EP.13 Babysitter -3
EP.13 Babysitter -3
The body had grown, but the mind stayed the same.
Prime Tia's massive form was overwhelming enough to make your throat dry, but her speech was still adorably dainty.
I looked back at the people behind me, wondering if anyone had noticed something was off.
Whether or not they had, everyone was trembling in panic.
Some of them had already fainted, foaming at the mouth.
Definitely nothing to worry about, right?
"Tia, can you hear me?"
"Yeah! I can hear you!!"
I had to crane my neck as far as it would go just to catch a glimpse of her face. I'd worried my voice wouldn't reach her.
But thankfully, she was hearing me just fine.
"It's about the plan from earlier! I think we'll have to change it — you okay with that?"
"Yeah, okay!"
"Your body's gotten way bigger than I thought it would, so playing around like we planned probably won't work!"
"Ehh...!! I got all huge, but I still can't run around and play however I want?"
"Sorry, but if you just walk with that body, it's gonna be a disaster!!"
If Tia took even a single step, I and everyone else here would be flattened like squid jerky.
And let a dragon that enormous run wild? It would turn the whole area into scorched earth.
We'd probably end up with a crater the size of the last meteorite impact.
"So if I get a little smaller, can I play?"
"It depends on how small, but if you can shrink yourself... yeah, that should be doable."
"Then I'll shrink!"
Slowly, Tia began to reduce her body.
Over time, Tia — who'd been bigger than a mountain — shrank down to about the size of the giant mansion we lived in.
"How's this? Can I run around and play now?"
"Mm... well, yeah. That's at least better."
She was still large enough to knock down a tree with ease, so I had to remain cautious.
"M... Monster!!"
"We have to run...!!"
"You really think you can run from that thing?! Fire on it, you idiots!!"
What? They could see Tia?!
It looked like when Tia grew into her prime, Miho's illusion ability had gotten dispelled along the way.
I had assumed the earth-shaking roar was what terrified them. But...!
They could actually see her...! That was my mistake!
"Tia! Quick...!!"
"Kyahaha!! That tickles!"
Before I could even tell her to hide herself, a hail of bullets rained down on Tia.
But Tia's body simply bounced every single round away.
What had once been soft dragon scales had, with the passage of time, hardened to the point where bullets meant nothing.
The attacks did not even sting; to her, they merely tickled.
Guess I was worried for nothing...
"Kyahaha!! My turn! My turn! Take this!!"
The baby dragon thought this whole situation was a fun game.
She ripped an entire tree from the ground and hurled it at the terrorists. They immediately stopped firing and fled in panic.
When the tree Tia threw landed where everyone had just evacuated, it created a massive hole.
Anyone caught beneath it would have been crushed like tofu.
And I wasn't the only one. The terrorists stared at the hole, half out of their minds.
"Holy shiiit...!!"
"A whole bunch this time!!"
While they stood in shock, Tia had already yanked up a huge armful of trees and was hugging them to her chest.
She was clearly planning to throw all of them.
A single tree had already caused terrifying destruction; what if dozens of trees rained down from the sky at once?
It would be a pure cataclysm.
"Ti, Tia...?"
"What's up?"
"You know you have to stop in the middle, right...?"
"Yeah! I know!!"
But Tia's answer didn't match her actions. She flung all the trees straight up into the sky at the same time.
The trees soared high. Then, plunging down, they fell on the people like a bombing run.
"Haha...!! This has to be a dream...! Definitely a dream...!!"
"Save us! Please, save us...!!"
"Uwaaah...!!"
People who realized on instinct they couldn't avoid it this time were all denying reality in their own way.
It made sense, honestly, when you thought about the sky filled entirely with trees.
It was basically bombardment.
"Ti, Tia! Stop!"
"Okay!!"
An instant before they came down on everyone's heads, all the trees halted in unison, suspended upright.
My heart nearly stopped just from watching — how were the actual targets doing?
Unsurprisingly, every single one of them had fainted right where they stood.
Seeing that they'd all shed tears and wet themselves, they must have been absolutely convinced they were dead.
Poor things...
"Looks like it's over."
"Hrmm...? It's over already?"
"Yeah, thanks to you, Tia, everything wrapped up nicely."
"Really? Then did I do good?"
"Of course, you did the absolute best!"
"Then guess what! Guess what! Since I did good, pet me!!"
"Okay."
Thrilled by the praise, Tia pushed her face up close for me to pet her like always.
But right now, Tia wasn't a baby dragon; she was an adult dragon.
Just her face was already way bigger than me, so I couldn't just casually give her a pat.
Even if I somehow managed to pet her, it was unclear if she'd even feel my touch.
So instead of petting her, I decided to use my whole body to give her face a tight hug.
