Chapter 1 Part 15: People Are The Enemy

“Senior, why don’t you just live in the Magic Tower like everyone else?

Isn’t it a hassle getting your identity checked and coming in every day?”

…Even if commuting took five hours round trip, I’d never want that.

Just imagining it made my stomach ache.

I wanted to at least sleep comfortably.

And I was the type who couldn’t rest properly unless I was alone.

Just then, someone shouted.

“Hi, Alice!

You came to work again today!”

I looked up.

Mages were leaning against the stair railing, looking down at me.

Familiar faces.

They were definitely people who had entered the Magic Tower before me.

Seniors who used to buy me meals often.

Of course, that was before I submitted my resignation.

I could still picture the seniors whispering behind me when I turned in my resignation.

The seniors kept waving and saying.

“Just suffer through one month!

I bet money you’d last a month before quitting.”

“No, just two weeks, no more no less.

I bet on you lasting two weeks before quitting.”

It was dripping with sarcasm, but that was fine.

I smiled faintly and said.

“Yes, you seniors work hard too.”

The seniors froze solid.

I bowed my head and headed for the elevator.

Clam followed again.

It would be a problem if he followed me again today, so before getting on the elevator, I said as I did yesterday.

“Come here.”

“Yes, Senior!”

Clam immediately ran over like a dog.

It wasn’t a metaphor; he really looked like a poodle I’d seen at the park once.

A master who only pounced when interested and ignored its owner otherwise.

I shouldn’t see my junior as a dog, but this was a problem.

I could even see a tail.

I took a cookie bag out of my bag.

“Is this perhaps!”

“I don’t know if it’ll suit your taste, but put up with this for today.”

Clam immediately hugged the cookie bag as if it were the most precious thing in the world.

Good, he was in a good mood now.

Seizing the opportunity, I held out another cookie bag.

“This is for Aslan.

Can you give it to him for me?”

“Why do you bother with that senior?”

“…”

I said nothing.

Clam let out a deep sigh.

“Senior, you’re too kind, that’s the problem.”

“You’re too unkind, that’s the problem.”

“That’s my charm, you know.

Anyway, Senior.

Fighting today!”

I successfully detached Clam.

Sending him off, bye bye, Clam!

Clam and I waved at each other.

How should I approach the child today?

I should probably decide what to call him soon.

Just calling him “the child” felt weird.

If I gave him a name and told the mages, they might stop calling him a beast.

But I,

“I’m bad at naming things.”

I recalled the memory of naming the rabbit doll my parents bought me for the first time “Ttodolli.”

I couldn’t very well name a dragon hybrid “Dreodolli.”

No, wait, Dreodolli?

It’s kind of cute?

But just in case, I should ask Clam for help.

Though I was worried about what he might demand in return.

Thinking that, I took my hand off the crystal ball.

The door opened.

“Oh?”

An exclamation escaped my lips.

The child, who had been peeking out from the doorway, was startled.

He must not have expected our eyes to meet directly.

The child quickly ran back inside.

The more I saw him, the cuter he was.

I poked my head in like the child had done earlier.

“Hi, can I come in?”

The child’s body, about to crawl under the desk, stopped.

I opened my bag and reached inside.

“I couldn’t bring a bouquet like yesterday.

But…”

Ta-da, I rustled the plastic.

I lightly shook the bag.

The flower-shaped cookies inside rustled along with it.

“You can eat these as much as you want.”

I untied the ribbon on the cookies and placed them in the center of the room.

The child’s nose immediately twitched.

Supporting himself on his arms, he looked back and forth between me and the cookies.

In just one day, his reactions had become quicker.

As expected, his ferocity was because of the mages.

They proceeded with experiments without asking his consent, so of course he was wary.

Sorry for misunderstanding, even briefly.

I looked at him with pitying eyes.

“Eat them one by o―”

After circling the cookie bag a few times, the child soon buried his face in it.

His shark-like, jagged teeth mercilessly crunched the cookies.

If I got bitten by those teeth, bleeding would be a given.

I thought to myself as I tidied my hair.

Rose petals fluttered down.

Ah, right.

I needed to remove these.

I looked at the mirror on the wall.

Even after removing quite a few earlier, there were still plenty left.

In the end, I used magic to remove all the petals.

“That’s a lot, now that they’re off.”

I looked at the petals floating in a clump in the air, then lightly clapped my hands together.

A good idea came to me.

“Hey.”

