What was I supposed to do? What in the actual bloody mary was I supposed to do? I’d hardly ever used my brain in my old life, but now I desperately forced every single rusty neuron to fire at full capacity. I needed a way out of this situation, and I needed it fast.
Just when I thought my second chance at life was about to end, I suddenly caught a whiff of something sweet wafting from the silver dragon’s mouth. I didn’t know if it was because of this new form, but my sense of smell was way stronger than it had been when I was a human. Something sweet... Got it!
“Wait!” I shouted, holding my hands up in surrender. I turned toward the dragon, who was readying herself to erase me from existence.
“For what reason?”
Curious enough to show me some mercy, the dragon paused her attack and waited for me to answer. Didn’t think that’d work, but I sure as heck wasn’t going to complain. A few more seconds of life was better than nothing.
“You’re way out of my league. There’s no way I can fight you and win. I don’t even want to fight you! And I definitely don’t want to die! So how ’bout a trade instead?”
“Oh? A trade, you say?”
“Yup. You like sweet things, right?”
The minute I asked that, Miss Dragon suddenly started panicking. Her reaction was so surprising that it almost made me laugh out loud.
“I-I know not what you utter! As if a being of my station would ever devour a beehive for a meal! H-How dare you?!”
Ah ha! So she was a bad liar. Good to know.
“Except that a certain red-shirt-wearing bear can probably smell the honey on your breath from all the way in his woods.”
“D-Does such a bear truly exist...?”
“He does! Well, he did, I guess. Anyway, I have just the thing for you, since you love sweets so much. Here you go.”
With that, I called up my inventory, shoved my hand into the tear in space it created, and pulled out, drumroll please...a chocolate bar. Real talk, it was one of the things I bought with my DP when I was getting everything ready right before I left the throne room. I’d planned on eating it as a snack if I got hungry while I was exploring, since chocolate was supposed to be filling. Well, that was what I’d heard on some random show, that chocolate was the best when hiking or mountain climbing.
“A-And what, pray tell, would that be? It certainly smells appetizing...”
“This is called ‘chocolate.’ Try a piece.”
I tore off the shiny wrapper and tossed a square to the silver dragon. She caught it in her mouth and swallowed it right away.
“Mmm! What an utterly indulgent flavor! I-I could never have imagined a sweetness so heavenly!”
With that one bite, the dragon’s eyes widened in amazement. She made a face like she’d been struck by lightning. Huh. Not that it mattered, but she was incredibly expressive for a dragon. I couldn’t believe something as simple as chocolate would make her so ridiculously happy. Her dignified attitude had done a complete 180. It was almost enough to make me let down my guard. Almost.
Like hell had I forgotten that she was basically a thousand times stronger than me. Like hell could I ignore the fact that she could literally kill me with a single swipe if she wanted to. So, yeah, there was no way I could relax yet. I had to use my nerves to keep the negotiations going instead of letting them get the best of me.
“All right, let’s get down to business. I can make this stuff, and I’m pretty sure I’m the only one in this world who can. I mean, you’ve never seen it before, right?”
“Yes, you would be correct.”
It’d be another story if others like me also existed in this world, but I was assuming that wasn’t the case. Besides, even if there were others like me, I doubt there were that many. I mean, come on, what were the chances of someone else from another world also being a dungeon master here? Slim to none, probably.
“Then you know that if you kill me, you’ll never get to eat chocolate again. But if you let me go, you can visit me anytime you feel like eating some.”
I’d have to use more DP than I wanted to buy chocolate for her, but breaking the bank was waaay better than being eaten alive. Plus, since the locals seemed intent on avoiding her, if she started visiting on the regular, she could end up being a natural deterrent for other monsters. This was all hypothetical, of course, but it was better than nothing.
“I have two conditions. One, you don’t kill me. Two, you let me live here. Well, not here here. I live just beyond that cave over there, the one you can just barely see from here.”
“Hmm...”
Obviously conflicted, the silver dragon considered my deal. I could feel her struggling. I think I had her right where I wanted her. He shoots, he scores...?
