Soju With Friends (2)

After Rurin cheered up, I dressed her.

“Spread your arms.”

“Understood!”

At my words, Rurin raises her arms without any hesitation and stands still. I dress her upper body and then her lower body before she moves. It’s so natural now that I have nothing more to say.

After dressing her, I brush her hair. If I don’t tame her hair that sticks out in all directions, it will look like a lion’s mane.

As I carefully touch her black hair, she quietly entrusts her body to me.

At first, she wouldn’t let me near her, claiming to be a great dragon.

Even as a dragon, she was so beautiful that other dragons would be in awe, and as a human, she is also a beauty. Of course, I am indifferent now.

Because we’ve been together for quite a while.

“You!”

“What now?”

“Can’t you do it a bit more gently? My hair is delicate.”

“Alright, alright.”

Following her request, I resumed brushing very delicately. Delicately, and even more delicately. Each time, her black hair regained its vitality. It’s amazing hair. Maybe because it’s a dragon’s fur.

After I finish brushing, I start tying it with a hair band. Once I tie it nicely, Rurin, still leaning against my back, starts to speak.

“So what is the task? Should I give this city a breath attack? Destruction is good. Hehe.”

Rurin, who emphasizes the destructive instinct of dragons. Of course, I shook my head.

“Stop talking nonsense and come down.”

“Hmph.”

I led the dragon, who was spouting absurdities, down to the first floor.

My feelings towards Rurin?

Of course, I have affection for her. That’s why I brought Rurin, who lives near the sacred place of the Black Dragons, to the center of the continent.

But I don’t know what kind of affection it is.

Anyway, as soon as our dragon lord went down to the kitchen, she briskly opened the stone refrigerator and took out a can of beer.

And then she chugged the beer.

“Ah! This is the taste. Beer is the best after waking up!”

After wiping the foam from Rurin’s mouth, who was drinking beer, I grabbed her hand and moved her in front of me and asked.

“Alright, let’s get to work. There’s something I need your help with.”

“I’ll have one more can of beer before I go!”

“No, thank you.”

“Beeeer!”

I dragged Rurin along, closed the shop, and went down the hill.

“You tend to be too much sometimes. You demand improvement. But you still haven’t told me what it is. It must be something significant if you’re asking for the power of the great Rurin!”

A beautiful woman with black hair, her eyes shining, put her hands on her hips.

I took her with me and headed past the fruit farm down the hill to the market. The market was still bustling.

According to Mr. Knoll’s information, Mrs. Rayne met someone at a restaurant called Derant last month. That Derant was located near the central square where the commercial and residential districts meet.

Not only Derant, but most of the city’s restaurants are concentrated in this area. It could even be called the street of restaurants.

Rurin exclaimed as she looked at the crowded customers inside Derant.

“Wow, look at this! This restaurant is incredibly crowded! It’s like heaven and earth compared to ours!”

“Indeed.”

“Huh? Why are you getting all gloomy? Should we move the whole restaurant here?”

“I’m not asking you to do something so ridiculous, so please be quiet.”

I looked around. Mr. Knoll’s wife, that is, Mrs. Rayne, was not yet in sight.

“So, what are you doing?”

I shushed the noisy dragon and ordered her a beer. Only then did she quiet down. She’s like a beer dragon.

After watching the entrance for a while, Mrs. Rayne finally came in. Just as Mr. Mr. Knoll said, she was with a man. He was a man in his forties with a build similar to Mr. Mr. Knoll. I shouldn’t say this, but he had a much cleaner and neater impression than Mr. Mr. Knoll, who had a beard. They were incomparable.

“Hey, Rurin.”

Gulp, gulp, gulp.

“Ahh!”

I grabbed the ear of the dragon engrossed in her beer. She grumbled, lowering her eyebrows.

“Why are you doing this! You gave it to me to drink!”

She looked up at me with teary eyes and a devastated expression. Damn, she’s cute.

Even as a dragon, she can’t choose a human form when she polymorphs. The skin color, and appearance of a dragon, are directly applied to the human state. So, Rurin’s current appearance is the one she has had since birth.

That’s why her smiles and tears are all natural. So her cuteness is also natural.

“That’s not the problem. It’s finally time.”

“Oh? Really!”

Rurin finally put her beer glass down and her eyes lit up again. She started to get up but then sat back down to finish her beer. Then she stood up abruptly and approached me.

“What should I do! Should I smash everything?”

“You destructive dragon! Of course you’re a Black Dragon. Don’t destroy anything! Do you see that couple who just came in? The man and woman.”

“Yes! I see them.”

