As we sprinted toward the source of the screaming, Cruse checked with me.
"Have you ever fought a Chirdra, Weakling? I haven't, you know!"
"...Yeah, of course I have."
Cruse whipped her head toward me, eyes wide. I just shrugged with a half-hearted grin.
I'm unlucky. Because I'm unlucky, I've encountered all sorts of Monsters over the years.
After I'd become unable to leave the Imperial Capital, those opportunities had dried up, but I'd already encountered most of the powerful and rare phantom beasts. Strangely enough, the rarer the creature, the more likely you were to run into it. At this point, nothing surprised me anymore.
To be precise, I'd encountered them but never actually fought them. My role was always to activate the Barrier Rings while putting on a needlessly nonchalant act.
The voice had attracted attention, and guests on the same floor were poking their heads out of their rooms with confused expressions. Well, obviously no one would take it seriously if you said a dragon had appeared. Especially since the guests staying at this inn were probably all wealthy and comfortable.
Dragons in general were rare phantom beasts, but Chirdra were an especially rare species among them. Needless to say, they weren't the kind of phantom beast that normally showed up in town. I remembered them because of the impact they'd made.
Without breaking stride, I activated the "Dancing Light and Shadow" I wore on my arm and reproduced the Chirdra I'd seen before.
Cruse pressed her lips together hard and stared, wide-eyed. See? Treasure Weapons are useful after all.
What appeared before us was a deep-blue dragon. About the size of a large dog—two sizes smaller than the hot spring dragons I'd seen at Suru Hot Spring. It had large indigo wings and a long tail relative to its body, and at first glance it looked exactly like a dragon.
"Chirdra are tiny dragons that travel in packs. They're good flyers, wreathed in cold air and capable of breathing ice. Each individual isn't as strong as an average dragon, but they're not to be underestimated."
Chirdragon—when was it that I'd been attacked by a pack of Chirdra? This was the perfect chance to share some Chirdra intel with Cruse, who was facing them for the first time.
For dragons, Chirdra were lacking in both durability and strength, but between their aerial mobility, powerful ice breath, and pack-hunting behavior, they could be called extremely dangerous dragons. In some cases, they might be more troublesome than a regular dragon.
To my belatedly useful contribution, Cruse simply blinked and said: "And then?"
"...And then? And then what?"
Cruse stopped walking, flushed red, and cornered me.
"Don't you have any other information?! Are you making fun of me?! I already know that basic stuff!"
Apparently I was useless again today. I didn't have any other information.
"...Their weakness is fire. Ah... and if you pack them in a big box, they make a good refrigerator."
"I want to know why they came into town, where they came from, how many there are and how to defend against them! Show me the Thousand Transformations you're known for! Give me orders! At least nominally, you're our leader right now!"
Even if she said that, I was stuck. I didn't know anything. Why they came into town—I'd have to ask the Chirdra themselves— That was when my eyes went wide.
What flashed through my mind was Citry's gift.
I had a bad feeling.
Normally, a dragon suddenly attacking a town was exceedingly rare. They primarily inhabited secluded regions with dense Mana Material, and even when they did attack settlements, there were almost always warning signs first. Dragons were essentially natural disasters.
No matter how unlucky I was, there was no way a dragon would target the very inn I was staying at. The hot spring dragon incident made it hard to be completely certain, but two in a row seemed impossible. If this became the norm, I'd die.
That meant the odds were shifting toward this being a deliberate act rather than a coincidence.
And if that was the case, the most likely culprit was— "Well, of course... yeah, I have a pretty good idea."
"You have a lead?!"
Cruse's eyes went wide in genuine surprise this time, and her voice jumped an octave higher than usual.
I furrowed my brow and made my excuse.
"But I can't go into detail yet. It's still just speculation, and I probably shouldn't say anything."
The person most likely to be the culprit, if I was being honest, was Citry.
Maybe Riizu or Lucia were involved too, but capturing and siccing a phantom beast like a Chirdra on someone was not something an ordinary person could pull off. At minimum, it would require someone superhuman who'd absorbed a massive amount of Mana Material.
A chill ran through me. I felt like I was going to throw up.
