With fewer people going into the mountains, mornings in Rue Village had become a little more inconvenient.
Because the place for gathering firewood had been changed, it took a longer detour than usual. The flat ground on the mountainside was left untouched, and the trenches that had drawn the water had not been repaired.
Even so, the village chief did not put the work back.
We didn't know where the Rock Apes would pass, and on top of that the carcass of one had been found at the edge of the forest. A crushing wound ran from its neck to its shoulder, and large depressions no one recognised remained nearby.
Don't send anyone in until we know what's going on.
That much was decided.
On my morning patrol, I didn't go near the mountain more than I had to.
Since becoming a Juvenile Dragon, I had grown quite used to short flights.
As long as I circled the village, I no longer had to be conscious of the flow of magical power; my wings and body moved together. But that didn't mean I could fly forever over mountains I didn't know.
Fly for a long time and I would tire.
And I couldn't rest without somewhere to land.
I didn’t want to go deeper without thinking about the return trip.
Nothing happened until the afternoon of that day.
I was resting outside the fence.
Inside the village I could hear firewood being restacked.
I saw Lina walking with an empty basket in her arms.
It was then.
“Gyaa!”
A high-pitched voice rang out from the mountain.
I looked up.
It wasn't just one voice.
"Gah, gah!"
Several cried out one after another.
Rock Apes.
But it was different from the voices calling to each other that I had heard before.
They were short and urgent.
“Dario!”
The voices of the villagers rose.
Dario came out at once with his bow.
"The mountain?"
I stood up.
I could hear branches breaking, too.
And it was getting closer.
The village chief came outside as well, but he didn't ask me to go and have a look.
“Don’t go too far from the village.”
That was it.
I nodded and opened my wings.
I kicked the ground and went up.
I crossed over the village roofs and turned my body toward the mountain.
Immediately I could see the trees shaking.
Not in a single line.
Branches all over the place were sinking heavily, as if something were being run from.
A grey body jumped out.
Rock Ape.
One of them crossed from tree to tree.
Two more behind it.
In yet another place, one was running along the ground on all fours.
There was even a Rock Ape with a young one clinging to its belly.
It was different from yesterday.
Even when they saw me, none of them picked up a stone.
None of them tried to threaten me either.
They kept looking back.
I increased my altitude a little.
The forest shook behind the Rock Apes.
A thick branch broke.
And not just one.
Something was moving low down.
Not in the branches — on the ground.
A dark brown back could be seen through the gaps in the trees.
At first I thought it was a bear.
But it was too big to be called an ordinary bear.
Even walking on four legs, its shoulders rode high and the front half of its body was unusually thick. From its shoulders to its back the hair lay in a different direction, and hard parts that looked like overlapping plates bulged out.
It clearly looked heavier than a Tusk Boar.
The huge body pushed between the trees.
Its shoulder hit a trunk, and the whole tree shook.
There was no sign of it trying to avoid them.
One of the Rock Apes that had been running on the ground jumped for a tree.
The dark brown monster chasing them accelerated.
It had a speed that didn’t suit its giant size.
The Rock Ape's hand caught the trunk.
The next moment, the monster's foreleg swung in from the side.
A dull sound rang out.
The Rock Ape's body was slammed against the trunk and dropped.
It didn't move.
I held my breath.
The carcass found yesterday had also been crushed from the neck to the shoulder.
It looked like the same wound.
But from that alone, we couldn't conclude that this was the one that had killed the other yesterday.
All I knew now was that it had struck down a Rock Ape in one blow right in front of me.
The fleeing Rock Apes weren't heading straight for the village.
But they were drifting sideways as they came down the slope.
If this continued, they would come close to the woods the villagers used.
I swung around between the Rock Apes and the village.
To get in front of the group drifting toward the village, I lowered my altitude to the middle of the trees.
Just like yesterday, I blocked only this side and left an escape route on the other.
The lead Rock Ape spotted me.
Its movement slowed for a moment.
But the others came pressing in from behind, and it turned aside.
