Taro stumbles through life as a lazy, self-centered youth, shirking village duties to nap, feast, and wrestle woodland creatures. His aimlessness shatters when a tengu mocks him into a grappling contest, rewarding victory with a potion granting the strength of a hundred men—but only when aiding others. Bound by this curse of altruism, he begrudgingly saves Aya from the crimson demon Akaoni and hauls firewood for villagers, battling his own apathy. Raised by his grandmother, Taro uncovers a family secret: his pregnant mother, once starving a famine-struck community by hoarding food, was transformed into a dragon as punishment. Driven by this truth, he ventures to find her, weathering manipulative trials like a cunning crone’s forced labor in her rice fields. Defying her exploitation, he floods village huts with her stolen harvest, seeds of justice sprouting within him. Supernatural perils stalk his path—clashes with the shadowy Kurooni, frostbitten brushes with snow spirits, death undone by Aya’s timely aid. Reaching his mother’s lake refuge, he learns her draconic curse binds her to water. Together, they shatter a dam, her sacrifice dissolving her scaled form to birth fertile soil for the villagers, her humanity reborn in their gratitude. Taro’s brash fists yield to cunning compassion: he bargains peace with Akaoni, trading strife for alliance. Each trial—from demonic brawls to ethical crossroads—chisels his soul, forging a legacy where communal duty eclipses selfish impulse, etched into folklore’s marrow.