The golden line he was drawing across Leviathan began to grow darker.

Because both sea and sky were pitch-black, the line shone all the brighter, and from afar it looked like a horizon holding the rising sun.

"Well, now. A real one is a real one, all right. Blood will tell."

A dragon that killed dragons.

Golden Duke Barbosa watched Vlad as he ran, carving through Leviathan's body, and his mouth fell open as if he were genuinely impressed.

GRAAAAAH!

The longer the line he carved continued, the deeper Leviathan's roar became.

Watching Vlad as if he were reenacting a scene out of legend, Barbosa began to clap softly.

"Captain."

"..."

"Captain?"

The long roar ended, and dawn was now breaking over the sea.

Barbosa's adjutant looked out over the gradually calming waters and belatedly began searching for his captain.

Because he had vaguely realized that the battle against the dwarves, which had begun as forty-three ships against seven, had somehow fizzled out with the appearance of a dragon and the Kraken, and that even that situation was now turning against them.

CREAK... CREAAK...

"What?"

But Barbosa, who had been applauding Vlad only moments ago, was no longer there.

At some point, he had gone to a corner by the railing and was quietly lowering a lifeboat by himself.

"... What are you doing right now?"

At the adjutant's blank question, Barbosa merely shrugged.

"Do you know what's more expensive than gold in this world?"

"Pardon?"

Having lowered the lifeboat while asking that incomprehensible question, Barbosa quickly climbed onto the railing and spoke with a broad grin.

"Your life. Your life. If you survive, I'll see you later."

SPLASH!

With those words, Barbosa leaped into the sea without the slightest hesitation.

The adjutant was momentarily stunned by the absurd scene unfolding before his eyes, but soon his eyes flew wide as if he had realized something, and he looked up at the sky.

-...

The greatest dragon had collapsed, and now only the Kraken stood above the sea.

There, the enormous eye looking down at the humans began to narrow.

"... Ah, shit."

As the air grew more and more ominous, Barbosa's sailors began to murmur.

Because in the sky they looked up at, a single enormous tentacle had already risen high overhead.

"That, that..."

"No way, right?"

But however desperately they wished it were not so, ominous feelings had a way of being proven right without fail.

One of the Kraken's tentacles, which had been raised toward the sky like a long tower, finally began to bend like a whip.

"Aaaaaah!"

"Run! Everybody jump into the sea!"

The Kraken's tentacle did not stop at all, despite the sailors' screams.

Before the world of a colossal spirit, the ships humans had brought were nothing more than wooden planks.

BOOOOOM!

"Oh..."

All kinds of screams flew above the waves that shot upward like fireworks.

Seeing the wreckage of the ships lightly bobbing atop them, the dwarves shrank their short necks.

The sun was rising over the horizon Vlad had drawn across the dragon.

With Lemnos Island, miserably collapsed, behind it.

On the sea that had at some point been stained red with dragon's blood, Barbosa's golden flag was drifting powerlessly.

* * *

"Urgh."

On the sea where crimson waves stained with blood were rolling.

Perched on a jagged reef, Vlad was retching with a pale face.

His head was spinning, and there was no strength in his grip, making it feel much like when he had once forcibly borrowed Quijano's power.

"... There definitely is a problem with this."

Vlad wiped his mouth and began looking down at the sword that had been cleaving Leviathan only moments ago.

Because when he had received the fragment's power, exhilaration had overflowed through him, but now he was feeling that the aftermath was no small thing.

HUM... HUM... HUM.

The sword of the World Tree, which had been blue when he first grasped it, but was now wrapped in silver metal.

No, now that it held a fragment of a dragon, the thing that ought to be called the Dragon Slaying Sword seemed to sense Vlad's gaze looking down at it, and began humming as if saying something.

"What are you saying?"

But that humming still could not fully reach Vlad.

The knight and the sword were very much alike, but they had not yet deeply assimilated into each other's worlds.

They would still need a little more time before they could entrust themselves completely to each other.

"... Are you watching me even now?"

["I am."]

"Does it look angry?"

["No."]

