2. Angry
How much time has passed since I started sleeping? A dragon simply sleeping in its nest for who knows how long. Without motivations, without goals, I was simply awaiting the end of my days, or so it should have been, until...
"What is a human child doing in this place?"
The noise of small footsteps echoing in the cave woke me from my lethargy; shortly after I started hearing them, the figure that was running revealed itself.
A girl with silver, almost white hair had arrived in front of me. About 8 years old in human terms? What is a child like that doing here? At that age, human offspring should still be under the protection of their parents. Besides, I am sure that when I decided to settle here there were no traces of humans in the surroundings. Has enough time passed for them to settle nearby?
The girl, realizing my presence, stood paralyzed. Observing her better, her body showed signs of poor nutrition, the characteristic fat of offspring was nowhere to be found, and her breathing was ragged as if she had run beyond the limit her body could offer.
"What are you doing here, child?"
"Ah... Ah!..."
Thud
At my words, the girl backed away in fear and fell to the floor.
Right... To her, I look like a dragon with a head much larger than her body. I doubt she will calm down if I stay like this.
Poof
A light enveloped me and my field of vision shrank. My blue scales were replaced by dark blue hair while my eyes kept their golden color, although it's not like I can see them.
A simple light blue outfit covers my body and over it, a dark blue cloak with golden edges.
Polymorph, magic capable of changing the appearance of a being. This is the appearance I usually use when I interact with other races. Although I normally leave my horns and tail visible, I decided to keep them hidden; perhaps a human appearance will help calm the girl.
Approaching slowly, I asked the girl again while extending my hand to her.
"How did you get here, child?"
The girl stared fixedly at my hand, and as if calming down a little, she opened her mouth while extending her hand toward mine.
"I-I..."
"Oh! There you were! I had a little trouble finding you, I really thought I had lost you"
But before she could speak, a new voice burst into the cave.
A woman with brown hair was walking closer... It seems she used a bit of mana to find this place. I remember seeing some mana users in the past, although everyone has mana in their bodies, only a handful of them learn to use it. I never tried to understand why, either. The few interactions I had with humans consisted of tasting food and little else.
Even so, what is she doing here? From what she said, it seemed she was chasing the girl. Let's see... a girl who seemed to be running away from something and now this woman who just arrived; it's not a very difficult situation to understand.
"Hm? And who is this lady?" It seems the girl just realized my presence because she looked quite surprised. "Excuse me, could you leave us alone? I have business with this child"
The woman started to approach and seeing her, the girl, still on the ground, backed away closer to me.
"...And what business would you have with a child?"
"Do you really want to know? Wouldn't it be better to simply leave and pretend you didn't see anything? It's not like the child is related to you"
If you think about it like that, it's not like she's wrong; I have no reason to protect her, I barely saw her for the first time less than five minutes ago. Curiosity? Pride? Instinct to protect someone weaker? None of them feel like an answer, but if I had to answer it would probably be because of... Forget it, I don't want to ruin my mood even more.
"I insist, tell me"
'Although I already have an idea'
"I have to take care of her, you know? If for some reason she manages to survive and tells someone, we would be in trouble. We have a reputation to maintain"
"And what would be the reason for needing to do that?"
"They are trying to force artificial awakenings or something like that, I don't know, I just take care of the ones who try to flee. Lately, the number of gates that have appeared has been increasing but the number of awakened ones can't keep up the pace. It would be a problem if they aren't managed in time, you know, gates collapsing and monsters pouring out in droves. The government didn't approve the experiment, so we can't leave someone loose out there who knows that information."
'Gates and awakened ones? What are those supposed to be? No, wait. More important than that, what did she say? They use children in their experiments?'
Upon finishing analyzing the information, a wave of rage ran through my body.
"And now that you know" The woman—no, now I should call her a beast. The beast spoke again. "I also have to eliminate you, what a pity. With such a pretty face you could easily make good money"
Before finishing speaking, the beast lunged forward with a dagger in hand and used mana to do something. The next moment, four copies appeared. In front, behind, left, and right. Illusions? It's a good tactic to confuse the opponent, one could even add substance to the copies to deceive more senses than just sight and even be able to use them to deal damage. Although it doesn't seem like she reaches that point... It wouldn't matter much either, because right now...
