episode_0056

“….No matter how much I think about it, it’s strange.”

Sephir grumbled, his cheeks puffed out with wind.

“Qyu?”

“Huh..? What?”

Hatchling and I tilted our heads at the same time and looked at her.

As if enraged by that sight, Sephir screamed with his eyes tightly shut.

“How can you succeed when I failed? Does that make sense?!”

“Uh…”

“This is absolutely impossible!! There must have been some kind of trickery going on.”

“Umm….”

“Actually, was my fascination triggered too late? Yeah… That would explain it…Yeah…There’s no way I could fail…Hehe…”

“…..”

The sight of her muttering with her eyes wide open gave off a somewhat terrifying vibe.

Athena is thinking deeply about something next to her.

I turned my gaze to Athena, leaving Sephir somewhere in the distance.

“Athena, what are you thinking..?”

“…..No.”

Athena, who had been looking at the hatchling with a calm expression for a while, sighed deeply and stroked my head.

“Anyway, congratulations, Hera. You are the first being of all races to tame a dragon.”

“Is that so?”

In fact, even I haven’t fully grasped the situation yet.

I?

A dragon?

I couldn’t even use my magic properly, so I tamed a dragon. It was unbelievable.

Besides, there was no way the dragon could be seduced by something as ridiculous as a simple hand kiss.

‘Or is he just being so nice to me because I find him funny..?’

Maybe it’s not tamed.

It could have been that he saw me blowing a hand kiss and clung to me out of curiosity, thinking, “”What is this…? This is amazing!””

….But if that’s the case, it’s a bit hurtful.

..Anyway, it can’t be a bad thing if a dragon shows interest in me.. Even if it’s just interest similar to looking at a clown.

“Kyuu..”

As I sat there quietly thinking for a while, she rubbed her head against mine as if asking for my attention.

“Ugh..are you bored?”

“Qyu!!”

The hatchling gives a cute reaction to my question, almost as if answering it.

‘Oh my god. You’re so cute..’

For some reason, Athena’s gaze towards the hatchling became sharper.

“Should I go back soon..?”

I asked Athena cautiously, who had a cold expression on her face. She sighed and looked away from the hatchling.

“….Yeah.”

So we forcefully dragged Sephir along, muttering while his mind was free.

I returned to the inn with my new pet.

* * *

The pink-haired succubus suggested.

“How about Poppy?”

“Grrr…..”

“….ugh.”

The hatchling growls softly, as if it doesn’t like it.

We were sitting around the inn beds, naming the hatchlings.

We couldn’t keep calling them hatchlings, so we decided it would be better to give them names.

Sephir opened his eyes wide as if a good idea had occurred to him and suggested again.

“How about blue!! It goes perfectly with the blue scale color!”

“Grrr…”

“……No, not that..”

Sephir was rejected by the hatchling once again.

It seems that Sephir had no special sense of naming.

Athena said, patting my head as if she didn’t care.

“Hera. You build it.”

“Huh? Me..?”

“You’re the owner now. You should at least give it a name.”

A blue hatchling looks at me with its eyes wide open at Athena’s words.

My heart began to ache at the sight of the hatchling’s expression, as if it was saying that it was expecting something.

‘cute….’

How can you be this cute?

If only I had my heart set on it, I would have raised it for the rest of my life.

As I reached out my hand, the hatchling quickly climbed up my arm and onto my shoulder.

I patted the hatchling’s head.

“Kyuung…”

The hatchling leaned against me, his eyes slightly closed, as if he was in a good mood.

By the way, what’s the name?

I’m not good at giving names either…

In the first place, I’ve hardly ever given it a name.

I never had anything like that except that I named the hamster I raised when I was little Pochi.

Still, as Athena said, I tamed it. I will take good care of it from now on, so I guess it’s okay to give it a name.

I want to use a name related to the color blue…

The beautiful blue scales that cover the hatchling. I wanted to name it to reflect that characteristic.

‘Now that I think about it, the color of its scales is the same as aquamarine.’

A blue gem that emits bright light. It looked exactly like that.

“..How about Marie?”

Athena raised an eyebrow at my words.

“Marie?”

“Yeah. The scale color is the same as aquamarine, so I copied it from there.”

“It’s okay. It sticks to the mouth well.”

Athena gives a positive answer.

“Kyuu!♡”

The hatchling must have liked the name because it started jumping around and licking my face.

“Ugh!! It… tickles!!”

So I gave it a name that satisfied everyone.

Except for one person.

Sephir was left with a grumpy expression on his face.

“..Isn’t Poppy cuter than Marie?”

“Grrr….”

“I was just saying..!”

“Grrr..”

“Ahem…right. I was just about to say something.”

Sephiroth focused our attention with a puzzled expression.

“I think I should go back to the demon world.”

“Huh?”

Are you going to the Demon World?

“I’ve been getting calls from my subordinates for a while now. I’ve ignored them so far, but I think I’ll be suspicious if it goes any further.”

But is he still a legion commander?

Indeed, Sephir may look a bit sloppy, but she is also one of the commanders of the legion. Her absence will cause great ripples in the Demon World.

I looked at Sephir carefully and asked.

“Sephire is…on our side…?”

She’s someone I’ve grown attached to before I knew it.

If she were to rely on the Demon King’s army again, and later meet them as enemies, I thought she would become very emotionally complicated.

