Young Man And Black Shadow

Rudel and Unias successfully forced their way between the two Dragoons who had been fighting fiercely. They succeeded—but the real problem came afterward. The gap between an active Dragoon and Rudel, who was only considered strong by student standards, was enormous. Lilim toyed with Rudel using her knife, and the magical attacks she mixed in from time to time steadily drove him into a corner.

“The real thing really is different!”

Rudel looked almost delighted as he fought, while Lilim was completely serious. Black, writhing emotions welled up from within her, whispering to her.

‘Kill him! Kill the fiancé who betrayed you… Kill Rudel!!!’

“I’ll kill you! I’ll definitely kill you!”

Considering the difference in their physiques, Rudel, who was larger and male, should have held the advantage. But there were far too many things he lacked, from proper body control to combat experience. Lilim wasted no movement, and everything from the speed of her spellcasting to the accuracy of her magic had been thoroughly honed.

It was not a difference in raw strength, but in experience, and that gap tormented Rudel. Even so, Rudel had challenged Lilim in order to save her. He was trying to save someone stronger than himself. No matter how painful it became, Rudel had already resolved to see it through.

Then the voice of Lilim’s dragon echoed in Rudel’s mind.

‘Human child, what are you planning? Do you truly intend to save my contractor? Your feelings gladden me, but if you truly care for her, then kill her! Even if she survives, she will only continue to suffer.’

Hearing the dragon’s voice resonate through his heart, Rudel shouted while still facing Lilim, his back turned to the dragon.

“She’s been taken over, she’s suffering, and she’s convinced herself that nobody accepts her! She can’t be allowed to end like that!”

Rudel brought his sword down toward Lilim, but she caught it with her knife and smoothly redirected his strength with flowing movements.

“Now you’re even stealing someone else’s dragon… That’s how it always is. Everyone leaves me. Because I’m ugly! If you hated these eyes, you should’ve just said so! I would’ve gouged them out right away and become the woman you wanted! So… so don’t abandon me!!!”

Tears streamed from Lilim’s black eyes as Rudel looked at her with sorrow. In a way, Lilim resembled the Rudel who would originally have existed had he never become obsessed with dragons. Perhaps sensing that similarity was one of the reasons Rudel could not bring himself to abandon her.

The original Rudel was a hated supporting character whose role was to appear near the end of the story and die miserably. No one acknowledged him, and everyone eventually left him behind. Even Cattleya, who became his fiancée, abandoned him, after which he caused damage throughout the kingdom while fleeing and ultimately sought asylum in the Empire.

In the end, an Imperial general cut him down like garbage while Imperial soldiers laughed at him. He remained a petty villainous side character until the very end. Yet even that Rudel had an important role to play. The event in which the Imperial general killed him served as the trigger that began the final stage of the game.

The story’s ending began with Rudel’s death. It was something that had been ‘decided’—the will of the world.

Rudel knew none of that, yet something still tugged at his heart. Perhaps that was precisely why he was so desperate to save Lilim.

“I’ll end this now! I’ll kill you, and then I’ll die too!”

As Lilim attacked with her knife and magic, Rudel pulled the belt from his trousers and held it in his left hand. His sword had been nearing its limit for some time, and he could feel something unpleasant through the grip. He probably could not keep fighting for much longer. Bare-handed, he would stand no chance… With that thought, Rudel, like Lilim, decided to bring the battle to an end.

Cattleya and Unias watched the two from a short distance away. Unias, however, had moved slightly farther from Cattleya. Cattleya assumed he was still wary of her. But Unias himself was thinking,

(Why the hell does this woman smell so bad?)

He simply could not endure the stench left behind by Mies’s smoke screen.

“…It’ll be over soon. Don’t stop me this time, all right? Otherwise, Rudel-sama will die…”

“Huh? He won’t die. He doesn’t plan on dying until he becomes a Dragoon.”

Unias answered with complete confidence, causing Cattleya to glare at him as if asking what possible basis he had for saying that. To Cattleya, a Dragoon was merely one type of knight serving the kingdom. Their unusual nature made them stand out, but she knew that from the country’s perspective, the Dragoon Order was simply a useful and convenient military force.