After hearing Quijano's answer, Vlad carefully lifted his gaze.

There, where he looked up, was still the enormous eye looking down at him.

The ancient spirit of the sea.

Kraken.

The being that had just crushed forty-three ships to powder was now looking at Vlad, holding only him in that great eye.

"It isn't going to scold me because I ate a few squids before, is it?"

["Who knows."]

The Kraken was looking at the young knight who was a dragon, yet not a dragon.

A welcoming aura was wafting from the sword Vlad held, and within the blue eye looking at it dwelled a glorious knight it had faced a very long time ago.

["It seems to be looking at me rather than you."]

However, the glorious knight apparently did not recognize it.

Well, back then, it had not been as large as it was now, so perhaps it was only natural that he did not recognize it.

But even if he did not recognize it, the Kraken decided to be satisfied with the bond they had met again, drawn simply by that welcome light.

["I'm going in."]

"Phew..."

Along with Vlad's relieved sigh, the Kraken began sinking once more into the deep sea to do its own work.

Because the ancient spirit of the sea that had to stand in for Mother World Tree had a duty to protect the young spirits from the heat of the volcanoes that were still erupting without cease.

RUMBLE...

With a thunderous sound, rough bloody water was pouring out from the wounded sea.

That hot and viscous blood was still spreading not only across Lemnos Island, but all over the sea, revealing its presence.

"Lord Vlad! Hurry and get on!"

The sea into which the Kraken had sunk.

Lava flowing ceaselessly from the collapsed mountaintop.

Vlad, who had been sitting alone and quietly on a reef above the sea, engraving vast and intense worlds into his eyes, turned his head at the sound of someone anxiously calling him.

"We must stop by the Master Blacksmith quickly! The island is collapsing!"

"..."

Hearing Vulcanus's shout, Vlad looked at the sea growing hotter and silently sheathed the Dragon Slaying Sword.

The thing that had continued humming also seemed to know that now was the time for it to be quiet, and calmly entrusted itself to the scabbard.

* * *

A week had passed since the volcanoes in the west erupted.

The sea around Lemnos Island, which had once been hidden by thick fog, was now packed full of volcanic ash, and the dwarves who had fled to the city of Nassau were still laying down their exhausted bodies in the places prepared within the city.

"Thank you for keeping your promise, Joseph of Bayezid."

"It was something I had to do, Great Chieftain."

Olmukar held the glass of whiskey Joseph offered him and worked his lips.

The aroma spreading over the tip of his tongue was certainly excellent, but right now he was in no state to have the leisure or the right to savor it.

"... Even so, we cannot keep living off this place forever."

No matter how considerate Bayezid had been, it remained true that the dwarves had once again lost their homeland.

If they even lost the focal point called Nidavellir like this, the dwarves would meet the same fate as the beastmen who wandered without destination.

"In the end, we have no choice but to accept the Northern Alliance's proposal."

Along with the cup he set down, Olmukar's deep sigh finally spread through the room.

It was fortunate that they had survived, but in order to keep drawing that bitter breath, they would have to struggle once again.

Realizing that the only rope he could choose was the Northern Alliance, Olmukar felt as if bitter water were rising inside him.

"You will not regret that decision."

Joseph, who had been looking outside with his hands clasped behind his back, spotted a carriage entering the estate.

It was a sort of carriage commonly seen in the North, but the flag hanging above it was not of the North.

"The last Ravnoma has promised it. If you help her drive out Gaidar, the city of Torchea will be yours."

After confirming that Charles Ravnoma had arrived at the estate, Joseph looked at Olmukar and raised his teacup.

Torchea, the port city that had originally belonged to Gaidar, but which Golden Duke Barbosa had taken away.

However, Barbosa was still missing, and so the masterless Torchea would not be able to defend itself from anyone's attack.

"... I would rather trust Bayezid than a Ravnoma in name only."

Olmukar looked at Joseph standing by the window and took a letter from within his coat.

That letter, filled entirely with ominous black, was the letter Joseph had handed him when he first arrived on Lemnos Island.

