“Little human, I’m not particularly going to eat you.”
“E-eat…?”
Rumi’s face turned deathly pale and her eyes trembled helplessly. Ray must have said it to reassure Rumi, but it had the opposite effect instead. Come to think of it, even among the same humans it was difficult to understand a young child’s heart, so how much more so for Ray who was a dragon?
When Rumi hid completely behind Naro, Ray also scratched his head as if troubled. Naro was also contemplating how to handle this when Ray bent his knees and crouched down.
“Little human. What’s your name?”
“N-name?”
“Yes, name.”
Ray was speaking as much as possible at Rumi’s eye level.
“Rumi…”
“I’m Ray. That’s my name.”
“Ray?”
“Yeah, a name I received from someone precious.”
That precious person, Naro, coughed awkwardly feeling embarrassed for no reason.
“Me too… Dad gave it to me. My name was also given by someone precious.”
Rumi seemed to relax slightly, slowly pulling away from Naro’s leg.
“Same as me then. Then pick that fruit and bring it to Dad.”
“Ah, yeah! I will! I’ll give it to Dad!”
Rumi’s voice brightened considerably. Rumi looked at Naro and said she really wanted to give it to Dad, that she wanted to pick that and bring it home.
“Then Rumi, try asking Ray. He’ll help you.”
Rumi wiggled her fingers and pondered for a moment. But she didn’t show signs of being scared and afraid like before.
“R-Ray oppa, help me.”
“Okay. I’ll help.”
Ray extended his hand to Rumi without hesitation. Stably mounted on Ray’s neck, Rumi obtained the fruit she wanted too easily. Watching that, Naro swallowed the sadness that came from the height difference, but felt an inexplicable sense of pride seeing Ray getting along well with human children.
Moreover, Ray had read Rumi’s scared and fearful emotions, and tried to approach Rumi in his own way by introducing his name directly. He felt newly pleased that Ray, who had felt no emotion toward humans except himself, seemed to be changing in a good direction.
“Hey! Ray hyung is only giving Rumi a shoulder ride!”
“Ray oppa is mean!”
Of course, Nepi and Paul caught sight of this and it got noisy again.
After picking the fruit, they moved to a nearby stream. There was a clean, cool stream flowing near the foot of the mountain, a place Naro also knew. However, since there was no particular reason to come, this was the first time he’d set foot there. Under Jerian’s guidance, Naro’s group had just arrived at that place.
“Kids, you can only play where the teacher can see you, okay?”
“Yes!”
The children were already extremely excited seeing the water. They all rolled up their pant legs and rushed to the stream. Fortunately the water was shallow, so it was an environment where the children could play without difficulty.
Ray, who was immensely popular with the children, was also dragged into the water. Not only Nepi and Paul, but now even Rumi had opened her heart to Ray. Fortunately, Ray also rolled up his sleeves saying he’d teach them how to efficiently catch fish, without any particular sign of dislike or annoyance.
“By the way, Mr. Ray has amazing stamina. I’m already exhausted.”
Naro sat down side by side with Jerian near the stream. Of course Ray was bound to have good stamina. Because he wasn’t human but a dragon.
“I’m so grateful to you both. Actually, if it were just me alone, I don’t know how I would have handled those children’s energy…”
Jerian had been exhausted since picking the fruit. Naro smiled slightly watching him with his slightly sunken cheeks.
“But teacher, you don’t live in this village, do you?”
“No, that’s right. My house is in the capital. I’m not officially a teacher at Rodelus Academy, but I was specially asked this time, so I come periodically to teach the children.”
From what he heard, it probably wasn’t paid work. Rodelus Academy itself wasn’t that large an educational institution and it was a poor place with few children, so it didn’t seem like he was teaching the children for money at least.
“It must be quite a distance from the capital to here—you’re amazing.”
Jerian smiled brightly.
“Not really. Still, I come to this village often but it was a bit lonely not having friends my age. I think it’s really fortunate that I got to know Mr. Naro and Mr. Ray.”
He was about to say he felt the same way when a loud noise came from ahead. And even a child’s crying.
Startled, Naro and Jerian jumped up. Ray was holding Nepi, who was soaking wet, in his arms.
“Ray, what happened?”
