Dragon-san Wants a Friend

Translator: Kurehashi Aiko

I felt as though I was falling and was thrown around for a really long time, but then suddenly I returned to my body at once.

In that moment I woke up, screaming like mad and flailing my body around.

「You big, fucking idiooooootttttt~~~!!!!!!」

「…….–––– Wabuagh!?」

Looking around, it was the dead of the night and I was inside of the ruined church.

The debris was all cleared out and there were various things lined up in the corners of the room.

There, stuck in the pile of said things, there was Nectar, all pale in the face.

What happened to him!? It looked as though someone thrashed him around the place!

「Uwaaah!? I’m so sorry! Nectar, are you alright!?」

「Lava, could you please stay there for a moment!? Please!?」

I was about to change into my human form, but just then I was stopped by Nectar who pleaded to me like that.

Instead, I drew my face closer to Nectar, who was currently massaging his whole body, looking as though he was in much pain.

His blue eyes were full of tears.

「Your eyes. Oh, I wanted to see your eyes for such a long time.」

Then he hugged my face with tears coming down his own.

「I’m so glad….. I thought that you might never wake up……」

「I’m, sorry.」

Feeling Nectar’s warmth coming onto me, I realized that the words of this Stupid God must have been true, although I didn’t really wanted to believe that.

Nectar rubbed his face against me more and more, his emotions slowly getting into me.

「For how long, was I asleep?」

「Hm? Oh, it’s been more or less five years since then.」 𝐟𝙧ℯ𝑒𝒘𝐞𝒃𝗻𝒐ѵ𝘦𝑙.com

With his throat sore from all the crying, Nectar eventually managed to tell me everything which has transpired since then.

Even though it’s been roughly a few ours for me, so much time have passed in the real world.

But even though so much time have passed, Nectar was still waiting for me right here. You could get that from the sense of how clean and organized this room was.

Really, this Stupid God could have told me this before she did anything.

There were lots of things I wanted to say right about now, but for the time being I chose to stay silent, letting Nectar hug me and wait for him to gradually calm down.

He also began to gently stroke my head with his soft hand.

「N, Nectar, stop it. It tickles.」

「Ahh, it’s been so long since I was able to do this. Taking care of your body was one thing, but this is something else entirely.」

Nectar smiled at me and giggled in a weird way. Seeing that I chose to transform into a human and sat right beside him.

Yeah, I knew it, my hair was a one big mess right now. Oh well, guess I’ll just have to deal with it for now.

I thought that Nectar might get disappointed, but he looked to be far from it. His eyes were glowing brightly right about now.

「It’s been so long since I could hold you in my arms like that.」

He brushed his hand against my cheeks and leaned closer, giving me a kiss as if it was the most natural thing to do right now.

Say, Nectar, were you really missing me this badly?

I wanted to ask him that, but then there was a risk that he might start crying again.

「I’m so sorry, Lava. I think that I can now understand at least part of the pain that you must have felt that time.」

Hueh?

At first I was confused and didn’t know what he meant by that, but then I realized that he must have been talking about that time when he was gone for so long.

Indeed, this situation was rather similar to that time, but with the tables turned this time around.

I see, so Nectar must have been tormented by this grief and regret for over five years.

「It’s alright now, Nectar. I’m here.」

「But……」

Nectar was still hysterical, so I hugged him a little bit stronger than usual just to calm him down.

「It’s okay. I am here now, and I am not going anywhere. I’m glad that you were able to understand just how I felt, but please don’t dwell on that so much. It’s all in the past right now.」

The thing I was the most worried about when the Stupid God told me about the time difference was that Nectar might be torn apart by his own emotions.

And seeing Nectar right now, I was convinced that I was on the money with that.

There was Aru as well, but when it comes to love, none had more of it towards me than Nectar did.

However, Nectar blinked a few times as if he didn’t understand.

「I never really thought about that.」

Apparently Nectar didn’t know just how happy I was to see him again.

「You really have changed, you know?」

「You think so? If so, it is only thanks to you.」

「That is why I shall forgive you. I am also glad that I was able to meet you in this world.」

I confessed that with tears welling up in my eyes, and Nectar smiled gently at me.

