Chapter 15
Chapter 15
Screeeech.
The old wooden door creaked as it opened.
A silhouette stood at the threshold, backlit by the sunset.
From head to toe, it was covered in thick, acrid ash and some unknown soot. Only a few hours ago, this “ultra-high-risk stock” of mine had skipped off cheerfully to eat meat with the loan sharks. And now, here it was.
“…….”
My mouth dropped open, yet not a single sound came out of my throat.
No, it was more accurate to say that my mind had gone completely blank, unsure of what to even say.
I was sure I had buried it…
…So why is it back?!
Did those terrifying loan sharks also fail to handle this glutton’s appetite and return it?
Or did it actually wreak havoc and escape because there wasn’t enough meat to eat?
Dozens of the worst-case scenarios flashed through my mind, and a cold sweat ran down my spine.
After staring blankly at her for a while, I let out a deep, resigned sigh and struggled to speak.
“…Come in.”
The moment my weak permission fell, a faint change appeared on the dragon’s face.
The corners of her mouth, which had always scowled as if ready to tear me apart, curled gently upward.
Her smile. I had never seen it before.
It was a strange, unfamiliar sensation, like a brief ray of sunlight breaking through a stormy sea.
But before I could even savor it, she strode straight into the kitchen and plopped onto the table as if it were perfectly natural. She pounded the table with her fists and demanded with authority.
“Feed me.”
Of course, the smile was a lie.
She was just an excited beast because it was mealtime.
I was about to let out a wry laugh in disbelief.
“Hey! That’s not allowed!”
Camellia placed both hands firmly on her hips and stepped forward with resolve.
Whereas in the past she would have cowered behind me, trembling and unable to raise her voice, now she blocked the dragon as if she were the mistress of this territory.
“If you come in from outside, you must wash your hands and feet before sitting at the table! And what is all that black ash on your clothes? Go to the bathroom immediately!”
The air in the room froze for a moment.
The dragon glared at her in annoyance, but Camellia’s gaze didn’t waver an inch.
The Great Mage (Jin) versus the Dragon—an intense battle of wills.
“…Fine.”
The tense standoff ended instantly with Camellia’s victory, and the loser obediently rose and headed for the bathroom.
A short while later, the dragon returned to the table, freshly washed.
Her red eyes flashed like a predator when she saw the meat stew in front of her.
Just as she was about to greedily scoop the bowl with both hands like a black hole, Camellia’s spoon blocked her hand.
“You can’t eat like a beast all by yourself. We’re all at the table together. Eat slowly, chew, and match your pace with others.”
It was practically a lesson in table manners for toddlers.
I silently worried, ‘She won’t really bite, will she?’ but the dragon’s reaction defied my expectations once again.
“…Fine.”
She pouted slightly but obediently picked up her spoon.
She began eating slowly, sharing the stew over thirty seconds, instead of finishing it in ten as usual, glancing between Camellia and me.
Of course, from my perspective, her bowl had already been refilled three times after only a few spoonfuls.
“Nasus, I ate really well today, too. I should go clean the bathroom that got dirty from the ash.”
Camellia, who had finished first, gathered the empty bowls and left.
Her quick steps faded, and the bathroom door clicked shut.
I stared at the empty pot in disbelief, then finally asked, pinching my brow.
“Hey. Those people were going to give you a ton of meat, right? You went there, ate, and now you’re eating like a ravenous demon again?”
The moment my question fell, the dragon’s jaw froze mid-chew.
Her previously dazed, meat-munching eyes turned ice-cold in an instant.
“Meat? Ha! I didn’t even touch it!”
She slammed her spoon on the table with a clatter and grit her teeth.
“Those lying scoundrels dared to deceive me! They promised to heap meat like a mountain, and the moment I arrived, they tried to lock me in some warehouse! I could never forgive that!”
Lock me in a warehouse?
Those bastards weren’t even giving me food—they were scheming some lewd act first?
But what mattered to me right now wasn’t their moral bankruptcy.
“You didn’t… cause a scene there, did you?!”
“….”
Seeing the dragon’s hesitant response, I leapt from my chair in shock and shouted.
“Hey! Those people are the creditors who lent me money! Notorious, ruthless loan sharks from the backstreets! If you had thrown punches and someone got hurt, my debt would only increase…”
“Ah, if that’s what you mean, don’t worry.”
She rested her chin on her hand, breaking my words with a languid, arrogant expression.
“That trash heap? I ‘purified’ it completely. Now they can never complain to you again.”
“…What? Purified?”
“Yes. Taken care of.”
“You crazy!!!”
I grabbed my head and screamed.
“How can you just obliterate an entire loan office?! Those loan sharks are connected—who knows what they’d do if they got pissed? And you just did that!”
Tampering with a shady back-alley loan organization with zero regard for the law!
