The Source of the Voice
A third voice, coming from nowhere in particular.
Caught off guard, I hurriedly scanned my surroundings—only to find no one.
… Well, of course.
Even in the midst of confronting a dragon, if someone had been close enough for their voice to be that clear, I would have sensed their presence immediately.
Yet, I hadn’t.
I was in a bizarre predicament—unable to identify the speaker while also needing to prepare for battle against the dragon before me.
—Wait a second.
There was no human presence nearby… but there *was* a dragon.
“… Could it be… that voice came from the dragon…?”
“Took you long enough to figure it out.”
“Whoa!?”
I never expected a reply.
I instinctively leaped back in shock.
“Didn’t mean to startle you. Though, I thought you’d be a bit sharper than this—you’re quite slow on the uptake.”
The blue-scaled dragon spoke in a calm, almost gentle tone.
The way it spoke reminded me of an elderly gentleman.
Its demeanor felt strangely similar to Mr. Brough, the butler of House Trion.
“I was merely enjoying a bath in this lake.”
“B-bath? But for the past few days, there have been monster sightings here—”
“Ah, yes. There was one. A rather large, turtle-like monster. It attacked me out of nowhere, so I ate it.”
“… What?”
So, our entire investigation was for nothing.
… No, wait.
Just because this dragon wasn’t the monster in question didn’t mean it wasn’t a threat.
There was still the possibility that it could attack humans.
“Uh, can I ask you something?”
“Hm?”
“You said you ate that turtle-like monster earlier… but do you consider humans prey as well?”
“A typical dragon would, yes.—However, I do not eat humans.”
It answered without hesitation.
“In the land where I was born, there were many dragons. They all believed that ‘eating humans brings a curse.’ I’ve never tested whether it’s true, but I’d rather not take the risk.”
“I-I see…”
I’d heard stories of dragons with intelligence, capable of understanding and even speaking human language.
But those were all accounts from distant continents.
There had never been any recorded cases of such dragons in this land.
… At any rate, it seemed like the worst-case scenario had been avoided.
A wave of relief washed over me, and my body suddenly lost all tension, causing me to collapse onto the ground.
“What’s this? Lost your nerve?”
“I was preparing to fight to the death, you know. Finding out it was all for nothing… well, it drained me completely.”
“My apologies. I had no intention of startling you.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
Now even the dragon was being considerate toward me.
As a knight, should I be grateful or embarrassed?
… Probably the latter.
“You live nearby?”
“Yeah. There’s a village called Curtis not far from here. I’m a knight stationed at the outpost there.”
“I see… In that case, I have a favor to ask of you.”
“A favor?”
Being asked for advice by a dragon…
This was probably a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
But what on earth could it want?
What do you think about this chapter?
