The Absent Dragon
The recipient unknown. ‘Hahaha, of all things, they’re piling night duty on top of everything else? The beastkin really have no sense of decency…….’ The news of extra work left me frozen for a moment. It was a bolt from the blue. One problem after another. I was about to pull an all-nighter without even an hour of rest.
“What’s with that sour face? Breeder, didn’t you hear me?” The white lion in front of me spoke like a human. I wondered if I was dreaming because I was so exhausted. I almost wished I would just collapse from overwork. If I opened my eyes again, maybe everything would turn out to be a dream.
“…Why aren’t you answering? Want me to say it again? I’m not asking, you know?” When I stood there dazed after being told to take the dormitory night shift, Berman shook his white mane and nodded. Then he opened his massive lion jaws, baring sharp fangs. Threatening someone already dead tired? These guys really shouldn’t call themselves ‘people.’ Beastkin, my foot. They’re just wild animals.
‘If it were just a regular dog with a mane instead of a lion, I’d rip that rank badge off and have a go at him…….’ Once again, I was reminded that the academy wasn’t a school—it was hell. I agreed with the saying about a prison without bars. At this rate, I’d only get to sleep when I was dead.
“No, sir. I heard you clearly. You want me to cover Yugo’s shift.” Still, anything was better than the afterlife. I had to survive first. If Berman ever stopped by the lounge later, I’d treat him to Johnson’s special coffee.
“Good, you got it. Just one day is all I need.” Berman replied as if he were doing me a favor. I couldn’t believe it. What did he mean by just one day? Did that mean he could stack night shifts endlessly if he felt like it?
“Only one day?”
“Yeah. Starting tomorrow, the young ladies will be taking turns standing watch.”
“???” Was this place actually a military base? Standing watch? Students? And supposedly the goddesses of the continent? What kind of academy taught its students to pull guard duty? I had wanted to read the history book Sofia lent me and fall asleep in peace…… but aside from coffee and biscuits, nothing was going my way today.
“All right, I understand. By the way, why are you still here, Chief Berman? Surely you didn’t stay this late just to ask me to take the shift……” It was rare for someone of department-head rank to remain at the academy this long. They always treated leaving on time as the highest virtue. Ah, maybe Berman was on night duty at the main building himself.
“Oh, right! I came all the way here because there’s something more important than the dormitory shift! Did anything strange happen during roll call this evening?!” At my question, Berman seemed to remember something and asked one of his own. Apparently he still had more to say.
“No, sir. Nothing unusual, except the first-year ladies’ rooms were a bit messy.”
“Hmm? Really? Are you sure about that?” Berman rummaged in his vest pocket while repeating the question. What he pulled out was a yellow envelope sealed with red sealing wax.
“Pardon? Am I sure?”
“I’m asking if the total student count was correct! I’m questioning whether you properly carried out the task I assigned you!” Berman, still holding the envelope, suddenly stared straight into my eyes. Meeting the lion’s yellow-and-black gaze made me feel strangely intimidated. If we fought without rank, I’d lose a hundred times out of a hundred. It was so unfair and frustrating I could hardly stand it. I really wanted to carry Sofia on my back right now.
“What do you mean by that all of a sudden?”
“I thought at least your work performance was reliable for a human, but this is disappointing.”
“D-Don’t tell me…… you mean there’s a problem with the headcount?”
“Exactly. If you’d done the roll call properly, you would have noticed one spot missing in the fourth year.”
“……?!” Ah, damn it. So that was it. Now I understood what Berman meant. Come to think of it, I hadn’t properly checked the fourth-year roll call. I’d gone up to the fourth floor, talked with Sofia about mint chocolate the whole time, and come back down. I never actually counted the students. I had just assumed everything was fine. But one person was missing from the fourth year?
“I-I’m sorry. I was in a hurry because of the fourth-year ladies and……”
“Well, I suppose I can understand. You were dealing with the young ladies directly. Just make sure you check the headcount properly from now on.” Berman let it slide surprisingly easily once I admitted my mistake. Was the missing person not a big deal after all? He was brushing it off more casually than I expected. Or maybe he was just overlooking it because there was no one else to do the job.