She was so big that even with my full body, I couldn't embrace her entire snout. I was worried whether she'd really be satisfied.
Thankfully, Tia seemed to enjoy the hug, and a happy laugh escaped her.
"Hehe!! Your hug, Yuu, is so warm...! Feels so good!!"
"Yeah? That makes me really glad."
"Uh-huh! So keep hugging me, okay? Got it?"
"Yeah, got it!"
"Hehe!! I love Yuu...!!"
And there, I gained a certain realization.
Even if the dragon in front of me had finished growing and turned into a terrifying predator, she was still cute...
She would always be Tia, my adorable companion dragon.
***
"So that's what happened..."
"Yes... I'm ashamed."
"Hm? Why should you be ashamed?"
"Because I exposed a classified dragon to the public..."
I gave the director a full account of everything — Jack's existence, Yata's story, everything except the Awakening Elixir.
I even lied and said the massive dragon was just one of Tia's abilities.
"Did anyone discover that the dragon is your companion animal?"
"Ah... no, sir!"
Jack's face flickered across my mind for a second, but he didn't seem like the loose-lipped type, so I figured it was fine.
"There's a slight hesitation that bothers me, but I'll let it slide. In any case, as long as your relationship with the dragon wasn't discovered, there's no problem."
"Why is that?"
"Hypothetically speaking, suppose a natural disaster like a storm occurs. People will try to minimize the damage it brings, but they won't try to erase the storm itself."
"So... it's not a problem because a Divine Beast is essentially the same as a natural disaster?"
"Precisely. Moreover, an ice wolf appeared in the north recently. One more Divine Beast showing up isn't going to set things off right away."
"That's a relief, then."
"However, what would you think if there were a human who could control that storm?"
"Ah."
I understood completely. What the director was getting at.
If someone could artificially cause disasters, people would fight over that person.
Some would argue they must be excluded at all costs, some would say they should be embraced for the common good, and others would try to snatch them away for personal gain.
Transcendent beings like Divine Beasts were exempt from that kind of logic, but humans were a different story.
People thought they could handle someone who bled the same blood.
In other words, endless scheming would start swirling around that human.
And that human was me.
"From the look in your eyes, I see you've grasped my point."
"Yes, basically, I just have to keep the public from figuring out who I am, right?"
"Exactly. That said, don't use the dragon's power too recklessly. Suspicion can arise anywhere, at any time."
"That's... definitely true."
I hadn't really planned on leaning on my companion animals' power alone anyway.
Overusing the Divine Beasts' power would provoke the other Divine Beasts, after all.
If it was something I could handle with my own strength, I would solve it myself.
If not, I would borrow their power when the time came.
"Well then, you're free to head back now. You've worked hard playing nanny to those worthless fools."
"Oh! That reminds me, I have a question."
"What is it? If it's about compensation, you'll be paid as usual."
"I'm not doubting the pay. It's about the agents who were the goal of this mission... the goddamn— ahem! I'm curious about the agents."
"What about them?"
"What kind of disciplinary action will they face?"
I was not well-versed in the law.
But the things they did looked illegal even to me, with my lack of knowledge.
So I'd gotten curious about what kind of punishment they'd receive for this.
"All three will be charged with dereliction of duty. Naturally, they'll be forcibly discharged and imprisoned. No matter how short-staffed the government is, worthless agents like that must be cast out without mercy."
"Is that so...?"
"Are you unsatisfied because the punishment is a slap on the wrist?"
"Oh, no! That's not it at all!"
"Don't worry. This incident will be permanently recorded in their files, and they won't be able to find proper work in the future. Unless it's a genuine personnel emergency, no one will hire them."
"Unable to work means..."
"A life of manual labor, or permanent unemployment."
"...That's a little scary, actually. But what if they end up becoming terrorists?"
"Even after serving their sentences, they'll be under constant government surveillance. And if, in the course of that surveillance, they should turn to terrorism..."
"Should they...?"
The director shaped his fingers into a gun and pointed it at his own temple.
He cocked his finger back as if he'd just fired.
"Summary execution."
A clear, resolute way of handling things.
It showed me the government wasn't simply naive.
Seeing the Director's resolve, I found myself smiling faintly.
He might be an annoying boss, but it was because of him that the country ran as smoothly as it did.
"That answers all my questions, so I'll be heading back now."
"I'll say it again: you did excellent work today. Get some good rest."
"Yes, sir."
The day I first came to a government agency.
My opinion of government agencies hadn't been good.
That was because they'd tried to attach conditions to protecting the people they were obviously supposed to protect.
I had precious family, and I hated the way terrorists operated, so I'd chosen the government — that was all.
