“The people who tormented us back then are gone now. Thanks to Ray, the group that committed evil deeds left that village. So that means there’s no one threatening me anymore either.”
“I’m anxious Naro will disappear.”
“I won’t disappear. I’ll keep being here, and I’ve lived in this village for several years. Much longer than before I met Ray. Even then I lived well on my own and there were no dangerous problems. So Ray, you don’t need to worry so much.”
Naro raised his arms to show them, saying confidently, “I’m not that weak either!” Of course, Ray didn’t seem to particularly trust those words.
Still, saying that seemed to help, as Ray buried himself in Naro’s embrace and then returned to his baby dragon form. Come to think of it, since the kidnapping incident, Ray hadn’t returned to his baby dragon state even once. He used to occasionally return to dragon form when sleeping, but perhaps that was also because he was anxious.
“Let’s go back to sleep now.”
The baby dragon nodded. Naro held Ray in his arms and went back under the warm blanket.
* * *
The next day, after eating breakfast and before lunch came, Naro went out to the plaza with Ray. Today’s purpose wasn’t to shop.
“Library?”
“Ah, yeah. I thought we could read some books for the first time in a while.”
Naro smiled awkwardly and scratched the back of his head. Of course, it wasn’t simply to read for leisure but because there was information he wanted to look into, but he didn’t tell Ray for now.
“You know that library you went to with Uncle Garnet last time? We’re going there.”
Ray nodded. Actually, wherever Naro went wasn’t that important to Ray. He’d follow Naro wherever he went anyway.
But the area near the library was unusually noisy. Looking now, several children attending the academy were pouring out of the library chattering excitedly.
“Oh! It’s Naro hyung!”
“Hey kids, hi. Long time no see.”
These children were born in Rodelus Village and had a friendly relationship with Naro. There was Garnet’s daughter Nepi, Andel’s son Paul, and the twins from Ron’s family too.
Like the adults, the children also liked Naro. Perhaps excited to see him after so long, the children quickly gathered around Naro and rushed at him asking to play together. Ray, who had been staring at this, stretched out his long arms to wrap around Naro’s waist and pulled him toward himself.
“Whoa!”
When Naro, who had been in the center, was pulled backward, the children looked up in confusion.
“Naro is mine.”
“…Thief!”
Nepi shouted. She was Garnet’s daughter. Ray, who had studied and knew the meaning of the word thief, twitched his eyebrows.
“He’s a thief!”
“He stole Naro hyung! He’s a thief!”
When one pointed a finger calling him a thief, the other children joined in. In the children’s eyes, the tall and well-built Ray didn’t seem particularly scary, so their actions were completely uninhibited. Only Naro, suddenly held in Ray’s arms, smiled awkwardly.
“Why am I a thief? I’m just taking what was originally mine. That can’t be called theft.”
“You took him away from us. Then you’re a thief.”
“Naro isn’t yours, so that’s not it.”
Naro smiled slightly and timidly mumbled, “Um… I’m my own,” but Ray and the children, already fired up, didn’t even pretend to listen.
“Naro oppa is going to play with us.”
“No. Naro is mine.”
“Then tall hyung can play with us instead of Naro hyung.”
Andel’s son Paul declared confidently. Then the children beside him asked, “What are you suddenly saying?”
“But this hyung is really tall. It would be fun to ride on his shoulders.”
At those words, all the children’s eyes sparkled as they looked at Ray. The children who had been enthusiastically shouting just moments ago that they’d play with Naro now had Ray as their target. The children clung to Ray and began pestering him to play.
“Naro, these tiny humans have incredible strength. Are humans originally stronger the smaller they are?”
Ray, having his arms pulled this way and that by the children, seemed unable to adapt to this situation and tilted his head looking at Naro. The sight was so cute that Naro swallowed his laughter alone. Actually, when they encountered the children, he’d been a bit worried about what if Ray acted scary again, but that was needless concern.