Both of us sighed a little, and then a gentle wind started blowing, moving the leaves on the tree above our heads.

Looking up, I could see a huge tree with pinkish petals blooming all over it, and I could see the glimpses of the moon through the petal roof.

Those flowers seemed familiar. The memories from a very old past were evoked deeply inside of me.

「Cherry Blossoms……?」

「Yeah, I was told that it was the tree that would bloom at the turn of the seasons. I chose it because it resembled the trees you once showed me in your memories. It made me happy.」

While I was stunned, Nectar spoke with pride in his voice.

I didn’t really care about that. I didn’t care if it was pretty, or if it was protecting me from elements, or if it was a conductor for magic. The only thing that mattered for me was the fact that Nectar chose it himself. That made me happy.

However, even though I had no special feelings to Cherry Blossoms in the past, seeing it now filled my hard with strange sense of peace and tranquility.

「Lots of things happened since then, but the Earth is safe. Thanks to your efforts, we’ve managed to save the world.」

「Yeah, with every single one of you backing me up. WE have managed to save the world.」

I correct him, and Nectar’s eyes narrow slightly as he looks at me.

「I thought you would say so.」

I see, you knew I would do that, huh, Nectar?

We laugh together, and then we fall silent and just look at one another.

「I must go and break the news to everyone else right away.」

「Sure thing. –––– But before you do that. Do you mind?」

I said that to Nectar without any real context, but he just nodded his head enthusiastically.

「Sure.」

His face was a little bit flushed, but I just wanted to have him right by my side right about now.

Without saying anything, his face got closer to mine.

His kiss felt so sweet after not being able to see him for so long.

But upon hearing the loud sound of footsteps drawing near, we instinctively got separated from one another.

Right after that, a figure of a boy arrived at the scene, wearing his nightwear, breathing heavily and with his hair in disarray.

And even though he was a boy, his beauty was simply stunning.

「MOTHER ––––––!!!」

「Aru!!」

I run towards Aru and embraced him with all of my might.

Although he no longer looked like a child, for me he would always be one, no matter how his looks or personality changes.

「I heard some commotion going on and I thought it might be you!」

「Yeah, I’m sorry for getting you worried like that. You’ve grown up so much.」

I can still remember Aru as a little child, but the feeling I had about him right about now was completely different.

While I was still hugging Aru and realizing just how much he changed during those five years, there was another person coming into the church right after him.

She had brown hair that were let loose, and there was a strong sense of conviction and willpower coming from her eyes.

「Marca-chan, is that you?」

「Yes, that is right, Lava-san. Good morning.」

She said while blushing slightly. She was wearing a cardigan over her nightgown.

Yes, it seems that Marca-chan really understood. That there are times when you should leave the adults to their own devices for some time.

「I’m glad to see you, but why are you here?」

「Oh, yes, that’s right. I am currently practicing under Nectar-san in order to become a medical magician. We are currently living nearby in a small house.」

Yeah, that’s right. It’s been five years, so it was high time for those kids to start thinking about their futures.

Even though she may have been Nectar’s apprentice for now, she still looks at him with surprise.

「Yeah, guess it cannot really be helped. Aru felt a little bit lonely, so it just kind of…… But I’m sure it’s going to be better from now on!」

While we were talking just like that about Aru, Nectar was currently undergoing a sort of mental breakdown because of having been interrupted in the best possible moment. He was sitting in the corner, bashing his head against the floor.

But still, those were some really nostalgic magical waves that were in the air here.

Gentle wind blows the fallen cherry blossom petals in the air.

「Lava––––––!!!」

Letting out a cry like that, it was none other than Ligurila, suddenly descending from the ceiling.

She was also bringing Senjiro with her, currently being nicely tied up by one of Ligurila’s golden tentacles.

Their entrance was so unnatural and sudden that everyone present just kind of stood there, wondering what to say or how to react.

However, we could also see that Senjiro was wagging his tail like crazy, seemingly happy to see us.

Then there was a flash of bright light and Ligurila turned into her human form, landing right before Nectar and I.

By the way, it was at this point that Ligurila basically thre Senjiro aside, but thanks to his amazing reflexes he managed to land safely and gracefully on the ground.

