Unlimited Fafnir:Volume 3 Chapter 1

Chapter 1 - The Invading Basilisk

Part 1

Somehow, I found myself having trouble breathing. My body was unable to move.

Every breath I took came with a whiff of fragrance.

Although smothered, it did not feel unpleasant at all. With that kind of unbelievable feeling, I opened my eyes slightly.

Then I was so surprised that I even forgot to breathe.

...!?

In front of my eyes was pale skin. Tender as a newborn baby's, skin giving off a fragrant scent—A voluptuous bust was covering my face.

"Mmm... Mononobe..."

Someone was calling my name lightly next to my ear. It seemed like someone was hugging me.

As for that someone—I was 80-90% sure it was Iris.

Without looking at her face, I could instantly tell from her voice.

Iris Freyja was my classmate in Brynhildr Class, a beautiful maiden with sparkling silver hair.

She was also the only person who had given me the taste of a kiss.

But that was like a reward gift—Although Iris and I were good friends, it was not the kind of relationship where we could be locked passionately in embrace like this in bed.

Hence, my mind was in turmoil. Despite trying to figure out the situation, I could not think properly.

Iris' bodily scent and soft bosom was blanking out my mind.

"Ah... Mononobe... Mmm..."

Hearing Iris' voice next to my ear, my back shuddered.

It felt like someone was using her fingers to comb my hair. Iris was apparently awake.

Then I heard the sound of someone sniffing.

"Mononobe's smell, sure enough... it's so soothing..."

Iris buried her face in my hair, exhaling hot breath.

I shifted my gaze to confirm. Although Iris had her top unbuttoned, she essentially still had her clothes on. She was wearing her school uniform.

My view was dominated by Iris' chest, which prevented me from acquiring more detailed information. But as my brain started to operate after waking up, I recalled that this was a sickroom in the medical building rather than my own room.

I was injured during the battle five days earlier—in other words, "Blue" Hekatonkheir and Kili's attack on Midgard, which was why I was currently under treatment in the medical building.

Although the more heavily injured left shoulder still could not move, the fever arising from my wounds had subsided. Starting today, I could attend classes. Hence, I was scheduled to be discharged today if there were not problems.

"...Mononobe will feel soothed too, right... Hugging you like this... You'll forget your pain and suffering, right...?"

Iris hugged my head tightly, burying the tip of my nose in her cleavage. It felt very soft, warm and comfortable—even though I was almost about to suffocate.

I heard the beat of Iris' heart. Or was this my own heartbeat?

"Don't worry, Mononobe... You won't have nightmares as long as someone is by your side... Because I didn't have nightmares that time."

Iris was probably talking about the time when "White" Leviathan had targeted her. To help her feel at ease, I had lent my back for her to lean on.

—Maybe I was having a nightmare earlier.

Although I had no recollection of it, that was probably the case. Now that the painkiller's effect had subsided, my left shoulder was hurting. It did not come as a surprise that I would have nightmares in such a state.

I guessed that Iris was doing this to put me at ease. After figuring out the reason, I was not longer panicking but that still did not change the situation.

Or perhaps, now that I had less to think about and occupy my mind, I became even more strongly conscious of Iris' body warmth.

Iris relaxed her embrace slightly, murmuring softly to herself:

"However... For some reason, even though my emotions are clearly calm... my body is getting hot—something seems to be tugging at my heart... even though it didn't happen before... it doesn't feel right somehow... so weird... hmm—"

Iris' exhaled breaths were hot. She moved, causing our bodies, in close contact, to touch and rub against each other, forcing me to hold my breath for several seconds. Had I not done that, I might have succumbed to an indescribable impulse.

"Ah... Mmm... Mononobe..."

Iris moved restlessly, calling my name in a somewhat lamenting manner.

Iris' heart had been beating fast since a while ago. My heart was beating madly too.

At this rate, it was only a matter of time before I lost self-control. But under such conditions, even if I told her I had already woken up, I had a feeling that it would still bring about something irrevocable.

"Ya... Mmm..."

Iris exhaled hot breath and sandwiched my face between her soft breasts. I understood that there was no time to lose, so I called upon my inexperienced "acting skills."

"Ooh..."

