A few days had passed since that strange affair.
Safur was seriously troubled.
Rica had completely stopped talking to him.
Safur wasn’t good at putting himself in other people’s shoes. He just froze whenever they met, and Rica would turn around and run off without a word, leaving him utterly shocked. He had no idea what the cause was. Rica had attacked him on a whim, and now she was too ashamed and afraid of being confronted about it to face him properly—but Safur couldn’t even begin to imagine how she felt.
But he couldn’t talk to anyone about it either. There wasn’t a single close friend he could confide in about his intimate encounter with Rica. Even within himself, he hadn’t sorted out what that whole thing meant. It seemed like only time would solve the problem.
But then—
“Safur… or was it?”
“Huh? What…? Whoa!”
One day, as Safur aimlessly wandered outside the city after Rica had run away from him again, and with no other pleasures to occupy his time, someone called out to him.
Safur turned around blankly to see a massive pair of breasts and a pussy right in front of him. Being only around 130 centimeters tall, when a tall, naked woman stood close by, those parts entered his vision before her face did.
A naked woman.
“W-what… what the hell!?”
“Why are you so flustered? Do you have something to hide?”
As he heard the calm female voice, Safur took a few steps back, tripped over his own feet, and fell backward with a thud—but since he was a dragon, he took no damage. When he got up, the naked woman turned out to be Airi, a Blue Dragon.
“W-why are you naked…? This isn’t a bathhouse, and it’s broad daylight!”
“Hmm. Would it be better at night? …Now that you mention it, the darkness of night would make it hard for both humans and elves to see. That’s certainly true.”
“What are you even talking about!?”
“Was I not questioning the propriety of my nudity?”
“No, that’s not it… well, it is, but! What’s going on anyway!”
Safur pointed at Airi in confusion.
Airi stood there, her slightly drooping, soft-looking breasts basking in the summer sun, her expression barely changing as she looked down at Safur. She wasn’t wearing sandals, but her feet didn’t look dirty—perhaps that was one of the mysteries of dragon skin.
“In our clan, it is not customary to wear clothes within the Palace. We may wear arm rings, leg bands, or necklaces during ceremonies, but generally…”
“Wait, aren’t you that guy from Andy’s group!? Doesn’t Andy tell you to wear clothes when you go outside!?”
”…Could you perhaps just pretend you forgot? It’s rather troublesome. I seem to be a bit rough around the edges, and if I move too quickly, my robes tear right away. If I leave them like that, people worry, but mending them requires so much help—it’s not something I can do alone.”
“I get that part.”
Safur himself often tore his pants at the groin or his jacket under the arms when he moved seriously. And when using fire-based magic from his breath, if he wasn’t careful with the scale, his clothes would catch fire and end up in tatters.
With current sewing technology, clothes strong enough to withstand a dragon’s full-force movements were rare. It depended less on basic skill and more on whether you could find a seamstress or fabric that was a good match. Even clothing made by the sturdy, flexible Northern Elves could be dangerous if they moved without restraint.
In that regard, the Ace Knight-level girls around Andy were very careful not to strain their clothes, often restricting the range of motion in their joints when quick movements were required.
It was natural for human women, but for dragons who inherently possessed superhuman strength and flexibility, changing their movements for the sake of their clothes was a surprisingly stressful ordeal.
But that wasn’t the point. Being naked wasn’t really an option either.
