Chapter 171: The Girl's Awakening
* * *
<<<Good morning, humans! It's me, Okachan!!>>>
Arriving at the rock, Oka greeted the villagers via [Mental Voice].
Cheerfully say good morning to people you meet in the morning!
One of the rules her master had taught her.
It had now also become one of Yamaok Village's tenets.
"Good morning, Okachan! We are honored to be granted an audience!"
Representing the villagers, Village Chief Megatonkohsuke gave his greeting.
To Oka, even the elderly Megatonkohsuke as the current village chief was merely a newly hatched chick.
Yet he had grown enough to deliver such a splendid response.
Oka felt a warmth welling up, inadvertently smiling.
<<<Now then, humans. What is your business today?>>>
Though she already knew, Oka deliberately asked their purpose.
Before Oka, the villagers would become overly deferential, basically never initiating conversation themselves.
Hence, she needed to prompt them.
"Yes! As you previously commanded, we have brought the young girl you requested! Please accept her!"
With those words, Megatonkohsuke signaled to the village women, who began untying the ropes binding the litter.
Those ropes connected the litter's base to the enclosed doors and roof section above.
Untying them would remove that covering, exposing the sacrificial victim inside.
Oka had been watching that process with a smile, but upon the doors and roof being removed to reveal the victim's appearance, she froze in shock.
Oka liked observing humans.
That was why she had Yamaok Village established.
Even now, whenever she had time, she would gaze down at Yamaok Village and the villagers' affairs from atop the high mountain with her draconic vision, enjoying the sights.
Therefore, she was well aware of what villagers resided there.
She knew what Oyukipa, who was supposed to be the sacrificial victim this time, looked like.
Oyukipa was supposed to be a girl with auburn hair, brimming with energy.
However, the young girl brought before Oka as the sacrificial victim did not match that appearance.
Curled up asleep in the litter like a cat, that girl's hair was black.
Not Oyukipa.
<<<No, who?>>>
Unable to hide her befuddlement, Oka tilted her head and exhaled with a ffshuu sound, mist billowing from her mouth.
In order to cull the village's population and control future growth, Oka had demanded the villagers offer up "a girl around 10 years old" from the village.
But the girl brought as the offering was a complete stranger Oka had never seen before whose origins were unknown.
This would not reduce the village's population.
It was meaningless.
"N-No, who you say? Eh? Eh?"
Seeing Oka's reaction, Megatonkohsuke flustered in panic.
From the villagers' perspective, they had simply been instructed to offer up "a girl around 10 years old."
Since Oka only gave such a vague directive, the villagers never realized her true goal of population culling.
To the villagers, Okachan's instructions were absolute, with any questioning itself considered disrespectful.
So without considering why Oka wanted "a girl around 10 years old," the villagers faithfully followed the order's conditions by offering up a vagrant girl who fit them.
The villagers assumed this would satisfy Okachan and resolve the sacrificial victim matter.
However, that was not the case!
The esteemed guardian dragon before them had said, "No, who?"
She did not accept the offering with joy!!
Though Oka had simply voiced her pure confusion, Megatonkohsuke judged from her reaction that they had displeased her.
He immediately began bashing his head against the rock with enough force to draw blood, prostrating himself!
"M-My apologies! For failing to meet your desires, my deepest apologies!"
Gon! Gon! Gon!
The frenzied image of the elderly man repeatedly smashing his head against the rock slightly startled Oka!
<<<Hieeh!? A-Ah, I'm delighted! I'm so delighted! Okachan is overjoyed!>>>
"How fortunate! If this head-smashing show from this old fool can satisfy you, then by all means! I would forfeit my life to continue head-smashing, so please, please! Forgive this foolish villager!!"
Gon! Gon! Gon!
<<<Stop it—! I-I forgive you, so stop! I'm not angry, so stop head-smashing!>>>
"Oh, Okachan, thank you......How gracious you are."
Saying that, Megatonkohsuke clasped his hands and began praising Oka.
