Episode 5
Meanwhile, the dragons, who had been quietly sleeping inside the pumpkin, raised their eyelids when an unfamiliar smell irritated their noses.
“Kyu-gyu?”
Resen was the first to express his doubts.
He felt like they were going somewhere, but that wasn’t the sound of steps he was used to. He did not feel the quiet steps belonging to Erina, but steps so loud that a plodding sound could be heard.
Following Resen, Lia also tilted her head and shook the pumpkin.
Lia, who was the most impatient and action-oriented, had a tendency to rush in and see things without a plan.
Resen next to her was startled and grabbed Lia’s arm, but she had already aroused the curiosity of the person holding the bag.
“Oh? What? This isn’t my bag, is it?”
The man who was rushing home felt the bag on his shoulder wriggling.
He then turned to check and see where the bag strap was caught and was surprised when he realized it was not his bag.
It had a similar color and size to his bag, but it clearly belonged to someone else.
“Oh my! I made a mistake!”
The embarrassed man checked inside, and the pumpkin shook around again!
There was a strange silence after.
The man was confused because the fresh looking pumpkin suddenly moved, and the dragons were confused because they heard a man’s voice instead of Erina’s voice.
At that time neither side could take any action.
“Myaaah.”
Poi heard Erina’s voice vaguely and let out a sad cry.
The rest of the dragons also listened to Poi’s cries/words.
“Uh, what should I do……!”
Although it sounded very quiet, it was definitely Erina’s voice.
From that point on, the dragons began clamoring for each other to leave.
They were scared of the strange man who suddenly appeared and took them away, and they were also worried about what would happen if Erina couldn’t find them.
“Baaa!”
“Kyuang!”
“Muumu!!”
The man’s eyes widened at the sound of crying coming from out of nowhere.
And as he saw the pumpkin moving earlier, he began to suspect that there was something moving inside it.
The moment he reached out to grab the pumpkin. “Ugh!!!”
A small, sharp pain shot through his finger.
The man, startled by this, threw his bag on the floor and took a step back.
Puck!
The bag hit the floor so hard that the pumpkin shattered.
Surprised by the hand suddenly grabbing the pumpkin, Lia bit the man’s finger hard, causing the dragons to be instantly thrown away along with the pumpkin.
The dragons cried out in low voices as the scary situations continued one after another.
Then the man, who felt something was strange when he heard this type of crying for the first time in his life, walked forward again and tried to grab the bag.
“No!!”
Erina hastily stepped in and snatched the bag.
“What?!”
The man whose hand was hanging in the air frowned and glared at Erina.
Fortunately, she stopped him before he checked the inside of the bag.
A sigh of relief flowed from Erina’s mouth as she surveyed the situation.
However, the shouts of the man who had his bag taken away right before his eyes echoed loudly through the alley.
“Are you the owner of this bag?”
“Yes, it’s my bag!”
The man’s loud voice stiffened her shoulders, but Erina kept her eyes closed so as not to show it.
The man who identified the owner of the bag held out his right hand.
“Look at this! That thing in your bag bit me like this!”
There was a red mark on the tip of the man’s finger that could only be seen if you looked very closely.
When Erina couldn’t find the wound, the man pressed the area around the wound and deliberately made it red.
“What on earth are you carrying? If after getting bitten like this, I got infected with germs, will you compensate me?”
The man’s voice grew louder.
Erina’s shoulders became increasingly stiff due to the man screaming that he was hurt because of her.
But no matter how much she thought about it, she and the dragons did nothing wrong.
Erina braced her shaking knees and answered just as loudly as the man.
“Your fault is bigger! And the wound isn’t even visible, so you shouldn’t shout like that!”
“What?”
The man’s face became even more crumpled when he saw Erina constantly talking back to him, and didn’t just apologize right away.
As things gradually diverted away from the situation he had predicted, he began to feel impatient.
“Honestly, you are the one who took my bag by mistake, and you are also the one who tampered with the items inside!”
“Ah, no…!”
In Erina’s bag, ‘Kyaa!’, ‘Baaa!’, ‘Mumum!’ could be heard, but the man didn’t have the presence of mind to even notice that.
Erina tied her loose blonde hair into one high bun.
She was in a full-fledged battle stance.
“If what was inside wasn’t a pumpkin but something else expensive, and it got broken like this, would you take full responsibility for it then?”
This time, the man’s shoulders stiffened due to Erina’s fierce momentum.
Still clutching the bag hidden behind her body, Erina made one final thrust.
