Chapter 23

Character count (including spaces and line breaks): 4345 characters

Character count (excluding spaces and line breaks): 4019 characters

Finally, the second part is complete.

Well, updates had stopped since November 2019, but I've made changes and additions, so if you haven't seen it in a while, you might want to start from around chapter 35. Please check it out.

Nodo was walking in the darkness.

He didn't know where he was heading, but he didn't stop walking.

What am I doing? I feel like I'm forgetting something.

Such a vague feeling lingered in his mind, but he couldn't figure out what it was.

It was pitch black.

However, he didn't feel any fear.

He naturally understood that he was heading deeper into the darkness, and Nodo continued walking.

How long had he been walking? As he walked down the dark path, he reached a place where a large river flowed.

Nodo somehow knew he needed to get to the other side.

There was no reason, but he just thought that anyone who came here should cross the river.

Looking around, there was no boat.

With no choice, Nodo sighed and decided to step into the river.

The water was pleasantly cold.

His ankles felt cool, and it felt as if all the fatigue in his body was being healed.

Thinking that it would feel even better if he immersed himself more, Nodo took a step forward, but then he suddenly felt uneasy about the back.

Turning around, he saw only pitch-black darkness.

The path he had taken seemed to have been swallowed by the darkness and disappeared.

Why? I feel like I've forgotten something.

But he couldn't remember what it was.

It must not be important.

Thinking this, Nodo took another step forward.

As he gradually immersed himself in the river, he felt a sense of liberation from unpleasant things.

When he was up to his knees, he felt uneasy again and turned back.

For a moment, he thought he saw something red in the pitch-black darkness.

However, when he rubbed his eyes, it was gone, and only the darkness remained.

What is it?

Nodo felt a sense of something left undone.

Yes, he felt like he needed to meet someone.

But he couldn't remember who it was.

Nodo stood there for a while, then tried to step into the river again.

However,

"--- Come back."

Startled, he turned around.

Who is it? Who is it?

But there was no one there, just the pitch-black darkness.

Nodo tried hard to remember the voice.

It felt nostalgic and reassuring.

But he couldn't remember who it belonged to.

After a while, he began to think that he might have just imagined the voice.

Yes, that must be it.

A voice whispered in his head.

Now, I must move forward.

Nodo stepped into the river for the third time. As he gradually immersed himself in the river, he felt like everything was becoming irrelevant.

When he was up to his chest, and then his neck, and then,

Feeling uneasy, he turned back one last time, and saw only pitch-black darkness.

The riverbank had disappeared, and only darkness spread before him.

Startled, he turned to the other side, but it was also filled with darkness.

What is this? What is happening?

Nodo was surrounded by terrifying darkness.

Then, he noticed something.

The water up to his chest was turning black.

The once clear river water was changing to a dark, pitch-black darkness, which gradually began to envelop his body.

The darkness grew stronger, gradually swallowing him up to his neck.

What is this?

Nodo tried to scream, but even that was impossible.

The darkness swallowed his neck, pressed against his jaw, and crept up to his mouth.

He couldn't breathe, couldn't move a finger, and involuntarily looked up to the sky.

(…?)

Then, he saw something strange.

There was a sun in the sky.

A sun that shone black. Something was flying beneath it.

What is that?

Nodo, gradually forgetting about the darkness that was swallowing him, squinted to try to identify it.

It felt very familiar.

It was circling above his head, drawing circles.

He felt like he had seen this silhouette many times.

Yes, that's right, it must be.

"Neut…"

The word, which should have been impossible to say with his mouth covered by darkness, was clearly heard.

At the same time, the silhouette seemed to react to the voice, flew towards him, and as Nodo reached out his hand, the darkness that enveloped his body slipped away.

As the silhouette approached, the surroundings gradually brightened,

and then.

§

The first thing he felt was the brightness.

Opening his eyes slightly to the light that could be felt even through his eyelids, he saw the wood grain of the ceiling.

Feeling a slight sense of déjà vu from the pattern, he let his gaze wander around the room.

Gradually, his consciousness awoke, spreading from the center of his body to the extremities.

(This is… Yes, the guest room of the Oublielle family.)

Looking around, he saw the interior of the room in the Oublielle family's mansion where he had been staying for the past few days.

Yes… I was called by my brother and visited the Albarn territory, and then,

"Spider…! It hurts…!"

The events that had occurred came flooding back to him like an electric shock, and he almost cried out.

At the same time, Nodo, who had reflexively tried to jump up and prepare for battle, was suddenly hit by a wave of intense pain.

