Published: January 15, 2026
【Talga】
“St-Stradale-dono...”
I called out the name of the knight order chief of the marquis family knights whom I relied on the most now. Amidst the rain of rubble. Maybe…
That’s what I thought, but soon I heard the sound of hooves galloping toward me.
“Lord Talga! Are you unharmed!?”
It was Stradale who appeared with a loud voice. As expected, he wasn’t unscathed—his helmet had come off, and a streak of blood flowed from his forehead. However, all four limbs were intact, and there was vitality in his eyes.
“I-I’m fine.”
I answered and lifted my upper body. Since my right arm was numb and wouldn’t move, I pushed myself up from the ground with the palm of my left hand and somehow stood up. Stradale checked my condition and silently nodded, then glanced into the distance toward the earth dragon.
“… Now that it’s come to this, shall we fight until we die? Or choose to retreat and bet on the one-in-ten-thousand chance? Which do you prefer?”
At those words, I couldn’t help but burst out laughing.
“Ha, ha ha...! Prefer, huh. If asked which, I’d want to fight like a true knight, risking my life to protect the kingdom. If I may wish, I’d proudly cut off the earth dragon’s head and make a name for myself as a dragon slayer.”
What am I saying when I can’t even raise my right hand? I called myself that and made a light joke. Stradale quietly smiled and lowered his chin.
“… What a coincidence. One of my former subordinates actually managed to slay a dragon… I was thinking about competing with him. Would you help me?”
“Oh, of course.”
I answered with a laugh and turned to the earth dragon to start chanting magic. By now, I no longer had the energy to dodge the cannon fire. All I could do was unleash all the magic I had and draw the earth dragon’s attention to myself.
Come on, let’s die gloriously.
Seeing Stradale ready his sword at the edge of my vision, I thought that and lifted the corner of my mouth.
In the next moment, two tall knights ran past to my side at speeds like the wind.
“Nng…”
That was the only foolish sound I could utter. The silly thought that I was seeing knights taller than myself for the first time floated through my mind.
Forgetting about the magic chanting, I watched the backs of the knights in a daze. The two knights approached the earth dragon, which had its upper body exposed from the stone wall. Running at terrifying speed, they pushed off the ground just before hitting the wall and leapt. With movements no human could manage, they climbed the stone wall and swung their swords.
A chilling earth dragon scream and a flood of bright red blood stained the sky.
The knight on the right severed one of the earth dragon’s front legs that was resting on the stone wall with a single strike. The knight on the left sliced through part of the earth dragon’s lower and upper jaw.
A strike impossible to believe was human strength.
Stradale, who was watching nearby, seemed to feel the same. His eyes widened as he stared at the scene unfolding before him.
But that wasn’t the end. Immediately after, a sound that shook the air and the noise of wind being cut rang out together, and the earth dragon convulsed.
“W-What...?”
I heard Stradale’s confused voice, but since I didn’t understand what was happening, I couldn’t answer.
While this was going on, the earth dragon toppled backward as if thrown off balance. Desperately trying to grasp the situation, I strained my eyes and saw a black dot on the stone wall. It hadn’t been there before, so maybe it was a hole.
“… Could it be that something pierced through the stone wall and then through the earth dragon’s body beyond?”
It was unbelievable to say myself, but that explanation fit. I was confused, and my thoughts were scrambled. Somewhere, I thought I had heard about arrows that could pierce dragon scales.
At that moment, a breathless child’s voice rang out.
“Are you a-okay!?”
The voice came from quite far away but echoed strangely. When I turned, I saw dozens of cavalry and several oddly shaped carriages behind them.