🐉 🐉 🐉
“EVERYTHING taken care of?”
The voice came without warning from behind Lushera as she rested in a room in the fort. She turned to see a man with a sharp build and the sort of air that made you keep your guard up. “Ivar, why are you here?”
“To remind the commanding officer to give me my reward. And work related to the captured Martgarz soldiers. They need an intermediary to help them pay their bail to go home, right? They’re rushing this ’cause the faster they do it, the more money they get.”
Viola’s face popped out from behind Ivar’s back, the azure staff still in her hand. “I think he was just worried about you, yeaaah?”
“…What a wonderful personality this princess has,” he said.
“Thank you for all your help, Ivar,” said Lushera.
“Don’t make it sound like this is the end. We’re gonna keep this going. You got hard stuff coming up, and I got work.” He said it rather casually, but he was so right that Lushera hesitated to even give it a wry smile.
For the time being at least, they avoided the destruction that came for them, but that didn’t mean everything was going to be a happily ever after. Chaos was likely to strike the humanoid world at large after this, and Kaphal and Lushera would get dragged into it whether they wanted to be or not.
“Welp, I don’t wanna be a buttinsky, so I’ll make myself scarce,” said Ivar.
“Okay. Wait… A buttinsky?”
His business done, Ivar left (with a word Lushera wasn’t exactly familiar with).
“You can come in now, Monica,” called Viola out into the hallway on the opposite side of the room from where Ivar left. Footsteps came closer and Monica eventually showed her face, peering into the room like a small, wary animal.
Viola made her change into a set of Viola’s own adventuring clothes, forcing them to be a matching pair. Monica’s skirt was rolled up and only her fingers poked out from the end of the sleeves.
But, seeing them like that standing next to each other, it was obvious they were sisters. Their blonde hair and blue eyes were the same color, most likely inherited from their mother, but the biggest thing was there was just a general air about them that felt the same. Almost like they were the sort of troublesome people who never did as you wanted them to.
“Monica, how are you doing, physically?” asked Lushera.
“What? It’s not like I was injured,” she said.
Lushera had no idea what Julian had done to her, and she had been bound, so she was worried about her, but Monica’s response basically slapped back her words.
“Monica,” said Viola. “At times like this, we say ‘thank you.’ She’s worried about you. She’s not going to take advantage of you if you show weakness. It’s just that she’s hurt as well if you’re hurt.”
“Uh, ah, oh…” Monica shuffled about in confusion.
Monica hadn’t said what she did with any malice or ill intent, it was just her natural way of responding. She’d lived her life without a single ally. She was like an abandoned dog, not able to do anything but growl, not knowing anything else.
But even she understood by now that she couldn’t be like that anymore.
“U-Um,” she said.
“Yes,” replied Lushera.
Monica looked right, then she looked left. She reached out her hands a little, they hovered with uncertainty in the air, then she lunged at Lushera, like she was attacking, and wrapped them around her in a hug.
“Ah!”
She was warm and smelled slightly of the beautiful scent of soil.
“This…I…understand better,” she said, as if making an excuse as she squeezed Lushera tightly, like Viola had done for her. She was too inexperienced and too uncertain of herself to figure out how to express that warmth in words, so she used the only method she knew would express it for sure, something she only just learned.
“Should I use that ring again?” she asked.
“No, I think I understand.”
“It’s okay, Monica, you can just slowly start to get used to these things,” said Viola. “I’m going to be able to see you whenever, today, tomorrow, the day after.” She watched them with a smile of pure joy, then, as if she decided she too would join the fray, she wrapped her arms around the both of them together.
Though, Monica still didn’t seem to fully understand the true meaning of what Viola said, or the situation she was in now.
“…Yeah.”
That’s all she could say.
✦ ✦ ✦
🐉 🐉 🐉
MOST of the damage to the country in the attack with the dracovitae was prevented by the red dragon buying time, followed by the quick retrieval of the dracovitae.
But only most, as the region closest to Mount Kugus and the battlefield did sustain damage. Abnormally concentrated rainstorms and rising groundwater went beyond the limits of what the flood control system could handle. The rivers flooded, washing up on Kugut’hulm.
Thankfully, not many people died as a result, just a few who were washed away as they were evacuating. But it wasn’t no one.
Once the waters receded, the people of the city were left with the economic damages and the work of repairing the mud-coated buildings.
“Dammit. It’s all ruined. Gotta just throw it all out.”
“You were still thinking of selling it?”
“Well, you’re fine, you’re not sellin’ fresh veg, and your storage’s on the second floor. But in my place, there’s nowhere to put anything but down below. It’s a disaster down there.”
Two men in aprons were cleaning up inside a mud-covered greengrocer. They scooped the water from the underground cellar, pulled out the vegetables soaked with muddy water, and piled them out in front of the shop.
There was a waterline on the wall around the height of an adult’s waist.
The dirty water of floods also brought disease. They wouldn’t be able to reopen shop unless they thoroughly cleaned the building after tidying it up.
“We’re lucky just to be alive,” said one.
“Yeah, I s’pose…”
With beads of sweat on their brows, they massaged their aching backs and wiped away the sweat with rags.
That’s when they heard it.
“Roooooooar!”
“Agh!”
“That sound…”
A huge roar that rumbled in the pit of your stomach came from high in the sky, echoing through the city streets.
The men abandoned their cleanup tasks and rushed out to the street.
The red dragon flew above the city, her massive wings spread wide. She was the red dragon living on Mount Kugus. Everyone living in Kugut’hulm was familiar with her flying figure.
But this was a little different from the normal everyday sighting of her.
The early summer sun shone even more brightly in a sky without a single cloud.
Setrayuan summers were generally hot and humid, but today’s breeze was dry. Items basking in the sunlight dried miraculously quickly, puddles disappeared from the once-flooded streets, leaving only a thin layer of dried mud.
A dragon was powerful enough to manipulate the weather in a localized area. Red dragons, with their affinity with fire, could make the sun shine and the air dry. The violence of nature sometimes took lives without difficulty, and sometimes it was a blessing.
“Graaaaaaaar!”
The dragon spit fire into the sky, as if in salute.
The people, having paused their work, waved up at her.
“Thank you!”
“Setrayu’s guardian goddess!”
“Long live the dragon!”
“Rooooaaar!”
Thunderous cheers rang up to the dragon who protected the city and the country.
She flew amongst those voices, gliding like a seagull on a breeze.