I am angry
I grabbed the real one's neck and lifted her up.
"Kuh!? How...!?"
I couldn't help but speak with a cold voice.
"Experimenting on children, are you serious? Have humans fallen so low as to experiment on their own offspring? The duty of adults is to take care of them and allow them to grow without problems. Even animals know that."
Even if some of us have failed at it.
"And you people are playing with that!?"
The strength in my hand increased.
'Right, there is a child next to me'
I summoned my tail and used it to cover the eyes and ears of the girl who was behind me.
"Kuh! This... strength..."
'Finishing her off with the child watching wouldn't be a good idea.'
I summoned a blue flame and brought it close to the beast in human form.
"No..." She tried to use her hands to break my grip without success. "Don't kill me..."
"He who is prepared to kill, must be prepared to die. That is the basic mindset one must have to perform such an action and it is what differentiates a warrior from a mere beast. And you..."
"No..."
The flame approached her body and it started to crumble into dust and disperse through the air.
"You are worse than a beast"
Finally, her body disappeared completely as if she had never been present.
'Tch, now I'm in a bad mood'
Even so, I have to endure it for now.
"So, could you explain to me what happened?"
I released my tail from the girl and turned to speak to her but...
"Ah... She fainted"
It seems her body couldn't continue handling the stress and she ended up fainting.
'I guess I'll have to wait for her to wake up...'
But.
If she managed to get here after escaping, that means that place shouldn't be very far.
And if, in that place, there are still more children left.
Then.
'I will not forgive them'
"I told you not to try anything funny"
"..."
Zack spoke to the boy, who followed him with his gaze fixed on the ground.
"You tried to flee, you failed, and now the other girl is likely dead somewhere in the forest. Who knows, if you had stayed still maybe both of you would be here right now."
"...up"
"What did you say?"
"Shut up! She isn't dead!"
"Come on kid, you know yourself that the chances she could actually flee didn't exist. In the first place, it's impossible for a normal person to win against an awakened one. It would be better if you just accepted the fact that she is dead."
"...She isn't dead"
"Hah... Think what you want, you're stuck here anyway until that guy finishes preparing whatever he has to do. After that? No idea"
They continued walking until arriving at the same room the boy had left during the day; everything was the same except for the lack of one person.
"Hey kid-"
Beeeeeeeep!
Before Zack could speak to the boy again, an alarm sounded and he had to close the room door.
"Now what?"
"An intruder has been detected. All units must move toward the entrance"
"Everyone? Tch, are they that worried about one intruder?"
Zack complained but still headed toward the exit and what he saw was...
18 people with their weapons ready.
4 people on the ground.
And in front of them, a single figure with their face hidden by a cloak.
Zack approached a group of men who were standing and asked about the situation.
"That person simply arrived and demanded that everyone leave the laboratory." The man looked at those who had fallen and then continued speaking. "Obviously we weren't going to agree to something like that, but when that group approached to take care of that person, they fell."
"They fell? Without even fighting?"
"Y-yes... After that, everyone got into a defensive position preparing for the attack, but that person simply hasn't moved since then."
"Tch, useless" Finishing listening to the situation, Zack moved in front of the group while readying his sword. "Hey, I don't know who you are or what you were planning, but my job is to handle people like you, so don't hold a grudge against me"
The next moment, Zack lunged with the intention of cutting the intruder with all his strength.
"!!"
But.
He stopped the sword before cutting the figure.
No, rather, something was stopping the sword.
A hand so slender you would never think it belonged to a fighter was stopping Zack's sword without even trembling.
"Are you all fighters? I clearly said everyone should leave that place."
The figure threw Zack as if he were simply a nuisance and started walking toward the rest of the group.
"My patience has run out, I will simply search for them myself."
The other people, who had remained paralyzed seeing Zack get thrown without issues, finally reacted and prepared to fight.