“It’s pretty simple, don’t you think? All you have to do is let me live, and you get to eat this whenever you want. I don’t want to die, so you’d be doing me a real favor. It’s a win-win.”
“Win... I do not understand this ‘win-win.’”
“It means we both get what we want. So, what do you say?”
The dragon opened and closed her mouth a few times, staring at me the whole time. Was that a tic or was she imagining how she’d rip me apart with her teeth? In any case, after a bit more of that, she looked like she’d made her choice.
“Well... I see no harm in doing as you say. Thus do I agree to your terms. You live to see another day, demon.”
Damn straight I do! I was ready to pump my fist, but I realized our discussion wasn’t over yet, so I quickly controlled myself. I needed to calm down and get this done.
“With our bargain made, I expect you to supply me with a great deal of this ‘chaw-ko-let.’”
“Weeell... That’s going to be impossible. Since you’re so massive, there’s no way I can just give you a ton of chocolate whenever you want.”
“There is truth to your words. Hmm... Understood.”
With a decisive nod, the silver dragon suddenly started glowing. When the light disappeared, a young girl with silver hair was standing in front of me.
“What the...?”
The girl had beautiful, bewitching silver hair and glittering, gemlike silver eyes to match. Her face was so symmetrical that it almost seemed like an artisan doll-maker had delicately crafted every feature, and her skin was so pale I could practically see through it. Her dainty, slender arms and legs made her look even more like a doll.
Based on her appearance alone, she looked like she was thirteen or fourteen years old. As far as her height, she was about a head shorter than me. She had looks that were practically right out of a dream—the same kind of beauty that launched a thousand ships. But for as much as she seemed like a human girl, the eye-catching horns thrusting out of her head and the long tail growing from her lower body said otherwise. So I was right about her being, well, a her.
“Is something the matter? That foolish expression on your face bears great resemblance to a goblin’s.”
“Oh, uh... No, it’s nothing. I just didn’t know you could take that form too.”
“Hmph. Is that all? I have lived for many years. It was only natural that I learned the art of human transformation. In this form, I do not require nearly as much sustenance.”
Wow, so she really was an Ancient Dragon. The Analysis info was spot-on, after all. It made sense that a race like hers would be capable of something like transforming into another species. Well, it made sense in this world.
“Now then, demon, as we agreed! I command you to hand over more of that ‘chaw-ko-let’!”
Like any spoiled brat, she waved both arms around, demanding her treat. Dignity shmignity, huh?
“J-Just wait a sec. Put this on first.”
I took off my T-shirt and tossed it her way.
“Hm? What might this be? Oh, your garments?”
“I can’t look at you while you look like that.”
Yup, you guessed it. She was buck naked in her human form. But I mean, why wouldn’t she be? It wasn’t like she wore clothes when she was a dragon.
It could’ve been worse, though. Lucky for me, everything about her, from her shortness to her total lack of curves, made her look like someone’s little sister. If she’d taken on a form that was, shall we say, more mature, I would have been in big trouble. I wasn’t nearly gross enough to go into the specifics of what kind of trouble, though. Let’s just say that certain parts of me would have reacted inappropriately to a “womanly” form and leave it at that.
Seemed the silver dragon girl had found me out too, if her smirk was anything to go by. She may have looked like a kid, but like she said, she’d lived a very long life. Using that eternity of experience, she moved seductively toward me. A weaker man would have had his will broken by her provocation, but not me. I just had to deal with the fact that this girl was going to be trouble, even if it was a different kind of trouble.
“Well, perhaps I will wear this then. I certainly have no wish to be attacked by someone overcome with lust upon gazing at my captivating figure. But in exchange, I demand immediate payment in the form of that brown—”
“Okay, okay, I get it! I’ll give you the chocolate, so put it on already!”
“And thus, your oath is sworn. Though I must admit, this cloth feels quite nice. Oh? What are these rents on the back?”
“Forget about that and just put it on!”