Chapter 28: News from the South

Before noon, a man hurried up the southern road.

He had no packhorse, and the sack on his back was small. He didn’t look as though he’d come to trade.

I raised myself outside the fence.

I recognized his face. He was the young man who’d accompanied the people bringing baskets and wooden dishes a short while ago.

When he saw me, he slowed but continued to the village entrance.

“Is Dario here?”

“I’m here.”

Dario happened to be inside the fence and approached.

“What’s wrong? Nothing to sell today?”

“This isn’t about that. Someone saw gray wolves with horns on the road below.”

I turned my ears toward them.

Dario’s expression changed too.

“How many?”

“The witness said three. Apparently, they had small black horns.”

I remembered them.

The wolves that approached Lina soon after I awoke in this world had the same traits.

“Was anyone attacked?”

“No. The wolves went into the forest immediately. But they were seen yesterday evening. We thought we should tell anyone coming up here today.”

“Where?”

The man listed several landmarks along the southern road.

I didn’t understand the detailed names, but Dario seemed to.

“That’s not especially close to here.”

“No. But it’s along the road people use to reach Rue.”

The chief was called over too.

After hearing the story, the first thing he confirmed was whether anyone had been harmed.

“No one is injured?”

“No.”

“No one had goods taken either?”

“No. But someone said he planned to climb alone today, so we stopped him before he left.”

“And you came ahead?”

“I was with two others part of the way. They had no business here, so they turned back.”

Before, even if someone saw something on the road, no one would’ve gone out of his way to carry the news to Rue Village.

Now things were different.

People brought goods here.

Others climbed in search of salt and needles.

As more humans used the same road, the things they saw on it began traveling with them.

“Should Val go look?” Lina, who’d been listening nearby, asked.

The chief shook his head at once.

“Only three were seen. We don’t even know where they are now.”

Dario agreed.

“If it was yesterday evening, they may have moved far already. There’s no reason to pursue them.”

That was my intention too.

No one knew that the wolves were heading toward the village.

They hadn’t attacked anyone.

There was no need for me to fly over the entire southern road in search of them.

“Does anyone plan to go down today?” the chief asked.

“Heinz isn’t here. Two villagers had business a short distance below, I think.”

“Is it urgent?”

“No.”

“Then we’ll stop them for today. If they leave tomorrow or later, don’t send either alone.”

That was all they decided.

No one discussed strengthening the fence or sending people to hunt wolves.

They’d learned there might be danger, so those using the road would become a little more careful.

For now, that was enough.

“Thank you for coming to tell us,” the chief said to the man. “If you’re returning, I’d like you to carry one message from us.”

“What?”

“Tell people not to enter the mountain side carelessly.”

“Because of the wolves?”

“Something else.”

The chief looked at Dario.

Dario took over.

“Val saw a huge bear-like magical beast in the mountain near here.”

The man’s face stiffened.

“Did it come to the village?”

“Not that close. It didn’t attack anyone, and we haven’t confirmed what it is.”

“Then why spread the word?”

“Because someone may enter the mountain.”

Dario told him only what was necessary.

Blackish brown, with a large front half.

A hard-looking section from its shoulders to its back.

It had been chasing a Rock Ape.

The village had stopped working on the mountain side to avoid danger.

There were stories of a magical beast with similar traits called an Armored Bear, but they didn’t know whether it was the same creature.

“So there isn’t a report of it reaching the southern road?”

“No.”

“Then I’ll make that clear too.”

“Please.”

The man thought briefly and laughed.

“This is strange.”

“What is?”

“I brought you news about wolves, and I’m taking home news about a bear?”

“You don’t have to carry it if you don’t want to.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

The man scratched his head.

“Until recently, I had no idea what was happening up here.”

The chief didn’t answer.

But the exchange proved useful that very afternoon.

The two villagers who’d planned to go south postponed their departure.

Instead, three travelers climbed the road near evening.

They hadn’t seen the horned wolves along the way, but below they’d heard that people shouldn’t enter the mountain road alone today. Though they’d begun separately, the three grouped together for the climb.

“Did you see anything?” Dario asked.

“No,” one traveler replied. “But once, I heard something running in the forest.”

“Only that?”

“Yes.”

“Then that’s all we know for now.”

