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It took another three days, but we finally made it back to the Great Forest!!
Man, this forest is as humid as ever. Even though autumn is right around the corner, it’s still stiflingly hot in here.
“Are we almost at Papa’s house?”
“Hmm, it’s less of a house and more of a family, I guess? They move around from place to place chasing prey, so they rarely stay in one spot for long.”
Karin let out a curious “Heh~,” looking quite excited.
“Family, family.”
For some reason, even Ril had perked up. Was she happy that I called them family?
“Ril, do you know where everyone is?”
“I’m tracking their scent, so we’re fine, but… I’m picking up another smell too.”
“Another smell? You mean besides prey?”
“Yeah. It’s alive, so it’s definitely not prey.”
Does that mean they have a guest? Even so, I couldn’t even begin to imagine who it could be.
“Well, as long as it’s not a fight or a bloodbath, I don’t mind.”
In my book, as long as there’s no pointless conflict, everything is fine.
“…I smell a snake.”
Karin spoke up. So, the guest was a snake-type monster?
“Karin, you can’t attack them, okay?”
“Okay~.”
She gave a cheerful reply, but I wondered if she could actually restrain herself. I figured I’d find out once we got back to the pack.
Or so I thought, but…
“Hey, Ril, was there always a mountain over there?”
As Ril followed the scent, I spotted a small mountain in the direction the pack was supposed to be. I’d never seen a mountain like that during my training. What’s more, I could sense a living presence coming from it.
“…That might be the guest.”
“By ‘that,’ you mean that mountain?”
“Yeah. That’s Great-Uncle ‘Midgardsormr, the Earth Staff Dragon.’ I heard he’s one of Grandfather’s sworn brothers, a serpent-type dragon.”
That mountain was a dragon and Grandfather’s sworn brother? As expected of a legendary beast, even his siblings were on a massive scale.
“Papa, that thing is a little scary.”
Karin clung to my back, trembling. That was rare; I didn’t expect Karin to be intimidated by a snake.
“Karin, I’ve heard that Great-Uncle is a very easygoing individual, so I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
While I patted Karin to calm her down, Ril told us more about Midgardsormr.
“There you go. She says as long as we don’t make him angry, he won’t do anything.”
“Okay. Got it, I won’t pick a fight.”
Wait, you were actually planning on picking a fight?! How could you even think about picking a fight with someone as big as a mountain?!
“Anyway, let’s hurry up and rejoin the pack.”
The two of them agreed, so we decided to head home quickly.
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