Morning. I taaautly stretched out my neck as I sobered up from my slumber. Yesterday, Partner ate the pile of rotting carcasses. That made me lose my appetite, so I just decided to go to sleep then and there.
Oh yeah… this homeownership thing is the best, huh? Especially since I was always getting beaten down by the elements in the desert. Considering me and what’s left of my sensibilities from my previous life, I’m not gonna be settling down, am I? It’s been oh-so-long since I’ve been able to get some decent shut-eye.
“Gaaww⸺… …” “Gaaww⸺… …”
…Oh, come on. Even when half the party’s woken up, I still lose to Partner being deep in the middle of soundly sleeping…
A rattling sound chimed out from deep within the shrine. A skeleton… Wight. It would seem that they noticed me waking up. From out of the darkness, the legless skeleton discreetly came into view.
…I knew I’d get the heebie-jeebies if I immediately saw them first thing in the morning. If I pay them too much mind, I get the sense that I’ll give myself nightmares and stuff while I’m sleeping.
Your leg… It popped off again, didn’t it?
“Gwu… GwuOGH!”
Hey, Partner. Pop it back onto them. C’mon.
“Gaaww⸺…”
She gave a tepid, barely cognizant, half-hearted response. Her eyes were half-opened, but I’d say she was half sleep-talking. I opened my mouth and acted as if I was taking aim at the egg sac that was stuck fast to her forehead. Partner’s eyes darted open as she drew her body back.
“Gaw-!” “Gaw-!”
Partner cried out, as if to criticize me. …No, I would obviously not eat flippin’ spiders eggs. I am not you. I can practically feel the creepy-crawlies crawling all up in my mouth.
I had Partner use [[Fake Life (Soul Appendment)]] and got her to reaffix Wight’s leg back on without incident. I wonder if I can somehow do something about it popping off, just like that… I’m brimming with MP, so we’re fine on that front, but I’ve gotta wonder if this leg situation’ll improve when they level up…
If my thinking’s right, Wight’ll be able to evolve here fairly shortly due to the upper limit on their level being low, …but god forbid, if I make one little slip-up and they get killed… Wait, speaking of Wight, what would happen to them if they were to die?
I looked at Wight. Wight tilted their head and neck bones to the side, letting out a light clattering sound. I’ll… I’ll try to make an effort to not worry about that for now… I mean, it just isn’t something I can nonchalantly check up on.
I poked my head out from the shrine. When I tried scanning the vicinity with my [[Presence Sense]], I detected something approaching the shrine. Without delay, I put on a serious demeanor so as to heighten my senses.
The presences were humans wearing masks. It’s the Lithuvar tribe with five men—large and brawny in stature and two girls—short in stature.
The two girls wore a light headdress on their heads, were draped in colorful clothes wrapping their body, and both had a staff in hand. I wonder if they’re magic users from the Lithuvar tribe? No, shrine maidens?
Each of the men hauled, among other things, animals and creatures upon their backs. They carried fattened, overweight boars, long-necked birds, a wood-woven basket with fish in it, and a large pot… one that took two people to carry it. They lined them up in a row in front of me.
Very slowly, I poked my head out from the shrine and watched what was unfolding.
Huh? Wait, is it alright for me to take these? It’s fine, right? That’s the feeling I’m getting. It’s that, right?
As I was under the shade of the shrine, the two girls came out in front of the food that was lined up. So they were shrine maidens after all?
“Our God of the Lithuvar! O Ryujin-sama! As representatives of our tribe, we provide these offerings of prayer and gratitude for the second coming of our Great Dragon God! We pray and ask that you please, for better or for worse, protect us and bless us with prosperity!”
…Uh, excuse me for a moment, but you’ve completely got the wrong dragon. I’ve never happened to come here before. The only thing I can spread is curses, much less blessings. I don’t even have any plans to settle down here… Or, well, I don’t have any at the moment…
The two shrine maidens continued on, holding their hands up in drawn-out prayer.
Uh… So, would it perhaps be better to get out of this shrine? But, like, isn’t there an order of precedence to this or something? Looking at what’s currently unfolding a bit more, would it be better to do that after timing it for when they hit a pause?
“Gaw…?”
Partner brushed up against me, just about to poke her head out of the shrine. I quickly jerked my body back and withdrew toward the back of the shrine.
Settle down, me. Settle down… This is a good opportunity for me to get used to human settlements while keeping just the right distance away from them. I can’t let this opportunity pass me by.
Right. Starting today, I am now Ryujin-sama of the Lithuvar tribe. I quit bein’ a stinkin’ Ouroboros.
I slap my head with my forefeet, invigorating myself with some fighting spirit. I have no clue what the stupid order of precedence is, but I’m sure they’ll deal with that just fine for me as well. Whatever happens, happens.
Even the original Ryujin-sama, being able to read the room as well as I can right now, probably wouldn’t have been able to read the room well enough to make a well-timed entrance. Even if I pump myself up with something like that, it doesn’t mean I’m gonna suddenly figure it out. If I come out while having cold feet over something like this, I’ll fail to live up to myself. If I do it with dignity, then I’m certain I’ll get a hold of myself, just like that.
I shook my head, completely overcoming my hesitation. Partner was looking at me with what looked like suspicion in her eyes. You get a grip on yourself too.
“Our tribe’s prosperity, power; everything in and of our tribe is for the sake of you, Ryujin-”
“GwoOOOOOGH!”
All at once, I revealed my entirety before the shrine maidens. Causing their speech to be cut off, both of them were looking up at me in apparent tongue-tied speechlessness. Nope, not just them, the men lined up behind them were the same way as well.
I quietly stepped back and withdrew into the back of the shrine. After that, I buried my head on the floor of the shrine.
…I completely and utterly screwed up timing my exit. What an embarrassment. I knew it. All I had to do was make my exit after the whole thing was over, didn’t I? Yeah, if you think about it, that’s what a normal person would do, huh? But even then, they were preaching on and on for so long that I had to wonder if it would even end if I didn’t make an exit… It might’ve also been a mistake to roar in order to play up my presence.
Wight was, in what looked like concern, fixedly and observantly watching me as I trembled with my head buried on the floor.
After enough time had passed, I slooowly tried poking my head out from the shrine. All of the people from the Lithuvar tribe were already gone, with the only things left being the tributes, all lined up.
I thought that I had almost certainly exposed myself as not being Ryujin because of that stunt just now, but the fact that they left the tributes behind seems to suggest that they still more or less regard me as a god. …I’ve gotta wonder what the Lithuvar tribesmen think of a god who—for some reason or another—came out roaring, cutting off their prayers and then—for some reason or another—went and immediately retreated, as if to scurry away.
Er… Even though it would’ve been great to have at least one person stay behind for me, …It even took someone like me mustering up all of their willpower to come out, so… kind of a…
Author’s chapter postscript:
The release date for the second volume of Dragon Egg is now here!
More details are laid out in the activity report!
I also have a major report concerning another one of my serialized works: Cheating Curse Clan Reincarnation!