Chapter 37: The Dragon Who Landed on the Highway

I knew I could fly to the southern highway and return, but I wasn’t ready to go straight to the town. Rue’s villagers no longer stopped working when they saw me. Outside the village, things were different. If an Adult Dragon suddenly landed near a town, a panic could begin before anyone listened.

First, I wanted to see the highway up close.

“Don’t land near people or horses,” the chief warned.

“…I know.”

Dario smiled. “You’ve already flown that far once, so you know you can get back.”

I hadn’t found my limit, but I remembered the fatigue. If I went only as far as before and didn’t push myself, I would be fine.

I took off southward, following familiar landmarks: the narrow road, the clustered houses, the low ridge, and finally the broad highway.

Packhorses and carts moved along it.

I didn’t descend immediately. Avoiding the air directly above the road, I searched for empty ground. When a nearby cart had passed, I landed in an open patch of short grass and soil.

The highway erupted in alarm.

“A dragon!”

Naturally.

I folded my wings and stayed still. Horses were frightened; some people stopped their carts and stared. I waited until they understood I wasn’t approaching.

Traffic slowly resumed. Some hurried past, while others watched from far away.

One man finally approached, leaving plenty of space.

“Are you the dragon from Rue?”

The rumor had reached the highway.

“…Yes.”

“You really can talk.”

Someone behind him called, “I told you!”

I ignored that and watched a cart approaching. Its driver steered to the far side of the road. Several sacks filled the bed—far more than a single packhorse could carry.

“Interested in the cart?” the man asked.

“…Yes.”

I indicated Rue’s direction.

“…That, Rue. Can’t go?”

“No. The road into the mountains is too narrow. It might get partway, but the wheels can’t pass farther on.”

As expected.

“To take goods up, you transfer them to packhorses or have people carry them. The more cargo there is, the more troublesome it gets.”

“…Troublesome?”

“Transferring takes work. More horses need more care.”

So the problem wasn’t merely that carts couldn’t pass. Large quantities could reach the highway, but the route narrowed where the Rue road entered the mountains, limiting what passed beyond.

Another man called from farther off, “Rue produces charcoal, right?”

I nodded.

“I’ve bought some before. If you could bring more at once, people would want it.”

Charcoal was one of the goods Heinz traded.

I didn’t answer immediately.

“…I don’t decide. Village decides.”

He looked surprised, then nodded.

“So the dragon isn’t the merchant.”

“…Right.”

“Then tell them when you return.”

“…I will.”

I promised only to report what he had said, not that Rue would produce more charcoal or widen the road.

Still, I had learned something I couldn’t see from above. The narrow road didn’t merely inconvenience travelers. It constricted the actual quantity of goods.

◇

I watched the highway a little longer.

Large carts. Carts laden with barrels. People carrying sacks. Several packhorses. All used the same broad road. Only the route branching into the mountains toward Rue was narrow.

When we had improved it before, making it safe for packhorses had been enough. Packhorses could still use it, so that work hadn’t failed.

But as more people and goods came to Rue, the road’s limits were beginning to show.

The needs of a road changed when a village changed.

That didn’t mean we could widen it immediately. There were rocks, trees, slopes, and places rainwater must flow. I didn’t even know how much of the road Rue’s villagers were allowed to alter.

I should ask humans.

When I stood, the onlookers moved back.

“Going already?” someone asked.

“…Yes.”

“Not to the town?”

“…Not yet.”

The town wasn’t going anywhere. What I had learned here was enough.

I walked far from people and horses, spread my wings, and took off toward the mountains.

◇

Back in Rue, the chief reacted more strongly to what I had heard than to my landing on the highway.

“Someone wants more charcoal?”

“…Yes.”

“Who?”

“…A person on road.”

“Did you promise to sell it?”

“…No.”

“Good.”

Dario laughed. “That’s what you check?”

“I’m not doubting him. I’m confirming.”

The chief crouched, drew a small circle in the soil, and called it Rue. A curved line went south to a thick horizontal one: the highway. Beyond lay the town.

I saw his crude map overlain with the landscape from the air.

“The cart problem is here.” He tapped the narrow line. “A cart can reach the highway but not climb to Rue.”

“…Yes. So many goods transfer. Takes work.”

“You even asked that much?”

“…I did.”

Dario peered down. “Do we widen the road?”

“Don’t say it as if it’s easy,” the chief replied. “This isn’t shaving one nearby rock. It’s the whole distance to the highway. It takes people, and unstable ground may need more than widening.”

“And we may not be allowed to change all of it ourselves,” Dario added.

“We’d ask the manor.”

“…Elmer?”

“Probably. But we haven’t decided to widen anything. First we see whether charcoal production can grow. A cart road is pointless if we have nothing more to sell.”

True. More incoming goods would also require purchasing power and storage.

Lina arrived and looked at the map.

“What are you doing?”

“Val went to the highway,” Dario said. “He landed today.”

“What about the town?”

“…Didn’t go.”

“Still not yet?”

She sounded disappointed.

But I was watching the narrow line between Rue and the highway. Until now it had been enough. More people and cargo were making it insufficient.

The chief rose without erasing the map.

I kept staring at the place where the single road from the little circle abruptly became thin.