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A Chance Encounter
邂逅
At that time, I thought I'd been saved. But now that I think back on it, I should have run away. ... I'm kidding. —The Verdant Witch, Nina
Ten years of me as a Dragon passed in the blink of an eye.
I'd finally gotten used to living as a dragon and had even reached the point that I could safely fly in the sky, but I was at a loss.
The reason for that was because Mother Dragon drove me out of the den.
I say that I was driven out, but it's more like it was time for me to leave and make a den of my own.
As I flew through the air thinking about what I should do from now on, I saw something strange happen in the forest far below me.
The large, tall trees were rustling back and forth, falling one after another.
When I focused on it in wonderment of what was happening, my hawk-like eyesight as a dragon allowed me to catch glimpses of a small girl dashing through the forest.
"Haah, haah, haah...!"
Her breathing was rough as she desperately ran through the forest.
Weaving her way through the trees, she slid under the root of a massive tree like it was some kind of archway.
Is she running from something—?
As if to confirm my thoughts, the massive tree's trunk shook and cracked the instant I thought that. Just as I started to wonder what had caused it, the tree fell apart, exposing a dark red beast.
It's wide with round ears and short limbs.
To relate it to an animal, I'd say it looks like a bear.
But what I'm seeing right now is obviously not the same kind of bear that I know, even to a non-animal expert like me.
Its body is easily longer than five meters.
It has thick and long claws that look like swords growing out of its bulky arms.
Scales were covering its body instead of hair. It looked like it was wearing heavy armor like an old war general.
Given its characteristic scales, let's call it an armored bear. Even ignoring the fact that its claws just wrecked that tree, there's no doubting that it's a very dangerous creature. If that young girl gets hit by its paw, the only outcome would be her getting blown away in multiple pieces.
And it was closing the distance between them.
Pulverizing any and all obstacles with a swipe of its claws, the armored bear easily closed the gap that the girl ran so desperately to create.
