Eternal III

Now, at this very moment.

A plump ball of flesh was scurrying back and forth among the food. If you watched a little more closely, you would discover that it was moving these supplies, one by one, farther into the cave, away from the entrance. The ball of flesh had a pair of wings—although they reminded people of roast turkeys at New Year festivals—and a pair of chubby claws. The claws were short and tiny, but at least they could barely manage to clutch the crates and drag them backward. Then there were its thick hind legs, obviously somewhat overdeveloped. It waddled as it walked, as though it could not move them any other way. Every time the ball of flesh took a step backward, its barrel-thick tail swayed once, accompanied by a wheezing grunt.

If its body had not been covered in tightly packed, fairly beautiful pale scales, and if it had not possessed those two pairs of horns that proved its identity, ordinary people might have thought they were looking at a hippopotamus rather than a dragon.

Even though Sta was a genuine dragon—a Frost Wyrmling, exceedingly rare even among dragons—he had been driven out by the dragons when he was young. As a dragon, he did not hoard wealth, but was instead passionate about collecting food. Sta's parents considered this a disgrace, and on the very first day he was capable of living independently, they kicked him out. In fact, this experience was precisely what had created Sta's timid personality. He was fairly satisfied with his temperament, however, and he was satisfied with his current life as well. Those humans were always "giving" him plenty of delicious food, and this place was very comfortable to live in. Of course, there was one exception. Sta was still a