According to Frea-san, there’s a common superstition that if you breathe in the smoke of an incense wood, you will grow taller. If I remember correctly, there was this shrine where I went to pay my first visit to the shrine a long time ago, and I heard about how the smoke of their incense would make you smarter.
Well, even though it was a common story, what’s important here isn’t the fact that Frea-san is believing a superstition, but the fact that she’s practicing it. From this, we can conclude that Frea-san wants to grow taller…… Which means that she has a complex about her current height……
As if to confirm my thoughts, looking like she had been worrying about this, Frea-san spoke.
[Please don’t laugh at me, my comrade. I understand that such stories are baseless superstitions. However, even if that’s so…… There are times when strength alone isn’t enough, and one doesn’t have any other choice but to cling to superstitions, even knowing that it is one.]
[Errr…… Of course, I wouldn’t laugh. Does Frea-san want to grow taller?]
We all have our own complexes. Even people who seem to be perfect from the outside may have some complex that only they understand.
As for this time, I don’t know if it’s because of her personality or not, but Frea-san didn’t try to deceive me and advanced with this conversation, so pretending that I didn’t hear about this isn’t an option. Then, I think the best thing to do here is to encourage the continuation of the conversation as naturally as possible.
[My comrade, the Dragons are the most diverse species in the Demon Realm. A lot of them exist everywhere, and they come in all shapes and sizes. Therefore, the Dragons can be further divided into four types according to their body size.]
[First, those less than 5m in length would be classified as small-sized types, those between 5-10m are medium-sized types, those over 10m are large-sized types, and those over 100m are colossal-sized types. And I am…… I am…… classified as a small-sized Dragon.]
Clenching her fists, a vexed expression appears on Frea-san’s face. I felt as if an extraordinary amount of emotions were held within her grasp.
[Of course, I couldn’t help but be concerned about the fact that Magnawell, as well as the other members of the Four Great Demon Dragons, are all colossal-sized Dragons. As you can imagine, it’s not that I want to become a colossal-sized dragon or anything grandiose like that. However…… I really want to at least be a medium-sized dragon.]
[I myself know that I’m being stubborn here. However, I just couldn’t give this matter up. If this were an obviously distant goal, I could give up. However, my overall length is 4m80cm…… Yes, I’m only 20cm short to be considered as a medium-sized dragon, and even if a single horn of mine were to grow longer, I might be able to reach that size, so I couldn’t give up.]
As a human, 20cm is already huge, but for the Dragon Frea-san, 20cm is a size that she could reach if she stretched.
Hearing Frea-san’s thoughts, I looked straight to her eyes and spoke.
[……Frea-san, what you’re feeling…… is something I painfully understand.]
[After all, I’m also troubled with the same problem!]
[W- What did you say!? Comrade also has the same trouble as I do?]
Yes, I’ll clearly say this here. I know exactly how Frea-san feels! In fact, I’ve been having a similar problem for a long time.
[Yes. I’m 169cm tall…… just 1cm short of 170cm. No, I understand. There are almost no people who can tell the difference of 1cm. Even if I lied and told them I’m 170cm, no one would bother to point it out…… But it’s still different! Having your 169cm or 170cm would have a big difference in your self-confidence.]
[Y- Yeah, I know what you mean. I understand you, my comrade! Even if those who don’t understand us say that “it’s just within the margin of error”…… But to the ones concerned, those margin of errors matter not!]
[That’s right. I understand it in my head. I understand that my growth period has already passed and there is little chance for me to grow taller. But every time I get a chance to measure my height at medical checkups or events like that, I would always end up hoping that I might have grown by 1cm.]
[Oh my goodness. I understand, my comrade, your anguish, your grief…… I can feel it as if it were my own!]
(T/N: Just like the difference between a 5’11.5″ and a 6″.)
At my words, Frea-san repeatedly nodded, her eyes moistening. I’m sure my eyes are probably moistening now too. It’s only because the both of us had the experience of having our expectations dashed many times that we can understand each other.
Feeling my emotions rising, I reach out my hand towards Frea-san.
[Frea-san! Let’s both work hard and never give up hope! As long as we don’t give up, our chances will never be zero!]
[My comrade!? Ahh, what reassuring words! I feel like I’ve just encountered hope for the first time in the darkness!]
With those words, Frea-san and I exchanged a firm handshake. I wonder what this feeling is…… I don’t know if you could describe it as our souls being connected or not, but I can understand why Frea-san described it as encountering hope in the darkness.
Now, a hard and strong bond has been formed between me and Frea-san. We are both people who have suffered the same pain, and yet, strill tried to stand up and fight against it…… I guess we really had formed what could be called a bond of comradeship.