Does the mechanical girl dream of the Messiah?

How can you become a hero?

Maybe I’ll be able to be me one day when I become a true hero.

Sure enough, only on the day I am offered as a sacrifice can I achieve the final sacrifice and become the "hero" in my own mind and recognized by everyone.

Only then can I become the real "me".

Maybe... that's the case...

Being able to find myself lost on the shore, being able to become the self that is loved by everyone, being able to become the self that is called a hero, it is like the happiness that only exists in dreams. It should be the extremely happy thing that I long for, but... but why... do I feel sad?

Why do I feel so lonely...?

……

How much time has passed? How long have we been waiting?

As the sky gradually turned from white to black and the wind and snow began to grow stronger, the girl was still waiting for time to pass.

When the snowflakes fell on her shoulders, they did not bring coldness to the girl in her dress.

She had long been accustomed to the cold and the temperature of the wind. The almost self-torturing adventurer course prevented her from shivering and shrinking from the severe cold. It was a graduation gained through self-torture, and it was also the first step to becoming a hero for the girl. It must be a proof of success. However, she still gently hugged her shoulders and grasped her body with her fingertips, as if if she didn't do so, she would be afraid, tremble, and shrink back, shrinking back because of something she didn't even know.

It seemed that if I took a step back, I would fall, from the high platform into the abyss thousands of feet below.

There was no one around, not her father, not the representatives of the four major families, not the spectators who witnessed this moment, only the sword, the silver sword inserted in front of her, showing her responsibility, her obligation, and what she had to do. It must be the trust people had in her, they knew that the girl would become a hero, so they were willing to entrust this stage to her, to the brilliant and dazzling her.

A golden scales hung around her neck, her black gauze skirt was embellished with jewels and silver ornaments, and her black and white hair accessories seemed to have nothing to do with the ceremony. They were just her last preference, like the keys of a piano intertwined on her forehead. From the day she chose this outfit, she had already decided her own ending, didn't she?

If that’s the case, why am I trembling, why can’t I suppress my emotions?

That's what you were looking forward to, isn't it?

"That's right... That's it... Only this way..."

If you do this, everything will end: death, chaos, and sorrow.

The sounds of battle, gunfire, explosions, shouts and the clash of weapons, like the hustle and bustle of the city, faded away from the girl's ears. She seemed to only hear the whistling of the north wind, the roar of the blizzard, and the whispers from the distant north mixed in the north wind. As long as you raise your sword, all of this will disappear, and it will all end. People fight each other because of different ideas, not for themselves, but for themselves. Blood splashes and melts the snow. Monsters wreak havoc in the city. Eyes and blood spread on the walls, mocking smiles, all of which urge the girl to hold the hilt of the sword, raise the sword, bring an end to everything, and draw a period that will never be repeated again.

Obviously I know all this, obviously I hope for all this, I hope to use my own hands to make myself a hero——

Why are my fingertips trembling?

He was shaking so much that he could barely hold the hilt of the sword.

Raise the sword——

But when he raised the sword, he saw the extremely eye-catching color of blood.

——It’s Rose.

The girl's expression was innocent and pure, like a blank sheet of paper.

The girl's voice was filled with joy, with the happiness of a new life, and with emotions that had taken root and sprouted from countless days and nights of anticipation and longing.

——My name is Rose.

The encounter that day is still vivid in my mind, just like Long’s crisp words, which still echo in my ears.

"Colette————!!!"

Ahhh, she was calling herself.

Just like what I expected in my heart...it was calling out to me.

As she called out, Colette's expression broke.

"...!"

The girl heard the call, saw the gem-like scales, saw the blood-red pupils, the lights illuminated the top of the temple, and also illuminated the dragon's face, allowing the girl to see the joy, eagerness, and deep reluctance on her face. She had never thought of such a possibility. When Colette told Long everything about herself, she had never imagined such a possibility. Long knew that no matter whether the ritual was successful or not, the girl named Colette would not be able to survive. She would either be offered to the gods or commit suicide out of guilt and regret, so at least she should have a death without regrets - she should have made such a decision at that time, but, but...

"but why……"

Why did she come here?

Stepping into this place that she should never step into, a place that would only mean a farewell to her forever, a place that would leave her with deep wounds? Her flesh was torn, her scales were shattered, and covered in blood. Even so, she didn't want to let the dress she had specially changed into be damaged. Why did she come here? Why did she do such an unnecessary thing?

