Prologue

Dragons. The proud species known to be the strongest in the lands. Their enormous bodies were guarded by scales, a majestic pair of wings, and sharp claws. Their heads were adorned with splendid horns, and from their mouths they could breathe deadly attack magic in the form of fire and more. Their lifespans were long with a life expectancy of five hundred years at the bare minimum, and young Dragons were treated as children until they were two or three decades old. Some even had a third horn growing from their nose.

On top of all that, they had distinct physical traits based on their unique elements.

Earth Dragons had small wings that did not afford them flight. Their scales were the color of mud and some wore rocks like armor (some theorized that their skin was made of rock).

Water Dragons could function superbly within water. Their legs regressed while their arms and tails morphed to act like fish fins. Their scales were blue and they sometimes flew through the skies to find other bodies of water.

Wind Dragons had green scales. They generally stayed in the sky. They loved flying and many of them had feathery wings like birds. When they rested, they did so in forests.

Fire Dragons had fiery red scales. They tended to be aggressive and violent, with self-centered personalities. In terms of attack power their fiery breath was the strongest of all the elemental breaths. They were attracted to volcanoes and bathed in magma.

Dragons could be classified further based on elemental mixing and purity, but generally all Dragons fit into the four main elements. There were in fact exceptions in the form of Light and Darkness Dragons, but they were extremely rare. Historically, the only Light Dragon known to exist was the Ivory Goddess’s emissary, and the only Darkness Dragon known to exist was the legendary Dragon King. No human being had ever seen the Dragon King in the flesh. He supposedly lived on the bottom floor of the [Dragon Ravine] dungeon, but no adventurer who had entered the bottom floor had ever returned alive.

As an aside, Lesser Dragons did not know how to speak, but True Dragons could. Information about the Darkness Dragon had come entirely from Dragons who could speak.

“Fwaaah, so bored...” Which brings us to today. A lone Dragon, yawning as it went, flew far above a certain field in the Laverio Empire. It had such a high purity of mana that its red scales were wreathed as if by fire. It was a higher class of Fire Dragon known as a Flame Dragon. Although young for a Dragon, it was over three hundred years old.

This Dragon, born in the [Dragon Ravine], had departed on a journey to expand its horizons. However, perhaps due to being a Dragon, or perhaps due to its own personality... it hadn’t found much success.

“Everything looks the same from way up here. It’s boring. Oh, wait, maybe I should try going down?” It doubted that there would be any strong warriors in a random field like this, but the ground was better than the empty sky. In the sky, even Rock Birds avoided Dragons to the best of their ability.

...I’ll chomp on any Lesser Dragons if I find one, it thought as it looked down, quickly finding a paved road in the plains. And luckily enough, there were human vehicles on it—carriages being drawn by horses.

The Dragon’s instincts reared its head. Fire Dragons had the most dangerous personalities. The aggressive, violent, and self-centered Dragon looked at the carriages with a grin.

Disaster flew down from the sky. At first it was so high as to be invisible from the ground, but as it approached the road, panic ensued.

“Gaaah! Hahahaha!” Roars that sounded like laughter. The carriages pulled back and tried to flee the way they came. Some of the carriages had horses that went into such a craze they couldn’t be controlled. The crimson Dragon swooped down lazily, aiming for one of those carriages.

“Graaahaw, grahaahaaw!” It cackled as it crushed a carriage with its enormous body, enveloped by fire. The air filled with the smell of burning wood.

It was obvious the Dragon wasn’t attacking for food. If it was, it wouldn’t have let the horses flee, as they were the best source of food for a Dragon the carriages had. Though that wouldn’t matter if the Dragon was a gourmand with a taste for human flesh.

The Dragon flipped the carriage like one might flip a building block, then stomped on it—crushing it to bits. The wooden carriage had no chance of holding a Dragon’s weight.

“Ah, aaaah...!” The merchant who owned the destroyed carriage let out a pitiful shriek. But that was the reaction most would have to a Dragon. Meeting one meant death for most humans. All they could do was pray that the whims of fate allowed them to survive what amounted to a natural disaster with intelligence.

Indeed, the man didn’t even think about drawing his sword and attempting to slay the Dragon. Only a trapped rat so terrified by fear that they lost their mind would attempt that. A fool with nothing to lose. Or, alternatively —

“Stop right there, Dragon. You’re not gonna get away with this while I’m around.”

— the rare individual that possessed the spirit of a legend. And indeed, this man was called Wataru the Hero.

Wataru pointed his blade at the Dragon, but was met with a derisive snort. What could a human do? thought the Dragon. What could a weak creature that can’t even live a hundred years hope to do?

Some stories did begin with the slaying of a Dragon. But those were generally Dragons that didn’t speak—Lesser Dragons. Talking Dragons were reserved for the role of giving advice to sages and heroes.

“S-Sir Wataru!”

“Good to see you’re alright. But you better get outta here fast if you wanna live.”

