REFDL 8

I stepped down into the forest near the village.

The girl in my mouth grew bolder. Before setting her down, she looked at me with starlight-dusted eyes and stroked my nose gently.

I felt like I was about to sneeze. I wished she would stop.

The two boys stiffened. Even after the girl untied them, they clung to my legs like they were frozen solid, unable to move.

The girl sighed and tapped their shoulders. The two drenched cats jumped up and ran behind a tree.

While I was distracted by them.

Squeeze squeeze.

‘…….’

The girl took a step closer and touched my wings and tail.

Stop it.

Her hand moved toward my butt.

……Seriously, stop it!

I jumped up and opened my mouth wide.

Grrrrr!

Ah.

I growled, then paused. I hadn’t meant to scare her.

But the girl wasn’t scared.

“Oh, did you not like being touched?”

I didn’t.

But that wasn’t the point!

“Then what if I ask permission first? Would that be okay? Or is it about the body part?”

Yes. I wish she’d avoid my butt from now on… No, wait!

….Let’s just stop.

Yes. Pushing it further would only tire me out.

The boys’ expressions grew strange. It was as if they sensed a familiar comrade’s bond from an unknown dragon.

I sighed and spread my wings. Just as I was about to leave, I paused and thought.

I don’t know if they’ll understand.

I stretched out one claw and held it in front of my snout.

The boys’ mouths fell open. Universal hand signals seem to work even in fantasy.

“I understand. We’ll keep it a secret.”

The girl nodded.

They were still children, so I didn’t fully trust them…

But I don’t have any better options either.

I don’t regret saving the kids. If I’d left them to die, it would have been a worse nightmare than the man with the dark gray eyes.

I returned to the nest.

Up until then, I thought my connection with the little ones ended there.

I didn’t know exactly how this world worked, but if adults found out the children had met me and organized a hunting party to come looking, that would be troublesome.

So, this would be the last time meeting them directly.

Regret… I can’t say I don’t have any at all.

The girl named Rotol was definitely friendly towards me. But the adults wouldn’t be.

It wouldn’t even need to reach the adults.

The two cats didn’t even come out from behind the tree until I left. Even though I saved their lives.

Of course. I am a ferocious dragon, after all.

‘…….’

I don’t cry.

This is… this is just something in my eye…

Anyway.

I fixed my original plan. As per my parent’s last wishes, I’d grow my body here, then head deep into the Sea of Trees once fully grown.

……But what if I missed humans so much that I couldn’t stand it?

Enough.

I wrapped my tail tightly around my body and forced myself to sleep.

* * *

That’s just how the world works.

Things rarely go as planned; far more often, they unfold in unexpected directions.

‘…….’

Those reckless little brats started wandering the Sea of Trees looking for me.

Thwack!

I smacked my face with my front paw. It hurt. Never again.

I almost caved my face in, moving like I did when I was human.

I should have realized when I saw them in the basin without any adults.

I sighed and I spread my wings wide.

* * *

Another week passed.

My body, once that of a Damas (small sized van), had grown as large as a pickup truck.

I’ve left the nest for … roughly a month and a half now?

I stretched as I yawned.

Judging the time by the sun’s position, I shook myself vigorously from side to side.

A lot happened in the past week.

To cut to the chase, I ended up meeting the kids in the forest and playing with them.

‘…….’

Is this right? Is this really right?!

I smacked my head with my front paws. Even though I controlled the force, it still hurt.

The girl, Rotol, was a much tougher opponent than I’d anticipated.

‘Dragon!’

The moment we reunited, she hopped around excitedly, making me lower my guard, then stuck to my leg like glue, refusing to let go.

Kyaak!

What is this? Let go.

‘No.’

Kyaaak!

‘No. I’m raising you. Come with me!’

Kya?!

Rotol wasn’t trying to pick up a cat, she was trying to pick up a dragon.

I gaped in disbelief. The two boys, still warily hesitating, came running over in a panic.

‘Rotol! No! Stop it!’

‘No, good dragon… good dragon… good dragons don’t bite…’

Kyaak!

‘Let’s go to my house!’

‘Stop it! Rotol!’

‘…Can’t even good dragons bite too?’

‘Odan, snap out of it!’

Kyaak!

