I Was Reincarnated As the Strongest Protagonist Who Would Eventually Become a Hero, But It Seems the Burden Was Too Heavy For Me - Chapter 15

“Did we succeed…?”

 

I muttered, looking at the dragon that had become an ice statue.

 

From behind me, I heard the light pitter-patter of footsteps—

 

“We did it!”

 

“Gufu!?”

 

Anita-san pounced on me with full force.

 

“Hey, I was able to defeat it easier than I thought! Thanks to Luke~~~~!!”

 

“I-I get that you’re happy, but let go of me…”

 

“What~? Are you shy~? Uriuri~~~”

 

Anita rubbed my cheeks, her energy running high.

 

Though it was embarrassing, it finally sank in for me.

 

We won.

 

[I was surprised.]

 

Salamander’s voice echoed in my head.

 

[She managed to gather cooperation from the small surrounding spirits and recreate spirit arts… A remarkable feat, but whether the little spirits would actually listen to you depends entirely on their whims. Honestly, there was a chance it could have failed.]

 

Apparently it was a crazy gamble.

 

Well, Knowing Anita-san, she must’ve had a backup plan in place. She probably judged that relying on the small spirits was the best option at the time.

 

To be honest, I hadn’t expected the dragon to be defeated so easily either. The power of that final spirit magic Anita-san cast… It was extraordinary.

 

“Luke! You know! Actually! I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to make you nervous, but that monster was a named one!!”

 

“A named one… as in a monster so powerful it was given a second name?”

 

“Exactly! And we took down that Named monster, so our names are going to spread fast!”

 

“Hey, that’s great. I am one step closer to becoming a hero.”

 

Surely Luke would be pleased and full of smiles if he heard that.

 

But at the same time, something flickered in the back of my mind.

 

‘…Eh?’

 

Anita Lucas, Named, Dragon… These keywords sound familiar somehow.

 

I had a bad feeling.

 

The battle was not over yet.

 

“Huh?”

 

While I was lost in thought, Anita-san muttered under her breath.

 

“What’s this hole? Looks like there’s still more ahead…”

 

Anita noticed that a large space extended beyond the dragon’s body.

 

It was too dark to see what lay ahead, so she tilted her head curiously at the entrance.

 

In that instant, a poisonous projectile shot out from the darkness.

 

“Anita!”

 

It was all too sudden.

 

Anita-san reflexively brought up an ice shield, but it couldn’t completely absorb the impact, and she was blown away.

 

Lying on the ground, Anita-san winced in pain.

 

“Sorry… I might’ve messed up…”

 

Her body had turned a sickly shade of purple, clearly affected by the poison.

 

From deeper within the cave, a dragon covered in deep green scales emerged.

 

“A second one…”

 

We had miscalculated the enemy’s strength. 

 

How could we have made such a simple mistake?

 

Looking closely, this dragon had a smaller body compared to the first one.

 

I was able to read the situation somehow.

 

“…It’s the child.”

 

The dragon before us was likely the offspring of the one we had just defeated.

 

“That dragon had been raising its child here from the beginning, carefully keeping it hidden from anyone…”

 

According to Anita-san, the dragon we defeated had been exceptionally cunning. It remained hidden during its juvenile phase, and even when it became an adult, it only attacked small villages, avoiding densely populated cities.

 

So, it had the intelligence to hide its offspring. It likely commanded its child to stay hidden in the cave until it was fully grown. The dragon knew that revealing the existence of its child would bring danger.

 

—What now?

 

The situation was over.

 

The biggest issue was that Anita-san had been poisoned. Unfortunately, in her current state, she was no longer a reliable fighter.

 

Even though it was just a child, its body seemed almost fully grown.

 

In a few days, it might have left the cave with its parent. Was it good fortune or bad luck that we encountered it at this moment?

 

[It’s coming!]

 

As Salamander’s warning reached me, I instinctively leaped backward.

 

The Poison Dragon’s claws gouged the ground where I had been standing.

 

But its onslaught didn’t stop there. 

 

Its tail came crashing down from above. I barely dodged it by a hair’s breadth, cold sweat dripping down my forehead.

 

“It’s so fast?!”

 

[This dragon isn’t starving! Probably, its parent had been feeding it the entire time…!]

 

Salamander cut off the rest of her sentences.

 

It seemed she wanted to avoid further demoralizing me.

 

What was this dragon feeling right now?

 

It had been trapped with its parent inside this barrier, consuming the few scraps of food left behind for itself. In the end, its parent, weakened to the point of starvation, had been killed by the very humans who had imprisoned them.

 

The dragon was in a rage.

 

Imagining its emotions made my chest ache.

 

—I can’t falter.

 

There were more important things to think about right now.

 

Villages destroyed by the dragon. Anita-san, who had lost a place dear to her.

 

The dragon was not the only one in rage.

 

Just as I steeled my resolve, the dragon’s mouth began to glow.

 

It was about to unleash a breath attack. But this time, the buildup was far greater than before.

 

Dragon released its breath.

 

The target was not us—it was the rock on the ceiling.

 

“Huh!?”

 

The moment the poisonous blast hit the ceiling, a deafening roar tore through the air.

 

The ground shook violently, and I barely managed to keep my footing, using my sword like a cane.

 

Dust swirled in the air, dissipating with a gust of wind.

 

…Wind?

 

Why was there a wind?

 

This was the bottom of the cave…

 

“N-No way…”

 

Anita-san looked up at the ceiling, her face pale.

 

I figured out the current situation immediately.

 

The cave ceiling, which we thought was indestructible, had been completely shattered. Bright sunlight streamed in from the blue sky above.

 

[It’s trying to escape!!]

 

Salamander shouted.

 

I thrust my sword toward the dragon as it leaped into the air.

 

“I won’t let you get away!!”

 

My sword pierced deep into the dragon’s flesh.

 

The dragon dragged me along as it soared upward.

 

“Anita!!”

 

“Go! I’ll be fine…!”

 

The cave was full of dangerous creatures. Leaving Anita-san behind, injured as she was, filled me with dread, but the thought of letting this dragon escape into the world was even more terrifying.

 

Trusting in Anita-san, I tightened the grip on my sword.

 

The dragon flew high.

 

“Ugh…!”

 

[Hang on tight! Don’t get thrown off!]

 

I clung desperately to my sword as the wind threatened to tear me away. 

 

I couldn’t let the dragon get too far, or Anita-san wouldn’t be able to catch up. I urged Salamander to unleash flames, burning the dragon’s body.

 

The dragon screamed and fell.

 

I landed and softened the impact with a roll, then quickly surveyed my surroundings.

 

“This is… a village?”

 

There were simple wooden houses lined up, cultivated fields, and grazed livestock.

 

Definitely, it was a village. But even though I knew the original story well, I had no memory of a village existing here.

 

“What is this place…? There shouldn’t be a village here…!”

 

I was upset that my knowledge of the original didn’t work.

 

For me, such a place was—

 

[This is bad… there are people here…!]

 

Salamander’s voice was filled with urgency.

 

That was the normal reaction. I also quickly grasped the current situation again.

 

Looking at the dragon that suddenly appeared, the villagers were desperate.

 

I felt sorry for them, but we were the desperate ones here. Fighting that dragon while protecting the villagers was a very difficult task.

 

But at that moment, Luke’s voice echoed inside me.

 

―――― Absolutely protect.

 

Let no one die.

 

Luke’s ideal of heroism bore down on me like a heavy burden.

 

Protect.

 

I have to protect them.

 

This was the trial I needed to face to become like Luke.