At the children’s earnest request for photos, I snapped a few shots of Deun in her adorable hatchling form, then eagerly began to play with her.
“Kkyuu!”
“Alright, Big Sister will throw it first, okay?”
We played gravestone tag with pebbles (though they were pebbles in name only, more like half-broken bricks in size) found nearby.
“I’m going to kick it, so you have to catch it well, alright?”
“Kkyu kkyu!”
Or we kicked a ball around, a ball whose presence here was a complete mystery.
“Are you Dragon Lady? Nice to meet you!”
“Kkyuu!”
“Dragon! Dragon! Strong! Strong!”
“Kkyut! Kkyu kkyu!”
Or I even conversed with Cat-Dog and Aengmu, who I hadn’t even realized were here.
‘Wait a minute, this isn’t me playing with them, is it?’
“Cat-Dog and Aengmu, what brings you two here?”
“We came to see Dragon Lady!”
“Friend! Friend!”
“Ah, so that was the reason? Dragon Lady’s name is Deun. You little ones should all get along, okay?”
It seemed they had come to play after hearing about their new friend.
“Kkyuu! Kkyuuu kkyuu kkyu!”
“Deun says she looks forward to getting along with you too.”
“Yep! We look forward to it!”
“Look forward to it! Look forward to it!”
It was a relief to see them all becoming good friends.
‘Come to think of it, I hadn’t really played with Cat-Dog and Aengmu before they changed forms.’
‘Would they feel left out if I only played with Deun?’
‘I’d left Cat-Dog with Tsundere, and I even scolded Aengmu.’
‘I hope Cat-Dog and Aengmu don’t resent me…’
“Oh, Summoner Big Sister, you should play with us too!”
“Let’s play! Let’s play!”
Well, judging by the children’s reactions, it seemed I had nothing to worry about, which was a relief.
“Big Sister, Big Sister, we have a question!”
“Hm? What is it? You can ask me anything.”
“Why didn’t you play with us?”
“Yeah! Yeah!”
“Ugh, well… that’s…”
“It’s not that we mind… we’re just curious!”
“I’m sorry…”
Yes, they didn’t hate me. But it wasn’t as if they harbored no resentment at all.
‘Right… it probably seemed a bit unfair that I hadn’t played much with Cat-Dog and Aengmu, but was only playing with Deun.’
“Hehe, it’s okay! Summoner Big Sister was super busy back then! We know it was hard for you to play with us!”
“It’s okay! It’s okay! Busy! Busy!”
“I’m… truly sorry.”
Even though they said it was alright, their words only made my heart ache more.
“Kids, how about we go out to play tomorrow…?”
“Yes! Let’s go play!”
“Let’s go! Let’s go!”
“Kkyuu?”
“Yep! Deun, you come with us too!”
“Come with us! Come with us!”
“Kkyuu! Kkyu kkyu!”
Cat-Dog and Aengmu enthusiastically invited Deun to join them.
It was a relief to see them getting along so well.
“Alright, let’s head back and get some sleep. The evening glow is fading fast.”
“Summoner Big Sister, can we sleep at your house tonight?”
“Let’s sleep together! Let’s sleep together!”
“U-Uh…? What are you saying…?”
“If we don’t sleep together, we’ll get sulky!”
“Sulky! Sulky!”
Aengmu seemed to be mimicking Cat-Dog’s words, almost like a child repeating everything. Was it just my imagination?
No, perhaps it was because Aengmu was a parrot, and parrots simply mimicked.
“Haa, alright. Let’s all sleep together.”
“Yay! How exciting!”
“Let’s go! Futosuto!” (TL Note: A sound of excitement or stomping, transcribed from Japanese.)
‘Aengmu just said something strange, didn’t they? Well, it doesn’t sound like anything bad, so it should be fine, right…?’
“Kkyuu~ Kkyu kkyu~”
“Oh, Deun, you sleep well too.”
“See you tomorrow~”
“Sleep well! Sleep well!”
After bidding Deun goodnight, we returned home.
“Big Sister is going to go wash up, so you two play around while I’m gone.”
“Yes~”
“Let’s play! Let’s play!”
I gathered a change of clothes and a towel, then headed to the bathroom to wash.
‘Aengmu… they won’t still be talking like that when they grow up, will they?’
While I didn’t show it in front of the children, as their guardian, I couldn’t help but worry if they would still act that way even as adults.
Of course, considering Aengmu’s original species is a parrot, such behavior was normal. Parrot beast-folk naturally spoke that way, so there was no real cause for concern.
Yet, because I saw them as my own child, I couldn’t help but feel a pang of worry.
‘I’ll have to look into it later.’
‘Perhaps our Aengmu might be different? After all, Aengmu is my summoned being before being a beast-folk, right? Couldn’t summoned beings be different?’
‘…No, what if they get bullied just for being a summoned being?’
In the past, summoned beings were treated worse than slaves.
The turning point that led to summoned beings being treated equally to humans was the actions of a single summoner.
And that summoner was my ancestor—more precisely, the ancestor of the player summoner.
In any case, it was true that thanks to my ancestor, the treatment of summoned beings had improved, but there were still some people who held negative views towards them.
‘Still, if anyone dared to bully our Aengmu, I certainly wouldn’t stand idly by.’
‘Hmph, as expected, organizing my thoughts while showering is the best.’
