MISTERLP
That was... Ruby? Her hair was a mess, the corners of her mouth were
cut, and the clothing that was made of her scales was damaged. In short,
she was beaten up. It was clear she was subject to an intense lynching.
Naden glanced once at Ruby, then turned back and started shouting
again. "Give me a break! I never liked the way Ruby picked fights with
me, but are you people who were insulting me behind my back any
better?! So, what?! Now that it's not convenient for you anymore, you're
gonna push all the blame off on Ruby and string her up?! Are you
stupid?!"
It was like a dam had broken. The emotions that had built up inside
Naden all this time gushed forth. The dark, black feelings she kept bottled
up inside her, unable to speak them.
"W-We just..."
There were dragons who tried to talk back, but they were ultimately
silenced by Naden's tirade.
"It's a little late for that! You mock me all this time as a worm, a
flightless dragon, and now you want to push all your troubles onto me?!
You've got wings, don't you?! You're better than me, right?! Then how
about you go and do something about this yourselves!"
"Naden..." With a sad tone in her voice, Pai started walking over
toward her friend, but I stopped her. Now was the time for Naden to let it
all out. I felt... it was something Naden needed to do to move on with her
life.
"You made all sorts of fun at me! Now that there's something only I
can do, you're gonna turn around and ask me for a favor? Don't give me
that! Listen, I hate the atmosphere here in the Star Dragon Mountain
Range! With the exception of Pai and Lady Tiamat, I hate the dragons,
too! Why should I have to do anything for you?! I don't care one bit if this
place gets wrecked!"
Naden glared at the dragons who were at a loss for words, and stomped
her feet.
"You talked about me behind my back all the time! 'She's a worm,'
'She ought to learn her place,' and more! What gives you the right to come
to me for anything? And what is my place, anyway? Maybe you want to
try putting your heads down on the ground and begging? Maybe it'll
change my mind?"
Ah... She'd spewed too much bile, and now she'd gotten into a weird
mood. Naden probably didn't even realize what she was saying anymore.
Sheesh...
"Come on, we have to hurry..." Pai said.
"Okay, let's leave it at that."
I put a hand on Naden's shoulder and stopped her.
◇ ◇ ◇
Souma grabbed my shoulder with a serious look on his face. "I think
you've said enough. If you go any further, you'll just be devaluing
yourself, Naden."
What? Don't get in my way. I brushed off Souma's hand, then angrily
rounded on him.
"Huh?! What's my value, anyway?! That I can fly, even without
wings?"
"No."
"My value is that I can fly in the storm? 'So go fly,' is that it?"
"No."
"Well, what is it supposed to be, then?!"
"Your heart isn't fixated on the value of things. That's what makes you
valuable, Naden!"
Souma placed his hands on my shoulders again, and said that firmly.
He was gripping me tightly, so it kind of hurt. That pain... brought me
back to my senses.
"Your ability to see the good in things, no matter what anyone else says
about them; that's your charm, Naden! If it's fun, you'll read romance
novels from the world outside, and even watch Jewel Voice Broadcasts
from the Empire. You're even able to get along with a foreigner like me,
who suddenly showed up out of nowhere, like it's no big deal. You don't
care what other people think. You do what you want to do. That ordinary,
free spirit of yours is what I love about you. It wasn't any other dragon that
I decided I wanted to form a contract with, it was you, Naden!"
I fell silent.
Hearing him say he loved me made my head rapidly cool. No, the
opposite. It boiled over. My face was hot. My mouth bobbed open and
closed like a fish gasping for air, and no words came out.
Souma kept going as if it didn't matter. "If you go trampling on other
people's personalities just because your positions have changed, you'll
become what you hate most. I don't want to see you end up like that."
"S-Souma..."
"Besides, there's no need for you to endure things on your own
anymore."
The next thing I noticed, Liscia and Aisha were at our side, too.
"Naden, you're a part of the family now, so rely on us when you need
to," Liscia said.
"Indeed," Aisha agreed. "I'm not smart like His Majesty and the others,
so I do my best with my combat abilities. If anyone ever hurts you, Madam
Naden, let me cut them down with this blade."
Liscia had a wry smile on her face, and Aisha was saying dangerous
things with a hearty laugh.
Oh... I get it. I had so many people now, not just Pai, who would see
my pain as their own. I was sure I would see their pain as my pain, too.
I turned to Souma and the others with a bow. "Sorry. I was kind of
getting riled up there."
"Haha, well, I'm sure you've got to get it out of your system once in a
while," he said. "Besides, we were mad, too. Let's twist the knife a bit."
With that, Souma went to stand in front of the dragons who were
watching at a distance. Huh? What was he planning to do?
"I am King Souma Kazuya of the Kingdom of Friedonia," Souma
suddenly named himself.
There was a buzz from the dragons.
"D-Did he say king...?!"
"And of Friedonia?! That big country to the east?!"
It was surprising that humans had come here before the Contract
Ceremony, but on top of that, he said he wasn't from the Nothung Dragon
Knight Kingdom, but was the King of Friedonia.
Even Pai, who knew Souma, cried out, "Wait, Kazuma is Souma? And
a king, too?" blinking in surprise.
