The army and the dust clouds were plainly visible in the distance now, even from ground level. After running through the desert for about fifteen minutes, I finally made it back to our base.
The moment I walked in, Elena came running over, exclaiming, “Alia!”
Had she been waiting for me? She looked as though she was about to hug me but caught herself and stopped, remembering her position.
“I’m back,” I said.
“Yes. Hello,” she murmured, her voice catching as she looked at me.
No matter how close our hearts grew, the chasm of social standing remained between us. Our roads were parallel. They would never cross. Even in this harsh situation—or perhaps precisely because of it—she maintained discipline, prioritizing her duties as a princess, while I acted as her sword and shield.
My eyes reflected her. Hers reflected me. We stayed silent, unable to voice what was deep in our hearts.
She’d grown...thinner. Her lustrous golden hair and pale skin were marred with sand and dust. In this environment, where physical and mental fatigue were incessant, the lack of sleep had cast faint but undeniable shadows under her eyes. It was natural, of course. She’d been raised in a palace, trained to fight a different sort of battle. Still, she had bravely endured this miserable place for two months without complaint.
I cupped her cheek with my right hand and wiped the sand from her shadowed eyes with my thumb.
Elena’s eyes grew moist at my unexpected gesture, and she lifted her left hand to cover mine.
But an earth-shattering roar echoed in the distance, and we both looked up, alarmed.
“Where are Ron and the children?” I asked.
“Upstairs. The children are already in the basket of the balloon. Have you seen Camille?”
“No. Couldn’t find him. I lit a beacon in another tower, so hopefully he saw it.”
“We saw it too. Thanks to you, Ron’s already started preparing to depart. The fire aethercrystals we have are barely enough.”
“I brought several more. But the situation outside is...”
“Yes, I understand. Given the range, that fire ball they shot was...dragon breath, if I’m not mistaken. To think they have access to such a thing...”
“We should hurry.”
“Yes.”
The weakness from before was gone from Elena’s eyes, but I had no doubt she was pushing herself. I wanted to protect her.
“Alia!” Ron and Chaco called out when we arrived upstairs.
I took the aethercrystals from Shadow Storage and tossed them to Ron, then patted Chaco on the shoulder—the little girl was deathly pale.
“The children?” I asked.
“Th-They’re already in the basket, but...”
The hot-air balloon basket was spacious enough to fit five or six adults, plus equipment and food. The food we’d gathered in the past month was already loaded, and with Elena present, water wouldn’t be a problem. Also in the basket was Neu, fearfully clutching Rana and Naru. The dragon’s roars must’ve affected them, even from this distance—they had the effect of frightening the weak. Chaco had also looked rattled, but she brought a hand to the shoulder I’d just patted and seemed to relax as blood returned to her cheeks.
“Alia, have you seen Camille?” Ron asked urgently.
“No. Maybe the beacon will bring him back?”
“I don’t know. But...I doubt there’s a demon out there who can kill him, at least.”
“I see...”
The earth shook with another roar, and Chaco and the children shrieked. It sounded closer this time. If the demon army passed nearby, it was unlikely they’d miss the tower. And if they came closer, they’d notice there were people here—and that would cost us our chance of escape.
“We need to go!” Ron said. “I’ll heat the balloon! Lena, Alia, help me out!”
“Yes!”
“Got it.”
Ron had already begun the heating process. Now he threw the new aethercrystals into the pile, trying to speed up the process. Elena and I pulled at ropes to spread the balloon as it began to inflate.
“How sturdy is the balloon?” I asked, concerned.
Ron shook his head while continuing to work. “Some of the glue isn’t fully dry, but we should be fine for several days. Lena, please board. Alia, keep an eye out and cut the ropes.”
“All right,” Elena said, but as she boarded the balloon, she cast worried glances back at us.
When the balloon began to float, I cut the ropes so it wouldn’t touch the tower’s inner walls.
“We’re taking off! Get on, Alia!”
I cut the last rope and leaped to grab the edge of the basket.
The balloon’s ascent was agonizingly slow, but it gradually emerged from the collapsed ceiling. Everyone’s eyes sparkled with a mix of hope and anxiety about leaving this town.
But the moment we cleared the collapsed outer walls, with me still dangling from the rim, I sharpened my eyes and noticed that among the demon army approaching in the distance, the earth dragon was once again opening its jaws, gathering flames.
“Everyone brace yourselves!!!” I shouted.
“...Roar...!!!”
“Eeeeeek!”
The dragon’s breath swept over the top floor’s outer walls, sending fragments flying toward the balloon as Chaco and the children screamed.
“They saw us!” I said. “Ron, how’s the balloon?!”
“I don’t know! But we’re rising too slow!”
The balloon portion was made from monster hide to help counter attacks by airborne monsters, but after the hit we’d just taken, air might be leaking from somewhere.
Still gripping the basket’s rim, I silently looked over at the dragon. It wasn’t going to let us go, was it? But...that attack had made me realize something. Dragon breath wasn’t produced by any bodily function—it was draconic magic. I’d heard the invocation. They cast magic through their roars, not unlike how humans relied on spirit language. That was how they could fly, despite their massive bodies, and breathe fire.
But...actually, my mana sight made me think this was more like a combat technique—non-elemental magic that activated with a single word. If so, that meant there was a cooldown period, just as there was for humans who used combat techniques. They couldn’t be used consecutively. How long until it could breathe fire again? A count of ten? A hundred? Several hundred?
I didn’t know, but my path was clear.
“Alia, don’t!” Elena screamed, gripping my hand with surprising strength. She must’ve sensed something. “What are you thinking?!”
She sounded anguished, as though she already knew the answer.
“Let go,” I said.
“No... No! Why must you—”
Her knuckles turned white as I tried to shake free.
“We’ll all die at this rate,” I said.
“But why?! Why must you be the one who—”
“You have to understand.”
“No, I do not! Why?! Why you?!”
I knew she did understand, more than anyone. Now that the enemy had spotted us, our chances of survival were extremely low. Even if we managed to take off, we could only survive the dragon’s breath attacks through sheer luck.
If the group was to survive, someone had to stay behind and act as a decoy before the dragon could breathe again. And among all of us, I had the highest combat power. No one else could do it.
“I’ll stay too!” she protested. “You’re my—”
She caught herself, and the words died in her throat. Words she could never say, as a princess.
That day, back when we were little, we’d sworn to never leave the thorny paths we’d chosen to walk. We’d made a vow together.
“Elena...”
Her tearstained face shot up when I called her by her true name rather than her alias.
“I want you to live,” I said.
“But I—”
“I couldn’t bear it if you died. I want you to fulfill your dreams. I want everything you believe in to come true.”
“Why...would you say...such...”
As Elena’s eyes widened at my sudden shift in tone and argument, I placed my free hand on hers.
“Because you’re my most precious friend.”
In those wide-open blue eyes, I could see the reflection of an innocent, childlike smile I should have forgotten long ago.