Editing Unlimited Fafnir:Volume 6 Chapter 1 (section)

===Part 6===

Leading us to take the elevator, Miyazawa Kenya swiped his own ID card on the panel. Immediately, all the floor buttons lit up.

Access to different floors by elevator was probably restricted based on each ID card's authority.

He pressed the button for the third floor underground. From what I could see, this building seemed to have five levels underground at most.

After reaching the third floor underground, we walked out of the elevator and looked around. A dark corridor extended into the distance. Apart from faint air conditioning noises, there was no sound at all. It was especially quiet.

"This way please."

He walked in the lead with Shinomiya-sensei, Mitsuki, Tia, Iris and I following in that order.

"It feels a bit scary..."

Feeling an atmosphere different from the dining hall floor, Tia commented uneasily.

"It does feel slightly creepy... Or rather, I would describe this atmosphere as like a hospital at night."

Mitsuki looked down the deserted corridor and remarked.

"So many crossroads. I'll definitely get lost if I came alone."

Iris looked left and right at a set of crossroads, squinting.

"Don't run around randomly, okay? If you end up somewhere weird and the alarm sounds, the guards might come rushing straight away."

"Yeah, in that case—I'll hold on to you, Mononobe."

Iris nodded then paying attention to Mitsuki and the others in front, she hugged my arm.

Feeling my elbow against Iris' soft bosom, my heart rate began to quicken.

"H-Hey."

"If anyone looks back, I'll let go, so please, I want to act like a couple with you, Mononobe."

Iris whispered quietly so that only I could hear, then hugged my arm even more tightly. Feeling my arm sandwiched between those beautifully shaped breasts, my blood rushed to my face. Iris was apparently still bothered by what happened on the helicopter ride.

"—Got it."

I smiled wryly and agreed. Iris then happily leaned her forehead against my shoulder.

Since I must pay attention in front while walking along the corridor, I felt especially nervous.

"This feels so exciting, Mononobe."

Perhaps feeling the same as me, Iris smiled mischievously and whispered softly.

Seeing her like that, I suddenly thought—Speaking of which, if Iris were to be examined as she was now, wouldn't that be bad?

"Iris, after the battle against Yggdrasil, did you ever try using Catastrophe?"

"No, not even once. The principal said it was very dangerous and asked me not to use it on my own."

Iris shook her head so I asked her:

"Iris, do you still remember... how you used Catastrophe?"

"Let me tell you... Honestly, I can't remember at all, because I was in a trance at the time."

Iris drew near my face and answered quietly.

As expected, Iris did not seem to have realized herself that she had used Catastrophe without going through the step of dark matter.

In that case, if the following examinations brought this to light, Iris might feel quite troubled. Moreover, if Asgard were to learn of this truth, it might be very bad.

The principal had said that Iris might become a dragon. If Miyazawa Kenya or Asgard were to see her in the same way, Iris might be in a dangerous position.

"Iris, if that's the case, could you not use Catastrophe during the tests? Because we should obey the principal, Midgard's chief administrator, above all else."

"Oh... I guess that's true. If you didn't remind me, Mononobe, I probably would've wanted to use it. Thank you, Mononobe. Then I won't try a real demonstration."

Although I found the reason a bit contrived, Iris accepted it honestly and thanked me.
[[image:UnlimitedFafnir v06 083.jpg|thumb]]

I breathed a sigh of relief. Now, Iris' secret would not be leaked.

"—We've arrived. Please enter."

We happened to reach the examination room at this time. Iris and I hastily separated and entered the room at Miyazawa Kenya's urging. Instantly, the smell of antiseptics struck my nose. The plain white room contained many examination devices. There was a spacious room next door separated by glass.

"Then let us hurry and collect data. You'll start first. Please enter the examination room over there and show me Ether Wind."

He pointed at the examination room and looked at me with fervent anticipation like he could not wait. I nodded and entered the room that was isolated by the glass.

Fictional armament—Siegfried.

Then I used my dark matter, which was maintained in the shape of a gun, to transmute Ether Wind.

"Ether Bullet."

Golden particles were shot out as a bullet then exploded.

'Splendid... This is precisely Hraesvelgr's—'

I could hear Miyazawa Kenya's voice through a microphone.

Through the glass, I could see his expression twisting in joy.

His expression gave me a creepy feeling. Indescribable unease surged in my heart.

Following Miyazawa Kenya's instructions, I performed transmutation inside the examination room then answered questions based on the data afterwards. The examination was this simple.

He seemed quite disappointed about Iris refusing to try out Catastrophe, but it could not be helped. Surprisingly, he spent the most time on interviewing Tia.

"—I heard that Kili gave you your horns. Could you tell me in detail what happened before and after that?"

Just as when I used Ether Wind, his eyes displayed a strong desire for exploration while he asked Tia questions. I listened closely because it was also my first time hearing her talk about this topic in detail.

"Umm, she first gave me an injection to prevent pain... Then I felt sleepy. When I woke up, the horns were already there."

"I see... Since anesthetics were required, it meant that the process probably strained you substantially. Did Kili say anything about your horns?"

When he asked that, Tia went "hmm..." for a while.

"Kili said that these horns were for making Tia become a dragon."

