Episode 4
Erina quietly closed the mushroom encyclopedia.
The dragon’s eyes widened as it saw this. He looked curious as to why she was closing the book.1I have decided that I will refer to Resen and the purple dragon as ‘he’ and Lia as ‘she’, just because their names suggests that, but when the real genders are revealed, I will change it乁༼☯‿☯✿༽ㄏ
“Yes, there are so many pretty mushrooms, right? It’s really hard to choose just one.”
Erina smiled awkwardly and made an excuse.
After hearing those words, the dragon looked at Erina with even more passionate eyes.
It seemed like he completely believed the statement that she was struggling because there were so many pretty names.
Finally, he bowed down quietly in front of Erina’s hands and waited for her to give him a name.
The cold sweat on my forehead spread to my back at the dragon’s very gentle reaction.
That won’t do. I need to quickly think of something and come up with a name. It’s impossible to look for mushrooms in the mushroom guide like this!
In my haste, I tried to recall all the good words I had heard around me, but the more I tried, the more purple poisonous mushrooms filled my mind.
Naturally, Erina couldn’t think of any name. As time passed, Erina’s head only became more and more muddled.
In the end, Erina decided on the name of the purple dragon while thinking about the poisonous mushrooms that filled her head.
Since she couldn’t choose just one type of mushroom, she had no choice but to use the word that collectively refers to all poisonous mushrooms (Poisonous mushroom).
“How about Poi?”2Did she just take ‘Poi’ from poisonous (´⊙ω⊙`)！
I don’t know, so let’s try it first and see! That was my feeling.
The purple dragon seemed to like the name ‘Poi’, as it flapped its small wings and its black eyes shined brightly.
The more Erina liked the dragon, the more her conscience pricked her, but she had to name the dragons first.
I also made a firm promise to never say anything related to the meaning of their names in front of dragons from now on.
The dragons who had each received their own names were busy chatting among themselves and boasting about their names.
“Lulu!”
“Rere!”
“Poi poi!”
It seemed like they was practicing using the pronunciation that was most similar to their names.
Erina, who was quietly watching the dragons from the side, smiled proudly.
Anyway, I was very glad that everyone seemed to like their name.
“Resen, Lia, Poi.”
At Erina’s call, the dragons gathered in a circle and stood side by side, looking at Erina.
Seeing the eyes of all three sparkling, it seemed like they were asking me to call their names again.
Erina willingly accepted the dragons’ demands.
“Resen.”
When I called Resen, the blue dragon said, ‘Kyuuu!’ He raised his right arm.
“Lia.”
When Lia was called, the red dragon said, ‘Baba!’ She raised her right arm.
“Poi.”
Finally, when Poi was called, the purple dragon said ‘Mama!’ He raised his right arm.
All three answered Erina’s call with the same pose.
And then they tilted their head to the side and looked at Erina.
I stared back at them.
What is your name? It seemed like they was asking.
Erina then realized that she hadn’t said anything about herself.
Even if the dragons don’t understand properly, I have to tell them my name first.
Erina raised her right arm and spoke in a dragon-like pose.
“I’m Erina. Please take care of me!”
After hearing the introduction, the dragons again called Erina’s name in the most fluent pronunciation they could.
“Keyga!”
“Beepa!”
“Mommy!”
Even if I listened closely, the pronunciation was a mess, but strangely enough, I could understand everything.
Erina applauded the dragons who spoke eagerly.
“Well done! That’s right, I’m Erina. Let’s get along without fighting in the future, shall we? Understand?”
At Erina’s words, all three dragons tilted their heads in the opposite direction.
We won’t fight, it’s not okay to fight with mom. It looked like this expression.
Should I praise them for being kind, or should I tell them not to look at me like that because I am not their mother. It was a complicated feeling.
After going through many twists and turns ending with naming the three dragons, it was time to go to bed.
Erina took the cloth she had wrapped around them earlier and bundled it into a circle.
After making a nest and a bed, she placed three dragons on it.
It was a temporary bed for dragons.
The three dragons calmly settled down on the round cloth.
From the far left, Resen, Lia, and Poi rolled their bodies into a ball and closed their eyes.
Even without her saying anything, the dragons did their work on their own.
How were they so smart? Erina was constantly amazed at the dragons’ intelligence.
If they could just stay like this for a few days, I even felt confident that I could continue taking care of the dragons.
I didn’t go through the frustration I sometimes felt when taking care of small children in the neighborhood.
Erina, who had met the gentle and cute dragons for the first time today, petted them once, and also headed to bed.
She wasn’t physically tired because she didn’t go around picking mushrooms, but it was a very mentally tiring day.
***
The next day, Erina decided to head to the city thinking she should find more information about dragons.