In a kingly voice, Souma continued. "On this occasion, I, Souma
Kazuya, have come to form a contract with Naden under the guidance of
Madam Tiamat. This is also a means of dealing with the 'storm.' In other
words, Naden Delal will be becoming one of the queens of Friedonia."
Souma stared down at the dragons. "So, if any of you mess with Naden
after this, be ready for it to become a diplomatic incident."
When he intimidated the dragons like that, Souma looked less like the
king of a country, and more like a demon king. He said he'd twist the
knife, but this was too big to be a knife. It was like a stake, and he was
pounding it through them, into the ground, to make sure they stayed there
and got the point. As proof of that, the dragons were frozen stiff, unable to
say a word.
In truth, he was just a frail human who they could have blown away
with a mere breath, but Souma dominated the room. It gave me a new
sense of how big the country was that Souma carried on his shoulders.
But Souma didn't normally act like he wanted to use that sort of
authority. I mean, he even went by a fake name when we first met. If
Souma was relying on his authority to intimidate them... was he really,
really mad?
On my behalf, because they mocked me... No, maybe I'm being too
conceited.
While I was thinking about him like that, I saw Ruby, beaten up and
lying on her side, out of the corner of my eye. I slowly walked over to her.
I looked down at Ruby, who was lying on the ground, her breathing
ragged. It was the opposite of all those times she looked down at me from
the sky.
I asked her a question.
"You awake, stupid Ruby?"
"Yes, I'm awake, dumb Naden."
Beaten up or not, it seemed she was still in good enough shape to
respond to attitude with attitude. Even in this state, Ruby was Ruby.
Maybe because I just vented, I had no spite left for her. I ought to still have
plenty to complain about with her, but I just didn't care right now.
"I'd say the dragons overdid it, but you deserved half of this," I told
her.
"Hmph...!"
"I mean, couldn't you have gotten off with less than this? Like, if you
said I ran away."
"If I did that... I'd be the same as them," Ruby said indignantly. "All
they ever do is talk about people behind their backs. I don't want to be like
that. If I think something, I'm going to say it right to your face."
"That's been nothing but a nuisance for me," I snapped.
Well, since it gave me someone I could actually fight, it might have
been better than the other dragons who kept their comments behind my
back. When I got mad, I was able to hit her with an electric shock, after all.
If she kept it quiet, I wouldn't have been able to do that.
Ruby let out a little sigh. "...You've got it so good. You look like that,
but you could still fly. And you're marrying a king? Just how special are
you? I couldn't be more jealous."
Jealous... It looked like what Souma said was true. Even so, I didn't
know how to react to that. After all...
"So many times, I wished I could have been born an ordinary dragon
like you, Ruby."
If I'd been an ordinary dragon, I would have never been put through
any of that. If I'd been normal like Ruby. But Ruby now said she envied
how I was special.
Ordinary and special. If only our positions were reversed... But it
probably wasn't that simple. If I was ordinary, I'd have wanted to be
special, and if Ruby was special, she'd have wanted to be ordinary. People
longed to be the things they weren't, after all.
"Naden... Things just didn't go well for either of us," Ruby said.
"That's life, Ruby."
We both smiled wryly.
Honestly... things never went well.
"Naden, come with us," Souma called to me. It looked like it was time
to plan out how we'd deal with the storm.
"They're calling me," I told Ruby.
"Yeah, yeah. Go wherever you want. Whether it's to the clouds, or to
the kingdom."
Leaving Ruby behind me with her usual spite, I ran over to Souma.
◇ ◇ ◇
Oh, geez... This is the worst... I thought miserably.
My whole body ached. Still beaten and blue, I lay on my back looking
upward.
I, Ruby, had been rebuked for picking fights with Naden, and the
dragons all ganged up to attack me. Even as dragons went, I felt like I was
pretty strong, but the odds were too stacked against me.
The dragons attacking me said horrible things about Naden behind her
back, but now that they needed her power, they turned around and
condemned me.
"You deserved half of this." Naden's words from earlier came back to
mind.
Yeesh, I know that, okay?
Naden's husband-to-be was right. I was jealous of her. I'd always been
jealous of Naden, who was born special, in the Star Dragon Mountain
Range, a place where our system of values was stiff and inflexible and
individuality tended to get buried. I wanted something special, something
the other dragons didn't have, like Naden...
"So many times, I wished I could have been born an ordinary dragon
like you, Ruby."
Things really don't work out the way you want them to. In the end, we
were both just wishing for what we didn't have.
I looked up to the ceiling that was so high I couldn't see it. The tears
from the corners of my eyes streamed toward my ears. Oh, geez, where did
I go wrong...?
"Yeah, I can't just see this as someone else's problem." Suddenly, there
was a voice from above my head. When I looked up, a well-muscled
young man with red hair was looking down at me. "When I see how you
messed up, got beaten black and blue, and left lying here, it reminds me of
how I was, not so long ago. I messed up with Souma, too, and my old man
gave me a thrashing for it."
While he said that, the red-haired young man scratched his head. Then,
crouching down to take a look at my face as I lay facing upward, he
laughed.
"Ah... This may be none of my business, but one piece of advice: You
can't change the fact you screwed up. There's no undoing it."