Chapter 16

School started back up, thus my work progress has slowed a bit. Thanks to all of my patreon supporters. Give me a week or two to get used to the new schedule and I should be able to get back on top of things. Plus this chapter was really long (relatively speaking). I hope he doesn’t make a habit of these 1000+ word chapters.

Now it’s man time.

Ha? What did I say? I won’t give you any thanks for pointing it out.

I grew tired of doing side jobs, so I took a coffee (pseudo) break while watching the house.

There is not much work left to do and I don’t have any overbearing boss to deal with. I’ll just do what I want when I want to. Hooray to a slow life!

It’s the spring season and there is a mild breeze. It’d be enough to put me to sleep if I laid down.

And just as I was about to lose consciousness, Sapuru spoke up.

“Brother, it’s a migrating dragon!”

Brother? As I look up with my eyes half-closed, I could see seven dragons in a V-shape coming in our direction.

Because I grew up in nature, or perhaps because of my body, my eyesight was as good as the Masai.

“… Oh yeah, I guess it’s about that time…”

These dragons migrate here during the spring from the southern continent. Though they look carnivorous, their staple food consists of an aquatic weed and foliage making them a herbivorous dragon and they don’t do well in the heat.

About 200 kilometers north of here is a gigantic lake (which is about 30 degrees even when at its hottest) that they stay at until they return to the southern continent in the autumn.

The formation of migratory dragons gradually approached here.

As they came close to passing us, only one broke from formation and headed towards us.

Tota was still surprised with his mouth open, but because Sapuru had been watching this spectacle since she was four, she wore a face more like the joy when an old friend came to visit.

While expanding its wings to catch the wind, it landed skillfully.

“Kurururururu.”

A dragon the size of an average fight jet hummed in a cute voice.

“Long time no see, Rukuku.”

I didn’t name it. It was named by his other owner.

Since they are smarter than a dolphin, he understands what I am saying, so while wondering about how long it’s last been he shook his head up and down.

“Yes, I’m good, is Lars doing fine, too?”

Rukuku turned towards its back upon hearing that question.

There was a huge leather satchel that could probably fit two people on his back.

“I guess so… even if the months go by.”

I took down the leather satchel.

“You must be strong if you can lug this heavy thing around? Are you sure you’re alright?”

Just because I can carry 5 tons doesn’t mean I don’t feel the weight of it all. I can feel and tell if I’m carrying an egg or a rock, after all.

“Kuru! Kuru!”

It seems to be fine. Okay, then when I leave I’ll give you the same amount.

“Thank you. I’m happy.”

It opened its mouth playfully, even though that mouth was big enough to swallow an adult whole.

“Hey now, how long are you going to play around and make your friend wait for you? When you have a break sometime, come back and play.”

Kuru…Kuru… it sings out a lonely tune before flying back towards its flock. If it doesn’t follow the flock, it would eventually be rejected. It’s sad, but it has to return to the flock.

I pushed a barrier out from my body towards the sky to deliver a final call.

“See you later, Rukuku!”

It responded back by somersaulting twice in the air as it regrouped with its flock heading towards the lake.

Waiting until I could no longer see it, a sigh leaked out as I turned towards the leather satchel.

Interested in the leather satchel more than Rukuku, the two younger ones began looking in the satchel.

“You guys sure are greedy.”

Designed to travel such a long distance on the back of the Migrating Dragons, you can’t just open it. However, these two easily can, even though most adults would have a hard time removing the fastener.

“He really brought a lot of stuff this time.”

I gave them a wry smile as the things kept coming out.

Lars is the prince of the southern continent. He is also my pen-pal.

Why is a Prince a pen-pal of mine, you might ask? It’s your typical letter in a bottle thrown into the sea that was fetched by the dragon and given to the prince kind of story. How am I that lucky? Probably because I barely understood the alphabet and found that drawing on a wooden board allowed me to depict scenes easier, or maybe it’s because I often sent monster figurines attached to Rukuku (with barrier magic, of course) as a way to show friendship.

With that, we annually exchange letters (they’re a large country that uses the same language). Well, souvenirs dominate overwhelmingly.

“Oh, there are a lot of spices!”

“Is this a yellow fruit?”

I’m surprised at what comes out of the tropical country and tilt my neck.

Picking up the wooden box containing the letter reminded me when the end of the year gift was delivered to our house. I opened the contents of the letter.

With the spread of paper (not too shabby of quality too), the interior of the wooden box overflowed with letters. Well, since it is annual, I shouldn’t be so nitpicky. This time there is a cloth-like object tucked inside.

Unfastening the cloth, black-rimmed glasses came out.

“… There are glasses in this world…”

I put the glasses on while shocked with surprise. I guess I don’t need to worry so much.

There is no special change. Looking nearby, the letters caught the attention of my eyes as I am now able to read all the letters smoothly.

Ah, it didn’t take Einstein to figure it out, but I don’t want to get angry here. The letters were written in the southern continent alphabet, yet I can somehow read them now.

I don’t know the formal name, but apparently, these glasses are capable of some kind of automatic translation.

I can imagine a certain sea soldier receiving an auto-translating necklace.

“Super convenient magic.”

My current motto of this world is, “Don’t think, feel.”

I mean, come on, If I think about every little detail of this world, I’d be defeated so many times already.