The Young Ladies' First Order
After the grandfather clock chimed one o'clock, signaling the young ladies' first order—thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud…!!!—the ground itself began to tremble. For a moment I thought it was an earthquake. The cups and dishes on the shelves rattled so violently that I half-expected a stampede of dinosaurs to come crashing through. The footsteps pounding toward us were that ferocious.
—Bang! The door flew open with tremendous force, nearly shattering the frame. They could have opened it gently. Come to think of it, I had been too busy to flip the sign to "OPEN," yet here they were, barging in without so much as a knock.
"Uh, w-welcome…!"
—Whoosh…!!! The moment the words left my mouth, the door burst wide and a cloud of dust accompanied a flood of people pouring inside. Roughly twenty of them—exactly what Johnson had warned me about. Fourth-years, the graduating class.
—Haaah…! To think I'd be eating academy food again.
—This is the worst! They won't even let us skip lunch for the entrance ceremony…
—Huh? I was actually glad to be back after so long.
—Don't be ridiculous. If you could have ditched halfway, you would've sprinted straight here.
—But the entrance ceremony is always so boring. I nearly died of boredom.
—True. At least three hundred years ago it was exciting. Now I couldn't care less about the new students.
—Speaking of which, did you see this year's freshmen? There weren't even ten of them.
—I saw them. They all had that fierce, half-dead look in their eyes. Total rejects.
—Are there still brats left to enroll? Ugh, I'm washing my hands of this.
—You're right! Let's just hope this semester passes without incident…!
—Phew, I just want to graduate already…
The moment the lounge door opened, a lively chorus of chatter flooded in. This was the long-awaited first encounter. Yet the conversations felt strangely familiar—like veteran soldiers rushing to the PX after duty. For beings revered as goddesses, the dragons displayed precious little elegance. Their voices brimmed with energy, but most carried the weary weight of boredom and fatigue.
—So, you know…!
—But during this break…!
—Chatter, chatter, chatter…!
"Uh, welcome…?"
My greeting was swallowed by their chatter and left hanging in the air. No one paid me the slightest attention. They treated me like an insignificant insect, utterly beneath notice. Still gossiping, they seated themselves at the tables with practiced order, as though each spot had long been assigned. It made sense—they were seniors who had spent at least three hundred years at the academy.
'Though if you only looked at their appearances, they'd pass for humans perfectly.'
Each dragon possessed a striking, distinctive look and outfit. Without prior knowledge, no one would ever guess they were dragons. Every single one radiated beauty that could topple nations. As expected of a gacha game, the heroines' gorgeous appearances were simply the baseline. Just gazing at them felt healing. By looks alone, they were all SSR-grade. Of course, if their polymorphs ever slipped, colossal reptilian forms would appear…
I lingered silently in the kitchen, observing the dragons from the corner of my eye. Among them was one SSR-grade dragon exactly as I remembered.
'Still, age doesn't guarantee a high grade. Only one SSR among twenty-odd students?'
The information displayed as age or level might not matter much after all. I vaguely recalled that grades were determined by attribute values rather than raw level. In the gacha, characters appeared with fixed attribute values from the start. Grades or levels could presumably rise with growth.
'Even so, a pure SSR-grade would possess far superior base attributes, right?'
My gaze settled on the woman I remembered as SSR-grade. Golden hair reminiscent of primordial light. Beneath it, sun-like golden eyes framed by thick lashes. Her name was Sofia, the Dragon of Dawn. Even after a month, Sofia remained crystal-clear in my memory. She was a major SSR heroine who featured prominently in the opening of Destiny Dragons. She wore a saintly robe befitting a holy maiden and chatted while idly flipping through a thick book.
—Rustle… Whenever Sofia turned her head with a gentle expression, her soft curls brushed against her waist and shimmered like silk. The elf Erdin had possessed golden hair and yellow eyes as well, yet he could never compare. Sofia radiated a far nobler, almost untouchable aura. She even seemed to glow with a faint halo. Grace and elegance emanated from her every feature. Unlike the other dragons, she showed none of that lax, veteran-soldier weariness. The longer I watched, the more her brilliance felt on an entirely different plane. Even from across the lounge, a warm light seemed to reach toward me.
"Huh…?"
No—it truly was directed at me. Sofia's golden eyes had come to rest upon me. I found myself meeting the yellow irises that still carried a faint reptilian cast. At the same time, a searing gaze swept over my entire body.
…!
When I glanced around, it wasn't only Sofia. Every dragon seated in the lounge had turned to stare at me. The previous lively atmosphere had vanished, replaced by a suffocating silence that pressed down like a weight.
"What? Are you a new servant?"
The heavy silence was broken by the dragon seated at the front. Short brown hair, sharp eyes, and a cheerful voice. She was a character I had never seen before. Since she wasn't in my memories, she was likely a standard-grade dragon.