"To become a dragon, these words could be interpreted in so many ways. What else... Did she say anything about how these horns should be used, for example?"

"Used... Oh, come to think of it, Kili seems to have said—'We will fight together when you're able to use these horns!' She said that we needed to fight to become real dragons!"

Hearing Tia's answer, his eyes flashed with the light of excitement.

"In other words, your horns are for fighting a certain existence? What exactly is the opponent? Also, what does a 'real dragon' mean?"

Tia shook her head in puzzlement at his additional questions.

"Dunno. When Tia's dragon mark turned red, Kili said 'Since you will become a Basilisk, those horns probably won't be needed'... Apart from that, she refused to say anything more."

"Right, you were targeted by Basilisk initially. In other words, you almost became a dragon, in a manner contrary to Kili's original intent, but because they defeated Basilisk successfully, you are still a D..."

He glanced at us, slightly regretful in tone, as though he felt disappointed that Tia was a ordinary D.

"I guess I must ask Kili if I want to know more. Thank you for your assistance."

Saying that, he ended the questions for Tia.

Since his inquiry of me, Mitsuki and Iris had finished, all examinations concluded here.

The whole thing took roughly an hour.

Things ended earlier than originally expected. I exhaled.

"Then how are the results? After these tests, do you think the previously mentioned plan to strike Yggdrasil is possible to carry out?"

Mitsuki asked him while he was summarizing the results.

"Well, if the original plan were to be followed exactly, success is impossible."

"Eh..."

Seeing him give a negative answer so readily, Mitsuki was speechless for a moment.

"I just confirmed with him earlier. When the soul of the previous King of Erlia manifested due to Hraesvelgr's Ether Wind, its size was roughly the size of a human. In other words, the size of a soul might very well be proportional to the size of the physical body. In that case, the amount of Ether Wind he can create at a time is still not enough."

Miyazawa Kenya looked at me while replying.

"No way... Then what should we do—"

Iris said with melancholy on her face.

"No, I don't think you need to be that pessimistic. If there is a shortage, just add extra supply. You Ds are capable of lending dark matter to one another, aren't you?"

"Oh, that's right! Tia just needs to lend dark matter to Yuu!"

Tia raised her arms and cheered.

Indeed, this problem would be solved just by borrowing dark matter, however—

"Tia, controlling other people's dark matter is very hard. I don't know if I'll be able to do it..."

"Really? I heard that you always borrowed dark matter from others to construct giant weapons..."

Hearing what I said, Miyazawa Kenya asked in disbelief.

"I can't explain it very well... But this is different from the principles of weapon creation. Even if you ask me to try right now, it'll probably fail."

When creating weapons, I performed transmutation according to the data downloaded from Yggdrasil. Due to clear blueprints, it was possible to forcibly filter other people's dark matter through the blueprints.

But when using my own imagination as the base to perform transmutation, there would be ambiguous portions no matter what. If interference from the dark matter lender was added to the mix, the transmutation process would fail.

Lisa had trained in borrowing Ren's dark matter prior to the Basilisk battle, but it was still quite an arduous struggle. This was despite the fact that they had already accumulated vast amounts of dark matter training even before my transfer to the Academy—

"Hmm... But it's not impossible, right? Then all I can do is ask you to do your best. Regarding the prior stage of destroying Yggdrasil's main body, it should be achievable just by using antimatter or Catastrophe, so please do your best for the rest."

He finished as though it was no concern to him, then turned his back to us and started clearing up the examination room.

"Hold on, is there no other way?"

Shinomiya-sensei asked him frantically but he replied without even looking back:

"None. This is the only battle plan I can offer. But if alternatives occur to me during the process of data analysis, I will let you know. Okay—Let me take you back to the elevator."

Switching off the lights in the room, he ushered us to the corridor.

While walking, he still continued to browse our examination records on the tablet on his hand.

He no longer looked at us, simply muttering to himself while walking quickly along the dim corridor. Just as Ariella said, he was only interested in his own research.

Perhaps he was simply using the Yggdrasil matter as an excuse to collect data from us.

"Looks like we can only rely on ourselves for the concrete battle plan."

Mitsuki remarked while staring at Miyazawa Kenya's back.

"Yeah... Can you think of a solution?"

"This will depend you, Nii-san, because the plan is based on Ether Wind and the anti-dragon armament that defeated Hraesvelgr."

Seeing Mitsuki's expression of unease, I smiled wryly in response.

"I'll do everything I can even though I don't know if my power is enough."

Currently, that was all I could say.

But since Yggdrasil was an enemy... I could not use a new anti-dragon armament to reverse the situation as before. If I tried to download new weapons data, Yggdrasil really might try to take over my body this time.

"...You did not say those words this time, Nii-san."

Mitsuki commented with slight incredulity.

"Which words?"

"—Leave everything to me."

I was shocked inside to hear what Mitsuki pointed out.

If the original "Mononobe Yuu" were here, would it be that kind of scene right now...? Or was I feeling uneasy because I could no longer rely on Yggdrasil?

"...I guess I'm a bit afraid. Sorry, I should pull myself together."

Hearing me apologize, Mitsuki smiled for some reason.

"No, it is fine. Nii-san, you should be more afraid, because that reassures me more."

Mitsuki shook her head slowly. She seemed to believe this sincerely.