“You, go this way! And you, go left!”
Located in the nobles’ district, the Royal Institute of Healing—sacred ground for healers and the heart of medicine in Herzeth—had opened all its gates and was taking in injured people from across the city. At the front lines, directing the oncoming patients, was an elite healer named Becker.
“Dr. Becker! Where do you need us?!” asked a blue-haired girl wearing glasses. A young man with messy, dark-brown locks stood next to her.
“Umin, Cress, there are many who are seriously injured and can’t make it here. I need you two to act as backup for the Institute’s offices in the city district.”
“Yes, doctor!” Umin replied.
“Got it!” Cress said.
The two intermediate healers dashed off into the city, where small dragons rampaged all over and endless screams rose into the sunsetting sky.
“Opening the gates to everyone, treating people regardless of their status... You do know you’ll be in hot water later, yes?” asked a small-framed youth as he approached Becker from behind. He had bobbed orange hair and, if not for his voice, could easily be mistaken for a girl.
“I figured it’s what he would have done,” Becker said.
“And who’s ‘he’...?”
“A healer I admire.”
“Huh. You actually admire someone, Becker?”
“Well, yes. By the way, I’d appreciate it if you could help too, oh great Jose Hayworth, famously young elite healer.”
Jose shrugged his shoulders. “That’s why I came here in the first place.”
“Really? I thought you hated healing. What’s gotten into you?” Becker asked, somewhat surprised.
“Loath though I am to admit it,” Jose said, gathering mana at his fingertips, “I, too, was influenced by a certain healer.”
✦ ✦ ✦
Battles raged at the royal palace; the nobles’ district; and the city district, where the demi-humans and Krishna’s unit were bravely wading into combat with the enemy. Even the slums, located further out, were facing dragon attacks—and fighting back.
“Zonde, it’s no use! There’s too many of them!”
“Don’t back down! We’re the only ones who can protect this place!”
Zonde, the younger brother of the chief of the lizardmen, Zophia, was organizing the remaining poor to build defenses against the onslaught. These dragons were small, but even just one took over twenty people to defeat. Not every slum dweller was experienced in combat, and injuries were mounting as the group slowly got pushed back.
“Groooar!”
“Gah!”
A dragon swung its tail at Zonde, striking him in the stomach with a sharp snap and cracking his ribs. The lizardman collapsed to the ground and the dragon rushed forward, fangs bared and ready to pounce.
“Shit...!” he cursed.
“Graaar!”
Before the dragon’s sharp fangs could snap Zonde’s neck, a volley of arrows flew in from behind the dragons, piercing their backs.
Clutching his stomach, Zonde quickly stood up and saw a rough-looking group standing at the end of the street.
“Wh-Who the hell...?” he muttered.
“I’m Pista, the information broker, meow! And the mastermind of the underwo— Meowch! What was that for?!”
The lion-faced beastman who had just smacked the cat-eared girl on the head sighed. “I’m the Beast King, top executive of the Black Guild. We’ve come to back you up. Charge!”
“Raaaah!”
The men of the Black Guild barreled forward like an avalanche, their ferocity matching that of the dragons as they drove the beasts back.
“Why are you people...?”
“A friend of Zenos named Lynga sent a request for aid through my daughter Pista not long ago,” the Beast King said. “She told us Zenos had been captured and calamity was imminent.”
“Lynga...”
“But since the Black Guild is actually no more, it took us a while to gather weapons and manpower. Sorry about that.”
“No, you’ve just saved us. Thank you,” Zonde said quickly. “Come to think of it, my sister mentioned that the doc treated a top executive of the Black Guild.”
“Indeed. Zenos not only saved me from death, but reunited me with my daughter as well. I owe him my life, and would gladly give it away for his sake. Get some rest. Leave the rest to us.”
Zonde gave a small grin as he moved to stand beside the Beast King.
“Sorry, but I’m sticking around. I owe the doc my life too.”
✦ ✦ ✦
“That’s all of them, sis!”
“Thank you, Gina.”
At an orphanage halfway up a small hill in the slums, Liz—now the matron—and her younger sister Gina had just finished evacuating all the children into the basement. Gaion, a former grunt of the Black Guild who’d become the orphanage’s protector, was holding back a dragon that had appeared nearby. Thanks to his efforts, they’d been able to successfully hide all the children underground—but it was still far from safe.
“No kids left out there,” Gaion said as he ran bleeding into the shelter. “But I can’t take down a dragon on my own. We’ll have to let it do what it wants.”
“It’s all right,” Liz said. “Thank you for buying us time.”
Rough snorting noises echoed outside and the children held their breaths, shrinking back with fear. Through a gap in the wooden wall facing the slope of the hill, the distant spire in the royal palace was visible—and at that exact moment, a massive jet-black dragon descended upon it. Against the twilight sky, its darkly gleaming form looked like that of an envoy sent from hell to herald the end of the world.
“Are we all gonna die...?” one child asked Liz.
“It’s okay. We’ll be okay,” Liz said, gathering the children into her arms. “Help will come. I know it will.”
The face of her childhood friend, wearing his signature black cloak, came to Liz’s mind. She recalled their time growing up together in the orphanage that had once stood on this very hill, and how he’d gotten her out of the Black Guild and even completely cured her gravely ill sister, Gina.
“Zenos...” Liz murmured.