Chapter 1: The Debt of Half a Loaf of Black Bread

When I woke up, the first thing I felt was intense hunger.

It’s not something as simple as just being hungry. My stomach feels empty, and I feel like my body is drying up from the inside.

What’s more, my right hind leg was throbbing in time with the beat of my heart.

“…What is this?”

I meant to say it out loud.

However, what leaked from my throat were not human words.

“Guh…?”

I startled myself with the low, guttural cry.

I lowered my gaze.

The limbs resting on the damp soil and dead leaves weren’t the ones I knew. I had four legs covered in dark reddish-brown scales, with curved claws extending from my toes.

When I turned my head, I saw a long tail extending behind me.

Something was folded against my back.

When I put some force into it, it opened to the left and right.

They were wings.

“Guru…”

Without fully understanding the situation, I dragged my feet towards a nearby puddle.

When I saw the face reflected in the murky water, I couldn’t move for a while.

I had an elongated, reptilian head. Two short horns protruded from my forehead, and even the skin around my yellowish eyes was covered in fine scales.

I was considerably larger than a dog.

Even so, I wasn’t as large as a horse.

And I certainly couldn’t compare to the gigantic, castle-sized dragons of legend.

No matter how I looked at it, I was a young dragon.

The last thing I remember is Japan.

I was on my way home after finishing work.

A rainy night.

Car lights reflecting on the road.

A deafening horn.

The feeling of my body being thrown into the air.

I don’t remember anything after that.

I must have died.

And for reasons I don’t know, I became a young dragon in a place that seemed like another world.

As I thought about that, the pain in my right leg brought me back to reality.

A steel trap was biting into my ankle.

A thick rope was tied to a nearby tree.

It seems to be a trap to catch a beast.

Thanks to the scales, the flesh was not gouged deeply, but blood was seeping out from the gaps.

I hooked the claws of my forelegs into the trap’s iron jaws.

I tried pushing it, but it didn’t move.

I changed the angle and put my weight into it.

The iron creaked slightly.

I pushed it apart again, this time using both front legs, and finally there was enough space to pull out the back leg.

“Gi…”

I pulled my leg free, scraping the wound as I did, then sank belly-first to the ground.

I was out of breath.

I don’t know what kind of creature I have become. But at least I now understand that I am far from invincible.

I was injured by a single human-made trap, and just removing it was exhausting.

This would end if we were attacked by something before we could secure food and water.

First, we need to find a safe place.

The moment I thought that, a branch broke on the other side of the bush.

When I move my nose, I can smell the animal odor, which is different from wet soil and grass.

Mixed in was the smell of blood.

It’s my own blood.

Three shadows appeared between the trees.

It resembles a wolf.

However, it is not the type of wolf I saw in Japan. It has a physique that almost reaches the waist of a human, and one small black horn protrudes from its forehead covered in gray fur.

All three were looking at my injured leg.

It seems that you can see that he is weak.

I slowly stood up.

I don’t feel like I can escape.

I tried to spread the wings on my back and flap them strongly, but the dead leaves just flew up and my body didn’t leave the ground.

I can’t fly.

One of them lowered itself low and then jumped at me.

It reflexively swung its front legs out.

The tip of the nail grazed the wolf’s muzzle, causing blood to fly.

The moment the wolf flinched, another one bit its shoulder from the side.

“Gyaaaah!”

Although the scales repelled the fangs, they were unable to block the impact.

Shaking his head, he pushed the wolf’s body away with his front legs.

If you face three of them head on, you will lose.

The moment I made that decision, my heart felt strangely warm.

The heat rose from the bottom of my stomach to my throat, and I reflexively opened my mouth.

“Gah!”

Flames erupted.

It was only for a moment.

It wasn’t the kind of flame that would burn a wolf to death. At best, it would be like suddenly throwing a big fire in front of me.

But it was effective.

The three animals retreat together.

When I tried to do it again, I felt a burning pain in the back of my throat.

Cannot be used continuously.

In that case, there’s no need to fight.

I ran down the slope while the wolves were watching out for the flames.

Every time I put my weight on my injured hind leg, I feel a sharp pain.

Even so, it doesn’t stop.

The sound of wolf footsteps follows from behind.

As I passed through the trees, the ground suddenly stopped.

It was a cliff.

There are trees spreading out below.

If you go back, you’ll be a wolf.

If you keep going, you’ll reach a cliff.

I jumped forward without hesitation.

As soon as it falls, it spreads its wings to its fullest extent.

I can’t fly.

Still, it seemed to have the power to support the body, and the trajectory that was supposed to fall straight down extended forward.

The wind pushes the wings.

It fell belly-first into a tree branch and rolled on the ground, breaking many branches.

“Geez…”

It was a terrible landing.

But it’s alive.

The wolves are howling on the cliff, but they don’t jump down to chase me.

I lay face down on the grass for a while, waiting for my erratic breathing to calm down.

I don’t know why I was reincarnated or where this world is.

However, I’ll think about that later.

All I needed now was food, water, and a safe place to sleep.

My stomach was growling loudly.

Move your nose to pick up the scents around you.

It seems this body has a pretty good sense of smell.

Not only the smell of the beast, but also the damp bark, the moisture in the soil, and the smoke of burning trees in the distance.

Mixed with the smoke was a faint smell of grain.

There might be someone there.

I walked through the forest while protecting my right leg.

I don’t know how much I walked.

Eventually, I saw a small figure beyond the trees.

It was a girl.

He must be a little over ten years old.