Now I might be stabbed walking home at any moment.
As I stomped my feet in panic, the dragon lazily reached into her cloak.
“Ah, don’t worry about that either.”
“…Huh?”
“The so-called boss among them—he crawled at my feet, tears streaming, begging for his life. He promised never to come near this area again, head pressed to the floor.”
“…Uh… okay?”
Only a dumbstruck sound escaped my mouth.
But her words didn’t stop there.
“And since he begged for his life, I took the liberty of adding it to what I would pay for meat. How’s that? Did well, didn’t I?”
A heavy object rolled across the table from her white hand.
It sparkled with a luxurious brilliance.
A thick gold necklace, about the thickness of a finger. Just by looking at it, you could tell it was the one the loan shark had proudly worn, worth at least a dozen gold coins.
“….”
The loan office I owed had vanished physically,
and she had even brought something expensive enough to cover her meals for a while.
But it wasn’t a situation to celebrate freely.
Across the table, the dragon shamelessly leaned back, saying, “Next time, more meat,” and I had to shiver from a strange thrill.
“Do you even realize how serious this situation is?”
“I am not ‘do you.’”
“…What?”
The dragon fixed her red eyes on me.
“Erica. That is my name given by my parents.”
“…Huh?”
“Call me properly from now on.”
“….”
She comes back after causing chaos, and now demands to be called by her name instead of “you”…
I was lost for words at her confidence.
…
The persistence and revenge of back-alley thugs is beyond imagination.
Even if their office was destroyed, influential backers and remnants would not give up easily.
For the time being, I had to be extremely cautious.
‘Ugh… why did I stupidly try to buy off something like a dragon…’
A few days later.
A secluded, abandoned underground warehouse.
“Damn it!!! My money! My building! My ledger!!”
Faced with the dragon’s overwhelming power and terror, the loan sharks had begged not to return, wetting themselves.
But over time, the relief of survival faded, replaced by intense greed and rage. Years of blood-sucked wealth had vanished overnight.
“Yes… that day! We were careless! Just one strange witchy woman!”
Human greed dulls even fear.
As lost assets flickered before their eyes, their rationality completely froze.
Collectors and remnants rounded up poor-quality mercenaries and assassins from the backstreets.
“Nasus, that bastard and that witch… we will repay them in the most excruciating way.”
Their intent was murderous, as if they would turn the slums into a sea of blood at any moment.
But.
Their grand revenge play ended in the most anticlimactic way.
“Aaah!”
“Spare… me… cough!”
The previously fierce loan sharks and assassins lay sprawled like trash on the floor, coughing up blood.
A long shadow stretched over them.
“Haa…”
A silhouette stepped out from the darkness with a deep sigh.
Nassus’ close drinking buddy and a resourceful back-alley merchant, Myrtle.
Behind Myrtle stood elite henchmen, radiating deadly energy, lined up like trained soldiers.
“Nassus, this lunatic… what did he get up to this time that attracted all these pests?”
Myrtle nudged the head of a foaming collector with his boot, grumbling.
“I even gave that thrifty slave the investment funds. Now he’s shaking investors’ hearts before any profit?”
With a single gesture, Myrtle’s men began clearing the corpses and erasing traces.
Then—
“Captain.”
One of the subordinates, hidden in the dark, approached silently and bowed.
“A guest has come.”
“A guest? At this hour… all the way here?”
Tap, tap, tap.
The sound of polished shoes approached over the slick back-alley blood, completely out of place in this filthy scene.
From head to toe, a flawless tuxedo.
The figure looked like a noble’s butler, emerging from the shadows.
He ignored the blood on the floor and bowed politely to Myrtle.
“Long time no see.”
“…Oh, old man, how did you even know to sneak into this dump?”
Myrtle’s brow furrowed while exchanging greetings.
The butler spoke in a calm yet firm voice.
“Your lady is looking for you, miss.”
“…I’m not going.”
“How long will you keep that crude male disguise, playing the lowly merchant in this cesspool? It’s time to return to your family estate.”
“That’s a bit harsh.”
Myrtle tilted his head and added,
“Because you were born a girl and endured all sorts of disrespect, the esteemed master of your house, who so desperately wanted a male, finally gets you acting ‘manly,’ right?”
Myrtle shoved his hands in his pockets and chuckled.
“Well, damned if you do, damned if you don’t.”
“Is it because of that ‘Nassus’? If so….”
Heh.
Her shoulders twitched slightly.
“Our old man. Looks like he really dug into the life of a lowly merchant, huh?”
Myrtle slowly withdrew his hands from his pockets and met the butler’s gaze.
“But, old man, you better choose your next words carefully.
If you want to walk back to the estate on your own two legs, intact.”
ch is completed?
Yes. Chapter 15 is fully complete.
