Quagmire, Glitter, Thanks For The Nomination.

“…Ah, he made them cry.”

Whose mutter had that been?

The audience, who had been nervously watching the exchange between Tooyama and the dragons, heard someone’s words echo through the hall.

“Eh, why?”

Tooyama Naruhito panicked.

Something was wrong. Drako and the pervert dragon’s reactions were obviously strange.

“…Hyuka, hyu, hyu.”

“Shupu, shu, shus.”

Choked sounds from the throat. Sobs.

Tears silently dripped from their beautiful faces, whose expressions had frozen. When dragon tears touched the outside air, they gradually hardened like glasswork.

Plip, clink.

Dragon tears fell at their feet.

This was strange.

Tooyama instantly went pale. His stomach began to hurt, and his heart beat irregularly and harder.

“H-hey, you two? Eh, I don’t get it. Why? Why are you crying?”

The dragons remained expressionless and merely continued shedding tears in silence.

The air shifted with a stir.

Below the stage, the gathered customers swallowed at the sight of the dragons’ tears and began whispering among themselves.

“Dragons are crying…”

“That man said it outright. Something about how they had nothing to do with it. Is this a lovers’ quarrel?”

“Did you see that? That attitude toward dragons. So that is a dragon slayer… What a terrifying human.”

“It seems we need to raise our guard against that trading company. To think they control a man who takes such a cold attitude toward dragons… Dromora Trading Company is fearsome.”

“According to rumor, when the moonshine dealers were destroyed in the eastern district two days ago, there was also a black-haired man and a Lizardonian man at the fire scene of that hidden brewery.”

“I heard he made the Angel Church’s strongest knight his woman. That light-blue-haired girl knight. The one a duke’s son had fallen for.”

“Maybe the claim that he threatened the dwarf Workshop and took a valuable item was not so dubious after all?”

“I wonder if the rumor that he touched the Crows is true too. Apparently even they are hesitating and still haven’t retaliated.”

“That is Tooyama Naruhito… The playboy who bewitches the Dragon of Human Knowledge-sama… Being stolen away…”

“Our idol of magicians… How dare he do this to the Dragon of Human Knowledge-sama…”

Whisper, whisper, whissssper. Whispered conversations with no intention of hiding themselves anymore filled the hall.

One after another, the many actions Tooyama had taken in the adventure city over the past week were becoming rumors, and now people were beginning to recognize them as true stories.

“T-this is bad…”

He did not know why, but this was bad. When it came to creating a bakery and starting a shop, this reputation was bad.

Why? How? How had this happened? What had he done wrong, and where?

As Tooyama Naruhito began to panic in earnest, a hand touched his shoulder.

“Tooyama-sama…”

“Eh?”

“Could it be that you truly do not understand why those ladies are shedding tears?”

It was a very cold voice. Madam Haroto was looking at Tooyama as though she were looking at filth.

“Of course I don’t understand. Eh, wait, wait, seriously, stop crying. Don’t just shed tears with expressionless faces. And say something.”

Tooyama hurriedly tried to soothe the two beautiful dragons.

However, it was no use. Both of them merely kept their beautiful faces completely blank and continued shedding tears.

“…Hah, to think it was this severe. That way of being that invades others, a man who only looks forward, is truly this incapable of understanding a woman’s heart.”

“Am I being insulted?”

“Yes, you are being insulted. Look at them. Is there any need to direct any words other than insults at a man who makes such lovely ladies shed tears?”

“Oh dear, your eyes are sharp, miss. They’re eyes that look at garbage.”

“…Hah, Tooyama-sama. Your ear, please.”

“Yes.”

Madam Haroto sighed and beckoned Tooyama over. The thick scent of floral perfume oil reached him.

“Those ladies are jealous. Right now, they are shocked because they believe you have a woman you desire and that you told them to stay out of it because it has nothing to do with them.”

“…………………Huh?”

Tooyama blinked.

He did not understand why it had become that. Did this mean it had nothing to do with the bakery at all? His mind was so confused that only that thought came up.

“No, this is not the time for ‘huh,’ surely.”

“Eh, they’re not sulking over something bakery-related?”

“…Ugh.”

At Tooyama’s words, Haroto twisted her lips without hiding her disgust and opened her eyes wide.

“Wait, but even if I really came to this shop looking for a woman, why would that give Drako any reason to get mad—”

Ah.

Memories from several days ago circled through Tooyama’s mind.

The promise he had made with Drako when he recovered his smartphone.

When he bought his smartphone back from that damn dwarf old man, in exchange for Drako’s cooperation, he had exchanged a written promise to take her out to play.

He remembered being made to write all sorts of things. If he recalled correctly, one of the clauses said something about not inviting other women, and not playing with another woman before Drako.

Thinking about it carefully, from Drako’s perspective, this situation could only look like he had come to fool around with women.

“Whoa, crap. This means I broke the promise…”

Only now did Tooyama feel the blood drain from his face. Breaking a promise was extremely bad for Tooyama. It was incredibly uncool.

“No, well, that promise is certainly one thing, but surely there is more before that… Tooyama-sama, you truly are terrible at interacting with others…”

“No, what reason would Drako have to get mad at me aside from me breaking the promise?”

“…Now then, are you truly not noticing, are you pretending not to notice, no, are you making yourself not notice, or are you simply broken? Please think about it yourself, Sir Dragon Slayer.”

Haroto looked at Tooyama with cold eyes. She did not look likely to help him.

“Fine… It is fine now…”

“Shupu, sorry, I am sorry… I did not mean to make you angry…”

The dragons, still silently shedding tears with straight faces, murmured softly.

They were not crying faces. Their straight, beautiful faces remained unchanged, without the slightest distortion. Only their tears quietly fell.

“Wait, wait, that’s wrong, seriously wrong. It’s the bakery. What I was talking about was the bakery.”

“You said I had nothing to do with it… Even though we had promised, you said I had nothing to do with it.”

Stab. Drako’s murmur pierced Tooyama.

“Drako, Drako-san. That’s not it, really. Listen, seriously.”

“Shupu, Tooyama-kun, you are kind… It is fine. You do not have to be considerate of us now…”

The Dragon of Human Knowledge was the same.

She murmured in a trembling voice while transparent drops fell from her dark-colored eyes.

“No, that’s not it. It’s not about being considerate. I came here to look for a woman, no! When I say look for a woman, I don’t mean look for one like that!”

“A woman… As expected… Hyuka, even though we promised…”

“…What was wrong with me? I even changed my hair and speech. How frustrating.”

Clink, clatter, clatter. Hard sounds rang at their feet. When dragon tears touched the outside air, they slowly turned into crystals. At the feet of the two crying dragons, glittering tear stones rolled.

“No, that’s why! Listen! Listen, listen! I came here to make a bakery! That money—”

Tooyama swallowed the words just before he could finish them.

No, wait. If I use that as an excuse here, if I say I came to threaten the money-grubber, Tooyama Naruhito’s reputation will truly hit rock bottom. If that affects opening the bakery, that would defeat the whole purpose.

His throat was bone-dry. Only now did Tooyama realize he was on the verge of being checkmated.

“…No, Drako, I really didn’t come here to fool around with women or anything like that.”

No good. He could not think of an excuse.

Honestly saying, “I came to threaten the money-grubber,” would be questionable as a human being. The moment one stopped feeling guilty about something shameful was the moment one’s dignity died.

“…Enough, Naruhito. Even I understand. What reason would one have for coming to a place like this besides rutting?”

“No, there is one, actually…”

“Then say it. Sniff. Our promise… I wanted to be the first one to play with you, but you…”

“Ngh… No, Drako, seriously, seriously, I didn’t come here to fool around with women.”

His head hurt terribly. As Drako said, he was indeed in a total bastard situation.

