The Beginning Of A Long Day

“Good. Be at ease. I permit it.”

A golden-haired beauty sank her body deeply into a large sofa and crossed her legs.

Her legs were long, and even her arrogant attitude had an elegance like a painting.

“H-haha.”

“Hoarding Dragon-sama, thank you very much for sheathing your spear earlier for the sake of us frail ones.”

The two sitting timidly in the lower seats, the margrave and the Guild Master, lowered their heads to the beauty before them, the dragon.

This was the Guild’s reception room. Originally, the master of this room should have been the Guild Master, and the dragon should have been the guest, yet she behaved as though she owned the place.

“Kaka, it is fine, it is fine. Marie, I made you go through some trouble. Hmm, it seems my friend was being tangled up with some unsavory people. I caused trouble for you all. Forgive me.”

“………………Huh?”

The dragon bowed her head. While sitting on the sofa, while leaning back against the backrest, with the worst possible attitude, but she had bowed her head.

To him, Sapan, the margrave and lord of this city, it was an impossible sight, and he let out a foolish voice despite himself.

“M-my lord!!!”

“Ah, w-w-w-w-well, no, no no no! Such words from the Hoarding Dragon-sama are far more than this Sapan could possibly accept.”

“Kaka, it is fine. Be at ease. Now, Naruhito, Lizardonian, why do you not sit as well? That would make meaningless the seat Marie arranged out of consideration for us.”

The dragon did not rebuke his attitude, and instead called out to the two huddled in the corner of the room. In a sense, they were the cause of the disturbance: Tooyama Naruhito and Lazaar.

“O-oh… What do we do, Lazaar?”

“…Do you think we have a choice right now? Ah, ahem. Hoarding Dragon-dono, I am grateful for your consideration.”

Lazaar respectfully lowered his head to Drako.

“Kaka, it is fine, it is fine. Ah, Lizardonian, I wanted to speak with you once as well. Well done. To think you truly evaded the Empire’s pursuit for an entire month.”

“If I caused Your Greatness trouble, I apologize.”

Drako waved her hand cheerfully. Her constantly changing expressions resembled those of a young child who had learned emotions.

“Kakakaka, it is fine. I searched for you in order to search for Naruhito. I shall praise you. That skill of concealment was splendid.”

“Your words are more than I deserve, great dragon.”

Lazaar answered Drako’s words with a respectful attitude.

Tooyama watched the exchange and secretly whispered to Lazaar.

“Lazaar, Lazaar, Drako really is someone important, huh?”

“…Naruhito, please spare me right now. A hero, the Hero Party, Agatra’s Adventurers’ Guild Master, a margrave, and a dragon. I’m getting dizzy…”

Holding his forehead, Lazaar answered Tooyama in a hushed voice.

“S-s-s-so, our dragon. For what b-business have you come to the Guild today? You were not on underground duty today, nor should you have had any plans to explore the Tower…”

“Kaka, what is this, Lord? Am I not allowed to come to the Guild?”

Drako laughed teasingly. To Tooyama, she was the same Drako as always, but it seemed different for the lord.

“Piyeh?! N-n-n-n-n-n-no, not at all!”

The lord cried out, his face turning bright red and then pale blue. Cold sweat flowed like a waterfall.

“Drako, don’t tease him too much. His complexion is changing like a traffic light.”

“Traffic light? What is that? Well, no matter. Lord, forgive me. I teased you too much.”

Though she tilted her head at Tooyama’s words, Drako nodded. Waving her hand, she lightly expressed her apology to the lord.

“…Marie-kun, did I mishear just now? The Dragon Shrine Maiden-dono said forgive me— Hebura?!”

The lord, his expression blank, asked the woman beside him, the Guild Master, in a daze.

“Why are you bringing it back up?! Are you stupid?! You are stupid, aren’t you?! …Ahem. Dragon Shrine Maiden-sama, please forgive his great rudeness. My lord appears to be somewhat tired.”

“Bi, ko, kohyu.”

With speed impossible to follow by eye.

The Guild Master squeezed the lord’s neck tight and cleared her throat. Letting out a small animal-like sound, the lord slumped back against the backrest.

“O-oh. I see. T-tell him to take care of himself when he wakes up. Naruhito, how long will you stay there? Hurry and sit. Lizardonian, I permit you as well. Ah, the seat beside me is for Naruhito alone. You may sit on that chair over there.”

Even Drako was slightly frightened by what the Guild Master had done. It was an amazing technique. The lord she had knocked out even looked as though he were sleeping peacefully.

