I Was a Small Fish When I Reincarnated, but It Seems That I Can Become a Dragon, so I Will Do My Best - Chapter 453
Man, long flashback
10-39. A Tale from the Past 1: Encounter
“We encountered Hiwa in the Oni Village. It was called the Village of the Wicked Gate. At that time, Hiwa was still a white snake, able to understand human language, and it was treated with great care.”
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— About five hundred years ago —
It was a time of constant conflict between humans, demi-humans, devils, oni, beastmen, and others joined forces to participate in battles.
The relatively small number of beastmen had superior physical abilities, winning one fight after another. However, they suffered numerous defeats against humans who excelled in long-range magic attacks and close-combat magecraft.
Dacia, an upper-level devils, went to the Oni Village to share information and strategies.
There, in the living room they were shown to, sat a white snake.
A white snake with red eyes.
For some reason, it was sitting neatly on a cushion.
It flicked its tongue in and out, but its vision seemed sharp as it kept its eyes fixed on Dacia.
“Hey… What is this snake?”
“It’s the beautiful White Snake, isn’t it? It understands language, which is quite surprising.”
“Language? I know you’re not the type to joke around, but… It’s hard to believe all of a sudden. Hey, Renma. Do you believe it too…?”
“…As Hinata says, it must be true. There’s no choice but to believe it.”
Renma, who was wearing a black iron haori and had a wide, long katana at his right side, said so.
He had a completely black single horn and unruly red hair.
With his slightly slim face and sharp eyes alone, he seemed imposing enough to overwhelm others.
Although he seemed to have less muscle for an oni, one could sense a different kind of strength from him compared to ordinary oni.
After looking at the white snake with his blue eyes and seeing Hinata taking care of it joyfully, he sighed.
With her red single horn and black hair, she wore a plain purple-themed kimono.
Although she had a gentle expression, she, too, concealed an oni-like strength within her.
“Why did you bring a snake of all things? It’s not gonna fill our stomachs, is it?”
“Please don’t eat it, Renma-sama!”
“I won’t… eat it… Probably.”
“So, can it really understand language?”
“Let’s test it, shall we?”
Upon hearing Renma’s words, Dacia crouched down before the white snake. She raised her index finger and pointed it to the right.
“Turn to the right.”
In response, the snake’s gaze shifted to the left from Dacia’s perspective. Though it might have been the right direction from the snake’s viewpoint, Dacia muttered in her mind that she meant the other way since she was pointing with her finger. She felt somewhat belittled and grew irritated.
“Hey, this snake’s got some attitude.”
“But it did turn to the right!”
“I’m telling it to face the direction I’m pointing at!”
“Kukukuku… Look who’s pissed off?”
“Can you come closer so I can punch your face?!”
Glancing at the white snake, Dacia sighed as if to say, “Oh well.”
She started to get angry again, but she reminded herself that getting mad at a snake wouldn’t accomplish anything. She didn’t come here for this kind of thing.
“What about Enma-sama?”
“He’ll be here soon.”
“I see… So, what’s with that… iron attire of yours?”
“Oh, this? The white snake drew a picture on the ground. It looked pretty cool, so I had a craftsman make it for me. Check it out, it’s quite nice!”
Looking at the white snake, Dacia noticed that it shook its head slightly. Although what was made differed from what she expected and she found it ridiculous, they were unaware of that fact.
“Well, it does look like something an oni would wear,” Dacia admitted, and she sat on the prepared cushion.
This was the story of Dacia’s first encounter with the white snake, also known as Hiwa.
Afterwards, for some reason, they held meetings together with the white snake and decided on their future strategy. To undermine the human forces, they first planned to cut off their supply routes. Since devils excelled at gathering information, they entrusted the oni with their surprise attacks.
Enma, the lord of the Oni Village, nodded approvingly upon hearing their plan. He personally appreciated devils considering their tactics.
The massive oni with a single dark red horn praised Dacia.
“A good plan. We’ll be able to show our strength this way.”
“We can provide support from the sky and from the rear, as well as with supplies and provisions.”
“Hey, Dacia! We, the onis, find your food disgusting, so support alone is enough!”
“Renma, aren’t you the only one who doesn’t like them? Right, Hinata?”
“…Haha…”
“…I guess so.”
Even Hinata smiled wryly, and Dacia realized that Onis doesn’t like devil’s food. Meat and vegetables grown purely with magic power were luxurious to devils. Magic power even influenced the taste of food. The Demon Lord Mana delightedly consumed such concentrated food, but if it didn’t suit their taste, there was nothing they could do. Even in small matters like this, they needed to consider the soldiers; otherwise, they would voice their complaints later, and that wouldn’t be beneficial at all.
Thus, they decided to limit the supply to weapons and projectiles. Equipment differed significantly between oni and devils, so they agreed to compensate with iron and steel. Dacia initially wanted wine, but they realized that in the devil realm, wine was made using magic power and wouldn’t suit their taste, so she dropped the idea.
“Well then, that settles it.”
“Yes. This will do. When are we going?”
“Tomorrow night. According to the small devil’s information, the human military supply convoy will be spending the night nearby tomorrow. We’ll decide based on their movement speed, destination, and route. Can we trust this information?”
“Agreed. Renma, go call Engetsu and Shisui. Let’s confirm their movements.”
“Understood.”
The discussion was wrapped up, and they decided to disband for the day. Hinata offered a souvenir, but Dacia declined, saying she’d accept it after the battle was over. At that moment, she had completely forgotten about the white snake, but the next time she visited the Oni Village, Dacia would be surprised because there was a human, who should not have been there, among the oni.