Silent Witch

The Duchy of Rehnberg is situated in the eastern part of the country. It's a place that was prone to dragon damage but compared to other territories, the amount of dragon damage that appeared there was relatively low.

At most, a few times a year, some herbivorous dragon strays from the herd and wanders into the human village. Ever since Eliane was born, she only heard of stories of a few large dragons appearing in the past.

As far as she is concerned, bears and boars are much more threatening to her than dragons. Since a large beast hardly appeared, this forest had become a perfect place for a stroll. Albeit with a large deer would be coming out occasionally. Generally, a deer could be ferocious in their own way, but since Peter had a hunting rifle, he would be able to drive them away if he encountered one.

Oh, how wonderful it would be if I were to bump into Lord Felix here. He may look a little surprised, but he will soon smile and extend his hand to me, saying, ‘Come here, Eliane.' I will appear confused at first, but when I take his hand… he might pull me in his arms a bit forcefully. Then, while I was embarrassed, he would tell me to hold on tight or I would be in danger, and I would nervously reach for Lord Felix's chest…

As Eliane was entranced by the pleasant fantasy, her horse abruptly stopped.

"Hm? What's the matter?"

"I don't know. The horse suddenly started getting frightened…"

Peter examined the horse, but it didn't seem to be injured anywhere. It was just clearly flustered and scared of something.

Judging that there might be a large beast nearby, Peter held up his hunting rifle just in case.

However, he sensed the forest felt so quiet and didn't hear any distinctive sound of large animals scurrying through the grass.

Then a sudden gust of wind blew and swayed the hem of Eliane's skirt. She felt slightly chilly followed by fading sunlight. Maybe the clouds obstructed the light, so Eliane tilted her head up… and gasped.

"…huh?"

It was not the clouds, but something large circling above the trees was blocking the sunlight. Looking at the sight of the huge silhouette made Eliane's back cold.

"…a dragon."

The first thing that comes to mind when thinking about dragons that are good at flying is wyverns. In terms of size, a wyvern is roughly has the same size as a cow.

But the dragon above her head was about twice that size. Its thick, hard-looking scales were vibrant fresh green in color.

"A Green Dragon… A higher-tier…"

At Eliane's murmur, Peter also looked up. Despite his paleness, he tried to rein in the horse doing his duty as a servant. However, the frightened horse refused to move an inch. On the contrary, it seemed as if it would be rampaging if he provoked it too much.

"Lady Eliane, I think you should get off the horse."

"B-But it would be better if we ride a horse…"

"Horses that encounter a dragon have a high probability of losing control! It will be thrown you off if you ride on it with the saddle sideways!"

Eliane hurriedly let go of the reins, held her skirt, and tried to get off her horse… At the same time, the dragon above her head cried out in a high-pitched roar.

The horse, frightened by the dragon's cry, neighed and lifted its front legs high. When Eliane lost her balance and fell off the horse, Peter pulled Eliane's hand and opened the distance to prevent the horse from kicking her.

At that moment, a particularly strong wind blew. The Green Dragon came hurtling down toward them. As Peter and Eliane hurried to hide behind a tree, the dragon's sharp claws buried into the body of the rampaging horse.

The dragon's claws crushed the horse's body along with its sturdy saddle. Eliane quickly covered her ears and turned away at the sound of the horse's dying cries. Then Peter pulled Eliane's arm strongly.

"We should get out of here."

"H-Hold on. I think we should hide rather than make a careless move…"

And then they saw that the dragon was not devouring the corpse of the horse but was simply chopping and grinding it up as if it was taking out its anger on it. Its behavior was clearly abnormal.

Unlike the lower-tier dragons, the higher-tier dragons were intelligent beings. As such, they would not mindlessly attack humans.

It made Elaine wonder why did that Green Dragon seem to be so violent?

Eliane had an uncomfortable feeling when looking at its behavior.

She saw something shadowy emerging from the green dragon's beautiful fresh green scales. She assumed it was just its silhouette at first, but the shadow was crawling over the green dragon's body like a giant snake. Its appearance was clearly abnormal.

Eliane had never seen a dragon with shadows crawling over its body. But she knew the significance of this because she has heard of it in old stories.

——That shadow was a ‘curse' that eats away at the dragon.

A dragon that carries a curse. In other words, the worst existence among the dragon damage, along with the black dragon… a cursed dragon.

A part of the shadow that had been crawling over the dragon's body emerged like a snake and entangled itself in the corpse of the horse. Then, the whole body of the horse's corpse turned black in a flash. The blackened corpse eventually melted and blended with the snake-like shadow—Eliane intuitively understood. The horse had been "taken in" by the curse.

"Peter… Peter…"

"Hiiiekk… I-It will eat me… I-It will…"

Peter was biting his thumbnail in trembling and pulling his hair with his other hand. He was in a delirious state.

Once the adult who could be relied upon panicked, his fear and confusion became contagious and spread to Eliane.

"No, no, no, no, I wouldn't die here, no! I don't want to die!"

The shadow that took in the horse slipped back into the body of the Green Dragon. The thick neck of the Green Dragon slowly turned its gaze to the tree in which Eliane and Peter were hiding. It had set its sights on its next prey.

I'll be fine, I'll be fine, the trees are dense and narrow around here, so that dragon won't…

However, Eliane's faint hope was crushed by a single swing of the green dragon's wings. After the Green Dragon raised and lowered its thickly coated wings, invisible blades cut down the surrounding trees.

