P. 193

*

The ocean water was cold, and it slowly healed Kelpie’s mane and skin that was fanned by the souring heat of the Wyrm’s fire.

P. 216

For a creature like him that lives in fresh water, it couldn’t be said that salt water was a comfortable environment, but it was much more livable than being on land.

Sitting down on the bottom of the sea, Kelpie was silently feeling how the magic was returning to his body.

When he recovered, he needed to quickly return to where Lydia was. If she were to ripe apart the rose, then who knows what was going to happen.

As Kelpie was thinking that, he looked over towards the?female figure that was lying right next to him.

That was because she slowly sat herself up.

“You finally woke up.”

She looked at Kelpie questioningly, and then she inspected the area around them. She was the female cross-dressed servant of that earl.

If he remembered, her name was Ermine.

“It really is true that you don’t have realized grasped the selkie fairy side of you yet. Your swimming was not good at all, so that’s why you would do something like get knocked out by a rock sinking down on your head like a human would.”

“This is....?”

“The bottom of the sea. I say that, but we’re really near?the bottom of the Wyrm’s cave, really.”

“Why are you here?”

“Why I saved your life. If you went sinking down as you are unconscious, then you would have bolder come piling up onto you.”

P. 217

She stared at the aggressive fairy water horse suspiciously.

It must have been something instinctual. Kelpies will?kill any creature and eat it. They are feared by fairies as well.

Even if she knew that he was a strange water horse that didn’t see the human girl Lydia as food but with affection, she wasn’t able to believe that she was

rescued.

“Why did you help me.”

“If I said it was to eat you, then would you believe me? If I left you alone, then I thought Lydia would get angry at me. Although if you’re saying that you’ll give me an arm as thanks, I won’t refuse.”

Because that couldn’t be taken as a joke, Ermine had lost?her chance to say her thanks but it seemed Kelpie didn’t mind that at all.

She tried to stand up but her head still seemed to be dizzy as she sat back down.

*

“It’s a forest,” Lydia couldn’t help but mention.

It was just when they came out into an awfully vast open cavern. In that space, there were a vast number of icicles made of limestone standing next to one another.

P. 223

Their vast numbers made a white forest, filling up the?space and blocking their view.

The ceiling was even further up and they were unable to see it because of the smoking vapors.

“So the wild roses might be somewhere deep in there.”

Even Edgar made a stunned face as he looked up.

“It’s sure to be here.”

Lydia knew it.

If the faint sound of the water droplets that dropped from the ceilings overlapped each other, it seemed like they were in the middle of a drizzle.

The water droplets that soaked up lime dropped to the ground which piled and piled up to make the stone pillar higher and higher. It was a forest that made with the help of nature and took a countless amount of time and Lydia marveled at them with amazement.

Edgar went walking over to one of the limestone towers that was nearby and knelt down by it. It was a limestone rock tower that was only just barely at the height of a person.

“Is something the matter?”

“Oh, no, it’s just that I thought it looked like a?finely-carved statue.”

Lydia looked to see it and gasped.

Inside the stone, it looked like there was a baby with its arms and legs curved in mended into it.

“Th-this is a real baby! This must be Martha’s baby that was put through the changeling.”

“What? But it looks like the baby is turned to stone.”

P. 224

“The Wyrm’s magic is casted over it. But, the baby is still warm, means the baby is alive. I have to hurry and save it.”

Standing up, Edgar made a knitted his brows as he inspected the forest.”

“Are you saying that perhaps, all of these pillars here are people?”

“....I don’t know. The dobie had said that the Wyrm turns?people into stone and then eats them, but either way, the older ones that have?turned into stones completely cannot be saved anymore.”

Lydia looked at the stone pillar and made a cross sign with her hand over her chest.

“So from the old days, the Wyrm had eaten people like this and that’s how it made the freyas.”

In order to break that evil cycle the Blue Knight Earl of?the past had sealed away the Wyrm and saved the villagers, but in return the?villagers should have accepted that they were never going to be able to mine?for any more precious freyas. And yet-

“In order to make money, I can’t believe they would?sacrifice people again...”

