Extra 17 - Kihano – For the Young Possibilities (1)

It was a deep night in which everyone in the village slept.

In the quiet Consuegra, where only the sounds of insects could be heard, a soft sob echoed.

"…I'm sorry."

A ray of moonlight filtered through the coarse wooden planks.

The priestess of the World Tree was locked in some storage shed, as there wasn't even a proper prison in the village.

Sitting with her knees together and her head bowed, the gentle blue moonlight enveloped her as if trying to console her.

"I tried to save them, truly."

She had traveled a long way from the elven forest, Alfheim, to reach Consuegra. 

However, now she was trapped in a cage built by the mages.

Tomorrow, Sarnus would arrive, and she would be taken to the capital. But she wasn't crying because of the uncertain future that awaited her.

—It hurts so much! Please, stop already!

—I'm sorry! Please, get me out of here!

What truly tormented her were the cries of the young spirits that still echoed in her ears.

From Samonte's mill, which still gleamed with lights, the heart-wrenching screams of the little spirits could be heard without end.

"...Why do you abandon those children, Mother?"

Those fragile and pitiful sounds made her doubt the message of the World Tree, which had sent her here alone.

But unable to do anything, the priestess could only hide her tear-soaked face between her knees.

Her shoulders trembled helplessly.

The young spirits suffered and cried out because of the mages' cruel experiments.

However, there was no one there to hear those sobs.

"…"

Except for one person.

It was a night when only the wounded remained awake.

That's why the knight who was alone in his room at the inn touched his left eye silently while glaring furiously at Samonte's mill.

***

Although normally in Consuegra only the bleating of sheep could be heard, today, for some reason, it felt more bustling.

The children wore clean clothes, and the adults were sweeping with brooms here and there.

"Today, someone very important from the Dragulia family is coming."

"They say it's a dragon. And one of pure blood, no less."

"They say he has golden hair and blue eyes. I can't believe I'll see a dragon before I die!"

The villagers were excited about the news that a dragon would arrive in Consuegra.

Born in perfection, as beautiful as jewels.

Just seeing a dragon was an honor, and everyone was hurriedly preparing to welcome him.

"They're coming! They've already reached the entrance to the village!"

"Form a line! Make sure the children don't run ahead!"

With the firm shout of the mayor, the villagers quickly stepped aside from the path.

Although they seemed nervous about seeing a dragon for the first time, they couldn't hide the excitement coursing through their bodies.

"…."

Soon, a luxurious golden carriage approached from the distance.

That immutable gold was a color reserved solely for dragons born in perfection.

Upon recognizing that color, the villagers began bowing their heads one by one.

"Welcome, Sarnus Dragulia!"

The carriage passed through the crowd and came to a stop. Samonte, the mage, hurriedly approached with an extremely respectful posture, very different from his usual demeanor in the village.

"It is an honor to have you in this humble place…"

Finally, a noble dragon began to step out through the open door.

His golden hair shone under the sunlight, and his blue eyes observed everything coldly.

However, what was most imposing about his presence was the perfection he had borne since birth.

"Well done, Samonte. You've finally found a useful energy source, haven't you?"

"Y-yes, Sarnus."

Everyone present bowed their heads before him.

Therefore, Sarnus's eyes, which could freely look down on others, began to slowly scan the surroundings.

"Good thing I didn't arrive too late."

The reason a noble dragon had come to this remote village was to oversee Samonte's experiment.

But beyond that, Sarnus wanted to see something in particular: Kihano Frausen, the young possibility they had crushed in the past.

"But I don't see him."

"What?"

He looked around, but he didn't see the brown hair he was searching for.

The youngest son of the Frausen family, who had shown such a brilliant potential that he had surprised even the dragons.

A spark of potential that needed to be verified. However, Kihano was not where he was supposed to be.

***

"Kkuuuuung!"

In Samonte's mill, which had been left empty to receive the noble dragon, someone was carefully climbing up.

"Why did they build this so high?"

The mill that Kihano was scaling was the tallest and largest in Consuegra.

Therefore, it was difficult for anyone to climb. However, for some reason, Kihano ascended with ease, without even using a rope.

"…Will I really get my normal hands back after this?"

"I'm telling you, yes! Do you think they've been fooling me my whole life?"

Andrew, on his shoulder, kicked his hind legs as if trying to dispel any doubts.

Even so, it was hard not to feel uneasy.

If a swordsman's hands turned into those of a frog, anyone would react like Kihano.

"Why are you climbing up the wall instead of using the normal entrance? Are you crazy?"

"I want to see Samonte's workshop."

"And why?"

"Ah… I told you before!"

It wasn't a very dignified image to see Kihano climbing like a frog.

Yan, who was below, watched him with concern. But the knight had already passed the mill blades and was near the window of Samonte's workshop.

