"Boy, do you want that?"
My words were sincere as I asked him that.
I closed my eyes while I held him in my arms.
The boy stayed silent.
I knew he was shocked at that moment.
I knew.
"Whattt? Who are you calling a boy? Have you lost your mind?!"
Suddenly, I heard a very rough and hoarse voice coming from in front of me.
It sounded angry and annoyed.
Who was that?
I asked myself that in my mind and immediately raised my head.
I looked around the room, but there was no one there.
There was only me and the boy.
So where did that voice come from?
"Look down, you little bastard."
I lowered my gaze toward the frowning boy in front of me, while I could not stop my shock.
"What, wait... what?"
After that, he started throwing out one rude word after another like a fountain or a waterfall.
"So you want to adopt me, huh? You bastard, when I reached the age of seventy, you were still a baby peeing on yourself. How old are you to think you can become my father? I am your father! You have not even reached your first hundred years, so how dare you, you lowly human? If the Pact of Creation had not ended, and if I did not have some curiosity about you, I would never have saved you, you bastard..."
He kept saying this and that, insulting me with all kinds of words, and spitting with every word he said.
I stayed stunned as I looked at that scene, which felt surreal.
A small boy with childish features was shouting rude words in a hoarse voice that was even deeper than mine.
And what else had he said?
That he was older than seventy...
Am I still asleep?
Yes, maybe I am.
Everything that has happened makes me feel as if all of this is only a dream.
After all that noise lasted for a while, it finally ended, and silence fell.
We exchanged looks in that strange atmosphere.
"What are you?"
That was what I wanted to ask him.
"Me?"
He raised his nose and pointed at himself, then answered in a proud and arrogant tone,
"I am Gregor the dwarf. My race is the noblest race in the world."
A faint laugh escaped from the corner of his mouth, and he continued,
"It just so happened that I found your poor injured body while I was searching for the sleep flower. You know? I have not seen any living creature for years. And as for humans, I have not seen any of them for a very long time. I have no interest in them to go looking for them, but since you came to me with your own two feet, I helped you. Of course, that was not without a price. I put your body through a few examinations."
The moment he said his last sentence, I began touching my body.
What kind of strange experiments had he done to me while I was unconscious?
It felt as if he had read my thoughts when he said,
"It was only an external examination. Do not worry."
"So where did you come from, human?"
It was as if he was not the same person who had been spraying his spit around earlier.
His personality had changed completely, with his calm speech and his arrogant air.
I answered in a careful tone,
"From Clover Village, near the northern border of the forest. Ah, and my name is Jires. Please call me Jires."
I could not deal with my savior without showing any manners.
"So, human Jires, when you feel well enough, you may leave... Hmm, you do not know this place. I can guide you to the nearest human town, and you can return home from there... I will come back later. I have work to do."
His feet carried him outside while his words stayed behind in the room.
Silence filled the room again, and as I sat back down on the bed, I began remembering everything that had happened earlier.
Gregor the dwarf's angry expressions on that childish face, and his proud expressions when he introduced himself, he did not look like someone older than seventy at all.
He looked exactly like his features suggested.
A little boy.
As I thought about that, a soft laugh escaped my mouth, then that soft laugh grew until it filled the whole room.
I laughed from the heart.
Then suddenly, my expression changed, and confusion filled the air around me.
Dwarves?
Half-wolves?
I also heard him say the Pact of Creation.
What did he mean by that?
Was this even the same world I had been living in?
To solve this confusion, I decided to wait for Gregor the dwarf to return.
But unexpectedly, at that moment, I began to feel sleepy.
My eyelids tried to close, and I fought it for a while, but in the end I could not resist, and I found myself sinking into another sleep.
...
There was no dream at all.
Only darkness covered my sight.
When I regained consciousness, I opened my eyes to the room I had been in.
Only now did I notice how short the bed I had slept on was!
Well, that made sense, since it was the home of a dwarf... a dwarf, huh?
Where was he?
Had he not come back yet?
I stared around the room, and everything was exactly as I had left it before sleeping.
So he had not returned yet.
Fine, then I would wait for him in that case.
After some amount of time passed, though I did not know how long, I realized just how slow time could be.
