“Bawk! Wow, it’s gone! Good job, Draco!”
“Let me tell ya now, li’l guy: I only listen to my pardner Ren here. I’ll f**k ya right up if ya ain’t careful, feel me? Yer gonna be a nice li’l meal for me, buddy.”
“Bawk?! When did you get so mean, bawk?! Were you actually trying to eat me all this time?!”
“Mmm, yer a tasty-lookin’ chicken, you are. Shlurp...”
“Baaawk?!”
“Hey, you’re kidding, right? Don’t eat him, seriously.”
“If’n ya say so, Ren.”
So, he’ll always obey me? Well, he is my pet dragon, I guess.
I loved that he was strong and all, and thanks to him, we’d really made a comeback in this fight. However, I wasn’t sure I could take him home if he was going to cuss this much.
Our guild was mostly girls, and they’d be disgusted to hear this vocabulary. Naturally, they would blame me because I’d raised him! If they knew that our adorable Draco was like this, then even when he returned to normal, they would never cuddle him and love him the same way again.
I couldn’t bear the thought. I felt awful for Draco. This was something I was better off not letting the girls see. Maybe I could fix Draco by being a better man from now on. If the girls saw him as he was now, their impression of him could possibly be set in stone forever.
That settled it. Once we made it through this, I would keep adult Draco sealed away whenever any of them were around. Until he was presentable, I would experiment with him in secret and figure out how to improve his personality.
He’d said he was like this because I was bad at English, so maybe I needed to put my back into studying. Then, maybe he would at least stop with the f-word.
Okay! It’s decided. This’ll be the final battle of Draco: F**k Edition. Might as well get him to let it all out now!
“Anyway, let’s focus. Stop scaring Kokoru and help us fight!”
“Loud and clear, pardner. Y’all want me to eat that big chicken over there?”
“Whoa, hold on! Kokoru’s mom is under the enemy’s control, okay? We need to break the necklace hanging from her neck or find some way to destroy it!”
“Okey dokey! Sit yerself on down, Ren. I’ll take care of this varmint,” Draco announced as he approached our foe.
“Bawk! Shadow Phoenix!”
“Cute li’l bug ya got there!”
No sooner did the phoenix appear than Draco smacked it to the ground and stomped on it. The phoenix dissipated, leaving not even a trace.
He just ground that thing into the dust after it gave Kokoru so much trouble. Draco sure is a strong boy now! Does he have a resistance to fire or are his stats just way higher?
Either way, the situation had been turned on its head.
“Bahahawk. I suppose it was too much to ask for a phoenix to burn a dragon, bawk.”
“Y’got that right, pardner. Y’all ain’t nothin’ but a birdbrain, I tell you what! How ’bout some o’ this?!”
Draco swung a thick arm down on Kokoru’s possessed mom. Veld-Mom dodged to the side, but Draco was faster. He twisted and caught the enemy with his tail, which coiled tightly around Kokoru’s mom’s body.
“Keep it up!” I shouted.
“Let’s take a gander at that necklace o’ yours, feller!”
Draco squeezed the necklace in his hand.
“Now rip it off!”
“Gotcha, pardner!”
Yes! We’ve got this!
However, my celebration was a bit premature.
With a loud shwoomp, the black aura moved from Kokoru’s mother to Draco and swallowed him up.
Huh?! Uh, I have a bad feeling about this.
“Heh... Mwahaha. Now this is good. Stronger and easier to control than that birdbrain. Thank you for so graciously providing me with a new host.” Draco smirked down at us.
No way. Did Dark Lord Veld move from Kokoru’s mom to Draco?! He’s talking normally now too! Being turned evil by the bad guy made Draco normal! What the heck?!
“Bwahaha! What a splendid host. Not only is he much easier to handle, but he’s considerably tough. Conquering this land and being feared as the terrifying Fell Dragon doesn’t sound so bad, now, does it?! As I am now, it will be a paltry task!”
The possessed Draco let out a mighty roar.
I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Pfft...”
He just called himself the terrifying Fell Dragon, but Draco was way more terrifying before! Why, he was so bad that I wouldn’t be surprised if the girls started thinking less of me because of it.
Dark Lord Veld’s Draco was much more like an evil dragon, so it was a bit easier to stomach. He might have looked strong, but all I had to do was take him down! Then I wouldn’t have to worry about Akira and the girls looking down on me or being disgusted when they saw him.
In a way, this was much better. I could save Draco by bringing him back to his pet form and then sealing away Grow Up forever!
I didn’t see a thing! As far as I’m concerned, Draco never even learned a skill!
Veld had no clue what I was thinking, though, so he thought I was laughing at him.
“What is so funny to you?!”
His temper flaring, Veld-Draco slammed his thick tail on the ground.
Aww, he’s mad.
“Nothing, man, sorry. I’m just glad you’re more normal than the real Draco!”
“Hahaha... I get it, bawk. Draco grew up to be real weird, didn’t he? He’s about as scary as Nozomi’s big brother, bawk. I don’t think you wanna let Akira and the girls see him like that, bawk.”
“Yeah, bro. Imagine what they’ll think of me!”
“Oof, bawk.”
“Let’s save Draco, make him a kid again, and never let Grow Up see the light of day. We saw nothing, right, Kokoru?”
“Agreed, bawk!”
Kokoru and I exchanged nods. Meanwhile, Dark Lord Veld’s rage had not subsided.
“What foolish talk is this?! How dare you! I planned to just abandon this birdbrain now that I’m finished with her, but I’ve changed my mind! How does this make you feel, hm?!”
Veld-Draco lifted a leg, ready to kick Kokoru’s unconscious mother as she lay on the ground.
“Momma! I won’t let him hurt you, bawk!”
Kokoru leapt into action, standing in the way to shield his mother just before the kick could land.
“Bagaaawk?!”
Upon impact, he was launched into a wall with incredible speed. His HP went way down, bringing him close to death. It was nice that he hadn’t died in one hit, at least, but Veld was currently possessing a powerful vessel.
From what little I had seen of him fighting, it was clear that Draco himself was tough. He had crushed a bunch of reasonably strong monsters like it was child’s play, hurling obscenities at them all the while.
I ran over to Kokoru’s mother and helped her up. “Good job, bud! Your mom’s safe now!”
I’d better move her to a safe corner of the room.
Kokoru was on the same page. “Take her somewhere safe, bawk! I’ll keep this guy away from her, bawk!”
“Yes, sir!”
My response prompted Kokoru to begin summoning his next monster.
“Cleric Bunny, come to me!”
What he summoned looked like a recolored Island Bunny, but it was much more useful. As its name implied, the Cleric Bunny knew healing magic. Right after it appeared, it worked on replenishing Kokoru’s HP.