Chapter 72

Chapter 72.Please Do Not Lie (12)

No more of Aiarunit’s words could be heard.

She raised her head like that.

The full moon was slowly hidden by clouds.

The surroundings, where the moonlight had allowed things to be distinguished to some extent, instantly turned into darkness so deep that one could not see an inch ahead.

In response, a fierce wind blew from beyond the wall.

A gentle yet cold, sharp yet hot wind embraced the desert in its breast and swept into the sandy city of Shatmo.

As the sandstorm blew with tremendous force, shouts could be heard around me.

“Sharmuu!! Sharmuu! Karne itkaaaaa!”

They seemed to be shouting something urgently, but since I did not know their language, I could not understand what it meant.

I could only tell from the grim resolve in their shouts that this sandstorm was dangerous.

So I tried to stand, but I could not.

Haaah~ It seemed I had strained myself quite badly after breaking the wall without any preparation.

WHOOSH—

The fierce sandstorm swept violently into the city.

I received it while lying down.

Of course, I tried to avoid it, but my body would not move, so I could not.

While I was floundering and trying to stand once again, Aiarunit, who had been standing in the darkness, suddenly began to sing.

“Arururu ruru rururu rururul urururu…”

Her song was sorrowful.

Something ran down my cheeks.

It was tears.

My chest filled with a sadness that was not mine.

I did not know how it was happening, but her song seemed to be singing of her own pain.

---

The guards, who had crouched down to avoid the raging sandstorm Sharmuu, and Moro, who was sheltering them, shed unwanted tears while desperately denying the pain transmitted to their hearts.

The man and woman who had gone into their room to wait for morning to come, following Han’s advice, also felt their hearts ache as they heard the song of something outside the house.

The woman wept in the man’s arms, and the man held her tightly as he silently swallowed his tears.

Her song also made Exel, who was lying among shattered brick fragments, bite his own arm.

‘Damn it.’

“Ururu rurururu ruru rururururu…”

Her sorrowful song echoed throughout the entire city.

The entire city, hearing the mournful cry of something resounding through the sandstorm, began to redden around the eyes.

Women and men were swept up in terrible pity and shed tears, while a child sleeping in bed felt some burning emotion, clutched his chest, and burst into tears.

Like that, Serpiz’s Shatmo began to soak in the sorrowful song sung by the strongest creature on the surface.

---

I closed my eyes.

The sandstorm was too terrible.

I tried to stand, but my body would not listen.

Damn it, I have to hurry home.

I tried moving my fingers again.

They moved a little more than before, but I still could not move my whole arm.

Aiarunit’s voice continued to be heard.

I am sorry, but I do not have time to drown in your song.

I kept moving my arms, and eventually, I was able to raise my upper body, but because of the sandstorm, opening my eyes was impossible.

However, there was certainly a creature that could open its eyes in this situation.

WHOOOOSH~~~

Arururururururu…

“You are finally standing.”

Along with her song and the sound of the wind, another voice came to my ears.

I turned my head toward the source of the sound and tried to open my eyes, but I had no choice but to close them again.

That was because more sand dust entered my eyes than anything I could see.

WHOOOOOSH~

“Ah! You do not have to try so hard to see. Now, get up. We have to go home. This is not where we belong.”

From the voice, it was Exel.

Suddenly, it felt as if my body was floating into the air, and I ended up slung over Exel’s somewhat hard shoulder.

“Cough, cough! What a terrible wind.”

“For now, it is a funeral. Though, of course, she died once already.”

He said that, and I nodded with a bitter smile.

According to what I had heard from Rene before, a dragon’s funeral was presided over by the spirit that had followed the dragon.

If the spirit that had followed the dragon was a fire spirit, then the highest-ranking spirit burned even the smallest bone fragment of the dragon’s body so that others could not take it. If it was a water spirit, then the dragon’s body was given a water burial deep, deep beneath the water.

And if it was a wind spirit, then, just like now, it raised a tremendous sandstorm and slowly weathered away the dragon’s body.

“A funeral after four hundred years. I hope our clothes and scrolls have not blown away.”

