Late at night, the tavern’s owner, staff, and a few lingering patrons all simultaneously stared at the three strange figures stepping through the door.
A beautiful woman, wearing a feathered-trimmed long coat in early summer, with an unsettling gaze that made one hesitant to look directly.
A long-haired man with gold-rimmed glasses, moving with an effortless grace yet perfectly precise, dressed in a shirt of a style nobody had seen before.
And a green-eyed, white-haired “girl” whose age was impossible to tell, wearing a hat.
The trio was so bizarre that the instinctive thought was: “Best not to look.” Yet curiosity made it impossible to look away.
The young waiter blinked for a moment before hurrying over. “Um… may I ask who you three are?”
“Who are we?” Ivak started, but Kasa interrupted.
Kasa frowned at the waiter, speaking sharply: “Since we walked into your establishment, we are of course customers! Asking ‘Who are you?’ instead of ‘What would you like?’—I truly didn’t expect this.”
“I-I'm so sorry!” The waiter bowed repeatedly. “It’s our oversight. Please forgive us, three of you!”
“That’s more like it.” Kasa folded her arms and walked inside, surveying the room. “What are you staring at? Mind your own drinks!”
“…Using such an unreasonable tone while speaking politely… as expected of Miss Kasa,” Ivak muttered quietly, then chuckled to himself.
The three found a table and sat down.
The waiter quickly approached. “May I take your order?”
Kasa took the menu and glanced over it. “Then… three of your tavern’s special side dishes, and three bottles…?”
She looked at Ivak.
Ivak smiled and patted Reese’s head. “Reese can’t drink alcohol yet. Do you have milk?”
“Ah… yes,” the waiter nodded and noted it down.
“Then two bottles of your signature sake,” Kasa said. “That will do for now.”
“Understood. I’ll prepare that right away.” The waiter bowed and left.
“…Reese?” Kasa suddenly called.
Reese blinked, then bared her teeth at Kasa.
“…What’s that expression?” Kasa muttered, confused. “Is that hostility toward me?”
“…Yes.” Reese gritted her teeth. “Because… you’re a bad person.”
Kasa paused, then laughed. “A bad person… haha, fine, I guess that’s fair.”
“Why did you suddenly appear and attack Mr. Ivak and me?!” Reese frowned, her green eyes staring daggers at Kasa.
“…Because I thought this guy was a bad person.” Kasa pointed at Ivak, who sat quietly with his eyes half-closed.
“Mr. Ivak is not a bad person!” Reese immediately blushed, as if a fuse had been lit.
“Then if I tell you I’m not a bad person… would you believe me?” Kasa crossed her arms, looking at the fuming Reese.
“I won’t believe you!” she shot back.
“Exactly. So even if you told me this guy wasn’t bad, I wouldn’t believe it either.” Kasa grinned.
Reese froze, momentarily speechless from being outmaneuvered.
“…Teasing children like this makes Miss Kasa seem even more like a bad person,” Ivak said, rubbing Reese’s head.
Not waiting for Kasa’s reply, Reese shook off Ivak’s hand. “Ugh… I’m not a child!”
“…Fine, fine. Not a child.” Ivak sighed, smiling. “Adults don’t shout in public and disturb others, you know.”
“Ugh!” Reese jumped, puffing her cheeks.
“Here are your side dishes, sake, and milk,” the waiter returned with a tray.
“Oh, thank you.” Ivak nodded. “We’re quite a strange set of customers, aren’t we?”
“Oh… not at all.” The waiter blinked, then smiled and waved. Sneaking a glance at Kasa, he added, “Please enjoy, and call if you need anything.”
The waiter left.
Reese lifted her head. “Ugh… Miss Kasa.”
“Hm?” Kasa looked surprised that Reese addressed her. “What is it?”
“…I don’t know what happened between you and Mr. Ivak before, but,” Reese frowned tightly, though her expression was calmer, “tonight, I saw Miss Kasa suddenly appear and attack us, then bring Mr. Ivak here for drinks. So I feel Miss Kasa is a bad person.”
“…Oh.” Kasa raised an eyebrow. “Anything else?”
“I want to know why!” Reese bit her lip. “Why attack us?”
“Because this guy sold me something before, but the effect he described was completely different from what actually happened. I was very angry and, from then on, I hated him intensely.” Kasa said, opening her sake and pouring it into a cup.
