Dragon Tongue Misunderstanding
“The conversation you just had with the young lady. You used Dragon Language as well, didn’t you, Mr. Breeder?” Erdine pressed me with a meaningful expression, her gaze sweeping over me as though she were asking how a mere human could possibly speak the ancient tongue of dragons.
“……?” What on earth was she talking about? When had I ever used Dragon Language? I couldn’t even manage a regional dialect, let alone that sacred speech.
‘Could it be because of Derke’s peculiar way of speaking? No, even so, it wasn’t so strange that no one could understand it.’
I replayed the conversation I’d just had with Derke in my mind. Had she said something incomprehensible? Not at all. If anything, her speech pattern was rather memorable. Then had I said something odd myself? Again, no. It had been perfectly standard Korean. The very idea that I could communicate with the other races in this fantasy world was already contradictory enough. Still, even setting that aside as a game-world convenience… no matter how hard I thought about it, I couldn’t understand what Erdine meant. I had simply spoken normally with Derke.
“So answering is difficult after all? Dragon Language is a sacred tongue that not just anyone can learn, so… it must be hard to talk about. I understand.”
“No? That’s not what I—”
“It’s fine. Thanks to you, we were at least able to save Yugo’s life……” Erdine withdrew her gaze from me and turned her head. Her eyes then shifted to Yugo, who was still groaning on the floor.
……Erdine’s questioning had ended, yet the heavy silence lingered on. The tension remained taut in the air until—
—Rustle, rustle…!
My shirt hem was suddenly tugged tight. Small, dainty fingers had grabbed hold of it. With hands no bigger than young fern fronds, my entire body was being shaken.
“What’s wrong, Derke?”
Derke had been calling out to me in a hurry. “Breeder Oppa……” Her voice sounded strangely drained of strength.
“Hm? Are you hungry again?”
“Noo… I’m just so sleepy, eeyap……”
—Thud…!
With those words, Derke suddenly leaned her whole body against me. Her eyelids had already drooped shut like blankets, covering her green eyes.
“Kuuuuur……” Using my shoulder as a pillow, she began to doze off on her own. A soft, rhythmic snore even escaped her lips.
The lively—well, murderous—energy she’d shown just moments ago had completely vanished.
“Mr. Breeder? Still haven’t noticed?”
“Huh? Ah! Don’t tell me I used Dragon Language again just now……?”
“Yes.”
Once Derke had fallen fast asleep, Erdine questioned me once more. Her golden-yellow eyes were filled with wariness.
“W-well, I still have no idea what you’re talking about……”
“I see. You must have your own circumstances. For today, I’ll let this matter slide. Since it involves the young lady, we’ll treat it as though nothing happened.”
“What? What about the stable?”
Erdine soon shook her head slightly, as though she had made up her mind, and continued. “The stable falls under the management department’s jurisdiction, so I’ll handle it myself. I’ll restore it to its original state even if I have to stay up all night.”
For once, things were being handled normally. Normally she would have dragged me into the cleanup, yet this time she was clearly assigning responsibility. The sun might as well have risen in the west.
“…Mr. Breeder, please escort the young lady to the dormitory at once. Then go home and rest.”
“Is that really all right?”
“Of course. Isn’t managing the dormitory and the students your job?”
What Erdine meant was clear: she would no longer hold me responsible, so I should hurry up and take that dangerous reptile away with me.
‘She obviously doesn’t want to get involved with a dragon.’
That worked out fine. I’d been wanting to clock out for a while now. I didn’t want to stay here any longer either. Overtime without purpose was something I could do without.
“Then I’ll be heading back now.”
With Derke, who was snoring away in dreamland, cradled in my arms, I gave Erdine a brief nod. She showed no particular reaction. Not that I expected one—Erdine was still busy checking on Yugo, the beastkin sprawled on the floor and panting heavily.
‘What kind of chaos is this, right before the entrance ceremony……’
Grumbling about my unfortunate fate, I stepped into the main dormitory building. The empty interior felt rather eerie. It had been vacant for fifty years, after all. I carefully made my way forward, lantern in hand. Though the building was old, the dormitory itself was practically brand new. That was only natural—I had been diligently cleaning and organizing it ever since I started working here.
‘Derke’s a new student, so I can just put her on the bottom floor for now.’
There wasn’t even a dormitory assignment chart yet, so I had no choice but to make a temporary placement. I didn’t like handling things so sloppily, but the academy staff were hardly helpful. I had been asking the academic affairs department for the student list for days so I could assign rooms, yet every time I went, they told me they weren’t finished yet and to come back later. And now they had dragged it out until the day before the entrance ceremony…… The academic affairs department was run by treefolk, a race truly suited for bureaucratic work. Perhaps because of their long lifespans, their pace was leisurely to the point of being unbearably slow. The department head, Indra, had merely waved his spindly branch-like arms and said it was fine to just put the lower years on the lower floors, looking thoroughly annoyed. He might as well have been firewood; trying to get him to do anything was enough to set a person’s patience ablaze.
—Creaaak…!
With the sound of hinges, the door opened. At the same time, the interior of the living quarters came into view. It was a space of roughly fifteen pyeong, furnished with two beds, two desks, and two wardrobes placed sparsely about. Even though it was a double room, it was quite spacious compared to a university dormitory. Of course, to dragons it might feel endlessly cramped.
