That reminded me that he and Merlyn had lately started to do various things in order to live on this island, including hunting. I accompanied them at times, and Luna would also tag along if she was visiting.
“I’m glad to hear you’re all getting along,” I said.
“Are you even listening? I was sent flying by that tackle of hers.”
“It sounds like you should be tackled by Tailtiu next, then. She’s a shy girl, so if she doesn’t know you well, she’ll just watch you from far away.”
“Your point?”
“Tackling is how they say they want to be friends.”
“If we really do become friends and they stop restraining themselves around me, I might just die.”
We strolled through the forest and made idle chatter, when suddenly I sensed a power I’d never felt before. It was coming from somewhere quite far away from our houses, but that distance meant nothing to a resident of this island.
“Whoa, whoa... Is this place just full of crazy strong monsters?” Zelos said.
“Are they new ones? For monsters, these feel decently strong...”
“You’re the real monster, to call that ‘decently’ strong.”
Zelos’s expression was stiff, probably because he could pick up on the gap in strength between himself and what we were sensing. He might have been one of the most powerful magicians on the continent, but all of this island’s inhabitants were Calamity-level beings who were strong enough to go down in history. I had no intention of boasting about my god-given cheats, but it was enough to make me want to use this power for others.
“Their strength is getting out of control. The damage might reach us at this rate. I should go see what’s going on.”
“We’re going to where all those monsters are?” Zelos paused. “Well, I guess we’ll be all right with you around.”
There appeared to be not just one source of power, but several, and they were fighting among themselves.
Zelos and I kicked off the ground, breaking into a sprint through the forest. After a while, we came out of the trees and arrived at a spot resembling a wasteland.
“Hey, you bastards! We don’t got time to be lying around, so pull yourselves together and get back on your goddamn feet! We’re gonna knock those asshole ogres away!”
“The detestable Ancient Dragonfolk riffraff are getting full of themselves! Today shall be the day we show them which of us is stronger!”
“YEEAAHHH!!!”
Around ten people were brawling in the wasteland while spewing dirty words. It was like a scene from a manga about punks, but their power was far beyond anything a human could wield, and their struggle was whipping up a natural disaster.
“Whoa, whoa... This is serious,” Zelos said.
“Yeah, this is definitely going to bother everyone else in the neighborhood...”
There seemed to be two opposing sides, and one of them had an air about them that vaguely resembled Tailtiu’s. Their clothes were black like hers too, so I guessed that they were Ancient Dragonfolk. The group they were clashing with was a bunch of men with dark red skin.
“If they’re fighting with the Ancient Dragonfolk, does that mean they’re Fierce Ogrefolk?” I wondered.
With horns sprouting from their foreheads and wearing outfits that resembled karate gi, they did battle against the Ancient Dragonfolk without retreating a single inch. Luna and Elga had told me before about the different races living on this island; the young Ancient Dragonfolk and Fierce Ogrefolk disliked each other and were always fighting.
“This is the first time I’ve seen them since coming here. They’re way stronger than monsters,” I remarked.
“How can you be so relaxed right now?! At this rate, they’ll send the whole area sky-high!”
“Ah, yeah...”
Just as he said, both the Ancient Dragonfolk and Fierce Ogrefolk were using all their power to defeat their opponents. They generally fought in their human forms, but every now and then some of them turned into dragons and fired beams of light.
“But those ogre people sure are tough,” I said.
“This is insane... Those beams are powerful enough to blow away a fortress city in a single shot.”
“Well, we are on this island, after all...”
Zelos’s eyes were wide with shock at their amazing resilience, but I thought it was pointless to demand common sense from this place.
The Fierce Ogrefolk appeared to sustain little damage despite taking those beams of light head-on, and they wasted no time trying to punch right back. Their attacks must have been pretty intense, because each strike was accompanied by a sound like a crash of lighting. Of course, the Ancient Dragonfolk weren’t just helplessly taking it either; neither side was giving in, and they appeared evenly matched in strength.
At any rate, they didn’t show any hostility toward us, so there didn’t seem to be any need to intervene.
“I guess this means we’ll just spectate for now,” I said.
“Yeah, it’s not like I can do anything anyway,” Zelos said. “I’d die the second I stepped foot into that mess.”
“Also, we’re pretty far from our houses, so I don’t think there will be any damage, and it does seem like they made sure to choose a proper location, so there’s no need to get involved.”
We sat down on the spot and observed the two groups clashing for a while. If this had been the forest or somewhere else close by, I would have instantly stepped in and stopped them, but here it seemed like it would be all right to let them fight as long as they wished.
But then, I sensed a familiar presence in the sky over the forest.
“Oh, it’s Tailtiu,” I said.
“Huh? What’s she doing?” Zelos said.
Tailtiu stopped in midair above where the two groups were fighting and stared down at them in her black dragon form.
Is she here to back up the Ancient Dragonfolk? I wondered, but she just restlessly flitted about the sky. Every now and then she got a bit closer, seeming to look for an opening to join the fight, but she’d withdraw a moment later. She repeated this many times, but in the end she retreated high into the sky to observe from a distance. She seemed almost like a child trying and failing to join a circle of friends.
“Hey, Arata... By any chance, could she be trying to get them to let her join in?”
“You think so too, Zelos?”
“That’s the only thing it could possibly be. But for all that, she’s getting cold feet and running away. She stands out way too much with her huge body.”
The Ancient Dragonfolk and Fierce Ogrefolk continued to fight while shouting. Tailtiu just looked down on them with jealousy.
“Y’know, I sort of wonder,” Zelos said.
“Huh? About what?”
“Those guys who are fighting. Both sides have to have noticed she’s there. It’s like they’re ignoring her on purpose.”
“Definitely.”
I hadn’t realized it until then, but both her enemies and her presumed friends seemed to be treating her as if she weren’t there. Tailtiu was rather large in her dragon form, and the mana cloaking her body was far and away the strongest here. Even if they were completely absorbed in the fight, there was no way they wouldn’t notice her.
“What if they actually are ignoring her?” I said.
“Well... That’s definitely not a nice thought.”
“Yeah, it isn’t.”
I remembered Tailtiu crying at the feast venue yesterday. Even though she really had just wanted to be included, it still hadn’t turned out as she hoped.