I was thinking… the anti-Ryujin village is filled with Dragon God haters, while the other village is filled with Dragon God worshipers. I can’t call the Dragon God worshiping village “Lithuvar Tribe’s village” since both of these villages are Lithuvar Tribes.

What should I call the Dragon God worshiping village? pro-Ryujin village? (jk)

Also, should I retranslate〖Human Transformation Art〗to〖Humanization Art〗or not?

==========================

…… After a while, everyone in the cave slowly settled down.

I decided to forget about escaping and stay here in the meantime.
I’ll just relax and let my MP recover in this cave.
I’m sure they’ll decide to open the hole later at night, so it’s best to preserve MP until then.

Besides, it’s much easier to wait for a chance and strike when they least expect it while we pretend to be a sacrifice.
I’d rather not waste my time running around looking for the Manticore and risk getting found out by the villagers which could cause another panic.
For now, the sacrifices are children, so I think we can manage, considering that Partner also has a child-like personality.

The atmosphere in the cave has gotten worse compared to when Partner was humanized.
A few of the children prefer to be distant and are watching my every move with caution.

Meanwhile, the senpai-looking girl tries to sit as close to me as possible.
She doesn’t look scared in the slightest and it seems like she’s trying to stay true to her words when she defended me.

Since we’re resting, our MP is recovering steadily.
At this rate, it should fully recover in just a few hours. We might just make it before the battle against the Manticore.
If all these unprecedented events never happened, we’d have asked someone to guide us directly to the Manticore already.

“R-Ryujin-sama…… um, why did you infiltrate this cave? Usually, you just run away…… and, even now……”

The senpai-looking girl asked stuttering.

…… I’d like to explain it to you, but I don’t want to humanize yet since I’m still recovering my MP.
Maybe wait until later when my MP has recovered and I’ll explain it to you all then.
I’ll use my humanization when the guard outside moves the boulder to check on us so they won’t suspect anything, and then I’ll answer your questions.

I move my front claw and point a finger-claw at the ground.

I try to remember details on what the Manticore looked like.
Let’s see, let’s see…… it has a creepy grin…… its head is like a mixture of a human and a lion……

I draw the image in my head on the ground.
But, because I don’t have human-like hands, my drawing ended up looking like a child’s scribble.

…… I used to do pottery before, man, I’ve gotten rusty.
I guess this is the best I can do with an oversized monster claw.
I’m sure I can do it more skillfully if I humanize.

The senpai-looking girl looks like she somewhat understood my scribble as she looks closer at it.

I added a tail with a bloated tail-end to my drawing and equipped it with spikes.
And then, she finally understood and said “The Manticore……?”
Guess that spiky tail is its more noticeable feature, huh.

I nodded, and with my claw pointing at the Manticore’s torso, I crushed the drawing I made. Dust flew everywhere.
The girl’s eyes widened and she looked at me.

“…… You’re here to kill the Manticore?”

Her tone sounded as if she was gathering information.
So, she half-doubts and half-believes me, huh.

“…… Gru~o”

I nodded while growling, and the girl’s expression remained the same, then she sighed.

This girl… even though she defended me, she doesn’t completely trust me.
Their village’s hate on the Dragon God won’t go away that easily, huh.
Despite that, I’m thankful to you for letting me rest here.

And then, time passed, and the cave continued to have its awkward atmosphere.
I try to not move as much as I could and focus on preserving my MP until later.

As for Partner, she looked like she was sleeping, but her other eye is actually half-open, watching over the girls.
…… She tried to stay firm, but she can’t help worrying over them.
And, as for the other girls, they gathered themselves on the other side of the cave, worriedly looking at me, while the senpai-looking girl watches over them.

Eventually, sunset came, and the light that’s leaking from outside turned red.

Our MP has fully recovered.
Now, all that’s left is to wait for the guard to come, and beat the living crap out of that Manticore.
I won’t let you escape this time.

Then, I heard footsteps walking above the cave entrance.

So, the guard’s finally here.
Let’s humanize at once.
Partner, it’s all on you, now.

“…… They’re earlier than usual”

The senpai-looking girl said aloud.

