Chapter 169: Okachan's Rock

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The next morning, in the dim early hours before the sun had peeked over the horizon, a procession could be seen advancing in a line up the slopes of Nanga Mountain toward the summit.

They were the people of Yamaok Village.

Leading at the front was Village Chief Megatonkohsuke.

Though walking with a cane befitting his elderly appearance, he led the villagers at a pace unimaginable for his looks, taking the lead.

With each step, bells attached to his cane jingled shanshanshan.

Walking behind him was the hunter Gonpeter.

He and his close friend Sabrown were carrying a litter.

A roofed litter enclosed by doors on all four sides.

Inside the closed doors slept Emi, the cursed child chosen as the sacrificial victim for this journey.

Having slept in a bedding with a roof and walls for the first time in so long, Emi's slumber was truly profound.

Though she normally deployed her [Mana Sensing Threads] to remain vigilant for enemy attacks even while sleeping, conveniently for the villagers, she had let her guard down today.

Even being lifted and loaded into the litter did not rouse her - instead, the swaying motions only lulled her deeper into dreaming.

Behind the litter walked several women in silence, carrying flowers to offer Okachan as they ascended the slope.

After climbing for a while, the tall trees gradually disappeared, giving way to low shrubbery.

More noticeable were large boulders.

Rugged crags around 4 to 5 meters tall jutted upward like thorns toward the sky in numerous clusters.

Beyond this point was Okachan's Rock.

The dragon's domain.

A sacred place the villagers rarely set foot in under normal circumstances.

Shanshanshanshan......

In the silence without even birds, only the ringing of bells echoed before being swallowed by the cloudless sky.

The slowly emerging morning light illuminated Gonpeter's back as he carried the litter.

"............"

Backlit by the sunlight, his expression was obscured in shadow, unreadable.

He had been contemplating this endlessly.

"......We have arrived!"

After walking a few more minutes, Megatonkohsuke raised his voice as he stopped, having led them at the front.

Before them was a flat, stage-like rock surface surrounded by jagged towering crags.

Gonpeter's group lowered the litter before that rock as the women decorated it with the flowers they had brought.

This was the audience chamber.

Whenever the villagers interacted with Okachan, it was always done here according to ancient traditions decreed long ago.

"Okachan! We, the people of Yamaok Village, have come to answer your summons!!!"

Once the decorations were complete and the villagers knelt with bowed heads, Megatonkohsuke rang his bell shanshanshan before shouting loudly.

He then knelt and bowed his head as well.

For a while after, only the sound of the wind could be heard before a flapping noise basaribassari gradually arose from above their heads.

The sound grew louder until finally a heavy thud zushun reverberated, then fell silent.

Taking that as their cue, the villagers simultaneously raised their faces.

There atop the stage-like rock, which had been empty moments before, now stood the massive form of a dragon.

Majestic.

Any villager seeing that dragon's form for the first time would undoubtedly feel such reverence.

Its pale pinkish scales glistened in the morning sunlight, the white mane sprouting from its elongated neck fluttering in the breeze.

Its body larger than a small hut brimmed with vigorous life force, the claws extending from its hands and feet sharper than any blade.

This was Okachan.

The dragon who had guarded Yamaok Village since antiquity.

"Ffshuu!!"

As if clearing its throat, Okachan exhaled a pale pinkish mist from its mouth before craning its long neck downward to peer into the faces of each villager kneeling below the rock.

It then spread its massive wings sprouting from its back with a basari flap to adjust its bearing before addressing the villagers via [Mental Voice]:

<<<Good morning, humans! It's me, Okachan!!>>>

A surprisingly childish voice resounded in the villagers' minds.