Chapter 32

I muttered the identity of the existence that had revealed itself without even realizing it.

“A little girl?”

She was about waist-high, and judging by her appearance, she must have been in this cave for a very long time: her face was caked in filth, and her arms and legs were scrawny from a lack of proper nourishment. Her hair was a tangled mess with cobwebs spun through it, yet despite all that, a stunning silver hair—identical to mine—shone brilliantly.

Her eyes were the same silver shade as her hair, and they were so pretty they looked as though they would draw you in just by looking at them.

However, there was a major problem. My pupils dilated in shock, and I quickly shouted out.

“W-wait! Teacher Carusien, look away!”

At my words, Carusien hastily averted his gaze. Yul, as if reading my mind, pulled my outer robe out of the backpack she was carrying and handed it to me. I quickly draped the robe over the little girl and buttoned it up all the way before finally letting out a sigh of relief.

“Hoo.”

The little girl had been completely naked. Moreover, showing no inclination to hide it, she had been standing with her hands on her hips, boldly exposing her private parts to the world. Naturally, I couldn’t help but be flustered, but since I was currently a woman and, unfortunately, not a pre-crime offender with a creepy interest in small children, I managed to keep my composure.

“Hey, what is the meaning of this?! It’s suffocating!”

She had stared blankly at me until I finished dressing her, but the moment she was clothed, she started throwing a full-blown tantrum. On top of that, someone who looked a lot younger than me was speaking in informal banmal with absolute confidence—her upbringing was definitely flawed. A child’s education was the parents’ responsibility, after all.

Still, left unattended, there was a high chance she’d turn into a delinquent youth later on, so I treated the little girl to a solid rap on the head.

Thwack!

I was slightly startled by how hard the hit landed against my expectations. That had to hurt.

Just as I worried, since it was probably her first time experiencing such an impact, the little girl immediately burst into a flood of tears and began crying.

“Waaahhh!! It hurts!!”

If you asked me whether watching that made my heart ache, the answer was no. Mucus and filth were streaming down her face along with her tears, and far from feeling any pity, I just wanted her to shut up already, which naturally brought threats spilling out of my mouth.

“Are you going to stop those tears or not?! Do you want to take another hit?”

“Waaah… hiccup!”

Seeing the little girl instantly dry her tears at the threat of another blow and the fist waving right in front of her face, I finally wore a satisfied smile and spoke.

“Anyway, what are you doing all the way out here? Where are your parents?”

“None. And this is my house.”

She had none. Furthermore, this was apparently her house.

Oh, what a pitiful state of affairs. That said, I had zero intention of taking her in. I figured I’d just drop her off at some orphanage center later and distanced myself from the little girl.

I hadn’t noticed until just now, but she smelled atrocious from not having washed in who knows how long. My nose was already practically paralyzed by the stench, but I had a sinking feeling that staying any closer might cause me to lose my sense of smell for the rest of my life.

“Are there any other people here?”

“None. Stop asking and get out already. This is my house, I tell you! You trespassers!”

As the little girl once again hurled arrogant banmal right at my face, I delivered a second rap to her head.

Thump!

“Wah, hiccup.”

After subduing her tears through the exact same repeating pattern as before, I stated:

“Use. Formal. Language.”

At my words, the little girl tilted her head in confusion and asked.

“What’s formal language?”

“If you don’t know, you should get hit,” is what I wanted to say, but even so, I had no intention of continuing to smack an underage little girl on the head until she turned foolish. What part of her was even worth hitting anyway?

At her question, I paused to think. Come to think of it, how on earth was I supposed to teach someone formal speech?

I simply spoke whatever popped into my head at random.

“Try attaching the ‘yo’¹ polite suffix to the end of your sentences.”

“Understood-yo. Get out quickly-yo.”

“……………”

Realizing this probably wasn’t the right approach, I simply gave up. I didn’t have enough spare time to waste on annoying myself with her education.

Freshly reminded of how great parents truly are, my eyes landed on a sparkling gemstone glowing in the distance. The azure light shining brilliantly from it looked, at a glance, to be none other than the “Dragon’s Tear” we had come to find.

“Oh, what’s that?”

“It is the Dragon’s Tear.”

At Yul’s words, I shook off the little girl trying to cling to me and dashed forward. I hadn’t managed to encounter any monsters, but since I was finally going to get what I for, I figured it wasn’t a total loss.

Perhaps noticing that I was about to pick up the gemstone, the little girl gasped for breath and screamed.

“Eek! No-yo! You can’t touch that-yo! Waaahhh! No-yo!”

Damn it, listening to that awkward half-polite half-informal speech, paired with the little girl already sobbing tears full blast, made my heart soften.

Come to think of it, what she’d said about this being her house was probably true. If she’d wandered around looking like that, she would have been snatched up by human traffickers or dragged into a back alley right away, or at best, scooped up by a kind-hearted director into a childcare shelter.

Just as the thought crossed my mind that I might as well just give Father a random rock from the street instead, Yul spoke up.

“Lately, there are rumors that the Duke emits wailing screams of agony at night. That is likely due to his declining prowess as a man. That capacity will only deteriorate further from here on, and if that happens… I shudder to imagine. Of course, it matters little to me so long as the Young Lady is unbothered. However, I mention this because I fear the Young Lady may come to regret this moment each time she hears those cries.”

“Gk!”

Yul’s words left me with no choice but to waver. Remembering that the only time my poor dad managed to emerge victorious over Mother was during the night, and realizing he was now reduced to letting out sorrowful screams in the dark even then, my hand instinctively stretched out toward the gemstone.

Seeing that, the little girl resumed her stopped crying.

“Waaahhh, no-yo. This is my house-yo. I have nowhere else to go-yo.”

