The Second Guest – The Wyvern Hunter (2)
After the old man left, Grace and Rain returned to their places as if their anger had finally settled.
Seeing that, I asked Rain,
"So what ability did you get when you were assigned as a guard?"
"…About that human from earlier—he's exceptional for a human. He was concealing his presence perfectly."
She tapped her own head.
"Before I was assigned as a guard, I couldn't sense that human's presence at all."
A dragon's senses are different from a human's. If they focus on monitoring their surroundings, they can supposedly grasp nearly everything that happens in the Dragon Canyon where we are.
"We can grasp it, but we don't necessarily bother to. To put it in terms your senses would understand, Master… it's like being able to notice ants marching in a line, but having no interest in watching each individual ant's movements."
I wasn't sure the analogy was quite right, but I roughly understood what she meant.
"And even when you're not focusing on surveillance, if an ant walks into the house, it tends to catch your eye."
"So if someone comes to the front of the inn, you can sense it even without specifically concentrating?"
"Yes. That's normal."
But that human had been different.
"That human had a stealth trait, right? That's probably why we couldn't sense him. If we'd been focusing on surveillance, we would have found him, but…"
"The senses I gained after being assigned as a guard are different, though."
Rain picked up where Grace left off.
"To put it in terms Master can easily understand… it's like having a security camera watching the front of the inn. And not just one that checks an intruder's face—one with thermal imaging, X-ray, metal detection… every function you can think of packed into it."
"…So basically, it's become easier to detect guests or intruders?"
"That might be oversimplifying it, but if you summarize it that way, yes."
That was good enough for me.
"…By the way, are you two planning to kill that old man?"
"No."
"We won't kill him."
I'd brought it up carefully since they seemed to be in better spirits, but both of them scrunched up their faces as they answered.
"…I guess Dragon Slayers are hated that much by dragons."
For me, it was a relief—I didn't want to watch someone die in front of me.
"We dragons are basically every-dragon-for-themselves, but we're sensitive about the deaths of our own kind. If they die to another of our kind or of natural causes, that's one thing—but dying to some lesser race… that's intolerable."
That's why we almost never get close to lesser races. Grace here is an unusual one.
"…The person standing right in front of you is one of those lesser races, you know."
Rain, have you forgotten that I'm human?
"…It's just a figure of speech."
Rain looked away as she made that excuse. The fact that she didn't try to claim I was different from ordinary humans suggested that even though she was bound to me through the Dragon's Contract, she still considered me inferior. She was just maintaining the bare minimum of courtesy because of the contract.
"Heh… Well, the real reason we don't intend to kill that human is actually something else."
"Huh? Wasn't it because of the title of sinner who killed a dragon?"
"That's right. And also not."
Grace said it with a smile.
"Earlier we told you the title appears when a Dragon Slayer regrets killing a dragon, right?"
Sorry. That was a lie.
"Huh? It was a lie?"
"Yes. But every dragon who's met that human has probably told him something similar."
Because…
"That title is closer to a brand stamped by a dragon who wants to torment that human for eternity."
"It makes him suffer not only before death, but even after."
I see. That old man thought dying to a dragon would free him from his sin—but even death wouldn't free him.
"Well… even a foolish human who's lived that long would probably sense the truth instinctively…"
"Anyway, that title is closer to another dragon marking him as 'this one's my prey.' So we won't be killing that human."
Taking someone else's things isn't good manners, is it?
"……"
Then what about snatching branches and stones from Trent and the Stone Golem earlier?
"Those were donations."
Ah. Right.
The next day.
I was learning magic from Grace and Rain in the inn's backyard.
"Hoo…"
Near-infinite mana that I could wield as the master of the Dragon Vein. I wanted to learn techniques to handle it efficiently, but…
"Hmm…"
"Ugh…"
As I diligently practiced magic—or more precisely, mana control—Grace and Rain's expressions hardened. I'd already been told that even learning simple magic would take at least several months, but for them to look this troubled…
"Is it that bad?"
"Hmm…"
"Is it because he's from another world…?"
They didn't answer me properly, whispering among themselves instead. Though "whispering" was still loud enough for me to hear clearly.
"That must be it, right? Master's world didn't seem to have mana."
"Mas… ha. Still not used to that… Anyway, that's probably the most likely cause?"
