There’s No Way I Can Raise a Dragon Daughter

“Ah… that…”

“Innkeeper! Where have you been?! Hurry and come here!”

I called for the innkeeper, momentarily setting aside the rambling Sasha, who seemed quite shocked.

Where the heck has he been wandering around until now?

It’s a good thing I knocked that guy out cold with my fantastic aim; if I had failed, it might have ended with my jaw being shattered.

“What the heck! Julia, did you hit a customer again?!”

“That guy! You know, the one! That thing. You know…”

“What is it? Speak! Don’t just say that like an uncle!”

“You know! The brat who’s been calling Sasha out behind the shop and ruining the atmosphere!”

“Oh. That guy. Good job, Julia.”

The innkeeper, confirming the tattooed pig that was sprawled out sleeping, let out an “Ah” in understanding.

Then, skillfully, he lifted the huge guy and tossed him outside the shop.

Maybe it was because he was a former knight, but despite looking quite skinny, he had considerable strength.

Is that what they call actual combat muscle?

“J-Julia! Master! Just now…!”

“Don’t worry, Sasha. I’ll contact the guards and have that guy taken away. I’m sorry for leaving him alone like this.”

“That’s not it!”

Suddenly, Sasha shouted loudly.

I was taken aback, wondering what was going on, and both the innkeeper and I fell silent, staring at Sasha.

“Tia!”

“What about Tia? She’s in the room on the second floor.”

“No! Tia just went out through the door!”

“Eh? What do you mean…?”

“Julia! Tia has disappeared from the second floor! Are you holding her?!”

“……”

With a loud thud, Irina rushed down the stairs.

The four of us froze for a moment in silence.

Tia wasn’t on the second floor.

Neither the innkeeper nor Irina nor I knew where she was.

That naturally made Sasha’s words true.

Tia was outside…

My vision fogged over.

“Ah! Why didn’t you say something sooner!”

“I-I’m sorry! I thought I had her attention, but she just took off while checking for something!”

“……”

I hurriedly kicked the door open, but there was no sign of Tia in the alley outside.

No. There were signs.

“This is really…?”

Tiny footprints were left in the muddy ground.

Seeing the strides a bit larger than I expected, it seemed she had run off quite energetically.

I told her not to go outside like that, but she still did.

“Sasha, Irina, stay here and watch the shop!”

“Why are you coming along, innkeeper?”

“Because I’m worried about sending you out alone at this hour.”

“……”

That’s definitely true.

This world has a significantly lower level of safety compared to South Korea, so wandering around alone at night is practically the same as saying, “Please rape me.”

But it seems Tia went farther than expected.

No matter how many corners I turned, I couldn’t see Tia.

“Tia! Tia! Just try to get caught! I’ll beat you!”

“Hey, if you do that, she’ll just run more…”

I bit my lip.

I warned her so earnestly; why did she run away?

Is it because I haven’t been taking care of her properly lately?

I’ve definitely been leaving her in the room or with Irina for longer than the time I actually spend with her.

Thinking of that, I felt a bit sorry…

“Damn. What am I supposed to do when I’m busy?”

That can’t be right.

Even when I’m busy, I’ve treated her well.

Every time she whined about being heavy, I held her.

During business hours, when those scary uncles taught her strange words, I patiently answered her questions.

On holidays, I even took her out to show her some sunlight.

There’s no parent more devoted than this.

Even my biological mother wouldn’t go this far.

Ah. I am her real mother…

In any case, after all that care, her response is to run away.

You’d better prepare yourself. If you get caught, you’re done for.

“Tia!”

“Mm!”

I finally found her.

Tia was not lying flat or sitting but was awkwardly positioned on all fours, glancing back at me.

It seemed she was taking a break after running.

Fortunately, her cute hat hadn’t slipped off yet.

I took a deep breath, stopped, and called out to Tia.

“Come here quickly. If you come by yourself, I’ll only give you a light slap on the butt. If I catch you, it’ll be a real punishment.”

“……!”

Tia’s eyes widened.

But it seemed she took it as a joke and burst into a bright smile.

If she gets caught, I’ll really give her a solid slap.

“I told you to come.”

“Mm…”

I could almost hear her thoughts rolling around in her head.

After a moment of hesitation, she-

“Hey! I told you to come!”

“Muhuh!”

She turned her back, cutely puffed up, and started running again.

In a fit of rage, I started chasing her with all my might.

Though I tried to run thinking about my past as a man, my heavy hips and aching chest quickly turned it into a lady’s modest run.

But still, I was faster than Tia.

Fortunately, I managed to catch up to her just before she turned the next corner.

“I’ve got you…!”

“Huk!”

At that moment, a dark shadow loomed over from around the corner, and Tia bumped her head into it before bouncing back.

Just before her head hit the ground, I managed to grab her by the armpits and scoop her up.

Ah. My clothes ended up a mess as they scraped against the mud.

“Oh dear. I’m very sorry. Are you hurt?”

“……”

Tia and I slowly raised our heads at the soft voice of a man.

It was a familiar voice.

Sure enough, standing before me was the priest who had visited the shop before.

This time, he was in black priestly robes instead of the white ones, so I almost didn’t recognize him.

“Yes, I’m fine. Hello, priest!”

“Nice to meet you again.”

“Yeah…”

As I slowly helped Tia to her feet, I couldn’t keep my eyes off the priest’s right hand, which he discreetly concealed behind himself.

I had definitely seen it.

The red bloodstains on his sleeve.

Given how often I’ve had to deal with blood recently, I could say with certainty that it was blood.

