Monster Girl Doctor Vol. 3

by Yoshino Origuchi

  “Scale-made goods aren’t enough to offend me. You can even use my fallen scales, if you so desire,” said Skadi.

  “I-I see…”

  Skadi’s tail swayed back and forth. It was so thick and long that it was hard to believe it belonged to someone so tiny. Glenn thought it might be twice as long as she was tall. It seemed possible for her to stand upright with just her tail, without any support from her lower body. Skadi seemed to be in relatively good health today, as it stood straight up on end.

  Skadi took off her veil and tried to look out at Lindworm. With her height, however, she wasn’t able to peek over the spire’s safety fence. Glenn thought it natural, considering it had been built to prevent children from falling in the first place.

  “Kunai, pick me up… Oh.”

  Glenn assumed it must have been her usual custom. Skadi turned around and gave an order, but her bodyguard wasn’t with her. Instead, she was waiting at the base of the spire. Realizing her mistake, Skadi awkwardly looked downward. Glenn could see her cheeks were a little red.

  “D-do you want me, to um, pick you up?” Glenn said, smiling as much as possible with his arms outstretched, all the while thinking how odd of a question it was to ask the centuries-old dragon that represented the city council.

  Skadi wavered slightly until she finally replied—“Please.”

  “O-okay.”

  Skadi grabbed on and held herself close to Glenn. He wondered if he’d actually be able to lift her up, but Skadi lowered her own tail and laid it on the floor. Just the extra support of her tail made lifting her easy for Glenn. Her body was delicate and light to begin with. He wondered if it was due to her heart condition.

  Skadi’s head could now clear the height of the fence, and she was able at last to survey Lindworm. For a dragon that should have been able to fly through the skies, Glenn imagined this was terribly inconvenient for her.

  He wondered what she must have felt as she was held in the arms of a human.

  Touching her lower back, the sensation was a mixture of human-like skin and hard scale. Her scales were displayed prominently from the sides of her torso to her back. They were hard and sharp, but when Glenn touched them gently, the rough, gritty sensation was rather addicting.

  Against his stomach, he could feel Skadi’s small wings. Despite the claws and scales growing on them, the sensation wasn’t particularly painful, perhaps due to the robe Skadi was wearing. The feeling of the wings’ membrane in particular was soft, like a high-quality blanket.

  Glenn had realized this before, but he once again confirmed that Skadi wasn’t wearing a single piece of underwear and was completely naked underneath her robe.

  Dragonscales were hard and their tips resembled sharp blades. If she wore clothes not suited to her body, then her scales were likely to rip them to shreds. They were unlike the velvety, smooth scales of a lamia. Glenn figured she must wear such loose clothing because her scales could easily rip it apart.

  The veil that hid her face was so no one would know she was sick, and she wore her robe to avoid the inconvenience of her scales. Glenn felt like he was unraveling the profound meaning behind Skadi’s choice in clothing.

  “Can I talk about something with you?” she asked.

  “Talk about what…?” Glenn replied.

  “About the reason I won’t undergo surgery.”

  Glenn gulped. It was something he absolutely needed to hear about.

  Still in Glenn’s arms, Skadi extended her thin hands past the tower fence. Between her arms, the picturesque scenery of Lindworm was framed before them.

  “What do you think?” she asked.

  “What do you mean…?”

  Being held in Glenn’s arms meant that Skadi’s face was very close to his. Glenn was practically close enough to brush up against her cheek, so he could clearly hear her voice.

  “Below this spire, there is the central plaza and the fountain. These four main avenues extend in four directions from the plaza. If you go a little further, you have the Central Hospital. If you head northwest, there’s the Waterways. Beginning with the Kuklo Workshop in the southern section, there’s the artisan’s district. In the northeast, the arena.”

  “I-indeed,” Glenn replied.

  “If you take the western road, there’s the harpy village in the Vivre Mountains. On the southern foot of the mountains, there are the fields of the Aluloona Plantation. If you look to the east, there’s the Vivre River. On the northern bank there’s the graveyard city where the undead live. Everyone is welcome here without discrimination, whether human or monster. That’s the kind of city Lindworm is.”

  “That’s right… I think it’s one of the best places to live on the whole continent,” Glenn replied. He didn’t embellish his words at all and spoke his truest feelings to Skadi.

  Whether human or monster, discrimination based on one’s birth or upbringing could be found everywhere. But that wasn’t the case in Lindworm. Here it was completely natural even for neighbors to be of different races.

  A city where humans and monsters living together was the norm.

  “That’s because that’s how I wanted it to be,” Skadi continued.

  “I think it’s a wonderful thing.”

  “I hated the war,” Skadi muttered.

  Glenn naturally didn’t think there was anyone that wished for war. Nevertheless, whether it was because of religious differences, the self-serving whims of politicians, or plain greed, there were times when war became desirable.

  It seemed that Skadi generally despised wars and the many lives that were lost because of them—whether they were the lives of monsters or of humans.

  “I’m a dragon,” Skadi continued.

  “Yes, I know,” replied Glenn.

