Chapter 9: Dragon Offering

「...It's ready.」

Stirring the spring water—now toasty and steaming from a bath of flame—with my tail, I let out a voice tinged with resignation.

「Been waiting for this!」
「Excuse me for intruding.」

Then, from behind my back, a lively splash—japon!—followed by a more modest plop. Those were Nina and Ai each getting into the spring. At times like this, a dragon’s keen ears are nothing but a nuisance.

「Ahh, that feels so good... the temperature’s perfect.」
「This is soothing...」

In contrast to the girls unwinding, I couldn’t settle down at all. After all, both of them were behind me in the water, not a stitch on.

「Hey, why do you always face the other way? Look over here.」
「Uh, that’s a bit...」
「Do you... not want to see my face?」
「No, it’s not like that.」

Even Ai, who usually takes my side, said that sort of thing, making this time of day sheer hardship for me.
But if I didn’t get in, the water would cool right away, so bathing separately wasn’t really an option.

「Explain properly why you won’t look this way!」

Nina hooked an arm around my long neck and tugged.
But I couldn’t for the life of me think of a good way to explain it.
To begin with, they don’t even have the sense that being seen naked is embarrassing.

That feeling probably isn’t something humans are born with so much as a cultural thing. You feel that way because your parents teach you that being naked is shameful.

「So, um... you two aren’t wearing clothes right now, are you?」
「You’re the one who told us to strip.」
「That’s true, but...」

As I floundered, I heard Ai suddenly draw in a sharp breath.

「Is it... because I don’t have... scales?」
「No, no, no. That’s not the issue at all.」

At the despair in her voice, I shook my head vigorously.

「For the record, I’m male and you two are female. A man looking at a woman’s naked body is, well... not really a good thing.」
「What’s that supposed to mean? Is it okay for a woman to look at a man’s?」
「That’s... also not really good, I suppose.」
「But you’re always naked.」
「!!」

It hit me like a bolt.
Come to think of it, she was absolutely right. I’d never worried about it in dragon form, but I’d never worn anything you could call clothing.

I was permanently stark naked.

「No, no, no—that’s not it. Wait. Look, I’m... a dragon, so I don’t need clothes.」
「Then it doesn’t matter whether we’re male or female, does it?」

Nina hurled a straight fastball of pure logic.
She was right. In short, I was still dragging around a human mindset.
You could even say I hadn’t fully become a dragon.

It wouldn’t be right to hide behind “I’m a dragon” while forcing only them to abide by human values.

「...All right. You win.」

Reluctantly, I turned around. The pool water was crystal clear; nothing about the two girls’ figures was hidden. And since neither made any move to cover themselves with their arms, I could see them from top to bottom, plain as day.

「Um, Sensei... am I gross?」
「Absolutely not.」

I shook my head at Ai’s anxious question.

「Then... why won’t you look this way?」

Because you’ve developed more than I expected!
...was something I absolutely couldn’t say.

They were, after all, both in their early teens—still children. Embarrassing, yes, but I wouldn’t look at them in any weird way. That’s what I’d thought, and Ai smashed that notion head‑on.

「...Right, it’s been a year already, hasn’t it?」
「A year?」
「Yes. When you came to me, Ai, it was about this warm too, wasn’t it?」

A year on this world—this planet—is about four hundred days, a little longer than Earth’s. By my count, it’s been three hundred eighty‑four days since I met Ai, so nearly a year has passed. In that year, she changed a great deal.

「Come to think of it, you’ve gotten taller than me, Ai.」

Yes.
While neither Nina nor I had changed much in build, Ai alone had grown rapidly.

She’d probably been undernourished. The height that had made her look about ten shot up until she passed Nina, and the body that had been stick‑thin filled out, taking on a softer, more feminine shape. Now she looked about fifteen or sixteen... and her chest, well, had come to make quite the statement.

To the point it was a little hard to look at her straight on.

By comparison, Nina was easier on my nerves. Stunningly pretty, yes, but in a way that didn’t evoke the rawness of flesh—almost like a work of art. Her chest was just the faintest swell, without the eye‑dragging pull Ai’s had, which helped. A gentleman would never ogle, of course, but even a blockhead like me still has enough sensibility to recognize what’s attractive.

「Is it because I got bigger that Sensei won’t look at me?」

At Ai’s pensive, downcast words, I nearly breathed fire.
That was an extremely dangerous thing to say.

「No, that’s not it. It’s just...」

I regretted having almost no experience dating women in my previous life. In moments like this I could never find the right words.