The struggle dragged on longer than expected. Exhausted, I had no choice but to agree to Rotol’s proposed compromise.

We set a time and place to meet. For the children’s safety, the location was chosen close to the village, but carefully selected to avoid any chance encounter the village adults.

The final spot chosen was the opposite shore of a small lake.

I knew the place. It was where poisonous mushrooms and inedible berries grew in clusters, a spot even monsters rarely ventured to.

It was a ghostly choice of location.

Should I just make the promise and pretend I don’t know?

I seriously considered it but quickly dismissed the idea. An annoyed Rotol would venture deeper.

Could kids really be that thoughtless?

…It might be possible with Rotol.

“You’re late!”

Kyaak.

“Late is late, no matter what! Your punishment is to catch fish!”

Kyaak…….

I voiced my grievance at the unfairness. It didn’t work.

“You have to catch at least six big ones.”

With narrowed eyes, I looked at the net hidden behind her back.

I felt I knew what today’s excuse for going out was.

* * *

“Rotol means ‘acorn.’ Dad saw one the day I was born and said I reminded him of an acorn. Brown, pretty, and shiny.”

Rotol, who rolled like an acorn as her name suggested, was fourteen and the village chief’s only daughter.

Until a year ago, she’d been the kids’ leader, causing trouble all over the village…

“I went on patrols.”

‘…….’

This year, she said, she was assigned to gather fruits and pick edible mushrooms.

……Judging by what she did, it was clear the fruits and mushrooms were an excuse.

She just needed a reason to enter the forest.

But don’t the adults in that village stop her from going into such a dangerous forest?

“Mirim and Odan are there. I figured they’d stop me if I went too far. And they actually do!”

I looked at Mirim and Odan.

They both wore aggrieved expressions. That’s what they call ‘stop me’. I understood.

“It’s fine.”

It’s not fine.

“Really. As long as we don’t cross the lake. On this side of the lake, only rabbit monsters appear.”

I spat the fish I’d caught into the sack. I looked around. We were on the opposite side of the lake.

“We’re by the lake, so we didn’t actually cross it.”

Then what was the basin?

“It’s because of the cotton flowers.”

But you crossed it anyway…

Rotol pretended not to see my furious glares.

“Winter’s coming soon, and the village is running low on cotton flowers.”

“But the adults said they’d buy them through barter…”

“They’re all over the forest! Does it make sense to trade expensive herbs for those?!”

“If you think of it as the price of life, isn’t it cheap?”

“Not at all!”

Rotol fumed.

She stomped her foot in frustration.

“It’s all because of those damn wolf brats!”

“Rotol. Your mouth.”

“How can I not be furious? Mirim, aren’t you angry?”

The boy called Mirim looked at me and answered.

“Of course I am. But let’s not use harsh words.”

“Ugh. This is so frustrating. How do you expect to become a knight being so meek?”

“…….”

The boy instantly grew gloomy. The white cat with light eyes and hair… no, Mirim was the same age as Rotol.

The boy, who preferred sitting over walking and walking over running, dreamed of becoming a knight.

Because Rotol’s dream was to be a knight.

“Don’t fight. The village chief said fighting is a hundred harms and no benefit.”

“Do you even know what that means?”

“It means it’s a stupid thing that has a hundred harmful effects and no benefits. Like almost everything you do.”

“…….”

Smack!

“Aaah!”

“Rotol!”

Odan was a brat just as sharp as Rotol.

He was nine, though that wasn’t his exact age.

He’d been abandoned at the village entrance when he was just learning to walk, and the village chief had taken him in. Rotol was overjoyed to have a little brother.

“How dare you talk back to your sister like that…!”

“Ow! Ouch! Mirim, what are you doing! Stop her! Ouch!”

…Or so I heard.

Anyway, Odan looked different from the other two right down to his coloring.

You could say he had a strangely noble air about him.

His skin was as white as snow, his hair was blonde, and his eyes were a vivid blue, like sapphires with droplets of water clinging to them.

His features were delicate, so from a distance, he looked like a finely crafted porcelain doll.

“Ouch! Ouch! Brother Mirim! Stop her properly! That’s a bear’s punch!”

“What did you say, punk?!”

Of course, that was just his appearance. His behavior was just that of a regular neighborhood brat.