“Krrrk!”

Surpassing mere sorrow, that heart-rending voice struck right at my conscience, pulling my reaching hand back. If this place vanished, a little girl with no parents would lose her home as well.

“The pitiful Duke.”

“Ugh! For my dad!”

Hand reaching out again.

“Waaahyddeeeehhh!”

“Damn it! She’s too pitiful.”

Hand withdrawing emptily once more.

“The agony of a man lacking vigor.”

At Yul’s final remark, my eyes snapped wide open. The agony of a man lacking vigor—damn it. After hearing that, there was no way I could leave this gemstone behind. For the peaceful future of the father who always worked so hard for my sake, I squeezed my eyes shut and scooped up the gemstone. Seeing me pick it up, the little girl instantly fainted on the spot. I hadn’t expected the shock to be that severe, and a heavy wave of guilt weighed down my shoulders.

The moment I picked up the gemstone, a letter fluttered down from beneath it. Reflexively catching the falling letter, I muttered:

“What’s this?”

Rumble!

Before I even had a chance to tear open the letter, the sound of the cave collapsing caused me to gasp and shout. At the same time, I hurled the fainted little girl straight at Carusien. Realizing only then that the little girl reeked of an immense stench, Carusien staggered for a fraction of a second before pulling himself together.

“Gasp! Run!”

They say people can tap into superhuman strength when faced with mortal danger; I managed to escape a distance that had taken two hours on foot in a mere thirty minutes, and the moment we burst outside, the cave collapsed behind us with a thunderous roar.

“Hah, huff.”

“Whew.”

Why on earth did coming out to look for a monster result in running a triathlon instead without ever seeing a single one? Panting heavily to catch our breath, we slowly trudged back to the inn we had booked, where I ordered Yul to give the little girl a proper bath before slowly unfolding the letter to read it.

[Greetings. The fact that you are reading this letter means you must be a cold-hearted person—whose heart seems like it was struck by a Blizzard spell—who ignored my child’s wailing and fussing, the cutest and most lovable child in the entire world, and picked up the gemstone anyway.]

The letter started off with a brutally savage opening line. It could practically be treated as a threat. I kept reading.

[Aria is, in fact, a ‘Dragon’.]

“…………!”

I really wish people wouldn’t drop bombshells like that as casually as a friend casually confessing over drinks, Oh, by the way, I’m actually gay. I genuinely thought my heart gave out.

Anyway, holy shit. To think there was actually a dragon inside that dungeon.

[As a woman who bore a child late in life, I was overjoyed. But perhaps having her so late was the problem? By the time Aria reached 490 years of age, I felt my lifespan coming to an end. However, unlike other dragons, while Aria possesses a face cuter than anything else in the world, perhaps because her intelligence is a bit lacking, she strangely couldn’t use magic. Growing deeply worried upon seeing that, I tried to entrust her care to other dragons.]

I momentarily folded the letter, closing my eyes tight at the realization that the little girl—Aria—was a grandmother who was at least 490 years old.

[However, the other dragons looked at my precious, adorable child with sneers and refused to take her in out of sheer jealousy. In fact, their gazes were so sinister I grew terrified they might violate Aria the moment I breathed my last. Ah, I can feel my life slipping away. I truly don’t have much time left now. Hehe.]

I wanted to point out why on earth there was a playful little “hehe” giggle written here, but the original author of this letter had already departed to a place where my words could no longer reach them. On top of that, were the dragons all a bunch of perverts lusting after little kids?!

Awakened to this terrifying new reality, I continued reading the letter.

[With no other choice, I cast illusion magic near the entrance of a dungeon with sparse human foot traffic to keep out the prying eyes of other dragons, setting up camp there and expanding the cave with spatial magic so Aria could live comfortably, while using Polymorph magic to keep her in the form of a human girl. Furthermore, since I stocked the place full of monsters, I figured she could easily coast by until she reached 500 years of age and became a full adult dragon. I even positioned guardians at the entrance, so I thought anyone other than a dragon would be completely safe trying to enter.]

From what I had seen, she had looked skin-and-bones and there hadn’t been a single monster in sight, so what on earth had gone wrong? It was a miracle she hadn’t starved to death right then and there. Plus, guardians? I hadn’t seen a single shred of a guardian anywhere.

[However, I couldn’t fail to account for the worst-case scenario. As I mentioned in the opening line—capable of defeating the guardians and ignoring the tearful pleas of Aria, the cutest, most precious creature in existence whose mere presence brings happiness, yet still heartless enough to walk away with the gemstone—there was always a chance a bad person might break in.]

“………….”

Instantly branded as the ultimate evildoer in the world, I slowly resumed reading the letter.

[So, please grant me just one final favor. If you refuse, I will personally descend from the celestial realm, where I watch over Aria every day, and murder you.]

Could you really call this a favor? Passing off a blatant threat under the guise of a favor felt a whole lot more accurate.

[I am asking you to act as Aria’s parent until she turns 500 years old. And since I lacked the time to properly educate Aria due to my shortcomings, I would deeply appreciate it if you could handle her schooling in my stead. Please forgive me for assuming, but if you are male, please let her call you Dad; if female, Mom. I have already spoken to Aria in advance, so she should naturally follow your lead. Well then, farewell. I am returning to the embrace of nature now.]

Reading up to this point, I gripped my forehead as a wave of dizziness made me sway. The world felt like it was spinning in circles. I hadn’t even managed a proper date with Miel yet, let alone getting married, and now what kind of catastrophic lightning bolt was this?

Right on cue, having finished scrubbing off all her ancient grime, the little girl rushed into my arms and shouted:

“Mom!”

Damn it. I’m a mother now.