No matter what kind of being it was with, a promise was a promise. It was not something to break, nor something to neglect.

This was completely Tooyama Naruhito’s lack of awareness, a mistake where he had overlooked something he should have considered when making the plan.

“Spu. Hoarding Dragon, let us stop. This is only unsightly. We were not chosen by him. That is all.”

“…Shut up. You stay silent. I am speaking with Naruhito.”

“Wait, it’s really my fault. I didn’t forget the promise or anything. I really came here to—”

Even then, Tooyama tried to spin his words—

“Old dragon.”

The dragon did not engage.

Now, Tooyama’s words no longer had the power to move the dragons.

“Spupu. Magical formula, hypothetical theorem initiation. Formula type: detection formula, Nostalgia Hill. Infiltration into world laws complete… The person Tooyama-kun is searching for is… Hmm, hmm, oh my, I cannot see very well… A brown-haired, long-haired woman. She is in a private room in this shop. It seems she is quite a valued customer. Well, she is amusing herself terribly.”

The Dragon of Human Knowledge waved her finger. With just that, the world’s laws were easily and horrifically infringed upon.

In one of the Dragon of Human Knowledge’s eyes, the outline of a golden shining monocle appeared.

Through that golden frame, her dark-colored eye instantly found the person Tooyama Naruhito was searching for.

The certain authority figure Tooyama and the others had searched for so hard was found all too easily.

“So it was a woman after all. Shopkeeper.”

“Yes, here.”

At Drako’s snap of her fingers, Madam Haroto knelt and lowered her head.

“Bring the brown-haired woman in a private room on the third floor of this shop here. Can I ask that of you?”

“…Yes. A summons from a dragon. Would any Imperial citizen refuse? Haine?”

“Yes, Madam Haroto.”

At Haroto’s words, the wavy-haired Haine bent at the waist and lowered her head to the dragons as well.

“Call the guest enjoying herself in Stelno and Runhonia’s room on the third floor. Tell her it is a summons from the Hoarding Dragon-sama and the Dragon of Human Knowledge-sama.”

“Understood, Madam. Most noble dragons, please permit me to speak and use your names.”

“Very well, you may.”

“Yes, of course.”

The dragons answered Haine’s words. There were no longer tears in the eyes of the two beautiful dragons.

What remained was only beauty adorned with expressionlessness that made the spine prickle.

“Eh?”

There was nothing Tooyama could do anymore.

“…I shall judge her.”

“What?”

Tooyama’s words had no value.

“I shall judge her, Naruhito. Whether she is a female worth your fixation.”

“And whether she is truly more suitable for you than I am.”

The dragons’ words continued mercilessly.

“I shall.”

“I shall.”

““Speak with that woman.””

“Ah…”

Tooyama closed his eyes for a moment and exhaled.

I’ve completely messed up.

Still unable to settle things, the powerless man quietly apologized in his heart to a certain woman.

This time, seriously, I’m sorry.

………

……

…

~At the same time, Rain Inn, third floor, cast private room area for reverse-requested guests.

In Runhonia and Stelno’s private room~

That woman was now at the peak of her life.

“Uhhyohyo!! There, there! Run, dodge!”

“Wah! Honestly! Big sister, you pervert!”

“Teldo-sama, what about me?”

There were only smiles there. A freckled, brown-haired woman with a beaming, deeply satisfied grin laughed.

“Uppyopyo! You too, Run-kun! There, there, there! Come on, if you don’t dodge the water, those cute paper clothes will go see-through! Oppyoppyo!”

The woman was properly soaking up to her shoulders in the bath at the center of the room, a thermae using a hot spring source that welled up from underground.

Teldo Circus was an alias.

Her real name was Kanosa Tier Field, the very bishop of the Angel Church whose name resounded throughout the Empire.

Her usually white hair was now dark brown.

Her sharp beauty had also changed into a pastoral look with freckles. The narrow eyes that concealed her purple eyes of desire and ambition were now round, almond-shaped eyes.

“Wah, Teldo-sama got me wet.”

“Oof, I soaked a beautiful boy’s armpit. Damn, I’m going to get arrested. The Church Knights are going to arrest me. Damn, what should I do?”

Changed in appearance by the art of disguise passed down in the Church, an art with history as deep as the inherited sacrament Archbishop’s Order, she was fully enjoying the night city.

“Upyopyopyo! Ah, so cute. Beautiful boys and beautiful girls really are the most precious things in this world after platinum coins. A good hot spring, delicious alcohol, and lovely fairies. Living is woonderful!”

Holding toys made by the Workshop in both hands, tubes called water blowdarts, she grinned widely.

At Rain Inn, there was a game permitted only to certain honored guests chosen by the cast. Its name was Water Play.

The rules were simple. Using the toy that sprayed water, one simply splashed water from inside the bath toward the cast. That was all, but—

“Take this!”

“Kya!”

“And this!”

“Wah!”

Water sprayed from the tube Kanosa held. It wet the clothes of the beautiful girl and beautiful boy standing at the edge of the bath.

“Ahaha, it hit me.”

“Fufu, big sister will see me.”

It was paper.

The cast members’ clothes, simple white bathrobe-like garments, were made of paper.

Every time the water blowdart hit, the cast’s paper clothes became transparent with water. It was a scene of a traditional and honorable game the Empire was proud of.

“Buhihihihihi, Run-chan, Ste-chan. Come on, come on, a little closer, a little closer to the bath. I can’t hit you properly.”

The bishop continued laughing forever with a lecherous grin stretched toward the beautiful girl and beautiful boy clad in paper clothes that were becoming transparent here and there.

“Eeh, what should we do, Stelno?”

“Hmm, what should we do, Run?”

“If you come closer, big sister will be generous with your allowance!”

“Kyaha, I love you, big sister.”

“Okay, big sister. Where will you hit me next?”

“Muhohohohohoho, not at all, not at all. Ah, this is fun.”

She dipped the tip of the water blowdart into the bath and refilled it with hot water.

Kanosa, soaking in the jacuzzi, took aim.

She tried to wet the clothes of the fairy-like beautiful girl and beautiful boy sitting at the edge of the bath, puffing out their chests and smiling at her once again.

“Here we go, here we go, big sister’s going to hit you.”

““Kyaa, honestly, big sister, you pervert.””

Water sprayed from the tube and wet the two. The bishop was now most certainly at the peak of her life.

“Big sister, can I get in the bath beside you too? My clothes are soaked.”

“Oh my, big sister, may I too? I have some very good Grep Fruits from the Eastern Territory. Let’s eat them together.”

“Uhhyohyo, bathing between a beautiful boy and a beautiful girl! Come, come, come right in!”

Wine and women, with a beautiful girl and beautiful boy attending her.

As Kanosa was fed a round, purple, squishy fruit that was offered to her, she thought.

“Ah, living is wonderful…”

“Fufu, I’m glad. Big sister, are you relaxed?”

“Aah, honestly, Ste-chan, you’re such a good girl. I’m extremely relaxed, extremely. Work has been really terrible lately.”

“Big sister, good work. Here, Radon Sherry.”

“Run-kun, thank you too. Ahh, ah, it soaks in. My throat feels warm and nice.”

She downed the amber liquid offered by the boy attending her on her left in one small cup.

The strong liquor with enhanced alcohol content was dry, and when she rolled it over her tongue, it mingled and melted together with the sweetness of the fruit she had just put in her mouth.

The heat passing down her throat gave Kanosa the feeling of being alive.

“What good alcohol. As expected of Rain Inn.”

“Fufu, thank you. Madam Haroto is picky about alcohol. She says she will absolutely only buy from breweries approved by the Angel Church.”

“Oh, as expected of Rain Inn. No mistake there.”

