FD Chapter 3: We helped the Dragon sisters but..

Translator: InnerReality
Editor: sora

As soon as the sun had risen, I, Saphate, went along with Eldena and Oonya to the site of origin of Depa Fever, where a large number of dead beasts were known to be lying in a state of decay.

Even after that, something didn’t make sense to us.

Here, although the carcasses of them had been incinerated and their ashes have been buried, giving rise to a small mound, there was almost no trace of their being here at all.

“Umm… as expected…”

Looking towards the village, I folded my arms and pondered.

Anyways, this place was located in the middle of the forest at the foot of the mountain and there seems to be no prey here for those beasts to gather around in large numbers.

So, why were there a large number of dead beasts here, that too, in a decaying state?

“…Could the villagers have disposed of them? … Can’t be the case…”

“As for what the villagers said yesterday, they’d have used the meat obtained from those beasts instead of disposing of them, so it doesn’t make sense. Also, in the first place, they would have noticed long before they rotted to such a stage…”

Although this place is obscured by the shadow of the hill, they would still have noticed the foul smell like the one caused by the Depa virus.

Anyways, we couldn’t come to a conclusion, and since we seemed to have run out of ideas, we went to the village at once.

When we returned to the village and went to the church, we were relieved to know that the patients who were given medicine have all recovered.

“Once again, we are extremely grateful to you!”

The owl-nun Yome, who was distributing breakfast to the patients, bowed to us many times… although it was fine… I was worried about the breakfast slipping out of her hand… Ahhh…

As we decided to wait and see, we left the village. Although we had to help an unknown person on the way, I was glad to do so.”

Although we planned to leave by noon, the patients’ families offered us food to express their gratitude and borrowed us a wagon for its transportation from the village to our home.

As soon as we reached a certain distance not far from the village,

Oonya suddenly became alert to the surroundings.

Frowning, I looked at the back and on careful inspection, I managed to see a silhouette under the shade of a tree, catching glimpses of it as if it was waiting for an opportunity.

“Umm… looks like an enemy, nya. Be careful, nya.”

Oonya approached the silhouette with a stance as if she’s ready to bring out the dagger at any moment.

When she did that, the silhouette unexpectedly made a dull appearance.

She seemed to be a demi-human but…

“… For some reason, I too feel there’s nothing to be afraid of…”

Eldena, who was worried about the demi-human, tilted her head in confusion.

Oonya exchanged few words with that demi-human and shortly thereafter, she brought her in towards us.

As Oonya explained that the demi-human’s elder sister was hurt just nearby, and while trying to call out to someone for their help, she found us.

“Hearing that young master and Eldena-sama have treated those villagers, she chased after us, nya.”

Although we don’t have any medicines, we could still treat them by healing magic, so we decided to go and check out.

Her name is Eira, and she has always been living along with her sister in the depths of the forest.

Eira looks fairly young, probably 10 years younger than me in my opinion. (E/N: loli get)

A few days ago, when they came out to the village to sell some food, as usual, a beast attacked them.

Under Eira’s guidance, near the place we visited in the morning, the source of Depavirus where the carcasses were disposed of, we located a cave nearby.

In that cave, a demi-human girl was lying down with wounds all over her body, just as Eira had said.

Some wounds were pretty deep, so it seemed she was on the verge of death.

Immediately, both Eldena and I focussed on treating the grave wounds with healing magic.

Although her wounds were treated to some extent from what we could see, her condition remained unpredictable.

I thought of leaving for the village at once, but there is a lack of enough medicines and a proper treatment facility there, so even though it seemed impossible to do so with her condition, I thought of bringing her to our house. Eldena too agreed to my idea.

Even then, transporting her on a wagon will take at least a day.

“There’s no use of worrying about it now, as there is no way to transport her faster!”

Now, I have no choice but to do as ogre Kuro says… (T/N: You might be wondering where he was until now, remember that he brought them to this village and now he is with them in order to bring them back. E/N: Convenient character.)

While I thought, Eira spoke:

“The thing is…. is it okay if there’s one more person along with my sister?”

Saying that she looked at me.

I didn’t quite understand what she meant by if it’s okay.

Certainly, if both Eira’s sister and I could somehow reach home, I could immediately start treating her.

Eira proceeded to say,

“To be honest, I am…. not supposed to do this… in front of everyone but…”

And she began to transform in front of our eyes.

Among demi-humans, there exist those who can completely transform themselves into the corresponding animal of their race.

Although I haven’t seen it myself, I got to know based on the corresponding information. But now…

In front of our eyes, a dragon appeared.

But compared to a dragon, she looks smaller.

Probably because Eira is young in her human form, even the dragon form seems premature according to my guess.

In her dragon form, Eira lowered herself and signaled me to ride on her back.

Then, carrying her wounded sister in her arms, she bowed slightly to Eldena and others and soared up in the sky.

