Chapter 31: In His Own Words

Since becoming able to speak the human language, I’d gradually grown more accustomed to forming sounds.

It still wasn’t smooth enough to call conversation.

Names and short words came more easily than at first. But if I tried to say exactly what I wanted, my tongue sometimes shifted out of position midway through, or a sound collapsed in the back of my throat.

“Val, do you want water?”

Lina brought a bowl in the morning.

“…Don’t need.”

“Are you hungry?”

“…A little.”

“What do you want to eat?”

That was too difficult.

When I remained silent, Lina laughed.

“Long sentences are still too hard?”

“…Not yet.”

I’d had so many occasions to use that phrase that it had become quite easy to say.

I was also gradually becoming accustomed to my adult body.

Takeoffs and landings required a broader area than before, but once airborne, short flights were stable. After flying several times, I’d begun to understand how to tilt my larger wings so even my tail followed smoothly.

I still hadn’t tested how far I could fly.

The same was true of my breath.

The heat deep in my chest felt stronger, but I didn’t know whether its power had changed or how long I could use it. Even if I tested it, there was no reason to do so near the village or its people.

Before noon that day, three figures climbed the southern road.

I recognized the man in front.

Elmer.

Two armed men followed behind him, as always.

When I raised my head outside the fence, Elmer noticed me.

He stopped where he was.

“…Val?”

Again?

Since I’d become an Adult Dragon, nearly everyone who knew my former body asked that first.

I nodded.

Elmer approached slowly but stopped considerably farther away than before.

“You’ve grown quite a lot.”

“He did,” Lina answered from nearby on my behalf.

“I can see that.”

Elmer’s gaze traveled from my shoulder to my wings and forelegs.

Even on all fours, my shoulder now stood above an adult man’s head. I looked unmistakably different from the juvenile dragon Elmer had seen.

“Suddenly?”

“Yes.”

“Again?”

“Yes.”

Listening to Lina’s answers, Elmer put a hand to his forehead.

“Every time I return to the manor, there are more things to report…”

The chief came over too.

“What is it today?”

“I came to ask something.”

“Another magical beast in the mountain?”

“No. This time, it’s Val himself.”

Elmer looked at me.

“Word has reached below that he’s begun speaking the human language.”

Fast.

But with Heinz and the other merchants traveling back and forth repeatedly, there was nothing strange about news that I’d spoken reaching outsiders.

“Is it true?”

This time, he asked me directly.

“…Yes.”

The two guards’ expressions changed.

Elmer also stared at me in silence.

“You really speak.”

“I told you it was true.”

Dario had arrived too.

“Only in broken phrases so far.”

“I’m not asking you right now.”

“All right, all right.”

Elmer turned back to me.

“Val. Do you understand me?”

“…Understand.”

“Your own name?”

“…Val.”

Elmer breathed out quietly.

“I wasn’t told you were already this capable.”

I didn’t know what he’d imagined, but anything much longer than this was still difficult for me.

The chief asked, “Did you come only to confirm that?”

“No.”

Elmer’s expression shifted slightly.

“Until now, my reports to the manor focused on Val’s actions and how the people of the village interpreted them. I was fairly certain he understood the human language and protected the village.”

“Then what are you asking now?”

“Now we can ask him.”

Elmer looked up at me.

“That’s the difference.”

I understood his meaning too.

Before, the chief and Dario had translated my nods and shakes of the head into words.

Complicated matters would still work that way.

But now I could give short answers myself.

“There’s one thing I want to hear directly from him,” Elmer said.

“Val. Are you protecting Rue Village because someone ordered you to?”

I shook my head at once.

“No?”

“…No.”

“Not because the chief ordered you?”

I nodded.

“Nor because the manor commanded you.”

Of course not.

I nodded again.

“Then you chose to protect it yourself?”

“…Yes.”

Elmer fell silent.

The exchange was brief, but apparently enough to confirm something.

There was one question left.

“Why?”

Of course he asked.

Explaining that in a single word was difficult.

I looked at Lina a short distance away.

She was looking at me too.

It had begun simply.

I was hungry, injured, and couldn’t even fly properly. She’d shared her own black bread with me.

I wanted to repay that debt.

At first, that was all.

“…Lina.”

I called her name.

