Rurin's Grocery Shopping (1)

One day.

I swept Rurin’s hair aside, who was sitting in front of me, tied it back with a rubber band, and then suddenly placed a piece of paper in her hand and asked.

“Here, Rurin, read this.”

“This?”

Rurin, with her forehead and eyes clearly visible due to her tied hair, tilted her head. But soon, she started reading the piece of paper in a clear voice as instructed.

“Hmm? Uka sirloin four pounds, uba belly four pounds, uba hind leg…”

But soon, she shook her head with questioning eyes.

“I can’t eat this much in my polymorph state. And I’m full right now.”

“It’s not for you to eat. Why would I write that on paper?”

“Then what is it?”

Marriage with Rurin.

Having told the Elder that I would marry once everything was resolved, marriage was the future that would come as long as Rurin agreed.

That meant Rurin would have to live with humans alongside me continuously.

Because I have no desire to leave everything behind and go to the mundane world.

So this life would continue for a long time.

If there is an end, it would be the day Rurin gets tired of living with me.

Otherwise, it would be the day my life ends.

Whether it’s the heart of a dragon or a human, hearts are bound to change suddenly.

So even if the former can suddenly come true in the future, which I never want to happen, if I consider my future to be living with Rurin for a long time, Rurin needs to adapt a bit more to life with humans.

She needs to move away from hating to mingle with humans and seeing other creatures as mere insects, and accept everything a bit more gently.

Because I want to stop her from asking if she can kill whenever something happens.

So I made several plans.

What I’m doing now is the first step.

The mission name is “Sending Rurin to the market alone”.

To complete this mission, I started struggling while hugging Rurin from behind.

There is an absolute rule between Rurin and me.

Unless I permit it, the rule is that she should never kill a human.

So this rule applies to this mission as well. As long as she doesn’t break this rule, there shouldn’t be any huge problems leaving her alone.

With such expectations, I made Rurin read the piece of paper with the things to buy from the market.

But Rurin, perceiving the ingredients written on the paper as things she would eat, looked up at my chin, not anticipating the upcoming mission at all.

In fact, this mission is more about the process of sending Rurin to the market alone, rather than just buying things from the market.

So actually, the mission’s name should be “Making Rurin go to the market alone”, as more than half of the mission’s success is making her go alone.

Then how do I make Rurin agree to go to the market alone?

There was one way to solve this dilemma.

Suddenly, unexpectedly, making her agree without realizing it.

The so-called “Making her agree by surprise” operation.

I hugged Rurin from behind to carry out that operation. Since I was already tying her hair while she was sitting in front of me, giving a back hug was very simple.

Rurin immediately reacted to the back hug.

“Hm?”

She made a strange groaning sound and restored her head that was looking at my chin. Then she froze like a stone Buddha.

In that state, her ears turned red like a well-ripened persimmon. Her ears still turn red when hugged suddenly. Even though we’ve progressed to kissing, Rurin’s words and actions are always inconsistent.

While she seems to court me, she never runs to me first or gives a tight hug or a kiss.

She can say anything, but except when drunk, she can’t bring herself to hug me first at important moments due to embarrassment. That’s our dragon.

Well, that gap is also cute.

So I don’t particularly worry about this part.

Of course, now is not the time to be drunk on her cuteness. I clear my head and softly whisper Rurin’s name.

“Rurin.”

At the same time, I hug her tighter so she can’t think of anything else. Strong enough for her to feel my heartbeat.

The tight hug Rurin likes so much, given from behind, made her eyes start to spin.

“Dear…”

She opened her mouth, filled with a rising emotion.

Yes, now that she’s not in her right mind, this is the opportunity.

“Rurin, you can go to the market alone, right? Nothing else matters. So answer that you understand.”

Of course, if I stop here, she might soon come to her senses. So I deliver the final secret move in a combo.

The secret move, called the finisher, is actually nothing special. I just bring my face close to Rurin’s ear and quietly blow into her ear.

Hooo-!

Like this.

Then comes an immediate reaction with a strange sound.

“Hu-gak.”

As her body shivers, I hug Rurin tightly again in that state. I can feel her warmth on my chest.

The warmth that fits perfectly in my arms.

In fact, these days, when I hug Rurin from behind like this, I feel like I have the whole world and fall into happiness, but now is not the time to be immersed in that feeling. I’m on a mission.

“Answer that you understand the question from earlier. Then I’ll hug you more. Got it?”

“What, what, what was the question from earlier…?”

