Dragon Life

Chapter 49

Who’s the one that said that the southern country is cold? Please come out here for a bit.

It’s hot. It’s terribly hot.

Just who’s common sense says that the south is cold. Mine? I’ll say then that whatever common sense I may have is cold.1 It seems that my head’s going crazy with so much heat.

I thought about taking off the coat I was wearing, but since even the sun’s radiation was intense, to avoid it I decided to keep the coat on, and yet, I did not wear the hood as expected. …Of course I chose not to because it’s embarra.s.sing.

That door seems to come out to a brick wall in an empty alley, and when looking back at it, there truly should be n.o.body who would think that there is a hidden pa.s.sage in this place. But we found something useful; we can come and go with this without wasting time.

“Oooh, it’s pretty crowded.”

When Stefanos’ surprised voice caught our attention, everyone turned their eyes toward that direction too, and Lance explained while putting on the hood of his cloak. I won’t be wearing mine though.

“That’s the market. Since Caspe Do is also said to be the Country of Trade, so it is likely that merchants and caravans gather here from all over the place.”

It’s a different din and bustle from Alvina Kingdom’s. Foods and goods that I have never seen before are lined up narrowly in simple tents. In the end, even Stefanos wore his hood to block the sunlight. I won’t be wearing mine though.

“It’s known as a neutral country in the continent. A large part of the exchange of goods between various countries is feasible because of the merchants sent from here, thus there is almost no country that’d wage war against them.”

I see.

“Well then, why are we coming to discuss this with them? If they’re a neutral country, we should just leave them alone.”

“Stefan, spare a bit more of effort for your studies, will you.”

‘Yeah you should,’ Lady Minette joins into the talk from behind while covering her head with her hood. I won’t be wearing mine though.

“The main point is that you’re an excessive musclehead, don’t think that muscle is everything. You’re just trying to appear more masculine.”

“Sh-, Shut up! Besides I’m not as muscleheaded as Vice-Captain!”

“You look oh so manly when you take your clothes off though.”

“Don’t say weird stuff!”

Since they began their siblingly banter, I decided to ask the Captain to continue. As expected the Captain answered while putting his hood on. I won’t be wearing mine though.

“It should be precisely because it’s a neutral country, I’d guess?”

“Because it’s a neutral country?”

“There are many other countries, but this is the only one that is neutral. It’s dangerous to lose sight of the countries which could go from being friends to enemies when push comes to shove. There are countless countries that are dependant of this kingdom. Surely, the most important thing is that there are Sacred Beasts here.”

‘Possibly that’s why we will not be talking with other countries,’ the Captain says.

By the way, it was said that there are Sacred Beasts as well in the Northern Country where His Majesty Hector went to negotiate. Are Sacred Beasts really that important in this world?

Moreover, I think it would be better for me to study a bit more about the world affairs. I heard about a lot of things from Rau but there are many things I don’t know yet.

“Hmm…”

“You don’t have to think so deeply. Leave the thinking to me.”

“If things come to that my brain will become stupid. I want to be able to think as well, and, at the very least I, uhm, …I made a contract as the Sacred Beast of Alvina Kingdom.”

As I say so the Captain was surprised, but he laughed right afterwards.

“Vito, you have changed, haven’t you?”

“You changed me, Captain.”

Just now, undoubtedly, I ended up saying something embarra.s.sing really smoothly. D o n’ t  w o r r y.

If it was the me that had just awakened at Vizannu Mountains, I couldn’t have thought at all that I would be traveling with humans like this after a few years. ‘I want to live a peaceful life,’ such a mediocre wish has disappeared because of the Captain. But I don’t regret it, since it’s something I decided on my own.

Then the captain chuckles, put his hands behind me and said, ‘It’s better for you to wear it,’ and politely pulled my hood over my head. I had refused to wear it stubbornly in my mind and yet he pulled it over quite easily, although it does make me feel better somewhat.

And besides one way or another the weather is hot. …Let’s not pay the ears any mind.

Shall I explain the current situation?

For now we were walking towards the castle to see the people in charge, but everyone got separated in this crowd.

That’s it.

…That’s all.

Christophe is by my side, and he’s sulking while he looks to be about to cry, and we are holding hands so that we won’t get lost; that’s not the case.

“Let’s go to the castle for the time being? Perhaps everyone will be there.”

“…In any case, if we were going to get separated anyway, it’d have been better if I was stuck with someone other than you.”

So not cute. Although his eyes are watery it’s not cute.

“Why.”

“Because you don’t seem to be reliable.”

Well, sorry.

“It’s fine, I have something like a Captain Search Function in me.”

