Tail Scales?

Swish—!

"KIEEEK!!"

"Th-that crazy bitch! Kiek!"

The goblins' screams echoed across the meadow.

"Gyeoul, you need to watch Daddy closely, okay?"

Noxshia dusted off her fingertips like it was nothing at all.

"As in, how to deal with a lesser species that dares curse at your Mommy...."

"Pweet! Pweet!"

Nestled in my arms, Gyeoul wagged her tail for all she was worth, as if cheering, Go Daddy, go!

...Is it really okay to call this "education"?

Ding, ding—

Well, anyway, two objectives cleared at once... so I supposed this really did count as education.

"Pweet! Pweet...!"

That was when Gyeoul, still tucked in my arms, abruptly began to squirm.

"H-huh? Gyeoul, what's wrong, are you scared...?"

"Pweet-pweet!"

Gyeoul shook her head at once.

Noxshia stole a glance at her, and the corners of her eyes promptly curved with delight.

"Aww~ is that sooo?"

"...I'm sorry, what?"

"It seems Gyeoul wants to give the ones Daddy is disciplining a good smack-smacking of her own."

"Pweet!"

As if that were the correct answer, Gyeoul chirped at the top of her little lungs.

"Hmm... but she's still a baby. Could she really take on Tower monsters like those..."

...Oh.

Right. That was the entire reason we'd come here in the first place.

...Gyeoul was so small and so adorable that I had momentarily forgotten we were here so she could fight goblins like those.

At that very moment, the squirming bundle in my arms twisted free with far more strength than I'd anticipated.

"Wh-whoa?!"

In the second my grip loosened, that tiny body slipped clean out from between my arms.

"G-Gyeoul! Come back! It's dangerous!"

"Pweet!"

But Gyeoul didn't so much as pretend to listen, scampering off across the meadow on her stubby little legs.

"Darling~ we did come here for Gyeoul's lesson, after all? I'll keep a close eye on her, so don't you worry."

"Hmm... I know, but still...."

I looked back and forth between Gyeoul on the ground and the goblins in the distance.

With a size gap that enormous, could Gyeoul actually win? ...Don't tell me she plans to latch on like a raptor and just keep chomping away?

"Um... please watch her closely, okay?"

"Of course~ Now then, Gyeoul. Ready to watch Daddy?"

"Pweet?"

Noxshia smiled faintly, parted her lips, and tapped the corner of her own mouth with one finger. Between her slightly parted lips... long, razor-sharp fangs slid into view.

Whoaaa...

I'd grown fangs of my own when I transformed into this body, but mine were downright petite. Noxshia's, on the other hand...

...were enormous.

Seeing a gap that absurd stirred some strange ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠feeling in me for no good reason at all.

"Gyeoul~ watch Daddy closely now. First you go hoo-hoo with your mouth like this~ then you gather up your breath, and... whooosh— you let it all fly at once!"

"Pweet!"

"...I'm sorry, what?"

I looked back and forth between Noxshia and Gyeoul.

"That's... the lesson?"

"Mm, of course it is! I'm teaching her the standard way to fire a breath!"

"...I don't understand a single word of that?!"

However many times I listened, it was less an explanation than a veteran player brushing off a newbie with a breezy just do it like this, easy!

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"Oh, look! Gyeoul's starting~"

"Huh?"

She's actually going to try it after an explanation like that...?

The moment I turned to watch Gyeoul, half doubting, half believing—

"Pweeee...!"

Gyeoul opened her mouth and drank in a huge breath. She tensed her stubby legs, lowered her body, and puffed both cheeks up round and full.

And in that instant, faint wisps of pale frost began seeping out, bit by bit, from the corners of her parted lips.

So is Gyeoul the genius here, or is Noxshia a better teacher than I gave her credit for...?

...I very nearly burst out laughing.

Heh... maybe a tiny snowflake will pop out?

"Gyeoul, be careful now, okay? It's your first time, so if you do it wrong you might get hur—"

SHWAAAAAH——!!

