A Man's Instinct
"Whoa… how long has it been since I sat on a sofa instead of the dirt?"
The sofa was upholstered in leather of such exquisite quality that simply sitting on it left the whole body deliciously limp. Even Freya had not been able to bring herself to sell the thing; she had installed it in the reception parlor for receiving guests instead.
"Sofas are nice, sure. But the beds here? They're no joke either."
"Whoa… I'm jealous."
"Jealous? You're a dragon."
And for a girl who had spent the past several days rolling around on bare ground, that sofa was doing an excellent job of reminding her just how important civilization was.
As the Black Dragon, the strongest creature alive, she could have slept comfortably on a bed of lava if she wanted to. But to the senses of a modern person, finally meeting a piece of furniture she could sit on properly after days of rough sleeping felt truly special.
"Well then, shall we do a quick round of introductions?"
It was the formal first meeting between the dragon and the entire Evergarden family, gathered together in the parlor. Freya was the one who opened the conversation.
"Y-yes! My name is Kang Chanho, I'm eighteen, a second-year high school student! Uh… I was in the liberal arts track, and my grades were pretty average."
"I see. So you really did come from the modern world, just as we heard."
"Yes. I was definitely on my way to school when I heard someone shouting somewhere, my head flashed white, and when I opened my eyes… I was like this. Haha."
"We're the same, you know. Our family was in an accident on the way home after this child's discharge ceremony—our son, who is now our daughter—and we ended up like this."
"I see… Whoa, hyung, of all times… right after you got discharged… wow…"
"…Don't look at me like that. I'm so wronged I could lose my mind."
"Well, meeting someone from the same hometown is a kind of fate in itself. Do you have somewhere to go?"
"Uh… no… Until I ran into hyung and the noonas, I was sleeping rough…"
"You were eating that sandwich like a kid who hadn't eaten in days."
"A dragon doing that was pretty funny, honestly."
"Hey! Every time I tried to say anything, people just ran away…"
"…Then how about staying with us for a while?"
"What?! Really?!"
"Of course. As I said earlier, we've all been caught up in the same bizarre phenomenon, haven't we? In times like these, it's good for people from the same place to stick together. And as it happens, we have more than enough room to host a guest comfortably. Isn't that right, dear?"
"Fine by me. We ought to help each other out, especially at a time like this."
"What about you two?"
"A dragon! A real dragon! The absolute strongest being in this world! There is no way I'm passing up the chance to observe a creature like that up close!!"
"Uh… hyung? That noona's eyes are looking a little… weird."
"Leave her. She's always like that. I don't mind either."
"Wonderful. Then to celebrate this meeting, I suppose I should ask the chef to put a little extra effort into tonight's dinner."
"Food! Food!!"
Grrrooowl—grrroowl—grrrooowl—
"…That stomach of yours is awfully loud."
"Hehe…"
And so, by unanimous agreement, the Black Dragon was welcomed as a guest of House Evergarden. At the mere mention of food her eyes lit up, and a sound like rolling thunder rumbled from her belly.
"Before that, we ought to sort out what to call you. A Korean-style name stands out too easily in this world. And those horns and that tail—can you hide them?"
"Uh… this is only the second time I've transformed into a human form… I'll give it a try. Hup…! Hah!"
Shhhrrk—
"…Pwahh!! Got it!"
"Oh? They vanished in an instant."
Now that she would be staying in the manor, she could hardly go around advertising that she was a dragon. At Freya's question about hiding her horns and tail, she screwed up her face as if gathering some kind of power—and then her form settled into something fully human.
"Polymorph! That's the first thing anyone thinks of when they hear 'dragon,' right?! What's the principle? How do you do it? Come on, tell me!"
"W-wait, I don't really know either! I just put some spirit into it and it worked…"
"No, everything in this world has a cause and an effect. So what kind of mechanism is at work here…? It seems less like a formalized spell and more like image training. In that case, how does it differ from ordinary transformation magic? Indeed—"
"Daughter, that's enough. Before we eat, you should go take a bath. And change out of those clothes."
"Ah… yes…"
Freya reined in Felix, who had already gone wild at the sight of the dragon's horns and tail vanishing and was about to pounce on the girl with more questions, and pointed out the state of their guest.
Dragon or not, she was barefoot and draped in little more than rags. By her own account she had been sleeping outdoors for days without washing, so a bath was long overdue.
And yet—perhaps because she was a dragon—aside from the rough scrap of cloth she wore, she was strangely clean, and she even smelled rather pleasant.
More precisely… like charcoal?
"Just a moment. A bath… a bath, you say… Son?"
"Yes?"
Freya murmured something under her breath at the word bath, then turned her gaze on Rosaria.
"Even so, for the young lady to attend to it personally…"
"Fa— I mean, Mother ordered it. It's fine. Go on."
"But…!"
"I said it's fine! Honestly, I don't even think you all need to wait on me for baths in the first place!"