“Me?”

Lina pointed at herself.

I nodded.

I searched for my next word.

“…Bread.”

Elmer frowned.

“Bread?”

Lina understood first.

“Oh. The black bread I gave you when we first met?”

I nodded.

“What’s that about?” Elmer asked.

“When I first met Val, he was hungry, so I gave him half my bread.”

“And?”

“What do you mean, and?”

“No…”

Elmer looked at me.

“That was your first reason?”

I nodded.

But that alone couldn’t explain the present.

If it had only been about repaying a debt, it should’ve ended long ago.

I killed a Tusk Boar.

I drove away the horned wolves.

I fought the bandits.

The eight who’d fled from beyond the mountain remained in this village.

Mark’s family chose to move here.

Merchants stayed overnight, outsiders began bringing goods, and even warnings of danger arrived from the south.

The number of familiar faces had increased.

I looked toward the village.

There wasn’t only Lina.

There was the chief. Dario. All the other humans living here.

I wanted to explain.

I didn’t know how much my current words could convey.

I steadied my breathing.

“…At first…Lina.”

The back of my throat grew heavy.

I paused.

“…Now…everyone.”

I turned my face toward the village once.

I already knew the last word.

“…Protect.”

When I finished, my throat felt terribly tired.

I closed my mouth.

Everyone around us was silent.

Even Lina said nothing.

Dario looked at me, then turned to Elmer.

“He means it was Lina at first, but now he protects everyone here.”

I nodded.

Elmer slowly breathed out.

“From half a loaf of black bread?”

I nodded.

“That’s grown considerably.”

I agreed.

I’d never imagined that repaying one piece of bread would lead this far.

After thinking for a moment, Elmer asked one last question.

“If the manor ordered you, would you go protect somewhere else?”

I shook my head.

Elmer understood immediately.

“You won’t move on orders?”

“…Yes.”

“But if someone asked for help, you’d decide for yourself?”

I nodded.

“Understood.”

He asked nothing further.

That helped.

My throat was quite tired.

Lina brought the bowl of water.

“Do you want some?”

I nodded and lapped at it little by little.

The bowl was small for my larger body, but held enough to moisten my throat.

Meanwhile, Elmer turned back to the chief.

“When I return to the manor, I’ll report exactly what he said.”

“What?”

“Val protects Rue Village of his own will. Neither the chief nor the manor ordered him to do so.”

“You already knew that.”

“Knowing it and hearing him answer in his own voice are different,” Elmer said.

“We’ve already reported that Val understands human speech and communicates with the villagers. But from now on, he can state his own intentions directly.”

The chief listened silently.

“You mean it’ll be more difficult for the manor to treat him according to whatever they decide he must think?” Dario asked.

“Yes.”

Elmer nodded.

“At the very least, that’s what I’ll report.”

I didn’t dislike that phrasing.

Now that I could speak, there was no need for someone to put convenient human words in my mouth.

Even in broken phrases, I could say no myself.

I could say yes myself.

“However,” the chief said, looking at Elmer, “don’t make him talk as much as you did today. He isn’t used to it.”

“I know.”

“You don’t look like you do.”

“This is my first time talking with a dragon too.”

“We can’t say we’re accustomed to it yet either.”

“Don’t act superior merely because you heard him a little earlier.”

“Who was acting superior?”

The two began arguing.

I finished drinking and lay down.

I had no intention of speaking properly again today.

Elmer seemed to understand and didn’t ask me anything else.

He spoke briefly with the chief afterward, then began preparing to leave before the afternoon had advanced too far.

Before heading for the southern road, Elmer stopped in front of me.

“Val.”

I turned only my face.

“I’ll carry what I heard today back without adding anything.”

I nodded.

“You chose to protect this village yourself. That’s what I’ll tell them.”

I nodded again.

Elmer said nothing more and descended the southern road with his two guards.

After they disappeared among the trees, Lina came beside me.

“Val.”

I turned to her.

“What you said earlier made me happy.”

I wanted to ask which part.

But I’d used my throat too much today.

When I remained silent, Lina continued herself.

“The part where you said it was me at first, but now it’s everyone.”

I nodded once.

Lina smiled.

Without saying anything further, I rested my chin on my enlarged foreleg.