Her shoulder-length brown hair was not neatly combed, and her clothes had marks from being mended many times. The basket he carried on his back was filled with thin firewood and dead branches.

The girl noticed this.

My legs stopped.

My eyes widened.

“…Dragon?”

I didn’t fully understand the meaning.

However, from that short sound and the girl’s gaze, I could tell that it was pointing at me.

The girl was scared.

It’s no wonder.

Even to me, my current body looked like a small dragon, but to a human child I was probably still a large enough monster.

If you can run away, that’s better.

I myself don’t know how this body will react in extreme conditions.

However, after the girl took a few steps back, she looked at my right hind leg.

“Blood…”

I didn’t understand what you said this time.

However, his gaze was directed towards the wound.

After some hesitation, the girl lowered the basket on her back.

Take out a small cloth wrapper from inside.

What appeared was dark bread.

The surface is completely dry and looks hard.

The girl tried to break it with both hands.

It cannot be broken at once.

After straining over and over in front of my chest, I finally divided it into two, and compared the left and right sides.

One side is a little bigger.

The girl placed the larger one on the ground.

“…Do you want to eat?”

I didn’t understand the meaning of the words.

But I understand this.

“You’re going to give it to me.”

The girl moved away from Pan and took a few steps back cautiously.

After looking at her for a while, I slowly approached Pan.

Bring the tip of your nose together.

It doesn’t smell like poison.

I couldn’t overcome my hunger.

Take a bite.

Hard.

It’s so hard that it would damage your teeth if it didn’t have fangs.

Furthermore, it has a strong sour taste and has almost no moisture.

To be honest, it was bad.

“Guru…”

Still, my stomach is craving food.

I chewed it several times and swallowed it little by little.

Just by having something enter my stomach, I regain a little bit of the strength that was leaving my body.

I suddenly looked up.

The girl was also eating the leftover bread.

I tear it into small pieces and chew it one bite at a time.

That’s when I first noticed it.

I didn’t give you leftover food.

That was this child’s meal.

Thin arms.

Thin cheeks.

Old clothes.

No matter how you look at it, it’s not a life where you don’t have to worry about food.

Still, she broke her bread in two.

What was more, she’d set the larger piece down for me.

I slowly swallowed the black bread that remained in my mouth.

The taste remains the same.

It’s still hard and sour.

However, I didn’t think it was worse than before.

The girl puts her hand on her chest.

“Lina”

Saying it again, she pointed to herself.

“Lina”

As expected, I understood the meaning.

It’s the name.

Lina.

As I stared at her, the girl let her guard down a little.

This time, he points to the other side of the forest.

“Roue…village”

There were two sounds that I could hear.

Luhe.

Village.

It’s probably where I live.

Lina put her basket back on her back and started walking, looking back at me several times.

I licked the crumbs left on the ground and stood up.

My legs still hurt.

It’s hard to say that my stomach was full.

Still, I was curious about where Lina would return to.

If it’s a place where people live, you might be able to find water and food.

More than anything, I wanted to see where that girl with her black panties cut in half lived.

I kept a safe distance and followed her.

Lina looked back several times along the way.

They called out to me, but I couldn’t understand the long words.

Even so, it didn’t seem like he was trying to chase her away.

By the time we passed through the forest, the sky was starting to turn red.

A house can be seen beyond the trees.

That seems to be Rue village.

The first thing I thought was that it was small.

There are dozens of houses made of wood and earth.

There are noticeable repair marks on the roof, and the fence surrounding the field is broken in many places. Crops that looked like wheat were sparse, and it was hard to imagine that the harvest would be bountiful.

There are even houses that are not smoking.

It’s much poorer than the human settlement I had imagined.

Suddenly, a scream came from the village.

“Run!”

I couldn’t understand the words, but I could hear the urgency in the voice.

Lina’s complexion changed and she ran towards the village.

Something huge was rampaging in a corner of the field.

It resembles a boar.

However, the size is completely different from the wild boar we know in Japan.

Its huge body, the size of a cow, was covered in muddy skin, and the fangs extending from the sides of its mouth looked like short spears.

Every time a giant boar swings its snout, the fence shatters and poorly grown crops are trampled.

Two men were standing against me holding crude spears.

The tip of the tip that one person stuck out only pierced the thick skin shallowly.

The boar shakes his head.

The man’s body floated into the air and fell into the field.

“Uncle!”

That much was clear from Lina’s expression and voice.

It’s probably someone I know.

Lina tried to run into the field, so I quickly stretched out my front legs and pressed the hem of her clothes to the ground with my nails.

“Eh…?”

Lina looks back.

I saw a huge boar.

strong.

At least it’s nothing compared to the lone wolf from earlier.

Right now, I’m injured and can’t fly. Even vomiting flames once made my throat hurt.

If you fight head-on, you’re more likely to lose.

To begin with, it has nothing to do with the people in that village.

There was no reason for me to risk my life.

However, if I don’t stop her, Lina will run to the field.

In front of that monster.

I lowered my gaze.

The girl is thin.

I was hungry.

Even so, she’d shared her own meal with me.

The larger one.

It’s only half a piece of black bread.

However, a debt was a debt.

I remove my nails from Lina’s clothes and turn towards the field instead.

A huge boar started running towards the fallen man.

The taste of sour bread still lingered in my mouth.

“…That bread seems a bit expensive.”

No human words came out, only a low growl.

“Gururu…”

I kicked the ground with my injured hind leg.

I don’t want to abandon the girl who gave me food when I was dying this time.