What surprised Naro next were the bloodstains smeared near the door and on the hole. The baby dragon had clearly torn its wounds while breaking down the door, causing blood to flow out. Naro sighed and touched his forehead. Even if it was young and injured, a dragon was still a dragon. Why had he overlooked that strength?
But now wasn’t the time to be blaming himself like this. Now that he knew the dragon’s wounds had torn open, he couldn’t just leave it like this.
But how could he find it? For now, seeing that the blood smeared there hadn’t hardened yet, it didn’t seem to have gone far.
Not knowing where to start looking, Naro was flustering about when he suddenly saw blood dropped on the road and peculiar footprints continuously connected in one direction.
Without delay, Naro followed those traces. And the more he moved, the more he realized. These traces left by the dragon were heading toward the mountain behind Rodelus village.
Naro quickened his steps even more. Seeing the bloodstains continuing, it seemed the torn wounds weren’t just one or two places, and if it continued like that for long, it would be dangerous. Naro had brought that child from that cave to save it. So he couldn’t let it die.
“The traces end here…”
Naro gasped for breath while looking around. It was gradually getting dark so visibility wasn’t good either, and above all, since it was a dense forest with no paths, there were restrictions on movement.
Naro walked endlessly. To avoid getting lost, he kept his nerves as sharp as possible and prayed that he could please find the baby dragon.
This time, whether heaven heard his prayers or not, he saw a black form moving in a somewhat distant place.
“D-dragon.”
It was definitely the baby dragon. But the baby dragon’s condition visible to his eyes didn’t look very good. It kept staggering, unable to maintain balance, and even though there was some distance, its labored breathing could be heard clearly. Above all, even though the baby dragon discovered Naro approaching, it didn’t guard or run away as usual. It clearly had no strength even to run away.
Just then, the baby dragon’s body swayed and tried to fall backward. Naro’s eyes widened. Behind it was a slope.
Gritting his teeth, Naro ran and without delay reached out his hand toward the dragon trying to fall backward.
Before the dragon’s body completely fell backward, Naro quickly succeeded in holding the dragon in his arms. However, since the center of gravity had already shifted forward, he couldn’t prevent falling toward the slope.
“Ugh…”
Naro reflexively squeezed his eyes shut while hugging the dragon tighter into his arms so it wouldn’t get hurt. Naro’s body rolled round and round along the slope. The leaves fallen on the ground fluttered here and there, and he got scratched by protruding tree branches and tough grass blades.
Fortunately, it wasn’t a very steep slope so he didn’t roll for long. Before long, with a thud-like dull resonance, Naro collided hard with the ground.
“Ugh…”
Naro let out a painful groan. But even before tending to himself, Naro checked on the dragon in his arms first.
“Are you okay?”
The dragon was breathing laboriously while staring intently at Naro with clear eyes.
“What should I do if you go out recklessly like that… Your wounds all tore open too.”
Naro spoke as if reproaching while examining the dragon all over. The bandages that had been wrapped were already tattered, and of course, they were dyed red with blood.
The dragon’s eyes slowly scanned Naro from top to bottom. Clothes caked with dirt and leaves, scratched face and limbs, a face covered in dirt. Truly, he was a mess.
“Still, it’s fortunate you’re not badly hurt.”
Naro sighed deeply, then smiled broadly as if relief rushed in suddenly. The harmless, clear smile was reflected directly in the dragon’s eyes. The dragon lowered its gaze. The hand supporting its body was only warm and gentle. The moment it slowly felt all of that, the dragon’s pupils narrowed even more sharply vertically.
“But please don’t bite or scratch again. Just stay still until we get home. I’m asking you.”
Naro, who suddenly felt worried, pleaded with the dragon. Then the dragon, who had been observing Naro carefully, brought its face close. Was it trying to bite his face? Momentarily frightened, Naro squeezed his eyes shut. But unlike what he’d expected—that pain would come over him—a damp sensation was felt on his cheek.
“Hm?”
Naro slowly opened his eyes. The dragon licked Naro’s cheek once, then continued to lick his lips.
“Uh…”
At the action different from what he’d expected, Naro was dazed for a moment. He’d clearly thought it would attack like it had always done.
