Chapter 812: How to Entertain Guests 3
Princess Ran and I toured the brightened Misty Palace together.
“What’s this entrance for? ……Uwa”
“Beautiful……”
Pointing at a wooden door set into the rock wall, I asked. Maia silently opened it, revealing a small chamber inside littered with a massive pile of Dragon gems. I think I saw something like this in the Crystal Palace too.
“……Do dragons have a habit of hoarding these?”
“Hoarding……well, they’re also hard to dispose of”
“Ah……I see”
After she said that, I thought for a moment and understood. Dragon gems are even said to have no proper method of destruction. They form inside the dragon’s body like gallstones over about ten years. Even in the sparsely populated Misty Palace, if each dragon had one extracted every decade, it would add up to a considerable number. And then the question becomes, what do you do with them? That is indeed a difficult problem. Being such a special substance, you can’t just carelessly toss them aside on the roadside. Unless there’s a specific need, you have no choice but to store them haphazardly, and this is how it ends up.
“I’ve heard that in some Palaces by the sea, they have a custom of hurling them out into the ocean with all their might”
“They just fling them with a dragon’s strength……?”
I shudder at Broll-san’s tidbit of knowledge. Even a regular stone is terrifying enough, but an indestructible jewel flying through the air……? He watches my pale face as I imagine this with a mischievous look.
“Hahaha……you guessed it. I hear some on the dragon side hurled them during the Fire Dragon War. Tales speak of two or three gems piercing castles, causing them to collapse”
“Scary!”
“They might just bounce off and stop there, but still……they must have some peculiar properties. Even thrown with a commoner’s strength, they can snap giant trees. It’s a dangerous thing, even though it came from my own body”
“……As someone who also forges weapons, it seems like an interesting material though”
“Would you like to take some with you? If it’s useful to Smithson-dono, no one would object”
“N, No, no, no, let me think about it. I mean, if I’m seen carrying this in human society, I’ll get arrested”
“You walk around openly with a dragon itself, so surely this shouldn’t concern you”
Even so. I do think it’s an interesting material and want to tinker with it, but fundamentally, I’m no longer in a position needing powerful weapons. For materials requiring careful handling, I need to decide whether to proceed cautiously, perhaps seeking my comrades’ wisdom.
“If I come up with something I want to make and end up wanting it, I’ll come back then to get it……how about that? It’s close anyway”
“That’s true. It’d be nice if I could come back anytime”
Broll seems satisfied. ……But Princess Ran, gazing at the jewel sparkling in the light of the illumination magic, doesn’t move. I get that it’s beautiful. ……But does it really captivate her that much? No, I guess it does. Yeah. Maybe that’s just how girls are. The female slaves around me prefer my handmade stuff over dazzling gems or gold and silver, but generally, girls tend to like shiny things. They should. I make accessories too, and I certainly like shiny things, but that’s because I enjoy the interesting aspects of the materials and figuring out how to showcase them. It’s not the kind of 「Liking」 where I could just stare at something forever. So, knowing I won’t be getting it now, I can easily look away. But Princess Ran’s sensibilities are probably 「Normal」 for a girl. If you look closely, the magic light streaming in from outside the small room is multicolored. It’s probably due to each dragon’s quirks, or their magic characteristics. The light itself is bright everywhere, but there’s reddish light, bluish light, green, yellow, and of course pure white. Up in the cavern’s upper space, they blend together, creating a well-balanced overall light. But when they shine into the small room’s jewels, reflecting off each other and scattering, they create an inexplicably rich and varied display of colors. My appreciation for this beauty, which ends with me simply accepting it as 「That’s just how these gems are」, is probably a bit lacking.
“……Ah……”
Broll-san watched Princess Ran continue to gaze at the gems while letting out a small sigh. After a moment, he stepped into the small room as if suddenly remembering something and pulled out a leather pouch from the back.
“Guest. I’ll give you this”
“……Ah, eh?”
Princess Ran froze, startled by the sudden address. Two gems plopped into her hand. Thumbnail-sized.
“Eh……no, I mean, I can’t accept this!”
“Have Smithson-dono work his magic on it. You can’t carve or split it, but with the right treatment, you could make it unrecognizable as a dragon’s gem”
The small jewel resting in her hand was slightly misshapen. It felt different from the perfectly round others, yet its brilliance was the same.
