After being reborn into this world, Ailolin decided to be a selfish person. Aside from her own friends, she was not kind enough to pity strangers.
So no matter how many casualty figures she heard the war had caused, Ailolin felt nothing. Perhaps seeing it with her own eyes would make her empathize, but just listening to Vidian's description left her unmoved.
"That's all the information for now. Do you have any other questions?"
"Um, could you help me deliver a letter?"
Although Ailolin could not return to Edafalon Province herself, after observing for the past few days, she had discovered that bird-type magical beasts called messengers should be able to pass through the border blockade. If so, she could have Vidian write a letter to Likaro.
"That isn't a problem, but the key question is, do you know where your human friend is?"
"This..."
Ailolin froze. Though she had spent two months with Likaro, she truly did not know her detailed address.
Seeing Ailolin's troubled expression, Vidian finally brought up the Recording Crystal. "The Recording Crystal tied to your dragon horn should have preserved that little girl's appearance, right?"
"Hm?"
"If we know what she looks like, we might be able to find where she lives."
"Huh? You can really find her?"
"Didn't you say your friend might be a noble? If she really is an Empire noble, I might know her."
Ailolin fell into thought. Should she share the contents of the Recording Crystal with Vidian?
PS: Thank you all for your votes. I'm deeply moved! And to answer the question about the two protagonists being separated for now—haven't you heard that absence makes the heart grow fonder?~ (Fog)
The Troubles of Size
After spending these days together, Ailolin felt that Vidian did not seem like a bad person. The problem was that she could not quite see through this woman.
"Still hesitating? Am I really that scary?" Vidian found it somewhat amusing.
"No, I'm just a little worried..."
"It seems you care greatly about your friend's privacy. Don't worry, I'm not the kind of person you think I am."
"Th-then, all right."
After considering it, Ailolin decided to trust Vidian. She had a fairly good impression of her and believed she would not do anything bad.
So Ailolin had Vidian remove the Recording Crystal tied to her dragon horn.
After taking it down, Vidian directly projected it onto the stone slab usually used for lessons. Ailolin was surprised by this sight. Hadn't they said Recording Crystals projected images using water? This stone slab was far too versatile.
A photograph of Likaro and Ailolin appeared on the stone slab, and the resolution looked remarkably high—at least 4K.
The projected Likaro wore the formal dress from her birthday banquet, her face overflowing with a smile. Snowflakes drifted down around her, some landing on her body and glinting beneath the nearby magic crystal lamps.
Ailolin, on the other hand, looked utterly ordinary. She seemed to have become Likaro's backdrop.
"Oh, it's even a photo of the two of you together."
Vidian stared blankly for a moment at the harmonious image of Likaro, a human, standing beside Ailolin, a Black Dragon.
"Well? Do you recognize her?"
Coming back to herself, Vidian carefully examined Likaro before finally saying, "Unfortunately, I don't."
This human girl was too young. Vidian had met some children of Empire nobles, but she had truly never seen Likaro before.
However, a noble little girl from Edafalon Province... Could she be Duke Wilfen's daughter?
One could draw a conclusion just from Likaro's dress. Anyone who could afford such clothing absolutely belonged to a great noble family, so Vidian thought of Duke Wilfen.
She seemed to have heard that Wilfen had a daughter, but he had never allowed his daughter to appear in public. Vidian had not seen Wilfen in many years either, so even if she really was his daughter, Vidian would not recognize her.
"How about I attach the girl's image to a letter and send it to my friend? She should be able to find where the girl lives."
"This... Let's forget it for now."
Ailolin did not want Likaro's image being passed around, so she decided not to send a letter at all. She would wait until the Southern Wilderness blockade was lifted, then personally return to Edafalon Province.
"Then let's do that. Still, that little girl is quite cute. You have to tell me about her sometime."
Vidian was rather curious about Ailolin's experiences in the forest.
"Mm... I'll tell you when I have time later."
Those memories were beautiful to Ailolin, and she did not mind sharing some of them with Vidian. Of course, there were still certain things she would not mention. She would only share some interesting little stories.
Vidian tied the Recording Crystal back onto Ailolin's dragon horn, then tapped the stone slab. A lengthy passage written in Elven language appeared on it. "Let's continue the lesson. I think your pronunciation is already very accurate, but you still need much more practice."
"Okay."
Ailolin was always extremely serious during lessons. It was rare to meet someone who could teach her various languages and useful knowledge, so naturally, she would not miss such a good learning opportunity.
Vidian always held lessons outside her home, using the convenient stone slab to teach Ailolin.
Because of her size, Ailolin could not enter the house. When she slept, she could only find an open area. Whenever there was wind or rain, she would fly farther away to find a cave.
