After I became able to understand human language, the area around the village suddenly became lively.
I had heard voices before, but they just passed through my ears as a series of meaningless sounds. Now I could understand the small talk in the fields and the voice of a mother scolding her child in front of the house.
It was certainly convenient.
In exchange, I started hearing things I didn't need to hear.
"Are you sure you want to leave that dragon alone like this?"
I was lying at the edge of the forest with one ear turned towards the village.
Several men were repairing the fence that had been destroyed by the Tusk Boar. Talk about me continued, mixed in with the sound of new stakes being hammered in.
"It did help with the field, though."
"That doesn't mean it's safe. There's a monster that can kill a Tusk Boar right near the village."
“Lina wasn’t attacked.”
"It didn't attack today. Who decides that it won't attack tomorrow?"
It made sense.
If I were in their position, I would think the same thing.
One day, a creature they had never seen before suddenly appeared from the mountain. It had the power to defeat a giant Tusk Boar, and it was still near the village.
It would be unreasonable to tell them to trust it just because they were saved once.
“Val wouldn’t do that.”
A familiar voice interrupted.
It was Lina.
She was standing by the fence with her hands on her hips, looking up at the men. A little behind her was the young hunter with a bow on his back.
"Lina, you trust him too much."
"Even Dario didn't aim his bow today."
“It just wasn’t necessary.”
Apparently, the young hunter's name was Dario.
"He even let me put medicine on him."
"Don't decide that means he's safe."
"He defeated the Tusk Boar too."
“I know.”
"And he left most of the meat behind."
“I saw that too.”
"Then what's the problem?"
Dario didn’t answer right away.
The men driving in new stakes somehow slowed down as well.
Dario eventually spoke.
"Because I don't understand him."
Lina frowned.
“What?”
"What is he thinking? What will he eat? Where will he live? He may be quiet now, but what happens when he grows up? I don't know any of it."
I see.
It didn't seem like I was hated.
It was frightening because it was something he didn't understand.
That was understandable.
Because even I didn't know how big I would grow or what kind of power this body had.
“But I know the name Val.”
"You're the one who gave it to him."
"He answered properly."
"A dragon did?"
"Yeah."
“How?”
"Guru."
Dario pressed a hand to his forehead.
I snorted in the forest.
I am responding properly.
It was a shame that I could now understand every word of the conversation and still couldn't convey anything back.
Just as I was thinking that, the wind brushed against the tip of my nose.
I looked up.
There was an animal smell mixed in.
Close.
And not just one.
The smell of the blood and internal organs of the boar that had been butchered in the village yesterday still lingered in the area. The odour of another animal overlapped with it.
I stood up.
The wound on my right hind leg was still there, but it had gotten much better for walking. Maybe the medicine Lina brought was working.
As I went a little way into the forest, I found footprints in the soft soil.
A shape resembling a wolf.
The same kind of beast that attacked me, with a horn on its forehead.
I followed the overlapping traces.
Four.
No, there was one more.
There were five.
The footprints continued around the outside of the village.
Beyond them was the livestock pen.
I could hear the goats bleating.
I see.
What came out of my mouth, though, was
"Guru."
nothing but a cry.
The smell of the Tusk Boar had drawn them in, but they had no intention of charging head-on into the place where the humans were. It seemed they were eyeing the livestock from the shadows of the forest.
It had nothing to do with me.
If I said that, that was the end of it.
I hadn't made any promises to the villagers, and the goats didn't belong to me.
However, I did know that there wasn't enough food in that village.
Losing livestock right after the fields were destroyed had to be quite painful.
I followed the tracks.
After a while, another set of footsteps approached from ahead.
It was Dario.
He crouched down to the ground and examined the marks in the soil.
“Five…”
He was a hunter after all, so he was faster at this sort of thing than me.
Dario stood up and noticed me there.
His hand reflexively reached for his bow.
He stopped.
We looked at each other from about ten steps away.
“…Did you notice too?”
Hearing those words, I turned my nose towards the traces beneath my feet.
Next, I looked at the village.
Dario's expression changed slightly.
"No way."
"Guru."
“You sound like you’re replying again.”
Because it is a reply.
I started walking first.
Dario seemed to hesitate a little behind me, but then his footsteps followed.
The wolves had come to the forest behind the livestock pen.
Five grey bodies.
One of them had a thin wound on the tip of its nose.
This was the one my claws had caught in the forest.
It seemed the other side remembered me too.
The wolf with the scar on the tip of its nose stopped and let out a low growl.
The other four looked at me as well.
I moved between the livestock pen and the pack.
I spread my wings.
Not to fly.
To make myself look as big as possible.
One of the wolves tried to go around to the right.
I moved right as well.
When another ran the opposite way, I turned my body in that direction.
I wasn't the one being targeted.
It was the goats behind me.
In that case, all I had to do was make them understand that they couldn't get past here.
The wolves spread out.
I didn’t back down.
If they came from the right, I went right.
If they came from the left, I went left.
They didn't leap at me, but they didn't give up easily either.
Only the one with the scar on the tip of its snout stared at me, hardly moving.
It might be the centre of the pack.
Our eyes met.
The first time we met in the forest, I ran away from these ones.
My leg had been injured in a trap, I was hungry, and I didn't even know how to use my body.
The injury was still there.
It wasn't as if I had gotten stronger.
Still, this time there was no need to run away.