“Yeah, Madam is strict about that. Even when the moonshine brewery in the southern district burned down in a fire the other day, we had no effect at all. Some other shops used cheap moonshine, so it seems they had a hard time.”

The cast members of Rain Inn were all well-informed. They were deeply knowledgeable about the night city, and because they dealt with the upper classes, they were also quick-witted.

Even these two, who looked young, had been properly given specialized education and cultivation.

“…Oh, something like that happened?”

While licking the thick, honey-like liquor, Kanosa suddenly returned to the face of the bishop.

Though she said “something like that,” the one who had decided that moonshine brewery would burn down was none other than herself.

The purge she had ordered the dragon slayer, the Inquisitor Tooyama Naruhito, to carry out had been far smarter and more thorough than she had imagined.

He had dealt with over thirty people, including not only the brewery workers and Crows members, but even Crows executives who had been at that brewery. On top of that, he had properly recovered the moonshine recipe and the transaction documents, then turned everything to cinders before dawn.

The power of the Shadow Fang and the First Knight was surely involved too, but that work was worthy of astonishment.

Tooyama Naruhito’s work had been more careful, cunning, and certain than the hunts of any human or adventurer Kanosa had ever seen.

A man from another world. She had been the one to reach that conclusion, but what sort of society could produce a human capable of work like that, and just how many corpses must it create?

She even felt a chill.

“…But he may have been a far better purchase than I expected.”

Well, that was that, and this was this. She kept her consideration of Tooyama Naruhito’s capricious nature to a moderate level.

In any case, as a result, the bishop made a great profit.

She had obtained the recipe of the destroyed moonshine brewery, and one irritating rival in the liquor business had vanished from the world, greatly enriching her purse.

“Ah, big sister. You were thinking about someone other than us just now.”

“Eeh, that hurts. Big sister, who were you thinking about?”

“Hmm? Whatever do you mean?”

While brushing off the beautiful girl and beautiful boy leaning against her, Kanosa, who had unintentionally entered work mode, thought.

The Inquisitor, Tooyama Naruhito. How should she decide her view of him? That thing was probably not something that could be controlled easily.

However, he was too valuable and too terrifying to let go.

Even if it meant getting caught up in troublesome dragon-related matters, he was someone she wanted to keep close at hand. A sharp, strange man who was cold and cruel, yet whose humanity and common sense coexisted. That was Kanosa’s view of Tooyama Naruhito.

“Now then, how shall I have him work next?”

She had noticed that Tooyama Naruhito wanted the Angel Church to serve as his protection and backing. In that case, she would give it to him. In exchange, she would have him work more and more.

She wanted him to work twenty-four hours a day. That thing’s labor had value.

Calculation and calculation. In a sense, it was the most trustworthy relationship. The supreme leader of the Angel Church rather liked the performance of the new piece she had obtained—

“I deeply apologize for interrupting your enjoyment, Teldo Circus-sama. May I have a moment?”

“Oh, that’s Haine’s voice. Big sister, may I open the room door?”

“Hm? Eh, yes. Wait, it isn’t dawn yet, is it? No way, was I having so much fun that I lost track of time?”

“Excuse me, Teldo-sama. Thank you very much for always using our establishment. We are most grateful that you favor Stelno and Runhonia.”

“Yes, I like cute things and beautiful things, so there’s no problem. Um, so, what is it? …You’re cute too. Will you play with me?”

“You jest, Teldo-sama. Runhonia and Stelno will become jealous. …I have come to convey a message from the mistress of this establishment, Madam Haroto.”

“Oh my, Madam Haroto? I’m curious. What is it?”

“Maybe Teldo-sama is being scolded because she’s too lewd?”

“If she scolds you, I’ll protect you.”

“Muhohohohohoho, sorry for being lewd, sorry, sorry. I’m going to touch Ste-chan’s navel! Honestly, Run-kun, you really are a fairy. Let me spend money on you.”

“This is the message from Madam Haroto. The Hoarding Dragon, Alice Dral Flaretail-sama, and the Dragon of Human Knowledge, Ai Kelbrem Doctustail-sama, wish to summon you. Please come immediately to the first-floor main hall.”

Haine’s voice echoed calmly through the room.

The sound of abundant hot water welling up, breaking, spilling, and overflowing. Only that sound existed in the room.

“……………………Wh-at?”

“The dragons are calling for you. What an honor, Teldo Circus-sama.”

“……………………Wh-y?”

“…Apparently, Sir Dragon Slayer is fixated on you. The two dragons wish to hear your story regarding that matter.”

“Dra-gon slayer… Tooyama Naruhito…”

“Yes. He is currently speaking cheerfully with the dragons in the main hall.”

Reality had arrived.

The dream time was over, and a particularly meaningless trial had come to Bishop Kanosa Tier Field.

“That damn bastaaaard?! What the hell has he dragged me into this tiiiiiime?! I knew I hated hiiiiiiim!”

However, her lamentation was properly absorbed by the wallpaper made from highly soundproof monster materials and did not reach anywhere outside the room.

………

…

Just how much time had passed?

It had been around twenty minutes since the two dragons had started staring silently at him with fixed eyes.

“Um, Drako, let’s talk—”

“No. You are silver-tongued. We will speak once that brown-haired woman arrives.”

“Um, well…”

“It is Ai, Tooyama-kun. The name you gave me… No, this conversation is already hollow. Call me Dragon of Human Knowledge.”

“Um, Dragon of Human Knowledge-san.”

“You are adding -san to me? You are? Hah, how lonely…”

“Eeh… Then, Dragon of Human Knowledge, there is a slight misunderstanding between us.”

“You will not call me Ai?”

“Eh, no… What a pain…”

“Shupu.”

“Ah, aaaaaah?! D-don’t cry, don’t cry, Ai! I’m sorry!”

“…Oh, you are very, very close with this old dragon, Naruhito. Ah, not that I mind. Please, continue.”

“Eeh, scary…”

It was hell. Tooyama was in a hell more difficult than appeasing a Tyrannosaurus and a Velociraptor at the same time.

This was bad. Because he had pulled a dense protagonist move, the situation had become extremely bad.

“U-um, Drako-san…”

“Hmph.”

If things continued like this, his reputation in the city would worsen and affect the opening of the bakery.

And then there was the promise. It would mean he had broken his promise with Drako. That was bad too. Too uncool. He would lose one of his few friends again.

Tooyama was afraid of that too. Different living beings could become friends. He did not want to betray what the fluffy friend he had parted from in childhood had taught him. He did not want that alone.

“Hey—”

Just as Tooyama was about to speak.

“Thank you for waiting, Hoarding Dragon-sama, Dragon of Human Knowledge-sama. We have called the person you were searching for, Teldo Circus-sama.”

“…Most noble two dragons, I am deeply honored beyond measure to have been summoned on this occasion.”

“Ah, mon—”

“—!!!”

“Ah, yes.”

“Oh, so you are…”

“Oh, hm? …Was it my imagination?”

“Noble dragons, I am Teldo Circus. I am truly honored by this summons. Please forgive me for exposing this humble body before your noble selves.”

“Very well, woman. There are several things I wish to ask. Answer concisely and without lies. Old dragon?”

“Ah, of course. Formula composition, infiltration complete. It is not as strict as a sacrament or skill, but I can detect most lies.”

“Good. Woman. First, do you know this man?”

“Yes, I do.”

“…”

“Good. Continue like that. Take care. We dragons are unexpectedly not kind to you humans.”

“As the dragons will.”

“Hmm. Is this man and you in a relationship of mutual affection?”

“No. That alone is impossible, by heaven, earth, and dragons. Even if he and I were the only man and woman under heaven and earth, I would never fall in love with him.”

“That is also true. No lie there.”

“…You say that without knowing this man well.”

