Whether You Call Me a Guardian Dragon or Not, I’m Going to Sleep - Chapter 171

The Rat and the Dragon (5)

The priest handed me a letter.

The outside of the letter had the words ‘To Mabel’ written on it in an unfamiliar handwriting.

“And… this is the letter sent to me.”

The priest took out another letter from his arms and placed it on the table.

A letter with the same handwriting as the one sent to me. Is this… really my mother’s letter?

If she was in a situation where she could afford to send a letter on such expensive papyrus… why didn’t she come to find me?

Is there… something going on with my mother?

“I was going to show you the letter when you became an adult.”

“Why? Why could you only show it to me after I became an adult?”

“Because your mother asked me to do so.”

I shut my mouth at the priest’s words. What on earth could the reason be…

“And once you found out that you had received a letter from your mother, you would have run out of the village.”

I couldn’t answer the priest’s words. Because everything the priest said was true.

If my mother was alive somewhere… I would have gone to find her.

“According to the letter… your mother is in a very dangerous situation. She probably didn’t want to involve you, her daughter, in such danger.”

“A dangerous situation…”

Did my mother not abandon me, but leave me in this countryside to protect me?

She didn’t abandon me?

Why?

“Originally, I planned to keep it a secret until you became an adult… but… if this person… if this person helps you… I think she can help your mother.”

I turned my head to look at Tia. Tia, who was watching with a face that seemed strangely excited.

Well, she’s a dragon. It’s understandable that if Tia, who can use incomprehensible magic freely, helps…

Can you help my mother?

Can you save my mother, who is in danger?

“Of course, assuming that this person helps. So, what do you think? Won’t you take this child with you?”

Tia looked at me and the priest alternately, then nodded slightly and opened her mouth.

“I don’t mind. I was planning to wander around without any particular purpose, but it’s not bad to travel with this kind of purpose.”

Tia spoke as if she had experience traveling.

Really, is this Tia a dragon priestess? Is she the dragon priestess from the story of the hero?

Then… could it be… that the dragon that the hero defeated fell in love with the hero and became the dragon priestess, accompanying him?

Could it be that the order of events has been reversed and passed down to this day?

“Really?! Thank you! I was really worried about sending this child alone, and I was worried that I would be sending such a young child to a dangerous place. If the priestess helps, I will be relieved!”

The priest bowed his head to Tia in gratitude. Really… as if he was worried about sending me alone.

Despite my appearance, I do my share! Just because I’m short and childish doesn’t mean I’m really a child!!!

“Then, shall I tell you about this child’s circumstances? I need to know what’s going on in order to help her properly.”

At Tia’s words, the priest nodded and slowly opened his mouth.

“First of all, I should tell you about this child’s mother.”

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

“Her name is Ella. Ella Cinder. Known as Ella of the Ashes, she was a small but brave rat beastman.

Born into a fairly wealthy family among the rat beastmen, Ella had a bright and cheerful personality and made friends with many people.

If Ella’s mother hadn’t died when she was young… she would have lived a much happier life. Unfortunately, Ella’s life was not easy.”

The priest began to talk about her mother. But…

“Wait a minute. Why do you know so much about my mother?”

“Well, we were friends when we were young. Ella had an extraordinary ability to get close to others. Even I, who was a priest trainee at the time, quickly became close to her.

Anyway, Ella’s life began to go awry when her father remarried.

Ella’s new stepmother had two daughters who were older than her, so for Ella, her new stepmother and two stepsisters became her new family.

At first, Ella tried to be kind to her new stepmother and two stepsisters and get close to them, but I heard that they hated her very much.

Perhaps… they thought that if Ella were not there, they would be able to take all of the propertythat Ella’s father had.

She tried to get close to her new family, but eventually gave up on them.

After that, when her father fell ill and was unable to get up again, the persecution by her stepmother and stepsisters became even worse.

So she left home and traveled.”

After listening to the priest’s long story, Tia said briefly.

“It’s a story I’ve heard many times before.”

“Is that so? Anyway, she left home and became an adventurer. She gained a lot of experience traveling like that. She had always admired the stories of warriors, so it was natural for her to become an adventurer.”

My mother… an adventurer…?

“Ella was strong, wielding a large hammer that she could barely lift with both hands. The large hammer was so powerful that even a monster would not be able to withstand a direct hit.”

“A large hammer? But she’s a rat demi-human?”

My mother is a rat demi-human like me… but she wielded a large hammer with her small body?

Something… is hard to believe.

“She had great strength in her arms. The large hammer that she wielded during her adventurer days was entrusted to me, so I kept it in the temple. I was going to give it to Mabel when she became an adult so that she could use it as a weapon.”

