We live in the foothills of Dragon Peak.
Rain, sometimes dragons.
“Thank you for your assistance today.”
“No, I didn’t do much. More importantly, Prince Friel will have a difficult time from now on.”
Prince Friel, who had temporarily lost consciousness due to exhaustion, regained his senses before dinner. At the banquet hosted by the dragon people, he heartily ate meat.
After the dinner banquet, Prince Friel and I were assigned to the same room.
Sharing a room with a prince makes me a little nervous. However, I couldn’t stay in the same room as the women.
The dragon people don’t care that Prince Friel is a prince of the Yorttenitos Kingdom, nor do they treat me specially because I am the Dragon King. I believe the room was assigned based on the simple reasoning that if we are of the same race and gender, sharing a room is fine.
“Would you like to go outside for a bit?”
At Prince Friel’s invitation, we moved to the adjacent landing.
Carnela’s clan built their village on top of the Great Tree. They connect branches and trunks with suspension bridges, build wooden houses on the branches, and live there. The room assigned to us was one of these buildings, and a pleasant breeze blew on the landing, surprisingly high above the ground, even on a summer night.
Unfortunately, the sky visible at the tips of the Great Tree’s branches and leaves was covered with clouds, so we couldn’t gaze at the starry sky. It might rain tomorrow, I figured.
Prince Friel was the first to speak after we had been gazing at the scenery on the landing for a while.
“It might indeed be difficult from now on. However, I can work hard if it means achieving my dream. … Uh, before that.”
Prince Friel’s expression, as he looked at me with eyes filled with strong will, softened for a moment.
“May I call you Elnea-kun?”
“Yes?”
I tilted my head, not quite understanding.
“Earl Yugra pointed it out today, and I’ve only now realized that my thoughts are a bit different from ordinary people.”
“Well, that’s natural, considering you’re a prince, isn’t it?”
Certainly, Prince Friel’s thoughts might seem distorted from the perspective of a commoner like me or the dragon people who have no class system. However, I thought he was a humble and kind prince.
“No, it’s not natural. If I’m going to connect with the dragon race from now on, having different thoughts from my own kind might lead me down the wrong path.”
Prince Friel’s eyes were serious.
“I hate to say it myself, but even if I’m told to change my way of thinking, I honestly don’t think I’ll get better immediately. Oh, of course, I’ll try my best! So, if possible… I want someone other than Earl Yugra to reprimand me. I… I don’t have any friends. Therefore, I want you to be my friend, Elnea-kun. I want a best friend who will clearly point out both good and bad things. So, first of all, may I call you by your first name with ‘-kun’?”
Ah, I see. I broke into a smile.
Prince Friel is already trying to move forward. He has sincerely accepted Lord Yugra’s words and has begun to make an effort to change himself. If he were stubborn, he might have reacted with anger when someone hit the mark. But Prince Friel is honest and serious, so he can change. If there’s anything I can do to help, I want to give him my full support.
“Yes. If you think I’m good enough, I’d be happy to be your friend!”
Prince Friel showed a beaming smile at my response.
“Thank you!”
He shook my hand with all his might, and as men, we looked at each other on the landing and laughed together.
“I’ll be counting on you for various things from now on.”
“Likewise. It’s an honor to be able to be friends with a prince.”
“Uh, well…”
Prince Friel’s expression changed from a beaming smile to a slightly troubled one.
“Please call me Friel without honorifics. I’m younger than you, and I consider you someone I can respect, Elnea-kun.”
Oh. Calling the prince by his first name? I felt a little hesitant, but since it was Prince Friel’s earnest wish, I decided to call him by his first name from then on.
And so, Friel and I talked about all sorts of things that night, until near dawn.
Yes. I felt like we had become much closer in just one night.
Friel succumbed to sleep and slumped onto the bed, so I carefully laid him down properly. Then, I quietly slipped out of the room.
I was sleepy too, but there was something I wanted to try. The time just before dawn, when everyone else was still asleep, was perfect. I descended the long stairs from the landing outside that led down to the base of the Great Tree.
The base of the Great Tree was covered with low-lying trees and weeds. Last night, I heard from the dragon people during the banquet that they built their village on the Great Tree so as not to disturb the winged dragons that often roamed there after leaving their nests.
If you look closely, you can see weeds crushed by something large in places. However, I couldn’t see a wide area. It was still dim because it was before dawn, and also because a light mist had spread around the base of the Great Tree. The weather is not good. I should finish my business quickly and return to my room.
After descending to the ground, I moved to a spot near some weeds that a winged dragon had crushed. Then, I drew my White Sword and Spirit Tree Wooden Sword.
“What are you doing?”
However, I was suddenly called from overhead, and my hands stopped. Looking up, I saw Mistral and Ruiseine descending from the room assigned to the women.
“Good morning. A morning walk?”
Waiting for them to come closer, we exchanged greetings.
“We are. What are you trying to do with weapons in both hands?”
