Dragon’s Nest, Experiments, Advancement, and Enhancement (3)
“Hey, you crazy b— b— b— crazy bitch!”
It was the sort of story you could sympathize with if you stopped to think about it for even a moment, but this continent was not particularly kind to women.
For women like Cha Heera, Jung Hayan, or Cho Hyejin, who had some measure of talent, or Lee Jihye, who was just plain ruthless, the story was different. But most of the women who’d freeloaded their way through the Tutorial Dungeon were the weak in this society.
Facing monsters and being forced to fight was a burden even for men. For women, who were physically weaker, feeling that burden was only natural.
Those without the aptitude for magic or priesthood gave up on fighting before they even started, and even among those who did have aptitude, the ones without talent achieved little of consequence.
And even when they did gather the courage to step forward, they usually ended up getting dragged through the mud by some insane bastard in a party hunt. Female players exposed to the peculiarities of raids and hunts—things that required them to sleep rough or spend long stretches of time together—had little choice but to drift away from hunting altogether.
In fact, female players who weren’t part of a guild rarely joined a fixed party.
It wasn’t easy to trust a man you’d never met when you had to spend several nights together.
So if you thought about the fact that Black Swan, made up almost entirely of women guild members, had been created for that very reason, then the problem had clearly been even more serious before we came along.
In the end, the women who gave up on living as players turned instead to office work in guilds, or to life as laborers.
But guilds, clans, and even self-employed employers didn’t pay them a proper wage.
The minimum wage existed in name, but only in name.
More often than not, it was ignored.
And that was how it was born…
Women-Only Player Loans.
It was one of those perfectly legal loan companies, like Mi Jusa-rang or Garochi & Cash.
There was a bank in Lindel, too.
It was a somewhat primitive system, but even the Holy Empire operated an imperial bank, complete with loan products and insurance plans.
And of course, there was no way people with no real foundation could borrow money from such institutions.
Once they were denied by first- and second-tier finance, it was only natural that they would flock to the third.
Damn it.
Paying off one loan with another, then that loan with yet another.
And in the end, the usual cliché: they could no longer keep up with the interest, which swelled like a snowball, and were driven into a corner.
Of course, there were cases like mine too—wives of adventurers who couldn’t control their own spending habits.
I had never imagined I’d be stabbed in the back like this by a dragon of all things.
Dia-lugia’s expression was blank as she stared at me, startled by my sudden outburst.
She still didn’t seem to understand what was going on.
Rather, she looked offended, as if she were the one who’d done nothing wrong. Her face came into view, scowling at me.
“W-What are you talking about? That’s rude. I did this for you! It’s a gift!”
“For me, my ass!”
“Y-You’re really quite rude! To think this is Dialuria’s father! Do humans not understand the meaning of a gift given with gratitude?”
“Do you even know who’s really being rude right now?! Bring me the contract this instant!”
“Huh?”
“I said bring the contract over here, you crazy woman!”
After seeing how stunned I was, Dia-lugia seemed to realize something had gone wrong.
A worried look crossed her face as she slowly approached with a thick stack of documents in her hands.
Honestly, it would’ve been better if she’d borrowed the money from Garochi & Cash instead.
That place was a smaller clan, and Clan Master Garochi’s personal strength wasn’t exactly impressive.
But Mi Jusa-rang was a different matter.
It wasn’t exactly a giant guild, but at the very least Kim Mi-ju had the power and connections to protect herself.
Of course, if you compared sheer size, it couldn’t be measured against Blue, which stood alongside Red Mercenary, Black Swan, and Yozora Guild. But whatever the case, they’d borrowed the money legally—and already spent every last coin of it.
Just thinking about having to sit down at another negotiation table and waste time over this made irritation boil up inside me.
There was far too much to do right now to spare attention for this.
Besides, it had been my side that asked for the loan in the first place. Taking the money and then telling them to go screw themselves wasn’t exactly a pretty picture, even to the other guilds and clans.
“H-H-Here it is.”
My irritation rose all at once.
“I don’t need it!”
The moment I took the stack of documents, I couldn’t hold back the anger that surged up, and naturally I threw the contract aside.
She still didn’t seem to understand what she’d done wrong, but judging from her shrinking expression, she’d realized that she must’ve committed some tremendous blunder.
She didn’t look like a dragon capable of stomping me flat in a single move, but that didn’t mean I felt any less irritated.
Even a cursory glance made the amount look absurd.
And Mi Jusa-rang hadn’t even reached out to us first—Dia-lugia had gone to them on her own.
There was no excuse for that.
I already spent a fortune on the underground coliseum….
It was hard to lean on Yozora Guild for help. At this rate, borrowing money from Black Swan or Red Mercenary to make up the difference seemed like the best option.
I couldn’t just sit back and watch the interest keep climbing.
If there were a table in front of me, I’d flip the damn thing over.
I was feeling a truly fierce urge to do exactly that.
But for now, I had to clamp my lips shut and treat her politely. It wouldn’t do any good to sour the relationship.
“I did tell you… not to contact humans so carelessly, Dia-lugia.”
“I still don’t understand what’s….”
“You shouldn’t be borrowing gold so recklessly. I know you’re an intelligent being, but by human standards your social skills are basically those of a child. I understand your heart, but let’s learn things one step at a time. No, more importantly—”
“Kieeeek!”
“……”
“Kieeeeeeek!”
“Oh, my! Our Toltol-i is awake?”
“Hek! Hek!”
Just as I was about to really lose my temper, Toltol-i appeared to save his mother.