“You do?!”

“Nope.”

“…Are you an actual idiot?”

His shining eyes cooled down in an instant.

Sorry, Oh Christophe boy. It seems my head got a little wrecked with this heat. I think that it wouldn’t be weird for me to actually have a searching functionality attached, but I’ll keep quiet.

Anyway, to manage this situation we only must walk towards that castle that is visible across the crowd. Even so, it’s big. It’s not big horizontally, but it’s vertically large. That castle is like a tower that almost seems to reach the sky.

As I was staring at the top of the tower while dodging my way through the crowd, with a ‘Please walk a little slower!’, the Christophe boy pulled my hand, and I stopped in a hurry.

“I’m sorry, was I going too fast? Shall we walk a little closer to each other?”

“…I object.”

Oh boy, do you dislike me so much? But that doesn’t seem to be the case. It Perhaps he feels uncomfortable being jostled by this crown since he’s a little young master who was raised within a castle and hasn’t experienced this before.

And, at that time. Suddenly someone got in between us and our joined hands got separated. That person seemed to be in a hurry, they disappeared into the crowd as it was.

“Ah…!”

When I try to get close to Christophe in a hurry so that we don’t get lost, I just kept being pushed away by the crowd. He hurriedly reached out for me and I reached out to him, but we missed each other and in the end i couldn’t see him anymore.

“Darn it!”

If I had held his hand more firmly!

I try to find him in the middle of the crowd, but he’s nowhere to be seen.

Where the h.e.l.l have you gone!

After that I searched for him desperately while slipping through the people for several minutes, and when I saw his figure at the back of a narrow alley that I seemed to have missed earlier, I felt relieved.

—Found him!

However, Christophe seemed to be caught by a man and a woman who were dressed as people who sing and dance.

“Such fancy clothes you have there. Where are you from, young maste~r?”

“Nooes, he’s cute! I’d like to eat him!”

What’s with the ‘nooes.’ Just what do you want to eat? And what’s with that outrageous chest! It looks more excessive than Chiffon’s. Moreover her clothes have an unusually seen high level of exposure. She is wearing several clothes open at the chest stacked one over the other, and the only thing properly covering them is their underclothing.2 In the man it reached exceedingly close to his waist, and in the woman it wrapped under her chest, and was tied cutely on her back.3 I’ve seen these garments somewhere before, but I can’t remember where. Because of their faint brown hair they may be seen as brother and sister, but as the woman is perfectly tangled in the man’s arms it seems that they are a couple.

“Do you have any business with me? I am not tasty, you know?”

Christophe looks up at the couple with caution. And I think he’s probably tasty. …Hah, what’s wrong with me. Have I started to use my Dragon brain to think because the Captain is not by my side?

I decided to call out to him so that he won’t be caught up in troublesome things any further.

“Christophe.”

“Oh, Miss Vito!”

When he notices me, his face lights up. Hmph, doesn’t he have a cute side too? The man and woman also seemed to notice me and turned their faces my way. Their features were rare in this area, how should I say it; they were very white people. Their atmosphere is unique when compared to the races of people I have met before, so perhaps they are people from another country.

“Whaat, you have a sisteeer? Tsk, it’s a pity, I thought I could eat you.”

“This person is not my sister, hngh”

“Thanks, I apologize for the trouble this child has caused you.”

“Rather it’s you the one who has caused me trouble, hngh”

“Then, it’s been a pleasure.”

I covered Christophe’s mouth as I laughed ‘Ohohoho,’ dragging him with me as I backed away. I tried to leave that place in a hurry while telling him that we couldn’t be wasting time at such a place, but.

“Wait a sec, young miss. N…eh, ——Anna?”

Instantly, my legs came to a stop. In front of me is the man’s face with his eyes narrowed. Grin His mouth draws an amused arc.

— What did this person say just now?

“Don’t be so alarmed, ‘kay? Even if we haven’t met in a long while your cold att.i.tude makes me feel lo~nely.”

“…Haven’t you mistaken me for someone else?”

“You’re still evading it. There’s just no way I’d mistake you for someone else, riiight, Kikuko?”

“I caaan’t be sure because I met her only once. But isn’t her presence a little different? Isn’t she a different person?”

“Huh? That ain’t possible! For how many years do you think me and Anna have known each other, we’re different from those other people around there, you know?”

“Don’t kno~w, don’t care. Wasn’t she someone you were inviting?”

It’s the worst. To think there is a person who knows Anna in this country too. How long did they know each other? Inviting? Apparently they weren’t simple acquaintances. This became troublesome.