He said that and began walking.

I was slung over his shoulder, gasping for breath.

If Rene saw me like this right now, she would come running to kill me, would she not?

Heh, heh, heh.

“What is so funny?”

“Cough, cough, khak! Mm, nothing.”

Aruru rururururu ruru~~~~

Listening to Aiarunit’s wailing, Exel walked on in silence.

For a long while, I hung over his shoulder in a half-dreaming state, sinking into memories of when Rene and I first settled in the forest.

About five years ago, Rene and I were disappointed by Alcantria, where we had first tried to settle, and left that place. Then, by chance, while passing along a road, we discovered a forest filled with monsters.

That place was the current Forsaken Forest, and she and I thought that if it were here, people would no longer be able to approach us.

So we decided to build a house, settle down, and began making everything one piece at a time.

I took off my armor and hung it on a tree to stop monsters from approaching,

prepared the land and timber for the house with a single axe,

and sat with her on a large tree stump, putting our heads together as we designed the house we would build.

There were a few disagreements, but the blueprint was eventually completed.

And from the next day onward, Rene and I used strength and magic to begin removing the tree roots from the ground.

We used large trees to tamp down the earth and lay the basic frame, but there was still too much for only her and me.

So Rene asked an eagle for help, wrote a letter, and sent it off. A few days later, Kurd and five dwarves came to us.

Kurd looked at the blueprint we had made, shook his head, and drew in several more things.

Rene and I saw that and shook our heads, but he would not listen.

One floor?! If you are going to build it, build it big. Make it two floors! Three floors if you include a basement!

Yes? But it is already late autumn. Will there not be too little time?

There are six dwarves here! A two-story wooden building is enough work for fifteen days!

Even so…

What do you mean, even so? I will take that as permission. Now! Boys, let us work!

We had no choice but to raise both hands in surrender to him.

The next day, we dug the ground to make the basement according to the blueprint, and through some coincidence, a hot spring burst out from that place.

We felt both bewilderment and joy at the same time.

That day, everyone probably put down their work and soaked in the open-air hot spring to relieve their fatigue.

I remember the dwarves teasing and envying Rene and me as we bathed together.

Those were enjoyable days.

And after they came, Rene put down her tools, picked up a ladle, and began cooking.

However, her cooking did not taste very good at first, so Kurd and the dwarves gave her plenty of advice and criticism.

Perhaps her pride was hurt, because Rene clenched her teeth, studied cookbooks, and kept making food.

By the time the house was nearly finished, her cooking skill had also reached a certain level.

In any case, once the house was complete, contrary to our expectations, the three rooms had increased to seven.

And the cozy hall had been made large enough to run in.

There was also a dining room, and corridors had appeared inside the house.

On top of that, a washroom that had not been in the blueprint was built, and a tremendously large bath was installed underground.

Of course, a storage room was built beside it as well.

And at Rene’s request, a water supply system was added to the completed house. That was the large water tank in the house that collected rainwater.

Once the house was finished, the dwarves returned.

Rene and I brought one table into the bare hall of the house and happily agonized over what we should fill the house with.

There are quite a few things we need to buy. But honey, what are you thinking about?

Ah, nothing. I was just thinking that the house is incredibly large. Honey, there are seven rooms on the second floor. How does that feel?

Hehe~ I wonder. We can sleep in a different room each time.

Really? To me, it feels like we own an inn. Ah, of course, maybe that is because I spent more than ten years living in this city’s inn and that city’s inn. So, Rene, how about we try running an inn?

An inn? Hehe~ For whom?

For anyone. What does it matter if it is a dragon or a slime? Does it not sound fun? A house in the middle of this vast forest that runs an inn. Of course, every day will probably be a deficit, but I think it would be enjoyable.

Rene listened to me, smiled softly, and nodded.

We hurried to town and bought the things we needed for daily life right away.

Of course, I was not particularly worried about money, since I had saved a fair amount while wandering around for about fifteen years.

