If he had simply been an infant from the start, at least it would not have remained in his memory.
Because he still possessed the mind of a fully grown divine beast, the embarrassment felt all the greater.
His ears flushed red to the tips, and he writhed, rolling his body from side to side.
Just then, he felt space ripple.
As if he had never been rolling around at all, the imugi feigned innocence and lay there peacefully before glancing toward Christina.
“Were you being good?”
“Kyu.” ‘Yes.’ When he saw the bottle of milk Christina had brought, he swallowed.
She came closer, gently lifted the imugi’s lip, and examined the overall condition of his teeth.
“It looks like your teeth still haven’t fully come in. Is it really all right for you to have only milk? They say a red dragon’s child wanted to eat meat as soon as it was born…”
“Kyuu!” ‘Meat sounds good.’ The imugi even nodded his head for her.
“You understand me so well. You’re so clever.”
Christina smiled and stroked the imugi’s smooth head with her hand.
“I think you’re the smartest hatchling I’ve ever seen.”
“Kyu.” ‘Of course I can’t be the same as a real baby. Still, it seems the way I’ve behaved until now has had some effect.’ His efforts to act as childish as possible, lest seeming too calm or mature make her find him strange, were bearing fruit.
“Your eyes are round and big, and your scales are glossy too. You’re handsome as well.”
“Kyukyu.” ‘That is a relief.’ Considering how he had once been treated as something sinister, it was fortunate that his appearance inspired goodwill.
Though it might simply be the hedgehog doting on its own young, even to his own eyes, his glossy black scales were sleek and possessed a charm that drew the gaze.
“Hehe. You look pleased. Maybe it’s just my imagination, but I almost feel like you understand everything I say. Not that that could be true.”
He became aware that he had been lightly wagging his tail without realizing it and stopped. ‘Was I… pleased?’ Feeling somehow embarrassed, he cleared his throat inwardly and shook his head.
It was an emotion he had not often experienced, so he could not readily think of how to deal with it.
Still, he could not simply stay still, so he looked at Christina and spread both arms.
At that, Christina took him, the hatchling, into her arms and gently rubbed her cheek against him.
“Now you’re even acting cute. Are you asking me to hold you?” ‘No, I was… asking for milk.’ But it was necessary to earn her affection. In the end, after some hesitation, he squeezed his eyes shut.
“Kyuuuk.”
Held in her arms, he wrapped his arms tightly around Christina’s neck.
“My goodness, you’re adorable. I think you’re the cutest hatchling I know.” ‘Don’t you say that every day?’ In any case, satisfied by the thought that his acting was working perfectly, he nodded. ‘This time, give me the milk.’ He stared intently at Christina’s face with that intention, and she looked as if she had suddenly remembered.
“Oh, where is my mind? I’d forgotten it was mealtime.” ‘That’s right.’ Since the milk Christina gave him helped him accumulate strength, he had come to make sure never to miss mealtimes.
She carefully laid the imugi’s body down in the cradle, then took a pouch from her waist and rummaged through it.
“Here you are.”
Three one-liter bottles of milk came out of the pouch.
The imugi’s eyes sparkled.
Christina opened the cap and handed one to him, and he held it with his two forefeet.
Careful not to let the milk spill, he placed the mouth of the bottle against his snout and tilted it.
Gulp. Gulp.
“Drink slowly.”
The savory, smooth milk slid gently down his throat. ‘It’s delicious. And since it even restores my energy, I can’t give it up.’ If it had existed in the world he had originally lived in, he thought it might have been sold as a tonic.
He emptied one bottle in an instant, then took the open bottle Christina handed him next and tipped his head back again. ‘If mere milk has this kind of effect, might there be something even more useful?’ The thought suddenly occurred to him. Chapter 5 …
If she was satisfied, that was enough.
It was a rather likely possibility.
For now, he could only consume foods that a child whose teeth had not yet fully come in could eat.
But his body would grow little by little, and once his teeth emerged, the things he could chew and eat would increase as well.
Perhaps there were spirit medicines that produced effects beyond imagination. ‘It would be nice if I could look into it.’ After he drank even the last bottle she opened for him, his belly was pleasantly round with fullness.
“Kyuu…”
He rubbed his belly with his short hands and lay down in the cradle.
When his stomach was full, sleep poured over him like an instinct.
He had tried several times to resist sleep, but the sleep instinct of a young body was overwhelming, and the more he resisted, the more helplessly he was dragged into it. ‘It is also because this cradle and this place are far too comfortable.’ In his previous life, he had suffered quite a bit both while finding a territory and after settling in it.
Even for a divine beast, competition for good territories was fierce, so it could not be helped.
Pushed aside by the most promising and most venerated divine beasts, the place he chose was one everyone avoided.
Weather that changed several times in a single day.
It was an uninhabited island where the energy was violent, mysterious phenomena were numerous, and natural disasters were so severe that no human could travel within a thousand li of it.
When he chose that place as his territory, those who looked down on him had all laughed at him.
—He goes to a place exactly like himself.
—Did you choose it as your grave? Well, as long as you stay out of sight, I suppose.
—At least he knows his place.
The imugi already knew what sort of beings they were, so he did not even reply.
If they had truly wanted to ignore him, there would have been no reason to keep him in check to such an extent.
After all, whenever he went to look at a place that seemed decent, there were even those who asserted their territorial rights and harassed him.
Even the gumiho he was somewhat friendly with had said:
—Sigh. It’s obvious, isn’t it? You’re an eyesore to them, so they’re trying to keep you in check in case you become a threat. You’re not actually hurt by it, are you?
—There is no chance of that.
