119. Black Dragon Adra 2

"Let's head back to the others for now. Adra, we're going back to our group—want to come with us?"

And, Shiro heard.

"…Yeah. I’d appreciate your help finding Iberia, and if she’s in the same state as me, I’d like you to treat her too—okay?" Adra asked.

"Of course," Shiro.

"Adra, can you shrink? I heard that dragons used to be able to change their size—or even become human," Shestia asked.

"Ah, I can shrink, but sorry—I still can't use the humanization spell," Adra said, his body glowing as he reduced to about fifty centimeters and flew toward Shiro and the others.

"Kyaa, so cute!" Kotone suddenly hugged Adra.

...Uh, I'm kind of struggling here...

"Ah, sorry, Adra-chan!" Kotone said, though she kept hugging Adra without letting go.

◇

Shiro and the others returned to the location where Aria and the rest were, using flight magic.

Hey—everyone alright?

“Hah, where on earth have you two been?! I was worried sick you weren’t coming back!” Aria snapped.

"Yeah, sorry, sorry. Fighting the dragon was a lot tougher than I expected," Shiro said.

“We all saw it up to a point. After it descended to the ground, it disappeared from view—what happened?” Aria asked.

"Yeah, managed to pull through. This is the dragon, Adra," Shiro said, and Kotone stepped forward, hugging Adra tightly.

"……Huh? Dragon? Huh? Why's it so small?" Aria stood there, dazed.

“Whoa—awesome, it’s a real dragon! ……Small, though. ……Shiro and the others are amazing. Did they catch it alive?” Makoto shouted, excited.

"Idiot, I said medical help! Shiro, you’re not gonna treat it properly, are you?"

Masaki smacked Makoto’s head, then asked Shiro.

"Ah, we managed. Good thing you realized treatment was necessary, Masaki."

"Huh? Oh, I was just thinking—given everything we’ve heard, maybe the dragon’s got some kind of status effect? You know, like in those other-world stories..."

"...I see. That’s a reasonable thought," Shiro said, impressed.

"So, everyone’s okay... but no one’s hurt, right?" Shiro asked.

"Nothing serious. The Hero’s Party put up a decent fight," Albert said.

"Ah, Mitoka and Masaki’s magic’s leveled up quite a bit," Steven praised them.

"Huh? Me?" Makoto blinked.

"Learn to stay put, you idiot. How many times do you have to nearly get yourself killed before you get it?" Albert snapped—unusually angry.

"...Sorry," Makoto said, bowing his head.

"Haha. Right. Anyway, everyone’s safe—that’s what matters. This whole mess is over. Let’s head back to the Academy City."

And so, Shiro and the others began the journey back to Cambria.

◇

"Shiro, the analysis shows there are two types of Virus. One was detected from the mushroom—same as before. The other was found in Adra, and it matches the one detected from Shestia," Mitoka said.

"I see. So it was as I suspected. What else do we know about these Viruses?"

"No, that’s still unclear. But based on the situation and observations, let’s call the mushroom’s virus—what we’re referring to as Mushroom Virus, Virus M—it seems to infect only the mushrooms. It grows alongside the mushroom’s proliferation, activates simultaneously with spore dispersal, and appears to generate miasma."

Ah, I see. That’s why the distribution of the mushrooms matches the distribution of the Miasma. …And that’s the part where those mushrooms spread out, drawn toward the Dragon Vein, right?

"Yeah, I think so too," Mitoka agreed.

“And the other one…” Mitoka began to say,

Mutation of Virus M, huh? Let's call it Virus H. It can infect living organisms too—about ten percent infection rate. Once infected, it generates Miasma within the body and triggers magical energy depletion.

And Shiro said.

Yes. As expected. My guess was correct.

“Then, the occasional beasts that go feral…” Shestia said.

Ah, this Virus H’s fault. Though I still don’t know why it lets me use abnormal magic.

“And the link between mana depletion and mental instability isn’t clear—normal mana depletion doesn’t cause that,” Shestia said.

"Yeah, that was a point of doubt too... No, the cause of the mental disorder is tied to the miasma generated within the body," Shiro said. And then,

Thinking about it, it was really lucky that Altia activated the seal right away back when Shirena was in danger. If we’d waited too long, things would’ve gotten messy. When we unsealed her, Miasma removal hadn’t been figured out yet—so, if we’d been careless, the moment we broke the seal, Shirena’s life might’ve been in real danger… recklessness isn’t a good move, that’s for sure,» Shiro admitted, a hint of regret in his voice.

“Regretting won’t change anything. In the end, it worked out,” Shestia said to Shiro.

“Yeah, I guess… Thinking about it now won’t help. Forward we go! I’ve got a good handle on the cause now. Feels like we might actually fix this.”

Shiro said that, flashed a smile, and nodded at everyone in turn.

If you found it interesting, please consider rating, bookmarking, or leaving a comment—it really helps!