“Geh—my apologies. I was told to answer without sophistry.”

“Oh? You are quite an interesting woman. Very well, I permit it. State your name. Though we should be meeting for the first time, somehow, you resemble a clever woman I know a little.”

“…The current me is Teldo, Teldo Circus. I am merely an insignificant merchant who came to the adventure city from a lonely coal-mining town in the Northern Territory.”

“…This is also not a lie. …Hmm, however, still, something is…”

“Hmm. Then you. What is your relationship with this man, Tooyama Naruhito? If you say it is not a relationship between female and male, then I wish to know the reason Naruhito came all this way looking for you.”

“No, Drako, I told you—”

The instant Tooyama opened his mouth, he felt Teldo’s, no, the bishop’s gaze.

It was a gaze of anger, impatience, irritation, and also something like entrusting something to him.

The bishop’s lips moved silently. Tooyama did not miss it.

Shut. Up.

“…It is a work relationship. I have borrowed his power for my business.”

“What is that work?”

“Social reform.”

“Oh, oh-ho, oh-ho-ho. Good. You have quite the nerve. You properly fear me and properly revere me. That appearance resembles that woman more and more, that money-grubber…”

“Her words are not lies either.”

The two dragons, who seemed to have become slightly more pleased, brightened their voices just a little.

For an instant, Tooyama’s eyes met those of the woman who continued lowering her head.

(What the hell are you doing, seriously?)

(No, really, I’m seriously sorry.)

While exchanging eye contact, Tooyama spun his head at full speed.

This was bad. So far, he had truly had no good points. He had been useless in Operation Popularity, angered Drako and the Dragon of Human Knowledge, and was being protected by the target whose scandal he had tried to exploit.

No matter how one looked at it, he was too uncool.

“Hmm, hmm. Now then, according to what I have heard so far, Naruhito was looking for you for work matters, is that it? Hmm.”

“No, wait. Young dragon.”

“What is it, old dragon?”

“That woman there has not lied since earlier. She has not lied, but… something is strange. It is odd. It feels like I am looking at a mirage. We are being deceived by something about her.”

“Oh?”

“Sniff, sniff. Her scent, face, and soul are all somehow strange. It is not a transformation by magical formula either. This is… the scent of very, very old power. Spupu, what a coincidence. I also know a woman with the same scent. …It resembles that command inherited by the successive bishops of the Angel Church.”

“Higi.”

The bishop screamed.

“Higi?”

“N-no, elbow, my elbow, um, ahaha, ahahaha…”

(Ah-babababa, I’m dead, seriously dead. Dragon slayer, I will absolutely never forgive you! Seriously, seriously reflect on this.)

(Sorry, sorry, sorry, I’m thinking right now, seriously. This time it really is my fault.)

The bishop poured cold sweat, and eye contact was already at its limit.

“…Woman.”

Drako’s voice rumbled in the belly like the footsteps of a dinosaur.

“Y-y-y-yes?”

Even the bishop instinctively let her voice tremble. The pressure of a higher being made people tremble without exception.

“Answer. Perjury will not pass. Falsehood will not be permitted. There is no word for you to answer with except the truth. Take heed. This is a dragon’s word.”

“…A-ah, as you command.”

“Is there anything you are hiding from me?”

She had been caught.

Until now, she had been evasive, dodging with answers that were not exactly true but also not lies, but this time, it was impossible.

To the question “Is there anything you are hiding?” there were only yes or no answers.

As proof, the bishop, who had answered the dragons’ questions fairly smoothly until now, fell silent.

“…………”

No, but that money-grubbing woman was disgustingly sharp. She might be able to somehow handle even this situation on her own.

Holding onto that hope, Tooyama looked at the bishop.

It’s over.

Her mouth opened and closed. At an angle only Tooyama could see, the teary-eyed bishop pointed her dying-fish mouth toward him. It seemed hopeless.

“What is wrong? Can you not answer? Hm?”

“…We are not especially patient, you see. No, it is not as if we are angry at you. It is just that what you are hiding interests us. Yes.”

He heard the bishop draw in a breath, a voiceless scream.

The chandelier light that illuminated the stage, the light that shone upon the dragons, cast shadows that for an instant were no longer human in shape.

Wings, tails, fangs, tongues.

Light exposed a fragment of exalted existences that humans could never reach.

They were dragons. They would never intersect, never be understood, never stand as equals.

They were higher beings, different from humans. Pillars of the world, concepts of the planet. Chosen and defined to exist as such.

“Ah—”

Tooyama heard the bishop’s small scream.

It was the voice of a human who had been checkmated.

Tooyama saw the dragons’ tears.

A quiet yet deep expressionless despair had been there.

“Am I an idiot?”

What did he mean, bakery?

—Are you hurt, Naruhito?

Their meeting had been the worst. But she had saved him many times. A noble, proud, arrogant, and above all free and lonely dragon.

Who had decided to become her friend?

What did he mean, nothing to do with it?

—I am the smartest dragon, yours alone, who will make you happy.

Their meeting made no sense. But she had certainly saved his life. Incomprehensible, impossible to understand, and yet for some reason impossible to hate, a strange dragon who brought him a mysterious feeling.

Who had been saved by her?

“I…”

The one who created this situation, messed it up, and made this blunder.

“It was me.”

A mutter. A realization.

“I’m an ungrateful piece of shit.”

Tooyama stood up. The bishop glared at him, but he did not stop.

Even when the dragons stirred, he was not pressured.

Even if he flinched or backed down, it probably would be no good. Tooyama Naruhito stared straight at the two dragons.

“Naru—”

“I came here for the bakery. I swear, I did not come here to fool around with women.”

“Do you think I will believe you after you say that?”

“You can tell whether it’s a lie, right?”

“………”

“It is not a lie.”

“B-but, Naruhito, you said I had nothing to do with your promise.”

“I’m sorry, Drako. Dragon of Human Knowledge. No matter how I think about it, what I said earlier was wrong. Even if it wasn’t about women, saying that you two had nothing to do with it was strange.”

Spin, brain. Leap, tongue.

No matter how sincere he was, there was no meaning if it did not get across. The two women were angry. At the same time, they were sad.

Tooyama Naruhito’s brain had been broken. A certain woman’s obsession still bound Tooyama.

Live alone, reach it alone, go alone.

A certain woman had found beauty in that. She had filled it with her wish that Tooyama Naruhito would not change, that he would remain distorted, remain lacking, and remain an existence like herself.

That woman’s curse made Tooyama dull and stupid.

But that had nothing to do with this. Such a thing could not be an excuse.

“You two are my friends and my benefactors. That is why I shouldn’t have said something like that. I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.”

““………””

Ping.

Until now, he had made women angry many times. During high school, while he was a part-timer, and when he became an explorer.

Thinking about it, many of the women he had been involved with until now had been quick to anger and comparatively frightening people.

Among them, the woman who had been the scariest when angered, Kusakabe Hina, came to mind.

Tooyama Naruhito did not level up, but he could grow and adapt through experience.

Like many people.

“…Remember. It’s fine. I can do it.”

The memory of soothing Naze. Rain Inn, reverse-request, nightlife. A wounded woman.

Tooyama Naruhito’s answer lay within his experiences.

The way to calm an angry woman. The period when he worked part-time after graduating high school and before becoming an explorer. The time that seemed wasted had certainly become soil.

“Sir Dragon Slayer?”

“…Miss. I’m being reverse-requested right now, right?”

“Y-yes, that is correct.”

“Okay. An eye for an eye. Nightlife for nightlife. I’ll show you the power of Japan’s traditional nightlife.”

On the round table was a silver water pitcher. Tooyama grabbed it and splashed.

He poured water over his own head. He felt the cold water on his face.