“Dragon, I thank you for your generous words. …Naruhito, come on.”

“Ah, o-oh. Is this okay?”

Tooyama checked because Lazaar alone would be sitting in a separate seat.

“Of course it’s okay. Hurry. While the dragon is still in a good mood, please. If I’m exposed to any more transcendent presence, I’ll collapse.”

Lazaar hurried Tooyama along while nodding vigorously. His eyes were opened wide and looked terribly strained.

“That’d be a problem. Sorry, Drako. Excuse me.”

“Mm! Mm, good, very good! See, it is soft… Oh, Marie, let us move to the main topic. The reason I came here today is that I thought I would form a party with Naruhito and, while I am at it, that Lizardonian there. I came to submit the application.”

Tooyama sat beside Drako. For an instant, the refreshing smell of sweet fruit and citrus tickled his nose.

“A party, yes, understood— A party…? Who and who?”

At Drako’s words, the Guild Master’s movements became poor. She was like a machine whose lubricant had run out.

“The three here. Kaka, it is my first time forming a party. Marie, what should I do?”

Apparently, the party formation had already been decided in Drako’s mind without considering Tooyama and Lazaar’s wishes.

However, thinking about it, Tooyama knew Drako’s strength well enough. For now, he closed his mouth and decided to watch the discussion.

“Dragon Shrine Maiden-sama… Um, according to the basic party formation standards of the Adventurers’ Guild, parties can only be formed between adventurers within one rank above or below each other…”

However, the Guild Master lowered her head, finding it difficult to say.

“Hm? What does that mean?”

“U-um, a ‘Tower-Class Adventurer,’ in other words, Your Greatness, is recognized by both the Empire and the Guild as one of the strongest adventurers who should challenge Herel’s Tower. You stand at the summit of the adventurer rank system.”

“Hmm, naturally.”

“Yes, indeed. Therefore, those who can form a party with the Hoarding Dragon-sama must be first-rank adventurers or higher. For those people there and the Hoarding Dragon-sama to form a party would violate Guild regulations…”

“…………Hm? Hm? Wait, Marie. What rank is Naruhito?”

Drako, with many question marks seemingly floating above her head, tilted her neck.

“…Drako, we haven’t even registered yet, so we don’t have ranks.”

Apparently, there was a fundamental misunderstanding.

It seemed Drako had thought they had already become adventurers.

“Hmmmm??! Wait, wait, wait, wait. Naruhito, were you not an adventurer in the first place? You were an adventurer slave, were you not? And were you not always talking about adventurers every chance you got?”

“No, that was probably explorers. Explorers.”

He did not know what relationship adventurer slaves and adventurers had, but Tooyama told the groaning Drako the truth.

“Hm, hmm, hmmmm. Marie, what rank does one normally start from after registering as an adventurer? First rank?”

Drako tilted her head and asked.

“N-no. Aside from special examples like Your Greatness, everyone starts from fourth rank, the lowest rank.”

“F-fourth rank? Hmm, hmmmm.”

Drako opened her mouth in shock and began groaning. At some point, a tail covered in golden scales popped out and swayed restlessly from side to side.

“Heh, that’s surprising, Drako. You respect rules like this, huh?”

Tooyama honestly said what he thought.

“Eek, what a thing to say.”

The Guild Master stared wide-eyed at Tooyama’s excessively casual way of speaking.

“Naruhito, you do not understand dragons.”

For an instant, an ominous voice leaked from Drako. However, to the current Tooyama, to Tooyama who had made Drako his friend, that amount was nothing at all.

He calmly let that anger pass by and honestly put his feelings on his tongue.

“Yeah, so teach me. I want to hear it from your mouth.”

“………♪ Kaka, it cannot be helped. We dragons are a race that keeps promises. Guild rules are, in essence, nothing more than promises established between adventurers and the Guild. For anything else, I know of no rule that could bind me, but promises alone are different.”

As the message flowed, Drako began speaking in a somewhat good mood.

“Heh, promises, huh. Yeah, those are important.”

Within Tooyama, his understanding of Drako, the Hoarding Dragon, Alice Dral Flaretail, deepened.

Unique rules, unique sensibilities. Though she had become somewhat easier to talk to, she was still a different creature.

He likely must not forget that point. Tooyama quietly continued his analysis.

“Yes, for that is our honor. We always keep promises.”

Indeed, Drako had been like that then.

The worst possible binary choice she had forced upon Lazaar and Tooyama. However, the Return Seal she had given to Lazaar had certainly been real, and she had let him escape just as she had said.

