That in the future, Hecate will work out a plan to go back one thousand years to defeat the Demon Lord in this time period, thus saving both the world and the family of her dear friend. That the plan hinges on me, and that we were acting in secret—intending not to tell even Eili—so that we didn’t change the future aside from defeating the Demon Lord. We let Lady Eili hear it all. “But that’s…” Lady Eili has tears in her eyes. “Hecate…! I’m sorry…! It’s my fault…! You had to suffer for a thousand years…!” “Don’t apologize, Eili. It isn’t your fault,” says Hecate, like an older sister to a younger sister, as she gives Lady Eili a hug. “And if the plan succeeds, my own memories of the past millennium will become happy ones.” “…Okay. Then we must succeed.” Lady Eili wipes her tears and levels a firm gaze at Hecate. “Is there anything I can do, Hecate? I want to be of some help as well.” “…You’re not counted among the players in this plan. If I had to say, I’d tell you not to do anything except keep sealing the demon generals and seal the Demon Lord, and nothing else.” “I… I see…” Everyone would feel exasperated after hearing all that and learning there was still nothing they could do. Maybe Hecate knew that, and that’s why she didn’t tell her. “Squeak. (That’s strange.)” “Arf? (Now you’re saying it, Len? What’s strange?)” I’d thought she was keeping pretty quiet. Apparently, she’s been looking at the waterfall this whole time. Does she still have lingering regrets about her nest? “Arf, arf. (Look, I’m sorry I put all those holes in your nest. Once we get back, I’ll see if I can’t fix them right up—)” “Squeak! (Not that! I sense someone who isn’t me from this nest!)” “Arf? (Really? What does it mean?)” Wasn’t Len already shut up in this nest a thousand years ago? Why would someone else be living here? “Squeak. (I sense a dragon, but a different one than me.)” “Arf, arf? (That makes even less sense. How would a dragon who’s not you be living here?)” Or maybe Len came in after the fact and stole the nest away from this dragon? “Squeak! (I’ve done nothing of the sort! This nest has been my home since my birth!)” In that case, who on earth could the dragon in there be? “Squeak… (Beloved…)” Len looks at me imploringly. “Arwrw. (All right, all right. Let’s check it out.)” “Squeak! (My love! You are truly too kind!)” Mice clinging to me doesn’t make me happy in the slightest, but I’d feel weird leaving things as they are. “Arf, arf? (Hecate, sorry, but could you wait out here? I want to check inside.)” “…We only came here because I didn’t predict Eili’s actions, so I don’t mind. Just to be sure, though, we should all go. This may not be the exact location, but Gigas is somewhere nearby, so we can’t say for sure it isn’t dangerous.” “Arwf! (Great! Then let’s all head for the back of that waterfall.)” Lady Eili, who doesn’t know enough to be aware of Len’s nature, looks at us blankly, but when she sees the waterfall from behind, she starts making gleeful noises. “Arf, arf. (The inside isn’t much different than a thousand years from now.)” I take the lead, proceeding into the cave. “Squeak. (It’s close—the dragon is just up ahead.)” “Arf… (Right, but maybe we should be really careful.)” I’ve been picking up a certain scent for a while now. The scent of blood. Did the dragon spill it…? Or does it belong to the dragon itself? I don’t know, but there’s quite a lot of it. We turn a corner in the cave and come out into a large cavern. This is where Len slept, wasn’t it? In the center lies an enormous creature. A dragon with the same azure scales as Len. Its body appeared to be several times bigger than even hers. Having sensed our arrival, the dragon slowly lifts its head. “GURORO… (Come no closer… I wish only to spend my final moments with my child… Please leave here in peace…)” The dragon’s eyes hold no hostility, but they do hold the resolve to fight to the bitter end if we were to get any closer. “Arf. (Everyone, stop.)” It happened right as I said that. “Squeak! (Mother!)” Len jumps down from my head and runs up to the