“Human form is definitely more comfortable. I should have asked for a name sooner.”
“Wh-what?”
“Because of you, my master cried.”
“The fuck, what are you talking about!”
Anton jumped up and shouted forcefully, but soon he regretted that action. An indescribable bloodlust seethed around the mysterious man who had suddenly appeared.
“Wh-what, what exactly are you…?”
“Pay the price.”
Anton gulped and stepped backward. And a black shadow fell over his face.
Before long, the scream of a man echoed through the forest.
* * *
These days, Naro often had nightmares. To be precise, it was since Anton had turned the pharmacy into a mess. Whether it was from stress or fatigue from organizing the wrecked pharmacy until late hours, he kept having bad dreams.
In the dream, Naro was in a familiar hospital room. That very place where he’d lived a life with limited time and ended his life lonely. His body lying on the bed wouldn’t move at all, and even when he tried to escape, it stuck firmly as if glued and wouldn’t come off.
The familiar sensation touching his back was creepily unpleasant. Even when he tried to scream, no voice came out.
As he struggled to escape the cold furniture that felt no warmth, he suddenly wondered what use all this was. What if this was reality and operating a pharmacy in another world was a dream reflecting his wishful thinking?
With that thought, strength gradually drained from his resisting body. Just as he was about to give up everything and close his eyes, he felt body warmth gradually wrapping around him. It was very warm and familiar warmth. As if someone was hugging his body tightly.
Who could it be? Who was sharing such affectionate warmth?
The moment Naro slowly tried to raise his head, light flashed into his vision and the surroundings went dark.
“Gasp…!”
As the dream’s background turned completely black, Naro in reality opened his eyes. He regained relief by tracing the now-familiar house ceiling with his eyes one by one. Right, this was definitely Rodelus village located in the Empire, and his own house and pharmacy were here.
It seemed to have been a dream after all. Though he’d been having nightmares recently, it hadn’t been as severe as today. Still, if it hadn’t been for the warmth he felt in the dream, he might have suffered in that illusory world for quite a while.
“Thank goodness… Hm?”
Naro stopped as he tried to mutter like a sigh. Come to think of it, what he was using as a pillow now wasn’t a pillow. It was something a bit harder and firmer than that. Plus, this… arm embracing his upper body, what was that?
Arm. Right, this was undoubtedly a human arm no matter how he looked at it. But there should be no one but himself as a person in this house? The moment he recognized that, goosebumps rose on the back of his neck. They say when people are too surprised, they can’t even scream and just freeze, and those words were exactly right.
Naro turned his head very slowly. Someone was burying their face in his shoulder as he lay properly. A man with jet-black hair at that.
“Kyaah!”
Naro finally couldn’t hold it in and screamed while jumping up from the bed. He quickly shook off the arm that had been on his body.
“Mmm…”
At that sound, the man of unknown identity began to squirm. His heart pounded, and his body trembled helplessly. Who was this? A thief? But if he was a thief, it didn’t make sense to blatantly sleep next to the homeowner instead of secretly stealing things, right?
For now, Naro quickly looked around the bed. It was to find something that could be used as a weapon.
“Naro, why are you screaming?”
But before finding a suitable weapon, Naro froze at the voice he heard. It was definitely a voice he was hearing for the first time. Yet strangely, the atmosphere felt familiar. Plus, Naro? How did he know his name?
The mysterious man stirred on top of the blanket and slowly raised his head. The green eyes visible under his black hair were clear. His eye shape was sharp, giving off a defiant feeling, and the firm contour from his straight nose to his jawline fully displayed masculinity.
Naro was flustered. A strange man he’d never seen before was lying in his room, in his bed, for reasons unknown. What’s more, he was even more confused because he had such a handsome face.
“Naro.”
When the man reached out his hand, Naro flinched and tried to step back.
“Wh-who are… Ah…”
But Naro’s bed was originally for one person. There was no way there’d be space even if he stepped back. Just as Naro was about to fall backward, the man quickly reached out and pulled his body stable.
