Chapter 161 - Fat Raccoon

“Surely it’s not broken, is it?”

“If it were, I wouldn’t be able to stand. It’s clear that it got twisted when we fell earlier!”

“Then what should we do?”

Yuri scratched his head and said he didn’t know either.

Then Danyl blurted out that it’s better not to do anything rash.

He seemed to have the strength to fight even though he was in pain.

I, too, had no idea what to do in such a situation.

Usually, when something hurt or was injured, I would just go to the adults.

But now, there was no one but us in the underground cave of unknown origin.

What should we do?

“Perhaps Fat Raccoon might know a solution. After all, it was him who provided the leaf bandage, right?”

As soon as the idea came up, both Yuri and Danyl agreed.

The problem was whether he would figure out that we were here and come to help.

“G-Gah…”

Danyl muttered in distress.

It seemed that his left leg had swollen significantly.

We couldn’t just wait here endlessly until the pig raccoon found us.

We had to go back up and inform everyone.

But the tunnel entrance we had fallen from was too high, and climbing back up wasn’t an option.

If there was an entrance, wouldn’t there be an exit?

I looked around diligently, even though the surroundings were quite large and dark, and it was hard to distinguish anything.

“Just wait for a moment, both of you. Let me explore this place thoroughly…”

I was about to say that I would check it out and come back, but suddenly, a gust of wind pushed me to the side, causing me to stumble.

It wasn’t just me.

Danyl slumped down, and Yuri fell over him.

“Ahh!”

My hair stood on end.

Danil groaned and cursed loudly, but since we were all making the same kind of distressed noises, it went unheard.

The small hill we had climbed suddenly moved.

It swayed back and forth like an earthquake, then suddenly tilted to one side!

“What, what’s happening all of a sudden?”

It was only natural that we ended up tumbling down below.

And yet, the movement of the ground didn’t stop.

It was as if the entire ground was twisting.

The swaying was so intense, like riding waves, that I didn’t even know how many times I had bumped my buttocks against the ground.

What on earth was happening? Was the cave going to explode?

I tumbled and rolled until I got stuck in some hollow spot.

Then, as if the world was going mad, the loud rumbling suddenly ceased, and the wild movement came to a sudden halt.

My head was spinning, and my right arm felt like it was about to detach.

And in front of my eyes, the stars began to twinkle.

One star, two stars… but the stars seemed unusually large.

Could there even be such round stars?

“Ouch, my nose is going to…”

Yuri, who had his nose pressed against the ground, stopped halfway while trying to sit up.

And then, she didn’t move at all.

My right arm was hurting more and more.

I saw that Danil was gripping my right arm tightly.

He was whispering something very quietly with even more force than before.

“What is that…?”

“What? Can you see stars too?”

“It’s not stars, look closely…”

For some reason, the surroundings seemed a bit brighter than before.

Were the king-sized stars sparkling?

I rubbed my eyes with the back of my hand to look more closely.

Two stars with a golden background, sprinkled with red and black specks.

But they weren’t stars.

They were pupils.

Enormous pupils attached to an incredibly massive head.

And they were staring right through us.

From really close by.

It was nowhere near as frightening as the huge bird monsters from before.

I was staring blankly, and then, something like a giant nostril suddenly protruded from it and a cold breeze brushed past.

The nostril was menacingly attached to the giant end of its snout, pointing toward us.

I couldn’t even imagine how huge it would be when it opened.

Who could have expected such a gigantic creature to be here?

The tunnel we had fallen from earlier was too narrow for this creature to use.

I couldn’t trust my eyes at all.

“A, a dragon…”

“No, it might be a wyvern. That creature who always imitates dragons.”

Yuri whispered with a skeptical tone.

It was unbelievable.

Did this guy not know about the wyvern stories?

Moreover, it looked quite similar to the dragons in the books.

If it were a wyvern, it would be much smaller and uglier…

Anyway, it was undoubtedly a real dragon.

The dragon that had been silently watching us was clearly displeased with Yuri’s act of pretending to know.

Because it suddenly let out a terrifying roar.

“Krrrrrr…”

The dragon turned violet and menacingly growled at us, baring its fierce teeth.

It seemed ready to swallow us whole in a single gulp.

I boldly shouted out without thinking.

“If you’re a real dragon, you can’t eat a prince!”

The real dragon didn’t seem to be paying attention to my words and continued to glare at us through its nostrils.

Then, suddenly, it jerked its head as if something had caught in its throat.

With a loud, impressive sound, a white foamy lump flew out into the distance.

It seemed like it had a stomach ache.

After a satisfying vomit, the dragon bent its long neck to one side and began licking its belly.

It was covered in rough, scaly skin all over, except for its belly, which looked slightly different.

That’s when I realized.

“Ah, what do we do? It seems the place we fell from was its belly.”

“What? Really?”

I nodded vigorously.

