Because It Smelled

“So, anyway, what exactly are you?”

One of the fairies asked Kikori that question.

It was fine; he already had his answer prepared.

“I’m Kikori the Dragonian.”

“Dragonian?”

“Do you know what that is?”

“Nope.”

“Well, whatever.”

Whether the fairies were not interested enough to press him further, or whether they simply did not care as long as he was not human—

he did not know about that part, but for the time being, it seemed he had avoided further questioning.

“So then, what were you doing in a place like this, Kikori?”

“I came to investigate the cause of the labyrinthization.”

“You know, a bunch of things have changed, right? Apparently that’s what people in the human city call it.”

At Orphe’s follow-up, the fairies all went, “Heh.”

“And this guy’s weak, so apparently he lives in a human city.”

“Ahh, so that’s why he was wearing gear that smelled human.”

“Yep.”

With that, Kikori remembered that his axe and armor had not been in Orphe’s house earlier.

“Could it be that my equipment—”

“It smelled, so we melted it.”

“Yep.”

“Wait, even the armor?”

“Yep.”

“It was hard work, right?”

That armor was supposed to absorb mana, at least.

Did that mean they had still managed to melt it completely with magic?

He shuddered at the terrifying power of the fairies, while at the same time feeling an indescribable emotion well up inside him.

“If I don’t have that, I can’t fight.”

“Aww, poor thing.”

“Too weak, poor thing.”

“But it can’t be helped, right? Even though he’s dragon-like, he doesn’t have claws or fangs.”

“And his mana’s pathetic too.”

“Yep.”

Even though they were talking about him mercilessly, Orphe, sitting on his head, clapped her hands together as if to wrap things up.

“Okaay, that’s enough. Isn’t there anything else you can use instead? Like something humans or goblins dropped?”

“We don’t pick that stuff up.”

“And anyway, we haven’t even seen humans for a pretty long time, right?”

“Ehh, how long was it again?”

“About two years, maybe?”

“Yep.”

Kikori realized that Orphe was skillfully steering the conversation.

They had not encountered any humans for about two years.

In other words, the advance party had likely not encountered the fairies and was probably somewhere else.

That alone was valuable information.

“Then, like, shouldn’t we just prepare something for him ourselves?”

“Ehh?”

“Why?”

“Yep.”

At the words Orphe was saying from on top of his head, Kikori let out a startled “Huh?”

“No, it’s fine. I can just go back for now.”

“How?”

“I’ve got a tool that lets me return.”

When he said that, Orphe leaned out from above his head and stared at him like he was an idiot.

“W-What?”

“Hey, so we were just talking about how your weapons and stuff got melted, right?”

“Y-Yeah.”

“They got melted because they smelled human, so why exactly do you think your baggage would still be safe?”

“…Ah.”