“You crossed the Tenryus? On dragonback? Do they tame dragons in the mainland? I never knew that was possible,” Haru mumbled. The mask obscured his facial reactions, but he seemed surprised and even shaken.
The tall girl, Riyo, tended to her dragon, which had folded its wings. She was stroking its neck and chest and seemed unbothered when it licked her face in return. Yori was checking on her dragon as well, but unlike Riyo, she was speaking with Haru at the same time.
“‘Tame’ might be a strong word for it, since three out of five of us get killed in the process. It’s not easy. Also, dragons only listen to the person who raises them, so if you want to ride one, you’ll have to do what Yori and Riyo did and raise it from an egg yourself. Ah! Hey, Karambit, that tickles, c’mon, cut it out! Hee hee!”
It was impressive that the two of them had no problem with letting such massive creatures lick and sometimes even bite them, though it was probably just gentle nipping. The dragons’ mouths were lined with sharp teeth, and they opened wide enough to swallow a human’s head whole. Those teeth—these things were definitely carnivorous. Were they so used to it that it didn’t scare them anymore? If their dragons made even a slight mistake, it’d have had terrible consequences, so they ought to have been scared. That much was obvious. Manato felt a shudder run down his spine. He was so scared he had to laugh.
In truth, he wanted to approach Yori’s and Riyo’s dragons so badly it hurt. But Manato’s instincts as a hunter told him, beyond any doubt, that if he tried to get close to the dragons, it would anger them. He’d be putting himself in danger, and possibly Yori and Riyo too. That wouldn’t be good, so Manato restrained himself. But he really wanted to try petting them.
The Ark was standing nearby, looking like nothing more than an old tower. Once Lumiaris’s converts had been thoroughly finished off, the group had moved away from Alterna and climbed the hill. Yori had then said that she wanted them to meet her dragon, so they’d had her call it. How had she done that? Well, Yori and Riyo had these round whistles made of stone called dragon whistles, and when she had blown on hers, the dragon had come flying in from the direction of the Tenryu Mountains.
The clear, high-pitched sound of the dragon whistle hadn’t been that loud, but it would apparently carry for quite a long distance if there weren’t too many obstacles, and certain species of dragon could hear it really well. Manato couldn’t tell the difference, but each dragon tamer had their own distinctive way of blowing the whistle so the dragons knew who was putting out the call.
“If your hearts are connected, winged dragons make cute and reliable partners. If you give them the love they deserve, it doesn’t take much work to care for them. They’ll even take care of feeding themselves. I smell blood, by the way. She must’ve eaten in the mountains. We pushed them hard crossing the Tenryus, so she must’ve been hungry. Maybe it would have been better not to call her. Nah, it’s probably fine. You wanted to see Yori, right? Yori feels the same, Karambit. There, there, there.”
“Ahhh!” Manato clutched his head and cried out loud.
The two winged dragons looked his way. The air crackled with tension.
“What? Why did you shout all of a sudden?” Yori asked, quickly hugging her dragon around the neck. The dragon narrowed its eyes and licked her cheek.
“Yeah, sorry,” Manato said. “I wanted to try touching it. But I can’t, though, right? I figured that out on my own.”
“You’re right. She definitely wouldn’t like that.”
“Obviously. It looks like it’d eat me.”
“If you make Karambit mad, it wouldn’t be surprising if she did. Not even Yori could stop her. Actually, Yori wouldn’t even try. How’s your wound, by the way, Manato?”
“Wound?” Manato raised his arms and twisted his body around, then tried some light jumping.
“Yeah. I’m all good now. There’s no pain. Looks like it’s all closed up.”
“It’s...almost exasperating how fast you heal. You sure you’re human?”
“I think I am. But...y’know, I’m kinda different from how my mom and dad were, and maybe Juntza and the others too. When they got hurt, it took them a while to heal. And some of our comrades just died instead of healing.”
“You’ve...lost comrades?” Riyo asked.
“A whole bunch of them. Only four of us are still alive, me included. There were more of us before, though. Oh, I’m talking about in Japan. Not Grimgar.”
“Japan...? Not Grimgar? So then...does that mean you’re like our great-grandma?”
“Your what, Riyo? Oh, do you two mind me calling you Riyo and Yori?”
“Not at all,” Yori said. “Yori is Yori, and Riyo is Riyo, after all. Those’re the names our great-grandma gave us.”
“Wow. A great-grandma, huh? A grandma’s your mom’s mom, right? I’ve never seen one, but I’ve heard of them.”
Yori nodded. “And a great-grandma’s your grandma’s mom.”
“That’s one megamomma!”
“Megamomma? Uhhh... What do you mean?”
“She’s your mom’s mom’s mom, so she’s a megamom?”
Yori stared at Manato for a beat. “Anyway, Yori and Riyo’s mom is named Rinka, and Rinka’s dad is named Ruon. Ruon is Yori and Riyo’s grandpa.”
Manato crossed his arms and repeated, “Grandpa...”
“Ruon,” Haru murmured.
“Ruon’s mother was Yori’s great-grandma, and—” Yori tried to continue, but Haru cut her off.
“Hold on... Wait—just give me a second. Ruon... Did you say Ruon? And his mother is...?”
“Ruon’s our grandpa. But we never met him. He died a long, long time ago.”
“More than thirty-eight years,” Riyo murmured before giving her dragon a shove on the back. “Ushaska, you can go now.”
Ushaska let out a kwee in response, then raced down the hill beating its wings. Was that how winged dragons took off? Ushaska didn’t have much of a running start. But the dragon’s wings were strong, and it had incredibly powerful legs. In no time, Ushaska had lifted off from the ground, and was quickly gaining altitude.
“Our grandfather Ruon died nearly twenty years before Yori’s birth, on February twenty-third, 724,” Riyo explained. “Yori was born on April third, 744, and I was born the next year, on October third 745.”
“Whoa... So many numbers...” It was making Manato’s head spin, and he quickly gave up on trying to keep track of them.
“Go, Karambit,” Yori said, giving her winged dragon a push.