“I got something to ask, if it’s not a bother”

The girls look at each other and nod, lending their ears to Partner.
Everyone becomes tense and doesn’t look away from Partner.
We just arrived here minutes ago, to think Partner gained their trust this fast…

“There’s another village on the other side of the forest. This village and that, what’s their relationship?”

“…… Our village and theirs were built separately.”

“Separately?”

The other girls nod in agreement.
Then, another girl starts speaking.

“In the first place…… our village deeply worshiped the two-headed Dragon God. Once every few decades, it stays in our village for a few years…… protecting us, and keeping all harm away from the village.”

When you think about where their so-called “Dragon God” currently is, could it have just recently left a few years ago?
Then, when the number of Abyss dropped, it left, and it’ll come back again when it increases?
…… The heck? Don’t start calling it “god” when it’s just some avid Abyss hunter.
No, no. I shouldn’t disrespect it like that. The people here are grateful for it after all.

But, if it was going to end up like this, what was their Dragon God thinking, just leaving them occasionally like that.
You should’ve just stayed here permanently, you know.
If it suddenly returned, what would it see me as?

“That man-eating monster, the Manticore, arrived in the village when I was still a little girl…… around 12 years ago.”

T-twelve years… so, that monster has been here for that long, huh……

“Then, 3 years ago, the Dragon God returned. Everyone thought that they were finally saved…… however, when the Dragon God saw the Manticore, he ran away. But before he disappeared, the Dragon God ordered the shrine maiden to propose a deal with the Manticore…… and that is, to constantly offer living sacrifices so it would not cause any more damage over the village. And, it has been like that for 3 years.”

…… T-That was darker than I expected.
You good for nothing Dragon God, you chickened out when it mattered the most!

“U~waa……”

I guess even Partner felt somber after hearing that story.
…… Hey, pull yourself together.

“And, that’s when… distrust grew over the village and many followers stopped worshiping the Dragon God. It was difficult to stay in the village anymore…… so, we moved here.”

“…… I see.”

So, that was their situation then.
I understand now. So, the other village hated this village for halting their worship on the Dragon God, and this village hates the Dragon God for abandoning them in their time of need.

…… But, if the Manticore is now settling in this village, then they’re basically following the orders of the Dragon God they hated so much by continuing to send sacrifices to the Manticore.

“During that time, it is said that the shrine maiden received the blood of the Dragon God, and because of that, selection for the next shrine maidens became hereditary. The power of the shrine maiden is just that important to us when fighting other monsters……”

When I thought of this village having their own shrine maiden, I originally thought they had other beliefs here.
So, they only kept her here because of how useful her ability to sense monsters is. But, because they looked similar, it easily fell apart.

Now then, all that’s left is to find out about the Manticore’s whereabouts, but with our current MP…… I don’t think we have the time for that at all.
Partner, that’s enough. Let’s get out of here right now.

…… Maybe there’s another path out of here.
Considering this place is where the Manticore stores its food, maybe there’s another place where his feces are.
…… Partner’s face says to avoid that place at all costs…

I really do want to find out where the Manticore could be. Let’s risk it and quickly ask them, then we’ll run away as fast as we can.

【“That’s what I like to hear”】

Partner hurriedly approaches one of the girls in front.

“Say, where's the Manticore now?”

“Eh? Uhh…… if the entrance is right there, then it’s over there. But, uhm, I’m not sure if it’s past the river or the rocky mountain…… hmm, if I draw on the ground……”

“…… Just tell me which way”

A direction-only basis, huh…… although filled with uncertainties, it’s the best we’ve got.
Our〖Presence Sense〗can just detect it when we get close to it, but if we don’t find it before it gets here to feast on a sacrifice, it’ll be too late.

“Our fathers built a shrine to alleviate the Manticore’s mood, so you’ll know it when you see it. But, um, why do you want to know?”

…… Sorry, but we should be going now.

Partner looks to the hole where she entered and turns her back against the girls.

“Listen up, you lot. Knowing my partner, he’s probably going to do something crazy again to help you girls, so don’t look so sad. Because I promise, I’ll definitely get you all outta here.”

Partner says that as she rushes towards the hole that’s covered by a boulder.

“A-Are you leaving?”
“You can’t! The hole is so high up…… not to mention, it can only be opened from the outside, how are you going to push it from the bottom……?”
“And, even if you do get out, you don’t know how many people are guarding outside…… even for you, onee-san, that’s too suicidal!”

Partner jumped from the ground, jumped from wall to wall, and kicked the boulder.
…… The boulder didn’t even move an inch, and Partner came falling back to the ground.

“Damn! That hurt!”

What, why?!
Even with our halved status, it still should’ve been enough to blow that petty little rock away……
…… D-Don’t tell me, because we have little MP left, our human body has gotten weaker? I guess we really overdid ourselves here.

“Onee-san!”
“Are you alright? Stay with us, please!”

