Prologue: Naden Delal

If you looked at the map of this world, there was the one diamondshaped continent, Landia, and several outlying islands of varying sizes.

In the center of that continent, called Landia's Navel, there were the

three-thousand-meter class mountains that made up the Star Dragon

Mountain Range.

This was where the dragons lived, gathering around the living

godbeast, Mother Dragon, who was the subject of worship. It could even

be called a nation.

The nations of mankind understood the Star Dragon Mountain Range to

be the nation of the dragons. There was no clearly demarcated border, but

no country wanted to infringe upon their territory so badly that they were

willing to fight the immensely powerful dragons over it. And so, mankind

and the dragons naturally stayed apart from one another.

Even though times had been chaotic since the Demon Lord's Domain

had appeared on the continent, the Star Dragon Mountain Range was a

natural fortress, isolated from the effects of that.

In the high plateau in the center of the Star Dragon Mountain Range

was Dracul, the dragons' paradise.

Perhaps due to some act of Mother Dragon, the plateau enjoyed an

eternal spring despite being at an elevation of over five thousand meters. It

was a fertile and verdant land with an abundant supply of clean water.

In Dracul, the dragons lived a unique lifestyle.

Despite their large bodies, massive wings, and powerful horns and

fangs, dragons could speak the human language. They could also take on

beautiful humanoid forms. They formed riding contracts with the knights

of their ally, the Nothung Dragon Knight Kingdom, under which they

would become the knights' favored mounts, swearing an oath to fight

together on the battlefield. At the same time, they were to become life

partners, giving birth to the knights' children.

Members of the race of dragons were sexually ambiguous, and unable

to produce children between themselves. In other words, in exchange for

fighting alongside the knights of Nothung, they had the knights guarantee

they would have prosperous offspring.

Each child would be born either as a dragon, a dragonewt, or the race

of the knight.

If it was a dragon, it would come in the form of an egg, and it would be

taken from the parents to be kept by Mother Dragon in the Star Dragon

Mountain Range. This was partly to keep the parentage of a dragon from

being considered important, but it was also unclear how long a dragon egg

might take to hatch. Because it could sometimes take hundreds of years, it

couldn't be left with the parents.

In any case, these partner contracts were formed between the new

knights and the dragons at the Contract Ceremony held at the end of spring

each year.

That time... had almost come.

In the middle of the 3rd month, 1,547th year, Continental Calendar

It was a forest on the east side of the plateau Dracul in the Star Dragon

Mountain Range.

With its everlasting spring, the forests of the Star Dragon Mountain

Range were always decorated with fresh growth. The leaves were a deep

green, and when you looked up at them from inside the forest, they

sparkled brilliantly in the sunlight shining through the treetops. However,

further down, at ground level, there was little sunlight, and it was gloomy.

In those gloomy woods, there was a small cave.

A white dragon landed in front of that cave. Her white scales glistened

in the light. Her silver mane blew in the wind. On her head was an

exquisite pair of goat-like antlers. The silver dragon folded her large

wings, craning her neck to look into the cave.

"Naden, you're in there, aren't you?" the white dragon called into the

cave.

Though she was speaking, it wasn't aloud. Dragons could converse by

willing it, without using their voices. There was no response to the white

dragon's call, but a little noise did escape from inside the cave. Its

occupant was probably pretending not to be there.

The white dragon groaned. "Stop ignoring me! I know you're in there!"

she called, sounding exasperated, and then took a deep breath. When the

air she inhaled returned to her mouth, orange flames leaked from the

corners of her lips. If she opened her mouth now, she would unleash her

dragon's breath, the flamethrower attack known to lay waste to entire

countries. "If you're too uncooperative, you're going to get burned, you

know!"

"H-Hold on, Pai! You'll burn the books!" came the panicked voice of a

young girl from inside the cave.

When she heard that voice, Pai swallowed her flames, then let out an

exasperated sigh. "Honestly... Stop holing yourself away in there and get

out here."

"But I was watching Music Port..."

"Music Port? Wuzzat?"

"It's a music program from the Gran Chaos Empire."

"The Gran Chaos Empire?!" the white dragon exclaimed.

The Gran Chaos Empire was a strong nation with a firmly entrenched

power base in the west of the continent. Though they had been on the

defensive since the appearance of the Demon Lord's Domain, they were

still effectively the most powerful of all the nations of mankind.

During the time in which the Gran Chaos Empire had been trying to

establish its hegemony over the continent, it had invaded the Star Dragon

Mountain Range. This had been the Empire at its peak, with an army

numbering in the hundreds of thousands, facing around a thousand

dragons. As one might have expected, given that it was said that a single

dragon could destroy a small nation, the Imperial forces were

overwhelmed, leaving them no choice but to retreat. Ever since that battle,

it had been hard to call relations with the Empire cordial.

"The Empire is hostile to us, you realize!" Pai cried. "What are you

thinking?!"

"It's not like we're at war right now, are we?" Naden retorted. "The

current Empress, Maria, is beautiful and seems peaceful. I think we should

take the chance to try and make friends with them."

"You say that, but... wouldn't Lady Tiamat be angry if she heard you?"

Pai protested.

Tiamat was the leader of the Star Dragon Mountain Range, the one that

mankind knew and worshiped as Mother Dragon. She was like a mother to

all the dragons who lived in this area, and when her name came up, the girl

in the cave sounded a little panicked.

"Ahaha... That's kind of scary... You're scaring me, so keep quiet about

this, okay?"

"Oh, for goodness sake..." Pai sighed. Her entire body emitting a bright

light, she instantaneously transformed into a beautiful young girl with pale

skin and long, flowing white hair, wearing a white one-piece dress. She

looked unmistakably human, but the goat-like horns sprouting from

beneath her hair and the white tail extending from her rump clearly

showed she was the white dragon from before.

Pai walked into the cave. It wasn't as dank as it looked. If anything, the

air was fresh. This was normal for caves in the Star Dragon Mountain

Range.

Pai progressed through the cave, coming to an area where it suddenly

opened up.

Before her eyes spread a room that, completely unlike the rock walls of

the cave up until this point, was very girly. There was a cute dresser and

bed. The bookshelves were lined with books from the nations of mankind

(mostly romance novels). Pai addressed the person watching the simple

Jewel Voice Broadcast receiver in the middle of that room.

"Oh, Naden, there you go, watching that simple receiver again..."

"Yeah, and?" the girl called Naden responded. She had black hair and

was wearing a black one-piece. "I can watch what I want."

There were deer-like antlers growing out of her voluminous black hair

on either side of her head, and a black tail sprouting from her rear end. At

a glance, she looked to be around fifteen years old. She was short, and

looked underdeveloped. However, when looked at in profile, her young

face had a hint of beauty, and if she dressed right, she would probably look

very cute.

Knowing that, Pai sighed all the more at her disappointing friend.

"Sigh... I don't know which is worse: this, or when you had your head full

of dreams, reading too many romance novels."

With the past suddenly brought up, Naden coughed in surprise. "I-I was

just reading books! It's not like I was only reading romance novels, okay?"

"You were obsessed with them. Saying things like, 'I'd put love before

duty!'"

"I read ordinary adventure stories, too!"

"Dragons don't usually read human books to begin with..."

The reason for that was simple. Since the only country that had

diplomatic relations with the Star Dragon Mountain Range was the

Nothung Dragon Knight Kingdom, not many products from the nations of

mankind made it here. If one wanted to acquire products from the nations

of mankind, one had to go to those nations directly, leaving the Star

Dragon Mountain Range. Most dragons were not interested enough in the

world outside, or in products from the nations of mankind, to do so. Those

like Naden, who used every opportunity she could find to go outside and

come back with foreign products, were a rarity.

"Wait, where did you get that receiver anyway?" Pai asked, startled.

"Hmm? I found it at a flea market in the empire. It was broken,

basically a piece of junk, but when I gave it a little zap, it started showing

things. Hee hee! It was a great find."

As she said that, Naden's black, lizard-like tail slithered toward the

simple receiver. When it got there, there was a clicking sound, and the

image on the receiver vanished.

Naden could store electricity in her body. By releasing that stored

electricity, though Naden didn't understand the principle behind how it

worked herself, she was able to turn the simple receiver on and off. There

were definitely other creatures that could store electricity in their bodies,

but Naden was probably the only one who could control it so skillfully.

Watching her do that, Pai shrugged in exasperation. "You're skilled in

the strangest of ways, you know that, Naden?"

"Hey, I was lucky enough to have an electrified body. I'm not going to

let that go to waste."

"I know, but is that really something a dragon should be doing...?"

In Dracul with its everlasting spring, the dragons who had yet to form a

contract lived their lives as they pleased. They did things like fly around in

dragon form, play in the water, and go hunting.

There were times when the dragon priestesses who served under

Tiamat would teach them about dragon traditions, the outside world, and

reading, writing, and arithmetic; but other than that, they could each use

their time to do whatever they liked.

Among all those dragons living in that old-fashioned way, Naden was

probably the only one who could use tools from the outside world so

skillfully.

Pai asked her with some exasperation, "Are you really a dragon?"

"...I wish I knew that myself," Naden said, her gaze returning to the

screen.

Pai got a look on her face that said, "Oops, I screwed up." That subject

was probably painful for Naden.

"Um, uh... So, this music program thing? What is it?" Pai asked, trying

to change the subject.

"They broadcast cute girls in cute outfits singing and dancing for the

people to see," Naden said. "It's fun just watching it. Though, from what I

hear, the ones who are the real creators and masters of broadcast program

production aren't the people of the Empire, they're the people of the

Elfrieden Kingdom. It's a shame I don't get them on this simple receiver."

