[V6EX2] Splash Splash

After descending Mount Kalug, the ice boat carrying Cyril and the others continued to slide across the snowy plain.

Apparently, Ashelpikeh had the power to keep them moving, even on completely flat terrain, as long as it was covered in snow. While her powers proved incredibly convenient, the boat’s awful rocking was a major drawback.

Clenching his teeth to avoid biting his tongue, Cyril endured the swaying while holding onto Raul with his right hand and Monica with his left.

The two active Seven Sages seemed peacefully unconscious, almost making Cyril a bit envious.

As much as he wished he could pass out along with them, once he collapsed, the three would likely be tossed out of the boat together.

Supporting the particularly heavy Raul, Cyril couldn’t help but marvel at the stark contrast between Raul’s delicate, beautiful face and his well-developed muscles.

In fact, Cyril was on the verge of being crushed by the unconscious sack of muscles pressing down on his back.

Since Monica was in his left arm, there was a chance that she might get squashed by Raul as well.

Cyril gritted his teeth and held his ground, exerting every muscle of his slender body. But suddenly, the boat stopped.

Monica remained unharmed because Cyril was holding onto her, but Raul was only loosely leaning against Cyril’s back. He slid off Cyril and collided face-first with the bottom of the boat.

“Fugyah!”

Raul let out a scream as he hit his face, and Melissa began scolding Ashelpikeh at the front of the boat.

“Hey! If you’re going to stop, say so first!”

“I ran out of mana.”

Despite Melissa’s angry shout, Ashelpikeh responded almost indifferently.

The ice spirit had already consumed a considerable amount of mana earlier. The only reason she managed to continue was because of Mount Kalug’s incredibly high mana concentration. Since they had left the mountain, straining her any further was dangerous.

Fortunately, the town of Jausuka was already visible in the distance. They could simply reach the town by foot.

“That was fun,” remarked Thule, the only one who could actually smile after the disastrous boat ride.

Cyril took another look at Thule and Ashelpikeh.

Though both were skillfully disguised as humans, Thule’s attire clearly didn’t match the season, and Ashelpikeh’s limbs were still full of holes, practically hanging on by a thread.

Letting them enter the town in this condition was not an option.

“Ashelpikeh, your limbs… Uh, how can they be healed?”

Cyril felt a sense of guilt for having pushed Ashelpikeh so hard, while the spirit nonchalantly replied, “They’ll heal eventually.”

In response, Melissa crossed her arms and squinted her eyes.

“Greater spirits can transform into animals and stuff, right? It’d be stupid to waste money on lodging fees, so you should transform before we enter the city… By the way, what about dragons?”

“I can do it too. As long as I incorporate a living being, I can transform into them.”

Hearing Thule’s calm response made Cyril grimace.

What the dragon referred to as “incorporating” involved swallowing unconscious creatures whole. Cyril had recently experienced firsthand what the term truly meant.

Cyril observed Thule’s appearance again. He was a young man with silver hair and golden eyes, dressed in the attire of the Hyla Tribe.

“Is that appearance also something you… incorporated?”

In response to Cyril’s question, Thule narrowed his eyes, as if reminiscing about the past.

“A very, very long time ago, the Hyla Tribe had a custom of offering sacrifices to God… Not that I did anything with the sacrifices though.”

In the first place, Thule rarely showed himself in public. He hardly ever visited the temple.

Apparently, the humans offered as sacrifices at the temple would simply descend the mountain, embarking on a journey instead of returning to their village.

“But one day, a rather unusual person came as a sacrifice.”

The man had been afflicted with a severe illness. He lacked the strength to descend the mountain, and had only a few days left to live.

That was why he volunteered to be the sacrifice.

“He told me… ‘If this frail and useless body, scorned by everyone, can become nourishment for the god, there can be no greater happiness.’”

Immediately after saying that, the silver-haired young man fell unconscious.

The flame of his life was clearly nearing its end. Therefore, the white dragon granted the human’s wish.

He swallowed and ‘incorporated’ the man.

“I don’t really understand what humans mean by ‘God’, but he wished for me to devour him. So, I did. This was before I met Pikeh.”

