14 — Alice In Thermae

“Oof, aaaaah, why the hell am I taking a bath in the house of someone I killed each other with, or almost killed each other with? Aaaaah, I’m melting.”

Kapon.

It was a hot spring. A bathhouse. There was nothing else to call it.

After being heave-hoed by the maids, who were expressionless yet strangely assertive, stripped of everything, and tossed in, the place he found himself in was yet another absurdly huge bathhouse.

“What an amazing bath. This is a hyper public bath beyond a super public bath.”

He muttered something unintelligent without thinking. While melting into the water, Tooyama looked around the luxurious bathhouse again.

From the mouth of a glittering golden lion statue, milky-white hot water gushed out. Around the covers and center of the broad bath, various statues that looked like they belonged in an art museum were displayed.

The bath, surrounded by marble-like stone, was so wide that even a hundred humans could probably fit in with room to spare.

“…Aaaaaah, but still, hot springs really are good. Aah, I don’t need friends anymore, aaaaaah.”

It felt too good, too comfortable. The hot water soaked into his body, and his brain melted.

Tooyama enjoyed the hot spring while letting out a loud groan at the comfort so great that it made him feel he did not need friends.

“…That one was crying, huh.”

A thorn stabbed into that comfort.

The dejected voice of that armor bastard suddenly flashed through his mind.

“No, no, no, no, crying is cheating. What the hell is with that one? She tries to kill me with a condescending attitude at our first meeting, but what is with that mysterious high affection level?”

That was right. Their first meeting had been the worst. She was the type Tooyama hated the most.

The type that was strong and brandished that strength.

“…I’m not wrong. I shouldn’t have done anything wrong. Actually, why did she respawn like it was natural when I definitely killed her? Is she playing solo FPS or what?”

He had killed her. That was certain.

But it had not been the end. If he had acted cool and said, “Make use of it if there is a next time,” and then there really was a next time, that was a joke.

“Haah… Damn it. It feels good, but this isn’t fun…”

He sank deeply, deeply into the hot water.

Ahh, it felt good. When he breathed in the steam, it filled his body. It felt as if unbelievable power was welling up within him.

“Bridegroom-dono, how is the temperature of the water in ‘Dragon Spring,’ the great bath of the Dragon Embassy that Ojou-sama takes pride in?”

“Ahh, honestly, it’s the best. The temperature’s kind of hot, and this marble bath has a backrest, so it’s really good. I could sleep……… You’ve got to be kidding me… Old man, since when were you—”

Tooyama placed a hand on his forehead and looked downward.

Impossible. Seriously, what was with this old man?

Before he knew it, the muscular butler was also sitting with a kapon in the bath that should have been Tooyama’s alone.

“Perhaps around the time you were stripped bare by the maids. I entered first.”

There was no trace at all of the ferocity from earlier in the way he stroked his mustache and laughed, hohoho.

“…When I entered the bath, there should have been no one, not a single person here.”

“Hohohohoho, it is a butler’s refinement.”

No refinement like that should exist.

“…Is it all right not to chase after this Ojou-sama of yours?”

Tooyama muttered quietly.

“Hoho, please rest assured. She has already been secured, and is now resting in her bedroom. It seems your words affected her quite deeply. You could call it sulking herself to sleep.”

“…I don’t get it.”

A stab. Again. Something was wrong. Somehow, he felt bad.

“Bridegroom-dono, you truly are a mysterious person. Does this situation not frighten you? Though it pains me greatly to say so, I was truly trying to kill you earlier.”

“Well, of course it’s scary. You’re definitely stronger than me, a monster. But, well, you see, I’m being given a bath, so I figured it’d be rude to keep acting like I’m ready to fight all the time.”

Even if they had nearly killed each other, everything was no problem inside a hot spring. Conflict in this space was forbidden.

That had been decided since the age of Rome.

“Rude…? …Kukuku, hahahahahahahaha!! This is, this is good! Rude, you say? Hahahahaha!”

In an instant, the butler went from looking puzzled to leaning his body heavily against the backrest and laughing with his mouth wide open.

“Did I say something that funny?”

“No, it is just that a human who refused a dragon’s proposal is speaking seriously about manners, so I could not help it. Kukuku, this is good.”

