I'm Not an Earthworm, I'm an Earth Dragon

When I woke up, I was in perfect silence and darkness. Even when I wiggled my hands or turned my body to get up, I couldn’t hear anything.

It’s very strange. In the first place, even though I say I woke up, I don’t know if I’m standing right now. I couldn’t tell if I was falling or rising.

What’s certain is that there’s nothing to step on. And, apart from this strange situation, my mind is very clear.

Is it a lucid dream? Knowing that you are in a dream, and being able to change the contents of the dream as you wish… was that it?

I thought it was just a rumor, but it really exists. I thought so as I floated in the void. Then, can I do something as I please right now?

“Earth, rise.” Even though I couldn’t hear my own words, I wanted to create a ground to stand on because I didn’t like the feeling of not knowing whether I was floating or falling.

But nothing happened.

I was still floating in the space of nothingness in the dark. Without the feeling of anything touching my body, just blankly.

…Was it a wild dream? I turned my body, put my hands behind my head, lay down, and closed my eyes. I wondered if I could sleep even though I was already sleeping, but I needed something to do.

I don’t feel like I’m moving even if I try to move, and I can’t hear anything but the beating of my heart. I can’t see, and I can’t feel anything but my body.

Come to think of it, I was almost covered in scales before I collapsed, but now I’m clean. Why is that? Did Myungho take them off? Or did they fall off on their own for some unknown reason?

I don’t know. Maybe my mind is telling me that this is who I am. I was more used to this appearance now.

I lived as a man for 25 years, but people usually forget the old days quickly and adapt to the present. Even if the body changes, even if the species changes… humans find a way somehow.

But I’m already half a dragon, can I still be called human? I asked a ridiculous question and burst into laughter that even I couldn’t hear, and I fell into thought after a long time.

For quite a long time, no. A short time? I thought about it for a while, but still, no answer came. If only my father was normal, I would have confidently affirmed the power of the dragon I possessed…

…That’s just a hypothetical. I still feel disgusted by the usefulness of my tail or the hand that sprouted scales.

Then, suddenly, I felt something was strange and opened my eyes, and I saw a light.

Far away, there was a faint light, weaker than a candle. What is it? I had a question for a moment, but for some reason, I was convinced that I could move now.

I flailed my arms and legs, swimming like a dog towards it, and the light grew bigger. Gradually, it became brighter and brighter, swallowing the darkness, and before I knew it, it filled the void—

“…didn’t know you could speak so… well. You can even give a congratulatory speech… were you always able to? Ugh, I’m so dizzy… Anyway, congratulations, Altera. From now on, you can go anywhere and say you’re a giant beast… hunter…”

A congratulatory speech? Me? I thought I was on the ramparts, but when I came out of the light, I was on my way back to Corvo.

Myungho was staggering, using his brush as a cane, as if his condition was quite bad. I offered my shoulder to support him, but then I noticed that there were still scales on my body.

So, instead of offering my shoulder, I began to tear off the scales in handfuls. This was more urgent than what had happened.

I pulled out the scales, which were crumbling easily as if they had been stuck for a long time even though the magic supply was cut off, and I felt people looking at me strangely.

Me, giving a congratulatory speech with a body full of scales? I don’t know how it happened. In front of people in this hideous form…

There’s no way. I like speaking in front of people, but not in this form. No, I can’t. There’s no way.

I’ll ask what happened later, and for now, I pulled out the scales without regard for other people’s gazes.

After pulling them out all the way to the back of my neck with all my might so as not to accidentally touch the reverse scale, I tried to ask Myungho, but he was already in a state of a walking corpse, so it was impossible.

I caught him as he fell, supporting him with my shoulder, and returned to Corvo with a strange sense of unease.

Even at the banquet, Myungho was dazed and couldn’t keep a sober mind. He just picked at a few things and then slumped in a corner, probably because his magic was drained.

Yuna was having a drinking match with the shorty, drinking beer.

I naturally went to his side. Even if I was alone, all sorts of bothersome things would come and ask me things I didn’t understand, and it was annoying to answer each one saying I didn’t know the language.

“Myungho. How are you now? Are you okay?”

“…I feel like I’m going to throw up, but I can’t throw up at all. Have you ever been in that state…? That’s exactly how I feel right now. I feel like I’m going to die…”

Aha. Myungho seemed like he wouldn’t be better until tomorrow. Still, it seemed like he had the mind to answer, so I decided to ask him. Just what the hell happened?

“After I collapsed… you said I gave a congratulatory speech? I don’t remember that at all, can you tell me what I was like then?”

Myungho held his head as if suffering from a hangover and lowered his head, then soon he told me what had happened.

“So, after you suddenly stood up, you went up on the platform…? Cannon…? Something like that, and you said we won, and that the dragon was with us… something like that. Anyway. You had a lot of power in each word, unlike your usual self… Ah. I don’t mean that you’re usually weak. Don’t misunderstand me.”

