The Encounter Between the Forsaken Healing Magic’s Beloved Child and the Betrayed Black Dragon Princess of Calamity - 13

Chapter 13: Revenge on the Foolish Dragon

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“We… We were wrong! We jumped to the wrong conclusion…! Please… Please forgive our sins!”

The gray dragon cried. His tears flowed like a river as he begged for mercy. The initial bravado had long since disappeared. The dragon was begging for forgiveness from Mercedes-san desperately. 

“You call yourself the proud soldier of the Dragroar Kingdom with this pathetic attitude? The dragonkin race is supposed to be strong. We’re resilient to pain. Who would’ve thought you’d be this weak to pain…”

Mercedes-san sighed and shook her head. Her words were a bit harsh, but I also thought his reaction was a bit exaggerated too considering Mercedes-san only broke the bone in his fingers. This kind of thing used to be a daily routine for me back in the imperial palace after all. 

“But well, I won’t forgive you nonetheless.”

Crack! Snap! Crunch!

“GYAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH?!??!”

Mercedes-san took the gray dragon’s left hand and crushed it mercilessly, just like what those men had done to me. 

“You’re so noisy… Shut up.” 

“Hi—!?!”

The gray dragon tried to hold back a scream, enduring it with great effort as Mercedes-san’s voice sent a chill through his spine. Tears, snot, and saliva spilled from their face copiously. He looked both disgusting and grotesque. 

“I could tear you apart right now… I could reduce you to ashes too, but I suppose I mustn’t do that…”

Mercedes-san placed a hand on her chin, seemingly in deep thought. It looked like she had some kind of plan, but…

“…Hey.”

“Y-Yes!”

“I will give you a task to do… Oh, don’t misunderstand. I just want you to deliver a message for me.”

“A-A message…?”

Thinking that no more harm would befall them for now, the gray dragon’s face loosened in relief. There was no trace of the haughtiness that I had seen when they were breaking my finger. Any hint of dignity or pride as a dragon had completely vanished. 

“Yes.. Tell that man, Klaus… That Mercedes Drake Fafnir will come to challenge Klaus Drache Lindwurm for the Royal Selection.”

“Huh?”

“Didn’t you hear me?”

“I-I did! I-I will definitely convey this message to His Majesty Klaus!”

The gray dragon stood rigidly, nodding repeatedly.

“Alright. I will let you go now.”

With a firm push to its back, Mercedes-san removed her hand from the gray dragon’s neck. Finally freed, the gray dragon quickly distanced himself from Mercedes-san. But then…

“-?! HIIIEEE?!?!”

A black magic circle appeared in front of Mercedes-san’s mouth and a massive jet-black beam of lightning shot past the gray dragon’s side.

“Make sure you don’t take any detours, understand? I’m always watching your back. Don’t you ever forget that.”

Frantic, the gray dragon nodded repeatedly before flying back to the mountain at the center of the Dark Forest, the Duflussweise Mountain. 

“Good riddance. How pathetic.”

Mercedes-san murmured in exasperation. She then descended in front of me and shifted to her human form. Mercedes-san smiled triumphantly at me.

“Mercedes-san!”

“Do you understand now, Gilbert-kun? The real me is this strong. Small fry like them can’t-?!”

But before Mercedes-san could finish her sentence, I was already running forward and hugged her. 

“I’m so glad… I’m so glad you’re safe…”

“Fufu… Thank you.”

Mercedes-san hugged me back and gently patted my head.

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“…Those gray dragons are soldiers of the Dragroar Kingdom.”

After that, Mercedes-san told me a lot of things. She told me the reason why she was being targeted by the soldiers from the Dragroar Kingdom. She explained why she had been covered in wounds when we first met. She told me what had happened to her.

“Unforgivable…”

By the time Mercedes-san finished telling me her story, I was clenching my fists in anger. This was the same hatred when Madam Polke broke my mother’s brooch… No. I was even angrier now. 

“Thank you for being angry for my sake, but thanks to your healing magic, I’ve fully recovered. The poison from Klaus has disappeared from my body.”

“Ah… Ye-Yes…”

Mercedes-san said while grabbing my arms. Her face melted into a warm smile. However, I still couldn’t believe her. After all, my healing magic could only heal minor injuries at most. I wondered if my healing magic was truly the one that had helped Mercedes-san. 

“Just so you know, breaking a finger is a very serious injury. That’s common sense in this world. From what I’ve heard about you so far, it seems you have a skewed standard for injuries.”

“Yo-You think so…?”

So something I thought was normal might be different for others… And especially for dragons? When Mercedes-san had been fighting the gray dragons earlier, she had mentioned the dragonkin was supposed to be resilient to pain. However, that gray dragon was shrieking like a maniac just from having his fingers broken…

“That’s right. Dragonkin is the strongest race in the world, but that guy was yelling that much when I broke his fingers a bit… That’s why, I can’t forgive them.”

Mercedes-san said with a silent anger brewing in her expression. The reason why she couldn’t forgive them was surely because she was thinking of me. Hence…

“Thank you, Mercedes-san. I’m so glad I got to meet you…”

I gripped her hands back. Her hands were slender and soft, unlike my calloused and dirty hands. I bowed my head repeatedly in gratitude to her. Tears were streaming down my face. I couldn’t hold the tears in anymore, but that was okay. Because… These weren’t tears of sorrow. These tears came from a place of pure happiness.

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