Laughter still spilled out of him. As if he could not help finding it amusing, the old man quietly continued to shake his shoulders.

“…I don’t understand. Old man, that woman. She is definitely the armor bastard I should have killed. Why is she perfectly fine, and on top of that, why does she have affection toward me—no, special feelings? That’s what I don’t understand.”

Tooyama grumbled as he felt. The hot water had gotten to him, so his head was not working very well.

“Are you saying that seriously? Bridegroom-dono is not from the Empire…? No, however, even in the Kingdom, stories of dragons should be common knowledge known even to small children… Rather, is dragon worship not flourishing in the Kingdom?”

“Ahh… Well, my homeland is somewhere far, far away from here. Very far. A place I don’t even know how to return to. And I didn’t have parents and was an orphan, so I’m not educated.”

He had not told a single lie.

That Nihon was probably already far away. That he had had no relatives. There was not a single lie in those.

“Hmm, I am curious where this homeland of yours is, but an orphan, I see. If that is the case… How much do you know about dragons?”

“If you make me talk about dragons, it’ll be long, you know? Dragons. Fantasy creatures with reptilian traits, depicted in myths as trials for many heroes or as symbols of disasters from heaven. The Western view and Eastern view of dragons differ—”

Ping.

For Tooyama, he began fluently speaking about fantasy, which was basic education. Of course, he spoke quickly.

“Dragons possess seven lives.”

“In the East, they are incarnations of nature… Huh? Seven?”

What stopped the otaku’s rapid speech was the old man’s quiet words.

“Yes, seven. For humans, who are mortal beings, there are limits, and they have only one life. Dragons are higher lifeforms born with seven lives granted by the world from birth.”

Seven lives? What was that, a cheat? Tooyama narrowed his eyes and listened to those words.

“Ageless. Not immortal, but a perfect life infinitely close to it. Their power is strong, and without relation to ‘magic formulas,’ ‘skills,’ or even ‘sacraments,’ they can affect the world with nothing but a single glance. Beings outside reason. That is what dragons are.”

“They behave with arrogance and live as they please. There is no thoughtfulness toward others, no consideration for the world. They live entirely according to their own mood, solely for their own amusement. That is the creature called a dragon, a creature permitted to do so… Or so it should have been.”

“…Should have been?”

Tooyama tilted his head, and the old man returned his gaze. That look was somehow gentle, and it was the kind of expression that had never before been directed at Tooyama.

—Admiration.

“Yes. That is what a dragon is. But today, everything was overturned. A certain man refused marriage with a dragon, and on top of that, kukuku, declared he did not need any of it.”

The old man chuckled with amusement.

“Well, of course. I definitely have a lot of things I want. Money, dreams, power—I can’t help wanting all kinds of things. But, what can I say? Having someone else just plop those things down in front of me is different. Imagine excitedly buying some big game, starting it, and then the ending begins immediately. That’d start a war, I tell you, a war.”

There had been no lie in his feelings or words back then.

Following his desires. That was Tooyama Naruhito’s guiding principle in life, and it was absolute.

Those desires would never accept an easy completion.

“Game? Hmm. You sometimes use strange words. Hohoho, I am personally becoming interested in you, but asking about that is not my role.”

“Huh?”

Without a sound, the old man rose from the bath and stood on the bath cover.

Then he bent his waist ninety degrees and lowered his head.

“Bridegroom-dono, I once again offer my apologies for the repeated discourtesy this time.”

“Whoa, what an amazing body.”

More than the old man’s words, Tooyama’s eyes were glued to that well-trained body.

What kind of training, just what kind of training, would a human body have to undergo to create such contours?

That body was far more divine than a sculpture from the Renaissance.

“…I underestimated you and threatened you lightly. There is no excuse. If it is only the life of these old bones, I shall offer it as compensation in whatever way you wish. However, please, please, knowing full well my shame, would you hear my wish?”

“No, no, no. It’s true that in that moment I got pissed off too and intended to kill you, but now all the poison’s completely drained out of me. Please stop, seriously. I’m still pissed, but, well, you’re letting me use the hot spring.”

Tooyama instinctively admonished the old man, whose bow had gone beyond ninety degrees and had somehow turned into something like a forward bend.

