Chapter 17

Hakade gasped. He couldn’t believe what he had just heard. The dragon never got close. Did it come down specifically to block them? What should they do?

“There’s a secondary line heading up toward the surface ahead of us. I’ve switched the tracks.”

“Al- Alright.”

They passed a station, then took the tracks heading right. The train traveled upward before arriving at the surface.

“It's snowing…” Hakade murmured.

The lands had been painted white, snow all around. In the distance, Hakade could see the old abandoned Leya Weapons complex. It had a weapons factory in the middle, surrounded by eight massive railguns scattered throughout the mountainside.

Out of the eight massive weapons, seven had been damaged, their barrels pointing down toward the ground. Only one in the north had its barrel still pointed at the skies, at the target it once rained hell on.

“Is it really after us?” Hakade found that hard to believe. Just what did they do?

“... Ann.”

“Huh?”

“She must have something to do with this.” Laurel clenched her fist.

The train pulled to a stop at one of the complex’s many surface stations. The area had been emptied long ago. Everything not bolted to the ground had been taken. Now, it acted as nothing but a landmark on the mountainside.

“I’ll wake up the others.” Laurel stepped off the diesel locomotive, leaving Hakade alone.

•••

The group gathered in the crew car, standing in the small section to the side. It had ample space for two people, a bit tight but enough for three, and not too comfortable for four. Having all four of them here at the same time was a rarity, however.

The crew car didn’t have a table for them to sit around. When they had food together, it was most often in a walled city, at a restaurant. During times on the tracks like this, they ate separately.

Hakade began by telling them about the intel he received back in Matawara.

“You should have told us!” Mia said.

“I know, I’m sorry.” Hakade scratched the back of his head.

“Whatever, let’s just discuss how we’re going to deal with it,” Laurel said.

She hadn’t forgiven him for hiding this, that much was obvious, but Hakade was grateful that she let him off the hook for now.

“The eldest dragon… Are we sure it’s after us?” Ana asked.

“Unfortunately, yeah.”

The dragon had followed them all the way from Ariko and blocked the exit of the Leya line with no other registered train inside but them. The dragon might be following a different train, an unregistered train that happened to be following them, or traveling down the same route, but Hakade had yet to see that unregistered train. All the trains he saw on the route, he could see on the locator.

Besides, if the dragon really did follow an unregistered train that followed them, then they would need to deal with that as well. Things didn’t look good, no matter which angle they looked at it from.

“We need to ask Ann,” Laurel said. “She must know something. Rather, I’m sure she’s the one causing this.”

“But, she’s our passenger-” Mia said, but Laurel cut her off.

“I don’t care if she’s our passenger, our client, or whatever. No one goes around carrying that much gold.”

“But, couldn’t we go at it in a much nicer way?”

“Then, how do you suggest it?”

Mia fell silent, looking unsure.

“But…”

“Look, nothing that happened to us makes any sense. You all feel it as well, don’t you? Ann isn’t normal, no matter how hard you look at her.”

Hakade couldn't disagree. Their battle at Kangaku came to mind. He heard of mages so powerful that their magic could destroy even tanks and armored units, but he never heard of anyone who could make them disappear.

With magic, such a thing wasn’t impossible. Life had been this way ever since that day. They could no longer rely on their knowledge of the past. That part of their life might as well not exist at this point.

“So… we're assuming she has something to do with the dragon that blocked our way?”

“Most likely. Why else would a dragon start following us after we pick her up?”

Hakade glanced at the skies outside. Ever since the war, he could see the stars much more clearly. A beautiful sight worth gazing at.

“So what should we do now?” Mia asked. “The dragon can come at us.”

They parked at a station on the mountainside. Much easier for the dragon compared to underground, but it also provided Hakade with multiple options. The facility had a lot of rail lines connecting it with other regions throughout the country, bringing in material and shipping away the product.

They may not be as safe as when they traveled underground, but now, the dragon wouldn’t be able to block all their exit routes at once.

“Mia and Ana, you’ll be on Scorpion. We’ll break through,” Hakade said.

“That won’t work! Don’t you remember what we’re facing? The eldest dragon. The most powerful beast to have ever lived.”

The beast struck fear into people’s hearts when they first saw it after the war. The enemy thought it was a unit or a machine created by this country. They deemed it a military threat. They sent a large fleet of warships near the coast, firing at the top of Mount Rajayama. Missiles, bombs, everything they could throw at it. The attack caused significant damage to the surrounding area.

Before the defense force could respond, dragons flew toward them. The eldest dragon tore through their ships like paper. Over forty vessels were sunk within less than an hour. The explosions did nothing to its skin; the missiles didn’t even get close. Magic had changed the rules in ways people could not explain, and at the top of it all was the eldest dragon.

“No matter what we do, it’ll destroy us!”

If an advanced fleet of a large nation couldn’t destroy the dragon, people like them had no hope.

“That’s enough! I’m going to talk to her!”

“Laurel, wait!”

Laurel unlocked the door connecting the two cars and walked into the passenger car. Ann, who stared out of the window, shifted her gaze toward her.

“Is something-”

Laurel reached out and grabbed her collar, pulling her up. Hakade let out a gasp.

“Just who are you? You brought a dragon to us. What do you want?”

Ann said nothing. For a moment, the car fell silent. It felt as if time itself had stopped. Then, all of a sudden, Laurel fell back, looking up at Ann full of fear.

“Wh- Who are you?” she asked in a shrill voice, her body shivering.

Ann stood up, staring at the group. They couldn't read her expression from behind her mask, but she didn’t seem angry. For some reason, Hakade felt as if she looked at them with compassion. Even with how they treated her, she didn't seem to harbor any ill will against them.

“... Do you remember our vacation all those years ago, Hakokun?”