The dormitory had four floors in total. Interestingly, the number and size of the rooms changed depending on the floor. The higher the floor, the more spacious and comfortable the rooms became. The first and second floors, like Derke’s room, were doubles. From the third floor onward, every room was a single. The fourth floor was practically a private residence, complete with a terrace…… In a way, it felt like the rooms were divided by seniority.
Anyway, I could look into the dormitory structure later……
“Sleep well, Derke.”
I gently laid the soundly sleeping Derke on the bed and tucked her in. I wanted to get some rest myself so I’d be ready for tomorrow.
“Abuu, auuu… abuuu……”
Now separated from me, Derke let out baby-like sleep-talk. She even stretched her hands into the air, flailing as though searching for something.
‘Her parents didn’t come with her for the entrance ceremony? How sad……’
I was tired and wanted to ignore it, but I couldn’t bring myself to disregard those pitifully waving little hands. The young face of the silver-haired girl, fast asleep, kept tugging at my conscience.
—Squeeze…!
When I offered my hand, Derke immediately clasped it, as if she had been waiting. I planned to stay by her side only until she fell into a peaceful sleep.
—Kuguguguk!
“D-Derke……?”
How could such a tiny body have such monstrous grip strength? No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t pry my hand free. I was starting to worry my fingers might actually break.
“D-don’t go…… Don’t leave me alone again, desuyong……”
She must have been terribly lonely. At such a young age, of course she would be. Maybe she simply hated falling asleep by herself. That was probably why she was clutching my hand so tightly. Still, I was the dorm supervisor. Sleeping in the same bed as a student was out of the question. Age-wise she was definitely older than me, but her appearance was that of a complete child. The guilt was too much; I couldn’t lie down beside her.
—Slide……
Instead, I took off the vest I had been wearing over my shirt and draped it over her blanket. Then—
“Sniff, sniff—! Ah, it smells like Daddy……?”
Her nose twitched, and only then did she finally let go of my hand.
“Th-thank you, desuyooong……”
Apparently pleased by the scent of me clinging to the vest, she hugged it tightly and drifted into a deep sleep, just like a child clinging to a favorite blanket.
The noisy night passed, and morning arrived once more. Indeed, the long-awaited day of the entrance ceremony had come. Yet my morning routine remained unchanged. If it had been during the semester, I would have woken the students and conducted morning roll call, but today was purely the entrance ceremony. There was no one to wake except Derke.
I had just dropped Derke off at the main academy building. Still half-asleep, she had waved goodbye to me. After returning to the lounge, I began roasting a fresh batch of coffee beans as usual.
—Clatter, clatter……
I stirred the beans in a wide wok-like pan over low heat. The freshly roasted beans gave off a rich, savory aroma. It would have been convenient to have a roasting machine, but wishes were wishes. In this world that was practically another dimension, no such device existed. So I had no choice but to roast the beans carefully by hand.
‘There’s so much that my arms are getting sore.’
Since today was the entrance ceremony, I had roasted five times the usual amount, just in case. Once the beans cooled a little, I would grind them and be done.
—Shake, shake……
I spread the roasted beans evenly across a wide tray to cool them. While they cooled, I had a short break. I could have cleaned the lounge, but I had already done a thorough cleaning yesterday, so there was no need.
—Ding!
But then, even though the lounge wasn’t open yet, someone flung the door open and strode inside. Who could possibly be so ignorant that they couldn’t even read the word “CLOSE”?
“Hey, Breeder! Are you ready to welcome the young ladies?!”
Ah, I recognized that gruff voice immediately. It was Johnson, the stocky dwarf who was always overworked and complaining.
“What brings you here so early in the morning? The lounge isn’t open yet.”
“Tsk—! Do you think I’m some dwarf who only guzzles coffee?! I came to give you a bit of advice.”
“Advice?”
Knowing him, it was probably more of a meddlesome suggestion than actual advice.
“Yeah, you’re still just preparing coffee, right?”
“Well, I do have other teas stocked as well…… Why do you ask?”
“As I thought, no one gave you a heads-up.”
“About what?”
“Once the entrance ceremony ends today, the upperclassmen girls will probably all flock to the lounge.”
“How many upperclassmen are there?”
“Hmm, if the number’s the same as last semester…… roughly twenty or so.”
“Ah, if that’s all, there’s no problem. I have plenty of coffee.”
I had wondered what he was getting at, but that much was already accounted for. The first day of opening was meant to gauge demand anyway. I had prepared with that in mind.
“Hey now! I’m telling you, coffee isn’t the issue!”
Grumbling to himself, Johnson climbed onto a high chair. He shook his head as though I were being dense and continued.
“……The young ladies have rather picky tastes, so just coffee and tea alone won’t satisfy them.”
“What do you mean?”
“Exactly what I said. You’ll need something to go with the coffee and tea.”
“And if I don’t have that?”
“Then it’s not even worth calling it service. The young ladies won’t take a liking to you. And if that happens, your dismissal is practically guaranteed.”
“Oh, that actually sounds like good news.”
“No, you fool! I mean dismissed from this world entirely!”