CH 13

“Mister, good morning!”

Gsyaaaaah!

With a loud sound, the curtains are pulled open.

The morning sun entered the room…

And the man’s upper body rose from his bed.

He thought of sitting on the edge of his bed, but that wasn’t possible.

The dragon was snoring on top of him.

It can’t be helped, the man thought, as he sat with only his upper body raised.

“Good morning, little miss Saint.”

“Yes, good morning! Ah, here, I brought some food for the doggy. And some other things like grooming tools…”

The Saint held out a basket.

The man took it…

“Oh, is it fine?”

“Yes. Because it was me who brought the doggy here, after all!”

“Hm? Does that mean you’re taking responsibility for it?”

“That’s right… But, please don’t worry! It’s the duty of a Saint to be charitable! Ah, but if you don’t want what I’m giving you, please don’t tell me so!”

“Hmm.”

She’s a strong child.

Well, this ‘doggy’ probably isn’t going to eat that dog food, and when it comes to the using grooming tools like brushes on those scales…

“If that’s the case, I’ll gratefully accept. I’m sure he will be pleased as well.”

“But, it’s surprising. Mister, do you like animals? You seem to be getting along really well with the doggy.”

“Loving animals… I don’t think that’s entirely true… Except for bats and wolves.”

“That’s an interesting choice.”

“You would think so if you judged by the standards of a human. So, what kind of business did you have today?”

“Of course, I intend to help mister return to society.”

As always.

The man had no inclination to return to society, there was no need.

He’s a vampire, after all.

But, recently, due to his age, he is much less active than before and his appetite has waned dramatically.

So, she simply doesn’t believe him.

Well, it makes sense. If someone claimed to be a character from a picture book and suddenly said “Hi, I’m real now!”, even a young child would be skeptical.

The old vampire couldn’t help but sigh whenever he thought of his situation like that.

He wistfully thought back to the times when his race was proud and prosperous.

“So, by what method do you seek to force me outside of my castle today?”

“No, today I won’t be ‘forcing you outside’ at all.”

“Oh? Then what do you intend to do?”

“Entrepreneurship.”

“…?”

“You can start a business in this castle, and then visitors will come to you!”

Apparently, she seems to have changed her tactics today.

Indeed, on paper, it is a brilliant compromise that both addresses her desire to have him connect with society through work, and his desire to never leave his castle.

But…

“In the first place, didn’t you say that my castle did not actually belong to me? Do you think the local government is fine with me running a business here?”

“Well, that’s not an important issue today.”

“No… I think it’s a really important issue…”

“For today, let’s just settle on ‘I want to open up my own shop and have fun!’, we can think about the realistic stuff after we set course on that dream!”

“Hmm.”

“If you constantly think in terms of ‘Well, that’s not realistic…’, you’ll never be able to find the motivation to achieve great things!”

It makes sense.

It makes sense… But at the same time, it doesn’t.

Even if you want to do such a complicated thing so suddenly, it isn’t that easy.

“So just for today, please let your delusions run wild. Ignore reality! Just dream!”

“Even if you say that, I don’t want to ‘start a business’ in the first place.”

“How about a pet cafe?”

“…Pet Cafe?”

“Yes! A cafe with lots of cute animals all about!”

“…Is that safe? For various reasons.

“Well, maybe sometimes the pets might try to eat the customers’ food, but that’s just part of the pet cafe’s charm!”

It seems that food and drink aren’t the main attractions.

It’s a bit of a tricky concept for the man to understand, perhaps because of his age.

“Mister, since you really do seem to like animals, what do you think?”

“Well… If they’re pets that aren’t as troublesome as that one…”

“‘That one’? Mister, do you have pets other than this doggy?”

“…No.”

He slipped up.

And looked at the corner of the room to the familiar wearing the maid uniform.

Since the man knows their original form is that of a bat, he’s never really seen them as a ‘person’, but from the Saint’s point of view, they’re human.

And more than that, a granddaughter.

It’s treated like the man’s grandchild.

It might cause a problem if he called the familiar a ‘pet’ under these kinds of circumstances.

“…I just used to keep a lot of pets in the past, is all.”

“Wow…! Is that so! So that’s why you’re so used to taking care of the doggy, right?”

“Well…”

“Mister really is good after all! If you just got into shape and took care of that hair, I’m sure mister would be really popular! You’ll have lots of fans, I’m sure!”

“Hmm…”

Well, he’s sure he would have lots of ‘fans’.

That’s because he can bewitch people simply by having them look into his eyes.

Of course, it doesn’t work on the Saint, since she seems to be resistant to the man’s magic.

Although she doesn’t seem aware of it herself, she has a rare gift… At the very least, the humans that could resist his bewitching magic in the past were quite uncommon.

“If you just put on a white shirt and a nice black tie, and said ‘Welcome’ whilst holding a tray in one hand.”

“…It seems like you’re getting lost in delusions yourself.”

“I think it’s fine!”

The Saint exhaled through her nose.

The man smiled wryly.

“But little miss Saint, in the first place I’m not good at socializing and I’d rather be alone. It would be impossible for me to serve in hospitality… As you get older, it’s harder and harder to do new things, you know?”

“But, it really suits you! Just trying saying ‘Welcome to our store’!”

“Welcome to our store?”

“With a lower voice!”

“Welcome to our store…”

“As if you’re whispering it in someone’s ear!”

“Welcome to… our store.”

“That’s amazing! Just with that voice, people will want to return again and again!”

Just what exactly is this?

The man was a bit frightened of this young girl.

“…Anyways, it’s impossible for me to serve customers. I don’t want to do this.”

“Is that so… I was thinking that maybe Familiar-chan could make meals, mister could serve the food and everyone would love the doggy… The ideal pet cafe…”

Again, the man really doesn’t quite understand what a pet cafe is…

He was under the impression that it would be better for a girl to serve customers.

Or rather, the dragon itself could serve customers, even that would be better.

Well, not that he plans on starting a business in the first place.

“Hmm… Well, mister, what kind of dreams do you have?”

“Dreams… Dreams, huh… I feel like I used to, a long time ago…”

Like subjugating all of mankind.

Or becoming the supreme ruler of the world.

Looking back in the past, he felt that there really was a time he was passionate and full of energy.

But now, he eventually saw just how ridiculous it all was and quit.

It was only after he had achieved those desires of his, did he realize just how much of a chore ruling really was.

He didn’t want to have anything to do with actually managing the humans he had conquered.

“…A dream is like a leather bag packed full of air. As it grows older, it eventually deflates until it’s barely the size of your palm.”

“I don’t quite understand, but that seems deep.”

“Well, there’s nothing wrong with a palm-sized dream either. And that tiny dream of mine… Well, I suppose right now it’s not having to work.”

The man laughed weakly.

Even though he thought about various things, in the end, the vampire does not want to work.