If not for that, I might have become a terrorist myself.
But as time passed, I learned more about this group called the government, and my perspective broadened.
Whenever I heard updates about my family's safety, I could tell they were genuinely taking good care of them.
There were moments of relief when I dealt with government people who, despite some shaky points, did what needed to be done when it really counted.
Those elements had slowly built up and begun gradually shifting my perception of the government.
And so today, my thoughts about the government had completely changed.
I'd truly made the right choice in choosing the government...
"Oh! Also, you'll have to handle the on-site cleanup, so report to work as normal tomorrow!"
"..."
I take it back.
***
"Shikhye~♪ Shikhye is~♪ sweet and yummy!!"
Tia was humming a little song while holding a plastic bottle of sikhye.
The elixir's effects had worn off, and she was back in her adorable little-girl form.
"Khehu~!"
Gulping down the sikhye, Tia let out the same cute belch she had when she drank that medicine before.
The difference now was that her face was melting into a blissful, happy expression.
Did she really like sikhye that much? Enough to make up her own song about it — that certainly proved it.
If someone asked her, "Who do you like more, me or sikhye?" would she say it was me?
I got curious, but I didn't bother asking.
If she hesitated even for a second—or immediately answered “sikhye”—I did not think I could go on living.
Just imagining it was terrifying. I decided to quietly watch cute Tia be cute and head home.
"I'm back..."
By the time I got home, it was already dark outside.
Realizing I'd been out working from morning until now, my body felt so stiff and sore it was unbearable.
I needed a bed to catch me.
With that thought, I quickly opened the front door and stepped inside. A fox was there to greet me.
"...Husband? You're rather late tonight, aren't you?"
"Ah, about that, you see...!"
I began to give him a brief account of what had happened that day.
A sharp kitchen knife sliced through the skin beside my ear and embedded itself in the front door.
"Hic...!"
"Yesterday you were having an affair inside the house, and today it was outside?"
"I-It's different!! I was actually working today, and I just got off...!!"
Miho slowly approached me and pushed my body back against the closed front door.
Her red eyes were already brimming with murderous madness.
"That line... it's one unfaithful husbands love to use, isn't it?"
"N-No it's not...!! Please, believe me!!"
"Really...?"
"Really!!"
"If so..."
—Shnk!
Miho, now pressed right up against me, grabbed the handle of the knife stuck in the front door and dragged it straight downward.
The knife was heading for my hand that was pressed flat against the door. It stopped just before touching my pinky finger.
"Eeeep!!"
"Can you swear on your pinky?"
The meaning of "swear on your pinky" felt a little different here, but I had no choice but to nod my head frantically.
Miho suddenly wrapped her arms around me, gently pressed her nose to the nape of my neck, and started sniffing.
"One hundred percent pure husband smell...♡ No problems here..."
"Hic...!!"
Then she stuck out her tongue and lightly tasted the single trickle of cold sweat running down my cheek.
"This flavor... it definitely doesn't taste like you're lying, either."
"I s...! I told you I meant it...!"
"I'm sorry for doubting you. But you do understand why I do this, don't you...?"
"..."
—Crrk!!
The sound of Miho's grip crunching the knife handle into splinters.
The sheer terror that sound delivered drained the strength from my legs and they started wobbling.
I squeezed out every last bit of strength to endure, but eventually collapsed where I stood.
It even felt like I might lose control of my bladder and pass out...
But luckily, a rumble from Tia's stomach saved me from the worst-case scenario.
"Miho, I'm hungry...!"
"Oh my? You haven't eaten yet?"
"Uh-huh..."
"Then come inside, quickly. The food is all set out."
"Really?"
"Of course. I used some really good potatoes from the market and made potato pancakes."
"Potato pancakes~?"
"It's really yummy when you eat it together with the sikhye you like, Tia."
"Ooh!! I wanna eat potato pancakes fast!!"
"Hehe, but first you have to go wash your hands, right?"
"Okay!!"
"W-wait, Tia...!!"
But my only hope had already been lured away by the fox and vanished into the bathroom.
Now it was just me and the fox, alone here at the front door.
"...Husband."
"Hic...!"
A short but devastating word.
With just that single word, Miho had me trembling. She casually pulled the kitchen knife from the spot beside me.
"For you, I've separately prepared oyster pancakes — something good for your stamina..."
Miho languidly licked my blood, faintly smeared on the knife blade.
Her lips stained red as if painted with rouge, she smiled a lewd smile.
"Tonight, I'll be looking forward to it...♡"
So in the morning there were the goddamn agents, in the afternoon the adult dragon, and at night a Miho in heat — and there was someone who had to take care of all of them?
"Ha, haha... hahaha...!!"
Save me.