“It seemed like it wasn’t about making money, but more like it had some kind of different use than that. The mayor had said that it could only be handled by a person who carried the Blue Knight Earl’s blood in them.”

It was there he stopped his sentence and suddenly changed?the subject.

“By the way, Lydia, do you know of a way to defeat a dragon?”

“A Wyrm cannot be defeated. That’s why I am looking for its rose.”

“But, there are heros who have defeated dragons in stories from long ago. Like St. George, ohh, but that was against a dragon with wings. Anyhow, the old Blue Knight Earl had put the Wyrm to sleep in the past. And I was wondering what kind of method that was.”

P. 225

The Blue Knight Earl had magical powers. He was able to go back and forth between the fairy realm and human realm and was the lord of the land who governed over the living beings in both worlds.

It was most likely, that the one who carried his blood was only able to defeat the Wyrm. Even the dobie had said that.

However, Edgar was thinking if there was any other method.

“Dragons are powerful, enormous and mysterious. But, you?know how they say there is always a weakness? Looking at the examples from all?times and places, the thing that can defeat a dragon is someone who acquires a?special weapon or someone who has found a weak spot.”

He pulled out his sword from its sheath on his waist belt.

The merrow’s sword glistened.

“I have a weapon. It’s a sword that doesn’t stand inferior to fight with a dragon and is a sword that has once defeated the Wyrm before. And yet, even when I use it, I’m not able to cut any fairy. But, what if I find its weak spot? Then even a normal human should be able to defeat it.”

P. 228

“I am. The one who awakened you is a fake. However now, I?will not let that fake do as he pleases. I will have you sealed away once?again.”

Facing the merrow’s sword in front of it, the Wyrm must have become precautious as its ring around them widened.

“Edgar, let’s escape. While the threat of the sword is still working.”

However, he gripped onto the sword like he was about to?start a sword fight.

“Oh, no, I’m going to do this. If I don’t, then I won’t be able to become the real Blue Knight Earl.”

“What are you saying, in the beginning you wanted just the name...”

“That’s right, I was the one who gained the name. Because it was me and not him, I will fulfill my duty.”

“Him?”

The Wyrm might have sensed the magic in the sword as it kept its glare on the sword and remained still.

“Ulysses. He carries the blood of the illegitimate child of the Blue Knight Earl.”

“I-Is that true? ...Then, the reason why his power of?controlling fairies wasn’t normal was because it was the power he inherited?from the Blue Knight Earl....”

Then there was no way a mere fairy doctor could be a match for him.

“Even he should have tried to get his hands on the sword.?But since he wasn’t able to, Prince must have thought that the Blue Knight Earl’s sword no longer exists. However, this is in my hands. Me, who has no magical powers or any ties with the Ashenbert family.”

P. 229

“Edgar, behind you!”

The Wyrm moved its tail. Edgar, who turned around evaded it as he blocked it with his sword.

The tip of the sword grazed its tail. However, it only?clashed with the Wyrm’s hard scale and only made a sound like it was clanged?against a stone.

The Wyrm must have made sure that Edgar wasn’t able to bring out the power of the sword, so it hunched its body back getting ready to make its next serious strike.

Its two front legs covered with sharp nails approached the air above them.

Together with Lydia, he ran into the stone pillared forest.

The Wyrm’s front legs crashed down a number of the pillars.

When they hid themselves in the shadows of the endless?number of pillars, the Wyrm brought its head up high in order to look for the?two of their sight from high above.

“You keep hiding.”

Edgar was about to go out once more.

“It’s impossible, stop it already.”

“If I defeat that, then you wouldn’t have to break off the rose by your hands anymore, right? Then you won’t have to be put in danger.”

“You would die.”

P. 230

Lydia desperately tried to cling on to his arm.

However, he only turned to look at her and didn’t hesitate in making a smile.

