Chapter 5
As Edenber was about to leave listlessly, he turned around with wide eyes.
Meeting his gaze, Asil quickly clamped her mouth shut. She could feel her heart pounding with nervousness.
It was good that she’d shown she was alive, but now she was the center of all the humans’ attention.
‘What do I do?’
They seemed kinder than the humans who had attacked her earlier, but she couldn’t let her guard down.
‘They might roast me whole for the crime of breaking the wall and door. They’re barbaric humans, after all!’
Asil racked her brain, thinking hard about how to avoid being eaten.
Right, let’s just pretend I was asleep and didn’t know anything.
With that, he slid back down to lie in place and began pretending to sleep again.
“Bbi-ya…… Bbi…… Bbi-hyu……”
While doing so, she hugged a rabbit as if it were a pillow and rolled back into the divine beast’s room.
But she misjudged the direction and ended up smacking her face into the wall.
“Bbik!”
“Ouch.”
“That must hurt.”
“…Bbi-hyu, bbi-hyu.”
It hurt so much that tears welled up in her eyes.
But he couldn’t stop here, so he kept pretending to sleep.
To hide the stinging back of her head, she pulled the blanket over herself up to the top of her head.
‘What was that?’
‘What just passed by?’
The bewildered humans exchanged glances.
Then, to avoid disturbing Asil’s sleep, they quietly began carrying out Edenber’s orders.
While the attackers were being dragged away by the knights, Edenber looked at Asil with wavering eyes.
In the earlier chaos, he hadn’t noticed, but—
Despite the commotion of the wall collapsing and the attackers being severely injured, that guy didn’t have a single scratch on him.
* * *
The next day.
Construction began on the divine beast’s door that had been blown away and the broken wall.
While the construction was underway, Asil was to stay in the second divine beast’s room.
Edenberg personally guided her to the room.
“This is where you’ll stay for the time being.”
Then, staring at her with a strange look, Asil felt cold sweat running down her back.
‘Did he figure out that I was the one who broke the door yesterday?’
Her front paws grew damp with nervous tension. Baby dragon roast…
But, fortunately, it didn’t seem like he’d been found out.
Edenber soon averted his gaze, said, “Rest well,” and left immediately.
“Bbi-hyu.”
Barely escaping being roasted, Asil let out a deep sigh of relief.
As soon as she moved to the new room, she sat right next to the dozing rabbit, opened her subspace, and clung to it.
It was a kind of storage space that any beastman capable of using magic would have.
However, since she hadn’t organized it at all, the subspace was a mess.
Asil pulled out a bath-time duck friend, a worn-out stuffed toy with all its stuffing gone.
Then came a broken marble, a bent spoon, a tattered pillow, and even a mysterious clump of his friend’s fur that he didn’t know why was rolling around, until she finally pulled out a thin book and shouted.
“Bbi-ya!” (Found it!)
[Surviving Encounters with Humans in One Book]
It was a children’s book she’d borrowed from the kindergarten library after her mom told her about something called the “original story.”
It didn’t seem interesting at all, so she’d left it untouched for a while, but since it was such an unpopular book, even the teachers didn’t bother asking her to return it.
‘With this, I definitely won’t get eaten.’
Bbi-hyu, bbi-hyu. Asil blew the dust off the cover and opened the book.
So why, instead of heading straight home, did she suddenly pull out this book?
Yesterday, Asil had a big realization.
‘The human world has a low mana density.’
When she breathed out her breath yesterday, she noticed the mana density in the air was pitifully low.
Magic is manifested by combining one’s own mana with the mana in the air.
For an adult beastman with enough mana, it might not matter, but for Asil, who couldn’t even transform into a human yet, she couldn’t perform return magic with only her own mana.
‘After sleeping for exactly 100 nights, Mom will come to get me.’
Her mom had only said she’d come to get her soon, without specifying exactly when.
So Asil decided to base it on the biggest number she knew.
That’s right. Asil could only count up to 100.
‘One day has passed, so now 99 nights are left.’
Until then, she had to survive without being eaten by barbaric humans.
‘Asil can do it!’
99 nights, fighting! Clenching her front paws tightly with determination, Asil opened the book.
[To young beastmen reading this book.
Humans are the most belligerent species of all.
Not only do they invade us and start wars when we’re minding our own business, but they also capture us to pull carts and perform in circuses, committing all sorts of cruel acts.
They also have a dangerous habit of eating young beastmen because they find them delicious.
So, if you spot a human even from afar, never fight, but quickly run away and inform an adult beastman.
If there are no adult beastmen nearby and you fail to escape from the human, wave a white handkerchief to show you have no intention of fighting.
However, if the human attacks even after you wave the handkerchief, it’s best to teach them a lesson.
They are a cowardly species, weak against the strong and strong against the weak.
Even if you can’t teach them a lesson, never cower!
In such moments, act fiercely so humans won’t look down on young beastmen.
Never do what humans tell you to do, and act as violently as possible.
While doing so, quickly find adult beastmen and ask for help.]
Asil underlined “act fiercely” with a big swoop.
Then, seeing the part about finding adult beastmen for help, she drooped her wings dejectedly.
‘There are no adult beastmen here.’
No, it’s okay even if there are no adult beastmen. Asil is a super cool dragon.
Comforting herself with effort, she turned to the next page.
But oh no, the next page was about where to hide safely when adult beastmen fight humans.
“Bbi……”
Reading further didn’t seem like it would help.
Asil closed the book dejectedly.
‘I miss Mom.’
If Mom were here, I wouldn’t have to read this kind of book…
But soon, like the lively baby dragon she was, she shook off the gloom and clenched her fists tightly.
“Bbi-ya bbi.” (I’ll survive until Mom comes.)
Asil can do it. She’ll become a fierce dragon beastman, just the book says!
For a moment, he thought, ‘What if acting like that gets me roasted for being naughty?’ but since it was the same thing his teacher had taught, she figured it must be right and stood in front of a full-length mirror.
Raising her fern-like front paws, she tried roaring fiercely.
“Bbi-ya!”
…It kind of felt fierce, but maybe not?
Staring at herself in the mirror, Asil pulled the corners of her eyes with his front paws.
Pull them up, and she’s a fierce dragon.
Pull them down, and she’s a sulky dragon.
Pull them sideways, and she’s an annoyed dragon.
Asil is a cool dragon—
“Bbi-yat-bbi— Bbi-yaaa—”
Before he knew it, Asil forgot about practicing expressions and started humming and playing by himself.
That’s when it happened.
“Kyu?”
The baby rabbit, waking up late, looked at her with a face that said, “What are you doing?”
Asil raised both front paws high, made a fierce expression, and shouted.
“Bbi-yaaaa! Bbi-it-bbi bbi-ya!” (Roaaar! Asil is a very fierce dragon beastman!)
The baby rabbit blinked, unsure how to react.
Then it flopped over, pretending to faint.
‘Wow, I succeeded in becoming a fierce dragon beastman!’
Marveling at herself, Asil quickly covered her mouth. That’s when she was lost in her own delusion.
“I contacted you yesterday, but I didn’t expect you to come so quickly. The Duke will come as soon as his meeting is over.”
“You summoned a monster, so I had to come. Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
“The Duke instructed us to keep it a secret until everything was settled…”
“Tch, you must’ve had a hard time keeping it hidden. So, the dangerous monster is here?”
There was a sound from outside the door.
Someone was about to come in.
“……!”
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By Anna 💓