Unnoticed in her slight disorientation, his forehead was reddened and swollen, but without any bleeding wounds.
He had simply pretended to forcefully smash his head, skillfully mitigating the actual impact - the cunning wisdom of an experienced elder well-versed in both the bitter and sweet!
"Then, since you have forgiven us, we shall take our leave. Please accept our sacrificial offering child. Now then......"
Judging he had obtained Oka's forgiveness, Megatonkohsuke tried to conclude their exchange.
However, while not angered, Oka was also not satisfied with being offered a stranger as the sacrificial victim.
<<<Okay, I understand. I will accept this black-haired girl. But this child alone is not enough. You must also provide a girl from the village properly?>>>
"Hah......?"
"Eh......?"
"Wha......!"
The villagers froze at Oka's words.
<<<I should have specified properly from the start, my apologies. But the child you offer me must be a girl residing in the village, or it holds no meaning! The child brought today......was she an abandoned child who wandered into the mountains? While pitiful to let her continue living, I will consume her, but......separate from her, you must also bring a proper village girl. Understood?>>>
The first to respond to Oka's innocent words was Sabrown.
"P-Please, I implore you!! I implore you!!"
Shoving Megatonkohsuke aside, he rushed up to Oka's feet and knelt with both hands and knees on the ground, begging!
"I beg you! I beg you, please reconsider that much at least!?"
He vehemently ground his forehead into the dirt, shouting!
Blood seeped from Sabrown's forehead, staining his face.
"M-My daughter Oyukipa was chosen as the sacrificial victim! T-To serve Okachan is truly an honor I acknowledge! However, however!"
"S-Sabrown! You overstep your bounds......"!
Megatonkohsuke tried to grab Sabrown's shoulder and pull him away, but Sabrown desperately clung to the ground, refusing to leave!
"Oyukipa has a future ahead of her! I don't mind what happens to me! So please, spare my daughter's life, I beg you!!"
"Ffshuu——"
Moved by the father's desperate plea to an extent, Oka shuddered as she exhaled a pinkish mist!
(Wowah, a father's feelings for his daughter! Such self-sacrificing devotion! So dramatic!)
And yet.
(But I can't help him, can I?)
Performing the culling.
To Oka, that had already been decided.
She could not overturn that decision simply because a human protested.
To sustain the terrarium she had created, cruel judgments must sometimes be made.
She had done so until now.
(If I change how I do things now, what did all the sacrificial girls who died until now mean? Adhering to precedent is important, you know.)
Furthermore, the option of releasing sacrificed children into towns at the mountain's base away from the village did not exist for Oka.
Yamaok Village had purposefully severed outside interactions to cultivate its own culture.
If she released even a few villagers outside, the village's existence could be exposed and outside interactions begin.
That would cause the distinct culture she had cultivated to be lost!
Oka absolutely did not want to take any action risking even that possibility.
In any case.
Oka bluntly conveyed her conclusion in one phrase to the villagers:
<<<......No.>>>
"Uwaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!!"
Sabrown broke down sobbing.
Megatonkohsuke......even Megatonkohsuke trembled as he grasped Sabrown's shoulders.
"Endure it!......You must endure! Obey Okachan! That is the village's tenet! You too, when I die, must live by those tenets as the next chief! Endure it......!"
A tear glistening in the morning sunlight rolled down Megatonkohsuke's cheek.
<<<Hey, should we get going now?>>>
Growing weary of watching the humans' drama, Oka tried to move things along.
<<<So in other words! You can all go home today and leave that black-haired girl behind! Even if it's spring, the mountaintop is still cold, so be careful not to catch colds!>>>
Flapping her wings basaribasari to stir up wind, she tried to drive away the prostrated, sobbing Sabrown and other flustered villagers.
<<<Right! Dismissed!>>>
Just as Oka tried to unilaterally end their exchange with that [Mental Voice] declaration......that was when it happened!
Byun!
Making that sound, a fist-sized rock came flying straight at Oka's left eye!
