Prologue: Naden Delal (2)

MISTERLP

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.