On my first morning as a Juvenile Dragon, I finally realised how much my body had changed.
“Val, stand there for a moment.”
Lina told me from the other side of the fence, and I stood on my four legs.
She looked up at me and then put her hand on her chest.
"It was lower before."
It seemed so.
Right now, even when I was just standing normally on all four legs, my shoulders came close to Lina's chest. When I raised my head I was higher still, and I was no longer simply looking up at Dario standing nearby the way I had been.
My body length had also clearly increased.
If you measured from the tip of my nose to my torso and from there to my long tail, an adult lying down wouldn't fit. If I opened my wings all the way to the left and right, it took up even more space.
"I can't call you a puppy of a dragon any more."
Dario said.
Who's a puppy?
When I glared,
"That face hasn't changed, though."
he added.
Mind if I hit him?
"Dario, Val can hear you."
"I know, and I'm saying it anyway."
That's even worse.
However, growing up brought some problems with it.
The den I had been using under the rock was too narrow.
It wasn't impossible to fit in, but even with my wings folded I had to curl up, and it was hard to find a place to put my tail.
It seemed it was about time to properly settle the nest I had promised the village chief.
I was also concerned about how much I ate.
It wasn't that I had suddenly become hungrier since yesterday, but if my body kept growing, things would change from when I was living on half a loaf of black bread.
I have no intention of asking the village to feed me.
Even if I had become a protector, there was no sense in me eating up the food of a poor village.
"What about your wings?"
Lina asked.
I tried spreading them a little.
They weren't as heavy as yesterday.
However, there was still some tension from my chest to the base of the wings.
“Do you think you can fly today?”
I thought for a while and then nodded.
It wouldn't be possible for long.
All I had learned from yesterday's first flight was that I could fly. I was still bad at turning and landing, and I didn't even know how much magic I could spend on flying.
"If you're going to fly, don't practise above the village."
Dario said.
I know that.
Crashing into a roof would be no joke.
“Before that, let’s go to the mountain.”
Today's purpose wasn't flight training.
We were going to see whether water could be drawn to the flat area on the mountainside that we had checked yesterday.
From the village came Dario and two men who worked in the fields. Among the eight people who had fled here, one man who was able to move accompanied them.
The tools were a hoe, a hatchet and a rope.
I was empty-handed.
It wasn't that I couldn't carry anything, but it was faster for the humans to choose what they needed than for me to walk the mountain with tools in my mouth.
The way to the mountainside was a little easier to walk than before.
The branches that had been in the way were cleared away, and there was now a gap next to the fallen tree that people could pass through.
It couldn't be called a road yet.
If it rained, there were places that could become slippery, and it would be impossible for a cart to pass.
Still, humans could carry tools on their backs while walking it.
When we arrived at the spring, water was flowing from the cracks in the rocks again today.
"It hasn't decreased."
Dario crouched down.
"We've only seen it for two days."
The man from the fields answered.
"If we're going to count on this, we'll have to watch it for a while."
Of course.
So today they didn't try to do anything with the whole of the flat area.
Only a corner with few trees.
In order to confirm whether water could be brought there from the spring, they decided to dig a shallow trench while studying the terrain.
"It slopes down from here."
“If you go straight, you’ll hit a rock.”
“Then turn it a little.”
The men discussed and decided on a line.
I watched.
Before, I might have put a leg in right away, thinking I could be of some use.
However, my claws as they were now weren't suited to digging narrow grooves.
Because I had become a Juvenile Dragon and my front legs had grown larger, even scratching a little broke up far more soil than intended.
"Val, you can handle this one."
I was called over.
A stone too heavy to shift was half-buried where they wanted the groove to run.
The humans dug out the surrounding soil first.
I put my front leg into the gap they made and pushed it to the side.
The stone moved.
"A little more."
I added force.
The stone rolled away.
“That’s it!”
I stopped.
This was faster than doing everything by brute force.
The humans took care of the details, and I only moved the things that were difficult for humans to move.
A while after starting work, a shallow trench led to the flat area.
"Shall we try it once?"
The man who had been damming the water near the spring with earth broke the dam a little.
A thin stream of water entered the groove.
It flowed as far as halfway.
However, before it reached the flat ground, it overflowed to the side.
"This part's too low."
"Let's block it."
They added soil.
Once again.
This time, the flow stopped somewhere else.
"This part's high."
They shaved it down.
They let it flow again.
It was plain work.
Far more modest than fighting magical beasts.
However, no one was irritated.
If it failed, they fixed it and ran the water again.
After repeating this several times, the thin stream finally reached the edge of the flat ground.
"Here it comes."
The man who had fled here crouched down.
He caught the water in his hand.
"It's not much, but it's enough to try with."
"It hasn't been decided that it'll become a field."
the villager said.
"I know. We'll need to pick out rocks, and there are tree roots."
"Besides, we have to see whether the water comes out steadily."
“It’s still better than nothing.”
I watched the water seep into the soil.
Until yesterday, there had only been a mountain slope here.
No — more precisely, both the spring and the flat ground had been there from the beginning.
They simply hadn't known.
Once it was known, they checked whether it could be used, and the humans put in the work.
That alone changed the scenery a little.
The morning’s work ended there.
On the way home I felt almost no pain in my right hind leg, but that didn't mean it was completely healed. On steep slopes I still protected it without thinking.
When I returned to the village, the discussion about accepting the eight people was still going on.
The villagers were gathered around the village chief.
"Even if we draw the water, it doesn't mean there's more food to eat."
said an older man.
“I know.”
"Eight people. And not just for today."
"I know that too."
The village chief answered without seeming troubled.
"So I'm not going to promise that we can keep them here forever. However, if we send eight people carrying children and injured back over the mountain now, there's a good chance they'll collapse before they get anywhere."