“But what should I do? Marie, how long does it take to rise from fourth rank to first rank? About three days?”

Ending her conversation with Tooyama, Drako asked the Guild Master.

“N-no. First-rank adventurers are, um, among the strongest forces in the Adventurers’ Guild, excluding the special case of Tower-Class. The path is difficult, requiring achievements, of course, as well as ability great enough to be reported to the House of Nobles, contributions to the Guild in other fields, or permission from an adventure city. In fact, many adventurers end their lives as fourth-rank…”

“What? So that is how it is. Hmm. I had thought there were only Tower-Class and first rank. What should I do? Marie, this man, Tooyama Naruhito, is nevertheless a dragon slayer, you know? Would certification by that achievement be impossible?”

It seemed Drako wanted to form the party while still following Guild rules.

Was it a spirit of fairness? Tooyama nodded, thinking he did not dislike that. He did not dislike that kind of thing at all.

“…Ah, no. It is not that there are no precedents, but even then, special certification would begin from third rank. Suddenly assigning first rank would be difficult…”

The Guild Master chose every word carefully, yet clearly conveyed only the facts.

The dragon’s authority existed simply by being there. Yet without yielding to it, the Guild Master, Heidemarie, bore her own duty.

Though inwardly, she regretted having reflexively knocked the lord unconscious.

“Hmm, hmm. Naruhito, hurry and rise to first rank. I want to go hunting with you.”

Pouting, Drako sulkily sank her body into the backrest and pressed Tooyama.

Apparently, she had given up on forming a party for now.

At that atmosphere like an obedient child giving up a toy and sulking, Tooyama’s mouth loosened despite himself.

“O-oh, what’s this, you’re cute. Well, I don’t really get ranks and all that yet, but it’s the standard thing, right? Like ranks or that sort of thing? It’s basically the same as the rule that only senior explorers and above can team up with a Designated Explorer.”

Drako stared at Tooyama with a face that said, What is this guy talking about?

Her absurdly well-formed face, almond-shaped eye, long golden eyelashes, and deep blue eye made him freeze for an instant, but he somehow endured it and continued speaking.

“Well, I’ll catch up soon, Drako. Either way, we need to work hard as adventurers to earn a lot of money. Uh, Guild Master-san, the higher the rank, the better-paying requests you can take, right?”

“Yes. In particular, nominated requests for first-rank adventurers have completely different rewards from the non-nominated requests posted on the board. A single request can bring tremendous wealth. Of course, the difficulty increases proportionally as well.”

The Guild Master answered Tooyama’s words smoothly. Her composed face held the light of intellect. This was likely her true work mode.

“Well, that makes sense. Huh, but now that I think about it, Drako, how did you know I was going to become an adventurer? When I left the mansion, I wasn’t even thinking about going to the Guild yet, and I hadn’t told you where I was going, right?”

Tooyama suddenly realized something. If she had come here to form a party with Tooyama and the others, then as a prerequisite, she had to know that Tooyama had decided to earn money by becoming an adventurer.

Of course, only the members at the inn knew that. He should not have told Drako anything yet.

“Hmm……… I do not want to say.”

Drako turned her face away. It was like a child whose prank had been discovered pretending not to know.

“Huh? What’s that supposed to mean?”

Tooyama furrowed his brow and grabbed Drako’s shoulder. Drako’s body jolted.

Seeing Tooyama’s action, Lazaar and the Guild Master turned pale and suddenly began muttering prayers, mumbling about teeth and angels and other things.

“Hey, look this way. This way.”

The man acting disrespectfully toward a dragon ignored the two praying in their minds, grabbed Drako’s surprisingly slender shoulders firmly, and pulled her toward him.

As though giving in, Drako turned around, then murmured while averting her eyes.

“…It was written in a book. That an appropriate sense of distance nurtures friendship. It would sound like I had made people secretly investigate you, and I did not want to say it.”

Blushing slightly, Drako fidgeted and kept touching her long golden hair.

Tooyama thought for a while about what those words meant.

“…So basically, you had someone tail me?”

“………………….”

Drako said nothing. Fidget, fidget. While combing through her hair, she looked around at the ceiling and floor.

“No, that’s already an answer.”

“Because you did not write me a letter. …I thought perhaps you had left the adventure city without telling me.”

Drako muttered softly while staring fixedly at Tooyama.

It was a sight that could make anyone who saw it faint. A dragon behaving exactly like a girl of that age. Like an ordinary girl who could not help being curious about what the person of the opposite sex she was interested in was doing—

“I told you, I don’t have an address. It’s only been one day since I parted with you.”

