“…Hey, Sheto.”
“What is it?”
“What…is that?”
The young dragon pointed his blue finger towards the edge of a cloud.
A dark shadow was emerging.
“For a cloud, it looks kind of…?”
“Fi, is this your first time, seeing it?”
His face grew harsh, and his hand tensely reached for his blade.
And then, it showed itself as the clouds were pushed away.
“A mou…mountain!? No, is that…”
“Yes.”
Far into the distance, as high as the clouds could go. Loomed the giant castle.
“The castle, of the Demon King.”
The air seemed to shake as he spoke. In spite of being so far away, there was a strong sense of pressure coming from it.
“Ah…uh…”
“What is it, Fi?”
The dragon began to groan as he held his head.
His whole body shook, and he began to sweat as if in pain.
“Are you alright!?”
“My…hea…agh…hurts…!”
As he fell to the ground, the birds in the forest took into the air and scattered. In the meantime, Fi continued to groan and write on the ground.
“Fi! Keep it together!”
“Ahh…ugh…ga…my…head…”
Eventually, the dark castle flew away, and things were quiet once again. At the same time, the dragon lifted his head.
“Agh…ouch…”
“What!? What happened!?”
“I don’t… My ears…no, horns. It was like they were going to explode…”
In spite of what he said, there was nothing abnormal about Fi’s black horns. Still, Sheto put a hand on his head.
“Let’s go. It is said, the Demon King’s tower, unleashes bad power.”
“And I was hit by it?”
“Let’s go. I’m…worried about you.”
“Ah, no. I’m fine. I don’t feel it anymore.”
“No!”
He shouted more strongly than he intended to.
Then he grabbed the dragon by the shoulders.
“Tonight, can talk to Salia. And then, will tell her properly. I won’t, let it break you!”
“Uh, hey, Sheto..”
“Don’t argue! Now, we’re leaving!”
“Ouch…my shoulders!”
Fi shouted, and then Sheto realized what he was doing.
“So…sorry! Must have hurt…sorry.”
“You…you’re overreacting. I said that it was nothing.”
“Yes. Fine. Now…let’s go.”
Sheto knew it, as he pulled the dragon’s hand and walked.
To a surprising degree, he was getting sentimental.
‘He must have become sick from the spirit voice.’
That night, while preparing dinner, Salia talked to him again from her god seat.
“Spirit…sick?”
‘Dragons use their horns to hear the sounds around them. As well as the voices from spirits. The atmosphere must have been shredded by the castle’s power, and the confused spirits were screaming.’
“Will he…be alright?”
Salia chuckled.
‘Young dragon’s are more sensitive and easily affected by such voices. But he should be fine. Still, if he is affected too strongly, let him rest in a quiet place.’
“Ah, that was crazy. I felt so dizzy…”
Fi said. Though he continued to eat with a great appetite.
“This is pretty good. I didn’t think I’d be able to eat dumplings here.”
He said happily while holding the white dumpling.
Today, Sheto had made soup with fish and mountain vegetables, roasted fowl, and lily bulb dumplings.
“Still, there are a lot of good dishes today. Are we celebrating something?”
“Fi, you worked well. So, this is a reward.”
“Oh….oh… Uh, thank you.”
“Also, we will leave soon. Must eat food that won’t last long.”
The young dragon looked stunned. The kobold chuckled.
“Finished with most preparations. Time to leave.”
“I…see…”
‘Are you sure?’
Sheto thought for a moment and nodded.
“Made what weapons and armor, I could. Retrieved everything. Also, Fi learned a lot, about mountains.”
“I…I don’t know that much… You know?”
“Very grateful for your help, Fi. Thank you.”
Perhaps he was not used to being thanked. The dragon pretended to not hear as he continued to eat.
‘In that case, it would be best to depart. The Seer’s army will start their invasion in earnest soon.’
“After Heroes, a whole army.”
‘Aye. A hundred Heroes will not compare to them.’
Strangely, he did not feel any despair from listening to Salia’s words.
Perhaps he was just too tired of despair. If you were forced to fight battles where there was a disadvantage no matter what you did, then despair was just a waste of time.