“I’d like you to eavesdrop on their conversation.”

“And?”

“That’s it.”

“You! Are you giving the great Rurin such a ridiculous task?”

“Please do it. I’ll make you your favorite hamburger steak for dinner.”

“Really! Oh! Where, where are those two humans?”

Rurin sold her dragon pride for a hamburger steak and began looking for the targets. At some point, the dragon became quite fond of my cooking.

With eyes full of anticipation for her favorite dish, she pointed at the man who came with Mrs. Rayne and opened her mouth.

“Eavesdropping is nothing.”

When it comes to a dragon’s hearing, they have an incredible ability to adjust their range and listen.

It’s not even magic.

It’s an innate dragon ability.

This ability is mainly used by dragons to sense their surroundings, and its range can cover an entire mountain.

So in a restaurant like this, they can easily adjust their hearing to eavesdrop on sounds. The structure of their hearing is different from that of humans.

With Rurin in front, I carefully watched the two people.

The two were sitting facing each other, and Mrs. Rayne rummaged through her bosom, then pulled out a bundle of money and handed it to the man.

Handing money over?

It was a tad unexpected. As expected, I couldn’t hear their conversation in the noisy restaurant.

So I looked at the dragon.

Rurin opened her mouth and began to recite their conversation.

“Today, I’ve finally paid off all my debt. The 10 years of debt. I’m truly grateful. If it weren’t for you, Mr. Ment, neither my husband nor I would have been able to recover.”

“You’re too kind. I owe my life to that guy. It was a natural thing to do.”

“Still. My husband is still cursing you, saying you betrayed him, because you didn’t tell him you helped.”

“It couldn’t be helped. You know that guy wouldn’t take my money.”

Thanks to Rurin’s direct translation, I could understand the situation. From the conversation, it didn’t seem like they were having an affair at all.

But soon the conversation stopped. They began to eat.

It was a requested task. There was no sign of an affair or any other criminal activity, so to understand the situation more clearly, I stood up.

“Where are you going?”

Of course, Rurin also stood up abruptly and followed me.

“Hello, Mrs. Rayne?”

“Oh my, El?”

“Yes.”

My name here is El. It’s short for Ellison. I introduced myself as El, and that’s how people call me.

“It may be a bit rude, but may I have a moment? I have something to say.”

“Yes, yes?”

Mrs. Rayne looked at the man in front of her. The man called Ment looked a bit puzzled but soon nodded. So, though it was still rude, I pulled a chair up and sat in front of them.

“Actually, Mr. Mr. Knoll is under the impression that you two are having an affair.”

“What?”

“What?”

Both of them reacted strongly, their eyes wide open. Rurin stood next to me, looking down at them with arrogant eyes. She doesn’t even like talking to humans other than me. She looks at them like they’re insects.

Rurin is not human. Naturally, for a dragon like her, ordinary humans are indeed insignificant like bugs.

“What the…?”

“He saw you two meeting last month and seems to have misunderstood. What’s going on exactly? I heard something about a debt.”

Mrs. Rayne looked troubled at my words and shook her head.

“It’s a family matter…”

“I’m sorry, but I’m here as Mr. Mr. Knoll’s representative. There’s no benefit in fostering misunderstandings. You know, those incidents where misunderstandings lead to violence and irreversible situations. Especially in romantic relationships, I’ve heard this happens frequently.”

They say patience can prevent even murder. But many people can’t be patient and end up committing murder and regretting it.

Perhaps the proverb came from a story where a man saw his wife chatting with someone and almost went in with a knife but decided to wait three times. It turned out the person under the blanket was his sister-in-law, and he was relieved. Anyway, to avoid such a catastrophic misunderstanding, I need to hear the situation clearly now.

“And Mrs. Rayne, this is actually a secret…”

I paused for a moment and then spoke to the still-hesitant Mrs. Rayne.

“Mr. Mr. Knoll said that even though he thinks you’re having an affair, he can’t bring himself to leave you and was on the verge of tears when he said he doesn’t know what to do.”

“Oh my, he did?”

Mrs. Rayne’s eyes widened in surprise. It seemed that Mr. Knoll had difficulty expressing his love in front of her.

Then Ment chimed in.

“Of course. Mrs. Rayne. That guy, Mr. Knoll, used to talk about you all the time while we worked together.”

“Th-that…”

Mrs. Rayne lowered her head in embarrassment, then seemed to make a decision and spoke.

“Actually, there’s a reason.”

“Yes?”

Sure, if it’s not an affair, there must be a reason. It’s hard to understand them exchanging money without any reason. It’s not like he’s a gigolo.