The man who was against it also fell silent.
"For the time being, they'll be allowed to live in the village. In the meantime, we'll check whether there's land they can use. Those who can work will be asked to work, but we don't intend to make the injured push themselves."
"What if we run out of food?"
"When that time comes, we'll all think about it then. What we can't do is pretend, at this point, that it won't come."
It wasn't a clean solution.
Eight more people meant less food.
Running water onto the flat ground didn't mean potatoes would grow there tomorrow.
Even so, it seemed they wouldn't simply drive them out and call it settled.
The man who had fled here bowed his head.
"I'll do what I can."
"Please."
Once that discussion was settled, I headed to the grassland outside the village.
The tension in my wings was lighter than in the morning.
I was only going to try flying a little.
“Are you going to do it again?”
Lina came near the fence.
I nodded.
“Please don’t fall today.”
Treat yourself well.
Just like yesterday, I channelled my magical power into my wings first.
A sensation spreading from the depths of my chest to the left and right.
My body became slightly lighter.
I ran a few steps and beat my wings.
I left the ground.
It wasn't as frightening as yesterday.
However, I didn't rise as high.
I flew low over the grass.
Being careful not to move my wings too strongly, I changed direction little by little with my tail and with the left and right wings.
To the right.
Back.
This time to the left.
I wasn't carried off course as much as yesterday.
"You're getting better!"
I heard Lina's voice.
Only a little.
Still, it didn't feel bad.
Today I decided to go up to a level slightly higher than the roofs of the village, make a wide arc, and then return.
It was on the way.
I saw a small figure on the mountain path to the south.
I narrowed my eyes.
There was only one human.
He carried a large load on his back and held a staff in his hand.
He was walking in this direction.
I noticed him and he noticed me at almost the same time.
The man stopped.
He didn't move, keeping his face turned up.
This was bad.
I went down to the grassland outside the village.
I slowed more than yesterday and touched the ground with my front legs first.
I ran a few steps to kill the momentum.
I didn't scrape my belly.
A little progress.
"Val?"
Dario also turned his attention to the southern road.
"Someone's there."
The man didn't approach for a while.
Of course.
He had been walking towards the village and a dragon had flown right in front of him.
"I wonder if it's someone we know."
Lina said.
One of the villagers squinted.
"With a load like that, isn't he a peddler?"
A peddler.
I pricked up my ears.
After a while, the man started walking cautiously.
The fact that he didn't simply run away meant he apparently had business in this village.
As he got closer, the shape of the luggage became visible.
A number of cloth bags and small boxes were tied to his backpack.
"Stop right there!"
Dario called out.
The man obediently stopped.
"I know! I've got questions of my own!"
A loud voice came back from far away.
"What is that dragon?"
That's a fair question.
Dario looked at me.
“How do you explain it?”
Don’t ask me.
The village chief walked up from behind.
"You can just say he's the protector of the village."
"Will he believe it?"
“There’s no way to hide it.”
That’s true too.
The man who appeared to be a peddler cautiously approached the village chief until he was within earshot.
He kept well away from me.
"He won't attack."
The village chief spoke first.
"Not unless we do something from our side."
“…Really?”
"Really."
The man looked at me.
I looked at the man too.
Our eyes met.
The man took a step back.
Better not to move.
"Do you keep a dragon?"
The village chief’s eyebrows moved.
"We don't keep him."
"Then what is he?"
"That's why I said he's a protector."
The man's face was pure confusion.
I think I would make the same face if I were human.
"Hear the rest in the village."
the village chief said.
"However, don't approach Val without permission. Don't point a weapon at him."
"Val?"
"That's his name."
The man looked at me again.
"It even has a name?"
Eventually the peddler entered the village, keeping as far away from me as he could.
Salt, needles, small knives and cloth came out of the load he carried on his back.
The faces of the villagers changed.
Not because the goods were unusual.
Because they were necessary.
"How much salt do you have?"
"The usual amount. But today…"
The peddler glanced at me.
"Don't stare at him so much."
Dario said.
"Don't ask the impossible!"
There was a little laughter.
I lay down outside the fence.
As I listened to the talk, I learned that the village wasn't living without anything coming in from outside.
They bought the things they couldn't make themselves.
In exchange, it seemed they sometimes handed over what they could — charcoal, or dried goods from the mountain.
I learned that for the first time.
The food the peddler had was just enough for his own journey, not enough to feed eight people.
Still, there was food and there were tools outside the village.
If there was something to trade, there were people who would bring them.
"Hey."
The village chief called out to the peddler.
"Next time you come here, could you bring a little more grain?"
The man did not answer immediately.
"And the money?"
"It won't be money alone, I expect."
"What will you put up?"
"I'll think about that from here."
"Hey."
"I'm asking whether you can do it."
The peddler crossed his arms.
“It depends on the amount. Besides, we can only carry what we can carry.”
“That’s fine.”
"…and."
The man looked at me.
"Will he be here next time too?"
The village chief answered lightly.
"He will be."
The peddler's face tightened.
"You'll get used to it."
Dario said.
“Don’t say it so easily.”
I couldn’t help but snort.
Laughter broke out in the village again.
While listening to that conversation, I remembered the thin stream of water we had drawn on the mountainside.
Make the land usable.
Make food.
Bring the necessary things in from outside.
It seemed there was more than one way for a village to live.
Now that I could fly, I could not only see around the village — I could also be seen by people who had never come to the village before.
The peddler would certainly tell someone when he got back.
There was a dragon in a mountain village.
I can't stop that.
I folded my wings and looked at the humans who had started trading on the other side of the fence.
There’s a dragon in Rue Village.
It seemed that this was starting to become known outside the village as well.
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