I deliberately groaned as a hint to Iris that I was about to wake up.

"Hyah!?"

Iris immediately screamed and released my head. Normally speaking, I should have woken up from her cry but I continued to pretend I was still asleep.

"Hmm..."

"M-Mononobe, don't wake up yet! Don't wake up!"

Iris frantically climbed off the bed. As reluctant as I was to leave her body warmth, I did not try to make her stay. Then after counting thirty seconds silently in my mind, I opened my eyes lightly with caution.

"G-Good morning, Mononobe!"

Iris was sitting in a chair next to the bed, smiling stiffly as she greeted me. Her face was still flushed red but I deliberately pretended not to notice and responded:

"Good morning, Iris, why did you come here this early in the morning...?"

Seeing that her unbuttoned top was already fixed up, I secretly felt relieved and asked her that. At the moment, the digital clock on the side of the sickbed read 6am.

"Oh, umm, Mononobe, you're going to class starting today, right? So I wanted to welcome you back!"

"Welcome me back... I'm happy you're doing that but isn't it a bit too early?"

Although Iris' busty embrace had swept all sense of drowsiness from me, I would normally be asleep at this hour.

"Oh, right, actually I was planning to wake you up later. So... I'm sorry. If you're still sleepy, you can continue sleeping, you know?"

Iris spoke apologetically.

"It's okay, I feel particularly energized waking up today so I'm not sleepy. This is probably because—I had a good dream."

"I-I see!"

Iris replied happily, a smile blooming on her face.

It was probably thanks to Iris that I did not remember the contents of my nightmare. Surely, it was Iris' heartbeat and body warmth that had driven away my feelings of suffering.

But since I could not thank her directly while feigning ignorance, my only choice was to tell a little lie and say I had a good dream.

No, in actual fact after waking up, I really did enjoy a wonderful dream.

I could not help but recall Iris' snow-white skin, so I hastily shook my head to drive those thoughts away.

"Mononobe, what's with you? Do you know that your face is very red?"

Despite her own red face, Iris asked me with puzzlement.

I suppressed the urge to retort, avoided eye contact and said "it's nothing."

"Really? Then since you have to get up, Mononobe, why don't I help you change? Your left arm can't move, so it must be inconvenient, right?"

Iris stood up from her seat and brought over the school uniform that was hanging in the closet. My sister Mitsuki had brought this uniform from the dorm for me yesterday.

"Sure, that'd be a great help—"

However, I stopped mid-sentence. I discovered there would be a serious problem if she helped me to change.

"—No wait, forget it! I can get changed on my own!"

Not only had I just woken up, I had also viewed Iris' tender skin up close immediately after waking up. How could I calm down immediately? If I undressed under such conditions, things would be extremely bad.

"Jeez, Mononobe, you're a patient. You're not allowed to act polite towards me. If you move forcefully, your wound might open up."

Iris had a very good point. Unless I told her the real reason, she was probably not going to be dissuaded. But that would only make the mood turn embarrassing. This was foreseeable too.

"T-That's right, but... there might be an examination in the morning, so it's fine to get changed after that..."

Since I could not find an excuse, I tried to stall for time so that I could calm down first.

"Oh, I asked the nurse about that already. She said you just need to make a visit to the infirmary before going to class. Also, I heard that breakfast will be served at the school cafeteria, so let's go together after you're done changing."

Iris smiled with 100% benevolent intentions. Given her carelessness, this was quite well thought out of her, but it mercilessly sealed off my avenues of escape.

"No, but..."

Just as I was breaking out in cold sweat, thinking of excuses, Iris peered at my face as though she figured out something.

"Mononobe, don't tell me... you're shy about getting undressed by me?"

"Urgh..."

Iris was not far from the truth, rendering me speechless. Immediately, she made an expression as though a great idea had occurred to her and chuckled.

"I see, so Mononobe gets shy too! I was so embarrassed when you saw me naked, Mononobe, with this we'll be even."

Perhaps as revenge for that time, Iris gleefully reached towards my clothing.

"H-Hey, wait! Wait first, just a short while!"

"No, don't move recklessly or it'll affect your injuries, okay? Don't move."

