The afternoon after the plans to send people out to the mountainside were cancelled, three men came up the southern road.
Elmer was in the lead.
Elmer had a leather bag slung over his shoulder and was accompanied by two armed men, just as before. He didn't stop when he saw me, but went straight on to the village entrance.
"You're back?"
The village chief called out.
"Yes. I made my report at the manor, and I've brought the reply."
At those words, I sat up where I was outside the fence.
Lina popped out of a nearby house, and Dario stopped working.
The report about me had reached the manor.
And this was the reply.
"What about soldiers?"
The village chief was the first to ask.
"They won't be sent out for now."
Elmer answered without hesitation.
A little way off, Lina's shoulders relaxed.
The village chief's expression still didn't change.
"For now, is it?"
"Let me be precise about that. It wasn't decided to slay him because he's a dragon, and it wasn't decided that we'd never intervene, whatever happens."
"What kind of decision is that?"
"As far as I've seen, Val hasn't attacked the villagers. He hasn't even touched the livestock. When bandits came, he actually protected the village. There's no reason to send out troops as things stand."
It seemed the decision had been made on the present situation, rather than by setting conditions I had to meet.
I felt a little relieved.
At least they weren't coming to take me away for no reason.
"In future, if Val starts attacking people or causes harm in other villages, the story naturally changes."
“I understand that.”
The village chief answered.
"But if you tell me not to let him out of the village, that isn't something I can do."
"No one said that."
Elmer looked at me.
"I also reported that you're not livestock that moves on the village chief's orders."
I nodded.
"However, if you suddenly fly to a village you don't know, it will cause an uproar. Do you understand that?"
I nodded again.
Even if I had no intention of attacking, the people there wouldn't know it.
A bow might well be aimed at me.
"You can't fly very far yet, can you?"
I nodded.
"Then it's not a problem right now. I'll think about it when you start ranging farther."
That was where it ended.
It seemed he had no intention of settling the future in advance.
"There's something for the village as well."
Elmer turned to the village chief.
“Don’t try to threaten other villages or merchants just because Val is here.”
"Are you saying we would?"
"You're not doing it now. I'm telling you not to start."
"He's no soldier of mine."
“I know.”
Elmer answered easily.
"That's why I'm not telling you to 'use' him or to 'manage' him. If the village and Val together do harm to the surrounding area, then it's a different story. That's all."
That was fair enough.
Me protecting the village, and the village using my strength to subdue the people around it, were not the same thing.
It didn't seem like the time to worry about that now.
"Is that all of your reply?"
the village chief asked.
"About Val."
After Elmer said that, he looked toward the mountain side of the village.
“…Has anything changed?”
Dario and the village chief looked at each other.
"There has been."
It was Dario who answered.
“Yesterday, a monster that looked like a big bear appeared.”
Elmer's expression changed.
“Where?”
"On the mountainside. It was chasing Rock Apes."
"Any harm to the villagers?"
"No."
"What about Val?"
He looked at me.
I turned my body slightly to the side so he could see there were no injuries.
"There was contact, though."
Dario continued.
"The Rock Apes drifted toward the village, so Val put himself between them. The bear-like thing came on toward Val."
"Did he kill it?"
I shook my head.
"Did he drive it off?"
I didn’t answer that right away either.
In the end it had stopped chasing me and simply gone after the Rock Apes.
"It left Val and went straight off into the mountain."
Dario filled it in.
"It left the village alone, but he didn't kill it."
Elmer took paper and writing things out of his bag.
"What does it look like?"
"The front half of its body is very big. From the shoulders to the back it looked hard."
“How big is it?”
"Big enough that Val wouldn't want to face it head-on on the ground, at the least."
"That much?"
Elmer looked at me.
"Was it dangerous?"
I nodded.
I still remembered how close that foreleg had passed behind my tail.
“Val breathed fire once.”
Dario said.
"Did it work?"
I tilted my head.
"Its legs stopped, but it took no wound that would bring it down."
"I see."
Elmer wrote.
"Do you know the name?"
"I don't. I once heard that a bear-shaped monster with a hard shoulder and back is called an Armored Bear."
"Have you seen one?"
"No."
Dario answered immediately.
"Don't settle on that being what it is."
"I can't settle it."
