A Fragment Of A Bond With The Black Dragon

“…It seems I have been outdone by Lindwyrm.”

Fafnir murmured as it looked at Jonah and the others who had arrived nearby by teleportation.

What Jonah and Patricia had been sensing as an oddity—the truth that Lindwyrm had been defeated on purpose—was implied by Fafnir.

That was something only Fafnir, who had spent long years together and faced battle, could understand.

“In the end, we still couldn’t understand many things, could we.”

“Indeed…”

What had happened between Henrik’s father—whom Lindwyrm had called a ‘friend’—and why it had run to such atrocity.

Fafnir had said, “When a dragon eats a human it desires them so much it can lose its reason,” but at least to Jonah, Lindwyrm did not seem bereft of reason.

If that were the case, it would not have deliberately lost in the fight with Fafnir, nor could it have left this world with such a peaceful expression.

“So, what will you do now?”

“I intend to carry Lindwyrm’s corpse back to Mount Baldia. That place is where his kin met a friend—it is important to him. However…”

Fafnir looked toward Henrik, who had kept his head bowed the whole time.

“Boy… Henrik. I will leave that decision to you.”

“Eh…?”

At the unexpected words, Henrik’s face shot up.

On closer look, his eyelids were red and swollen from crying too much.

“You are the one who had your father taken and who has suffered. Therefore, the right to decide what to do with Lindwyrm belongs to you alone.”

“Ah… I-I’m not sure what to say to that…”

Under Fafnir’s gaze, Henrik couldn’t bear it and looked away.

For these five years, Henrik and his family had been bound by the missing whereabouts of his father Lauri, unable to move forward.

So Henrik had run from home seeking traces of his father to move on, and with Jonah and Patricia he aimed for Mount Baldia.

That answer had a sorrowful end, but with it Henrik could now move forward.

Though feelings of emptiness remained, it was true that being freed from his father’s hold lightened his heart.

Therefore.

“…I think it’s right to mourn him on Mount Baldia. That way I can honor my Pa who was eaten together with him.”

Henrik answered, biting his lip.

At that moment, the small boy experienced a great growth.

“Kuun…”

“E-eh heh, stop it…”

As Kuu gently licked the spilling tears, Henrik gave a wry smile.

But the tears did not stop; if anything, they poured out more.

“Understood. Then we shall mourn Lindwyrm on Mount Baldia.”

Fafnir closed its eyes and nodded quietly.

Jonah and Patricia relaxed their expressions as they looked at Henrik.

“Then I will carry Lindwyrm and return to Mount Baldia a step ahead. The three of you should wait here until I return.”

“What!?”

“Ehhhh!?”

“Vof!?”

At Fafnir’s words, Patricia, the just-stopped-crying Henrik, and even Kuu voiced their surprise.

They had never imagined they’d be left behind in a place like this in the dead of night.

“Ahaha, it’s fine. I can just teleport us with my magic.”

“Ah…! R-right, of course!”

“Hah… I’m glad Jonah is here…”

“Vou! Vou!”

Watching the two and the one animal breathe easier, Jonah gave a wry smile.

“Fafnir, would you like to return with us via teleportation? We could get back in an instant.”

“…No, I shall decline.”

“I see.”

Jonah offered, but Fafnir shook its head left and right.

It likely wished, as a “pair of dragons,” to have one last conversation together.

“Well then, we’ll be going.”

They had defeated Lindwyrm, fulfilled Fafnir’s wish, answered the request Patricia had received from the Kingdom of Karelia, and avenged Henrik.

Above all, Jonah had witnessed the legend of the “Paired Dragons.” There was no need to remain here any longer.

Jonah pointed his index finger up from the stage and traced a magic circle.

“Princess Patricia, Henrik, Kuu.”

“Yeah.”

“Right!”

“Vou!”

The two and the creature stepped onto the magic circle, and Jonah turned back toward Fafnir.

“Excuse us then, Mr. Fafnir.”

“Indeed. Jonah… You have been of help this time. Should anything happen, come to Mount Baldia at any time. I, this Black Dragon Fafnir, will lend you my strength.”

“Ahaha…”

Jonah gave a bitter smile at Fafnir’s words.

It said “anytime,” but Jonah had only nine and a half months left; they would likely never meet again.

“Oh, that’s right.”

“…?”

Suddenly, as if remembering, Fafnir called out.

“Wh-what is it?”

“Well, Patricia came to Mount Baldia under the pretext of hunting Lindwyrm; I thought she might need proof of that.”

Saying that, Fafnir peeled a single scale from Lindwyrm’s body.

Given the creature’s original enormous size, even a single scale was extremely large.

“Here, take it with you.”

“Y-yes… but are you sure this is okay?”

“It is no matter. He would have wished for it as well.”

“I see…”

Patricia accepted Lindwyrm’s scale.

Its size suggested considerable weight, but since she held it with ease, Patricia seemed to possess considerable strength.

“Lord Fafnir, thank you for your care.”

“Nonsense… It is you. One who will become king someday.”

With that, the conversation with Fafnir was truly at an end.

All that remained was to return to that place.

And then.

Jonah and the others were enveloped in the circle of light and teleported to Mount Baldia.

“…It turned out just as you had said.”

Fafnir murmured as it looked up at the night sky.

It directed its words to the old friend to whom had entrusted Jonah to the Black Dragon.

“Jonah. May fortune be with your uncanny fate.”

Fafnir, holding the White Dragon that had been its mate, shed a single tear and took flight into the night sky.

—Bold, fierce, after an age that could be called eternal, the Black Dragon, who met solitude at the end, wove a tiny, tiny “fragment of a bond”, with the boy who had one year left to live.