Chapter 224

224 – Tribute

It’s morning . I wake up and stretch my neck . After my partner ate the decaying monster corpses I lost my appetite and fell asleep .

As expected, having a roof over my head is the best . I was always exposed to the elements in the desert after all . Because I vaguely remembered the comforts of my previous life, I couldn’t settle down there at all . It had been ages since I’d last had a good night’s sleep .

“Gaa… Gaa…”

… Well, when one of us wakes up, the other is forced awake too .

I hear a clattering sound coming from deeper inside the shrine . The skeleton, or rather wight, must have noticed I woke up . Looming in the darkness, a skeleton missing a leg appears .

As expected, seeing it first thing in the morning is spooky . If I think about it too much, I’ll get nightmares .

It looks like its leg fell off again .

“Guo…Guoh!”

Hey partner, stick it back together .

“Gaaa…”

She gives a sleepy, half-hearted answer . Even though her eyes are half-open, she’s sleep talking . I open my mouth and aim at the egg sacs stuck to her forehead . Her eyes snap open and she pulls her head back .

“Gaah! Gaah!”

She cries out reproachfully . It’s not like I was going to eat them, you know . I’m not you . I could just imagine a swarm strange bugs swelling out of your mouth .

As my partner uses [Soul AppendmentFake Life], the wight’s leg is repaired . I wonder if there’s anything I can do to stop it from breaking so easily . I have plenty of MP though, so it’s not particularly important . If its level raises, maybe it’ll stay together better .

Its level limit is low, so I don’t think it’ll take much for it to evolve . But one mistake would be enough to kill it . Hmm? What would happen if the wight were to die?

I look at the wight . It makes a sound and tilts its head . W-well, I’ll try to stop worrying about it too much . There’s no easy way to confirm after all .

I step out of the shrine . Searching around with [Presence Sense], I feel something approaching . I immediately raise my head and sharpen my senses .

It’s a group of mask-wearing humans . They’re Lithovars . There’s five well-built men, and two short girls . .

Both of the girls have feather decorations in their hair, colorful cloth warped around their bodies, and canes in their hands . Are they Lithovar mages? No, are they shrine maidens?

The men are carrying animals on their backs . A fat pig, a long-necked bird, a basket of fish, a giant pot… The giant pot was being carried between two of the men . The men lined up opposite from me .

I return to the shrine to watch .

Ah, that, is it ok if I accept it? It’s ok, right? That’s the impression I get, but it’s ok, right?

As I hide in the shrine, the two girls come out in front of the lined up food . As I thought, they’re shrine maidens, right?

“God of the Lithovar, dragon-god-sama! As the representative of our tribe, I would like to offer our prayers and gratefulness to the dragon-god-sama’s second coming! I pray that you would please watch over us forevermore and bless us with prosperity!”

… Sorry, you’ve completely got the wrong dragon . I’ve never been here before . Far from blessings, all I can scatter around is curses . Living here forever would be a bit… I have no such plans at the moment, I mean…

The two shrine maidens then continue chanting a long prayer .

Eh, should I perhaps come out? But there’s the matter of timing . I should maybe wait for a gap in their prayers?

“Gaa…?”

My partner tries to push her head past me out of the shrine . I quickly pull my body back, withdrawing into the depths of the shrine .

Calm down, calm down me… This is a good opportunity to get used to interacting with humans from a safe distance . I can’t waste it .

Ok, from today onward I am the Lithovar’s dragon-god . I’m no longer an ouroboros .

I hit my head with my forefoot to get myself pumped up . I don’t know what to do about my timing, but I’ll just rely on the other side to respond skilfully . It’ll be what it’ll be .

“At the start, the dragon-god got too worried about the timing and didn’t come out” . If something like that was preached, I wouldn’t know what to do . In this case, if I come out nervously, it’s my loss . I should make sure to come across as firm and dignified .

I shake my head to banish my hesitation . My partner looks at me questioningly . You should be firm, too, ok?

“Our tribe’s honor, power, everything is thanks to the dragon-god-sama…”

“GuoOOOOOh!”

In front of the lined up shrine maidens, I suddenly appear . The two shrine maidens break off their prayer and stare up at me in mute amazement . Ah, the men lined up at the back had the same expressions .

I softly step back and sink back into the shrine . Then I bury my head against the floor .

… I completely made a mistake in my timing . This is so embarrassing . I guess I should have waited until they were finished before coming out . Yeah, if you think about it normally, that’s the way it’d be . I somehow had gotten the feeling that the chanting wouldn’t have ended until I came out . It might have been a mistake to show off by roaring .

The wight anxiously watches over me as I tremble on the floor .

After about ten minutes, I poke my head out of the shrine . The tributes are still there, lined up, but there’s no sign of the Lithovars .

With this, I’m not sure whether or not they’ve figured out that I’m not their dragon-god, but they left behind the tribute, so they seem to be still treating me like a god for the time being… I wonder what the Lithovar people think of their god who suddenly appeared in the middle of their prayers with a howl and then retreated as if to run away .

I just wish one of them had stayed behind… Coming out took all of my willpower, so this is…