There was no commotion at the entrance.

After finishing their business, one of the three stayed overnight, while the others decided not to travel again that day.

No one asked me to kill the wolves.

That was good.

The next day, I made my usual short flight around the village.

I didn’t follow the southern road far.

Nothing looked unusual from above, and there were no wolves near the village.

Morning passed, then noon, without incident.

Perhaps yesterday’s warning had been for nothing.

That was fine.

There was no reason to become angry because nothing happened.

The day after that, Heinz climbed up with a packhorse.

“I heard about it below,” he said the moment he reached the village. “Horned wolves appeared?”

“Someone saw them,” the chief corrected. “They may already be gone.”

“I know. That’s why I came with two other people.”

Another merchant and a traveler followed behind him.

“And now they’re talking about a bear below too.”

Dario raised an eyebrow.

“Word reached them already?”

“Someone from here was talking about it yesterday.”

“Has the story become distorted?”

“For now, it’s only, ‘Something huge is apparently in the mountain, so don’t go in.'”

“Then it’s accurate.”

Heinz laughed while unloading the horse.

“News travels along the road faster than it used to.”

“Because there are more people.”

“I don’t think that’s all.”

“Don’t start saying something complicated again.”

“There’s nothing complicated about it. More people come here, and more people return from here. That’s all.”

The chief didn’t answer and began inspecting the delivered goods.

I listened from a short distance.

It was true that no one had established a system.

No watch hut stood along the road.

No one had been assigned to report danger.

Even so, news of the wolves traveled from the south, while word of the bear-like magical beast seen here returned in the other direction.

As a result, some humans stopped traveling alone.

Until yesterday, no such connection had existed.

Sometime after noon, the young man who’d brought the warning appeared again.

He wasn’t alone today.

A woman carrying a basket and another man accompanied him.

“Those wolves from yesterday were seen somewhere else too,” he said at once.

“Is it close?” Dario asked.

“They’ve moved a little farther south. We don’t know whether there were three, but they don’t seem to be climbing this way.”

“Then we won’t pursue them.”

“I thought you’d say that.”

The man changed subjects.

“I spread word about the bear too. We’ll warn anyone from our area who enters the mountain.”

“That helps,” Dario replied.

That was all.

There were no grand promises.

No one had placed himself under another’s command.

Yet news still traveled back and forth.

The visitors showed the baskets they’d brought, exchanged them for anything they needed, and returned home before evening.

After watching them go, I returned outside the fence.

As I lay down, a strange sensation passed through the depths of my chest.

At first, I thought it was fatigue from flying.

It wasn’t.

Heat.

But not pain.

It spread from near my heart, flowing slowly toward my shoulders, back, and the roots of my wings.

I raised my head.

《Your bond with those under your protection has expanded.》

Words appeared.

My breath nearly stopped.

I’d seen a similar message not long ago.

But this time, it didn’t end there.

《The conditions for evolution have been fulfilled.》

It had come.

《Current race: Juvenile Dragon》

I stood.

“Val?”

Lina, who was nearby, noticed.

I looked at her instead of answering.

The heat inside my body intensified.

《Evolution will now begin.》

The roots of my wings suddenly became scorching hot.

I braced all four limbs by reflex.

“Val!”

Lina tried to run closer.

I raised a foreleg to stop her.

“Should I stay away?”

I nodded.

I didn’t want to frighten her, but even I didn’t know what was about to happen.

My body had changed considerably when I evolved into a juvenile dragon.

This might be even greater.

Lina stopped several paces away and called the chief and Dario.

“Are you injured?” Dario asked as he ran over.

I shook my head.

“Then is it happening again…?”

He trailed off, apparently realizing.

My wings trembled.

It wasn’t the muscles moving on their own.

The sensation came from deep inside the bones, as though something were forcing them wider.

My shoulders burned.

My back burned.

Something penetrated the depths of my chest, and with every breath, the shape of my body itself began to change.

My shadow on the ground grew slightly larger.

“Val…”

I heard Lina’s voice.

I wanted to answer.

I wanted to tell her I was all right.

But I still couldn’t speak the human language.

When the heat rose as far as my throat, my vision swayed violently.

I closed my eyes and put strength into all four limbs.

The transformation of my body had only just begun.