Chapter 25: I Don’t Believe That Alone Can Be Called Atonement

“U-Uwah…”

“UWAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!”

The appearance of the massive dragon threw the Byuredesto army into complete chaos.

Dragons—those monsters that even the full force of the Saripa army once failed to defeat.

It had been a catastrophe that took tens of thousands of lives before the fourth predecessor of the first Lord Spio finally managed to subdue it.

“…Hey, this isn’t right.”

If a dragon goes on a rampage, a nation is doomed.

Since ancient times, that has been the common belief, and in reality, countless countries have been wiped off the map.

—Dragons are humanity’s natural enemy.

“So why the hell is a dragon obeying the Yaiban people!?”

And yet, the dragon accompanying the Yaiban army…

It moved carefully to avoid trampling the surrounding Yaiban soldiers, while letting out a ferocious growl toward us.

“Don’t tell me Yaiban has brought a dragon under its control.”

“There’s no way that’s possible—this must be some kind of fluke.”

“No, but look, the dragon isn’t attacking the Yaiban army at all.”

In all of recorded history, there hasn’t been a single instance of humans subjugating a dragon.

No matter what kind of persuasion is used, there’s no reason for an elephant to obey an ant.

“You insolent fool! The Dragon God does not serve us!”

And yet, the Yaiban have accomplished the impossible.

“It is we who serve the Dragon God.”

“That’s insane!”

They offered their own people to the Dragon God Gurdebakh, calling it a deity and tending to it with great care.

In doing so, they came to be seen by the dragon not as prey, but as useful little creatures—and thus were spared its wrath.

It might even be said that their relationship had become one of symbiosis.

The Yaiban protected their nation by offering up their own kin to the dragon.

The dragon, in turn, was able to enjoy its daily meals without effort, and rest in peace and safety.

But that didn’t mean the Yaiban were entirely without resistance to the idea of sacrificing the corpses of their own parents and siblings.

They created a religion that worshipped the dragon to convince the populace, but deep down, many were conflicted.

“Why are we the only ones forced to make these sacrifices?”

“Shouldn’t Saripa be made to offer tribute as well?”

Those bitter feelings were directed at their neighboring nation, Saripa.

Normally, if a dragon were to run wild, the Kingdom of Saripa would also suffer significant damage.

So why was it only the Yaiban people who had to offer sacrifices?

If Saripa was enjoying peace, then they too should be offering up tribute.

Through such negotiations, a secret pact was made with Count Zister.

Count Zister, having learned of the dragon in Yaiban, realized that the Kingdom of Saripa had no hope of victory.

However, due to diplomatic ties with the Deken Empire, he couldn’t afford to enter into any formal agreement with Yaiban.

Nor did Count Zister have the courage to openly rebel against the Kingdom of Saripa.

So instead, he apologized, saying, “I’m sorry, but due to diplomatic reasons, I cannot openly follow Yaiban,” and suggested: “However, we’ll refrain from stationing troops in Byuredesto. Why not launch a raid and recover the bodies yourselves?”

Taking Count Zister’s position into account, the Yaiban side accepted the proposal.

Together, they offered sacrifices to the dragon, forging a pact in pursuit of shared peace.

That was the true story behind Count Zister’s betrayal.

---

“VaoooOOOO!!”

With that dragon’s roar, the air trembled violently.

The dragon soared into the sky on a storm of wind, climbing high with the sun at its back.

“I-It flew…”

“What kind of speed is that?!”

Flapping its massive wings, the dragon descended right in front of the Buyuredesto fortress walls.

…And with a thunderous quake, it shattered the supposedly impenetrable walls like they were nothing more than cookies.

“Hiiih!”

The sheer impact of its landing caused a shockwave that sent my skirt flapping as if glued to my legs.

Even the tremor alone crumbled part of the fortress wall with a loud crash.

“Th-That thing’s huuuuuge… W-Whoa…”

The beast let out a foul breath in our direction, licking its lips.

Its overwhelming presence left even the normally unshakable Luri-chan looking like a broken machine.

“H-Help meeeee!!”

“W-We have to run! T-There’s no way we can win—!”

“Everyone, calm down! I’m issuing the next command!”

