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“It is not a lie! I will most certainly side with my brother!”
“No… that is not what I doubt.”

As he spoke, Vladforen was still chuckling softly.
Receiving a retort from the Demon Dragon King made Ekaterina feel a strange sense of emotion.

Well, if a human were to challenge a jumbo-jet-sized dragon to a duel, of course the jumbo jet—no, the dragon—would have no choice but to laugh. She understood that intellectually.

But laughing at her brother was something the brocon villainess that she is would not forgive!

“Please do not underestimate my brother. My brother truly cherishes me.”
“And you, too, treasure your brother.”
“To me, the most precious person in the world is my brother!”

When Ekaterina declared this, Vladforen gave a wry smile.

“I do not understand familial affection. Dragons almost never live together with their own kin. To begin with, we are not born from parents. Those of the same kin are the only beings equal to oneself, and one cannot help but fight them.”

Is it territorial instinct…? Not being born from parents—does that mean something like being formed from condensed natural energy, a fantasy trope? Facing him like this in human form, it was easy to forget, but he truly was a different species.

—or rather.
Thinking of him again as a different species, the Demon Dragon King is surprisingly considerate toward humans… Isn’t he?

I remembered that in my previous life there had been a researcher who became the leader of a wolf pack, caring for them and howling together with them. Was he German?
I had thought it incredible—how amazing it was for a human to be a wolf pack leader.
Yet here was an absolute apex being, a dragon, communicating with humans in human form, showing consideration—even without fully understanding—for concepts like family that dragons themselves did not have. Perhaps, like that researcher, he was stepping deeply into the world of a different species.

This went beyond intercultural communication; it was interspecies communication. Expecting him to accommodate humans as a matter of course might be arrogance.

“Is it hard for you to understand that I lack affection for kin?”

Interpreting her long silence that way, Vladforen spoke. Ekaterina shook her head.

“Rather, despite being such a different existence from us, I was once again struck by how much you understand about humans. You even take on a human form and speak our language. I thank you for meeting us halfway.”

Vladforen’s eyes widened, and he almost reached out to her reflexively.
But he stopped his hand and curled one corner of his lips in a sardonic smile.

“In my dragon form, humans do nothing but fear me. Conversation would be impossible. Even you would find my true form terrifying… shall we test it?”

As soon as he said that, Vladforen stood up—and in an instant, changed form.

.

The sunlight dimmed. An overwhelmingly gigantic shadow darkened the ground.
Looking up, there floated a colossal dragon. Its wings were spread, yet it did not beat them, hovering motionless near the mountainside as though gravity meant nothing to it.

“…”

Ekaterina was at a loss for words. She could only stare at the awe-inspiring presence before her.

Th-this…
This situation…

She had seen it from time to time in movies. In fantasy films, a gigantic monster; or in science fiction, a massive spaceship, appearing. The actors would wear expressions of utmost shock.
Those monsters and ships were added later with CG, and the actors would perform while looking at a blue screen.
But—

It’s real!
Right in front of me! Filling my entire field of vision—a giant dragon!

So huge!
I had never looked up at a jumbo jet from this close, but at airports, seeing how tiny the service vehicles looked beside the landing gear always made its size sink in.
That same sense of scale—except it’s a dragon!

And… when he first appeared, I could only see him from the neck up.
He was too enormous to make out every detail, but I could grasp its overall form.

A jet-black colossal body covered in glossy black scales.
Enormous wings shaped like those of a bat.
Along its long neck and back, a row of mane-like, spiked protrusions.
Powerful limbs bearing gigantic hooked claws—each claw perhaps as large as a jumbo jet’s wheel.
A long, long tail undulating through the air.

That figure—
Exactly the dragon of one’s imagination. The very definition of a dragon.

Ahhh…
I was overwhelmed to the point my legs trembled. But still—

“Do I terrify you, Ekaterina?”

Hearing the voice address her from the dragon before her eyes, Ekaterina came back to herself.
She stood up and reached a hand toward the dragon, the sheer size making it feel as though she might touch it.

“It is a splendid form! I am honored to behold it!”

With excitement she had not fully reined in, Ekaterina shouted, beaming with a dazzling smile, her eyes sparkling.

SO DAMN COOOOOOLLLLLL!!!
This is insane! Even more overwhelming than his peerless human beauty!
Yeah, no way Hollywood CG designers can win against this! Dragons in epic fantasy films were cool, yes—but the real thing is even cooler! Incredible! Truly incredible!

Ah—did he ask me if he terrifies me?
Well, sure, I’d been frightened when he suddenly appeared earlier.
But now I know he’s someone I could communicate with. And frankly, he’s far easier to talk to than my previous-life boss. Fear? None at all.

Vladforen fell silent for a moment.
Then—he roared with laughter.

The thunderous laughter of the giant dragon echoed and reverberated through the mountains.

“I have never met a human woman who prefers my dragon form to my human one.”

After laughing for a while longer, Vladforen looked at Ekaterina with his crimson, flame-like eyes.

“I understand you a little better now. You truly are both sage and child—though you have no intention of taking my hand, you reach out like an innocent child.”
“…If I have been discourteous, I offer my apologies.”
“It is no discourtesy. You truly do not understand, do you.”

To the troubled-looking Ekaterina, the strongest giant dragon, powerful enough to destroy a nation, spoke gently.

“If you do not fear this form, I will send you back like this. If I held you in human form, it would become far too hard to let you go.”

Eh.

“Y-you mean… you would carry me in that form?”
“Would you like to become the first human to ride upon the back of the Demon Dragon King?”

He’s letting me ride on a dragon’s back?!!!!

Yes! Yes, please!