Editing Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance:Volume15 Chapter5 (section)

===Part 2===

&mdash;While Kamito and Leonora were casually sightseeing in the dragon capital...

Claire and company were walking up a mountain path leading to Dragon's Peak.

Although the flying dragons of the Knights of the Dragon Emperor gave them a lift until the middle of the mountain, the rest of the way to the pinnacle had to be journeyed on foot because of the thick mist as well as the large number of violent dragons living there.

...After a while of walking up this steep mountain path, the surrounding mist started to thicken gradually.

It was clearly daytime yet visibility was extremely poor. It was hard to see even a couple of steps ahead.

"...Next up, which way should we go?"

Claire looked around.

"Although Nee-sama said that what I need is here&mdash;"

At that moment, Scarlet suddenly meowed then ran off in a certain direction.

"Wait, Scarlet! Going off on your own is dangerous!"

Chasing after Scarlet's tail, waving in the mist, Claire followed.

Soon, she found a set of stone steps in front of her.

"There are steps in this kind of place?"

Claire cocked her head and looked up.

"What happened, suddenly running out... Hmm?"

At this moment, Ellis and the others caught up and noticed the steps too.

"Where does this lead?"

"I am very curious..."

"Let's go up to have a look."

Chasing after Scarlet, Claire and company began to climb the steps.

After ascending roughly three hundred steps&mdash;

"...W-What is this place?"

The group had arrived at a stone temple covered in moss.

The architectural style was different from what was commonly seen all over the continent. It looked very ancient.

At the temple's entrance, Scarlet was sitting still.

"The air is very murky..."

Fianna frowned. With especially keen senses as a princess maiden, she was particularly sensitive to impure air.

"Leonora-dono did not mention this place&mdash;"

"Scarlet, how did you know about this place?"

Claire asked Scarlet at her feet.

Scarlet's behavior just now was almost like she was leading the way for Claire's group.

However, logically speaking, this should be Scarlet's first visit to this place too.

"&mdash;Let's check out the inside."

Claire stepped into the temple apprehensively.

&mdash;At that moment...

"What fools dare to disturb my peaceful slumber&mdash;"

"...!"

Suddenly, something's shadow appeared before her eyes&mdash;

Frightened, Claire pounced onto Rinslet beside her.

"W-What, w-w-what!?"

"&mdash;O light!"

Fianna hastily recited spirit magic to illuminate the surroundings.

What they saw before them was&mdash;

"...Huh?"

Claire could not help but freeze in surprise.

That creature(?) was hovering at Claire's eye level.

It was a palm-sized round black creature.

On the ball-like body were round limbs and a horned lizard's face.

...On the back was something that might count as a tail.

The mysterious creature crossed its arms and puffed out its chest in midair.

"...W-What is this weird creature!?"

Claire cried out with her twintails standing up. Since a deep voice with great solemnity had sounded in the dark, she was expecting something far more terrifying.

"You are the fools who are disturbing my peaceful slum&mdash;Hey, what are you doing? Stop that!"

"What the heck is with you? How dare you scare me!"

Claire grabbed its tail hard, instantly causing the strange creature to make lot of noise.

"Let go, Claire. It is definitely this place's guardian spirit or something."

"Bullying spirits will bring bad karma."

After Fianna and Ellis said that...

"Ehhh, what kind of joke is that!? I am not some kind of guardian spirit!"

The weird creature struggled free of Claire's hand and roared angrily.

"I am the dark dragon Vritra who used to rule this Kelbreth Mountain!"

"...Hmph."

Claire and company showed eyes of despise at the same time.

"...W-Wait, aren't you surprised? This is the legendary dark dragon, you know!?"

Probably failing to get the expected reaction, the weird creature began to panic.

"Say, could you be realistic if you're going to lie? Who's going to believe an unbelievable claim that a weird creature like you is actually the legendary dark dragon? If you don't explain honestly, I'll roast you into charcoal."

While lighting flames of spirit magic on her palm, Claire glared at the mysterious creature.

(Well, now that it's mentioned, it does look a bit like a dragon...)

This creature might be what a black dragon looked like if you shrunk it to a small size then kneaded it like clay.

"I-I am not lying! This is merely a false appearance I use to deceive perceptions. If I were to recover my former power, I could swallow you lot whole in one bite!"

The mysterious creature roared in anger.

"...Sigh, whatever."

Claire shrugged and answered. Just as Fianna pointed out, this was probably something like a dragon spirit that lived in the temple. There was no time to waste on humoring it.

(I have to find the way to become strong as soon as possible...)

Ignoring the mysterious creature that kept causing a ruckus, she was just about to leave when&mdash;

"...Curse you, foolish lower lifeforms. The Fire Queen who came before you knew her manners much better."

"...!?"

Suddenly hearing that, Claire and the girls could not help but halt in their steps.

"You... What did you just say?"

"Foolish lower lifeforms&mdash;"

"After that. You said something about a Fire Queen coming here?"

Claire pursued the matter.

"...How long ago was that?"

"U-Umm, roughly three years ago. No, it might have been four..."

"Three or four years ago..."

Claire rested her chin against her hand in contemplation. The timing matched the period when Rubia had betrayed the Elemental Lords and was working secretly behind the scenes as the Cardinal.

"Nee-sama came here...?"

Claire's murmurs leaked out.

"Did you say 'Nee-sama'?"

Hearing that, the mysterious creature went "hmm" and examined Claire's face.

"Yes, you are that girl's sister! I see now, there is definitely a resemblance. I remember her saying that you are going to visit one day, sooner or later&mdash;"

Bouncing around while circling Claire unceremoniously, muttering to itself.

Claire looked down at Scarlet by her feet.

...Speaking of which, what had her sister been doing with Scarlet on the Revenant's deck that time?

(...Could it be that she was telling Scarlet about this place?)

Hence, Scarlet had led Claire and company here?

...Indeed. Even Leonora, who had trained before on Dragon's Peak, did not know of this location. Then surely, this was not somewhere that could be reached by chance.

In that case&mdash;

"Uh... Are you seriously the dark dragon Vritra of legend?"

"I already said so just now!"

"But&mdash;"

Claire recalled how Leonora had said that the dark dragon Vritra ruling the Kelbreth Mountain Range was exterminated by Sacred Maiden Areishia a thousand years ago.

(...Wait, did I remember wrong?)

In fact, yes. What Leonora had said was:

&mdash;Vritra was defeated by Sacred Maiden Areishia and sealed in a temple on the peak.

"...Then could this temple be&mdash;"

"Indeed, this is precisely the temple where my mortal enemy Areishia sealed me."

The dark dragon Vritra crossed its arms conceitedly and replied.