As we left the place, Eira followed my instructions, and soon, we landed near my house and she transformed back into human form. (E/N: For someone who only went on that route once and needed to make a map he sure remembers route perfectly while traversing through the air where he can’t see all those landmarks.)

I requested help from Kuro’s assistants who were at my house, carried her sister inside, made some preparations, and started concocting the medicine.

The medicine started to take effect quickly and by evening, Eira’s sister managed to regain consciousness.

The elder sister told me that her name is Aura.

The medicine surely worked but, right now, she’s too vigilant and she’s glaring towards me suspiciously.

Eira, probably Aura too, must be a deviant from the dragonewt race. (T/N: Dragonewt was the term used in the translated manga, so I’d like to use the same, instead of ‘dragon people’. Note that they are deviants because only a few demi-humans can transform into their corresponding beasts)

With this, I think I understand the reason behind those rotting carcasses. Although dragons are strong, since they are still immature, one can probably deal with them by restricting their movement and defeating them. Furthermore, being a dragon slayer is a great honor for those of different races and hence the sisters are easy prey for them. So, regarding that heap of beasts, the elder sister must be protecting the younger one by using corrosive poison to fend off them.

An immature dragon cannot use flames yet. In that case, I’ve heard that it uses its poisonous fangs to corrode its enemies. So, a large number of carcasses ended up in a highly corroded state near that village.

To protect their lives, their attempt endangered the lives of the villagers but I am helpless to do anything to them.

That night, facing the sisters, I told them of my conjecture.

Although they became speechless regarding this, I’ve assured them by saying,

“This is the truth but I promise you that I have no intent to harm you in any way, nor disclose the fact that you two are dragonewts.”

With that, they have finally admitted their actions were in line with my conjecture.

They were surprised to know that the rotting carcasses they created had become the source of the outbreak in the village, but were soon relieved to know that all the patients were cured.

The next day, Oonya, Eldena, and Kuro hastily reached home on their wagons. Somehow, Eldena had burst into a rage saying,

“What if Saphate… gets eaten by those dragons, we must hurry!!!”

So they had rushed home without even getting a wink of sleep. As soon as she returned, I was hugged by her but she soon came back to her senses,

“…Aah, I, of all people… how could I behave so shamelessly…”

Saying that she blushed in bright red and distanced herself from me.

For now, I explained the events that happened to the sisters and then introduced Eira and Aura to everyone.

On seeing those three, Eira and Aura were deeply moved and expressed their gratitude.

As the dusk approached,

“As expected, I don’t have much time remaining to deliver the luggage. If we meet again, I’ll surely come in advance.”

Kuro’s group left the settlement. Although I was reluctant to part with him, I was somewhat happy that we could meet frequently this way.

Aura’s injury would probably take one month to heal completely, so I asked them to stay with us until then.

The storage room on the first floor was tidied and was converted to a double bedroom for Aura and Eira.

‘Thank God, that I studied not only magic but also pharmacy and medicine as a student’, I recollected my thoughts repeatedly. Only because of that, I was able to rescue the villagers as well as Aura.

Father…, no, my former father told me to get surrounded only by wealthy patients, make huge profits and devote myself to Greed family. Just thinking about that makes me irritated.

As one week passed, Aura was able to stand and walk a little. She walked to the nearby field and helped us with picking vegetables and she started helping Oonya with her cooking along with Eira. They especially liked the scenery from the rooftop, so they spent most of the time enjoying there.

After a while, during supper, Aura brought a request in front of us. These sisters told us that earlier, they used to live along with their mother, but not long ago, their mother passed away due to a disease. Since then, these two were living together.

“First we planned to live in the village at the foot of the Gorn Mountains, but… if it’s okay with you, can we stay along with you?”

Saying that Aura bowed in front of us. Eira too bowed along beside her.

I told them to raise their heads and,

“I’m glad to have you within our house, but what do you say, Eldena? Oonya?

“… Of course, I’m completely fine with it.”

“If the young master is okay, I too have no problems, nya!”

With that, both of them expressed their consent and we got a new company living with us.

Since they are still immature, to safeguard their secret and hence, not creating any troubles, I’ve given them rings with gems containing camouflage magic. If they wear them, they’d look like lizardmen and unless there’s a person with great magical power, no one would be able to tell that they are dragonewts. Even beasts won’t be able to notice it.

“Saphate… I am truly grateful to you… in case if it’s okay with just me… I mean… that… with me… “

“Aura, what are you trying to say?”

“Kyaah! Eldena!? Since when you were here!?”

“…. Good grief, there’s no chance for carelessness.”

“Eldena? Carelessness? Chance? What is it all about?”

“… Towards this, he’s too… too thick-headed…”

“I’ll root for you, elder sister!”

“Oonya is on young master’s side, nya!”

Somehow, everybody started talking random things and I was watching with a perplexed expression, but isn’t having a congenial atmosphere a good thing? (E/N: only for you, dense head. For girls, it is a misery.)

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