dragon. “Arf…? (Mother…? What?)” “GURORO… (Little one. Why do you call me mother? This egg is my only child…)” The large dragon is cradling a small egg near its belly. I call it small, but only compared to the size of the dragon. It’s easily at least as tall as Lady Eili. The dragon is protecting the egg tenderly, with love. “GURORO… (My mate was killed by that wicked Demon Lord. This egg is my only family… I do not recall having any small children like you… If you are here to berate the dying, then cease…)” “Squeak! (No, I am your daughter! I am Lenowyrm! Daughter of the fierce red dragon Vritra and the quiet blue dragon Meliowyrm!)” “GURORO…?! (How do you know my name, and my husband’s name…?! And this faint scent coming from you… Are you truly my daughter, Lenowyrm…?!)” “Squeak! (Look upon me, Mother!)” Len dispels her transformation. Before us now stands a beautiful blue dragon. “GURORO…! (Ohhh, that is the very image of the daughter in my mind’s eye…!)” Meliowyrm’s eyes goggle. “GURORO… (But how…? Do I have two daughters…?)” “I’ll explain that for you.” Hecate tells Meliowyrm an abridged version of the story of us coming from the future. “GURORO… (So that is what happened… To think I would be able to see my grown daughter as I die… What a splendid end to have, what good fortune to visit me…)” Meliowyrm closes her eyes. She’s nearing the end. “GARORO! (Mother! Don’t die! Please, don’t die, Mother!)” Len, having returned to her dragon form, clings to Meliowyrm, but the wounds are too deep, and it appears that she can’t move anymore. “GARO… (Mother…)” Lady Eili passes underneath the crying Len. “It’ll be all right.” She touches the tip of Meliowyrm’s nose, then incants a healing spell. When she does, the deep wound starts rapidly healing. “GARO? (Mother?)” says Len. Meliowyrm opens her eyes again. “GURORO… (I cannot believe it… Such grievous wounds, gone without a trace…! I had no idea such a powerful user of magic existed among the humans…!)” Seeing her mother’s life saved before her eyes, Len leaps onto her. “GARORO! (Mother! Oh, Mother!)” I’m really happy for you, Len. But please be careful you don’t stomp all over us when you move. Also, the egg! The egg is about to fall over…! Did we change the future? Len’s mother was originally supposed to die here, but I no longer know what kind of effects it will have now that Lady Eili saved her. “GURORO. (Then I shall go into hiding for a time. Fortunately, my child is yet to hatch from this egg. If you come back again in one thousand years, I believe there should be no discord with the future.)” Yeah, that would make all the same things happen. Though I do feel bad that Len will have to be alone for a millennium again. “GURORO. (Don’t be. It’s unfortunate that I will be unable to watch over my child as she grows, but a mere thousand years is not a major issue for the dragons.)” As to be expected from “the dragons”—they have a totally different sense of scale when it comes to time. And so, we bid farewell to Meliowyrm, then return to our original goal: slaying Gigas, the giant commander. “GARORO. (Hmm-hmm-hmm. Once we return to our original time, I will be able to see Mother again…! Happy day, oh, happy day…!)” “Meow. (I’m so happy for you, Lady Len.)” “Arwf, arwf. (I’m glad you’re happy, but you’ll stick out like a sore thumb in that form. Go back to being a mouse before other monsters spot us.)” “GARORO… (I’ve told you many times that this form is my true one…)” As Len is about to reluctantly change back into a mouse, Hecate stops her. “Wait a moment, Len. We may as well fly through the sky like this.” It seems Hecate has a plan of some sort. “Huh?! This time we’re flying through the sky?!” Lady Eili is pleased with that. She must intend to come with us to defeat Gigas. “GARORO! (You are the benefactor of both my mother and myself! You will have the best seat!)” “Hooray! Thank you!” We climb onto Len’s back, and she flies north with Hecate’s guidance. There we find the mountain renowned as a sacred landmark in the future—now, however, it is a demon mountain, stained with the Demon Lord’s