Elmer wrote something on the paper.
"It's possible that it resembles an Armored Bear. I'll leave it at 'unconfirmed.'"
That was fine.
Just because it had a name didn't mean we knew what it was.
"If there's anyone at the manor who knows about monsters like that, we may be able to find out more."
the village chief asked.
"Are you going to send someone out?"
"I can't promise that much."
Elmer shook his head.
"But we can check whether similar stories have come up from the surrounding villages. Hunters, or people who know the mountains, may know something."
"That alone helps."
Dario said.
I felt the same way.
There was no need to fight something without knowing what it was.
What kind of place did it favor?
Was it a monster that came down to human villages?
Was there a way to avoid it?
If there was anything we could learn, that was better.
"And the Rock Apes?"
Elmer asked.
"Still in the mountains."
Dario answered.
"A group with young was moving toward us. Yesterday the bear-like thing was chasing some of them."
"Did the Rock Apes come this way fleeing from that?"
"We don't know that much."
This time the village chief answered.
"No one saw what happened after the eight of them fled from their own settlement."
"Understood. I'll write that down separately."
Elmer did not tie unnecessary causes to effects.
After that, a short reply was given about the eight people who had fled from the other side of the mountain.
"The manor didn't say to turn the eight of them out at once."
The ones near the storeroom looked up.
"Really?"
asked one of the men who had fled here.
"Yes. If it's dangerous to return to their own village, staying in Rue Village isn't a problem for the time being."
The man took a deep breath in silence.
The village chief nodded too.
"That's good enough."
"However, they've asked us to let them know if the situation becomes clearer."
"We don't know anything now."
"Then 'we don't know' is fine. No one should be sent back over the mountain just to make sure."
It seemed he didn't want to force a conclusion there either.
Elmer put away his notes.
“But…”
He looked toward the mountainside.
"I came to the village to check on a dragon, and I never thought I'd be going back with a report of another monster."
"We're not piling them on because we enjoy it."
Dario answered.
“I know.”
Elmer laughed a little.
That was where the business from the manor ended for the time being.
I felt a little let down.
I had expected something more one-sided to be ordered.
In fact, it seemed the manor hadn't decided how to treat me either.
If there was no danger, no troops would be sent.
If harm came of it, the judgment would change.
That was all, for now.
Elmer and his men had only just come up the mountain path, so they decided to rest in the village that day.
I went back outside the fence.
After a while, Lina came.
“Soldiers aren’t coming.”
I nodded.
"Good."
She pressed a hand to her chest.
"But that doesn't mean it'll be all right forever, does it?"
That was right.
I nodded.
"So it's no good if Val does something bad?"
It was a little different from that, but near enough.
I tilted my head, and then gave a small nod.
"Then it's the same as before."
Lina said it simply.
Maybe she was right.
I hadn't been here to attack humans in the first place.
I had only moved when it was necessary to protect the village.
Whether or not the manor acknowledged it, what I did now wasn't suddenly going to change.
"But."
Lina lowered her voice a little.
"I don't want anyone taking you away."
I looked at her.
"Val wants to be here, doesn't he?"
I nodded.
At least for now.
I had started with half a loaf of black bread, and come this far.
I pushed Lina's shoulder lightly with the tip of my nose.
"Whoa."
Lina stumbled a step and laughed.
"All right, all right."
As the sun was setting, Elmer was at the village chief's house, briefly confirming where the bear-shaped monster had appeared and how the Rock Apes were moving.
He didn't ask again about the road he had already seen repaired.
Instead,
"Is that road the packhorses use still usable?"
he asked.
"It is. It's a different route from the dangerous part of the mountainside."
The village chief answered.
"Then there's no need to stop traffic in and out?"
"That's how I mean to keep it."
That was it.
It didn't mean closing off the whole village.
Stay away from the dangerous parts of the mountainside.
On the other hand, if the southern route Heinz used were stopped, neither salt nor grain could come in.
Rue Village as it was couldn't afford that.
By the time night fell, there was a new note in Elmer's bag.
I couldn't read what was written there.
But from what I had heard during the day, I understood.
The information going down the mountain this time included not only me, but the Rock Apes and the bear-shaped monster as well.
No one yet knew how the manor would take it.
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