Chapter 7: Came Down To The Village
by fnovelpia
Morning had come.
The cold late autumn night air,
It was slowly melting away in the sunlight streaming through the holes in the roof.
The child,
The rabbit too,
And I am still asleep.
‘…Should I head out soon?’
If I took my time walking,
The village market would be open and bustling by the time I arrived.
Before leaving,
I added more firewood to the hearth.
I gently adjusted the blanket covering the child,
Carefully tucking the edges so the child’s small shoulders wouldn’t be exposed to the cold air.
‘Sleep well.’
After gazing at the child’s sleeping face for a moment, I slowly stood up.
“I’ll be back.”
There was no reply.
I knew there wouldn’t be, yet I still found myself speaking.
‘Ah, right… my robe. It’s ruined.’
I needed to buy a new robe.
And clothes for the child, too.
Food for the rabbit.
Food for the child.
Books about children.
And…
‘I should get planks and tools to fix the door.’
I opened the door carefully, trying not to worsen its condition.
Then—
something grabbed me from behind.
It was the child.
The child’s eyes half-lidded with sleep, clutching tightly at my clothes.
“What’s wrong?”
“……”
The child’s small hand gripped my sleeve even tighter.
Though the child’s strength was feeble,
There was unmistakable determination in the gesture.
“Can you let go?”
“……”
The child shook the child’s head.
Silently, slightly, but firmly.
“I told you yesterday. I need to go to the village. You said you were hungry.”
“……”
“…No. Shaking your head won’t stop your stomach from growling.”
Careful not to break the child’s delicate fingers,
I slowly pried the child’s hand from my clothes.
“Stay here.”
“……”
The moment I closed the door behind me,
The child crawled out on the child’s knees.
And then,
The child grabbed my clothes again.
“……!”
“I told you to stay— Hm?”
Small drops of blood trailed from the door to where the child now stood.
I looked down.
The child’s knees and shins were scraped and bleeding.
A sigh escaped me the moment I saw it.
‘…Pathetic. No wonder the child collapses at the slightest touch.’
I’d always thought humans these days lacked resilience,
But maybe this was the child’s best effort.
Slowly, I knelt down.
The blood from the child’s small wounds seeped into the dry earth.
The child’s legs were thin and fragile.
Perhaps even more fragile than the crumbling door behind us.
And yet,
This child had crawled all this way just to cling to me.
With that small, frail body, the child had mustered all the child’s strength to reach me.
I carefully picked them up.
Though trembling, the child clung tightly to my shirt.
I took out a handkerchief.
With clumsy hands, I slowly wiped away the child’s wounds.
“I’ll need to get medicine, too.”
“……”
“I’ll be back soon. So wait for me, okay?”
The child stared at me intently before nodding slowly.
I quickened my pace,
Reminding myself that the child was waiting.
Maybe that was why.
I had expected to arrive by noon,
But the roofs of the village were already coming into view.
‘That was fast.’
I ran through the list of things to buy again.
‘First, food for the rabbit and the child.’
I moved swiftly.
As I entered the market, a mix of smells filled the air.
The scent of roasted grains.
Herbs.
People.
Familiar, yet unfamiliar.
Perhaps because, for the first time, I had a purpose beyond idle wandering.
I stopped in front of a food stall.
“Welcome, sir.”
“I need food for a child. And for a rabbit.”
“A child? How old is the child?”
I tilted my head.
Why did it matter how old the child was if I was just buying food?
‘…the child couldn’t have figured out I’m the Evil Dragon.’
Still, I remained cautious as I asked,
“…Whose age?”
“Huh? You said you’re buying food for a child. I need to know how old the child are to give you something the child can eat.”
“…What?”
For a moment, I was speechless.
Did food vary by age now?
Since when did humans have such inconvenient restrictions?
‘Back in the day, humans would chew on rocks.’
And not just rocks.
Some had even tried to bite through my tough scales.
‘And some actually succeeded….’
My expression darkened.
The stall owner looked at me in confusion.
“Is something wrong, sir? Don’t tell me you don’t even know your own child’s age…”
“I’m not the child’s father.”
“…Huh?”
“I found them. the child was dying.”
The stall owner’s face stiffened briefly before softening.
“…Ah, so you took in a war orphan. There are many poor children like that after the war. You’ve done a good thing.”
“A good thing…”
That child had been
in the ruins of this very village.
‘Then why didn’t any of you do this “good thing”?’
I almost asked but held back.
I didn’t want to waste energy.
Besides, getting what the child needed was more important.
“So, how old is the child? Even roughly.”
“I don’t know.”
“Hmm, then can you describe the child?”
Describe them.
Let’s see…
I rested my chin on one hand, thinking.
“The child can’t speak.”
“Oh?”
“The child crawled.”
“Ah, so the child’re a baby. Then you’ll need formula or baby food.”