"The Elfrieden Kingdom? You mean that country where they

summoned a hero, and he became their king?" Pai asked, surprised. When

she heard the name "Elfrieden," the image that came to mind was a very

traditional, or, to put it less kindly, old-fashioned kingdom.

Naden waggled a finger at Pai and tut-tutted her. "You can forget

everything you think you know about Elfrieden. Oh, wait, they're the

Kingdom of Friedonia now, aren't they? I don't have all the details, with

my information coming from the Empire, but it sounds like they've been

growing in power really fast under the new king's program of reforms."

Naden picked up the simple receiver with her tail and played with it.

"I think the way he took the Jewel Voice Broadcast, something the

royal family had only used to make one-sided announcements of things

that were already decided, and used it to create something fun like these

broadcast programs shows incredible foresight. Unlike this country, which

never changes, the Kingdom of Friedonia is pressing further and further

ahead. I'd like to meet this hero king of theirs myself. Maybe I'll land in

Friedonia next time I go out."

Pai stomped her feet in indignation. "Good grief! What are you

thinking?! It's almost time for the Contract Ceremony, you know? There's

no way you'll be allowed to do that at an important time like this, when

our futures are going to be decided!"

"That doesn't... really matter," Naden said. "I'm sure no knight would

ever choose me. I mean, I can't fly, and I can't breathe fire, after all."

"..."

Naden's eyes filled with resignation.

There was nothing Pai could say in response.

Though she, Naden Delal, was a dragon of the Star Dragon Mountain

Range, she had no wings with which to fly through the skies, and she

could not breathe fire. Her appearance was very different from the other

dragons, too.

That was why the other dragons called her a worm (saying she was

long, thin, and not much else) behind her back. That was part of the reason

why Naden tended to hide away in the cave. Pai was one of Naden's few

friends, but there was nothing she could do for her about this.

"Erm..." Pai said, thinking frantically. "B-But you can shoot lightning,

Naden!"

"...What good is that? No knight will choose me as a partner. If they

did, they'd be the only knight who couldn't fly, you know?" Naden

averted her eyes.

The dragon knights of Nothung were famed across the continent.

These knights, who rode atop the already tough and powerful dragons,

would soar through the skies, tearing through enemy lines and burning

everything away with dragon fire. Though they were a small country, the

dragon knights had been responsible for making the Nothung Dragon

Knight Kingdom capable of fighting on even terms with the Empire, even

if it was only on the defensive. There could be no place for the flightless,

fireless Naden in their ranks.

"You've got it good, Pai," Naden sighed. "A pretty white dragon like

you... I'm sure you'll have your pick of the litter."

"...I'm sensing some hostility in those words."

In the ceremony held to form contracts with the dragon knights, the

knight would first choose a dragon to become his mount, and then the

dragon would decide whether to accept or not. That meant a dragon who

received multiple offers would have her pick of them. Naden was probably

thinking that Pai was sure to have that.

"Maybe I should just leave the country?" Naden asked, moping. "I

could probably pass myself off as a sea serpent."

From what Pai had heard, the race known as the sea serpents and

Naden in her human form looked quite similar. As for what made them

different, the antlers on Naden's head were bigger, and sea serpents lacked

the ability to transform like true dragons, but there were few enough of

them that no one would notice unless she said something about it.

Pai groaned in exasperation. "If you take a defeatist attitude, you'll

become a defeatist at heart!"

"But..."

"Besides, didn't Lady Tiamat give you a prophecy? It's going to be

fine."

The dragons who would attend the Contract Ceremony in any given

year were chosen by Tiamat. The will of the individual and how old they

were didn't come into it. Those dragons who were chosen would receive

an oracle from Mother Dragon at the beginning of that year. Naden had

been one of them.

"Eventually, one who knows your value will appear. That is when you

will leave the nest."

That was definitely what Tiamat had said to Naden, who had all but

given up on her future. Tiamat said it with the gentle eyes of a mother.

Naden couldn't imagine that Tiamat had been lying to her. However, at the

same time, she couldn't see that prophecy coming true.

"That's... got to be something Tiamat said to console me," Naden said

at last. "Even I don't know what my value is. What is a complete stranger

supposed to see in me?"

"But, from what I hear, Lady Tiamat has never had a prediction fail to

come true."

"Fine, I'll be the very first failure. Hurray for me."

Pai groaned. "You're such a defeatist."

"Pai, if you keep making that groaning noise, you're going to develop

black spots like a cow, you know?"

"Moo! Moo! Moo!" Pai exclaimed.

While watching Pai get angry out of the corner of her eye, Naden

sighed. If there really is some value to my existence, and someone could

find it for me... how wonderful would that be? If a miracle like that

happened, and they take me away from this boring place where it's always

spring and nothing exciting ever happens... Well, it's just not possible, is

it?

Naden forced that earnest wish of hers deep into the recesses of her

heart.