Hatchlings Need Attention
Hatchlings need attention! —Next time, I’d like to try a dessert with mint added. Sofia’s earlier words still echoed in my head, refusing to fade. It felt as if her voice lingered right beside my ear. She had looked straight at me with eyes full of expectation and made her request. “Mint… mint, huh. Why mint all of a sudden?” I couldn’t have misheard her. No chance. I’d heard her clearly. When I asked again to confirm, she’d answered “mint” without hesitation. Even before leaving her seat, she had kindly emphasized that it was a dessert made with mint leaves, just in case I didn’t understand. She was that serious about mint.
The main heroine, an SSR-grade dragon like Sofia, being a mint-chocolate fan? This had to be a serious problem. “How could they give an SSR character a mint-loving setting? The developers must be mint-chocolate people themselves!” I muttered to myself while cleaning up the empty lounge. After finishing the dishes, I took off my apron, still trying to sort out my confused thoughts.
“No, what Sofia likes is mint, not mint chocolate. So strictly speaking, she’s not really a mint-chocolate person, right?” I spent several minutes worrying like that before reaching a conclusion. I had been looking at things through colored glasses. Everyone’s preferences deserve respect. I wasn’t in a position to be picky about hot rice or cold rice anyway. Sofia was someone I absolutely needed. “Let’s think positively. It’s basically the same as her telling me her own conquer method, isn’t it?” Positive thinking was necessary at times like this. Sure, she could like mint. As long as she didn’t force it on me, it wasn’t a problem.
Maybe it was because of this firm preference of hers, but she hadn’t reacted to the biscuits I’d prepared before she left the lounge. She had thanked me and taken them, but Beast Taming and Gourmet Feeding hadn’t worked at all. Still, handing her the coffee biscuits had yielded results. I’d obtained the book History of the Drango Continent and Sofia’s conquer method. It was a decent achievement. The main heroine’s conquer route was right in front of me. Of course, it would only be possible if I could make a dessert with mint in it.
—Flip, flip…! After finally finishing the cleanup, I flipped through the thick history book written in dragon script and nodded. My previously scattered thoughts had settled. Since she had asked me for a favor, I had no choice as her servant. “Yeah, let’s just give it a shot. If she says do it, I do it. It’s not poison, so tasting it a few times won’t kill me.” I, who usually stuck out my tongue at mint chocolate, had now resolved to make a dessert with mint using my own hands. There was no helping it. It was a choice made to survive.
There were plenty of mint leaves, the ingredient for mint tea. Mint tea was such a divisive item that stock always piled up. In any case, the main ingredient was abundant, so as long as I put my mind to it, I could make something. Now that I’d decided, I wanted to get it done quickly. I was supposed to return the book in two days. I’d give her the mint dessert along with it and work on conquering Sofia then.
—Thud! The moment I firmed my resolve, I closed the thick book. “But… mint is one thing, but when am I supposed to finish reading this huge book in just two days?” Once I made up my mind, the tasks ahead seemed endless. Since the semester had just started today, I didn’t have as much free time as during vacation. No choice. I’d have to carve out time even from sleep to read as much as possible. Once my favorability rose later, I could borrow more books. “Now I really should head home.”
I stretched while thinking positively about everything. When I looked at the grandfather clock, the hands pointed to 7:50. During the semester, the lounge closed at 6:30. The dragons had all left on time for dinner. After that, wrapping up and cleaning had taken a full hour. It was already approaching 8 p.m. The day had passed in the blink of an eye. It had been a long yet short workday. One thing was clear: I needed to hurry. “Let’s move quickly.” I still had to prepare the evening roll call at 8:30. After all, I was the dorm supervisor. That’s right. My work wasn’t over yet.
Anyway, just as I was about to turn off the lounge’s magic stone lights with my tired body—
—Knock, knock, knock!
Once again, the sound of an uninvited guest’s knocking caught my ankle. “Haaah… Who is it this time?” A sigh escaped me at the knocking. Who could be looking for me now? If this kept happening, I shouldn’t have set closing hours in the first place… I wanted to ignore it, but I had no choice but to endure. My position was that of a servant, not faculty. In other words, I had no say in the matter from the beginning. “…Who is it?”
—Creaaak…! My weary voice mixed with the sound of hinges. When I opened the lounge door, what came into view was…
“H-Has it already reached closing time, desu-yong…?”