  “I couldn’t help but find it strange. Why did humans and monsters fight? When I had my wings, I was always watching the conflicts between humans and monsters from far up in the heavens. Looking down from the sky, I couldn’t help but think of territorial quarreling and racial barriers as trivial and insignificant. And yet, both sides spilled each other’s blood and killed each other. In the more than a thousand years I have lived, it has always been that way.”

  “I see.”

  “I couldn’t understand by simply looking down from the heavens, so I even went down into the sea to visit Cthulhy. That woman was always doing research about monster evolution, so she was extremely interested in my own development as a dragon. With my lack of understanding about war, the two of us had common interests. We both wanted to talk with one another.”

  Glenn assumed that this was how the two of them had developed their close relationship. It had all happened long before he had been born, but Glenn found it wonderful that a friendship that had grown from such a small beginning was still so strong.

  “Cthulhy taught me many things. There are actually two kinds of war. War brought on by greed, and war brought on by the urgency of self-preservation. I also learned that civilization moved forward when there were no wars to fight. I despised battle. But those feelings were exactly why, after witnessing countless wars, I thought about how I could end them once and for all.”

  A pacifist dragon. Glenn would describe her as compassionate—almost too compassionate. He gathered that it was precisely because of the raw power she possessed, and her status as a dragon, that she had no need to fight with anyone.

  “At times, I would stand between two armies as they were about to clash and attempt to mediate their disputes. Back then, I had the appearance of a colossal winged dragon, so both armies would simply retreat… However, as I kept intervening in the affairs of humans, it began happening, you see.”

  “You gradually changed into your current form… Is that what you’re talking about?” Glenn asked.

  “That’s the kind of being we dragons are. Our forms change according to the environment we live in. As I grew closer to humans, I became more similar to them in form as well,” Skadi replied.

  It was natur
al for organisms to adapt to suit the environment they inhabited. However, it was inconceivable for it to happen not through generational change, but all in a single organism’s lifetime. Glenn truly believed that dragons possessed possibly the most astonishing biology of any organism he knew of.

  “When my wings grew smaller, I would have been able to maintain my dragon form if I had then fled from the temperament of humans and returned to the heavens. But…I still wanted to live on the surface of our world, mingling with human and monster. I wanted to spend more time watching over everyone.”

  Skadi had sought both humanity and monsterkind. That was why, even though she was a monster, she had changed into a form resembling a human. Glenn had heard there were some dragons that could freely change their appearance between that of a dragon and that of a human, but judging by the way Skadi spoke, she could no longer return to her original draconic form.

  She had gone that far just to witness conflict and discord. Glenn wondered why she had done so, when she herself said that she despised such conflicts.

  “I saw the entire war between humans and monsters from its start one hundred years ago,” Skadi continued.

  “…………”

  “As far as I know, it was the most foolish war of all. The trigger was a trivial dispute, yet so much blood was spilled in the conflict. The continent was corrupted by all the spilled blood and leftover corpses. Having already lost my draconic form, I wasn’t able to mediate the conflict,” Skadi said, looking at her own hand.

  It was covered in scales, but it had five fingers—just like a human. Glenn wondered just how unreliable the slender arms of her half-dragon body must have appeared to Skadi.

  “I hadn’t imagined it would continue for a hundred years. There wasn’t anyone who could end it. I tried to do what I could, but in the end, what created the opportunity to end the war was the work of your father, Dr. Glenn. A mercantile executive.”

  “…That was just a coincidence,” Glenn replied. He was surprised she knew so much. But when he thought about it, it was natural for her to have known. She was the town representative, and a dragon that had lived for a thousand years.

  “It might just be coincidence. But one’s achievements should be spoken of in hindsight. As far as the actual results of his work are concerned, your father’s achievement has been a great one. Then…with the war over, I was able to do my job.”

  “Job…?” Glenn asked.

  “Creating a city without the slightest hint of war or conflict,” Skadi replied.

  A war-hating dragon, a pacifist dragon. Glenn imagined it was natural for her to think this way. She was kind. Too kind, so that even though she had lost her original draconic form, she still worried about disputes between humans and monsters.

  “There could never be another war like the previous one. That’s why I remade this town on the border between the two territories. To allow both monsters and humans to live here together, and gave it the name of a dragon. To give it the divine protection of the dragons.”

  Still in Glenn’s arms, Skadi shifted her focus to the golden dragonscale affixed to Glenn’s medicine bag. It was a talisman. So long as Glenn wore it, it was said to give the divine protection of the dragons to the wearer.

  “By remodeling a fortress city that stood along the trading routes, I made it possible for merchants to come through the city. I called on the centaurs and developed the city’s transportation system. I made the Waterways to make the city habitable for aquatic monsters. I explained my plan to build the city to Dionne and the harpy village elder. Employing Kunai as my bodyguard, I used her advice to make it possible for the undead to live here. With the Arena and Waterways driving the tourism business, many humans came and visited as well… I’m very happy.”

  It was all the result of policies Skadi had proposed with the cooperation of the city’s residents. Tisalia. Lulala. Kay and Lorna. Illy. Arahnia. Cthulhy. Memé. Skadi. And Sapphee. Glenn thought deeply about the monsters he had come into contact with. Each resident of the city had contributed to the development Skadi spoke of. They had all lived their lives in realization of Skadi’s goal.

