I Cooked for My Subordinate
The moment I opened the front door and stepped inside, the cool mana of the deep sea wrapped gently around my entire body.
"My Sovereign...!"
Tiamat, who had been kneeling in the middle of the living room staring a hole straight through the front door, launched herself toward me like a bullet the instant I appeared, her eyes welling with tears. Those blue irises were overflowing with relief.
"Have you returned with your precious form unharmed?! Even that brief moment you spent beyond these doors felt to this lowly servant like the passing of a thousand kalpas—I thought my very heart would burn itself to ash!"
"You stayed put like I asked, didn't you? Good girl."
I praised her with a small smile and lifted the heavy plastic bag in my hand. Tiamat's gaze fell on the groceries inside—and on my tiny fingers wrapped around the handles. In an instant, her brow twisted into something terrifying.
"How dare they... force my Sovereign's adorab—most venerable hands to carry the crude baggage of worthless humans! I shall crush every last mortal beneath the pressure of the deep sea...!"
"No, I bought this myself because I wanted to eat it. Don't start with that."
I waved her off firmly, and Tiamat's lips trembled as she hastily bowed her head.
"I... I beg your forgiveness. Once again this servant has shown rashness, failing to grasp your profound intent."
"It's fine. Here, put this by the sink... you know, over there."
I handed the bag off to Tiamat and walked into the living room. My tail hung pleasantly behind me, thumping against the floor. Thump. Thump.
"My Sovereign, for what purpose are these... miscellaneous items intended?"
Tiamat asked as she carefully unpacked the contents of the bag, handling each one as gingerly as if it were a priceless treasure.
"What else? Tonight's dinner."
"I beg your pardon...? Do you mean to say you intend to consume these filthy mortal ingredients yourself?"
Tiamat could not contain her horror. She pointed to the glittering tower of Magic Stones stacked neatly in the corner of the room.
"You already possess Magic Stones in such abundance! I fear some calamity might befall your precious form should you ingest those lumps of impurity!"
"Magic Stones are snacks. This is a meal. I lived as a human for twenty-four years—I can't survive on snacks alone."
I may have become a tiny dragon girl, but the palate carved into my stomach was never going to fade. I'd had my fill of sweet candy and Magic Stones as palate-cleansers. Now it was time to fill my belly with something spicy, steaming, and hearty. I toddled over toward the sink on little feet.
The problem started the moment I began cooking.
...Why is the sink this high?
Back when I'd had my original height, I'd had to hunch over the counter and my back would ache from it. Now the countertop came up to my chest. Even trying to use a knife, I couldn't get the angle right at all.
"Haaah..."
In the end, I hooked the plastic bath stool I'd set out in advance with my tail, dragged it over, and climbed on top. Only then did the cutting board and the stove come into proper view.
At my age, I never thought I'd be cooking on a step stool...
A bitter sense of humiliation washed over me, but I tore open the pork package with the single-minded determination of someone who wanted a delicious dinner. I drizzled a little sesame oil into the pot, piled in the pork I'd cut into generous chunks, then roughly chopped some well-fermented aged kimchi and tossed it in to stir-fry alongside.
The pot burst into a rich sizzle as savory pork fat met tangy kimchi, and a deep, spicy aroma flooded the cramped studio apartment in an instant. Behind me, Tiamat's nostrils twitched faintly as she knelt and watched with anxious eyes.
Oh, that smells amazing.
Once the meat had browned nicely, I poured in water and stirred in chili flakes and soup soy sauce in just the right amounts. Then I tapped in half a spoonful of my secret weapon—the magical seasoning. When the broth came to a bubbling boil, I piled on thick-cut tofu and a generous heap of green onions, then let it all simmer away on medium heat. And just like that, a pork kimchi stew of perfect visual appeal was complete.
I scooped up a little broth with a spoon and blew on it. Hoo, hoo. The moment those tiny, adorable lips took a sip, a spicy, deep umami punched me right in the tongue.
"Khhh... now that's the stuff."
It was perfect. As expected, a Korean needed a regular infusion of kimchi and meat just to keep living. My mood soared; the little wings on my back fluttered, and my tail swayed happily from side to side.
I glanced back and found Tiamat staring, utterly transfixed, at the steam rising from the pot. On the face of that arrogant, most dreadful of magical beasts, the temptation of an umami she had never once in her life encountered was written plain as day.
"Tiamat."
"Y-yes?! My Sovereign!"
"Want a taste?"
I loaded a spoon with tofu, kimchi, and a piece of pork, soaked it generously in broth, and held it out to her lips. Tiamat flushed and tried to lean away in flustered panic.
"Th-that would not do! How could this lowly servant possibly dare set her mouth upon a sacred feast you prepared with your own hands?!"
"When the boss gives you food, you eat it. Say ahh."
"Ahh..."
Unable to defy me, Tiamat carefully parted her crimson lips. I slid the spoon right into her mouth.
A chew. The spoon came out, and the instant the stew hit Tiamat's tongue—
"...?!"
Her blue eyes flew wide, pupils dilating to their absolute limit. Her body locked up as if she'd been electrocuted.
"Well?"
"Th-this is...!"
Tiamat clutched at her throat, gasping in stunned disbelief.
"A flavor so deep and dense it defies all description...! What is this stimulating, this utterly perfect harmony that sends shivers racing across the tongue?! A primordial pleasure that shakes the very foundations of the soul...!"
Tears streamed down from the corners of her eyes.