When I sorted through my thoughts in the shower, my mind would often work faster than usual, and problems frequently found their solutions.
That’s why I had always enjoyed showering, even when I was a man, and my shower times were typically longer compared to others.
I even had a girlfriend who used to grumble about how my shower took longer than hers.
‘…One might wonder how I managed to date when I’d previously mentioned not having anyone to talk to comfortably, but I never said I didn’t have a girlfriend.’
‘Well, we broke up before I went to the military.’
Fortunately, it wasn’t a bad breakup, so we were able to remain friends.
“I’m all clean. You two should go wash up now, too.”
“Ugh… Washing is such a pain…”
“Oh, come on now. You have to wash thoroughly every day to stay healthy. Hurry up and go get clean.”
“Yes…”
“Aengmu, you need to wash up too, right?”
“Washing! Washing!”
‘See, Aengmu’s going straight to wash, aren’t they—’
“Aengmu? That’s the bedroom, isn’t it?”
“…Busted! Busted!”
“Aengmu!!”
Having gotten drenched while trying to bathe the two children who hated washing, I ended up needing another shower myself. Once I joined them, Cat-Dog and Aengmu finally began to wash quietly.
And so, we all lay together in bed, bringing a clean end to the day.
****
“Big Sister, Big Sister! Wake up!”
“Ugh… just five more minutes…”
“Let’s play! Let’s play!”
“Kids… can’t I really just sleep for five more minutes…?”
“You said we’re going out to play today! Let’s go quickly!”
“Deun’s here! Deun’s here!”
‘Deun’s here…?’
“Ugh… Deun isn’t unable to come in, are they…?”
“Deun is right here.”
“Whoa?! Deun?! Why are you there?!”
“Ehehe…”
There, sitting beside my leg, was Deun. As a dragon, she had wings perfectly suited to her small stature on her back, tiny horns on her head, and a small dragon tail—a little girl who was, in fact, a dragon.
“Sitting on the bare floor is dirty. From now on, you should sit on that chair over there, okay?”
“Huh? Sitting on the floor is dirty?”
“Yes, it’s dirty.”
“Then is sleeping on a dirt bed dirty too?”
“Yes, that’s dirty too… Wait, a dirt bed?”
“It’s the bed Deun has at home. A bed made of dirt!”
‘Oh, right. Deun is a dragon, so she sleeps on the bare ground, not in a bed.’
‘…But a bed made of dirt? I’ll have to go see that later, won’t I?’
“Deun, you might not mind it since you’re a dragon, but others might find it strange. So, from now on, let’s sit on a chair, okay?”
“Umm… okay!”
After explaining to Deun why she shouldn’t do that, Cat-Dog and Aengmu also decided to go out and play together.
“Does everyone have somewhere they want to go?”
“I want to go to the playground!”
“Playground! Playground!”
“Playground… what’s that?”
Deun reacted as if she didn’t know what a playground was.
‘Indeed, it’s only been a day since Deun became human, so she might not know much.’
‘Before we leave, I should probably give Deun a quick explanation of what a playground is.’
“A playground is… well…”
The problem was, I didn’t know how to explain what a playground was to Deun.
I could say it’s a place where you ride slides or swings, but Deun wouldn’t know what a slide or a swing was, so I needed to explain it in a way she could easily understand.
“It’s a place where you can have fun playing!”
“Playing place! Playing place!”
“Ah, yes. It’s a place for fun! There’s so much fun stuff to do there!”
“A playing place…? Wow! Let’s go quickly!!”
Thanks to our Cat-Dog and Aengmu, an explanation method came to mind.
Right, I just had to say it was a place for playing. There was no need for a complicated explanation.
…Well, it seemed Cat-Dog and Aengmu had explained everything for me.
Anyway, it was resolved, so wasn’t that enough?
“Alright, I’ll open a Warp. Everyone hold hands tightly and follow Big Sister, okay?”
The place I intended to take Cat-Dog, Aengmu, and Deun was not just a regular neighborhood playground, but more like a kids’ cafe.
Since I hadn’t been able to play with Cat-Dog and Aengmu very often, I thought it would be good to take them somewhere nice like that.
It had slides, swings, and seesaws, of course, but also trampolines and a ball pit.
How did I know about it? Well, it was the place where I rescued our Liqueur after she was ‘kidnapped'(?) by children at the large shopping mall we visited last time.
To be precise, Liqueur was ‘kidnapped’ near the entrance of that playground.
In any case, I already had a place in mind.
“Did everyone make it through? Cat-Dog, Aengmu, Deun. Yes, everyone’s here? Then you all need to follow Big Sister closely, okay?”
“Yes~”
“Following! Following!”
“So exciting~!”
Their excited expressions, holding hands tightly as they followed me, reminded me of kindergarteners following their teacher.
“It’s just across this road. There are a lot of cars on the road we’re crossing, so be careful and follow Big Sister closely.”
“Yes~”
“Watch out for cars! Watch out for cars!”
“Cars…? What are those?”
“Umm… well…”
“The zoom-zooms that pass in front of us are cars!”
“Zoom-zooms! Zoom-zooms!”
“Aha! I see!”
Our Cat-Dog and Aengmu are truly excellent at explaining things.
Perhaps because they’re around the same age? Their method of explaining to Deun seemed a bit clumsy, yet it lacked nothing in terms of making her understand.
If Deun doesn’t know something, I’ll have to leave it to you two.
