Heroes and Their Qualifications (16)
Dragon Mountain.
A secluded spot among the endlessly stretching mountain ranges. Bella was there, in a hidden corner of the rocky landscape, her bandages stained with blood, her face contorted in pain.
The place where Bella was located was eerily quiet for a mountain range known to be teeming with wyverns. It was strange, given that there was prey wrapped in blood-soaked bandages, a perfect target for wyverns.
The fear of being attacked at any moment.
Whether she was on guard or it was the pain in her wing joints, Bella’s expression was far from bright.
Of course, even if the surroundings were safe and her wing joints were unharmed, her face wouldn’t have been bright.
The reason Bella grimaced was simple,
she had faced an unwelcome truth.
* * *
The very next day after Valkvogel had pinpointed Bella’s location.
I rushed to the place I had been told about without any delay. There was no need to check my equipment. Even during the tedious days, I had always maintained the items I would primarily use. Except for the two hours wasted in securing some emergency rations, I didn’t delay.
I left Valkvogel behind.
Pain from the collar? Well, I’ll have to part with this letter soon enough. I had weakened the intensity in preparation for that moment. Since I had personally damaged it to a subtle degree, the pain should have lessened a bit.
In fact, Valkvogel and I had been almost apart for the last few days, and she didn’t seem to show any signs of discomfort.
Except for the annoying habit of burrowing into my chest when sleeping. Just thinking about the irritation from that damned horn’s edge makes me grind my teeth…
Anyway, the place Valkvogel had found Bella was about an hour away from the village we had stayed in. It was a subtle place, not swarming with a large number of wyverns, but not devoid of them either.
Valkvogel had spotted Bella here.
She said she had stumbled upon her while scouting the unusually quiet area.
The specific location where Bella was found was the distant, daunting stone mountain.
Yes.
This is the end. I’ll deliver the letter to Bella, who’s hiding here, and once that letter is opened, everything comes to an end. It means that the long and arduous journey of several years is drawing to a close.
The end.
After all, isn’t it said that the conclusion is the most important part?
So, on my way here, I did a lot of thinking. For example… things I should wrap up before I return to my original world.
Most of them were taken care of during the journey of delivering the letters, but there are still some unfinished matters.
It might sound like I have grand tasks left, but in reality, it’s only about the welfare of Cecilia and Valkvogel.
Cecilia said she would follow me until I return to my original world, so it’s impossible to part ways with her. As for Valkvogel… I trust her, but there’s always the ‘what if.’
…Ah, maybe I can just leave her here.
She doesn’t really have anywhere else to go, being part of the Demon Army and all.
Plus, considering she’s not recognized as a dragon, she probably wouldn’t be treated well in the Dragon Kingdom either. If we’re destined to part ways eventually, and it’s a relationship from which I’ve received not an insignificant… quite a lot of help, then it’s only right to leave her in a better place when we do part.
Besides, this place would allow her to escape if necessary. With so many wyverns around, any aggressive pursuit would be impossible.
Of course, all this is…
“Ha… when will I ever finish climbing this?”
…something to think about after I’ve climbed this mountain and handed the letter to Bella.
Now, back to reality.
I need to figure out how to tackle this incredibly high mountain.
…But if I had known the mountain was this high, I might have brought Valkvogel with me. How am I supposed to climb this on my own? When will I ever get to the top?
My legs almost gave out at that thought, but what I needed to do in this situation was crystal clear.
Climb the mountain and deliver the letter to Bella.
I won’t truly be free until I finish that task.
“…Let’s go.”
With that brief affirmation, I caught my breath.
Then I grabbed a rock popping out between the cliffs. I planted my feet firmly against the wall and reached for an awkwardly placed rock above my head.
I repeated this series of actions.
Over and over until I climbed this damned rocky mountain. Repeating it to the point of exhaustion.
Maybe it was because I hadn’t exerted myself in a while, or perhaps my body was protesting this repetitive task after just a few minutes, but my vision started to blur.
I wondered if I might pass out.
For a moment, that thought crossed my mind, but unfortunately, my body kept climbing the mountain.
And so, the tedious and monotonous ascent continued.
*
After about an hour’s journey, I found myself on the mid-slope of the mountain, far from the summit I had hoped to reach. There, I took a moment to rest.
