A song by a wandering poet.
He once sat upon a hill at sunset and recited these verses.
「The most beautiful flower does not fear the moment it falls. It simply surrenders itself to the wind and promises to meet the spring that will come again—♪」
Where there is a meeting, a parting inevitably follows.
The laws of the world simply flow downward like a placid river.
That day had finally come for me as well.
I felt a deep regret, like a current that could not be held slipping through my fingers.
Even so, I would face it and move forward.
***
Airi told me nothing.
There was only one thing I knew.
The undeniable fact that she was quietly dying.
The chandelier's light flickered.
The air inside the nest settled heavily, like waterlogged cotton.
"Follow me."
Airi lightly turned around.
Her silver hair swayed with every step.
Boing, bo-oing—.
Without a word, I bounced my round jelly and quietly followed her.
Her steps upon the crystal floor were as light as ever.
"The pie baked today was unusually sweet."
"That was thanks to Adele carefully kneading the dough since morning."
"Hehe, that child's touch is so very warm."
Airi continued making ordinary conversation to the very end. Her voice held a profound wistfulness, as though she were tracing memories from a distant past.
We walked slowly along the shining crystal corridor.
It was a path we would ordinarily have crossed in a single dash.
Today, however, her steps were conspicuously slow.
Her loving gaze seemed determined to engrave every scene of the nest into her eyes.
One corner of the cavern that I had spent the past several days sweating over as I cleared it.
She looked at the neatly restored obsidian floor and smiled faintly.
"The nest has grown so comfortable thanks to you."
"It is only my duty as Nest Manager. While we are at it, how about giving me a private room of my own?"
"Hehe, very well. I shall give you the largest and warmest one."
Airi laughed aloud at my silly joke.
But the tail of her laughter rustled like a dry leaf.
I could instinctively feel her life force scattering beyond her transparent skin.
Fine particles of mana crumbled into the air with every breath she took.
A terrible sense of loss.
An ache pierced one corner of my chest.
I struggled to hide the trembling of my core and bounced even more cheerfully.
'Do not cry. Making a miserable scene here would be far too pathetic.'
I forcibly suppressed my emotions and swallowed a bitter smile.
We continued walking in silence.
We had not gone far when we passed one of the nest's massive pillars.
Stagger.
Airi's body swayed ever so slightly.
Her ankle buckled, and her silver hair traced a precarious arc through the air.
"Ah."
I instinctively kicked off the floor and leaped.
Flattening my jelly, I slid beneath her feet.
Plop.
My transparent body gently caught her collapsing weight.
"You need to be careful. Even inside the nest, the floor can be rather slippery."
I released a teasing vibration as I supported her.
Airi let out a small sigh and steadied herself.
"Hehe, forgive me. I lost my footing."
Her excuse was terribly faint and feeble.
There was no possibility that a transcendent being who had lived for centuries would lose her footing on a flat marble floor.
I realized how bitterly cold her body had felt against my jelly.
Like a sheet of ice.
A chill sorrow surged from deep within my core.
"Had you not been here, Yuri, I might have taken quite a fall."
"That is precisely why I must always remain by your side. Why not hire me as your personal cushion while we are at it?"
"Hehe, very well. My personal cushion."
We looked at one another and laughed.
She indulged my lie, and I indulged her excuse.
We struggled desperately to push away the heavy air with shallow jokes.
After walking a little farther, we found a small mana flower blooming beneath a crystal pillar.
It was a rare magical herb that grew by absorbing light, one she had always treasured.
Airi stopped and carefully stroked its petals.
Rustle.
At her touch, the petals trembled faintly and began losing their light.
It was probably because its owner, who had shared her life force with it, was running out of strength.
Airi's amethyst eyes wavered slightly.
"......The flower has withered."
I quickly opened my subspace.
I drew out a red Mana Stone of the highest purity and ground it to powder in one stroke.
I scattered a generous amount of the shining powder around the flower's roots.
Flaaash.
The flower absorbed my mana, regained its gentle glow, and lifted its head once more.
"Tsk, it must have been lacking nutrients. It seems this tragedy happened because the Nest Manager failed to fertilize it on time."
"......Yuri."
"I will watch it more carefully. So please do not be too upset."
Airi quietly looked down at my transparent body.
The faint smile lingering on her lips suddenly felt tender.
"Indeed, having you here is truly reassuring."
With those words, her transparent fingertip gently tapped my core.
A warm comfort.
But I knew. The pulse of mana in that touch was not even half as strong as before.
We quickened our steps and passed a great library.
A vast archive where thousands of years of knowledge slept.
Airi gazed wistfully at the firmly closed door, then lightly snapped her fingers.
Snap.
With the crisp sound, an old grimoire flew from inside the library and settled in her arms.
A parchment book thick with pale dust.
"Humans live short lives, yet they always strive to leave something behind."
She quietly whispered as she stroked the cover.
"This is a journal a great mage offered to me long ago. It was the trace he desperately left at the end of his life."
"......What did he wish to leave behind?"
"Well, was it perhaps that small, humble proof that he had once passed through this world?"
When Airi released it, the grimoire flew back to its place.
"Yuri, what do you wish to leave behind?"
The question came without warning.
I slowly rotated my core and sank into thought.
What I wished to leave behind.
"I simply hope that the things around me do not break."
A calm vibration carrying my true feelings.
