Akatsuki Translations

『Z……………』

The monster created by the Dungeon of Sin, Proudia, the Hybrid Dragon, was floating in the sky above Uuga.

This underling dragon, forcibly “patched together” with various characteristics of various Dragons of Sin, possessed no proper will. While it’s natural for monsters to take distorted forms unlike normal creatures, most monsters more or less mimic the shape of living beings.

But this underling dragon was different. It was a Hybrid Dragon created for one sole purpose from the start. Moreover, its base was 【Sloth】, the most distorted among the dragons.

The Dragon of Sloth  was closer to a plant, or perhaps a fungus, than an animal.

This was according to 【Heavenly Demon Greylei】, the only one permitted unrestricted research on dragon entities. It’s unclear through what research he reached this conclusion, but as he pointed out, the Sloth dragon had almost no biological activity.

It remained motionless, spreading gas to put surrounding creatures to sleep, kill them, and make them rot.

It turned decayed creatures into undead, expanding the area of decay.

Thus, the sloth species is considered to have the lowest aggression, yet is regarded as the most dangerous dragon.

『………Z……』

Perhaps because it largely inherited the characteristics of the Sloth Dragon, this Hybrid Dragon had almost no will of its own. It wasn’t even aware that it was causing decay in its surroundings. It simply existed there.

If it were a pure Sloth species, it would still show some will, but even that was absent. This was a weakness of the distorted “Hybrid Dragon”. It barely functioned beyond its purpose. It couldn’t find a reason to move.

『….Z………』

Therefore, it was indifferent even to the resistance magic water approaching to engulf it.

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Command Tower Rooftop

“A Leyline!! It’s incredible!! The captain was completely blind to her existence!!” Eckstein exclaimed in admiration, witnessing the power of the resistance magic enveloping the tower wrap around the Hybrid Dragon. The cancelling power, negating all magic-related forces, was stripping away not only the power of Sloth but even its flight ability.

『 Z 』

The dragon fell. Soon after, the impact sound and a massive cloud of dust enveloped Uuga. It seemed to have fallen somewhere in the plaza prepared in the center of Uuga for the Sun-Devouring ceremony.

“If it’s down there, we can attack!” Jain said.

“But how do we get close? The power of the magic eye coming from the air is gone, but the mist remains,” Eckstein pointed out while cutting down a bird-shaped monster that had swooped in next to him.

Indeed, squinting their eyes, they could see a thin smoke-like substance still permeating all of Uuga. It was an malicious mist that brought forth slumber, then death, and finally transformed its victims into undead vanguards.

Even if they were no longer exposed to the magic eye, diving into this mist would have the same effect.

“Can we have the Leyline erase it all?” Eckstein asked.

“If we could do that, we woulda done it already. Besides, even that last move seemed reckless. Look,” Jain said, pointing to the sky above the tower.

The resistance magic that had taken the form of water and completely enveloped the tower until moments ago was now visibly reduced. It barely covered just above the head of the giant Jain.

“The ‘total amount’ of resistance magic must be fixed. Meaning we can’t push it too far,” Jain concluded.

Presumably, they were using part of what was protecting the tower to seal the underling dragon’s flight. But it was unclear how long even that would last. Moreover, the center of the resistance magic formation was the 【Command Tower】. Just moving outside the formation would be quite taxing.

“I see… So we have no choice but to deal with the main body. And ventilate the air too,” Eckstein mused.

“We have a way for that,” Kalkara interjected, joining the conversation.

For some reason, she was grabbing and dragging the head of a squirming Griffin behind her. Given that Griffin was clearly larger compared to her build, the sight of him being dragged without resistance was somewhat surreal.

Griffin, for his part, was shouting something loudly.

“Nuooooo!! The water!! The miraculous water is decreasing!!?”

“You’re noisy,” Kalkara chided.

Griffin, perhaps because he was also on the command tower rooftop, must have been exposed to the “drowsiness” threat brought by the underling dragon. But even so, his level of fear seemed a bit excessive.

“But I know!! If you’re hit by the power of 【Sloth】, you’ll continue sleeping until you die, mushrooms will grow in your brain, you’ll die and rot until you’ve become nothing but bones, and continue living forever, right!?”

“Ah, half-baked knowledge has become your enemy…” Jain sighed.

