247 – Partner’s Humanisation

I explain the plan to my partner.

“Guuoh, guuoh”

You’re going to turn into a human after this, okay? If that goes well, you’ll then head into the anti-dragon-god village and gather information.
Under no circumstances should you do anything extra, okay? I’ll give you as much instruction as I can, so please try to follow them.

“Gaah!”
『Understood! Leave it to me! I’ll do it!』

She seems strangely enthusiastic.
Somehow that’s even more worrying than if she was half-hearted about it, but it’ll be okay right?

Shouldn’t I be the one to go after all? I guess just an experiment to see if she can even humanise should be fine.
There’s a decent chance only I can humanise, so I’ll save the thinking for after.
It’ll cost some MP, but if I stop it quickly enough, it’ll be full again soon thanks to my [Automatic MP Recovery] characteristic skill.

Are you ready? I’m starting.
I ask her mentally, and she quickly nods twice.
Hurry up and do it, she’s telling me.
Her overflowing curiosity is great and all, but…

I use [Humanisation Technique], and heat runs through my body.
As though contracting under the heat, my body shrinks.

This is it.
I try to force my head down with all my strength.

“GuoOOOOOoOHoOOhh!”

Sharp pain shoots through my head.
It hurts! It seriously hurts! Is it going alright? Last time we did this, she was cried out.
It feels like my head has sunk into my shoulders, but it’ll be able to go back, right?

Through a narrow window to the world, I’m able to make out my partner’s face.
She looks like a human-lizard cross, or a lizardman.
Is that as far as [Humanization Technique] will go with her?

Then, as if dissolved by the heat, the sensation of my head disappears.
In the midst of the vague sensations I’m left with, a sense of sight rises to the surface.
At first it’s unclear, as though I’m looking through a kaleidoscope, but as time passes I gradually become able to make out details.
However, I can’t move my eyes.
I can’t close them either.

What happened? How’d the [Humanisation Technique] go? I try raising a hand to see, it doesn’t obey me.
Instead, the hand moves on its own, touching the area around the cheeks.

“Ngaah!”

A large, dragon-like yawn.
A high, soprano voice… Ah, it’s my partner.
No mistaking it.

So we share our sense.
That’s a relief.
If she had all of them to herself, it would be the worst.

As predicted, my partner’s female.
Though maybe it’s not quite right to call her female, since we share a body.
She’s the female model.
How puzzling.

“Aah, ah, ah, aah! Ohh, voice, my voice is coming out! And my arms are moving! Wicked, this is awesome!”

For that matter, you know how to speak? I guess we share characteristic skills.
Though if there are exceptions, I wouldn’t be surprised.

“Awesome, this is awesome! But this, it’s like my own body!”

Squealing with joy, she feels her shoulders and thighs.
Rather than that, I’d like her to check her appearance in the river.

“Gaah!”

She lets out a short reply and looks in the river.

Compared to my humanised form, she’s a fair bit shorter.
About 160cm.
Her hair hangs to her waist, and her skin is pale with a few scales.
Two small horns are spouting from her head.

Hrmm… Horns and scales… Would the Lithovar people be able to overlook this? It should be okay, seeing as the humanised manticore was able to get medical treatment.
If it’s a no-go then it’s a no-go; even in the worst case we can just run away.
Even with our status halved, against humans we should be fine.

Her face looks well proportioned.
Her eyes are bright, and her nose and mouth are well balanced.
Compared to me, she’s got a much more elegant body.
Because of her eyes and physique, she looks quite young, but she’s at the level where she could pass for a beauty… If it  wasn’t for the horns and scales, information gathering would be a cinch.

She’s got feminine curves, so I’m reluctant to stare so much… Going to the village like this will be embarrassing.

“Gaa~! Ga~! Gahaa~!”

She brings her face closer to the river and opens her eyes wide, playing with her cheeks.

That reminds me, partner, weren’t there some torn clothes around here? They’re better than nothing, so do you mind putting them on?

“Hmm…”

She grabs the clothes and wrings them out to remove some water.
After a slight struggle, she succeeds in equipping them.
In the process, I hear the sound of something ripping, but ignore it.

She checks her appearance with the clothes on, twisting her body as she peers at the water’s surface.
We should hurry up and get to the village.
The longest we can maintain humanisation is an hour at most.
We need to go there and get back fast.

There’s the tub, so I don’t think the village should be further than fifteen minutes away.
Noone would go out of their way to choose a specific point on the river to wash their clothes, so I expect this spot is on the most direct route from the village to the river.
In other words, there shouldn’t be any need to make any turns.
We’ve got [Presence Perception] too, so there not much risk of us losing our way.

If we say it takes fifteen minutes to get there and thirty-five minutes to hear what they have to say, that leaves us with ten minutes to get the hell out.
Do you understand, partner?

“Gaa?”

She tilts her head… Ah, right.
For now, just hurry towards the village.
We might find some footprints or tracks, so try to make your field of vision as wide as possible.

Not yet used to human legs, she staggers as she runs, her legs quivering… I want to tell her to hurry up, but there’s no point making her do the impossible.
Her accepting my help at all is plenty.

After a few minutes have passed, I notice three humans with [Presence Perception].
I wonder if it’s the same people who ran away from me earlier.
It doesn’t seem like she’s noticed them yet, so I’ll let her know their direction and numbers.

【Characteristic Skill [Mutual Understanding] has risen from level 2 to 3.】

Nice, it levelled up.
Understanding each other’s super important, so I want it to keep going up.
Though saying that, we’ve yet to inconvenienced by it, really.

Anyway, now we need to get to the village and then, even if it’s hard, gather information.
I’m counting on you, partner.
I’ll think about what to say, then you relay it as naturally as you can.

“Gaah!”

Even in the worst case scenario, please don’t attack them.
Take the fastest way out and run.
If we make things get complicated, it’ll be the worst.
If we mess up, the gap between the dragon-god faction and the anti-dragon-god faction could widen.

As we chase after the trio, I soon notice a lot more presences.
We must be getting close.
The anti-dragon-god-village-theory is looking even stronger.
Alright, from here on we have to push through