「TOOK! YOU! LONG! ENOUGH!」

When she shouted that I thought that she was angry with me, but in reality she must have been worried sick, seeing as her face was flushed red and her eyes were on the verge of tears.

「Sorry, Ligurila.」

「As your punishment, I’ll force you to try on every possible cloth that I made over the last few years!」

「Uwah, talk about an overkill of a punishment.」

Not to mention that this will take us forever to accomplish, since Ligurila was taking her dress plays rather seriously.

「But the most important thing is to see you in good health, Lava-dono.」

I look at Senjiro, who should be around thirty years old by now, but his appearance hardly even changed since the last time I saw him.

Don’t tell me that……

「Sen-san, have you……?」

「Oh? Y-Yeah, umu.」

Apparently Senjiro finally made up his mind and became Ligurila’s partner. He tried to laugh it off, while Ligurila seemed to be beaming with pride. And even though it was ever so slightly annoying, I could understand the reason for her happiness.

「Uwah! Congratulations! I’m so happy for you!」

「We’ve made that decision a long time ago, but we just never got to announce it publicly.」

Ligurila pressed her breasts against Senjiro’s arm while smiling brightly, to which Senjiro just turned his head in embarrassment.

They were acting so lovey-dovey right now that I thought that I might get a heartburn any second now.

「That’s right! We have lots of celebrations to do! After all, Mikoto and Iori also got married!」

「Say what!?」

The information about Iori-kun and Mikoto’s marriage surely dropped out of nowhere, at least for me. Wait a second, where those two even dating to begin with?

「Just the other day we were participating in Lishella’s wedding as well. She got married to the lovely young man to which she was engaged to.」

「Eeeehhhh!? And I missed something like that!?」

「There’s quite a few surprises and events that took place while you were asleep.」

Lugurila was brought to tears by the memory of the ceremony. Oh well, if Lishella was accepted by her own people, then that’s what matters the most in my opinion.

I wanted to see it, I wanted to see it so bad!

My eyes began to water again, but then I felt another surge of teleportation magic.

The ones who appeared before us were none other than Kyle and Belga, with Belga being glued to Kyle’s arm.

「But I must say, Lava’s return was as flashy as always.」

「Even Kyle and Belga!?」

Kyle walked towards us, smiling wryly.

While I was shocked to see them together here, Belga came forward from Kyle’s side and gently smiled at me.

「Lava-sama, it’s good to see you again.」

What the heck!? She even addresses me with honorifics now……!?

There was one surprise after another today, and Belga continued with a sort of apologetic look on her face.

「There are still things that I can’t recall properly. It seems that the curse wasn’t the only thing that affected my memory, but the spirits themselves as well. But, umm, it seems that I put you all through a lot of trouble!!」

Belga then placed her hands together right in front of her chest and bowed down to me deeply, her hair shaking and swaying.

「Well, I’m really happy that you are calling me by my name again.」

「Uuh, umm, this is……」

There was a hand being placed right on top of Belga’s hair, stroking them and making her eyes open wide in surprise.

Of course, that hand belonged to none other than Kyle.

「Don’t be so dramatic. I already told you that you don’t need to pay that any mind.」

「But I just can’t help it! I was worried because of that all this time!」

Belga eventually managed to shake Kyle’s hand off, and after telling his that he was a nuisance, she looked at me again. But this time around here expression was different. She looked genuinely happy.

「Uwah, I never would have thought we’d be able to talk like this again.」

「Yes, umm, right.」

There are so many things that I wanted to talk about that I could hardly even contain my excitement. I wonder why is that?

「By the way, how come you all realized that I was up again?」

I could understand that Marca and Aru could hear my roars since they were inside of the nearby house.

However, they couldn’t possibly send the information about my awakening to our friends in such a short amount of time.

While I look at them all, they all had really strange faces going on about them.

Instead of each and every one of them explaining themselves, Kyle stood forward as their representative of sorts.

「…… How should we say this, we were kind of aware that you were regaining consciousness?」

「How come?」

「Sometimes, maybe when you were close to being awoken from your slumber, we could hear some noises in our heads, something similar to the cries of the soul.」

「Long story short, we all heard your voice in our dreams. Maybe all creatures with a certain kind of magical waves pattern were able to hear it.」

To their words, I could only open my mouth wide and look at them in awe.

