Chapter 473: Interlude – Black Dragon of Sitar
“Oh, dear. As usual, you’re giving me a lot of trouble”
“What’s that?”
In the town of Sitar, Dr. Owl’s clinic. Sharon, who was standing next to Laila, asked her with a curious look. Laila shrugged her shoulders as she looked out the window at the sea.
“Owner has entrusted me with his affairs. From the way he was talking, it sounded like he wanted me to be more than a bodyguard in some cases”
“……?”
“I guess elf ears can’t hear it. Well, that’s just the way it is, isn’t it?”
“Eh……ah, is that what Master said outside?”
“You’re a very perceptive woman……mu”
Laila is amazed and her expression tightens from her face and she jumps out of the window. She jumped directly from the second floor to the ground for a short while, then jumped onto the roof of the infirmary.
“……Quickly, huh?”
Two, no, three shadows hurrying unnaturally between the rows of white houses in the late afternoon. The first of these shadows suddenly thrusts a dagger into an old woman walking around and Laila scrutinizes her eyes.
“What’s wrong?”
“There are some suspicious people running around. I just saw one of the townspeople get stabbed”
“Naa……”
“Looks like they’re trying to get back at us right away. Sharon, I leave you in charge”
Without waiting for an answer, Laila went to the man who had stabbed the old woman. It takes her fifteen seconds to reach him, hopping over the roof like a waterfowl. At that time, the killer was already on his way to get his hands on the next one.
“What are you doing?”
Laila lands with a deliberately wild, thumping sound. The rough-looking thug, who appeared to be one of 「Parent Bird」, pointed a bloodied dagger at Laila. It was obvious that he was surprised by the sudden appearance of Laila.
“Wh, Who the hell are you!? Are you a pawn of the old man Owl!?”
“What was the line from the other side of the room……well, you don’t have to say it. You’re a little disturbing”
Laila slowly gets up and looks at the old woman who has been sacrificed. It was obvious that her heart had been ripped out and it was too late.
“Let it burn”
With a snap of her fingers, she released a fireball that struck the thug. True to her word, the thug was instantly transformed into a firecracker.
“Hyaaaaa”
The child who was about to be attacked was also frightened. Laila ignored her and gently pulled the old woman’s body to the side of the road.
“We’ll bury her later. For now”
The old woman is still bleeding and trembling from the stab wound, but she is about to die. But Laila is not skilled in the art of healing, so she can’t do anything about a wound as deep as this. She wonders if Hilda would have been able to save her life and she leaps up into the air again. With a single jump of several dozen meters, Laila uses her five keen senses to assess the situation of the remaining assassins. One is still looking around for prey. The other one was about to attack the fruit vendor……but was subdued by his business associates who were around. Not all of them are good at what they do? No, Laila can see others. There are not enough of them on one hand. Laila clucked her tongue at the top of her rise at the sight of those who looked out of place and deadly, then jumped down onto the street and shouted loudly.
“Everyone, look at me!”
The sudden appearance of a beautiful woman from the sky in the midst of a busy street attracts the attention of everyone around. Laila quickly undresses on the spot. Her naked body, which of course wears no underwear, is exposed to the public……and transformed on the spot into a black dragon.
“Owaa……!?”
“Wh, Whaaaa……!?”
“Hiee, wh, what’s happening……it’s like a big beast’s foot!!”
“It’s a dragon! A black dragon……run!!”
And then the crowd of gazes turns into a crowd of screams. That ah-ha moment was all that was needed now. There were too many assassins and it would be very difficult to handle if she had to kill each and every one of them. The quickest way to do that was to make the assassins think, 「This is not the time for a stupid war」. The appearance of a dragon in the streets of the city had a great impact.
“You outlaws. If you want to fight, I will give you a fight. This is your opponent. If you can win, you’ll be a great hero”
Spreading her wings wide, Laila rose up on her hind legs, glared at her surroundings and lightly blew fire into the sky. The assassins, hearing the screams, recognized Laila´s majesty from a distance and stopped moving. As Laila takes a few steps toward the assassins, she sees a shadow running toward them. It was Jose of the Red Sands, Nord’s bodyguard. Already retired from the front lines of the army, he was able to take out assassins one by one with speed and efficiency that made it hard to believe that a musician was just doing a hand-held escort.
