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claire-starsword · 6 months

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Bloodline of the Sacred Dragons - Chapter 2-3 & 2-4

"You're Gong's pupil!?"

Bleu freaked out when Karna introduced herself. Because he thought his huge Master Monk ally from the Shining Force and that dainty girl made a weird combination.

"It shouldn't be that shocking…" Karna pouted, her cheeks glowing by the bonfire's light. Her hair, silver with a rosy tint and in a tall updo, looked like it had an orange glow to it when against the night scenery.

"Also, I'm not officially his pupil yet. That's why I'm chasing after a master as great as him, I want to be accepted properly."

She put her chartreuse shawl back on, and hugged her knees within her white robe with golden embroidery.

"Gong never stays in a place for long. Looking for him must be tough."

Bleu gave a wry smile as he reminisced of Gong, who always had a serious look on his face as he walked in silence. He was a strange man, who preferred to be under the stars than having a roof over his head.

"Yeah. I had a loooot of trouble to find out he's in Manarina. And after aaall that… I did hear that the mages there use monsters to protect their country, but I didn't think they'd be this bad."

"That's not it," Krin rebuffed loudly from the other side of the fire. Cerberus, laying down on the ground, perked her ears at the sudden shout of her master. Both of her heads stared at Krin with worry.

"We're a whole day away from reaching Manarina. Who knows how many monsters you'd need to protect a radius that wide. They wouldn't do something so absurd no matter what. Or attack people without mercy like that. And most of all, Manarina has no reason to be on lockdown…"

She cut herself off.

"Or there might be one now," Karin completed her sister's dark thoughts.

"But, I never saw a fog-like monster like that at Manarina. There's no summoning magic capable of bringing something like that."

"Indeed. Those demons are Dark Smokes, malice given shape," Camallia told them after being silent so far.

"If you know them, does that mean they're from Parmecia?" Bleu asked, and she nodded.

"Clearly, something has come to this land of Rune."

Camallia narrowed her emerald green eyes, as if thinking of something.

"We'll be fine as long as nothing has happened to Manarina. Let's set out as early as possible tomorrow."

By Bleu's suggestion, they all went to sleep.

Save for Bleu and Karin who stood doing watch, everyone wrapped themselves on their traveling cloaks and laid down. It was a warm night. With the thick cloaks and bonfire, the night air didn't help the girls cool down one bit.

The firewood cracked occasionally, making Cerberus' ears twitch. Save for those noises, the night went on silently.

"Karin…" Bleu whispered, turning to the girl at the other side of the fire, who had her back turned to him. They had been staring in opposite directions to watch over the whole area. The others slept quietly next to them.

"Karin…" he whispered again. No answer.

"Why are you angry?"

"I'm not angry," she replied this time. "I might be looking like it because I'm sleepy. Once the moon rises a bit more, I'll let Camallia take my place."

She still had her back turned on him as she answered, but, as if suddenly thinking of something, she looked at him.

"Never mind that, are you okay without sleeping?"

"Haha, that's because I'm different from you all. It's no problem for me," he laughed.

"Yeah… Of course. You're different from us. You're a Sacred Dragon. Sorry, I'm tired so I'll switch with Camallia now."

She went to wake up Camallia without giving him time to reply. With drowsy eyes now opened, Camallia nodded in understanding without saying anything. Karin wrapped herself in the cloak next to her and curled into sleeping position, her conversation with Bleu ending there.

The embers reflected in Bleu's eyes danced weakly to the wind.

The following dawn came. The group hurried to Manarina, with Karna having joined them.

Karna had said that, with a Sacred Dragon by her side, she could surely get to Manarina safe and sound. Bleu allowed her to come along. He only meant to protect her until they arrived. He and Karin had no clue just how deeply grateful and interested in them she had become.

Bleu went flying to survey the way ahead. With his wings spread out horizontally, and his head and tail stretched out, he looked like a beautiful cross.

The group crossed the desert region surrounding Manarina. Krin had done just fine by being smart and riding on Cerberus' back, but Karna dragged things out quite literally by getting her legs stuck in the sand.

