<h4>Volume 4 Chapter 42: Dragon-san and Lamenting Spirit</h4>


    「What do you want from Lava!?」


    Nectar shouted, at the same time taking out his staff and readying it for battle.


    However, before he could do anything, other two spirits, one noble-looking man with a huge sword on his back named Bastard and a beautiful woman wearing a pure-white dress named Palette, got in his way.


    「!!!」


    「It’s been a long time, Nectar. Now, I’m not as gentle of a person as Ten, so whatever do I want with that dragon indeed?」


    「...... Why are you guys even here?」


    「I think it is best for you all to be nice and listen for now. Say, do you hold this dragon dear?」


    Lute pressed his instrument against me, one of the sharp, talon like protrusion extending from its hold pressing against my skin.


    But before that, I could hear Lute whispering in my ear.


    「Thou art a person, made of soft skin and weak flesh.」


    As soon as I heard the words in ancientnguage, I could feel all of my strength leaving my body.


    I felt so heavy that I wasn’t able to stand up on my own.


    What did he do? My limbs felt all weird and weren’t responding to mymands at all.


    In the meantime, Lute strengthened his grip over my upper body, making mepletely dependent on his will for the moment.


    Feeling the raising frustration in me, the only thing I could do was to look at Nectar who was some distance away from me.


    Nectar held his hands on the staff so much that his fingers turned pale, and red at Lute.


    「What did you do to her?」


    「I just put a little spell on her, one that basically reduced her physical capabilities to that of a normal human being. I think she’s unable to move because too much of her magic was depleted.


    Letting out a deep sigh, Lute looked away from Nectar.


    「Say, Ten? How did it go? Is this dragon going to cut it?」


    Makoto opens her mouth, and answers Lute in Ten’s voice.


    「She will. She met all the conditions.」


    Although it was Makoto’s body, the voice belonged to Ten for sure.


    Ten must have been the same as me, exhausted beyond belief.


    However, I couldn’t help it but to be surprised that Ten and Lute were friends, and I was also confused about their words of conditions being satisfied.


    Hearing her response, Lute sighed again and put his hands onto me more firmly, strengthening his hold.


    「I see. Very well, then. I shall take her there.」


    Take me? Take me where? Even though he seemed to hate me so much?


    「Palette, is Belgaing along as well?」


    「She’s on her way now.」


    「Well then, Bastard. I’ll leave these guys to you.」


    「I won’t let you!」


    In a fit of rage, Nectar lunges forward towards Bastard and Lute, intending to fight them with magic.


    No, Nectar! Don’t do that! You are alone, and there’s three of them! You don’t stand a chance! I wanted to shout like that, but I couldn’t draw my voice at all.


    Instead, I found out that Lute’s expression was ratherplicated when he turned to Nectar again.


    「It seems that you really care about that dragon a lot.」


    「Isn’t that obvious!? For me, Lava is the most important person in the entire world!」


    「In that case, why won’t youe with us?」


    Hearing that, Nectar stopped in his tracks and cancelled the spell that he was about to cast.


    「I cannot let her go, since it is all for the sake of fulfilling my ambitions, but if youe along, I shall tell you the reason for why am I doing this.」


    Lute spoke quietly, but even though he was trying to hide, you could hear the emotions that were hidden behind his words.


    I could tell that Lute was serious.


    Nectar lowered his hands, the light of rage now gone from his eyes. He must have understood that as well.


    At this rate, Nectar woulde together with us. And he would do this purely for my sake.


    However,


    「No, don’t......」


    I didn’t want Nectar to risk his well-being without first knowing Lute’s ns, so I wanted him to stay out of this.


    I needed to avoid that at all cost.


    I wanted to say something more, but unfortunately it was hard for me to remain conscious as I was right now, so any more words would prove to be too much for me.


    Devoid of magical power, my body was unable to move.


    I knew that there was nothing that could be done. But someone, anyone!


    Please do something!


    「I must say, that a really pathetic disy you show here. My poor disciple.」


    I could hear such a calm voice.


    In the next moment, various nts and trees began to sprout from the spaces in between the cobblestone.


    「Wha!?」


    The nts that started to grow all over isted Nectar from other spirits, and then separated me from Lute.


    As Lute became disoriented, the restrains on my body became weaker as I was being swallowed up by the sea of rapidly growing greenery.


    But before that happened, I could feel someone gently supporting my back.


    「ck Dragon, it seems that you’ve went and done something stupid again.」


    This deep voice that symbolized years of experience in this world was something that I was pretty much familiar.


    I looked up at that newly arrived person with a whole lot of intense feelings swelling up inside of my chest.


    Even though his brown skin was full of wrinkles, his white hair and beard were making up for it, making him look noble and full of wisdom.


    Additionally, he was wearing a Ballow-style traveler clothes. It was none other than Gramps, the Great nt Spirit.


    There were fresh leavesing out of Gramps’s body, flying high into the air and falling onto the ground, where new nts were beginning to grow out of them.


    In the meantime, I was still holding onto him.


    Now, even though I wasn’t feeling so sluggish anymore, I still had problems with holding my bnce on my own.


    While he was thinking about something seriously, I could see Nectar right besides Gramps’s side.


    Then, Nectar encloses his arms around me.