But this man, Tooyama, had a happy head. Though his mind worked quickly, he could not make such humane interpretations and thrust only the facts straight at the girl.

Of course, in the modern world, Tooyama had not been popular with women. It was enough to make one sad.

“Hmm, then this is it! I shall buy you a house, and you can live there— No, no, no, that was it. That is the sort of thing you dislike. Hmmmm, friendship is difficult.”

Drako began saying something like a woman who chased useless men, but at the very last second, she muddied her words. Apparently, she had properly learned at the embassy where Tooyama’s switch flipped.

“I’m glad you understand. Well, I’ll work hard so I can team up with you soon. And when I get a base, I’ll definitely tell you.”

Tooyama’s expression softened at Drako’s attitude, which tried to respect him.

She’s a good person, this one. He properly conveyed his words as if soothing Drako.

“Absolutely! You absolutely, absolutely must tell me… Hm? Sniff, sniff sniff sniff.”

Suddenly.

Drako grabbed Tooyama by the neck and pulled him close. The next thing he knew, she buried her face in Tooyama’s chest and began sniffing.

“Whoa?! H-hey, what? Huh? Are you sniffing me? No way, do I stink after all?”

More than Drako burying her face in his chest, Tooyama was more concerned about the possibility that he smelled bad.

Tooyama was the type of person who was fairly fine with a messy room, but body odor and uncleanliness were impossible for him. He did not fold laundry, but he used lots of detergent, and he cleaned the toilet quite thoroughly.

“You smell… It is a thick smell.”

Drako slowly lifted her face from Tooyama’s chest. She stood unsteadily and stroked her own nose.

Her expression was not the humanlike face of a girl she had shown until moments before. Dark eye, expressionless face.

A higher life-form outside the laws of this world. A dragon who considered it supreme to keep all things in the world, all objects of her desire, at hand.

Drako changed into the face of the Hoarding Dragon.

“Ugh, seriously? I washed with water before coming here and lightly washed my clothes yesterday too… So I do smell after all. I need to secure a bath and detergent soon.”

However, Tooyama was not paying attention to that. More than the dragon’s authority, which made Lazaar and the Guild Master unconsciously begin to bow down, the fact that he might smell disturbed Tooyama far more.

He had to hurry. He had to obtain a living environment where he could soak in a bathtub and take a bath every day.

“No, it is not your smell. This is the stench of angels…”

Drako, Alice Dral Flaretail, answered softly to Tooyama’s words that failed to read the room.

There was power in that voice. There was emotion dwelling in that voice.

A voice quietly filled with a dragon’s anger—

“Hi.”

“Guh, hm.”

The Guild Master and Lazaar groaned from the suffocating feeling. That was the normal reaction.

“Huh? H-hey, Drako, what’s wrong? Everyone looks like they’re feeling bad from the pressure.”

One idiot finally noticed Drako’s state. Lazaar and the Guild Master glared at Tooyama with resentful eyes.

“Naruhito.”

“Ah, yes.”

“Did you meet an angel, no, someone from the Church? What is this thick, sticky stench of theirs?”

“Ah, Church, Church. Oh, the Pledge Scroll thing.”

The word Church easily connected to that.

The black, small, probably dangerously strong sister. That saint or whatever.

“………………What did you just say?”

“Ah, well, a lot happened. In exchange for having that Church saint or whatever help us, I signed that Pledge Scroll or whatever. With a blood seal, like this. …………Did I mess up somehow?”

He muttered the fact that, in exchange for saving Rida’s life, he had signed the contract she had made with him and stamped it in blood.

The air around Drako cooled, then grew hot.

As if the world were trembling at the dragon’s anger, the room’s temperature fell and rose. It was a phenomenon that had not occurred even during the earlier trouble with Wenfilbarna.

The lord sleeping peacefully, Lazaar and the Guild Master hanging their heads with pale faces, and again, twenty-seven-year-old single Tooyama Naruhito, who understood nothing.

“…No, it is fine. You are fine. No matter what you do, I shall affirm all of it. If you value freedom, I shall also value your freedom. But I see. I see, I see. So this is how they do things.”

“Uh, Drako? Drako-san? Um, your face is very scary right now.”

However, Tooyama cautiously spoke to Drako, whose expressionless face was far too inhuman.