“R-Right!” The merchant gave Wataru a quick bow of his head, then dashed off without a single glance back. The Dragon didn’t even look at the sweating, fleeing merchant. It was grinning a nasty grin, perhaps interested in Wataru now. Just facing the Dragon was enough to hit Wataru with a wave of pressure.

“...That’s some dense fire mana. This might actually be a bit much for me to take on alone...” He spoke as if he could easily win with a helper or two. The Dragon grimaced, its pride hurt. A human couldn’t recognize the expressions of a Dragon, though. That was just how rare it was for humans to face them.

Still, Wataru could sense what the Dragon was feeling. A casual lust for murder, an intention to kill because why not. It was the kind of arrogant feeling born from true strength. And it was the signal that began their fight.

The Dragon sucked in air. Wataru, understanding that to be a buildup to fire breath, dashed into sword range of the Dragon—and since the Dragon was walking on four legs, that meant its neck. Wataru swung his blade with deadly precision, aiming to cut off its head with one swing.

The Dragon, sensing grim danger from the Hero’s strike, twisted to avoid being hit. The dodge was more nimble than one would expect from a creature its size. But the tip of the blade still nicked the scales, cutting a small wound into the Dragon’s neck.

“...Gr!” The battle continued for ten short seconds. The Dragon had to focus on evasion, with no time to let out its breath. That was to be expected. Wataru’s slice had left only a small flesh wound, but it was a wound the Dragon hadn’t anticipated at all. It flapped its firebound wings to get some distance.

“You shouldn’t look down on humans too much. Wanna keep going?”

“.........” The Dragon glared at Wataru. Fire flared from its scales, making it look like a ball of fire. Wataru glared back at the Dragon without fear, leading to more eruptions of fire.

The tense showdown was ultimately cut short by the Dragon. It spread its wings and flew off into the sky. Wataru let out a sigh of relief. He had driven it away.

“Yeah, that wasn’t easy. Looks like I’ve still got a long way to go.” Wataru sheathed his sword and looked in the direction the Dragon had flown off to.

“That’s where Tsia is... and Goren. Are they gonna be okay?” Wataru gazed at the horizon for a good while, but he couldn’t keep it up forever. He had to think about what to do about the destroyed carriage and the merchant, who was returning after seeing that the Dragon had left.

＊ ＊ ＊

By coincidence, on that very same day, Rokuko was having a discussion with Redra in Tsia Mountain’s [Flame Caverns]. Rokuko was the human type avatar of the [Cave of Greed]’s Dungeon Core, whereas Redra was a Red Dragon and the Dungeon Master of the [Flame Caverns]. What could these two ladies be talking about, you ask?

“This ‘green tea’ stuff’s bitter as crap! But it’s got a nice aftertaste, I like it!”

“Right? I had Kinue teach me how to make it. The trick is to warm it slowly at sixty degrees to bring out all the flavor.”

“Huh! That explains why it’s so cold!”

“Mmm, sixty degrees is pretty hot for humans, you know.”

They were having a tea party. Not only that, but for Rokuko’s sake Redra had morphed into human form, which left her with a huge tail and horns that made their peaceful tea party look pretty silly. The red scales on her tail were evidence of her elemental heritage.

Plus, Rokuko didn’t seem to have any fear, awe, or hostility for the Dragon. The reason being, they were friends, and Rokuko had something she wanted to tell people no matter who they were.

“B-By the way! Listen to this, Redra! Keima was like! H-He said, ‘Rokuko belongs to me’!”

“Oooh?! That stubborn punk’s finally made his move?!” It was love talk. “So, how’d it go?! How was your first time?!”

“Well, it haaasn’t really gotten any further than that...”

“Dang! That’s annoying. Why won’t he just get to baby-making already?”

“.........” Rokuko suddenly fell silent. Redra grunted, urging her to speak. “Um, well.”

“Yeah?”

“Ichika, um, kissed Keima.”

“Oof. Ichika’s that slave, right? Is she the brown one? Or the one with big boobs?”

“Big boobs. Are they going to have babies now because of that...?”

Redra recalled how the slave named Ichika looked. In human terms, she had a very attractive body. And she was stronger than Rokuko. That pretty much sealed Rokuko’s fate... or maybe not. He had said that Rokuko was his girl. Redra’s brain could produce only one conclusion from the presented facts.

“This is a harem! Yeaaah, Keima’s the kinda guy to beat my hubby in a fight! Course he’d make a harem! That’s a man’s dream! Not that my man ever would!”

“Oh, you think so? I thought the same thing. But Keima said he has his hands so full with me he doesn’t want a harem at all...!”

Love makes you blind, huh? Redra chugged her tea. It was sweet and calming.

“So, basically, I got worried and came to ask if Ichika and Keima are going to have a baby now.”

“Huh? By kiss do you mean somethin’ else?”

“Wha? No, a kiss is a kiss. Want to see?” asked Rokuko as she pulled up her monitor and put on the video she had prepared. She had copied the video before Keima deleted the original.

“Yup, this sure is a kiss! A pretty hardcore tongue kiss too! But uh, is that all?”

