CH 6

Chapter 6: Memories in a nightmare

Translator: yuzu

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The easiest way to collect dew was to hang a plastic bag on a tree. The next day, it should be possible to harvest enough water to drink.

But this wasn’t the modern world. There were no plastic bags in the dragon’s lair, so she needed to use the golden wire to weave a simple funnel-shaped metal net and place a bucket underneath. The next morning, she should be able to collect a considerable amount of dew.

Right now it was pointless to worry about the dog. She was already working her hardest in this harsh environment, and there was only so much that she could do.

Luya moved the finished pottery back to the dragon’s lair, and then went into the treasury to find a coil of gold wire — it was a decent thickness, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to weave a metal net. She took the coil of wire to the cave’s entrance. Since the gold wire was fairly heavy, she couldn’t make too big of a net. After measuring the size of the net she wanted, she chopped down some dead trees to make a frame, and then started weaving.

Luya worked until the sun was about to set, when the red dragon flew back.

The red dragon really was full of surprises. It made Luya think that she had met her savior rather than a monster — the dragon had come to feed her today, and it even brought some loot from the sea to address her water issues.

As it glided over, the dragon released its claws in front of Luya. A skewered, but still living giant fish was tossed on the rock, and it flailed around struggling nonstop.

Luya hurriedly put down the gold net that she was almost finished with. She picked up the big sword and cautiously approached the fish, bursting with excitement.

It was a whole bluefin tuna1!

For such a large tuna, it could be sold for hundreds of thousands2 at an auction. When she slaved away working 80-hour weeks in her previous life, she still couldn’t afford to order a single piece of fatty tuna3 from high-end Japanese restaurants. But now an entire living fish was right in front of her eyes! It was a bluefin tuna that was more expensive than her entire net-worth, and now she could eat as much as she wanted!

Oh my god! What kind of fairy dragon is this?!

After dropping the fish, the red dragon stayed in place and watched what Luya would do next. It was similar to being stared at while eating dinner, but Luya didn’t care.

It was too sweet of it to catch a fish from the ocean for her. She didn’t know if it was a coincidence, but did the dragon know that she needed water?

It was possible to squeeze the juice out of marine fish, and sailors used to drink this juice when they lacked water at sea. Luya thought of this, quickly picked up the sword, and killed the tuna fish in a single stroke. Then she grabbed a set of tableware from the dragon’s treasury, as well as some clay bowls that she had just made. Luya cut a few pieces of fish, used a silk cloth as a strainer, and squeezed two portions of juice into a golden bowl and clay bowl.

“Doggie, come here quick.”

Luya waved at the Shiba Inu that was hiding not far off and watching her secretly.

Perhaps sensing that there was something to eat, the Shiba Inu scampered over. Luya smiled contentedly while holding the golden and clay bowls, and she placed the clay bowl in front of the Shiba Inu.

“Drink up, doggie.” Luya said to the Shiba Inu in a gentle voice. She pinched her nose as she gulped down the fish juice in the golden bowl in one breath.

“…”

The Shiba Inu stared at Luya expressionlessly, lifted its paw, and knocked over the dog bowl that she had worked so tireously to make.

…

Ahhhhh!!!

Luya clutched her head and lashed out bitterly. “What the hell are you doing?!!”

What a terrible shitty dog!!

She didn’t know if it disliked the fish juice or hated the dog bowl that Luya had made. In the end, the Shiba Inu didn’t drink any of the fish juice that Luya squeezed. Instead, it ate the neatly arranged sashimi that Luyu had originally cut for herself and laid out on a golden plate.

What kind of guy was this dog’s former owner, and how the heck did they raise such a picky dog?

This dog was actually very clever. There were various signs that it could understand Luya’s words, but it was just extremely rebellious.

Although she knew that Shiba Inu’s were a very stubborn breed of dog and not suitable for novices, this dog was seriously too unruly. It only ate food served on a golden plate. In her opinion, shitty dogs should eat shit.

Ai, forget it. It was a Shiba Inu anyways, and she tolerated it because it looked cute.

If it was her former world, this puppy would have been competition grade. Its appearance was adorable and very pleasing, and looked expensive at a glance. Luya could only comfort herself knowing that she couldn’t have afforded a dog like this, so she was fortunate to have randomly picked one up.

A single person and a single dog couldn’t finish more than one third of a bluefin tuna of this size, even after stuffing themselves. But after the fish was killed, it would begin to decay quickly at these temperatures, so it would spoil if they left it to the next day.

Luya really didn’t want to waste any food. After hesitating, she thought that she ought to try to please the person who brought them this food, so she dragged the majority of the remaining tuna to the dragon that was lying on the side and watching them. She spoke politely4 to the dragon, “Thank you for the food you brought. You should have some too.”

The red dragon’s eyes widened. There was a hint of surprise in its amber vertical pupils, as if it had never expected that Luya would share her food.

Imagine that you are raising a pet. After feeding it, your pet takes the food and places it back front of you, asking you to join in well. The feeling must have been something like that.

The red dragon suddenly seemed a bit happy, but still shook its head. It slowly turned around and crawled back into its nest.