However, she couldn’t just leave young dragons at home.
Erina, who was thinking about how to take the dragons away, hollowed out a pumpkin and placed the dragons inside.
Then she put the pumpkin back in the bag and double-covered it.
If she did this, the children’s presence won’t be noticed if one wasn’t paying attention.
“Guys, aren’t you frustrated?”
Elina asked in a worried voice, wondering if the dragons might have a hard time.
However, rather than being frustrated, the dragons seemed to be happy, saying ‘Pwaa pwaa’.
“Okay! Let’s go!”
Erina, fully prepared, took a powerful step forward.
She walked quickly and as soon as she arrived downtown, she went straight to the bookstore.
The owner at the counter made a happy face when he saw Erina.
“Oh my, Erina!”
“Hello.”
“Yeah, it’s been a while! Have you been well?”
The bookstore owner, who had gray hair, was a close acquaintance of Erina’s grandmother.
The town where Erina lived was relatively small even in the principality, and her grandmother was a native who had lived in this small town for over 50 years.
Among the older people, there was hardly anyone who did not know her.
As she followed her grandmother around since she was young, Erina also tended to receive a lot of attention from the village elders.
“Yes, I’m doing well. Thank you for always caring.”
“Hey, what did I do? So what brought you here today? Oh? The bag looks heavy. Leave it here and look around slowly.”
Whenever Erina came to a bookstore, she would spend a long time choosing a book.
The owner, who already knew that fact, took the bag from Erina’s shoulder and placed it next to the counter.
“I am okay………!”
“Looking at it, the bag looks too big and heavy because there’s a pumpkin in it, right? Other customers here also leave their bags and such. So, don’t worry, you can just pick a book.”
As the owner said, the bag Erina was carrying was larger than the space between the bookshelves.
Although she was a little anxious that the dragons inside the pumpkin would be discovered, Erina decided to be grateful for the owner’s consideration for fear of making other people in the bookstore uncomfortable.
I thanked the owner and quickly walked around the bookshelves to choose a book.
The only books Erina usually bought were novels, plant-related illustrations, and cooking recipes.
So when she suddenly tried to find a book about dragons, she couldn’t find it easily.
Erina looked at the counter to ask for help.
However, the checkout line was so long that she often missed the right time to ask questions.
In the end, it took quite a while for Erina to search through the bookshelf and find some books that looked somewhat useful.
“I will buy those, please.”
“Hmm? Oh my, these books came about 20 years ago, how did you manage to find these?”
The owner smiled softly after seeing the titles of the books.
<World’s Monster Ranking 100>
<The longest living races: dragons and elves>
<The legend of the strongest dragon>
In the principality, magic, dragons, and monsters were unpopular topics that only teenages who were just going through puberty would be interested in for a short time.
Erina’s ears felt hot at the owner’s laughter, but she just smiled.
In times like this, it wasn’t a good idea to let other people know too much about her.
“Now, I have a token gift for you. A few books related to medicinal herbs arrived this time.”
“Wow, thank you!”
The book I received from the owner was titled <Seasonal Herb Care Method>.
Erina, who was full of worries because it was her first winter without her grandmother, took the gifted book with a grateful heart.
“Come visit often. These days, the war between the empires is slowly coming to an end, so I’m picking up a lot of books from the other empires.”
“Yes, got it. Thank you so much.”
The owner once again responded to Erina’s words with a kind smile.
Erina relaxed, thinking that she had completed her errand safely, and looked next to the counter to get her bag.
“Uh?”
I couldn’t see the bag that was lying next to the counter just now.
“Um, did you put the bag that was here somewhere else?”
“Huh? No? I’ve never moved the bag.”
Erina became thoughtful at the owner’s answer.
Her heart pounded at the thought of losing the dragons in that bag. Oh no, what if they made a sound in the pumpkin!
“No, my bag is gone!”
“Oh my! I clearly saw it just a moment ago, where on earth did it go!?”
Although the bookstore was not large, there were a lot of customers coming and going. There were quite a lot of students, merchants, and tourists coming and going. One of the customers had a bag that was slightly similar to Erina’s.
It seemed like they took her bag because they had mistaken it for theirs.
Erina quickly ran out of the bookstore. “Uh, what should I do……………!”
It was dark before my eyes. She never imagined that the bag would be mistaken with another.
Erina glanced nervously at the people passing by.
However, she couldn’t even guess who among them would have taken the bag.
When Erina was just stamping her feet in place because she couldn’t think of a better way.
“OMG!!!”
There was a startled scream from the next alley followed by the sound of something being hit! And a breaking sound was heard.
***
TL:
Don’t worry dear readers, the speed of updates would pick up when I get my summer vacation (✿^‿^).
I hope you enjoyed the chapter ~
