Chapter 253: Information Gathering

253 – Information Gathering

“There’s some stuff I want to ask about. That okay?”

My partner ask, and the girls around her nod their heads, looking at her with tense expressions. We’re finally getting to what I’ve been yearning for in the minutes since we got here.

“There’s two villages here, right? This one and the other, how’re they related?”

“…Our village separated from that one. ”

“Separated?”

My partner asks, and the girls all nod their heads. This time, a different girl opens her mouth.

“Originally… I heard that our village used to worship a double-headed dragon god. Through the decades, it would stay in the area for a few years… It would protect us, and reduce the enemies that would harm us. ”

I was wondering where the dragon-god had gone, but I guess it always left after a few years. It would go when the number of abysses dropped, then come back when they’ve multiplied… Rather than a god, isn’t it just an abyss hunter? No, the people here were super grateful for it though.

However, I still have no idea what the dragon-god was thinking. If you’re going to be here, then just stay here all the time. If the dragon-god were to unexpectedly come back, I don’t know what face I should have.

“The man-eating monster[1], the manticore, first appeared before I was aware of my surroundings… It was over twelve years ago, apparently. ”

Twelve long years, that creature’s been here…

“Three years after it appeared, the dragon-god came back. Everyone thought that we were saved, but… It seems the dragon-god fled upon seeing the manticore. Not only that, but a miko of the dragon-god proposed that we offer live food to the manticore to limit the damage… And so…”

“Three years after that, the dragon-god came back. Everyone thought that we were saved, but… It seems the dragon-god fled upon seeing the manticore. Not only that, but a miko of the dragon-god proposed that we offer live food to the manticore to limit the damage… And so…”

…That was heavier than I was expecting. At the most important moment, you weren’t any help at all, dragon-god-san.

“Guaa…”

My partner’s also displeased to hear that, as she lets out a low groan… Hey, your dragon is showing.

“At that time, a faction who distrusted the dragon-god emerged and became unable to stay in that village… As a result, they all migrated here. ”

“…I see”

So those are their circumstances. The people of that village treat these people with coldness, and the people of this village don’t like the dragon-god, I understand.

…Though, since the manticore came here, in the end this village has had to do as the hated dragon-god miko suggested and offer up sacrifices.

“A person with strong blood of a dragon-god miko was poached from them, so our relations became strained. For us to fight monsters, a miko’s power is necessary, which is why…”

I’d thought there was a miko in this village, but I guess she’s not the religious type. She’s simply being treasured thanks to her ability to detect monsters. She looked the same, so I jumped to the wrong conclusion.

Well then, now there’s the matter of the manticore’s whereabouts… But we’re seriously reaching the limit of our MP. That’s all, partner. After asking, withdraw.

…It might have been better to prioritise asking about the manticore. Though, if I didn’t know about their circumstances, I could’ve messed up somehow later. I’m glad that I properly understand now, but…

All that’s left is to hear its direction, then quickly escape.

『Got it. 』

After sending me a message, she faces the children.

“Hey, which way’s the manticore?”

“Eh? Umm… The entrance is here, so it’s that way. But, umm, on the way there’s the river and mountain, so… Umm, I’ll draw it on the ground…”

“…The direction is enough”

It sounds like the route is complicated… That’s not good… I have [Presence Perception], so I should be able to find it, but if the manticore notices us it’s over.

“Our fathers said they build a shrine to put it in a good mood,which should be obvious if you see it. But, why do you want to know?”

…They’ve done that much for it?

My partner turns away from the girls, looking at the hole she came in from.

“Oi, you lot. My partner will do something about it, so there’s no need to look so down. I’ll be taking my leave here. ”

She says that, then immediately starts to move.

“Y-you’re going outside?”

“Th-that’s impossible! The hole is that high… And besides, you’d need someone to remove the boulder covering it first…”

“Even if you’re somehow able to get outside, there’s the guard… Even for onee-san, that’s impossible!”

She kicks off the wall, nailing the boulder covering the hole with a flying kick… Not only does the boulder not budge at all, she is sent slamming into the ground by the recoil of her kick.

“Oww! Shit. Grrr”

Wh-why!? Even with our status halved, that should have been plenty of force to send a rock like that flying… Could our human body be getting weaker the less MP we have? We overstayed after all.