"Colette! I'm here to save you!"

Why did you make that expression——why did you say those words?

"don't want……"

"Colette—"

“Don’t come over here…!”

There was no anger, no resentment, only fear and helplessness in Colette's words full of rejection.

Helpless and at a loss, like a child who has done something wrong, panicking and not knowing what to do.

Don't say such words, don't say the words that I expect and that will make me happy - such words are simply unspeakable. Colette could only tremble as she raised her sword and stumbled backwards, as if she could no longer suppress the emotions surging in her body, whether it was fear, worry, expectation, or joy.

“Don’t… come over here… Just leave me alone… Let the ceremony continue, let me sacrifice my life here, and then everyone will be saved…”

"Um……"

The dragon named Rose, however, continued to move forward.

Step by step, getting closer to the irreplaceable person in her heart.

"…I'm here to take you home, Colette."

She is a dragon who can't hide her emotions.

Young, clumsy, without clever words, and not knowing how to express herself better, she only reveals her inner feelings and speaks what she subconsciously wants to say, sometimes cheerful, sometimes frantic, and sometimes... so reassuring. Reassurance, a kind of reassurance that scares Colette. She feels this way about Rose's call. Doesn't that mean she wants to escape, to refuse? Reject what has already been decided, her own destiny, everything she has set for herself?

"But... the ceremony..."

"It's okay if you don't do the ceremony or something like that!"

"..."

"It was clearly the wrong ceremony - it was clearly a ceremony that Colette didn't want to attend."

"That's not... that's not the case..."

——That’s not the case.

Even if it is a strange and unsettling ritual.

I had already decided to do this, to be the final and best sacrifice, to draw the curtain on this brilliant life, and to let myself leave with the best ending. I had obviously decided this long ago.

"I've already decided... to go on alone..."

I had decided that I would leave this world alone, and I would end up killing myself with a sword on an empty altar. I had clearly decided, since I was a child, that I would embark on the journey of death alone, and no matter how lonely or isolated I was, I would go on alone.

“But you called me.”

There was blood on Long's cheek, but it couldn't hide her gentle and pure smile.

"Called my name."

The day when I confessed everything to my only friend and received a response from the young dragon.

The day the girl and the dragon met, she was no longer alone.

"I can always hear Colette's voice. In the warm eggshell, Colette is the only friend who talks to me. When Rose met Colette, she was really happy. Rose knew Colette's loneliness, Colette's loneliness, Colette's confusion, and Colette's fate... So Rose has made up her mind! Rose decided to be with Colette, to be with Colette forever, and never separate."

Forever is not a description of time, but a measure of the heart.

It was decided from that day on that nothing could separate the dragon and the girl from each other. It was an agreement without any promise, but it was an agreement that they both knew about.

"So...Rose doesn't want Colette to show that expression."

Ever since the day the ceremony was decided, a lonely expression has occasionally appeared on his face.

Telling Rose not to care again and again only made the vines of pain spread in her heart. Thinking about it now, it was really an irresponsible joke to think that we would forget each other forever after we separated. Was Rose going to support Colette so much because she wanted to do this? That was not the case. Obviously, neither Rose nor Colette would be happy about this kind of thing. Even if they kept saying that it was no big deal, they would always feel pain and loneliness. They should have understood it earlier, but they had to wait until the girl paladin's guidance to figure it out.

Both Rose and Colette have fallen into a dead end. The result of caring too much about each other is that neither of them can express their true thoughts to each other.

“But…but…!”

The girl was feeling a sense of collapse. She had the tip of the sword against her throat, but she couldn't stab it no matter what. Even though that was what she was expecting, she still hesitated, even though she didn't think she should hesitate.

"But...if I don't do this...I...won't be myself..."

If that were the case, what a sad thing that would be.

I am clearly alive, clearly with my favorite person, and clearly no longer alone, but I am no longer myself, but just an unfinished, fictional puppet. Is this really the ending I want?

"If I can't be a hero...will I...will I still be me...?"

I have been shaped as a hero, and I have lived by dreaming of being a hero. If I cannot take the last step and become a real hero, I will always be a fake thing, incomplete, even ridiculous, and I have never really existed, and I will never really exist in the future. If I become a hero, the world will engrave the real me. What if I cannot become a hero? How pitiful you must be for falling in love with the fake me. How sad you must feel when you recall this memory of being unable to fall in love with the real me - I don't want this, I don't want the fake me to be remembered by others, so I want to become the real me.

