Translator: Salkryn Translation Checker/Editor: Arocks141
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If you are reading from a pirate or aggregator site, please read from the translator’s site: yado-inn (dot) com I have to put the link like this or else the bots will remove it, sorry 🙁
It was a few days after I picked up Gonsuke and started to take care of him.
My grandmother called out to me as I was watching videos on my phone, laughing carelessly.
“Tetsu-bo, take this.”
“Hm?”
She removed something which looked like a snake’s skin from her wallet.
“Your snake molted, if you carry the shed skin it will give you good luck.”
But Gonsuke isn’t a snake, he’s a lizard.
“All right.”
All things considered, Gonsuke had quickly grown accustomed to both people and cats, despite being abandoned the way he was.
He even seemed to be showing affection towards them.
According to what I’d seen on the net, lizards didn’t usually form bonds the way dogs and cats did, but Gonsuke definitely seemed affectionate.
Oh, not that it really matters, but “Tetsu” is me.
My real name is “Thesaurus”.
It even says that on the official documents. “Thesaurus”.
Well, I can’t say much about that, other than it’s hard for most people to say. Adults usually call me “Tetsu-bo”, and my friends just call me “Tetsu”.
By the way, Gonsuke, who shed the skin Grandma handed to me, was sitting proudly on my head. He had grown a little larger when he molted.
“Bigger” is relative, though. He was still small enough to fit in the palm of my hand.
Could he even be seen from up there?
I could only see him because he was reflected in the twin horns of my grandmother, an ogre, who had kept them polished to a mirror shine.
Grandma gently stroked Gonsuke, who was sitting on my head.
Gonsuke, in turn, looked quite pleased by this.
“Ku~urururu~u”
He let loose an adorable cry.
“Oh, there’s a strange bump on his back.”
My grandmother pulled back her hand, murmuring in concern.
Gonsuke, who was enjoying being patted, looked at my grandmother with displeasure when she stopped.
No, not that. Gonsuke sometimes played videos on my phone.
I’d been watching him closely.
He was a very smart lizard.
I picked Gonsuke up from my head and looked at his back.
Yes, there were definitely bumps on his back, something like a camel’s humps or maybe dorsal fins.
“Huh, on his head as well?”
My grandmother pointed out further.
Indeed, there were sharp protrusions emerging from his head as well.
“Huh. Well, I remembered hearing that the selective breeding of animals for pets had been making strides in recent years, maybe Gonsuke was a lizard that was bred to look like a dragon when it grew up.”
Thus I reassured myself with a light heart.
A real dragon would be far too expensive to take care of.
Only the very rich would be able to keep such an animal as a pet.
Although it depended a bit on the breed, normally owning a dragon was a sort of status symbol.
There was also a race called the Ryujin1 tribe, but their relation with dragons was more guardians than owners2.
As their names imply, the Ryujin and Mori3 are demi-human races, possessed of higher magical power and intelligence than humans.
Groups that were born winning the game of life.
Races like that ran many large companies, were very well-educated, and naturally produced many rich and influential people.
There were many humans in the upper classes as well.
There were also many Ryujin and Mori that were highly conscious of their perceived status.
It was that sort of upper-class people who bred and kept dragons as pets.
Much like dogs and cats, some pet stores sold dragons freshly-hatched from eggs.
The price was high.
Even the cheapest breed of dragon cost as much as two brand-new cultivators.4
Maybe cultivators don’t mean much if you’re not a farmer.
They cost about as much as two new luxury cars.
I had no idea what was required to raise them, either, but I had heard that it was very difficult.
Reptiles molt as they grow, but in the case of dragons it’s referred to as “evolution”.
Apparently, there were many types of pet dragons, with varying size according to their breed.
However, buying pets from a store was pretty much out of the question in the first place in my household, since we were lower-class.
My cat Pon came from a stray that gave birth in a shed on our farm.
She had a very friendly personality, and when she noticed that we liked her, she was given a collar and had reigned over our house ever since.
By the way, Pon’s food bill was paid by cutting off my dad’s pocket money.
Because of Pon, my father had to quit both smoking and drinking.
“A specialty breed, huh. I don’t really know what type, though. Well, since you decided to take care of it, you’re responsible for the long haul.”
My grandmother, as well.
“I know.”
Gonsuke’s food costs came out of my pocket money.
But he didn’t eat any insects, unlike what you might expect from a lizard.
As soon as you took your eyes off him, he’d scarf down grilled fish or raw meat.
The previous day, my mother caught him stealing food, and I was scolded for it.
“Don’t think you can just throw it away again if it becomes too troublesome.”
“I know.”
I understood why my grandmother was so insistent.
Because of the story about the kitten.
And because I had picked up Gonsuke after someone had already thrown him away as garbage.
I’m really looking forward to seeing how cool Gonsuke looks after he molts again.
That’s what I thought at the time, at least.
If you are reading from a pirate or aggregator site, please read from the translator’s site: yado-inn (dot) com I have to put the link like this or else the bots will remove it, sorry 🙁
- Salkryn: Could be interpreted as Dragonkin, dragon-people, or dragon followers. Keeping as Ryujin because it sounds better.
- Salkryn: Literally “a monkey and horse” relationship. It was traditional in both Japan and China to keep a monkey in the stables with the horses, since monkeys were believed to prevent diseases and other problems in horses. Horse breeders in Europe/America had goats as companion animals for horses (“getting your goat” referred to stealing the goat from another stable before a race to make their horses perform worse). In modern times, the equivalent might be emotional support dogs for cheetahs in zoos.
- Salkryn: Forest people. Perhaps dryads or similar. Keeping as Mori since there’s no detailed description to go off of, and it sounds better than “forest people”.
- Salkryn: Tractors. For reference, a new John Deere cultivator can go from anywhere from $50-100K US, or roughly 5-10 million yen.
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