I Became the Only Reptile in the Community

Chapter 57

—–CROW—– 

“W-Where am I?”

I opened my eyes to the unfamiliar ceiling of a cave.

SparkleSparkle, momentarily disoriented, tilted her head and sat up.

“Huh? I was definitely inside the antique shop, and I followed the shopkeeper… ”

Then she was startled by Alcatel’s question about DragonSnack.

Startled again by his strange memory lapse.

Finally, the gallery’s system spoke to her directly, and she passed out…

“Oh?”

Right, she had fainted.

And now, she had woken up here.

Which meant the shopkeeper, Alcatel, had moved her…

“C-C-Could it be… kidnapping?!”

…was the thought that, oddly enough, popped into SparkleSparkle’s head.

“Well, well, you’re finally awake.”

“Criminal! You won’t gain anything by kidnapping me, so please just let me go… Shopkeeper?”

“Kidnapping? You came here of your own volition. What are you talking about kidnapping?”

Alcatel approached her, a bewildered expression on his face at her groveling and begging to be released.

What kind of thoughts did she usually have to be able to spout such nonsense so easily?

“Calm down first. This is my lair, inside the shop.”

“L-Lair? But that’s a dragon’s home…”

“Hmm? What, you didn’t know?”

As he spoke, Alcatel’s body began to grow.

His flesh expanded with the grotesque sounds of bones twisting and muscles tearing.

Wings sprouted from his back, horns from his head, and scales grew on his skin as he gradually transformed from a human into a dragon.

“Wh-Whaaaaaat?!”

“What’s so surprising, little human?”

Having shed his human form and revealed his true appearance, Alcatel was a Gold Dragon, a ruler of gold renowned among dragons for his love of treasure.  His scales were even made of gold.

“So, little human child with talent who intrigues me, what do you desire from me?”

“Desire…?”

“To those who qualify, I lend one treasure from my lair.”

“Uh… are you talking about the items in the shop?”

SparkleSparkle naturally thought of the items in the shop.

They all seemed extraordinary.

Even the old weapon she had held was a talking magic sword.

“Hahahaha! Those are not worthy of being called my ‘treasures.’ My treasures, Alcatel’s treasures, are far more valuable. I wouldn’t display my treasures so casually in the shop, now would I?”

“I-Is that so?”

To her, those items were worthy of being called treasures, but apparently, they were insufficient for Alcatel.

“Now, choose! Little human child, you can take only one item! Gaze upon Alcatel’s treasures and be filled with both awe and despair!”

*Rumble, rumble.*

As Alcatel roared, a massive tremor rippled through the lair.

Countless items began to fill the cave, and SparkleSparkle felt like she was about to faint again from the sheer spectacle.

“W-Wait a minute. I need to ask my senior before I decide…”

This wouldn’t do.

Thinking so, SparkleSparkle tried to open the gallery, but she stopped, remembering what had happened right before she fainted.

She flinched.

What if she opened the gallery and encountered that mysterious system again?

If it suddenly spoke to her, could she stop herself from fainting this time?

…*Gulp.*

‘I-I can’t!’

No matter how she thought about it, she didn’t have that kind of courage.

‘Senior! Help meeeee!!!!’

***

[Hey, why’d you suddenly go silent?]

The newbie had abruptly cut off contact.

The newbie herself was the one in a hurry, so why the sudden silence?

‘She still has a lot to do.’

She still had a lot to learn from me before she could go off on her own.

She had only just arrived at Alcatel’s Jewelers.

I still needed to tell her what item to get, which professor to meet, and how to act.

[Hmm…]

What should I do?

[For now… I should write down the rest of the information.]

That way, even if I couldn’t comment in the gallery, the newbie could read the post and figure things out on her own.

“El. What are you doing?”

[Oh, you’re awake?]

“Yeah…”

As I was writing the strategy guide for the newbie in the gallery, Cheong, rubbing her eyes, approached me.

She had just woken up, and still half-asleep, she stumbled, her movements lacking strength.