As usual, these two are early risers. Ruiseine, the miko, is naturally a regular sleeper and early riser, but Mistral is also an early riser, not to be outdone. I’ve never woken up earlier than these two. Besides, the only one who sleeps more than me is Priscilla-chan.
Speaking of which, Priscilla-chan seemed sleepy during the banquet too. Of course, she was eating meat, but she was dozing, and last night she was quiet without causing any trouble, staying in the Twin Princess’s arms. Priscilla-chan usually plays a lot and sleeps a lot, but she’s been continuously sleepy, which worries me. I wonder what’s wrong?
Anyway, I straightened my thoughts which had strayed.
“Just… trying something out.”
In fact, I wanted to try the dragon arts I devised in yesterday’s match again. Yesterday, it was during a battle, so I used my power without restraint. So this time, I wanted to try the technique calmly and from the beginning in a relaxed situation. It would be fine to try it after returning to Mistral’s village or the Moss Garden, but I wanted to try new dragon arts quickly. Since I was awake before dawn, I thought I had to try it. I came down for this reason.
When I explained to Mistral and Ruiseine, they both gave me a wry smile.
“Speaking of which, I felt a tremendous amount of dragon energy yesterday.”
“In my eyes, the dragon energy seemed to be swirling.”
“Yes. It’s the dragon arts I used yesterday when I sparred with Carnela-sama’s attendant.”
So, these two noticed. At last night’s banquet, I was too busy being bothered by Fiorina and being urged to spar by the dragon people to talk much with everyone, so my report was delayed.Incidentally, Carnela-sama had already explained what happened at the winged dragon’s nest. It was explained that Lord Yugra would be accompanying Friel, and his three attendants would also accompany them away from the village. It was also conveyed to the other villagers that we had sparred with them beforehand and shown enough strength to gain Lord Yugra’s approval. Although some details were glossed over, we remained silent for the honor of the dragon people and the three attendants. Well, neither Friel nor I had the narrow-mindedness to demand the truth be revealed.
“The new dragon arts are interesting,” I said to the two of them, and decided to demonstrate them. Ares-chan kindly manifested, but since it wasn’t a battle, and I also wanted to know how much power it would have without fusing with Ares-chan, I decided to have her watch.
With the three of them watching, I raised my twin swords and slowly began to perform the Dragon Sword Dance. Immediately, I felt the Dragon Veins surging. First, I refined it externally and let it diffuse. The dragon energy spread outwards from me, like ripples on the surface of water. By focusing my consciousness on this dragon energy, I could broadly sense the breath of the world. I then converged the sufficiently diffused dragon energy. As it converged, I transformed the dragon energy into a vortex and stirred up the territory. Yesterday, I sublimated the dragon energy into an art here and pulled in whatever I wanted. This time, since there was nothing to draw in, I tried to pull in the mist that had spread on the ground. Physically, you can’t “catch” mist, but it’s all about how you think. It’s not about catching, but rather a feeling of drawing it in. As the dragon energy swirled, the mist converged around me, forming a spiral vortex.
At that moment, Ares-chan pointed upwards. Up? As I danced, I tilted my head slightly.
“Just the ground?”
Thank you for your advice. Ares-chan’s words made me realize. When I activated this dragon art yesterday, the Tyrant escaped into the sky. This means my current technique doesn’t affect the sky. My consciousness was focused only on the attendant and the winged dragon fighting on the ground. However, Ares-chan’s point made me realize that this was incomplete. The opponents I will face in the future might be flying in the sky. And those who fly in the sky and attack from a distance are the troublesome ones. I need to be able to deal with them.
I started over from the beginning. This time, however, I would also send dragon energy into the sky. And then, convergence. The handling of dragon energy became significantly more difficult than when I was deploying it on a plane. However, so far, it was going well. Perhaps it was because I could move calmly, not in the heat of battle. My dragon energy reached the clouds. And as it converged, it disturbed the clouds.
Seeing the clouds begin to swirl in the sky, Ruiseine looked a little scared. The clouds swirled and began to descend towards me, but they dispersed halfway and disappeared. Instead, large raindrops began to fall on us.
This is a storm! As I danced, I chuckled wryly at the power of my dragon arts. Even though thick clouds had spread, changing the weather was terrifying. My dragon arts, swirling three-dimensionally from sky to ground, disturbed the atmosphere. Gradually, the wind grew stronger, and the rainfall increased. And seeing the dragon arts turn into a storm, Mistral gave a wry smile. Ruiseine looked at me with a troubled expression.
“Elnea, you’re overdoing it.”
“Elnea-kun, you’re being too reckless.”
Scolded by the two of them, I stopped my Dragon Sword Dance. However, the storm did not subside easily. Could it be… my technique acted as a catalyst, and it’s become a real storm? My vision, with a wry smile, caught sight of something. Something in the sky, still swirling and being buffeted by the raging wind. Upon closer observation, it was the Tyrant being swept away.
“You! What are you doing!”
The Tyrant’s roar disappeared into the storm.
