The Fire Dragon Descends

Chasing after Orleans, I took in our surroundings. The area was in an uproar.

The Fire Dragon's roar carried even at a distance, impossible to ignore.

Combined with how conspicuous it was up there, the entire city would know of its arrival soon.

At least there was no full-blown panic among the crowds yet.

Perhaps no one knew what to do.

Under normal circumstances, you'd never encounter a Fire Dragon in your lifetime.

Kassad hadn't seen a Dragon attack in decades.

Orleans was quick, but we had longer strides.

I managed to grab her shoulder.

We'd gotten close enough to see the Fire Dragon clearly.

Just being in its line of sight made me feel like I could come undone.

"This is terrifying. My skin's prickling."

"Yeah. Unbelievable."

Every beat of the Fire Dragon's wings sent gusts of wind washing over us.

Its gaze was fixed on us.

That it had come for Orleans seemed beyond doubt.

There was no outrunning it now.

Trying to flee from an airborne Dragon on foot was pointless to begin with.

The Fire Dragon descended slowly to the ground.

The moment its feet touched down, the earth shook.

Then it drew a deep breath, its body swelling, and with another roar like a thunderclap, it spewed fire into the sky.

What a spectacle. The very air trembled.

It was less a living creature than a natural disaster.

The fire it had breathed skyward dissipated before reaching the ground.

Was that a display of intimidation?

It hardly needed to bother. The sheer terror came across plenty well without it.

"If we got hit by that, there wouldn't even be bones left."

"Don't say things like that."

"… Fighting that is out of the question."

Perhaps the strongest adventurers alive could face it, but my slaves weren't at that level yet.

A Dragon's scales deflected swords, and its feet could crush a person with ease, or so they said.

The city's garrison scrambled to assemble, but their numbers were thin.

Too many soldiers had been dispatched to the estate.

If they'd had their full complement, they might've provoked the Dragon, so in a way, this was a blessing in disguise.

Orleans slipped from my grasp and stepped forward.

She approached until she was right in front of the Fire Dragon and stared up at it.

"Is there something you wish to say?"

Orleans asked.

I'd heard that dragons possessed high intelligence and could understand human speech.

For a time, the Fire Dragon and Orleans stared at one another.

There was no hostile tension in the air.

At the very least, it didn't seem intent on attacking or eating her.

If it were, it already would have.

The moment the Dragon began to open its mouth, an arrow was loosed at it.

An ordinary arrow bounced harmlessly off the Dragon's scales.

But it must have felt the impact.

It turned slowly toward the direction the arrow had come from.

There stood a contingent of soldiers and a somewhat portly man.

Well-dressed. He looked like someone of considerable standing.

Was he the duke, holding a seat in the senate?

He ordered the soldiers to nock again, bows drawn and arrows aimed at the Dragon.

Had he really come to the front line himself?

Nobles normally stayed in the rear.

There was no way arrows could do anything to that.

At the very least, it would take the wall-mounted heavy ballistae to pierce those scales.

I could see the ballistae slowly rotating to take aim at the Dragon.

The plan was probably to draw its attention with arrows, then punch through with the ballistae in one shot.

I could see the duchess as well.

The Fire Dragon's demeanor shifted.

It hadn't seemed particularly aggressive before, but its wariness spiked all at once.

Fire began gathering in the Dragon's maw.

It was going to unleash its breath at the duke.

If that happened, we'd have no choice but to run for our lives.

We'd be caught in the blast and die for certain.

Several heavy ballistae locked onto the Fire Dragon, bowstrings drawn taut.

Their massive bolts could fell large monsters and shatter siege towers in a single strike.

Even against a Fire Dragon, they should've had some effect…

Three enormous bolts were launched simultaneously at the Fire Dragon's torso.

The wind shrieked as they sailed overhead.

Just as I thought they'd hit, the Fire Dragon's tail swung in a great arc and swatted all three aside without even looking.

I could see a small scratch on the tail, but that was it.

All three bolts were deflected and shattered, scattering debris onto the nearby houses.

"Oh my."

One of the fragments came hurtling our way, so Elza knocked it aside with her mace.

Even the heavy ballistae were useless…

What a monster.

In that instant of stunned disbelief, I took my eyes off Orleans.

By the time I noticed, the Fire Dragon was about to unleash its breath, and Orleans was sprinting toward the duke's group.

"Stop!"

Shouting was all I could manage.

The Fire Dragon's breath erupted.

Red flames surged toward the duke's position with ferocious intensity.

Orleans threw herself in front of the duke, shielding him, and was engulfed in fire.

By all appearances, instant death.

Why would she do something like that?

No, this wasn't the time.

Once the breath spread across the ground, it would reach us in moments.

"… Look at that."

At Azu's words, I looked again.

The fire wasn't spreading outward from where Orleans stood.

If anything, it was being drawn inward, vanishing as if sucked toward the center.

Everyone watched the scene, transfixed despite the crisis.

The duke. The city's people. All of them, the same way.

Eventually, every last flame vanished.

All of the Fire Dragon's breath had been absorbed into the Fire Elemental Stone Orleans held.

The crystal blazed with blinding light, and I could hear it searing Orleans's hand from the intense heat.

Orleans raised her face toward the Fire Dragon.

"Please stop."

"Why do you shield them?"

The Fire Dragon answered Orleans's plea.

Its voice echoed directly in my mind. A sensation I'd never felt before.

"You who once held a pact with me. Trampled as you are, why do you protect those who trample you?"

The Fire Dragon said this, then looked past Orleans.

The soldiers' fighting spirit was broken. The duke had collapsed to the ground.

That last blast of breath had shattered their nerves.

To a Fire Dragon, human rank meant nothing at all.