"I want to repair what is broken and clear away what has grown dirty. I only wish for the bonds that reach me to continue unbroken."
"......That answer is truly like you."
Airi's eyes curved gently.
But I saw it clearly.
The fingertips that had caressed the book were trembling faintly.
Even a Dragon who had lived for eternity felt a measure of fear before the abyss called death.
Without a word, I stretched out my jelly and gently covered the back of her trembling hand.
When my mana touched her, the faint trembling gradually subsided.
"Your hand is cold. Shall I make some warm tea?"
"No. Your warmth alone is enough."
Neither of us tried to pry into the other's true feelings.
We merely endured the heavy silence through the warmth where we touched.
We passed an old exhibition hall said to have been presented as tribute by dwarven artisans long ago.
Rusty swords and broken shields lay abandoned there.
Airi stopped and quietly stared at a massive greatsword.
"Humans are terribly fragile, yet remarkably strong."
"I agree. I, too, clung stubbornly to life within that frailty."
"That sword belonged to a knight who invaded my nest several centuries ago."
Her fingertips carefully traced the broken blade.
"Even before death, he never retreated. He said there was something he had to protect, and he refused to release his sword to the very end."
Airi's gaze returned to me.
"I did not understand it then. The reckless, furious flame of those who live for but an instant."
"......Do you understand it now?"
"Well, perhaps I, too, have found something I desperately wish to protect."
Her amethyst eyes rippled with unfathomable depth and clarity.
Something she wished to protect.
The weight within those words clenched tightly around my core.
I stared at the broken sword and released another playful vibration.
"That sword might fetch a fine price. May I use it to fund the nest later?"
"Hehe, do as you please. If you wish it, you may take every treasure in this nest."
Airi curved her eyes and smiled brightly.
Lighthearted conversation and natural jokes.
Yet our steps carried us deeper into the nest's darkest abyss.
A cold stone passage, sealed tight without a single window and beyond the reach of any outside light.
The weight of the coming farewell pressed heavily upon the cavern air.
At last, we arrived.
The place where we stopped.
It was before the Jade Gate marked with geometric patterns deep within the nest.
The very place she had once warned me never to open.
Airi extended a slender white hand and quietly traced the pattern.
"......It has been a long time since I opened this door. I needed a little time to prepare myself."
Hummmm.
Transparent mana flowed from her fingertips.
The pattern on the firmly sealed door took on light and began to rotate.
Grrrrrrind.
With a heavy scrape, the thick Jade Gate slowly parted to either side.
A dizzying sensation, and a mass of pure white light poured out like a waterfall.
I reflexively squeezed my eyes shut.
The curtain of light slowly withdrew.
When I opened my eyes, an entirely different world filled my vision.
"This place is......"
The wind blew.
A field of edelweiss stretched endlessly in every direction.
Waves of pure white petals rippled and released their fragrance.
"It is a small garden I made."
Airi walked into the center of the field and quietly began to speak.
"Several centuries ago, I happened upon this scene in the human realm. I could not forget its fleeting beauty, so I moved it here into my cradle exactly as it was."
An eternal field shaped by artifice.
It felt as though she were sharing one of her most precious memories with me.
The sensation of grass and flowers beneath me was almost too vivid.
An enchanting sight of pure white blossoms stretching without end.
I did not dare touch even a single petal.
This was her deepest and most precious cradle, a sanctuary I hesitated even to enter without care.
I simply stopped where I was and quietly vibrated my core.
"Another area to maintain. Are you not giving me too much work?"
"Hehe, for all your complaints, you are standing remarkably still."
"I cannot ruin such a beautiful garden. A fine laborer knows better than to meddle carelessly."
Airi gathered her skirt and burst into clear laughter at my cheeky answer.
Hahaha.
Laughter as pure and innocent as a young girl's.
Her smile spread brightly like a silver butterfly taking flight.
But at the trailing edge of that beautiful laughter.
Her voice was growing fainter and fainter as it mingled with the wind.
Like a mirage on a midsummer night.
A fierce wind blew, scattering edelweiss petals wildly through the air.
Amid those white trails, Airi slowly turned around.
"I was merely running away."
Her amethyst eyes drifted into the distant air.
"I could not escape the shackles of fate. This was always how it would end."
Airi slowly turned her head and looked at me.
A faint smile drew a gentle curve across her lips.
"Still, perhaps I should be grateful you are with me at the final crossroads."
"......Lady Airi."
My voice scattered very softly beyond my jelly.
She took another step toward me.
"Dragons never die, Yuri. We merely fall into a very long sleep."
A calm consolation that she would return to the course of nature.
Her words wrapped warmly around my core.
"Would you grant me one request?"
"Yes. Tell me anything."
I compressed my jelly firmly and answered without hesitation.
"While I sleep, protect this place."
"I will protect it without fail."
Airi burst into clear laughter at my resolute answer.
"What a good child you are."
"......"
My chest tightened. I could no longer give any answer.
Airi slowly reached out to me.
The moment her slender white fingers touched my transparent body.
Flaaaaash!
Once more, a dazzling mass of light swallowed everything around us.
Warm, weighty energy pierced my core and surged into me without restraint.
At the same time, miraculous System messages appeared in the air.
['Airi von Fafnir' transfers the Dragon Heart to you.]
['Airi von Fafnir' transfers ownership of the Dragon's Nest to you.]
My vision wavered.
At the center of that brilliant radiance, Airi was still smiling brightly.