The one with the young followed too.
Not a single stone flew today.
It seemed they were in no position to fight with me.
Several Rock Apes crossed the slope in a direction away from the village.
And there, the dark brown monster looked at me.
Its legs stopped.
The face that had been turned toward the Rock Apes lifted.
Our eyes met.
“Voo…”
A low sound I felt in my belly.
I was still holding a low position until the Rock Apes had passed.
The higher I went, the safer I would be.
But if I did that now, the dark brown monster might follow the Rock Apes and slip through to the village side.
I spread my wings and moved my body closer to the slope.
The monster’s gaze followed me.
Its forelegs took a step forward.
One more step.
It was probably because I had got in the path of its chase.
To this thing, I might look like something getting in the way of its prey.
After I saw the last of the Rock Apes pass by, I tried to gain altitude.
At that moment, the monster ran.
Fast.
Every time it kicked the ground, the soil sprayed up.
It closed the distance in an instant, until it was directly below me, who had not yet gained enough height.
The giant body reared up.
Its forelegs cut through the air.
I beat my wings hard and shot up at an angle.
Its claws didn't reach.
But it was closer than I had thought.
The monster dropped back onto four legs and changed direction at once.
It came after me.
The Rock Apes had already fled.
If I went back to the village now, I might draw that giant body toward the village.
I wanted to avoid that.
I drew an arc toward the top of the slope.
I gained altitude little by little.
The monster chased me from the ground.
It couldn't come into the sky.
Even so, it turned quickly for its size, and if I dropped low it would be right beneath me.
Its forelegs kicked the ground hard.
Soil sprayed everywhere.
I had thought I was already high enough, but I had been flying low until a moment ago, and it was still very close.
Some of the fine dirt and pebbles struck the scales on my belly.
Not enough to do any damage.
But my body trembled reflexively.
Even then, the monster didn't stop.
I took an even higher altitude.
This time I was far enough away that even its forelegs couldn't reach.
It was terrifying.
What would happen if I faced it in earnest on the ground?
I didn't want to find out.
I pulled back and turned around.
I gathered strength deep in my chest.
The breath couldn't be used over and over.
The monster was coming at me again.
It looked up.
I spat out a short burst of flame in front of it.
The flames spread.
For the first time, the huge dark brown body stopped.
It shook its head sharply.
The hair at the tip of its nose was slightly singed.
There was no noticeable change in the hard areas from its shoulders to its back.
I didn't know whether it hated the flames or whether it felt pain.
But with one short burst, making it flinch was all I could manage.
"Vooooooo!"
The monster roared.
I gained even more altitude.
This time, even if it stretched out its forelegs, it couldn't reach.
I had no intention of luring it any further away.
If I kept it chasing me, I would lose the magical power I needed to get home.
I took a wide turn in the direction opposite the village, keeping my distance.
The monster looked at me for a while.
Eventually it went back onto four legs.
It brought its nose close to the ground.
It turned its head in the direction the Rock Apes had fled.
Then it started walking.
It didn't chase me this time.
It went straight into the trees, and its dark brown back was no longer visible.
I didn’t return to the village right away.
I waited a little while from above.
The place where the branches swayed moved far off.
Only then did I turn back.
By the time I came down into the village, my whole body felt heavy.
I landed and folded my wings.
“Val!”
Lina started running, but Dario put out his arm and stopped her.
After I caught my breath, Dario approached.
"Any injuries?"
I shook my head.
"What was up there?"
I was at a bit of a loss for how to explain.
I stood on all four legs and swung a foreleg.
Then I raised my head, as if pointing out something bigger than myself.
"A big beast?"
I nodded.
I walked the way a bear walks.
"A bear?"
I nodded again.
"Was it chasing the Rock Apes?"
I nodded to that as well.
One of the men who had fled from the other side of the mountain came closer.
"What about the Rock Apes?"
I acted out the movement of crossing the slope with my forelegs.
"They got away?"
I nodded.
Then I swung a foreleg down hard.
I showed the ground.