Iris climbed onto the bed and pinned me down lightly. Then straddling directly me like that, she began to unbutton my light-green hospital gown.

"H-Hey!?"

"Fufu, it feels like you're a bit cute today, Mononobe, hmm... Weird? What is this...? If feels like something's poking my bum—"

"!?"

Just as the situation turned desperate, the sickroom's door was opened loudly.

"Ah! What are you doing, Iris!?"

The petite little girl with horns on her head entered the room and yelled loudly.

Saying she had horns on her head was not a metaphor for anger. Rather, it was a true description of her appearance. A D named Tia Lightning. Her age would put her in elementary school, but due to various reasons, she had transferred into Brynhildr Class where I studied.

Shaking her beautiful fluttering hair, which looked pink in the light, Tia rushed over to the side of my bed.

"Yuu will become Tia's husband! S-So, not allowed to do dirty thing with anyone apart from the wife!"

Tia climbed on the bed and pushed aside Iris, who was straddling me.

"W-We're not doing anything dirty. I just wanted to help Mononobe get changed!"

Iris exchanged glares with Tia across me, but her face was still blushing.

Because she realized what the scene looked like to others, with her straddling and undressing me.

"Then Tia will help Yuu change too! Because taking care of the husband is the wife's job!!"

"You haven't married Monobe, Tia, so you don't have that kind of priority! So first come first served. I tried very hard today to get up early!"

Refusing to back down against the aggressive Tia, Iris retorted and argued.

I could almost see sparks flying between them. No, there really could be sparks because Tia had a bad habit. Whenever she got emotional, she would subconsciously generate dark matter, converting it into electrical currents.

"......"

Without interjecting thoughtlessly, I quietly watched them argue.

Normally, I would have intervened to stop them, but right now, what I needed most was time.

After roughly ten minutes, Iris and Tia finally reached an agreement. They would cooperate and take turns to assist me in changing.

During those ten minutes, I finally managed to settle down.

Part 2

Twenty-five years ago, the first dragon—"Black" Vritra—made its appearance in the sky above Japan.

Ever since, children possessing the same power as Vritra—the Ds with the ability to generate dark matter—were born among humans. The tropical island where they were gathered was Midgard here.

When Midgard was first established, it leaned heavily towards a detention facility in purpose, but now, it had become a self-governed organization with massive influence over the world.

There was extremely high economic value in the ability to transmute dark matter into any substance. Hence, Ds contributed to society by using their powers to undertake jobs to produce rare resources.

However, Midgard also had an undisclosed function. Namely, to intercept and defeat dragons that were attacking in search of mates.

Targeted Ds would turn into the same type of dragon when they came into contact with the dragon targeting them. Currently a target, Tia Lightning was sitting on my lap.

The red dragon—"Red" Basilisk—had chosen Tia and was apparently crossing the African continent right now in pursuit of her. However, there was an ocean between Midgard and the continent, hence, it was still unknown whether Basilisk would cross the ocean, seeing as its body structure was not suited to swimming.

"Here, say ah—"

Sitting sideways on my lap—more precisely, on my thigh—Tia was bringing a sandwich towards me with an innocent and pure smile on her face.

She looked completely carefree but until five days ago, she had been insisting she was a dragon, thus raising a huge wall between herself and the other Ds.

But in response to her classmates' gentle treatment, Tia had by her own will rejected Kili, the leader of the dragon worshiping cult the Sons of Muspell, thus choosing to live with us as a human. That was why she was staying here now.

Initially, Tia had refused to leave my side but because I was hospitalized, she was currently living with her classmate Lisa in the student dormitories.

"Yuu, hurry up."

Asking me to indulge her, Tia urged me to open my mouth. Although she was now getting along well with others, she still did not change her tendency to make me dote on her. Although I had suggested to her that I hope she would not sit on my lap anymore, Tia insisted that she could hold herself back during class but I had to obey her now.

"...Can't be helped."

I gave up resisting and obediently bit the sandwich.

We were currently in the cafeteria on the ground floor of the catering building. Of course there were other people watching and this sort of behavior was very embarrassing, but if I declined, Tia and Iris might start arguing again.

In the sickroom earlier, Tia and Iris had reached a consensus to take turns helping me change. But they continued to "care" for me even while we were traveling to the cafeteria.

