I Didn't Eat That Much
Ding~
"Thanks for everything!"
"Haaah…"
Harzen, a count's territory in the Legion Kingdom.
Far from Red Mountain — Lea's nest — Haring and Nya-nya were making their rounds, asking questions through the city streets.
For the past three months they had turned over every mountain on the Central Continent. But excessive hope only ever led to disappointment: three months later, Lea was still nowhere to be found.
Nya-nya, dressed in an elegant silver-white robe, patted Haring on the shoulder.
"We'll find her, Haring."
"Nya-nya…"
"Let's just push a little harder. We're still crossing candidates off the list, right?"
"…Alright."
Haring let out a small sigh and walked on through the city with Nya-nya.
She had found Lea once before, back when she was still a complete newbie, and that gave her a certain confidence.
Even at worst, I should find her within a month.
For that first month she had searched twelve hours a day without fail, and Lea's disciples — along with other players — had kept the search going. But as one month became two, and two became three, the number of people who gave up only grew.
Now the only ones still searching in earnest were Haring, Nya-nya, and Yuginong. Everyone else was either going through the motions or had abandoned the hunt entirely.
"Those traitors… We said we'd look together!"
"Three months is a long time. I heard Ka-zen went to the Magic Kingdom. Apparently he already got his apprentice mage certification?"
"Tch. So he just sucked up everything he could and bailed, is that it?"
"Don't get so angry. Everyone has their own situation."
"Situation, my foot. And apprentice mage certification? You could get that in a heartbeat."
"…Hehe. You think so?"
Nya-nya scratched her head at Haring's fuming. They had spent three months hunting for Lea, but neither of them had neglected their training. Haring now had two cores. Nya-nya had carved three stars into her heart and was preparing to inscribe a fourth. If she hadn't poured so much time into the search, she might already have four.
"……"
For all her grumbling, Haring privately understood the ones who had quit. Honestly, if they had found even a single trace, she could have kept the fire burning. But combing every mountain on the continent for three months with zero leads was genuinely insane work.
Posts about finding Lea had dwindled on the gallery, and the heat around the topic had cooled far below what it once was.
Haring turned her head toward the direction of Lea's nest.
"I miss Lea."
"Me too."
"She never even came back to the nest. What on earth is she doing out there…"
"Maybe she's just sleeping? Completely at ease?"
"…No. She might be hiding somewhere out of the way."
"Hiding?"
"Yeah. She left because too many players crowded in, right?"
Lea had abandoned her nest because she hated the players' noise. Rather than settling on some random mountain out in the open, she was far more likely to be tucked away in some secluded corner. That was why Yugi was combing through canyon zones where people rarely went — though so far it hadn't produced much.
Nya-nya shook her head with a pained expression.
"Poor Lea… She probably can't even return to her true form, worried someone might show up."
"She must be so uncomfortable. She left in such a hurry she couldn't even bring her favorite snacks."
"We have to find her, Haring. At the very least we should bring her something to eat."
"Oki."
Picturing Lea somewhere, fretting that someone might come looking, Haring and Nya-nya set out once more.
"O great Fire Dragon."
"Hmm?"
"Please, I beg you — return to your nest."
"Don't wanna~"
"……"
At that same moment, hundreds of kilometers from Haring and Nya-nya, I was half-reclined on a luxurious sofa, looking up at a middle-aged man with a curly mustache who was looking down at me. He wore an extremely troubled expression — the same man who had been showing up steadily for the past several days. Finance minister, or something like that.
I chewed on a perfectly grilled cut of the finest steak and tilted my head.
"Bahamart said I could stay as long as I like."
"Yes. He did say that, however… even he could not have anticipated you remaining this long."
"Nah. He knew."
Once I settled in somewhere, I tended to stay for years — and that was a fact the man already knew perfectly well. When I had arrived three months ago, Bahamart had laughed with that weathered old face of his and told me to make myself comfortable. So it didn't matter how long I stayed.
Sip.
I drank a sweet juice made the traditional way from prickly pear cactus and nodded. The improved commercial version was good, but the traditional stuff wasn't bad either. You'd expect an herbal juice to taste like some kind of medicinal tonic, but surprisingly it tasted like junk food.