"Gy-Gyaaaaaaahhh!?"
The rock struck Oka's left eye dead-on with a sickening guchariiii! splatter!
Oka shrieked in pain!
As a long-lived dragon, her tremendous life force meant her eye would regenerate within three days even if gouged out.
But it still hurt!
(Wh-What's going on!? It really hurts! Who did this!?)
Bleeding from her left eye and tearing up from her right, Oka glared in the direction the rock had come from!
Standing there was a burly, thick-eyebrowed man.
The village hunter, Gonpeter!
"Don't mess around......Don't mess arouuuuund!!"
Trembling under Oka's glare, Gonpeter's face flushed red as he shouted without averting his gaze from the dragon!
"Okachan! The villagers were raised to obey you and live properly! ......And yet!!"
He had contemplated this endlessly.
"To kill my benefactor, kill my close friend's daughter! Is that the proper thing!?"
He had contemplated it endlessly!
"Are you, who would make us do such things, in the right!?"
And finally, he had reached his conclusion!!
"There's no way......There's no way that's right!!"
As soon as he shouted that, Gonpeter drew the knife from his waist and charged at Oka!
His body, honed from constantly roaming the mountains to hunt, was extraordinarily sturdy!
With tremendous leg strength, he dashed toward the dragon like the wind, leaping to plunge his knife into her elongated neck, only to be swatted away by her long tail, his back slamming heavily against a large boulder.
"Ugh......"
He then fell motionless with that grunt.
"GAAAAAAAAHHH!!"
Oka extended her neck straight toward the sky, letting out an unrestrained roar of rage!
The terrified villagers scattered like spiders fleeing in every direction!
(Don't mess around!? That's my line, isn't it!? Injuring me and making me lose face!)
Zushun!
Descending from the rock stage with her massive body, Oka approached the fallen Gonpeter with a rage.
(I'm doing this for the village's future, yet you give me that attitude!)
She raised her right arm bearing long, sharp claws high into the air.
(I absolutely won't forgive this!)
Driven by impulse, she prepared to bring that arm swiping down on Gonpeter.
Yes, she prepared to strike -
But could not.
For at that very moment:
"............Noisy."
With that murmur, a murderous aura potent enough to instill dread even in the draconic Oka exploded forth from beside her with furious abruptness!
"...!?"
Startled, Oka leapt sideways with unimaginable speed for her massive frame, putting distance between herself and the source of that murderous aura.
Just what had appeared!?
Had another dragon flown in without her noticing!?
Or had some formidable spirit suddenly materialized!?
In her confusion, Oka momentarily speculated such possibilities, but both guesses were completely off the mark.
It had been there from the very beginning.
It had simply awakened in this moment.
The source of that murderous aura was the black-haired, black-eyed young girl brought as today's sacrificial victim.
Always grouchy upon waking, she indiscriminately emanated that murderous aura while yawning and stretching her body as she rose in the litter.
Her raven black hair fluttered gently in the breeze, glistening under the morning sun.
She then looked around, tilting her head.
Now, hadn't she fallen asleep in the village hut last night?
Why was she in this rocky area?
<Perhaps your sleeping posture was too unruly?>
While her inner voice drowsily remarked that, she rubbed her belly.
Guuuuuuuuu......
She was hungry again today.
She suddenly recalled last night.
Recalling the taste of the Uguuso meat, of which she was only able to eat one out of the ten birds.
Guuuu! Guuuu! Guuuuuuuuuu......!!
Oh no.
Her ravenous belly had begun roaring loudly.
She needed to put something in her mouth soon......!
It was then that the young girl finally noticed.
......Emi's gaze met the immense creature keeping its wary distance, its shimmering pink scales dazzling even brighter to Emi's [Magic Perception] due to the tremendous magic power contained within.
Seeing that, a single strand of drool trickled from Emi's mouth, along with an utterly inhuman impression:
"............Looks delicious."
......Ah yes, time for breakfast!!