"Mononobe, it's my turn next."

Sitting on my right, Iris leaned closer and presented me with a sandwich. As a side note, Tia was feeding me an egg sandwich while Iris was holding a tuna sandwich.

My right hand could move normally so it made me feel bad that I even needed help to eat meals. Nevertheless, when I voiced my view, Iris' answer was "this has nothing to do with that."

"...Thanks."

Ignoring the surrounding gazes, I bit Iris' sandwich as well.

"Ehehe!"

Iris' face relaxed and she made a happy expression. Feeling unable to look her in the eye, I chewed the sandwich while my gaze kept wandering.

"Hurry hurry, eat Tia's too."

Seeing this, Tia impatiently extended her sandwich again.

Under their urging, I ate their sandwiches in alternate bites. However, eating sandwiches alone made me start to feel thirsty.

But because the sandwiches were delivered to my mouth without pause, I could not find the chance to speak for a long time.

"—Tia-san, Iris-san, this cannot be called care, you know?"

Immediately, a voice was heard with sighing tones.

I turned my head to look at the source, instantly making eye contact with a pair of clear blue eyes.

"Gulp... Good morning, Lisa."

I hastily swallowed the sandwich in my mouth and greeted my classmate, Lisa Highwalker. Lisa tossed her long blonde hair and answered me with a scowl.

"Good morning. How exalted your position must be, to have two girls serving you so early in the morning."

Hearing Lisa's sarcastic tone, I frantically explained myself.

"No, I didn't ask them to serve me. They're trying to help me in my injured state—"

"Oh, is that so? But do you truly need the assistance?"

"Well..."

If it was just eating, I could manage without their help, so I fell speechless.

"Letting others help unnecessarily is tantamount to asking them to serve you. Also, Tia-san and Iris-san—The two of you have erred to an absurd extent."

"Kyah!?"

"...Lisa so scary."

Hearing Lisa's harsh tone of voice, Iris and Tia shrank their shoulders in fright.

"Did you know that excessive care may sometimes burden the receiver? You two should try to think from his perspective and only assist him on necessary tasks."

After saying that, Lisa took a cup of water that was on the table and presented it to me.

"...You are thirsty, am I correct?"

"Y-Yeah, thanks."

I thanked her and took the cup with my left hand, then drank the entire cup.

"Mononobe Yuu, you must decide for yourself the occasion when you need to ask for help. If it is something truly necessary, I will assist you with my full power too."

Despite turning her head away fiercely, Lisa made me that kind of offer.

Stunned, Iris and Tia stared at Lisa.

"Lisa-chan is so cool..."

Iris murmured with eyes of worship.

"Lisa is amazing..."

Tia offered her a gaze of respect.

"I-I simply said something that was a matter of fact."

Seeing Lisa explain modestly in embarrassment, I also praised her.

"Lisa really is a good woman indeed."

On further thought, it was quite unnatural for Lisa to appear on campus early in the morning. Perhaps she had come to school this early for the sake of helping me resume school life.

"Y-You are saying that again! Is making me the brunt of your jokes that amusing!?"

Instantly gone red in the face, Lisa glared at me viciously.

"No, I'm not joking about you. It's just that I couldn't think of any other way of putting it."

"Then my wish is that you could study seriously and learn more vocabulary."

Arms crossed, Lisa replied unhappily but her cheeks remained red.

Seeing that kind of reaction from her, I could not help but smile. This time, I really wanted to play a joke on her.

But just as I was about to tease her, there was suddenly a quiet commotion coming from the lounge where the vending machine was located. Noticing unusual vibes in the voices, everyone stopped what they were doing.

"Did something happen?"

Intrigued, Iris asked quietly.

There were staff having breakfast in the cafeteria like us and they also looked towards the lounge, unsure what had happened. Things like "hey, come over here" and "what's going on..." could be heard from the lounge.

"Yuu... Tia has a bad feeling about this."

Tia clutched my uniform tightly with a worried look.

Only then did I remember that apart from the vending machine, there was also a satellite television in the lounge as well.

"Let us head over to verify what happened."

Saying that, Lisa urged us to move.

