Dawn when darkness had settled. Naro was dozing off leaning against the wall when his head suddenly dropped, startling him awake.
“…Gasp.”
As soon as Naro came to his senses, he first checked the condition of the dragon beside him. The dragon’s condition wasn’t much different from when he’d brought it earlier.
Its breathing was still rough, and despite being wrapped warmly, its body temperature still showed no signs of rising. When his hopeful expectations cooled, Naro forcibly shook off the anxiety that immediately rushed in.
For several days after that, Naro locked up the shop and began nursing the baby dragon. His fear of the dragon species had long since disappeared.
To Naro, this baby dragon was merely a life that had to be saved.
Every day he applied ointment to the wounds and changed the bandages. Medicinal herbs that helped with vitality, medicinal herbs that raised body temperature, and so on—he fed the dragon everything good for the body.
But as there was no sign of improvement, Naro’s impatience grew day by day. While grinding medicinal herbs, he even prayed to the heavens that there would be at least some effect.
“Today I should try making it with this combination.”
Today too, Naro diligently prepared medicinal herbs to give to the dragon, picked up a whole bunch of various things, and left the shop.
As usual, he opened the door and entered the house, but he felt something off. Until now, the baby dragon’s condition hadn’t improved, so it only continued to breathe painfully.
So whenever he came home, the dragon’s breathing sounds would reach his ears. But now it was quiet enough to raise goosebumps.
“…”
Naro gulped. Strength unconsciously entered the hand gripping the basket he’d brought from the pharmacy. Anxious possibilities kept rummaging through his head, thinking “please no, please no.”
Naro’s head turned with a creak. As expected, the usual rough breathing sounds weren’t coming from the dragon lying on the makeshift bed near the fireplace.
Naro prayed “please don’t let it be,” bit his lips tightly, and ran to the dragon.
Naro urgently lifted the blanket he’d covered the dragon with. The baby dragon was still, and no sounds could be heard. Could something have really gone wrong? Just when Naro’s pupils were shaking with anxiety, he saw the baby dragon’s body moving up and down.
“Huh?”
Surprised, Naro unconsciously made a sound and brought his ear close to the baby dragon. Then a much more comfortable breathing sound reached his ears. The moment he realized the baby dragon was alive, strength drained from his body with a thud.
Naro let out the breath he’d been holding and plopped down on the floor. He’d thought the worst situation had really arrived because he couldn’t hear the painful breathing sounds he always heard. But why hadn’t he thought it might be because its condition had stabilized?
“Thank goodness…”
Naro swept up the hair covering his vision and stroked the head of the dragon sleeping soundly.
For now, it seemed to have passed the major crisis. He didn’t know if the medicinal herbs he’d used worked well on its body or if the dragon’s recovery ability was good, but in any case, it was truly fortunate.
However, the wounds on its body still hadn’t completely healed, and it still hadn’t regained consciousness. After that too, Naro brewed the medicinal herbs that had worked best every day and fed them to the dragon, and looked after the wounds without missing a single day, treating them.
“It would be nice if it woke up soon.”
While doing so, Naro thought carefully about what would happen after this dragon woke up. Thinking back, the idea that other dragons were living in that cave didn’t make sense from the start. If that were the case, there’s no way the people of Rodelus village wouldn’t have known.
Then that meant this baby dragon had been alone in that cave. However, considering it was injured when he first discovered the dragon, he couldn’t send it back there, and he also couldn’t really imagine releasing it somewhere.
“Hmm… should I keep it with me after all?”
Naro stroked the dragon once more. Actually, he’d become attached while nursing the collapsed baby dragon for the past few days. Even though it hadn’t regained consciousness and they’d never made eye contact even once, he found it fascinating that he’d become attached to the dragon.
These days when Naro slept, he didn’t sleep on the bed but brought down a blanket and slept on the floor. Near the baby dragon, that is.
“But if you end up staying with me, do I have to give you a name? That’s a big problem. I’ve never named anything before. I wonder if I’ll be able to give you a pretty name…”
And on nights when sleep wouldn’t come, he would chatter alone by the baby dragon’s side.