A chill ran down my spine.

‘What the hell is he doing here?’

A guy who hides a knife in his sleeve shows up in the alley with blood on him in the early morning?

I had a pretty good idea of where he might have come from and what he had been up to.

That was the problem.

If only he were acting dumb and obnoxious, I could pretend not to know.

But with his uneasy gaze and awkward demeanor, it was as if I was saying, “I noticed everything.”

But that wasn’t the only problem.

“Mm…”

Oh.

I just now noticed that Tia’s hat had fallen off and was rolling on the ground.

It felt like I couldn’t breathe.

Tia made a strange sound and bent down to pick up the hat, placing it back on her head before pressing it down again. I was frozen, unable to say anything.

“Julia.”

“Y-Yes…”

“How about we pretend we didn’t see each other today?”

“Sounds good! Yes! Let’s do that!”

I quickly nodded in agreement, shaking Tia’s cheeks to make her nod along.

We have to forget about it.

I’ll forget the blood on the priest’s clothes.

The priest will forget about Tia’s horns.

“What does the innkeeper think?”

“Huh? What do you mean pretend we didn’t see each other…?”

“The innkeeper didn’t see the priest today, either! Right, innkeeper?”

“No, please explain this to me. I just got here. What’s going on-”

“Oh, innkeeper! Answer!”

“Alright. We’ll pretend we didn’t see each other, priest.”

“……”

I almost got in trouble because of that clueless guy.

After hearing the innkeeper’s response, the priest smiled gently.

Seeing that the blade didn’t come out from his sleeve, it seemed he wasn’t planning to eliminate all witnesses.

“It would be a nuisance to the residents to talk for too long at such a late hour. I will take my leave now.”

“Yes. Please take care, priest.”

“Go inside.”

“Take care!”

With that, the priest quietly vanished around the corner.

I scooped Tia up and quickly turned around, heading back to the shop at a fast pace.

I periodically checked behind me, fearing he might follow.

I still felt an overwhelming chill down my spine.

“What’s up? What did the priest say?”

“It’s better if you don’t know. No, it’s better for you not to know.”

“Ah! I’m so curious!”

There was no need to be curious at all.

Ignoring the innkeeper’s continuous pestering, I hurried back to the shop.

“Julia! What happened to your clothes?”

“Did you fall?”

“Haha…”

Seeing Irina and Sasha’s faces when I returned, I felt somewhat relieved.

I was incredibly grateful they weren’t at the scene.

A priest who goes around in the middle of the night cutting people up.

No, I’d like to believe he just happened to pass by this eerie alley and was taking care of a tiger that escaped from a zoo.

That would make me feel better.

‘Now it’s as if nothing happened.’

Above all, we agreed to forget what happened today.

I didn’t see the priest today, and the priest didn’t see Tia’s horns.

That was the contract.

There was no written agreement, but I could trust it.

We both had each other’s weaknesses.

“Tia, you stay with us while I wash up.”

“No, Tia’s clothes are dirty too, so we have to wash her as well. Innkeeper, give me the key. I’m just going to sleep here at the shop tonight.”

“Tch. Alright then.”

He seemed slightly dissatisfied, but expressed his permission.

I felt like I wouldn’t be able to go home tonight because I was scared.

After sending the three of them away, I happily went into the bathroom with Tia.

Since there’s no proper bathroom at home, I mostly bathe at the shop.

“Close your eyes.”

“Okay!”

“Hold your nose.”

“Mfre!”

I seated Tia on my lap and splashed her with water.

As the water washed over me, it felt like all my worries were being swept away.

Then suddenly, my earlier annoyance came rushing back, and I felt irritation boil up.

Am I going crazy?

“Why did you do that?”

“Mwa?”

“Why did you run away without listening to me?”

I turned her head down, holding Tia’s cheeks to make her look up at me.

Tia, looking at me upside down, briefly fumbled with her lips before speaking in a small voice.

“It was ‘tag’…”

“What?”

“I wanted to play tag with Mom…”

“Haa…”

Tag, huh.

A deep sigh escaped me.

I let go of Tia’s cheeks and started lathering soap into her hair.

“Was it fun?”

“Yes! It was super fun!”

“But next time, you can’t just leave without saying anything. If you want to play tag, you should say so. It puts me in a difficult position.”

“I’m sorry…”

She instantly curled up her tail and apologized, being the sweet child she was.

And that made me even more annoyed.

If she had completely ignored me, I could have hated her without guilt.

Why must she grow up to be so good?

I truly felt like I wanted to hate her.

When I pressed her head down affectionately, she seemed to enjoy it and just giggled.

“Close your eyes again.”

“Okay!”

I poured warm water over her to wash out the soap from her hair.

Though she shared my straight hair, her pitch-black color didn’t resemble mine at all.

Watching her made me feel rather troubled.

Where could that nasty little lizard who ran away be right now?

“Damn. What does it matter where that jerk is or what he’s doing?”

“Mwa?”

“Not talking to you. Ignore it.”

It’s really none of my business.

I decided to think about more productive things, like how to spend the money I’d borrow from Irina on payday.

First, I should make a citizen ID.

After that, the best option would be to work as a maid in a noble household, but I secretly hoped to start a small business.

With my genius brain, I could succeed in business without any foundation.

“Muhuhuh! Mom, that tickles!”

“Stay still for a bit.”

I continued to hold onto those hopeful thoughts.

I knew it was foolish and unrealistic, but I pressed on.

If I didn’t, I might end up drinking again.

---