“Dragon!”
Just before the door opened as the door handle turned, Naro barely managed to close the door again. Then he immediately locked it and held the baby dragon still dangling from the door handle in his arms and put it down on the floor.
“…Hmm, how should I explain this?”
Naro bent his knees and crouched down in front of the dragon.
“Dragon, humans live in this world. People like me who are a different species from you. That’s why I can’t just let you go out carelessly. Because people will be very surprised if they see you.”
The dragon blinked its eyes and listened attentively to Naro’s story.
“Humans don’t really welcome existences different from themselves. That’s why I can’t let you, who isn’t human, go outside carelessly. Plus, you’re still a baby. Remember what I said before? I have to take care of you because you’re young.”
Naro explained to the dragon slowly and clearly. Strangely, this baby dragon seemed to understand his words and voice to some degree, so he thought maybe it would understand if he said it like this.
The baby dragon, who had been listening to Naro’s story, looked to the side. There was a mirror there, and it stared intently at its own reflection in it for a while.
“Do you understand what I’m saying?”
The baby dragon nodded its head. Only then did Naro feel relieved.
“Then now… Hm? Where are you going?”
Then the baby dragon suddenly ran inside, grabbed something in its hand, and came back in front of Naro.
“Why this?”
The baby dragon held out the object it brought in front of Naro. It was the medicinal herb sign he’d stuck up when doing business. It was to write the names of medicinal herbs so people could easily recognize them.
The baby dragon put the sign down on the floor and tapped the name of the medicinal herb with its claw. Naro rubbed his chin and tilted his head.
It seemed like it wanted to say something, but it was difficult to interpret.
“Why the herb name? Sorry. I can’t quite understand.”
But the baby dragon didn’t give up on explaining. After tapping the herb name, it soon pointed at itself with its claw.
“Ah!”
Naro, who had been pondering, clapped his hands.
“Do you want a name by any chance?”
That was the answer. The baby dragon nodded its head several times. What the dragon wanted was a ‘name’. Thinking about it, from when he picked up the dragon from that cave, Naro had only called this child ‘dragon’ and hadn’t given it a special name.
He’d thought if it ended up staying with him, he’d give it a name, but so many things had happened in the meantime that he’d forgotten.
He had a feeling that his connection with the baby dragon would somehow continue. Actually, now even Naro found it a bit difficult to imagine life without the baby dragon. So it was right to at least give it a name.
“Right, I can’t keep calling you ‘dragon’. I’ll give you a name.”
Whether those words made it very happy, the baby dragon jumped up and licked Naro’s lips here and there.
“But wait just a little. I think it will take time to think of a good name.”
From then on, Naro started worrying about the baby dragon’s name. Since it was his first time giving someone a name, it wasn’t as easy as he thought.
“This one’s not good either… this one’s not it either…”
Whenever Naro had time, he would sit at the table and scribble down name candidates on paper. But there wasn’t a single name that felt like “this is it!” He even searched through books and tried randomly writing down words with good meanings, but it was the same.
Since he’d decided to give it a name, he didn’t want to choose carelessly. For people, names are quite important. Both in the world Naro lived in before and in this current world, people usually put special and good meanings into names. Containing the hope that the born child will live according to the meaning of that name.
“It’s harder than I thought.”
Naro looked once at the baby dragon lying on the bed, already fast asleep. After pleasantly taking in the sight of it sleeping soundly, he started pondering again.
He pondered for another 30 minutes after that, but there was no particular harvest.
“Should I just sleep for today?”
Naro cleaned up the table. While organizing the books he’d spread out, a familiar book caught his eye. It was a novel he’d read often to study Imperial language after dimensionally transferring to this world.
It was one of the famous and quite old classical literature works in the Empire. The protagonist in this book, unable to get along with others and living lonely because of an unfortunate past, accidentally meets someone and forms a connection. Though the protagonist didn’t trust humans and tried to distance himself because of the past, that person made diligent efforts to open the protagonist’s heart and promised to be together for life.