It ends with Myrtle warning the disguised protagonist about returning to the family estate safely, which wraps up the events in this chapter.
If you want, I can also summarize the key points or conflicts from this chapter to make it easier to keep track before moving on to Chapter 16.
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
The old wooden door creaked as it opened.
A silhouette stood at the threshold, backlit by the sunset.
From head to toe, it was covered in thick, acrid ash and some unknown soot. Only a few hours ago, this “ultra-high-risk stock” of mine had skipped off cheerfully to eat meat with the loan sharks. And now, here it was.
“…….”
My mouth dropped open, yet not a single sound came out of my throat.
No, it was more accurate to say that my mind had gone completely blank, unsure of what to even say.
I was sure I had buried it…
…So why is it back?!
Did those terrifying loan sharks also fail to handle this glutton’s appetite and return it?
Or did it actually wreak havoc and escape because there wasn’t enough meat to eat?
Dozens of the worst-case scenarios flashed through my mind, and a cold sweat ran down my spine.
After staring blankly at her for a while, I let out a deep, resigned sigh and struggled to speak.
“…Come in.”
The moment my weak permission fell, a faint change appeared on the dragon’s face.
The corners of her mouth, which had always scowled as if ready to tear me apart, curled gently upward.
Her smile. I had never seen it before.
It was a strange, unfamiliar sensation, like a brief ray of sunlight breaking through a stormy sea.
But before I could even savor it, she strode straight into the kitchen and plopped onto the table as if it were perfectly natural. She pounded the table with her fists and demanded with authority.
“Feed me.”
Of course, the smile was a lie.
She was just an excited beast because it was mealtime.
I was about to let out a wry laugh in disbelief.
“Hey! That’s not allowed!”
Camellia placed both hands firmly on her hips and stepped forward with resolve.
Whereas in the past she would have cowered behind me, trembling and unable to raise her voice, now she blocked the dragon as if she were the mistress of this territory.
“If you come in from outside, you must wash your hands and feet before sitting at the table! And what is all that black ash on your clothes? Go to the bathroom immediately!”
The air in the room froze for a moment.
The dragon glared at her in annoyance, but Camellia’s gaze didn’t waver an inch.
The Great Mage (Jin) versus the Dragon—an intense battle of wills.
“…Fine.”
The tense standoff ended instantly with Camellia’s victory, and the loser obediently rose and headed for the bathroom.
A short while later, the dragon returned to the table, freshly washed.
Her red eyes flashed like a predator when she saw the meat stew in front of her.
Just as she was about to greedily scoop the bowl with both hands like a black hole, Camellia’s spoon blocked her hand.
“You can’t eat like a beast all by yourself. We’re all at the table together. Eat slowly, chew, and match your pace with others.”
It was practically a lesson in table manners for toddlers.
I silently worried, ‘She won’t really bite, will she?’ but the dragon’s reaction defied my expectations once again.
“…Fine.”
She pouted slightly but obediently picked up her spoon.
She began eating slowly, sharing the stew over thirty seconds, instead of finishing it in ten as usual, glancing between Camellia and me.
Of course, from my perspective, her bowl had already been refilled three times after only a few spoonfuls.
“Nasus, I ate really well today, too. I should go clean the bathroom that got dirty from the ash.”
Camellia, who had finished first, gathered the empty bowls and left.
Her quick steps faded, and the bathroom door clicked shut.
I stared at the empty pot in disbelief, then finally asked, pinching my brow.
“Hey. Those people were going to give you a ton of meat, right? You went there, ate, and now you’re eating like a ravenous demon again?”
The moment my question fell, the dragon’s jaw froze mid-chew.
Her previously dazed, meat-munching eyes turned ice-cold in an instant.
“Meat? Ha! I didn’t even touch it!”
She slammed her spoon on the table with a clatter and grit her teeth.
“Those lying scoundrels dared to deceive me! They promised to heap meat like a mountain, and the moment I arrived, they tried to lock me in some warehouse! I could never forgive that!”
Lock me in a warehouse?
Those bastards weren’t even giving me food—they were scheming some lewd act first?
But what mattered to me right now wasn’t their moral bankruptcy.
“You didn’t… cause a scene there, did you?!”
“….”
Seeing the dragon’s hesitant response, I leapt from my chair in shock and shouted.
“Hey! Those people are the creditors who lent me money! Notorious, ruthless loan sharks from the backstreets! If you had thrown punches and someone got hurt, my debt would only increase…”
“Ah, if that’s what you mean, don’t worry.”
She rested her chin on her hand, breaking my words with a languid, arrogant expression.
“That trash heap? I ‘purified’ it completely. Now they can never complain to you again.”
“…What? Purified?”
“Yes. Taken care of.”
“You crazy!!!”
I grabbed my head and screamed.
“How can you just obliterate an entire loan office?! Those loan sharks are connected—who knows what they’d do if they got pissed? And you just did that!”
