it had been waiting for the chance, Mimir chimed with a clear ring. Regardless, its master only stared blankly at the waves slapping against the shore.
「Why did you allow that contact?」
“If it was contact, then...”
It had only been a hand around the shoulders. But unlike Seherbian’s easygoing response, Mimir was bristling with indignation.
「Touching a dragon’s body without permission is a clear taboo.」
“Calm down, Mimir. He didn’t attack me or anything.”
「Furthermore, protecting the master’s safety is my duty as your guardian. Why are you stopping me?」
Unlike the branch of World Tree, which growled with vigilance at its peak, Seherbian merely blinked slowly.
Mimir wasn’t wrong.
Dragons were the agents of the gods. Naturally, unlike ordinary people, they could not—and should not—be touched carelessly.
But after leaving the temple, Seherbian had stopped Mimir more than once from activating safety mode.
“To them, I’m not ‘Winter Bell Seherbian’ right now. I’m ‘Priest Servi.’”
Servi tapped his shoulder lightly with the staff.
“I’m the one who hid it.”
「...Master.」
“It’s fine.”
His half-lidded, sunset-colored eyes gazed absentmindedly at the shattered waves.
“Yeah. It really is nice to come out here.”
The songs sung by sailors unloading cargo in a hurry at the port and by the excited travelers mingled with the sound of the sea, creating a lively atmosphere.
“And I get to see the ocean after so long.”
In Blanconia, the only scenery he could see was an expanse of frozen snowfields. Icicles growing upside down, sharp white snow-laden trees, and a merciless landscape that covered all life in white.
To Seherbian, looking at the sea—so blue, and then sparkling again in countless shades of green as it danced—felt like watching a new color being painted across a blank white canvas.
Mimir, too, who had been watching its master unable to look away from the ocean, calmed down and fell silent. The cool body temperature unique to the silver clan gently wrapped around the staff as it stayed quiet.
But only for a moment.
Ring!
「The Saltis Sea. The ocean flowing between the Alferios Kingdom and the Hestallion Empire. The waves are high, the rocks are numerous, and weather anomalies occur often, so beware.」
Picking up information from the keyword “sea” mentioned earlier, Mimir began reciting it in a steady stream.
「A representative marine creature, the aqua serpent, also inhabits these waters. It rarely ventures beyond its territory, but when hungry, it hunts in packs. Even when not hunting, if it decides a target is an enemy, it will pursue them relentlessly and damage a ship if necessary.」
“...If even you call it nasty, that’s serious.”
Having caught the mutter from its master with uncanny accuracy, Mimir responded.
「I fail to recognize the meaning of that statement. Please repeat it once more.」
“No. Thanks for telling me, Mimir. I’ll be careful.”
Ring.
Along with the sea breeze, Mimir’s bell gave a light sway.
“Priest!”
Right then, a voice called to Seherbian from the pier.
“The sea’s nice and all, but we should probably go eat now!”
“If you’re late, there won’t be anything left for you! The seafood in this region is incredible!”
“...”
Airen, waving both arms as he shouted, Casio tossing out jokes beside him, and even Jin with his hand on his hip and his usual stony expression. The entire Winter Knight Order had been waiting for him. They were kind people.
Airen’s group said there was an old place they always stopped by whenever they came to this port, and led the way to a spacious restaurant by the seaside.
Seafood restaurants here had a peculiar custom of carving a round hollow, like a brazier, into the center of the table and lighting a fire there first. Shellfish was then placed directly on top to be grilled fresh on the spot. The opened shells bubbled on the grill, releasing a fragrant aroma as they cooked.
Seherbian had grown up in the snowfields, as expected of a silver-blooded dragon, so he had rarely had the chance to eat seafood. But the combination of freshly grilled shellfish topped with cheese and a spicy fish stew was delicious beyond expectation.
Food culture really does keep developing.
Perhaps because their numbers were so small, dragons tended simply to cook whatever suited their own tastes, and had never developed much of a shared culinary culture. Even after a hundred years, a thousand years, their way of living remained much the same. In contrast, human culture—always changing, always new each time he saw it—was endlessly fascinating to Seherbian.