Naro opened the book after a long time, reminded of old memories.
“…Ah.”
A flash burst in his mind. Naro jumped up from his seat. Because he got up suddenly, the chair fell backward making a loud noise.
Perhaps startled by the loud sound, the baby dragon woke from sleep and got down from the bed. Then it blinked its sleepy eyes and approached Naro’s side, sticking to his leg.
“Ray!”
The baby dragon raised its head.
“Your name. How about Ray?”
Naro bent his waist excitedly and met the dragon’s eyes. While holding that novel book in his arms.
Ray was the name of a character in that novel. The name of that special connection who promised not to change and stayed together with the protagonist who had lived lonely all their life and would have continued to do so was Ray.
“The word ‘Ray’ also has the meaning of solid immutability, unchanging affection in this Empire.”
Scholars interpreted that book in various ways. Some said it was just an ordinary love story of people, while others claimed that the eternal god descended to save a human struggling in wounds and loneliness and shared affection.
In any case, for such reasons, from long ago, the word Ray had also been accepted as a word representing the god of affection and eternity, immutability.
“You know, I’m really happy to have met you. I hope every day spent with you continues unchangingly. So if you don’t dislike this name, will you accept it?”
The baby dragon hugged tightly into Naro’s arms. The moment it accepted the name Ray, the dragon’s eyes split vertically with a slash, and a different light appeared that had never been seen before.
* * *
“One more drink here!”
The tavern owner’s face who received the order twisted as if displeased. If he weren’t a customer, the thought of wanting to kick him out right away showed clearly on his face.
“But Anton, is it really okay to do that? It seems a bit too much.”
“Where does that look too much! I just gave him a little education on what happens when you mess with me.”
Anton picked up a snack in front of him and ate it while giggling.
“You, didn’t you like that kid Naro?”
“Li-like? Who!”
“Why did you always sing about how a guy is prettier than women?”
At his friend’s teasing words, Anton indignantly slammed down on the table. At that sound, other customers drinking around also all looked at that table and clicked their tongues.
“What good is being pretty when he has no manners?”
“But what are you going to do if Garnet finds out? Won’t you be unable to come to this village ever again?”
“I’ll just say I didn’t do it.”
Then his friends pointed fingers at Anton calling him the worst of the worst and laughed meanly. Anton also burst into laughter as if proud and gulped down the newly ordered drink.
“Ugh… ah, I drank too much…”
Around midnight. Anton, who ended up drinking until the tavern closed, staggered out of the shop.
Walking out of Rodelus village to go to the neighboring village where his home was, Anton suddenly realized that the surroundings were strangely deserted. Well, it was stranger to have many people at this hour originally, but how should he put it, the back of his neck felt especially chilly today.
“…”
Anton stopped walking several times and looked around. But each time, all he saw were leaves fluttering in the wind.
“Damn it, what… why do I keep getting goosebumps?”
Anton rubbed his arms and turned into a side path instead of the well-paved road. He was thinking of crossing through the forest path to get home a bit faster. Strangely, the more he walked, the more he was seized by a creepy sensation crawling up from his toes, making him want to go back as soon as possible.
Swish—
And it was when he was passing through the middle of the forest. Anton’s shoulders flinched at the discordant wind sound. He felt something like a presence from behind. His head turned with a creak.
“…”
But there was nothing there. Not even a single leaf flying in the wind was visible. Anton let out a relieved sigh and looked forward again—
“…U-uaah!”
Surprised by the object blocking the way ahead, he ended up falling on his bottom.
“What! W-who are you!”
Anton’s voice trembled. As if cold water had been poured on him, he sobered up completely and his mind cleared. It was because the goosebumps that had been encroaching on his body changed into the sensation of fear.
That made sense, because right now in front of Anton stood a tall human figure. Since it was a forest where not even a handful of moonlight came in, he couldn’t see in detail, but the black hair and fiercely gleaming eyes were more vivid than anything else.
