Giral’s wife arrived in her dragon form.
She was truly massive—roughly two sizes larger than Dos in his own draconic form. The individual scales covering her body were enormous, resembling jagged, pitch-black stone. Thus, she looked very much like a giant mountain in motion.
In contrast, her wings seemed somewhat small for such a titanic frame. In truth, she didn't rely on the strength of her wings to fly, so their size was largely irrelevant. Her tail was both thick and long, stretching nearly three times the length of her body.
Normally, one would think her proportions were a bit unbalanced, but it wasn't particularly noticeable because she had far more striking features. Specifically, she had eight heads.
Eight necks extended from her massive body, and the heads—or rather, the faces—at their ends were all terrifyingly dignified. Apologies for judging by appearances, but visually speaking, one would certainly categorize her as "evil" rather than "righteous" at a glance. If I hadn't been told she was Giral’s wife, I wouldn't have even been able to tell she was female.
She arrived from the northern sky, passed over the village, and landed just to the south. This was her way of following the proper procedure, addressing the village from the outside rather than suddenly barging in. Because of this, I was waiting for her at the village south.
Perhaps because she landed right at the edge of the forest, her tail swept into the woods, splintering trees beneath its weight. One of her heads glanced back at the wreckage with an expression that clearly said, I messed up.
Then, her dragon form vanished, and a single woman appeared in its place. She had long black hair and wore a black dress. Even from a distance, I could tell she was beautiful.
However, that beautiful woman in the black dress took only a few steps before tripping spectacularly. She went down face-first.
...
I looked away and pretended I hadn't seen anything. I’d leave the rest to Giral.
I had heard she hadn't taken human form for nearly five hundred years. She might have simply forgotten how to walk.
Meanwhile, Kuro and his children stood ready before me. They were likely on guard against her, but their tails were tucked and their legs were shaking.
Thank you, guys. Don't push yourselves.
Zabuton’s children, you don't need to spread your webs either. She isn't an enemy; she’s Giral’s wife.
Still, I’ve heard plenty of her "heroic" tales from Dos, Raimeiren, Draim, and Hakuren, so I understood why everyone was on edge.
Her name was Guronde. Also known as the "Enemy of God."
She was apparently a dragon whose name was guaranteed to appear whenever someone delved into the history of this world. While Guronde was younger than both Dos and Giral, her legendary feats far outnumbered theirs.
It seemed Hakuren was feared before she came to this village, but compared to Guronde, Hakuren was treated as a dragon with actual common sense. The primary reason was that Hakuren was someone you could actually talk to. The second was that she never did anything that Dos or Raimeiren truly detested.
Guronde was different. She was apparently an existence that lived solely to rampage as her desires dictated. And she was strong—strong enough that even Dos and Raimeiren avoided fighting her.
Guronde’s reign of terror occurred eight hundred years ago. When I say she rampaged, it wasn't that she went hunting for enemies; rather, she simply crushed anything that stood in her path. Because of that, while the physical damage was immense, there were almost no human casualties because everyone had time to evacuate.
There were two reasons why she was labeled the "Enemy of God."
The first was that she annihilated every army that dared to challenge her. She didn't hunt those who fled, but she was merciless to those who took a stand. Among those destroyed forces was a religious army, which was the first to brand her the "Enemy of God."
The other reason was her destruction of the World Tree. She had shattered and burned the world’s singular World Tree simply because it happened to be growing there. Since the World Tree was considered a miracle bestowed by God, its destruction earned her that infamous title.
Mindless violence. Attacking anything she touched. That was how the world evaluated Guronde.
The one who finally stopped her was Giral. Giral, who was quite prickly back then, challenged her to a duel, determined not to lose. As it turned out, he was soundly beaten, but through a bizarre turn of events, the two of them ended up married. Guronde, who was rumored to be on the verge of destroying the world, settled down and lived quietly in her nest. After that, as long as no one intruded upon her territory, she didn't rampage again.
Then, five hundred years ago...
At a time when the threat of Guronde had begun to fade from memory, a group of heroes challenged her while Giral was away. These were heroes who resurrected even if they died. There were fourteen of them, accompanied by two hundred and sixty companions.
Various factions—those who still remembered the threat Guronde posed—supplied these heroes with magic weapons specifically designed to kill dragons.