"Move aside"
Only to fall as if their strings had been cut.
The intruder simply continued walking toward the entrance, when.
"Hey, it would be bad if you just forget about me."
Zack charged toward the figure again.
"Tch"
The figure simply dodged his attack as if they already knew about it.
"You are a bit stronger than the others. Even if I didn't use much strength, you still recovered too quickly."
"A bit stronger? Even if I'm no longer an official hunter I'm still S-Rank. So, what would that make you, who can dodge my attacks without the slightest bit of worry."
"Who knows. I don't even know what you are talking about."
"You don't know? Are you perhaps a dragon that was sleeping for centuries and woke up because they went to bother it in its nest?"
Zack said it as a joke, without knowing that the phrase he said was quite close to reality.
"..."
A cold sweat ran down his back. He wanted to flee, but he couldn't flee.
The exchanges, although short, had already made him see the great gap between the two.
This attempt at conversation was simply to buy time while he charged his attack.
"Are you done yet?"
"!! You already knew I was preparing something? And you aren't trying to stop me?"
"I don't see that you have intentions of escaping. If you are preparing something, even knowing you might die, it would be disrespectful on my part to interrupt." The intruder stopped speaking for a moment and stared at Zack. "But first, let me ask something."
"Ask?"
"You, who are stronger than the average person. Why are you here protecting people who do not deserve to be protected? With your strength, you could easily earn a living anywhere else."
"That is your question? For money, simply that."
"You know that is not the answer, if it were only for money, a person like you would have various ways to get it."
Zack was surprised for a moment, but still didn't lose his concentration.
"..."
"..."
"...They have my sister as a hostage. If I don't do what they tell me, they will use her in their experiments. I don't even know where they have her, obviously they wouldn't give me that information knowing I would go by force."
"And that is why you decided to sacrifice other children?"
"I have no excuses. My plan was to find where they held my sister and turn myself in along with everyone in this place after ensuring my sister was safe."
"And if your sister wasn't safe? What would you have done?"
"...I want to believe she is safe"
"..."
"51 children, no, if we count today's girl it's 52. That is the number of children I have seen pass through. Today was the first time I saw one of them return alive. I don't know if you understand, but, if you had to choose between sacrificing someone you don't know or your only family. Which would you choose? I am not someone noble enough to sacrifice myself for someone I don't know, that is my answer. Even if it is the one that led to this situation."
Perceiving that enough time had passed, Zack readied his sword.
A simple technique.
Just a vertical cut with all his mana accumulated in the blade.
"Take this!"
CRAAAAAASHHHHHH!!
A large crater along with a cloud of dust formed in the place where the hooded figure stood.
"Ha... Ha... Is it over?"
Exhausted, Zack stood staring at how the dust cloud dispersed, when.
"51"
"What...?"
"You can lower the number to 51. It doesn't make your actions any better, but it is still important information."
"Ha... Haha... To think that kid was right..."
"Your name?"
"...Zack"
"Good, Zack. The past is something that cannot be changed. Not even the strongest of dragons can manipulate time. Your actions will pursue you for the rest of your life. That is an absolute fact and that is what the past is." The figure started approaching Zack while speaking. "The future, on the other hand, is not fixed, it is volatile. The smallest change can bring great consequences. If someone decides to accept their sins. No matter how heavy they are, that someone can change. And if that person changes, then they can try to pay for their sins. Obviously, there will be people who refuse to receive someone like that, but we don't need to talk about that right now. Do you understand what I am trying to say?"
Now in front of Zack, the figure finished speaking and waited for his answer.
"I understand... But... You only spoke of the past and the future, what about the present?"
"The present?"
Being so close, Zack managed to see part of the intruder's face.
Dark blue hair, a thin but sharp face, and most surprising of all: golden eyes with vertical pupils.
Zack thought he saw a small, almost imperceptible smile forming on that face.
"You'd better grit your teeth."
The last thing he managed to see was a fist now covered in blue scales approaching his face.
'Hahaha... To think it really was...'
And thus, he lost his consciousness.
