There, standing right in front of me, was a petite girl about 150 cm tall—roughly the same height as me—carefully checking on her appearance.
Her bright red hair cascaded down to her waist like a river of blood. Her eyes were quite large and well decorated by long, beautiful eyelashes. She had a sharp nose and lips as lustrous as ripe peaches. Her body was slender, yet her bust was surprisingly well-developed, and her skin was white, fair, and radiant like freshly fallen snow on a winter morning. Most striking of all were the pair of black horns protruding backward from the top of her head.
She was beautiful. No, stunning was the right word—and I wasn't exaggerating.
I was so captivated that I instantly regretted averting my gaze earlier. That alone should say how enchanting she was. But even so, I had no choice, because—
"Verdra! W-why are you naked!?" I screamed from the bottom of my lungs, squeezing my eyes shut as hard as I could.
"What are you getting so worked up for?" Verdra asked, clearly confused.
"It's because of you, of course! Please put some clothes on! I'm begging you! You'll make this really hard for me otherwise!"
And I meant that literally. Especially in the area between the base of my legs.
"What? You expect me to wear clothes? I don't have any—and why would I need them? I've never worn any before," she replied casually.
I immediately turned around and opened the shop menu, buying a set of my school's girls' uniform—something I'd sworn to myself I'd never even think about purchasing. It cost me 15000 Currencies—about half of what I have left—but I didn't care, there's something more important right now.
"H-here! Put these on!" I shoved the clothes toward her without opening my eyes.
She took them, then said softly, "Why are you keeping your eyes closed? Is my new appearance really that terrible?"
Her dejected tone stabbed straight into my conscience.
"Absolutely not! You're way too beautiful! If I keep looking, I might end up attacking you—in one way or another—so please!" I blurted out.
"Why would you attack me for being beautiful?"
"Uuuh! This is going nowhere. Please! Just wear the clothes, and we'll talk later!"
"Alright… um…"
"Now what?"
"How do I put this on?"
Oh my god. What did I do to deserve this?
Okay—calm down, Yuu. This is nothing. Why are you panicking over a girl's bare skin? This is like those anime characters who completely lose it over a hanging bra. I'm not one of them! I can handle this.
I slowly opened my eyes—
—and immediately shut them again.
Nope. I can't. This is way too much for a virgin like me.
Turning my back to her, I explained how to put on underwear. She got stuck trying to hook her bra, so I had to help. After that, I fixed her skirt, buttoned her shirt, helped her into the blazer, and adjusted her bow tie—trying my best not to look.
"Haah… haah… haah…" I let out several labored breaths once I was done. "It's still early in the morning, and I'm already exhausted."
"You got exhausted just from dressing me?" She tilted her head cutely, pressing a finger to her chin.
"I don't want to hear that from someone who got so worked up just from seeing my bare skin," I shot back, crossing my arms.
She darted her eyes left and right, scrambling for an excuse. "I-I mean, that's your fault for showing your birth day suit in front of a maiden!"
"And here you are, showing yours to a healthy young boy! O-okay, maybe not technically your birth day suit, but still!"
"I-if you put it that way… I guess you're right. I'm sorry," she said, looking down at her feet.
"As long as you understand, please don't ever do that again. I'm begging you."
"O-okay. I get it."
"..."
"..."
Well… this is awkward.
"B-by the way," I said, trying to break the silence, "you look really beautiful in your human form. I'm completely captivated."
Why did I say that!?
"I-I'm glad you like it," she replied, her cheeks faintly flushed.
Why are you blushing!? Now you're making me blush, too!
"Y-Yuu, you know I can hear your thoughts if you intend to convey them, right?" she reminded me.
Ah—
"..."
"..."
Our awkward comedy routine act continued for a while.
"So," I said eventually, "you're saying your human form is just as powerful as your dragon form?"
Right now, we were sitting face-to-face. She explained that she could fully harness her power in this body—something she'd only been able to do in her full dragon form before.
