Chapter 194 Let'S Talk About This In Detail
"Hey, can I ask you something?"
"Sure. I also have something I want to ask."
"Okay, let's go up again."
With Failroud-san at the front, I returned to the surface. There, I saw a woman standing tall and waiting. She was a bit shorter than me, slender but with a strong presence. Her eyes were a bit stern, but she seemed serious.
"Failroud-senpai, when did you come back?"
"Oh, Tatsuma-san, she is my junior, Jillietta."
"Oh, she's the owner of that running dragon, right?"
"Senpai, who is this person?"
"Yeah, we caused a lot of trouble but we received a huge favor. ...Come on, why don't you say hello too?"
"I don't really understand what you're trying to say."
Yeah, the situation is getting complicated.
"He is called Tatsuma-san, and he seems to be related to the royal family of Ensgard."
"Huh? How can you be so sure?"
Yeah, I get why she'd doubt. Ensgard is the country of Tigerman (Kojinzoku), and I'm human.
I stroked the back of a running dragon with a white point on red.
"Um, what's this one's name?"
"...It's Ejelina."
"Oh, I see. Nice to meet you, Ejelina-chan. Nice to meet you too."
'Kuu'
Oops, she stands up and rests her chin on top of my head, just like when Centrena did.
"Huh? It's impossible for me to get used to anyone other than myself, especially a guy..."
"Indeed. I might get bitten. But it's Ejelina-san's way of expressing feelings."
Failroud-san chuckled. Jillietta-san looked a bit frustrated.
"We also have two running dragons at home. One black and one white."
Comparing dogs and cats, I lean more towards cats. But as a lizard lover, I just love to snuggle. These fluffy feathers feel so nice.
"Oh, yes. 'Dis Recover', 'Full Recover'. Let's start with these."
'Kuu?'
"Yes. Ejelina-chan, you had the Dreadful element poison, right? Yeah. Garuforeda-kun's treatment is also available, so it's not unfair. Don't worry about it."
'Guu'
'Kuu'
Garuforeda-kun also comes closer and rests his chin on my head. Ejelina-chan leans her cheek against mine. I really understand how Maya-chan feels.
"That's true, it was taught that long ago, we gave a dragon as a symbol of friendship to Ensgard, but... by the way, Senpai."
Jillietta-san seems to have given up on suspicion and is smiling wryly at us.
"What's wrong?"
"It seems like you went underground. What were you doing?"
"Oh yeah. We captured that Bergalide."
"Did you have another dream? Please save sleep talking for when you're asleep, okay?"
Jillietta-san looked surprised. Failroud-san was thinking of how to convince her, with his arms crossed. I pointed to the wings. He nodded once.
"Do you think you'll believe me if I do this?"
Failroud spread his wings wide, muttered a spell, and then slowly flapped them, floating gently up near the ceiling, creating a light breeze.
"...Why, how can you do that? Doesn't it hurt at all?"
She seemed amazed. I see, it must cause a lot of pain for a regular person to do this. The black blemish from the Oso poison comes out at the tip of the wing, but it actually accumulates at the base of the wing.
"Tatsuma-san caught Bergalide. He's the one who helped us like this. With this, we won't fall behind in the Celestial Race. Maybe, no, it's too early to think that far..."
"If you can fly, you won't have to be treated like a slave—"
"Shh."
Failroud-san hurriedly interrupts.
"Ah, um, sorry."
Treated like a slave?
"What do you mean?"
"Well, we, the people of Arlheave, can't fly, so we raise running dragons for assistance."
"I see."
"This area is actually higher in altitude than Tatsuma-san imagines."
"Really? Isn't it just that the walls are high?"
"Yeah. That's why there aren't any rivers flowing through this land. The snow that piles up melts and soaks into the ground by the time it's gone. Of course, we also have several reservoirs that don't let water soak in. We collect snow there to a certain extent. But if we drink it all, we won't be able to water the fields."
"I see."
"It's an old story, but water used to spring from part of that rocky mountain, and we used it as drinking water."
"Yeah."
"But I've heard that ever since those guys settled there, the water stopped flowing."
"Wow, they're so obvious about it."
"Yes. There's no mistake. They can divert water by themselves..."
"Really..."
"The water in our reservoirs is drinkable if it's from the top. But as I mentioned earlier, for us, the people of Arlheave, to keep eating, we have to prioritize watering the fields over drinking water."
"Okay. Oh, so that's why she mentioned it leads to being 'like sl*ves', right?"
"Yeah. It seems like snow piles up deeper in their country, Radiawise, than here. Because their country is on top of a rocky mountain, they have reservoirs and lakes to store melted snow."
"I see, so the water used to spring there before."
"Yes. There's a history where, in exchange for temporarily releasing that spring water, they demanded the crops we made."
"Holding spring water hostage, or rather, not a person but what do you call it? Occupation? Oh, right, it's barter instead of money?"
"Yes. The Celestial Race mainly eats leafy and root vegetables and doesn't consume any meat. Instead, they incorporate tubers and grains. Since they can get a lot of grains in exchange, they're probably fermenting them to make liquor..."
"Okay, so, exchange rate, um, the amount of crops they're giving and the percentage of water they're releasing. It's like feeling like you're being treated like sl*ves or serfs, and it's really frustrating. Is that what's going on?"
"Yes. What Jillietta-san is saying includes that meaning."
I feel like I've heard this story somewhere. Anyway, it seems like water is the bottleneck. The ground here gets soaked with snowmelt, but over there, it's hard for the snow to soak into the rocky mountains. And they get more snow than this place do. I guess that's the situation.
"So, that's why they could act so high-handed?"
"Yes. And they also know that we can't fly. Even relying on the running dragons, it's difficult to reach Radiawise."
"I see. So they're acting all smug about it."
Jillietta-san is nodding along as she listens to our conversation.
"Yeah. It's really infuriating... Oh, hey, senpai."
"What's wrong?"
"What do you mean? Did you really capture Bergalide?"
"So it's true then?"
"...I'm sorry for doubting you."
"It's okay, I was surprised too."
"Right. Let's go. We should torture him right away...is what I want to say, but why didn't you feel any pain, senpai? Are you drinking some kind of liquor? No, wouldn't it be even more painful if you were drinking liquor?"
It seems like there's some confusion. In that case, let me go first. I reached out my hand.
"May I take your hand?"
"Oh, yes."
Jillietta-san's hand was as beautiful as Failroud-san's. Perhaps they have a natural resistance to the blackening of their fingertips. It's quite interesting to learn about, actually.
A slightly tanned skin tone, fine scales at the base of the horns. Dragonkin really do seem to have dragon origins, don't they? Unlike Tigerman-san or Cat-people men-san, they don't have fluffy ear fur or tails, though.
" 'Dis Recover', 'Full Recover'. Excuse me for a moment."
I move behind her and notice that the base of her wings is not black. When I gently touch her wings, I realize that this part is insensitive.
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