He opened his eyes wide, swept up his wet, wavy hair, and exposed his forehead completely.

““Eh?””

“Wait, seriously, seriously stop. Don’t do anything more stupid. Are you listening?”

Soaking wet, Tooyama. Everyone stopped moving.

The customers’ murmuring also grew louder. They muttered that the dragon slayer had gone insane. That was wrong. Tooyama Naruhito had already—

“Don’t worry, Teldo-dono. I’ll take responsibility for cleaning up my own stupid mistake.”

“No, seriously, wait. Stop looking at me with those crazed eyes.”

Ignoring the bishop’s words, Tooyama approached the dragons.

The two beautiful expressionless dragons. Because they remained silent, they were even more frightening, yet beautiful.

“Drako.”

“Hmph.”

“Dragon of Human Knowledge.”

“………”

Even when he called out, the two dragons turned their faces away.

Starting from negative. He was not permitted to flinch, nor permitted to gloss things over.

Only one’s own challenge could wash away one’s own foolishness.

He inhaled.

Tooyama inhaled.

“Lazaaaaar!! Stoluuuuuuu!! Table One has a nomination!”

The man’s shout echoed through the hall.

They lived in the night of Nihon. What bloomed in a city of night and desire was not always beautiful flowers.

In that country’s night city, they existed. A small adventure story from before Tooyama Naruhito became an explorer.

That experience and job history would now be used here.

“Hm?”

Haroto opened her eyes wide.

“Eh?”

People doubted their ears.

“What?”

Drako raised her brow.

“Spu?”

The Dragon of Human Knowledge tilted her head.

“Has he gone mad?”

The bishop muttered briefly and flatly.

“Welcome, ladies. Tonight, here at Club Rain Inn’s special opening, thank you, truly, truly, for visiting Dromora Trading Company’s Bread Division, Lazaar Bakery Host Club.”

They survived the nights of Nihon with words, momentum, and pride as their weapons.

“N-Naruhito?”

“My lady, for this one night, please call me Naru—no, NAL.”

A host.

That was Tooyama Naruhito’s answer. Since he had angered the dragons, he would become a host.

When a smart human was cornered, this happened.

Tooyama bent at the waist toward Drako and winked.

“Have you gone mad, Tooyama Naruhito?”

“Be quiet, ZeNi.”

“Who is ZeNi?”

Snap. Tooyama swept up his hair, snapped his fingers, and silenced the bishop.

With a truly exhausted face, the bishop closed her mouth. Her instincts judged that she must not get involved.

“N-Naru?”

“No, my lady. Not Naru, but NAL. Please mind the pronunciation.”

“Eh, eh?”

Alice’s face, which had been expressionless, was now clearly lit with confusion.

She looked like a cat nervously staring at an owner who kept pouring kibble into its bowl even after it overflowed.

“Alice, my lady, what is wrong? Your usual blazing sun-like majesty is wonderful too, but seeing you confused is very fresh.”

“Alice—n-name, gyau… N-no, that is not the point, Na-Naru—”

“NAL.”

Tooyama, the host, briefly corrected Alice as she accidentally yelped.

The current Tooyama Naruhito was not Tooyama Naruhito. He was NAL, a cast member from the host club Runway, an old skill from the past.

He had been fired after one week because of a certain trouble, but the memories from that job still remained within Tooyama.

Human experience did not weather away so easily. And experience always helped humans.

“…Wh-what has happened to you? A-are you all right? Old dragon, what should we do? Naruhito has become strange.”

“Spu, spupu. Ah, come to think of it, Tooyama-kun becomes an idiot when he gets desperate.”

The two beautiful dragons began to fidget at Tooyama Naruhito’s sudden strange behavior.

Due to the roughness unique to great creatures, the brown-haired woman was already almost vanishing from the minds of the two beautiful dragons.

“Lazaaaar! Stoluuuuuu! It’s your turn, your turn! Prepare a sofa for the ladies to sit on! A sofa!”

Once more, NAL called his companions.

Heartless, quick to judge, and—

“…If you command it.”

“Ah… Most noble two dragons. It is a pleasure to meet you, dis.”

—companions who would always help him when it mattered.

A shadow appeared on the stage. From within it, Lazaar and Stolu emerged thickly with utterly exhausted faces. The two of them were properly carrying a large sofa.

“LAZ! ST! Good work. Now, Alice, my lady, and Ai, my lady, please sit here. As for drinks…”

Tooyama, or rather NAL, who had one week of trial host experience, invited the two beautiful dragons to the sofa. His specialty was cleaning toilets.

“N-Naruhito, a-are you all right? Are you really all right?!”

“Spupu, then, let me see… I want to drink NAL-kun’s recommendation.”

Despite everything, the dragons sat on the sofa NAL had prepared.

It was a large four-person sofa, with Drako and the Dragon of Human Knowledge positioned on either side of NAL, sandwiching him.

“Understood, Ai, my lady. Hey! LAZ! Bring me salt, glasses, distilled liquor, citrus fruit, and juice made from that fruit. All riiight.”

“Naruhito, your head is…” “NAL.” “…Understood, NAL.”

Lazaar seemed to have given up on everything regarding Tooyama’s state. After speaking a word or two with Madam Haroto, he prepared the ingredients Tooyama requested on a silver tray.

As expected of Laz.

“Here, here, and here.”

With practiced hands, Tooyama prepared liquor.

He cut a fruit resembling grapefruit and wet the rim with fruit juice.

He coated the wet rim with salt, then slowly poured in distilled liquor. About one-sixth of the glass was distilled liquor, and then he added fruit juice from above without splashing. Complete.

“Oh my, how strange, and yet…”

Madam Haroto, who had been watching his hands, murmured. It was a strange way of mixing alcohol that even she did not know.

At the very least, the method of sprinkling salt on the glass and mixing distilled liquor with fruit juice did not exist in the Empire.

A cocktail, as such liquor was called in the modern era, was a method not yet recognized in this world for religious reasons.

“This is a Salty Dog. Please enjoy the texture of the salt in snow style and the refreshing aroma of some nice-feeling fruit.”

“Spu. Alcohol Tooyama-kun made for me…”

With an entranced expression, the Dragon of Human Knowledge accepted the straw glass. The sight of the Dragon of Human Knowledge tilting the glass handed to her by a man was exactly like a dangerous beauty who regularly visited host clubs.

“Y-you old dragon…”

“Spupu. What is it? Young dragon. Ah, it is delicious. The saltiness touching my tongue mixes pleasantly with the sweet-sourness of the fruit and the aroma of Wika liquor. Mm… How rich is the alcohol handed to me by the dragon slayer.”

At the Dragon of Human Knowledge, who seemed to have instantly cheered up, Drako trembled.

It seemed she still had not fully grasped the situation.

“N-no, this, this, this is clearly strange! N-Naruhito is not this sort of person, right? Even when he broke through before, he was more serious—”

“Alice, my lady. What is the matter? …Do you dislike this version of me?”

Tooyama smoothly moved closer to the shouting Drako. Drako’s body, which had been leaning against the sofa, twitched up.

“Gyau… S-stop, Naruhito. Do not look at me with those eyes…”

Drako turned her face away. As soon as she turned away, she glanced at Tooyama, no, NAL’s face, then looked away again.

Her cheeks slowly reddened. Was it anger, confusion, or something else?

Ping.

A message flowed. However, Tooyama did not see it.

He simply delivered what he had to tell his friend straight to her.

“Alice, my lady. No, Alice, listen. I was truly sorry earlier. I’m actually an idiot, so I don’t understand those things.”

“Wh-what things?”

As NAL, he conveyed Tooyama Naruhito’s words.

“I really don’t know why you got angry or why you cried. But I hate it. I hate seeing my friend cry, and I hate being hated. So, Alice, tell me. Why were you so angry?”

