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When I finally got those words out, I noticed their brows were wrinkled, like they were angry. I thought they would surely reject me then, but then I was suddenly held against Karin’s chest.

“K-Karin..?”
“That must’ve been so hard…I know you tried your best all that time.”

I felt something wet drop on my head. Was it…a tear? My face was pressed against her chest, so I could not tell for sure.

“Everyone had high expectations from you, and they piled more responsibilities onto you selfishly. Only because you were stronger.”
“…”

If I was just as strong as the average person, my life probably would have been much different. My grandfather’s expectations would not have been so big, and would not have brought down the house to pay for my constant training, maybe he would have given up halfway through, and returned to being a regular manager of the land.

I would have never met my companions if I had not gone out to fight the Demon King, and the war would have ended differently. Maybe I would have been drafted and fought with the army, suffering a quick death there. But I would never know for sure, those were just assumptions. That would all be a different life which disappeared long ago.

“But you don’t have to push yourself so hard anymore. You might be stronger than anyone else in this age, but there’s a lot of people who want to do something by themselves. You don’t have to shoulder everything anymore.”
“…”

I don’t have to shoulder everything. That was the first time I ever heard that, so I was left stunned. What had I been told my entire life? When I just wanted to hide under a blanket, rolled into a ball on my bed? My grandfather, the only relative I had left, always told me to fight, to avenge my parents.

The companions I fought with? They said I could do it, they pushed me forward saying everything would be okay. But…no one had told me anything else. When I realized that, I was unable to hold back my tears anymore.

“Ah…why..?”

Tears kept coming, even though I tried resisting them. I tried wiping them away, but they would not stop. I started getting desperate, making my breath ragged. I started sobbing like a child, a stream of tears flowing down my cheeks, and as I struggled to pull myself together, Ciel, Luvias, and Diaria all hugged me.

“Lapis, I don’t know how reliable we’ll be, but we’ll do our best too..!”
“Please don’t try to shoulder everything, Master. We might still be weak now, but I promise we’ll get strong enough for you to rely on.”
“If you’re struggling, it’s okay to talk about it. We won’t blame you for a moment of weakness. We’ll always be with you, so let’s help each other when we need it, okay?”

Before I realized, everyone was crying. I was overjoyed that I could be with them again, embarrassed that I was being consoled by them, relieved that we were together again, and grateful that they had forgiven me for lying. All my emotions were jumbled up, so all I could do was to bawl like a child.

§　§　§

–––Selene’s viewpoint

“It seems they were able to make amends.”
“Hmm, I guessed as much. Still, humans truly are curious creatures. Crying and getting angry might seem like severe lapses in judgment for us, but for them and their short lives, connecting and clashing with others might be an important part of life.”

Lord Tiamat elegantly enjoyed some tea. He had taken a human appearance and his face looked unchanged, but something about him looked like he was smiling. The Hero Brave, or Lapis now, had barely spent a few days here in the temple, but she had brought a livelihood we never saw before. While the way humans fight is interesting to watch, what made us the most curious truly was their interpersonal relationships.

We dragons are sometimes wild and emotional when young, acting almost like wild animals, but after living enough to be able to take human form, emotions very rarely affect us. That also went for the ruler of this temple, Lord Tiamat, and me as his servant, so watching those girls interact was actually amusing and entertaining.

The girls would probably get angry if we told them, but we dragons consider ourselves a proud superior race. We have more powerful bodies, both physically and magically, and the conflicts between humans and demons are unrelated to us. We know that if we wanted, we could easily destroy either side. But we never think of eradicating a different race, or forcing the entire country into submission under us. Just like how we scarcely have outbursts of emotions, we distance ourselves from ambition. I can only thank the gods for making us this way.

But regardless. Our lives are monotone and there is almost never change, like time is frozen for us. Then one day we got visitors, one of them a human that had once defeated me in the past, though in a different body. That obviously got us curious about them.

I had never thought I would see Lapis crying loudly, she was such a powerful human that I thought she was just as strong emotionally, but turns out I was wrong.

“It seems they’re asleep now.”

Lord Tiamat closed his eyes and muttered that. Both him and I could largely tell what happened inside the temple, even if we were not there. I closed my eyes like him, and began searching for their presence. He was right, I could feel five calm sleeping breaths. They had probably gotten tired from crying.

“How do you expect they’ll act tomorrow?”

Hearing my question, Lord Tiamat raised his brow slightly, and replied slowly, carefully picking his words.

“I would assume they’ll resume training. The conflict between them has been resolved, so I think it’s safe to say they’ll focus on their former goal again.”

Is that really how they would react? I had thought they would want to go back home, but I had not lived nearly as long as Lord Tiamat, so I still failed at predicting human behavior.

“Either way…I’m excited to see what kind of power Lapis will display, having recovered her lost spirit.”
“Her lost…spirit?”

I thought we had both seen the best she had to offer, but she could still improve then?

“This doesn’t apply to just humans, but mental state can both greatly increase and decrease the power of all races that rely on emotions for support. Yes, Brave was strong three hundred years ago, but at the time he concealed his emotions and didn’t let them show. So he was powerful, but he was not employing that boost or handicap unique to humans. Now that he’s opened up his human emotions, it should have an effect…I’m sure it’ll be fun to see.”

I still remember how he looked three hundred years ago, beating me to a pulp. Seeing his emotionless face actually made me shudder. I could hardly believe a human could get any stronger than that. But if that was true, then could Lord Tiamat be in danger then? He seemed to notice my worried gaze, so he smiled slightly, turning his eyes towards me.

“No need to worry. Even if Lapis gets much stronger than back then, she won’t be able to beat me at my fullest. Though I wouldn’t be so sure if she obtains the proper equipment.”

There was a holy sword and armor, a treasure mentioned in legends. Those weapons, said to have been a gift from the gods themselves, had been lost throughout history. In other words, there was no chance Lord Tiamat would ever lose.

“Selene, I’m sure you’ll be busy again tomorrow.”
“I know. It’ll prove to be a good diversion, however.”
“Mm, true. We won’t be bored for a while.”

He refilled his empty teacup while I began to plan how I would fight against those girls the next day.