The Dragon Kingdom:
Meili’s Witchbeast Observation Record VI

1

The journey to the Pleiades Watchtower to prove the efficacy of Meili Portroute’s power to the top brass of the kingdom was successful. Consequently, the five members of the Felt Camp became the second group of people to reach the tower, preceded by Anastasia and Emilia.

Although the group had to engage in a skirmish against the Divine Dragon Volcanica right as they were about to reach the tower, they figured out a way around its attacks, making it seem as though everything was going well.

“But it seems like that really isn’t the case at all,” Felt muttered, confirming all the pages in one of the books she picked up off the floor were blank, frowning and scratching her head.

The scattered books weren’t limited to just the ones around her. Hundreds of them had been pulled from the shelves and strewn across the floor of the room. Since this wasn’t the doing of the book-hating Felt, or anyone from her camp, only one logical conclusion could be drawn from this.

“I wonder if someone came here after Emilia and I left the toweer,” pondered Meili.

“Whoever that is must have pretty bad manners,” commented Felt as she called her knight’s name. “Reinhard.”

“Yes, my lady?”

“If I remember correctly, the Witch of Envy’s shrine is around here, right?” she asked in a slightly lowered voice.

Reinhard’s blue eyes shuddered at her question. “I’ll go check it out right away. Ezzo, please look after Lady Felt.”

“Of course, leave it to me,” Ezzo replied. “You should be careful as well. According to literature, the witch’s shrine is shrouded in miasma… A toxic environment that can easily destroy a man’s psyche.”

“I’ll be fine. I have the Divine Protection of Anti-Malignance.”

With that, Reinhard swiftly left the Great Library of Pleiades, seen off by Felt’s nod. Meili looked puzzled as she also watched him run out with great urgency.

“Miss Meili, the Young Master is suspecting the involvement of the Witch Cult,” explained Flam.

“The Young Master always considers the worst-case scenario,” added Grassis.

“The Witch Cult… I see, that makes sense,” Meili said, seemingly convinced. She finally understood what Felt and the others were talking about in their short communication. “There’s a really good chance the person who snuck in here is someone from the Witch Cult who wants to release the Witch of Envy that’s sealed in the shriine.”

The Pleiades Watchtower was originally built to surveille the shrine that seals the Witch of Envy in the far eastern land. Sand Time and the Sage were also part of an effort to prevent anyone from reaching it. As a result, these mechanisms successfully kept the members of the Witch Cult away. However, nothing was stopping them anymore.

The only thing that bothers me is how quickly they were able to take action, Felt thought. But then again, this is the chance of a lifetime for the Witch Cult. “Besides, they’re a bunch of loonies who’ll do anything. I wouldn’t be surprised one bit if they had a member who watched the desert all day long just to check if the sandstorm ever dies down, albeit that thought creeps me out.”

“I completely agree,” Ezzo said. “So, what should be our next move, Miss Felt?”

“Are you askin’ me whether we should investigate the matter or retreat?” Felt asked with her arms crossed.

“Yes.” Ezzo nodded. With an intruder likely in the tower, either one of the two options Felt suggested seemed like the natural courses of action they could take.

Felt glanced at Meili as she considered her options. She wasn’t looking for advice from her, but her eyes wandered towards the young girl as she considered her position in the bigger picture. As mentioned earlier, Meili had already proven her worth as soon as the party reached the tower. In other words, she no longer had any reason to stick around now that she had achieved her objective. But, she also can’t cross the desert alone. So, I guess she has no choice but to follow our lead.

While Felt concluded her thoughts, Meili felt something on her head.

“Ms. Mini Crimson Scorpion?” she said, calling on the mini crimson scorpion that had crawled out of her blue hair, clicking its pincers at something as if to intimidate an imminent threat.

Wondering what it was being so aggressive for, Meili turned her attention towards where the scorpion was looking. There, she saw a white bird perched quietly atop a bookshelf. She widened her eyes, gulping in surprise.

“Flam! Grassis!” Felt quickly yelled, also noticing the bird.

The girls reacted swiftly to their mistress’s voice. As one of them made a foothold with her hands, the other kicked off of it, darting towards the bookshelf. The whole movement was coordinated so smoothly, despite having no time to discuss it, that it was as if they were one entity.

As the girl reached the bookshelf, she stretched out her arms to catch the bird. Right before she could, however, it spread its wings and flew away. The library was big, but was obviously less spacious than outside, so there weren’t many places it could go. Despite this, it glided gracefully around the room after avoiding the girl.

“It’ll be a bit painful,” Ezzo said to the bird as it flew into a ball of water headfirst, causing it to drown in midair.

It looked as though the inside of a bucket full of water was floating in the middle of the room. This was the doing of Ezzo, who had produced the water with magic after extending his hands.

He then began moving his hands, reshaping the water until only the bird’s head emerged. A cage made of water was completed.

“You took the good part, Master Ezzo,” said Flam.

“Credit stealing mage,” commented Grassis.

