I'm Not an Earthworm, I'm an Earth Dragon

We walked here full of anticipation, but on the way back, we were completely exhausted, so we decided to just grab a carriage heading to a nearby city.

Instead of threatening with a knife like a bandit, demanding the carriage, we offered to provide escort as a condition. Thankfully, it didn’t take too long to get out of the Great Swamp.

Altera had directly created a path, so we didn’t have to struggle like we did on the way in.

I asked Altera if she was tired, but she said it was easy since she was just solidifying something that was already fluid, so we decided to walk on the path she made without any guilt.

“I cannot accept this! Why is it that only my blood is rated so low?! Shouldn’t Akash be the one with the lowest quality?!”

“Pfft, of course. It was made by those dwarves, so why would they rate you highly? Humans were on good terms with them back then, and dragons have always been valued, so they’re rated highly. But elves always bothered the dwarves, telling them not to exploit nature whenever they did anything. That’s why they’re rated low.”

“But I…”

“Yeah, your foster father is a dwarf. Do you have a foster mother? Ah, don’t get me wrong. I’m not trying to pick a fight. Even if you did, she would be a dwarf too, and your equipment was made by dwarves. But that doesn’t make you a dwarf. Besides, you’re still searching for your real parents, aren’t you?”

“…That’s because I’m curious about what kind of parents would abandon a wounded child, and I want to see their faces! Ugh, don’t you feel the same way?!”

“I’ve never been abandoned like your parents were. Sorry. Even a great mage can’t empathize with something they haven’t experienced.”

“You…!”

While Altera was busy creating a path, Yuna and Akash were arguing about the doll’s evaluation of their blood. I was surprised when it suddenly asked for blood, but the doll sang.

It said that it was a necessary process to provide personalized healing. So, we each obediently gave the doll a drop of blood, but Yuna’s evaluation was particularly low.

Akash explained that elves and dwarves have never gotten along, then or now… Yuna put Akash in a headlock and started giving him a noogie with her other hand.

He deserved it this time. So, I let him pay the price for his sins and asked Altera if she was okay again.

“I’m fine. This is nothing, really. I appreciate your concern, but you need to be more dignified. Before being a man, you’re a leader, and you need that kind of gravitas. You lack that right now.”

Altera said she was fine, but she also said I was too frivolous. Hmm, this is something a grandfather would say…

I acknowledged her advice to maintain dignity as a leader, and Altera smiled slightly in satisfaction before resuming her path-making.

“…So, how’s my blood? I keep hearing the words ‘blood’ and ‘evaluation’ from behind. I think mine has been evaluated too.”

Even Altera seemed curious. She pretended to be indifferent, but her tail was wagging, unable to hide her curiosity.

“Ah, about that. To quote the doll, it’s ‘of the highest quality.’ After all, even Akash rated your blood highly, saying it was like an elixir. Of course, it would be rated highly, right?”

“Hmm, of the highest quality. Naturally. It’s my blood, after all.”

She seemed pleased that her blood was rated highly. Well, she always acts like she doesn’t care when praised or admired, but she secretly enjoys it.

“Hmm… Yuna. That’s enough. Akash didn’t mean any harm. Right?… Akash? Why aren’t you answering…? No way…?”

I heard someone making death throes from behind, so I told Yuna to stop. It was a bit ominous that Akash wasn’t answering, though.

The doll just watched all of this with an expression of interest. Come to think of it, we haven’t given it a name yet. We can’t keep calling it “doll” forever.

“Hey, everyone. About that… doll. I’m thinking of giving it a name. Does anyone have any good ideas?”

We couldn’t keep talking about blood forever, so I changed the subject to naming the doll, diverting everyone’s attention. Yuna stopped glaring at Akash with murderous intent and seemed to think about the doll’s name, taking her eyes off him.

“A name? Of course, you should be the one to name it. I was the first to find it, and the worm woke it up, but you’re its master. If you’re the master, you should take responsibility.”

“Hmm… For such a pretty doll… Let’s see. Gwen…? Lockhart? Silverborn? Aine? Hmm, I’m not very good with names…”

Akash completely washed his hands of it, and Yuna listed names that didn’t really appeal to her, showing her lack of confidence.

“…A name. I think Marie would suit her.”

Altera didn’t seem to think too hard about it as she made the path, but she casually suggested a name that seemed to be the result of some deliberation.

Marie. It sounded good. At least it was much better than Lilac, which came from my head, or Yuna’s Gwen. It would be even better if Akash put his mind to it…

But he seemed busy clutching his head and groaning in pain. He should have stopped sooner.