I wasn’t sure whether my raised voice had woken him, but from Dia-lugia’s point of view, he’d probably shown up at the perfect time.
With him around, we had to keep up the act of being a loving couple, so there was no way I could stay snappish.
Honestly, the sight of Toltol-i running toward me in a frantic little blur was adorable enough to make my anger melt away for a moment.
For a second, I even thought I might understand what it meant to live for one’s children.
“Oh, my! Yes, Papa’s here. Did you miss me?”
“Kieeeeek! Kieeeek! Hek! Hek!”
The way Toltol-i was wagging his tail like a madman made him look as if he’d been hit with frenzy magic.
Seeing him lick my face with abandon, he really did seem to have missed me.
Well, of course he’d react that way after not seeing my face for so long.
“That’s right, that’s right, Papa’s back! Did you miss me?”
“Kieeeeeeek!”
He probably didn’t understand a single word I was saying.
He was just hopping in place with excitement, trying desperately to throw himself into my arms.
Holding him tightly against my chest, I shot Dia-lugia a look of disapproval, and she pointedly averted her eyes.
“Can’t I… just pay it back myself?”
“With what, exactly? For the record, selling off parts of your body is not an option. Your body belongs entirely to me. That was the deal.”
“Kieeek! Hek, hek!”
“Then I’ll just go hunting and bring back monsters.”
“This isn’t an amount you can cover by hunting one or two monsters. And even if you did, it would only help with the interest anyway. I’ll handle the gold myself. Hoo. It seems Toltol-i isn’t the only one who needs educating. You could use a little education too. We can’t have something like this happening again.”
“……”
“First, I need to check your body directly, so please get ready.”
I’d meant to take it at a more leisurely pace, but I decided it was better to get into it as quickly as possible.
The laboratory was already finished, just like something out of a picture book.
I did feel a little grateful, but the irritation that rose up so suddenly kept me from expressing it.
Dia-lugia hadn’t said anything to me, but she looked a little hurt. In the end, I could only quietly offer my thanks.
“And… thank you for the gift, for now. I appreciate the thought.”
Only then did her face seem to soften a little.
Once I’d spent some time with Toltol-i, it naturally seemed right to look into her right away. I still had a lot to do, so I’d neglected this matter a little.
Honestly, I’d planned to rest for a few days, but….
My empty bank account was whipping me into shape.
Money will come in soon enough anyway.
Compared to the money I was about to earn, everything I currently had was pocket change.
Even knowing that better than anyone, I couldn’t help feeling the sting.
While spending time with Toltol-i, it was only natural to think about how to approach Dia-lugia. She was still standing a few steps away, wearing the face of a criminal, watching us.
And then—
“What am I supposed to do?”
She looked at me as if she truly had no idea.
“For now, please transform back into your original form. I still can’t quite get a handle on anything myself.”
“Understood.”
The moment she finished speaking, something began to happen to her body. Her clothes tore apart, but there was no time to openly admire her form. Changes were already spreading through her body all at once.
Scales began to emerge across her arms, and watching human skin shed away into draconic hide was genuinely fascinating.
Though the sounds of bones and muscles twisting reached my ears, she didn’t seem to be in pain. It was as natural to her as walking.
“Grrrrrrrr….”
The massive dragon that instantly swelled to full size was still an overwhelmingly majestic sight.
My jaw dropped before I even realized it. No, if I’m being honest, it was a little frightening.
My earlier memory of tossing the document stack aside came back to me.
I didn’t know how I looked to her now, but seeing Dia-lugia up close was truly overwhelming.
Her huge eyes were fixed on me.
“Wow….”
Two enormous horns, and teeth that looked as if they could chew me up and swallow me in a single bite.
More than anything, I could feel the awe a lesser species feels before a superior one.
Looking at her gleaming hide and scales, I was reminded once again that the creature before me really was a dragon.
- Is something wrong?
“Huh?”
- I can only convey my thoughts to my mate. It seems the draconic body simply can’t produce human speech….
“I understand what you’re saying. It doesn’t look strange at all. I was just thinking how impressive you are. Earlier you only looked frightening, but now that I’m examining you calmly, I’m honestly amazed.”
Even if you did blow your own money away….
“First, I’ll do a simple analysis of your blood. After that, I’ll take measurements and look into a few more things. If anything hurts, you must tell me.”
As I carefully inserted a specially made syringe into her arm and slowly drew out her blood, her voice came back to me.
- It tickles. Hee… heehee. Heeheehee.
Her laughter was far more frivolous than I’d expected.
“Please bear with it for just a moment.”
- Hee… heeheehahee!
“If you don’t want to see me get crushed to death, don’t move!”
- But….
“It’s done now. Please be a little careful. My body is truly fragile, you know.”
- I will be careful.
Truth be told, I hadn’t expected this research to end in a single day.
I’d hurried a little because I had no sense at all of how much time it would take.
I immediately activated Mind's Eye and began transferring her blood into the alchemy kit.
Her blood separated little by little, moving into each flask in turn, and immediately began reacting with the catalysts I’d prepared.
This wasn’t something I’d done because I expected results right away. The first thing was simply to see how it would respond to the equipment I’d set up.
Extracting cells and running a genetic search were natural next steps, of course.
With the equipment and mana I had, computation could take a bit of time, so it seemed best to get the machine running first, while I was thinking that—
Where do I even start digging in?
“I love you, babe!!”
The fact that she’d burned through my entire fortune had already been forgotten.