4. Childs (2)

Seeing them side by side it would be obvious to anyone that they are siblings, they are twins.

But... is it a good idea to leave them on the ground while they sleep?

But even if I wanted not to leave them on the ground, I have nothing here.

This cave is empty.

Literally.

Shouldn't a dragon have its nest full of treasures? Usually it is like that, or at least, they keep things they consider special inside their nest.

Then, why is mine empty?

After losing my old home, I simply looked for a place to sleep and I was there until today.

Leaving that aside, I think the best thing would be to prop them against my original body.

At least it should be better for them than sleeping on the ground.

After thinking about it, I reverted my body to its original form and leaned the children against my body. I made sure there were no problems and closed my eyes.

How much time passed? It is still night.

The first one to show signs of waking up was the boy. I

f compared to his sister it seems his condition is a bit better.

Although that doesn't mean he is well.

"Where...? !!"

The boy woke up and started looking around only to stay petrified as soon as he met my gaze.

...Right. I forgot that also happened last time.

But I don't think it's a good idea to transform with the girl still sleeping leaning on me.

"...I am not going to hurt you, you don't need to worry"

"!! A monster that can speak!?"

Instead of relaxing a little, upon hearing me speak the boy became even more tense than before.

"...I am not a monster, I am a dragon. And I am not going to hurt you, you don't need to be so tense."

"...And how do I know you aren't lying?"

"What would I gain by lying? If I wanted to hurt you I would have already done it"

"..."

"That girl next to you is your sister, right? If I didn't hurt her, why would I hurt you?"

"!!"

Hearing my words, the boy finally seemed to realize the person who was next to him.

"Go to sleep, we can talk when you have rested enough"

"..."

The boy looked at me one last time and leaned next to his sister before falling asleep.

'Even ignoring the wounds, both are very thin. They don't seem to have eaten well for a long time'

I have to find them food before they wake up, will I be able to find something in this place...?

I closed my eyes and when dawn began I decided to go out while the children were still sleeping.

Surprisingly I managed to find fruit without much problem, but for some reason I didn't manage to find animals.

When I returned to the cave with the fruit I collected, I found that both had already woken up and were watching me while I walked towards them.

"...Who are you?"

The boy looked at me cautiously while trying to hide his sister.

...Right, the boy has only seen me as a dragon, and now I am in a form similar to a human, the difference being that I have visible horns on my head and that my eyes have vertical pupils, although it's not like I can see them.

Last time I hid all dragon characteristics because I thought the girl would escape if I didn't.

I don't think they are going to try to escape now.

"You can call me Lunaria, I am the dragon you spoke with last night"

"Lunaria...? Dragon? But you look like a person..."

"A dragon can do many things, you don't need to worry about the details"

The boy finally seemed to lower his guard and stopped trying to hide his sister.

Both children, now a bit calmer, seemed to notice the fruit in my arms.

"Eat, I brought this for you."

I placed the fruit on the ground and the children started approaching slowly and looked at me cautiously one last time before starting to eat the fruit quickly.

'They really don't seem to have eaten well for a long time'

"You don't need to eat so fast, that food is yours, I'm not going to take it away from you"

I said that, but the children didn't seem to hear me and kept eating just as fast.

When it seemed that the speed at which they were eating started to decrease...

"What is it, child?"

"..."

"For me?"

The girl approached with fruit in her hands and offered it to me.

When I asked her if it was for me, she nodded vigorously.

"You don't need to worry about me, I brought this fruit for you to eat."

The girl looked at me with a face as if she were about to cry.

"...Even if you look at me with that face..."

"..."

"...Fine, I will eat it. Thank you. Go with your brother and finish eating"

When I gave in to the girl, she nodded one last time and went back to her brother.

I took a bite of the fruit she handed me.

'...This peach is too sweet'

After the children finished eating, I started asking them questions to understand their situation a little better.

To summarize, one day their mother told them they would go on a trip and before they knew it they were in that place. Regarding the father, the boy said he died in an accident before they were born. They were in that place for what they believe was 5 months and yesterday they tried to flee. While trying to flee, they were caught and the boy sacrificed himself to buy time for his sister to escape and after that she found me.

From then on, I know what happened. But there are still things I haven't resolved. For example. How did that girl manage to find this place?

Not to brag, but even among dragons I am among the most powerful.

The barrier covering this place isn't something just anyone can pass through.

It should detect anyone trying to enter and make them lose their way.

Did she really get here by pure luck?

Wait, detect? I focus on the girl but no matter how hard I try I can barely detect her mana. Yesterday I had no issues doing so, why now...?

'Don't tell me that...'

I have to organize my thoughts...

First, the girl was being chased by that woman.

Second, she did everything possible to lose her pursuer.

Third, shortly after, she managed to find this cave and me. After that, her pursuer arrived.

If I think about it, then she must have crossed the barrier between point two and three. The barrier I set is based on detection and seeing the nature of the mana the girl possesses, it makes sense the barrier didn't detect her, but to that level? Something she did unconsciously? Is this a joke?

Then what I detected yesterday was the mana that woman put on the girl to not lose her, and with that mana she managed to find her even while losing her sense of direction. Yesterday I didn't notice because I only focused on the mana I saw at first glance. Even now, if I don't concentrate, it's not easy to detect the girl's mana.

That would solve the mystery of how she managed to pass through the barrier. The amount of mana the woman used to chase the girl wasn't high enough to activate the barrier either, so the girl managed to pass through without problems and was lucky enough to reach here.

'Interesting... Even among all the humans I've seen, it is a talent at a level comparable to what they call geniuses among them'

Leaving that aside, there are still a couple of questions I want to ask, although I don't know if the children are capable of answering them.

"I heard there are things called gates and hunters. Do you have any idea what they are?"

Although I asked both of them, until now the only one who has answered is the boy. The girl has only been observing the conversation until now. I'm not going to force her to speak either.

"Gates are... like portals connecting other worlds where large amounts of monsters appear and if they aren't eliminated, those monsters escape and hurt people. That is what I heard from the adults"

'Portals connecting other worlds? No matter how I think about it, that is not something that existed in the past. Is it a recent phenomenon? Why did it originate? I will have to investigate it'

"Hunters are people who have awakened and face the monsters from the gates"

"Awakened?"

"Uhm... They can use things like skills or magic. That is what they wanted to provoke in that place based on what they told us"

'So they gave that name to people who managed to use mana and attribute it to things like skills or magic'

I guess I'll have to investigate this phenomenon.

If I had never known about it, perhaps I could ignore it.

But knowing its existence, and if, for some reason, however small the possibility, this phenomenon can destroy the world...

I am forbidden to ignore it.

"...Thank you for answering my questions. Take this"

"?"

"A scale?"

I handed both of them one of my scales, and, upon receiving it, they looked at me with confused expressions.

"Those are my scales. If you ever need my help, you can use mana on them and I will know where you are. Both of you have already used mana before, so you should know how to do it instinctively"

This would be my gratitude for the information they gave me.

Now that they are better, I have to return them to where humans live.

Should I look for the humans from yesterday and hand them over to them?

After that, I have to start researching the portals...

'?'

But before I could continue with that train of thought.

Both children were circulating their mana through the scales.

"What is it? I told you to do it only if you needed my help. Or did you want to test if it really worked?"

"..."

"Well?"

The two looked at each other and then turned to look at me with a determined expression.

"...We need your help"