Before the words had even left my mouth, a blinding white torrent of frost erupted from Gyeoul's tiny maw like a storm.

A wind like flaying knives swept through, freezing the meadow grass solid in an instant, and white frost came crackling across every stretch of ground the breath had touched.

"Huh...?"

I stared, dumbfounded, at the scene before me.

"Aww~ Seems Gyeoul's breath is still a touch clumsy, darling."

"...That was clumsy?"

"Yes. She's still young, so her breath is ever so weak... if we teach her slowly and properly, she'll grow strong in no time!"

Noxshia delivered this as serenely as if she were remarking on the weather.

...Just where do dragons draw the line for "doing well"?

By now I honestly had no way to gauge what counted as normal for either Noxshia or Gyeoul anymore.

"Pweet!"

At some point Gyeoul had come zipping back and was gripping my ankle with both front paws, peering up at me as if begging to be picked up.

"Okay, okay. Come here."

I bent down and gathered Gyeoul snugly back into my arms.

Ding—

"Phew."

...Either way, that brought our first early-education session to an end.

The reward for clearing Floor 1 came to a handful of F-Rank mana stones and nothing more. They'd fetch about forty bucks apiece, but... I couldn't say I felt much of anything about them.

"Pwee... pwee... mnh...."

Nuzzle.

Curled up tight in my arms, Gyeoul had at some point dropped into a deep, softly breathing sleep.

Was she worn out from firing that breath...?

It worried me a little.

...Or is she just sleeping because she's sleepy?

Judging by how utterly content she looked, nuzzling into my chest like the whole world belonged to her, it was probably the latter.

Tap, tap.

Noxshia patted my shoulder lightly, and I turned my head.

"Hm? What is it, Noxshia?"

"Darling... Gyeoul's asleep, so shall we rest here a bit before we go?"

Hmm... now that I thought about it, leaving the Tower wrapped your entire body in light.

Gyeoul, sleeping as soundly as she was, might very well have been woken by it.

And she was a lighter sleeper than I'd realized, too.

If I woke her up for nothing and she threw a sleepy fit, she might just fire off something like an MommyYouMeanieIceBreath! — all right, probably not, but after watching that tiny mouth sweep away a dozen-odd goblins in a single blast, it didn't feel like a purely joking matter anymore.

"Then... shall we rest until Gyeoul wakes up?"

"Sounds lovely~"

I drifted, quite naturally, to the bed set in one corner of the hut and perched on its edge.

Plush—

It was far softer than it looked.

My arms had been slowly stiffening from holding her all this while, so, taking care not to wake her, I laid Gyeoul down beside me.

"Pwee..."

Even mid-sleep, Gyeoul curled herself into a neat little ball, wrapped her tail around her own body, and sank right back into slumber.

Noxshia, every bit as naturally, moved in and sat down at my side.

Swish, swish...

Perhaps in an excellent mood, the black tail behind her swept leisurely across the bedcovers. And the moment Noxshia raised one arm as if to stretch—

"...No tail around my waist."

"Whaaat~ I would never~ eheheh..."

Even as she said it, Noxshia's hand crept back to where it had been, very, very slowly.

With the strange satisfaction of having, for once, been the one to stop her, I braced my hands behind me and gazed toward the window.

Pit-pat, pit-pat....

Beyond the rain tapping softly at the glass, the soaked forest swayed in a quiet hush. Outside it was dark, yet strangely, in here it felt as though there was nothing in the world that needed worrying about.

Just listening to the rain was enough to put my heart at ease.

Then...

"Ah, ahh...?"

At some point my tail had come to rest across Noxshia's thigh, and she was rubbing it idly with her fingertips.

"Umm... excuse me!"

"Oh...! Th-that is—darling, look over here!"

"Yes...?"

Noxshia slipped a fingernail up under one of the scales and gave it the gentlest flick—

Tik.

A single loose scale flaked free and dropped away.

"Hnngh..."

