June 24, 2026, Dragon King Calendar, Day of Lilias.
21:34.
Dravena.
Löwenthal Estate.
Underground Disposal Facility.
Through the agonizing pain, all I could do was realize that the poison running through my veins was spreading far faster than expected.
"Hey, why aren't we just killing this guy?"
Through the haze of fading consciousness, the words reached my ears.
We were quite far from the hallway where I had just been stabbed.
My vision was completely blurred, making it impossible to check my surroundings.
"It's to make it look like Arcadia killed him, obviously. Lord Zectromeo is cautious; he doesn't want to take the blame for murdering a Magias student."
"Even though he's about to kill a mountain of people anyway?"
"Just shut up and carry him."
Swaying and rocking, my body drifted through the air.
I was probably being hauled between the two of them.
That vague sensation was the only thing my senses could register right now.
"Still, I can't believe it. To think there was such an insanely massive cavern hidden beneath the mansion."
"Supposedly it's the ruins of an ancient civilization. They said that weapon was excavated here, too. Who knows, there might still be some lucky finds sleeping down here────heave-ho!"
An instant after I felt weightless, my entire body slammed hard against the ground. Apparently, they had unceremoniously dumped me.
"That's the end of our job. Let's head to base."
"The plan's finally kicking off, huh. It's been a long time coming."
"Dravena will be a sea of flames soon enough. Let's hurry."
"Hey, was that little mound over there before?"
"Who cares? Move it."
With that final exchange, their presence faded into the distance.
"Ugh..."
Cracking my eyes open slightly, I could make out a cavernous space resembling the inside of a vast dome, just as they had said.
It was enormous.
Dimly lit for reasons unknown, it was an eerily serene place without a single visible seam in the architecture.
Countless piles of junk were abandoned here; they seemed to be using the ruin as a dumping ground.
The two men had completely cleared out.
"........."
I couldn't move a single finger.
Even though I had undergone poison tolerance training, my antibodies weren't doing a thing. What the hell did that gray-haired brat inject into me?
So much for being against violence.
He was fully out for blood.
The warmth was rapidly draining from my body.
At this rate, I was going to die.
I had barely managed to cling to consciousness, but there was nothing I could actively do from here on out.
Was I really going to die in a place like this?
After dragging Philie-san into danger, this was how it ended?
That was the price of failing to read the situation.
Dead at seventeen, huh.
I never made it to adulthood, but compared to my previous life, it was practically a ripe old age.
Given how short my first life was, wondering why I deliberately walked into such a dangerous environment must be proof of how slow I am to learn.
“Why can Walker-kun still face forward even after knowing everything...?”
Left all alone in the dark, her words suddenly echoed in my mind.
Come to think of it, I had never really agonized over learning about my own origins. Even after Grandpa told me I was an artificial life-form, it had never held me back.
It wasn't that I was deliberately avoiding the thought.
The issue had simply faded into a trivial detail along the way.
Grandpa died out of nowhere, my aunt showed up, and then came the sudden entrance exams...
Yet it wasn't as if the question had merely been brushed aside.
Why was I able to come to terms with it so easily?
That's right.
Back then, someone told me something.
What was it again?
Someone gave me words I needed to hear.
"Whatever the circumstances may be────"
Right.
Grandpa said something to me.
Something truly important.
"I love you as my true family. That alone is the absolute, unvarnished truth."
I see.
I had already received my answer a long time ago.
Is that why I never hesitated?
Even knowing I was an artificial construct, I could keep looking forward and walking ahead without stumbling.
They were just words, but because someone had said them to me, I was able to make it this far.
Then I have to go.
I have to go and tell her.
Philie-san must have someone who made her who she is, too. As her friend, it's my duty to let her know that.
Like hell I'm going to let everything end in a garbage dump!
"────Gh!"
I forcibly ignited my dragon veins.
Not relying on dead muscle, I hoisted my battered body upright with pure mana.