「It’s just that you’ve become so very pretty, Ai, and I’m too embarrassed to look.」

Blurting out my thoughts without really knowing what I was saying, Ai flushed and fell silent, perhaps embarrassed herself.

「What about me? What about me!?」
「Nina, I want you to stay just the way you are.」
「What’s that supposed to mean!?」

Thanks to Nina making a fuss, the mood didn’t turn weird, and for the first time in a while I felt genuinely grateful for her presence.





「All right then, Ai. Ready?」
「...Yes.」

She must have been nervous. A stiff voice drifted down from above my head.

「It’ll be fine.」

I whooshed my wings open and wrapped her body in their cover.

「No matter what happens, I’ll protect you.」
「Y-yes...」

Maybe I’d only made her more nervous.
Her reply came back even more rigid.

Well, it was understandable. She hadn’t been home in a year. On top of that, now that she was so used to language, her family were people with whom she couldn’t communicate at all. Honestly, even I was a little scared.

But I had a secret plan.

A proud tradition from my homeland, Japan:
Seasonal gift‑giving—ochūgen and oseibo.

In spring and autumn as well, I’d bring Ai’s family venison, nuts, and such. Lately they were hardly frightened of me at all; I felt we’d built a good relationship.

And then there was Ai.
I’d scrubbed her to a gleam in the bath, combed her hair with a wooden comb, and decked her clothes with leaves and flowers. She’d been dressed up like that when brought as a sacrifice too, but with her nutrition improved and her body grown, she was truly adorable now. One look at her like this would surely convey, even without words, that she was being cherished. Putting her through the embarrassment of the bath had been worth it.

To avoid giving off any intimidation, I deliberately didn’t fly and instead walked slowly toward the cave. With this much care, our friendly intent should come across.

「Come to think of it, they do have something like a language, don’t they?」
「Yes. It’s more like signals than words, though.」
「Then, translation—uh... if they say something, tell me what it means.」
「Understood—leave it to me!」

There was a thump as she slapped her chest.
A thump... or more of a boing.
No, stop. Forget yesterday.

Just then, I saw about three men emerge from the cave.

『Home!』

Before they could react, Ai raised her voice.

「Ah, that just means something like “I’m back.”」
「I see.」

I realized, far too late, that I should have studied beforehand.
All my so‑called thorough preparations hadn’t been thorough at all.

The men laid down the spears they were carrying and knelt.
It seemed things would be fine. I sat and bowed my head, and let Ai down.

One of the men let out an awed “oh” at the sight of Ai.

「Sensei, that’s my father.」

Ai glanced back and, with a shy smile, said so.
Come to think of it, I think he was one of the two who escorted her here.

「Er, hello.」

Bobbing my head for the moment, I set the boar I’d carried on my back down in front of him with, “It’s just a little something.” At that, the other two men let out cheers. It was a giant boar, about as big as Ai was tall.

Noticing the men’s voices, people began poking their heads out from the cave one after another. All of them were astonished at the boar and at Ai, and raised cries of joy. Seeing the adults making a fuss, the children stared too—until at last everyone from inside the cave had gathered before me.

And then the feast began.

I lit the kindling, roasted the boar whole, and carved it up with my claws.
Even the very small children who usually stayed out of sight all piled in to tear into the meat.

We all gathered around a single fire; the men stomped their feet and danced, and the women sang.
I howled along to the song without lyrics.
Sharing that time together, I felt the certainty that this family had accepted me.
At this rate, we could live more closely and I could teach them words.
I was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when it happened.

With ceremonious formality, a girl was brought forward.
I felt a sense of déjà vu, but Ai was seated beside me. This was another girl.

Except for the lack of spears, it was exactly the same: two men flanked a bedecked girl and presented her before me.

『Offering』

The men knelt and spoke the same word as before.

「Ai, what did they just—」
『No!』

Before I could ask, Ai shouted something.

『I, wife!』

She yanked on my foreleg and rattled off a string of short words.

『Not needed!』

Then she pointed at the girl who’d been brought out and shouted.
The men recoiled in surprise, bowed their heads, and led the girl back.

「Hey, Ai, what did you just say?」
「It was nothing。」

Ai said with a smile. Yet for some reason, that smile was a little frightening.

「No, clearly—」
「It was nothing。」

Without letting her smile slip, Ai repeated herself.
In the end, no matter how many times I asked that day, she never told me what she’d said.