Fruition

 

A seed given water will one day bear fruit.

Even if the one who planted it has forgotten.

 

"Yes. Truth be told, I have very little interest in any of that."

With a shrill squeak, the white rat surveyed its surroundings.

"The reason I've been chatting at such length is — well, I was simply buying time."

By the time I realized it, the goblins that had infiltrated the village were behind us. Caught between them and the spirits readying bows outside, we were pinned from both sides.

"Ward!"

Arrows flew at us from front and back. I threw my arms around Chryse and raised a magical ward, but I couldn't keep everyone unscathed. The area was still shrouded in darkness, leaving Ara, unable to use his shadow magic, with little means of defense. And as a quadruped, his larger frame made him a prime target.

"Do it!"

The white rat barked the order at Ara, who had taken an arrow in his foreleg and slowed. The goblins nocked arrows in unison, training them on him. Yuuka stepped forward to shield him, but even she couldn't fully cover him from volleys coming from both directions at once.

"Like… hell… you… wiiiiiill!"

But at that very moment, the goblins encircling us were sent flying as though hit by an explosion.

"Innis!"

"Sorry I'm late! Ara, I came to help!"

What had swatted the goblins away in one blow was an iron figure even more massive than the one she'd shown me before… no, wait. That wasn't quite right. Where the figure's head should have been, a sofa sat perched like a throne, and there was Innis, seated upon it, piloting the golem.

"… Impossible. Why are you here? We should have cut you off."

For the first time, the white rat showed something resembling agitation at the sight.

"Exactly. Innis, you were supposed to be guarding the east side. What are you doing here!?"

Ara, of all people, was just as shocked.

"The Tetsuo-san I built is autonomous. Meaning… it doesn't matter where I am or what I'm doing. I was slacking off when I saw Ara was in trouble, so I rushed over to help."

"… So I've been saved by your habit of slacking off. I'll save the lecture for later. For now, you have my thanks!"

Innis might have said all that, but she was surprisingly responsible deep down. Far from slacking off, she must have made sure the eastern front was secure before rushing here to save Ara.

"Innis, be careful! Their arrows can pierce even my scales!"

"I figured. But who do you think you're talking to, Mentor?"

Innis said it with a fearless grin, then languidly raised a hand from her seat on the sofa.

"O arrows."

They must have deemed her the greatest threat. Perched high up and impossible to miss, Innis made a perfect target. Countless arrows were loosed at her. The golem's movements were fast but clumsy. There was no way it could block arrows raining down like a storm. They would pierce Innis's body —

"C'mon now, don't work so hard. Just take it easy."

— or so it seemed, until the arrows streaking through the air suddenly lost all force and tumbled limply to the ground. She had cast enchantment magic on every last arrow at once, stripping them of their power in an instant.

So this was the true strength of the Witch of Sloth…!

"Alright, let's wrap this up quick and go help Mel… huh?"

As Innis raised her fist and the golem's arm rose in tandem…

The golem abruptly went slack and stopped moving.

"Wha? Why? A malfunction?"

"Such complex and large-scale enchantment sorcery, worthy of admiration. We have stolen and imitated your arts, but… this alone we could never replicate. Creativity, is it… something we do not possess. One might call it the pinnacle of that quality."

The white rat addressed Innis as she sat bewildered atop her sofa.

"But even if we cannot create, destruction is simple. We need only gnaw away a single character of the magic script inside."

Several brown rats leapt out from within the golem. — I knew it…!

"You prepared… countermeasures, didn't you?"

"Naturally."

I'd had a bad feeling ever since they snuffed out Ara's shadow double. No, it wasn't just Ara. For me, arrows that could pierce my scales. For Yuuka, sheer numbers. For Innis too, and probably for Mel, Lufelle, and Tia as well —

"We have prepared countermeasures for every resident of this village."

No, it was worse than that. The rats' preparations had far surpassed anything I'd imagined. And the reason they were telling me all of this…

"Now then, you understand our demands, yes? If at all possible, we prefer to have as many resources as we can."

To break my spirit. To force me to surrender. Those rats could read the workings of my heart.

That, more than anything, terrified me.

Last time, Sig and the others had come to our rescue. But that was no longer something I could count on.

The elves had cut off contact and withdrawn into their forests. The lizardmen lived too far away to arrive in time. The half-wolf beside me was on his knees, felled by arrow wounds.

True, we had new allies who hadn't been in the village last time: giants, fairies, other quadrupeds, people from foreign lands. But as long as they lived in this village, the rats had analyzed each of their strengths and prepared countermeasures accordingly.

"In that caaase…"

A carefree voice drifted down from above.

"How about countermeasures for a prodigal daughter who's been away from this village lately?"

In that instant, a dense fog enveloped us, so thick I couldn't see a meter ahead.

"What is this…!?"

"Now's your chance, Mentorrr."

At that voice, I looked up at the sky.

The fog blocked all visibility, but a fire dragon has exceptional thermal perception. I could sense something large and serpentine drifting above. I shifted to my dragon form without hesitation, took flight, and looked down below.

It was fine. Even through the dense fog, I could clearly distinguish friend from foe.

This time, I let loose my fiery breath upon the goblins. The breath of a creature called the incarnation of ruin reduced the thousands of enemies lined up below to cinders in the blink of an eye.

After burning through the last of them, I burst up through the fog.

What awaited me there was a breathtakingly beautiful creature.

Blue scales glittered in the sunlight, and its long, sinuous body undulated gracefully through the air as though swimming through water.

Its form resembled a great serpent, yet it had four limbs, with translucent fins like gemstone filigree draping over its legs like skirts. White breath drifted from its mouth, and just as my breath became flame, I understood that hers became clouds. Atop her horned head, mischievous green eyes sparkled with curiosity.

"Thank you. You saved us, Rin."

"Wow, you could tell it was me?"

"Of course I could. You haven't changed one bit, after all."

Those blue scales, those green eyes. I was about to say as much, but I recalled having a similar exchange with Nina once and couldn't help but smile wryly.

"But I see. You finally managed to become a dragon."

Her form was closer to an Eastern dragon than a Western one like mine, though.

"Huh, 'finally'? Did I ever tell you that, Mentorrr?"

Ah, right. The one who had said she wanted to become a dragon was the former Rin. The Rin from before she lost her memories.

"Just had a feeling, that's all."

Counting from before she lost her memories, the current Rin was nearly five hundred years old. About the same age her great-grandmother Utai had been when she passed away. Over all those long years, she had finally arrived.

"Rin. Could you pull back the fog for now?"

"Sure thing."

Rin nodded and drew in a deep breath. The fog cleared away all at once, revealing the scene below. Every last goblin lay fallen, and the only things still moving appeared to be allies.

"I already wiped out the east and west sides too, so we're all good."

I breathed a sigh of relief as Rin announced that proudly. It seemed she had combat prowess befitting a dragon, not just the ability to breathe fog.

"Was it really that frustrating for you?"

"Yeah. Pretty much."

Rin had spent a while staying in Scarlet almost full-time, but she started being away more and more after seeing Ara and the others handle spirit disasters so efficiently.

I had decided to pursue new unknowns. Yuuka had devoted herself to mentoring the next generation.

But Rin had chosen to catch up to them head-on. She might seem easygoing, but deep down she was fiercely competitive… no matter how much time passed, you could never predict what she would do next.

"Rin, Yuuka, I'll leave the rest to you."

"Got it, big bro."

"What are you gonna do, Mentorrr?"

After saying that to the two of them, I fixed my gaze on the faint heat signature fleeing beyond the lingering wisps of fog and answered.

"I'm going after the white rat. And there are a few things I'll need your help with."