I would have checked my pocket watch, but I did not know where Gregor had put my clothes, since after removing them, he had wrapped me in linen cloth.
I got out of bed and stood up to look for my clothes.
The room was not big, so there were not many places to search.
There was only a small cabinet facing the bed, and some drawers near the door, so I moved toward them to search.
"Wait! What am I doing? It is not polite to search in another person's house. Just the fact that he saved me deserves great gratitude. Touching his things would be far too rude."
And before I could even touch the cabinet handle, I went back and lay down on the bed.
Right after that, the door opened, and a short boy came in.
He looked a little plump, with somewhat large limbs.
Why had I not noticed that before?
Or had I only failed to notice because I never thought he was a creature mentioned only in stories and legends?
Maybe...
"So, have you gotten a little better? I know you have gotten better, because I am the one who healed you."
What he said should have sounded like before, with that proud and arrogant tone, but instead, his voice was flat, and even his face looked disappointed.
"Excuse me, Mr. Gregor, did something happen?"
"Ah, what? Ah yes, well, it is only a failed experiment. Do not worry... Anyway, take this. I fixed it for you."
Gregor took something from his pocket, stretched his arm toward me, then opened his hand.
It was my pocket watch.
I did not understand, so I looked at him with a confused expression.
Then he added,
"When I changed your clothes, I found it. It was broken and not working, so I fixed it. Even though its system was simple, repairing it was a little fun."
"You must truly be a great dwarf, Mr. Gregor. I really do not know how to repay this debt. Thank you."
"Oh, human, you have a shining tongue. You truly speak well. But what you said is the truth. I really am a great person."
With that, he burst into loud laughter, pleased with himself.
I did not want to interrupt him, but I felt the urge to ask,
"Speaking of that, Mr. Gregor, how long have I been here?"
"Hmm, it was... umm... three nights... umm four, umm... ah yes, it was exactly four nights. Yes, you have been here for four nights. You were unconscious for three full nights, and last night was the fourth, and today will be the fifth."
He spoke with some restlessness while pressing his temple, trying to remember.
"W-what!! Are you serious!!?"
"Hmm? What? Do you doubt my memory, human? At your age, I had already memorized your whole history, so how can you doubt me?"
"Please, sir, I want to leave now. I am fine. Umm... could you bring me my clothes, please..."
"Oh, no problem. They are here."
He walked slowly toward the small cabinet in front of the bed and opened its door with a faint but clear creak.
...Oh, so they were there...
He took some clothes and threw them toward me, and with one quick look, I realized they were not my clothes.
"Your clothes were also worn out and torn. They were not fit to be worn, so wear these instead."
"Mr. Gregor, you really are a kind person. I truly do not know how I should repay this kindness..."
"Oh, of course you can repay it..."
From the same cabinet, he took a small bottle, held it between the tips of his thick fingers, and showed it to me, then continued,
"Fill it with a little of your blood."
He sounded as if he was giving an order, but I did not mind, and I did not even ask for the reason.
On the contrary, I felt just how respectful Gregor was.
He could have taken whatever he wanted earlier.
He could even have killed me and stolen my organs, or left me to die in that ravine.
But he did not.
I nodded to him, then asked him for a knife.
I cut the palm of my hand a little, and as the blood dripped, I filled the bottle.
It was not very big.
It was only about half a finger long.
"Oh, human, you did not even blink while cutting your hand. That is impressive... Well then, take this ointment. Put it on your hand. The wound will heal soon. It is one of my creations."
From his pocket, he took another bottle and tossed it to me.
It was transparent, and inside it was a light green ointment.
I opened it and poured a little onto my palm, and at once, an itching feeling spread across it.
After only a few seconds, as I watched the wound slowly heal, I felt stunned!!
I mean... this was not normal at all.
"Sir, this..."
I looked at him, and the same expression was still on my face.
"You can keep the rest. I have plenty more..."
I did not say anything.
Only silence and shock...
"So then, come on, get ready. I am still keeping my promise. I will guide you to the nearest human area. I will return after an hour..."
After leaving those words behind, and with a happy smile on his face, as if he had liked my reaction, he went out again.
"Ah... am I really in the same world?..."
I asked myself that while staring at the palm of my hand, where the wound had closed, leaving behind only a small scar that looked as if it had been there for years.