Ung, the child looked up, mouth still chewing.

The clump of petals rose to ceiling height.

I flicked my finger, and the petals scattered in all directions.

Red petals, the color of the child’s eyes, fell like snow.

The child stared blankly at the falling petals.

“Pretty, right?”

The child, who had unconsciously nodded, flinched.

Before long, his face flushed hot.

He seemed embarrassed.

I gazed endlessly at the petals settling on his hair, then spoke.

“Hard to tell who’s the flower now.”

His tail shot straight up.

The child stuffed all the remaining cookies into his mouth.

I tried to catch him as he dashed off, but it was too late.

―Bam!

Stubbing his toe on the desk leg, the child tumbled to the floor.

Aack, even I felt that pain.

Blood welled up from his toe.

It looked like his claw had come off.

That must be really painful.

The child rolled on the floor a few more times, then curled up like a shrimp.

“…Don’t lick it.”

The child’s tongue froze in the air.

He blinked, as if asking what he should do then.

Just licking it could cause an infection.

I approached the child.

Surprisingly, he didn’t show much resistance.

He only flinched whenever I moved my steps.

It was extremely fortunate.

I lowered myself to meet his eyes and promised.

“I absolutely won’t touch your body.”

Maintaining a certain distance, I used magic to first wipe away the blood.

I was about to cast a healing spell too, but I was speechless.

Because a new claw was already growing.

He didn’t even need any special treatment.

All that was needed was to remove the broken, dangling claw.

I knew dragons’ healing abilities were no joke, but I couldn’t help but be envious.

If he were an ordinary person, he would have suffered until the claw grew back.

I observed his foot more closely.

“What’s this?”

There were scales here and there on his foot too.

Had his feet been completely covered in scales like his arms initially?

Did the scales fall off naturally as he aged, or did he hide them with magic?

The former I could understand, but if it was the latter, that was truly remarkable.

Transformation magic is difficult even for adult mages.

As expected of a dragon hybrid.

It was no wonder the mages’ eyes lit up and they rushed at him.

Ah, that doesn’t mean my eyes are lighting up and I’m going to rush at him, though.

I was just envious.

What was I able to do when I was just that size?

‘You entering the Magic Tower is as impossible as crossing the continent on your hands and knees.’

An unpleasant memory surfaced.

Having no particularly good memories, I shook my head vigorously.

Dwelling on the past was foolish.

I took my eyes off his foot.

“Nothing hurts, right?”

The child nodded.

“Then that’s fine.”

Just as I was about to get up, I became curious.

Because the child was slowly creeping towards me.

The child lowered his head towards my hand, which was still on the floor.

Was he smelling it?

The child buried his head completely in my hand.

I relaxed my body so he could smell more comfortably.

The child kept his nose buried in my hand for a while, then moved closer to me.

I could feel both his uniquely soft skin and the smooth scales characteristic of reptiles at the same time.

The child grabbed my wrist and started sniffing it intently.

I cautiously called out to him.

“Um, little one?”

I kind of wished he’d let go.

I pulled my arm a little, but he didn’t budge.

I thought about pulling harder but decided against it.

I was sure the book said that sniffing was a very important act, and interrupting it could cause anger.

It was best to let him sniff freely.

I relaxed my body.

Sensing this, the child clung to me even more eagerly.

His face, which had been at my wrist, slowly moved upwards.

“Ouch.”

Unable to bear the child’s weight, my body tilted.

As I hit my head on the floor and let out a small groan, the child’s head snapped up.

It didn’t hurt that badly, so I waved my hand.

“It’s okay, continue what you were doing.”

The child was now practically sitting on top of me.

Reassured, he buried his head in my neck again.

Did other dragon hybrids do this too?

Ah, since he’s the only one, there’s no way to know.

All I knew was that the child was feeling good right now.

How did I know?

Thanks to his tail.

The tail that had been limp or stiff around the mages was now wagging gently, just like when he was eating cookies.

It seemed he liked my smell.

“Ow.”

Another groan escaped my lips.

The child had bitten my neck.

He didn’t bite hard, but his teeth were so sharp it left a mark.

Satisfied with the bite mark, the child now gently pressed his ear to my chest.

“That’s…”

It was the spot where Lady Enencia had placed her palm yesterday.

Thump, thump.

Not as violently as yesterday, but my heart was beating clearly at a steady pace.

The child listened to the sound for a long time, then finally lifted his ear.