Chapter 24…
“Hey, have you heard the rumors?”
“Ah, of course I have. I heard they even appeared in the capital?”
“Tch! You actually believe such ridiculous stories?”
Sitting in the bustling restaurant, Sweetpea pretended to look at the menu but was fully focused on the topic most people were whispering about.
“But a dragon appeared in the capital!”
“They say it wasn’t just one or two people who saw it! It even damaged the royal palace!”
“So, the king actually saw the dragon too?”
Even though people were talking about him, Lisiancirus didn’t seem particularly interested.
Pretending to glance at the menu, Sweetpea casually asked him,
“Did it destroy the royal palace too?”
“How would I know? Everything humans build looks pretty much the same to me.”
Lisiancirus exhaled with a sigh, as if slightly exasperated, and continued,
“And, Sweetpea, you should speak properly. You sound like a child breaking things while playing alone if someone were to listen.”
“I know. Lisiancirus saved the people.”
Lisiancirus had a surprisingly childish side. He seemed to take great pride in the fact that he had saved people.
“Exactly. If it weren’t for me, Diego would have caused even more casualties. That’s just the kind of guy he is.”
Sweetpea smiled and nodded, suppressing the thought that Lisiancirus chose death too easily to call it “sacrificing himself for others.”
“Right, it’s all thanks to Lisiancirus!”
“Hmm, you look like you’re reluctantly flattering me. Or is that just my imagination?”
“Of course not. I’m sincere!”
Sweetpea smiled as wide as possible to emphasize her sincerity. But their conversation couldn’t last long. The owner gave her a subtle hint, clearly impatient that she was holding the menu without ordering.
Sweetpea ordered the cheapest dish on the menu and let out a deep sigh.
“Anyway, we have a big problem right now.”
“You’re alive and kicking, thanks for not letting another dragon rip your heart out. What’s the problem now?”
“Yes, yes, I really do appreciate that… but we don’t have the most important thing right now.”
“The most important thing?”
“Lisiancirus calls it the humans’ crude concept of money, but for me, it’s something I really need.”
“Money?”
“Yes, that’s it!”
Sweetpea sighed dramatically, letting it all out. First, she was truly grateful that Lisiancirus had fought Diego.
No, extremely grateful.
But the outcome of the fight…
Well, Diego ran away, so it wasn’t a complete victory.
Anyway, part of why Lisiancirus didn’t lose was because of her help. And he claimed he fought out of a sense of sacrifice for people, yet he didn’t just leave himself in Diego’s hallucination trap.
Sweetpea wanted to have a long conversation with Lisiancirus about his childish pride in saving people, whether he was joking or sincere.
About what had happened in his past, and why, having seen her hidden power, he awkwardly said nothing. But now was not the time for that.
There was a more urgent problem…
A problem vital for immediate survival.
“If we eat now, we won’t have money to rent an inn. Should I rush to sell flowers again?”
“Haha… You want to climb onto my back again to fetch flowers, even while dragon sightings are going around?”
Previously, dragon sightings were mostly dismissed as superstition or rumors, so there was no real worry. But this time was different. A huge battle had occurred between dragons in the capital, with many casualties. Even the royal palace was damaged.
In such a situation, she couldn’t risk making Lisiancirus revert to his true form just to fetch flowers. If someone saw him… it would be disastrous. And Sweetpea had directly experienced dragons fighting over a mate’s heart. She needed to be careful to avoid another encounter.
“But… what do we do then…?”
Lisiancirus didn’t need food, clothing, or shelter, so he could be fine without money—but Sweetpea was not.
Stirring a salad topped with pickled tomatoes, she couldn’t hide her gloomy expression.
“You probably don’t need to worry about that.”
“Lisiancirus doesn’t care about humans’ crude….”
“Concept of money, yes, of course not.”
This little one seemed quite fixated on what he had said before.
Lisiancirus raised his hand over the table, unsure. Sweetpea’s tired green eyes naturally followed his hand.
He folded his long fingers into a fist, flipped it over, and revealed the palm—inside lay something large and glittering.
“Ah?!”