“Kaka. Kakakakaka. Kaka, calamity, calamity, calamity, calamity, calamity, calamity, calamity, calamity. I see. They should have known he is my friend, because they were there. Naruhito, what is the content of the Pledge Scroll contract?”

Her laugh was different from usual.

At the quiet question, Tooyama answered honestly.

“…In exchange for saving a kid, I have to pay fifty platinum coins by this winter.”

“I see, I see, I see. And you will earn that yourself?”

At the dragon’s question, Tooyama finally began to feel a chill down his spine.

He understood that Drako was clearly angry. The words had been spoken casually, yet he had the illusion that if he answered incorrectly, he would be killed.

That was what beings with power were like.

However, Tooyama answered only with the truth, in accordance with his own aesthetics and way of life.

“Obviously. I’m the same as you, Drako. I don’t throw away promises or contracts. Nothing good comes from that.”

Living according to desire and following rules did not contradict each other. Tooyama had that rule inside him without any conflict at all.

“…Kaka, that is good. That is good, human. Splendidly break the trial of the angels, of the Church. …But well done, toys of the angels. It has been some time since I was made a fool of.”

At Tooyama’s answer, Drako’s anger softened slightly.

Snap. She snapped her long fingers.

“Faran.”

The short word she murmured was a name. A peculiar being serving the dragon.

“Yes. I have already sent a familiar to the Church.”

With those words, a maid appeared, smoothly splitting space. It was that expressionless maid.

Huh, she was here?

Tooyama made that retort with his expression, but no one answered. Even when he appealed with his eyes to Lazaar and the Guild Master, asking them to retort together because a maid had suddenly appeared, he was completely ignored.

“Mm, good. Tell the bishop: explain everything.”

“Yes, I shall do so. …I have now conveyed it through the familiar.”

“His reaction?”

“He began a strange dance while foaming at the mouth in a room where he was hiding gold coins. Is it a provocation?”

“…How amusing, money-grubbing wretch. It seems he has grown mistaken because of the saint and first knight. I must teach him once more what a dragon is.”

A cold laugh. Seeing that face, Tooyama reconfirmed it.

As expected, she was a different creature. No matter how easy she was to talk to, he decided in his heart not to forget that alone.

“Naruhito, splendidly remove that collar. I will not let you say you cannot.”

“Huh? What’s that supposed to mean? Of course I’ll pay it. I always return what I borrow.”

But that and being afraid of her were separate things. Tooyama simply returned words to the friend who was worried about him.

“Hmph. I will remember those words. …An urgent matter has come up. I wanted to stay with you a little longer, but I must go now. Naruhito, when things calm down, you may come visit the embassy again.”

“Oh, thanks. I’ll show my face. When I get a base, I’ll tell you again.”

“Mm. Also, raise your rank quickly. I shall allow you to attend a dragon’s hunt.”

“Yeah, I’m looking forward to that.”

“Hmph, then farewell. …You absolutely, absolutely must come visit. It will be terrible if you do not.”

“I get it. You really saved me today. Thanks, Drako.”

Tooyama smoothly held it out.

“…What is this?”

Drako stared back and forth between what he had offered and Tooyama’s face.

“Huh? A handshake. Was that no good?”

“…Hehe, fool. There is no way it would be no good.”

Drako softened her face and tightly gripped Tooyama’s offered hand.

“Whoa, you’re strong.”

“You are weak, fool… Then I shall go. Have a good adventure, Tooyama Naruhito.”

“Yeah, thanks. Have a good exploration, Drako.”

Tooyama returned the words to Drako. Those words were a stock phrase he had always directed at his companions. They were words wishing for reunion, which had somehow become familiar among explorers.

“Hmph. Marie, then I leave them to you. When the lord wakes, give him my regards.”

“Yes, understood.”

The Guild Master lowered her head. Even pale-faced and bent under the dragon’s authority, she was someone worthy of being the head of this city’s, of this adventure city’s, Adventurers’ Guild.

Drako smiled slightly, and the expressionless maid stood beside her.

They turned around, and the maid clicked her leather shoe.

In an instant, as though it were a lie, Drako and the maid’s outlines melted into the scenery and vanished.

After a few seconds, even their presences disappeared.

The dragons had left the Guild.

“Whoa, so cool.”

“…The storm has passed.”

Tooyama spoke carefreely, while Lazaar let out a heavy sigh.

Ahem. A beautiful cough. The Guild Master, Heidemarie, whom the dragon had entrusted with the place, regulated her breathing.

“…Then, um, once again, you two. Welcome to the Adventurers’ Guild.”

She smiled awkwardly.

The long day still continued.