Ideals and reality were different… Compared to the Dragoons admired by the people, Senior Knights assigned to guard important figures actually enjoyed better working conditions. They remained away from the front lines, and if they earned the trust of the royal family as guards, advancement was entirely possible.

By contrast, the work of Dragoons was filled with danger. And even if they earned the royal family’s trust, that trust merely took the form of increasingly dangerous assignments that made their lives harder.

“What’s so admirable about it? He doesn’t know anything.”

Hearing Cattleya mutter, Unias sighed as he continued watching Rudel’s battle.

“…Everyone values different things. Rudel knows what Dragoon missions are like, and he understands how they’re used. Even knowing that, he still refuses to give up… That’s why I can support him.”

After looking at Unias’s profile, Cattleya turned her gaze back toward Rudel and Lilim’s fight.

“I’m jealous… Maybe that’s why I hated him so much.”

Rudel was able to continue chasing his dream. Cattleya found herself envious of that. Her own dream had been to become a princess, the sort of dream any ordinary little girl might have. But reality had been different. She was born into a middle-ranking noble family, and the talent she had possessed since childhood had forced her onto the path of a knight.

The talent everyone around her envied was something Cattleya herself had never wanted. If she could have discarded it, she probably would have done so immediately. Swordsmanship instead of flowers, sturdy armor instead of dresses… Having been raised that way, Rudel seemed dazzling to her.

She had lived exactly as others told her to, while Rudel lived by charging straight toward his own dream. And then, before Cattleya’s eyes, the battle between the two finally reached its conclusion.

Using the belt in his left hand, Rudel entangled Lilim’s right arm and restrained it. With one arm sealed and forced into close-range combat, Lilim switched the knife to her left hand and slashed at Rudel. Rudel blocked the knife with his sword, but—

“Ahaha! Looks like that sword of yours is about finished.”

At Lilim’s words, Rudel looked at the crack running through the blade and realized that the sword he had been forcing to hold together had finally reached its limit. Lilim did not miss that brief lapse in attention. This time, she knocked Rudel down and caused the mana wings on her back to vibrate. The resulting vibration and unpleasant noise assaulted Rudel.

“Kh…”

Rudel struggled to escape from beneath her. Then things became even worse as Lilim’s knife began vibrating as well.

“It’s not a technique that’s very useful in actual combat, but… what do you think? See how it cuts through iron like butter? I’ll slowly slice through your sword like this, and then I’ll kill you.”

Just as Lilim said, her vibrating knife gradually bit deeper into Rudel’s sword. Then, just before it seemed the blade would be completely severed, the sword apparently could no longer withstand the vibration and snapped with a sharp metallic sound. Sparks flew as the blade broke under the knife’s vibration.

But at the very end, as though determined to save its master Rudel one last time, the broken sword tip flew directly toward Lilim’s eye. And from point-blank range, no less. Lilim had no choice but to move away. Rudel seized that opening, recovered his position, and mounted Lilim, pinning her beneath him.

The impact of being forced down caused Lilim to release her knife. Believing that Rudel was about to kill her as he held her pinned beneath him, she quietly closed her eyes.

(That’s enough. Maybe it’d be better if I just died here…)

“Open your eyes! You’re in there, aren’t you?!”

At Rudel’s words, Lilim opened her eyes. Rudel’s own eyes were staring directly into her black pupils. Then a voice came from her mouth, completely independent of her own will.

‘You interfere at every turn. You should have simply stayed quiet… Then the story would have proceeded without incident! And now the world itself protects you? Has the world chosen you even if it means casting me aside?!’

As Lilim remained confused, Rudel continued speaking between ragged breaths.

“I don’t know who you are, and I don’t know what you want. But… if you keep causing trouble for the people around me, then I can’t just stay quiet!”

‘Ha, hahahaha!!! How amusing. You, caring about those around you? Remember this well. The world may have accepted you, but only so it can ultimately lead you where it wants. No matter how far you go, you will never be rewarded. Just like me, you too will eventually be abandoned by the world.’