Though awkward, Ray was accepting the children’s touches as they were. Perhaps Ray instinctively knew that young children should be protected.
“Ray, do you want to play with the kids here for a bit? I’ll look at some books in the library and come out.”
“Wait…”
Ray tried to follow Naro, but the children wouldn’t let him go. The eyes of the children, already excited at the thought of riding on the tall man’s shoulders, were fervent. Naro asked Ray for this favor and entered the library.
Running into the children wasn’t intentional, but perhaps it was fortunate.
“There should definitely be books recording history here.”
Ray now knew how to use the Empire’s language somewhat proficiently. Not just speaking, but he could write and read letters too. So if he saw the book Naro was trying to read, he might know what it was explaining.
“Ah, here it is.”
Naro pulled out a book and went to sit at a desk. Perhaps because it was quite old, the cover was somewhat worn, and the paper had yellowed.
He opened the front page to check the table of contents and immediately turned to the desired page.
<The History of Humans and the Dragon Tribe>
Looking at the title written at the top of the open page, Naro calmly read through the content.
Long, long ago, two races lived in this world. They were humans and the Dragon Tribe.
Dragons with large wings, hard horns, long thick tails and distinctive scales, sharp claws on their hands and feet, had powerful strength unlike humans. The power to easily destroy things made humans fear them.
But the opposite was also true. Humans’ outstanding intelligence and execution, the special power called magic, the miracles they caused in unexpected situations, and of course the uniqueness of humans who created and utilized distinctive magic made dragons wary of humans.
Humans feared dragons who could collapse the human world at any time, and dragons disliked humans who tried to steal their territory through cunning methods and intelligence.
Since the races themselves were different from the start, humans and the Dragon Tribe couldn’t grow close. In the distant past, conflicts occurred several times and much blood was shed. As such a relationship continued, naturally the two races came to completely separate their lives and territories.
The Dragon Tribe had the power to adapt even in environments where humans couldn’t live and the characteristic of living in closed groups, so relations between humans and the Dragon Tribe naturally became severed.
“That’s the end.”
There was less information than he’d thought. Naro had just known that dragons also existed in this world, but actually hadn’t been very interested in the race called dragons. But now Ray had become a precious existence, and as long as his race was dragon, he felt he shouldn’t remain this ignorant.
Moreover, what Ray had said weighed on his mind. About lost memories and his previous life.
He’d thought that if he knew information about dragons, it might help Ray too, but since nothing was written after the “became severed” part, it was a complete waste of effort.
“There probably aren’t many books with detailed information about dragons.”
Naro was startled by the suddenly heard voice.
“Ah, sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“Wh-who are you?”
Wariness appeared in Naro’s eyes as he looked at the silver-haired man whose hair reached his shoulders. At least, it was a face he’d never seen in this village.
“I’m called Jerian. I occasionally come to Rodelus Academy to teach the children.”
“Ah, are you a teacher?”
“That’s what I’m called for now, at least.”
The man smiled brightly. At his gentle and kind impression, and moreover the mention of being a teacher, Naro’s wariness naturally dissolved. Come to think of it, the man was carrying a bag with “Rodelus Academy” embroidered on it.
“I’m Naro. I run a medicine shop in this village.”
“Ah, Mr. Garnet mentioned there’s a good medicine shop in the village—it was the one you run, Mr. Naro.”
“That’s right. But teacher, what you said earlier…”
“Ah, that there won’t be information about dragons?”
Naro nodded.
“These history books actually come from the hands of humans like us, right? Since humans and the Dragon Tribe were never close from the start, there’s no way there would be humans who know well about their lives or history.”
Ah, hearing it that way, he definitely understood. History books were also made by humans, so when he thought about it, it was quite natural.
“Were the Dragon Tribe and humans on such bad terms?”
“Yes, they constantly fought from the distant past, repeatedly stealing and being stolen from each other. After shedding blood like that, later they completely ignored each other, treating the other as non-existent.”