I took a step forward with my wings spread.
"Gurururu…"
The wolves stopped.
One more step.
One of them retreated.
The wolf with the scar on the tip of its nose remained.
I couldn't back down either.
I had no intention of attacking, but I also had no intention of giving way.
After we glared at each other for a while, the wolf's ears fell down.
It looked away.
As if taking this as a signal, one by one they retreated deeper into the forest.
The scarred wolf that remained until the end eventually turned its body around.
The five of them fled into the depths of the mountain.
I didn't chase them.
As long as they left here, that was fine.
"…You're not going after them?"
Dario’s voice came from behind.
I looked back.
"You could have killed them."
"Guru."
"That again?"
Dario looked in the direction where the wolves had disappeared.
"You don't target livestock, you don't eat wolves… what is it you want?"
It wouldn't be difficult if I could explain it.
I turned my head towards the livestock pen and then tried to return to the forest.
"Wait."
I stopped.
After thinking for a while, Dario put his bow back on his back.
“I’ll tell the people in the village.”
After saying that, he started walking.
I stayed where I was.
There was no more use for me here.
I could have gone back to the forest.
However, after thinking for a while, I followed Dario.
Dario turned around halfway.
He looked at me.
He didn't say anything.
He didn't drive me off either.
I continued walking to the village.
By the time the fields came into view, many villagers had noticed us.
Work stopped.
A mother hid her child behind her.
There was also a man who readjusted his grip on his hoe.
Dario spoke up first.
"You don't need weapons!"
Several people looked surprised.
"Five Horned Wolves came to the back of the livestock pen."
"Five of them?"
"What about the goats?"
"They're safe."
Dario looked at me.
"This guy got between the wolves and the livestock."
The villagers' eyes gathered on me all at once.
"The dragon did?"
"It wasn't there to eat them?"
“No. I was watching.”
Dario declared it.
"Every time a Horned Wolf tried to get around him, he blocked it. He didn't bite, and he didn't spit any flames. In the end they gave up and went back to the mountain."
The villagers stirred.
There was no corpse the way there had been with the Tusk Boar.
There was no proof that I had done anything.
If Dario hadn’t seen it, no one would have known.
“Val!”
Lina came out from between the crowd.
When she was about to run towards me, Dario grabbed her arm.
"Don't run."
"But he helped us again, didn't he?"
"That's exactly why you don't approach him suddenly."
"Even though it's Val."
“A dragon is a dragon even if it has a name.”
It seemed he wouldn't give up on that point.
Personally, I thought that was enough.
Then the villagers cleared a way to the left and right.
An older man with grey hair came forward.
He had to be over sixty.
His clothes were not much different from those of the surrounding villagers, but no one blocked his path.
"Village Chief."
A nearby man called him that.
I see.
It seemed that this person ran the village.
The village chief turned his attention to Dario.
"Are you certain?"
"Yeah. I saw it."
"Did it approach the livestock?"
"He didn't go near them. He was on the outside the whole time."
The village chief looked at me.
I didn’t move either.
Between us was a fence that was still under repair.
Some new stakes had been set up, but there were still places that had been destroyed by the boar.
If I wanted to cross it now, I could cross it easily.
However, there was no reason to cross it.
"Lina."
"Yes."
"There should be some meat left from the boar. Bring some of it roasted."
Lina’s face brightened.
She ran into the village and returned after a while with a wooden plate in her hands.
There were several slices of grilled meat on top.
The village chief accepted the plate.
"You can't come in past here."
He was telling me that.
Of course I understood every word.
"I still don't know what you are. As someone who protects the people of the village, I can't trust you easily."
I didn’t move as I looked at the village chief.
"But I'm not so shameless as to be saved twice and give nothing back."
The village chief did not go over the fence; instead he placed the wooden plate on the outside of it.
"Thank you."
Not bad.
I slowly approached.
Some of the villagers stiffened.
Still, no one readied a weapon.
I stretched my neck out from outside the fence and put a piece of meat in my mouth.
The cooked meat of the Tusk Boar was fragrant, and when I bit into it, the fat spread in my mouth.
It was delicious.
My mouth reached naturally for the second slice.
"He ate it!"
Lina laughed happily.
When I finished eating the remaining meat and looked up, I saw a small boy looking at me from a little distance away.
Half hidden in his mother's clothes.
When our eyes met, he drew back.
However, he soon peeked out again.
Then he raised one hand.
"Hello."
His mother hurriedly pulled his hand down.
"But he saved the goats, didn't he?"
I didn’t do anything.
If I approached them now, I would only ruin the slightly relaxed atmosphere again.
I moved away from the wooden plate and turned my body towards the forest.
“Val, are you going home?”
Lina called out to me.
I looked back.
"Guru."
"See you later!"
The meaning of my reply still hadn't gotten through to Lina.
It didn't matter.
I walked along the fence that was being repaired and headed towards the forest.
There was still a boundary between me and the village.
It was better not to cross it now.
However, the gaze directed at my back was slightly different from when I first saw this village.
Outside the fence.
That was still the only place I could be right now.
Even so, no one tried to drive me away from that place.
We don’t use ads!
If you enjoyed our translation, please consider buying us a cup…
Thanks!!!
Become a Patron!
We don’t use ads!
If you enjoyed our translation, please consider buying us a cup…
Thanks!!!
Become a Patron!