I crouched my massive body, doing nothing but waiting for the girl’s sobbing to subside.
My mind was tangled with complicated thoughts.
She says she’ll die if she goes home.
What in the world could this small child have gone through to say such a thing?
The girl’s crying continued for quite some time.
Until her voice turned hoarse and cracked, she cried sorrowfully.
And finally, exhausted from crying, with not even tears left to shed, she slumped down on the floor, barely breathing in hiccups.
Her empty eyes stared blankly at a single spot on the cave floor.
I slowly and cautiously opened my mouth again.
This time, in a lower voice, trying my best not to sound threatening.
“Don’t cry.”
My voice still echoed through the cave walls, but I hoped it felt a bit calmer than before.
“It’s okay.”
The girl did not respond.
She just sat there blankly.
I waited patiently.
And after a moment, I spoke to her again.
“Why… would you die?”
It was a very simple question.
But even to answer that, it seemed the girl needed another surge of courage.
She just moved her lips for a while, then finally, in a tiny, barely connected voice, she began to speak.
“The villagers… they said I’m…”
“……”
“…cursed…”
“…”
“Because of… my eyes…”
The girl pointed to her eyes with a trembling hand.
Dark brown pupils.
They looked normal—what could be the problem?
“They said I’m a monster… that misfortune comes to the village because of me…”
“……”
“So… they offered me… as a sacrifice… to the dragon…”
The story was jumbled and disorganized, but understanding the meaning wasn’t hard.
The girl had been branded ‘cursed’ by the villagers,
And though the exact reason was unknown, it was probably due to something different about her (she said it was her eyes, but whether that was the real reason is uncertain).
Blaming the village’s misfortunes on the girl, they ended up offering her as a sacrifice to me, the so-called ‘evil dragon.’
If she went back, the villagers would surely kill her in some way.
I listened to the girl’s story in silence.
As I listened, I felt a burning rage rise from deep within.
It was anger at the foolishness and cruelty of humans.
To push all responsibility onto a mere child and drive her to death.
Even when I was human, the world was unjust, but this… this was too much.
The girl finished her story and lowered her head again.
Her small shoulders trembled slightly.
Now, it seemed like she had nothing left.
No hope, no place to return to, no one to rely on.
Only the giant ‘monster’ in front of her.
I quietly looked down at the girl.
A complex mix of pity, anger, and… an unexplainable sense of responsibility wrapped around me.
I couldn’t leave this child like this.
I had to protect her.
And not just protect her—I had to make it so that no one could ever treat her that way again.
‘I have to make her strong.’
That thought struck me powerfully.
Strong enough to protect herself, strong enough that no one could ever lay a hand on her.
But how? I knew nothing about this world’s power systems.
Magic? Swordsmanship? There was no way I could teach her that.
The only thing I knew…
!!!
Suddenly, a memory from when I was human popped into my mind.
A very simple, maybe even ridiculously dumb, training method.
But in some stories, hadn’t someone become unimaginably strong with just that?
‘100 push-ups, sit-ups—no, squats, and 10 kilometers of running.’
Why this memory surfaced, I had no idea.
But it was the only clear method I knew for “getting stronger.”
Of course, whether it would work in this fantasy world was a mystery.
It might not work at all.
But I had to try something.
Grasping at straws, I decided to give this method a shot.
I spoke to the girl again.
This time, I put a bit more force into my voice.
“I…”
The girl flinched and looked up.
“You… strong.”
I raised a front paw to point at the girl, then pointed at myself.
It meant I would make her strong.
“No one… can kill you.”
The girl stared at me with a puzzled expression, as if she didn’t understand.
I decided it’d be better to show her than explain.
I moved my massive body to a relatively flat area in the cave.
Then I gestured with my head for her to follow.
She hesitated, but eventually, she cautiously followed me.
To demonstrate, I lowered my body with my forelegs planted on the ground.
It didn’t look anything like a human push-up, but I tried to mimic it as closely as possible.
I lowered my body until my massive chest nearly touched the ground, then pushed up with all my strength.
The floor rumbled slightly with a thud.
“This.”
I pointed at my movement.
“A hundred times.”
The girl stared at me, wide-eyed.
She looked like she was thinking, What in the world is this giant monster doing?
Of course.
It must’ve been a bizarre motion she’d never seen before.
I repeated the movement once more to demonstrate.
Then I motioned to her with a nod.
Try it.
The girl fidgeted uncertainly, unsure of what to do.
I didn’t rush her—I waited.
After a moment, she very cautiously began to imitate me clumsily.
