I come to a gargantuan wooden house. The roof, walls, and even the hinges on the door are all made out of a living tree that not only grows leaves but flowers. Answering the Lady of Dawn’s prayer, the Millennial Tree had transformed into a house perfect for us in every way. Granted, I made the animal pen for our livestock.
Half of the bottom floor goes underground so there’s a wide-open space Dragon can go in and out as he pleases. The stairs to the upper floor leads to a space with four human-size rooms—the living room, kitchen, Princess’ room, and then the room I sleep in. The rooms came equipped with all the necessary furniture, from a bed and dresser to tables and chairs. Kitchen’s even stocked with a stove. Princess’ room has even more to it. The magic didn’t forget to include the charming aspects a girl’s room needs while stayin’ functional. Each and every piece of wood, dirt, and stone must’ve been polished by Lady of Dawn. She spent herself perfecting this place until she shrunk down to doll-size.
All blessings and gratitude go to the noble lady!
I go to the basement and empty the stuff in my bag on the worktable. I could do this work in the kitchen, but the stench’s a bit acrid. Today’s hunting resulted in three partridges and one rabbit. Silently, I slide my knife through them. I remove the guts and skin them. I’ll sell the partridges. And I’ll add their tail feathers as fletching to my arrows to increase their effectiveness. We’ll eat the rabbit meat. Although I wonder what I should do with the pelt? Use it? Sell it?
I’m good with the bow. I’m used to the process that goes into preparin’ the spoils as food or useful tools. Generally speaking, making sure ya got food is key to survival in the great outdoors. That said, never thought I’d have such talent as a hunter.
At the beginning, I just thought it’d be amazing if I could at least secure enough food for Princess and me. It all started when I heard that wild boars had devastated the fields of the village I went shopping at, so I got rid of the problem for them. In a blink of an eye, they went around callin’ me a “Skilled Hunter”, so I happily assumed the new identity.
They handed me an excellent goat that produces plenty of milk and a pair of chickens as a reward for offing the troublesome boars. Thanks to our new furry and feathered friends, our eating habits ended up more heavenly than I coulda hoped for!
Now I go to the village once a week to sell my hunting spoils. “A hunter who is raising the daughter that was left behind when his younger sister and her husband died last year.” That’s my current identity. Having these complicated and sensitive circumstances is crucial to our cover. People won’t get suspicious that I know nothing ‘bout babies because I took the child in once she was past that age. Pretendin’ to be uncle and niece is easier than parent and child.
With the money from my hunts I buy salt, bread, clothes, shoes, needles, thread, and the like. Occasionally I’ll purchase arrowheads too.
There’s a reason why I go alone to the village despite knowing the danger of possible discovery that comes along with it.
We can’t bake bread in the forest. If it was me alone, I could survive on hard-baked acorn biscuits and rabbit stew. But that doesn’t work for Princess.
Fortunately, Lord Siegfried doesn’t know my face. Most of the time I was away on expeditions, fightin’ skirmishes, huntin’ monsters, and doing whatever else my knightly duties required of me in the field. Thanks to that, I barely showed my face around the castle.
Aside from my skill for hunting, I’ve had another surprising discovery. I, of all people, have been able to keep a truce with the dragon for over a year. You heard me. A whole damn year! Since we started living in this forest, I’ve been keeping track of the days by markin’ the house walls. At first I tried carving the marks with my knife, but Princess threw a full-on fit, so I ended up using cinders instead to draw the lines. A line a day, a group every five lines. This morning made the seventy-third group.
A year.
Slight vibrations shake the floor. The front door opens and closes. Looks like their lesson on flowers is over.
“...Apologies. Were you in the midst of work?” Dragon pokes his head in.
Yes, indeedy, it’s a miracle if I do say so myself! Me! The man dubbed the Thorn Knight because I shredded every enemy who touched me to pieces—has been sleepin’ and wakin’ up under the same roof as this gigantic, bright-red, egghead lizard monstrosity for over a year! I still can’t believe it!
“I’ll be done soon. Want the guts?”
“I wouldn’t mind dining on them.”
Just like that, the bucket filled with bird and rabbit guts and blood is sparkling clean. This soft-spoken, gentle intellectual giant is as carnivorous as they come. Thanks to that appetite of his, I’m saved the effort of having to dispose of the leftovers.
“Where’s Princess?”
“She went to the animal pen.”
I close my eyes and listen carefully. Pitter-pattering little feet move overhead. “You’re right.”
“She’s remarkable.”
“That’s how she’s survived.”