Green Dragons belong to the domain of the wind. Just as a human sorcerer can control the blade of the wind, a Green Dragon can also control mana to manipulate the wind blade at will. This ability is the reason why Green Dragons are considered higher-tier dragons.

"N-No! I-I…"

The black shadow crawling on the Green Dragon's body emerged once again and stretched towards Eliane and Peter. A shadow where its existence alone was the ‘curse'. If you touch it… it would end up like what Eliane had just witnessed.

The Green Dragon let out a deafening cry. It was as if it was mocking Eliane's disgusting behavior.

"N-Noooooo!"

Eliane stood up on shaky legs and was about to flee the scene when the Green Dragon made a swing of its wings. A strong wind forced Eliane's body to stay on the ground. She couldn't escape anymore.

The black shadow crawling over the Green Dragon's body flickered up and aimed at Eliane and Peter. They will be ‘taken in'.

"Eli! …and Mr. Servant!"

Strong arms lifted Eliane's body as if to scoop her up and held her under his arm.

"Are you hurt?!"

Glenn came to Eliane's rescue by flying at a low altitude. He also held Peter by his side in the same manner as Eliane.

Peter on the right and Eliane on the left. No matter how young and strong Glenn may be, he was probably having a very hard time. And Glenn's face was bright red right now.

Nevertheless, holding them tightly so as not to drop them, Glenn flew through the gaps between the trees. He knew that if he flew higher than the trees, he would easily become a target for the Green Dragon, which had a high flying ability.

The Green Dragon flapped its wings and flew up, following Glenn and the others from above the trees before it stretched out a black shadow from its body like a tentacle.

Flight magic was supposed to be as fast as a horse, but Glenn's current flying speed was only slightly faster than running. This was probably because he was carrying Eliane and Peter. Compared to the time when she was held in his arms at the school festival, he was obviously much more unsteady.

Peter shrieked at the shadow that loomed just behind him.

"Aaaaah, it's catching up!"

Just as the shadows were about to touch Peter and Eliane's legs, Glenn roared throatily.

"Not happeniiing!"

Glenn used all his strength to throw Eliane and Peter into a nearby bush, where they tumbled over the mossy ground.

"Kyaa!"

"Aaah!"

Branches and hard leaves from the bushes scratched Eliane's soft skin and tangled in her fluffy hair. It was painful.

I must have a word or two to say about this treatment, thought Eliane as she got up and looked up.

Then she saw… Glenn's legs were entangled in a black shadow after letting Eliane and Peter escape. The shadow crawled up from his ankle and entwined itself around his entire body. His body, which had been lifted by flight magic, fell to the ground with a thud, like a bird shot down by an arrow.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaarrggh!"

A blood-curdling scream poured out of Glenn's mouth. With his body stained with dark spots. Just like the horse before, his body was about to be taken in by the curse. And his face, which was always full of joyful laughter, was now contorted in anguish.

Eliane could only stare at the scene in shivering terror.

No… No… This can't be…

Glenn's body was already half-swallowed by the shadow. His eyes were unfocused and his mouth was leaking a thin voice. But it wasn't a voice of anguish.

——It was a ‘chant'.

"…be… burnt…"

A fireball was formed in the palm of Glenn's hand. When the trembling hand pointed to the Green Dragon in the sky, the fireball shot toward it and accelerated.

There was a deafening explosion and a flash of light that made it impossible to even open her eyes. Eliane forced her painful eyes open and looked at Glenn and saw him lying limp on the ground with about half of his body eroded by the shadows.

The shadow that had been eating away at Glenn slipped back into the green dragon's body, leaving a part of the shadow on his body, then left his body alone.

The Green Dragon survived a direct hit from Glenn's fireball and showed no signs of weakening. The dragon's scales which are very resistant to fire make it difficult for fire spells to damage it.

Perhaps sensing the threat of the fireball, the Green Dragon clad in the curse took one large circle before it flew away.

Peter in exhausted breath muttered, ‘we're alive…?'

Eliane paid no attention to Peter and approached Glenn with trembling legs.

"L-Lord Glenn?"

He did not reply. His body did not move a muscle, but the shadow curse left on his body was crawling around his body.

"No… Please no… Lord Glenn, you're okay, right? Please, wake up, Lord Glenn…"

"Don't touch him!"

With a sharp voice, a tall man with black hair grabbed Eliane by the scruff of the neck as if he were handling a kitten—it was Bartholomew Alexander, the attendant of the Silent Witch.

"Let go of me… Lord Glenn… Lord Glenn, he was protecting us… He's…"

"He's under a curse right now. Touch him and the curse will infect you."

"B-But… if we don't do anything… Lord Glenn will die…hic…hic…"

When Eliane finally began to sob, Bartholomew frowned in annoyance.

He took his hand away from Eliane and crouched down in front of Glenn to observe the shadow eating away at Glenn's entire body.

"A person with a low amount of mana will be eaten immediately by this thing… For a human being, this guy sure posses that a lot… maybe more than my master?"

Bartholomew mumbled and touched the shadow crawling over Glenn's body with his fingertips. The shadow seemed to crawl up Bartholomew's finger, but somehow, it moved as if to avoid the finger.

"Hmm, all right, I think I can handle it."

Bartholomew stood up, carrying Glenn's body roughly on his shoulders, and looked alternately at Eliane and Peter.

"Anyways, let's get back to the safe place. Also, call a curse specialist when you get back to the mansion. This thing is not something amateurs can handle."