Facing such an absurdly powerful enemy, the Buyuredesto soldiers were on the verge of total collapse.

Even I could only stand there in stunned silence, frozen in place.

“Abort Butterfly Dance—Water Butterfly’s Waltz won’t work on a dragon!”

“B-Berka?”

In the midst of the chaos, only Berka remained composed as he raised his voice.

Had he waited even a moment longer to speak, the formation would have completely broken down.

“Scorpion Unit, prep for battle! Execute Plan H—Poisoncraft: The Forest of Venomous Stingers! Snow Spirit Unit, head to the supply depot and change into your Snowdance uniforms!”

“Wha—Hey! You’re actually planning to fight that thing?!”

“It’s fine. Don’t worry. We’ve accounted for situations where non-human monsters might attack!”

His sharp command jolted the troops back to their senses.

Then, standing firm before the dragon, he calmly raised the Salipa Kingdom flag.

“What a blessing this is—rarely do we get the chance to slay a dragon! You all have the chance to become the heroes of legends told for generations to come!”

“R-Really? You think we can actually do it, Berka?!”

“Hmph! Leave it to me! Carry out the plan without fear—victory is within our grasp!”

Berka’s words helped steady the troops’ nerves.

Then he turned and stared straight at me.

…Snapping back to my role, I raised my voice as well.

“I am Rishali, Second Princess of the Salipa Kingdom! As of this moment, that dragon is hereby designated an enemy of Salipa!”

“An… enemy?”

“Did you know? In the war a hundred years ago, every soldier who fought against a dragon received a medal, and their names were carved into a stone monument in the royal palace.”

“O-Oh…?”

“By the name of Rishali, I proclaim this: anyone who helps defeat that dragon in this battle will have their name engraved in the royal monument! I will grant you all the honor of eternal remembrance!”

“Uoooohhh!!”

Berka’s shout had snapped me awake.

My role is to boost morale—I can’t afford to just stand around.

“Berka-san, I leave command in your hands!”

“Got it! Make sure my medal is the biggest one, alright?!”

With full confidence, Berka began barking orders.

The once-panicked soldiers had regained their composure and were now following his commands.

“……”

But I, standing right beside him, was the only one who noticed.

His palms were damp with sweat, and he was biting his lip, suppressing his own fear.

---

"Let's go! Attack the dragon! Get the non-combatants out of the city!"

"Hah, hahaha. Still daring to resist, you fools!!"

Seeing that expression on Berka's face, I understood.

There was no chance of victory in this battle.

"Prioritize evacuating the women and children! Head in the direction of the Salipa Kingdom forces!"

"Go, Luri! There's nothing more you can do!"

"O-okay."

"Inform them of the situation and have the army provide protection!"

Berka had regrouped the troops likely to buy time for the other citizens of Byuredesto to escape.

He was trying to draw the dragon's attention, stall for time, and reduce the casualties as much as possible.

"At Point A in the east, Poisoncraft of the Poison Needle Sword Mountain! Snow Spirit unit, lure the dragon to Point A! After that, use the Secret Passage and return to the castle!"

"R-roger!"

"Even for a dragon, a neurotoxin should work! Paralyze its legs first!"

Berka’s composure didn’t crack.

What he had prepared next was a massive iron stake, coated in paralytic poison, meant for large beasts.

It was as thick as my torso, a sharp iron spike coated in a pitch-black, oily substance.

"Hahaha! Foolish, foolish, FOOLISH!!"

The Snow Spirit unit wore bright, flashy uniforms.

They were truly brave.

They revealed themselves before the dragon, drew its attention, and lured it to step on the poisoned spikes.

"As if something like that could pierce the Dragon God's flesh!!"

…But the iron stake did not injure the dragon’s foot.

Like clay crushed underfoot, the stake was pitifully flattened.

The dragon’s skin was impenetrable, even to iron—just as the old tales had said.

"Oilman unit! Shower it with oily wood shavings using wind magic! Then Cupid unit, fire your flaming arrows!"

"Do you not learn? Do you not understand the greatness of the Dragon God!?"

Next, Berka unleashed a deluge of wood shavings on the dragon and lit them aflame.

I could feel the searing heat on my skin—it was an intense blaze.