miasma. Len rapidly accelerates, and after we pass through the thick fog, we’re greeted by the bright blue sky and a sea of clouds expanding below us. “Wow, it’s so pretty!” “Arf, arf. (I’d like to show this to the young lady, too. I’ll have to do that once I get back to the future.)” For a time, we gaze at the beautiful scenery in awe. Meanwhile, Hecate is talking to Nahura about something. “Around here, yes?” “Mew. (Yes. The coordinates point directly below us, too.)” “All right, then. Routa?” “Arf? (Oh, what is it? Are we going to do something?)” I never heard anything about what we’re going to do. “You can go back to your original form now.” My original form? What’s that? This is my exact form. “Yes, yes, you’ve made your point, so just do it.” Hecate starts pushing against me repeatedly. “Arf, arf! (Hey—stop that! I’ll lose my balance up here!)” “Off you go, now.” For real? She actually intends to push me off. “Recall how you defeated Gigas.” Then, finally, I remember. “Arwf… (Oh, that’s right… My actual size.)” It was such a detestable memory that I’d blocked it out. But it’s probably the only way to defeat Gigas, who is under these clouds. I dispel the transformation technique I’ve very strictly kept active. In a moment, my body explodes in size. With my vision still up in the sky, my body and my limbs pierce the clouds by themselves, growing enormous. “Arwf! (Oh! I heard a squish.)” Feeling an awful sensation underfoot, like I just squished a bug, I know that Gigas has been crushed. With that, the battle is over, having lasted no more than an instant. From Gigas’s point of view, there would have been a huge dog foot suddenly dropping from the sky and squashing him. How pitiful, to be defeated and sealed before he has any idea what’s going on. You can sleep as long as you want, a thousand years from now. After sealing Gigas, we return to the camp for a bit, then order the knights to remain on standby. We won’t need to sneak around anymore, now that Lady Eili—the one we wanted to keep this a secret from—knows about it. We immediately set off to seal the last of the Five Demon Generals: Behemoth, the war demon and king of beasts. “There’s a high possibility everyone knows about us now that Routa has used his giant form. Before the Demon Lord does anything, we need to take care of her quickly.” Hecate seems to have planned for this all along. “Arf, arf. (But Behemoth and I never fought.)” And I’m not sure I’ll be able to do it. During that single moment we confronted each other in the future, she felt stronger even than me. If that miracle of her falling head over heels for me and abandoning her power hadn’t happened, it might have been me who lost. To make things worse, she’ll be brainwashed right now from the miasma. Will I be able to win in a fair fight? As I’m worrying about it, Nahura’s spatial magic activates, and we warp to where Behemoth is. “Arwf?! (Wait! We’re right in front of her?!)” Lying sprawled on a big rock shelf is a golden lion. Her build is a little bit bigger than my current size, but the power radiating from her is stronger than that from Gigas. “Grrrrr…” Oh, shit. My bark woke her up. Behemoth’s eyes are glowing crimson, telling me that she, too, has been brainwashed by the Demon Lord. Has the time finally come for me to fight at my full strength? It’s not the time to start saying things like I don’t wanna. I lower myself, watching Behemoth’s movements carefully so I can react whenever I need to. “Grrrrrrr…” With a groan, Behemoth slowly picks herself up, then gazes at me. It seems I’ve been identified as an enemy. Behemoth draws in a breath, taking an offensive posture. And then… “Grrrraaaaaaahhhh!! (I’m in loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooove!!)” There’s the shrill sound of shattering glass, and then her crimson eyes return to their regular blue. “A-arwf?! (D-did she just break the brainwashing on her own?!)” “Grrr! (The power of love doth exceed all else! I am in love! Yea, I have fallen for thee!)” You’ve been like this for a thousand years?!
Chapter 123
12 min read