“……Lets do it”
“Hehee. But is it okay, dragon-sama, now Doctor Owl can’t back down”
“I can’t leave it alone”
The two are talking at different volumes, with Laila craning her head to intimidate and Jose to finish her off.
———————————-
Immediately, Dr. Owl’s order was given and all the inhabitants of the city block were assembled in the plaza at the deepest part of the city block.
“It’s everyone’s thing. We are finally going to have an all-out confrontation with 『Parent Bird』. ……As you saw earlier, we have a dragon. We have a few military connections. It’s not a war we can’t win at all……until we do, I’m sorry, we’re putting everyone at risk”
“Doctor……”
“I had a feeling this was going to happen someday……”
The townspeople surrounding Dr. Owl were surprisingly calm despite the sudden and bloody start of the war.
“I thought there would be a lot more accusations”
Nord muttered, looking at the situation. Jose responded with a shake of his head.
“I’ve heard that Dr. Owl was originally famous among the townspeople for his treacherous behavior toward 『Parent Bird』. That’s why he was able to be more flexible than in other areas of town”
“But even though people were killed”
“Even that is normal. ……Well, with the advent of a dragon, some of it may have gone unnoticed”
“But what are you going to do, Jose? We can’t just ride out of here”
“No, you stay out of this, Miss. I’m not”
A bloodshed in the town. The two of them are not too fussy about the beginning of the conflict, but Sharon is restless.
“………..”
“Ho. You’re not going to be able to handle a dozen of these local thugs if you’re that good”
“But I’ve never……witnessed anything like this without my brother or Berga”
“You’ve been a good talker since you first appeared in the Northern Forest, but you’re spoiled. No, you’ve become a good talker because you’ve been protected”
“……You’re fighting against humans”
“Ho. Well, to me, no matter if it’s a human, a beast or a monster, it’s nothing more than an mob”
While pecking at Sharon’s confusion, Laila seemed to be someone else’s problem.
“You are the one entrusted with the affairs of Master, so even if you are a little nervous……”
“I was entrusted with it. Well, what happened?”
“……? Aren’t you supposed to protect this district from the bad guys?”
“Of course, I’ll do my best to destroy the assassins who are sending their fine artillery. That’s the end of the obligation to Dianne and Owner. Now, if we are going to kill each other, I wonder how much help I could have given them”
“Eh……?”
Sharon tilted her head, not understanding what Laila was saying. Then a new group of people appeared in the square.
“What do you mean? I heard that you are going to fuck 『Parent Bird』 with a dragon as a weapon”
Lady Swallow and the other major players in her district had arrived.
“Owl. This tall woman is the dragon, isn’t she?”
“Yes, she is”
“She doesn’t seem to want to go to war. What are you going to do? How can you apologize to her if she’s already behaved like this?”
“Umm. ……What’s wrong”
Swallow and Owl look at Laila’s face. Laila glanced at them with a bored face and opened her mouth.
“……You seem to be happy that you have a dragon as your ally, and that you have the same power as an army, but I have no particular reason to side with you. It is true that there may be many lowlifes among your opponents, but you are far from innocent for having survived by making deals with them. My precious master has asked me to protect you, and I will do so. But if you are going to go out of your way to go to your death on your own, I don’t care enough to go along with you. That’s all”
“……But what they have done is also the trigger”
“I will do my part. I’ve been saying that for a while now”
Laila speaks in a troublesome voice and the residents gather anxious gazes.
“C, Can’t you help us ……?”
“I have saved as many lives as I could. And I’ll protect them in the same way until my master returns”
“But that won’t be enough……for us anymore if we don’t get rid of them”
“I don’t know. We’ll just run away while we still can”
Laila waved her hand in the air in response to the pleas of the townspeople, who seemed to be begging for help. The townspeople were panicking, but it was Sahul’s accomplice, Oskar, who stepped forward.