Tampering with a shady back-alley loan organization with zero regard for the law!
Now I might be stabbed walking home at any moment.
As I stomped my feet in panic, the dragon lazily reached into her cloak.
“Ah, don’t worry about that either.”
“…Huh?”
“The so-called boss among them—he crawled at my feet, tears streaming, begging for his life. He promised never to come near this area again, head pressed to the floor.”
“…Uh… okay?”
Only a dumbstruck sound escaped my mouth.
But her words didn’t stop there.
“And since he begged for his life, I took the liberty of adding it to what I would pay for meat. How’s that? Did well, didn’t I?”
A heavy object rolled across the table from her white hand.
It sparkled with a luxurious brilliance.
A thick gold necklace, about the thickness of a finger. Just by looking at it, you could tell it was the one the loan shark had proudly worn, worth at least a dozen gold coins.
“….”
The loan office I owed had vanished physically,
and she had even brought something expensive enough to cover her meals for a while.
But it wasn’t a situation to celebrate freely.
Across the table, the dragon shamelessly leaned back, saying, “Next time, more meat,” and I had to shiver from a strange thrill.
“Do you even realize how serious this situation is?”
“I am not ‘do you.’”
“…What?”
The dragon fixed her red eyes on me.
“Erica. That is my name given by my parents.”
“…Huh?”
“Call me properly from now on.”
“….”
She comes back after causing chaos, and now demands to be called by her name instead of “you”…
I was lost for words at her confidence.
…
The persistence and revenge of back-alley thugs is beyond imagination.
Even if their office was destroyed, influential backers and remnants would not give up easily.
For the time being, I had to be extremely cautious.
‘Ugh… why did I stupidly try to buy off something like a dragon…’
A few days later.
A secluded, abandoned underground warehouse.
“Damn it!!! My money! My building! My ledger!!”
Faced with the dragon’s overwhelming power and terror, the loan sharks had begged not to return, wetting themselves.
But over time, the relief of survival faded, replaced by intense greed and rage. Years of blood-sucked wealth had vanished overnight.
“Yes… that day! We were careless! Just one strange witchy woman!”
Human greed dulls even fear.
As lost assets flickered before their eyes, their rationality completely froze.
Collectors and remnants rounded up poor-quality mercenaries and assassins from the backstreets.
“Nasus, that bastard and that witch… we will repay them in the most excruciating way.”
Their intent was murderous, as if they would turn the slums into a sea of blood at any moment.
But.
Their grand revenge play ended in the most anticlimactic way.
“Aaah!”
“Spare… me… cough!”
The previously fierce loan sharks and assassins lay sprawled like trash on the floor, coughing up blood.
A long shadow stretched over them.
“Haa…”
A silhouette stepped out from the darkness with a deep sigh.
Nassus’ close drinking buddy and a resourceful back-alley merchant, Myrtle.
Behind Myrtle stood elite henchmen, radiating deadly energy, lined up like trained soldiers.
“Nassus, this lunatic… what did he get up to this time that attracted all these pests?”
Myrtle nudged the head of a foaming collector with his boot, grumbling.
“I even gave that thrifty slave the investment funds. Now he’s shaking investors’ hearts before any profit?”
With a single gesture, Myrtle’s men began clearing the corpses and erasing traces.
Then—
“Captain.”
One of the subordinates, hidden in the dark, approached silently and bowed.
“A guest has come.”
“A guest? At this hour… all the way here?”
Tap, tap, tap.
The sound of polished shoes approached over the slick back-alley blood, completely out of place in this filthy scene.
From head to toe, a flawless tuxedo.
The figure looked like a noble’s butler, emerging from the shadows.
He ignored the blood on the floor and bowed politely to Myrtle.
“Long time no see.”
“…Oh, old man, how did you even know to sneak into this dump?”
Myrtle’s brow furrowed while exchanging greetings.
The butler spoke in a calm yet firm voice.
“Your lady is looking for you, miss.”
“…I’m not going.”
“How long will you keep that crude male disguise, playing the lowly merchant in this cesspool? It’s time to return to your family estate.”
“That’s a bit harsh.”
Myrtle tilted his head and added,
“Because you were born a girl and endured all sorts of disrespect, the esteemed master of your house, who so desperately wanted a male, finally gets you acting ‘manly,’ right?”
Myrtle shoved his hands in his pockets and chuckled.
“Well, damned if you do, damned if you don’t.”
“Is it because of that ‘Nassus’? If so….”
Heh.
Her shoulders twitched slightly.
“Our old man. Looks like he really dug into the life of a lowly merchant, huh?”
Myrtle slowly withdrew his hands from his pockets and met the butler’s gaze.
“But, old man, you better choose your next words carefully.
If you want to walk back to the estate on your own two legs, intact.”