Unlimited Fafnir:Volume 5 Chapter 4

Chapter 4 - The Awakened Red Code

Part 1

The fact that Iris and the others encountered that thing could only be described as bad luck.

It was a wriggling "piece of vine" that had jumped out of Brynhildr Class' window and fallen on the ground.

Avoiding detection, moving from shadow to shadow, that thing ran into the girls in the school's connecting passage by chance.

"W-What is this!?"

Iris cried out in surprise.

The four girls, shocked by the sight of the strange object, were Iris, Firill, Ariella and Ren who were touring the school festival together.

Normally speaking, this would a situation to scream and flee, but they were battle-hardened members of the Counter-Dragon Squad.

"Everyone be careful! I'm not sure but this thing is unusual."

Although news of that thing was not yet disseminated, Firill still urged everyone to stay on guard.

Instead of retreating, the girls stepped up to fight.

"Caduceus!"

Iris generated her fictional armament of a staff and faced off against that thing.

Firill also summoned a book-shaped fictional armament. Ariella and Ren followed suit.

But just as they prepared for combat, holding their fictional armaments, things changed.

"Eh!?"

The staff-shaped fictional armament in Iris' hand began to twist in form.

It was almost like melting.

This phenomenon caused a chain reaction among them. Their fictional armaments turned back into black spheres of dark matter and were pulled to that thing.

Then having left their hands, the dark matter stuck to the that thing and changed in form again.

The surface of the dark matter turned mottled green and wriggled in a scary and sinister manner.

Within the blink of an eye, the expanding dark matter turned into green vines as though exploding, become a part of that thing.

"What..."

Witnessing the unbelievable phenomenon, Firill cried out in surprise.

The vines transmuted from dark matter entangled with one another, increasing in length and girth, then attacked the girls.

"Everyone hurry and escape!"

The first to recover from the shock was Ariella who urged everyone to retreat.

Hence, the girls turned around to run.

But this decision came a bit too late.

"Kyahhhhhhhh!?"

The tentacle-like vines ensnared the bodies of the girls.

—Code Fünf secured.

Having captured them, that thing twisted its body in apparent satisfaction.

But at this moment, a man and a woman heard their screams.

"W-What is this..."

A well-dressed man and woman who looked like a married couple were shocked to see that thing capture the girls.

—Recognized as human ruling class, on grounds of self-defense, decision: capture preferable to eliminate.

Then as though crawling on the ground, that thing reached out with its vines to swiftly entangle their legs—

Part 2

"Gray dragon... 'Gray' Vampire?"

Hearing the name said by Principal Charlotte, I was stunned and repeated the words.

"Principal, you claim to be a dragon? Or a vampire, so a blood-drinking demon, in other words?"

Listening to the principal together with me, Lisa also showed surprise on her face and asked the principal.

"Who knows? To be honest, I have no idea either. I neither have those monsters' gigantic size nor destructive power. However, my predecessor was the original vampire. This is indisputably correct."

After replying that, the principal added "However, vampire legends are stories that have gone through a lot of embellishments, so I'm not too happy to be compared with them."

"T-The original vampire...? Then the so-called gray dragon is...?"

Unable to figure it out, I looked in doubt at the principal.

"In other words, my predecessor is the one known as the original vampire. He believed he might be similar to the other dragons in nature—That's what it means."

The principal answered while staring into the distance.

"Even if you say that... I still can't understand it at all. Please explain in a comprehensible way."

I had a feeling that some crucial part had been glossed over, so I made my inquiry in this manner. With a smile surfacing on the corners of her lips, she said:

"—A man showed up several centuries ago. Born with the power to control mankind and a strong sense of purpose to protect the world, that man was my predecessor."

Like recounting the past, the principal continued:

"To prevent mankind from destroying the world, he used that power to start managing them. In the modern era, the only reason why humans did not go along the path of self-destruction despite obtaining powerful weapons—It is all thanks to him."

The principal added "he stopped nuclear war and saved the world" in a joking manner then turned her gaze towards me.

"I told you once before that someone had proposed a hypothesis on dragons, right? That was him. This is what he thought when a dragon appeared at the same time as him—That monster is the same. Like him, heaven had conferred it with a powerful authority to accomplish some kind of mission."

After saying that, the principal shrugged.

"Precisely because of that, he named himself the gray dragon. What an undeserved calamity for me, the one who inherited that title."

The gray dragon—"Gray" Vampire.

Could the "Gray" that Major Loki mentioned be referring to the principal?

"Since you're using the word 'inherit,' then he is now..."

"Yes, he is no longer in this world. He shoved all the troublesome stuff onto me, but died. Honestly, I don't love and cherish this world like him, but to prevent his efforts from going to waste, that's why I'm serving as Midgard's principal."

The principal sighed helplessly.

"So working as the principal is the same as saving the world?"

"Currently in human society, the biggest spark of conflict is the existence of Ds. For world stability, the location Midgard is essential, which is why I am protecting this place. Not to guard against the attack of dragons, but to prevent persecution from humans."

Seeing the principal reply in a sardonic tone, I breathed a sigh of relief.

"I was so shocked to hear you're a dragon... But now, I think I can conclude you're standing on our side, right?"

"I wouldn't save you unless I was standing on your side, right? Anyway, are you satisfied with this explanation? If you're satisfied, I'm going ask you to obey my orders next and clean up the mess you've brought in, okay?"

Arms crossed before her chest, the principal glared at me and spoke.

"...Yeah, I'll make up for my own mistakes. But can I ask a final question?"

"What is it?"

"Principal, what was your predecessor's relationship to you?"

After hearing my question, the principal smiled wryly and answered quietly:

"—My father."

Part 5

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