“No matter how many times you say it, you’re mistaken, I do not know you at all and I do not even want to know you. Well then.”

“…H-, hey? Wait a moment! Anna!!”

Before things became more complicated, I told Christophe, ‘Let’s escape,’ as I dragged him along. A voice was calling that girl’s name from behind, but I am not Anna; I’m Vito.

“Is that fine? They seemed to know you.”

“They got the wrong person. More importantly, were not you taught by your parents that you shouldn’t follow strangers?”

…I noticed it the moment I said it. That father won’t say things like that. Oops! It’s a blind spot!

“I am the child of a concubine, I am not able to talk much with my Father.”

“Concubine?”

That’s right, Christophe and his sister were children of different mothers. If she’s a concubine, it probably means that she’s not the current Queen. It’s a complicated relationship unique to royals.

“Moreover I am the child of a Unicorn. If push comes to shove I will escape by flying away!”

“…Huh?”

Yes? What did you just? Unicorn?

“EEEeeehh!?”

“Waah! Please don’t scream out of nowhere! My ears hurt!”

“It-, it’s just, A Unicorn? Children can be born between humans and unicorns!?”

It’s physically impossible right! When I said that, he sent me a disgusted look. This child, don’t you know anything?

“It’s natural for a Sacred Beast to be able to turn into a human being!! …Didn’t you meet my Mother? Although they said that the other day she came flying to see you all together with Father and that they had enjoyed themselves.”

That one?! That Unicorn?! It was that Unicorn which gave off such a terrible intimidating feeling?! I clearly thought it was a male. It was a female huh… I really can’t tell the differences between genders, can I.

“Does that mean, that you are a Sacred Beast…?”

“Officially my Mother is the top in the country! Isn’t she amazing! The Unicorn riders may be rude and savage, but we won’t go easy on those who oppose!”4

I-, I see… Is his way of thinking the same as His Majesty’s? Then he also approves of the messenger’s matter. I wonder if this child and his mother were involved in that too. …I really don’t want to meet them if possible. Those people who treat lives as nothing more than inorganic matter. I shudder just by remembering those eyes.

Anyway, he is half human and half Unicorn? He inherited his hair color from his father, but the light coloring of his eyes resembles that Unicorn’s only a little. And yet, his expression when he speaks about his mother is very soft.

Parents, eh? I’m afraid to say that I feel a little envious, because I have no such memories.

“Hmm?”

I let out a sound as something black entered my line of sight. It is a habit of mine to follow black with my eyes. The black thing was within something like a cage made of wood, and was a top of a cart being dragged along by a middle-aged man.

“Oh, I know about that! Rare animals are said to get an expensive price! That’s why people sell them!”

Atop the cart, there was a variety of cages big and small, containing animals. Some were rampaging, others scared, or sleeping; there were a lot.

But in my eyes there was only the one that entered my sight at the beginning, that which was perched within the biggest cage.

“Miss Vito?”

I barged into the crowd while pulling Christophe’s hand without any time to think towards that figure of which I only caught a fleeting glance.

“Sorry, please let me through!”

While apologizing, I desperately pushed my way through the people and clung to the cart. I grasped the cart with my full strenght and made it stop. Surprised at the cart’s sudden stop the uncle turned around towards me.

“Wh-, what’s going on?”

“Uhm, this child…!”

When I point at the animal in the conspicuosly big cage on the cart, the old man says while scratching his head.

“Oh, this? I’m going to the city to sell it now.”

“Sell it?”

“Its size is unusual for a crow, isn’t it? Although its color is like that, but certainly there are people with strange tastes that will buy it off me.”

—…Just, why.

“There is no such thing! There are also people who’d keep it by their side as a charm against evil spirits!”

“That so? I got to learn something good. Thanks, young master!”

“My father too says that it’s an abhorrent color, but I’ll get a sword or some small accessory in that color! I also like it quite much!”

Their talk doesn’t enter my ears. I climb onto the cart and grab the cage with both hands. The animal within the cage — “She” noticed my existence, and opening her round and black little eyes up wide, she cried out.

[Is-, is that you Vito?!]

A bird of a large build and black feathers. — No doubt, it’s Rau.

“Rau …How.”

Why, instead of a happy reunion, did things become like this; it is absurd that the smart Rau would have been caught by humans. Moreover, surveying the other animals I couldn’t spot Saus and Whitey, who should have been traveling together with her. ‘Could it be,’ I thought, as a bad premonition entered my mind.

[Explanations come afterwards! Vito, won’t you take me out of here?!]

You don’t even need to ask me for it. I turn to the old man.

“Uhm, would you sell this child to me?”