“Yes, I’ll keep that in mind. But you said one spot is empty? Does that mean one of the young ladies hasn’t arrived yet?”
“That’s right. And that young lady even left a letter specifically for you.”
“Pardon? A letter for me?” What was he talking about now? She sent me a letter? How did she even know who I was?
“Yes. That’s why I came here myself.”
“Why would you deliver it personally? Ah, no…… more importantly, are you sure the letter is addressed to me? Which young lady would send me a letter……?” My head was spinning even more. A dragon sending a letter to a mere servant? To me, of all people? It made no sense.
“How could I entrust a young lady’s letter to someone else? If it got lost along the way, I’d be the one held responsible. By the way, do you have some kind of connection with the young ladies?”
“No, sir. If I did, would I be suffering like this right now?”
“Hmm…… I find that beastkin-hating remark rather unpleasant, but I’m busy today so I’ll let it pass.”
“Ahem, I’ll watch my words.” He wasn’t even a canine, yet he was being so nosy.
“You’d better. Anyway, you’ll know who sent it once you read it. Take it.” Berman handed me the yellow envelope with a smooth motion. His expression clearly said, ‘I’ve fulfilled my duty of delivering the letter to you, understand?’
“Chief? Do you happen to know why this young lady sent me a letter……?”
“I already told you. You’ll find out when you read it. And since no one knows exactly when she’ll arrive, make sure you manage the headcount thoroughly every day.” Berman, who had only just gotten up from the bed, waved his hand as he left the night-duty room. Now that his task was done, he clearly had no further interest in me.
—Click!
And just like that, Berman was gone.
—Rustle……!
With the unwanted night shift forced upon me and nothing else to do, I immediately tore open the envelope. The front only read [To the Academy Night-Duty Room]. The sealing wax bore an emblem depicting a dragon’s face made entirely of straight lines. It was definitely written by a dragon. But who on earth would send me a letter?
Maybe it was a character connected to Breeder in the original story. After all, this body was supposedly of the Beginning Grade. It was entirely possible. Dragons wouldn’t bother with something as trivial as pen pals.
“Let’s see what it says.”
—Flip!
When I unfolded the letter, lines of black ink filled my vision. The contents were as follows:
You! Did you think I wouldn’t know you were here?
How could you be so irresponsible and leave on your own!? I spent fifty years scouring the entire continent looking for you! I even sacrificed my precious vacation!
And to think you were hiding in a place like this……
Anyway, I’ll be back as soon as I finish my business, so don’t go anywhere and just wait! If you run away again, I won’t forgive you this time!
From Raili, whom you heartlessly abandoned.
‘W-What the……?’ Just reading the letter made the anger palpable. It felt like a tingling sensation running down my spine. The letter didn’t clearly state who the recipient was. Instead of a name, it used ‘you,’ maintaining a certain distance. If that ‘you’ referred to me, I was truly screwed. It meant I was directly facing a dragon’s wrath. No, maybe I already was. The envelope had been addressed to the night-duty room, after all.
That aside, the sender’s name was alarming.
“Wait…… Raili? Raili…… Ah—!?” As I repeated the name, it came back to me. Raili was also an SSR-rank dragon. She had probably been portrayed as Sofia’s rival in the opening video. But what on earth had I done to suddenly receive a threatening letter like this?
—Rustle……!
I quickly put the letter away. But I couldn’t bring myself to throw it out. I was afraid it would only make things worse.
‘This is insane. I need to get Sofia on my side before Raili arrives at the academy.’ Just reading the letter had jolted me wide awake. Thanks to that, what I needed to do had also become clear. Since I was already awake, I might as well check something.
—Slide……!
I picked up the placement chart I had used during roll call. Then I listed out the SSR-rank dragons I had confirmed today. Three in the second year, Seirin and Raylin in the third year, and Sofia and Raili in the fourth year.
“Huh? W-What? Did I miscount during roll call?” The number of SSR-rank dragons I had identified today was seven in total. Why was that a problem?
In Destiny Dragons, there were a total of eight SSR-rank dragons that could be obtained. So even including Raili, one was still missing. Staring at the placement chart with one empty spot sent a chill down my spine. Could there be another vacancy I hadn’t noticed yet?
‘Where exactly did everything start going wrong??’