When would she finally be able to take human form? Her size truly gave Ailolin a terrible headache.
She could not help asking about it.
"Ah, taking human form... It might take a little longer."
"How much longer?"
"That depends on your growth rate. A few years if you're fast, more than ten years if you're slow."
"..."
Upon hearing that even the fastest possibility would take years, Ailolin's heart sank.
She had only been alive for a few months since being born, and now she would have to wait many more years.
"And Shapeshifting Art also needs to be learned, and it depends on talent. If your talent is poor, you might not learn to shapeshift for a very long time." Vidian mercilessly delivered another ice-cold cola straight to Ailolin's heart in the middle of winter.
"This... Forget it. I won't think about that for now."
Ailolin realized that shapeshifting was still very far away for her. For the moment, it would be better to improve her knowledge and strength.
"It's great that you can understand that. But don't worry, unless you're some once-in-ten-million-years Dragonkind idiot, you'll learn to shapeshift sooner or later."
"Mm."
Having something to look forward to was always a good thing.
After the two months of infancy, Ailolin's body began growing much more slowly. She was still growing, but nowhere near as quickly as she had right after hatching.
This period instead gave Ailolin time to become more familiar with her body. In the Southern Wilderness, she fought different magical beasts every day, continuously gaining valuable combat experience. She had even learned Dragon Breath during a previous crisis.
What Ailolin had learned was Flame Dragon Breath. The flames she breathed were vastly different from ordinary fire. Not only were they extremely difficult to extinguish once ignited, but her breath was explosive and carried tremendous impact.
It could be imagined as a bomb that caused intense burning.
Therefore, unless she was in an open area without much grass or vegetation, Ailolin would never casually use Dragon Breath. Last time, she had nearly burned down the forest. Fortunately, a sudden downpour had prevented a disaster.
The magical beasts of the Southern Wilderness came in all kinds—ones that flew in the sky, ran on the ground, and swam in the water. Therefore, the sky was definitely not Ailolin's home field, at least not yet.
There were flying magical beasts capable of easily defeating Ailolin, though she had not encountered any so far. According to Vidian, they all lived in the deepest parts of the Southern Wilderness.
Ailolin's current location was still relatively close to the outskirts, though there were already no other humans there.
Sometimes, Ailolin wondered what race Vidian truly was, and why she knew so much about Dragonkind.
Ailolin had learned about the races of this world from Vidian.
There were countless races in this world, including many long-lived species that looked identical to humans.
For example, vampires, undead, werewolves, and other races that were either already dead or resembled humans before transforming.
Ailolin had directly asked Vidian, but Vidian had only given her a mysterious smile.
Xiya had been the same before. When Ailolin asked what relationship she had with Likaro, she would not answer either.
Ailolin hated people who liked acting mysterious the most.
PS: Do you all think this is slow-burn? I think it's only because the plot develops a little slowly in the first few chapters, but it won't stay so ordinary before long, so don't worry. (I'm definitely not padding the word count on purpose!)
A War Without Suspense
Winter had arrived. The Northern Frontier region of the Silver Eagle Empire had long been covered in ice and snow, but unlike previous years, the pure white snowfields were now stained with the scent of blood.
War situation—
Defense: Silver Eagle Empire.
Offense: Klima Empire, Pivent Empire, Mantoia Kingdom, Pattison Kingdom, Brunzi Duchy.
The Silver Eagle Empire truly deserved its reputation as the strongest human nation. Even facing the attack of the Five-Nation Alliance, it was still able to hold the front line.
So far, not a single Silver Eagle Empire fortress had been breached. This left the Empire generals responsible for defending the border deeply puzzled. Did these weak nations think that merely joining together would let them defeat the powerful Empire?
This war had begun for no apparent reason. Although border conflicts had occurred at first, such conflicts happened almost every year, and peaceful negotiations between both sides had always resolved them.
Yet this time, the Five-Nation Alliance had not even sent diplomats before launching its attack.
The order currently received by the Empire forces was to hold the fortresses and forbid proactive attacks. The generals across the front faithfully carried out those orders, remaining inside their fortresses no matter how the enemy provoked them.
The Empire's Northern Frontier Legion had a total of 150,000 soldiers distributed among six fortresses. Unless those fortresses were removed, the Five-Nation Coalition could not possibly advance deep into Empire territory.
Yet the coalition's combined army only barely matched the Northern Frontier Legion in numbers. With equal numbers, how could they possibly win a siege battle? Not to mention that the Empire's troops were far superior in quality.
Even if they concentrated all their forces to besiege one Empire fortress, the garrisons from the other Empire fortresses would rapidly reinforce it, attacking the coalition forces from both inside and outside.