I want to be myself, and if I can be myself, it doesn't matter even if I sacrifice my life.

If I could be myself, at least at that moment, the feelings between you and me, those memories, would not be false, right?

"Not at all!"

No, it's not like that.

“…………Eh……?”

There came a warm hug from the shoulder.

The dragon named Rose was hugging the girl named Colette tightly. He gently held her sword-holding hand, slowly lowered her trembling arm, and held her in his arms - it was an extremely familiar temperature, an extremely familiar touch. At the junction of summer and autumn, under the endless blue sky, the newly born dragon was hugging her friend whom she had just met, hugging each other as proof that they were no longer alone.

"Colette is Rose's hero."

If the only way to be yourself is to become a hero—

In fact, without your knowing it, you have already become a hero to others.

Hugging her hero, hugging the girl who called her a hero, Colette's eyes were filled with tears without her knowing when.

She brought the passage of time to the dragon egg immersed in eternal stagnation, became the only friend of the lonely dragon, told her everything about the world, told her everything about herself, those every day that was either interesting or boring, taught her words, taught her stories of heroes, taught her how to sing, taught her the meaning of meeting others, Colette is the hero of the dragon girl, her irreplaceable hero.

"There is no such thing as a saying that you must become a hero to be yourself! There is no need to do this at all, it is troublesome and convoluted! Even if everything about Colette was shaped by others, even if Colette's desire to become a hero was guided by her father, even if Colette was born to be a sacrifice, Colette is real! Colette's burning heart is real, Colette's dreams at night are real, Colette's encounter with me is real, the words Colette confided at that time are real, and Colette's love is also real!"

"The joy of being with Rose was real, the sadness of visiting the graves was real, the uneasiness that surfaced when sleeping at night was real, the alienation from her father was real, the interest in opera was real, the pressure on herself to become an adventurer was real, the enthusiasm to show off her dance was real, the love for trinkets and gorgeous dresses was real, and the adventures with Rose that spanned the scale of space and time were also real - it was not someone else who decided that Colette could become Colette, and made Colette become Colette. It was obviously these, the time Colette and Rose spent together, which was more real than anything else!"

Her self is made up of her experiences, her thoughts, and the love around her, all of which have nothing to do with the false heroic identity she has been given - Colette is just Colette, and will always be Colette.

The Dragon Girl's words, amidst their pure sweetness, carried with them a sense of anger that was not concealed at all.

She was angry, both at herself and at Colette for getting so hung up on this matter.

"...You are the real you, Colette, my favorite Colette."

No matter her surname, identity, destiny, or inevitable ending, even if all of these are put aside, she is still the girl who met the dragon at the end of that midsummer.

That is the unquestionable and unchangeable truth.

"…………Um……"

I have been struggling with a meaningless and ridiculous question.

She should have known this long ago. If she was a false existence, then weren't all the words of love she had said to Long false? The girl could not deny her passionate heartbeat, nor could she deny her surging emotions.

The girl knew only one fact.

"If Colette wants to be everyone's hero, a hero who sacrifices herself to save everyone..."

Long gently lifted the girl's legs, supported her back, and stared at her, gazing at each other with eyes filled with tears, and gazing at themselves in each other's eyes.

"Then let Rose save Colette. Let Rose be Colette's hero!"

To save everyone—

However, I can never abandon you alone because of all those people.

If you want to be on the other side of something different from everyone else, please allow me to extend my hand.

Reach out your hand and pull you back from the other side.

Is that a vow or a promise?

Neither the girl nor the dragon could tell the weight of those words.

All the girl knew was that she was redeemed.

……

"Don't even think about succeeding! You bunch of traitors!"

Roaring and roaring, anger filled Sandria's mind, making him seem to return to his youth, back to the days of fighting on the battlefield, but he did not regain the upper hand. The wounds left by the battle with the dragon greatly interfered with his condition. He had extraordinary powers, but his essence was still human, not extraordinary beings like Lunicia, Ashetherin or Rose. His wounds would not heal in the blink of an eye, broken limbs would not regenerate automatically, and he would still die if his internal organs were hollowed out.