"Ah… Yes. My name is Breeder. I'll be serving the young ladies starting this semester. I look forward to working with you."
I barely managed to suppress the tremor in my voice under the unknown pressure and finished a plain self-introduction. It felt like introducing myself for the first time at a new school.
—Murmur, murmur…!
The moment I finished, the room stirred.
—When did the lounge manager change?
—More importantly, it's a guy! A guy…!
—The last servant made decent coffee.
—A new student and now a rookie servant too…
—How long do you think this one will last? Want to bet?
—Don't joke. I know you'll roast him alive the moment the bet goes your way.
—By the way, unusual hair color. Looks decent enough, but silver hair? He looks like an old man.
—Look closer. His eyes are black? Something about him feels ominous.
Each voiced their own reaction. Indifference or wariness dominated. A few even rose from their seats and peered curiously at my face. The tables had turned—I was now the one being observed. I felt like a monkey in a zoo.
"……"
Through it all, Sofia continued to stare straight at me without a word.
"Puhahaha—! Your name is Breeder? Pretty arrogant for a human. No, judging by the livestock manure smell coming off your clothes, it suits a barn manager perfectly, doesn't it?"
Once the murmuring died down, the brown-haired dragon who had spoken first burst into hearty laughter and sneered. The word "Breeder" and its implication of a trainer clearly rubbed her the wrong way.
"Yes. Your eye for such things is impressive. I handle all the dirty work at the dormitory."
"Hoo, really? I like how quick-witted you seem."
"Ahaha, thank you."
"But… we've already come in, so why have you just been standing there doing nothing?"
"???"
Her cheerful tone dropped abruptly into something far more serious. She sounded genuinely displeased. What? Was she asking why I hadn't taken their orders? The staff had ordered from the counter. These girls had been so busy chatting they hadn't even thought to order…
'Ah…? Maybe I was supposed to go out and take their orders myself?'
The possibility flashed through my mind. Right—these weren't staff. They weren't nobles or royalty either. They were beings even higher, revered like goddesses. A chill ran down my spine.
"I-I'm terribly sorry. I was so captivated by the young ladies' beauty that I completely forgot my duties."
I bowed deeply and scrambled for an excuse. I had nearly been turned into roast meat without even getting the chance to serve the biscuits I had worked so hard on. Johnson's earnest warning echoed in my head: never offend a dragon's pride. If I had dared to say something like "Would the young ladies like to order separately?" here, I might have left this world on the spot. Expecting goddesses to come to the counter themselves? Unthinkable. No matter how distasteful it felt, survival meant flattering them.
"K-khm…! You have better eyes than you look. I'll let it slide this once! Be more careful from now on, understand?"
"Yes, I'll keep that in mind. I'll take your orders right away!"
"Good, good! Now you're finally making sense!"
Thank goodness. It had ended with nothing more than a warning. If I wanted to survive, I had to keep flattering them—without ever wounding their proud dragon pride.
"Please remain seated. I'll come to your table first."
"Yeah, you'd better move quickly. You don't want to end up like your predecessor—!"
"…Diora? That's enough."
A sweet voice cut through the air. At that gentle tone, the brown-haired dragon called Diora fell silent.
"S-Sofia…?"
The one who had interrupted Diora was none other than Sofia.
—Screech! Sofia rose from her seat at the very back, chair scraping across the floor.
"You always talk too much. Tormenting short-lived species who are already busy living their brief lives is hardly becoming."
"Tch, fine. I was just trying to teach him since he seemed clueless…"
"That's enough. Return to your seat."
"……"
With that single sentence, Diora became mute and sat back down. She offered no reply, yet her expression was far from pleased.
"I'll take the order in your stead. We're meeting after a long time; it wouldn't do to cause a commotion."
Sofia walked toward the counter, her gaze sweeping over the room. Not a single dragon made a sound—they merely nodded.
As expected, even within the academy, SSR-grades commanded respect.
"You. Your name was Breeder, correct?"
"Yes. It is an honor that you remember my humble name, noble daughter of the Drango Continent."
"Pfft. No need for such pretense in front of me."
"Pardon…?"
"Anyway, just bring enough coffee for everyone."
Standing at the counter, Sofia smiled gently as she placed the order. It was a smile brimming with benevolence. Yet her golden eyes seemed to see straight through me.
"Ah, yes…! I'll prepare it right away!"
Just as I turned to hurry into the kitchen—
"Good. Ah, and…"
"Is there anything else you require?"
"From the moment we entered, I've smelled a faint sweet scent… I don't know what it is, but could we have some of that as well?"
Sofia's eyes sparkled with anticipation.
"Of course. Please wait just a moment. It was prepared especially for the young ladies, and I was just about to take it out of the oven."
"Huhu. You prepared it yourself for us… That sounds promising."
At last, it was beginning—the first real order.