Whether You Call Me a Guardian Dragon or Not, I’m Going to Sleep - Chapter 173

The Mouse and the Dragon and the Journey. (1)

The next day.

I packed my small luggage and finished preparing to leave with Tia.

With many anxieties in my heart, I set off on a journey based on my mother’s letter.

Honestly, I keep thinking in my head if it’s really okay to go…. But what can I do? I have to go.

When I was young, I resented her for leaving me behind…. But if my mother had circumstances, if it was to ensure my safety…. It must have been an inevitable choice.

If my mother is in danger…. This time it’s my turn to help her.

Even though I’m just a country girl who has never even swung a weapon properly….

With Tia, the great dragon and partner of the legendary warrior…. I think I can save my mother.

So I forced myself to find courage in my heart.

Towards the world outside the village. Towards the unknown world.

I took a step forward.

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

I woke up to a small sound during my hundreds of years of hibernation, and there was a tiny mouse in front of my nose, scared out of its wits.

Through something that sounds like it came out of a web novel, I came to accompany a small gray mouse, Mabel.

Honestly, I didn’t necessarily need to accompany her…. But if I hibernated for hundreds of years, I’d want to see how the world has changed.

While I was hibernating, my vassals took care of everything I had to do. Thanks to them, my work didn’t pile up.

Therefore, I had the marginto leisurely look around the world.

And…. I became a little interested in the story of Mabel and her mother.

The way they built up all sorts of stories without my involvement was…. quite fascinating.

But Mabel’s mother…. Was it Ella? Ella Cinder.

No matter how I look at it, she feels like Cinderella. She was in the same position as Cinderella, who was persecuted by her stepmother and two stepsisters.

Well, she got her inheritance back on her own without things like glass slippers or a ball…. There was no magic that would break at 12 o’clock.

Hmm. Let’s move on from her story for now.

“Phew…. Haa….”

“Are you okay?”

“I’m, okay….”

Mabel, who was walking along the rough mountain path with a large bag on her back.

“Still, it seems like I can manage somehow because I’m stronger now.”

“Is that so?”

Mabel, who was walking along with a backpack that was bigger than her body, looked very unbalanced.

Honestly, if she were an ordinary human, she wouldn’t have been able to walk for long with that kind of bag.

Even when marching, you don’t carry that much weight.

“Should I carry it for you?”

“No. It’s okay. It’s my luggage, so I should carry it.”

Mabel, who was using a large hammer as a walking stick to walk along the ground. Hmm. She’s small and cute, but the fact that she’s strong gives her an unbalanced feeling that has a strange charm.

But…. I can’t just leave her alone when she’s clearly struggling.

So.

“Then I’ll help you for a bit.”

“Huh? It’s okay! It’s really okay! It’s my luggage, so I have to carry it!”

“I’m not going to carry your luggage or anything. I just want to see that hammer for a moment.”

“Hammer? Earth Pulverizer?”

I nodded slightly, and Mabel handed me the hammer, half in doubt.

Hmm. I’ve been a little curious about it since I first saw it. I wondered how the dwarves’ enchantment method had changed compared to before.

So I looked at the Earth Pulverizer here and there.

“It’s well-made, but it feels a little rough in the part where it converts using magic power.”

If it works like this, 10 magic power is consumed to strengthen it by about 4.

If you say that it roughly increases your strength by 40%, it’s not small, but if you maximize the efficiency, you can make it more refined.

To the point where 10 magic power can strengthen it by 8. That’s about twice as effective as before.

“Now. I’ve just made a simple adjustment. It should feel like it’s been strengthened even more.”

“Hmm…. Really?”

Mabel held the Earth Pulverizer that I had slightly adjusted in her hand, and her face changed to one of slight surprise.

“Wow? It really got stronger? How did you do it?”

“I just made a slight adjustment to the dwarves’ technique. I reduced the unnecessary consumption of magic power and made it smoother. Just by making such optimizations, there can be this much difference in performance.”

“It’s not as simple as you think.”

Well, there’s no one more proficient than me when it comes to handling magic.

You could say that I can now handle magic as if it were my own limbs.

“Th, thank you.”

Maybell bowed her head to me and began to examine the hammer in her hand.

She must be feeling its newfound strength since there’s a smile on her lips.

Maybell, satisfied with the improved performance of her hammer, looked away from it and turned to me.

“But… why do you help people like this, Tia?”

“Hmm?”

“Tia… you’re a dragon, right? A dragon as big as a mountain. From your perspective, humans must seem like bugs crawling on the ground. So why do you help humans like this?”

Hmm. Why do I help humans?

If I think about it, I don’t necessarily have to help humans… hmm…

If it weren’t for the believers who see me as the Goddess of Life and send me their faith… would I have ignored humans?

No, I wouldn’t have. I used to be human. As long as I have those memories, I can’t turn my back on humans.

Of course, I can’t tell them that. That my previous life was as a dragon. Who would believe that? No one would.

Even my children wouldn’t believe me if I told them that.

“Is it because of the Goddess of Life? Is it because she told you to look after humans?”

The fact is, I’m the Goddess of Life. I can’t take orders from myself.

I do it because I want to.

“I do it because I want to.”

“But I don’t understand. Just as humans don’t care about the lives of bugs, dragons usually don’t care about the lives of humans, right?”

Hmm… that may be true, but…

I do it because I want to. If I didn’t care about life in the first place… I wouldn’t have created life in this world in the first place.

In that sense… could it be that I feel some responsibility for what I’ve created?

“It could be, or it couldn’t be. If a small animal is shivering from the cold, some people would hunt it, some would leave it alone, and others would help it. I’m just like a human who helps animals. I help humans.”

Well, that’s not to say that humans are on the same level as animals. It’s just that I have the same compassion. That’s all.

“I see… there are people who take in orphaned animals and raise them. I guess I can think of it as something like that.”

Technically, it’s different, but whatever.

“You can think of it that way.”

I’m getting tired of explaining everything in detail.

“Now, let’s keep going. We have to reach the village before sunset.”

Honestly, I could use teleportation to get there in an instant, but that would be too convenient.

I could teleport to the other side of the continent in an instant if I wanted to.

But that wouldn’t give me the feeling of traveling.

“Yes, yes. We have to reach the next village before sunset.”

And so, Maybell and I continued on our arduous journey through the mountains.

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

The place we arrived at was a village of moderate size.

A village nestled next to a small river. The village seemed to be primarily engaged in wheat farming, as golden wheat fields swayed in the wind around the village.

In that village.

“So, where should we go now?”

“Shouldn’t we go to an inn first when we arrive in a new village?”

No matter where you go, securing lodging is the first priority.

If you don’t secure lodging first, your journey will be tiring. A place where you can rest is important.

“An inn, you say? I happen to know of a place that the priest told me about. I’ll show you the way.”

“He told you about it. You know the exact location, then?”

“Yes! I heard a lot about this village from the priest, so if I just tidywell the stories I heard, I’ll know everything about this village!”

“Then I’ll leave the guidance to you.”

I could just ask around the villagers, but since Maybell is speaking so confidently…

It can’t hurt to trust her.

And so, I began to walk through the village, following Maybell.