"As you wished, we will hand over the divine artifact we have been keeping. I hope this will serve as proof of our alliance."

"It certainly will."

"And please."

Olmukar rose from his seat, as if he had said all he needed to say.

For the last time, he looked at Joseph with a heavy gaze he could not possibly hide and spoke.

"I am in no position to say this, but please take care of yourself."

"... Thank you for your consideration."

Concern sent by a leader who had lost his foundation.

At the reality that even Olmukar, whose own road ahead was so pressing, was sending him sincere concern, Joseph felt a little bitter.

"Still, I have to do it."

Turning his head slightly from the window, Joseph looked down at the black letter laid on the desk.

The letter, marked with a symbol that blasphemed God, was full of a darkness even the sunlight seeping in through the window could not brighten.

* * *

CLANG! CLANG!

Somewhere in the harbor of Nassau.

There was a secluded alley where no one usually came, but now it was packed with people and there was not even room to set foot.

"Who just stepped on my foot!"

"Get in line first! Weren't you behind me until just now?"

"Then who told you to let someone take your spot?"

In front of the people bickering and fighting stood a small building that was ceaselessly belching smoke from its chimney.

In the past, it had merely been a dilapidated forge on the verge of collapse, but now it had been temporarily opened by Joseph's orders.

FWOOOOSH!

"The old man and the kid are working too hard."

Vlad clicked his tongue as he watched the young lizard ceaselessly spewing fire from the old blast furnace.

Seeing it work so hard, breathing fire as if determined to help in any way it could, there was probably no one whose heart would not be moved.

"What choice is there? When there's no one to lean on, even a young one has to roll around in the dirt."

But Rukhta beside him simply kept hammering the iron in silence, as if he felt nothing in particular.

The old dwarf, who had survived harshly through a life of slavery, knew very well that in a situation like this, even a child had to do their part.

"So why did you come here? I'm busy as hell."

"I'm leaving."

Rukhta's eyebrow twitched as he looked at Vlad, who said he was leaving in an indifferent voice.

"Where?"

"Who knows. Nothing's really decided yet..."

At Rukhta's question, Vlad scratched the back of his head.

Because although there was something he had to do, he had not yet settled on a particular destination.

"Still, well, I do have to go."

Vlad was the person who had promised to find Quijano's name for him.

But now Quijano's name had been split in half and was wandering somewhere in the Empire together with ominous darkness, so in order to complete that promise in full, he had to find the man who had called himself Frausen.

"... There are still a few things I haven't repaid."

And for Justia, who had died for him.

Vlad had no intention of ever forgetting the little canary that had tried to show him the way.

"Give it here."

"What?"

"Your sword, you fool. Give me the sword."

Rukhta held out his hand toward Vlad, who had said he was leaving, without even turning his head.

"You said you couldn't fix it."

"That was then."

Because before the knight who had protected them left, he had to repay that kindness one last time.

Rukhta nodded as he looked at the Dragon Slaying Sword carefully placed in his hand.

"Now is different."

A sword that had now taken on the form it wished to become.

The sword of the World Tree, which had wanted to share its master's burden, had accepted the ominous dragon fragment and taken on a complete form.

The young sword that had merely stood at the boundary of the world had now fully melted into this world through Vlad, so Rukhta's hammer would be able to reach it as well.

"I should at least be able to put an edge on it now."

HUM... HUM HUM HUM...

The flame breathed out by the young lizard came over the crying sword.

The process of being heated was not painless, but the Dragon Slaying Sword decided to endure it.

Because it now understood that, for an existence like itself to grow, tempering like this was necessary.

"Wait just a little. I'll have it done soon."

CLANG! CLANG!

Gathering the breath of a young spirit, the craftsman of the last remaining dwarves was hammering the sword.

With the wish that the sword he was now striking for the knight who had protected them would become a little harder.

"..."

Watching that sight, Vlad somehow found himself remembering the old forge that had been in Soara.

Feeling the heat of the forge warming the tail end of winter, Vlad simply sat there blankly, gazing at the old blast furnace.