So I’m usually weak. Keeping that in my heart, I sensed that I wasn’t myself at that time. I would never put forward the appearance of a dragon.

Then what the hell possessed my body and pretended to be me?

What the hell was it?

No matter how much I thought about it, no answer came. Only the necklace was still emitting a faint blue light.

There was no way an answer would come just by staring. My worries and the festival only deepened.

If only this guy was okay, I would have shared a drink with him, but in this state, if I gave him alcohol, he would probably throw up everything inside, so I had to give up on that.

– – – –

Where am I. Who am I. I woke up in bed, asking stupid questions. What happened?

Ah, right. As soon as Altera caught the giant beast, I forcibly canceled her rampage and was in a state of magic exhaustion.

I was dazed like that, and then Altera helped me back to the lodging, I remembered.

I still had a slight headache from the aftereffects, but it wasn’t that bad. I got out of bed, put on my shoes, and looked around, and Altera was fast asleep in her bed.

She had neatly folded her cloak and was sleeping face down, but she opened her eyes as if reacting to my movement.

“Haaam… are you up?”

With her usual posture of leaning back, she stretched her body and greeted me, asking if I was up.

“Yeah. Yesterday… you were really amazing. You practically caught the giant beast by yourself. And, thank you for supporting me here and there.”

“Hmm. Yes, if I wasn’t there, you wouldn’t have caught it. That’s true, but if you hadn’t come up with that idea, I wouldn’t have been able to do anything either. It’s thanks to you too. I’m grateful for that.”

Altera was boastful and smug, but she thanked me, saying that it would have failed if I hadn’t provided the idea.

That’s a relief. I’m glad she didn’t find out I was hard. It’s morning, and I saw that, so it’s inevitable. I hurriedly recalled the contents of my major assignments and philosophy books and tried to calm down my erection.

As I twisted my body, Altera approached me, asking if I was really okay.

Please, it hasn’t gone down yet. I tried to buy time by slowly backing away, but then I bumped into the wall and had nowhere to run.

“Wait a minute, come here. Let me touch your forehead. Your face is all red, you must have a fever.”

“No, I’m really fine…!”

I’m only wearing undershorts and a shirt right now, so I’ll really get caught. I tried to hide it by pulling my waist back as far as possible, but she came closer, to an uncomfortable degree.

The way she approached me step by step, I felt like a prisoner on the scaffold looking at the executioner. Just as my upper body was forced to straighten, I felt a slight touch at the end.

“…Huh?”

Ah. I’m screwed. Should I cut it off? Altera wondered what touched her, then looked down and saw my protruding pants.

“…It’s morning. Forgive me.”

I couldn’t bring myself to say that it happened because of her. That’s not something a man would say, that’s something a crazy sex offender would say.

“…Ah, yes. Right… um… I understand. Are you, are you okay…?”

Altera was also flustered, her face red and stammering, and she quickly backed away.

Um. Should I use a separate room from Altera from now on?

Altera also had nothing to say, so she silently put on her cloak, sat on the bed, and looked out the window.

“…So, you’re a, a man. Um.”

Her attempt to break the awkwardness only brought a more suffocating silence. I want to die.

“Get up, you’re up? Good. What is it? Did you two fight? It happens between men and women. Put your feelings aside, the clothes are finished. The kid has no perseverance.”

Fortunately or unfortunately, Akash came with little Akash during the awkward moment.

“No perseverance…! How am I supposed to make clothes that are meant to be broken and torn?! If that’s the case, why not just wear what you’re wearing now, why…! Ah, forget it! Here, take your clothes!”

Little Akash threw the clothes at Altera in an irritated manner, filled with an emotion that was either anger or resentment.

“Here! Pants, comfortable! Sturdy! And no sleeves! And here’s the rest of the money! 14 gold, after taking out 1 gold for the fabric!”

Altera seemed to be overwhelmed by the intensity of the little Akash, who seemed very angry.

“…Um, Akash? Why are you so angry…?”

“Are you kidding me?! How can I not be angry when you’re going to ruin something I put so much effort into?! Even if it’s not intentional, why do you need clothes if you’re going to ruin them every time you fight?! Just wear what you’re wearing like a barbarian!”

She hates it so much because she’s going to ruin something she put effort into. I don’t know what that feels like… but when I imagined someone tearing up a book I wrote with care, I could immediately understand.

“What is it? You don’t know how to wear it?! Geez! Put on the pants! Take off the bandages and put these on! Put on the clothes and tie the strings like this!”

Little Akash roughly took off Altera’s clothes and dressed her in the clothes she made.

I could only hear the sounds because she was facing away, but soon she asked me to take a look, so I had no choice but to look again.

That appearance was…