chapter_0221

222 – Brave, You Have Awakened

222 – Brave, You Have Awakened

I had a dream.

It was a dream from the first time I encountered an adult video.

“Hey, have you guys seen this? It’s an adult video!”

My friend had thrust his phone at me, claiming he had seen something incredible.

On that phone, two naked people were embracing each other.

In the first year of middle school, at an age full of vigor.

The video was a tremendous shock to me, a pubescent boy.

That friend was a pioneer.

He was Columbus and Magellan.

He discovered America and personally tested that the Earth was round.

The pioneer who took a step further was an object of admiration.

He ignited my curiosity, and I asked him how to access that site.

He explained a complicated process of how to do it.

The words of the pioneer, the trailblazer, were absolute.

I attended his class with more passion than any study I had done as a student.

That day, when I returned home, I saw Nanako.

I felt my lower body hardening.

My penis had become so hard it was painful.

I learned to masturbate for the first time by imitating the adults on TV who rubbed their skin and genitals together.

That day.

The day I first climaxed of my own will.

From that day forward, I had taken a step further into adulthood.

I don’t know why that memory suddenly appeared in my dream.

“Isn’t it amazing?”

One thing I clearly remembered.

The reflection of me in the eyes of that pioneer boy was shining brighter than ever.

But I know.

This memory is from a long time ago.

It’s from a world so different that I could say it has nothing to do with who I am now.

It was a memory of a past I could no longer return to, but just thinking about it felt quite nice.

A feeling of returning to my hometown?

But now it was time to wake up.

“I definitely went to the Dragon Lair to hunt the Dragon.”

With the Hero party, including Nikki and Yuris.

The plan was to excite the Dragon and find out the location of the Lair to launch an attack.

So why am I dreaming right now?

“Ugh!”

The moment my thoughts reached that point, my eyes opened.

“……”

The surroundings were quiet.

The ceiling showed signs of being artificially made.

A smooth, polished ceiling.

From the outside, it looked like a sophisticated palace, but I instinctively felt that this was inside a cave.

“What on earth is this…?”

The walls appeared to be carved by hand, and the ceiling was engraved with a roaring Dragon.

A glowing lamp made of a magic spell I had never seen before.

Even a display case adorned with treasures that looked precious at first glance.

It was undoubtedly a Dragon Lair.

However, there were two peculiarities.

The ceiling was unusually low for a Dragon to stay.

It looked as if it could be a place where humans lived.

Dragons are beings that exceed dozens of meters in size.

But this place seemed designed for human habitation.

Moreover.

“What is that?”

There was a brown-haired man in various poses, resembling different figures.

It also looked as if it had been carved by hand.

So exquisitely crafted that there wasn’t a single scratch or gap.

It was so lifelike that I might have thought it was a real person if it had been the same size as a human.

Just as I was gazing at the figures.

“Y-you’re awake.”

A girl appeared as the door opened.

A girl with white hair and red eyes.

She was the girl who had called me Brave from our first meeting.

With hair and eye colors resembling the White Dragon’s white scales and red eyes.

I had often heard that Dragons create hair the same color as their scales every time they polymorph.

Because they take pride in their scale color more than anyone else.

That means.

“A Dragon…”

Yes.

The Dragon that had been continuously discovered around here must be the girl in front of me.

The Dragon that had threatened people to keep them from daring to come near.

But.

“Ugh…”

Is she really that Dragon?

The Dragon that entered the room where I had just awakened couldn’t come closer than a certain distance and was awkwardly standing with her arms crossed, looking strangely shy.

Every time our eyes met.

“Eep!”

She flinched and avoided my gaze.

“Hehe, we, we made eye contact…”

She muttered.

I wondered what was so good about it, as she looked at me with a grin.

How should I put it?

“Hehe.”

She had a strangely eerie smile.

“Brave-nim…”

Then she called me by that strange name.

Brave?

Who on earth is that?

It seemed like she was mistaking me for someone else.

I sensed a strong mana emanating from her.

Though her presence was weak, the mana within her was powerful enough that an ordinary human, no, even an Elf, wouldn’t possess it.

‘A Dragon is not something I can handle alone.’

As a magician, there was no way I could defeat a Dragon, who was practically the creator of magic.

‘I have to wait until my party members come to rescue me…’

I looked at the girl who was presumed to be a Dragon.

There was no hostility toward me.

“Brave-nim, how can you look so cool even when you’re awake…?”

Seeing her mutter to herself, I felt more curiosity than hostility, or even goodwill.

From the way she mistook me for someone else, it didn’t seem like she intended to do anything to me.

‘I need to buy some time.’

