Chapter 51
Something golden was charging toward them.
It was so huge that it filled the entire corridor of the Demon King’s Castle.
“Ariella!”
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
Each time its four legs struck the ground, the stone hallway shook faintly.
Ludwig shouted in shock.
“What the—?! Why is that thing still here? And… why did it get so big?!”
It was the Gold Dragon.
He thought it had already gone back.
And its appearance was completely different from before.
Had he really been away from the castle that long?
‘No, that’s impossible.’
He had seen the dragon only a few days ago.
What happened in such a short time?
While Ludwig was still panicking, the dragon kept running straight at them.
Ariella suddenly stretched out her arm like a bullfighter and shouted firmly—
“Stop!”
Thud!
The Gold Dragon skidded to a halt, claws scraping into the stone floor right before crashing into them.
Ariella noticed the cracks spreading across the floor.
‘Ugh, repair costs again.’
She could already imagine Gruve, the butler, sighing in despair.
“Ariella, Ariella!”
The dragon flapped its wings excitedly in the hallway. Ariella felt danger immediately.
‘If it hits those walls, the whole corridor will collapse. The castle can’t take this…’
She swung her hand downward like a knight waving a flag.
“Sit!”
Thump!
At her command, the Gold Dragon crouched down and folded its wings.
It looked up at her with shining eyes, as if asking, Did I do good?
It clearly wasn’t the first time this happened—its reaction was too fast.
Ludwig rubbed his forehead.
He never thought he’d live to see a human actually taming a Gold Dragon hatchling.
“What’s going on here?”
Ariella answered.
“Ever since it came to the castle, it’s been eating a lot.”
“Wait—did the Fedwick Trading Company people starve it before?”
“They said it barely ate back then. Probably because the restraints drained its strength, it couldn’t even digest properly. Poor thing.”
But once it escaped, the stress disappeared and it had a safe environment.
Then the hatchling’s appetite exploded like hot spring water.
“They say this is normal for a growing creature. They eat and sleep like crazy.”
Thanks to that, it had grown to the right size for its age.
“Fine, but… why is it still here?”
Didn’t Calysid already come to take it away? Ludwig couldn’t understand.
“Well, the truth is…” Ariella recalled that day.
“No! I’m not going! I won’t leave!”
A few days ago.
After the investigation ended, it was time for Calysid to take the hatchling back.
But the hatchling flat-out refused. It insisted it would never leave Ariella’s side.
Calysid looked troubled.
He had come to fulfill his duty as a dragon, but the hatchling stubbornly refused.
“I’m staying with Ariella! I’ll live with her forever!”
After much arguing, Calysid finally gave in.
“She saved its life, and she was the first being it saw when it hatched. Of course she left a deep impression.”
“You mean like an imprint effect?” Ariella asked.
“Don’t treat dragons like birds. Even among dragonkin, this kind of devotion is unusual. The Fedwick fools misunderstood. Perhaps it’s just this one’s unique nature… I’ve never seen a Gold Hatchling before, so I can’t say for certain.”
The most likely explanation was simple: childish stubbornness and obsession.
“So basically, a tantrum?” Ariella said.
“It won’t last forever. Ariella, please look after the hatchling until this mood passes. I’ll record this case separately.”
Of course, Ariella couldn’t refuse such a request.
“And in case danger comes again…”
Calysid attached a small ornament to the hatchling’s scales—an artifact filled with dragon magic.
“…So that’s how it happened,” Ariella finished.
Ludwig stroked his chin.
“So… we’re supposed to feed it, raise it, and let it stay in our territory for now? Like some kind of… guest? Then—”
But he couldn’t finish. The impatient hatchling cut in.
“Ariella, look at me! I can do this now!”
The dragon didn’t even glance at Ludwig.
Now that he thought about it, the hatchling had adored Ariella from the beginning… and treated Ludwig like air.
That fact gave Ludwig mixed feelings.
Meanwhile, the Gold Dragon climbed onto the corridor railing—
And dove off!
“What the—?!” Ludwig almost reached out in panic.
But—
Whoosh!
The hatchling spread its golden wings and soared upward.
Flap!
It shot across the sky like a bolt of light.
The sun above the Demon Realm shone down, reflecting off its golden scales. Rays of light scattered like a rainbow of stars dancing together.
Every wingbeat created shining whirlwinds, glowing brightly against the dull, gray demon skies.
“…Wait, it can fly now?!”
That was thanks to its bold request to Calysid before he left—
“Then I’ll be going now…”
“Wait! Mister!”
“…Mister?”
“Before you go, teach me how to fly! Ariella said she can’t teach me that!”
