“Hey, since this is the last one, do you want to purify it together?” Miss Maria suggested with a cute smile. “You purified the first one, and I did the second. And if we’re both Sacred Maidens, we should do the last one together, right?”
She continued, slightly shyly, “I’ve always wanted to do something with a friend... And I want to do something to remember you...”
“Me too... I want something to remember you by, too. If you’re alright with me, would you let me do it with you?”
“Of course it’s okay, I was the one who suggested it! Geez, you’re so hesitant.”
“Kyukyu!”
Shiro flew back down, rubbing up against us as if he wanted to be included, so I said, “You need to help us too, Shiro.”
I didn’t know what would happen if we purified it together, but because I didn’t have as much mana as Miss Maria did, I would need his help in order to keep from fainting and bothering everyone.
“It will be nice to work with both of you.”
“Yeah!”
“Kyuwah~!”
While the three of us promised each other, Eric came back from setting up barrier crystals around the tree. They wouldn’t mean anything if a monster was born from the Cristallo Sacro while we were there, but setting them up would keep most monsters away, just like they did when we camped.
“I’m done. Although, I don’t know how much it’ll matter, since there aren’t many monsters left.”
“Are you going to investigate the tree before we purify it?”
“Yep, I’m gonna go check. But since it’s an item for the Sacred Maiden to go home with once the trees are purified, it probably won’t be there before that.” Eric tilted his head as he approached the tree, which was still surrounded in black mist. He tried to pull a leaf off from somewhere he could reach, but it didn’t seem to work.
While he did that, Sir Gaius and Sir Celes returned from their search. “There was nothing.”
“Commander, even the Twrch Trwyth we saw earlier weren’t anywhere near us.”
“I see. Good work, you two. Now, we just have to wait for Reynard... Ah, he’s back.”
Hearing their reports, Sir Agliardi spotted Lord Reynard running towards us through the trees. So everyone was here.
“We have trouble!”
“What’s wrong?”
Out of breath, Lord Reynard was nowhere near his usual calm self. He was pale, pushing up the bridge of his slanted glasses as he gave us a chilling report. “There’s a dragon coming our way! Based on where it was when I saw it, I can tell it will be here any second!”
“Just one?”
“Just one, but it’s an adult. A black dragon, just like the one that attacked Aquilani.”
Tension immediately filled the air as he told us. Dragons were vicious, but there weren’t many of them. Though it may not have attacked any human settlements, we knew how much destruction dragons could cause after what happened before. The dragon that Sir Celes had slain had killed countless people. There was no way the eight of us could defeat it.
“Kyuu?” Shiro squeaked in my arms as I paled. The white baby dragon, born from the Cristallo Sacro in Kyriest. Shiro had never even shown a sign of aggression.
I could hear my heart beating. Shiro was harmless... Because I had purified him.
“...Miss Maria.”
“W-What?”
“I’m sorry, but can I leave the purification of the Cristallo Sacro to you?”
I shifted Shiro to my right hand, while holding Miss Maria’s hand with my left. Her shaking hands gave me strength. I wasn’t the only one who was afraid. Everyone else was, too. It would be fine. I could do it. I would definitely do it!
“I’ll purify the dragon.” I squeezed out my words, looking at Sir Celes as he pulled out his sword.
“Lucia!”
There was something I could do, and only me. And if I was able, I had to do it.
“It’s okay. Calming monsters down is my specialty. You know that, right? That’s what my power is.”
His sky-blue eyes looked straight at me. That’s why I wasn’t afraid. I wasn’t alone, after all. I had Sir Celes, Miss Maria, and everyone else. Their presence gave me strength. His Highness had said that I was this world’s Sacred Maiden, and Miss Maria was another world’s — that cleansing the Cristallo Sacro should have been my job, originally.
It was true that the people of this world should end things on their own, but maybe this was the reason why two Sacred Maidens existed. One to cleanse, and one to protect the other. It wasn’t that you could use either. Maybe they needed to summon another Sacred Maiden and use her power to purify them more safely.
“Miss Maria will purify the tree, and I’ll purify the monsters. We can do it. There’s nothing we can’t do when Shiro’s with us.”
Just as Lord Reynard had said, the sound of strong wingbeats rang out, and the treetops shook from the sudden gusts of wind. At the same time, the dragon’s ominous black form appeared above us.
“Let’s do this, Miss Maria.”
“...You’re right. Let’s go!”
We squeezed our linked hands tighter. We weren’t alone. That’s why we could fight.
“Cristallo Sacro, cornerstone of this world, be bathed in light!”
“Soap!”
As our voices overlapped, everything was bathed in a rainbow-colored glow.