“You know, dragon.”
The dragon’s eyes gleamed briefly.
“Should we… go home together?”
Then a truly miraculous thing happened. The dragon nodded its head. As if it had understood what Naro said. Naro drew a clear arc on his lips and just like that, held the dragon in his arms and slowly stood up. Whether because of the impact of hitting the ground, his body screamed in pain everywhere, but even so, his steps returning home were incredibly light.
* * *
Amusingly, after that commotion, both Naro and the dragon ended up bedridden. The dragon’s strength, which had recovered to some degree, fell again because of the wounds that hadn’t completely healed yet, and Naro suffered from muscle pain as well as injuries from rolling down the slope.
But Naro took care of the dragon before himself. He couldn’t help but worry since right after bringing it back from the mountain, it only slept as if collapsing. He was worried beyond measure, wondering if it wouldn’t wake up again for a long time.
Whether Naro’s worry and effort reached it or not, fortunately the baby dragon regained consciousness in three days.
“You’re awake? Are you okay? Does it still hurt a lot?”
Naro threw various questions while facing the dragon’s green eyes. Of course, even though the dragon couldn’t speak.
“I tried using slightly stronger medicinal herbs. I hope this works well on the wounds…”
Naro reflexively reached out his hand to stroke the dragon, but remembering being bitten before, he unconsciously stopped his hand right above the dragon’s head.
The baby dragon looked up at the hand hanging above its head, then raised its face and rubbed its face against Naro’s hand.
“Uh…”
His eyes widened for a moment, then soon Naro, whose cheeks were flushed, smiled brightly and stroked the dragon. It seemed the dragon’s wariness had completely melted. He didn’t quite know the reason, but just allowing him close like this was tremendous progress.
“Ah, are you hungry? Wait a moment!”
For the baby dragon that had just woken up again, Naro moved busily in the kitchen. He finely chopped the meat he had and rolled it into round bite-sized pieces to put in a bowl. With expectant eyes, Naro put down the bowl in front of the dragon.
“This is fresh meat. I bought it from a good shop. Eat up quickly.”
Since it had opened its heart, he had expectations that it would now eat meals properly too, but the dragon sniffed at the meat Naro had prepared and shook its head no.
“Why? You don’t like this?”
But making his expectations futile, the baby dragon didn’t eat even a single bite of the meat. After pondering for a moment, Naro got up from his seat and gathered his things.
“Then I’ll try buying a different cut. You have to stay here obediently, okay?”
Naro finally put on his outer garment and came outside. The lower part of the door that the baby dragon had broken through while escaping was reinforced with a solid wooden board. After carefully locking the door like that, Naro hurriedly came down to the plaza.
Even though it was early, the plaza was lively. Perhaps because the weather was good today, the faces of the merchants starting their day were quite flushed too. When several people who recognized Naro greeted him, Naro bowed his head while busily moving his feet toward his target shop.
“Andel ahjumma.”
“Huh? It’s Naro. Oh my! But what happened to your face?”
Andel, the owner of the butcher shop, was startled when she saw Naro. On his face, the scratches from rolling down the mountain still hadn’t disappeared. She even threw off the gloves dyed red from handling meat and examined Naro.
“I fell. It’s not a serious injury.”
“You need to be careful. I’m upset seeing scratches on that pretty face.”
Naro scratched his head with an awkward laugh.
“Anyway, what brings you here so early in the morning?”
“Ah, I want to buy some meat.”
Andel said to just tell her and she’d give him a really generous amount extra. After pondering, Naro requested a different cut from the part he usually bought and ate. And quite a large amount too. He still didn’t know how much the baby dragon’s meal portions would be, but it didn’t seem like it would eat little, so it seemed better to buy a lot.
The chunk of meat that Andel handed over, saying she’d put in a lot extra, was quite heavy. After thanking her and not forgetting to tell her to visit anytime if she needed more medicinal herbs later, Naro came out to the plaza again.
He hoped it would eat this cut well. It had to eat heartily to regain its strength and heal its wounds.
Just then, the entrance area of the plaza began to stir differently from before. Where the sounds came from, three men were standing side by side, and they were figures that Naro knew well too.