“Stop whining. He wouldn’t’ve been able to capture it if you two hadn’t gotten it away from the bookshelf,” Felt interjected. “Good job, teach.”

“No, the true praise should be given to Miss Meili for noticing it in the first place,” Ezzo responded modestly. “I should’ve been more alert. I’m sorry.”

Meili wasn’t listening to Ezzo. Her attention was focused on the bird. She was obviously surprised to find a bird in the library, but that wasn’t all, and Felt picked up on it.

“What’s wrong, Meili?” asked Felt. “Do you recognize it?”

“I saw them flying around the tower all the time,” Meili said after a pause. “I also saw a few of them on the balconyy. I remember Subaru being really creeped out by theem.”

“All the time, huh?” Felt muttered.

They looked like ordinary birds. In fact, Meili distinctly remembered her not being as creeped out as Subaru. However, she also had a feeling he must have had a good reason to be so.

The captured bird made no movement or a single noise, as if it knew any resistance would be futile.

“They are…” Meili muttered without finishing her thought.

The bird’s dark eyes fixed on Meili, making her nervous. Its eyes were like a deep void, ready to draw all who stared into them into their depths. They reminded her of the feeling she had when she looked down the spiral staircase.

“Ah,” Meili whimpered, as a beam of light penetrated the head of the bird that was staring at her, causing it to explode right before her eyes. She needed some time to register what she had just witnessed.

The beam had been fired by the mini crimson scorpion that was still on top of Meili’s head. It had shot the bird with a beam that came out of the tip of its tail, just like how Shaula would.

“Wha- Miss Meili! Why would you kill it?!” Ezzo cried, bemoaning her sudden tyrannical action.

“I-It wasn’t mee,” protested Meili. “Ms. Mini Crimson Scorpion did it without my permiss—ah!” However, the mini crimson scorpion started pulling her hair as she tried to explain herself. She didn’t know what to make of its sudden insubordination.

Or could it be… “Is there something you wanna tell mee?” Meili asked, sensing that there was more to its actions than met the eye.

Before she could figure out what that was, however, she suddenly heard Felt click her tongue.

“Meili!” Felt shouted. “You said you saw more of these birds, right?! Where?!”

“Huh?”

“Where are the other birds?!” Felt repeated, closing in on Meili and shaking her by the shoulders. “I have a bad feeling about this!”

Meili looked dumbfounded. She pointed at the hallway that connected to the staircase with Felt’s desperate face inches away from hers. “B-Beyond the wall that connects to the outside downstaairs, ah!”

Felt suddenly picked her up. “Give me directions!” she demanded, as she started running. She rushed down the stairs at an unbelievable speed and arrived on the fourth floor. Ezzo and her two retainers followed after her, but they were no match for her speed.

“That waay,” Meili said.

Felt ran like the wind in the direction Meili gave.

They came to a wall that appeared to be a dead end, but upon closer look, they could see that there was a hallway hidden beyond the outer wall. Meili pointed at the wall. Felt followed her direction and found herself jumping outside, onto a balcony under a bright blue sky. There, they found a flock of the very same white birds.

The two were speechless. There were about a hundred of them, all completely silent. This sight alone gave Meili an eerie feeling, but what made it worse was how they all simultaneously turned their heads at the two of them as they stormed onto the balcony. Meili felt a chill run down her spine.

“Don’t let them get away!” Felt yelled sharply.

In the next moment, Felt dropped Meili to the floor. She then pulled out her two daggers, held them in a reverse grip, and lunged at the birds. She began swinging them, aiming at the birds’ wings to stop them from flying away. However, she was utterly outnumbered, and the birds didn’t stay still for long. They spread their wings, and all simultaneously flew away from the balcony. She couldn’t stop all of them from flying away with only her two daggers.

“El huma!” Ezzo chanted as he arrived at the scene, carried by Flam and Grassis. He quickly understood what Felt was intending to do and offered assistance with his magic.

His magic froze the birds in midair, locking them each in pebbles of ice. However, he couldn’t catch them all, only managing to get around half.

“Shit! I didn’t wanna resort to this!” Felt yelled, gritting her teeth, sensing that they wouldn’t be able to get them all.

She sheathed her daggers and took out a black object. In the next instant, the Divine Dragon appeared in the sky above the balcony, causing a whirlwind around him.

“I, am Volcanica. In accordance with the ancient covenant, the will of thee who hath reached the top shall be questioned.”

In awe of the sudden appearance of the Divine Dragon, Meili and the rest were at a loss for words.

Felt pointed at the sky. “Volcanica! Don’t let a single one of them escape!”

Volcanica said nothing.

“Please!” Felt pleaded.

Volcanica finally lifted his head, taking in the sight of the tiny creatures flying all around. “Thou, who hath reached the top of the tower. Step forth onto the first floor, almighty petitioner.”

After making a one-way statement as usual, the dragon launched a breath attack all around his vicinity. Its devastating power was more than enough to incinerate all the poor birds.