It was a small girl with silver hair tied in pigtails. Her green eyes were wide and brimming with tears. “Derke? What are you doing here so late?” “Hwaaaang……!!!” The moment I asked, Derke answered not with words but with tears.
—Whoosh! Without warning, she dove straight into my arms. She wrapped her short arms tightly around my waist and buried her face in my shirt, wiping away her chicken-dropping-sized tears. My waist area grew damp with hot tears. Ah, I should’ve taken off the apron later. “D-Derke? What’s wrong all of a sudden? Why are you crying?” I patted her back to calm her down. Watching her tear-streaked face, worry and concern took precedence over my desire to go home.
“Hic…! Hiccup-! Hrk……! Hng, sob……!” No matter how much I coaxed and soothed her, Derke’s sorrowful crying showed no sign of stopping. I kept asking why she was crying, but she only shed more tears without answering. Her sadness seemed overwhelming. No choice. I had to wait it out. As expected, leaving on time was synonymous with an illusion for me. “Hm? Now that I think about it, her outfit is a bit different today.”
Today, Derke was wearing the academy uniform instead of her usual tattered black robe. She must have received it during the entrance ceremony. The uniform was a brown sleeveless dress with a skirt that reached her knees. Paired with a white shirt underneath, it looked neat. And one more thing: a yellow badge was pinned to the shoulder strap of the dress. It was probably a color or name tag to distinguish grades. It was the kind of outfit kindergarteners might wear, which suited Derke perfectly. So much so that even her current tearful appearance looked cute. But why had the upperclassmen girls been in casual clothes earlier? “Sniff, sniff…!”
Ah, that wasn’t important right now. “Derke? Want to try eating this? It’ll make you feel better.” —Rustle…! I handed her the bag of biscuits I’d set aside earlier, hoping to stop her tears. It was Derke’s share that I’d managed to save even when the upperclassmen dragons asked for refills. “……!!!” Derke quickly accepted the bag. For a moment, her green eyes sparkled. Her tears stopped the instant her gaze focused on the bag. The biscuits’ effect was truly remarkable. The same girl who had been crying loud enough to shake the lounge just moments ago now stopped her tears and began munching on a cookie with “Crunch, crunch-!” sounds.
“H-Huh? It’s even more deliciou…?! It’s a flavor I’ve never tasted before, eiyap-!!” After tasting one biscuit, Derke let out an exclamation of admiration. Her eyes were wide and round, as if she hadn’t been crying at all.
The favorability of the empathy target has increased significantly!
At the same time, a message notifying the increase in favorability appeared. It must have risen for the same reason as yesterday. Unfortunately, that was all. There weren’t countless notifications like yesterday. It only informed me of a modest increase in favorability. Upon checking, my relationship with Derke was still stuck at the Blind Trust stage. It seemed the final stage of favorability wasn’t something that could be unlocked easily. “Feeling a bit better now?” “Yeah…! Big brother is really a kind person, eiyap-!” “But why were you crying so sadly? Did something happen?”
How could I just let it slide when a child was crying so pitifully? Especially when such a cute and adorable kid was sobbing in my arms… “Huuung……. W-Well… Big brother, you’re not scared of me, desu-yong…?” “What? You? What do you mean all of a sudden?” Derke answered my question with another incomprehensible question. Of course, she had seemed pretty scary when I first met her in the dark yesterday, but how could someone with such a youthful appearance be scary? It was nonsense. “You mean you’re not scared of me, eiyap……?!” “Yeah. Not at all. I’m not scared. You’re cute.” “Th-Then why…! Why does everyone else hate me, desu-yong-?!”
When I gave her a puzzled look, Derke finally began to spill her troubles. The worry she was sharing was just like… “Don’t tell me the friends you met after enrolling are ostracizing you?” “Uuuung……. O-Or rather, the Death Dragons are really an unlucky clan, eiyap…?” “……?” “Even the professors said my way of speaking and behavior were strange and gave me this badge, desu-yong……” “Huh? Badge?” I turned my gaze back to the yellow badge on her shoulder strap that I had dismissed earlier. “W-Wait, this……?” The yellow badge was a stylized dragon face, and its shape felt strangely familiar. It looked like a smiley badge. Moreover, at the bottom of the badge, small black letters were written: 「Dragon Warrior of Interest」