“It’s been a week since the black dragon incident. He still hasn’t stirred.”
In a room at a certain estate, the golden-haired knight Iris watched over a man’s sleeping form.
“Crow...”
Crow Titus had only just been knighted. And yet, the raven-haired youth had been the one to end the sudden threat of the dark dragon Nidhogg, Blight of the Heavens. If he hadn’t done so, the beast might’ve laid waste to the entire nation.
“You’ve done well, Crow. Word of your deeds is spreading across all of Lemuria. You’re a hero to this country,” Iris said softly.
Despite her words of gentle praise, her face remained drained of color.
The price Crow had paid for victory was too great. His bones were broken, his flesh torn, his veins split, his organs ruptured. And with his left arm severed, he was past the point of no return.
That he was alive at all was a miracle.
Though he still drew shallow breaths, there was no guarantee the next one wouldn’t be his last.
“Oh, Crow! Crow!” Iris lamented, shedding tears for the hundredth time.
According to the doctor, the damage to his organs was too severe. He’d estimated that Crow had a week left to live, if that.
And that had been a week ago.
The doctor’s estimate had, cruelly enough, been accurate. Just moments ago, Crow’s breathing had begun to sound labored.
“Oh,” she murmured, clasping his hand. His pulse was faint. “Crow, please don’t die! Don’t leave me!”
Yet despite her reluctance to admit it, she knew the flame of his life was about to be extinguished.
Iris had felled countless aetherborn. Her familiarity with taking lives meant she could sense his impending demise.
“Crow, you saved me! I, who had always longed to be a knight, who became a knight, was on the verge of losing sight of it all, thanks to the whims of the corrupt nobility and royalty! My spirit was dying, and it was you who saved it!”
Her hand tightened around his.
Iris could never forget what he’d done for her that day. Like a hero from a tale, he had sprung forth and rescued her from her distress.
Affording no mercy to any evil that would disturb the peace, risking his life and fighting to the limit, Crow was Iris’s beacon of hope.
Together, she believed, they could have carved a path to a wonderful future.
And if this was going to be the end, if he was going to leave this world...
“If you die, Crow, let me join you!”
Yes, she would go with him.
But there was someone there to keep her in check.
“Do not be foolish, Iris. What good would it do for you to die as well?” A young voice rang out, admonishing the knight for her impulsive decision.
Iris turned to look behind her. “Eldia, my mentor...”
Before her stood the empress dowager, looking as youthful as ever in her white dress. Once upon a time, she had wielded Iris’s aethereal arm, Excalibur. Her present form was a result of her overwhelming compatibility with the holy sword, which prevented her from aging.
“The girl who fought for Crow’s sake, Tiana, has been sent to House Alithlai’s care. Her condition is quite stable. She should wake soon.”
There was one person other than Crow who was to be commended for her actions during the incident with the black dragon—and that was Tiana von Alithlai. After Crow had defeated the dragon, it was she who had kept the raven-haired swordsman’s mysterious assailants at bay, despite being a low-ranking knight.
And so Iris was grateful to her from the bottom of her heart.
“I...I see. That’s wonderful news indeed. I owe her a great deal.” Iris was choked with tears as she spoke. “But Crow, he’s—”
“Maintain your composure, Iris,” the empress cut in, embracing the tearful blonde knight. Eldia felt more responsible for Crow’s condition than anyone else. “What happened was my son’s doing. Zilsonia sent Crow after the menacing dragon that arose in our nation, and had the secret order of assassins, the Masquerade, tail him as a backup plan.” When Crow had squared off against the dragon, the emperor’s mother had suspected just such a ploy. She’d told Iris, who’d then rushed to the site of the battle, barely making it in time to save Crow and Tiana from certain death.
Eldia was also the owner of the estate in which Crow slept now.
“Granted, the emperor didn’t know that the dragon in question was Nidhogg. Crow has accomplished a truly remarkable feat.” Originally, the Blight of the Heavens had been sealed away, in a location known only to the royal family. How could it have been released? This had to be a conspiracy, Eldia posited.
“My mentor, what should I do now?” Iris lamented.
“We can but pray for Crow’s recovery. And no matter what happens, you should not think of following him in death. Am I clear?”
“Y-Yes!”
Together, they held Crow’s hand and hoped for a miracle.
How could this have happened to such a promising youth? Turned into a bloody mess, deprived of one of his limbs, and then—to top it all off—set upon by assassins?
It was unbearably horrific.
“Crow...!”
“Young Crow...”
The two knights pleaded with the heavens.
It didn’t matter if he could never fight again. Please, they begged. Spare him his life.
But it wasn’t salvation that arrived for Crow.
“Is Crow Titus here?!” a voice suddenly rang out.
What came was, in fact, another trial.
“Who are you?!” Eldia demanded, turning at the sound.
There stood a group of raggedy men, clutching the estate’s maids to their chests.
“What is this?!” the empress exclaimed.
“W-We’re sorry, mistress! These people appeared suddenly— Eek!”
One of the men pressed a knife to the maid’s throat. A thin line of blood trickled down her pale skin. “Shut up!” the man commanded before turning to Iris and the empress. “And you two, you know the drill, yeah? Try anything funny, and you can kiss these girls goodbye.”
The two female knights stood frozen in their tracks. Something didn’t compute. How had these interlopers taken all the maids in the estate hostage without making a single sound?
And that wasn’t all.
“They have aethereal arms of their own. And high-quality ones too,” Eldia murmured with certainty. With so many powerful weapons, there was no telling what might happen. “So high-quality, in fact, that vulgar thugs such as yourselves should not own them. Who gave them to you?”
“It’s none of your business, you loli hag!” one of the men said. “We have only one demand. We want the life of that sleeping bastard over there, Crow Titus.”
As one, the men readied their arms—including weapons with immensely destructive powers.
“You think we’ll let you lay a finger on him?!” Iris exclaimed, shocked by their demands, not to mention the dissonance between the fine weapons they wielded and their shabby appearances. There was no reason for a group of unknown thugs to be after Crow’s life. And there was no way they could own weapons of a sort so heavily controlled by the state.
Which could only mean...
“You bastards are the emperor’s pawns, aren’t you?!” Iris exclaimed in explosive anger.
The second she drew her blade, however, the men pointed their own blades at the captive maids. The hostages’ screams echoed throughout the estate, giving Iris pause and slowing her movements.
“Now! Get him!” one of the men commanded.
“What?!”
The thugs all advanced at once, their blades about to reach Crow, when—
“IN YOUR DREAMS.”
Dark aether gushed forth from Crow’s entire body!