Hence, The four of us went to the lounge and saw many staff with their eyes fixated on the television. Shown on the screen was the overhead view of a coast somewhere.

"What..."

Seeing that screen, I was instantly speechless.

One type of news had absolutely first priority no matter which country in the world.

Namely, news regarding dragons that moved around on whim without regard for national borders, the disasters they caused, as well as disaster predictions.

Currently airing were images from news linked to a dragon disaster.

But this was a type of dragon disaster I had never seen before.

The sea had a patch of it dyed pure white. Judging from the map on the right of the screen, the scene was near the equator on the African continent, a place where the ocean could not possibly freeze.

In fact, whether the words on screen or what the newscaster reported, neither indicated that the ocean was exhibiting a freezing phenomenon.

What the news reported was—

Moving across the African continent, after reaching the coast, Basilisk had turned the surrounding seawater into salt completely.

Part 3

"I believe many of you have already learned through the media that Basilisk has finally begun to cross the sea."

Standing on the podium, announcing gravely was my little sister, who was simultaneously the student body president of Midgard Academy—Mononobe Mitsuki. Despite her short stature, one did not get any impression of unreliability from her. A sense of solemnity could be felt from her tense expression.

"Believed to be unable to swim on grounds of its bodily structure, Basilisk is turning seawater into salt. Rather than taking the land route of the Eurasian continent, it is advancing towards Midgard along the shortest distance. Roughly one month from now, it will have crossed the Indian Ocean, passing the Indonesian archipelago to reach us."

A slight clamor arose between the students after listening to Mitsuki.

The first day I returned to school, the timetable was suddenly changed to hold an impromptu full-school assembly. Mitsuki was originally visiting me frequently at the sickroom, but today was the only day when she did not appear, probably because of the Basilisk incident. Also, the assembly was taking place in the sports ground instead of the usual gym.

When the clock tower was destroyed by Hekatonkheir the other day, its debris had apparently struck the gym's roof directly. Hence, the gym was currently barred from usage. Looking around me, I could see the lower half of the slanted, collapsed and bifurcated clock tower.

"However, this development is within our expectations. Midgard and NIFL has independently planned operations capable of dealing lethal damage to Basilisk and made preparations. We have sufficient chances of victory."

Perhaps to encourage everyone, Mitsuki declared firmly, causing many students to nod in response with determined expressions. Since recent lessons involved training under the assumption of fighting Basilisk, everyone had a certain level of confidence and preparedness. There was no gloomy mood like for Leviathan's attack.

"Detailed plans will be explained to members selected for the Counter-Dragon Squad. Please prepare yourselves, everyone."

After announcing the necessary facts concisely, Mitsuki descended from the podium.

Although noon had not arrived yet, the sun was already shining intensely. Perhaps Mitsuki had judged that a long speech in tropical Midgard would be a bad idea.

After a teacher went on the podium to make a few announcements, the full-school assembly was dismissed.

"After hearing Mitsuki-chan's speech, it really feels like there won't be problem."

Walking side by side with me, Iris spoke.

"Mitsuki so cool, as expected of Yuu's little sister."

On my other side, Tia also praised Mitsuki.

"...Yeah."

Although I concurred with them, I was feeling uneasy inside.

I felt the same thing when Leviathan invaded. When fighting dragons, Mitsuki's mindset was likewise troubling.

Just now, although she had urged everyone to prepare themselves mentally, in Mitsuki's case, it seemed like she had prepared too much. In other words, I felt that she seemed to be leaving no margin to spare mentally.

Mitsuki had personally killed her dragonified best friend in the past. She had also said that she was continuing to battle in order to atone for that crime.

Hence, I had also vowed to put everything on the line to terminate her battle.

Even if Mitsuki did not want me to help, I had no intention of going against my vow.

—If Mitsuki does anything reckless, I must stop her.

I was thinking over these matters while returning to our classroom—Brynhildr Class. In the 3x3 arrangement of seats, I was sitting in the back row in the center, flanked by Iris and Mitsuki.

Earlier, Tia had kept treating my lap as her seat but now, she was sitting in the seat in front of me. Turning her head back, her gaze seemed to be asking me, "Is Tia obedient?"