“Eh? That may be troublesome… since I’ve already talked about this bird to a customer with particular tastes.”

‘What to do,’ he says as he inclines his head.

“That bird, how much?”

“Christophe…?”

When he confirmed that we were interested in the bird, the uncle pretended to be troubled and said jokingly.

“Oh yeah, it should be about 6200.”

Since the currency is common through the land, I understand that the price is pretty much puffed up. Of course I’m not going to give up if I cann’t afford to buy her.  Without thinking I instantly grabbed tight onto Christophe’s hand but, ‘It’s fine!’ he said, and he handed the money to the uncle. Perhaps the uncle didn’t really think that we could afford that amount, since his eyes went round and he simply became good humored, trying to offer us other animals, but the only one we wanted was Rau. He seemed a bit disappointed in that but he left with a smile.

“Th-, thank you. Christophe.”

As expected of a Prince. I am stunned that he had such an outrageous amount in his pocket. And to take it out without any frugality, how should I say this, as expected of a young master?

“You’re welcome, and besides, I’m also interested in rare animals!”

How broad-minded!!

[The air of freedom is splendid! …That’s not it! Vito! You saved me!]

Promptly getting out of the cage Rau leapt at me. Perhaps because she felt happy to be free, she flew up high and gave and made a circle in the sky, then turned and came back towards the ground.

“Rau!!”

Estimating the place where she would land I caught her and hugged her with all my might. I felt like I heard some voice that seemed to be squeezed out, but since I’m glad that we could meet again, I won’t pay it any mind.

“What about Whitey? And Saus? Why did you get caught…?!”

Anyway I was told that it was ‘Tight, let go,’ so regrettably I let her down on the ground. I got on my knees to match her line of sight.

[We were traveling in the vicinity of this country, but we were careless and we were caught by peddlers on the way. Whitey and Saus managed to escape, but I, it was as you saw. …But you really saved me.]

“Don’t make me worry, it’s bad for my heart…!”

So nostalgic. Rau is the same as always; black, large, and her wording is bad.5 But she’s very caring. While I said that we would meet again, I didn’t think that we could meet again so soon, I’m terribly happy.6

[But Whitey has some, special circ.u.mstances…]

“Special circ.u.mstances?”

[Because of those special circ.u.mstances, he was able to escape, but… That’s right! We don’t have the time to be relaxing like this! Vito, right away—!]

“It, it’s a wild beast! There’s a wild beast!!”

At that moment, our immediate vicinity was filled with the yells of people all of a sudden, like an explosion. The turmoil infected the surroundings and the bustling atmosphere changed in the blink of an eye to people running about trying to escape.

“Eh? Wh-, what?”

“Eek! …Miss Vito!”

I promptly held tightly onto Rau and Christophe so that they wouldn’t be swept away by the crowd and took refuge on a nearby wall.

[Aah, why, didn’t I tell you so!]

Rau batted her big wings in agitation.

“Wh-, what’s this all about, what’s going on?”

[There’s no time to explain! Anyway stop that guy!! Vito! You can do it, right?]

That guy?

When my line of sight turns in the opposite direction from where are escaping to, a beast larger than a human being is rampaging about. Several security guards from Caspe De country have just been driven by its overwhelming strength.

“You-, you mean that one…”

“Amazing! It’s a Sable-toothed Tiger! The Sacred Beast of the northern country! Why would it be in such a place! So strange!”

…Did you say a Sable-toothed Tiger?

A roar that shakes the earth. Its fur which is white to the point of seeming almost divine as it sparkles with the reflection of the sunlight, and the two sharp fangs that are within its wide open mouth are different from the Unicorns’ fantastic atmosphere; they give an impression of strength. Why is the Sacred Beast of the northern country in the south? Moreover, this far inside a city.

[I can’t stop him! I leave it to you, Vito!!]

Rau urged me desperately. Unable to grasp the situation, I looked between Rau and the white beast alternately, but something felt wrong.

— …Could it be. How could it. But, that white fur that if you didn’t know better you’d believe it was bleached.

Rau exclaims.

[That guy — It’s Whitey!]

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Translator’s Lair~☆

Wow. Omg. i seriously wasn’t expecting a reunion like this! :c i mean like, we all suspected either Saus or Whitey would be a sacred beast, butbutbutbut!! i’m thrilled so i hope to get next chapter out soon!

On another note, thanks to all the people who helped me in this chapter! i forgot to copy their names, but there were a lot of people! thank you!

And, remember to head to Watermelon Helmets to read a better translation of chapter 20! :D many things may be off with my translation, so if you want to get a better view of those chapters, you know where to go ^^

on to the notes!