I start donning a borrowed coat.

image [https://timjames.net/data/acd/images/029.png]

I want to get out of this accursed carriage. That dragon RUINED my guard armor, so now I'm forced to wear this. Worse, I have to sit alongside... Whatever it is Aitos has become, but without my armor.

A dragon? Is he really a dragon?

I can't believe anything I just heard. You know, I thought I was smart for a guard. Part of the reason I can't believe it is because I can't understand half of what was said. The dragon even mentioned it'd 'eaten' Aitos.

We all backed away when the monster said Aitos had a dragon disease. That he'd become a dragon. Not entirely convincing on its own, but after what I saw the dragon do to Korel, and the fact Aitos himself seemed to accept the explanation...

What other conclusion could I reach?

I'd recently said Pure Evil should not and could not be fought. However, I was speaking in terms of its strength. At least, the strength I'd witnessed at the time.

If even half of what it said— the half I was able to understand— is true? Then godsdamn. We are SO far out of our league.

I don't even want to THINK about the stuff I couldn't grasp. Like how a dragon would convince this Raiz person to revolt in its name. Or why it would allow said person to sit at the city's helm, rather than appoint the guard captain, whom it refused to name. Isn't Achiton's guard capitan called Yenim?

Maybe not? Did it 'eat' her, too, and give her a new name? Is that why Raiz is too scared to defy it?

I've contemplated going to the royal capital. During my time as a guard, I once protected a prince from assassination outside our city walls. One of the few times my lazy job got hairy. The prince gave me a Token of Audience, so I can meet with Shridenia's royalty just once.

More a token of kindness than an actual gesture of intent for someone as lowly as myself. Then again, there's always the possibility he saw something in me— something I can't see within myself.

People at that level are always making considerations I can't comprehend.

Wait.

Was it the fact I want to report this dragon to the crown, despite the immense risk and cost to myself? Did he notice my dedication and loyalty? Then— then I MUST follow through with my intent. I shall NOT let his trust go unanswered.

But first, I must learn more.

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"Aitos, how do you feel?"

"I feel great! Like I've been reborn!"

"I suppose you have. Is anything different?"

"A lot is different, Barnet. A lot. I can't explain it entirely. It's like I can see the hidden colors of our world through his eyes. I can even see Mana itself, without any tools."

"So, its senses are superior to a human's?"

"Well, mine certainly are, and by a large margin. He— not it, he. He told me he wasn't going to allow me full access to his body's faculties. I can only assume his own abilities are far beyond what I've received."

I'm stunned into silence.

This is INCREDIBLY bad news. This dragon isn't just unfathomably powerful, it isn't just smarter than I can understand, it doesn't just have incomprehensible skills... Or whatever it did to Aitos, if that wasn't a skill.

No. On top of all of that, it has senses that put my entire human species to shame. Yet, even on this front, I still feel left in the dark. I don't know any of this dragon's limits.

That's not because it's being vague to confuse us, or because it bothers to keep secrets. It's because what it openly shows us is so far beyond what we can understand. It can explain to us in simple terms, and still we remain clueless.

Which it has already done. Multiple times.

...

I shake my head in frustration.

This isn't getting me anywhere. If I'm going to report this dragon to the royalty, then I need solid information. All I've gotten are its claims of more or less infinite power.

Claims which seem to be terrifyingly accurate.

The dragon was even willing to explain that my supposition about the Achiton guard leader was correct. But it went a step further. It implied that the leader of Achiton's mass unlawful execution wasn't a random insurrectionist, but its direct report. A yes-man underling who didn't so much as dare question its orders; too scared to even ask for its favor.

I look at Aitos.

Which may be because its favor isn't survivable. If it was telling the truth... Then the Aitos I knew is already dead.

But why does it speak without worry? Dragons may dispise the dishonest, but it could simply not tell—

Aha.

It knows there's nothing we can do with this information. Nothing, WE can do. Shridenia's royalty may be a different story. I can't dally here any longer. This enormous beast is a catastrophe in progress; a deadly tide that's swiftly swallowed two cities and may soon progress toward the capital itself.

Two cities? Indeed. The dragon left Yenim in Achiton, has presumably eaten her, then ate and is now leaving Aitos in Haitos.

I notice the similarity between those names for the first time. Aitos, Haitos.

No wonder he never leaves.

He really does owe this city a debt.

Hmph. Did.

I owe this city a lot, too. Not enough to name myself after it, but it IS my home. It IS my birthplace. It's been run well, and I've been treated well, no matter who's been in charge. I won't let someone like Aitos usurp my city's power structure simply because he's able.

Yes, I'm aware the man— er, dragon, I suppose.

I'm aware Aitos is older than me. I'm aware he— it has held this city's supreme authority for many decades. So, my good life may be largely due to Aitos, rather than Haitos' many different mayors.

The dragon must've known our internal politics and thus decided to 'accidentally' kill and replace him with its own puppet. The whole plot was then covered up with a manufactured disaster it created by, uhm, roaring really loudly.

Which speaks to how dysfunctional this city's leadership was— at least internally. The dragon executed the entire leadership of Achiton, but didn't bother to do much in Haitos except replace one man with a monster.

Aitos was the heart of our city. Pure Evil made that heart a part of itself. I abruptly feel my blood run cold; my own heart seizing. The true gravity of our situation finally hits.

The heart of Haitos, it was eaten by... No.

Aitos' actual heart has become...

...

Pure Evil.