As Estelle and Sierra relaxed in their pavilion, things became loud outside, prompting them to look at each other. At that point Neville showed up, looking flurried.
“Lady Estelle, Lady Sierra, you must run!” he exclaimed.
“Just what is going on...?”
“There’s a stray dragon in the sky!”
At that, Estelle rushed out of the pavilion. Indeed, there was a dragon soaring high above. Its mana was plentiful, as was always the case with dragons.
The bigger the animal, the more mana it had, but dragons were on a whole different level. Perhaps their hides were so tough because of their mana.
Still, why had it appeared here of all places? Dragons generally didn’t go far from their habitats. Stray dragons were pretty rare.
The dragon was black. The color of their hides differed depending on the habitat. Since it was black, that meant it had come from the distant Dragonbone Mountains.
Dragons from the Dragonbone Mountains were smaller than those found on Avalon, but they were more mobile. They searched for prey while flying through the skies, then swooped down once they’d found a target. Their hunting style resembled that of a hawk.
Looking around, Estelle saw many women move about in confusion. Some stood in place and trembled in fear, others scrambled to get on horses and try to escape—they were acting in countless different ways.
“Over here, Lady Estelle. Sorry to trouble you, but please climb on behind me,” said Neil, approaching while leading his horse.
Estelle shook her head at that proposal, however. “It’s best not to make any careless movements when a dragon is like that,” she said.
“My Lady, this is not the time...”
“It will target you if you leave the group! That only makes it more dangerous!” she replied harshly.
Suddenly, the dragon stopped circling overhead and swooped down. It was headed straight for a woman who was trying to escape, spurring her horse on ahead of everyone else.
Estelle involuntarily looked away.
The next moment, however, she heard crackling, followed by a commotion spreading around her.
“It’s His Highness Prince Liedis!”
“He’s returned!”
Looking over, Estelle saw a boy with strawberry-blond hair standing between the woman and the dragon, releasing his mana. He was using his power. He’d formed a telekinetic barrier to protect the woman from the dragon’s descent at the last moment. Perhaps he’d managed to return from the depths of the forest before everyone else because he’d used his power of teleportation.
“Everyone, keep your heads low and slowly make your way inside the pavilions! It will increase your chances of survival if you don’t carelessly try to run away!” a dignified voice rang out. It belonged to King Sachis.
“Your Majesty! You mustn’t go alone! Please bring guards at the very least!” exclaimed the queen.
“They would only get in the way! Truteliese, form groups with the rest and lead everyone into pavilions!”
Ignoring the queen’s attempts to stop him, Sachis drew his saber and ran toward the dragon.
Seeing how the saber had mana flowing through it, Estelle could tell it was a mana blade. Most melee weapons carried by members of nobility, royalty, and the army, were mana blades.
Biting her lip in frustration, the queen began issuing orders in a strict voice. “Do as His Majesty says and take cover inside pavilions!”
“Lady Estelle, you too!” added Neil. He pulled her by the arm and forced her inside the pavilion as everyone around was panicking.
As perhaps should’ve been expected from the king, his orders had been on point.
Those living near Dragonbone Mountains immediately took shelter indoors when they saw dragons. A dragon who’d come to a human settlement wouldn’t return to the mountain until it was either sated or slain. This was why people stayed in sturdy cellars and waited patiently for the dragon to leave, sacrificing their livestock.
Hopefully, Liedis and Sachis would manage to bring the dragon down by themselves. If they couldn’t, there was a risk of quite a few people losing their lives. Dragons in early spring were particularly ferocious. In the best-case scenario, it would be sated with just the horses left outside, but everything would depend on how hungry it was.
“Lady Estelle!” exclaimed Sierra. She clung to Estelle as soon as the latter entered the pavilion. “It’ll be fine, I’m sure. His Majesty and His Highness are both Awoken. I’m certain they’ll manage something.”
Perhaps she was even more worried than Estelle. Estelle embraced Sierra tightly as the latter quivered.
They may be Awoken, but can they bring down a dragon without a Dragon Slayer...? wondered Estelle.
Mana-based guns condensed the user’s mana and fired it as bullets. Dragon Slayers were particularly powerful among them. This was why it was considered good if an ordinary rifleman could shoot it two times. Even Sirius and Estelle—hereditary nobles—couldn’t fire one more than five times a day. And if they went that far, their mana would be practically dried up afterward.
