Dragon Life Chapter 17

The employee’s four daughters. It also includes marshmallows.

After eating Na.s.sau’s dinner and returning to my room, Madam called for me.

It seems that you only get called for by Madam if you’ve made a terrible mistake. Chiffon put a lot of emphasis on it while telling me. Now that I think about it, isn’t Chiffon pretty clumsy? [1]

Anyways, Na.s.sau’s food is as delicious as always. It’s a bit heavy though, probably because it’s made for solders. We have soup every day but today’s was something similar to pumpkin soup, made of mashed yellow vegetables and milk. By the way, the names I gave the vegetables are purely based on their appearance. When I got to see a carrot it was redder than what I was used to but it looked like a carrot and tasted like a carrot. It’s convenient that I don’t need to learn new names for them. Mental translation, thank you.

The main dish is always meat but I enjoy it because the flavoring is different. Although today’s dish was ginger flavored, sometimes it would be dice steak, seasoned with vegetables, soup with meatb.a.l.l.s, or a boiled and marinated dish. There’s a lot of variations. But I was told that there are more kinds of side dishes than main dishes. Na.s.so declared that dishes are made solely by the number of ingredients, combinations and seasonings with much fervor. I gave him a very big applause. Amazing! There is definitely nothing better than eating! Food, banzai!! And if possible, I want him to make j.a.panese food. I want to eat sushi and Isobe-age. [2]  No, wait, if it’s Isobe-age I could probably make it if I got some seaweed…? But I’m an eating specialist. This is non-negotiable, whether I be in human or dragon form. …I can cook, at an average level, maybe, ….probably.

You might be wondering why I don’t try to cook people. That’s because people are meant to be eaten whole! Eat wildly![3] This is Dragon・Life! …My brain really has become dragon oriented.

I walked to Madam’s place while thinking such things. I look calm and collected on the outside, but my brain is filled with thoughts of food. Is that bad?

Anyway, what exactly did I do? I’ve been just cleaning normally, ah, maybe its about my unexcused absence? This is bad.

With a nervous sigh, I knocked on Madam’s door. Receiving permission, I entered the room.

“Sorry for calling you over while you were resting.”

“No no, its fine.”

There’s no problem. I was just talking to Chiffon about sweets.

“Actually we found a suitable servant for the Fourth Knight Corps.”

…How sudden. Was this why I was called out?

“We had someone prepared just in case you came back, but you stayed for a long time. We thank you for that. But the other day, a perfect candidate for the job came in. If you wish to continue work at the dorms that is fine, but it would help us greatly if you came back.”

Oh.

“What do you mean by the ‘perfect candidate’?”

“She is Mr. Defoe’s daughter. Its not a job very well suited for her, but she insisted that she wanted to work in the same workplace as her father. It’ll probably put the father to ease to have her nearby, and it’ll help her as well. She said she was okay, even if it was difficult work. What an ambitious child.”

Madam is smiling. I guess she’s a considerably good child. …――Huh? The Vice-captains D A U G H T E R?

So he did have a child! A daughter, even!!

“Is something the matter?”

If someone more suited than me has arrived, then I should withdraw gracefully. Madam did tell me in the beginning that it’s only until they find another person. Especially since it’s the Vice-captain’s daughter. There is no reason for me not to withdraw.

I’m a bit sad though. But timing wise, this is a pretty good opportunity.

I gave a small nod.

“Yes please.”

Ah, wait I can’t eat Na.s.sau’s food anymore. Dammit…！！

In the end I couldn’t even properly give my regards. Madam told me that since it’s a sudden thing she would be the one to tell them about the change. Since she told me that I can already get back to work, it should be fine. I wanted to part ways properly though. But I don’t have a reason to go there anymore.

I regret not being able to eat Na.s.sau’s food anymore, but it can’t be helped. But maybe I can sneak over there and get some food. There’s a lot of food made daily, and there’s bound to be some extra. Oh, maybe I can use food as a reason? Properly give them my regards, as well as get some of Na.s.sau’s food.

I really am food oriented.

“Vito you’re going to come back? Really? Uwah, I’m glad! We can work together again!”

When I told Chiffon that my a.s.signment is returning to normal, she was very excited as if it was about her. It made me kind of happy.

“I wonder, did if they find a replacement?”

Ariade was also here. Since the beds take up the majority of the room, so the only seat we have are the beds. By the way, Ariade is seated next to me.

“Yeah, apparently its the vice-captain’s daughter.”

“Vice-captain… ah, that girl.”

“You know her?”

Ariade frowns a bit, but shakes her head and tells me it’s nothing. Does she know something? I’m curious, but I don’t want to force her to tell me. While I was trying to withhold my curiosity, there’s a knock at the door. Maybe its one of the co-workers? They sometimes come around and pa.s.s out candy or snacks, so I’m kind of looking forward to it. However, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

When Chiffon calls out with a ‘its open-‘ Chiffon walks in. …Wait, Chiffon?

