The Vice Principal's Sweet Surprise
Benetric, the vice principal, stepped carefully into the kitchen, avoiding the puddles of water on the floor. “It’s been nearly two hundred years since I last set foot inside the kitchen quarters……”
She had come looking for the person in charge of both the temple and the kitchen. But before long, she stopped. She couldn’t bring herself to move forward. The growing stench of food scraps and the sight of those puddles were getting to her. Benetric’s face twisted in disgust, as if she had wandered into a septic tank. Her expression was on the verge of being completely overtaken by revulsion.
‘I have no desire to stay in this damp, foul-smelling place any longer. The very thought of water touching my shoes makes my skin crawl……’
There was no other reason. This was simply not a place befitting a noble dragon like herself. That was precisely why she had never once considered stepping inside the kitchen for the past two hundred years.
“Is there no one in there? If the person in charge is inside, come out at once!”
Benetric called toward the back of the kitchen, her face making it clear she had no intention of going any farther. She had given up on inspecting the place and simply wanted to speak with whoever was responsible.
“Who’s there?!”
“So you were inside after all. Whoever you are, come out here right now.”
“I was just in the middle of preparing ingredients for dinner—zzzt……?!”
At Benetric’s shout, a ram rat emerged from the storage room in the back. The moment he saw her, his face went deathly pale. His once-pinkish skin turned as white as raw chicken, and goosebumps rose all over his body.
‘Yesterday the young ladies came, and today it’s the vice principal…? Why? What for?’
Ramji had every reason to be shocked. If yesterday had felt like a death sentence, today felt like the day of execution.
“How utterly disgraceful! A rat in the dining hall……?!”
As expected, Benetric recoiled in horror at the sight of the large rodent.
“O-Oh, it’s a misunderstanding! I-I’m Ramji…! The kitchen manager! Please calm your anger……!!”
—Thud!
Realizing the situation too late, Ramji dropped to his knees before Benetric and begged desperately. There was nothing to gain from angering a dragon. He had to save his own life first. In his heart he muttered, ‘They’re the ones who made the work schedule, so why are they surprised…?!’ but in reality he was groveling with everything he had.
“Hah, so you truly are the head of the kitchen? I knew the beastkin were in charge, but this is……”
“Th-That’s right! What brings you, Vice Principal, to such a humble place……?”
“Ah, yes. I came here personally because I have a few questions for you. I trust you’ll answer them honestly?”
Benetric maintained her haughty tone, speaking in an old-fashioned manner. It was only natural—after all, she was 3,400 years old. Though not particularly old for a dragon, she still carried the dignified speech of a middle-aged educator.
“O-Of course! I’ll answer with all my heart and sincerity!”
Ramji’s speech, on the other hand, was clipped and short, as if they belonged to entirely different eras. Benetric paid it no mind. She simply wanted to leave this place as quickly as possible. Ramji’s appearance and curt way of speaking were of no concern to her.
“I’ve heard that the human servant personally taught you some recipes. Is that true?”
“Yes! Breeder gave me the recipes for lunch and dinner! D-Did the food not suit your taste……?”
“Hmm, Breeder? I feel like I’ve heard that name somewhere before.”
“He’s the servant at the lounge and the dormitory supervisor!”
Benetric tilted her head at Ramji’s explanation, trying to recall the hazy memory. As a dragon, she had never paid much attention to short-lived races.
“…If the food didn’t please you, I beg your forgiveness! I only did exactly as the academy’s only human—Breeder—told me to!”
“Ah, yes! The human servant! But that name Breeder… I feel like I’ve heard it somewhere. When was it?”
Ramji and Benetric were having two entirely different conversations in the same space. Ramji was begging for his life, while Benetric kept repeating the name Breeder to herself. Their vastly different lifespans meant their ways of thinking were worlds apart as well.
“O-Oh! Yesterday, the fried biscuits made the fried chicken taste strange! If that’s what you mean, that was also Breeder’s—!”
“Oh? Really, biscuits?!”
“Y-Yes! Breeder fried the biscuits yesterday evening!”
Ramji shamelessly used Breeder’s name to beg for his life. Though he was genuinely grateful to Breeder, fear took precedence when facing a being who could erase his existence with a single breath. For a short-lived race whose survival instincts had kicked in, self-preservation came first.
“Aah…! Now I remember. That’s right—those two department heads came to see me and brought something called biscuits.”
