Brunhild fell downward onto the dragon’s back. The amber dragon had deftly tossed her onto a seat on his back.
In the town seen below, people were wailing. “He’s kidnapped a girl!”
“Call for the knights!”
<I’m glad you’re safe, Bernstein. How did you get out?>
<Your sister helped me.>
The dragon continued to fly at high speed—in a direction out of the kingdom.
<…Hey, where are we going?> Brunhild asked.
<Somewhere not in this kingdom. Anywhere is fine. You’re going to live there, with me.>
<No!> Brunhild raised her voice a little. <I told you. I’m going to destroy the crown. I can’t abandon my sister and run.>
<This is her wish.>
Brunhild hesitated.
<When she freed me, Kriemhild said—she wanted me to take her sister and flee the kingdom. Of course, I feel the same way.>
<But…>
<The practical issue here is that saving Kriemhild is nigh impossible, since we have no way of defeating that old soldier. I’ll take you out of the country. This time, no matter how you protest, I will take you away.>
The amber dragon was thinking of when Brunhild had been captured by Warren. Being immobilized by stilettos, the dragon had only been able to watch. He didn’t want to experience such powerlessness anymore, and neither did he want to let such a thing happen to Brunhild again.
<I cannot repeat that mistake…,> he muttered quietly.
Brunhild was glad to hear that. The ring of his words touched deep in her heart. <…Thank you. You truly do care for me, don’t you?>
She wrapped her arms around the dragon’s neck. There was clear affection and tenderness in her hands. So then the amber dragon could be at ease and flap his way out of the kingdom.
But—
<…So I’m sorry.>
The arms wrapped around his neck slid away.
The weight on his back vanished.
When he turned his head behind, thinking that it couldn’t be, Brunhild had leaped from his back.
She fell upside-down toward the earth. The First Queen had been able to fly through the air without wings, but Brunhild couldn’t do that.
<You fool!>
He pursued the falling Brunhild. She descended at the speed of a shooting star. He caught her in his mouth right before she hit the ground.
Still with her in his maw, the amber dragon said angrily, <You just about died.>
<I wouldn’t die. My body is invincible. Well, it might hurt a little, though.>
Now that she pointed it out, it was true. It had been so sudden, he had forgotten she was physically invincible.
<But it’s still an incredibly reckless thing to do!>
She spoke of it lightly…but once she had hit the ground, it would have hurt far more than just “a little.”
<I had no choice. The way things were going, I was going to wind up eloping with a dragon.>
<Do you dislike me that much?>
<It’s not that. I do like you. But…even so, my sister is a greater priority.>
<Do you love her?>
<Hmm. I’m not sure. When you put it like that, I don’t know…but to me, protecting Kriemhild is something I take for granted, like breathing. So abandoning her isn’t even an option to me.>
The amber dragon thought privately—that was love.
The amber dragon had lived longer than humans. He figured he had something of an understanding of love.
Even if he tried to drag Brunhild out of the country with him, she would return on her own.
The amber dragon gently lowered her, in his mouth. Her thin legs touched the ground.
<…There’s no helping it. Let’s put a plan together—a plan to save your sister.>
The amber dragon understood anew that they had to save Kriemhild first or he would be unable to save Brunhild.
“Brunhild!”
Anima had watched as the white-haired girl had been taken away by the amber dragon. Of course he’d assumed she was being abducted to be eaten. He couldn’t hear the Dragon’s Tongue.
Anima pursued the dragon and Brunhild. But it was too fast, and he was completely unable to catch up.
Running on and on, Anima finally ran out of breath and came to a stop. He hung his head, shoulders heaving. Sweat dripped down to make black marks on the ground.
“Damn it… Brunhild…,” he was mumbling in frustration when someone addressed him.
“Hey, you over there.”
He looked over to see a knight standing there. He was clad in armor that only high-ranked knights were allowed to wear.
That knight was one of the top twelve in the kingdom. He was of a position high enough to be aware of the kingdom’s dark secrets, about the facts of the Miracle and the crown.
“You just said ‘Brunhild,’ didn’t you?”
Anima felt his blood draining from his whole body. “Uh…I mean…”
Right now, knights all over the kingdom were searching for Brunhild.
The knight grabbed Anima’s arm hard. “You’re coming with me.”
Anima was dragged off to the castle.
The high-ranked knight personally questioned him. Normally, a high-ranked knight would not personally be doing any questioning, but the matter of Brunhild was closely related to the kingdom’s dark secrets. They would have to be someone who knew about the Miracle and such, or he wouldn’t be able to conduct an interrogation.