“A large hammer? Even if I get something like that, it would be difficult if I don’t know how to swing it?”

I don’t know how to wield a weapon at all, so it would be difficult to receive something like that…

“Just swing it like you would when you cut firewood. And you, like her, have great strength. I think you’ll be able to use it well enough.”

Hmm… is the reason why I’m strong for my size because I resemble my mother?

“Anyway, after she gained fame as an adventurer, she returned to her hometown. In the name of the God of Light and Justice. She reclaimed the rightful property that she should have had.”

“Something… is different… there should have been a glass slipper there. And a ball.”

“A glass slipper…? A ball?”

What is Tia talking about?

“Ahem. I don’t know what you’re thinking, but let’s continue the story.

After driving out her stepmother and two stepsisters, Ella became quite famous among the rat demi-humans, and many people proposed to her.”

“A proposal…? Marriage?”

Come to think of it… who is my father? My mother never said a word about my father, so I don’t know at all.

Rather, the priest feels like my father.

“Yes. I don’t know much about what happened after that. But I heard that she fell in love and got married. After that… there was no news for a while, and then suddenly she came to me with you, who was still young, in a ragged state.

“Yes. I don’t know the details, but. Apparently she fell in love and got married. After that…. There was no news for a while, and then suddenly she came looking for me with you, still a child, in ragged clothes.

She didn’t tell me the details, but she said she was involved in something troublesome, and asked me to take care of this child, and left you and a sledgehammer with me.”

“A sledgehammer…. But I don’t remember anything like that. I don’t remember seeing my mother wielding anything like that….”

“She brought it on a cart in a box, so you wouldn’t know. It’s under my bed right now, I’ll show it to you later.”

Mother’s weapon…. Hmm…. I don’t know. I don’t remember seeing anything like that.

“Ahem. There was no news from her for several years after that…. Then last year, a letter came. A letter to be shown to Maybel once she became an adult, and a letter to me. There were two of them.

The letter to me said that she was in a bit of a difficult situation, and asked me to send Maybel to her once she became an adult.

However, that was just a cover story. The real message was hidden in this letter, by taking the first letter of each paragraph and putting them together.”

“Serodrip?”

Serodrip? What’s that?

“I don’t know what you mean by that…. Anyway, the hidden message in her letter was as follows:

「Rat Suin. Danger. God. Daughter. Safety. Travel.」”

This is….

“I couldn’t understand all of it. There’s danger for the Rat Suin, and it’s related to a god…. It seems like she’s asking me to send Maybel somewhere safe.

Perhaps she was in a situation where she couldn’t even send a letter safely.”

“If it’s a god…. Do you mean Sirius, the god of the Suin?”

Sirius…. The guardian deity of the Pantheon? It was written in the book that he was the first beast…. Were the two the same god?

“Perhaps. Sirius, the god who was the god of the Suin, became the guardian deity of the Pantheon, so it would make sense for Ella to be involved in some kind of trouble because of that gap.”

“Hmm…. Sirius. That’s interesting.”

I guess the priest knew that Sirius was the god of the Suin. There was no mention of that in the book I read?

“Anyway, there could be danger coming for Maybel, so I was thinking of sending her to a safe place once she became an adult, but since you’re offering to help like this, that works out well.”

“So…. What about my mother?”

“Worry about yourself first. She’ll manage somehow.”

“But….”

My mother could be in danger, and all I can do is run away to safety.

“She risked her life to send you that letter.”

I want to go to where my mother is, right now….

“Hmm. I’m sorry to butt in, but doesn’t the fact that that letter made it here mean that the danger that’s after this child could come here?”

“That’s true, but by the time she sent the letter, the location of this place would have been almost figured out.

There was no clear time limit, so perhaps the grace period is until Maybel becomes an adult, as written in the letter. She’s probably asking for Maybel to be sent to a safe place before then.”

“In that case, why do you want to take this child with you? Why not send her after she becomes an adult?”

“Until this child becomes an adult…. I had intended to teach her various things so that she could do her share. However, if you’re going to accompany her…. Wouldn’t that be much safer than me teaching her this and that?”

Certainly…. It would definitely be safer to be with Tia, a dragon, than to be learning various things until she became an adult.

Tia nodded slightly after hearing the priest’s words.

“Hmm. In that case…. In order to guarantee this child’s safety, wouldn’t it be best to use the simplest method?”

“Yes?”

The simplest method?

“Smash everything and be done with it.”

Tia’s words were…. simpler and more violent than I had expected.