She got down and planted her small hands on the ground, but her skinny arms barely had the strength to support her.
She grunted, trying to bend her arms, but her body barely lowered.
“Pfft…”
I accidentally let out something like a snort.
The girl looked at me in surprise.
I quickly composed my expression and nodded again.
It meant for her to continue.
The girl, almost in tears, attempted what could barely be called a push-up.
Once, twice, maybe three times? The girl collapsed onto the floor, completely exhausted.
Her small shoulders trembled as she gasped for breath.
‘…This might be harder than I thought.’
Seeing her condition, I wondered if I needed to revise my plan.
But since we had started, we had to see it through.
I moved on to the next exercise.
This time it was squats.
Once again, I demonstrated the movement myself.
Bending and straightening my massive hind legs probably looked even more ridiculous than the push-ups.
“This too… one hundred times.”
The girl now had an almost vacant expression.
Her face clearly showed the thought: Why is this monster making me do these weird things?
But she couldn’t resist and began to mimic the squats with trembling legs.
As expected, she couldn’t do many and kept collapsing.
The final task was running.
Ten kilometers.
Of course, there was no way I could make that child run ten kilometers right away.
I pointed around the wide space inside the cave.
“Here… run. Keep going.”
I didn’t specify how long or how fast.
It simply meant: run until you’re exhausted.
The girl began to run, nearly crying.
Her steps were staggering, and she looked like she might fall at any moment.
After only a few laps, she collapsed to the ground, gasping.
Her entire body was soaked with sweat, and her face was a mess of tears and sweat.
I silently looked down at the fallen girl.
Was it too much from the first day? But to become stronger, this was necessary.
I believed this was the only way I could protect her.
Even if it seemed like it was only causing her pain right now.
I waited until the girl caught her breath.
Then I helped her stand again.
The day’s training wasn’t over yet.
One hundred push-ups, one hundred squats, ten kilometers of running.
This would become her daily routine from now on.
In the girl’s eyes, there was deep despair — and a faint trace of doubt.
Can I really… become stronger by doing this?
Even I couldn’t be sure.
But I had to believe.
And I had to make the girl believe, too.
Because this was the only way we could survive.
In the cave, only the girl’s rough breathing and my quiet encouragement echoed.
So passed the strange and harsh first day of training.
Looking down at the girl collapsed on the cave floor, I let out a deep sigh.
I wondered if I had pushed her too hard from day one, but there was no helping it.
If she wanted to go out into the world and protect herself with that fragile body, she had to endure this much pain.
But first, there was a more immediate issue to address.
She must be hungry.
She had used up what little energy she had left through training.
With an empty stomach, not only would she be unable to train tomorrow, but even survival would be at risk.
Next to water, food was the most urgent need.
Nutritious food.
I need to hunt.
I made up my mind.
In a situation where we didn’t know where to find fruits or vegetables or even if they were edible, the most reliable way to secure food was still hunting.
The problem was how to hunt, how to bring it back, and how to feed her.
Hunting itself probably wouldn’t be an issue.
With this massive body, sharp claws, and powerful jaws, I could easily overpower most beasts.
What worried me was the shock the girl might experience from the hunt or its result.
The smell of blood, animal corpses… it might terrify her even more.
As cleanly as possible…
I had to be careful in choosing the prey.
Nothing too big or grotesque.
And if possible, I had to end it in one blow to avoid unnecessary suffering or bloody scenes.
And I needed to leave the cave.
I had to tell the girl I’d be gone for a bit.
Otherwise, she might think I’d abandoned her, or worse — that I’d left to eat her later.
I approached the girl, who was still gasping for air, and spoke in the gentlest voice I could manage.
“I… just for a bit… outside.”
The girl flinched and looked up at me.
“Food… I’ll bring some.”
I wasn’t sure if she understood.
Her eyes still looked anxious, but it seemed like she nodded.
Without waiting for more of a reaction, I quietly turned and walked toward the cave entrance.
It was the first time in hundreds of years that I stepped outside the cave.
The closer I got to the entrance, the more I felt the air from outside.
Unlike the cool, stagnant air inside the cave, this was fresh and alive.
There was a faint mix of grass, soil, and some unknown flower scents.
Finally, I reached the cave entrance.
Blinding sunlight poured in.
I squinted for a moment, adjusting to the light, then looked out at the scenery.
An endlessly stretching, dense forest.
Massive trees towered toward the sky, packed closely together, with unknown vines and bushes thriving between them.
In the distance, I could faintly see a rugged-looking mountain range.
It seemed I had awakened in the middle of a deep forest.