"--- …!"

Groaning in agony, his body sank back into the soft bed.

The pillow made a soft sound, and the air in the room was stirred.

While waiting for the pain to subside, Nodo tried to sort out the situation.

(This is… indeed the guest room of the Oublielle family. There's no doubt about it.)

Not only the interior, but also his personal belongings that he had brought with him were there. He must have been left to rest in the guest room.

However, if that's the case,

"What happened to the spiders?"

The question he whispered quietly echoed in the room.

He was sure he had fought and defeated the marshal spiders… defeated them…

No, he couldn't remember. His memory was completely blank.

Nodo paused his memory search and decided to check his surroundings. His body still hurt, so he stayed in bed and focused his awareness on the surroundings.

Then, he heard a sound from outside the window.

(This is… the sound of carpentry work?)

The rhythmic sound of wood being hammered reached his ears. Additionally, the faint sounds of people's chatter could also be heard.

The sound of carpentry work suggested that the surroundings were safe. Or perhaps they were fortifying the area, but there didn't seem to be any sign of battle.

"Hmm?"

Thinking there might be something else, Nodo noticed a more peculiar sound.

It was a hissing sound, something he had heard before, and it seemed to be coming from nearby, perhaps right beside him.

Nodo then realized that his body felt unusually heavy.

He hadn't noticed it due to the pain, but he clearly felt a weight on his abdomen.

Nodo carefully and slowly raised his upper body to avoid causing more pain, and looked down at the bed he had been sleeping on.

"………………"

There was a large, disproportionate bulge on his abdomen.

Silently, he shifted his gaze to the side.

There, in a blind spot of the bed where he hadn't noticed while lying down, was something he recognized well, covered in deep green scales.

Nodo sighed and quickly pulled off the bedsheet covering his body.

And there, in the bedsheet, was the silhouette of a young dragon, now much larger after a year, sleeping soundly with its head on its master's abdomen.

No matter how many times he scolded it, this young dragon never stopped using Nodo's body as a pillow. Even when scolded, it would repeatedly try to sneak into Nodo's bed.

(I thought it had stopped doing that recently…)

Nodo took a deep breath, as if preparing to roar, but then thought better of it and decided to lie back down on the soft bed.

Exhaling deeply, he gently stroked the head of Neut, who was lying on his abdomen.

The smooth, shiny green scales felt cool under his palm.

Neut, snoring softly and looking content, made Nodo realize why he had been sleeping in the bed.

"It seems you saved me."

He wasn't sure what had happened, but this was probably the correct conclusion.

Somehow, this young dragon had saved him and the village of Albarn from a dire situation.

He would have to ask someone when they woke up.

He was sure to hear about the dragon's heroic deeds, which would surely surprise him.

He also needed to check on the safety of others. He counted the names of people he could talk to on his fingers.

Then, the Neut who had been using his abdomen as a pillow raised its head.

Its snout, which had been puffed up, snapped open, and its sleepy eyes, hidden under the green scales, caught sight of Nodo's face.

"Hey, you're awake, sleepyhead."

When Nodo spoke, the young dragon with deep green scales showed a happy expression for a moment, and then its half-open eyes widened, and it

"Kyuuuuuu!!"

opened its mouth wide and let out a loud cry, a mix of surprise and joy.

The cry echoed throughout the mansion, followed by the sound of footsteps running down the hallway, which reached Nodo's ears.

The sunlight streaming in through the window reflected off the deep green scales, making them shimmer brightly.

Phew, I'm tired. This completes the second part.

Well, the first part was completed in August, so it's been half a year... No, a year and a half?

That's ridiculous... It's true! I apparently took a year and a half to finish this after almost completing it in November 2019.

I'm really sorry. A lot has happened. (Mostly because the author is incompetent)

But, despite everything, thanks to the warm encouragement and constant urging from readers both online and in real life, I was able to finally complete the second part.

Thank you so much for your support.

And, tentatively, I plan to continue with the third part, so I would be very grateful if you could continue to support me.

I might have rushed a bit at the end, so there might be some parts that seem off. I hope you can bear with it to some extent, and if there are parts that you can't overlook, please let me know in the comments or activity reports. (To be honest, I've forgotten a lot myself, so I think it's true.)

Also, as I've mentioned in my activity reports, the comic adaptation of my work, "The Adventures of the Impoverished Noble Node," has started, and the first volume of the comic was recently released.

If you're interested, you can read the serialized version on the Comic Earth Star website, and if you can support it, I would be very grateful if you could pick up a copy.

More details are available in my activity reports.