"Yes. This body is very flexible, too. I think I can even perform moves I couldn't as a dragon."
"That makes sense. Your dragon form was huge—it must've been hard to move in a cramped place like this."
"I know, right? I think I'll stay like this from now on… a-and you said this form was b-beautiful too, so that's another reason—"
She stopped when our eyes met, quickly looking away, her face turning red.
I thought we were past this already! Why'd she blushing again!? Aagh—why's she so cute!? She's supposed to be a dragon! Dragons are supposed to be cool and intimidating! In my imagination, at least...
Thankfully, I hadn't intended to convey those absolutely embarrassing thoughts.
"S-so you won't turn into a dragon anymore?" I asked, steering the conversation away. "That's unfortunate. I actually liked riding your dragon form."
"You… liked riding me?" she asked, looking with flushed cheeks and upturned gaze— a look that could make any man's heart skip a beat or two—heck! Even a million.
Good god. Phrasing!
"I also liked riding on top of your head," she added innocently. "So I kind of understand how you feel."
"Y-yeah. By the way, can you fly in this form? I didn't see any wings earlier."
Have I said "by the way" too many times today?
"I think I can…" She stood up and began undoing her bow tie and unbuttoning her shirt.
"Hey! What are you doing!?" I grabbed her wrist.
"These clothes are expensive, right? I don't want to damage them. Don't worry—I'm not unbuttoning everything. I just want to test something."
"…What exactly?"
"I want to spread my wings."
I let go.
She unbuttoned the top two buttons and slid her shirt and blazer slightly off her shoulders. From between her neck and shoulder blades, two pairs of large, blood-red, bat-like wings emerged, spreading beneath her hair.
"Wow…" I whispered in awe.
She flapped them and lifted herself slightly off the ground. "Yeah. Works just fine."
"That's awesome! I wish I could fly too."
"Sure," she said—and suddenly scooped me up in a bridal carry. "You can fly like this."
"T-this isn't how I imagined flying, and it's really embarrassing, Please put me down..." My face burned from the closeness—and her barely concealed cleavage.
Her wings vanished, and she gently set me down.
"Ahem." I cleared my throat. "How about we head to the 2nd floor? You've gotten the hang of your new body, right?"
"More or less." She buttoned her shirt and fixed her bow tie. "Let's go."
"One more thing. Are you okay without shoes? I can buy some."
"It's fine. I can do this." Her feet were suddenly covered by knee-high, blood-red boots that looked metallic, jagged like dragon scales.
"Woah! What's that?"
"My scales. I turned them into protective boots." She puffed out her chest proudly.
That must be her Draconic Ecdysis skill.
"Dragons really are cool," I said, giving her a thumbs-up.
"Of course we are! Hahaha. Go on—praise me more."
"You're amazing, Miss Verdra. I'm falling in love all over again," I clapped sarcastically.
She turned away, flustered. "T-that's enough! Let's go!"
"Alright."
Grabbing my halberd, I followed behind her.
…Is it just me, or is she surprisingly easy?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
We arrived at the second floor after about 20 minutes of walking down the stairs. We were now standing at the first intersection of the 2nd floor.
"So, where do we go from here?" Verdra asked while tugging lightly on the hem of my shirt.
"We'll go left." I pointed ahead. "We need to do some leveling up before facing that red Minotaur from yesterday. It'll make things a lot easier."
We took the left path and walked for several minutes before encountering our first enemies.
"2 monsters incoming!" I warned.
2 Lv60 Minotaurs emerged from the far end of the corridor and charged toward us side by side.
"Verdra! Take the left one—and can you make some ice for me?" I asked.
"Okay." She began chanting. "…Create Ice!"
A block of ice about the size of my body formed from her right hand and extended down to the floor.
"This is way too much for just 2 Minotaurs… eh, whatever, let's go!" I declared, tearing off a chunk of ice from what she'd created.