When asked about Brunhild, Anima confessed everything honestly. It was partially self-preservation, but he also understood that even if he told them, it wouldn’t help them catch Brunhild. He had just sheltered her for three days.
The high-ranked knight also seemed to figure he couldn’t get much information from Anima.
“I have no more to ask you,” he said, and then left the interrogation room. Anima thought it was looking like he would soon be freed.
Ten minutes after the high-ranked knight left—
—someone else came into the room.
He had believed without any doubt that a low-ranked knight would escort him out of the castle.
But the one who came was a man of far nobler station than some high-ranked knight.
It was an old minister wrapped in a dark cloak—Warren.
The air in the room completely changed. Warren had a clever and sharp air to him, making Anima tense.
Warren opened his mouth solemnly. “I know who you are.”
He held a spear in hand. It was the magic spear that had been in Anima’s house. The knight had worried he was still sheltering Brunhild and had found it when searching his house.
Warren spoke brusquely, but Anima did sense he was being clearly respectful.
“First, I must apologize. The old royal family should never have fallen on such hard times.”
Having been a close aide to the queen, Warren also knew about the old royal family—and also that they had been persecuted to prevent them from attacking those who had supplanted them.
The Dragonslaying Queen had meant to safeguard the old royal family, before. Even after her death, so long as those vassals who continued to succeed her will had lived, the old royal family had been protected. But the aristocracy only cared about practical benefits, and they saw the preservation of the old royal family as no more than a waste of money. The queen had died and her vassals had died, and gradually, the protections for the old royal family had weakened. Warren had succeeded the queen’s will and tried to continue safeguarding the old royal family, but after the queen’s death, there had been many other matters to deal with in the kingdom, and ultimately, he had failed to protect them.
“I am partly responsible for the fact that you could never voice your name.”
Anima was taken aback. He had never imagined he would have an ally he’d never even met.
“If you wish it, you will be warmly welcomed as an aristocrat. Someone of your stature shouldn’t end his life as a low-ranked knight.”
“…Really?!” Anima’s expression brightened. Before today, he had always wished for a normal life. But if he could have more than a normal life, then nothing could be better.
“Truly. But I also have conditions. Though they are not very difficult conditions.”
“What are they?”
Warren offered the magic spear to Anima. “I want you to take this spear and fight for the sake of the kingdom. Protect the kingdom with me.”
“Huh…?”
Anima hesitated to pick up the magic spear. He felt like that had a different implication from becoming aristocracy. It seemed to him that if there was such a thing as fate, when he took this spear in hand, he would be swallowed up by that great current.
As Anima hesitated, Warren said, “Your true name is that of a hero. A hero will have a responsibility they must fulfill. In your case, it’s to offer yourself to the kingdom. Become someone worthy of your true name.”
“What should I do…specifically?”
“For starters, I want you to help me kill Brunhild.”
Warren told Anima about the kingdom’s secrets. Either he was certain Anima would be on his side, or he meant this as atonement toward the old royal family—Anima didn’t know.
“That spear is magic. It’s possible you could take the life of a child of God. I have high hopes for you. I even hope you will follow in my footsteps to become the guardian of this kingdom.”
Warren thought highly of Anima.
Warren knew the truth behind the killing of the evil dragon one hundred years ago. Once, the First Queen had told only him.
He knew the dragon that had been called a foolish king had actually staked his life to protect the First Queen. He’d had the First Queen kill him after he had gone out of control as an evil dragon, setting her up to be not the wife of a foolish king but a dragonslaying hero. To Warren, the old royal family were people owed a divine debt. That was why he wanted Anima to become the guardian of the First Queen’s kingdom, no matter what it took. That was precisely why he felt something fateful about this encounter.
But Anima was still undecided. “What will happen…if I refuse?”
“Are you in a position to refuse?” Warren’s tone of voice took a turn, becoming severe.
He was telling him implicitly—that if he was to be a hero, then not fulfilling his responsibility would be a sin.
Warren leaned the spear up against the wall. “If you’re prepared to wield this spear, then at that time, I would very much like to call you by your true name.”
Warren left the room, leaving the spear behind.
Anima gazed at the spear.
He had no choice but to fight against Brunhild. All this time, he had gotten by giving in to those who were stronger than him. He should do the same here. This wasn’t a situation where he could refuse anyway. Judging from Warren’s answer when he’d asked “what will happen if I refuse,” he functionally had no choice.
He knew that.
“I know that, but…”
He thought of the three days he had spent with Brunhild.
Her reluctantly eating her vegetables, her accompanying him for shopping despite her poor health, and her telling that poor lie at the end in an attempt to be considerate before leaving.