Ryuu Kusari no Ori -Kokoro no Uchi no “Kokoro”

Nozomu's POV

I'm dreaming. A bright red dream. But I didn't think of it as a dream.

The place is probably Solminati Academy. However, the school building reminiscent of a castle wall has collapsed, and the surrounding area has become a burnt field with scattered rubble.

"U! O ~e"

Things that used to be humans are scattered around.

It was already carbonized to the point where it was hard to tell who it was. The smell of burning meat sticks to my nose, and I irresistibly vomiting what is in my stomach.

There is a dragon in that hell. A jet-black body with five-colored wings. A giant dragon that should have been inside me, which cannot be mistaken. It's Tiamat.

His mouth is moving to chew. He seems to be eating something.

"Haahaahaahaa…………"

I had a bad feeling about the scene. My breath gets rough and my heart is pounding. My instincts told me "Don't look!", But it was too late when I thought so.

"A, aa…… aaaaaaaa!"

It was long hair that was sticking out of his mouth. When the owner of the hair shook her head, I screamed and plunged into him.

The next moment, a huge black flame appears in front of me. I couldn't dodge it and be swallowed by the flames of chaos.

***

"~Tsua! Haahaahaa…………"

Nozomu is on the bed when he noticed. Looks like, he woke up from his dream.

"~Tsu!"

Nozomu grabs his face and holds his head. The dream was so real that he had to make sure it was a dream.

As time went by, Nozomu gradually regained his composure. And he understood what had happened to him.

(I see, after that battle, I ran out of Qi and fainted ...)

Nozomu remembers what happened after that battle. When Irisdina and Somia walked over to him, he was so happy and relieved that he lost his strength and his eyesight became pitch black. Perhaps he fainted at that time.

"How long time has passed ..."

With that said, Nozomu looking around the room in which he was sleeping. There are no stains on the white wall, and besides the bed, there are desks, chairs, fireplaces, chests of drawers, and other items. These items are almost not decorated, but they are strangely elegant and to Nozomu, seems to bring out the dignity of this room reasonably.

Nozomu can see a large garden from the window of the room.

Looks like, this is the mansion of the Francilt Family.

When Nozomu was looking around, the door of the room was knocked, two girls came out. When the girls saw Nozomu, they smiled like flowers.

"I'm glad, you woke up ..."

"Are you okay? Nozomu-san"

They, Irisdina and Somiliana, talked to Nozomu with a relieved smile.

"How long did I fainted?"

"It's about half a day ... but I'm glad. I was worried because you suddenly fainted."

"Is your body okay?"

Perhaps it was due to the release of his Suppression and the considerable exhaustion after the use of previous Light of Extinction. Sudden exhaustion also has a serious impact on life support activities.

"So ... what about Rugato-san?"

Nozomu asked what happened after that. Rugato-san, as he said just before Nozomu fainted, was unable to fulfill his contract because Nozomu destroyed the familiar’s black ball and the contract.

After that, he returned to the Dizart Empire to report this matter to the Lord he served.

By the way, it seems that the lower and upper body, which was cut off by Nozomu, completely healed after a few hours. He has a tremendous ability to regenerate, but he said, "I was slashed very beautifully, and the wounds were so beautiful that it healed very quickly."

"Tima and Mars-kun are going to school now, but they will come here when the class is over. I want to talk about a lot of things, is that okay?"

"... Yeah, well ........."

Nozomu stagnated a little in that word.

At that time, there was a sound like "Guu ~~". It was Nozomu's belly that rang. It seems that his body wants nourishment because it was so exhausted.

The two who heard the sound began to giggle. Nozomu is embarrassed and diverts his eyes.

"Fufu, that indicates you are okay. I'll bring you a meal now, so wait a minute. Somia, help me."

"Yes, Ane-sama! Then, Nozomu-san, please wait for your meal."

The sisters said so and left the room together. After seeing them off, Nozomu lays down on the bed again and thinks.

He doesn't know how to explain himself, but now that he's hungry, he's looking forward to the meal he was asking for. 

In the evening, it wasn't twilight yet, but as the sun began to set, the people involved in yesterday's case were gathering in a room of the Francilt Family.

First of all, Irisdina began to talk about the secret agreement between the FranciltFamily and the Waziart Family, which was the beginning of this incident.

It seems that the Francilt Family was in a power struggle with other influential families 300 years ago.

However, in that conflict, the Francilt Family gradually became inferior, and they couldn't help themselves.

The head of the Francilt Family at that time relied on the Waziart Family as a means to overturn the inferiority.

The Waziart Family is a family of vampires, and the Francilt Family was eliminating hostile forces using their unique abilities and the power of magical tools. In return, they paid a huge amount of money to the Waziart family and made a contract to lend them their magic tools for 300 years.

By the way, according to Rugato's story, the familiar of the contract also has the role of randomly cursing and killing one of the direct lines of the family of the Francilt Family, it seems that the contract was broken when the contract could not be fulfilled.

At the time the contract was signed, according to Rugato's story who witnessed, it took 300 years in between. But he had no direct relationship with them, and it seems that he intends to give sincerity to the Waziart Family by dedicating himself to the direct son of the Waziart Family.

Also, since the Waziart Family is a long-lived vampire, it seems that the time of 300 years was not really matter for them. 

"... As I thought this is..."

"... Those worms wants to run away"

When they heard this story, Nozomu and Mars were angry that their intestines were about to boil.

Tima, who is usually quiet, has a terribly hard face.

"... Indeed! Above all, I don't like the idea that it doesn't matter for them if we are the only ones."

"Really ... I'm not very angry, but I still can't forgive this."