"O great Sovereign...! To personally bestow upon me a divine banquet of such supreme and unsullied purity... this Tiamat is once again struck to the very marrow with awe at your magnificence...!"
It's just ordinary kimchi stew. Does she have to make it sound like that...?
Anyway, I was glad it suited her taste. I scooped two bowls of steaming white rice from the cooker and sat down across from Tiamat at the small table. At first she was so busy reading the room she could barely pick up her spoon, but after a bite or two her eyes glazed over, and she vacuumed down two full bowls of rice like they were nothing. Watching a stunning beauty scrape the kimchi stew pot clean was, I had to admit, a deeply satisfying sight.
When the meal was over, Tiamat flicked a single finger and purified the pot and dishes in an instant. I couldn't help but feel a deep admiration for a subordinate so excellent she could even finish the dishes with magic in the blink of an eye.
A little later, with my stomach full and my back warm, laziness crept in all on its own. I closed my eyes and stretched out on the plush sofa. Tiamat watched for a cue, then carefully approached, knelt beside the sofa, and wrapped both arms around my upper body in a cozy embrace.
She began gently stroking between my hair and my black horns with her long fingers.
"Purrrr..."
Warmth spread from the nape of my neck, and a contented sound slipped out of me before I could stop it. At the same time, Tiamat's plush, enormous chest pressed softly against my cheek and the side of my head. A yielding, warm sensation, carrying with it the sweet scent of the sea.
Nngh. Ahhh.
No other words were needed. It was simply, boundlessly comfortable, and it felt wonderful. Wondering if this was a privilege unique to this tiny body, I subtly tilted my head and indulged myself a little further. My tail, responding to its master's satisfaction, thumped happily against Tiamat's thigh and the sofa. She drew in a sharp breath at my behavior, her face flushing, but she stroked my head even more devotedly.
After a while, I sat up, still drowsy, and picked up the smartphone from the table. I had time to kill, so I figured I'd browse the Hunter Gallery. The moment I logged on, a post sitting pretty on the recommended list caught my eye.
...Huh?
I tapped the link, and a short video clip started playing. It was footage of me fluttering my wings, floating up, and grabbing the ketchup when I couldn't reach the top of the display shelf. Worse, it had captured me leaving after checkout with a giant piece of candy in my mouth, cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk.
Aigoo, of all things.
I'd figured it wouldn't matter much, but apparently it had already spread to the gallery. Skimming the reactions, people seemed to think of me as nothing more than an adorable little kid. And of course they would. Nobody looking at a kid who flapped her wings just to grab ketchup and wagged her tail over a piece of candy was going to suspect she was the one behind the Eunpyeong-gu Gate Break incident.
Thank goodness... nobody thinks anything of it.
My pride took a bit of a scratch, but being written off as a cute neighborhood kid was a lot more comfortable than having my identity exposed. Relieved, I flipped the phone face-down on the table. Then I buried my head deep in Tiamat's warm, yielding embrace once more and let out a breath.
This cozy shut-in life was perfect.
At least, that's what I believed.
At that same moment, Hunter Association Headquarters.
A thick analysis report slammed down onto the table. On the massive screen at the front of the conference room, the video that had gone viral on the Hunter Gallery was displayed as freeze-frames, analyzed down to the individual frame. In front of the screen, analysts and the core officers of the Eunpyeong-gu Gate Special Investigation Team sat gathered, their faces ashen.
"...What on earth is this supposed to mean, Team Leader?"
One of the analysts swallowed dryly, his voice trembling.
"Are you saying this child... isn't just an Awakened with a physical mutation?"
The investigation team leader pressed his temple and let out a heavy sigh. Dark circles hung under his eyes, as if he hadn't slept in days.
"It's been forty years since the Awakened first appeared. Physical mutations, even racial transformations, have been reported countless times—but a mutation presumed to be of the dragon race has never been recorded. Not once."
The team leader clicked the remote, zooming in on the black horns sprouting from the child's head and the wings on her back.
"More importantly, in every single moment—just breathing, just moving—the surrounding atmospheric mana is being sucked in like a black hole. It means that child's body itself is structured to devour every last drop of mana around it."
Silence pressed down on the conference room like a weight.
"And the location is Eunpyeong-gu."
The team leader switched the display. A blurry photograph of that blue unidentified transcendent being appeared—the one that had swept up every Magic Stone at dawn and vanished.
"The very same Eunpyeong-gu where an S-Rank Gate was annihilated in a single blow, and an unidentified transcendent appeared and cleaned out every Magic Stone. And in less than a day, an unidentified entity in the form of a dragon—unprecedented in all of history—appeared at a supermarket in the same district."
"Th-then... you're saying the transcendent that took the Magic Stones and that child are...?"
"That's right. And as the worst-case hypothesis... we cannot even rule out the possibility that the child is a being of a higher order than that transcendent."
The faces of every officer in the room went deathly pale. If that hypothesis were true, it meant that monsters humanity could not possibly handle were currently walking the streets of central Seoul, posing as ordinary civilians.
"W-what do we do? We should dispatch a Special Task Force immediately and take the subject into custody—"
"Are you insane?!"
The team leader roared, slamming his fist on the desk.
"The other party may be an unidentified transcendent that erased an S-Rank Gate and hundreds of monsters without a trace in a single Dragon Breath! If we touch them carelessly, all of Seoul could be wiped off the map!"
The team leader clutched at his hair, letting out a groan steeped in deep despair.
"We can't touch it, and we can't leave it alone either.... Why in the world is that off-the-charts monster sitting around buying ketchup at a supermarket..."