Facing the true culprit speaking through Lilim’s mouth, Rudel looked into Lilim’s eyes as though staring directly at it.

“So what?”

‘…What?’

“So what if I’m abandoned?! Even then, I’m not alone. It’s always been that way… Someone has always stayed by my side. Even someone as selfish as me has people who support me. People who accept me! I’ll accept Lilim-sama, and I’ll accept you, too. I’ll acknowledge that you’re allowed to be here. That you’re allowed to exist.”

With those words, Rudel gently kissed Lilim on the forehead. Perhaps it resembled the kind of kiss a parent would give a child. But for Lilim, who longed to be accepted by others, it was enough to calm her heart.

“Thank you… Rudel.”

‘Even so, I still cannot accept you…’

Two voices emerged from Lilim’s mouth, and then she lost consciousness. Black mist began seeping from her body. Once the mist dispersed, her formerly black skin and silver hair returned to pale skin and golden hair.

Rudel lifted Lilim into his arms. The sight resembled nothing so much as a young knight carrying a beautiful woman like a princess. Seeing them that way made Cattleya feel a small pang of jealousy toward Lilim.

Then the Wind Dragon, now released by the Red Dragon, approached Rudel. The ground trembled beneath the steps of its enormous body.

‘Human child… You did not keep your promise to me.’

“I’ll still save her. I’ll report what happened myself, and I’ll beg my family to lend their influence too. So could you wait just a little longer?”

Faced with Rudel’s refusal to give up—and having seen him save its contractor—the dragon could say nothing. It simply looked up toward the sky.

‘My companions are close now…’

When the vice-captain of the Dragoons finally arrived at the scene, he received Cattleya’s report as well as the findings gathered by the subordinates he had brought with him, and he was already beginning to give up on Lilim. Several hours had passed since they landed… His first impression had been ‘the worst,’ and his current impression remained exactly the same.

Lilim had committed acts of violence against the three legitimate heirs who would eventually lead the Three Dukes, along with numerous other offenses. The vice-captain had been convinced that Lilim’s head would quite literally roll. Then Rudel approached him with shining eyes and gave his own report.

Rudel reported the facts without making any excuses for what Lilim had done. Even so, he bowed his head to the vice-captain and pleaded.

“Isn’t there some way you can save her?! She’s my fiancée.”

The vice-captain was left completely at a loss by Rudel bowing before him. He wanted to save Lilim as well, since she still had a future ahead of her, but that did not change the fact that she had caused an enormous incident. And Rudel was not the only heir of the Three Dukes involved. Even if Rudel’s family chose to overlook the matter, the vice-captain could hardly imagine the other great noble houses remaining silent.

“I’m grateful for how you feel, but… now that things have become this serious…”

As the vice-captain struggled to finish his sentence, Unias and Luecke, who had been watching Rudel, spoke up.

“I don’t care. I’ll just brag to my old man that I got to fight a Dragoon.”

“I don’t mind either. I’ll send a carefully worded letter to my family.”

Rudel’s eyes lit up at their words. But the three heirs were not the only ones who had been injured. Basil and Bargas had been hurt as well. Apparently understanding what Rudel was thinking, Bargas, who was leaning on Basil for support, nodded.

“I’m fine with it too. I’ll just say I got these injuries fighting the ogre.”

“Bargas, are you sure?”

“I owe you one, Rudel. You can pay me back someday.”

Looking at the five of them, the vice-captain bowed his head.

“I cannot promise anything, but I too will do everything in my power to plead for Lilim’s life. We will escort you back to town, so… Cattleya, why don’t you come too! …No, actually, never mind.”

Cattleya approached the vice-captain awkwardly. He had intended to have Cattleya help transport the five of them to the nearby town… but then he noticed the foul odor wafting from her and immediately changed his mind. Even Cattleya’s own dragon seemed to be keeping its distance from her.

“This isn’t my fault! It’s because of that woman—the Imperial woman!!!”