I wash the skinned pelt in brine, hang it on the pole, and a hot puff of breath hits it with impeccable timing. This’ll purge any tenacious mites and fleas that might’ve clung to it.
“Thanks a bunch.”
“You are welcome.”
“Say, do ya think we should hold onto this rabbit fur?”
“What for?”
“How about for Princess? Could turn it into a muffler, mittens, or as an addition to her sleeves. Rabbit’s fur is warm, y’know?”
“How far do you plan on mastering your sewing hobby?”
Suddenly feeling a little embarrassed, I rub my face, pretending to wipe away the sweat. “…Forget it. I’ll sell it after all.”
“Nay, keep it. Tis not a bad idea.”
“You think so too?!”
Should we allow our forest living to drag on long enough to need to prepare for another winter? Preparing for the cold won’t be a waste because temperatures drop to freezing with the constant rains just after June. Just like the chill in the air that day last year.
“Heading to the village tomorrow?”
“Yeah. It’s market day after all. I wanna replenish my supply of arrowheads too.”
“Hrm. Your knightly mettle still burns strong to this day.”
“Naturally. I am a knight.”
Dragon quietly looks at me. He doesn’t let out a steamy sigh, furl in his wings, or scrutinize me with one eye closed. He’s serious.
“Don’t worry. I’m just a hunter in front of the village people.”
“…A lonely, single, middle-aged male hunter who took in the daughter of his deceased sister a year ago?”
“Yes, a single hunter.”
The corners of my lips twitch. Why does this stupid dragon always throw in an extra jab?!
“That’s a fairly clever and elaborate setting you came up with. Less of a chance that you will blow your cover that way than if you had tried to recklessly pretend you were knowledgeable about children, or tried to impersonate a father and daughter relationship.”
“Glad you approve,” I say sarcastically.
I can’t stand him, but he gets my plans. I’m grateful for that. Since we’re fighting on the same side, it’d be a big problem if we couldn’t even start off on the same page.
I wash the knife and run it along the whetstone while we talk. It’s advisable to sharpen the blade right after using it to cut meat and tallow. Aaah, he’s right, old habits die hard.
“I have found it strange for quite some time now…”
“Hm? What’s that?”
“A year has passed since the uprising. Yet, why has Lord Siegfried not ascended the throne? He will continue to be labeled a traitor so long as he lives in the royal castle and controls the kingdom’s territory without taking the crown. You said it yourself, that he’s going exclusively by the name Lord Designs now.”
I share everything I see and hear with this lizard whenever I go into the village. Not through the scale, but I speak directly to him about it.
“Seems like he used to be called Lord Pretty Beard before.”
“Oh? He was?”
“Heard he has his very own barber spend an hour groomin’ his vaunted beard… Or was it two hours?”
“Gideon. Answer my inquiry.”
“Sure, sure.” Sheesh, this lizard can’t take a joke. “…Even if he wants to take the throne, he can’t.” I press the sharpened knife against my finger. It’s coming along nicely. If I apply even a little force, the point will go right through my fingertip. “He amounts to nothing more than the husband of the king’s younger female cousin. In other words—”
“He does not carry the blood of a Blessed Royal.”
“There you have it. Hence why he’s searchin’ for our princess.”
If somebody other than a Blessed Royal ascends the throne, the kingdom will perish. Even if they change the name, change the flag, and bring about a new country, the result will be the same. You can’t become a king if there’s no kingdom.
“I heard Lord Siegfried has a daughter though.”
“…You heard from Princess?”
“Indeed. She calls the girl her Princess Cousin and made her out to be quite the beautiful princess, with lapis lazuli eyes and long, flowing blond hair.”
What bitter irony. I’ll bet that the princesses got along fairly well. But all because Siegfried’s possessed by his ambitions, one princess is on the run and the other is now the daughter of a traitor.
“Lady Megan is Lord Siegfried’s daughter from another marriage. She was born from his first wife. Seems like her mother died right after giving birth to Lady Megan.”
“What about the king’s younger cousin?”
“She passed away seven years ago from illness.”
“To have not one, but two wives pass on before him…what an unfortunate man.”
“You can say that again.”
His first wife left him with her noble title, and the king’s cousin bequeathed him with her royal status. However, lineage through blood is not something you can do anything about. So—
“Lord Designs needs a third marriage to ascend the throne.”
“…I don’t want to think about it.”
“Yeah. I’m firmly against it.”
I bump my raised fist against the dragon’s outstretched foreleg.
“For the princess.”
“For the princess.”