Perhaps a mana blade with a royal’s mana in it could pierce a dragon’s thick hide. But compared to a gun, a blade’s reach was too short.
Something was a little strange about the flow of that dragon’s mana too, noted Estelle. She couldn’t say for sure because she’d only caught a glimpse of it, but it had felt like its mana had been concentrated between its eyebrows. Normally a creature’s mana is only concentrated at its heart...
Estelle had a terrible premonition.
“Neil, stay here and guard Lady Estelle.”
Neville’s words suddenly brought Estelle back from her thoughts to reality.
“What’re you talking about, Neville?! Don’t tell me you want to go outside,” Neil lashed out.
“We Royal Guards can’t be standing around doing nothing while His Majesty and His Highness are putting their lives on the line,” Neville replied calmly.
He was probably intent on standing in front of the dragon as a human shield, should worse come to worst. Estelle could tell painfully well how determined he was.
Arcrayne had assigned more guards to Estelle today, but there was no sign of them coming to the pavilion. Were they outside, having prepared themselves for the worst like Neville had?
Pulling away from Sierra, who was still clinging to her, Estelle looked up at Neville. “Neville, you will only get in the way if you simply go out like that. His Majesty warned against it too.”
“But I can become its food at the very least. Correct me if I’m wrong, but stray dragons leave once they’ve sated their appetites.”
“I suppose...”
At this time of the year, however, dragons were particularly ferocious as they’d just woken up from hibernation. Not only were they hungry, but they also liked to stuff themselves with food in preparation for the breeding season from spring to early summer. The dragon had surely devoured a lot of “food” on its way here too.
Taking a deep breath, Estelle gave Neville a serious look. “Are you prepared to sacrifice an arm?”
“What do you mean?” Neville knitted his brows.
Estelle took her favorite mana pistol out of the holster on her hip. “Take this pistol if you’re prepared. Callisto’s guns have a single-use feature that allows them to fire a shot as powerful as that of a Dragon Slayer.”
Callisto was a gun manufacturer with its headquarters in the earldom of Flozeth. Some models of Callisto’s mana-based guns had a gimmick that allowed those living near Dragonbone Mountains to protect themselves.
“Are you saying its limiter can be removed?” asked Neville, to which Estelle nodded.
Limiters were parts of mana-based guns that tuned the power of each bullet. Depending on what the gun was meant to be used for, the requirements for firepower were different. Shooting a bullet that was too powerful would be too much for an ordinary mana-based gun to handle, and it would break. Limiters were installed to prevent that from happening.
To make the gun barrel strong enough not to break upon firing powerful bullets, Dragon Slayers were made out of dragonbone steel. Considering the costs, however, one couldn’t use dragonbone steel so easily.
“Removing the limiter will allow you to make one extremely powerful shot,” explained Estelle. “But it will be sure to break the gun. And depending on how it breaks...”
“It might badly injure my hand?” Neville finished Estelle’s sentence.
Removing the limiter was a last resort meant for encounters with dragons when one didn’t have a Dragon Slayer on hand. The resolve required for it was close to what would be necessary for a suicide attack.
“May I have that gun, Lady Estelle? An arm is a small price to pay for protecting everyone,” said Neville.
Estelle thought for a moment. “Very well. But mind the range—this pistol doesn’t shoot very far.”
What Estelle had was a small mana pistol for self-defense. Its effective range was about twenty meters at most.
“It’s much preferable to going out there empty-handed,” Neville said firmly.
Nodding, Estelle began to remove the limiter. Removing a pin holding her hair, she stuck the tip into a part of the gun close to the trigger. This was the limiter. On this pistol, it was possible to remove it through a prescribed procedure. One had to push in something pointed, and pull it downward.
With a click, the limiter came off.
The next moment, however, a dreadful roar came from the outside. Immediately afterward, something forcefully collided with the pavilion. The beams supporting the pavilion severely bent out of shape.
“Lady Estelle!” exclaimed Neville, who was the closest to her. He pushed her away.
A beam was falling in their direction, dragging the fabric of the pavilion down with it. To Estelle, the motion of it looked awfully slow.
A woman’s piercing cry came from nearby. Was it Sierra’s voice?
Estelle heard creaking and a roar before a cloud of dust blocked her vision...