Without You (8)

“Hey, Rurin!”

“Don’t call me that! It’s disrespectful. If you’re going to call me, say ‘Oh Great One!’ with respect! Understood?”

“Rurin!”

“Ugh, I told you not to call me that! It’s disrespectful! Too disrespectful!”

Rurin crossed her arms, glaring at me in disgust for calling her by name. But I had no intention of stopping.

“Rurin.”

“Grrrr.”

She hated it. She truly hated it. Her eyebrows shot up, and the change in her expression was kind of funny.

“Rurin. Rurin. Rurin. Rurin.”

“Disrespectful. Disrespectful. Disrespectful. Disrespectful. Disrespectful!”

I called Rurin four times, and she said “disrespectful” five times.

Four Rurins, five disrespectfuls.

Should I add a little spice to that?

“Alright, alright. Then I’ll change it. Oh Great One!”

“Disrespectful!”

Even though I called her what she wanted, she still called me disrespectful. Of course, she probably thought I was going to call her Rurin again and said it out of habit.

That was exactly my plan.

“Oh? Really? A person shouldn’t be disrespectful. I called you the Great One, and you said it was disrespectful, so then, Rurin!”

I called her Rurin again as a counterattack. But this time, there was no “disrespectful”. She was too angry to speak.

Her mouth gaped wide open, and her hands trembled. It looked like she could swallow anything.

In the end, I earned myself an angry dragon.

“You really make me angry.”

“Is it really that bad?”

“Yes!”

“Well, what’s wrong with saying it a bit? Your name is pretty, so I just want to say it.”

“That’s true! My Mother said it was pretty, too.”

“Right?”

“She said my Father, who died before I was born, gave me the name.”

“Yeah, yeah. So…”

“So you shouldn’t call me that!”

“Got itttt, oh right, Rurin!”

“You wretch! I’ll tear you apart. Tear you apart!”

“Don’t tear me apart. Just call me El. Then I won’t call you Rurin.”

As the dragon fumed again, I casually shrugged and subtly planted my name into the conversation.

“Pathetic.”

As expected, that was her response. She seemed too annoyed to argue anymore and just turned away.

“Oh, then I’ll keep calling you?”

The moment she said “Rurin” from her own mouth, she became Rurin.

She was no longer just a Black Dragon or “this lass” – she became Rurin.

Not just a dragon, but Rurin.

I didn’t care about her species. Great One? Dragon? I hated all of that.

I just wanted to treat her as Rurin, an individual, and that’s why I called her that.

Even now, despite all the glares I’m getting, I proudly continue to call her Rurin.

“By the way, now that you’re in human form, the fearsome aura you give off is almost gone, so there are a lot of animals around.”

Right now, Rurin and I were walking down the mountain from the lair.

Rurin had spent centuries just curled up inside that lair.

She had lived such a bleak life, believing that sleeping curled up was the best thing. I wanted to show her the feeling of joy.

Even if I couldn’t go that far, just getting her out of that lair and into nature, rather than being holed up like a recluse, would be enough to refresh her spirits.

That’s what I wanted to do for her.

A change of pace.

After hearing about her past, for some reason, I had that thought.

Of course, it’s true that I needed the information only she knew because of her mother’s death, in order to solve the task given by the Lord.

But even without that, I became interested in this lonely girl.

Is it sympathy?

I don’t know.

I just…wanted to keep calling her Rurin, even though she hated it.

I wanted to show her, who thought the dark lair was all there was to the world, that the world was much bigger.

I didn’t want to attach any specific reason to that feeling.

That’s why I brought Rurin outside.

Of course, this dragon wouldn’t have willingly agreed to go out just because I suggested it.

If I had said that, I would have ended up staring into Rurin’s murderous gaze instead of the outside.

But there are many ways to go about it.

Humans are creatures that use their brains. Hehe.

-Let’s go outside. There’s so much fun stuff out there!

-No. I’m going to sleep.

-Come on, let’s go out.

-No! You get out! And don’t come back.

-Rurin!

-Stop calling me that!

This is Rurin’s usual reaction. Now, it’s time to execute my plan.

What is Rurin’s greatest wish? It’s hidden in our conversations.

Rurin wants me to disappear from the lair. So, I need to use that.

I had already dangled the bait of a bet.

If she wins the bet, I leave. She knows that clearly, so I use that bet to lure her outside.

That’s the plan.

Of course, if I lose the bet, I’ll have to leave the lair, so it’s a risky tightrope to walk, but it’s fine.

I just have to make sure I don’t lose.

So, I approached it like this.

-Then how about a bet outside?

-…?

-Let’s go outside and make a bet. Why do you look like you just heard something impossible?

-That never happened!

-Then let’s go out. Just like before. If you win, I’ll leave. That’s a good reason to go outside, right? There’s nothing to bet on inside the lair.

-Do we have to?

-What?

At that moment, Rurin made a strange comment with a slightly awkward expression.

-Nevermind. Fine.

Of course, she immediately changed her tune and followed me.

As a result, here we are, enjoying nature, walking down the mountain. And as we go down, animals appear here and there.

Because her fearsome aura had diminished, animals were coming closer, even at the middle of the mountain.

It seemed that in her human form, whether for fun or not, her aura naturally subdued itself.

