Freikugel

 

A magic arrow that always hits its mark? Well, there are two ways to do that.

One is to pierce them faster than they can dodge.

The other is to never let them dodge in the first place.

— The Witch of Sloth, Innis

 

An arrow sang through the air.

The form behind it was beautiful, perfected to the point of captivation, yet it concealed terrible power.

A single shot capable of slaying a dragon.

It struck the red dragon in the shoulder, and she roared.

It was not a cry of rage, nor a scream of fear.

It was a warning.

"Run!"

She screamed as she unleashed a torrent of blazing breath. The power to incinerate all things, to reduce them to nothing.

The small figure dodged with a great leap backward.

But that alone would never withstand a fire dragon's flames.

Breathed in earnest, a fire dragon's flames heated the very air, melting iron without even touching it.

No living thing could endure such temperatures.

"Oh, my."

And yet.

That small figure loosed another arrow without so much as a flinch.

The red dragon spread her wings wide and took the blow upon herself. The membrane of one wing tore, and unable to support her massive frame, she crashed to the earth.

Only two exceptions existed on this land that could withstand a fire dragon's breath.

The first was fire dragons themselves. Their scales blocked all heat absolutely, letting them swim through magma and emerge unburned even by their own breath.

The second was white dragons. The weakest of dragonkind, they nevertheless possessed scales that blocked all cold absolutely.

Which is to say, their scales were exceptionally resistant to heat.

A direct hit would overwhelm them, but the residual heat alone could be endured.

And this small figure wore armor crafted from precisely those two types of scales.

White dragon scale armor, and a red dragon scale bow.

"… How troublesome."

The red dragon remarked with casual ease, even as she slashed with her claws. Driven by a body massive as a mountain, they looked deceptively slow yet struck faster than the wind, and even the barest graze carried enough force to tear a body apart.

But none connected. The archer bounced from spot to spot as though untouched by gravity, loosing an arrow while weaving through each swipe. It missed its intended target, the heart, and lodged in her belly instead.

"Oh… my…"

The red dragon glanced at the embedded arrow and smiled bitterly.

Unlike the earlier shots, she hadn't deliberately taken that one to shield something behind her.

She had tried to dodge and failed.

"What has… happened to me…"

The red dragon murmured, blood gurgling from her mouth.

Her inability to land her claws wasn't simply because the archer was fast. Her own movements had grown terribly sluggish.

"Ah, I see. So this is the cause."

The red dragon drew the arrow from her belly. Its tip, slick with blood, bore not the steel-lustrous silver she expected but a dull green. It was fashioned from the scales of the forest-dwelling dragon, also known as the poison dragon.

Just as red dragon scales carried heat and white dragon scales carried cold, green dragon scales remained venomous even after being shed. And this was a venom that worked on dragons.

When you thought about it, the reason was obvious. Among the five-colored dragons, the green ranked third… the third strongest creature in existence. Why would it possess venom? To resist those stronger than itself, of course. To kill lightning dragons and fire dragons.

And the green was not the only weapon at play.

A black dragon arrow had corroded the wing membrane; she had already lost the ability to fly.

The blue dragon arrow in her shoulder sent a faint electric current coursing through her body, dulling her every movement.

White and red were not the archer's only arms. They had come equipped with every dragon species in the world.

"Run!"

Once more, the red dragon cried out. To the white dragon who, even while fleeing, kept glancing back at her with worry.

But the warning was not meant to protect the white dragon from the archer.

It was to protect it from herself.

"Splendid, little one. You have bested me well and truly."

The red dragon even managed a smile as she spoke.

"But I will not let you reach that child."

Her entire body erupted in flame.

It was her blood. Fire dragon blood was horrifically flammable, like nitroglycerin mixed with gasoline. Pierced by arrow after arrow, she ignited the blood seeping from her wounds with her own breath.

Charging the enemy in that state left no room for evasion or defense. Anything that drew close would be consumed. A pure mass of destruction. And no living creature on this earth could outrun a fire dragon.

The archer fled with everything they had, but the flames caught them almost immediately.

"Now then—"

But such a gambit meant even a fire dragon could not survive unscathed. And even without that, lethal poisons were already coursing through her body.

"The rest… I leave to you."

She murmured, her voice gentle to the last.

And the proud red dragon crumbled within the flames.

That was the last I ever saw of my mother.

 

＊　＊　＊

 

I had been a fool.

Strike when your prey leaves the safety of their territory. Yuuki had given me that very advice, and yet I had scarcely considered the possibility of being attacked during travel.

That anyone would target four dragons, even if three of them were still young, was beyond imagining.

Let alone that they would possess the power to slay a fire dragon in the fullness of her years.

"… I'm sorry, Mentor…"

"No. It wasn't your fault."

The dream I had seen through the dragon-scale bow was swiftly confirmed when Ai arrived at Scarlet not long after.

Mother had fought the dragonslayer who targeted Ai. She had taken them down with her and lost her life.

I didn't know how Mother had learned of our situation, but it wasn't hard to imagine she had been watching over us all along. Without her, Ai and the young dragons would have been shot dead without a chance to resist.

Mother had taken everything with her. The dragon-scale bow wasn't made entirely of red dragon scales, after all. Even if some survived the fire, the bow could no longer hold its shape. So long as no one crafted another like it, such a tragedy would never happen again.

… No.

Calling it a tragedy was wrong. This was simply a natural consequence running its course.

I had given humans the power to stand against dragons, and humans had used that power to do exactly that.

In other words, this was my own doing.

It had never crossed my mind that such power might be turned on me… on those I loved.

I had been arrogant enough to believe that even if it were, we would be fine.

"It's not like it's your fault either, you know."

Unable to stand watching me any longer, perhaps, Nina offered what comfort she could.

"Fie's the one who made the bow, and humans are the ones who honed their skill with it. All you did was shed some scales. You didn't actually do anything."

I couldn't help but smile at her words, her tone all but saying don't go stealing the credit.

"And whether it's your fault or not, moping around isn't what you should be doing right now."

A sharp slap on my back finally jolted some clarity into my thoughts.

"… Yeah. You're right."

If there was a problem, I had to solve it.

That was what I'd always done.

"Thank you. That helped, Nina."

"Mm."

Curt as ever, yet with an expression full of warmth, Nina nodded.

And yet.

That chance was never given to me.

For on that very day, the nation of Mashiro ceased to exist.