“And if my children get sick because of the germs on your hands, please compensate us! You can’t touch the children as you please!”
Erina glared at the man with a very fierce expression.
The man, who suddenly turned into a mass of germs, made an absurd expression.
However, he couldn’t say anything in return because everything she said was correct from beginning to end.
Erina quickly left the alley, leaving behind the man who was fuming without being able to refute anything.
She heard a man swearing behind her, but she ignored it and just walked forward.
It seemed like if she stopped here, the man would run over to check the inside of her bag at any moment.
It was a good thing that the man was taken aback by Erina’s stronger-than-expected reaction just moments ago.
She wished she had been a bit more ill-tempered…….
It was a situation where something serious could have happened.
Her dizzying imagination started its work and her body trembled.
Erina barely managed to strengthen her knees that kept giving out.
The first thing Erina did after almost running back into the forest path was to check the inside of her bag.
As expected, the pumpkin inside the bag was broken and in a mess.
Erina quickly lifted the broken pumpkin and saw the three dragons inside.
As soon as they made eye contact with Erina, the dragons let out a ‘chrip chrip chrip’ sound.
It was as if they were complaining about something sad. Then they quickly stretched out their arms for her to comfort them.
Feeling sorry for causing such an unexpected incident, Erina quickly stretched out her arms to hug them.
However, the three dragons withdrew their outstretched arms when they saw the pumpkin seed shells on the corners of their mouths.
Not long after they withdrew their hands, Erina realized that they had eaten the pumpkin seeds without her knowledge and said,“Did you really eat the pumpkin seeds in that situation?”
The dragons were surprised.
How did she know?
The dragons rolled their round eyes. Then, as if they had decided to pretend not to understand, they tilted their heads in the same way.
“Here, you have to wipe your mouths off and then pretend not to notice, you bastards.”
Erina cleaned up the dragons’ mouths by tapping them with her finger.
The dragons, who still didn’t realize why they were caught, just liked Erina’s touch.
Erina couldn’t help but smile because the dragons were holding a finger each and rubbing their faces again it in a cute manner.
Erina put the books and other things back in her bag, wrapped the dragons in a cloth, and placed them on her back.
“Were you really surprised today? I’m sorry. I’ll be more careful next time so something like this doesn’t happen. But you shouldn’t bite or hurt someone just because you’re surprised. That’s wrong.”
If someone was next to Erina right now and saw her actions, they would have thought that she was strange as she seemed to be talking into the air.
However, the dragons that were right on Erina’s back managed to understand and respond.
“kyu!”
“Baa!”
“Maa!”
Erina laughed out loud at the loud answers that followed in succession.
The dragons like her, opened their mouths wide and imitated laughter.
Erina’s steps as she walked along the quiet forest path were as light as possible.
The dragons were finally able to sleep comfortably thanks to Erina’s warm body temperature, her hair shining brightly in the sunlight, and her clear voice whispering softly.
***
Erina smiled brightly and closed the door to the prop shop. In her hand were gifts to give to the dragons.
“Guys, come here.”
As soon as Erina left the city, she opened the cover of her bag and called for the dragons.
The dragons that were huddled together in the bag followed Erina’s instructions and stood side by side on the rock.
For Resen, a light blue ribbon and a yellow pendant.
For Lia, a pink ribbon and a green pendant.
Poi was given a purple ribbon and a black pendant.
They were high-quality ribbons that matched the color of the dragons’ scales and eye colors.
The reason for giving such an expensive and nice gift to the dragons was simple.
It happened just yesterday.
Poi, who had been following Erina picking mushrooms, suddenly stopped and started digging.
And, following Poi, Lia and Resen also started digging.
After being puzzled by the strange behavior of the dragons for a moment, Erina had no choice but to scream when she saw what the dragons were carrying.
“Truffles!!!”
She couldn’t believe they found something so precious!
Erina was amazed by the dragons’ abilities.
After seeing that Erina liked it, the dragons brought enough of them to fill the basket.
The truffles were of such high quality that even the store owner, who had been trading mushrooms his whole life, was surprised.
Even though they traded only two of the truffles the dragons brought, they were able to receive enough living expenses to survive the winter.
The ribbons Erina was currently giving to the dragons were to express her feelings as she felt the children were so special and she was also so grateful that she wanted to repay them in some way.
“Kyuu.”
“Pooo.”
“Maa.”
The dragons sitting side by side on the rock let out a satisfied cry.
Erina, who saw that, also smiled proudly.