The possibility that the meaning hidden in that heart symbol was a signal saying "I'll be sending a Chirdra your way" made me want to return to the Imperial Capital immediately.
Logically speaking it was impossible, but this wasn't something you could approach logically. If I asked Citry to send me a dragon, she'd absolutely do it without hesitation.
This time I hadn't asked, of course—but that was precisely the point. The culprit was Citry.
After all, the moment I'd said dragons might appear, a dragon had appeared. And judging from the chocolate gift, Citry had to be nearby, which meant she could have overheard my conversation with Franz. As the "Gathering of White Swords" incident had shown, her meticulous, detail-obsessive personality could sometimes lead to "going too far."
Which meant we had to hurry. If His Majesty got seriously injured, Citry would be caught. Having no malicious intent wouldn't earn her a lighter sentence. Well, the poison incident had already crossed that line, but the fewer charges, the better.
"Come on, Cruse. Let's move! We have to protect His Majesty!"
"!?! Wh-what's gotten you all fired up all of a sudden— I don't need you to tell me that, you know!"
The Emperor's room was on the top floor—the third floor.
Cruse ran up the stairs without breaking her breath, while I followed behind, panting heavily. I desperately wanted a ring that would make me never get tired from running again.
There was no one at the foot of the stairs. The knights' sentries should have been posted there, but they must have gone to help.
Cruse shivered. The air was chilled by the Chirdra's power. Right now, thanks to "Comfortable Vacation," I was still fine—but that was another of the Chirdra's troublesome traits.
"Cruse, you take the front. I'll support from the rear."
"?! Weakling, are you an idiot?!"
"This is how we do things! Don't worry, Termu's the main fighter!"
I pushed the beet-red Cruse's back and charged up the stairs.
The third floor was a battlefield. The first thing I noticed was a shattered window. The large window, designed to let in ample sunlight, had been broken, with thick shards of glass scattered across the carpet.
There hadn't been a single Chirdra on the second floor, so they must have entered through the window. No matter how thick the glass was, it couldn't stop a dragon.
"RAAAAAAAGH!"
A knight in familiar royal guard armor charged at three Chirdra floating in midair.
He roared and swung his sword down, but the blade, infused with fierce spirit, didn't so much as graze the dragons.
It wasn't that his sword was slow. The Chirdra were simply too fast.
Incredibly fast—darting in every direction, in three dimensions. The way they evaded was astonishingly agile even from an outside perspective.
The knight's swordplay was sharp and impressive even to an untrained eye, but he apparently lacked experience fighting small, swift phantom beasts. Most Monsters and phantom beasts were larger than humans, so that was understandable.
I deleted the Chirdra illusion I'd been maintaining and grumbled.
"They're smaller than I expected."
The Chirdra the knight was fighting were two sizes smaller than the ones I'd encountered in the past.
My illusion was about the size of a large dog, but the Chirdra the knight was dealing with were no bigger than cats.
One of the Chirdra, having completely dodged the sword strikes, began to glow faintly. A sign it was about to breathe ice.
"There's no time for that, you idiot! Fire, right—Blazing Strike: Flying Swallow!"
Cruse spat out the incantation and slammed her long staff into the floor.
The transformation was instantaneous. Sparks of flame born before her eyes quickly ignited and took the shape of a bird. An attack spell.
The blazing bird of fire soared forth without warning, moving at speeds that rivaled the Chirdra themselves.
The Chirdra ceased its breath attack, floated upward gently, and dodged the incoming fire with effortless ease. But the instant its head turned toward us, its blue body was engulfed in flames.
The fire bird that had been evaded circled back and struck again.
A homing attack spell—I wasn't well-versed in magic, but casting a spell at this level in an instant was no ordinary skill. I already knew Cruse wasn't weak, but this was my first time seeing her fight.
"Not bad! As expected!"
"Shut up! Are you mocking me?! Blazing Strike: Swallow Flock!"
Cruse immediately launched another spell without pausing for breath.
The Chirdra hit by the fire bird hadn't died. Its wings were singed, but it still had enough energy to keep floating. The remaining two Chirdra had also fully regrouped into combat formation and turned hostile toward us.
Countless sparks of flame transformed into fire birds, each slightly smaller than before. Then, all at once, they took flight.