But Sephir smiled brightly at me as if to reassure me.

“Of course! If you die, I die too. And anyway, we only joined the Demon King’s Army for our own benefit, so there’s no great sense of solidarity or anything.”

“…Thank goodness.”

“Huh huh..what is it? Are you happy? Because I’m on your side?”

She looks at me with a mischievous smile.

I told her my honest feelings.

“Yeah. I wish Sephir was always on my side.”

“What?!”

Sephir looked very embarrassed by my words. His face seemed to have a slight blush on it.

“That…really? Ho…hoho…that…isn’t it possible? I…I’ll make this body your friend…!”

Sephir speaks with a trembling voice.

I smiled brightly at her and expressed my gratitude.

“Thank you Sephir..!”

“Ugh…!”

Sephir’s face was turning bright red like a carrot again in real time.

Hmm… maybe I caught a cold…?

But do demons get colds too?

Athena muttered quietly next to Sephir, who was so flustered.

“…..Fell from the sky..”

“…..kyuu..”

huh?

What did you say, Maria?

.

.

.

As I spent time playing with Marie, night came before I knew it.

Sephir then left for the Demon World again.

He told me to wait and that he would come back after tidying up the legion commander’s position.

But listening to her, it didn’t seem like she’d be back anytime soon.

Well, given the status, it’s not something you can easily give up.

‘But if Sephir steps down from his position as commander… who will take his place?’

The four commanders of the legions who are said to be the second most powerful in the Demon World after the Demon King.

Dark Knight Tyros, Commander of the 1st Legion.

2nd Legion Commander, Battle-mad Lycan.

3rd Legion Commander, Immortal King Melum.

4th Legion Commander, Sephir, the Goddess of Lust.

In a world where power is power and survival of the fittest, these people never came down from their positions as commanders of the legions, and they spread their fear throughout the empire every day.

But now one of them is on our side.

This will be a huge blow to the Demon King’s army.

Maybe we can get a happy ending much sooner than the original.

‘Main character… I’m working so hard…’

Actually, I didn’t intend to do that.

Anyway, I hope time passes quickly and Robin defeats the Demon King.

Then I think I can really live without any worries.

You don’t have to worry about this or that…

“Hera, are you sleepy?”

Athena called out to me, seeing me dazed.

Only then was I able to snap out of my thoughts.

“Hmm… I feel a little drowsy.”

Maybe it was because I moved around a lot today looking for Marie. My body looked tired.

“Go to sleep first. I’ll be going back to the mansion tomorrow, so just know that.”

“…Ugh.”

My mood sank a little.

During my time at Athena and Karman, I felt much freer than when I was at the mansion.

Maybe it’s because there’s no one here who hates me.

The thought of being back in the mansion and receiving the pitiful stares of the maids made me feel a little breathless.

‘It’s okay…because Athena is here…’

Besides, there was now this cute Marie who had a deep crush on me.

You won’t be as lonely as before.

And don’t they say that humans are animals of adaptation?

Even though it’s difficult and painful right now.

I think that someday I will be able to live in a mansion and laugh.

“Kyuu..?”

Marie, noticing my mood, came into my arms and rubbed her body here and there.

“..Are you comforting me?”

“Qyu.”

Her gentle comfort brought tears to my eyes.

Yeah. Even a young hatchling like this is comforting me, so I shouldn’t be this depressed.

I grabbed Marie’s body with both arms and lifted her up.

“Kyuu?!”

“Hehehe. Then, should we wash together with our sister?”

“Qyu?”

“..what?”

Mari and Athena making sounds at the same time.

“You’re washing with him?”

Athena frowns as if she is not happy with something.

“Ugh..I was going to wash you anyway. I thought Mari’s body was a little dirty.”

Although it was hard to see, I could see some foreign substances mixed in between Marie’s scales.

Perhaps, since they had been living in caves all this time, there was no way to wash.

I felt like I needed to get washed clean once.

“Qyu! Qyu!”

Marie seemed to like my suggestion, and she started jumping around excitedly.

“No.”

“Uh..huh?”

“I can’t allow two people to go into the bathroom together.”

“Huh..? Why?”

“….If it doesn’t work out, then know that it doesn’t work out.”

Athena, for some reason, resolutely blocks it.

“….ugh..”

Marie growled softly at Athena’s words.

“…Huh?”

As Athena frowned, a strange electric current began to pass between them.

..Why isn’t it possible?

I didn’t understand why he had to separate Marie and me.

‘Are you jealous by any chance..?’

Maybe he didn’t like the fact that Marie and I were getting along well.

Just like Lily did.

Sometimes, when Dania and I were taking a bath together, Lily would always ask to be bathed too.

“…..My sister and I…I’ll stop it…”

Maybe he did that because he felt like the two of them were becoming close to each other.

Athena might have done the same. Of course, Mari is a dragon, not a human…

‘Hmm…I guess it’ll be okay.’

It might be a little cramped, but I don’t think it’ll matter.

The space here is also quite large.

I gently grabbed Athena’s hand, who was giving Marie a strange look.

Then Athena sighed and shook her head.

“This is really not right, Hera.”

“Huh? No.. that’s not it.”

If you’re jealous of two people becoming close, why don’t three of them become close?

I made a cautious suggestion to her, who was looking puzzled by my words.

“You too…want to wash with me?”

“……..What?”

Athena’s eyes began to shake as if there was an earthquake.