Tale of the Red Dragon Without Dragon's Might-Chapter 31 - How Dare You, Vermin
31: Chapter 31: How Dare You, Vermin
31 -31: How Dare You, Vermin
On the first day of his resolution, Leon’s life consisted of sleeping in until morning and then crawling out of his burrow in search of food.
His luck was extraordinarily good; he hunted down a deer.
Though he had no idea what kind of deer it was—only certain that it wasn’t a sika deer—it was horse-like in stature, quite large in size, and he ate it to his heart’s content, then felt sleepy after the satisfying meal and wanted to go to bed.
When he awoke, it was already night, and Leon finally remembered the decision he made yesterday—to stick to exercise, stay away from obesity, but after much hesitation decided to let it slide for today since the day was no longer complete.
Better to start afresh tomorrow.
Easier said than done.
This was the second day, and Leon caught a python in a swoop, devouring it as if it were a spicy strip, with great delight.
After eating, he planned to exercise.
He had just taken a couple of steps when the warm sunlight made it utterly impossible to move.
His excuse this time was that during daylight, it’s easy to be targeted by dangerous “Hunters,” which made it far from ideal to be active.
The best time to exercise would be at night.
Tomorrow and tomorrow, how numerous are the tomorrows.
Oh, Leon, how could you fall this much?
If only you had half the spirit from those high school days, studying by lamplight into the wee hours, or half the effort from those post-graduation days pulling all-nighters for work, having a muscular body would be within easy reach.
On the third day of his resolution,
Leon really did want to get some activity in, but as fate would have it, it started raining.
He absolutely did not want to go out on rainy days, all commitments be damned.
He hated rain, and even more, he hated the soggy mud that came with it.
However, this was the moment when the usefulness of a primitive sack became fully apparent.
It was a steady drizzle for three days, yet Leon, who hadn’t left his home for three days, was still hopping about lively.
Humans are iron, and food is steel; without a meal, one is anxious indeed.
Compared to humans, who must eat daily, Dragons don’t need to eat every day.
A full meal can last them ten days or even half a month.
The only issue is that they won’t grow any bigger without eating.
It had been raining for three days, and Leon began to doubt whether this place was suitable for his survival.
Red Dragons truly should settle in dry, hot places.
While the forest offered abundant food, it wasn’t comfortable to live in.
By the fourth day, the sky had finally cleared.
In fact, the rain had stopped in the middle of the night of the third day.
Leon couldn’t wait to go out and find food and managed to catch a giant boar.
A giant boar that could have lasted him several days was now almost half-eaten in one meal.
Carrying the remainder of the giant boar back to his nest, he could save it for tomorrow’s meal, so there was no need to hunt the next day.
This time, Leon didn’t lie down but simply rested a bit before spreading his wings and flying away.
After not moving for several days, if he didn’t get going, he felt as if he would start to rust.
When he had a primitive sack, he was too lazy to move, but now that it was almost empty, he felt the urge to be active again.
It’s remarkable how unpredictable life can be.
Leon flew a circle in the sky, not daring to fly too high or too far, especially not close to any towns.
It was then that he suddenly noticed something and curiously descended to the ground.
Leon saw the ruins of a village.
The walls of houses were torn and damaged, the street was strewn with mutilated and trampled corpses, bloody and stinking, bearing the signs of an attack by some creature merely a few nights ago.
Having nothing else to do, Leon began to rummage through the ruins of the village.
He wasn’t too interested in gold and silver treasures; he preferred books to pass the time.
It was just uncertain whether the villagers who used to live here were wealthy enough to afford books.
After some searching, Leon found neither books nor money, not even a single copper coin.
Worse still, not even the jars and pots were left intact, nor was there a good plank of wood to take back for his nest decoration—all shattered by the monster that had attacked the village.
Awooo—
Along with a howl, a creature emerged from the shadows.
The monster that attacked the village hadn’t left, or perhaps, one remained.
Leon saw a Gnoll.
The Gnoll was over two meters tall, its body covered with shaggy grey-green fur, its head resembling a hyena with yellow teeth and blood-red eyes.
It brandished a spear and had a bow slung over its back as it bared its teeth and snarled at him.
So, was this ruined village the handiwork of the Gnolls?
Indeed, Gnolls are wild humanoids.
They would attack the remote and border areas of the civilized world without warning, slaughtering and devouring the flesh and blood of their prey.
Leon was no longer human, and he felt little about the Gnolls attacking human villages, nor did he think about avenging them.
After all, the atrocity was over, otherwise, he couldn’t guarantee what he would do.
At the same time, the Gnolls were far too weak to elicit any caution from Leon; not only did he not leave, but he also approached the Gnoll, craning his neck to inspect it, just as one might draw closer to get a good look at someone walking a pet ferret during an outing.
To be honest, Leon had no malice toward the Gnolls, but who knew that the Gnolls had ideas about him.
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The origin of the Gnolls could be traced back to when the Demon Lord Yenogu managed to come to the Material Plane and wreaked havoc, a pack of ordinary hyenas followed him, clearing the remains of his killings.
These hyenas were then transformed into the first cohort of Gnolls, roaming about with Yenogu until he was banished back to the Bottomless Abyss, after which they were scattered across the world.
The Gnolls harbored not an iota of kindness or mercy in their hearts, perhaps not even fear, their murderous bloodthirst causing them to attack any creature they encountered, except for those dedicated to Yenogu and acting upon his wishes.
The King of Gnolls defiled the souls of his followers and kin, enabling them to recognize friends and foes at a glance and thus avoid immediate infighting.
Another howl.
The Gnoll raised its bow, drew an arrow, and aimed it at Leon’s head.
“What are you trying to do?”
“Do you want to attack me?”
It was only after the Gnoll’s arrowhead grazed and flew past, of course unable to harm Leon, skimming off his scales, that Leon was somewhat baffled.
Hey, how dare you?
Don’t you see who you’re dealing with?
Leon did not indulge it.
He stood up, raised his paw, unconcerned with the successive arrows flying towards him, took some effort to summon his sword, and swung it at the charging Gnoll; one cut severed one of the Gnoll’s arms, another cleaved off the other arm, and a final stroke decapitated it.
After killing the Gnoll, Leon didn’t continue searching through the ruins of the village; he yawned and walked away.
He didn’t know that not long after he left, another Gnoll discovered the corpse of the one Leon had killed and then began to howl mournfully.
If Leon were here, he would surely quip, “Just a single Cloud Piercing Arrow, yet wanting to meet an army of thousands head-on.”