Though it wasn't just her; Karin and Camallia also struggled for having never traveled through a desert before.

At last, they could see the walls surrounding Manarina. It was a beautiful construction, covered entirely in reliefs of geometrical patterns. Spells and magic stones were placed in strategic points. This magical wall powered a strong barrier that protected the town.

Once they arrived, the group went straight to Otrant's mansion, taking no time to rest.

Within the walls were a bunch of houses of many different shapes crammed together. It looked like an architectural exhibition. Otrant's mansion was in the very center of that agglomeration.

The mage who welcomed them only wanted to let the Sacred Dragon and Krin inside, but Bleu rejected that.

"These girls have information that needs to be discussed with the Great Wizard Otrant."

His words carried weight as a Sacred Dragon, so the mage with a dull green beard reluctantly let them all inside.

They all entered the majestic place, with even Karna coming in last, seizing the opportunity as no one would stop her. She threw a mischievous and smug grin at the stern bearded mage at the doorway, then quickly got inside.

The mage made a displeased face, and closed the door without a sound.

Surrounded by many silent mages, the greatest wizard of Manarina was laying down on a bed.

"I'm sorry, Sir Bleu," was the first thing Otrant said.

"What happened?" Bleu asked, "I did not hear that an illness had befallen you."

"No, it is no illness. It is shameful, but I fell to a monster attack the other day. Please forgive me for the discourtesy of receiving you in bed. No, more important than that, forgive me for letting the Manual be stolen."

"What did you…"

Surprised, Camallia approached the great wizard. The feelings that had spurned her on were written in her creased eyebrows.

"Tyrin, I told you to not let anyone uninvolved come in…"

Noticing the girls behind Bleu, Otrant questioned the stern mage from before.

Vexed, the mage named Tyrin apologized. Bleu hastily intervened for him. Though it was late to do it, he introduced Camallia and the other girls.

"So, you say you came from a distant continent to Rune, seeking the Manual?"

Camallia nodded at Otrant.

"Yet, the Manual can be a great danger depending on who possesses it. We intended to get Sir Bleu's approval here to seal it forever."

"Certainly, the Manual should not be used for the resurrection of things such as the Demon King Darksol, and the Dark Dragon that received his soul. We must avoid this. However, in my land to the north, the Manual is urgently needed. The Sacred Dragons who protect the power of the earth need its power. Should they fall, the uncontrolled earth will run wild, and bring meaningless destruction."

"There is no destruction with meaning anywhere in this world… Also, could you explain what is this 'Power of the Earth'?"

"It is power within the earth. Used well, it brings great blessings to the people, but used by evil, it will tear the earth apart and swallow everything. It is clear that evil creatures who desire this power have come to this land. The ship that brought me here was assaulted, and monsters of Parmecia attacked us on our way here as well, likely trying to delay us."

"Monsters attacked your party and stole the Manual. It might have been the same group, or they might be allies. From a distant, foreign land…"

Otrant's face contorted with growing anxiety.

"Then, wouldn't all of this be the work of people trying to revive Dark Dragon?"

Tyrin spoke from the row of mages gathered in the room. The others chided him for speaking without being asked.

"The monsters went from Rindo to Shade Abbey. If they wished to revive Dark Dragon, they would head straight to the Gate of the Ancients to the south. They seem to be heading to the opposite direction. If their aim is a continent to the north, they must get a ship. But our forces extend to both Rindo and the western bay. Given that, there's only one place where they could get a ship."

"Uranbatol, or perhaps Waral," Krin answered Otrant, "that's where they're headed."

"Camallia, can't you pinpoint the Manual's location again?" Bleu requested, remembering what she had done back at Rudo Village.

"No, it's impossible here. It seems to be because of the barrier, so unless I leave the town for a moment…" Looking a bit scared, she touched her circlet's jewel.

"So, chasing after them will be a bit complicated…"

Bleu mumbled to himself. Karin immediately complained.

"Don't tell me you want to chase after them. That's impossible, you won't reach them in time."

"But we can't just stay still here, can we?"

"Those devils should be past Shade Abbey already. It's too late, there's no way we would catch up to them."