When Giral returned to the nest, seven of Guronde’s heads had been crushed, and her wings and tail had been severed. Yet, Guronde survived. She had annihilated every hero who challenged her and destroyed every magic weapon they held.
The heroes were resurrected, but Giral’s vengeance fell upon the nations that had sent them. He adopted a strategy of thoroughly destroying the heroes' economic foundations and fleeing whenever they tried to challenge him again. That strategy was effective, and the scale of the heroes' activities eventually shrunk to nothing. The threat of Guronde was overwritten by the threat of Giral and was gradually forgotten.
Incidentally, Dos was the one who eventually mediated between Giral and those nations. Giral agreed to the mediation, but he apparently had a serious go at Dos immediately afterward.
Guronde remained in her nest and attempted to recover. Given a dragon’s regenerative powers, it was assumed things would work out over time. However, while her wings and tail grew back after about a century, her heads did not return.
Giral sought help from a dragon known as the greatest sage of the era. In fact, it had been more of a kidnapping than a request. Every kind of treatment was attempted, and numerous spells and artifacts were used, but the heads would not regenerate.
Finally, he was told that the only thing that could treat her was a leaf from the World Tree she had shattered and burned. Hearing that, he fell into despair. Guronde eventually resigned herself to her fate, believing her past actions had finally come back to haunt her.
Giral’s face when I told him there was a World Tree in the village... was a complex mix of emotions. I mean, Giral had visited several times after the seedling was planted. Did he really not know? Did he think it was just a normal tree because he’d never seen the real thing before? That might have been the case.
At any rate, I was told that three World Tree leaves were needed for each head. To restore the seven lost heads, he would need twenty-one. Since it was for a dragon, I figured three might not be enough, so I gave him about a hundred. He apparently knew how to use them.
Giral grabbed the leaves and departed with explosive speed. While seeing him off, I made sure to give the World Tree some soil tilled with my Universal Farming Tool. I wasn't sure if that was enough of a reward for the leaves, but several Nyunyu-daphne were watching with envious eyes, so it was likely fine.
But really, Nyunyu-daphne—I gave you all tilled soil too, didn't I? Please don't be jealous of other trees.
Word arrived soon after: Guronde’s heads were successfully restored. She wanted to visit the village to offer her thanks.
The news sent Dos, Draim, Hakuren, and Raimeiren into a state of alarm. They filled me in on everything they knew about her. Later, when I mentioned it at dinner, Malbit, Suarlou, and Razmaria were thrown into a mild panic.
Apparently, back when they were known as the God-kin, they had been among those who challenged Guronde. They were also one of the factions that had supplied magic weapons to the heroes. I told them that I didn't want any trouble in the village and suggested we set up a place for reconciliation so they could talk things out. They decided to stay out of sight for a while.
And so, Guronde arrived, but... she was having a lot of trouble walking. She still hadn't reached me. Giral tried to pick her up, only to get scolded.
Deciding enough was enough, Zabuton stepped forward. She scurried over to Guronde, placed the dragon-woman on her back, and carried her over. Then, she slowly lowered Guronde in front of me.
"I... It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Guronde. I look forward to your acquaintance."
It was an incredibly polite greeting.
"This is a humble gift, and I apologize for its simplicity, but please accept it as a token of my gratitude. It is a handmade item, but I hope you will receive it."
She presented a longish box. It was heavy. I opened it to find an incredibly divine-looking sword, complete with its sheath.
...Handmade? Did Guronde practice smithing?
"It is a sword forged from my severed tail."
I... I see. I wasn't entirely sure how to react to that. For now, I just smiled.
"Forgive my late introduction. I am the Village Head, Hiraku. There is no reason to turn away Giral’s wife. Please, make yourself at home."
I returned the greeting and looked toward my mansion, where preparations were being made to welcome her.
"Sorry, Zabuton. Could you carry her the rest of the way?"
By the way, while I was waiting for Guronde to arrive at the village south, Beezel had shown up.
"The 'Enemy of God' has been resurrected and seems to be heading directly for this village..."
Beezel spoke with a very solemn expression, so I informed him that she was simply coming to offer her greetings.
"Ah, is it just the usual thing then? Hahaha."
Beezel departed, seemingly satisfied. I wasn't entirely sure what he meant by "the usual thing."
I hadn't realized it at the time, but apparently, panic had broken out in every region where people spotted Guronde flying through the sky.
There are quite a few long-lived people in the Demon Kingdom, after all.