Kumo Desu ga, Nani ka?

Past Arc ⑦

「Why are you taking such roundabout actions?」

In response to the man who suddenly appeared before her and also suddenly began to criticise her, Sariel simply ignored him and walked on past.

「Hey! Wait!」

Not only did he shout out something behind her, he continued to shout while chasing after her, but Sariel continued to ignore him. Of course, she knew about the shouting man, Gyurie. She was already aware that he had transformed into human shape, that his true form was a dragon, and that he was also monitoring her with clairvoyance. However, despite being monitored, so long as that didn’t conflict with her mission then Sariel would take no action to eliminate him. All the same, if he not only monitored her but attempted to cause harm then it would be a different matter, but there was no real harm with him complaining like he was right now. Ah, no, there was.

「Please be quiet in the hospital.」

Sariel stopped, looked over her shoulder and cautioned the shouting Gyurie. Hospitals should be quiet. It’s common sense. By blatantly breaking that he is causing real harm.

「I don’t give a damn about that!」

However, it seems like he was the type of person who couldn’t comprehend such common sense. The volume of his voice became even louder. Gyurie began shouting again, under the impression that if all he did was to stand in front of Sariel and speak to her then she would be inclined to listen to him. He was going on about how she should be able to heal them if she wanted to, asking her if she was really a god and so on.

Since his voice was far too loud, the doctors and nurses, and even the patients were looking at Gyurie and also Sariel who was ignoring him. They were in a small hospital in a developing nation. It was a hospital built with the support of Sariel, or to be precise by the financial support of the wealthy members of the Sariera Society who support Sariel’s work. Due to it being a small hospital, Gyurie’s voice resounded throughout the entire hospital. Annoying in the extreme.

「I shall warn you one more time. This is a hospital. It’s common sense to be quiet in a hospital.」

Interrupting Gyurie’s never ending complaints, Sariel gave him a warning. However, it seemed that Sariel’s attitude irritated Gyurie, and his already bad mood worsened to the extent that it was quite obvious.

「In addition, this is a hospital for surgery and internal medicine. This place does not deal with mental illnesses so I suggest you try a different hospital.」

With a serious expression, Sariel mocks him with biting humour. On hearing that the attendants with Sariel went “pfft”. Perhaps not liking the attitude of those attendants, Gyurie changes the target of his anger from Sariel.

「You damn inferior creatures!」

「Ah, excuse me. Nevertheless, as seen from others, just who would be judged to be the inferior one, hmm?」

The one who shifted the target of Gyurie’s anger yet again was a man accompanying Sariel. The man’s name was Foddway, and with a gentle smile on his face he was treating Gyurie with seeming contempt. Considering human lifespan, Foddway was quite old, but he carried himself with poise. Based on his appearance in accompanying Sariel he looked like a capable butler, but in fact he held the top position in a huge company. Enthused with Sariel, he was head of the list of the wealthy donors who provided financial support.

「How rude! Do you want to die!?」

「Oh my? Can’t win verbally so now you’ll resort to violence? Not being able to win verbally against those you berate as inferior, I guess you must be the kind of fool who has misunderstood just who is superior? Ahh. I guess you don’t realise that because you are a fool. Pray excuse me. I unintentionally used myself as a basis for comparison. I failed to realise the comprehension of someone inferior to me. Sorry about that. Please forgive me.」

In actual age the dragon Gyurie was the elder, but he had no chance against a demonically sly old fox who lead a huge company. Once Foddway opened his mouth once, he could keep a constant stream of abusive language going. He could even keep going without pause for a whole day, but he wouldn’t do something so pointless.

「I shall listen to you outside. This is a hospital. As Sariel-sama said, this is not a place for unrelated people to cause uproar. Or could it be, that your intellect is so inferior that you are not even able to understand something to basic?」

「Ugh!」

At Foddway’s words, Gyurie groaned. Rather belatedly he realised that the humans in the area were looking at him coldly. Well naturally. If someone raves on about gods, then like Sariel suggested, it can’t be helped if they’re thought to be insane. Even though paranormal beings like dragons existed, to the people on this planet, things like gods and the power of miracles were the stuff of fairy-tales. If a grown-up started talking about such things with a serious expression, it wouldn’t even be unusual if people pointed to him saying “what a nutcase”. But then, the first problem was that he was making a fuss inside a hospital.

Gyurie followed Foddway outside. He stubbornly keep looking over his shoulder back at Sariel many times, but Sariel didn’t pay him any attention and walked off in order to accomplish her original purpose.

「Stalkers are extremely rare here, you know.」

「Huh?」

On leaving the hospital for the nearby road with lots of people, Foddway said that.

「I’m saying that even stalkers should keep things in moderation. Couldn’t you hear me? It seems that these superior creatures that you’re talking about have poor hearing. Based on my common sense that’d be quite strange, but the world is a large place so let’s just leave it at that. Surely there is a civilization somewhere where those with poor hearing are venerated. It’s beyond my understanding though.」

When someone carelessly gives a foolish response to Foddway, this is what happens. But even this is him going easy on his victim and below his normal standard.

「Don’t slander me. My hearing isn’t poor, and in the first place I’m not a stalker either.」

「Oh my? To not even be aware of it, I guess you must be a fool.」

「Say what?」

Gyurie glares balefully at Foddway. His mood is at rock bottom. However, if he lost his temper and moved to take action, then as Foddway said it’d show that since he can’t win with words he’s just a fool who resorts to violence. Since a supreme being from the dragon race like himself wouldn’t do such a thing, he’s been pinned down by the force of argument. Besides, if he took action here then Sariel would definitely come. If that happened then this time for sure Gyurie’s life would be over.

「Sigh.」

Nevertheless, as if he wanted to shake Gyurie’s already unstable powers of reason, Foddway deliberately breathed out a sigh as if to make fun of him.

「If you’re going to claim that you yourself are supreme, then how about at least trying to achieve the common sense of the inferior and humbled human race eh, dragon-dono?」

Gyurie was about to open his mouth in fury, but before all that, Foddway’s last words preempted that. Those same words also left Gyurie dumbfounded. Gyurie had thought that Foddway was dealing with him not realising that he was a dragon. He had thought that only because Foddway didn’t know that he was able to take such a foolish attitude. However, that wasn’t the case. Foddway knew that Gyurie was a dragon, and moreover he still made a fool of him. That difference was small, yet huge.

「You bastard, you’ve been making a fool out of me while knowing that?」

「You bet I will. So long as I have a reason to make a fool out of someone, then I will do so no matter who they are.」

On seeing this old man making that declaration as if stating something obvious, Gyurie stopped holding an inferior creature in contempt for the first time. Because he was completely unable to understand him.

「At any rate, I can’t bear to talk with you as you are now. You should leave now. Then, try studying human society a little. That way you should be able to somewhat understand why I’ve branded you a stalker and made a fool out of you. If you can’t even manage that then I’ll have no hope for you. I would prefer it if you never show yourself before Sariel-sama again.」

Unilaterally ending the conversation, Foddway turned back towards the hospital and walked off. Left by himself, Gyurie could only do as he was told and left dejectedly.