Vol. 1 Chapter 1 - Encounter with a Little Dragon

“I’m tired… I don’t want to work anymore. I want to live peacefully in the countryside.”

 

Joji Makise staggered through the streets.

 

It was 1 a.m.

 

He was on his way home after finishing overtime.

 

I don’t want to work anymore.

 

How many times had he muttered those words since starting this job?

 

The work was stressful.

 

The boss was unreasonably angry.

 

Overtime seemed endless.

 

He had joined the company dreaming of a bright future.

 

But the previous president had passed away suddenly due to illness.

 

His son took over.

 

And since the change in leadership, the company had changed too.

 

Now it was all doom and gloom.

 

The company was in a dark place.

 

He had thought about quitting many times.

 

But what would he do after quitting?

 

Would he find another job?

 

And even if he did, was there any guarantee that the new company would be a better environment?

 

Thinking like that, he kept delaying his resignation, and now he was 26 years old.

 

People often told him he looked older than his age.

 

Must be because of the stress.

 

“What’s that?”

 

Suddenly, he heard what sounded like an animal cry.

 

He liked animals.

 

Watching videos of dogs and cats before bed had become Joji’s daily routine.

 

That was his only time for relaxation.

 

The cry sounded like it was in pain.

 

Was it injured?

 

Joji became worried and followed the sound.

 

“Whoa! What’s that…?”

 

Under the streetlight was a lizard about the size of a cat.

 

It had wings on its back.

 

Was it a dragon?

 

“Wow, amazing. A real monster.”

 

Decades ago, dungeons appeared in Japan.

 

Since then, the number of dungeons has increased.

 

Now, “explorers” who brought back resources from dungeons were a relatively common profession.

 

Monsters were the creatures that appeared in those dungeons.

 

Generally, dungeons were protected, so monsters didn’t come out.

 

But accidents happened where monsters came out of newly born dungeons.

 

This seemed to be one of those cases.

 

“Could it… bite me?”

 

Joji approached the dragon cautiously.

 

It did seem to be injured.

 

It seemed to have been bitten by something.

 

There were several holes in its stomach.

 

“Grrraaa!”

 

It growled in warning.

 

The dragon noticed Joji and growled.

 

Scary.

 

You never knew what wild animals would do.

 

Sometimes crows staring at you made you afraid they might attack.

 

This felt much scarier.

 

But he couldn’t just leave it.

 

If he did, this little dragon would probably die.

 

That would be awful.

 

“I won’t do anything scary, so please don’t attack me.”

 

Joji slowly approached the dragon so as not to scare it.

 

Then he used healing magic.

 

Luckily, he had learned healing magic at school.

 

His combat skills and attack magic were terrible.

 

But his grades in healing magic were good.

 

He should be able to heal wounds like this.

 

The dragon’s wounds closed up.

 

The dragon seemed to understand that it was being healed and calmed down.

 

Once the wounds were completely healed, the dragon licked its stomach as if to confirm it.

 

It was like a cat.

 

“Kururururu!”

 

The dragon made a cooing sound.

 

Then it rubbed its head against Joji’s hand.

 

“Haha, you’re cute.”

 

When he stroked its head, it closed its eyes happily.

 

He picked up the dragon.

 

With a puzzled look, the dragon stared at Joji.

 

“Is it okay to pick up a dragon?”

 

Was it prohibited by law?

 

As Joji pondered whether to take it home,

 

“Aoooo!”

 

A wolf’s howl echoed.

 

At the same time, three wolves leaped out in front of Joji.

 

“Whoa!? Monster wolves…!”

 

He had to run away quickly.

 

Joji had no combat abilities.

 

But could he run away fast enough?

 

No, probably not.

 

He was in despair when,

 

“Grrraaa!”

 

The dragon in his arms growled.

 

Then light emitted from its mouth.

 

“What? What are you doing?”

 

The result was immediate.

 

Zuban!!

 

A flash of light burst from the dragon’s mouth.

 

It tore through the wolves’ bodies, instantly killing them.

 

All that was left were the corpses of the three wolves.

 

“Huh, you’re strong!?”

 

Joji had thought the dragon wasn’t very strong because it was small.

 

With wide eyes, he looked at the dragon.

 

The dragon rubbed its head against Joji’s chest as if to say, “Praise me, praise me!”