“What was . . . I doing . . .” the dragon woman stammered.
“It looked like you were reaching for me,” I said. “You weren’t trying to absorb me or something, were you?” The Dragon Emperor had that ability. The Demon Dragon could absorb heroes and use their power for herself.
“I’d never do such a thing!” the dragon woman replied. Maybe Raph-chan had been warning her about trying something.
“A terminal . . . yes, there is one here,” the Water Dragon confirmed, moving over toward me, a strange look in his eyes.
“Raph!” said Raph-chan, leaping in to whack him too, making him grunt.
“There’s definitely a hard-to-resist allure to you, now that you mention it. Who set this up?” the Water Dragon asked.
“That would be me!” came the voice in my head. The moment I heard it, rage boiled up inside me. What had she done to me now?! She was the reason I was now a (sexual) dragon slayer! The next time we met, she was going to pay dearly for this! I wondered why she would even do this. It only meant other dragons were going to mob me! No matter how I raged inside my head, the Demon Dragon’s implanted personality didn’t reply. It only ever responded to single words and magic-related stuff, so I wasn’t really expecting anything, but this had still really pissed me off!
“The one responsible here is the Demon Dragon . . . it seems she’s better setting these things up so that I can maintain my rage,” I explained, pressing a hand to my forehead.
“Which means if a dragon lends you their power, Mr. Naofumi . . . they can have access to power like the Demon Dragon,” Raphtalia asked.
“I think so. What happened with Keel is likely a byproduct of that,” I said.
“I fear weaker dragons would be consumed whole,” the dragon woman said. “Such is the strength of the curse I feel from the Shield Hero.” It was my rage . . . my base desire for power that allured the dragons to me. In any case, it looked like the Water Dragon and Piensa Dragon Emperor could be further enhanced by this. “Will you please help? If you help my master, I’ll give you whatever you desire . . . treasure, my body, even my mind.”
“What are you talking about?!” Raphtalia said, concern on her face.
“It sounds like you want me to possess you,” I asked. She didn’t deny it. I wanted her to deny it.
“What is this? Changing bedfellows?” Mamoru asked with either a poor or deliberate choice of words.
“An interesting situation. I’d very much like to investigate it. I’d also love to see the Bow Hero’s reaction,” Holn added, her curiosity sparking.
“This isn’t interesting at all. The one who did this to me is to blame!” I said.
“Mr. Naofumi, if the Piensa Bow Hero finds out about this, he’s going to be like L’Arc all over again,” Raphtalia warned. That was a nasty example for her to choose. That hadn’t been my fault either. Therese had gone all wacky on her own. In this case, it was the work of these strange pheromones set up by the Demon Dragon.
“I’ve heard that fear feels a bit like love . . . Your presence is definitely appealing to dragons,” the Water Dragon said, making things weird again.
“The hero loved by the world!” Filolia laughed. “This is interesting indeed!” No, it wasn’t. It wasn’t at all. Her sister was waiting behind her. I swore at her not to say anything.
“Can you get this thing off me?” I asked. I wasn’t going to feel safe until my auto dragon slaying issue was resolved.
“If I connected and made a few adjustments, that shouldn’t be a problem,” the Water Dragon said.
“Wait. I’m more suited to this,” the dragon woman said. “Is this really a problem a guardian dragon should be using their power to intervene in? I can bring out more of his power.”
“You are joking,” the Water Dragon replied. The two dragons started bickering, tension crackling in the air between them.
“I’m so glad the Water Dragon has taken a liking to you,” Natalia said. She seemed very pleased with herself, like she finally had something to hold over me. “I’ve never seen him like this before.”
“Dafu,” said Dafu-chan, equally happy about all this.
“I’ll choose . . . the pacifier’s dragon, thank you. I can trust him more,” I said.
“Yes! My virtue wins the day!” the Water Dragon celebrated. I had no idea what that meant. I continued to bring out the strangest reactions from dragons.