    「Lava, I’m so d......!」


    Despite feeling reassured by Nectar’s warmth, I couldn’t suppress my surprise and confusion. I looked towards Gramps, who was looking as humble as ever.


    「My poor disciple, you certainly weren’t neglecting your training, but it doesn’t change the fact that you’d stood no chance against them.」


    「God damn it! So I really am too weak!? But more importantly, Master......」


    「Why the hell are you here!?」


    Before Nectar could finish that question, we heard a scream like thating from behind us. Looking back, Lute managed to squeeze his way through the ts that stopped growing.


    However, his expression wasn’t that mask of calmness and mncholy like before. Now his face was stained with both surprise and shock.


    Gramps just stared at Lute, his calm and serene expression didn’t change in the slightest.


    「You must be that spirit with that musical instrument. I thought it might be possible to meet you here, but to see it actually being true, color me surprised.」


    We were so surprised that we couldn’t even raise our voices.


    Does Gramps know Lute!?


    Thinking about it carefully, Lute’s reaction was also the one as though they have met face-to-face before.


    Then, another woman got through the nts and rejoined Lute, ring at Gramps with so much hostility that you could almost feel the killing intent in it.


    「I knew it, that other spirit is no longer with you, is she? However, you should have been entrusted with taking care of the seal. Why were those thingsing into this world?」


    「Shut up! As if you were to one to speak!」


    I could almost feel a regrettable tone in Gramps’s voice, as if he was about to cry.


    That person? Who were they talking about?


    And what was that thing about a seal just now?


    However, judging by the atmosphere between the two, now was not the right time to be asking that kind of questions.


    「I couldn’t be helped. It cannot be helped that you’ve forgotten. You wouldn’t be able to keep going if you didn’t forget.」


    「What the hell do you mean ‘It couldn’t be helped’!? Isn’t that wrong!? Do you have any idea how much sadness that person have felt!?」


    「What......?」


    For the first time around the expression on Gramps’s face has changed, but Lute continued to cry andment even despite of that.


    「There’s no way I could have forgotten that person, about Adversa! Did you know that it was the world itself that killed her!?」


    「...... you’re being delusional.」


    Said Gramps while his green eyes shone brightly.


    「But let me just say this: I am going to undo the seal on that thing!」


    Lute’s response was dramatic. Maybe even overly dramatic.


    「What, did you just say......?」


    「It seems that you’ve forgotten the role your beloved yed.」


    Lute opens his eyes wide and was at a loss for words, and then Gramps slowly approaches him.


    But just then, there was a loud sound of something being shot, and a bullet of light separates Gramps from Lute.


    「Lute! I made it in time!?」


    The one to arrive at the scene right now was a brown-haired woman in dark clothes, holding a magical gun in her hand. Was Belga, looking just like at the time I first met her.


    There was also a bunch of magical guns flying all around her, ready to take a shot at whoever she deemed an enemy.


    Standing before us, Belga looked back towards Lute with her face as white as a sheet.


    「You’d honestly thought that would hold me back!?」


    「!!!」


    The situation suddenly got even more dramatic.


    There was arge explosion somewhere around the room, and as Lute wanted to say something, someone appeared in front of us.


    Kyle appeared thorough therge hole in the wall while being covered in an armor of thunder, and swung his staff at her while assuming battle stance.


    Gramps shook his arms as if trying to get away, while the thunder and the sound of bullet being shot shed with one another.


    At that moment, nts opened yet again and the other spirits rejoined theirpanions.


    Bastard shook his great sword with one hand and cut the moving nts as if they were made out of paper, rendering them useless.


    「Water Barret!」


    However, at that moment Nectar cast the spell with almost god-like speed, sending several water bullets towards them.


    Once the bullets grazed Bastard, they changed shape and created a wall of water, huge enough to reach all the way towards the ceiling.


    The water wall crumbled quickly and what emerged from the other side were the monsters created by Palette’s paintbrush, rushing towards Gramps and Nectar to intercept them.


    Even though Lute was still shaken up, I saw him taking a hold of his instrument and getting ready to stroke its strings. In the next moment, a teleportation circle appeared right beneath their feet.


    I wasn’t going to let the story repeat itself. I was going to prevent them from escaping this time around.


    「Lava, stop! Don’t do anything stupid!」


    「SHADOW BIND!」


    Completely ignoring Nectar’s calls, I squeezed thest ounces of magic that I still had in me to create countless shadows around my feet, although they were much weaker than before.


    Even so, I still sent them towards Lute, hell-bent on stopping him.


    Although Bastard managed to destroy some of them, others went straight towards their target.


    However,


    Noticing what I was doing, Belga pointed all of her guns towards me and fired them all at once.


    A blinding light filled my vision, shrinking my shadows as a result.


    As the magic surges, all other responses disappear.


    When the magical light finally disappeared, Belga lost consciousness in Kyle’s arms.


    It must have been the doing of the magic in that light.


    You could do something like that by purposefully disturbing the cirction of magic in someone else’s body.


    However, I couldn’t feel the influence of Lute’s magic on me anymore.


    Also, I couldn’t hear anything anymore. Same with thinking straight.


    Just then, after finally reaching its limit, my consciousness slipped into the darkness.