"I've been hearing children crying all night!"

Even though he knew no one was there, Kihano spoke in an urgent whisper.

"This mill seemed suspicious to me from the start."

Kihano peeked into the workshop through the window, and then turned his head to look back.

There were the mill blades.

"Look. They don't even have a weather vane installed."

The rusty blades didn't have the vane that any mill should have to catch the wind.

The main function of a mill was to turn with the wind, but this one didn't even have that intention.

Crraaack!

"That's why I need to see it up close."

Gently tapping the window with his elbow to avoid making noise, Kihano carefully removed the cracked glass.

It was a technique he had learned for secret meetings with ladies, but it proved useful in other situations.

"…"

Kihano unlatched the window and slipped silently into Samonte's workshop.

Although Andrew had said there were no other security measures, it never hurt to be cautious.

"What a messy place. Are all mages like this?"

"I wasn't, you brat!"

"You have papers scattered everywhere. Mages are a disaster."

"…"

This workshop was not accessible during official visits.

That's why the workshop Kihano was seeing for the first time was messy, with papers strewn across the floor.

"…What's this? A blueprint?"

Among the papers filled with difficult-to-read letters, there was one that caught Kihano's attention.

A sheet with a simple drawing instead of complicated letters and formulas.

It was a sectional blueprint of the mill they were currently in.

"Why does it have so many gears?"

Upon examining the blueprint, he saw an excessive number of gears and pipes in Samonte's mill.

He didn't know what they were for, but it was evident they weren't typical components of a regular mill.

"…Kihano."

"What is it? I'm busy."

While Kihano quickly lost interest in the blueprint and looked around, Andrew, on his shoulder, blinked in surprise.

"This… Where we are now doesn't seem to be just a mill."

"That's what I'm saying. I told you this was suspicious."

Andrew's voice trembled with nervousness, but Kihano was focused on finding the source of the children's cries he had heard last night.

As he looked around, he saw something shining.

"I'm telling you, this isn't an ordinary windmill. This…"

"Shhh. Be quiet for a moment."

Looking up, he saw that there were glass tubes hanging from the ceiling of the workshop.

They seemed to be firmly attached as if they were part of some machinery.

Kihano felt the pain in his injured left eye intensify when he saw them.

"Can't you hear it?"

"Hear what?"

"It sounds like crying."

Kihano really didn't care what the mage Samonte was doing.

After all, the experiment was supervised by Dragulia, and it wasn't something he could interfere with.

"…Is it coming from above?"

But if children were involved, the situation was different.

Especially if the children were suffering so much they cried all night.

"¡Kngh!"

The higher he climbed, the more his wounded left eye hurt.

The bandage he wore was stained with blood, but his determination did not waver.

"Kihano! Your wound is bleeding!"

"I know!"

The closer he got to the empty glass tubes, the clearer the children's cries became.

Finally, he reached the top of the workshop.

There was a large gear and many glass tubes embedded around it.

"Where are they?"

Kihano looked around urgently, blood dripping from his eye.

However, he only saw empty glass tubes. There was no sign of the crying children.

"There's nothing. We should go down."

"But…"

"Idiot, I just told you! This isn't an ordinary windmill!"

-······!

Andrew urged Kihano to go down, but he turned his head when he heard something.

It wasn't a sound heard with his ears but something perceived with his sight.

Looking in that direction with his injured left eye, he saw a white figure.

"Stop torturing them!"

A white spark crackled inside a large glass tube at the center of the gear.

It was a much larger tube than the others, and it was vibrating.

As he approached, Kihano opened his eyes in shock.

"Leave my friends alone, you damned humans!"

He couldn't see it with his right eye, but he could with his injured left eye.

In a place where the colors were all dark, like a scene from an oil painting, a young and severely injured snake was screaming at Kihano.

***

A boy cried in an empty dueling arena where everyone had left.

The tears the boy was shedding now were not from resentment or anger.

"…Father."

These were tears that flowed from helpless fear.

The dragons of Dragulia had raged when they saw the world he had created.

That was because those blue eyes desperately sought the boy's world, recognizing Kihano's potential, forged by sacrificing his own young dragon.

"Did I do something wrong?"

However, no one made eye contact with Kihano, who was now crying.

Neither his father, whom he respected, nor his mother, whom he loved, had the time to look at young Kihano because they were busy appeasing the angry dragons.

—Don't look away anymore, Kihano.

A world of children that no one could protect.

Therefore, the cries of the little one he had ignored continued to echo within Kihano.

—If you keep doing this, the star inside you will die.

Perhaps the cries Kihano heard last night weren't from the young spirits in front of him, but from the child he had been ignoring until now.

That's why Kihano decided not to look away and took a step toward the glass tube before him.