Tooyama hated it. The bakery’s reputation was of course one reason, but more than that, he hated leaving Drako crying.

“H-h-ha? A-angry? No, to begin with, what, what are you?! Just when I think you are cold, you fool around, and when I think you are fooling around, you become serious. I, I… Why was I angry…?”

Still on one knee, Tooyama looked at Drako.

Both unconsciously, slowly, Drako’s hand and Tooyama’s hand, placed on the sofa, slowly moved closer as if searching for each other—

“Heeey, NAL-kuuun, spupu, I am lonely. You should be making my drink, but are you not paying too much attention to the young dragon?”

He felt warmth wrap around his neck. And two swells, softness, against his back.

The Dragon of Human Knowledge hugged Tooyama Naruhito from behind. This was bad. She smelled incredibly good.

That was the charm of a higher being. Genes superior to humans became a fascination like a curse. Even if the Dragon of Human Knowledge did not intend it, all humans were captivated by her.

Something even ancient magicians beyond the human frame could not resist was directed at Tooyama.

Ping.

A message flowed through Tooyama’s field of vision.

But it did not work on a host.

A human who, when cornered, decided to become a host had no use for seduction or charm.

A host was not the one seduced. A host did the seducing.

“Oops, Ai, my lady. That was terribly rude of me. Your hair is truly beautiful. It is as if moonlight has been sprinkled upon it.”

Tooyama reversed, deliberately leaning his weight against the Dragon of Human Knowledge clinging to his back and facing her from close range.

“…! Spupu. Ah, you truly are good. Your words are very pleasant, Tooyama Naruhito-kun. But what would you think if you knew that moonlight was fake?”

The Dragon of Human Knowledge’s face lit up, but in the next moment, she smiled bewitchingly. Yet even before that lunar-eclipse-like smile, NAL did not flinch.

This was now completely Host Club Rain Inn.

“I felt it was beautiful. I felt it was lovely. There is no fake or real in that. I will say it as many times as needed. It is truly beautiful.”

The number-one toilet-cleaning host, NAL, seduced a dragon.

“Spu. My favorite is silver-tongued. Spupupu, did you hear that? Hey, Hoarding Dragon, did you hear?”

The silver-haired beauty, her cheeks loosening with unbearable delight, huffed her breath toward Drako on the other side of Tooyama.

“…Naruhito was NAL…?”

However, Drako was confused.

She could not handle a host. A host could bewilder even dragons.

“Ah, this is no good. Simple dragon. She was in such a bad mood earlier, and now she has been swept away.”

Spupu, the Dragon of Human Knowledge laughed. She narrowed her eyes toward the young dragon, as though watching something adorable.

“Ai, my lady.”

“U-um? Wh-what is it, Tooyama-kun? Um, spupu, I am happy when you look at me like that, but even I feel a little embarrassed.”

The Dragon of Human Knowledge drew back slightly. However, NAL closed that distance.

There were words he needed to properly convey to her too. Because Tooyama had seen her tears.

“I apologize for saying this late. Thank you for saving me back then. You too are not someone who has nothing to do with me. My words were wrong.”

Yes, it was a simple answer. He had been saved by the Dragon of Human Knowledge. The trouble with the Church Knights might have ended in a completely different way without her intervention.

There was nothing uglier in this world than ingratitude. Tooyama did not want to become that.

“Ah, hahaha. It is not a lie. Ah, it truly is not a lie. You are looking at me… Yes, Tooyama Naruhito-kun. It is fine. No matter how many times, whenever it is, I will save you. It is a small thing.”

The Dragon of Human Knowledge lowered her head and murmured while repeatedly combing through her silver hair, like flowing moonlight, with her hand.

“…I still do not really understand what you are saying. Even so.”

This dragon’s words were strange. Most of the time, he did not understand what she was saying.

Even so, Tooyama had to say these words.

“Thank you, Ai, my lady. Also, right now, I am NAL.”

Snap. Host wink. Sadly, it was a wink likely effective only on dragons, and NAL delivered it.

“Shapu.”

The Dragon of Human Knowledge let out a small hiccup-like shriek.

“O-one more time. Could you call my name one more time? Ah, ah, this time more dangerously. Like, how should I put it, call me as if you are calling the person you loved, filled with love and hatred, even though you have to kill her. Ah, ah, it’s a host club, right? Alcohol? Should I order alcohol? I’ll order something expensive. I’ll order the most expensive thing.”

In the next moment, she approached him excitedly, breathing heavily and speaking incredibly fast.

The Dragon of Human Knowledge was a dragon unsuited to host club play.

“…You are showing quite a lot of charm, Naru—” “NAL.” “…NAL, or whatever. Do you think such playfulness will work on dragons?”

At Drako’s voice, which seemed to have regained its calm, NAL switched targets once more. For a capable host, simultaneous conquest was an obvious strategy.

“…Alice, my lady.”

“Mm, guh. …What is it?”

Dragon Slayer (Meaningful) pierced the dragons evenly. Contrary to her cold words, the pressure from Drako gradually softened.

“Even if it does not work on dragons, it is enough if it reaches you. If words are not enough no matter how many I use, then with attitude and behavior. Alice, my lady, I still have not heard your answer from earlier.”

“I-I told you, you are close! Too close! You truly are strange right now!”

“I want you to tell me, Alice. We’re friends, aren’t we?”

He was surpassing them.

Tooyama Naruhito was now completely surpassing the two dragons before him.

Every spectator, even the cast members who were veteran residents of the night, were stunned by his movements.

They all had one thought.

(What is Lazaar Bakery Host Club?)

Even so, everyone was beginning to feel awe toward the host who seduced dragons.

“Gya… u. B-bring it…”

Then Drako reached her limit. Even for a young dragon who had lived one hundred years, it was still too early for hosts.

“Hm?”

“Alcohol! Bring alcohol! No, not only for me! Serve alcohol to everyone in this city who is here! All of you, choke with joy! I, the Hoarding Dragon, shall treat you all to alcohol!”

The path Drako chose was simple. While sober, she could no longer speak properly with Tooyama after he had become a host.

All dragons were bad at playing in host clubs.

“Yes! An order has come in from Alice, my lady! LAZ! ST! As the guest commanded, please prepare alcohol for everyone in the venue, shashashas!”

NAL was fully into it. Dungeon intoxication, atmosphere intoxication, and the resolve of a man who had made up his mind had left him with no retreat and no reason. Not even shame.

“…LAZ, what do we do with that, dis?”

“ST, we have no choice but to get used to it. He becomes like that when he’s cornered. My head hurts.”

“…For saying that, you look like you are having fun. Your fangs are showing.”

“So are yours. The corners of your mouth are raised.”

The two helper hosts, who had somehow changed into tuxedos, were also rather into it.

They each smiled at the noisy number-one host NAL with feelings only they themselves understood.

“Hmph. It is only that losing to that thing feels foolish. Now then, Madam. Our… boss says this is a treat from the dragon. What shall you do?”

Stolu addressed the mistress of the shop with a sigh.

“…How troublesome. To think it would become like this. Lazaar-sama, Stolu-sama, your friend is an outrageous person. Rain Inn has been taken over.”

The empress of the night, whose shop had been stolen by NAL, sighed as if somewhat amused.

“Sis…”

“Haine, tell all cast members. Everyone is to gather in the main hall. The most noble dragon has begun a drinking party in this shop. As the dragon said and as the dragon wishes, serve the alcohol with enough momentum to empty every barrel.”

“…Yes!”

At that command, the cast members all moved at once.

The guests gathered in the venue were served Rain Inn’s treasured famous liquors and fine drinks.

It was unmistakably a dragon’s treat, free drinks from a dragon.

A scene like the founding legend had been brought about by a host.