“That’s it. Anyway, I heard you need milk to raise a baby, and milk comes from boobs, right? I wonder if some will come out of mine, too. I’m not so sure about it. No milk’s ever come out before,” said Rokuko while holding up her boobs and squeezing them. Redra thought they would definitely make a lot of milk when the time came.

“Milk doesn’t come out till you make a baby, so if you want milk that much get to baby-making with Keima. But don’t worry! A kiss alone’s not enough to make a baby!”

“Wha? I thought you said kissing made babies.”

For a second Redra had no idea what Rokuko was talking about, but then she remembered that she had escaped this conversation before with that excuse. “A kiss is just the beginning...!”

“What...?!”

“Kissing makes babies since it’s the start of everything, but just a kiss isn’t going to make a baby! And uhhh, look, Keima didn’t initiate this kiss!” Redra desperately tried to recall exactly what she had said before as she spoke. She generally lived on momentum and energy, so most of the past was fuzzy for her.

“That’s true, Ichika did start the kiss.”

“Right. Everything’ll be fine if you kill the slave!”

“Um, that’s a bit much. I like Ichika, too.” Rokuko naturally didn’t intend to eliminate any of her allies that kept the dungeon running. “That’s kinda weird, actually. How can you jump to murder so fast, Redra? Isn’t killing your friends scary?”

“Mmm, I feel like you’re kinda weird yourself, but whatever. More tea!”

“Okay, okay.” Rokuko poured more green tea into Redra’s cup. Incidentally, the tea party had a firm rule that Redra was not to bring any of her own drinks. It would just be awkward for her to bring a steaming glass of magma that Rokuko couldn’t drink at all.

“If just a kiss won’t make babies, what should I do? I feel like you tricked me here, to be honest.”

“Guh?! W-Well, uh! Why don’t you try promising to be a couple?!”

“Will a promise really change anything?”

“Like, with a ceremony! A vow and a ceremony!” A ceremony. Or to be more precise, a wedding ceremony where a couple exchanged vows to become married.

“You mean like a wedding ceremony...?”

“Huh? Uh, yeah!”

A wedding ceremony. Rokuko had heard about them from Wataru and some others. You gathered a lot of people and performed a wedding vow on a large scale. There was even a wedding day kiss to top off the marriage. Oh, so that’s why a kiss is the start of baby-making.

“Well, you can think about all this once the baby’s made!”

“That’s true. Oh, Redra, want to try some cooked marshmallow?”

“Cooked marshmallow...?” Rokuko changed the topic out of nowhere, but Redra didn’t notice. She was focused on learning about whatever a marshmallow was. “What’s that? Sounds pretty good!”

“Uh-huh, it does sound good. And it is! Which is why I brought some!” Rokuko set a plate with huge marshmallows onto the table. It was something from another world that she had bought with DP. She had selected the jumbo-sized ones, because why not? They were big enough to grab with your hands.

“Whoa! So this is cooked marshmallow?”

“Actually, these marshmallows haven’t been cooked yet. Go ahead and try one. But not all of them! We’ll cook them after.”

Redra grabbed a marshmallow and tossed it into her mouth. She bit down hard, and sweetness spread through her mouth. There was a cute kind of squishiness to it. It didn’t feel as satisfying to Redra as meat, but... it was basically candy! So alright!

“Now that was good! Didn’t even need to be cooked!”

“Hahaha. True, Redra, but they’re even better when cooked. They get all firm on the outside and melt on the inside when you cook them.”

“Makes sense! Let’s cook them! Right now!”

“Okay, wait just a second. I’ll get everything ready,” said Rokuko, just as she noticed that she had forgotten to bring sticks. But she soon thought of something to use in their place. The sword on her hips. It was a thin blade only there for show, and after unsheathing it she stabbed it through a bunch of marshmallows. She then pointed it toward Redra.

“Here, cook them.”

“...Rokuko, you know what it means to point a sword at a Dragon, yeah?”

“What? It’s just for cooking them. Don’t you want to eat cooked marshmallows?”

She did.

“...Well, alright! We’re friends. So uh, just gotta do some light fire breathing?”

“Uh-huh. Just hold back so they don’t get put on fir— Ah!” Suddenly, Rokuko remembered. A famous bard’s tale began with the line, ‘Nobody points a sword at a Dragon.’

“Only a trapped rat so terrified by fear that they’ve lost their mind would attempt that. A fool with nothing to lose. Or, alternatively—”

“— the rare individual that possessed the spirit of a legend. Guess you did know that, Rokuko!” Redra grinned.

“I just remembered it. It’s fine, we’re friends.”

“I dunno about friends pointing swords at each other!”

“Don’t worry about it. Not like I could hurt you anyway. Plus, a legend like me doesn’t even think about that kind thing.”

“Legend? Don’t you mean fool?” cackled Redra.

“Gahaha, you wicked Dragon. Your fire breath’s only good for cooking marshmallows!”

“Whaaat?! We’ll see about that! Take this, weakened fire breath!” Redra played along and cooked the marshmallows with her fire. They were hard on the outside, melted on the inside, and totally delicious.