Kumo desu ga, Nani ka? Past Arc ⑧

When is a dragon not a dragon? When it’s a NEET.

Past Arc ⑧

Just when did it start? Just when did Sariel start giving priority to humans over other creatures? The trigger was quite trivial.

The mission that was assigned to Sariel was the protection of primitive creatures. Being a type of angel that is combat specialised, the meaning of Sariel being assigned such a mission was that she should, in short, protect primitive creatures from other gods. The act of interfering with other gods means that, in short, the mission that was assigned to Sariel was the expulsion of gods. Similarly to the other gods, Sariel was not asked to interfere with the primitive creatures.

That’s why she simply watched over them at first. Sariel had watched over the world the whole time. However, starting from a certain point Sariel no longer simply watched over them, but began to lend a helping hand.

The trigger, really was quite trivial. It was simply, a child who she helped out with minor good intentions. She merely helped up a child who had fallen over, something that would be a stretch to be called something as great as a virtuous deed.

「Thank you!」

All that happened, was that she was thanked. Such a slight thing was where it all began.

☆
A stalker, refers to the act of following around a specific person. Understandably, the act of monitoring a specific person is also covered by that. There are different responses depending upon the country, but in developed countries it was an act that was mostly treated as a crime.

A crime. A dragon such as himself, was a criminal. Only Gyurie knew just how much of a shock that was for him. However, it would be enough to say that the impact was large.

As asked to by Foddway, in the process of studying about human common sense, Gyurie also gained knowledge about stalkers. Thus he became depressed. To think that the actions he himself had so casually done, was actually regarded as a despicable act and a crime to humans. A dragon such as himself, would be pointed out by humans as a despicable stalker behind his back. What a disgrace!

At the same time, he felt a sense of crises due to the depth of his ignorance. He became anxious about the fact that perhaps the things he had been doing until now, might in fact be seen as something absurd by other people. Driven by that anxiety, Gyurie studied everything possible about human common sense and customs.

Dragons would not normally do such a thing. They would not be shaken by how humans saw them. It was obvious that humans would regard dragons as being divine. Since dragons were clearly supreme beings after all. It was also obvious that humans would regard dragons as being strange. Dragons, as supreme beings, would obviously be beyond the understanding of stunted beings like mere humans. Humans are fools because they are unable to understand dragons, and a dragon’s actions cannot possibly be wrong. Such things are normal for dragons.

However, in contradiction to that, Gyurie’s heart was disturbed by the words of humans, and he studied human culture. From that point on his fellow dragons began to regard him as strange. As a supreme being, what need is there for a dragon to study the life of inferior creatures? As a supreme being, why does a dragon need to fit in with inferior creatures? It’s fine between dragons, but if anyone has to fit in it should be those inferior creatures who should match themselves to dragons. Despite that, Gyurie didn’t believe that what he was doing was wrong.

Until Gyurie had met Sariel he had believed that dragons were indeed supreme beings and hadn’t doubted that. On meeting Sariel a tear had formed in that way of thinking, and on being defeated in arguments with Foddway that tear became even bigger. Dragons were certainly mighty and great. However, were they really supreme beings in the end? Despite being inferior to Sariel in combat, and losing to Foddway in words? Perhaps there are races that are superior to dragons that I’m simply not aware of?

To dragons such thoughts were heresy, but Gyurie was fully satisfied with that. There was no doubt that dragons were extremely advanced beings. However, while that might be true, he had decided that it was overly hasty to arbitrarily declare that other creatures were inferior. In which case, wouldn’t it be better to learn from the humans who he had not taken the least bit notice of until now, having considered them inferior and contemptible? The more that question drove him to study humans the more his beliefs changed.

Despite the excellence of dragons, they didn’t attempt to make progress. Since even if they don’t attempt to consciously do so, they will naturally improve in strength and knowledge as time goes by. And after a certain amount of time goes by, their intelligence will also develop in its own way. Precisely because they have enough time to be called an eternity, they are a species that can evolve to their peak potential without even trying to rush. That’s how dragons are.

In comparison, humans have no time to spare. From a dragon’s point of view, an entire human’s lifetime goes by in just an instant, so their lives burn out in such a instant. Their whole life is bustling with action, and they take the concept of living seriously, rejoicing in life. While dragons spend their time in idleness, humans are taking action to a shocking degree. Even if the end result is trivial from a dragon’s point of view, humans live. They live life to the full.

It seems that humans call people who do nothing and spend their time in idleness, a NEET. I see, going by that theory then all dragons are NEETs. Realising that, Gyurie secretly smiled. No matter how big a difference in strength they can boast of, it’s inevitable for them to be made fun of and treated as nothing more than NEETs and even stalkers.

While dragons are being NEETs, humans are living desperately. As a race, dragons are superior. That is the undoubted truth. However, while that may be true, Gyurie was no longer able to look down upon humans as inferior creatures. If dragons simply rest on their laurels using the strength of their race, some day humans might give them a wake-up call or otherwise cause them to feel a sense of crisis. Even if that is over-thinking things, there are many things that can be learned from how humans live.

To thank her for giving him the chance to realise this. To apologise for what he had done until now. And most of all, to verify the answer, Gyurie made up his mind to visit Sariel once again. To verify the answer for why Sariel won’t use her powers as a god.

Translation notes:

In case it’s not clear, in Japanese, “NEET” is often used more as a pejorative rather than a technical term. It’s not uncommon for English words to used in somewhat different ways in Japanese.