If you didn’t make eye contact, you could barely feel her aura.

And I’ve heard that a fully grown dragon, after polymorphing, can control its aura so well that you wouldn’t feel it even if you made eye contact.

The sky was blue.

The forest was dense.

When I came all the way down the mountain before to gather ingredients, I discovered a lake.

So, today’s destination is that lake. The lake below the mountain sparkled as it reflected the sun.

Such a peaceful scene.

I don’t know if she took in the scenery, but Rurin quietly followed behind me.

When we arrived at the sandy shore of the lake, I pulled my fishing rod out. Summoning magic is so handy.

“So what’s the bet? How far are we going? Stop already! I’m sleepy.”

“You’re sleepy again?”

The dragon’s patience, as she silently followed me, finally exploded. How could she be sleepy when she just woke up?

“Anyway, we’re here now, so stop glaring at me. Doesn’t it hurt your eyes to glare like that?”

She nodded.

Yeah, of course it wouldn’t hurt. A dragon glaring at a human wouldn’t hurt her eyes.

“What are we doing here?”

“Just wait a bit. Since it’s a bet, come sit next to me.”

I patted the spot next to me, and at the mention of a bet, she walked over reluctantly and sat down, her lips pursed.

I pointed to the view of the lake for her.

“Now that you’re sitting, take a look around.”

The sparkling lake.

Birds flying around.

It’s peaceful. The gentle breeze feels nice, too.

“So, how is it? Isn’t the scenery nice? If you don’t stay cooped up in the lair and enjoy views like this, it’ll help you relax.”

Rurin’s hair fluttered in the wind.

“If we’re not going to bet, I’m going back.”

But the dragon seemed emotionally dry, with no reaction whatsoever. Sitting by the lake, blinking, she looked like a painting.

“How about we catch some fish and eat before we start the bet? I’m hungry.”

“Food?”

Luckily, the one thing she responds positively to is food.

After she threw away the jokbal, she hadn’t touched food for a while, but after I drove away the other dragons and she stopped ignoring me, she started showing interest in my cooking again, just like before.

“Yeah, food.”

“That’s not bad.”

Once again, she nodded in agreement. So, I cast my fishing rod into the lake for ingredients.

The bait is a worm.

Hearing that it was food, Rurin silently focused in this direction.

-Sniff sniff.

And then she brought her nose closer.

Since cooking always smells good, she seemed to be sniffing consciously, but it was impossible to smell anything at the stage of catching the ingredients.

Soon, when there was no smell coming from me, she looked disappointed.

Fortunately, there was a bite on the fishing rod soon enough.

Isn’t this what they call “half water, half fish”?

“Is that food?”

“What?”

Rurin grabbed the fish she caught and gulped it down in one bite.

Does she really think swinging a fishing rod is cooking?

“Ew!!”

The reaction came immediately. The fish she had swallowed was crushed and spat out as if it had gone through a dragon’s grinder.

“It’s fishy! It’s fishy! It tastes awful! How could you give me this?!”

“No, you ate it yourself? Eating things raw is your specialty, not mine.”

She looked at me with a betrayed expression, but there was nothing I could do. She had already crushed the fish.

I had no choice but to seal her twitching lips, ready to spew anger, with a candy to calm her down.

She spat out a few more times, then started chewing the candy and finally calmed down.

“Hey, Rurin.”

“Don’t you dare talk to me while I’m sucking on this!”

“I can’t understand you if you’re talking with the candy in your mouth.”

“Fine!”

“Sitting peacefully by the lakeside like this, fishing, and you spitting out fish – it’ll all become memories someday. So, why not treasure it a bit more?”

“What nonsense are you saying?”

“It’s nothing.”

She must mean ‘nonsense’ by that.

I definitely spoke nonsense.

It’s so cringeworthy.

Anyway, I decided to make a bet.

I planned to win quickly and seal her mouth from proposing a bet, then enjoy the peace a little longer, grill some fish, and head back – that was my plan for today.

“Here, take this fishing rod.”

I handed Rurin another fishing rod.

“This is the bet.”

“What kind of bet? Do I hit you with this?”

“There’s no such bet, obviously.”

“So do I eat this? I’m not eating this.”

“Enough with the nonsense, let’s catch fish with that. Whoever catches more wins.”

“What even is that.”

“What do you mean, it’s a bet.”

“Like that tasteless one earlier?”

“That’s because you ate it raw. Anyway, if you win, I’ll leave. But if I win, hmm.”

I had already thought about it. Reducing the distance between me and Rurin, the emotional distance, might be difficult for now.

But slowly, little by little, I believe the day will come when she’ll open her heart.

And then, naturally, I’ll be able to hear about her past with her mother.

So, if that’s impossible for now, I at least want to reduce our distance within the lair.

“Sleep closer to me. I don’t mind you curling up, but sleeping so far apart in that big lair feels a bit off, right? There should be an appropriate distance, so from now on, sleep about five meters away from me.”

But since we’re male and female, being too close isn’t good either. But not too far, just the right distance – around five meters should do. Right now, it’s over a hundred meters.

“What is that.”

“Well, just for a month.”

“Why is it always a month with you?”

“Because it’s not too short or too long – it’s the perfect amount of time.”

“Anyway, I’m going to win, and you’ll disappear, so it doesn’t matter!”