She Becomes The Hero In Another World 122 She Brings About A Resolution

"Your Highness!" One of them called out, worried.

But, Jasmine frowned. When the smoke cleared away, she sighed.

"I had hoped there was just a smidgen of humanity left in you. But....as expected. There isn't a single wound. You've fully become a monster, huh..."

Prince Wilbur stood there, his signature smile still on his face.

"Surprised? The royal family is invincible against magic attacks."

"If that is so, what happened to your parents?" Jasmine asked. "You say 'Royal Family' this, and 'Royal Family' that. But I have been throughout the entire castle and have seen no signs of them."

At her words, Prince Wilbur frowned. "My parents are...huh? Where are my parents?" He looked around, confused.

"They went away on a trip." Jasmine spoke. "A trip to a neighboring country. There was a royal wedding, and they were invited."

"That's right! But that was a long time ago when I was a child. They didn't let me go with them because I was too young." Prince Wilbur entered a strange frame of mind as he seemed to shrink down from his adult shape to his child shape before their eyes.

"What happened next?" The child Wilbur asked curiously.

"While the king and queen were away, you played with your new pet, a dragon hatchling." Jasmine spoke slowly.

"It was a windy day. The sun was shining, and the big puffy clouds were so inviting that you skipped out on your lessons and decided to play outside." Jasmine continued.

"It was a beautiful day." Wilbur nodded.

"It truly was a beautiful day." Jasmine nodded. "Until the neighboring kingdom attacked during the king's absence. Arrows flew, magic explosions racked the castle walls. Many soldiers died that day, protecting the castle where they thought the prince was."

"No! Don't! I'm not-don't come near me! Stay away!" Wilbur began to see things play out in his head. His eyes darted about him, as he saw the horrifying scenes of war.

"And that's when it happened. A stray magic exploded nearby, fatally injuring you." Jasmine said. Prince Wilbur clutched at his side, falling down to the ground.

"There was no one around but your pet, the newly bought dragon hatchling, wearing the black collar. Its scales hadn't changed color yet. It was completely white."

"That's right. He licked my face." Wilbur recalled.

"Do you remember what you told that hatchling?" Jasmine asked.

"'I don't want to die. Don't let me die.'" Wilbur said, as if in a trance.

"Indeed. Words spoken out of fear, but those very words caused an irreparable pain to that hatchling." Jasmine sighed. "The collar it wore was a slave collar: a slave collar that forced that tiny hatchling to obey its master. Even before it was grown, it was forced to forego all other routes and to create a means so that you wouldn't die. It was that day that a new creature was discovered: a new ingredient that made it possible to create the super potion." Jasmine explained. "That hatchling used all of its power, and fell into a deep sleep. When it awoke, its scales had turned black, never more to gain its color as a member of the fire dragons."

"No, I didn't mean it!" Prince Wilbur cried. "I didn't know!"

Jasmine mercilessly continued. "And your parents? There was a rebellion in that neighboring kingdom, and a.s.sa.s.sins killed everyone at the wedding with a deadly poison.They never returned."

"No! Who told you this!?" Wilbur frowned. "Why do you remember the things I don't!?"

"Don't you remember? The small leather notebook you wrote everything in. The hiding place you placed it in. After you hid it last, how many fights have you gotten into? How many super potions have you consumed?" Jasmine asked.

"Huh?" Wilbur frowned, his hands going up to his head. "How many?"

"Those super potions had one crucial ingredient to them, the creature birthed by a hatchling's first magic. A glowing bright blue caterpillar." Jasmine prompted.

"How long has it been since you were able to use magic, Prince? How long has it been since you were able to change form?" Jasmine asked.

"How long has it been...since you lost the last shred of humanity?"

The prince suddenly started shrieking. With the shock, a crack broke in the Prince's face. More cracks opened up, all along his skin. His flesh squirmed as it seemed to separate into long, flesh-colored strips. Maintaining the prince's general shape, it was apparent that the prince was made up of many caterpillars. It was a gruesome, nightmarish sight.

Jasmine glanced at all the guards around her. They too began shrieking, as they dropped their weapons and also transformed into caterpillar swarms shaped like humans.