In other words, they all heard some kind of mysterious voice that told them to come here?

「Oh, for now it may have had a small reach, but right about now the whole world might be aware of that fact. …… Your life may be a little bit hard in a short while.」

The look on Kyle’s face was really sympathetic at that moment, even though I didn’t really saw the problem here.

「I want to go the sleep again.」

「D, don’t even say that! We’re going to be in trouble if you fall asleep again!」

Said Nectar while getting up after patching himself up just enough to be able to stand up on his own.

「I’m joking, I’m not going to sleep like that ever again.」

I felt that I needed to apologize to everyone for that joke, since it was in a rather poor taste. Either that, or just run away from here.

I won’t say, that second option would be much more fun.

「No more, it really cannot be helped! I absolutely want to go and see Io-kun and Mikoto’s wedding! I want to congratulate Lishella in person! And then I want to have another girl’s party!」

「We will go to the wedding, don’t you worry.」

When Nectar declared something like that, Aru’s eyes suddenly shine.

「Does that mean we are going to celebrate the weddings of all of our friends, right? Right!?」

「And since we are all gathered here right now, how about throwing a banquet to commemorate the occasion?」

「L, leave cooking to me.」

Ligurila, Belga and Nectar all added their own thing to the pile, gradually escalating the even further and further.

「Of course I am going to help out as well.」

「Yohooo!」

It’s been over a hundred years since I could taste Belga’s home cooking. To say that I was looking forward to the occasion was a huge understatement.

I was so happy that I could scream at any moment.

「A banquet calls for alcohol, and we should get only the best kind. Umu, it will be a pleasure to drink in such a fine company.」

「Oi, oi, don’t decide things like that for everyone, will you?」

Senjiro seemed to be pretty excited about this whole thing while Kyle was trying to cool his enthusiasm just a bit.

Right next to them, Marca and Aru were discussing something in a lively manner.

「Say, say. Maybe we should also invite Gramps? He should be somewhere around Ballow, right?」

「That’s actually a lovely idea! We can use the door leading to Hibernia, so we can go right away!」

「Oh Aru? Are you going to fetch Gramps here?」

「Umm, yes, that’s right.」

I also suggested that Aru could invite Elvie over as well, but Aru only blushed in a weird fashion to that suggestion. Thankfully, no one really picke up on that reaction, since everyone else were currently busy making their own arrangements.

「If that’s the case than I am going to……

「「「「「YOU.SIT.ON.YOUR. ASS. AND. REST!!!」」」」」

「Fueh!?」

Then Nectar continued speaking, turning towards everyone present.

「For the time being, Lava, you will stay at home and rest until everything is ready.」

「Sure thing.」

I wanted to make a fuss about that, but I would never be able to drive my point across now. So for now I decided to play along.

But not being able to join in on the preparations for the party was somewhat lonely.

Together with everyone I exited the church.

The night sky spreading right in front of my eyes was really pretty.

With the world being reinforced by magic now, you could see a lot more stars in the sky than in the past, and it looked like some kind of a star chart way back from Earth.

I failed to notice that until now, but the ground seemed somehow sturdier than before as well.

This world has changed so much. But it is my home.

「Oh yeah, I do believe I forgot to say something really important.」

While we were walking, I could hear Nectar’s voice.

Looking back, my friends were all standing there, with Nectar and Aru standing right in front of them, smiling brightly.

「Lava, welcome back.」

「Yeah. I’m home, Nectar, everyone.」

Overcome with so much joy, I hold Nectar’s hand and respond with a bright smile.

Way back on Earth I was living in a country called Japan, as a simple college student.

Just as I was about to attempt a party at which I was hoping to get some friends, I slipped on a banana peel and died as a result.

Then I was reincarnated into this world as a dragon.

And somehow I ended up saving this world from an terrible end.

I was only able to do this because of my wonderful friends who were backing me up.

Furthermore, I was able to start my own family with the man I love and have a child with him.

From now on, life is going to happily continue for us all.

Next chapter is going to feature the ending of the story.