Of course, even if she fell, Cheong’s body wouldn’t be injured, but I still moved to support her.

-Yawn. Am I the last one to wake up today?

[Well, Cheong, you look like you’re about to fall asleep again.]

“I’m not sleeping… I’m just lying down because it’s comfortable.”

Though her eyes were closed, and her breathing had been strangely even just a moment ago.

-But El woke up early.

[Yeah… I just happened to wake up early today.]

Actually, I hadn’t slept at all… but there was no need to tell them that.

They might worry needlessly.

“Sniff.”

-Cheong, what are you doing?

“I smell something strange on El, something other than us, so I’m sniffing.”

I flinched.

Cheong buried her face in me and sniffed, and I momentarily panicked.

I had just been with the wolf divine beast, searching for the Wraith.

I had even been on its back…

-Hmm. I don’t smell anything.

“No, there’s definitely a smell. It’s… wolf?”

‘Huh… isn’t her sense of smell too keen?’

To think she could even identify the species of the one I was with.

But I couldn’t reveal everything here, so I put on a calm face and spoke a half-truth.

[A wolf divine beast came here while you were sleeping.]

-A wolf divine beast? Are you talking about the one that threatened Ceres before?

[Yes, that’s the one. Of course, it didn’t come to threaten us. It came to apologize and express its gratitude.]

Thanks to Ceres’s efforts, the safety of Paradise was now guaranteed.

After explaining my encounter with the wolf divine beast, omitting the part about the Wraith, Silphy and Cheong nodded, not thinking much of it.

“Oh, but why do I smell something strange on El besides the wolf scent?”

-What smell?

“I don’t know. It’s kind of unpleasant and unsettling.”

-Maybe it’s because you haven’t washed?

“It’s not that kind of smell… it’s more like… instinctively repulsive…”

But Cheong didn’t let it go and continued sniffing.

And what she smelled was something far more serious than a wolf divine beast, a clue related to the Wraith.

‘Did she smell the Wraith’s death qi?’

No, wasn’t death qi something you sensed, not smelled?

Just what was going on with Cheong’s sense of smell that she could smell death qi?

I couldn’t let Cheong continue discovering clues like this.

I quickly washed myself using water qi, erasing all traces.

I wondered if this would eliminate the death qi as well, but considering the water I manipulated through water qi wasn’t ordinary water but its very essence, it should be able to wash away the death qi too.

“Sniff… huh? The smell’s gone.”

-I guess it was just El being unwashed then.

[Ahem.]

“Really…?”

As a result, I ended up giving them the impression that I was just smelly from not washing, but at least I managed to avoid revealing information about the Wraith.

“So, when are we eating?”

[It’s ready here. You can eat right away.]

“Yay!”

I pointed to the basket where I had gathered the Amrita fruits for the hungry Cheong.

In the past, one fruit per person was enough, but lately, one wasn’t enough to satisfy their hunger.

They usually needed three or four, sometimes even more.

‘I used to wonder why Silphy ate so much, but this was why.’

Although, considering her power as a low-ranking spirit back then, the amount she ate was still a bit much.

-Hehe. I’ll just have this much today.

“Then I’ll have this much!”

-Isn’t that a bit too much for breakfast?

“I can eat this much easily.”

Cheong and Silphy grabbed handfuls of Amrita.

I stared at the Amrita basket, which had been piled high just a moment ago.

[Hmm… I still think this is too much.]

Only five Amrita fruits remained.

Fresh Amrita grew every day, but if they kept eating at this rate, I worried there would come a day when there wouldn’t be enough.

‘Amrita is a fruit from ancient times. When this era ends, the Amrita will naturally go extinct as well.’

So, even if not immediately, it would be good to slowly reduce their Amrita intake and have them adapt to eating other foods.

*Gulp.*

[Ahem. Well, there’s still plenty of time, so I can do that later.]

With that, I swallowed the remaining five Amrita fruits in one go.

—–CROW—– 

#Only READ at DarkstarTranslations