Chapter 5: It seems that anyone can have troubles.

I am troubled.

Living in this forest is paradise for me.

I can wake up and sleep anytime I want to, I can even go on walks and play with the slimes.

And there"s no troublesome rules like in j.a.pan.

I don"t have to be considerate of others.

I don"t have to lower my head to my superiors or clients.

For someone like me who doesn"t think of living in the countryside as a pain, this forest is my oasis.

But, I am troubled.

Mulling over things, I wonder how long has it been.

Why is it that someone like me who"s always carefree getting stuck on being troubled?

That"s most probably because of the thing that happened recently.

If something like "Here I come evil dragon!" were to happen to you, obviously anyone would want to think of what happens after that.

From the beginning this forest has always been full of  "My sword shall never… YIELD!" visitors.

Although adventurers come a lot, there are also a considerable amount of magic beasts that come.

As for why magic beasts come, that is because if they eat someone stronger"Haa,haa… even that was not enough…?" than themselves they can strengthen themselves.

In other word, they can evolve or something.

And when they come to this forest to eat me, an evil dragon, it would be something like that. "I can"t reach him… to think the gap was this much…"

People like the demon lord"s underlings may come again.

That"s why I am- "I won"t give up… I absolutely won"t give up. Nevah give up[said in english]".

"Ahh, geez, You"re noisy! At least let me mull over things here!"

In front of me was an impertinent woman who keeps waving her sword in front of people.

It"s the usual female hero who keeps yelling at me.

Although she just casually set up this match, every single time she has to scream out a line, I can"t concentrate like this you know?"

"I will, I will, defeat the evil dragon, and then, everyone will, everyone will…"

"Eh~ why did you suddenly stop talking? Do you have some sort of trouble? If you"re fine with me, I"ll listen you know?"

As I talked like a dependable older bro, the female hero suddenly stopped moving.

Ah, this person must have quite the troubles.

I took a papaya-like fruit from a nearby tree, divided it and offered it to her.

"You"re talking to a dragon, don"t hold back and talk."

"…the truth is, that is, I couldn"t fulfill my goal and I"m troubled by that."

"Oi Oi, isn"t that the guy who I beat last time."

"…eeh, it"s no use if I don"t beat you or the demon lord. Even then, even then, I"m so weak that I couldn"t accomplish anything…ku-"

The hero bit her lips in frustration.

Well, I did beat the demon lord, why is that she really wants to beat me?

"Hey, as I told you last time I am at the same time an evil dragon and not. You might not believe it but I used to be human. I died a few you years ago and my soul somehow took over this body. Ever since I took this guy"s body I have never eaten a human."

"…Sorry, for you to be a former human makes me relieved. I, my head was only full of beating the evil dragon. I… how low am I…"

She"s seriously mulling too much.

Surely the pressure of the people from the town"s hope was heavy.

That"s right in the past there was also a hope-kun which everyone placed their expectations on.

He was a tokyo university graduate elite and entered the company as a company employee.

As expected, as a tokyo university graduate, everyone would place large expectations on you.

The superior that I hated the most even gave him special treatment.

But, first of all, just because you graduated from a good university it doesn"t mean that you"ll do well in your job.

A company isn"t that easy a place.

Rather, there were more people who"d bully you out of spite.

Since his results didn"t rise up as they expected, the people in the surroundings immediately started talking bad about him.

Something like "even though he came from tokyo university… useless~"

The new employee was day by day growing worse.

The amount of times he grumbled to himself was growing to a dangerous degree, so I told him.

"Take it easy! I"ll lend you my most recommended game!"

"…n"t….ouc…e"

"N? What was that?"

"I don"t wanna be comforted by someone like you who graduated from a second-rate university, is what I said! Don"t talk to me!"

Even then I"m your senior, you know?

I wanted you to atleast watch your words a bit.

Well, that guy did quit on the same day so that was that.

Well, basically, being expected of is hard in itself as well.

Being not expected of like me is also hard in itself though.

"Well, let"s take it easy? Life won"t always go the way you want it too. It"s important to respond to people"s expectations, but listening to what your heart wants is important too. Also eat that papaya."

"Ah, eh, tha,nks"

While the female hero ate the papaya, I took four more.

This place is like a southern tropical country so there"s an abundance of fruits.

I don"t like the heat, but inside the forest is cool, so I find it as the best environment for me.

"Evil dragon, you said that you also had something you were troubled over a while ago, right?"

"Well yeah, even I am a bit troubled."

"If you"re fine with me, why don"t you let me listen for a bit?"

It"s not like I"m trying to hide it or anything.

I told her the truth.

About how I can live with the slimes in peace.

If I speak frankly it would be that.

"It might be better if I leave this forest. If I did that the adventurers should also stop coming, right? But if I did that the magic beasts and wild beasts would come back. Those guys aren"t strong after all… I"m worried."

"Evil dragon, someone like you is…"

"Yes, stop stop, that kinda "that guy was actually a good guy" type thing, I don"t really need that. Rather than that, help me think up what would be good."

"I understand. What about putting up a barrier?"

"What is that? Is that even possible?"

"It"s possible, even I can do it. Although at my level, it would probably let a strong magic beast through. Although if you lend me magic power the story changes."

"Eh, I have magic power?"

It"s the first time I"m hearing of this though.

"First off all, there"s no mistake that you have it."

Ah, is it because using breath requires magic power?

Not just fire, it has other versions too, I thought that was weird.

Anyways, having magic power is convenient so it"s all good.

I asked for the female hero"s cooperation.