The girls gather around Partner in a panic.

I’ve got to think of something… anything… before we run out of MP.
With how Partner jumped back then, our physical capacity should still be higher than that of the average person.

That’s right! Partner, the ceiling! There were holes where light came in, remember?
Maybe there’s a spot that’s fragile enough for us to break through.

【”…………”】

Partner? Partner, you there?

Partner raises her arms.
Her hand is shaking.

【”…… Sorry. Looks like this is it”】

U-Uwoooooorgh~!
Not now! Not yet!

【“Better think of something soon…… I’m startin to lose feeling of my body now”】

This is why I told you to retreat first!
Though, I think I’m also partly to blame for going along with you…
What are we gonna do now?!
What should we do now that it’s come to this?!

Alright, calm down, me.
Let’s abandon the obvious plans and go with the more desperate ones.
In other words, if I just beat up the Manticore to death, everyone’s faithlessness on their Dragon God will lessen.

…… Once we’ve reverted back to our dragon form, I should be careful not to collapse the cave when I bust out of the ceiling.
It’s not my style, but I’ll have to threaten the guard outside and force them to lead me to the Manticore.
Then, after a while, my MP will have surely recovered a bit by then. I’ll have Partner humanize again and approach the Manticore to let its guard down so we can pull a surprise attack on it.

Should we go with this plan?

…… Then again, our guide might pull a fast one on us and lead us to a trap instead.
Since the Dragon God isn’t really well-liked around these parts, we’ll have to prepare ourselves for the inevitable.
And, if I’ll have more than one guide, me and Partner may not be enough to watch over each of them and one of them might slip out and signal the Manticore firsthand, and it’ll get away again.

This plan has a lot of faults, but we have no choice.
If I can at least just drive the Manticore away from this village, then maybe their impression of the Dragon God will slightly change for the better.

…… Partner. We have a plan now.

【“Your plan sucks……”】

D-Don’t say it like that. I know it all too well myself.
Even though it’s reckless, it’s what I could think of in the spur of the moment.

Besides, it’s not sure if the Manticore hasn’t left from its spot yet.
We should keep our guard up at all times when we get out.

Despite in a hurry, at least we got some bits of information, so miscalculating a few details here and there is normal.
This time, we make sure to get rid of the Manticore for good.

“Gra~a~a~a~aa!”

Our humanization is now undone and Partner’s human body expands, occupying more space in the cave.
Scales start sprouting from the skin, and another head grows out of the shoulder.

My wide field of view is broken, and after a brief moment of pitch black, my normal eyesight slowly adjusts itself to the darkness in the cave.
I then see Partner’s head on my left side.

…… Alright then. Looks like we safely reverted back.

“Kyaa~, kyaa~!”
“This can’t be! Onee-san, you were the Dragon God all along……?!”

The girls start to panic again.
…… Yep, I knew this would happen when they find out what we really are. The future looks bleak with your reactions, I can never get used to this.
One of the girls who froze in place picked up a stone under her feet.

“Y-You were deceiving us this whole time?!”

Then, many of the girls threw stones at our feet.
It didn’t deal any damage though.
Piles of stones slowly get stacked under our feet.

【”…… Hey”】

Partner sent me a mental message.

【“What're ya spacing out for. Move our body and let’s go already”】

…… For a second there, I was about to go wild.
Partner sure is strong when it comes to these.
These girls were so happy a few minutes ago, I almost lost myself in rage with their sudden change in behavior.

【“I’m not weak-willed like you are”】

Majority of the girls are either bewildered at our sight, or straight up terrified.
The younger ones keep on throwing rocks at us or just blatantly glaring at us with extreme hostility.

…… Can’t really blame them, though.
I’m pretty sure that in this village, adults everywhere would keep on scowling every time the Dragon God is mentioned.
Forced to leave their original homes, living in fear under the Manticore, to them, everything is the Dragon God’s fault.

It doesn’t matter to them if it happened a long time ago, their hatred towards the Dragon God has grown to a level that you could call it a grudge already.
At the end of the day, in the eyes of a human, a dragon is just another big monster.

“You liar! You lied to us!”

A child shouted at me and is brandishing me.

“Stop it!”

One girl defends me.
It’s the same girl who Partner first talked to, the one who is going to be the next sacrifice for the Manticore. The senpai-looking girl.

She was trembling, but slowly, she softened up.

“W-What are you doing……? That’s the Dragon God right ther……”

“So what if it’s the Dragon God? All our injuries wouldn’t be healed if it wasn’t for her. The hands that you’re using to throw those stones, who healed them when they were in pain?”

“…… But… that’s…”

Without any comebacks, they slowly lower their hands.
They drop the stones back to the ground.
The little girls who still held their stones fell to their knees and started wailing.

C-Could this be, can we finally settle a resolution?
I already thought of this before when I first saw her, but that girl is really level-headed.