Sincerely, Tooyama’s hard feelings toward the old man had mostly disappeared. Hot springs were amazing.

“Oh, what magnanimous words! Then, about my wish—”

Grin.

An incredible full-faced smile. One that even seemed somewhat shameless.

“Huh? Wait, old man. I don’t need your apology, but a wish or whatever is another—”

“I humbly beg you!! Bridegroom-dono!! Your marriage to Alice-ojousama, I will not ask for it immediately. I will never again seek submission through force. However, please, I beg of you, give her one more chance!! No, first, how would it be if you began as friends?!”

“F-friends?”

Without a sound again, the old man soaked in the bath. His casual movement was proof that he was a monster.

“Yes! Friends! For me, Bernal, this is a first!! In the one hundred years since I began serving Ojou-sama!! For the first time in those one hundred years, Ojou-sama considered someone else today!”

“Ah, y-yeah…”

“How extraordinary that is!! That dragon lowered her spear for you, for you alone! Because she did not want to be hated by you, she suppressed her own desire with that one thought! This is a sign. Ojou-sama is becoming a true dragon—no, she is now trying to grow! Thanks to none other than the existence of a human called you!”

“No, no, no, wait, wait. Is it really that big a deal? What the hell is she, seriously?”

“As you know, dragons are also beings that govern the balance of the world. The name of a dragon is, in other words, the very concept of the world each one keeps in equilibrium. ‘Hoarding.’ Among dragons, many of whom are transcendent, Ojou-sama’s name is abnormal in itself. It is a concept dragons originally did not possess—the desire to gather something, cherish something, and make something one’s own.”

“Hm? No, wait. I feel like dragons have liked treasure in every age and country.”

“Hm? Which dragons would those be? At least, I know no dragon as close to humans as Ojou-sama. Yes, she is very close to humans. Desire, the heart that seeks something, that is the balance Ojou-sama governs. That is the quality humans inherit most strongly. In other words, the Hoarding Dragon is a dragon closer to humans than any other, and a dragon with a strong influence on the human world!”

“Ah, yes.”

“Ojou-sama is different from other dragons. If her existence as the Hoarding Dragon, close to humans as it is, remains as she is now, she will surely become distorted someday! Ojou-sama must not become a transcendent being like other dragons. She absolutely needs a human, a human who can stand beside her, a human who can admonish her actions and defy her!”

“…Couldn’t you do that?”

That was right. If it was about standing beside her, then literally, this old man would do.

Tooyama was not first-rate, nor was he chosen, but he was a human who had become reasonably accustomed to battlefields and survived.

Therefore, he understood.

This old man was far higher as a living being. If things went badly, perhaps even more so than that armor bastard—no, than the dragon…

“I am no longer human. I am a weakling who could not remain human. I cannot stand in a position equal to Ojou-sama. The one who should stand beside a dragon must be human.”

“What are you, then?”

“What I am does not matter. Human, today I saw nobility in that desire of yours. A desire that did not yield to the majesty of a dragon or the pressure of a transcendent being. Twisted, warped, insane—and yet, that figure of yours, insisting even the hardships required to fulfill your desire were your own! I was convinced. There is no one but you. The only one who can stand beside Ojou-sama, the only one who can become Ojou-sama’s friend, is you!”

“U-umm, that difference in energy is kind of… I was almost killed by her, and above all, what I don’t like is that she was testing people for fun. She was trying to make me and that lizard man Lazaar kill each other.”

That was indeed the issue.

Even now, just remembering that attitude pissed him off.

“Mm, gh. It is true that dragons and cruelty are inseparable. It is also true that Ojou-sama has such a side. However, it is like that of a child. Good and evil—these too are human concepts, but she cannot even judge good and evil. Though she is a dragon who should exist together with humans, no one has appeared until now to teach her that… No, I know this is nothing more than an excuse.”

“Ahh, I see. It’s the same as when, as a kid, you catch a grasshopper, rip its legs off, and leave it near an anthill, or catch a mantis, dip its butt in water, and play by making the parasite come out. I see. If that’s it, I can kind of understand.”

A slight sense of kinship.

When Tooyama answered while nodding—

“Eh, that is, how should I put it, young brat, are you serious? That is a little… disturbing…”

There was the old man, fairly creeped out.