Until Nikki and the Hero party, who realized I had disappeared, find me quickly.

‘It doesn’t seem like she wants to kill me; rather, she seems intrigued. In that case, it’s better to learn about the opponent rather than fight or become hostile right away.’

Having finished my thoughts, I locked eyes with the Dragon.

“Eep!”

The moment our eyes met, the Dragon flinched and looked away.

She seemed to be very timid.

‘Is she really a Dragon?’

I couldn’t help but think that.

“Hey. I mean, Dragon.”

“……”

Did she not realize I was calling her?

The Dragon stared at me blankly without answering.

“Me? Me?”

She reacted late, pointing at herself.

“Yes, you.”

“B-Brave-nim called me first…”

“What’s your name?”

“M-My name?”

The Dragon seemed flustered by my question and fumbled.

“I can’t keep calling you Dragon.”

“D-Did you realize that I’m a Dragon?”

“…Of course. This is a Dragon Lair, isn’t it?”

“Y-You really have great insight. As expected of my Hero… You realized at a glance that this is a Dragon Lair and that I’m a Dragon. It must be thanks to the Eye of Truth that Heroes possess. Because of this, you’ve thwarted the traps laid by the former Demon King multiple times and captured Rokes, who was the strongest rival besides the Demon King. Truly, you are a Hero.”

The Dragon rambled on about some settings I didn’t even know about.

She had already fallen into her own world.

I felt sorry for the Dragon, but I wasn’t a Hero with the insight she spoke of.

I was just a member of the expedition who knew there was a Dragon here, and that was how I realized that the being who had kidnapped me was a Dragon.

‘There’s no need to say that.’

For some reason, I didn’t want to shatter the illusion she had of me as a Dragon.

“Hey, Dragon.”

“Ah, yes! Yes! Brave-nim!”

“……What’s your name?”

“Ah, my name… I’m sorry. I didn’t tell you my name. Hehe.”

She smiled and brushed her hair back.

“M-My name is Monica.”

“Monica.”

“Yes, Brave-nim!”

I was about to say I wasn’t Brave, but I soon stopped.

Even though she was smiling like that, I didn’t know how to treat her once I realized I wasn’t the Brave she admired.

I thought it would be better to pretend to be Brave to buy some time.

The look in Monica’s eyes as she gazed at me was that of a fan looking at their favorite.

“Why did you kidnap me?”

“I, I kidnapped…”

Monica lowered her head, embarrassed by my words.

“Well, you see, I saw you not long ago. In the forest, Brave-nim was entangled with some girl…”

At those words, my heart sank.

The gaze I felt when I was entangled with Yuris in the forest.

Was that gaze from the Dragon?

Did it mean the Dragon had been watching us all along?

“Th-That was the first time I saw Brave-nim. So I sent my familiar to capture Brave-nim’s appearance in my eyes.”

Once she started talking, Monica poured out her admiration.

Familiar.

“Is that familiar the Snowflake Bird?”

“Yes! As expected, Brave-nim, you recognized it.”

Hehe.

She smiled with a deflated expression.

“Is that the only reason you kidnapped me? If that’s the case, I’d like to go outside.”

“Ah, no!”

Monica, who had been speaking quietly, suddenly shouted.

The Dragon’s aura that instilled fear in others felt faint.

“Not allowed?”

“Yes. Right now, there are Demon Lord’s Army executives sent by the Demon King outside!”

Calling them Demon Lord’s Army executives upon seeing the Hero party.

If Nikki had heard that, she would have shouted.

“Demon Lord’s Army executives?”

“Yes! Right now, the executives of the Demon Lord’s Army are gathering, targeting me. So you absolutely cannot go outside!”

If she had seen them with her familiar, she must have seen me with those people.

Was she pretending not to know on purpose?

I had no way of knowing the thoughts of the Dragon I had just met.

“Th-Then please don’t say you’re going outside.”

Monica’s face turned pale at the mention of going outside.

For some reason, it seemed she had a significant fear of the outside.

A reclusive Dragon who didn’t want to go outside.

“Understood.”

“Thank you for understanding.”

Only then did she seem relieved and smiled brightly.

And then there was an awkward silence.

I became cautious, thinking that I didn’t know what the Dragon would do.

Monica, who was awkward in dealing with people, hardly initiated conversation.

The heavy air created by the two of us made it hard to breathe.

Unable to withstand that atmosphere, Monica spoke first.

“Ahem, but you see, Brave-nim.”

“Yes.”

“About what happened in the forest…”

What happened in the forest?

“W-What on earth makes everyone so breathless like that?”

Monica’s face was filled with curiosity as she looked at me.