Chapter 6: Dragon Vine
A rather disastrous first meeting left an equally disastrous impression.
Moreover, Alan’s initial impression of the new forest ranger wasn’t exactly positive—though his entire body was swathed in the cloak, Alan still recognized those silver eyes.
If his guess was correct, the ranger must be the same person who had been gravely injured by the river back then. Perhaps he was hiding out in Green River Village to evade pursuers and slowly recover? Alan thought he should probably discuss this with the village chief at some point; someone like this taking up the post of forest ranger seemed likely to bring even more trouble…
Alan lowered his gaze, and in a brief instant, countless thoughts flickered through his mind.
Of course, following the rules of his adventuring team, he pretended he hadn’t noticed anything. He slowly stood up from the ground, handing the cloak to the tall man in front of him with a hint of irritation (that part didn’t need pretending), and then turned to leave.
On taking a step, Alan frowned.
His knee hurt slightly—probably from hitting it when he fell from midair earlier.
He quickened his pace, planning to go home and give his knee a proper massage with perilla oil to avoid leaving an unsightly bruise. Compared to the thick-skinned locals, Alan’s skin was prone to marks from even minor injuries.
After walking a short distance, Alan suddenly felt that something was off.
He spun around—and was shocked to see the silver-eyed forest ranger still following him.
Alan: ?!
Startled, he widened his eyes.
Despite the ranger’s towering figure and terrifying presence, he seemed almost weightless as he followed Alan—practically invisible.
It was like some solitary, large predatory beast skilled at hunting…
A shiver ran down Alan’s spine as he stared in panic at the figure behind him.
He wanted to demand to know what the ranger intended, but his lips moved without sound, his throat too dry and hoarse to form a single word.
What made things even more uncomfortable was that when Alan glared at him, the man paused for a moment and then, without a hint of hesitation, gave Alan a look of genuine curiosity—as if following Alan was the most natural thing in the world.
“Y-you… are escorting me?”
It took Alan a long moment to carefully, nervously ask.
He could feel the ranger continuing to study him with that strange, unreadable gaze, as if examining something impossible to comprehend.
Finally, the terrifying silver-eyed forest ranger spoke, his voice carrying an odd intonation.
“You are weak.”
The man’s tone left no room for doubt.
Alan: …
Thanks to his previous experience idling in his adventuring team, Alan was just able to piece together the man’s meaning from the few encounters he’d had with eccentric types: You are weak. You even fell in my magical labyrinth like that. To prevent you from dying within my territory, I’ve decided to escort you back to your own domain.
“T-thank you for your concern. But actually, I can go back on my own. My home isn’t far from here, after all,” Alan said stiffly.
And he was right—if it weren’t for the magical labyrinth deliberately set by the forest ranger, which had confused him and caused him to fall so awkwardly, he would have completed the village chief’s task long ago, now sitting comfortably in his rocking chair at home, sipping hot tea and eating jam cake.
But the forest ranger ignored Alan’s polite refusal. For the remainder of the journey, he stayed behind Alan, observing him closely.
Alan could feel it—the hair on the back of his neck rising under that intense scrutiny.
Unconsciously, Alan’s pace quickened.
Soon enough, at the end of the forest path, he glimpsed a familiar view. He was almost home.
“Forest ranger, thank you for escorting me. I’m home now.”
Alan stopped, took a deep breath, and turned to speak to the ranger.
The forest ranger also came to a halt. Beneath the cloak, his silver eyes flickered with faint, beast-like light in the dimming twilight.
“Alan…”
He spoke, suddenly calling out Alan’s name.
The abrupt mention of his name made Alan startle.
The man fixed his gaze on Alan, as if about to say something, but the sound was abruptly interrupted by a small tree fruit falling on his head.
The surrounding treetops moved as if stirred by some unseen wind. Amid the swaying branches, clusters of thumb-sized, pale golden lights appeared, faintly revealing the indistinct forms of fairies within.
Despite having long offered gifts to the fairies, this was the first time Alan had seen them manifest so clearly before human eyes.
It was also the first time he had seen them so furious.
Tiny chirps filled the air, sharp and shrill, sounding like the fairies’ curses. The fairies flitted between the branches, hurling various tree fruits and small twigs at the new forest ranger.
Alan gawked, completely bewildered by the scene, unable to comprehend why the ranger was being driven off so violently.
“Ah? Wait… ah, s-sorry! They’re usually very quiet,” Alan stammered, attempting to explain for the fairies.
Considering that the ranger had previously mastered high-level magic like magical labyrinths, Alan was genuinely worried that this man could wipe out the fragile fairies with a single gesture.
Then, the hem of the man’s cloak shifted.
In the next instant, the unnatural “rain” of fruits and twigs abruptly stopped. The fairies squealed in alarm as they fluttered away, their faint glows extinguishing one by one.
They fled swiftly.
Alan cast a glance at the bare branches, and seeing no fairy corpses, he finally exhaled in relief.
Snapping back to reality, he couldn’t help staring at the man’s cloak for a moment.
Just now, something had flashed beneath the cloak… a tail? It had to be a tail, right?!
Had the man been hiding his tail under the cloak the entire time?
“Here.”
Completely ignoring the complicated swirl of emotions in the small human before him, the silver-eyed man continued in his previous, taciturn tone.
One of his gloved hands extended from the cloak, looking slightly unusual compared to a normal human hand.
“For me?”
Alan instinctively took the object the man handed him—and then realized that the forest ranger had given him… a plant. Probably a plant.
At first glance, it looked like the tip of some kind of vine, but on closer inspection, its surface was covered in tiny, pale green scales.
More importantly, when it landed in Alan’s hand, it wriggled slightly, as if it were alive.
Alan: ???!!!
“You are too weak,” came the low, strange, indifferent voice from beneath the cloak again. Heaven knew how many times the man was going to repeat that line.
“Plant it near your territory. It will protect you.”
Alan immediately recalled the vines that had wrapped around him earlier, holding him completely still.
Just thinking about that sticky, slightly wet, and warm sensation made him shiver involuntarily.
He stared in terror at the wobbly “plant” in his palm, struggling to keep from flinging it across the ground.
“What… exactly is this?!”
Alan asked anxiously.
“￥#@*&.”
The man replied.
Alan couldn’t understand a word.
“But… Forest Ranger, this thing—”
“My name is Veles,”
The man lowered the edge of his hood, concealing his silver eyes, then in an instant his figure flashed and vanished before Alan.
“…How on earth am I supposed to take care of this thing?”
Alan stared at the empty path ahead, whispering in despair.
Dragon Vine — S-rank, semi-plant, semi-animal, top-tier living material.
Formed from a dragon’s shedding nerves fused with plants during its growth stage; can only germinate when cultivated in dragon breath.
Possesses a degree of self-awareness.
Shares a limited degree of sensory connection with the dragon’s main body.
Highly aggressive.
Extremely resistant to magic.
Extremely resistant to physical damage.
Extremely resistant to acid.
…
Usage: Planted by high-ranking dragons at the edge of their lairs to protect collected treasures.
Acquisition difficulty: Impossible to obtain.
Price: Priceless.
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Author’s note:
A certain dragon studied the matter carefully and concluded: “Too weak, could die at any moment. If left alone, he’ll definitely die. Fine, just plant a dragon vine next to his house. I’m not treating him like treasure!”
(tail flick.jpg)