  “Dr. Glenn. I truly want to thank you.”

  “…Huh?”

  “Cthulhy is here, and she brought you with her as well. As a city’s population grows, doctors become necessary. Nevertheless, the monster races have a wide variety in biology. There aren’t many doctors who are well versed in them all. I thought that I was putting a heavy burden on Cthulhy, but… Dr. Glenn. You’re here, too. Thanks to you, the burden she bears has grown smaller, and the people of the city are readily able to visit the doctor.”

  “Oh, no, well I’m just… I’m just doing what I need to do.”

  “As is the case with us all. Myself included. We’re all trying to fulfill our own missions. But among all of us, your achievements have been major contributions to the city,” Skadi said. She was returning to her idea that achievements should be spoken of in hindsight.

  Glenn thought that, by that logic, Skadi herself should be given credit for her achievements. She was the one who made Lindworm into the city it was today, making a place for many humans and monsters to live. She had even indirectly given Glenn the opportunity to have a practice of his own by inviting Cthulhy to the town in the first place.

  It was all the more reason to consider her someone the people of the city couldn’t lose.

  “This body is in decay. But I’m fine with that,” Skadi continued.

  Glenn didn’t hear much defeat in her voice. If that was the case, he wondered, why she was thinking this way?

  “My body is that of a dragon. Even if my form is changed, this body is sacred. Bury my remains in the earth. Endless blood was spilled in the last war, but I’m sure burying the body of a dragon will be of some help toward expelling the corruption that has seeped into the continent. Having a dragon’s corpse close to the earth is quite the valuable commodity, isn’t it? Dragons usually die in places high up, where no other being can reach, after all.”

  Glenn was speechless. What the hell kind of logic was that?

  There was technically nothing incorrect in Skadi’s words. She had exerted herself for the sake of the city. As a result, the city had seen immense development. That much Glenn could agree with. He could also comprehend the idea that this was all Skadi’s personal mission.

  Nevertheless, Skadi was saying that since she had fulfilled her mission, she should die. She had finished everything she needed to do. After everything, she had been unfortunately stricken by disease. So she believed that she should simply fade out peacefully. Was this her line of reason?

  If he was going to borrow Kunai’s words, then was this truly her “ destiny?”

  “That’s…” Glenn begin.

  “Hm?”

  “That’s not true at all,” Glenn said, seized with anger. Still holding Skadi, his arms inadvertently filled with strength. Without realizing it, he was now tightly embracing her. “Isn’t that wrong? If you were the one to make the city what it is, doesn’t that mean it’s your mission to watch over its future, too?”

  “Watch over it?”

  “Miss Kunai has been constantly concerned about your health. Dr. Cthulhy has been racking her brains nonstop in order to treat your condition. Sapphee’s prepared your anesthetic, and Memé and the other cyclops of the Kuklo Workshop have forged the necessary tools. Even the city paper that Illy delivers has articles expressing their concerns for your health. I’ve heard Lulala is singing in the plaza every night—praying for your recovery.”

  “Are you saying I should live because of how much everyone thinks of me?”

  “That’s not it. I’m not trying to push it on you, it’s just…”

  Glenn hadn’t worked out what he wanted to say. The small, yet massive life that still hung in his arms stayed silent and listened to his words. He knew he must seem diminutive and powerless to Skadi, but nevertheless, he had something that he needed to say to her—a thought
that he needed to get through to her.

  “The people here… The people here in Lindworm, they’re good people. Good monsters.”

  “Indeed. That is so,” Skadi replied.

  “You were the one who made such a city, Miss Skadi.” That’s why, he thought. “Don’t you want to see more of this city’s future? To see where a city filled with such charming people will go?”

  A human’s life was short. A dragon’s was long.

  Glenn was positive that Skadi would be able to stay at the city’s side and watch over the manifold happenings in Lindworm. Just like the draconic figure that had once watched over the fate of the war.

  “Your destiny still hasn’t ended,” Glenn said.

  “…………”

  “There’s nothing I can do to change one’s lifespan. I will agree that your body’s become weaker now that you have the form of a human, and there isn’t anything I can do about that, either. But, at the very least… This fake heart you have is an illness that I can treat. We’ve determined that it can be treated. And if that’s so, then that means you haven’t come to the end of your life.”

  Even Glenn didn’t understand the true value of a life.

  Contrary to expectations, she could continue to live on even after death. There were even stories from the far western edge of the world of dragons that moved after becoming nothing more than bone. In a city where the undead strode through the streets, the value of one’s life wasn’t something Glenn could easily determine by himself.

  “If you’re interested in making sure this city stays on its path, then please, allow us to assist you to see that goal through, Miss Skadi,” Glenn pleaded.

  “Hmm, is that so?” Skadi said, letting out a small laugh. “Hmm. I wonder if it is okay for me to live a bit longer.”

  Skadi began to want to continue living. Before continuing, Skadi looked someone far off in the distance. She was a dragon who had witnessed war, and who had built a city where monster and human could live together. Glenn wondered, where exactly was she looking? How long would she be able to watch over the future of the city?