Translator: Kurehashi Aiko
Editor: [QueenieZhuz]
Volume 4 Chapter 26: Dragon-san Takes a Short Break
It was a warm day with a warm sunshine coming through the windows.
I was sitting behind the table in one of the many tehouses, sipping on delicious tea and eating dumplings.
They were so good and in the perfect shape and size that you could easily with the whole thing in your mouth without any problems.
Their unique elasticity and sweet bean paste filling would spread throughout your mouth, creating an entirely different kind of sensation from the noodles or bread.
Combined with the bitterness of the green tea, it was left a rather sweet aftertaste inside of your mouth.
…… It was a pure happiness, to say the least.
I let out a relaxed sigh and then I heard someone laughing right behind my back.
「You there. You look really happy right in this moment. This tehouse must really be something else.」
Looking behind me, I saw the poster girl for this tehouse, wearing a cute-looking ap.r.o.n over her traditional Towa clothes.
Her cat ears and tail made a truly magnificent contrast to her traditional and dignified look.
All of the other clients sitting around the shop had dignified expressions on their faces, looking as though nothing could faze them during their meal here.
If I were a man, I would perhaps feel startled by her behavior, but since right about now I was in heaven, it must have reflected on my face.
I cannot help it but to loosen my expression.
「Those dumplings you serve here are absolutely fantastic.」
「Good, that"s good to hear! It is always a pleasing sight to see customers enjoying their meals here. It"s a nice change of pace after seeing all of the others with their stone faces while they are sipping on their tea.」
Hearing that, the other patrons looked at the cat girl with embarra.s.sment, quickly finished eating and exited the store after paying for their meals.
I smiled brightly at the poster girl, and then we heard a loud noise coming in from the outside.
「Hyaha!! And what could that be!?」
The sound was coming from a large group that suddenly appeared on the street right outside of the store while ringing something resembling old trumpets.
These were people on the road, riding on top of animal-looking creatures, while making a whole lot of noise all around them.
Don"t these men realize that what they are doing is in very poor taste? Also, the way in which they were all dressed was really hurting my eyes for some reason.
Their overly j.a.panese attires were almost way too surreal.
「Now, you lot! Mister Minister is pa.s.sing through!!」
「Out of the way! Out of the way!」
In the middle of the group, there was one man whose ride looked much more expensive than the other ones, with his face painted completely white…… There was also some red paint on his face, just like the ones from the kabuki theatre, and his outfit also looked expensive and really out of place here.
Was that the Minister? For some reason I made a connection like that, probably because all of the history lessons and cla.s.ses I attended at school.
They slow down just a bit, kicking people out of the way.
There was a group similar to that one on the other side of the road, making the same kind of fuss over there as well.
They were all coming dangerously close to this place, and I was seriously hoping that they wouldn"t stop here for lunch.
While I continued to eat my dumplings in peace, I could see several sets of shoes and kimono hems coming into my view.
「You there, little missy! We"ve come here to rest and to have some delicious tea and dumplings! Oooh, looking closely now, this store is really nice! It"s a little bit early, but I think we"re going to keep you company here!」
Looking up from over my plate, I could see the group of guys that I saw on the road earlier. They were surrounding me, their intentions all too clear.
Anyways, it seems that all of the bystanders evacuated early, so good for them.
As I was thinking that, one of the guys walked up to me and jerked my arm, forcing me to stand up as I didn"t even bother to respond to them.
Hmm, if I was a normal human girl, this would probably hurt a whole lot.
Oh well, this was a good opportunity to just leave without creating too much of a commotion, so I was up for the idea.
However, because of the excessive force with which I was pulled up, I struck the plate with my dumplings and ultimately send them flying in the air.
「My dumplings!」
And the last one was still on there!
「If you promise to behave, la.s.sy, we can give you something far better than those dumplings.」
「Although we cannot exactly promise that it"s going to be food, though!」
Hearing my voice full of desperation, the guys started laughing, probably finding the idea of me losing my meal hilarious.
Ah, what was that feeling just now? It was so familiar but at the same time strangely alien to me.
Oh well, I guess it cannot be helped. Time to take out some trash, I say.
And just like that, I casually swung my arm around.
「Haah?」
One of the guys managed to make a stupid sound like that before he got lunched into the air, and then he fell onto the ground while knocking out one of his comrades.
They were right, this feeling right now was pretty good.
Aah, and I really wanted to eat that one last dumpling!
「Eh!?」
The cat girl looked very surprised as she witnessed the sight that was unfolding right in front of her eyes. I turned towards her and said:
「Listen, umm, could you get me some more dumplings? And some tea, while you"re at it? And please make it cool, if it isn"t too much trouble.」
A cup of hot tea right after some exercise wasn"t probably a good idea.
「Ah, c-coming right up?」
Satisfied with the cat girl"s answer, I turned back towards the two guys that were still standing, their faces red with anger.
「Oi, oi, what the f.u.c.k do you think you"re doing, you f.u.c.king b.i.t.c.h!? We"re gonna beat you into a b.l.o.o.d.y pulp for that!!」
「Do you have any f.u.c.king idea who you are messing with?! We are the servants of Jihei-sama, one of the most influential people in this land!!」
Ah, even though they told me the name of their boss, it"s not like it rang any bells to me.