Of course, no matter how many books Ariella had read, she couldn’t possibly know how to train a dragon to fly.
So Calysid ended up giving a quick lesson before leaving.
With just a little instruction, the hatchling was already flapping like a natural, guided by instinct.
“Ariella! Look at me! Look at this!”
From high above, the excited voice rang out.
The hatchling even rolled mid-air, flying on its back like it was doing a backstroke, belly facing the sky.
It stared at Ariella with sparkling eyes, waiting for praise.
“…Good job, I guess,” she said reluctantly.
“Hehehe!”
The Gold Dragon was satisfied.
But Ariella couldn’t see how upside-down flying was useful at all.
Meanwhile, outside the castle—
“Wow, look! It’s the Gold Dragon!”
“The Golden Dragon! Flying over our skies again!”
The citizens of the Demon King’s Domain reacted far more dramatically than Ariella.
They stopped their work and stared in awe at the magnificent sight.
“Didn’t it get bigger again since yesterday?”
“And its flying skills… already improved that much? That’s like an acrobatic show!”
The dragon grew by the day. Its golden scales gleamed like ripe grain.
To the people, it was the very image of prosperity.
Watching it glide across the sky felt like receiving a divine blessing.
The citizens gazed up for a long time, dreaming of a brighter future.
From then on, the domain grew busier.
“Slimes! Catch the slimes!”
“There’s another one over there!”
Everyone worked together to gather slimes for slime compound production.
Even idle residents were mobilized to scour the nearby land.
“This… this trade is… turning out quite profitable.”
Ariella stepped down from acting as the temporary treasurer, handing the role to Geru, the zombie merchant.
His daughter Cecile was still closing her old shop but would soon join them.
“We can’t be satisfied yet,” Ariella said.
“I… I agree,” Geru nodded.
Though Ariella could manage the books, she wasn’t a true financial expert.
Geru, on the other hand, carefully analyzed their finances and also led negotiations with the new Southern Trading Company.
Ariella shared their progress with others.
“The slime compound business has finally stabilized. But almost all the money goes into buying food. So, while no one is starving, we can’t just keep making compound forever.”
Ulken frowned.
“The number of slimes is dropping. If we keep hunting them all, they’ll go extinct.”
They even considered importing slimes from other territories, but building a system to transport them alive would take time. Dead slimes couldn’t be used.
After many opinions, Ariella pointed out the biggest problem.
“Our land is too barren.”
She pointed at the map.
“Even if we use all the arable land we have… achoo!”
She sneezed mid-sentence.
Richmond looked up.
“Are you all right?”
“It’s nothing. Just a little cold.”
Her cheeks were slightly flushed.
“….”
Ludwig stared at her, wanting to say something, but Ariella spoke first.
“Anyway, even if we turn all this land into farms, it’s still not enough to feed everyone stably. That’s the headache.”
Ulken scowled.
“Then what do we do?”
“There are two options: expand farmland, or develop new products we can trade for food.”
But farmland development would take too long, and without fixing the soil, it wouldn’t last.
“In the end,” Geru muttered, “we need something else… another product to sell to other domains.”
That night.
As always, Ariella was in the library, buried in books and documents.
‘A barren land with no resources…’
She thought hard.
‘We can’t follow Oinos’s path either.’
Her homeland had grown rich from the sea, using trade routes to profit between empires and kingdoms.
But Ludwig’s Domain had no such advantage. Transportation was poor, and the southern domains already traded just fine without them.
‘Ugh, my eyes hurt…’
The tiny letters strained her vision and gave her a headache.
On top of that, her mild cold was still bothering her.
‘Of course this happens when I’m busiest…’
Even as the domain improved, Ariella herself had no rest. In fact, there was more work than ever.
Her body felt heavy, her head throbbing.
‘If only I had some herbs from the Fairy Forest. Those always wake me up.’
“Philly, can you bring me some tea?”
“Of course! Oh, and Chef Labo baked cookies today as thanks for saving him from the hatchling. I’ll bring those too.”
“Really? I’m not very hungry, so you eat them.”
Ariella remembered how Philly loved snacks.
Sure enough, her eyes sparkled.
“Really?!”
Then she quickly tried to compose herself.
“B-but at least try a little bite.”
“You’ll drool if you don’t eat. Go ahead.”
“But these cookies! They’re made with rich creamy butter, crunchy almonds, heavenly chocolate chips, and sweet vanilla syrup—how could I eat them all alone?!”
“….”
Later.
When Ariella took a sip of the tea in front of her, her eyes widened.
‘Wait… this flavor…?’
