Published: July 31, 2025
Two chapters updated today.
This is chapter one of this story.
~Side Ryoma~
Preparations complete.
I was ready in front of the cesspit I was going to work on, a step ahead of the others. The reason being my outfit was quite conspicuous; if I walked trailing a bunch of adventurers behind me, it would only draw more attention. Besides, they all probably had their own preparations, and I wanted to confirm beforehand that no pathogens were leaking outside.
Now, I just needed to wait for the guard team that would arrive soon—ah, here they come.
Footsteps stopped, and the door leading outside opened. Three of the people from the introductory meeting entered, two of whom were Miya, the client from the recent request, and Mr. Jeff, whom I had met after work.
“Good work,” I greeted.
“Yeah, but we haven’t really done anything yet,” Jeff replied.
“Long time no see, Ryoma-kun. It seems you already know me and Jeff, but just in case, let me introduce myself. I’m Miya Cat of the catfolk. Please call me Miya,” she said, flicking her brown fur-covered ears and tail to emphasize that she was catfolk.
Next was Jeff.
“Ah, as I said before, I’m Jeff Grange. Just so you know, I wasn’t raised well. I don’t want to use stiff formal language, and you don’t need to be all formal either. Let’s just keep it casual.”
“Thank you. I’m not forcing myself anyway.”
“That’s good. Next is…”
“That would be me,” said a man I hadn’t met before. His hair was a dark brown, almost black, cut short and roughly trimmed. I hadn’t noticed much about him at the meeting, but his speech included words that sounded like something out of a period drama. The weapon he held was a sword—or rather, given its size, a tachi. It was my first time seeing such a weapon here. The bandits didn’t carry swords, so who exactly was this guy?
“I am Asagi. I left the Dragonewt village to train in swordsmanship, but now I have settled in this city and work as an adventurer. They say even a chance meeting is a bond from past lives. It’s a pleasure to meet you,” he said.
“I’m Ryoma Takebayashi. Nice to meet you. So, you’re a Dragonewt,” I said.
I had heard Dragonewts, also called dragonborn, had dragon-like features, but I hadn’t seen any of those traits on him, so I assumed he was a normal human.
Asagi seemed to notice my confusion.
“You didn’t realize I’m a Dragonewt?”
“Sorry, it’s our first meeting…”
“Don’t worry. Dragonewt traits don’t always appear in obvious places like catfolk ears or tails. Most have scales on parts of their bodies and sometimes small horns. Otherwise, they look no different from humans. Because many Dragonewts have scales in hidden areas, it’s hard to tell just by appearance. Like me.”
As he spoke, I saw scales on his neck and chest the same color as his hair. But what caught my attention more was his speech style and the weapon he carried.
“Excuse me, may I ask you something?”
Feeling it might be odd to ask about his speech style directly, I instead inquired about his hometown. He explained that the Dragonewt village was a settlement built on a distant island by a transferee—someone who came to this world in the past.
“Many Dragonewts, including myself, possess a stronger body and abundant mana compared to humans. That’s always been the case. In the past, Dragonewts behaved arrogantly and recklessly, using their strength to oppress other races.
However, the founder of our village was a sword master from the human race who possessed a body even stronger than the Dragonewts. He defeated all the Dragonewts who oppressed and stole from others. Yet, he did not kill those he defeated recklessly. The Dragonewts of that time, impressed by him, became his disciples.
Together, they moved to a deserted island where they wouldn’t threaten others and founded the village. To this day, we inherit the skills and spirit of the samurai. This is the origin story of our village, 'Island Exile,'” Asagi said.