“Good! No need for restraint, all you humans spread throughout this place! Tonight, the drinks are a dragon’s treat! Surely none of you will say you cannot drink!”

Dragons liked making noise. They liked alcohol and festivals too.

Drako was a dragon, down to the smallest detail.

“A-a dragon’s treat?!”

“Isn’t this just like the Empire’s founding legend…?”

“I’m so glad I came to Rain Inn…”

“What is that man…?”

“I hear he’s an adventurer friendly with Dromora Trading Company.”

“That silver-haired woman, the Dragon of Human Knowledge…? I’ve heard stories of the All-Knowing Dragon, the guardian dragon of magicians.”

“D-Dragon of Human Knowledge-sama… Why, why are you with a human man like that… Stolen away…”

“A dragon’s treat! Alcohol served by a dragon! It’s the same as the nobles and first emperor in the legendary founding era!”

“Gratitude to the Hoarding Dragon-sama! May your golden light illuminate the Empire!”

“To the All-Knowing Dragon, a wish of wisdom! May your pursuit remain with us forever!”

“““““Long live the dragons! Long live the dragons! Long live the dragons! Great are we, and noble are the dragons! Pillars of the world and guardian dragons!”””””

“The host is good too! Keep going!”

“Awawawa, the Dragon of Human Knowledge-sama has the face of a female… So cute…”

The hall erupted at once.

Excitement. For Imperial citizens, gifts from dragons, special existences, were not something even nobles or the imperial family were often granted.

The people gathered in the hall, who had been forced to witness a lovers’ quarrel between dragons and the dragon slayer, were now enveloped in a whirlpool of joy and excitement.

“Hoarding Dragon-sama, if you would be willing, please accept this. It is Tree Liquor fermented inside the hollow of a millennium tree deep within the Kingdom’s Sea of Trees. It is the most valuable alcohol in our establishment.”

The heat in the place rose higher.

In that space where one might become drunk on the people’s excitement alone, a particularly strong scent of alcohol spread.

What Madam Haroto and the cast presented to the dragon on a cart was a strange barrel.

It was no ordinary barrel. It was twisted and chipped in an irregular shape.

Wood.

A secret liquor known only to those who knew, made by repurposing a stump as a barrel. A secret liquor from the Kingdom with rarity equal to that of a grave good.

Pooled inside the hollow of the tree was golden alcohol.

Drako’s eyes shone. Her long red tongue licked her lips.

Her eyes were vertically split, and her pupils had opened.

“Oh, woman. You have quite good taste. A fine color. That beautiful amber color makes one feel a history older than us dragons. Very well. Send the bill to the Dragon Embassy.”

“Haha…”

An alcohol priced at a city-level budget, an amount a massive city like the adventure city could probably pay.

Madam Haroto offered Drako a cup made from horn.

Drako accepted it with satisfaction, thrust the horn cup into the tree hollow, and scooped up the alcohol.

“Mm, good. Strong alcohol. It is dry enough to make me want to breathe fire, but as it rolls across the tongue, a warm sweetness is born. A fine liquor.”

Gulp, gulp, gulp. Drako repeatedly tilted back the horn-like cup.

The amber liquor that should have filled the barrel to the brim visibly diminished.

“A-Alice, my lady, um, are you all right drinking that much?”

“Mm, shuddup. If I am not to be drawn into your pace, then I too cannot bear this unless I get drunk. Nyaruhito, you, I still must properly speak with you.”

“Dragon of Human Knowledge-sama, if you would also like some…”

“Spupu, ah, thank you. I will have some later, so place it there. Tree Liquor that can even intoxicate dragons. Madam, how terrifying. Is that not one of the few items in the world bearing the name Drifting Dragon Object, or Anti-Dragon Weapon? …Where did you obtain it?”

The Dragon of Human Knowledge did not drink that liquor. She narrowed her eyes and questioned the human quietly, yet with undeniable pressure.

“Yes, I have a friendship with a certain person. I was able to obtain it specially.”

Where did Madam Haroto’s composure come from?

“Oh…”

The Dragon of Human Knowledge stopped pursuing it further.

“Delicious, another cup! Nyal! Fu, fukaka! Even with Nyaruhito close, I no longer go strange! Good, I permit it. Come a little closer!”

Drako, who had completely become a cheerful dragon, closed in on Tooyama.

Her face was red all the way to her ears.

“Oh. My lady, that will not do. Drinking too much will affect your body…”

“Can you not listen to my word? Cheeky, and ah, truly interesting creature. Then I shall approach.”

However, NAL’s host moves did not work on a drunken dragon. NAL was pulled close with a squeeze by dragon strength. She was incredibly powerful.

“Wait, this is bad. The host isn’t working. LAZ! What do I do?! LAZ! Help!”

“NAL, you are the number one.”

“You have no intention of helping me!”

LAZ brushed NAL off. It seemed better not to expect help.

“Naru, Nyaru, I, listen to me. Why are you so mean to me?”

Suddenly, Drako’s force deflated.

Then, plip, clink.

Tears again. Pearl-like tears gathered in Drako’s blue eyes.

“Wait, wait, Drako, are you a crying drunk? Ah, crap, I slipped back to normal. Ah, um, Alice, my lady, I will listen to your story as much as you want.”

The host’s time was also drawing near. Lazaar Bakery Host Club only had a first shift.

“U-uuu, I do not know. I do not know, I do not know. Naru, you are my friend. Books say friends understand one another. But I do not understand you. That is very painful, and I do not even know why. I…”

Drako murmured while tears welled in her eyes. Powerlessly, she rested her face on Tooyama’s shoulder. Tooyama did not reject her.

“…You are not Naruhito right now.”

Suddenly, Alice murmured quietly. In the middle of the clamor, it was a volume only Tooyama could hear.

“Please call me NAL, Alice, my lady.”

As the host reached the decisive moment, NAL nodded and replied.

“Hmph, fool. …Then, NAL, I have a friend. A precious friend who killed my boredom. But that person is mean. That person is hard to understand. That person sometimes makes me very angry. But I wonder why. I cannot help being concerned about him.”

Softly, Alice spoke about her friend. She spoke of her first equal friend, the man who had killed her.

“I want to keep watching him. I want to understand that person who seems close, yet is in such a faraway place. That should be all, and yet, I wonder why. …It hurts very much that he seems uninterested in me…”

“Take your time. Please continue.”

“…I am becoming stranger and stranger. But there is also a part of me that thinks that is not bad. …He asked me why I get angry and why I feel sad. …I do not know. I do not know what this feeling is, or what I want him to do. Because I do not know, I cannot answer.”

The dragon was being infected and beginning to change. Her ego, which would never be completed, nevertheless continued advancing. Toward the desire lit within her body.

That state could even move a dragon—

“Alice, my lady, it is all right. That friend is the same as you.”

“Mm?”

“He probably does not understand anything either. He is the same. The only thing certain is that he surely does not want you to hate him either. …Because he has few friends.”

NAL murmured quietly about someone.

“Ku, ka. Fu, kaka. …What is that? Hmph, fool… No, I am the same.”

“Yes, you are surely the same.”

As the two leaned against each other, they exchanged a conversation only between the two of them amid the drinking party.

This was a one-night conversation between a certain dragon and her dragon slayer. Perhaps it was nothing more than idle talk.

“Mm, are you saying I am a fool? Hmph, very well. Since I am drunk now, I will forgive you.”

“Alice, my lady, once again, Tooyama Naruhito will properly fulfill his promise next time. Please wait for that.”

“…Ah, understood.”

But surely, the two of them needed that.

As two people with few friends, they simply exchanged words slowly.

“Spupu. How childish, Hoarding Dragon. Just when I thought you had grown a little, you are still very much a child.”