I formed 8 ice shards, each about the size of a pen, and sprinted forward. I fired 4 of them as a diversion toward their midsections and legs.
The Minotaurs swung their axes, blocking the shards aimed at their torsos, but failed to intercept the ones targeting their legs. The ice didn't deal any real damage, but—
While they were still recovering from the momentum of their swings, I launched my remaining 4 shards straight at their eyes.
The ice pierced cleanly through, drawing out a loud, agonized roar from them.
""Ghuooo!""
"Verdra, now!" I signaled.
I readied my halberd, pulling it back before swinging diagonally into the right thigh of the Minotaur on the right.
"Hrraaah!"
The blade severed its leg in one clean strike, without even activating the halberd's special effect. The Minotaur collapsed to the ground with a heavy thud.
At the same time, behind me, Verdra formed a jagged, blood-red gauntlet covering her arm up to the elbow, along with a meter-long, double-edged sword of the same color.
She gripped the hilt with both hands and enveloped the blade in blue flames. With remarkable speed, she rushed the Minotaur on the left, leapt forward from about 3 meters away, and swung her sword at its neck.
The head separated instantly.
As she landed, a small pillar of blue flame erupted from the monster's severed neck before its body toppled forward.
Once she was done, I finished my own target by cutting off its neck as it lay on the ground.
Both bodies dissolved into soft light, leaving behind 2 stacks of neatly folded Minotaur Pelts and their magic stones, just like always.
< Lv up x3 >
"This is sooo much easier when you have such a strong partner," I murmured.
"I leveled up 6 times, and my mana reserves are back to full—just like you said," Verdra replied while checking her status page.
"That's because of your new Lv-up Recovery skill from our contract—more importantly!" I leaned closer. "What were those super cool moves just now!? I thought you were only good with magic. You're good with swords too!?"
"Hehemm…" She puffed out her chest and struck a proud pose. "That was actually my first time using a sword. How was it?"
"Magnificent! And that sword—and that magic—what were those?"
"This sword is made from my scales, same as my boots and gauntlets. And the magic was Hellfire, infused directly into the blade. I combined magic with raw strength to conserve mana."
"Infuse fire is Lv4 magic, but Hellfire is Lv10! How did you even have enough mana to cast that?"
"I kept the spell's potency at the minimum. It's still Hellfire, though—so it's much hotter than regular fire magic."
"But, isn't that overkill? You could've killed it with just the sword."
"I didn't want the monster's blood splattering all over me, so I burned it."
"Ahaha." I chuckled flatly. "Even if you're a dragon, you still have the heart of a girl, huh?"
"Of course I do!" she protested with a shrug.
After our first victory of the day, I asked Verdra to trim the Minotaur pelts into roughly circular shapes and cut 2 pairs of ropes about a meter long using her sword. I didn't have anything sharp enough—my kitchen knife couldn't pierce the pelts, and my halberd was better suited for blunt force. Verdra's sword was perfect.
I wanted to do the work myself, but apparently, she couldn't let go of her sword since it was technically part of her body, so I gave up on that idea. I guess, it was what it was.
Next, I asked her to poke holes along the edges of the round pelts and weave the ropes through them, turning them into makeshift hip pouches. I desperately needed storage—well… not really, my pockets were just far too limited.
Why not just buy a backpack from the shop menu then? Because there wasn't one. No bags, no backpacks, not even simple pouches. Why the shop didn't sell them? I had no idea. That's just how it was.
After finishing 2 makeshift hip pouches, I gave 1 to Verdra and stored my belongings in the other—just the scroll I found with her yesterday and a few magic stones. I needed the stones to power my halberd.
Magic weapons/items could be powered either by the user's mana or by inserting a magic stone into them, depending on the item. My halberd, for instance, had a slot for one at the end of its handle.
Gripping my halberd once more, we continued deeper into the dungeon, hunting for EXP.