Chapter 279 – Intermission (The Unmerited Swordsman)

For me, who is not good at dealing with people, the only people I could call friends were you guys.

But Earth. I’ve always been jealous of you.

――Fu is the best wizard in the world! Rebal is the best swordsman in the world! Phianse is the best spearmaster in the world! And I’m going to be the strongest ultra hero in the world, better than my father!

You pulled us together and you were always at our center.

Phianse, whom I greatly admire, always looked at you, not at me.

I envied you because you were strong, cheerful, and honest with your feelings.

I wanted to be a man who could compete with you. I didn’t want to lose.

That’s why I swung my sword hundreds of thousands and thousands of times since I was a child.

The skin of my hands was torn, my blisters were crushed, but I still swung the sword.

I didn’t want to be left behind.

But shortly after entering the Academy…

――Ooooh, Rebal won a mock battle against Earth!

――Rival defeated Earth, the son of the Hero Hiro!

――As expected, the son of the Sword Saint!

To my amazement, I defeated you.

No, I wasn’t the only one.

In overall strength, Phianse.

In the field of magic, Fu.

Everyone has outperformed you in their respective areas.

Maybe it started back then.

We gradually began to grow apart from each other.

――Hey hey, Earth, Rebal, Princess, let’s have lunch together~

We were never completely estranged because Fu was the mediator between us.

But even so, our relationship was no longer the same as it had been in the past.

――Studying abroad? You and Fu… I see… well, do your best.

――Yeah. Earth…… I’ll come back stronger…

――Haha, it’s still not good enough for you…

I was seething.

I was also irritated by Earth’s friendly laugh and his somewhat carefree attitude.

My complex feelings for Phianse were also there, and I couldn’t get rid of them.

Despite these feelings, I was able to experience growth by meeting powerful people and warriors from other countries.

At times, when the country was in danger, I was sent out and was able to defeat the attacking dragons in deadly battle.

This, along with the title of Dragon Slayer, gave me absolute confidence in my own strength.

I am no longer the same person I was when I was always chasing after Earth.

I am stronger.

I thought that if I were the current me, I would be able to confidently tell Phianse about my feelings.

But……

In the Graduation Match, I fought against Earth and was defeated…

I couldn’t protect Earth from his anguish, or from the voices of others…

And I was unable to do anything useful against the enemy that Earth, who had fled the country, was fighting…

Is this any different from when I was chasing after Earth? No, it is not. Earth has already gone too far ahead for me to see.

The words I swore in the Heavenly World, “Someday I will become Earth’s strength,” were not false. But to achieve that…

“…… D….. Dragon? H, how enormous…”

A huge dragon was flying in the sky above us.

And the moment I saw it, my whole body trembled.

“W-What is this… preposterous…”

It had no hostility or murderous intent toward us.

However, just by being there, my whole body shrank in fear. If you touch that reverse scale, everyone here will perish… I understood it by sight.

“Wha, what is that thing!”

“Th, the hell…”

“Wh, whoooa…”

“Nuh… eh…”

I wasn’t the only one. Phianse, Sadiz, Fu, and a man named Machio, who seemed to be a powerful man, must have also felt it.

Paripi was by far the strongest of anyone we had ever fought.

It far surpasses that Paripi…

“Hmm~? Ah, there you are… Nuwahahaha, a few wee folk with their mouths agape… nu? Oh… ho…”

The dragon noticed our gaze and looked at us, a smile on his lips.

Over here… Huh!?

“Come on!”

“Not good!”

“Guh… everyone, get out of here now――――――”

The dragon suddenly descended. It’s not the level of opponent to fight or anything like that.

At least, I’ll buy a few seconds…

“Oh will you stop. I’m not going to eat you.”

“”””Eh!!!???”””

The dragon… er…… spoke…

“Hmm… houhou…… uh-huh. This scent…… yesh~…… I thought th’ bloodline was exterminated by my friend…”

The dragon landed in the ruined city with a land shaking thud, looking down at us with its huge body and smiling somewhat happily… who……

“…… Huh?”

Is it… looking at Sadiz?

With a somewhat happy and nostalgic look in its eyes…

“I met my friend’s disciple a few days ago… and th’ lass who is connected to him… that alone was not enough to pique my interest, and I finally became interested after he exposed his soul to me… Nuwahahahaha, th’ descendants of that one are still something special. How unmanly of me.”

“Uh… wh, who the hell are you…”

“Hmm? Oh, I’m ‘Vasalar, th’ Dragon King of Hades’. Also, th’ rival of ‘th’ Female Hero, Kaguya’, your distant ancestor. Nuwahahahahaha”

“…… Huh?”

“Hmm? You don’t know th’ face, do you? Well, that was a long time ago. But because of that… I didn’t participate in th’ war between Humanity and th’ Demon King army…”

Confusing words…… ku? Dragon King of Hades? No way…. Hmm? No, no, Vasalar? No, no, no…

“H, hey, Rebal, Fu… I, I just heard a tremendous auditory hallucination…”

“Me too, I heard names that appear in picture books… and Sadiz’s ancestor…”

Both Phianse and Fu … apparently I’m not hearing things wrong…

And even though we were given names from fairy tales, I took the liberty of understanding that if this dragon called itself that, then it must be real.

So much so that this dragon…

“Oh… huge. Bigger than Hilly!”

“”””Amae!!!???””””

Oh no! While everyone was cowering in fear and speechless, a child who didn’t know anything… Earth’s little sister ran up to the dragon with a twinkle in her eye――――

“Hmm? Hilly? Oh, wee lass, do you mean Hilua?”

“Un! Hilly is my friend!”

“Yesh! Nuwahahaha, I am Hilua’s father. I thank you for befriending my son!”

“Hilly’s dad!?”

Hilly? Hilua? Was it, if I’m not mistaken, that winged hippo that Earth had with him…?

“Hi, Hilly is the Dragon King of Hades Vasalar’s… is that what you mean, Little man… what a fact to hide… also, I’m Kaguya’s? Argh, I don’t know what’s what…”

We don’t even know what’s going on anymore.

Even Sadiz, who had guessed the circumstances to some extent, was holding her head.

But as for me, I am certain of two things.

First of all, I’m too ashamed to call myself a Dragon Slayer. Not after seeing a real dragon like this.

And the other thing.

I don’t know why I thought this, even though it wasn’t explained to me that way.

The realm where these dragons reside.

That might be the scenery that Earth is aiming for and trying to see…