If you looked at the map of this world, there was the one diamondshaped continent, Landia, and several outlying islands of varying sizes.
In the center of that continent, called Landia's Navel, there were the
three-thousand-meter class mountains that made up the Star Dragon
Mountain Range.
This was where the dragons lived, gathering around the living
godbeast, Mother Dragon, who was the subject of worship. It could even
be called a nation.
The nations of mankind understood the Star Dragon Mountain Range to
be the nation of the dragons. There was no clearly demarcated border, but
no country wanted to infringe upon their territory so badly that they were
willing to fight the immensely powerful dragons over it. And so, mankind
and the dragons naturally stayed apart from one another.
Even though times had been chaotic since the Demon Lord's Domain
had appeared on the continent, the Star Dragon Mountain Range was a
natural fortress, isolated from the effects of that.
In the high plateau in the center of the Star Dragon Mountain Range
was Dracul, the dragons' paradise.
Perhaps due to some act of Mother Dragon, the plateau enjoyed an
eternal spring despite being at an elevation of over five thousand meters. It
was a fertile and verdant land with an abundant supply of clean water.
In Dracul, the dragons lived a unique lifestyle.
Despite their large bodies, massive wings, and powerful horns and
fangs, dragons could speak the human language. They could also take on
beautiful humanoid forms. They formed riding contracts with the knights
of their ally, the Nothung Dragon Knight Kingdom, under which they
would become the knights' favored mounts, swearing an oath to fight
together on the battlefield. At the same time, they were to become life
partners, giving birth to the knights' children.
Members of the race of dragons were sexually ambiguous, and unable
to produce children between themselves. In other words, in exchange for
fighting alongside the knights of Nothung, they had the knights guarantee
they would have prosperous offspring.
Each child would be born either as a dragon, a dragonewt, or the race
of the knight.
If it was a dragon, it would come in the form of an egg, and it would be
taken from the parents to be kept by Mother Dragon in the Star Dragon
Mountain Range. This was partly to keep the parentage of a dragon from
being considered important, but it was also unclear how long a dragon egg
might take to hatch. Because it could sometimes take hundreds of years, it
couldn't be left with the parents.
In any case, these partner contracts were formed between the new
knights and the dragons at the Contract Ceremony held at the end of spring
each year.
That time... had almost come.
In the middle of the 3rd month, 1,547th year, Continental Calendar
It was a forest on the east side of the plateau Dracul in the Star Dragon
Mountain Range.
With its everlasting spring, the forests of the Star Dragon Mountain
Range were always decorated with fresh growth. The leaves were a deep
green, and when you looked up at them from inside the forest, they
sparkled brilliantly in the sunlight shining through the treetops. However,
further down, at ground level, there was little sunlight, and it was gloomy.
In those gloomy woods, there was a small cave.
A white dragon landed in front of that cave. Her white scales glistened
in the light. Her silver mane blew in the wind. On her head was an
exquisite pair of goat-like antlers. The silver dragon folded her large
wings, craning her neck to look into the cave.
"Naden, you're in there, aren't you?" the white dragon called into the
cave.
Though she was speaking, it wasn't aloud. Dragons could converse by
willing it, without using their voices. There was no response to the white
dragon's call, but a little noise did escape from inside the cave. Its
occupant was probably pretending not to be there.
The white dragon groaned. "Stop ignoring me! I know you're in there!"
she called, sounding exasperated, and then took a deep breath. When the
air she inhaled returned to her mouth, orange flames leaked from the
corners of her lips. If she opened her mouth now, she would unleash her
dragon's breath, the flamethrower attack known to lay waste to entire
countries. "If you're too uncooperative, you're going to get burned, you
know!"
"H-Hold on, Pai! You'll burn the books!" came the panicked voice of a
young girl from inside the cave.
When she heard that voice, Pai swallowed her flames, then let out an
exasperated sigh. "Honestly... Stop holing yourself away in there and get
out here."
"But I was watching Music Port..."
"Music Port? Wuzzat?"
"It's a music program from the Gran Chaos Empire."
"The Gran Chaos Empire?!" the white dragon exclaimed.
The Gran Chaos Empire was a strong nation with a firmly entrenched
power base in the west of the continent. Though they had been on the
defensive since the appearance of the Demon Lord's Domain, they were
still effectively the most powerful of all the nations of mankind.
During the time in which the Gran Chaos Empire had been trying to
establish its hegemony over the continent, it had invaded the Star Dragon
Mountain Range. This had been the Empire at its peak, with an army
numbering in the hundreds of thousands, facing around a thousand
dragons. As one might have expected, given that it was said that a single
dragon could destroy a small nation, the Imperial forces were
overwhelmed, leaving them no choice but to retreat. Ever since that battle,
it had been hard to call relations with the Empire cordial.
"The Empire is hostile to us, you realize!" Pai cried. "What are you
thinking?!"
