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The Black Dragon and the White Dragon – Part 02

“Weak! Too weak!” the White Dragon howled in amusement.

“Why… Why did you do that?! Living beings sometimes kill for food, kill when they are attacked. But only a child who doesn’t know right or wrong kills for pleasure.”

“A foolish sentiment. I am a living creature, yet also not. I need not eat humans. My duty is to kill them. The Master has unlocked the dungeon, so I came here to kill.”

The White Dragon spun around and swung its tail, destroying the village chief’s house, the church, and the wreckage of the store. All Selyse could do was hope that none of the villagers were hiding in those houses.

This thing’s only goal is to kill humans. A pain in the neck.

She couldn’t buy time. From the White Dragon’s point of view, Selyse, the adventurers, the villagers, were all the same—nothing but ordinary humans. If it thought they were buying time, it would simply switch targets.

Close combat is the only option. Keep its attention solely on me. I’m going to remind it that there are humans here that could kill it.

Selyse took a step forward. The White Dragon looked at her with a start. It sensed an extraordinary aura coming from her as she sauntered with her sword lowered.

“Come, then. I will take you on!”

It breathed out flames, but Selyse cut through them with a single stroke. The White Dragon bent forward and lunged at Selyse. Its huge body collided with the crumbling church. It raised its front leg in front of Selyse—and swung it down.

The White Dragon’s face scrunched up. The sword had blocked its foot. Not only that—it severed it. Purple blood gushed out from the cut.

The dragon roared.

Selyse quickly raised her shield to block it, but the sound pressure lifted her off the ground, and sent her flying more than ten meters away.

“Miss Selyse!”

“She actually cut the dragon’s foot!”

The adventurers were elated.

Selyse staggered to her feet. She could barely stand.

Ugh… Took almost all my mana.

Exhaustion took hold of her. The White Ray Blade could cut anything by feeding it mana, but the harder the object, the more mana it required. Slicing through flames consumed very little mana, and she had experience with cutting rocks and metal. But she didn’t expect to use up so much mana against the White Dragon.

I underestimated the toughness of its scales… The next attack will be rough.

Selyse did not have a large supply of mana to begin with. She was a fighter who overwhelmed her opponents with her swordsmanship and physical abilities. While the White Ray Blade allowed her to momentarily wield tremendous power, she only used it as a trump card; it wasn’t something she could use over and over again.

“You will pay for this.”

Her trump card seemed to have worked. Selyse was all the White Dragon could see now. All she had to do now was buy as much time as possible. Her plan all along was to flee, not slay the foe. The Plan B that she told Serika and Sara meant to retreat. Serika would have gone to Sophie, while Sara to the village chief.

The White Dragon, though enraged, watched Selyse’s weapon warily.

Its eyes are on me now. Now to buy more time.

Feigning composure, Selyse faced the dragon.

---

Meanwhile, Paula and her father were evacuating to a designated shelter—a square on the outskirts of the village. It used to be a farm where goats were raised, but after the animals were sold off, it was now just a regular square.

“Paula, you’re safe!”

Pia was already there with the village chief. There were about fifty other villagers, but the entire population of the village was more than twice that number. Just then, Priscilla arrived with about ten people in tow.

“I told them it’s not safe inside their houses, but they wouldn’t believe me.”

Rather than being out in the open, they had chosen to remain near the dragon, as long as they couldn’t see it. Or perhaps they had lost consciousness.

“Dad, take care of the rest!” Pia said.

“What do you mean by that?”

“I’ll go fight with Lady Selyse. And I will witness her basking in the glory of slaying the dragon up close.”

“Slaying the dragon? What nonsense. A human can’t possibly that monster.”

“You’re the one spewing nonsense. Lady Selyse is the leader of the Four Eastern Stars! She can slay the White Dragon!”

“I don’t think that’s possible,” Sara said. She came running without a sound, not even out of breath.

“Miss Sara! Where’s Lady Selyse?!”

“She chose to retreat. She’ll buy us as much time as possible, so let’s run to the woods, behind some big rock, or some other place where we can hide.”

“N-No way…” Pia hung her head.

The village chief wore a look that said he already expected this.