“This little human fell backward while playing. I pulled her out right away, but she keeps crying.”
During the brief moment Naro and Jerian were having a conversation, Nepi must have stepped on a slippery mossy stone and fallen. At least it was fortunate the current wasn’t strong and the water wasn’t deep. Above all, thanks to Ray quickly lifting Nepi up, it didn’t seem like she’d swallowed much water.
“Nepi, it’s okay. Look at the teacher.”
But the child, still greatly shocked, didn’t stop crying. Jerian settled in one spot so Nepi could sit comfortably and began to soothe the child. Paul, Rumi, and Ruen also lingered nearby, worried about their friend.
“Are you okay, Ray?”
Naro also examined Ray first.
“Naro.”
“Yeah?”
Naro, who had been examining Ray here and there, looked up.
“You were talking really close to that human man earlier. What were you talking about? You seemed really happy.”
Ray persistently asked while tapping Naro’s cheek. He was about to say they’d only exchanged really trivial talk when Ray suddenly bent at the waist and began smelling Naro’s body here and there.
“I don’t like other human scents on Naro.”
“Ray, calm down for a moment. First, what should we do about those clothes? They’re really wet. If you stay like that you might catch a cold.”
Naro was now acquiring the ability to swiftly change the subject. Since he’d been continuously holding Nepi who fell in the water, Ray’s top was also wet.
“Ah, this.”
Ray stared down at his clothes and then just took them off. Since he didn’t expect him to take them off right here, Naro was startled.
The broad shoulders and firm muscles were developed enough to make even another man’s jaw drop. Ray swept back his wet hair. Water droplets falling from his hair dropped down, passing over his firm chest and smoothly flowing down his sculpted abs.
Naro stared blankly at Ray without realizing it.
“Hm? Naro.”
Just then Ray tilted his head and narrowed the distance again.
“Your face turned red again. Is it because you’re hot? Or are you really running a fever this time?”
Naro felt around his own face. Just as Ray said, he could feel hot body temperature through his palm. Even trying to calm down, his body and heart became needlessly agitated because Ray kept approaching.
“I’m fine. I’m just hot.”
“Hot? It’s not that hot here though.”
Ray looked around. Perhaps because it was a stream, a cool breeze was blowing faintly. It didn’t really suit the word “hot.” Ray, as if unable to believe those words, reached out toward Naro. Just as he was about to feel around his face, Naro jerked his body backward.
“I’m really just hot! Ah…”
Just as Naro was trying to divert Ray’s attention with exaggerated actions, a small groan flowed from his mouth. At the stinging feeling, when he examined the back of his hand, blood was welling up from a freshly made wound. There was vegetation near where Naro had been standing, and his hand had been cut by one of the fairly tough blades of grass.
“Naro!”
Ray shouted in shock. Naro calmed Ray down, saying he was fine, that it was just a shallow cut. Ray didn’t hesitate to tear his sleeve and wrap it around the back of Naro’s hand.
“Let’s go down. We’ll treat it at the medicine shop first.”
“But the children…”
“There’s a human teacher there.”
He wanted to say it was fine since it wasn’t even a deep wound, but Ray’s face was quite serious. Perhaps because of when he was injured during the kidnapping before, he was paying more attention even to such small wounds. Naro nodded, saying he understood.
When he roughly explained the situation to Jerian, he said he was also planning to go down as soon as Nepi calmed down, so it was fine to go first—rather, to hurry and go treat it before more blood came out.
As soon as they came down from the mountain, Ray first entered the medicine shop and began making ointment to apply to the wound on his own. After the kidnapping incident, he’d taught him how to make ointment from herbs, and it seemed he remembered well.
He applied the ointment to the cut wound and covered the wounded area again with new cloth. After finishing the treatment and about to enter the house, Jerian approached from far away.
“Mr. Ray, Mr. Naro. Thank you so much for today.”
Having taken all the children to their respective homes, Jerian had stopped by Naro’s house again. In his hands were fruits that appeared to have been bought at the plaza. Naro tried to refuse, but seeing him offer thanks saying the children had also enjoyed themselves thanks to them, he ultimately had no choice but to accept the fruit.
“Ah, teacher. If you have time, could you wait here for just a moment?”