Neither Irisdina nor Somia tried to hide their strong resentment.

"And the Furnace of Spiritual Flame mixed with Somia-chan's soul ..."

"Aa. That ... Honestly, it seems impossible to separate the Furnace of Spiritual Flame, which has been mixed with Somia's soul. It seems that it is not supposed to be used in this way ... I do not know why such things were mixed in Somia's soul in the first place ... "

That means that we don't know what will happen in the future. Everyone who was there is silent.

"... Irisdina-san, is it okay for you to told us this story?"

Nozomu had been thinking about the difficulties that might hit Somia from now on, and suddenly wondered and spoke to Irisdina.

This story must go unpublished for the Francilt Family.

However, Irisdina doesn't mind Nozomu's questions, and she replies.

"I don't mind. This time, you helped us, even though we got you involved in our situation. I don't want to hide it from such a lifesaver. I know this, but I won't let the people in the household get their hands on it. "

Irisdina says she doesn't mind at all while folding her arms. She has no hesitation in her expression.

"Let me thank you again. Thank you for your help this time. It's thanks to you guys that I'm not losing Somia. Really ... I'm grateful ... thank you."

"Really ... Thank you very much for helping me!"

The Francilt sisters bowed down and thanked them. Nozomu is feeling uneasy with their pure feelings. Suddenly, Mars become shy with a stern red face, probably because he had the same feeling.

"Aa, no. It's nothing to care about..."

"That's not the case! It was really cool when you helped me from Shinigami-san!"

"Fufu, that's exactly what Somia says."

Somia excitedly said so as she leaned forward, and Irisdina also praised Nozomu.

"I, I don't want to be overly complimented .... and I ........."

Nozomu is worried that he was wavering until the end of that battle. His facial expression naturally becomes hard.

Mars, who was watching Nozomu, comes with a serious look. Perhaps what he wants to hear is ………….

"......... Nozomu, can I ask you? What the hell did you do at the end of that battle?"

“………………………”

Irisdina and others are silent on a single question from Mars. Perhaps they were also interested, all the eyes in this place gathered at Nozomu.

"I know you are much stronger than people say at school, but you were not normal at that time. What the hell did you do then?"

While silence dominated, Nozomu slowly begins to speak.

"That is ......... the release of Ability Suppression ..."

"Release of Ability Suppression?"

Somia is tilting her head, but Nozomu continues to explain.

"Do you know about my ability "Ability Suppression" ?"

"As the name suggests, it is an ability that keet the person's ability below a certain level."

"Yes, I have that ability and I'm limited in Qi, power, and magic."

While affirming Irisdina's words, Nozomu explains his abilities.

"I haven't heard of it, but at the end of the second year, I was able to unlock this ability."

"... Perhaps. At that time you were injured because ..."

"Aa, yeah. At that time, I was able to release my Ability Suppression. Well, because of my injury, the practical exam at the end of the year was terrible ..."

"Then, why didn't you ever use it?"

"That is…………" 

Today's dream scene resurfaced. The smell of Arcazam, which has become a burning field, and the people of that burning city. And she was eaten by "that guy".

"~Tsu!"

“………… Nozomu-kun?”

"Aa, no ... sorry. I was dazing .... I didn't use it because I couldn't fully control it in open state, and when I released the Ability Suppression, I could only release it for about 2 minutes."

Nozomu answers by glossing over the anxiety inside himself. His answer didn't tell the whole story either.

"Even the rocks are crushed just by hitting it. I can't handle it with  humans."

"......... It's certainly not easy to use .... I mean, your technique is just like that."

"... I'm well aware"

In the end, even after that, Nozomu couldn't tell that he is a dragonslayer.

After a while, twilight dyed the sky, so Nozomu and others decided to go home, and Irisdina and her friends has come to see them off at the gate of the mansion.

"Then, we're going home."

"See you"

"Aa, see you at the school ..."

"Un, see you"

Nozomu and others finished their goodbye. Suddenly Somia who was near Irisdina grabbed Nozomu's hand.

"Wh, what's wrong? Somia-chan"

"Nozomu-san! Thank you for helping me! At that time, I thought I couldn't see Ane-sama anymore ... but I'm very happy to be with Ane-sama again now!"

Somia once again thanked Nozomu for something. Then Irisdina also held her other hand and thanked him again.

"If, if you didn't help me at that time, there's no doubt Somia will be taken. I ... I'm sure I couldn't stand it. …… truly thank you"

Nozomu is a little relieved by the words of gratitude given by the two. There are many things he couldn't talk about, and he has a lot of anxiety in his heart. But at least at that time, the release of his Ability Suppression seems to be not a mistake.

"... By the way, I haven't given this to Somia-chan yet."

"???"

Somia tilts her head to Nozomu's words. Nozomu takes it out of his pocket and presents it with words one day late.

"It's one day late, happy birthday"

He took out a birthday present that he was planning to give to Somia.

The white and black strings are tied up in a ring shape, the strings are attached to the ring, and the bell commonly used in the east is attached to its end.

It was made in reference to her arm ornament, which she cherished as a bond of her family.

"I used that arm decoration as a reference, I thought it would be a good idea to give it, but I wasn't good at making crafts so..."

"No! I'm very happy! Thank you, Nozomu-san!"

Somia says so and puts on the bell arm ornament. It is disproportionate to her good appearance and is by no means a good product. Even so, Somia is very happy and shy.

Irisdina also watches over her sister with a smile.

Both Tima and Mars have smiles on their faces.

A turbulent day. A smile that he thought he would never be able to see again at one point. It certainly is a sight that everyone here wants to protect.