And it seemed like this Jihei-sama had just walked into the store, to see what the commotion was all about.
「It looks as though this lady here doesn"t know the order of things around here. Are you perhaps a new Shrine Maiden? It is always good to see new faces around here.」
「You there, you keep talking like that and you might end up like your buddies over there.」
「…… It seems you"re not afraid to get on my bad side.」
Slowly, the air around us turns really cold as we begin to circle around each other and Jihei releases his magical power.
But, yeah.
He"s not even on Ligurila"s level, objectively speaking. Or maybe he"s even weaker than Senjiro?
「You know, Karursan asked me to behave and not cause any trouble, so why don"t you step down and we can talk about it?」
「What?」
I didn"t really have time to play around with small fries like this guy.
And so I released the dragon aura that I was trying to hide just until now, in order to intimidate this Jihei guy into stepping down and behaving.
Once the red strands returned to my hair, he immediately realized what was going on and his face went from white to blue. His minions, however, weren"t as perceptive and didn"t know what was going on.
「What"s wrong, Jihei-sama! Please show this amateur just how awesome your power is!」
「The Elder… Dragon……」
Jihei murmured to himself, and upon realizing with who he was dealing with, his voice cracked and his body started to shiver.
I was hoping it would be enough, sensing as though he was only dealt with small things and hara.s.sing people. It would be bad for my image if it got leaked that I was bullying weaklings like him.
「Right, so? Are we doing this or what?」
I said that while pointing my finger towards the boss of the group, who at that time looked as though he was about ready to p.i.s.s himself.
After that, I made a short work of Jihei and his people, and after making sure that they were not dead I resumed eating my dumplings as though nothing ever happened.
Just then, after hearing that there was something going on in here, the Towa police arrived at the scene, ready to apprehend the troublemakers.
When they arrived some of the people testified that I was the one to bring the bandits down, while someone else went home to get some rope with which the policemen tied them up and took them away.
「Say, are you one of the pillar G.o.ds, or something!? Anyway, since you helped us out you can eat here on the house for as long as you want!」
Just like that, I was allowed to stuff my belly full in the tea house and I was pretty happy with that!
Besides, doing good deeds while doing absolutely no work felt good in its own right, and I could feel a kind of bond with this place as of now.
Next time I should bring Nectar with me.
After I was full, I went back to the castle while also dragging Jihei with me.
I went straight ahead to the person responsible for taking in bandits and troublemakers, and quickly state my business.
And just like that, I found my way into the office.
Truth be told, I wanted someone to notice me and the fact that I put Jihei behind bars, but I guess it"s all good.
「Karursan, Mikado-san, I"m back. And I even brought a criminal back with me. Whoa there!」
I opened the sliding door without asking for permission first, so when I entered I saw Mikado-san talking about something with some well-dressed man while sitting behind the desk.
…… No, I could guess that probably the only one speaking was that man. Mikado-san must have been only listening.
So, besides Mikado-san and his visitor, the only other person present here was the secretary doing all kinds of office work, like organizing the doc.u.ments and taking notes…… Where is Karursan, I wonder?
Because of my loud entrance, the eyes of everyone present were focused on me, which was pretty embarra.s.sing.
「Umm, sorry for intruding?」
「No worries, I don"t mind. If you need something, Karura can take care of it.」
「Ah, yeah, about that…… Ah, this, I have someone here that can be put behind bars.」
I brought Jihei in front of me to show what I was talking about, and everyone present jumped up in shock, while the bandit himself mumbled some sort of greeting under his nose.
As soon as the matter was settled, and the other man left, Mikado-san laughed happily.
「Fuh, and we were just receiving complaints about some demons causing a disturbance. But lo and behold, Lavdono already took care of that.」
「I shall take it as a compliment. Now, it would be great if you could take care of that guy.」
When Karursan arrived on the scene, she pulled out some handcuffs from the interdimensional storage and put them on Jihei"s hands. As soon as she did that, I could no longer feel any magic coming from him.
It must have been a form of seal, similar to the one that was put on me when I was turned into a little girl.
Soon, Karursan had the guards take care of Jihei and that was the last time we saw him.
「We shall do something about his lackies later. Right now we are a little bit short on personnel.」
「Ah, but, umm, couldn"t someone like Senjiro take care of them? He shouldn"t have any problems with this lot.」
「Oh, no please, don"t bother. We demons are the only ones that can take care of our own. Hehehe~.」
Karursan"s answer was something that only a genuine demon would say.
While we were talking like that, Mikado-san raised his head from over the desk and looked at me with his eyes full of expectations.
「I was just about to have a break as well. So, Lava? Got anything interesting to report?」
「Mikado-san, you surely are a man of strange tastes.」
Karursan handed me a cushion and I made myself comfortable on it, while awaiting what Mikado-san would say to me.
「It is the lord"s duty to ensure that his citizens are all behaving and respecting the law. But still, it is always refreshing to be able to hear the opinions on your country made by foreigners.」
I understand that the latter half was the most important part here.
Oh well, it"s okay. It is true that they are indebted to me.
So while I was making my report to Mikado-san about everything that had transpired today, I felt pretty good about myself.