Before the walls of Byuredesto, a wave of fire surged forward.

"This is Byuredesto’s maximum firepower!"

"Ahahahaha! The Dragon God is the god of fire! Attacking with flames? The height of idiocy!"

But the dragon didn’t even bother to dodge. The flames struck its scales directly, only to scatter and vanish.

The dragon yawned. Not even a single burn.

"This is a god. This is a dragon! Fear it, revere it, and bow before it!!"

The enemy priestess’s shrill voice rang in my ears.

There was never any chance of winning.

"…Lady Rishali, that’s enough. It’s time for you to go."

"Berka?"

"You understand, don’t you? These petty tricks—they’re only buying time."

I was technically the commander-in-chief, so I remained on the ramparts.

But Berka, having realized our defeat, whispered that to me.

"I’m sorry. We can’t win. We never accounted for the dragon. That failure is mine."

"N-no… It’s unreasonable to expect anyone to anticipate something like that…"

"Nothing is impossible on the battlefield. No excuses. I failed to fulfill my vow—feel free to blame me."

He looked at me with unwavering seriousness.

A gaze that allowed no argument.

"Listen, Princess. I still have one final plan. Even against a dragon, I have a shot at striking back."

"If you use it, will it protect Byuredesto?"

"No, it won’t. It’s a trap that collapses the city itself by utilizing the underground hollows. A last-resort plan meant to lure enemy troops into the city and slaughter them all at once."

"……"

"If we can lure it in, we might drop the dragon—body and all—into a pit and bury it in rubble. We likely won’t kill it, but we might cause panic."

Berka remained Berka, even to the very end.

A man who prepared multiple layers of strategy, chose the best option among them, and executed them in succession.

"If you stay here, you’ll be caught in the collapse. Escape with the townspeople."

"B-but if we do that, the soldiers still in the city will—"

"I’ll say this selfishly. Considering how poorly we’ve treated Princess Rishali, you have every right to refuse."

And that was the final trump card Berka had prepared.

He was about to play his final trump card—the collapse of Byuredesto itself.

"I will die here. There’s no saving me now."

"────"

"…That’s why I’m counting on you to protect Luri. She’s my only family."

In Berka’s eyes burned the resolve of one prepared to die.

This man was buying time with his life, entrusting the rest to me and the main force of the Salipa Kingdom.

"Berka! The dragon’s heading this way! What should we do next!?"

"Right… Let's use Foxfire. We’ll buy everyone a little more time to escape."

"Roger that!"

Before anyone realized it, every soldier fighting had that same desperate fire in their eyes.

Faced with a dragon—an unstoppable natural disaster—they had made peace with sacrificing their lives, if it meant saving their families and friends.

"Lady Rishali, please keep running straight down the main road. You’ll reach the back gate and can escape from there."

"Soldier…"

"Thank you for coming all the way here for us. That’s more than enough."

The soldier standing right beside Berka also bowed his head to me as he said this.

And for some reason, he wore a bright, peaceful smile as he continued,

"You’re not someone who should die in a place like this. Please, live on… and tell others of the valor you saw here."

"……!"

That was their wish—to be remembered.

---

The dragon was tyrannical, overwhelming, and violent.

Any soldier who approached was crushed beneath its wings, blown away by its roar, or swatted aside by its tail.

"This is the fate of fools. Your mistake was refusing to obey the wise Count Zister."

The difference between humans and the dragon was absolute.

They were creatures of entirely different orders.

"Defying the Dragon God is a mistake. No matter what they do, humans can never defeat a dragon."

Its skin was tougher than iron, its roar held explosive force, and its magical power was sheer brutality incarnate.

No matter how many ants gather, they cannot wound an elephant.

Ants simply aren't made to fight elephants.

"You turn your eyes from the truth and keep resisting in vain. Ah, the Salipa Kingdom is nothing but a gathering of fools."

The people of Yaiban had accepted that truth, surrendered, and pledged loyalty to the dragon.

And so, Yaiban developed without having its land ravaged by the beast.

They offered the corpses of countless citizens to the dragon—and in exchange, obtained peace.

"Whether resistance is futile or not is something we decide for ourselves. Did you know? In our country, we once defeated a dragon a hundred years ago."