“…Your name, from now on, is Marie. Marie. What do you think?”

Marie simply sang in a pleasant tone, happy to be given a name. The meaning behind it was also joy… but how long do we have to communicate through song?

Could it be that the ancient dwarves really communicated through these tones, and that’s why Akash called it a sound master?

“Wait, wait a minute. Are you really going to use the name I suggested?! I mean, it suits her, of course, since I came up with it…!”

“If it suits her, then it’s fine. Altera, you’re good at naming things too, huh?”

If I teased her for a bit, I might end up like Akash, so I quickly admitted my mistake and promised to buy her something delicious when we returned to the city. Only then did Altera relent and resume making the path.

As the sun began to set, we arrived at the signpost we had seen at the entrance. I thought it took us about five days to get there.

…Actually, if I hadn’t wandered around out of curiosity, we could have arrived in three or even two days.

The bridge Altera built was still standing firmly.

“Altera, it was a good thing I told you to build it strong, right? It’s a bit of a hindsight, but we ended up crossing it again.”

“What are you talking about? Of course, I did a good job. I’m the one who should be praised for knowing how to build it strong.”

Is that so? I praised her as she stood there with her hands on her hips, looking triumphant, and she told me to praise her for such a great deed.

“It’s okay to ignore the small things, but you should praise the big things.”

Was that why she got angry when I praised her? It’s complicated. I crossed the bridge, engraving it in my heart.

I wondered what Altera’s standard for a “big thing” was. To me, creating a path seemed like a pretty big deal.

As we walked along the dark night path, relying on the light conjured by Akash, we saw a light and heard some commotion in the distance.

“…It seems like bandits are attacking something.”

Altera seemed to sense it too, and she pulled a sword out of the ground, ready to rush in at any moment.

“Then we should go.”

– – – –

Just before being swept away by the torrent of destruction, Elise managed to open a dimensional gate and tumbled out on the other side.

Normally, she would have been annoyed by the loss of face, but due to her recent string of failures, she could only cry tears of frustration and shame.

The first failure could be attributed to encountering something unexpected, but the second failure involved losing everything down to the last penny and fleeing in a disgraceful manner, and the third failure occurred despite thorough preparations.

If only that witch hadn’t been there. Elise hugged her knees and cried in sorrow.

Then she suddenly realized that the pureblood demon who had offered to accompany her was nowhere to be seen. Where was he?

She didn’t have time to wonder, as she soon saw something nearby that looked like a hedgehog, and her already pale skin turned even paler.

One creature, seemingly dead, was impaled by countless swords. It was kneeling and breathing its last breaths.

Only after it coughed up blood did Elise realize that it was still alive, and she was horrified and frustrated.

She was frustrated by the pureblood’s resilience and by the fact that there was nothing she could do.

Elise, with trembling hands, tried to pull out one of the swords impaled in it, but a voice called out to her, stopping her.

“I understand how you feel, but you should stop. Those swords are barely holding his body together. If you pull them out, he’ll turn into pieces of meat. You don’t want that, do you?”

“Demon King…!”

Had he come to blame her? Had he come to execute her for being useless now? The man called the Demon King slowly approached her, who couldn’t even look at him directly out of fear.

“I’ve heard the story. You were fully prepared, but unfortunately, a witch who happened to be there protected them, resulting in your failure. Moreover, among your adversaries was… Akash, though he’s worn out. It can’t be helped.”

“…You’re not… blaming me…?”

Why wasn’t he blaming her, but rather protecting her? Elise couldn’t understand. She had failed repeatedly, and this time, even a key executive had returned with severe injuries.

“If there’s anything to blame, it’s the heavens and fate. It wasn’t your mistake… the enemies were simply too strong. Besides, you didn’t completely fail. We’ve found a place that resonates with the wave generated when they entered the ruins.”

“…What does that mean?”

“It means there’s another dwarven ruin. Well, I don’t know if we can get an ancient dwarf like last time… but it’s worth a shot, don’t you think?”

“Then… what will happen to me?”

Elise hadn’t heard anything about her own treatment yet, so she asked the Demon King one last time.

And his answer was consistent.

“Keep monitoring them. The half-dragon, Akash, the pathetic hero, and the doll that can contain an ancient dwarf. Watch what they do. It would be nice if you could take the doll, but… I doubt even I could do that.”

[T/N: We got a humble demon king here!]