"One of them was killed?"
That was right.
Dario’s expression changed.
"Yesterday's carcass too?"
I didn’t move.
I didn't know.
The wound I saw today was similar.
But I hadn't seen it happen yesterday.
"So that much you don't know."
This time I nodded.
“What kind of bear was it?”
I traced from my shoulders to my back with a foreleg.
I made a gesture of tapping there several times.
Dario frowned.
"Its shoulders and back looked hard?"
I nodded.
He thought a little.
"I've heard a story like that."
The village chief turned his head.
“What are you talking about?”
"A bear monster with what looks like hard skin from its shoulders to its back. I think it was called an Armored Bear, or something like that."
"Have you seen it?"
"No."
It was an immediate answer.
"That's only what I heard from another hunter. I don't even know if that's what this was."
"Then it's the same as not knowing."
The name didn't matter yet.
What mattered was that that giant body was in the mountains near the village.
"Was Val in danger too?"
the village chief asked.
I nodded without hesitation.
I was safe because I was able to escape into the sky.
If I had been slow in gaining altitude, those forelegs might have reached me.
I didn't think it was an opponent that could be faced head-on on the ground.
When the village chief saw my answer, he didn't ask for any more details.
"In that case, the mountainside stays shut, the same as now."
One of the villagers spoke up.
"The flat ground too?"
"Of course. What will you do if you go up to a place that isn't even a field yet and don't come back?"
"Firewood from the other side, then?"
"We'll manage while there's enough."
The decision was made quickly.
If we had been dealing only with Rock Apes, there was room to try ways of keeping them from coming toward us.
This time, we didn't even know whether it was safe for humans to go near the thing.
It wasn't all right just because I was here.
The village chief told everyone who went out toward the mountainside that if they saw the large dark brown beast, they were not to go near it and were to come straight back.
There was no talk of subjugation.
Because no one had been able to measure its strength.
In the afternoon, the villagers turned the manpower that had been directed toward the mountainside entirely to other tasks.
No one went to look at the waterway.
The one hoe that had been left behind was still there.
It wasn't that the plan to use the mountainside had disappeared, but at least no one would be sent out for now.
Lina brought water.
"You're really not hurt?"
I turned my body slightly to the side.
There were no visible scratches on my wings or body.
"Good."
Lina let out a sigh of relief.
"Is that bear stronger than Val?"
I had trouble answering.
It wasn't settled that I couldn't win.
But I couldn't say that I could win.
I had been able to stop it with one short breath.
I hadn't tried anything else.
I tilted my head.
"You don't know."
I nodded.
“Then it’s better not to force yourself to fight.”
I nodded at that at once.
It wasn't something I needed to test.
In the evening, one of the men from across the mountain came to see the village chief.
"We never saw anything like that when we fled."
"Then it came here recently?"
one of the villagers asked.
“I don’t know.”
The man looked troubled.
"I was doing everything I could to get away from the Rock Apes. I didn't see as far as the depths of the mountain."
The village chief did not pursue the matter any further.
Rock Apes had destroyed their village.
Several Rock Apes, young ones among them, were now moving along the mountainside on the Rue Village side.
Today, a large bear-shaped monster had chased some of them and killed one.
That was all we knew.
I still didn't know whether the Rock Apes had been driven here by that monster, or had simply been set upon along the way.
When the sun was setting, I looked at the mountains from outside the fence.
No one went up to the mountainside.
Some worried about whether the work could be resumed by morning.
There was no one who could say now.
The village chief called out to Dario.
"Take the mountainside off the plans for a while."
"Right."
"Put the manpower into the fields and the fence. Leave the waterway alone."
Dario nodded.
As a result, work on the mountainside was removed from our immediate plans.
The spring I had gone to the trouble of finding, and the ground we had begun to work, hadn't disappeared.
But it was no longer the time to use them.
I folded my wings again while looking at the mountains.
I couldn't see what was deep in the forest.
Even so, I still remembered clearly how close those forelegs had come to reaching me when that huge body reared up.
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