LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 2: There's a dragon in that mountain
Maybe it was time to go down to the lower village. That was the thought that came to mind when I saw the lumps of meat piled up in a corner of my dwelling, emitting a musty smell.
Things that were inedible, yet strangely craved by humans. Suspiciously shining stones, entrails that gave off a bizarre light, horns of beasts or magical creatures. Things like that.
When I asked the receptionist who spoke a language I could understand what they were used for, she simply replied that she didn’t know either.
They were of no use to me, but if I took them to the lower village, I could trade them for quite a lot. I could exchange those lumps for gold or silver coins, and then exchange those for various foods made by humans.
However, I couldn’t get a good price for anything that was rotten or in bad condition, so I had to go down before they turned from valuable goods into trash. And right now, they were emitting a dangerous smell, on the verge of rotting.
First, I should eat something. I was lucky enough to get a large amount of meat today.
After skinning it, I tore off the parts that were crushed by rocks or dirt and unusable, and even after removing the parts that looked strange in color, there was still a lot left, which was a real score.
The taste was unbearable, though. Mother Nature isn’t generous enough to tolerate picky eating.
I lightly channeled magic into the tip of my horn to find something usable as a flint and pulled it towards me, then scraped it hard with my fingernail to create a small spark.
I threw a piece torn into a good size into the fire, cooked it, and then chewed—
–Crunch
There’s always something like this. One more thing to sell to the folks in the lower village. I threw a purple stone towards the pile of entrails and continued to tear at the meat.
The taste was, needless to say, terrible. Even licking the rock salt I had placed next to me couldn’t get rid of the disgusting metallic smell and the indescribable stench.
It was the same when I tried to get rid of this terrible aftertaste by gnawing on iron ore. As if to say, “Did you think that would be enough to kill me?”, the sensation that made me want to scrape my tongue raw wouldn’t go away.
I thought I had hit the jackpot. This wasn’t a matter of being picky; it was simply inedible. Even now, I was barely holding back the urge to vomit.
Let’s go to the village.
Let’s go to the village, exchange all this trash for money, and buy a lot of delicious food. I made a firm resolution, throwing the meat, which tasted even worse than trash, out of the cave with all my might.
Today, I craved soft and sweet food more than ever.
I made a smooth stone rise from the ground until its surface was visible, then checked to see if there were any major problems with my appearance.
As soon as I confirmed that there was nothing wrong except for the blood on the bandage, I smashed the stone that was acting as a mirror with my tail, then repeatedly slashed it until there was no trace left.
Because I didn’t like the round horns and the slit pupils that were visible beyond it.
I fiddled with the necklace that my mother had left me as a last gift and slung the large sack that I had thrown carelessly. The sack alone was quite large and heavy, but I wondered if I could fit everything in. With that thought, I put the byproducts into the sack one by one.
Come to think of it, today marks exactly 20 years since I fell into this strange world.
The first memory I had when I became this body was of me screaming when I realized I had become a girl with horns and a tail. That was when I was… 10 years old, I think.
When I was just getting used to that body, a guy who claimed to be my dad came and killed my mom. The image of my mother lying to my father, who was demanding to know where I was, saying that she had already used me as an ingredient, was still vivid in my mind.
As soon as he heard that, the first thing that came out of my father’s mouth was, ‘That’s good.’
That happened when I was 13. My mother must have cast some kind of spell on me, because I wasn’t discovered while hiding, and my father, just in case, destroyed everything of my mother’s without a trace.
The cabin, books, cauldron. All sorts of other things, without exception.
Thanks to that bastard, I’m living like this. If it weren’t for him, I might have been living happily with my mother until now.
I would probably speak fluently, and live like a girl of that age… well, maybe not. Since I’m a man on the inside. That would be a bit difficult. Anyway. If that bastard hadn’t come, things might have been a little better.
…There’s hardly anything more useless than the word ‘if.’ I shook off the unimportant thoughts.
Whether I inherited it from that bastard or not, I had the ability to manipulate the earth and a strong body. Thanks to that, I was able to survive until this age.