Formula? Baby food?
I’d never heard those words before.
“…What’s that?”
“Huh? You don’t know?”
“No.”
I answered indifferently.
The owner stared at me, bewildered.
“W-well… formula is like powdered milk, a substitute for breast milk.”
“I see. So that’s what the child needs?”
“Yes. If the child crawls and can’t speak, the child is still at the age for formula.”
I nodded slowly.
“Then give me that.”
“Ah, sorry, but we don’t sell formulas here. You’ll need to go to the dairy farm…”
“I see. Then just give me some grass for the rabbit.”
“Sure.”
The owner quickly bundled up some clover.
‘So rabbits eat this now.’
I took it and asked,
“How far is the dairy farm?”
“…Um, about a 20-minute walk.”
I nodded again.
Then I handed over a gold piece from my pocket.
“Thanks.”
“Huh? Oh, you don’t need to pay this much…”
“For your help.”
The stall owner stared blankly at the gold.
Leaving them behind, I walked on.
‘Next is…’
Formula.
Tools to fix the door.
A robe for me and clothes for the child.
Medicine for the child.
And…
‘Books.’
To understand the child,
I had to learn again.
‘How long has it been?’
Long-buried memories suddenly surfaced.
In the distant past—
Back then,
I spent my free time immersed in the world.
I observed the creations of the gods,
And sometimes enjoyed what those creations had made.
Like an old friend,
I marveled at new things,
And tirelessly sought to understand them.
I helped advance them,
And sometimes intervened to correct mistakes.
Yes.
I, too, had such a time.
A time when I melted into the world and reveled in its novelty.
But no longer.
It had been thousands of years since I lost interest.
Not because I had to kill creatures I’d grown fond of,
Nor because the child cursed and condemned me,
Nor because I had to destroy what I’d built.
After all, dragons are enduring beings.
And among them, I was especially so.
I wasn’t one to be swayed by sentiment.
What drained my interest was ‘disconnection.’
Every time a prophecy ended,
I awoke 200 years later.
A mere instant to me.
But for them,
It was enough time for generations to pass, history to unfold,
And everything vanishes.
“This isn’t a crimson gem, sir.”
“It’s not?”
That was when I tried to sell what was now called a ‘ruby.’
The merfolk vendor looked at me in puzzlement.
“No, sir. This is a ruby. A crimson gem is this one.”
the child held out a stone I’d never seen before.
It was rough and somehow felt distant.
“…This is a crimson gem?”
“Yes. What you’re holding is a ruby. the child looks nothing alike—how could you confuse them?”
I silently stared at the ruby that had once been a crimson gem.
It was the day I realized the knowledge I’d built no longer applied.
At the time, it was fine.
I could just learn again.
I could just remember again.
I was a dragon.
A being that never forgot what it learned,
absorbing everything seen and heard without fail.
And I had all the time in the world.
It was no trouble at all.
So,
I learned the unknown, piece by piece, and remembered endlessly.
I relearned transformed terms,
And updated information as soon as it changed.
I dissected advanced tools and magic to understand the child’s mechanics.
New knowledge.
New races.
New nations.
New cultures.
New rules.
What had changed,
What had vanished,
What remained the same,
What had been added anew.
All of it,
I cataloged within my ancient memory.
And so, I accepted the cycle once more.
I kept learning, no matter what,
And when the prophecy ended, I slept for another 200 years.
Then,
When I awoke—
The world had changed again.
I had to learn the newly transformed world once more.
Days like those repeated—
Twice,
Three times,
Ten times.
Until—
‘…Which time is this again?’
I had to dig through my memories just to recall.
The memories hadn’t vanished,
But there were too many to distinguish.
Which era it was,
Which words belonged where,
What I had done, or even what I had liked.
It all blurred together,
Leaving only the vague sense that ‘it had once been so.’
And so,
I grew numb to everything.
Still, I kept learning.
Until I was captured by the giants after my identity was exposed.
It was strange.
My identity had never been discovered before.
Yet the child recognized me as the Evil Dragon immediately.
A prison built solely to contain me.
Special restraints fashioned for my hands.
Unfamiliar barrier magic and experimental tools carved everywhere.
After observing it all silently, I slowly spoke.
“How did you know I was the Evil Dragon?”
“Because you’re the only one still using such outdated magic.”
That single remark shattered all my long years.
I exterminated the giants.
Escaped the prison.
Broke the restraints and returned to my nest.
From that day on, I stopped learning.
I severed all ties with the world.
And so,
I spent thousands of years doing nothing but sleeping.
‘…This is the first time since then.’
Even while traveling the world, I never read books.
I just… didn’t want to.
Just then, I spotted a sign with a book painted on it.
“Let’s start with the bookstore.”
Adjusting my grip on the clover, I stepped inside.
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