"So just get out for now and come back later!"
"But, young la—"
Bang—
"…Haaah."
Having dragged the Black Dragon into the bath chamber, Rosaria finally managed to shoo out the maids who had insisted to the end on attending the bath, shut the door, and let out a long sigh.
"Whoa… nobles, for real."
"Does this look convenient to you? It's a pain in the ass!"
Rosaria snapped for no good reason at the Black Dragon, who was clapping in a daze at the whole spectacle.
"Look, having someone wash your hair, fine—they do that at salons. But scrubbing soap into every single corner of your body? That's a bit much! I'm not some frail old person who can't move!"
She had a point.
To a modern person used to washing alone, the sudden presence of bath attendants was bound to feel awkward—and on top of that, Rosaria was now in a woman's body. Bath time had been nothing but discomfort for her ever since.
And they made her bathe so often. Twice a day, without fail. Not a simple wipe-down with a towel, either—soap and scented oils rubbed into every inch of her skin by hand. It was enough to drive her insane.
So she had seized this opportunity, using Freya's request as a pretext to chase every last maid out and enjoy a bath with a little peace for once.
"By the way, this really does feel just like a public bathhouse. Do you usually use this place by yourself?"
"Yeah."
The Black Dragon shifted her gaze and let out a sound of pure admiration at the vast tub that took up nearly seventy percent of the room.
Hot water, heated to the perfect temperature, filled the bath and sent soft white steam curling upward—practically begging her to sink into it and melt away.
"Well then… uh… shall we wash up…?"
"Ah— so we're bathing together…?"
"That's… the idea, yeah…?"
"Ah, then I'll go first…"
"…It's fine. It's been a while since you had a proper bath, right? Just wash however you like."
"Uh… right… yeah… um…"
"…….."
The time had come for an actual bath, and yet the two of them simply stood there staring blankly at each other, neither quite able to step forward and start undressing.
"So… uh… is this okay?"
"Is what okay."
"I mean… I was originally a guy, and doing this with a girl…"
"Hey! I was a guy too, you know?!"
Both of them had originally been men—and yet each of them was still registering the other as a woman.
The Black Dragon had only ever seen a naked woman in the kind of videos every lively teenage boy kept stashed away, and Rosaria was in exactly the same boat. Neither of them had the slightest immunity when it came to women.
"And hyung, could you… maybe not look at me like that…?"
"What look? What are you talking about?"
"I don't know how to put it… wow, so this is what it feels like to be on the receiving end once you become a girl…"
"Oh, and you think you're any better? I caught you staring at my chest and looking away, you know."
"That was—!? How am I supposed to stop that?! You're a guy too, you know how it is!"
And then there was the problem of male instinct, which kept dragging their eyes toward each other's more important places, leaving them both even more flustered.
Rosaria's figure was nowhere near Freya's outright absurd proportions, but blood was blood, and she was nothing to sneeze at. The Black Dragon had already shifted her gaze far more times than Rosaria had even noticed.
She understood perfectly well, in her head, that the person in front of her was a man. But what her eyes saw was, without question, the body of a delicate and beautiful woman.
And then she would realize that the other person was looking at her the same way—and that the other person had originally been a man too—which somehow twisted the whole situation into the absolute nightmare of a man ogling another man with lewd eyes.
"…Ah, screw it! Whatever!"
Whip—whip-whip—
"H-hey…! C-cover up, hyung! I can see everything!"
"I don't care! I'm going in first!"
Splash—
They kept dodging each other's eyes only for their gazes to slide right back, faces burning red over and over—until Rosaria finally snapped. She flung off every scrap of clothing and threw herself straight into the tub.
"Aahh… so warm… my body's melting… melting…"
"…Hang on, me too… whoaaa… how long has it been since I had a bath… this is insane…"
The Black Dragon stared blankly at Rosaria's back for a moment, then seemed to make up her mind. She stripped off her rags and carefully eased herself into the water.
"………"
"………"
"O-oh, the water's especially warm today… haha."
"I-is it? It's my first time here, so… hehe…"
"……."
"……."
So the two of them soaked away the fatigue in their bodies, trading awkward smiles and empty small talk every time their eyes happened to meet.
Get a grip. That one's a guy. A high school brat, at that… a high school brat, a high school brat… Nothing to be embarrassed about… Right. This is just two guys who know each other going to the bathhouse together…
Haa, damn it… The first naked woman I've ever seen in person is a guy… I had it all planned out—my first time was supposed to be with a girlfriend I met in college… But wow, that body… wow… bigger than mine…… Gah?! No, snap out of it… That's hyung. Hyung… Holy— so that's what it looks like down th—
The water was perfectly warm. Their heads, on the other hand, were growing hotter by the second. The two of them had no choice but to wage a desperate war against anguish, endurance, and raw desire.
And they reached a conclusion.
Never, ever bathe together like this again.