There was someone who entered that world without caring. Only a dragon could enter the space between a dragon and a dragon slayer.

“You, be quiet and drink alcohol or sleep.”

Drako grumbled with displeasure. That pressure would have made any being other than a dragon tremble, but it meant nothing to the old dragon.

“Do not treat me so coldly. Hey, NAL-kun, I am different from that dragon.”

The Dragon of Human Knowledge pressed her body close to Tooyama with a squeeze. Though she was slender, the strangely sensual and soft sensation made Tooyama’s head crackle.

“Oops.”

“Ah, those eyes. They have not changed at all. Those eyes that see only your own dream, that look only toward the place you will reach. …They are very wonderful.”

Entranced, the Dragon of Human Knowledge stared at the man’s face, at his eyes.

Tooyama, too, stared into eyes deeper in color than the darkness of night. For some reason, he thought they were very beautiful.

“A-Ai, my lady, what is wrong? This is troublesome. When you stare at me, my lion heart might together.”

He somehow maintained host mode in order not to lose to her charm.

“LAZ, NAL looks like he is reaching his limit too, dis.”

“ST, leave him alone. We should not get involved with that.”

The dragon slayer’s cheerful companions watching the scene chose to look away.

“Spupu. An uncompleted ego, nevertheless, continues invading those around it. Your way of being continues captivating many people. Your desire becomes the primer for many people’s wishes. That is good. Compared to people who are grotesquely completed, something like you, which will never be completed, is more to my taste.”

“What are you—”

“I am different from the young dragon. I know my own heart. I know the name of this emotion.”

“Tooyama Naruhito, I love you.”

“…Ah, eh?”

“Long, long, loooong ago. In a story neither I, nor you, nor anyone knows, you and I met and spent time together. Ah, it is fine. Even if you know nothing, even if there is no need for me to know. What exists is memory, warm memory. The memories of a dragon who was me and yet was not me. Ah, but for this me, that alone is enough reason to be drawn to you. For your sake, I would commit every evil. Human lives, ordinary tomorrows, the freedom to laugh together, futures people look forward to, I would trample all of them. Ah, this is love. I love you, you know.”

“You, why—”

“You changed the All-Knowing Dragon into the Dragon of Human Knowledge. Spupu, you will take responsibility for that.”

“I like you, Tooyama-kun.”

“…Ah.”

—She is an enemy, a woman who whispers that she likes you.

—You will never be swayed. You will never be satisfied. Because you are the same as me. You will surely reach it alone.

The function installed by a certain woman activated. That woman’s desire was only one thing.

The preservation of Tooyama Naruhito according to her own ideal and interpretation.

A mad woman’s obsession would not let Tooyama go, even across worlds.

Tooyama Naruhito could not accept obvious affection directed toward himself.

“Ene-my.”

Toward the benefactor before him, the dragon who had saved him, a disgust whose origin within him he did not even know began to seep out—

“I am not an enemy.”

The Dragon of Human Knowledge’s voice was calm.

Like the shore of a lake rippling in a slow breeze, such a voice.

“Ah, you have all sorts of things inside you. A blood-soaked knowledge familiar, suspicious monsters from a foreign land, and an obsession that truly reeks of a woman.”

Contrary to that voice, there was a firm grip from a strength unimaginable from that slender body.

The Dragon of Human Knowledge clasped Tooyama’s cheeks in both hands and held him firmly.

“This is a declaration of war.”

The distance between Tooyama and the Dragon of Human Knowledge’s faces was close. Those dark-colored eyes, a dim and bottomless waterbed, darker than the mud accumulated at the deepest point of it, with an invisible eye color.

“I do not care about the obsession that binds you. Prepare yourself, you damn woman. You dared to do unnecessary things to this Dragon of Human Knowledge’s man. No matter where you are, I will corner you and destroy you.”

Those words were not directed at Tooyama. Through Tooyama, they were curse words aimed at a mad woman living somewhere else, not here.

Words from a great existence, a pillar of the world, an old dragon.

A story many people did not know, a world not here, a time not now.

The reason for the intensity of the Dragon of Human Knowledge’s evil deed, the attack on a certain island—

Even if this was not everything, surely it was one major factor.

“What are you talking about?”

“I will not tell you. I do not want you to think I am a heavy woman.”

The Dragon of Human Knowledge casually murmured something that felt far too late to worry about. The face smiling mischievously also looked like that of a girl.

“Hey, old dragon, you, you are too close to my friend. Hurry up and release your dirty hands…”

Drako, who was becoming limp and drunk on the alcohol dwelling in an ancient tree that could intoxicate even dragons, unsteadily stood up.

“Oops, I thought you had gone quiet, but you have neatly drunk a bellyful of Tree Liquor. NAL-kun? I am sorry, but I think we shall excuse ourselves soon. …Well, this time it seems we were the ones who jumped to conclusions, and I heard your heartfelt words too.”

“Nooo, I am not leaving yet. Alcohol, bring moore alcohol. I am the Gah-Gah-Hoarding Dragon!”

“What a terrifying liquor… To intoxicate the young dragon this much.”

“Now then. NAL-kun, could you persuade her? Properly sending a customer home is also a host’s job, is it not?”

“…Yes. LAZ! Table One’s guest is going home! Prepare to see her off, shashaas!”

“Muu, no. I am not going home yet. If you insist on sending me home, Nyal, you come too. We will go home together.”

“I can’t, because we’re still open! …Drako, thank you for today. …Let’s play again. Next time, I’ll invite you.”

“…It is a promise. If you break it, I will not forgive you next time.”

“Yeah, I know. Not as a dragon and a human, but as a promise between me and you.”

Tooyama looked straight at Drako. This time, there was no deception or anything else. Only words were there.

“Understood… I will go home…”

“Oh my, NAL-kun, do you have nothing for me? Somehow, are you not only kind to the young dragon?”

“Ah, Ai. Honestly, I still don’t really understand most of what you’re saying, but you’re a good person.”

“Spu?”

“No, whatever the case, you’re looking after Drako. I really don’t understand what you’re saying, though.”

“…I only do good things in front of you. Oh, Tooyama-kun, there is a bug on your forehead.”

“Eh?”

A soft scent of soap.

Lured by the dragon’s words, Tooyama naturally raised his chin. In that instant, he was wrapped in that scent.

Ch.

On his neck, a warm, soft, and wet sensation.

The Dragon of Human Knowledge had kissed Tooyama’s neck, his throat.

“Eh?”

“Ah, ah! Ah! You old dragon, you! You, you, you, you!”

Drako shouted, golden flames wrapping around her body.

“Spupu, goodbye, Naruhito-kun. It was a fun night. …Next time, I want to meet you alone.”

However, snap. With the Dragon of Human Knowledge smiling faintly and snapping her fingers, the two beautiful dragons vanished from the place as if they were a dream.

“…They disappeared.”

Lazaar let out a relieved breath.

“So that is a dragon. Are they not too free, dis?”

Despite her words, Stolu grumbled in a rather calm tone, though she seemed slightly displeased from midway through.

“Yes. They are as willful and troublesome as our boss.”

At Lazaar’s words, Stolu snorted in reply.

Lazaar decided not to think too much about why Stolu was displeased and called out to the fool who had survived this situation.

“Naruhito, we somehow managed. Now then, what should we do about this disastrous scene… Naruhito?”

Lazaar called several times to Tooyama, who was standing there blankly.

Then, after a while, Tooyama answered with a dazed face.

“C-crap. A good-looking woman kissed me… Lazaar, was I maybe popular just now?”

Those foolish words. The drinking party grew even livelier, and the night at Rain Inn continued.

“…Yes, you were very popular. How enviable, truly.”

Lazaar gently patted the shoulder of the friend who had completed Operation Popularity.