Chapter 234

234 – The Lithovar Village

With Hibi and Baron on my back, I charge through the forest . Hibi is telling me the direction through [Telepathy] .

I easily leap over the river . The shock of my impact shakes the surroundings, startling away monsters that appear from the mud and undergrowth . The monsters look like round mice or wolves . After she levels up a bit, perhaps the wight will be able to hunt them .

Part way through the journey, I sense a creepy presence behind me . Not wanting to slow down, I ask my partner to watch the path ahead so I can check behind .

Far behind us, I see five children sitting on a branch, faintly glowing with white light . They’re the same as the monster we saw before that my partner wanted to eat, the raran . They’re staring back at me from the slight cavities where their eyes should be . But they have no ill intent, right? They’re just looking, right? Somehow they’re super scary though .

『Tree, going to hit』

Recieving my partner’s warning, I quickly face forwards and dodge the oncoming obstacle .

『It seems the forest children are also pleased to see the return of dragon-god-sama . They must have been worried that the forest would be thoughtlessly destroyed . 』

While I’m wondering about the rarans I saw, Hibi gives me an explanation by [Telepathy] . I-I see, those guys hate damage to the forest . That fits with how [God’s Voice] described them as living by sucking magic power out of trees… If they have the position of guardian deity of the forest, then I guess the dragon-god could well be a welcome existence for them .

I need to be careful not to mess up . If I were to mass produce treants, they might start looking at me with hateful eyes… Hmm? Could it be that I’ve already become a target of observation since I made treants? Th-that’s not the case, right? They’re just watching me because I was in the dragon-god’s shrine, right?

The journey continues without event, other than Baron stroking my back with strange hand movements, causing my partner to get more and more irritated .

『Baron, impossible . Get ‘im off me . 』

Isn’t it fine? It’s much better than cut up by a sword, that’s for sure . There was that time I got half-killed after rushing up to some humans in joy .

My partner looks back at Baron gloomily . Even though she’s not able to move it freely, she really does consider it her own body too .

Though she used a masculine turn of expression there . Because of the description of my species as a hermaphroditic double-headed dragon, I was convinced she was the female type . No, that line of hers could just have just been the result of my influence on her . Next time I humanise I’ll do it with two heads, so that way I’ll be able to tell . Though if a human sees us they’d see us as a youkai for sure .

After running for a while longer, I feel a large number of presences through [Presence Detection] . This feeling, they’re humans . We must be closing in on the village . I slow down and come to a stop in front of a wooden gate .

The gate is just barely small enough for me to pass under if I stoop . It seems that the Lithovar village is surrounded on all sides by a fence of stakes .

The fence is low enough for me to step over, but to avoid startling them I’ll enter through the gate . Compared to the sight of a dragon suddenly jumping over their fence, taking the time to enter through the gate should look much less threatening . If I’m going to be their guardian deity, then minding my manners is the least I can do . If I were to cause a panic that takes focus away from the traveller, it could be an obstacle to defeating the manticore .

Standing in the gateway is a spear-wielding man . A gatekeeper I guess .

“Dr-dragon-god-sama!? H-hibi-sama! What is…”

The gatekeeper looks up at me and drops his spear, unsteadily walking closer .

“Dragon-god-sama has expressed concern for the traveller . For that reason, we have accompanied him . ”

Rather than concern, it’s more like animosity though… It would be great if I was worried for nothing, but if a traveller with a belly wound showed up with this timing, I can only think it’s the manticore . [Humanisation Technique] should use a ton of MP, so I could be wrong, but it seems all too unlikely to be a coincidence . There could be a skill I don’t know about . I won’t be able to feel relieved until I check with my own eyes .

I turn my neck to look at Hibi sitting on my back . Guessing I have something I want to say, Hibi closes her eyes .

Hibi, where is the traveler? Without alerting her, I’d like for everyone nearby to back laway . There’s a chance that the traveller is a transformed monster .

『…I see, so that’s why you hurried over here . I’ll make arrangements right away . However, the traveller is in the medical area, so evacuating people without raising her suspicion will be difficult . 』

Having asked my question, I receive a reply through [Telepathy] . As soon as she finishes, Hibi jumps off my back . She bends her knees as she lands, neatly absorbing the impact . After lightly prodding the ground with the tips of her feet as if to test it, she moves in front of the gatekeeper .

“Gozu, please call out for the injured in the medical area to be taken to the meeting area . Without mentioning dragon-god-sama, please come up with a convincing reason . I don’t mind if you use my name . However, please tell the traveller to remain in bed . If she seems suspicious, then please immediately report back here . ”

“I-I understand!”

It seems the gatekeeper’s name is Gozu . Without pausing to pick up the spear he dropped, he runs as fast as he can into the village .

“Guah!”

My partner stretches out her head and picks Baron up by his head, forcing him down to the ground . Having seen Hibi’s and Gozu’s exchange just now, she must have decided that there was no longer a need to have him on her back .

“Uowah!”

Baron crashes into the ground hard, raising up a cloud of dust . T-that’s overdoing it a bit .

“Guuah”

With her quiet cry, Baron is enveloped in light… At least she did use [Rest] .

Looking up, I see brickwork buildings lined up in the distance . Cylindrical in shape, none of them are all that big .

From the shade of those buildings, I see a group of Lithovar children looking at me timidly . The three of them are standing side-by-side .

I crouch down on the spot so that I don’t intimidate them, lowering myself to the ground . All three of their faces light up, and they run over to me .

“It’s dragon-god-sama! It’s dragon-god-sama!”

“He really did come back!”

…The guardian deity route really might not be bad . What should I do, can I move in here permanently already?