Tremors of Stone and Heart

The trembling of the earth, the groaning of the structure, pure destruction.

Lirilien, Meldior, and Rafal had converged in the main corridor after destroying their respective foes, and now they rushed toward the place where the explosion had erupted.

Debris and a suffocating haze of dust made it impossible to see ahead, hindering their progress.

But as she ran, Lirilien lifted her hands and conjured a wind that swept everything aside from their path.

It wasn’t until they made out a silhouette moving toward them through what remained of the haze that they could finally breathe with relief.

***

"What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost…"

"What do you mean what’s wrong?! My lord, are you all right?! What was that explosion?!" Lirilien asked, clearly shaken.

"Well, you’ll see for yourselves once the dust clears. I’d say a great part of the Demon King’s dungeon has turned back into little more than a cavern… But don’t worry, the deeper parts can still be explored. In fact, I’d say I’m even more curious now than before to do so."

"My lord, I believe Lady Lirilien was asking what was the reason behind the explosion, not merely what was destroyed," Meldior remarked, brushing the dust from his beard.

"I’d like to know that too," I replied with a shrug.

"Was it some kind of trap?" Rafal asked. "But what sort of trap destroys the very place it’s meant to protect?"

"Oh, haven’t you heard of self-destruct buttons, Rafal?"

"No, master, forgive my ignorance… But why would anyone fasten a button that’s going to destroy them?"

"Ah… that’s right, don’t worry about it, I’ll explain later. What I meant before is that I have no idea what attacked me. It looked like a person, but it didn’t feel alive. Even skeletons have some sort of presence."

Sniff sniff… dust, stone, metal, rust, bones, and rot. "Master, if your enemy wasn’t a skeleton or one of those Abyssal Spawn, as Lady Lirilien and her spirits call them, then it had no scent at all," Rafal affirmed.

Would it be offensive to say that Rafal reminded me of a dog just now? Are there even dogs in Ameritia? At least boars exist outside Orb, according to Merite…

"Whatever it was, I’m certain we’ll cross paths with it again as we move closer to the dungeon’s core," I said, gazing past the rubble into the impenetrable darkness. "And this time, perhaps…"

***

At that moment, Rafal was patrolling the nearby corridors like a guard. It seems that when you’re an ancient dragon, you don’t need to sleep as often.

Meldior, of course, was the only one in the group who truly needed sleep, yet he couldn’t resist his curiosity. Since we had cleared the area of enemies, he had asked for permission to continue exploring on his own a little longer.

He would probably take some potion later to recover from the fatigue…

As for me, I was the only one in our party who actually enjoyed sleeping. It wasn’t that I felt I needed it, there was a kind of ambiguity in me I couldn’t quite explain regarding my need to eat and sleep. Still, I liked taking part in those acts.

Though this time it seemed it would be difficult, since Lirilien was pressed right up against me.

The two of us sat before the fire (courtesy of Rafal) in our makeshift camp inside a small chamber of the dungeon. And while she was technically seated at my side, the space between us was practically nonexistent.

In fact, she was so close that her body brushed against mine when she sat down. (In moments like these she completely forgets the whole "my lord" thing.)

"In my memory, it was the kingdom of Baresta. Hearing that it’s an empire is news to me…" Lirilien remarked, completely ignoring my suggestion to sit a little farther apart.

"I’m surprised you even remember the name of a human kingdom…"

"My lord, what’s the point of remembering something that will disappear in just a few hundred years? Baresta was a special case."

The princess of the spirits explained that the people of Baresta were the ones who led the counterattack against several of the Demon Kings during the Legendary Era.

"To think they would later devote themselves to conquering other realms… How low they have fallen." Lirilien proclaimed this with an expression of anger that was rare for her.

"Isn’t conquering other realms precisely what you intend to do…?"

"My lord, I only wish to reclaim the territories you liberated from the original evil," Lirilien defended herself, leaning in so close I could smell her floral breath. "What they did was nothing more than stealing what rightfully belonged to you!"

The reason we were even speaking about this was because Meldior, after I described the young man’s brooch, assured me that it bore the emblem of the Baresta Empire.

This empire was one of the three most powerful human nations, along with the Blessed Kingdom and the Republic of the Free Cities.

That emblem had particularly caught my attention because I remembered it from somewhere… Yet, according to Meldior, the kingdom of Baresta was founded thousands of years after my disappearance.

Still, the name does echo faintly in my tangled memories as well. Curious…

"Mm?!"

Lost in thought, I hadn’t noticed that Lirilien had wrapped her arms around me and was gazing up with tearful eyes, as if she were about to cry.

"Since the other girls aren’t here, it’s the perfect time to increase my presence in the harem. I should do it once in a while, especially before it grows too large," Lirilien said in a coquettish voice.

"I have no plans to expand—mm!"

I couldn’t go on speaking. The princess pressed her soft lips against mine, her arms tightening around me and pulling me close.

It was then I realized she was trembling. More than wanting to take advantage, as she had claimed, she was actually afraid.

Now that I think about it, she had never intended to monopolize me. She was the one who wanted to form that harem in the first place.

Her advances this time were born of fear. The events of this day had truly shaken her.

I don’t know what went through her mind as she waited for something over thousands of years behind the gates of Endalor, but I do know I don’t want to imagine what might go through it if she ever lost it.

Setting aside all my reservations, the fear that I might no longer be myself when I recover my memories, I placed my hands on her bare arms, which felt like the warmth of the spring sun.

She paused her kiss for a moment and drew her face back. In her sky-colored eyes I could see the glisten of summer dew.

"My… lord…?"

I didn’t answer. I simply kissed her back, and she closed her eyes again as a tear rolled down her cheek.

In that moment, all my senses were captive to the softness of her lips and the floral scent of her cherry-colored hair.

"Ahem! Ahem!"

…

The forced cough of the archmage echoed from the entrance of the chamber, interrupting the scene.

It’s the second angry face I’ve seen from Lirilien, and both in the same day…

Meldior’s cheeks were a little red, which made him really look like Santa Claus. His studies had probably kept him away from these sorts of situations, and he embarrassed easily.

"Ahem, I apologize for the interruption, Lord Zendal … !! Especially Lady Lirilien! It didn’t feel right to keep pretending I wasn’t here…"

"It’s all right, Meldior… But you returned sooner than you said you would. Did something happen?"

"Oh! That’s right!" the old man declared. "I found something you should see…"