You can hear the boulder being moved up the cave entrance.
But, something seems to be making the boulder move back and forth up there.

W-What’s going on up there?
Don’t tell me someone’s come to save us?!
That girl did say they were early, there’s a chance it’s not the guard opening the cave entrance.

That reminds me, it took both Yarg and Tatarc to move that boulder.
Does that mean someone else is trying to enter this cave?

W-Well, as grateful as I am in your valiant efforts, do it some other time, please!
What made you think that going inside the cave would save these girls? You’ll get trapped in here too!
Of all the days for a rescuer to arrive, it had to be on the same day I pretended to be a sacrifice.
You can go save the other girls, just don’t mind me, I have a score to settle with the Manticore tonight.

And, what on earth is the guard doing up there? It’s times like these that you should do your job right!
Why is it that my plans always get foiled like this?!

There’s no point in panicking, Partner, time to humanize you.
Heat courses through our body and we shrink to human size.

I naturally let my head sink into Partner’s shoulders without getting pushed.
My field of view turns pitch black for a moment, then seconds later, I now share Partner’s line of sight.
Good, good, it seems we successfully humanized without any problems again this time.

I’ve now lost control over our body, and Partner is in full control again.

【Regular Skill〖Human Transformation Art〗has risen from Lv7→8.】

Nice! It went up!
It’s because I kept using it a lot today.

Partner holds her head, bends her neck, and checks her body.
When we turned back to our dragon form, the clothes Partner wore before was ripped apart.
…… We should’ve removed our clothes first.
Well, we were panicking that time, it can’t be helped.

Rock fragments start falling from the cave entrance. It’s about to be opened.
The red light from the sunset enters the slight hole from the entrance and illuminates the center of the cave like a spotlight.

“Hello~o! Can anyone here me?!”

A voice is heard from the cave entrance.

Hang on, isn’t this voice-……
Inserting his head inside, it was the guard, Tatarc.

It was you?!
So, you were actually on guard this whole time?!

Oh yeah, I did remember that Tatarc is just an outsider and his personality doesn’t match any of the villagers at all.
You sure they didn’t mistake him when they chose him for this job……?

“All of the village’s higher ups, including the shrine maiden, is at a meeting behind the village! Even if they realize that something’s wrong, it shouldn’t be until later! If you want to escape, now’s your chance!”

When they heard that, all the girls started discussing amongst themselves.

“B-But……”

“Where should we even run……?”

The girls ask worriedly.

“Go to the other village! I overheard something from them! The Dragon God is back, they said!”

Hearing that, all the girls turned their gaze towards Partner.
T-That’s… um, I know what you’re thinking, but can you just please stop staring at me with suspicion.

“They said the Dragon God drove away the Manticore from that village! The Manticore had no choice but to move to this small village! If you go to the other village, you’ll be saved! I know it because I went there myself! That’s the only reason why the Manticore moved back to this small village!”

So, that’s why he was regarded as an outsider.
He came from the other village.

“Adults aside, they’ll probably lend a helping hand for you children! There may be some who’ll go against that…… but, please! You’ve got to believe me when I say ‘You’ll be saved!’”

In the first place, the Lithuvar Tribe only split up when a faction started growing from those who doubted the Dragon God’s power.
As Tatarc said, escaping to the other village is definitely the best way to protect themselves from the Manticore.

…… But, that’s only if the other village will allow it.
Remembering back when the shrine maiden, Hibi, suddenly sounded hostile when I asked about this village is proof that the villagers here are well-hated by the villagers there.
But, like Tatarc said, adults aside, maybe they can make an exception for these children.

The girls start making noise upon hearing Tatarc’s words of hope.

“The Manticore was driven out?”

“That ferocious Manticore……?”

Everyone looked at Partner really intensely.

They did say that their Dragon God ran away when it saw the Manticore, so my guess is that their Dragon God has weaker stats than the Manticore but has higher stats than the Abyss.
When I first met the Manticore, it jumped at me with killing intent. The Manticore might have wanted to thrash the Dragon God for returning back.

The senpai-looking girl looks at Partner with a surprised expression, then she turned to look at the Manticore scribble I drew on the ground. Or, what’s left of the scribble.