"If I fly, I can definitely catch up to them as they enter the Pao Plains. Besides, I shouldn't take you all to something this dangerous anyway. I'm going, by myself," Bleu told her like she was an unruly child. Perhaps looking at her like that was an excuse to justify his idea.

"There's no point in going alone, what do you think you can do by yourself?" Watching Karin raise her voice, Krin and Karna frantically got between the two.

"Sir Bleu, Lady Karin is correct," Camallia stated plainly, supporting Karin. "The Manual is not something that belongs to you only."

At a loss for words, Bleu stared blankly at the two girls, moving his head to one and the other multiple times.

The one who lent him an unexpected helping hand was none other than Otrant.

"The Manual has been under the Sacred Dragons' control for a long time. The responsibility and rights to it now fall upon Sir Bleu as one of them. He was destined to be part of the Shining Force since the beginning, just as the hero Max and the robot Adam. Protecting the Manual is his duty as Sacred Dragon. We have no right to intervene."

"But we shouldn't put up with a right that forces one to do the impossible, or throw reason away," Karin argued head on with Otrant. Brushing away Krin, who tried to keep her quiet, she took a step forward. Krin was stuck in a big dilemma, her sister's unyielding spirit being a terrible headache at the moment.

"Then, it would be great to have a possible, reasonable, well planned pursuit."

Surprising everyone in the room, Tyrin spoke. The other mages all scorned at his impertinence. Otrant quelled their ire, and let him continue.

"A dwarf acquaintance of mine knows a way through the northern mountains. Crossing that path and going through the Pao Plains, how about we enlist the mercenaries at the Pao Train to ambush the devils? A safe, necessary strategy."

Otrant showed interest in Tyrin's suggestion.

"It is not a bad idea. Around this time of the year, the Pao Train should be staying at the west. It things go well, we might be able to surround them with the pursuing party we sent earlier, or with the soldiers of Bustoke. But, this quick path over the mountains that you speak of, does it really exist?"

"It is not over them. The dwarf path goes through the mountains. In either case, we cannot send a force bigger than this one from here. It would take too much time to ask Shade Abbey or Bustoke for reinforcements. I believe relying on the people of Pao is the wise thing to do."

"True. Do you agree? Sacred Dragon Bleu, and, Karin of Rudo Village."

If they could depart right away, Bleu had no objection to it. He could decide between heading to Pao or taking a detour to Bustoke depending on how things went.

Karin reluctantly agreed with the plan as well. There was no reason to continue to be stubborn there. At least she could stop Bleu from running ahead and obsessing over the Manual so much. She held the edge of his wing like she would never let go.

She had made it clear that she would be coming along, and Bleu didn't want to fight on that there. On the contrary, without freeing himself from her grip, he opened his wing slightly in her direction.

"Then, I leave to you, Tyrin, the choice of who will go along Sir Bleu. I will prepare you provisions and a proof of your identity to Queen Koron. As a representative of Manarina, go with Sir Bleu until the Manual's fate is decided."

Tyrin bowed in reverence to Otrant.

"Sir Bleu, is it fine for you to take Tyrin along?"

Bleu nodded slightly when asked. No reason to refuse it then and there as well.

"Should you successfully reach the monsters, retrieving the Manual takes priority to defeating them. Once the Manual is recovered, you decide what should be done with it. We can lend our power to seal it back in Dragonia, or you might destroy it immediately, do as you wish."

"What did you… Destroy it, that's…"

Bleu looked shocked at the bedridden great wizard. Everyone else did as much. Camallia remained quiet.

"Should it fall on evil hands once more, unsealed, there will be no choice but destroying it. I believe only you can do it. Should the time come, if you may, do not hesitate," Otrant said severely, and then took a deep, tired breath. Just talking seemed to have exhausted the great wizard significantly. Pretty much everything had already been discussed. All that remained was to decide what to do. Prompted by the mages, Bleu and his group left Otrant's mansion.

"Well, shall we go then?"

Tyrin, who had left with them, did a light stretch. He must have been holding it back to keep a proper stance in front of Otrant. And there was someone else who had been patiently holding back on speaking all this time.