Naturally, I didn’t like it. But to survive, what else could I do? I had to use everything I had. At least it was much more helpful than my mother’s language lessons.
Most of what I learned was from banging my head on my own since there was no one to teach me, but even that was more than enough to survive.
“…Hup.”
When I crammed all the items to trade into the sack, it was a tight fit, but I managed to get everything in.
Then, shall we go out for a drink after a long time? I frowned at the bright sunlight and stepped out of the cave.
I felt the vibrations with my feet to detect if there was anything dangerous around, but there was nothing more dangerous than wolves at most.
Well, at least the things that lived in this mountain feared me. Those who were bold enough to attack me, other than humans, had long since become lumps of meat.
I walked leisurely until I found a suitable slope and finally found a place to slide down.
I closed my eyes tightly and concentrated magic on the tip of my horn, picturing in my mind grabbing the ground beneath me and pushing it towards the slope.
As soon as I heard the sound of rocks interlocking and crumbling, I planted my feet on the ground that was about to fall.
All that was left was to maintain my posture with all my might.
I felt the screams of the trees that were crushed by the moving rock and the vibrations caused by the friction between the boulders as I slid down the mountain at breakneck speed.
I used my ability to reinforce the rock beneath me so that it wouldn’t be scraped and crushed, and after shaking it around for a while, I was already at the bottom of the mountain.
I looked around to see if anything else was pouring down from behind, but fortunately, there was nothing. The first time I did this, there was a landslide, and I had to work hard to stop it by myself, so now I habitually looked back.
If something was flowing down, it was much easier to stop it before it was too late.
As I was about to go on my way again, I saw guards in front of me staring blankly at me.
“It’s a dragon! Humber! Go to the village and tell everyone! I’ll hold it off here!”
Due to some family issues, I didn’t know the language well. Even now, I could only understand fragments of it. Still, I could roughly guess what it meant.
I’ll take care of it here, Humber. You go and tell the village. Something like that.
It was a touching sense of duty, but I didn’t come down to see that. I let the fleeing guy go and looked at the guy who was blocking me, pointing his spear at me.
I floated a pebble that was caught at my feet and threw it at his head, just hard enough to knock him out.
“Guh…ah…”
The helmet he was wearing caved in slightly, and the guy who was standing in front of me fell backward. If I left him like this, he would be eaten by beasts, so I lifted the ground and gently placed him on a tree branch.
If I listened to the pulsation, he would wake up soon, so he would probably return to the village before sunset at least.
I slung my bag over my shoulder again and followed the trail of the fleeing guard. If I went too fast, they would have to face me without being prepared, so I walked slowly.
I walked leisurely to give them enough time to prepare for me. It wouldn’t make a difference whether they prepared or not, but they would feel more at ease if they set up that meager defense line.
Then I could trade too. If I went too fast, they would panic, attack, run away, and make a fuss. Naturally, trading would be out of the question.
As I headed towards the village as leisurely as if I were waiting for prey to get caught in a trap, I could see the ramparts in the distance.
It was called a village, but it was actually closer to a city. Until a few years ago, it was just a stone wall, but at some point, it had turned into a proper rampart with a moat.
As I got closer, I saw guards led by a bald man whose head shone like polished marble.
And archers on the ramparts to boot. The bald man shouted something at me, but I couldn’t understand anything except for three words, so I politely ignored him and moved towards them.
They didn’t dare to attack me or throw anything at me, probably knowing that they couldn’t stop me on their own.
Instead, they opened only one side and were slowly pushing me by surrounding me. I had no intention of going anywhere else anyway, but they seemed to be very determined, with resolute expressions on their faces.
They could all be knocked down with a wave of my hand. It was ridiculous. But if I did that, I would lose my only trading partner, so I had no intention of doing so.
I obediently walked as they intended, and I saw a building that was bigger than the last time I saw it.
The Adventurer’s Guild.
The only place that accepted me, and the place that put a price on my head. I walked in leisurely.