Side Story:
Leon, Second Son
MY NAME’S LEON RUUD, second son of the Ruud knight family. I inherited my father’s brown hair and skill with the sword.
In a knight family, only those who become knights can be considered truly human. My father, my older brother, my older sister, and I…we were human. My younger sister Fia was subhuman.
And I was sure that she always would be, talentless as she was with the blade. She would never become a knight. She’d remain a waste of space that could die a dog’s death for all I cared—that should die a dog’s death, maybe.
Even so, Oria kicked up a fuss when Fia didn’t return from the coming-of-age ceremony. Inexplicable, isn’t it? If Fia couldn’t clear something as simple as that ceremony, she would never become a knight. This was the simplest, cleanest way to be rid of her after her failure. The monsters and animals of the forest would clean up the corpse for us.
But Oria just had to form a search party. She even roped me into it. I couldn’t object, since she was my senior in the brigade…even if it was just because she’d joined first.
Damn it, why do we have to meet for every stupid coming-of-age ceremony? I should’ve just skipped. I put my armor on, fastened my sword to my hip, and went out to join the search party gathering outside of the estate.
To my surprise, I found my older brother there as well. How in the world had Oria talked him into this?
I was overjoyed to see my brother and was on my way over to greet him when I heard a shout. “Hey, there’s something in the sky!”
“It’s a monster… It’s…it’s huge! And it’s coming down fast!”
I turned and saw it—a monster darting towards us, its massive size evident even at this distance. A chill ran up my spine.
Oh no. That’s a dragon, a black dragon! My mind went right to the Black Dragon King of legend, but…there was no way. If it was truly the legendary monster, we’d be doomed…
I drew my sword and called to my brother, “I’ll do what I can to hold it off! Tell the brigade a monster has appeared!”
He didn’t move, just stood there staring at the black dragon. Perhaps the fear had frozen him in place?
But then, my brother said the strangest thing.
“Isn’t that Fia on its back?”
“Huh?!” Surely the fear was making him see mad delusions… Surely…? Dubious, I looked back at the dragon. My narrowed eyes went wide in astonishment.
The thing on the black dragon’s back certainly did look like Fia. Perhaps the fear was making me see things as well.
Yes, that had to be it.