Somehow, Tooyama felt terribly betrayed.

“Old man, your real self is showing. Your real self.”

As he said that, Tooyama thought a little.

A child who did not know good from evil. That was an apt description.

—Entertain me.

—Do not bore me.

Ahh, when he thought back, she had indeed said things like that.

A lonely dragon with no one to teach her mistakes and no friend to admonish her.

“…Damn it. Crying is cheating.”

He felt like she was a little similar to him. In fact, Tooyama was fairly aware of it. His own sensibilities and ways of thinking were somewhat detached from common sense.

Even so, the reason he could distinguish good from evil was solely because there had been others around him. Friends he had not had during childhood. Equal friends he had gained after becoming an explorer.

The two comrades Tooyama Naruhito had wished to live, even at the cost of his own life. He imagined himself if he had never met them.

That somehow overlapped with that blond woman. No, with the Hoarding Dragon.

“…As expected, it was too self-serving a request. …No, my apologies. However, please understand at least this. There is no lie in the feelings Ojou-sama holds for you. For the first time, she respects someone as an equal. She respects your way of being and thinks of you. That feeling alone—”

This old man still would not give up. Apparently, that dragon was extremely precious to him. He was like an ordinary grandfather anywhere, trying desperately to make friends for his grandchild.

Tooyama sighed again.

“…Looks like this Hoarding Dragon doesn’t even know how to make friends.”

Ahh, enough. It was not that he had been swayed. He merely thought the logic was wrong.

“…Ho?”

“A guardian butting into a fight between kids and asking them to make up is way too lame. Have the person herself come. The person herself.”

What was there to discuss when the person herself was not there? Tooyama roughly fiddled with his unruly hair and spat that out.

“O-oh, c-could it be?”

“Well, uh, that. When I think about it, I did kill her once, and I even stabbed a knife into her eyeball to finish her off carefully. …Well, as long as she never tries to kill me again or lays a hand on Lazaar, then… well, I guess we’re even.”

Damn it, somehow he had become embarrassed in reverse and ended up sounding gross. Who was he making excuses to?

Tooyama scooped up hot water and splashed it against his face to cover it up.

When he glanced at the old man, who had suddenly gone silent—

“…I am now intensely moved… The same sensation as when I finished my fight with that narcissistic bastard the Flame Dragon. This is emotion…”

“U-um, old man, can you please stop quietly crying your eyes out like that?”

“Bridegroom-dono!! No, Friend-dono!! There is no lie in what you just said, correct!!”

With a lurch, the muscled old man firmly grabbed Tooyama’s shoulders. His large chest, which looked as if it had been carved by a craftsman, was close.

Feeling a biological sense of danger, Tooyama shouted.

“Ugeh. You’re strong?! Y-yeah, I’m not lying, so, wait, don’t shake me?! My head’s turning into pudding!”

“Oops, excuse me!! And what you said is absolutely correct!! For this kind of thing, discussion between the people themselves is indeed vital!! Then, I shall leave the rest to you two young ones! Ojou-sama, good luck! You have a chance of victory!”

“Uwep, y-you’ve got to be kidding me. He’s gone… What is that old man, some kind of genie from a lamp?”

The moment he held his head after being shaken back and forth, the old man was already gone.

What was with that old man, seriously?

“Ha-haha, old man is among the cream of the cream even among Tower-Class Adventurers. With footwork and speed, well, tangling up one’s figure is a simple task for him.”

“So it was physical ability, of all things… I tried to pick a death match with a terrifying opponent, huh.”

“Ha-ha. Well, still, at that time, you were so beautiful I could not take my eyes off you.”

“……………………Is there someone behind me, by any chance?”

A woman’s voice had addressed him far too naturally. What was with these people? Why did he never notice when they approached him?

That showed the hopeless difference in ability between Tooyama and them.

“D-don’t. Do not turn around. It is me. I am here.”

The moment he tried to turn around—

“Wow…”

Chup. Tooyama’s neck bent limply, and he put his face into the hot water.

She had just come in normally. It was not the old man. It was a woman.