And having a house to live in made Rene and me feel as though we had become newlyweds. In truth, we had. It was difficult to live properly as husband and wife while traveling.

From that time onward, Rene began to smile often.

While we were traveling, she was always expressionless, or only showed a slight smile when I spoke to her. But once we had a house, that changed completely.

She was very happy. And although it was not as much as now, she also acted spoiled with me.

She clung to my chest, saying she did not want to get out of bed, and made me smile by saying she would kiss me if I held her.

And at night, she came to me wearing provocative sleepwear and tempted me.

For me, those were some of the happiest times among all the time I had spent with her. Of course, now is the same as well.

Then, that winter, on the day the first snow fell, our first guest entered the inn two months and fifteen days after it opened.

That guest was the werewolf Exel, who was now walking while carrying me over his shoulder like a sack of luggage.

I did not know how far we had walked. But it seemed we had walked quite a distance.

Aiarunit’s wailing and the eerie sound of the sandstorm could now only be heard faintly.

“It seems you have come to your senses. This is where I fell earlier. But that is tremendous. The sandstorm is swirling.”

And in that instant, I felt my body grow lighter, then I was thrown onto a sand dune.

THUD?! Ugh!

“It hurts, does it not? Endure it.”

You call that comfort?

I slowly opened my eyes.

It was blurry, but after rubbing them a few times and repeatedly closing and opening them, my vision became fairly clear again.

Mm. So this is the state my body is in now.

My shirt was soaked with sweat, blood, and sand, and it was ragged. My pants were in a similar state.

It has not even been long since we did the laundry. Rene will be sad.

I moved my arms and raised my upper body.

When I turned my head, Exel was standing with his arms crossed, looking at Shatmo, where a tremendous whirlwind was rising near the wall.

“Remarkable. To think I would personally witness a dragon’s funeral that I had only read about in books.”

“Cough! Ahem! Mm, then Aiarunit refused this before dying?”

“Probably. She must have done it so she could raise her dead body later and use it this way. Seeing how even after she threw away pride and everything else and rose in a dead body, a high-ranking spirit came to do that for her, she must have had a close relationship with spirits in life.”

At the place where Shatmo’s outer wall had been, a huge vortex was now raging.

Even under moonlight alone, it boasted tremendous majesty.

But what was strange was that despite being such a large vortex, not even a single gust of wind blew where we were.

It was probably definitely something created by a spirit.

As I sat on the ground and quietly watched it, Exel uncrossed his arms, turned his head, and seemed to look around for something.

“What are you looking for? Ahem…?”

“The scrolls and clothes. We have to go back now.”

Exel said that while roughly sweeping aside a nearby pile of sand with his foot, and I nodded.

I felt sorry for them, but we had done nothing wrong in this matter.

Besides, staying here and worrying about them would not change anything.

If things went badly, we might end up taking the blame for everything.

We had to leave before things became troublesome.

I stood up.

Just then, Exel pulled out the clothes he had buried, and I accepted the robe and scrolls he handed me.

But here, one tremendous fact was revealed.

After checking every tag on the scrolls in order to return, I found that among the six scrolls, there was no Teleport scroll.

This is bad.

Exel looked at my face, tilted his head, and asked,

“What is wrong?”

“There is no Teleport scroll.”

At that, he grinned and pulled out a small piece of paper decorated with metal from his clothes.

What is that? Is that a scroll too?

“Earlier, I said that if you did not come, I would go alone, did I not?”

My face brightened at once, and I pointed at it with my finger.

“Is that a scroll?”

“Yes. I heard these days they all come out like this. The ones you have right now are quite old, are they not?”

At his words, I glanced at the scrolls I had wrapped in the robe.

These were probably ones Rene had brought from her family home.

“Ah, probably. More importantly, let us hurry back. I need to return quickly and lie down beside Rene. If I go back late, there will be trouble.”

“Yes. You will probably be stabbed with a sword like last time.”

Exel bared his teeth as he said that, and I smiled faintly.

To return, Exel placed his hand on my shoulder and brought the metal ornament attached to the paper to his mouth, trying to tear it off with his teeth.