After several failed probing assaults, the war entered a brief stalemate. The Empire army held its fortresses without emerging, while the coalition likewise did not launch further sieges.
At the same time, the Silver Eagle Empire sent diplomatic officials to each coalition nation, hoping to learn the cause of this war through diplomacy.
Emperor Pet Silver Eagle sat upon his throne and convened a noble council within the palace. Every noble of marquis rank or above throughout the Empire, as well as all senior military commanders without combat duties, had gathered there.
Pete swept his gaze over the nobles and generals present. Most were around his age, white-haired elders, but they were also the people he understood and trusted most, because they were the ones who had followed Pete in founding the Empire.
Duke was the highest rank among the Empire's non-imperial nobles. The youngest among them was surprisingly fifty-five-year-old Duke Wilfen of Edafalon Province, while all the other dukes were at least sixty.
Wilfen was one of the Empire's founding heroes. As a general, he had earned countless merits in the wars of his early years. After the wars ended, Wilfen voluntarily requested to leave the army, so Pete granted him the prosperous Edafalon Province and made him an Empire duke.
Now, both sons of this "young" duke served as senior commanders in the army. They were simply unable to leave their posts at the Northern Frontier front and the Southern Wilderness, respectively. Otherwise, they would have attended this noble council as well.
At present, Pete wanted to hear this duke's thoughts.
"Your Majesty, I believe the Empire army should not launch a counterattack before the ambassadors return."
There were too many mysteries surrounding this war. Wilfen believed they should first contact the leaders of the Five-Nation Coalition before making a decision. Rashly launching a large-scale war would bring tremendous losses to the Empire.
Most of the nobles present agreed with Wilfen's view. On one hand, it was due to Wilfen's personal prestige. On the other, the nobles present were all pillars of the Empire from its founding era, their strategic vision having been tested. They would not easily make impulsive decisions.
"Very good. Many years of peaceful living have not dulled you."
Emperor Pete was very satisfied with the nobles' response. The Empire's Northern Frontier Legion could fully repel the enemy's attacks. Moreover, winter had arrived. The Empire army had ample supplies and the protection of city walls, while the invading coalition possessed neither favorable weather nor terrain. There was naturally nothing to fear.
Although the Silver Eagle Empire's policy toward its neighboring nations was to maintain strategic deterrence, Pete, as emperor, had personal friendships with their rulers. He did not quite believe those people could make such an impulsive decision. Even if they intended to attack, they should have chosen warmer weather rather than the approaching bitter winter.
It was common knowledge that the Northern Frontier region of the Empire had the coldest climate. Ice and snow storms frequently arose in winter as well, a snowfield weather disaster similar to a sandstorm. Once caught in one, it was difficult to survive.
It was precisely because of that brutal cold climate that the Empire's Northern Frontier Legion had become an elite legion highly skilled in snowfield warfare. Together with the Wilderness Legion in the far south and the Imperial Guard Legion that defended the Imperial City, it was known as one of the Empire's three great elite legions.
The Empire's economy was prosperous and its population immense, allowing it to equip every soldier with armor and fine weapons. Its logistical capabilities alone were beyond comparison with surrounding nations.
Meanwhile, the Empire's military academies continuously supplied the army with high-quality commanders, making the Empire legions even more formidable.
Besides the three great elite legions, every Empire province had its own corresponding legion, ready to reinforce the front lines at any time.
Under such conditions, even if the Five-Nation Coalition staked everything it had, defeating the Empire would be nothing but a foolish dream.
Emperor Pete raised his wine cup and said to the nobles present, "Everyone, our loyal warriors will defend the glory of the Empire. Until the ambassadors bring back news, let us wait patiently."
The nobles likewise raised their cups in response to the emperor. The atmosphere in the palace was extremely relaxed, and this noble council seemed about to turn into a noble banquet.
Sitting in his own seat, Wilfen felt somewhat worried. His eldest son was at the Northern Frontier front. He hoped nothing would happen.
Wilfen had once feared no death on the battlefield, always charging at the forefront. But after the Empire achieved peace, he had built a family and gained a wife and children. He had changed far too much from before.
After living a peaceful life for so long, Wilfen no longer wished to return to the battlefield. Of course, if the Empire summoned him again, he would still cast aside his identity as a duke without hesitation and return to the army.
Now his eldest son was on the front line. Though the elite Empire army had won every battle it fought, if something truly went wrong...
Wilfen drained the wine in his cup in a single gulp, then let out a long breath.
His son had been the one to request enlistment. Since he wished to dedicate his youth to the army, Wilfen, as his father, naturally supported him.
Before you continue