“Hurry and say you understand. Rurin.”

“I-I-I understand! So hug me more. You being kind seems like a dream.”

“Hahaha, right.”

Saying that makes me feel a bit guilty, but it’s all for Rurin in the end. So I let out a more devilish smile, release the hug, and stood up.

“Anyway, you answered?”

“What? What did I just answer to?”

Rurin soon asked back with a puzzled expression, but I naturally ignored it. Getting this far means the mission is a success.

“This is a scam. I was deceived!”

Rurin kept grumbling as she walked down the hill alone. Her pouting lips were glistening more than anyone else’s thanks to the pink lip balm El gave her.

‘How could he plot such a thing in the gap when my thoughts were halted?

’The more I think about it, the more annoying it is.

’Annoying.

’Bad.’

Even though she kept thinking those thoughts, she kept touching her forehead and giggling every two minutes because of the kiss he gave her, so her words and actions were still inconsistent.

Of course, after touching her forehead, she returned to reality and grumbled. Naturally, teleportation is banned, fighting is banned, and of course, killing anyone is strictly forbidden, so there are too many restrictions making it annoying and frustrating.

To a dragon, humans are like that.

Humans are just beings who should bow down and offer tributes or beg for their lives in fear, but having to go out and buy things from humans is absurd.

But.

To Rurin, El is like that.

To the extent that even the natural laws of dragons are unnecessary.

In one corner of her heart, there was a thought that living with El was inevitable, so there was no other choice.

But this time, it really was a scam.

Making her agree to something ridiculous and taking advantage of her weakness.

Still, that moment of blowing into her ear was nice.

The tingling feeling as if electricity ran through her, and the sensation of her whole body about to burst was happy.

Rurin recalled that scene and her ears turned red again.

Well, it’s unavoidable.

In fact, El’s words that he would brand her a liar if she retracted her agreement didn’t matter.

But the declaration that he wouldn’t sleep in the same room with a liar brought fear, so she had no choice but to grumble while going to the market alone.

However, because it was very annoying, her walking speed was endlessly slow. She could think it was better to finish quickly and return, but Rurin wasn’t the kind of being to think that far.

She only thinks about the immediate task. That’s what a dragon is.

So she moved sluggishly.

Her steps showed her annoyance. Rurin resented the fact that the afternoon sunlight was warmer than usual.

The time when the spring flowers that had bloomed all over the world had disappeared, and green waves of new sprouts were appearing everywhere.

Naturally, the sunlight filled with the full warmth of spring was indeed very warm.

Thanks to that, Rurin felt sleepy with every step.

“Hmnya.”

Her eyelids felt like closing at the thought of taking a nap. Rurin even started nodding off while walking.

“Huhuh. I can’t.”

But she didn’t like sleeping without El. It’s different from El going out for work while she’s sleeping in the lair.

‘That’s our home.’

But here it’s not.

When sleeping outside, it must be in El’s arms, on El’s back, on El’s chest, or at least clinging to El’s leg.

She didn’t want to sleep unless El was in her sight, or she could feel El’s scent.

It stemmed from the feeling of not wanting to return to the solitary life she had for hundreds of years.

Not wanting to return to the past where she only knew sleep, Rurin rubbed her eyes vigorously and glared at the sunlight.

It’s all the sunlight’s fault.

Should she move the clouds with magic to block the sun? Of course, she shook her head immediately.

Rather than doing such troublesome things, she just walked. That was Rurin’s thought.

Walking with various random thoughts, she soon came down the hill and started walking towards the market.

Rurin also knew the geography of Greek City very well. Because she had come down and played with El countless times.

She rarely came down alone. Maybe when she went to Elena’s clinic when El caught a cold?

A dragon never forgets a path they have taken. Rurin was just lacking in experience and common sense, but she was a great being superior in other additional functions.

So Rurin arrived at Knoll’s butcher shop without any particular difficulty.

Knoll had gone somewhere, and it was Rayne handling customers at the butcher shop. As soon as she saw Rurin, her eyes widened.

Because such an unexpected person appeared alone. So she looked around more carefully. But she was alone. No matter what, she was alone.

El, who was always stuck to Rurin like glue, was nowhere to be seen. Rayne, filled with wonder, spoke to Rurin.

“Oh my, this is unusual.”

“It’s nothing special. But what is unusual?”

Rurin tilted her head and approached the butcher shop. Inside the butcher shop, numerous pieces of meat caught her eye. The eyes of Rurin, who loved meat, started to sparkle.