“I want to make the merrow’s sword mine. It would be too arrogant of me to wish to marry you when I nothing to protect you from fairies or magic, right?”

“Don’t be stupid, even if you don’t marry me, that wouldn’t trouble you.”

The Wyrm found them.

It opened its mouth wide and headed straight for their?direction.

Lydia and Edgar bolted out in a run.

However, the stone-pillared forest suddenly ended and a?stone wall blocked their path.

“There’s a cave opening there!”

As soon as they dashed in, the Wyrm’s fangs sank into the?place they were just at.

“If I could just find its weakness,” murmured Edgar as he?checked outside.

She looked out to search the Wyrm’s body, but there were no signs of something like that on it.

Like the Wyrm was trying to crumble down the tunnel that the two of them ran into, it slammed its body against the stone wall and threw?around its tail covered in hard scales to crack the bedrock.

“Is the weakness something that you can see and find?”

P. 231

The quake was so hard and violent that Lydia had to sit down.

“The color of the scale might be a different color.”

Then, she remembered something.

“That’s it, the freya!”

“Eh?”

“The freya that Betty had, was apparently needed in order to awaken that Wyrm. Which means, that it might be somewhere on the Wyrm’s body.”

I see, said Edgar and started to think up of something.

“If it was that red, then it should stand out.”

Inspecting it for the time being, they couldn’t see it?anywhere.

However, it wasn’t going to be that easy to find a red stone the size of a coin from the whole monstrous body of the Wyrm. And its stomach and back was hard to see.

“Now that I recall, I’ve heard that the Wyrm has the tongue of fire. I thought that was because it blew fire out of its mouth, but maybe, the freya might be on its

tongue.”

She just lightly mentioned the possibility, but Edgar gave a deep nod and stood up.

“The tongue, huh... Then, I’ll give it a try.”

“Wait, what are you going to do if that’s wrong. You’ll be eaten in one gulp.”

P. 232

“I’ll believe that you’re right.”

“But-“

He turned to Lydia and took a lock of her hair and kissed it.

“Lydia, I truly do wish to marry you. This is a test for that, so I have to go.”

So to Edgar, this was a test he set for himself.

To Lydia, she didn’t know if him winning?against the Wyrm could be counted as proof of his love. She just thought that it was a man’s logic.

But, Lydia could understand that he was trying to change himself for Lydia’s sake who had an ability?different from humans.

His wish was to be able to use the merrow’s sword so that he wouldn’t take advantage of Lydia’s ability, and truly protect her.

Before she knew it, Lydia had thrown her arms around his neck.

She stood on the tip of her toes and pressed her lips?lightly against his cheek.

As she scrambled to back away from him, she was surprised at herself and turned red in the cheeks, but managed to say,

“.....Don’t die.”

“.....Thanks.”

P. 233

He didn’t make a joke at her or got carried away, and only said that word because, he himself, was extremely surprised.

Edgar exited out of the cave in the wall out into the space where the Wyrm was thrashing around.

The Wyrm who noticed, took precaution as it stopped its?violent behavior.

Oh, no. Is the tongue really the weakness?

She was so scared she couldn’t watch.

Lydia nearly took her eyes completely off, when she noticed something shining near the top of the cave she was in.

She squinted her eyes. It was a faint green color and looked liked some kind of bud of grass.

A plant?

Wait, is that, the rose?

She made a quick glance over towards Edgar. The Wyrm was?standing up, ready to make a strike any second.

If she could tear the rose, then the Wyrm’s magic would be weakened. It’s movements should slow down and that should be of help to Edgar.

When Lydia came to that idea, she raced over towards the stone wall.

She rolled up her skirt and tied it in place and set her?foot on a rock that was sticking out. As she kept on sliding and nearly?falling, she slowly climbed upwards.

She desperately reached her hand out towards the rose bud?that had spread its thin roots out through the cracks of the rocks.

P. 234

This wasn’t the time to care about the spiky thorns, and so just when she was about to reach it, her foot lost its grip and Lydia went rapidly tumbling down.