“Seriously, just get dressed already! It’s weird, man!” “A young man shouldn’t react like that upon seeing a woman’s body. An older woman like myself is one thing, but a young girl will be hurt if she shows her skin and is then screamed at unfairly.” “Why’s that?” “If you’re treated as though you’ve shown something filthy, you’ll start to think your own nakedness is nothing but unpleasant to others.” ”…S-so, is that how it is…?” “Some people are like that. Look at the men in this town. None of them make a show of themselves when they see a woman’s nudity. The old cobbler even kneels in prayer, trembling with gratitude.” “Yeah, but it’s weird if that’s what satisfies their ego, isn’t it?” Safur understands people to some extent and has a bit of common sense. But still… Safur thinks. Could the problem with my relationship with Rika be because of my attitude? ”…Hey, listen for a sec…” Safur speaks in a low voice, avoiding Aeri’s gaze. ”…I mean, just as an example. …What if I got close enough to a girl to do something a little… you know… and then she suddenly started avoiding me… would that be because I gave her some weird kind of stimulation or something?” “I hesitate to offer advice on such matters from my lips.” Aeri says solemnly, arms crossed. Her breasts are emphasized by the way they’re lifted against her crossed arms. Safur bristles at her attitude but loses his nerve when he meets her breasts directly and turns away again. He can’t bring himself to stare. Though he’s very interested. And Aeri knows the correct answer to his vague question. She heard everything, of course. And understands exactly how far Safur and Rika went. And regarding Rika’s psychological state, while she may lack a dragon’s sense of shame, her intelligence is high enough to imagine it on a human level. But she’s not so crude as to give them the answer and solve their torment for them. The process of searching for the truth behind their worries and misunderstandings, and showing consideration for the other person, is like torture for those involved. But it’s not something you can just jump in and provide the answer to. If they neglect the effort to connect with each other emotionally, even if things go well in the moment, the actual relationship will never mature. …But that kind of consideration, from Safur’s perspective, is just a manipulative, condescending, and arrogant dragon trait. “I had a feeling you’d say something like that. …Guess I wasted my breath.” “Don’t rot, boy. …If you wish to build a good relationship with someone, you must find the answer yourself. You can’t ask for help. There’s an answer only you can have, and an answer only they can have.” ”…You know what the answer is and you’re just beating around the bush. I hate that about you dragons here.” “It is true that we do not offer more assistance than Mya-sama has requested of us in this town, but this is unrelated. You are a dragon too, after all. This isn’t about the relationship between dragons and humans, but rather between an older woman and a child just beginning to understand love.” “Not just me. If you were more involved, I’m sure even Andy would be happy.” “Probably so. But we must maintain our distance. So that people don’t misunderstand. …The weight of borrowing dragon power, and how to accept it, is something only Mya-sama knows. No one else should casually meddle with it. What if the people of this town, thinking they can use our power, decide to oppose the Northern Forest or the Kingdom of Trott?” “Just don’t lend them the power.” “Even if we leave, the conflicts that were relying on us will remain. People will die either way. Just because we’re here. …Is that what you think is acceptable?” “It’s just saying you shouldn’t choose such an idiotic path…” “People are connected to each other. As time passes, someone will become someone else’s ally, and someday they’ll become their enemy. If you try to predict that far ahead and manipulate people’s relationships for the sake of power, then that is the vice of power.” ”…You’re just saying difficult things to avoid human feelings, aren’t you?” “It might be difficult for a child like you to understand. …That’s not an attitude of seeking answers from others. You must think for yourself.” “Ah.”
The ethics of dragons, and his personal relationship with Rika. Mixing them up in a single conversation, hoping to squeeze out some concession with the shallow cunning of a child, didn’t work on Airi.
“If there’s only one thing I’ll tell you,” she said, swaying her ample, bare ass as she strode away, “it’s that I’m not the one running from anything. It’s you and her.”
Safur watched her go, chewing over the meaning… then, when Airi had shrunk to a speck, he snapped back.
“W-what does that even mean!”
Airi raised a hand in response but said no more.
Near the town, Safur caught the sound of an ogre-human duo saying something like, “Care for a reading?” to Airi, but he had no interest in what came next and shut down his senses.
What did it mean?
Safur sank into a swamp of thought.
The next day.
Safur still couldn’t figure it out, twisting his head as he wandered the outskirts of town as usual.
Why the outskirts now? Because inside the town, kids of similar height would force themselves on him for playmates, and the catfolk girls would toy with him. He was over forty, he kept saying, but no one listened.
Physically, he could keep up with them all day without breaking a sweat, so it wasn’t the effort. But he wasn’t in the mood to play. He had a difficult problem to face.
…Unaware that his attitude only made Rika’s “I messed up” feeling even worse.
If Safur had immediately forgotten and started playing with the other kids like nothing happened, Rika would have pretended to forget too and moved on. But dragging it out for days made her even more lost on how to let it go.
“Ugh… damn it, I don’t get it…”
And so, Safur tried to imagine, but he had absolutely no basis for guessing the workings of a woman’s heart, so no matter how much he thought, only Rika’s face came to mind. He couldn’t think of any reason why she made that face.
In the first place, he still didn’t understand why she suddenly got all frisky with him.
So it was a waste of time, but since he’d been told to figure it out himself, Safur thought. Even with his high intelligence, he was still at heart a child.
And then, passing by, was Pulk von Duran Goot, Baron Pulk, carrying a bucket, soap, and a towel, dressed in full noble attire and cloak despite the summer heat.
“What’s wrong, boy? …No, you’re a dragon, aren’t you?”
“You’re… the Baron, right?”
“That’s me. Though for a dragon, I’m probably just another name, heh heh.”
”…Can you just leave me alone? I need to think about a difficult problem.”
“Oh? A difficult problem? If it’s a problem a dragon is tackling, then it must be something grand indeed.”
“Well… maybe not… but still. I was told I have to figure it out myself.”
“Hmm. But pacing around here and twisting your head won’t do you any good. Why not think while soaking in a bath?”
”…Doesn’t really change anything, does it?”
“No, it does.”
The Baron stated flatly.