Sweetpea nearly shouted in surprise, then quickly covered her mouth. Lisiancirus held a gold coin.
“How did this happen? This is… really…?”
Worried about other people seeing, Sweetpea glanced around and discreetly bit the coin.
It was real. A real gold coin. One with a dragon emblem, looking very old.
“This was offered to me by humans long ago. With this, you should be able to get a place to stay tonight, right?”
“Get a place to stay? How many more of these are there?”
“Kid, do you know how suspicious your eyes look right now…?”
Lisiancirus asked with a displeased expression, but Sweetpea was unabashed.
“If these gold coins existed, you should have told me before! All this time, making me work hard for my own money while you lived comfortably…”
“Exploiting you, you say…”
Lisiancirus felt a sting at the back of his head.
“I didn’t tell you… Yeah, I guess that could feel stingy.”
Lisiancirus wouldn’t mind sleeping rough—he wasn’t human. But Sweetpea wasn’t. And they couldn’t get separate rooms; Sweetpea always had to reserve a double room. She had reason to feel wronged.
Actually, Lisiancirus never felt the need to tell her about the gold coins. Coins or jewels offered by devotees long ago weren’t valuable enough to register in his mind… and he believed it was right for her to earn her own money.
Besides, watching her energetic efforts to earn money had been gratifying.
“How could you have such things and still live off the money I earned without conscience?”
“…Without conscience.”
By now, Sweetpea was too indignant to say more. Lisiancirus gave up explaining.
Instead, he explained the coin’s origin.
“It’s one of the offerings from long ago. Even after all this time, gold still has value among humans. Since you understand money well, you can use it wisely.”
“So, if I go to the temple dedicated to Lisiancirus, there will be more of these coins?”
“Offerings made to me. If you wish….”
Lisiancirus clenched his fist again, and another gold coin appeared in his hand.
“I can summon them anytime… but your gaze is rather imposing.”
“…Lisiancirus.”
“What is it?”
“Let’s stay in the best inn today.”
“….”
“Get proper clothes too. Ours got filthy from what happened in the capital. You should wear something decent, not the kind of outfit that looks like it came from a history book!”
After finishing speaking and about to eat, Sweetpea suddenly remembered something. “Ah,” she said, staring at Lisiancirus.
“Kid, what’s the problem now?”
“You had this money all along…”
“….”
“When I hesitated to buy clothes because of money, you said nothing?”
“That….”
“For a small child like me, struggling to buy clothes, an adult who has lived a long life didn’t help…”
“…!”
Those words hit Lisiancirus hard.
Back in his time, the concept that adults must help children didn’t exist. Both children and adults had to fulfill their roles. Children worked as much as they could, and that was normal. But apparently, humans in this era expected adults to help children.
Suddenly branded as an adult who exploited a child without conscience, Lisiancirus hesitated, then spoke.
“From now on…”
“….”
“Whenever you say you need something, I’ll give it to you.”
That was the answer Sweetpea wanted.
Smiling in satisfaction, she called the owner and ordered the food she truly wanted without hesitation.
After the meal, Sweetpea took Lisiancirus to the market. They were going to buy clothes for both of them. Buying her own clothes went smoothly enough.
The problem was buying clothes for Lisiancirus.
“Oh my! Sir, why don’t you try this on?”
“Yes, Lisiancirus! You probably won’t get many chances to buy clothes in the future!”
The young shop owner could say that—it was in her interest to sell more. But the clever little one realized she didn’t have to spend her own money and started dressing Lisiancirus in various outfits, like playing with a doll.
Even though they’d have to carry the clothes anyway, she insisted.
Lisiancirus, trying to humor the child, eventually couldn’t stand it, quickly paid for one outfit, and dragged Sweetpea out.
“Ah, why! We could’ve tried on more while buying!”
“Why does your attitude change the moment you realize you don’t need to earn money…?”
“It’s not my clothes, it’s yours, Lisiancirus.”
“Even so…”
“There’s so much in the temple… why be so stingy?”
Sweetpea was a clever little one… but this mischief left Lisiancirus speechless.