Because I was a transmigrator from a world without mana, I had no talent for handling it. That seemed to be what they were saying. Perhaps sensing my thoughts, they approached me to correct themselves.
"It's not a matter of talent. In fact, the fact that you gained the Dragon Vein's Power trait just from using the Dragon Vein's power a few times means your talent is actually excellent."
"The problem is that you don't have the organ for handling mana itself."
An organ for handling mana?
"In our case as dragons, the heart commonly called a Dragon Heart produces mana and allows us to handle it. As far as we know, it's the same for humans. Basically, the heart produces and handles mana. But Master…"
"Perhaps because you're from another world, your heart isn't producing mana. And it doesn't seem capable of handling mana either."
"……"
What, so… I can't use magic?
"…That's right."
"You can still use the Dragon Vein's mana itself through titles, traits, and skills, but magic doesn't register as a skill, so…"
Confirmed by both of them, I sank to the ground in dejection. I'd finally gotten to live in a fantasy world with magic, and I couldn't use it.
"That's a shame."
But that was about it. As long as Grace and Rain were by my side, I didn't need combat power myself. If there was a force those two couldn't handle, it would likely be another Jewel Dragon, and in that case…
I just need to use the power of my titles, like when I subdued Rain.
Of course, the anxiety hadn't completely disappeared. There were bound to be powerful individuals who weren't dragons but could still harm them. For example, the hero party that—even if it was a group attack—had inflicted a fatal wound on Grace, who was a proper Jewel Dragon. If people like that came after me, could Grace and Rain protect me while fighting?
I didn't think so.
"…Ah!"
As I was thinking that, Rain's eyes widened as if something had occurred to her. Grace and I looked at her.
"How about hiring the other kids as Master's employees too?"
"…Other kids?"
Hmm… I had a feeling I knew who Rain meant by "other kids," but I asked to confirm.
"Who are these other kids you're talking about?"
"The other Jewel Dragons, like us."
As expected.
"Rain unnie… are you serious?"
Grace looked at Rain in disbelief, but Rain showed no intention of correcting herself.
"Why? If we make all the other kids employees, safety would be completely secured, right?"
"That's true, but would they follow Master without even forming a Dragon's Contract?"
"Then we just make them form a Dragon's Contract."
I looked at Rain for a moment. Then I asked her,
"Rain."
"Yes."
"Be honest."
You just want a bunch of juniors so Grace can boss them around instead of you, don't you?
"You want to pass on exactly what you went through to your juniors."
"…Yes."
Rain answered briefly and avoided my eyes. Because of my order to speak honestly, she couldn't even dodge the answer.
"!"
Rain's eyes suddenly went wide. Then, as if the timing were perfect, she said to me,
"Master, a guest has arrived."
"……"
It was an obvious change of subject, but since not receiving a guest wasn't an option, I stood up. But Rain's brightened expression immediately soured.
"Ha… it's that human."
I looked at Rain with a momentarily puzzled expression at those words, but only briefly—I decided to brush off my clothes and wash my slightly dirtied hands first. Entering through the back door that led into the inn, I quickly washed my hands in the bathroom, then took my place at the counter.
…Those two aren't coming in?
Grace and Rain seemed to still be in the inn's backyard. As I found that odd…
Creeeak…
A familiar sound came from the inn's entrance.
Scraaape… scraaape…
And a familiar crossbow was being dragged across the floor. It was the old man from yesterday. The difference from yesterday was that the two dragons weren't in the inn right now, and…
"Pardon the intrusion. I mentioned it yesterday, didn't I?"
That he'd treat me to wyvern meat.
"I cut off a bit of the juicy tail meat."
There was a bundle on his shoulder that presumably contained the meat.
"…I honestly didn't expect you to come back in just one day."
I said that and decided to accept his goodwill for now. According to Grace and Rain's knowledge, wyvern meat—especially the tail meat—was famous as a delicacy. So dragons would occasionally receive involuntary donations of tails from wyverns…
Hmm… like what they did to Trent and the Stone Golem?
According to other knowledge, the tail is an organ for maintaining balance. They snatch it and eat it? Feeling a slight confusion about this dragon culture(?), I accepted the tail meat from him and set it down on the adjacent table.
"But why did you bring these?"
Even so, there was no reason for him to go out of his way to bring something like this. When I asked him why he'd brought the meat with that question in mind…
"I don't hunt just to fill my own belly."
He simply said that, and nothing more.