“So? Did you evolve again?”
“Yes. And now I have a skill that lets me take human form.”
“Well, that’s good.”
“Eh…?”
“So? How strong are you? What’s your rank? How strong did you get?”
“I’m rank C now.”
“Ah!? C!?”
“Be quiet. Reve is sleeping.”
“No no! Nevermind that! You’re C rank. Even I could barely beat you! You were E a while ago. How fast are you growing!? It’s weird.”
“…Let’s turn a blind eye to the fact that someone in a small country can beat a C rank. The monsters in that village where I went were too strong. There was an army spider queen. And I fought a whole bunch of those army spiders. I thought I’d die when I had to fight a C rank.”
“How come you didn’t?”
“Isn’t that just mean?”
“It’s valid… Well… Should I kill you before you turn into an unmanageable monster?”
“Mu. I’m not losing. I’m C rank, but my stats are higher than others. My level goes down when I evolve, but my stats don’t. They go up, even. Even in C rank, my stats are far above an army spider queen. I’m powerful even among C ranks.”
“…Stats? What’s that?”
“Eh… You don’t know stats?”
“Never heard of it.”
“Seriously? I figured you would, since you know ranks. Then is Appraisal a special skill of mine?”
“Eh? What? You’re still hiding a trump card?”
“A few.”
“…You really wanna go?”
“I said I’m not losing. Let’s just support Reve together.”
“It’s hard to trust you because you don’t have much motivation to do so…”
“A cute girl saved me from the brink of death. As a guy, that’s enough to risk my life.”
“…I see.”
Our conversation bounces back and forth as Reve sleeps.
She talked to me even in my snake form, so it’s important to share information.
“…U-uun…”
As we talk, Reve makes a sound, as she lies on a sofa in the office with her head on my lap.
“Hafuh.”
She makes another sound, and opens her big eyes.
She rubs them and slowly wakes up. And what she sees is a boy with white hair and eyes. That’s right, me.
Her eyes are on me.
“…”
And my eyes meet hers.
“W-who are you…?”
There’s no way for her to know who I am in my human form. I’m just some strange boy to her, that’s right in front of her face.
Reve is a little flustered, and gets away. And she looks at me with caution.
And then…
“…”
I try to talk, but I stammer because Reve talked to me. Words won’t come out.
“…W-where is Noa?”
She looks away and starts looking around. And talking about me.
“…It’s me.”
Reve started looking for me right after waking up, so I finally open my mouth.
“It’s nice to meet you… Again. I’m Noa.”
I get up and introduce myself with a bow.
“I’m your snake, your dragon alone.”
