Warmy Wurm

 

It was the sort of ruin perfectly suited for a winter bed.

 

"Over there, Nokia!"

Chryse bounded ahead with a light, springy step, leading the way. Her golden hair fluttered in the wind, sparkling where it caught the sunlight. In this light, it was clear her hair wasn't purely gold; there was a faint tinge of pink mixed in.

As she neared the great-antlered deer pen, a tremendous crash rang out: one of the deer slamming its antlers against the fence at the sight of her.

"That's a great-antlered deer," I told Nokia, patting the head of Chryse, who had scrambled back to me in a panic.

"Th-that's a wild cruel, isn't it!?"

The deer slammed its antlers against the fence two, three more times before giving up with a snort and looking away. We'd been raising them for nearly four hundred years now, and they still refused to warm up to people.

"Ehhh… they don't ever break out, do they?"

"Sometimes they do," Nina answered Nokia's terrified question without a hint of concern.

"They do!?"

"Well, if they escape, we just catch them again."

They're just ordinary animals, nothing compared to a rampaging spirit. When I said as much, Nokia stared at me as though she couldn't believe what she was seeing.

"More to the point… what is this fence made of? How can it withstand a cruel's antler strike?"

"Scarlite," Nina answered curtly.

"It's iron mixed with a metal called hihiirokane," I explained.

"Hihiirokane…"

Hihiirokane is rare, and mixing it with iron produces dramatically greater strength. The result is what we call scarlite.

"Could that be… a vivid, flame-red metal, slightly heavier than iron…?"

"That's probably it."

Reddish-brown could describe any number of metals, but flame-red? That could only be one thing.

"That's fire dragon steel!" Nokia shrieked.

"Why… why would you use something like that for a livestock pen!?"

"Because it's sturdy. But… is there something wrong with it?"

My mind jumped to poison. There's a theory that ancient Rome suffered from lead poisoning because they used lead pipes for their water supply. If hihiirokane had similar toxicity, we could be in real trouble.

Scarlite was already used all over the village, after all.

"It's not bad, exactly… no, it's not bad at all… in fact, for this purpose, it might be the ideal metal, but…"

Nokia's gaze darted between my face and the fence as she fumbled for words.

"Don't people ever… steal it?"

"Steal it? What for?"

I couldn't imagine why anyone would want to steal a livestock pen.

"Fire dragon steel is an exceedingly rare metal. In Mashiro, even a pinky-tip's worth would let you live comfortably for ten years. And to have this much of it… just sitting out in the open like this… I can't believe it."

I tilted my head. Hihiirokane was rare as metals went, sure, but only compared to iron or copper. Gold and silver were far scarcer. And even gold and silver didn't hold that kind of value here…

"Huh, so does that mean the frying pan Daddy always uses is really expensive?" Chryse asked, dangling from my neck.

"Come to think of it, that one's solid hihiirokane."

"I was fed food cooked in something like that yesterday!?" Nokia's eyes went wide.

"Well, it's durable, conducts heat well, and nothing sticks to it. It's handy."

"I'm sure it is!?"

Nokia hugged herself and looked up at the sky.

"Fire dragon steel is… as its name suggests, a metal found only in mountains where fire dragons dwell. For there to be this much of it here means… a fire dragon must live nearby."

"Huh, so that's how it works."

That certainly explained why we could mine so much of it. Though, if it was found around Scarlet, that meant the metal didn't appear in mountains that fire dragons chose to inhabit. Rather, it naturally accumulated wherever a fire dragon lived. I wondered what the mechanism behind that was.

"Doesn't that frighten you…!? Fire dragons are incarnations of ruin, living calamities that have destroyed entire nations…!"

Nina couldn't help but laugh at Nokia's impassioned speech. Chryse followed suit, and I managed a wry smile myself.

"Wh-what's so funny…?"

"There's nothing to worry about. The fire dragon around here is… well, how should I put it… a docile one."

Nina wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, apparently having found it that amusing. She didn't have to laugh that hard.

"A… docile… fire dragon…?"

Nokia's tone suggested she'd just heard words that shouldn't go together.

The only other fire dragon I knew besides myself was my mother, and I thought she was fairly docile too.

"I simply cannot imagine such a thing. Like a bird that can't fly, or a mermaid that can't swim…"

I wondered what face she'd make if I told her she'd eaten dinner last night with a mermaid who could fly but drowns in the bathtub.

"But if this place truly does sit near a fire dragon and has stayed safe all this time… then I suppose I can see how a human settlement could thrive here."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Nina said, an edge of irritation in her voice.

"If even a fire dragon overlooks this place, perhaps you've simply never had to face them. This world is home to countless ferocious creatures… and we humans are constantly under threat."

Nokia spoke with a grave expression.

"Beastfolk with the lower halves of beasts. Scalefolk with four arms and scale-covered bodies. Butterfly-folk who beguile humans and drive them to madness. And giants with mountain-like frames that destroy everything in their path. This city is surrounded by the territories of such monsters."

Needless to say, Nina and I exchanged a look.

 

＊　＊　＊

 

Explaining with words would take too long. Better to just show her. With that in mind, I brought Nokia to the school and asked Chryse to round up some examples.

"You called, Mentor!"

"A w-werewolf!?"

Nokia let out a shriek at the sight of Ara bounding toward us.

"Wait up, Ara!"

"A weresheep too!?"

Her eyes went even wider when she saw Mel trotting along behind him.

"Hellooo, Mentoor."

"So what do you want, calling us out of nowhere?"

The instant she caught sight of Lufelle and Tia emerging from behind the school building, Nokia's hand slipped beneath her cloak. I recognized what she drew in one fluid motion.

"Don't shoot!"

Nokia flinched at my sharp command, but froze in place.

"It's alright. None of them are enemies, and none of them will hurt you. So please… put it down."

I spoke slowly, trying to ease the tension from Nokia's face. Everyone else watched with puzzled looks. And no wonder. None of them had ever seen one before. They probably didn't even realize it was a weapon.

A wooden stock with a curved metal bow. A taut string drawn back, and a short bolt set in place.

Smaller than the ones I knew, but unmistakably a crossbow.

"I-I'm sorry."

Nokia obeyed, quietly stowing it away. I caught a glimpse of a holster for the crossbow concealed beneath her cloak.

"No, it's our fault for not explaining beforehand. We were trying to surprise you."

I'd never imagined she'd be carrying something that dangerous. Then again, even if she had fired, I doubted a bolt that small could wound Lufelle through her Giant's Might.

"… Still, would you mind if I held onto the bolts for now?"

"Oh, yes. Of course."

When I asked, Nokia handed over the crossbow, holster and all, without resistance.

"You can keep the bow itself."

"No, having someone holding a weapon right in front of you would make anyone uneasy. And I did just try to attack, after all… Besides…"

Without moving her head, Nokia let her gaze sweep around at the others.

"In this situation, giving up one little weapon and making it clear I mean no harm seems like a much better survival strategy."

She said it with a smile on the verge of tears, both hands raised in the air.