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

After pathetically crying my heart out in the arms of a man, I was able to pull myself together enough to think that both my emotions and body were relatively fine.

My body still hurt. But at this level, I could at least walk or, at the very least, swing a sword to protect myself. My emotions had also subsided, and I was able to feign calmness.

The wound seemed to have healed in the meantime, and I could feel the warm blood that had been flowing between my legs had dried up.

…More importantly, how long did he plan to hold me? It had been so long since I had been embraced by someone that I didn’t dislike it, but I thought it was enough now.

“…Thank you, I’ve calmed down thanks to you. Um. Can you… let me go now?”

“Ah… I’m sorry if you didn’t like it. I… couldn’t think of anything better…”

“It’s not that I didn’t like it… It’s just that it’s been so long since I’ve felt someone’s body temperature. It’s just awkward. But don’t misunderstand and think I like being hugged.”

The only hugs I had received other than my mother’s were the bear hugs of predators. To me, who had only been able to feel warmth through the blood of others, the hug just now felt incredibly warm.

…It’s not like I had any romantic feelings for him. I might have developed some kind of trust in him as someone I could rely on.

If he had literally taken a knife, cut open my chest, and taken out my heart, he could have lived in luxury for the rest of his life, but this guy kicked that opportunity away and instead warmly embraced the girl who had threatened him.

I never thought there would be a human I could trust in this world. It seemed like one had just appeared.

“…I’m sorry for running away without permission. I… didn’t want to give birth in front of you guys. As you just saw, I become very weak when I lay eggs. Moreover, I can’t use my abilities, and my senses are dulled… I was anxious.”

“That’s understandable. I don’t blame you. If I had lived like you, I wouldn’t have been able to trust anyone either. Still, if something like that happens again, I hope you’ll let me know instead of suffering alone. As I said before, you’re not alone now.”

He said such embarrassing things so shamelessly. I tried to ignore the fluttering feeling of being understood by someone by looking away.

I tried to get up because I thought he would say more things that would make me uncomfortable, but Myungho suddenly covered his eyes and turned his head. Wondering why, I looked and saw my lower garment rolling on the floor in the distance.

Ah, right. I took it off to give birth. The scales that had been covering me had also fallen off, leaving me completely exposed. At least the egg was covering my crotch, so he probably didn’t see… anything.

I covered my crotch with my tail. Still, the fact that I could have exposed my most important parts to the opposite sex made my face a little hot.

Even if I had such instincts, I didn’t want to be seen in such a state. There was a limit to being a pervert.

“…Did you see?”

I knew he definitely didn’t see, but I asked just in case. Myungho shook his head frantically, denying it vehemently.

“N-no! I definitely didn’t see! I swear to the Goddess! Really!”

As if the serious atmosphere from before was a lie, there was a guy rolling around in front of me who wouldn’t take it even if it was given to him.

It wasn’t my place to worry, but with such a lack of manliness, I wondered if he could even date, let alone get married. I briefly put down the completely cooled egg and started putting on my lower garment.

…The chest bandages and lower garment were soaked in blood, and the texture was terrible. I needed to wash them in water.

“I’m dressed, so you can look now.”

Honestly, I wasn’t planning on getting angry if he had peeked once, but the fact that he really didn’t look at all made my opinion of him drop even further.

It wasn’t that he wouldn’t take it even if it was given to him, but that he would run away if it was given to him. He seemed like a good person, but not a good man.

“Really…? That’s good… Um. Altera, about the… thing you gave birth to. Are you going to take it with you?”

Why was he asking such an obvious question? Was I supposed to leave behind something I gave birth to in pain? I was going to take it and make it pay for the pain it caused me.

Moreover, this was proof of my weakness, so I had no intention of leaving it somewhere. I had to destroy it, by eating it.

“Yeah. I’m going to take it and eat it. It’s pretty tasty even raw.”

It was savory, nutritious, and eating it filled you with magical power, yet he was talking like someone who wouldn’t even do that when full.

“You’re… eating it. You have a strong stomach, huh…”

“Mother Nature doesn’t let children who are picky about their food live. You have to eat whatever you can.”

Even though there was plenty of food now, I didn’t want to waste anything edible.

“Well, let’s… think about that later. Let’s go back for now. We agreed to meet at the square, so no disappearing alone this time, okay?”

“I’m not a child.”