Fire birds and ice dragons collided, sending up plumes of white steam. The knight who'd been fighting was completely left behind.
Cruse leaned on her staff like she was about to collapse and spat out: "Mana—I'm—"
"What?! You're out already?! Spiritfolk are supposed to have dozens of times the mana of humans, aren't they?!"
The words slipped out before I could stop them, and Cruse glared at me sharply.
"This is YOUR fault! Besides, fire magic has never been my strong suit!"
"But if it were Lucia—"
"I'll punch you! Protect me properly! Ugh, you there—stop moving around, you're in the way! You can't use area-of-effect spells, can you?!"
The knight scrambled to the wall as Cruse, her face pale, screamed at him.
The fire birds had the upper hand over the ice dragons. But Chirdra were still dragons after all, with considerable durability.
No matter how many fire birds hit them, they only got slightly scorched. They didn't slow down, and there was no sign of them falling.
...Wait, hold on. Could it be that the Chirdra's weakness wasn't actually fire?
"Damn it, they're too tough! Weakling, fire really IS their weakness, right?!"
"H-hang in there, hang in there!"
"S-shut up! Be quiet! Scorching Wind! Haa... haa—"
A wave of glowing red wind swept down the corridor. The Chirdra hissed as if singed and let out a small cry. For a moment it nearly fell, but then it surged back up with a powerful beat of its wings.
"Impossible! I'm hitting its weakness dead-on—why is it still bouncing around like this?!"
Cruse was streaming sweat from her forehead but still held her ground, glaring at the dragon.
But her long, slender limbs were trembling, and her breathing had grown ragged. Mana Depletion was closing in. It seemed the Barrier Rings had been charged more than I'd realized.
At that moment, the knight who'd been pressed against the wall kicked off the floor hard. He plunged into the superheated air and brought his sword crashing down on the staggering Chirdra.
The white blade, infused with fierce spirit, struck the Chirdra's body. It didn't cut all the way through, but the Chirdra was slammed into the floor and let out a pained shriek.
Without pausing to watch, the knight slashed at the other Chirdra. His strikes flowed in a seamless combo.
The rising blade grazed one Chirdra's torso while another dodged wide.
The knight, attacking furiously, shouted through ragged breaths: "Haa, haa... Go! I've got this! Protect His—Majesty—!"
"Understood. Cruse, let's move!"
The man's face was beet red as he continued his assault. His movements seemed sharper than before, somehow.
The Chirdra were wounded. At this rate, they shouldn't go down easily. Strange as it was for me to say, we should prioritize the Emperor—for his sake as well.
"Ha?! Are you serious?!"
I silently unhooked the chain from my waist, activated it, and hurled it forward.
"Dog's Chain" landed on all four legs and immediately leapt toward the Chirdra in the air.
Please don't break.
With that prayer, I closed my eyes and addressed the stunned Cruse.
"There—that should take care of it. Let's go."
If we didn't hurry, and even one person died, this would stop being a prank.
I'd have to give Citry a serious lecture later.
§ § § A room in the inn. Looking up at the ceiling where shouts echoed back and forth, the man allowed himself a small smile.
He was surprised that the anticipated attack had been a complete non-event, but the "Curse" had activated without issue once again.
He carefully wrapped the ominous jet-black jewel—the "Anti-Dragon's Proof"—in a cursed cloth and put it away.
A dragon drawn by the curse would not stop until it killed its target.
Before a truly enraged dragon, the royal knights assigned as guards would come to understand their own helplessness.
By now, the Thousand Transformations must be scrambling in panic. A dragon, just as requested.
Or had he read the man's actions all the way to the point of casting the curse?
The Thousand Transformations he'd observed was, contrary to rumor, an unremarkable man. Every move he made seemed pointless. He'd even made the blatant mistake of causing a delay in the Emperor's travel schedule. He didn't seem worth guarding against at all.
There had been some changes to the plan, but things were proceeding smoothly—so smoothly it was hard to believe a Level 8 Hunter had intervened.
At this rate, the objective assigned to him would be achieved without any problems.
There were some concerns, but—thinking that far, the man frowned and cut off his train of thought.
Either way, his job didn't change. What was required of him wasn't judgment. Just faithful execution of what needed to be done.