“Ms. Shannon, wait!” Kyle managed to choke out, wheezing and panting. He ran at full speed, shoving vegetation out of his way as he chased her. He was already deep in the forest, not far from where the dragon had landed. “Ms. Shannon!”
Perhaps his voice reached her, because Shannon stopped, sighing, and looked back at him.
“Really, you’re still around? Go back, Kyle. You’re in danger. I won’t be able to protect you.”
“B-But...” Kyle panted, his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. “Y-You’re planning to take on the dragon alone, aren’t you? That’s impossible!”
Shannon’s eyebrows knit together in a puzzled expression. “I think you’ve got the wrong idea.”
“Huh? The m-mayor told you not to get involved, but you’re still planning to save us, aren’t you?!” If that wasn’t what Shannon was planning, then there was no reason for a traveler like her—an outsider—to face a dragon. She’d have to have a death wish to do it for any other reason. “I’m happy you want to fight for us, but I don’t want you to die!”
Shannon was kind. He could tell by how she acted around the villagers. She listened to people without judgment and got along with everyone. It made sense to him: She had grown to love the village and was taking steps to repay the debt she owed the villagers for allowing her to stay.
Just as Shannon had grown fond of the village, however, Kyle had grown close to Shannon. He didn’t want to just let her die. He had to stop her.
But Shannon continued, “I’m telling you, I’m not here for you or the village.” She paused. “I’m here because of something super personal. So you have to run, Kyle. I don’t want you to get involved.”
“But what are you planning to— Mmph?!”
“Shh!” Quicker than Kyle could think, Shannon had clamped a hand over his mouth and pushed him into the shadow of a tree. “Quiet.”
“Mmph!”
“I told you to be quiet.”
Shannon’s tone was grave, and, resigning himself to doing as he was told, Kyle held his breath and stood still in her arms. It was so quiet around them that he could hear his own heartbeat and Shannon’s breathing.
He glanced up at Shannon, but her gaze was directed elsewhere. “Wh-What’s wrong?” he asked softly.
Quietly, she replied, “Over there.”
Kyle gulped, raising his chin and slowly turning his head to look where Shannon was pointing. Through a gap in the lush greenery, he could see something sparkling. Something silver.
His heart jumped violently, and his blood ran cold. He had seen that silver color only a little while ago. “The dragon...!”
“I got to it pretty fast,” Shannon said in a livelier tone. The corners of her mouth softened, and she gazed at the dragon with eyes full of curiosity. “It looks injured. I think something must have happened for it to have come all the way here.”
Kyle looked back at the dragon. Shannon was right; it had wounds scattered all over its body. It was hard to imagine a creature that could inflict damage against those scales. Perhaps it had been battling another dragon.
“Those wounds—” Kyle began, but then the dragon rumbled in its throat.
“Grrr...”
Kyle startled, his whole body tensing up. It really was a dragon—a dragon!—that stood there, only a few dozen meters away. A terrifying thought occurred to him: If he moved even a little bit, the dragon would immediately leap at him, ready to tear him apart with its sharp talons.
“M-Ms. Shannon,” he said haltingly, “we should run while we still—”
“Okay, I’m gonna move toward it.”
“What?!”
Unlike Kyle, who was so nervous he felt like he was having an out-of-body experience, Shannon looked excited to be so close to the dragon. She seemed nothing like the person Kyle had known until moments before. Now, Shannon showed interest in nothing except the dragon—not even her own life.
“Go back, Kyle,” she said in a warning tone. “I really can’t let you stay any longer.”
“A-Are you serious?!” Kyle asked, somehow managing to shout in a whisper. “You’ll die, you know! That’s a dragon!”
But Shannon said simply, “This is what my journey’s been about. That’s why you need to go back and wait for the raiding party. If it doesn’t look like they can deal with the dragon, then you should flee the village with your parents. I don’t want you to die.”
“But that’s what I should be telling you,” Kyle argued weakly. “I... I don’t care about your journey!”
He clung to Shannon desperately, his brow furrowing and tears pooling in his eyes. She gave him a quick pat on the head.
“Thanks, but this is my chance. I’m grateful to you, Kyle—of course I am—but I don’t have any debt to repay the village, and this is something I really want to do.” Shannon beamed at him. “This is completely in my own self-interest. The village doesn’t have anything to do with it, so once I’ve finished doing what I have to do, they can defeat the dragon.”
This couldn’t have been happening. Who would pick a fight with a dragon for their own self-interest? It was a dragon!
“All right, I’m off! Be well!” With that, Shannon ran off toward the beast.
“Ms. Shannon!”
Kyle desperately reached for her, but she was already too far away. Shannon pushed vegetation out of her way, crossing the scant few dozen meters and throwing herself in front of the dragon.
In response, the dragon slowly turned its face toward Shannon, watching her with its yellow eyes. The fact that it was also facing Kyle’s direction made him cower in terror.
“Hiya, Mr. Dragon,” Shannon said, greeting it with her usual cheerful smile.
The dragon’s eyes glittered, and it slowly opened its mouth as if to reply. Then: “GAAAAAAAAAH!”
The earsplitting roar sent out a shock wave that cracked nearby boulders and tore up the grass around them. Flying bits of rock and plants cut Shannon’s soft, white skin, and her red blood immediately began to seep out. This should have been more than enough to scare a normal person, yet Shannon’s expression revealed only that she found the dragon fascinating.