“This can’t be . . .” the Piensa Dragon Emperor said, looking over with jealous eyes. Unfortunately for her, those eyes did nothing for me. In fact, they pissed me off.
“Stop looking at me like that,” I told her. “I hate people who make faces like that.”
“Yeah, me too,” Ren agreed, both of us looking at the Piensa Dragon Emperor. It was like when Bitch was using her wiles to get something. Then Wyndia sidled over and took the Piensa Dragon Emperor’s hand. I wondered if any dragon at all would do it for her. This one was trying to become our ally, but she could still put her guard up a little.
“Do you want the Shield Hero to like you?” Wyndia asked. The Piensa Dragon Emperor nodded. “Then I’d stop making faces like that. My dragon, Gaelion, has conducted all sorts of research to keep in the Shield Hero’s good books. I can share some tips with you,” she offered.
“Wyndia? Let’s not cause any more trouble for Naofumi, if we can help it. This might be a Dragon Emperor, but that doesn’t mean we can trust her yet,” Ren said, dashing over to Wyndia.
“I can do what I like,” Wyndia replied, not giving Ren the time of day.
“Water Dragon, hurry up and heal me,” I said.
“Okay,” the Water Dragon replied. With that, the Water Dragon started to mess around with my shield. The Water Dragon’s scales started to glisten.
“Wow . . . this is quite something . . .” the Water Dragon said.
“Ah. The presence is fading a little,” the Piensa Dragon Emperor noticed, still looking jealously at the Water Dragon.
“You just need to work hard to make him like you,” Wyndia said. “We’ll need your strength in our coming battles, so you’ll have plenty of chances.” Her approach to consolation felt very out of place. She did love dragons and doted on Gaelion. Maybe that was the problem—she wasn’t getting her fix since coming to the past. I wished she could make do with the Water Dragon.
“I wish I could send some of this to the Raph-chans,” I said.
“Raph?! Raph, raph!” Raph-chan exclaimed. The Raph-chans had helped hold me back when I used the Shield of Rage. Maybe it was flowing into them. They just couldn’t turn it into power.
“I’d like to be able to do that too,” Ruft said.
“Please don’t say that,” Raphtalia replied.
“Moving on,” I said. “Piensa Dragon Emperor. Whether we save your master or not . . . the sins of Piensa are severe. They’ve lent aid to those who have kidnapped our friend Melty.” Everyone there nodded at my words.
“I agree. There’s no justice left in Piensa now. They’re trying to sell out this world. Eradicating their noble line is for the best of us all,” the Piensa Dragon Emperor said. It sounded like we’d got ourselves an insider. First, we needed to save Melty and the Bow Hero.
Saving Melty meant saving a princess, of course—but now she was a queen.
“Time to take down a nation,” I said. “The God Hunter heroes will eradicate Piensa for joining forces with the enemies of this world!”
“Oh, good line!” Filolia cackled, looking over at Mamoru. “The Dark Brave and her allies will help you out! Right, Mamoru?”
“Yeah. I can’t sit by any longer—and I’m worried about the Bow Hero. It’s time to end this fighting,” Mamoru said, sounding fired up himself.
“This reminds me of when we went into Q’ten Lo,” Raphtalia said. “You got everyone worked up then too, didn’t you, Mr. Naofumi?”
“It was like this, wasn’t it?” Ruft said cheerfully. He was actually the very target we had been there to take down.
“Yeah, it was like this,” I replied. “I think morale is even higher this time.” Everyone was worried about Melty. It wouldn’t go like this if I was the one who’d been taken—my lack of attack power probably didn’t make me a threat, they’d think. He’ll be fine for a while, they’d think. “Let’s make them really feel it this time!” Getting back to our time was important, but this came first. We needed the carriage vassal weapon and to get to the world of the sword and spear. So we’d take everything back, save the heroes from that world too, and make the ones who assume the name of god pay.
Our intentions were clear. And that was the start of the war.