The dragon didn’t want to eat? Maybe it didn’t like fish, or perhaps it wanted to eat something else.

Luya scratched her head. She really didn’t understand dragons. She also didn’t understand why this red dragon was so nice to her.

But she really didn’t want to waste food, so she forced herself to eat some more. She cut the remaining pieces of fish into pieces and stored it in a pot. Hopefully it would be possible to bake it for food tomorrow. Finally, she went back to weaving her golden mesh.

Before nightfall, she finally finished the metal net for collecting dew.

Luya found a place that seemed decently humid. She used a frame that she made out of wood to mount the metal funnel. She would have to wait until tomorrow to see how much water it could collect.

The red dragon seemed to completely ignore the dog, and it also didn’t care that Luya shared her food with the dog. It seemed to really enjoy watching Luya eat. Every time Luya ate something, it would always be quietly watching her from the side.

Based on Luya’s observations over the past two days, the red dragon seemed to have a pretty good temperament. Ever since buying her, it never has shown any intent to harm her.

However, the Shiba Inu did not relax its guard around the dragon. That overly cautious dog continued to sleep outside of the cave. After finishing a day’s hard work, Luya dragged her weary body back to the dragon’s lair. She ate too much, felt extremely tired, and her stomach was bloated, so she immediately fell asleep on top of her blanket.

That night, Luya and the Shiba Inu both had dreams.

Luya dreamed of a memory that belonged to the original owner of this body.

Originally, she was supposed to go to the imperial capital with the other orphans.

When she was a baby, her parents had left her at the door of an orphanage. In Asdra, brown-haired people were the majority. Although it was common for people to dye their hair and change their hairstyle, it was extremely rare for people to be born with black hair and black eyes. It was rumored that black-haired people would bring misfortune, and they were generally treated as an ill omen. The original owner of this body was probably abandoned by her biological parents for this reason.

The wet nurses in the orphanage still took in this child, filled her with love, and raised her.

This girl had a happy childhood. Among the children that she grew up with, there was a beautiful girl named Lianna with blond hair and blue eyes. She was always convinced that she was a lost child of the nobility, and believed that she would one day regain their favor. She frequently bossed other people around and snatched everything that she wanted.

Then the blood red eyes appeared in the sky and Asdra saw its downfall. Monsters began to attack the human cities. The orphanage caretakers took out the money they had saved for most of their lives, and intended to buy airship tickets for the children. They wanted to give the children a chance to survive by sending them to the imperial capital. However, her original self bumped into Lianna while she was stealing the money purse from their nanny’s cabinet, planning to escape alone.

Lianna felt that this little money wasn’t enough for everyone to board an airship to the capital. It was already hard to buy a ticket, and the price of a single airship ticket had already shot up five times. Not to mention, she still needed money to live after arriving at the imperial capital, so this amount of money was only enough for herself to use. Lianna was selfish, greedy, and never cared about others. She brazenly said that she was the only one worthy of living.

Of course, her original self wanted to stop her, since this was everyone’s money. The two girls wrestled desperately with each other, but then Lianna injured the original owner of the body with a knife, and she escaped from the orphanage.

By the time their nanny and the other children found Lianna, she had already bribed some soldiers and boarded the airship. She mocked them while surrounded by soldiers.

Damn, that girl is so fucking vicious!

Although it wasn’t her own life experience, Luya was about to explode when she dreamt of this memory.

She burst out sleep talking, and angrily swore off Lianna a few times. The sleeping red dragon nearby stirred and gave her a disdainful look, but then closed its eyes.

The Shiba Inu that was laying outside of the dragon’s lair twitched with its hind legs from time to time.

When the “Demonic World Eye” opened, the continent of Asdra was occupied by monsters that descended from meteorites. Almost all the smaller settlements without protective shields were destroyed, and the Empire gave up on saving these towns. The imperial capital Gladia was protected by four layers of barriers, and it was known to be the most powerful and impenetrable of all cities. The best scientists were brought to Gladia, and they were now searching for a method to eliminate the Demonic World Eye, and thus find a way to save humanity.

Just before the prosperous city of Lennart was about to be sacked, the Crown Prince Zeros Aguiros Gaias, the strongest person in the empire, was sent by the emperor to eliminate the threat endangering Lennart — Canaan the Cyclops.

Without even relying on the Empire’s latest anti-magic weapons, Crown Prince Zeros entered the battlefield alone and beheaded the cyclops. After the cyclops’s troops surrendered, he ruthlessly ordered the massacre of the remaining monsters, dug out Canaan’s demonic eye, and sent it off to the imperial capital as research material.

Author’s notes:

The prince has a really bad temper, loves war, and is an extremely ruthless person, but was turned into a dog.

I love to make those types of arrogant dragon-slaying characters unlucky, hehe.

Lianna will show up later on to settle her affair, but that’s a spoiler.

PS: My cover is done, and the Shiba Inu has been painted! Go take a look! Such an awesome puppy!

To be honest, I also want to raise a Shiba Inu, so does anyone have any advice? I heard that those dogs were extremely disobedient and vengeful. Whenever my friend’s Shiba Inu is scolded, it pees in her room… it’s not afraid of anything…

Translator’s notes: