Chapter 116 – Stay With (Self-Proclaimed) Maiden
“I guess this is about right.”
“Not bad!”
With a good-natured roar, Grande thumped the ground with her tail. Yeah. It’s loud. And the ground is shaking. It’s like a two-degree earthquake.
What lies in front of the delighted Grande and me is probably a… that is as big as a jumbo jet hangar. A dragon hut? Yeah.
The walls are made of stone, three meters thick. The ceiling is also made of stone, 2 meters thick. I made it as wide as possible because I knew that there would be no development in this direction anyway. The entrance is about 40 meters wide so that Grande can comfortably enter with her wings spread wide. It is also about 20 meters high. The inside is even wider, about 60 meters wide and 35 meters high. The height of the building is 35 meters. The exterior of the building itself is a circular dome, and part of the ceiling is made of thin glass blocks to catch the light.
Cleaning the windows looks like a lot of work, but we can ask the harpies to do it or let her clean it herself. I’d like to see a dragon… cleaning the windows for a bit.
“Come on, let’s go inside.”
“Umu!”
Grande wagged her tail as she walked briskly into the dragon hut. Stop wagging your tail; it’s dangerous.
“It’s nice and bright inside.”
“The glass part is fragile, so don’t break it by hitting your tail or anything.”
“At that height, unless I do it on purpose, it should be fine.”
Grande looks up at the glass part of the ceiling. It’s too high for me, but if Grande, who’s about 20 meters long, stands on her hind legs and jumps, she might be able to reach it with her vicious horns.
“But it’s so bleak.”
“There’s nothing but your den.”
The only thing in the dragon hut is the den that Grande dug in the back. I thought, “Why don’t she just sleep in here?” She said it would be warmer and more comfortable in the hole she dug in the ground.
“Let’s make the dining area.”
“Great. Where would you build it?”
“It’s better to be able to wash it with water when it gets dirty. Would it be better if it wasn’t inside?”
“I don’t think it needs to be rinsed. If it starts to smell, I can clean it or burn it off with my breath.”
“Breath… can you use breath?”
“What are you talking about? I’m a dragon.”
“No, you don’t show any signs of being able to use breath, so I thought you couldn’t use it… I mean, can you use magic to purify?”
“Of course. If I can’t use magic, I can’t fly, can I?”
“I see… Try using breath. I’d love to see it.”
“It can’t be helped…”
Grande walked briskly out of the dome. She seems to be happy to be able to show off her dragon-like features, and her tail seems to be in a good mood again. Don’t wag your tail at me; it’s dangerous.
“Ready? Take a good look at it, okay?”
After saying that, Grande took a deep breath and blew up a fierce flame towards the sky. It seems to be a real scorching flame, and even though it’s spitting into the sky, the heat can be felt from the ground as I look up.
“Wow! Dragon’s breath is awesome!”
I was also very excited about this. I’d be burned to the bone in an instant if that were pointed at me!
Hmm… If I were to use my abilities to prevent this, would it be best to set up a wall and then dive into the ground? I think brick blocks are highly heat resistant, but that breath seems to be very hot, so if I just use walls, I’ll probably get burned by the heat coming around me.
But if I dive into the ground, will I get steamrolled? It’s best to build a big, thick wall.
“Hahaha, that’s right, that’s right! I am the great Grand Dragon, after all!”
Grande, pleased with my reaction, slaps the ground with her tail. The ground is shaking.
By the way, the guards Bron and Fitch are watching us from the top of the city walls of Erichburg, which is about 100 meters away. They are afraid to approach the dragon.
“Well, then, shall I build the dining table inside the dragon hut?”
“Um, Kosuke. Can’t you do something about the name “Dragon Hut”?”
“Yes… somehow. What am I supposed to call it?”
“It should have a cooler name. It sounds like a dragon version of a doghouse.”
That’s exactly what I was thinking, but she didn’t like it. But even if I gave it an ostentatious name, it would be hard to call it something like… Dragon Dome.
“It’s not really a hut at all, is it?”
“Indeed.”
It’s a huge structure that is quite large when I look up at it again. It may be impossible to call it a hut.
“Then it’s Grande’s house.”
“That’s just so normal.”
“Normal is best, you know.”
I’ll put a big stone tablet carved with the word “Grande” above the entrance later.
Eventually, I built the dining table inside Grande’s house, by the entrance. I was forced to remake it many times to find the right height, but in the end, I’m glad that both Grande and I were satisfied with the result. The shape of it was like an offering stand in front of a Buddhist altar.
“Shall we have a snack?”
“A snack?”
“I bought some things from a stall in Erichburg. The burgers I make are indeed delicious, but I believe many of the other races’ dishes are quite tasty as well.”
“Hmm, I’m a little curious about that.”
“Put me up on the offering table.”
“Umu.”
Grande’s hands carried me up to the offering table. Don’t grab me too tightly. Do it more gently.
“First, bread with nuts.”
“Hou.”
I propped myself up on the offering table and piled up the bread with walnut-like nuts that I had bought in front of me. Grande comes up to me and sniffs it. If you sniff too hard, the bread will get inside your nostrils, you know?
“Eat it.”
“Umu… hmm, it’s slightly sweet. Also, are these nuts? It’s a little savory.”
“That’s not enough for you, is it? That’s where this one comes in.”
The next thing I took out was some kind of meat that had been slowly roasted. I didn’t ask what kind of meat it was, but it smelled delicious, and when I tried it, it was delicious, so I bought the whole thing. At the store, they cut up the meat into chunks and sold it with bread if you wanted, but they sold me the whole meat.
“Oh, meat. U-umu, It smells so good.”
“Eat up, eat up. There’s a lot more to eat.”
While watching Grande reach for a piece of meat and start munching on the whole thing, I took out the items I had bought one after another from my inventory. A big pot of soup is like a cup of soup for Grande.
“How was it?”
“Umu! It was delicious! Well, I don’t mean to underestimate the cuisine of the other races. But I think Kosuke’s hamburger is the best.”
“Haha, you little devil.”
I’ll serve the extra-large hamburger I made for Grande. It is not in terms of height but in terms of width.
Grande’s eyes lit up at the sight of the oversized hamburger, and she began to hold it in one hand and gobble it up. Hmm, it’s like feeding a pet. Grande was a little too big to be a pet, though.
“By the way, Grande is a dragon, right? How often does a dragon eat?”
“Well… it’s pretty unclear. We can eat as much as we want, and we can go quite a while without eating if we want to.”
“Is that so…? So if you eat a lot of food every day, will you get fat?”
She was about to bite into a hamburger when she heard me say this, and she opened her mouth and shuddered. Eventually, she regained her composure and began to eat her hamburger at a much slower pace than before.
“It’s not as if there’s no possibility of that, is there?”
I imagined it as I looked at Grande, who was looking away and whispering something like that. Grande’s appearance of being fat and chubby.
“Bufuh.”
“You laughed! You just laughed, didn’t you? What did you imagine?”
“Well, I imagined a fat, chubby Grande.”
“I-it will not come to that! I am a maiden dragon who can control herself!”
Grande roared and slapped the ground with her tail. It seems that this time it is a gesture of a bad mood.
“I’ll trust Grande on this one. So, how often do you actually eat? Three meals a day is a bit much for you, isn’t it?”
“U-umu, that’s right… Twice a day…?”
“Twice?”
“N-no, once a day is fine…”
Grande seemed to be in a depressed mood.
“So, how about twice a day, morning and night, for now? As long as you eat less at a time, you should be fine.”
“T-that’s right! There’s no problem if I eat less at a time!”
“Two extra-large hamburgers… or maybe three?”
“Yeah, that’s a good start.”
“For future reference, how much have you been eating?”
“…..”
Grande turned her head away at my question. When I looked at her, she seemed to have lost her patience and mumbled.
“I grill and eat a boar of this size or so about once a week.”
Grande said, indicating with her hand that it was about the size of a horse.
Yeah, with that amount of food, if she ate three extra-large hamburgers twice a day, for a total of six, she would definitely get fat.
“Don’t worry. I’ll do some exercise.”
“If you don’t have to go hunting for food anymore, you won’t exercise as much, will you?”
“…..”
Grande fell silent at my words. No, it’s fine for me. If Grande becomes fat and can’t fly, she’ll be the one who suffers the most.
As a matter of fact, I’m thinking a little bit about having Grande work like a strategic bomber or an aircraft carrier in the battle against the Holy Kingdom if necessary.
It would be a huge advantage if we could have Grande fly over the target and use it as an ammunition supply point for the Harpies, wouldn’t it? Grande’s wings could fly to Erichburg and Merinesburg in a few hours. A dragon strategic aircraft carrier or something like that would be very exciting.
However, Grande is a dragon. She’s not obligated to me, and she has no reason to get involved in a war between people. I can’t force her to do anything.
“As for me, I think you should work for it.”
“Work? Me?”
“If you could take me and a few others and fly us south to the Great Omit Wilderness or even further south to the Black Forest, that would be great. There’s a lot of production centers and stuff over there.”
“Gnu, the Black Forest, huh… well, that’s fine.”
When Grande heard the word “Black Forest,” she looked slightly uncomfortable. I’ve heard that there are dragons living in the depths of the Black Forest. Does she know any of them?
“That would be helpful.”
There’s a food production base in the middle of the Great Omit Wilderness. It will be a great help if we can transport a large amount of food from there. In addition, it would be even better if we could exchange products with the elven villages of the Black Forest.
Grande may have more strategic value as a means of transportation for me than simply as a force. My ability to transport and Grande’s ability to move fast. I think the Holy Kingdom will be in tears if these two are combined.
“You’re up to something, aren’t you?”
“I’m thinking about it. I’m trying to figure out how to use Grande using hamburgers as bait.”
“It pains me to think that you, a marebito yet diminutive person, would try to take advantage of me. Don’t get too cocky, or I’ll bite you.”
“What about Grande, who is being fed by that diminutive person, saying that…? I mean, if you bite me, you won’t be able to eat hamburgers.”
“Umu… That’s not good.”
“Right. So, I’m going to provide Grande with something delicious. In return, Grande will lend a little help. Let’s have that kind of relationship. I have no intention of forcing you to do anything you don’t like using food as a shield.”
“Really…?”
Grande gave me a stare. I won’t do that, really, hahaha. I won’t force her. It may take some persistent persuasion, though.
“At least, I don’t want to use Grande as the brunt of the conflict between the people. I promise you that.”
This is true. I have no intention of letting Grande directly fight the Holy Kingdom’s people. I’m just planning to have her help me and some transportation, but I’m not going to have her run directly into the Holy Kingdom’s army and go on a rampage or spit out her breath. However, I’d like to see her try a bit of an aerial carrier.
“Fumu… that promise, don’t you dare violate it. I’ll bite Kosuke’s head off even if it means I can’t eat the hamburger.”
“Yeah, I promise. Here, have some honey wine. You like it, don’t you?”
“Yeah, I’ll have some. Uumu, sweet.”
I took out a bottle of honey wine and drank it the same way Grande did. This sweet wine is quite tasty once you get used to it.
Now, what should I do tomorrow? As I watched Grande tipping the barrel in front of me, I thought about my plans for tomorrow.