The body temperature of the hand that grabbed his wrist was also strangely familiar. While he was falling into a whirlpool of confusion wondering what on earth was going on, the man suddenly sat Naro on the bed, wrapped his arm around his waist, and lay down on his thigh.
“Naro, why did you wake up so early?”
“Wa-wait! Who are you? L-let go of this!”
Naro flustered and roughly shook off the man’s hand.
“Naro…”
“How do you know my name? And how did you get into the house… I-if you don’t explain right now, I’ll c-call the guards!”
When Anton had messed up the pharmacy, he didn’t feel motivated to report it to the guards. Because Anton would surely insist on where the evidence was that he did it, and actually Naro only had suspicions, without clear evidence that he’d committed the act.
But now it was different. This man of unknown identity had clearly trespassed into his house. Looking with the naked eye, there didn’t seem to be any particularly missing items, but…
“…”
For a moment, Naro froze. Something missing? Come to think of it, where did the baby dragon, Ray, go? Ray who should be on the bed had disappeared. They’d definitely fallen asleep together yesterday too?
Naro looked at the man blankly. Even though he’d threatened to report to the guards, he was yawning and casually scratching his head nonchalantly. Where on earth did the baby dragon disappear to and why was that man here?
“What are guards? Is it a food name?”
“Excuse me, you! Wh-where did the dragon that was here go?”
“Hm?”
“The baby dragon that was on the bed!”
Naro was now rarely very angry. Naro had an inherently gentle personality, and both when living in the previous world and now, he’d heard until his ears got calluses that he shouldn’t just live too nicely and should get angry sometimes too.
But right now, Naro was so angry he couldn’t judge rationally. The baby dragon that had been with him disappeared and some man of unknown identity appeared. Then wasn’t the answer obvious at a glance? That man must have done something to Ray.
“Are you a poacher or something? Are you trying to kidnap?”
“Naro…”
“If something really happened to my dragon, I w-won’t forgive you! So give it back now. It’s my family!”
Naro shouted and reached out his hand toward the man. Though he didn’t know how that man had hidden Ray, seeing that the man was still here, he definitely hadn’t completely taken Ray away yet.
The man blinked his eyes slowly, then suddenly nodded his head. In contrast, Naro’s brow furrowed to the limit. Then the man suddenly grabbed Naro’s outstretched hand and hugged tightly into his arms.
“Wa-wait…!”
The man’s physique was considerable. So much so that Naro’s body swayed backward from the suddenly rushing weight.
“What are you doing since earlier? Let go of this quickly and Ray…”
“Yeah, I’m here, Naro.”
“…What?”
“You said to give it back? So I gave it back, me.”
The man hugged Naro’s waist tightly and rubbed his face against his chest. Naro was literally dumbfounded. Gave it back? Ray? But where? Ray wasn’t visible anywhere?
At that moment, his eyes met exactly with the man who raised his head sharply. Clean green eyes properly faced. Looking closely, the pupils were split vertically unlike humans. Moreover, these eyes were very familiar to Naro too.
“…R-Ray?”
“Yeah, it’s me.”
“Really…? Is it really you, Ray?”
“Right. Why can’t you recognize me?”
Why, he asked. Wasn’t that too obvious?
“But Ray is a dragon… you’re human now. Is this possible?”
Naro muttered as if possessed by something. A dragon becoming human, was that really possible? But speaking of that, he might have to take issue with finding an injured baby dragon in a cave he’d entered by chance in the first place. In the first place, this world he’d come to through dimensional transfer was completely different from the world Naro lived in from one to ten.
He might not be able to think by applying the common sense he knew. Above all, to not believe it, the man’s eyes and even this embracing body warmth were too familiar.
“Naro gave me a name. So I gained the power to become human.”
“You became human because I gave you a name?”
“Right. I said I couldn’t do anything while in dragon state. Plus, I’m not a baby anymore.”
Not a baby anymore? That was obvious. How could he call this robust young man a baby?
“Holding Naro in a human body feels very good too.”
Ray kept hugging Naro and rubbing his head as if he felt so good. It was exactly the same behavior as when he was a dragon. But the problem was that unlike then, Ray was now a well-built, robust man, so Naro couldn’t withstand that strength.