—Oddly, her face flushed slightly even before drinking.
Reese tried to digest that, then looked at Ivak. “Mr. Ivak, is that true?”
“…Sort of.” Ivak didn’t deny it. “But, on the other hand, if used properly—”
Kasa silently formed a few crow-feathered arrows in her hand—ready to throw, her face red.
“Are you asking me? What should I do?” Ivak shrugged. “Reese, see, Miss Kasa doesn’t like talking about this… Either way, she got angry. That can’t be helped.”
Seeing Ivak stop speaking, Kasa hid her crow feathers.
“Then it’s Mr. Ivak’s fault.” Reese suddenly became “serious.” “I don’t understand all the details, but if there’s a problem with how it was used, it’s because Mr. Ivak didn’t clearly explain it to Miss Kasa!”
Ivak listened, bewildered, as Reese lectured him, while Kasa covered her face, already red enough to burn.
“Mr. Ivak told me: if someone buys our goods, they are a customer, and we must satisfy their needs. That includes Miss Kasa. Not explaining properly caused a bad outcome—of course the customer would be upset!” Reese went on. “Didn’t Mr. Ivak teach me this, yet not follow it himself?”
Ivak bowed his head. “…Reese, this isn’t… well, fine, I admit it was my fault…”
Reese turned to Kasa, noticing her flushed face. “? Miss Kasa, why are you so red?”
“…Don’t ask.” Kasa replied tersely, lifting her sake and drinking in one go.
Ivak did the same opposite her.
Reese looked puzzled. “Did I say something wrong?”
“You said it exactly right.” Kasa took a deep breath, picking up a piece of pickled radish. “Better not ask why my face is red.”
“Ugh.” Reese blinked her wide, curious eyes and sipped her milk.
“…Ivak.”
Ivak had just poured himself sake. “Yes?”
“How old is this little girl?” Kasa asked.
“Exactly 140 years,” Ivak replied. “She’s a dragon from the Andrew branch.”
“Whoa?” Kasa glanced at Reese. “So she’s actually that young—”
Reese’s eyes widened, and her cheeks puffed out.
“Yet she speaks and acts very maturely.” Kasa finished casually. Reese immediately set down her milk.
Kasa paused.
“Miss Kasa… are you serious!?” Reese’s eyes sparkled as if full of stars.
“Ugh, sometimes she’s a bit childish, but just now, she did very well.” Kasa smiled knowingly—though part of it was genuine. “Some things made me a little embarrassed… but very impressive.”
Reese’s face rapidly turned crimson.
“Reese,” Ivak pressed her head gently, “adults don’t get overly excited just because someone says they’re mature.”
“Ugh!” Reese immediately realized her mistake. “I got it!”
Then she quietly ate her side dishes and drank her milk like a “well-behaved lady.”
“Haha.” Kasa laughed. “Did you raise this kid?”
“No,” Ivak said. “When I saw that egg close to hatching, there was a particularly nasty monster nearby, waiting to prey on the hatchling. I couldn’t stand it, so I saved the egg.”
“Whoa, didn’t expect you to do something like that.” Kasa raised her sake.
“…I stopped doing that long ago. Finding Reese’s egg was 140 years ago, and by then, I was already a full-time traveling merchant.” Ivak clinked his cup with Kasa. “Dragons can hunt soon after birth. I didn’t do much with her, but she followed me.”
“And then?” Kasa chewed on her side dish.
“Sometimes it was boring running alone, so I let her follow me.” Ivak ruffled Reese’s head. “She’s my most precious little one.”
Reese grinned. “I’m not a little one!”
“Alright, alright, not a little one.” Ivak laughed.
After a few cheerful moments, Reese turned to Kasa.
“What is it?” Kasa put down her chopsticks.
“…Miss Kasa, I have a request.”
“Oh? A request for me?” Kasa smiled. “If you don’t mind me being a ‘bad person,’ I’ll treat it as repaying you for defending me earlier.”
“Ugh.” Reese pressed her lips. “Can I call Miss Kasa… my Sister?”
“Eh?” Kasa blinked. “That’s… an unusual request.”
“Mm, because you’re the first person to say I’m mature!” Reese sat up straight. “I like you!”