“Hahaha! Drink, drink!”
“The mission’s over, so tonight we eat and drink until we can’t walk straight!”
The drinking culture seems unchanged, though...
Then as now, whenever people gathered, they still raised their cups with noisy enthusiasm.
Seherbian watched blankly as they traded drinks with one another, using freshly caught fish as snacks.
Of course, no one insane enough to offer alcohol to a priest had come his way. From a dragon’s perspective, which could not be made drunk in the first place, it was a pointless gesture—but he did appreciate not being dragged into troublesome matters.
“Priest.”
Before he knew it, Airen had appeared at his side, a glass in each hand, and dropped heavily onto the seat beside him.
“A toast to becoming comrades?”
There really is one insane person here.
Toast?
Seherbian looked at the man beside him with a pitying gaze.
Offering a priest a drink! It was a mad thing ordinary people would never dare, for fear of divine punishment. Seherbian rested his head on one hand and replied carelessly.
“Priests abstain from alcohol, tobacco, and marriage.”
“Tch. So picky. And you’re already outside the temple.”
“I left the temple, but I didn’t turn my back on the gods.”
Seherbian lifted Mimir and tapped lightly on one of the bottles Airen held.
From the tip of the staff, a chill spread, and white frost formed over the glass bottle. Thin ice crystals floated up in the drink, which had long since gone lukewarm from sitting out.
It was sacred magic that controlled cold. Unlike ordinary magic, sacred magic required no incantation and caused no backlash, because it drew upon divine power. Airen looked astonished as he watched the dragon priest use such holy magic for the simple purpose of chilling alcohol.
Seherbian calmly reclaimed Mimir and propped his chin on his hand again.
“And I’ll go back someday.”
“When?”
“When I feel like it.”
He’d meant it sincerely, but Airen took it as a joke and chuckled. Then he drained both glasses he had brought in one go.
“Come to think of it, there’s something I’ve been wondering about.”
Seherbian looked at him quietly, asking what it was. Airen refilled the empty glasses and hummed as he spoke.
“Winter Bell is famous for not granting wishes, isn’t he? His heart is cold as a winter wind, so I heard he ignored everything—from desperate pleas over the fate of kingdoms to broken-hearted prayers for vengeance.”
It was true. Winter Bell often ignored people’s prayers. He had gone on doing so until the temple priests, exhausted by the silence, finally all abandoned the Dragon God’s shrine.
“But then recently, I heard he suddenly listened to a child’s wish and made it snow on a midsummer night.”
“So?”
His sunset-colored eyes regarded Airen with cool indifference.
“What are you curious about?”
“Winter Bell’s criteria for granting wishes.”
Airen emptied another glass and smiled.
“At first, I thought maybe you had to offer some special sacrifice. But from the way you’ve reacted, priest, that doesn’t seem to be it.”
Seherbian gave him an incredulous look.
“...Weren’t you supposed to have given up on meeting Winter Bell?”
“Haha! That was the plan, but now that I’ve recruited a dragon priest as a comrade, I’m thinking I’ll come prepared and try again next time. So help me out a little.”
Seeing Airen lay his thoughts bare so openly, even Mimir fell silent, unable to produce any analysis at all.
With an expectant expression, Airen asked again, “So? Is there some special standard Winter Bell likes for wishes?”
A standard.
Seherbian spent a moment turning people’s prayers over in his mind one by one, then lowered his eyes.
“Not really.”
“Not really?”
“There isn’t one. He’s not the sort to set standards or make plans in the first place.”
Having said that much, he no longer felt like indulging the conversation any further.
Seherbian stood, ending things offhandedly.
“If he likes it, he’ll grant the wish. Whether it’s for destruction, for a curse, or simply a child’s wish to make it snow on a summer day.”
Unless it was Asubell, who was kind and active enough to work his way into people’s lives and meddle in them without being asked, Seherbian had no patience for troublesome things.
“Is that so? Then that impulsive side of his is kind of like mine.”
He had meant for Airen to stop pestering him, but leaving the man behind and his interest only deepening, Seherbian walked out of the restaurant where the drinking had gotten underway.
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