A long time ago—about three hundred years ago.
Tifereth, a Dragon person girl, lived a meager life with her mother in a small house.
Tifereth’s mother always told her young daughter, “Be a good girl.”
Her mother wished for Tifereth to grow up to be a moral child.
But one day.
Tifereth, after hearing this, tilted her head and appealed to her mother, saying,
“Mom, I’m hungry. I want to eat meat.”
“Tifereth, we just ate meat three days ago. You’ll have to be patient for a while.”
“No. I want to eat meat every day. Hey Mom, why can’t I eat meat every day even though I’m being a good girl?”
Then, Tifereth’s mother hugged her daughter and replied,
“It’s because, Tifereth, wicked humans take everything from us Dragon people. It’s all the fault of the humans.”
“…? Wicked humans take meat?”
Tifereth tilted her head.
Then she asked her mother again,
“Then will I be able to eat meat every day if I’m not a good girl, but a bad girl? If I’m a bad girl, I can take other people’s meat and eat it, right?”
“—!” “How can you say such a thing, child!”
*Slap!*
Her mother slapped Tifereth’s cheek.
“Ouch…”
Tifereth, having been struck, had tears welling up in her eyes.
Her mother, realizing what she had done, immediately hugged Tifereth and repeatedly apologized, “I’m sorry.”
***
Then one day.
The Dragon person village where Tifereth and her mother lived was attacked by human soldiers.
They didn’t understand the reason for the attack.
Hundreds of armed humans suddenly appeared and attacked the Dragon person village.
Dozens of Dragon people were killed one after another.
Whether they resisted or not, it made no difference.
Before being killed, the Dragon person women were made playthings for the human soldiers.
While the Dragon person women screamed, the human soldiers laughed and defiled them.
The Dragon person men who tried to help them were also cut down with swords or impaled with spears.
It was an overwhelming force, the disparity in numbers was too great.
Tifereth’s mother, realizing they would be killed if they stayed home, fled the village with her daughter.
Her mother ran through the mountains and fields, pulling young Tifereth’s hand.
Human soldiers pursued them like they were on a hunt.
Tifereth, looking at her mother running desperately while pulling her hand, spoke,
“Mom, I’m hungry.”
“—!” “Be patient! We don’t have time for that, don’t you understand!?”
“Hey Mom, I want to eat meat.”
“Please, just be quiet! Tifereth, please…!”
Her mother, holding her young daughter, fled desperately.
About ten human soldiers were chasing the Dragon person mother and child.
“Hey there, Dragon people! We know you ran this way! Give up and come out!”
“Hahahahaha! Idiot, you’ll get away if you shout that loud.”
“Look over there. Someone passed this way.”
“Oh, really. Now then, Dragon people-chan, where are you? We’ll catch you soon~.”
The human soldiers continued to pursue them, uttering vulgar words one after another.
Tifereth’s mother continued to flee desperately with her daughter, but eventually, she was spotted by one of the soldiers and cornered.
The chase led them to the edge of a cliff in the mountainous area, surrounded by trees.
About ten armed soldiers surrounded Tifereth’s mother from a distance.
Her mother stood with her back to the cliff, extending her sharp dragon claws and baring her dragon fangs, shielding her daughter as she glared at the humans.
She had wings on her back, but only a handful of Dragon people could fly with them.
She did not possess that ability.
The grinning human soldiers slowly closed their encirclement.
“Hehehe… Is the game of chase over, young Dragon person wife?”
“Nah, you say young wife, but they say Dragon people live as long as elves. She might be a hundred-year-old hag for all we know.”
“What does it matter, as long as she looks good? That’s all that matters for consumption.”
“You got it. We’re doing dangerous work, it’s only fair we get some perks like this.”
“So, what do we do about that kid over there? Should we eat her too?”
“Nah, she’s too much of a kid, even for us. Anyone here a lolicon?”
“Ah, me. I’ll take that kid.”
“Hahahahaha! Seriously, man!”
The human soldiers all smirked lecherously.
Tifereth’s mother bit her lip in frustration—
“—Tifereth, I’m sorry!”
“Huh…?”
With a sliver of hope, her mother pushed her daughter over the cliff.
The cliff, however, was more like a steep mountain path.
Young Tifereth rolled down it.
From the edge of the cliff above, human voices could be heard.
“Ah, what is this old hag doing! She was such a cute kid!”
“Hahahahaha! Too bad for you!”
“Damn it! Seriously, what a pain. I guess I’ll have to settle for the old hag.”
As Tifereth tumbled down the cliff, she thought.
Was that what they meant by “wicked humans”?
Miraculously, Tifereth rolled all the way down to the bottom of the cliff without sustaining any serious injuries.
The slope gradually leveled out, and she was caught by bushes, ending her fall.
“Ouch…”
Tifereth stood up, tears in her eyes.
She had scrapes and scratches all over, but no life-threatening injuries.
As the young Dragon person girl casually surveyed her surroundings—
“……?”
Tifereth tilted her head.
In her young gaze was a mass of solid black iron.
It was flat and sharp, looking as though it could cleave anything in two if swung.
It was a jet-black greatsword.
It was much longer than Tifereth’s height.
The Dragon person girl toddled over and grasped its hilt.
“—!”
Tifereth’s hair flew up.
Power surged from her entire body.
As Tifereth put some effort into it, the heavy-looking greatsword was inexplicably lifted with ease.
“…? Can I have this?”
She looked around, but couldn’t find anyone who seemed to be the owner.
“Yeah. I’ll make this mine.”