“Chiffon?”

“Eh?”

Chiffon is seated on the bed right across from me. But Chiffon has also entered the room from the door. Wha, wait. Two Chiffons?

“Ah, Sis! [4]”

Sister!?

She has the same honey-colored hair, but it goes down to her waist. Their eyes are also the same color. Not to mention how there’s another pair of marshmallows ! …really,why do I keep seeing things from a perverted old man’s perspective? Maybe when I was human, I was an old man? If I was, I want to be a dandy old man, and not a pervert.

But I really was surprised. They’re…

“You had a twin?”

“Yup! Did I not tell you?”

She never mentioned it before. Since she called her ‘older sister’ I thought she was much older, but they look exactly the same. They’re definitely identical twins, no matter how I look at it. But she has a tastier aura to her. Does that mean she has more magic power? But that was a surprise. Really, a surprise. Ariade looks between the two of them with an open-mouthed expression, probably also surprised. If their hair lengths were the same, I would definitely mistake the two.

Seeing our surprised expressions, Chiffon’s sister laughs with a ‘fufufu’.

“Even our parents used to mistake us for each other. We even switched our names as a prank. Even now I still respond to the name Chiffon.”

“I was often mistaken for you in the castle as well. It was really troublesome to explain!”

“Really? Sorry, although I did tell them that my sister is working here now as well.”

If they mistake you two even after being told, that just means that you two look that much alike.

Chiffon mumbled about cutting her hair even more. It seems she doesn’t like being mistaken for her sister.

“So you two Vito and Ariade. Feel free to just call me Madeline! Our ages aren’t that different, so let’s get along.”

Their parents must really like sweets. I later found out that they also have a younger sister and brother, whose names are Millefeuille and Chocolate. I’ll call them the (western) sweets family from now on. Yeah, let’s do that.

“Ah, you were talking about something, right? Sorry for interrupting your conversation, but what were you talking about?”

Madeline sits next to Chiffon. Now that I see them side by side, they really are identical. Even their way of talking is also identical. But if I pay really close attention, Madeline speaks more crisply compared to Chiffon.

“We’re talking about the girl who’s going to take over Vito’s job! Apparently it’s the Vice-captain’s daughter!”

I add that it’s the Fourth Knight corps’s vice-captain. When I say that, Madeline’s eyes widen.

“So you were the person who got a.s.signed to that job that everyone quits?”

“Ah, yeah.”

“Since there was no change in such a long time, we thought that finally the right person appeared… but I guess it changed again.”

“Madam said they found a better suited person than me.”

“And that person is the Vice-captain’s daughter?”

When I nodded Madeline made the same face as Ariade did and paused, thinking.

“If I remember correctly Mister Defoe’s daughter… she’s the spoiled one, right.”

Hrmm. Is the vice-captain’s child a person to be so bothered about? I’m kind of curious. I want to ask but Madeline said it was nothing, and changed the conversation. I’m really want to know. …a lot.

There was also another thing I wanted to know.

“Since when have you been working here, Madeline?”

If she’s the same age as Chiffon, she’s supposed to be 17, and from what I’ve heard of the first knight corps, they’ve all worked there for more than 1-2 years.

“Since I was 12. I started working ever since I was adopted.”

“Adopted?”

“My name is Madeline・Morante. The Morante family is technically n.o.bility, but they’re a bit unusual. They have children but don’t have a successor, so when my family and I came to visit the castle-town I was invited in.

“Isn’t the Morante family the family that’s been serving as court magicians for generations?”

Ariade becomes even more surprised. Are magicians that rare? I heard that there aren’t that many of them, but I’ve never actually met one so I wouldn’t know.

Apparently there were a lot more magicians 300 years ago, when inter-dimensional summoning was popular.

“Does that mean you have a lot of magical power?”

“Hrm… I can’t really tell myself, but apparently I do.”

When I observed her closely, it seems she is liked by my favorite food, the spirit of earth. Recently, I’ve gained the ability to see what spirit people are blessed by if I concentrate. By the way, Ariade is blessed by the spirit of water.

“I didn’t want to just rely on the Morante family, and so when I said I wanted to work they got me a job in the first knight corps that my brother-in-law, Oyoshi, works at.”

Although Oyoshi is a biological child of the Morante family, apparently he doesn’t have much magic power.

Hrmm. But twins are so mysterious. I know a pair of human twins from my human memories, but they were fraternal twins so they had different appearances and different personalities, so meeting people like Chiffon and Madeline is a new experience for me. THIS is what twins are! Probably.

“Since we’re twins, perhaps Chiffon has magic power as well?”

“We had it looked into, but apparently I don’t have any magic power, unlike my sister.”