"It's not like we're at war right now, are we?" Naden retorted. "The
current Empress, Maria, is beautiful and seems peaceful. I think we should
take the chance to try and make friends with them."
"You say that, but... wouldn't Lady Tiamat be angry if she heard you?"
Pai protested.
Tiamat was the leader of the Star Dragon Mountain Range, the one that
mankind knew and worshiped as Mother Dragon. She was like a mother to
all the dragons who lived in this area, and when her name came up, the girl
in the cave sounded a little panicked.
"Ahaha... That's kind of scary... You're scaring me, so keep quiet about
this, okay?"
"Oh, for goodness sake..." Pai sighed. Her entire body emitting a bright
light, she instantaneously transformed into a beautiful young girl with pale
skin and long, flowing white hair, wearing a white one-piece dress. She
looked unmistakably human, but the goat-like horns sprouting from
beneath her hair and the white tail extending from her rump clearly
showed she was the white dragon from before.
Pai walked into the cave. It wasn't as dank as it looked. If anything, the
air was fresh. This was normal for caves in the Star Dragon Mountain
Range.
Pai progressed through the cave, coming to an area where it suddenly
opened up.
Before her eyes spread a room that, completely unlike the rock walls of
the cave up until this point, was very girly. There was a cute dresser and
bed. The bookshelves were lined with books from the nations of mankind
(mostly romance novels). Pai addressed the person watching the simple
Jewel Voice Broadcast receiver in the middle of that room.
"Oh, Naden, there you go, watching that simple receiver again..."
"Yeah, and?" the girl called Naden responded. She had black hair and
was wearing a black one-piece. "I can watch what I want."
There were deer-like antlers growing out of her voluminous black hair
on either side of her head, and a black tail sprouting from her rear end. At
a glance, she looked to be around fifteen years old. She was short, and
looked underdeveloped. However, when looked at in profile, her young
face had a hint of beauty, and if she dressed right, she would probably look
very cute.
Knowing that, Pai sighed all the more at her disappointing friend.
"Sigh... I don't know which is worse: this, or when you had your head full
of dreams, reading too many romance novels."
With the past suddenly brought up, Naden coughed in surprise. "I-I was
just reading books! It's not like I was only reading romance novels, okay?"
"You were obsessed with them. Saying things like, 'I'd put love before
duty!'"
"I read ordinary adventure stories, too!"
"Dragons don't usually read human books to begin with..."
The reason for that was simple. Since the only country that had
diplomatic relations with the Star Dragon Mountain Range was the
Nothung Dragon Knight Kingdom, not many products from the nations of
mankind made it here. If one wanted to acquire products from the nations
of mankind, one had to go to those nations directly, leaving the Star
Dragon Mountain Range. Most dragons were not interested enough in the
world outside, or in products from the nations of mankind, to do so. Those
like Naden, who used every opportunity she could find to go outside and
come back with foreign products, were a rarity.
"Wait, where did you get that receiver anyway?" Pai asked, startled.
"Hmm? I found it at a flea market in the empire. It was broken,
basically a piece of junk, but when I gave it a little zap, it started showing
things. Hee hee! It was a great find."
As she said that, Naden's black, lizard-like tail slithered toward the
simple receiver. When it got there, there was a clicking sound, and the
image on the receiver vanished.
Naden could store electricity in her body. By releasing that stored
electricity, though Naden didn't understand the principle behind how it
worked herself, she was able to turn the simple receiver on and off. There
were definitely other creatures that could store electricity in their bodies,
but Naden was probably the only one who could control it so skillfully.
Watching her do that, Pai shrugged in exasperation. "You're skilled in
the strangest of ways, you know that, Naden?"
"Hey, I was lucky enough to have an electrified body. I'm not going to
let that go to waste."
"I know, but is that really something a dragon should be doing...?"
In Dracul with its everlasting spring, the dragons who had yet to form a
contract lived their lives as they pleased. They did things like fly around in
dragon form, play in the water, and go hunting.
There were times when the dragon priestesses who served under
Tiamat would teach them about dragon traditions, the outside world, and
reading, writing, and arithmetic; but other than that, they could each use
their time to do whatever they liked.
Among all those dragons living in that old-fashioned way, Naden was
probably the only one who could use tools from the outside world so
skillfully.
Pai asked her with some exasperation, "Are you really a dragon?"
"...I wish I knew that myself," Naden said, her gaze returning to the
screen.
Pai got a look on her face that said, "Oops, I screwed up." That subject
was probably painful for Naden.
"Um, uh... So, this music program thing? What is it?" Pai asked, trying
to change the subject.
"They broadcast cute girls in cute outfits singing and dancing for the
people to see," Naden said. "It's fun just watching it. Though, from what I
hear, the ones who are the real creators and masters of broadcast program
production aren't the people of the Empire, they're the people of the
Elfrieden Kingdom. It's a shame I don't get them on this simple receiver."