Tastes like junk food, but it's good for you?
At that point it was practically a miracle elixir. I was starting to understand why prickly pear cactus had been mass-produced.
Yeah, this needs to be mass-produced.
"Mmm-hmm."
"……"
A golden table laden with food kept receiving dish after dish, and every one of them was outstanding. As expected of the royal chefs who prepared meals for the royal family.
The finance minister let out a small sigh and bowed at a full ninety degrees.
"The food Your Grace the Fire Dragon has consumed rivals the royal household's entire annual budget. If this continues, the kingdom may well collapse."
"The kingdom's out of money?"
"It isn't that, but excessive spending of this magnitude creates problems in every direction. And the greater issue is the chefs and the servants."
"Uuum…"
"They cook every single day without rest just to prepare Your Grace's meals. Their exhaustion has already reached its limit."
"Not every day, though."
It wasn't as if I ate every single day. I had come here to sleep in peace, away from the heroes — so I would sleep for about three to seven days, wake up and eat a massive meal, then go right back to sleep. The portions were large, sure, but the number of actual meals hadn't been that many.
I flopped fully onto the sofa, looking at the finance minister's distressed face. Then I rolled once, and rolled again the other way. With a room this spacious and a sofa this wide, tumbling around was no problem at all.
So comfortable.
I could sleep whenever I wanted without a single interruption. When I woke, the maids washed me, dressed me, and set out a meal. No heroes constantly pestering me for quests. It was paradise on earth.
"I'll stay about three years. No — four. Then I'll leave right away."
"In four years the kingdom will be in ruins…"
"Then cut back a little. Instead of the absolute best grade, uh… premium grade is fine. Ah! But you still have to give me the golden fish! That one's delicious."
"If you mean the Golden Lotus Fish, even His Majesty the current Emperor is unable to partake of it. It is an extraordinarily rare catch."
"The emperor's eaten plenty of it over the years. Tell him to hold out for a bit."
"…Is that not equally true of Your Grace the Fire Dragon?"
"I didn't eat that much."
Technically I hadn't eaten any in the last sixty or seventy years, but still. I crossed my arms as I said it, and the finance minister's face made it clear he was nowhere near convinced.
I thought for a moment, then a good idea came to me. I popped a few more pieces of steak into my mouth and stood up.
"So the meal costs are the problem?"
"There are several problems. Though the food expenses are certainly the largest."
"Then I'll just do work equal to the food costs."
"Pardon? What do you mean by—"
I had money to spare, but it was all back at the nest and hard to retrieve. Conveniently, Bahamart had asked me for a favor some time ago — I could just handle that. From a long-term perspective, the kingdom would benefit far more from this than from a few coins anyway.
"…Just what do you intend to do?"
"Where's Adela?"
Adela Measis thought back to the day three months earlier when the Legion Kingdom had been turned completely upside down.
Th-the Fire Dragon…?
Adela, right? I'll be staying a bit. Give me a room.
The great and exalted… well, for all that, she was remarkably cute — but in any case, the great Fire Dragon had come to the royal palace. Lea the Fire Dragon was a legendary being who belonged in history books and founding myths. And above all, the former emperor Bahamart himself had instructed them to take proper care of her, so the kingdom had given Lea the finest treatment possible.
And what Adela had seen of Lea over those months was…
"Eating, sleeping, eating, sleeping…"
It was a little blasphemous to say, but somewhat disappointing. Her illusions had already been shattered once before, but a dragon was still a dragon. Even if she seemed full of laziness and fatigue, she was still a legendary being. And yet for three whole months, all she had done was eat and sleep.
"Ugh… No. She's clearly a far greater person than that."
The history books recorded the great achievements she had accomplished. Right now she might be wandering the corridors with a lollipop in her mouth like some spoiled young lady, but she was still someone extraordinary…
"Hm?"
She came outside?
The Fire Dragon who never, ever left her room?
"Found you."
"Fire Dragon?"
"Where's the training ground?"
"Why are you looking for the training ground?"
"I said where is it."
"Ah — that way, Your Grace."
"Lead me."
Crunch.