In that instant, a cool, refreshing sensation spread out from the spot, as though something lodged there had finally burst open. It tickled and yet felt oddly freeing, and before I knew it, every ounce of tension had drained from my tail.

"Hehe... I'll pick out your scales for you, darling. You've got quite a few dead ones...."

Tik!

"Hahhn...! W-wait, that's..."

Another flaked away, and once again a cool sensation spread through me, as if she'd scratched precisely the spot that had been itching.

Tik!

"Haah...... mmh... you're really only picking out my scales, right?"

"Of course!"

Noxshia answered without missing a beat and went back to studying my tail.

"Your tail is my tail too, after all~"

With my not-quite-permission granted, Noxshia closed the distance as though she'd been waiting for exactly that. Our thighs were barely brushing now.

"My, my... what a lovely tail our darling has."

"Mm... it looks like any other tail to me...?"

"Not at all... look. Here."

Noxshia lifted the tip of my tail ever so gently, wound it loosely around her index finger, and twirled it round and round. Each slow circuit of the tip along her finger sent a strange, ticklish flutter climbing up through me.

"The scales here are especially pretty. So sleek, and they grow thinner and thinner toward the tip...."

"...Mmnh... that's weird. Don't do thaaat......"

Looking a touch disappointed, Noxshia twirled the tip a few more times before sliding her hand a little higher. This time it was the base, where the tail began.

"And how much prettier is it up here?"

"Wh-what?"

Noxshia brushed softly near the base of my tail, her eyes curving into sly crescents.

"The part where the tail begins is all plump and full like this, and it just gets slimmer as it goes down, you see."

"...Mmnh."

Every time her fingertips traveled slowly along the grain of the scales, a ticklish yet strangely cooling sensation spread deep inside my tail.

...For "just checking," this was far too slow, and far too devoted.

"Mmnh... Noxshia, if you keep touching it like that, it's going to feel strange..."

"Strange...? I'm simply checking where all the dead scales on your tail might be~?"

All the while, the base of my tail flinched with complete honesty.

"And how about here?"

Noxshia's fingertips drifted onward, unhurried as ever.

My head knew I really ought to tell her to stop soon....

...Can't be bothered.

Perhaps because the tension kept melting away, my whole body had gone soft and heavy.

"U-um... I think you can stop picking out my scales now..."

"Aww~ Gyeoul's asleep anyway, and there's nothing else to do right now, is there?"

Tik.

Another dead scale flaked away, and her fingertip brushed lightly over the bare spot.

Unable to tell whether it felt cool or ticklish, my shoulders went slack without my noticing.

Beep-beep! Beep-beep!

"Ah... u-um, I just got a message. One moment..."

I eased my tail out of Noxshia's hands and fished my phone from my skirt pocket.

The kids...?

Thinking that, I lit up the screen—

......EMERGENCY!!

I shot upright as though spring-loaded and started hammering at the screen.

"D-darling?"

Noxshia looked up at me, utterly bewildered, but there was no time to explain.

"...Phew."

Meanwhile, at Wolyang's apartment.

"Hmph... 'not allowed,' my foot."

This, from someone who'd set the front door passcode to her own birthday. At this point the place practically announced, anyone who knows me, come right in.

Kim Seorin punched in the code with practiced ease, let herself in, and swept a look around the apartment.

"Huh. Cleaner in here than I expected...."

The floor was spotless, with no laundry strewn about. Everything was put away with surprising care — downright decent, all things considered, for someone living alone.

"Guess Oppa really does just fine without me.... Hmph."

Annoyed for no good reason, Seorin looked around for some flaw to nitpick — and her gaze abruptly snagged on the kitchen.

"Ahh... found it~"

After a quick check of the fridge and the cabinets, the corners of Seorin's mouth crept upward.

"Hah, just as I thought — living alone, and eating whatever's easiest, huh?"

The fridge was well stocked with raw ingredients, but there wasn't a single proper side dish to be seen.

Having finally flushed out one flaw, Seorin smiled in satisfaction, pulled out the neatly folded apron, and—shk—tied it on with a flourish.