As I stood, blood surged up from my stomach, spilling past my lips.
Drawing the final spare Allongé I had concealed, I swung it upward toward the cavern ceiling.
Before entering the academy, the distance would have been hopeless, but with the weapon's recent upgrades, the ceiling was just barely within reach of the extending blade. That single swing gave me the exact distance.
There was no time to search for an exit.
I would blast through the ceiling and break out right here, right now.
Planting my feet, I unleashed a full-powered slash toward the sky.
The ceiling of the underground chamber shattered.
It broke, but the strike failed to pierce through the bedrock all the way to the surface.
The dull, heavy roar of falling debris echoed through the cavern.
In the end, all my attack accomplished was adding to the rubble.
With a massive crash, chunks of stone cascaded onto the existing debris, collapsing one of the mounds.
From within the shattered heap, a pale-blue fragment of metal peeked out. Before I could make out what it was, my vision faded to black.
Huh?
Was that massive container there before?
Whatever. It doesn't matter.
"────Activation space secured."
My body won't...
"Provisional activator's dragon vein response confirmed."
No, not yet.
I can still crawl.
"Initiating boot sequence. Thawing Dragon Veins 1 through 17. Reconstructing unique space. Private communication environment lost."
Someone might notice the commotion from that blast and come down to finish the job. If they do, I just have to threaten them into treating me. This is the medical guild's estate. The chance isn't zero.
The chance... is...
"Connecting spirit armament circuit to the Great Dragon Vein. No obstacles detected within activation radius. Five seconds until Kamuy space generation."
It felt as though my body's master switch had been cut off.
Was being able to stand just a fluke?
No, miracle or fluke, I don't care.
Like hell I'm dying like this.
"Kamuy, manifesting."
Shut... up.
What is that?
Something is muttering.
It sounds like a synthesized machine voice...
"Ark Unit, rebooting."
A brilliant light flashed.
A radiance so intense I could feel it right through my closed eyelids.
Before I knew it, something was standing there.
Something small, like a stuffed animal.
◇
"It" had been traveling for an unimaginably long time.
Long before that fateful day that decided the destiny of the continent, it had been wandering across this vast world.
Befriending various people and occasionally lending a hand to those in trouble, it lived through countless ordinary days.
Because its original form was a bit frightening, it eventually decided to adopt a small, fluffy body during its travels.
It believed doing so would make its journey far more delightful.
One day, "it" met a girl.
A tiny infant who had lost her parents.
Because the girl called it her parent, it wanted to act like one, choosing to teach her the things that truly mattered in life.
In time, "it" remembered.
That this girl was one of the few who held the power to decide the fate of the entire planet.
Yet to "it," that didn't matter in the slightest. Rather than seeing her shackled to a predetermined destiny, it simply wanted her to enjoy a life full of laughter and joy.
However, at the hands of wicked men, the girl was used as a key to decide the planet's fate.
Treating the girl like a mere tool was an act "it" could never forgive.
If it meant protecting her future, it had no qualms about sacrificing itself. Having someone precious enough to inspire such devotion was the greatest pride of its existence.
To save the girl, "it" unleashed every ounce of power it possessed, vanishing without a trace.
Even so, it never gave up.
One day, in a peaceful world, they would all gather and feast together.
For the sake of that promise made to the girl, it guarded its single, solitary core to the very end.
Piece by piece, "it" gathered its shattered, scattered fragments. It was a mind-numbing task, like searching for specks of sand scattered across an endless world.
Bit by bit. Slowly, painstakingly.
Over an immense expanse of time.
It took a full 103 years before it finally awakened from its slumber.
◇
June 24, 2026, Dragon King Calendar, Day of Lilias.
21:45.
Deep beneath the Löwenthal estate.
Inside the disposal facility, Lou opened its eyes.
"Lou is hewe,"
Lou loudly declared:
"Wanna go on a gwoup date so baaad~!!"