Maybe Madeline ended up taking all of Chiffon’s magical power in the womb. She does seem tastier than the n.o.bles around here.

Detecting how much amount of magic power someone has by how delicious they seem is pretty weird too but…. If I had a sister like Madeline, I think would really look up to her. I really want an older sister. That means I had an older brother, I’m kind of disappointed.

“There’s a way to detect someone’s magical power?”

“Oh, you don’t know? It’s an gla.s.s ball small enough so you can hold it in one hand. If you’re curious I can bring it in next time.”

No, I’m good. I’m curious but I have a feeling that the results are going to be really troublesome. Because I’m a dragon.

When I decline, Madeline mutters an ‘is that so’ and looks disappointed.

More like are you even allowed to bring the measurement tool here?

“I was requested by my father-in-law. There might be more people like me who are magically powerful that is a commoner, so if anyone’s curious have them take the test. And if they are, to encourage them to join us.”

Aah, that was dangerous.

“My intuition is pretty good, and so I wanted you to try the test Vito… but I won’t force you to. If you ever change your mind, tell me! Ah, right, how about you Ariade?”

“I’m fine.”

Cool as always, Ariade. But I like the gap that shows up on occasion. [5]

“U-n, you guys are difficult to persuade. Well, that’s fine. Anyways, we should all get a break together and go to the castle town! I know a store with cute clothes and accessories! It’s a pretty good idea, right?”

Now that I think about it, I don’t have any normal clothes other than my uniform. I was dressed like this for my entire break, and I hadn’t even though about changing. I saved up quite a bit of money, and it might be a more convenient to get one or more sets of clothes. It’s also been a while since I’ve last planned an outing with fellow girls. I wasn’t that good at choosing out clothes, but I had a friend who kept track of trends and helped me buy stuff.

There is a nostalgic and happy feeling.

Somehow I can recall a lot of human memories today. Strange. It seems that if I’m living as a human, human memories are easier to recall.

The next day, I found out why Ariade and Madeline wanted to go shopping so much.

Since I was in charge of role-call today, I gave the list to Milena after we came back.

“You’re Vito・Tienu, correct?”

“Eh? Ah, yes.”

A cute girl suddenly popped up in front of me. She’s about 15cm shorter than me and wearing the same clothes. Even though it’s the same clothes, she seems to have worn it better. I wonder why. Even though it’s a normal servant uniform, when she wears it, it looks like some normal cute everyday clothes. She has familiar navy eyes and silky peach-colored hair that is tied in two by lacey ribbons right above her ears. Maybe she’s using some make up, not as heavily as the n.o.ble women we see around here, but her large eyes really caught my attention. Her lips also seemed have something like gloss on them. It kind of makes you want to involuntarily kiss them. Oh, no not me. I was speaking for the general male public.

Anyway, she was really different from those dressed up n.o.ble ladies we see often.

“Fuunn. So its you, huh.”

She inspects me from head to toe and wrinkles her forehead in displeasure.

“Hair that’s not even tamed properly and tanned skin, not to mention the lack of makeup. Haa, you’re a failure as a woman. Not good at all.”

I feel that she placed emphasis on ‘at all’.

I wasn’t sure how to reply so I just stood there.

“Whatever. It doesn’t matter, because I’m a.s.signed to the Fourth Knight corps now.”

Wait, you’re the vice-captain’s daughter…? Eh, you don’t look alike at all! The eye color is the same, sure, but you don’t look like him at all! I’ll say it again, they don’t look alike at all!

I wonder how a cute girl is related to the Vice-captain. Perhaps she looks more like her mother.

“I heard that the previous employee was employed for a very long time, so I was curious but she’s ‘this’ huh. I’m tired of looking at you. What a waste of a good hour.”

Ha, I see. Sorry for taking up your time.

The girl turned her back on me and left with a huff.

…e? Do I really look that uncouth?

As a girl (female) I’m kind of worried.

For now, let’s consult Ariade later. I saw some lotion in her room when I visited, and her hair is miraculously shiny and soft. And at the same time, I had come to the come to the conclusion that a human girl is a pain to maintain.

TN:

[1] Chiffon was the one who told Vito about this, and Vito mentioning how clumsy Chiffon is implies that Chiffon got into trouble with the Madam often.
[2] Isobe-age is basically mochi wrapped in sea-weed. I believe its usually grilled? It tastes pretty good with soy-sauce.
[3] the whole ‘wild’ thing probably doesnt make much sense in English, but bear with me here, I have no idea how to translate it into English. If you know sugi-chan and the whole ‘wild-daze’ joke, its like that. Other wise, i have no idea how to explain it.
[4] Chiffon actually calls her ‘oneechan’ aka older sister. I just didn’t want to put that there, seemed too formal.
[5] Gap-Moe. Ariade has gap-moe.