Chapter 11

【11】

After settling Slair down, Grieve left the room with a weapon on his back. Slair slipped out of bed after Grieve left. He still preferred watching the squirrels play. Those little creatures were much cuter than wild humans.

Today was Big Beard Darry’s birthday. He intended to take a day off to celebrate, so he put up a hammock between two trees, then laid on it and swayed comfortably. When he saw Slair walking out of the inn, he blew a whistle.

「Hey, skinny kid! Look at your tiny body and your tiny hands. They don’t even have a callus on it! Why would you challenge Grieve, the Golden Lion? 」

Slair rolled his eyes, walked around him, and picked up a giant squirrel:「I don’t want to mess with him.」

「Wow,」the big beard yelped,「You don’t want to mess with him! You crushed twin lotuses he offered to his teacher, and you said you didn’t want to mess with him! I don’t understand. I want to call you brave, but you acted in that silly way when you saw the proprietress kill a giant squirrel. I want to call you a coward, but you dare to provoke Grieve. Aren’t you afraid of getting killed by his blade?」

Slair pinched the squirrel’s tail, tilted his head, and asked, 「Is it really that big of a deal… breaking his twin lotus?」

「You are not an atheist, are you ?」 big beard said in surprise,「I don’t have much against atheists. However, Grieve is more devout than his teacher! The twin lotuses are the symbol of the Dragon God. If you ruined a twin lotus, you are offending God. You need to be glad that every life at Wall is precious, and Grieve is a kind-hearted fellow. If you are in other places, especially those bustling cities where priests are everywhere, you would be hanged and then chopped into several pieces!」

That was just a flower! Slair opened his mouth wide in shock. In the world of dragons, the dragons could make plushes or teething toys with the image of His Majesty on them! Slair paused, then asked cautiously,「Uh… what if someone accidentally stepped on the Book of Dragons ?」

「Well, the lightest penalty is going to be chopping that foot off.」

「Darry, stop frightening this little guy.」 Enya walked past them with a giant lion head in her arms,「No one is going to chop off your foot, Slair. This is Wall. You can hardly find someone who hadn’t blasphemy the Dragon God. As long as you have the power and the skills, no one could trouble you.」

「But he has neither of them.」 Darry laughed and said,「If you count beauty as one of the qualities, then he might get something. Ah. What a pity he is a man.」

Humph, I will burn your beard when I get my magic back! Slair thought bitterly. Then he saw Enya hang the lion’s head on the inn door.

「It that… a flame lion?」 Slair got closer and touched the mane on the lion’s head. It was real.

「Do you recognize the beast?」 Darry said,「This guy is strong, knows how to breathe fire. Last winter, it ate ten of our brothers, and Grieve cut off its head. Hehe, hanging its head in front of the inn can scare some people away. 」

The flame lions living on the mainland, especially those near Wall, were nothing compared to the ones living on the dragon’s floating island. However, Slair did not know that. He recalled those behemoths could swallow magma like it was nothing. He was shocked and frightened. He touched his neck slightly, then walked back silently.

At night, when Grieve returned with a wild boar on his back, along with a bunch of rat-head birds. He was surprised that his little captive was in awe of him. Slair even made a straw bed on the floor, sat on it, and signaled that he would give the only bed back to the actual owner of the room.

「You don’t have to do this,」Grieve said as he set up a hammock in the room,「I will sleep in the hammock. You are young and weak and will get a cold if you sleep on the floor.」

Slair looked at him pitifully and then glanced at the Book of Dragons upright on the table.

Grieve smiled. He rubbed Slair’s head and said gently,「Did someone say something to you? Don’t worry. The Dragon God will forgive the sins of the ignorant, and it is your parent’s fault that you have never heard the truth.」

He picked up the Book of Dragons and solemnly put it in Slair’s hand, holding his hand and turning over the first page:「I will teach you how to read it. Do you know the characters?」

「I can read.」 Slair said. He really wanted to turn down the offer. However, he thought about hanging and dismemberment and made up his mind. He had to finish the book for his safety and physical integrity. After all, he had to return to Alex and Rhett. It was impossible to stay at Wall forever.

Grieve nodded with pleasure. The expression on his face was more satisfying than drinking honey, and he could already see the successful conversion.

「If you have trouble understanding, you could ask me,」 he said kindly,「I learned the truth of the Book of Dragons from my teacher. He was a noble warrior and a wise man who obeyed the truth. Even the local priest, Kurt, knew less than he did. By the way, is there enough light? I can ask Enya for a brighter lamp. Once you start reading the book, you just can’t wait to finish it.」

Slair’s mouth twitched. He tried to make his expression more serious — This book was so strange to him. Almost everything in the book about dragons was nonsense. However, under Grieve’s eager gaze, he could only use his proud self-control to restrain the desire to complain and responded dryly:「Eh, Yes. It is an excellent read.」

Wild humans were truly terrifying.