"The Elfrieden Kingdom? You mean that country where they
summoned a hero, and he became their king?" Pai asked, surprised. When
she heard the name "Elfrieden," the image that came to mind was a very
traditional, or, to put it less kindly, old-fashioned kingdom.
Naden waggled a finger at Pai and tut-tutted her. "You can forget
everything you think you know about Elfrieden. Oh, wait, they're the
Kingdom of Friedonia now, aren't they? I don't have all the details, with
my information coming from the Empire, but it sounds like they've been
growing in power really fast under the new king's program of reforms."
Naden picked up the simple receiver with her tail and played with it.
"I think the way he took the Jewel Voice Broadcast, something the
royal family had only used to make one-sided announcements of things
that were already decided, and used it to create something fun like these
broadcast programs shows incredible foresight. Unlike this country, which
never changes, the Kingdom of Friedonia is pressing further and further
ahead. I'd like to meet this hero king of theirs myself. Maybe I'll land in
Friedonia next time I go out."
Pai stomped her feet in indignation. "Good grief! What are you
thinking?! It's almost time for the Contract Ceremony, you know? There's
no way you'll be allowed to do that at an important time like this, when
our futures are going to be decided!"
"That doesn't... really matter," Naden said. "I'm sure no knight would
ever choose me. I mean, I can't fly, and I can't breathe fire, after all."
"..."
Naden's eyes filled with resignation.
There was nothing Pai could say in response.
Though she, Naden Delal, was a dragon of the Star Dragon Mountain
Range, she had no wings with which to fly through the skies, and she
could not breathe fire. Her appearance was very different from the other
dragons, too.
That was why the other dragons called her a worm (saying she was
long, thin, and not much else) behind her back. That was part of the reason
why Naden tended to hide away in the cave. Pai was one of Naden's few
friends, but there was nothing she could do for her about this.
"Erm..." Pai said, thinking frantically. "B-But you can shoot lightning,
Naden!"
"...What good is that? No knight will choose me as a partner. If they
did, they'd be the only knight who couldn't fly, you know?" Naden
averted her eyes.
The dragon knights of Nothung were famed across the continent.
These knights, who rode atop the already tough and powerful dragons,
would soar through the skies, tearing through enemy lines and burning
everything away with dragon fire. Though they were a small country, the
dragon knights had been responsible for making the Nothung Dragon
Knight Kingdom capable of fighting on even terms with the Empire, even
if it was only on the defensive. There could be no place for the flightless,
fireless Naden in their ranks.
"You've got it good, Pai," Naden sighed. "A pretty white dragon like
you... I'm sure you'll have your pick of the litter."
"...I'm sensing some hostility in those words."
In the ceremony held to form contracts with the dragon knights, the
knight would first choose a dragon to become his mount, and then the
dragon would decide whether to accept or not. That meant a dragon who
received multiple offers would have her pick of them. Naden was probably
thinking that Pai was sure to have that.
"Maybe I should just leave the country?" Naden asked, moping. "I
could probably pass myself off as a sea serpent."
From what Pai had heard, the race known as the sea serpents and
Naden in her human form looked quite similar. As for what made them
different, the antlers on Naden's head were bigger, and sea serpents lacked
the ability to transform like true dragons, but there were few enough of
them that no one would notice unless she said something about it.
Pai groaned in exasperation. "If you take a defeatist attitude, you'll
become a defeatist at heart!"
"But..."
"Besides, didn't Lady Tiamat give you a prophecy? It's going to be
fine."
The dragons who would attend the Contract Ceremony in any given
year were chosen by Tiamat. The will of the individual and how old they
were didn't come into it. Those dragons who were chosen would receive
an oracle from Mother Dragon at the beginning of that year. Naden had
been one of them.
"Eventually, one who knows your value will appear. That is when you
will leave the nest."
That was definitely what Tiamat had said to Naden, who had all but
given up on her future. Tiamat said it with the gentle eyes of a mother.
Naden couldn't imagine that Tiamat had been lying to her. However, at the
same time, she couldn't see that prophecy coming true.
"That's... got to be something Tiamat said to console me," Naden said
at last. "Even I don't know what my value is. What is a complete stranger
supposed to see in me?"
"But, from what I hear, Lady Tiamat has never had a prediction fail to
come true."
"Fine, I'll be the very first failure. Hurray for me."
Pai groaned. "You're such a defeatist."
"Pai, if you keep making that groaning noise, you're going to develop
black spots like a cow, you know?"
"Moo! Moo! Moo!" Pai exclaimed.
While watching Pai get angry out of the corner of her eye, Naden
sighed. If there really is some value to my existence, and someone could
find it for me... how wonderful would that be? If a miracle like that
happened, and they take me away from this boring place where it's always
spring and nothing exciting ever happens... Well, it's just not possible, is
it?
Naden forced that earnest wish of hers deep into the recesses of her
heart.