Why am I disappointed?! Did I want him to blow on it or not?! Make up your mind, me! Calm down, remember, he’s your employee. It’d be improper to try and start a relationship with him. After all, if I told him I wanted him, he’d feel obligated to go along with it. It’d totally be sexual harassment. I can’t do it, no matter how unbelievably gorgeous he is.
I gulped down the rest of my coffee, only to be presented with another cup.
This is entrapment. He’s got to be doing it on purpose. Wait a second, is that a chocolate covered strawberry? He’s bringing me a snack too? I’m doomed. He’s already stolen my heart and left a glob of melted caramel in its place. He’ll take it back to his phantom thief lair later, and deposit it in his treasure chest full of women’s hearts he’s collected. Why is he so perfect?!
Bistro set the chocolate covered strawberry down in front of me. It wasn’t any ordinary strawberry, either. It was bigger than my fist, and way sweeter than the ones from my old life. I had to use a fork and knife to eat it. Just one berry was a whole dessert all by itself.
I couldn’t help myself. I ate every last bite, then finished off my coffee.
“Feeling better?” Bistro asked.
He could tell I wasn’t myself? I want him! I want him so bad. Where did this dreamy, caring man come from? Where did I summon him from? Heaven? I love you, o wonderful man who makes my food!
“Yes, thank you. I couldn’t have asked for anything more. It was wonderful.”
With that, I excused myself. It would have been dangerous for my maidenly heart to remain there any longer. His smile was absolutely devastating. It took so much willpower to leave that room. Frankly, I was lucky to escape without drooling anywhere.
I returned to my chambers, did my nightly care routine, took a nice long bath, then went to bed.
It really was great to be home.
Hmm, I guess I started thinking of this place as home at some point without realizing it. Maybe it was during my stay in prison.
As I rolled around in my own bed for the first time in weeks, I felt as though I was missing something... I mentioned earlier that I’d collected a ton of plush toys based on the game. Well, each of them came with a code to get a digital version of the same toy to decorate your dungeon master room with. With how hectic everything had been at the beginning, I’d been focused on essentials, but now that my chambers were expanded, I decided to bring out the stuffed cuties. In particular, I decided that the Sprigrizzly plush would be joining me in bed. It was nearly as big as I was—or rather, close to my new size as Lilac. I could safely cuddle this cutie without any sexual harassment issues.
Oh! It smells like strawberries, just like the real-life version. Come to think of it, Ursa smells like strawberries too. That reminds me of the awesome dessert I just ate. Even with all the sweets I’ve been eating, I don’t really feel like I’ve gained any weight. Do I have a calorie-burning cheat skill somewhere in this superlong list of abilities? If I did, I probably wouldn’t have such a huge rear end. I wonder if Bistro likes big butts. If you do, you can’t lie about it, okay? No denying it either. I’ve got dumps like a truck, thighs like—
Ahem. Those were the sorts of useless thoughts swimming around my head as I drifted off to sleep. And of course with sleep came another trip to the Unseen Realm. Redimir was there waiting for me, with his adorable new little dragon body. He was so happy to see me. I guess he had been really worried when I didn’t show up for over two weeks. I think I even saw his tail wagging... And there was something else too.
“I-is that a bow tie?”
“Ah, meager though it may be, I thought I should adorn myself as befits a servant of the Arbiter,” he said, blushing. “This body doesn’t lend itself to ordinary clothing, so this was the best I could do. Does it displease you? If so, I’ll remove it at once.”
“No! Don’t touch it! It’s adorable!”
My dignified image! Come back! Don’t leave me! I couldn’t believe I’d just blurted that out. Now he was definitely gonna think I was some kinda weirdo.
“Forgive me for misunderstanding, Your Majesty. I shall wear it proudly.”
You bet you will. Don’t vandalize my precious baby dragon without permission. Wait, does he really not care that I just called him adorable? Is he proud of it? Is he making a smug face? That’s totally smug, right? He’s so happy I liked it that he didn’t notice I said something totally weird and out of line? Sweet!
I cleared my throat. “Ahem. You merely misunderstood my reaction. Your judgment was right on the mark about the bow tie itself. In that sense, your intuition is worthy of praise.”
Yup, just gloss over the whole thing with some praise, and nobody will be the wiser.
“Truly, Your Majesty’s compassion knows no bounds. Allow me to prepare something for you. Please, relax wherever you’d like.”
It was like having a butler. I could get used to this.
“Very well,” I said. “I’ll have a seat on the balcony then. I wish to take in the view.”
So I did. I went over to the balcony and sat down at one of the cute little tables there. I sat near the railing, so I could look out over the Unseen Realm. I wondered for a moment if there were others like Redimir around—but I quickly banished the thought from my head. Nothing good came from brooding in this world. It was best to just relax and be happy. After all, my state of mind directly impacted this world, so letting negative thoughts linger was a really bad idea.
I created a little tree about as tall as I was. It had orange leaves, and produced full-sized oranges. It seemed like I was always eating here. In a way, it made sense. Indulging in sweets kept me happy, and since it was like a dream, I’d never get fat. Then again, I ate a ton of sweets in the mortal realm, too, and I didn’t get fat there either. As I contemplated the advantages of my eternally “just right” body type, Redimir returned with a tray in hand—or maybe that should be with a tray in paw.
“I’ve prepared some tea using the sweet leaves of one of the plants here and accompanied it with some of the strange bitter brown fruits you cultivated,” he told me. “The two seem to pair oddly well.”
He put an adorable little teacup and saucer in front of me. The hot liquid inside had a pinkish hue to it. Then he set down a small plate with a few chocolate bars. Apparently he’d gotten curious about them while I was gone, and experimented with them. The tea was made from the petals of the “Sakura Rose” I’d created. They looked like pink roses, but smelled like cherry blossoms. If you left the flowers alone long enough the petals swelled up a bit, and they tasted like dried cherries. I’d heard of rose tea before, so I guessed this was a sort of cherry flavored variant. I took a sip, and a pleasing sweetness filled my mouth. I hadn’t intended for these to be used for tea, but it totally worked. I broke off a square of chocolate to chase the sweet tea with. This was bliss.
I think I had three or four cups of that tea before the night was over, with Redimir serving me dutifully the whole time. It was so soothing. The bitter chocolate really took it to the next level. I was so distracted by the elegant tea time, though, that I totally forgot to try the oranges I’d made. Next time, for sure.