"Very obedient."

I caressed her head. Tia showed a contented smile and turned to face the front.

Sitting on her two sides were the red-haired prodigy, Ren Miyazawa, and the tomboy, Ariella Lu. Tia naturally began to chat with them. Watching this from behind, I knew she had no more problems. I could finally relax. Tia was already getting along as a member of Brynhildr Class.

Seated in the front row were Lisa and the bibliophile who was always reading, Firill Crest. The seat between them was empty. Before I transferred in, the entire middle column was unused, but now, that seat was the only opening left in the Brynhildr Class.

At this moment, the door opened. Homeroom teacher Shinomiya-sensei and Mitsuki entered together.

Seeing the one empty seat that was now emphasized, what would Mitsuki think? I was quite curious about this.

Student No. 4, Shinomiya Miyako, was Shinomiya-sensei's little sister and also Mitsuki's best friend.

Were she still alive, all the seats in the classroom would be filled.

"—Please be quiet, everyone. Homeroom time still has not ended, so please listen to a few words from me."

Mitsuki stood at the lectern and swept her gaze across us while she spoke. Everyone stopped chatting and directed their gaze at Mitsuki.

On the other hand, Shinomiya-sensei was sitting in the chair next to the lectern, using the register book in her hand to fan herself.

"The members of the Counter-Dragon Squad for this operation will be centered on our Brynhildr Class. Most likely, every member of the class will be selected. Hence, I will first tell you about the operation's key points."

Almost everyone...? In other words, everyone apart from Tia who was being targeted by Basilisk?

I found it a bit strange but did not interrupt, deciding to listen to Mitsuki first.

"Basilisk fires red beams from its eyes, using the light to turn the target of its gaze into stone, dust or salt. The range approaches five kilometers, which is why we cannot fight it directly but must find cover to block its line of sight. However, there are objects for cover on the sea. Consequently, Midgard has decided that the most effective tactic is to lure Basilisk to a desert island in neighboring waters, then blow Basilisk to smithereens together with the island."

Hearing that, Ariella raised her hand to ask a question.

"You mentioned luring Basilisk, but how?"

"Tia-san will be transported to that island temporarily. Because Basilisk's target is Tia-san, it will surely head towards the island. Naturally, before Basilisk arrives, we will let Tia-san retreat."

"Oh, that sounds like it'll work."

Putting down her hand, Ariella seemed to accept the answer. It felt like she had expected this answer more or less.

Then Firill raised her hand and asked Mitsuki:

"...What are chances that the island will be flattened by Basilisk as soon as it enters visual range?"

"According to data collected so far, even when Basilisk turns vegetable impeding its advance into dust, the landscape remains unaltered. Or rather, even after getting exposed to the red beams, the land does not show significant changes."

"...Now that is quite unbelievable. So Basilisk's red beam is not purely a high firepower attack?"

After listening to Firill, Mitsuki nodded solemnly.

"Indeed. Although there have been various theories regarding Basilisk's ability, abundant data has been obtained from the current incident. Hence, we are currently drawing deductions to narrow down the overall direction. Before the operation is put into action, it should be possible to put forward a more accurate theory."

Basilisk's ability was not fully analyzed yet, it seemed. For one thing, it had stayed in the desert for the past twenty years or so since it appeared, hence a lack of data was very normal.

Prior to this, Basilisk was a dragon that caused no problems unless one approached it. Of course, the country where Basilisk made its residence had things tough, but nothing happened as long as one kept their distance. But precisely because nothing happened, no data was gathered about the dragon, and now, that was the price paid.

All the anti-Basilisk training conducted so far were probably based on the assumption of that Basilisk would not leave the desert.

I had to take a test where I had to attack and pierce diamond from a distance of a hundred meters. But now, it was obvious that getting that close to Basilisk was impossible no matter what. The drills on close range combat probably assumed the battlefield would be the desert with things like sand dunes for cover.

"—Anyone have other questions?"

Mitsuki swept her gaze across us and asked.

Since no one else seemed to have one, I decided to pose the question that had bothered me from the start.

"I do."

I raised my right arm. Mitsuki turned her gaze at me.

"Go ahead, Nii-san."