“……What do you mean? I don’t believe these words were credited to Smithson-san”
“My master has charged me to answer in my own way. I am a dragon. I am not like Sahul the cub, but I am a genuine dragon with genuine dragon values. ……A dragon does not concern itself with the affairs of human society. You know well that the friend or foe you speak of, us or them, the end you wish for, will be different tomorrow”
“Even so……but”
“You only see the great enemy now. So you think it’s all about defeating him, as if it’s a great cause. And if you succeed, what are you going to say to me, who listened to you and caused destruction?”
Laila laughed sarcastically.
“I don’t need you anymore, so please go away? Or maybe, while you’re at it, should I ask you to burn it to the ground as well? You have the good sense to say, 『Use the dragon’s power to slaughter dozens of your enemies』and your allies behind you may be afraid of you. The way you call yourselves 『We』 and cling to hope as if you are of one mind will, in time, be seen as the first step in a disastrous ambition that puts other people’s feelings to shame. And tomorrow we will be divided into 『Us』 and『Them』, fearing, hating and disappointing each other”
“So……so, you want us all to be killed by 『Parent Bird』!?”
“If you listen to what you say, all your enemies will be killed by a dragon without knowing why. What’s the difference?”
“That is……”
“We have morals, so please stop asking a dragon to lend you a hand. Such vague justice won’t move a dragon”
Oskar looked down at Laila’s awakened words. Sharon reproached Laila from the side with a slightly prickly tone.
“……Are you this heartless in the absence of Master? You have no reason to work except for the voice of the man you love, that’s all you seem to be saying in petulant tones”
“Does it sound that way to you? ……All genuine dragons would say something similar”
“I don’t hear it any other way”
“……Then you can’t move the dragon. That’s all”
Laila sighs lightly. Swallow and Owl exchanged difficult glances and Jose and Nord looked puzzled, 「So the war is off?」. Oskar looked down for a moment, then looked up as if he had just realized something.
“……So the dragon does move. ……If you recognize that it is worth it, not just the command of the master”
Laila looks Oskar in the eye. Tell me the answer, she tries.
“……I mean, dragons are……”
“Oskar waits”
Lady Swallow interrupted Oskar.
“You’re not the one to give the answer. You’re the only one……”
“Lady”
“I think what you’re trying to say is that, tall woman”
Lady Swallow stepped forward.
“I will only lend my power to those who are prepared to borrow it, right”
“Ho”
“The dragon’s power is the power of destruction. And if you borrow it, grief and sorrow, the things that everyone fears, are sure to happen. ……So, morality and the wishes of 『Everyone』 who pretends to be good are not good enough. Right?”
“……Well, let’s see. If so, what are you going to say?”
Laila turned around and smiled wanly. Lady Swallow’s slack face twisted into a grin.
“This Lady Swallow, this is the game of a lifetime. ……Get this Sitar today. Yes, this is my fight from now on. This is my slaughter. Dragon, please burn down 『Parent Bird』 of this scum of the earth town. ……I will definitely make this town better”
“…………”
Laila nodded silently, put her hands on her loosely wrapped clothes and took them off. The next moment after exposing her naked body, a black dragon appears to cover the plaza.
“Right. A dragon will never take kindly to those who make a wish by misrepresenting the subject with words like 『We』. A dragon will never take on those whose wishes are merely selfish. If we are to wield our power properly, we must not lack determination and thoughtfulness. It is the dragon rider who permanently bears the consequences of his responsibility. To continue to enjoy the love and loyalty of the dragon is to be recognized as having qualities that will always remain with you into the future”
Laila looks down at the fat dark elf, who has just given a great answer and spreads her wings.
“I will grant your wish. Now, show me the pathetic kennel that will be crushed by me”
“Haa……leave it to me. I’ve been sucking up to them for decades. I’ll show you every inch of it”
Laila roars in the harbor sky. Sitar is reborn, it was the death cry, the first cry.