“Ha-haha… N-no, that is not it. H-human-dono. The maids said the hot water was in especially good condition right now, that it was a once-in-a-century result, and that the spring quality felt fresh and soaked into the skin. That is why, well, I absolutely did not want to take a bath together with you or anything like that.”

His eyes naturally turned beside him.

Her golden hair was tied up and gathered. The milky-white water should have hidden the lines of her body.

However, from the pure white collarbone, chest, and shoulders that could be seen, he could easily imagine that perfected, beautiful body.

“…Do your maids have a side job making wine? Every November?”

Somehow, he returned his gaze straight ahead and pretended to be calm.

Ah, no good. Impossible. She smelled incredibly good. Why? Did she put hot spring powder in?

Tooyama began to lose his mind from a scent like luxurious flowers.

Without a doubt, it was the fragrance of the woman soaking in the bath beside him, shoulder to shoulder.

“November? Hm, it is true that the Dragon Embassy makes wine during the early evening moon.”

“So they really make it… Uh, I’m not looking, okay? See, my eyes are closed, so, uh, spare me the sexual harassment report or whatever.”

Yes, he just had to close his eyes. It was all right. He was calm. No problem. He told himself that.

“Sexual… harassment? Report? Human-dono uses strange words. Well, there is not a single part of my body I am ashamed of, so normally there would be no problem at all, but, well, I do not really want you to see it.”

“If you don’t want me to see, don’t come into the bath.”

Tooyama instinctively retorted in his natural voice to the woman’s timid murmur.

“…As expected, you are angry… You hate me, after all.”

Tooyama’s sharp words were answered by a thin voice. No, it was already a tearful voice.

Stop. Seriously stop doing that. Tooyama began to panic quite a bit.

“No, wait, what’s with that meek attitude…? Are you really that armor bastard?”

“…Li… ce.”

“Huh?”

“I said, I am not an armor bastard! I have a name! A name my mother and father gave me!”

Splashing the hot water, she shouted.

“Well, of course you do. Ah, that old man did shout it, come to think of it. Uh, it was…”

Tooyama racked his brain. Yes, right before that old man had jumped vertically toward the sky, he had shouted.

This woman’s name.

“Alice.”

He remembered that name.

“Gyaou.”

The woman cried out.

It was quite, yes, a dragon-like cry.

“Eh? Did you just roar or something?”

“I-I did not roar! I am the Hoarding Dragon! I am already an adult dragon! There is no way I would cry out like a child dragon!”

The woman pressed closer, and Tooyama, still with his eyes closed, murmured again.

“Alice.”

“Gyau.”

Again, the woman cried. Somehow, it seemed like her tone was happy.

“…………….Stop it, Human-dono. You are mean.”

After the silence, the woman murmured quietly.

“Ah, yes, sorry.”

She said gyaou. She cried gyau.

Tooyama thought absentmindedly.

“…………Human-dono, what were you talking about with old man?”

The one who broke the silence was the woman’s voice. It sounded somewhat sulky, as if she were pouting.

“…Probably about you. He said he wants me to become friends with you. Me, with this Hoarding Dragon or whatever.”

“Wha?! N-no, Human-dono is my ma—te… I see. This sort of thing is no good. Curse you, Hoarding Dragon…”

Splash. The sound of water scattering. She must have stood up. No good. If he opened his eyes, he would be peeping.

Tooyama desperately put strength into his eyelids.

“But I am the Hoarding Dragon!!”

A bright, shocked voice rang out. What was with her? She made a joke, retorted to herself, and then made another joke. Was she invincible?

“Uwah, what the hell? Were you always that kind of character? You were more like, you know, an annoying sort of person. Stop suddenly acting innocent here. It makes me, who killed you so thoroughly, look like a huge villain.”

“F-fufun. That thoroughness was magnificent. A mercilessness reminiscent of the ‘Hunters’ from the Great War two hundred years ago. Hahaha, that is how a dragon slayer should be.”

“What’s with that high evaluation…? Honestly, I still don’t understand why your affection toward me is so high. Killing and being killed, that’s our relationship, right?”

“…………That is why, Human-dono.”

Her tone was strangely calm.

“Huh?”

“…It was the first time. You were the first human who came at me head-on. …I was surprised myself. Right after I revived, what wrapped around this body was not anger but interest. What filled this soul was not hatred, but joy.”