The keyword “biscuits” finally jogged Benetric’s memory. Johnson and Erdin had brought them when asking her to reconsider the lounge’s additional budget, claiming they were made by the new lounge servant and that the budget would be well worth it.
‘They said I’d change my mind if I tried them, didn’t they?’
But Benetric hadn’t even glanced at them. She hadn’t believed in the skills of a short-lived human, so she had dismissed the two department heads’ words. Yet when she came to the dining hall today, not only those two but even the students were praising him—saying he had changed the quality of both the desserts and the kitchen’s cooking.
“…I have more than one or two family members I must provide for! So please, show me mercy!”
“Hmm……?”
“I wanted to do well too! I only followed Breeder’s instructions……!”
Having pieced everything together, Benetric wore a satisfied expression for a moment—only to frown again at Ramji’s continued pleading.
“You’ve been squeaking away in the dining hall this whole time! How shameless. You don’t even know who your benefactor is and you’re trying to sell him out?”
“Eek—?!”
“I’d love to fry you in the oil pot, but since I don’t have a replacement, I’ll let it slide this once.”
“Th-Thank you! And I’m sorry…!”
Benetric glared at Ramji and scolded him. Still, she couldn’t actually harm him—finding a replacement would take far too long.
“If you wish to continue living peacefully at the academy, just keep doing exactly what that human tells you.”
“I-I’ll remember that…!”
“Good. Then I’ll be on my way. I have no desire to remain in this unpleasant place any longer.”
—Tap, tap, tap…!
With those words, Benetric turned and left. Her steps were lighter than when she had arrived—she wanted to escape the kitchen as soon as possible.
“Phew, that’s better. Still, a mere human satisfying dragons’ tastes? That shouldn’t be easy……”
Once outside, she still couldn’t fully believe the consistent claims of the witnesses. Such a thing had only been possible in the distant past, during the era when humans and dragons had lived in harmony.
‘Yet a human, fallen after the Dragon-Ma War, has won over so many dragons……?’
Benetric stared into the air for a long while before finally speaking.
“I suppose I’ll have to confirm it myself.”
—Whoosh…!
Leaving the kitchen building behind, Benetric vanished with only a short murmur and a lingering afterimage. She had burned her internal mana to cast teleportation.
—Sss…!
When she reappeared, it was right in front of the door to her personal research lab.
“Hmm, I’m sure I left it around here……”
She stepped inside and muttered to herself while rummaging through her cluttered desk.
—Rustle…!
“Ah, there it is.”
She finally found a small paper bag. It was the packaging that had once held the biscuits—the very one the two department heads had brought when asking her to reconsider the budget.
“These don’t look fried. And what’s this messy stuff on the surface? Sugar……?”
She peered into the bag and pulled out a biscuit coated in star-shaped candy. Benetric examined its appearance closely.
“Nothing particularly special about it.”
Benetric was unusually talkative and suspicious today. But seeing was believing. There was no faster way to understand than to taste it herself. One bite would tell her everything.
—Crunch!
Crack, crunch…!
The biscuit was still crispy even after a day, thanks to the hardened candy coating on the outside. And the flavor was unmistakable.
“S-Sweet?! Mmm…? It’s so sweet my mouth won’t stop watering……”
It was a novel shock for Benetric. She had tasted countless desserts over the years, but it had been a long time since she encountered one whose intense sweetness was addictive rather than cloying.
—Crunch, crunch…!
She kept reaching for more without realizing it, as if under a spell. The slight staleness was a flaw, but her hand moved on its own—until she finally felt a dry thirst.
‘Haa? I, who have lived for thousands of years, am captivated by cheap snacks like this……? This won’t do. I have no choice but to meet that servant in person.’
She finally pulled her hand away from the biscuit bag and muttered while staring at the sugar on her fingertips.
—Sss…!
Once again, Benetric vanished with only a short murmur and an afterimage. Her teleportation destination was obvious.
“This is my first time here since the semester started. Now that I look at it, the lounge has gotten quite old.”
—Step, step, step…!
She appeared out of thin air and soon stood before the small entrance to the lounge. The academy streets were quiet in the afternoon. It was only natural—right now it was 1:30 p.m., just after lunch free time had ended. She naturally assumed only the servant would be left inside and opened the door.
—Creaaak…!
—Ding!
With the sound of old hinges and a small bell, what greeted her inside the lounge was……
“Welcome—! Where did you go that you’re this late…… Heeeh—?!!!”
It was none other than a small hatchling with silver hair tied in twin braids.