“Onee-san!”

“Are you okay?”

“Please pull yourself together!”

The girls all rush around her.

S-something, I need to think of some way of escaping. Judging from how she moved, she should still be stronger than an average human.

Partner, the ceiling! There’s all those gaps in the ceiling, right? Do any of them look weak enough to break?

『…』

Hey, partner? Umm, partner-san?

She raises her arm. It’s shivering.

『…My bad. This is the limit. 』

Nooooooo! That’s bad! Like, really bad!

『It might be best to undo it ourself… My body’s becoming really heavy』

This is why I said we should leave right away! No, I was okay with it too, but still! What should we do!? What’s the right thing to do!?

C-calm down, me. Let’s abandon plan A and go with what’s next best. From what I heard, if I can stop the manticore, this village’s hate for the dragon-god should fade.

…Should we break the ceiling by returning to dragon form while being careful that the entire cave doesn’t collapse? I won’t like it, but I’ll threaten the guard to get him to guide us to the manticore. When we get close enough, we’ll humanise again to lower its guard. Let’s go with that.

…Though if I make the guard into a guide, there’s a chance he could lead me into some sort of trap. The dragon-god isn’t trusted here, so I have to be ready for something like that. Also, if I take the guard but leave the sacrifices, the manticore might notice and run away.

It’s not a perfect plan, but it’ll have to do. If I can drive the manticore away from this village and improve their impression of the dragon-god while I’m at it, it’s not terrible.

…I’m undoing it, partner.

『My bad…』

Y-you don’t need to apologise that much. I also miscalculated, or rather I made the wrong decision in the spur of the moment.

Besides, it’s not like the manticore has run away yet. I know what to watch out for.

We were able to grasp their circumstances, so I no longer have to worry about misreading the situation later. This time, we’ll be able to beat down the manticore.

“GaaaaaAH!”

Our Humanisation Technique is undone, and our body swells as though being pushed from the inside. Our skin becomes stiff, and a second head sprouts from our shoulders.

My vision cuts out, and then I open my eyes in the darkness. I glance at my partner’s head beside me.

…Great, I returned without problems.

“Kyah, kyaah!”

“No way! O-onee-san is dr-dragon-god…”

The girls start making a lot of noise… I knew this would happen. The peaceful atmosphere from earlier has inverted, becoming murky. Among the girls standing in shock, one of them glares at me and picks up a stone from around her feet.

“Y-y-you were deceiving us!”

She throws the stone, hitting the knee of my foreleg. No damage is done. My ouroboros body surface carelessly reflects it.

『…Oi』

My partner throws a thought at me.

『No point feeling sorry for yourself. Let’s go already. 』

…I was worried she was going to attack them for a moment. She really is strong. She was enjoying being with them so much, so I’d thought she would be a bit more depressed by this reaction.

『…I’m not as weak as you. 』

Most of the girls are either bewildered by us, or else are terrified. The rest are, like the girl who threw to stone, glaring at us in hostility.

…No wonder. Growing up in this village, the adults around them must have always been sharing their grudges about the dragon-god. I was also the one who drove the manticore towards their village.

I was really hoping to be able to get along with them, but there’s no helping it. After all, from a human’s perspective, a dragon is always going to be some giant monster.

“Liar! Liar!”

The girl from earlier is crying as she shakes her arms.

“Please stop!”

One of the girls shouts out. It’s the girl who announced herself as the next sacrifice when we first entered the cave, the one who seems like the eldest.

The girl who was shouting in anger twitches, indignant.

“B-but… But the dragon-god…”

“Who do you think it was that healed us? Who healed the arm you used to throw that stone?”

“…But, but”

As she’s talking back, she lets her arm fall loosely to her side. The stone she’s holding drops to the ground. Then she collapses on the spot, bursting into tears.

A-at this rate, isn’t there a chance we’ll be able to make amends somehow? I thought so at the start too, but that girl, she really is mentally tough.

[1] The word used to describe the manticore is bakemono, rather than the more common mamono, both of which can only really be translated into English as monster. Bakemono implies a folklore creature that might be able to shapeshift, whereas mamono is more associated with modern fantasy.