CH 95

Chapter 95 – Dragon of the Water

When I woke up in the church bed, it was all over.

Myrril was asleep beside me, propped up on the bed. Her fluffy, curly hair was ruffled, and when I lifted her up to put her back on the bed, I found dried tear stains streaked across her plump cheeks.

A scene like I’ve seen before. The same situation that had happened before.

“I’m sorry, Myr.”

I looked down at my outfit again and saw that I was wearing underwear that I didn’t recognize. A pants with a string around the waist that looked like a long men’s underpants or trunks, and a shirt that looked like a surgical gown or a kantou*. It was probably made of linen, and although it was comfortable to wear, it was an old, washed-out garment that was a bit large. {T/n: *Simple type of clothing consisting of a large piece of cloth with a hole in the middle for the head.]

Fortunately, there were no serious injuries. Even though it was a self-destruct, it was still a physical body. If I had been hit by the golem’s fuselage, I would not have made it out alive.

The clothes I had been wearing were on a chair by the bed. They were washed and folded carefully, but it looked like they would have to be thrown away.

I put on a change of clothes placed next to it. It is the same washed and bleached cotton top and bottom that I had been wearing until now. They look like the clothes of a commoner, whether it is a merchant or a peasant.

When Myrril woke up, she looked at me and blinked. She wiped her face with her sleeve as if trying to erase the tear stains and laughed with a troubled look on her face.

“I’m glad you’re okay, Yoshua. Thank goodness we are both safe and sound.”

“Sorry to make you worry again. I should have carried you with teleportation. I realized it later.”

“No, it’s all right. You’ve saved my life again, that’s for sure. Somehow we all managed to get through this without serious injury.”

“Is that so?”

“The bullet attack took me by surprise, and for a while, I wondered what was going to happen, but other than getting covered in the filth, there was no damage. The people who were blown away by the golem only suffered bruises and scrapes… and yours is just fatigue.”

The last-ditch attempt to self-destruct with their lives was also unsuccessful.

Unfortunately, the commander, a skilled fighter whose name I don’t even know. You were not good enough for the Demon King.

“Yoshua, I’m coming in.”

The one who came in after knocking was the Elf Cowell… or was it Connell? Anyway, he was one of those handsome Elves who are often seen communicating with various races or coordinating with other Elves.

He has no other characteristics other than being good-looking, so he is relatively inconspicuous. In my opinion, he is a good-looking Elf, but he is not particularly outstanding.

Anyway, Connell leads me out of the church. I could hear people bustling around, and when they saw me, they smiled and waved at me.

“How long have I been asleep?”

“Since yesterday afternoon, about half a day.”

Beastmen and Dwarves are joining forces to begin repairs and reconstruction within the city walls.

The Elves, with their M1903 rifles, are sweeping up infantry and recovering corpses.

If we leave rotting corpses near residential areas, it will cause an outbreak of plague. Before that, they were simply stinky and disgusting.

“We buried the scattered corpses, and the ones that remained in shape were taken to the plains and put together.”

“I see. It must be hard to bury them. Shall I store them over with me?”

“No, that’s not a problem because we have heavy machinery, but there’s a little bit of a different problem…”

…What was that about?

When I got down there, the plains were being built differently, and they were getting ready to build settlements. Bulldozers and power shovels were in action, a bit like a construction site – or rather, a complete construction site. I had gotten a white construction helmet, and I was afraid I was getting hooked on the old Dwarves too much.

“Oh, Yoshua, you’re up. How are you feeling?”

“Thanks, Heimann-jiisan. I feel great after a good night’s sleep. I’m sorry I left you guys to clean up the rest of the mess.”

“There weren’t even twenty survivors after that. We tried to tell them to surrender, but they didn’t listen and rushed in and died.”

I heard that the imperial soldiers had their families held hostage in the imperial capital to prevent them from escaping. I don’t know if it’s just the nobles or if it’s the commoners too. I feel bad, but it can’t be helped. It was them who attacked us first.

“I’ve been noticing the sound of water splashing around since a few minutes ago.”

“Yeah, that’s it.”

That, what is it?

Connell, the Elf, shakes his head and points toward the outer moat. I don’t know what it is, but I think I heard it from someone before. Maybe it’s a man-eating fish or a magical beast or something mixed in with the water when drawn from the dark forest.

“…What the heck is this?”

The moat was half full of water. The depth and width of the moat were about 4 meters, which means that the water is now almost 2 meters deep. In the relatively clear water, I could see all the way to the bottom, and there was a school of salmon-sized fish (probably chewing or biting off meat) swimming around and another pirarucu-like creature about the size of an adult male. Perhaps a fish, but not quite.

Its entire body was covered with hard-looking scales, but it had nearly a meter-long fur from its neck to its back.

Disgusting! Myrril, what is this strange creature!”

“Umm… even Heimann-jiisan has never seen one before, but it’s probably a magical beast. I wonder what it is.”

“It seems to have slipped in during the night when we drained the swamp deep in the Dark Forest.”

“Can’t you put it back on…? It’s not safe to swim around these things. If a kid falls in, they’ll get eaten.”

“We’ll build a fence around it and make sure everyone knows to stay away from it. We can’t put it back in. I tried bayoneting it, but it wouldn’t budge.”

“…You’re kidding. Was it a fish?”

“I don’t think it’s a fish… but I thought it might be more useful.”

Connell chuckled and pointed me to the side of the moat.

There, the corpses of the imperial soldiers who had been recovered were laid out on the floor.

“…Wait a minute. Are you trying to make this guy eat them?”

“No, this guy’s already eaten them. After the battle, I drew water for defense, and when I heard the screams around dawn, I ran over to find this guy and a leg floating on the water’s surface.”

…Gross!

“The only thing we need to do, having only a small army, is to create an environment that will keep the enemy at bay. Fortunately or unfortunately, this guy can be a part of that.”

“That’s… well, I guess you’re right.”

Connell throws in one of the corpses. The long-haired pirarucu jumped happily, caught it, and swallowed it whole.

“It might be useful, but it’s hard for one of those things to handle all the corpses…”

“That’s right.”

The sound of water, or the smell of blood, or something else that attracts them. The same hair-length pirarucu came from all over the place. There were four of them just in sight.

It was honestly quite creepy to observe them. Their eyes are not those of a fish but those of a ravenous beast with pupils split vertically.

“…I see. Isn’t that a dragon?”

Heimann-jiisan muttered to himself.

“Eh?”

“I’ve never heard of such a creature. The beastly eyes, the pale, luminous scales, and the fur on its back are all characteristics of the dragon species. Look at its tongue.”

The long-haired pirarucu, which had snapped at the newly dropped corpse, had a mouth lined with sharp teeth and a long, slender tongue that split at the end like a serpent.

“I know only by hearsay that dragons in the East do not fly nor roar but hide and lurk in the depths of the abyss. They say they are called Mizuchi*. [T/n: The Mizuchi (大虬, 蛟龍, 蛟, 美都知) is a type of Japanese dragon or legendary serpent-like creature, either found in an aquatic habitat or otherwise connected to water. Some commentators perceived it to have been a water deity. It is described in the ancient pseudo-chronicle Nihon Shoki and one Man’yōshū poem.]

I suppose we should feel reassured if a dragon is guarding the perimeter of our territory.

But I have a stronger sense of rejection. They look at us as if we were food.

“I don’t think so, but you’re not going to eat this, are you, Myrril-san?”

“As expected, I don’t think I’d want to eat a creature that has eaten human flesh.”

That’s good to know. The old Dwarves are saying, “Winged dragons also eat people in the wild…” but I’m going to do my best to ignore them!