Our wild rolling and leaping on its belly probably upset its stomach.

Although I hadn’t thought about it, I still felt incredibly sorry.

“Uh, I’m sorry.”

I belatedly offered my apology, and the dragon responded with a rough snort.

It clearly seemed quite annoyed.

It was understandable.

I was about to offer a more polite apology, but the dragon suddenly looked a bit tired.

It turned its massive head back towards us and lay down, stretching out its giantt belly and exhaling a deep sigh.

Deep wrinkles formed between its eyes, which seemed to contain flashes of firelight.

Its expression looked somewhat melancholic.

Was it in a lot of pain? When I cautiously asked, the unexpected creature replied.

“My, my leg hurts so much… I think I might die…”

Danyl burst into tears.

He must have been holding back all this time due to the tension.

Looking closely, his ankle was much more swollen than before, terrifyingly so.

Yuri gasped.

“Um, what should we do?”

“Should we ask for help from it? It might have some special ability since it’s a dragon.”

“But it seems to be in pain too.”

That was true.

The dragon, which had been noisily observing us, seemed to suddenly get somewhat exhausted.

It turned its massive head back towards us and, after a long, impressive yawn, rested its belly on the ground, gazing at us with a gaze that said ‘leave me alone.’

Between its eyes, which looked like they held a flicker of firelight, deep wrinkles formed.

It seemed to have a somewhat sad expression.

Because of that, I was taken aback for a moment.

However, even as I accidentally stepped on its tail while passing, the dragon just briefly opened its eyes and looked before once again groaning and falling back into a deep sleep.

Which way was the exit?

As the dragon closed its eyes, the surroundings grew dark once again.

I reached out and felt my way along the wall, heading toward the opposite side of the tunnel entrance from where we had fallen.

The interior seemed much larger and more intricate than I had anticipated.

I had no idea how long I had been walking along the wall all by myself.

The voices of the kids and the dragon’s snoring had long ceased to reach my ears.

When I turned around to take a quick look, all I could make out in the distant darkness were the faint outlines of the twisted stone walls.

Although fear crept in, I tried to gather my courage.

After all, it was my harebrained adventure plan that had led Danyl and Yuri here.

And as the prince had put it, I had to take responsibility, no matter what.

With a determined heart, I continued walking and at some point, I heard the sound of whistling.

It sounded like a whistle, yet also like the hoot of an owl—basically, it was a strange sound.

“…Piyoo, piyo…”

The sound was coming from somewhere up ahead.

And for some reason, it seemed to be getting closer…

Suddenly, I felt a shiver run down my spine.

I had been looking down to avoid tripping, so I couldn’t see what was ahead of me.

I could have raised my head, but to be honest, the thought terrified me.

What is that? A ghost? A spirit? A demon? Or just a bad person?

Various thoughts raced through my mind, and my chin quivered, but I couldn’t stop.

If I turned and fled from here, wouldn’t that thing behind me chase me all the way to where the kids are?

So I closed my eyes tightly, reciting a prayer in my heart as I continued onward.

Dear compassionate Virgin Mary, I promise I’ll never cause trouble again, never sneak off on an adventure, never leave my hat in the middle of the road, so please, just help me this once…

“Euh…”

Could it be that the Virgin Mary heard my prayer? Suddenly, everything brightened around me.

Instinctively, I lifted my head and opened my eyes, greeted by the streaming sunlight and the landscape outside pouring through the distant exit.

And right in front of me stood the large bird from earlier.

Not the dumb canary-like bird, but the majestic bird that resembled an eagle.

It regarded me with an expression that seemed to convey slight annoyance as it soared above the cave ceiling.

I was momentarily taken aback, but then a wave of anger surged within me, and I couldn’t hold back my frustration.

“What are you doing causing trouble again?! What do you want now, you dumb bird-brain!”

“It’s fortunate you realize that this has caused trouble.”

Huh? The bird spoke? And it was mimicking a voice I knew?

“Allosha-”

Of course, a bird couldn’t talk. But that voice?

“अल्कोहल .”

Naturally, it wasn’t the bird that spoke.

A sudden dry gulp overcame me.

I blinked my eyes, looking down again. Before me, protruding from the wall, was a slightly curved surface. And below it, a person gazed up at me.

Father.

But what on earth was he doing here?

I felt like everything was going to fall apart, but I forced myself to remain composed.

Since my original plan had failed anyway, there was no harm in keeping this secret.

It seemed like there were other adults around, but I couldn’t understand a single word they were saying. My mind was in a daze from all the crying.

It was a good thing Yuri didn’t come with me.

I clung to Father and blubbered like a fool, pouring out everything that had happened.

I hadn’t intended to say a word, but somehow, it all came pouring out.

About Mother and Father’s secret dating spot, and how I had tried to ruin it, and stealing the map from the secret storage room… it all came out.