Hildegard's Desire
A dragon so huge it could be looked up to.
It was far larger than the earth dragon enemy I had seen that day, yet it resembled it so closely.
Scales like rocks, a back spiked like a jagged mountain, a tail like a spiked flail.
The jagged fangs growing from its jaw made it painfully clear that it could easily swallow and crush the earth and people.
...An overwhelming sense of suffocation struck me.
The entity that killed my mother, destroyed my clan, and brought devastation to the village.
Even though this monster was just a likeness, my body froze and my legs stopped moving.
The moment of my mother’s honorable death flashed through my mind.
“Hilde... you must live. Live... don’t let the blood of the warrior die...”
I remember the feeling of her bloodstained hand gently brushing my cheek.
Every time she called out to me, I felt the hand I held growing colder.
The dark, stagnant air, the grief over the deaths of many warriors, I felt as though I had fallen into a deep pit and wanted to think of nothing.
...And so, before I knew it, I had transformed into one without freedom, a slave.
“Master...”
“You’ve come, Hildegard.”
Vanitas Lindblum.
My master.
Not long ago, he was the one I was meant to protect.
Reincarnation... I don’t fully understand the meaning, but the master, now a different person, had become stronger.
Stronger than me.
Yet now, he was wounded and bleeding.
The evil dragon had done this.
“Christina seems to have safely arrived there. ...There don’t seem to be any visible injuries.”
“She used a healing potion while moving. Master, you too!”
“No, I’m fine. More importantly, from here on, we’ll be in a full-scale battle with the evil dragon Eclipse Dragon. ...Can you still move?”
My master was as calm as ever.
He greeted my arrival as if it were the most natural thing.
Even though he knew I had struggled to act normally when facing the familiar and overly friendly Elimes, he did not blame me.
He didn’t doubt for a second that I could fight alongside him, even though, like Christina, I froze just from seeing the evil dragon.
“Vanitas! I thought reinforcements had arrived, but they immediately retreated! In the end, the next one to come was just another slave! Is that your trump card? What use will a little girl slave like that be now?!”
The man who controls the evil dragon.
The one who opposes my master and us.
The man who controls the giant centipede as if it were his limbs, shouted with a grinning face from the dragon’s neck.
“Eclipse Dragon! Kill him along with the girl!”
“Good grief, can’t even hold a proper conversation. Grip—――—Focus Magic Enhancement.”
My master lifted me in his arms and ran across the barren ground, trying to escape the evil dragon's fierce attacks.
“Yeah... we’ve managed to lead it far away from the fortress. This should be fine, even if we make a little noise. Now, Hildegard, just listen without moving.”
“...Okay.”
“I want to borrow your strength.”
“Vanitas! I’m telling you, a little girl like her who struggles against Elimes won’t be able to win! Not against me and the Eclipse Dragon!”
“Hah... you’re loud. You’ve already used a healing potion to treat your left shoulder, yet you’re still barking. No... are you anxious? That’s why you keep talking on and on. Well, whatever. Back to the point. Hildegard... you have that magic. The Eclipse Dragon is tough and resilient. From here on, I can’t do this alone. We need firepower equal to or greater than mine. Otherwise, Habermesia, who should be waiting after getting in touch with Christina, won’t be able to give it her all either.”
“Wha—!? But... that magic...!”
My master must have known as well.
That I couldn’t control that magic. No, I couldn’t even use it properly.
“You want to say it’s been nothing but failures, right? I understand. But right now, this moment is when that magic is needed. I know you’ve been training since the day you were defeated by Razelia. I’ve seen how you’ve worked hard, knowing your own weakness, striving to become stronger.”
“...”
“Hildegard, now is the time to lend me your power. With you, I can defeat even an opponent I couldn’t face alone. I... I believe that.”
That time...
At that time, my master had believed in me.
When I lost in the mock battle with Princess Razelia, my master had said.
I could still grow stronger.
Tears overflowed, trailing down my cheeks and wetting the ground.
I roughly wiped away the tears that flowed endlessly.
I could only crouch in defeat.
I lost.
Despite being held back, none of my magic or martial arts had worked.
I couldn’t even break her dragonbone magic, no, I couldn’t even put a crack in it.