“Unbelievablee,” Meili muttered, slowly opening her eyes, which she had shut due to the brightness of the breath attack. She looked up to see all the birds and even the clouds gone, and only the clear sky created by the Divine Dragon spreading above her.

2

“There was nothing wrong with the seal in the shrine,” reported Reinhard, who had returned from surveying the Witch of Envy’s shrine shortly after the flock of birds were exterminated. “However, considering the abnormal number of birds you had to deal with, I believe the tower and shrine are in need of new management, my lady.”

No one disagreed with Reinhard. They all understood very well that the tower and the shrine could greatly affect the world if not managed properly.

“Why don’t you try asking the Divine Dragon, Lady Felt?” suggested Flam.

“Lady Felt, the Divine Dragon tamer,” posited Grassis.

“I plan on askin’ him to not let weirdos like members of the Witch Cult get near,” Felt responded. “But there’ll always be things that’ll slip by, like those birds. It’s practically impossible to prevent those sorts of intrusions.”

“Why not just make him keep an eye on those as well, and not just the Witch Cult?” asked Flam.

“Make him stop everything,” said Grassis.

“That’s easier said than done,” Felt retorted, shrugging her shoulders as she frowned. “Y’know how forgetful that Dragon is, don’t ya?”

Meanwhile, Volcanica was back at the entrance. Contrary to the responsive behavior he showed during the earlier emergency, he was back to his usual non-responsive self.

Meili was curious if Felt was also capable of communicating with the Divine Dragon like Emilia, but she kept quiet as she thought this wasn’t the right time to pursue this question.

“As you suspected, Miss Felt, these aren’t your ordinary birds,” said Ezzo, who was inspecting the birds that were left on the balcony.

He held the body of a bird that had one of its wings cut up by Felt, then placed his hand on its other wing. Suddenly, the bird’s body started breaking down into glowing pieces, and soon vanished.

“Was that…” Meili uttered. “Are you telling me all of these birds are made up of mana?”

“Precisely,” said Ezzo. “Their bodies are made up similarly to that of an artificial spirit… High level magic, to say the least. Not something you can see in modern times.”

“Even you can’t do it, teach?” Felt asked.

Ezzo paused for a moment. “It’s a magic that’s not passed down anymore. If given enough time, though, I can analyze it and figure out how it works.”

“Unfortunately, we don’t have that luxury,” Reinhard said, then turned his attention to Felt. “Lady Felt.”

Felt nodded at her knight’s call. “There was someone watching us, but I’m pretty sure we prevented them from retrieving the birds. But we should keep someone by Meili’s side for a while, just to be safe.”

“M-Mee?” Meili said.

“Whoever was responsible for the birds is keen to learn about the tower,” Reinhard explained. “They must also be interested in how to safely traverse the desert.”

Meili placed her hand on her chest as she listened to Reinhard. Then the mini crimson scorpion began clicking its pincers vigorously on top of her head.

Seeing the scorpion’s behavior, Felt let out a little groan. “We’re not tryna scare you. As for our first objective… We got to learn that we can cross the desert with you by our side, and that the Dragon won’t attack us if we have the talon. There were just as many good results from this trip as there were bad.”

“That’s a poor waay to make me feel better,” Meili said, showing a little smile. I’m such a shallow person. I came on this trip without expecting too much, and here I am scared and anxious that my mission is going to fail. It must mean that I’m so shallow that as soon as I even see a glimpse of a bright prospect, it makes me want to cling to it.

“Miss Felt, Sir Reinhard,” began Ezzo, “about our next course of action…”

“I know,” Felt interjected. “You wanna say that we shouldn’t leave the tower unsupervised, right? I wonder what we should do next, too.”

“There’s the option to leave me here for the time being,” suggested Reinhard.

Meili watched from the sidelines as Felt and the others discussed their next move. The sight of this reminded her of the Emilia Camp, and that made her long for her friends who were not there at the moment.

“I really am shallow,” Meili mumbled to herself, feeling the weight of the mini crimson scorpion on her head, and snapping out of her melancholic mood. She reminded herself that there were people by her side no matter how she was feeling.

3

While Meili reflected on herself, and Felt discussed their plan, an incident was taking place far away from the Augria Sand Dunes, the home of the Pleiades Watchtower.

Noticing that the poor lives of the birds had been snuffed out, a slender figure shuddered. “Something must have happened to them,” the figure said, lowering her eyes that were framed with long lashes.

The figure prayed for the souls of the lost lives.

The fact that none of them came back must mean something must have happened that prevented them from returning. And it is extremely uncommon for such a thing to happen there. However, as to whether I should be happy about that or not… I do not know.

“But why would anyone do something so cruel?”

The birds, with their pure white wings and innocent eyes, epitomized purity. The idea that they were so mercilessly destroyed incredibly hurt the figure and caused her great anguish.

“But even so…” a smooth, clear voice resonated from the figure’s thin lips, vibrating the air around her and proving her existence in the world. “I wish I could understand them. Every single one of them.”

She prayed, adored, pitied, loved, and hopelessly longed for everything and everyone, including what had been lost and those who lost them.

END