Then she sighed. There really was no such thing as a super potion. Each healing took place at the cost of a bit of the person's humanity. There was no living person left in the entire city: it was only a remnant of the past.

"General! You have my permission! Use your flame breath! Eradicate them!" The Wilbur swarm ordered.

But the flame breath did not come.

"What are you waiting for! Destroy them! Why should they be human while I am not! I can't stand these who have seen the pitiful existence I've become. Destroy them!"

But all was silent behind the Wilbur Swarm.

"What is the meaning of this!?" The swarm turned about, to witness the dragon silently staring at the prince.

"I told you to destroy them!" The Wilbur swarm ordered.

The dragon sighed, then lifted Robin up onto the roof.

"I ask of you, please help me put him to rest." the dragon asked Robin. "I cannot bear to."

Then he turned his back, and shrunk back down into his human form of Sir Drago. But this time, he was not wearing the obsidian armor. His robes were white, and there was no black collar around his throat. a single white scale gleamed upon his neck. He stood there, his back turned to the prince

"Where is your slave collar! You, human! How did you free him!?" The Wilbur swarm addressed Robin.

Robin glanced at a certain appendage resting on the ground next to Sir Drago. Jasmine's words came back to mind. 'Dragons can regrow their tails.'

Robin opened up the storage bracer, and spoke. "You can come out now. All of you."

It seemed that webs spurted out from the bracer, spreading in the air out into a huge dome which surrounded all the people on the roof. Layer upon layer were quickly formed until they were completely surrounded by a solid clear wall.

"What is this?" The Wilbur swarm asked. A guard swarm poked a spear through the clear wall. Robin took this chance to grab Jasmine and hurriedly retreat through the liquid, walking to the other side.

"It's a bluff! They're just trying to stall us! After them!" The Wilbur swarm ordered.

"There's no resistance! We can just walk through it!" The guard swarms did not hesitate as they plunged into the liquid wall.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!"

The swarms were separated from one another and swiftly dissolved into nothing. As only a few guard swarms had stayed behind to guard the Wilbur swarm, the majority of the guards were gone.

"What is this? What have you done with my guards!? How come you are fine!?" The Wilbur swarm asked, apprehensive.

"King Slimes, the evolved form of web slimes, don't eat the living aside from one type of creature." Robin said. "They eat parasites. As your species is an invasive one born of magic that is not your own, you are considered to be magic parasites."

"What! King Slimes!" The Wilbur swarm shrieked. "But, if that is so, why was no one able to get out? Doesn't the slime stop capturing once it starts digesting?"

Did I say this dome was made of only one King Slime?" Robin asked. The King Slime had known other King Slimes. Robin had employed their help in order to possibly help remove the parasites from the citizens before it was too late. But, she had no idea that in the entire city of paradise, not a single human remained aside from her company.

This was also what had interfered with Chelsea's ability to peer into the future. Seeing required a single target. Yet, all of these 'people' were actually swarms.

The dome began to shrink in upon itself.

"Wait, we can talk this out!" the Wilbur swarm began to panic. "I'll let you go free, if you don't kill me!"

"You've been using someone else's form and someone else's stolen memories for a while now." Robin said. "Prince Wilbur has long since died. It is time to lay his bones to rest."

"I'll change! I won't be the prince anymore!" the caterpillars moved around, agitated, a.s.suming a different face. "See? I'll throw out his memories!"

"Is that one of the 'wives' you devoured?" Jasmine asked, stepping back a bit in disgust. "It doesn't matter whose memory you use, they are all stolen."

One of the guards shrieked as it was engulfed by the wall.

"P-please! I beg of you!" the Swarm pleaded.

"When you devoured those people, and they asked you the same thing, what did you do?" Jasmine asked.

The other guard shrieked as it was engulfed and consumed, leaving the prince swarm alone by itself.

"I-I-I." The swarm shrunk in upon itself. But it was no use. Soon enough the wall captured the prince swarm.

"I don't want to die!" that shriek tore through the air, making Sir Drago flinch with a pained look upon his face. And then...Wilbur was gone.