The Black Dragon's scales were a real pain.
They greedily swallowed up Urus's flames and shock as if they were a beggar who hadn't eaten in days.
But,
"Damn it, stop eating so much."
All I had to do was feed it until it was satisfied.
"...Hey, I think the feeling in my arm is disappearing?"
[...The transformation into a spirit has begun.]
"I'm not going to die, right?"
[You're just becoming a spirit.]
"Then that's fine."
The sensation at the tip of my right arm began to fade.
But it still moved just fine, and I could feel my body's condition gradually improving.
"Let's burn it all up."
On the third day since Bellf Crozzo had holed himself up in the forge,
Orario was currently peaceful with nothing happening—
"Why is it this expensive?!"
"Because everyone fled when the Black Dragon showed up!!!"
Peace my ass. Everything was a mess because of the Black Dragon.
The Familias wanted supplies for the coming battle with the Black Dragon.
But the merchants weren't idiots willing to throw their lives away, so they had left Orario.
"..."
And then,
Aiz kicked open Bellf's forge door.
The reason was simple.
He wasn't coming out,
and since she had personally been asked, "It'll take about... one or two days? If I don't come out, force me out," she had personally broken the door down, and—
"Ah..."
she found Bellf with his arm gone.
"..."
"U-um... I'll explain the situation, so could you put down that black sword?"
"So it really is... If I don't lock you up..."
"Ah..."
To explain the situation, let's look at what had happened on the second day after Bellf had shut himself up in the forge.
"...Did it work?"
Bellf had succeeded in reforging a sword made by Crozzo into a new holy sword.
However,
his arm had completely turned into a spirit.
"What do I do about this?"
[For now... let's learn how to control it first.]
So, until he could create an arm with the power of a spirit, he tried all sorts of things, and—
"Thanks to that, three days passed."
"...Can't you use your arm?"
"I can, more or less. It just looks like this."
His two arms, similar to human arms but burning, were extremely unnatural.
[Given the situation... I'll be your arm for now.]
"...Isn't that a loss of power?"
[If I went all out openly, the adventurers would be reduced to ashes instead.]
"...What's the situation?"
"Peaceful."
So that was it?
People unite when they have a common enemy.
Orario now had a common enemy called the Black Dragon, so even the proudest people would have no choice but to cooperate.
"It hasn't come yet, right?"
"Yeah."
"Then let's prepare as much as we can."