I wanted to head straight for the peak, but considering it would take twice the time I had already spent, and my energy was completely drained, I was feeling a bit rushed since I had already wasted several days. However, pushing myself too hard in such a place could result in a fatal fall to the distant ground below. It was a close call, really. If it weren’t for this clearing that appeared just in time, I might have been in real danger. I barely managed to find this spacious area on the mid-slope of the rocky mountain and save my life.
Briefly reminiscing about the tense moments of the past, I took out the water bottle from my waist and quenched my thirst.
“Phew…”
Then, I took a moment to look around.
The view from the high plateau was beautiful.
Mountains, a lake, wyverns. And a sky and land I could never see in my original world.
This might be my last chance to take in the scenery of this world. I’m not usually one for sightseeing, but maybe it’s because I once lost my sight that I don’t find it too bad right now.
Alright, enough with enjoying the view.
I don’t have much time to spare.
“…That bitch. Should’ve just gone to the village with us. What’s so important about hunting wyverns anyway.”
Lamenting a life that requires climbing rocks with bare hands, I picked up another stone.
And just as I was about to shift my weight onto my feet to hoist myself up.
“Flan?”
A voice called out from behind me.
Who could it be? I didn’t need to wonder. There was only one person who could possibly be here.
As I turned around, there she was—Bella.
The only surprise was that Bella was not in good shape.
Her severe injuries were evident at a glance. Bella’s abdomen was wrapped in bandages. No matter how you looked at it, she didn’t look well, but what caught my eye was her wing. One wing was torn to the extent that it couldn’t possibly function properly.
With such injuries, she couldn’t have glided properly, yet she climbed the mountain. Well, she was the sturdiest among the hero’s party, so it wasn’t impossible for her.
“Flan, you─”
“Hey, long time no see. It’s been a few days since you said you’d go back to the village and ran off… I was curious whether you had kicked the bucket or not, so I came looking. And here you are, alive.”
I wondered why she didn’t make it to the summit and appeared on the mid-slope instead, but even for Bella, it must have been too much to climb to the top in such a condition.
“Alright, I feel like I’m doing all the talking here, but you also said you’d be back and then disappeared for days… Anyway, take this letter. It’s nothing weird, just something I want to experiment with a bit.”
Before Bella could respond, I handed her the letter.
Naturally and confidently.
As if I was throwing off the shackles that bound me.
“…”
Bella seemed to want to say something but grimaced as she looked at the letter she received.
“…Flan.”
“It’s a letter left by Troka. It’s addressed to you.”
She seemed to want to say something, but I cut her off once again.
To make sure Bella understood the true intent of the letter and to awaken her to what she needed to do. And to avoid an annoying argument.
“Don’t you want to read it? I know what you think of him, but still, his last sincere words before he died, you should at least read that much, shouldn’t you?”
There’s no time to waste.
I need to get home as soon as possible.
Let’s finish this.
If Bella opens the letter, everything ends.
Well, if she doesn’t, it looks like I’ll have to waste time with the same old boring stuff as always. But at least the last task seems like it could be done in good spirits. There’s nothing that ends quicker than a task where the goal is in sight.
Still, I’d prefer to finish my last job comfortably without any trouble.
I’d like to avoid struggling to the very end.
So, what will Bella choose?
In that anticipation, what flew was:
A whoosh,
the sound of the wind being sliced.
And the red letter, heading towards the distant mountain range below.
It looks like it’ll take days to find that again.
“Flan. Do you think this damn letter is what’s important right now? The secret you’re hiding is what’s crucial.”
Bella threw the letter she had received far down the mountain range. Like discarding something useless, as if it were disposable.
Did I do something wrong?
Watching the letter being carried away by the wind, I turned my gaze back to Bella.
Her face was flushed red. Her posture suggested she might charge at any moment, her face so engorged it seemed to forget she was injured, matching the color of her hair.
What came from Bella’s mouth was:
“You claim to be a hero too.”
“A bit different, but… who the hell told you that?”
It was a surprising statement.
But not one to elicit a strong reaction.
This was just a minor issue, a slight mishap. Such mishaps have always been easily overcome. Surely it would be the same this time.
At least, that’s what I wanted to believe.
But Bella, as if to contradict my thoughts, was sending me a sharp look.
“So, what is it you want to say?”
Really, it’s just one hardship after another for me, right up to the end.