It felt like he was telling a young child to follow their dad closely, which made me chuckle. I held the stone knife in one hand and the egg carefully in the other, and followed him.

When we came out of the building, the mold monster I had seen earlier was coming towards us at the same speed as a crawling maggot.

“…It seems to be reacting to my blood.”

“You’re right. But at this speed, we can just ignore it and go. Altera? If you hit them, ghosts come out… Ah. Right. You said the necklace would block them.”

I struck one of them with the stone knife as a test, and it crumbled like a hill made of sand.

The ghost that popped out screamed and rushed at me. And as always, the necklace glowed and a barrier appeared, blocking it.

Thank you, Mother. You gave birth to me in pain like this too.

Thanking my mother, I cut through the mold monsters blocking my way with resentment. I was not helpless.

“…Um, Altera. It’s good that you’re cutting them, but don’t you think there are a lot of ghosts sticking to you?”

When I looked back, there were so many wraiths sticking to me and hitting the barrier that it almost looked like a wave. It didn’t even have a scratch, but the sound they made was annoying.

“You can just cut them with the brush.”

“Well, you can cut them, but…every time I do, it drains my magical power. It doesn’t drain much against these wraiths, but, um… there are too many. I don’t know if I can handle it…”

Aha. So it wasn’t like he could use it indefinitely without any cost. Myungho tilted his head, held up the brush, and drew a large stroke towards the wave of wraiths.

As I listened to the death throes of the cut-off group of wraiths, I looked at Myungho, who drew another large stroke as if he was sure.

“This should be… enough!”

As we boldly moved forward, cutting through the mold and souls, a wide-open space appeared, just as he said.

This place was also covered in mold and unknown things, but I could tell for sure that it was a square.

A fountain still flowing with clear water, covered in mold, benches, and the arrangement of buildings surrounding it. There were traces here and there that couples or families once strolled here.

“Uh, uh. Akash. I found her. She was in a house near the rampart. She… said she left alone to lay… an egg. She said she couldn’t trust us. What? No, how could I say such a thing? Change of heart? Anyway, come back soon. Okay.”

Myungho put his hand to his ear and mumbled to himself. Was he… using some kind of long-distance communication?

I couldn’t see the flow of magical power, so I didn’t know. I scratched the innocent mold with my claws out of frustration.

“…Now everyone will come back. Akash cast a spell that allows us to talk to each other even from afar. I don’t know about his personality or character, but his skills are definitely top-notch.”

“That’s… true.”

His personality was one thing, but his magic was certainly admirable. However, there was a kind of instinctive unpleasantness that I felt from the very depths of my heart.

It was a voice in my heart saying that it was not right? Something like that.

“…So, are you really going to eat that? I mean… you gave birth to it.”

Myungho, perhaps because he was bored just killing time, looked at me and asked if I was really going to eat something that came out of my body.

Of course, I had to eat it. I used to throw it away like a fool, but I needed to eat it to replenish the stamina I lost giving birth and the magical power it sucked.

It tasted good too. Why, there were even placenta dishes in the previous world. At least this looked much better than that.

“I’ll say it again like you said. I’m going to eat it.”

I was going to eat it even if it was just out of spite.

Even if he made that face, my mind wouldn’t change. If he took a bite, his mind would change too.

I gathered a bunch of the surrounding mold and put it together, and gathered the dry pieces of wood that I had put in his backpack to use as firewood.

Then I went up to Myungho and told him to start a fire. I couldn’t even find a fire starter right now.

Myungho was startled when I spoke to him, and after listening to my explanation, he nodded somewhat clumsily and created a flame at his fingertips.

It burned well. I was a little worried that the fire wouldn’t start because of the humid air, but the mold here seemed to burn well.

It felt bad to sit on the mold, so I tore off all the mold near the campfire and used it as fuel.

And I crouched inside the fountain and washed off the bloodstains on my body. It was strange that the water was still clean even though there was so much mold, but no matter how much I used all my senses, it was just water.

It wasn’t a parasitic creature that looked like water, it was just water. Suspiciously clean, just water.

I didn’t bring it to my mouth because I was reluctant to drink it though.

As I was rubbing and washing my blood-soaked clothes and bandages, Yuna and Akash returned from afar.

“…Well, let’s put off the story about Altera for later, I understand what happened.”

“Really? What happened?”

And Akash said something to Myungho with a serious expression.

“Thanks to what you said, I was able to confirm it. These guys here have all received a god’s blessing.”