“I could think of nothing but you. Why did you defy me? Why did you not act as I wished? Once I became concerned with it, I could no longer stop. Ahh, that is right. As a desire, I want you. I want to know you. I want to gaze at you.”

“……………”

“That should have been the case, but… honestly, even I no longer understand myself very well. Haha, I have lived for one hundred years, so why is this? I have made everything go as I wished, and I could simply take you by force too, but… I do not want to. If I do that, you will hate me, will you not? I do not want that. Being hated by you is very… frightening.”

That final voice was small and frail.

The voice of a lost child afraid of night’s arrival.

“Mm, gh…”

He realized it.

This one was a kid.

And this one was him.

Tooyama thought.

This one was himself if he had never become an explorer.

She did not know how to interact with the world, nor how to deal with others. She had probably never been taught that, and above all, had never even needed to learn it.

“Because you’re a dragon, huh.”

“Haha… It is a joke, is it not? Though I am a dragon, something is wrong with me now. Perhaps I am sick.”

Her voice sounded somewhat lonely.

—Woof!

It felt as though his, or her, voice came from the other side of the steam.

The adventure that had never begun. Yet the voice of the fluffy friend who had certainly saved Tooyama Naruhito from loneliness during his childhood.

Ahh, I understand, Tarou.

“It’s not some sickness.”

“Hm?”

“That’s just you having maxed-out poor communication skills. It’s normal. Wanting to get along with someone, wanting to be with someone, that’s a proper desire.”

“Human…dono?”

“Naruhito. I’m not ‘human.’ I have a name. Tooyama Naruhito. Twenty-seven years old, single. My hobbies are reading, games, terrariums, camping, fishing, and various other things. Also cooking for myself. My dream is to build a house by a lake.”

“Eh?”

“Don’t ‘eh’ me. It’s a self-introduction, a self-introduction. It’s not because that meddlesome old man of yours told me to. …It’s because I decided it. Mate and marriage are out, but, well, what can I say, if it’s friends, a friendship… I want that too. I don’t have many friends, you know.”

This was bad. He really sounded gross. While aware that he was talking quickly, Tooyama put his face into the hot water again.

Could he not say it more smoothly? Even though a male tsundere was nothing but harmful.

Had she been put off? If she reacted like that, his heart would die.

Nervously, Tooyama opened his eyes slightly and, while making the greatest effort possible not to look at the dragon’s body, checked on her.

“Na…ruhito… F-fuhaha, Naruhito, Naruhito. I see. You are Naruhito…”

There was the woman, holding a hand to her mouth and grinning.

She seemed all right.

“Yeah, I’m Naruhito. And you?”

“U-nu?”

“Don’t ‘nu’ me. I introduced myself. And you? Who are you, and from where? I still haven’t properly heard it from your own mouth. I can’t be friends with someone who can’t even say her own name.”

“Ah. U… A-a male asking for my name… C-could this be the proposal Mother told me about…?”

“Wait, that just means your mother is way too anarchic. It’s communication. Communication. I’m Tooyama Naruhito. Call me whatever you want. And you?”

Tooyama looked at the woman with half-closed eyes, trying not to let her body enter his field of vision as much as possible.

“A…lice.”

“What was that?”

“—! ‘Alice Dral Flaretail’!! That is my name!”

She shouted it in one breath.

“Ahh, that’s a good name. Nice to meet you, Alice Dral Flaretail. Starting today, we’re friends. Well, it’s not like that means anything in particular.”

“Friends… A friend. I… have a friend…? You will be my friend?”

“Ah, don’t tell me you didn’t want that?”

Crap, I got carried away and said friends. That’s not even on the level of lame.

“I-I-I-I-I do not dislike it! Absolutely, I do not dislike it!! There is no way I would! I know this! Mother told me! This is the thing where you start as friends!”

“Yeah, you should doubt that information source, your mother, at least once.”

“F-fufufu, hahahaha. I see, Naruhito, Naruhito, you are Naruhito.”

“Well, call me what you like. Alice Dral Flaretail… That’s long. Can I call you Alice?”

“Gyao?! Y-you may, b-but it is a little embarrassing. That name is one only Mother, Father, and a limited few call me.”