Stories about the Empire, stories about the people of Rodelus village, stories about the pharmacy, and so on. Naro chattered diligently so the baby dragon that hadn’t woken up yet could hear his voice even a little and respond.
* * *
When would it wake up? Naro only waited for the day the baby dragon would open its eyes. After the dragon’s condition improved a little, he also resumed operating the pharmacy. The truth that one had to earn money to live was the same in any world.
Of course, he didn’t forget to check on the dragon at home in between.
“You seem to be in a good mood today.”
Naro spoke in a friendly manner to a regular village person who had come.
“You think so? Actually, my mother’s condition has improved a lot recently. She was only lying in bed, but now she can move a little, you see.”
“Wow, that’s really fortunate.”
While saying that, Naro inadvertently thought of the baby dragon that would be at home.
After that, Naro worked hard and returned home after finishing operating the pharmacy. He put down his bags on the floor and headed to where the dragon was as if it were natural now. After checking the dragon’s condition once, Naro prepared dinner.
He made soup using the corn Garnet had given him to eat not long ago. After mashing eggs to make a sauce and putting it between bread, dinner preparation was complete.
Naro came down to the floor instead of the table and ate right next to the baby dragon. Although it was food that humans ate, it was because of the expectation that if it smelled the appetizing aroma, the dragon might open its eyes even a little faster.
Naro took a spoonful of corn soup. Perhaps because Garnet had grown it himself, it was quite savory and tasted good.
“When you wake up later and get healthy, I’ll make it for you too. So you have to get better quickly and wake up.”
Ah, but was it okay for dragons to eat human food? Come to think of it, what was a dragon’s staple food? Today too, Naro mulled over questions about dragons.
After eating and finishing cleaning up, he checked the baby dragon’s condition again. Fortunately, the wounds seemed to have faded a little compared to yesterday.
“The mother of the customer who came today got much healthier. It seems she can finally move. Isn’t that fortunate?”
Naro gently tickled the baby dragon’s head.
“I hope you wake up soon too…”
It was the moment Naro closed his eyes and muttered like a sigh. The sound of cloth rustling came from somewhere. Drawn by that sound, Naro opened his eyes and faced an unbelievable sight. The baby dragon’s eyes were opening slowly. The moment he met the sparkling green eyes that seemed to be perfectly carved gems, Naro’s eyes widened.
He was so surprised that words didn’t come out for a moment. The baby dragon’s pupils that he faced head-on were vertically slit long, befitting the dragon tribe.
The dragon moved its eyes busily.
“You’re awake!”
Naro shouted out. He couldn’t be happier. When he first discovered it, it was in a condition where it wouldn’t be strange if something happened right away, but the baby dragon had worked hard and finally succeeded in regaining consciousness.
“That’s great.”
Soaked in joy, Naro reached out his hand to the dragon. At that moment, the dragon’s large eyes captured Naro. Its pupils constricted tightly and the baby dragon bit Naro’s hand hard just like that.
“Ah…!”
Startled, Naro ended up falling backward and landing on his bottom. Bright red blood dripped down his arm to the floor. Blood was flowing from the area wounded in the shape of the baby dragon’s fangs.
Naro clutched his injured hand and looked at the baby dragon. As if trying to get as far away from Naro as possible, the baby dragon moved backward stealthily. That was clearly an attitude of being wary of Naro. Perhaps because the wounds still hadn’t healed and it hurt, the dragon’s movements looked labored.
“Ah, um… I’m sorry. You were startled, weren’t you? I’m not a bad person! I was trying to help you…”
He didn’t know if the dragon understood words, but Naro explained with all his might. However, the baby dragon growled threateningly and opened its mouth wide.
Naro was startled and pulled his body back for now. It was because he didn’t want to appear as a threatening opponent to the baby dragon. For now, he grabbed any cloth nearby and wrapped it around the wound. Stinging pain came over him, but right now he was more concerned about the baby dragon’s condition than that.
Perhaps having its nerves on edge was the problem right after waking up, the baby dragon soon exhaled roughly and then collapsed with a thud onto the blanket.
“D-dragon…”
Naro reflexively tried to approach, but the dragon’s eyes were watching Naro precisely. It was a look that gave silent pressure not to approach. For now, it seemed he should avoid getting close and instilling more needless wariness.