“Most problems get stuck because your values are too rigid. After receiving new stimulation, if you reconsider, you’ll often find, ‘Oh, that was nothing.’ More than anything…”
“More than anything?”
“Have courage, boy. You’re a child. Children are allowed every challenge.”
The Baron extended a firm hand to the boy.
And then…
”…Huh? Wait a minute!?”
“Please treat me well, ladies.”
The Baron gracefully bowed with the bath set in hand to the wives of the Porks. He had already allowed Saffur to be dragged into the women’s bath.
“What’s going on?!”
”…Courage and luck,” he murmured with a pleasant smile before heading towards the men’s bath. Only the dragon, Saffur, could have heard that mutter.
“It’s a real pain when the Baron just waltzes into the women’s bath like that. But making him wash our kids? That’s a bit much too, don’t you think?”
“I’ll make sure he gets a proper bath today, ladies.”
“Eh… eeh…”
The Baron, still holding Saffur, strode straight to the entrance of the women’s bath and said with a beaming smile to the wives passing by, “It seems he comes from a culture where bathing isn’t common, and he doesn’t know how to wash himself properly. How about you ladies give him a proper lesson in bathing?”
Indeed, Saffur’s hometown and the dragon palace where he lived were water-washing cultures, where they would usually just rinse off a bit of grime before getting out before their bodies got too cold.
And the wives who caught Saffur and dragged him into the women’s changing room called themselves “aunties,” but in Porks, they were relatively young, around their early thirties. They were the age where children like Saffur would be around, not exactly old enough to blush, but thanks to the rejuvenating effects of the hot springs, they looked no different than twenty-year-olds.
In other words, they had bodies more than capable of hardening Saffur’s slender dick, yet they stripped off their clothes right in front of him.
This was very troubling. Saffur tried to avert his eyes as usual, but even where he looked, he saw perfectly smooth, beautiful butts, which was also very troubling. There were three wives.
“Sweetie, come on, take your clothes off so we can wash you.”
“Eh, n-no, I don’t think so…”
“If you’ve come all the way to Porks and don’t know how to bathe in a hot spring, that’s just unacceptable. You have nothing else going for you.”
“I-I-it’s okay if I get in, but… in the men’s bath…”
“There’s no need to be so shy, dear. It’s alright, we’re all mothers, we’re used to seeing penises.”
The wives, each with varying sizes, ultimately showed off their beautiful breasts as a matter of course while stripping Saffur down together.
And after seeing his erect dick, they exchanged glances.
“How cute.”
“Can I still hold my own against these young things?”
“That’s not yours, is it? You’re the least flat-chested one here.”
“You have a great figure. And your butt is unbeatable.”
They laughed casually, but still didn’t hide their bodies from Saffur’s gaze. On the contrary, they struck poses and asked, “How’s that?”
Saffur had thought Trotians were more conservative about sex, but perhaps not? He blushed as he thought this, but these weren’t some bratty kids trying to sexually harass him; they wouldn’t be fussing over a timid child’s erection.
And Saffur was stripped and dragged into the bath by the wives. And first came the lecture on how to wash.
“First, rinse your body before getting in the water. Get rid of as much grime as possible beforehand. It’s an open-flow system, so even if the water gets dirty, it’ll flush right out, but still, it’s good manners.”
“Yes, scrub off all the grime. There’s a lot that builds up behind your ears.”
“Should I wash your hair, dear? Is this your first time being washed with foamy soap? …Oh my, you like boobs that much? You’re such an energetic one.”
“S-stop, don’t look!”
“Fair’s fair, fair’s fair.”
A wife reached out to Saffur and offered to wash his hair right in front of him. It was cruel to tell him not to watch her jiggling breasts.
Before long, another group came into the women’s bath.
“Ugh, there’s a guy here."
"Oh, hey, kitty cats. The Baron asked me to teach him how to wash properly, so—"
"Can I wash him too?"
"Why not? Might as well scrub him from finger clefts to his butt crack."
"Eh, you’re gonna wash his butt hole?!?"
"Just kidding~♪ Eyes closed, here we go.”
The Safflower Cleaning Crew now had cats tagging along.
“Hey, hey, I’m a guy… why are all these girls just casually stripping up and getting close to me?!"
"You’re such a show-off. Scaring us with that pinky-sized dick?"
"I-it’s at least a ring finger! C’mon!"
"Let me wash him too~! My colony doesn’t have any boys, so I’m curious!"
"Me too, me too~ Oh, yours is way bigger than Master’s.”
The feline girls swarmed in one after another, turning Safflower less into a person to wash and more into a toy.
And then, out of nowhere…
”This is kinda lively… wait—"
"Ah!”
Safflower looked up as the soap suds washed away, revealing Rika standing naked before him.
…Silence fell.
(To be continued)