“Broll-san, why is this one so small? And it’s weirdly shaped”
“It’s particularly common among younger dragons. Sometimes, even after the same amount of time, the jewel hasn’t fully formed. But if you leave it alone, it’ll grow larger by the next cycle”
“Wait, do you have to remove the gem? I’m curious what happens if there’s only one dragon around”
Apparently, someone in human form has to crawl inside the dragon’s belly to retrieve the gem. Jeanne seems to have removed Laila’s gem before, but what if it was never taken out?
“With luck, it would just keep growing where it was. But if it accidentally shifts from its proper place inside the belly and starts rampaging, it becomes a serious problem. As I mentioned earlier, its destructive power is disproportionate to its size and weight……and that applies inside our bellies too”
“……So every time you move vigorously, the gem shifts around……and if you’re unlucky, it destroys your internal organs?”
“Precisely. Well, fortunately our bodies heal quickly with a little focus, but unless it’s removed, it’s an endless cycle”
“……I see”
“If it’s the size you find lying around that room, something you can grip with one hand, that’s one thing. But if left unremoved for decades, it can grow as large as a human head, depending on the case”
That……sounds terrible. One of the few 「Ailments」 that can truly trouble a dragon, I suppose.
“For dragons raised in human settlements, like that boy Safur, some suffer endlessly because of it. I’ve heard of one who endured chronic pain until another dragon performed an emergency surgery to remove three massive gems that had been rampaging inside his belly.”
“Uhee……”
Just thinking about it is hell.
“And they’re so beautiful……”
Unable to simply discard the jewel placed in her hand, the princess looked sad as she listened to that gruesome tale. Then she looked up at me. ……Hmm. Taking it and handing it back to Broll-san……that’s a bit much.
“Alright. I’ll try to make some jewelry so the jewel doesn’t stand out too much”
Broll nodded. ……Maybe he steered things toward me tinkering with the jewel because he wanted to show the princess the authority of a dragon rider, or perhaps he wanted to tell me not to be intimidated by dragon treasures. Could be both.
When we stopped by the wardrobe room, he generously told me to take any of the gifts for the elves that nobody was wearing if I liked them, making the princess flustered (apparently, even by Saint Gardo´s royal standards, the quality is incredible). When we entered the wine cellar, he tried to get me to sample every single bottle he recommended, nearly tricking me (I couldn’t get completely drunk here, so I declined, saying another day). And when I reached the deepest part of the cave, there was a massive dragon skull that scared the hell out of me too.
“Why is there a dragon skeleton here?”
“It’s the head of an ancestral dragon said to have died for its master 3000 years ago. Was it a bit unsettling?”
“No, but seriously, you don’t just casually leave your ancestors’ bones lying around like this!”
“The remains of a dragon who died for justice are our clan’s pride. Humans sometimes preserve statues of great individuals, don’t they? Dragon bones last forever, so we make the body itself the symbol of our village”
“……This is the first time I’ve really felt the difference in culture”
Well, I mean, that kind of culture seems totally normal for ogres or beastmen. I just didn’t expect it to be presented to us like this.
At the tour’s conclusion, the dragons offered a peculiar chorus as a 「Wholesome Performance」 for easy enjoyment.
“So there are unwholesome performances too……”
“We thought our dance might be too stimulating for our guests”
“…………I suppose so”
Most of the dragons were still completely naked. The princess shifted uncomfortably, glancing upward. The only kind of performance you could enjoy without looking directly at them was probably singing. ……And then, a song began to resonate, led by Asti’s solo. It was unlike anything heard before—a language unfamiliar, a tempo never experienced—and considering the echoes throughout the entire cave, it felt like being rocked by a large, slow wave.
“……This song……!”
Princess Ran seemed to grasp the subtlety of the technique immediately. Perhaps because she herself was an excellent singer. For me, though, the overwhelming sensation was 「What on earth is being said? Is this even music?」 I couldn’t quite grasp it. As an acoustic experience, it was incredible. Though everyone stood before me, their voices echoed as if from far, far away……or from behind, right, left—the dragons’ singing drifted away, drew near, shifting focus. Distracted solely by this mysterious vocal technique, I couldn’t grasp the song’s flow at all. Yet Princess Ran wept as she listened. ……Was it deep understanding of the technique, or did she comprehend its meaning?
“……Why are you crying?”
I asked, but Princess Ran just shook her head silently, still crying, saying nothing.
……Only one thing was clear. In every way, her sensibilities were sharper than mine. Was it youth, upbringing, or pure talent? ……Whatever it was, I found myself feeling a little envious.