"Absurd. It was surely just an aged, weakened beast, wasn’t it?"

"Do you doubt my nation’s history? Then watch—I'll wound the dragon with my final strategy."

Berka couldn’t claim he’d slay the dragon, but he did believe he could injure it.

The dragon’s massive frame made its weight immense. Any creature, if toppled, would sustain damage.

Even if small iron stakes couldn’t pierce its hide, a heavy fall could inflict blunt trauma.

"Pathetic! As if anything could injure the Dragon God!"

"Excellent! Then face Berka’s final gambit and see for yourself!"

If they could wound the dragon here, it would support the main Salipa Kingdom army.

After that, all he could do was place his faith in the soldiers of his homeland—the same nation that once brought down a dragon.

"This Byuredesto, this Salipa Kingdom, will never bow to the likes of you!"

Berka, the guardian commander of Byuredesto, answered the enemy’s taunt with unshaken dignity.

---

"Wait, Berka."

"…Huh?"

I reached out and placed a hand on Berka’s shoulder—he who had already steeled himself for the end.

"Hey, Princess Rishali. Why haven’t you escaped yet?"

"Well, it’s just that—"

"Hurry up and get out of here. If you die getting caught in this, it'll be a problem. We’re buying time specifically so you can escape."

Surely, Berka would have succeeded.

With masterful command, he likely led the dragon into the trap and inflicted a wound upon it.

"That plan… might not be necessary anymore."

"Hah?"

But before any of that—

I had already seen it.

A trail of rising dust beyond the castle gate, steadily growing closer from far off in the distance.

"────Reinforcements have arrived on our side, too."

---

The Salipa Kingdom army wasn’t supposed to arrive for another day.

But he—he must have been unable to wait.

Alone, he had charged toward Byuredesto.

"Reinforcements?"

"Can you see it? That one, there."

Dust rose high into the air.

Like a contrail streaking across the sky, it tore across the land with incredible speed.

"Rest easy, Berka. Your role is finished now."

"What are you saying? Princess Rishali, you—"

"You said it yourself, didn’t you? That we couldn’t hope to defeat Yaiban’s main force, and that your role was only to buy time."

A piercing screech—like the air itself being torn apart—closed in.

What looked like a storm front reached the very walls of Byuredesto.

"You did well, Berka. The reinforcements are here."

---

────The earth groaned under the impact.

A moment after noticing the tremor, a deafening explosion rocked the ground.

"Hey."

He was already standing—on one foot—right in front of the dragon.

The shockwave from his landing had kicked up a towering cloud of dust across the plain.

As the dust parted around the dragon’s scales, he planted his feet wide and twisted his waist to the limit.

"What the hell do you think you’re doing to Princess Rishali?"

Then, like releasing an arrow from a fully drawn bow, he unleashed a spinning kick—

────A thunderous crash split the ears of everyone present.

---

"VUXAAAAAAAHHHH!?"

"HAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!?"

Moments later, the massive body was soaring through the air.

The dragon’s neck bent in an impossible direction, and as it crashed down, it swept away countless Yaiban soldiers who had been watching in stunned silence. The Dragon God was sent skidding across the ground, like a boulder kicked down a slope.

"…H-huh?"

The enemy priestess’s dazed voice echoed faintly.

She stared in dumbfounded silence at the gigantic dragon that had just been blown away, her expression frozen in disbelief.

"Are you unharmed, Lady Rishali?"

"Thank you. You made it in time."

"…I deeply apologize for my failure to protect you."

He didn’t even glance at the dragon he had just sent flying.

Kneeling before me, a knight bowed his head with tears welling in his eyes.

"That’s all well and good, but, um—Takeru, can you… do something about that?"

"That… being the dragon?"

"Yes."

Even I had to admit how ridiculous I sounded.

All of Byuredesto’s soldiers combined hadn’t been able to put a scratch on that thing, and now I was asking one man to deal with it.

It was an utterly unreasonable request.

"…I’d like to ask you to defeat it."

"I see. I doubt slaying a dragon could ever make up for my sins, but…"

Yet Takeru, upon hearing my words, nodded without hesitation.

"Your command is received."

He turned to face the massive dragon, still reeling in the distance, and raised a small fist.