“Being at a third rank Gran’s house has made him annoyingly precocious,” Kalkara commented.

But more importantly, Kalkara turned back to Jain and Eckstein.

“This lump of fat will continue to guard the command tower. More importantly, we have someone who can move to ventilate Uuga,” Kalkara said.

Saying this, she brought forward a young girl who still had traces of childishness. A short, chestnut-haired child. Perhaps about 10 years old. Eckstein recognized her.

“If I’m not mistaken, she’s the user of the 【Spirit of the Wind】…”

Yes, a promising talent among the acolytes, a formidable girl blessed with the protection of one of the four elements, the 【Spirit of the Wind】. Eckstein, familiar with the Wind Spirit, remembered her well.

“She should be able to move freely through the sleeping mist,” Kalkara explained.

“I see… If the threat of the magic eye is gone, we can manage the mist with wind power… But…” Eckstein hesitated a bit. After all, she was just a young girl. Certainly, spirit power grants tremendous strength regardless of age, but the person controlling it is still young.

“It’s alright. I can do it,” the girl said firmly.

“Even if we try to keep her in the tower out of concern, if we leave the dragon alone, the entire tower will be wiped out,” Kalkara pointed out.

“…You have a point,” Eckstein conceded.

There was no room for argument. This was a situation where they needed to mobilize all available personnel. The girl’s expression showed fear suppressed by determination to do what needed to be done. She seemed far more resolute than they had expected.

“Understood. Then let’s leave the minimum force necessary to guard the tower and head out to slay the dragon,” Eckstein decided.

“I want to form a party centered around her to deal with that underling dragon. At the very least, we must destroy the magic eye attached to its belly,” Kalkara instructed.

“We’ll use all the ‘preparations’ for fighting dragons. We’ll bring out everything the 【Hero】 lent us. We’ll worry about the consequences later,” Jain added.

Everyone started moving hurriedly. Eckstein also began giving instructions to his subordinates. In the midst of this flurry of activity, Eckstein suddenly realized he had forgotten to ask something important.

“Come to think of it, I’ve been meaning to ask all this time, what’s her name?”

“She ‘doesn’t have one’,” Kalkara replied.

“What?”

Eckstein couldn’t believe his ears. But Kalkara’s expression wasn’t one of joking. Her face showed a hint of unpleasant anger.

“She doesn’t have one. Probably the intention of the family that cast her out. A 【Curse of Namelessness】 has been placed on her to avoid revealing the family name,” Kalkara explained.

“…”

“Even a clear form of address is sealed. We can’t call her by any proper noun.”

Eckstein was momentarily at a loss for words. But it wasn’t unheard of. Illegitimate children, unwanted children, or criminals from priestly families. When they’re cast out from their families, they’re often removed from the family register. Sometimes they’re given a different family name, but in some cases, even that is sealed.

However, going as far as using a curse was quite extreme.

“If we narrow it down to families in Gradol that are likely to receive the Wind Spirit’s blessing, we could guess whose doing this is. But that’s irrelevant right now,” Kalkara added.

“…Indeed,” Eckstein agreed.

Certainly, it wasn’t important now. It was a nauseating story, but first, they had to focus on not dying here. After all, they must avoid fulfilling the wishes of those who would rejoice at the girl’s death.

“But then, what should we do? What should we call her in an emergency…”

As a practical matter, having no way to address the girl at all would be problematic. Especially since they were about to plunge into a dangerous situation. The lag caused by not having a name to call out in an emergency could be fatal.

“Something like ‘Wind Girl’ would be fine! Wind Girl!” Griffin interjected, still being held by Kalkara to prevent him from running away. Kalkara glared at him coldly.

“Another arbitrary decision…”

“What are you saying! It means she’s a child of the great Spirit of the Wind! It’s a much better way to address her than as a child of those who would abandon a child not even of age!”

“——…Hmm.”

Surprised by the unexpectedly reasonable answer, Kalkara fell silent for a moment, looking at Griffin as if seeing something rare. The Wind Girl giggled softly at Griffin’s words.

“Thank you, Griffin-sama. I’m fine with that.”

And thus, those onboard Uuga set out to slay a dragon along with the “Wind Girl”.

None of them yet truly understood just how difficult a battle this would be.