Sara laughed. “We’re only human. We can’t do the impossible. Anyway, I’ll go buy time with Selyse, so go. Quick.”

A bell tolled out of nowhere. Attached to a hastily-built tower, its ringing meant only one thing.

“Drat. Why would the monsters attack now?” Sara pressed a hand on her forehead and looked up at the sky. “Like I said, we’ll buy you some time. Go! Now!”

She sprinted away so fast that no one could even stop her. Astonished, Priscilla wondered if that was her going all-out.

“Phew. Who would’ve thought monsters would be coming at this time?”

The village chief sat down, and so did the other villagers.

“Wait, why are you sitting down?” Pia asked. “Didn’t you hear what Miss Sara just said? We have to get out of here!”

“We’re not leaving.”

“What are you saying?! Why do you think Lady Selyse is fighting out there?!”

“I told you already. Even if we abandon this village, only death awaits us. Then we choose to die here.”

“…”

He was just bringing up this morning’s discussion again.

“Pia. If you want to live as an adventurer, you can leave us here.”

“…”

“Now go.”

“Fine. I’ll go. I’ll do just that!” Pia turned away from the village chief and started walking. “I’ll go help Lady Selyse. I don’t care if I can’t do anything. I can’t just leave behind someone who’s risking their life for this village.” She hurried away. “You’re a coward, dad! And an idiot!”

She headed toward the heart of the village without looking back.

The village chief watched her go, dumbfounded.

“Uncle.” Paula bent down beside the village chief. “I think Pia was crying.”

“Probably. She hasn’t changed at all. When she gets into a fight with me, she calls me an idiot and cries. Then in the next three days, she doesn’t talk to me even when I call her.”

Tears spilled from the village chief’s eyes. He wasn’t crying; emotions were pouring out as tears instead of words.

“Paula,” he said. “Please take Pia with you and run away. We… Cotton-elka will perish here today. I doubt Pia would talk to me. She needs three days before she feels better.” He laughed.

“Chief, everyone.” Paula stood up. “This morning, Pia said we should leave. But the chief wouldn’t agree. He said that even if we left this village, we would just die anyway. We only know how to grow tomatoes; we can’t do anything in a place with no fields.” She turned to her father. “And you said that we can never change what we are.”

Paula’s father nodded.

“That’s right. All we can do is grow tomatoes,” the village chief replied, glancing at the direction Pia ran off to.

The villagers nodded as well. They all shared the chief’s sentiment. They accepted his decision to perish along with Cotton-elka.

“You’re wrong,” Paula said. “I agree that we can’t change what we are. Then why not think of it this way? Cotton-elka is where we are.”

“What do you mean by that?” The village chief looked at Paula for the first time.

Above her was the sun. The chief squinted against the brightness.

“This place isn’t Cotton-elka. Long ago, there was nothing but woods here, and our ancestors cleared the land. Wherever we go, we are us. Where we are is Cotton-elka.”

“I—”

“Can we really only grow tomatoes here? Are everyone’s skills dependent on these fields? If there’s no field, let’s make one. Just as our ancestors did in the past. Don’t tell me you can’t. Even I, a crybaby, fought monsters.”

After Paula finished speaking, silence fell. Somewhere a house collapsed.

Clap, clap, clap.

It was Priscilla, clapping her hands. Another round of applause followed. Paula’s father.

“Ah, they grow up so fast,” the pastor said. “Chief, everyone, you heard her. She isn’t a child anymore like we thought. They became adventurers because the village was struggling, and they wanted to send money. How long will you keep hanging your heads?”

The villagers already had their heads raised.

The first to stand up was the village chief. “If we’re going to die anyway, we die fighting. Paula, your words resonated with me. ‘A village is not a place, it’s a people.’ These were the previous chief’s words. My father’s. And you reminded me of them.”

The village chief stroked Paula’s head.

“So…” Paula said.

“Yes.” The village chief nodded firmly. His dignity as the village’s leader returned in his eyes. “Listen up! We are leaving! Men, split up and gather the villagers. Women, children, and the elderly will leave immediately.”

The villagers roared in unison, rising to their feet.

Another house collapsed.

“Let’s go!”

People moved.