"Just now, Mitsuki, you mentioned that almost every member of Brynhildr Class will be selected for the Counter-Dragon Squad, which means someone will be excluded?"

At first, I thought Tia would stay behind but according to Mitsuki, she was the center of the operation and absolutely indispensable. This meant that there was someone else who would be excluded.

"Well, although it has not been confirmed yet... I intend to have you stay behind, Nii-san."

"What... Me? Why?"

I asked in surprise.

"Obvious, is it not? Because you are a patient."

"No, wait a sec, there's almost a month until the battle against Basilisk, right? Before that, my wounds would have healed. Taking part in the operation shouldn't be a problem."

I hastily objected but Mitsuki sighed with an exasperated look on her face.

"What would be the point of straining yourself to take part? What this operation requires is high offensive power. Although you possess anti-dragon weapons, Nii-san, you also mentioned before that they cannot be used from unstable positions such as ships or in the air, right?"

"That's... true, yeah."

Countered so completely, I began to stammer.

The anti-dragon weapons I created by borrowing other people's dark matter were only parts from the lost weapon known as Marduk. Hence, there were many incomplete functions. If standing somewhere unstable, I had no confidence I could aim accurately. In addition, I had no idea whether my foothold would be able to withstand the recoil.

"When destroying Basilisk together with the island, of course the attacks will be launched from a ship. Hence, there is no need for you, Nii-san. Furthermore, Lisa-san is enough as the candidate to look after Tia-san."

"Hmm..."

Mitsuki's argument was perfectly logical, but I could not bring myself to agree candidly. If she were to do anything reckless, I needed to be at her side to stop her.

I racked my brain, trying to think of an excuse to use.

Was there no place for me to contribute in the operation? If I could suggest something impossible to replace, something that only I could do—

It suddenly occurred to me. Apart from constructing lost weapons, there was currently one other thing only I could achieve.

"—No, Mitsuki, I believe there is value in bringing me along."

"Eh...?"

"You saw it, right? I created antigravitational matter during the battle against Hekatonkheir. In an emergency, this power might prove to be a useful trump card."

I did not know why I suddenly gained the ability to create antigravitational matter. Before "Green" Yggdrasil urged me to, I never even considered whether it was possible for me to do that kind of thing.

Although this type of uniqueness of unknown origin felt eerie, I was exploiting this fact on purpose right now.

"So, Mitsuki, let me join the Counter-Dragon Squad. When there's a need to adjust battle plans, it's better to have an extra option, right?"

Despite my arguments, Mitsuki still frowned and made a stern expression.

"I understand what you are trying to say, Nii-san, but unknown powers cannot count as an option. Currently, information regarding that ostensibly antigravitational matter is too lacking. And that is still because... Nii-san, you refuse to disclose."

Mitsuki's tone sounded sulking when she added the final sentence.

"It's not because I don't want to say anything, but I don't know anything about it."

"In that case, such a power cannot be relied on."

Mitsuki spoke in a strong tone of voice. She seemed to be getting stubborn, but Shinomiya-sensei intervened.

"Calm down, Mononobe Mitsuki. If information is lacking, how about gathering information as a next step? Besides, we intended to have him examined once he recovers."

"Examined?"

Hearing my doubtful tone, Shinomiya-sensei turned her head to face me.

"Yes, Mononobe Yuu. The higher-ups are very interested in how you successfully created antigravitational matter, hence they would like you to let us investigate and analyze that new substance."

After slightly thinking over what Shinomiya-sensei said, I asked her:

"If the outcome of the examination discovers that antigravitational matter is useful... Will you let me join the Counter-Dragon Squad?"

"We want to raise chances of success too, so even if it's 1%, as long as it seems useful, we will naturally allow you to join."

Hearing this, Mitsuki yelled at Shinomiya-sensei in a rare display.

"Shinomiya-sensei!"

"This is a logical decision. You will be the one suffering in regret if the operation fails because you refuse the best options on account of personal feelings."

Shinomiya-sensei persuaded Mitsuki in a calm tone of voice.

"......I understand."

After several seconds of silence, Mitsuki reluctantly nodded. Then she glared at me silently. But rather than angry, her expression seemed more like she was fearing something.

Part 5

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