“Hildegard...”
My master gently supported my shoulders as I crouched.
“Master, I’m sorry.”
“Why apologize? Hildegard, you fought with all your strength, didn’t you?”
“I... I fought. But... I couldn’t win.”
I stared at my hands, tightly clenched into fists.
I couldn’t reach it.
I was never supposed to lose... but I couldn’t win.
“I wanted to win. I wanted to win and prove it. Master, that we are your people too.”
“...”
“Master, you told me to show it, that I exist, but I couldn’t...”
“You did show it. Princess Razelia surely understood that too. She knows that you, a precious existence, are here with me.”
“But! But! I lost! I lost!”
“Hildegard...”
“Habermesia, she’s fine. She’s the one who took the prize. But, Princess... no, that’s not it!”
“...”
“Master, I don’t want to lose you... I can’t... uuuu, Master! I want to be strong, so strong! Stronger!”
My master embraced me tightly as I broke down.
I buried my face in his chest and could do nothing but cry over my own helplessness.
“Hildegard...”
“Master, I don’t want to lose what’s important! I don’t want to lose it!”
“...I feel the same. I don’t want to lose you, or anything important to me.”
My master held me back, tightly embracing me as I clung to him.
It hurt so much, my chest felt like it was about to burst.
“...Hildegard, do you want to be stronger?”
“Yeah... I want to be. Strong enough to never lose to anyone!”
“Ah, you can become even stronger.”
“Really?”
“Ah, of course. You have a thirst. A desire for strength, a burning heat. You have it.”
“A thirst... to become stronger?”
“Listen. This magic was prepared for you. I saw your potential, and it was the magic I had planned for you someday. Now, extend your hand.”
Hands overlapped.
My master’s hand was small, but it was warm.
The heat, so intense, forced my heart, wounded by my frustration and sadness, to look forward.
“The name of this magic is ■■. This is a magic only you can use. I’ll teach it to you now. You have more talent than I do. You will master it, I guarantee it.”
"Is running away all you know how to do in battle, Vanitas!"
Even as the land continued to tremble, the evil dragon, under the direction of Moritz, the centipede-man, destroyed everything in its path.
Yet my master remained unfazed.
He simply read the trajectory and range of the attacks with calm precision and moved accordingly.
A focus so cold and calculating.
And so, we faced the evil dragon, maintaining the proper distance.
“Now, take my hand. I’ll support you at first.”
“Okay, master.”
At that time, too, my master had taken my hand.
...It was warm.
The warmth slowly erased the lingering anxiety within me.
“I’ve already taught you the basics. From here... just believe in your own strength.”
“...Okay.”
I looked at the evil dragon.
At its lifeless, silver-lit eyes, glowing with a dull gleam.
You are different from the dragon that attacked our village.
But still, I will defeat you.
I extended my right hand forward.
――――And spread my fingers.
At this moment, when Hildegard resolved to defeat an opponent strikingly similar to her own arch-enemy, she felt a new power surge from within herself.
This power was a magical affinity different from the innate attributes—called acquired attributes—which manifest under different conditions than the inherent, natural ones.
The conditions for the manifestation of acquired attributes are unknown.
The difference in how individuals acquire them is stark, and it's not something that can be generalized.
However, what is certain is that at this moment, Hildegard gained a new power.
What Hildegard had internalized was the affinity of a "hunting dog."
In addition to her original innate attribute of "Mud," she had now gained another attribute that she excelled in.
Yet, she deliberately chose to ignore it.
Instead of relying on the convenient, sudden power that had surged from within, she chose the strength she had trained and cultivated up until now.
It was the strength of her will.
Her trust in her master.
I placed my left hand on top of my right hand, which was extended toward the evil dragon with fingers spread wide.
Then, my master supported my right hand, guiding it to align with his open palm.
"…Here we go, Hildegard."
"Okay, Master."
The magic I was about to use was something my master had prepared just for me.
It was mine, my own—a magic of control.
"Evil dragon! I will defeat you!! ————Mighty Grasp!!"
I clenched tightly, harder and harder.
This was to ensure that my thirst, my desire for strength, would not slip away.