Thule’s face remained serene, maintaining a gentle smile as he recounted the story.

He felt no guilt over ending the man’s life. He simply ate someone who asked to be eaten… that’s all.

This further reminded Cyril of the fact that dragons and humans have different values.

“I won’t let you eat humans from now on.”

“Okay, got it.”

In response to Cyril’s stern statement, Thule nodded obediently like a well-behaved child.

Feeling a sense of danger in that innocence, Cyril secretly vowed to properly teach Thule about human values.

Whether imposing human values on dragons was beneficial to them or not remained uncertain.

Just as the culture of offering sacrifices had faded away, human values also changed with the times.

(…Even so, mutual understanding is necessary for coexistence.)

Cyril had decided to take care of Thule.

Therefore, he had to confront the differences in their values. He must not avert his eyes.

As the earnest Cyril convinced himself of this, Raul, who had been rubbing his forehead after slamming it into the boat, interjected.

“Hey Thule, what else can you transform into besides humans? Can you turn into bugs too?”

“Hmm, the last thing I swallowed was… Oh right, that might work since it’s small.”

Thule muttered a few words to himself before closing his eyes. Then, his entire body was instantly enveloped in white light.

The light quickly converged and shrank, disappearing as if someone had wiped away a pile of snow.

Something emerged from beneath the light. Glistening with silver scales, it bounced on the snow with small splashy sounds.

…He had turned into a fish.

“Why…!? Why did you choose a fish——!? W-Water, we need water…!”

As Cyril frantically began a chant for making water, Raul interrupted him.

“Hey, Cyril. Is this a freshwater fish or a saltwater fish? I can’t tell.”

“I… I don’t know… Thule, are you currently a freshwater fish!? Saltwater!? Which is it?!”

Thule performed what seemed like an attempt to respond. However, his fishy mouth only contracted a few times, unable to speak any words.

Obviously, the appropriate solution was to order him to turn back into a human, but the panicked Cyril failed to realize this.

Two grown men, Cyril and Raul, stood flustered in front of the fish bouncing on the snowy plains.

As she watched the ridiculous scene, Melissa posed a question to Ashelpikeh.

“Hey, how do dragons breathe? Lungs? Gills?”

“Dunno. Spirits mimic breathing, but we don’t need it. Thule is probably the same.”

Cyril and Raul froze and observed Thule (the fish) again.

The bouncing silver fish suddenly covered itself in white light and transformed again. Once the light eventually dispersed, what appeared next was a white weasel.

Waving his thin whiskers, the weasel looked up at Cyril and spoke.

“Oh right. Fish can’t walk on land. Is this better?”

The voice of the weasel was the same as Thule’s in his human form.

So he could speak human language as a weasel but not as a fish… While a bit curious of the reason behind this phenomenon, all Cyril could manage was an exasperated mutter.

“…Just do that from the beginning.”

Cyril squatted down and let out a deep sigh, as the white weasel hopped onto Cyril’s shoulder.

The sensation of the fluffy fur tickling his neck and cheeks felt pleasant.

Having realized something, Cyril posed a question to Thule.

“Do white dragons always have white or silver fur, no matter what they transform into?”

“Not really. I’m just imitating the color of the creature I incorporated.”

In other words, Thule had taken in a silver-haired human, a silver-scaled fish, and a white weasel.

Had he taken in a human with black hair instead, he would have transformed into a human with black hair.

“But the color of my eyes doesn’t change no matter what form I take. The eyes are the essence of that creature.”

Nodding in understanding, Cyril stared at the weasel on his shoulder.

The weasel looked back at Cyril with round, golden eyes and tilted his small head to the side.

“What’s the matter?”

“…No, it’s just…”

“Yeah?”

Cyril cleared his throat and awkwardly asked Thule a question.

“Ahem… Can I, um, pet you a bit?”

“Sure.”

Cyril gently stroked the fur of the weasel perched on his shoulder.

The sensation transmitted to his fingertips was soft and fluffy.

As Cyril savored the joy of that touch, Raul chuckled and said, “I’m happy for you, Cyril.”

Meanwhile, Monica was sleeping inside the boat the entire time.

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