"We will also do our best!"
Another dwarf who followed bowed his head deeply.
"When I heard that there was a dragon clan that truly cared for the dwarves, I didn't really believe it... I have greatly misunderstood you, Lord Rune."
It wasn't an act. He was genuinely repentant.
"Truly, I am very sorry!"
Jed and the three dwarves were about to kneel.
As Rune, at a loss for words, just looked at them, Ferdikion nodded.
"Indeed, my brother has a deep heart. The love for one's kin will surely be rewarded. Excellent."
Only then did Rune understand the situation and added a word without saying anything.
"......I'll be counting on you."
"Uoh! Reformist dwarves, let's do our best!"
"The vanguard who has earned the dragon's trust can do anything!"
"Let's go! The best blacksmith dwarves in the continent!"
The dwarves, burning with tremendous enthusiasm, left Christina's lair among themselves.
Deep in the ocean, the abyss.
Amelia was practicing, repeatedly slashing and thrusting with her spear.
The pain that came in waves was almost unbearable at times.
But she didn't collapse in pain as she used to.
Amelia gripped the spear tightly in her hand and waited for the pain to subside.
At the spot where Snowball and the yellow mana stone were.
The black hatchling, Rune, appeared with a white bird.
When Rune's eyes met Amelia's, he made Byakuya go back into the passage.
He was to act as a lookout to alert them if Christina or anyone else came.
The hatchling had already noticed Amelia's condition and took a seat.
The mermaid-like girl smiled faintly and folded her tail to sit down.
"Keep doing the breathing technique I taught you."
Her breathing slowly calmed down. Her breaths became steady.
Small bubbles steadily emerged from her mouth.
Rune absorbed the small fragments of darkness that mixed with Amelia's breath.
Amelia, who finally looked more comfortable, smiled slightly.
"......I, I'm... okay now."
To help her regain her strength as quickly as possible, Rune had been visiting Amelia once a day to train her for over a month.
The pressure of the deep sea was also suitable for Rune to personally train his stamina, so teaching Amelia also served as high-quality training for him.
Before transitioning to free practice, Amelia bowed deeply and said.
Rune, who only nodded in response, listened as Amelia fidgeted with her hands.
"Actually... I was in so much pain and... I couldn't bear it. I wondered if... being born was a mistake. I thought... maybe it was my fault... for being inadequate..."
"I didn't know what to do... I felt so lost... I thought... if I disappeared here, no one would notice."
Seeing Amelia's eyes well up with tears, Rune inwardly sighed.
The thought of whether she deserved to live was a painful one for a young hatchling to bear alone.
"......It must have been hard. Although I can't fully understand your situation... still."
No matter how much he tried to imagine, Rune was still an outsider.
He couldn't bring himself to say the empty words that he understood everything.
Because shallow empathy is no comfort at all.
Rune placed one of his front paws on her aqua hair and gently stroked it.
"You've done well to get this far. You've done enough."
In moments of utter despair and helplessness, even the words "hang in there" can be a burden.
So, if there was something he could say instead of "hang in there," it would be this.
"You're not broken, and you're not a failure. Everyone has moments when they feel they can't even breathe, no matter what they do."
The tears that had been on the verge of spilling over finally dripped into the current.
Rune looked into the girl's shimmering eyes and calmly said,
"......You've done well. You've worked hard."
Amelia, hearing something she hadn't expected, let out a light exclamation.
Rune, instead of answering, gently patted the girl's head with his front paw.
He let Amelia cry for a moment while he thought.
'This is a bit strange. Even if dragons live independently... Christina should know about this, right?'
It wasn't a good story, and it made sense that the young hatchling Rune wasn't told the details.
But to leave Amelia's situation to this extent was unacceptable.
When Amelia wiped her tears, Rune spoke again.
"By the way... are there any other dragons here?"
"Uh, no. They're all... asleep. Because of me... because of the darkness. They... can't open their eyes."
Only then did Rune understand the situation.
Hatchlings are precious, regardless of clan.
Even if a clan is wiped out, other clans would naturally protect any remaining eggs.
But dragons are so individualistic that they don't often interact.
'After the great war, they probably didn't care much about how other clans were doing.'
It was understandable given the nature of dragons.
Rune, in his past life, was a divine beast Imugi who lived alone on a remote island and didn't feel the need to go out.
'Anyway, even if the world changes, the way divine beasts live is similar.'
Amelia, who had been sniffling, looked at him in surprise, but he waved his hand to indicate it was nothing.
'The curse of eternal sleep is a dark power. To solve it, I need to regain my strength from Amelia quickly.'
Amelia looked at him with wide eyes.
Rune, looking straight into her blue eyes, declared,
"Once the darkness is resolved, everyone will wake up. I'll help make that happen."
Despair is terrifying, but even more terrifying is hopelessness, the absence of any hope.
It was admirable that someone who couldn't hope for anything had managed to keep breathing.
"You're really amazing. I promise, anything you wish for will come true in the future."
"Um, I'm right, I think."
Rune chuckled and stretched.
He had planned to continue training, but Amelia's persistent gaze asking how he could be so sure was quite insistent.
"Things started to change the moment you met me, didn't they?"
Swinging his short front paw in the water, Rune smiled calmly.
A child who had been in a state of hopelessness, thinking that their life could end at any moment.
She was choosing her own weapon and training, starting to hope for something again.
It was a clear sign of positive change.
"What are you doing? Today is the day for tail muscle strengthening exercises."
"Ugh... That... really hurts my tail."
Amelia, pouting, smiled awkwardly.
Of course, Rune had no reason to be lenient with her.
He made her sprint at full speed until Byakuya, who was on lookout at the end of the passage, squeaked and ran over.
Responding to Byakuya's signal, Rune immediately returned to Christina's lair and greeted Christina and Kuromi, who had entered the black room.
"Oh my. You were training again today?"
The sight of the black hatchling holding a staff was somehow cute and commendable.
Rune had been going to the black room for hours, saying he didn't want to be disturbed, after getting several good weapons from Ferdikion's lair.
Christina, who knew Rune was a strong-willed child, supported him even though she felt a bit sorry.
Kuromi had been going in and out of the place where the reformist dwarves had settled, telling Rune how they were doing.
'She seems to find the human world more interesting now that she's checking on them.'
There were no dangerous enemies, and if anything happened, Rune could summon her.
There was nothing to worry about.
"Go ahead and chat. I have to check on the bread in the oven, so I'll be right back."
With Rune's response, Christina left.
To make conversation easier, Rune put on the golden bracelet and returned to his human form.
"So, nothing happened over there?"
"Yes! And Uncle Jed asked me to give you this."
Rune received an unknown object from Kuromi.
At first glance, it was a flat, processed mana stone of a size that could fit in his hand.
But if it were just a simple mana stone, there would be no reason for Jed to give it to Rune.
"I don't know! Uncle Jed gave one to Kuromi too! He said we should keep it for a test later!"
On closer inspection, it wasn't a simple mana stone.
It was a magic artifact with intricate magic runes engraved inside the mana stone, invisible to the naked eye.
It was completed by attaching two or more mana stones and embedding the magic runes.
Despite this, it felt like a single object due to its clean finish.
'Something to improve long-distance functionality...'