No longer even trying to hide her red face, the woman fidgeted and curled up.

“Ahh, so you don’t like it. Well, that happens. Hmm, Hoarding Dragon and armor bastard aren’t great either… Alice Dral Flaretail… Ah, right. Then, how about Drako?”

“Dra…ko?”

The woman tilted her head in puzzlement. No, Drako. Tooyama was briefly entranced.

“A pet name, a nickname. Hatamura said it’s a name only friends use for each other. Well, I didn’t have friends either, so this is my first time calling someone by a nickname.”

“F-first time, friends… Not bad! Not bad at all! Good, very good! I permit it! Naruhito, I permit you to call me Drako!”

“Ahh, thanks, Drako.”

“Gyau! Ah, no, no, that was, well, not a cry or anything!”

“Yeah, yeah. …Wait, isn’t the water getting hotter? Hey, Drako, this—”

The temperature of the water touching his skin seemed to have risen.

“I have been called by a nickname… Does this not mean our relationship is already beyond marriage? I must consult Mother again at once… Drako, Drako, fuhaha, good, this is very good.”

“Hey, wait, hey, are you listening? The water is seriously getting hotter and hotter.”

Drako seemed to have entered her own world.

She did not even react to Tooyama’s words.

“Ahh, what a day this is. I-it is a little disappointing that I cannot call Naruhito Husband-dono, but… very well. If from here I show him my excellence and greatness, eventually Naruhito will propose to me, gyau… No good. Just thinking about it makes me overheat.”

Fidget, fidget, fidget, fidget. As Drako placed her hands on her cheeks and became mushy, the hot spring’s temperature clearly turned abnormal.

“Hey! Hey! The water’s no joke!! Drako, I’m getting out now! Don’t look this way, absolutely don’t look this way!! I’m completely naked!”

Splash. Tooyama jumped out of the water. Even though it was not a jacuzzi, the milky-white water began to bubble and boil.

Unable to endure it any longer, Tooyama jumped out. Of course, there was no towel to hide his front.

“Hm, you are getting out already? Naruhi—… Gya…”

And Drako was not listening to Tooyama.

Inevitably, Drako saw it. The completely naked body of a man as he had been born.

“Ah.”

Drako’s gaze fixed intently on Tooyama’s Tabolis.

“Gyaun…”

Splash.

With a cry, Drako collapsed. She sank into the hot water with bubbles rising.

“You’ve got to be kidding me?! Hey, hey! Drako?! Wait, HOT?! Damn it, why is this boiling water… Fine!! Clear the mind!!”

This was bad. Sinking into hot water was bad.

Without thinking of what came after, Tooyama immediately jumped into the bath.

“GYAAAA, HOTTTTTTT?! Drako, wake up! Drako-san!! Wake up, seriously! You’ll turn into boiled octopus?! Old maaaaaan!! Miss maaaaid!! Help, help meeeee!!”

The temperature of the water was truly no joke. While his skin was burned bright red, he endured it with sheer spirit and pulled Drako up from the water she had sunk into.

He could no longer tell how hot the water was, and instead it even started to feel cold.

Drako was a head taller than Tooyama. Somehow, he pulled up the woman’s supple body, luxurious in various places, and called for help.

“What has happened, Ojou-sama!! Friend-dono!! Oof… Bath play… Heh, youth, I tell you…”

The old man, Bernal, came flying out.

He had looked panicked, but the moment he saw Tooyama in the bath in a position like he was hugging Drako, his expression softened, and he rubbed his nose.

“Did you call, Ojou-sama, Bridegroom-dono? Hm, bath play… Blush.”

The maid came out too. Looking at Tooyama and Drako, her cheeks flushed.

“Screw you, you octopus bastards!! Hoooot, wait, I’m dying, seriously dying, I’m getting boiled to death! Hurry up and help meeeeeee!!”

Tooyama’s scream echoed throughout the entire mansion.

It became the noisiest moment in the long history of the Dragon Embassy, the symbol that connected dragons and the human world in the Empire.

“Gyaou… Fuhaha, Naruhito… Fu, ha.”

Even while unconscious, one dragon smiled softly in the boiling water while supported by Tooyama, as if somehow delighted by the commotion.