There was no need to waste mental energy dealing one by one with those who were busy tearing him down whenever they opened their mouths. Besides, he had a reason for choosing such a harsh territory in the first place.
Unlike other places, it was a place where raw, powerful energy raged uncontrollably.
It was the optimal condition for training to govern all things.
It was bone-grinding training, but the effect was certain. ‘It was even convenient since I had no reason to run into people unnecessarily.’ He had set up a barrier as well, but the place had gained a reputation for sudden whirlpools that killed many, so no one came near it. ‘Until it became an island for offerings… that is.’ Ironically, once he began governing nature for the sake of his training, the storms disappeared and natural disasters also began to grow rare.
Thanks to that, rumors spread among humans.
They said the waters around the island where he resided were protected by the Dragon King. ‘Thanks to that, it was good that I accumulated merit while benefiting humans.’ But at some point, the island he lived on became known as “Sacrifice Island.”
An island where offerings were presented, exactly as the words implied.
It was a dishonorable name that he, an imugi, had never wanted.
Not particularly wishing to explain himself, he simply stopped paying attention to whatever humans said.
He thought it would be whispered about as ominous, but in exchange, fewer people would come to the island.
Thinking back on it, he felt a little regret. ‘If I had not turned my back so blindly then and had spoken with them, would things have been different?’ At the time, he had let it pass, thinking it was just like humans to create an object of divinity and fear, an object to blame and an object to pin their wishes on, all at once.
They called him the Dragon King or whatever else as they pleased, then expected things of him and became disappointed.
When he watched them curse others while asking that things go well for themselves, his brow furrowed of its own accord.
Because he needed to steadily accumulate merit, he created peace between heaven and earth according to the humans’ prayers, but no matter how much of a divine beast he was, he could not always satisfy the highest possible expectations.
At such times, without fail, the humans sent what they called offerings, but to the imugi, it was utterly unnecessary.
There were days when his strength failed him, mistakes, and times when he could not govern the chaotic energy. Whenever that happened, the humans would bitterly resent and denounce him. ‘Thinking about it, I suppose I still wanted to treat them well.’ He had thought he expected nothing from them, but perhaps he had felt a little bitter. Only now, after dying and being reborn, did that occur to him. ‘It could not be helped. Our positions were different.’ Depending on necessity, there were days when he deliberately let the energy veins flow freely to a certain extent.
Each time, when the once-calm sea whirled and disasters occurred, humans began loading sacrifices onto boats and offering them, saying the Dragon King was enraged.
A dry laugh suddenly rose in him. ‘I never once said I wanted them, yet they wished me to create the results they wanted for their own sake…’ Living sacrifices, gold and silver treasures, rare objects, the heads of criminals, and later, he heard, even drownings.
He thought they must have been that desperate, but in the first place, the price he wanted was not something they could give.
He had merely cultivated himself without desiring anything, because he wished to ascend to heaven.
Still, as he grew as a divine beast, the number of times natural disasters occurred because his strength failed him or because he made a mistake decreased.
For 999 years, he had been diligent and carried out the mission he had chosen for himself. ‘Though I never imagined that the reward for it would vanish like foam.’ Feeling that his thoughts had grown numerous because his tension had relaxed, he opened his small snout and yawned. ‘Well, it is only the past now.’ Since he had come to live a new life, he resolved to become strong enough not to die unjustly, and not to help others in order to accumulate merit either. ‘From now on, I will live only for myself.’ Even if someone called him selfish, it could not be helped. Was it not true that if one trusted someone carelessly, one would be stabbed in the back?
Even if the world had changed, his perception could not change.
That was why he had not been able to completely trust even Christina, who seemed to be a powerful divine beast, at first.
But when he watched her come to see him twice a day, every day, checking on him and bringing fresh milk, he could feel her consistency. ‘Besides, she is actually being helpful to me. Truly… it is impressive that she personally delivers milk so diligently for someone who is not even her own child.’ From the moment he first saw her, the energy and impression he sensed from her imposing presence had been extraordinary.
As someone sensitive to reading energy as it was, he could be certain of that. ‘There does seem to be some story behind her taking charge of me… but she cannot be someone who would ordinarily go around delivering mere milk.’ Though he had only observed her for a month, the Christina he had seen was not an idle person.
Listening to what she sometimes said to the imugi, she seemed to have seniority even among the race called “dragons,” and she also seemed rich in knowledge and experience regarding the human world and nonhuman races. ‘Thanks to her, I have heard all sorts of information about this world. It has been a great help in learning about it.’ There were also personal stories besides that. Stories about the red dragon’s child, who had the greatest age gap with her, the difficult circumstances of the blue dragon, the sorrow of the green dragon, and so on.
None of them were light stories.
If she knew he understood all the stories she told him, she probably would not speak so comfortably. ‘She must be speaking freely because she does not think I will understand properly.’ To be honest, he did not particularly want to hear about other people’s circumstances, but merely listening was not a difficult task.
And listening was also the imugi’s own way of being considerate. ‘Sometimes, simply letting one’s story out is enough to ease a breath.’ That was not the imugi’s way, but if it helped her, he could pretend not to know and listen as much as needed. ‘Perhaps because I have heard so much, there are almost no words I cannot understand anymore.’ The choppy gaps in what he heard had disappeared not long ago.
It was an unexpected gain.
Now that he could hear smoothly, the frustration that had been weighing on him seemed to have gone down all at once.
Of course, when there was something to gain, there was also something to lose.
He still had to do something he had yet to become accustomed to.
“Baby. Smile for me. Hm?”
For reasons unknown, she made that request for a “smile” every time she came. ‘In the past, it would have been an absurd request… But earning her favor brings many gains in various ways. If one has received something, it is only right to return it.’