"They finally let us go. That kind of uptight place isn't my thing."

Karna took an exaggerated deep breath, then abruptly called Tyrin.

"Old man, old man."

"Hey, hey, who are you calling an old man. I'm still young, I'd rather you don't treat me like an elder. You seem to have elf blood as well, you could be quite old," Tyrin threw back at her, looking terribly upset. Though to Karin, who was in her twenties, he really looked like the perfect image of an old man and nothing else.

"But I'm just about to be seventeen…"

Hearing that, Tyrin was speechless. To a long lived elf, that was basically a baby.

He sighed, and Karin and Krin laughed awkwardly at that. Though Bleu and Camallia didn't make a sound, their lips quivered as well.

"So, I just wanted to ask you something, do you know a monk called Gong?"

Karna brought up her main question, unconcerned for the mental damage she had just inflicted on him.

"A monk? I do have the feeling I've seen one around," Tyrin answered, scratching his beard as he recalled a faint memory. Karna's face brightened up at the answer.

"Where where where, wheeere is he?"

"In the place we're going now," Tyrin jumped away in a panic from the girl who had grabbed him with plenty of strength.

"And where are you taking us?" Krin asked, pushing him away with her arms as he came flying at her all of a sudden.

"I believe you know that better than anyone. Come, let's not waste time."

He winked at her, and hurried off.

To next part>

Translation notes:

Karna has a quirk of dragging out her vowels a lot, mostly when she's complaining, but also when excited as well. I did include it in the translation as much as I could where it didn't look weird, but it's even more notable in the og text, where it's also more consistently at the very end of her sentences. Also, this is a novel only quirk, she doesn't speak like that in the game. She does sound pretty different in the JP version compared to the localization though, so I've retranslated all her scenes for your convenience if you want to compare all portrayals of her.

Lots of color descriptions confuse me in this book, such as Karna's hair being "silver with rosy tint" and Tyrin's beard being "dull green" (though i can kinda buy this one a little more). It's worth mentioning that, in the afterword, the author mentions playing the games by borrowing as he did not have a Mega Drive. So I'm unsure how much reference he had to work with. Also, Karna does have pink hair in the overworld due to palette limitations.

The monsters are usually called 魔物 (mamono), a word that can also translate as demon/devil (though slightly different from the one used for the demon kings, 悪魔 (akuma)). Since they seem tied to the devil kings anyway, I've been using all possible translations to not make the text repetitive.

The monster types are usually presented with kanji describing them at first, and furigana giving the english name they have in game. For example, the Dark Smokes were presented last chapter as "fog-like monsters" in kanji, and "Dark Smoke" in furigana. After that the text just referred to them as Dark Smokes. But since it's revealed here that no one except Camallia recognized them, I avoided using the name in the previous part. It felt weird to add narration clarifying the name there only to have this conversation here later.

Max is not referred by name here, Otrant simply calls him "the hero". That flows very weirdly though, especially next to Adam's name, so I added it in. I find it a bit weird to pretend these heroes don't have canon names.

Adam is referred to by his promoted class name, 機神 (kishin), something like "mechanical god". I put it as robot only to not stand out too much people who only know the english version (I refuse to call him a cyborg though, that's just wrong).

As I said before, Max is referred to as "hero", which is also his promoted class, but I can nerd out a bit more about it. The exact word used is 勇者 (yuusha), which means "hero", "brave person", and to my knowledge is the most common word for jrpg heroes in general, so of course it is the word for the class in Shining games... except the first one! There were quite a few changes in japanese class names after the first game that went unnoticed in the english version due it adapting them as the same. In the first game, the hero class is 英雄 (eiyuu), which to my knowledge puts more emphasis on the person's deeds, as in "someone who has gone down in history". Since the character are still in the middle of their great adventure when they promote, this might be why they changed it, but that's just my speculation. Either way, Max would show up in another game eventually (Final Conflict), so he does get the 勇者 class like everyone else there. None of this has any bearing in this novel but now you know.

For all his protests about not being an old man, Tyrin uses the わし (washi) pronoun, associated with old men. This is different from the game, where he uses the more regular and formal watashi.

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