Tifereth claimed the greatsword as her own.
She moved a short distance away from the cliff she had fallen down and took a running start.
Then—
“Here I go!”
She sprinted up the steep slope she had just tumbled down.
With leg strength that belied her young age, she ascended the incline.
“Hup!”
Reaching the top, she jumped, spun around, and landed.
There, several human soldiers were pinning Tifereth’s mother to the ground and doing something to her.
Her mother was crying and screaming, but upon seeing Tifereth return, her eyes widened in surprise, and then she struggled with all her might.
Her mother bit one of the soldiers’ arms with her sharp fangs.
The soldier screamed.
“Tch, you brat!”
The human who had her arm bitten severed her mother’s neck with a blade.
Blood spurted from her mother’s neck, and soon she stopped moving.
But more than that, the soldiers were stunned by Tifereth’s appearance.
“Wh…What?”
“That kid, she definitely fell down the cliff. How did she get back up…?”
“And that greatsword… what is it…? Where did it come from… And why is a kid like that so easily wielding such a greatsword…?”
The human soldiers appeared bewildered and hesitant.
Meanwhile, Tifereth looked at her motionless mother and tilted her head.
“Hey, Mom, are you dead?”
Many of the soldiers were flustered, but one replied.
“Ah, yes. Your mother died because she resisted us, who are stronger.”
“‘Resisted’?”
“It means she didn’t obey.”
“Hmm. If you don’t obey strong people, you die?”
“Yes. Do you know, young lady? In the end, this world is survival of the fittest. It’s a world where the strong eat the weak.”
“Really?”
Tifereth’s eyes sparkled with delight.
Her small body swung the greatsword and she took a stance towards the human soldiers.
“Then, if I’m stronger, I can eat you too. Yay ♪”
The girl kicked off the ground.
She approached the human soldiers at terrifying speed and swung her greatsword.
One of the soldiers’ heads flew off.
Blood gushed from where the head had been, the body slumped to the ground, and the severed head fell like a ball.
“Wh…!?!”
“Damn it…! What is this kid, a monster! K-Kill her—Gwaaaaaaaahhh!”
That day, blood winds swirled, and every single human soldier present was killed.
By the hands of one young monster…
***
“Ugh, hnnn…!”
Inside a cave at the base of the cliff, a female swordsman, a Greatsword User, awoke.
She had long black hair and the appearance of a mature beautiful woman in her late twenties.
Tifereth, a Greatsword User among the Ten Dragons Divine Artifact Generals, stretched her stiff body from sleeping outdoors.
“Nn… Still, I had a nostalgic dream. —Hwaaaaahhh!”
Yawning widely, she emerged from the cave that served as shelter from the rain.
And then—
Numerous humans in magician’s attire appeared, surrounding Tifereth.
A young man who appeared to be the commander raised his voice.
“We finally found you, murderer! You can’t escape anymore! If you value your life, drop your weapon and surrender!”
The humans in magician’s attire numbered about thirty.
Tifereth scratched her head roughly and said with annoyance.
“Geez, nothing changes no matter the era. Ah, I’m hungry. But human meat and such is gross to eat.”
Tifereth yawned widely again, shifting her jet-black greatsword to her shoulder.
Seeing this, the human commander shouted with a trembling voice.
“I warned you, murderer! —Mage Corps, attack all at once!”
Following the commander’s order, the humans began chanting spells.
Tifereth watched them with disinterest, but—
“Lightning bolts that surge, pierce my enemies! —Lightning Bolt!”
“Fire Bolt!”
“Wind Slash!”
Innumerable offensive spells flew towards Tifereth simultaneously.
With a multi-angled barrage from those lined up in front, full evasion was impossible even with Tifereth’s speed.
But the black-haired female swordsman grinned.
“Nice. I don’t dislike those who come at you with the intention to kill right off the bat.”
—Whoosh!
The female swordsman moved like the wind.
She dashed through the narrowest gap in the barrage of magic.
A few magic bullets struck Tifereth’s body directly, but none managed to penetrate her thick Fighting Spirit defense and inflict significant damage.
The next instant, the female swordsman had broken through the barrage of offensive magic.
“Wh…!? Nn, second wave—”
“Hahahahaha! Too slow, too slow!”
Tifereth instantly closed the distance to the Mage Corps and swept her greatsword.
Three heads flew off with a single swing.
She quickly switched her stance and swung again.
The torsos of two others were cut in half, and their dying screams echoed.
This alone caused the Mage Corps’ morale to crumble instantly, and chaos and terror dominated the scene.
Some collapsed from fear, others fled, and some fired magic indiscriminately, hitting their own allies.
Tifereth prioritized those trying to escape, killing them one after another.
“Hahahahahaha! Weak, so weak! You dared to pick a fight with me with such weakness!”
A rain of blood fell, and Tifereth’s entire body was stained crimson with her victims’ blood.
Tifereth continued to kill, kill, and kill.
In less than a minute.
No one remained alive except Tifereth.
The last person she pierced with her greatsword was the commander.
As blood spewed from his mouth from the greatsword impaling his heart, the man spoke his final words.
“Liese… I’m sorry… Big brother might not be able to go home… anymore…”
When Tifereth pulled out her greatsword, the commander collapsed.
A misty substance rose from the bodies of the dead humans and was absorbed into the greatsword.
Tifereth leisurely walked away from the scene, which had become a pool of blood.
“Ah, I’m covered in blood again. And I just washed it yesterday.”
The female swordsman, the Greatsword User, muttered, as if she were a child who had played in the mud.
