Several hours after heading to bed early.

  I felt a warmth on my right hand as I awoke.

  「Ah, you woke up?」


  Then I saw Hesty’s face right before my eyes.

  It seems like she had woken me up.

  「……..yeah, thanks to you.」


  My mind felt a little slow but I didn’t feel too sleepy.

  「Good morning…..or maybe, it’s too early for that….」


  「No, I’m fine with Good Morning Hesty. But what’s up with your method of waking me?」


  Hesty was tightly hugging my arm.

  It was quite the odd method of waking me up so I was wondering if there was some sort of deeper meaning to this….

  「ah……this is my, usual habit.」


  「This is a habit?」


  「Well, if you try to violently wake a, Dragon King while they’re asleep there are times that they’ll, turn back into their dragon form. So when waking them you, have to use more delicate methods like this or the building, will end up destroyed. I always do it like this so I ended up doing the same here.」


  Oh, I see. She had said that she was always the one waking Ramiyuros up. It must be especially difficult dealing with the largest Dragon King.

  If she carelessly changed back to her dragon form, then forget about the room, even the building would end up completely destroyed.

  I suppose that she would end up being more cautious about things like this.

  「n……」


  Hesty suddenly shrank back.

  「…….I’m sorry if you, hated it.」


  「Oh…no no. I didn’t hate it, it’s not a bad way to wake up. I was just a bit surprised.」


  After all, I was waking up to a soft body hugging my arm.

  No matter how flat chested Hesty was, she was still a woman.

  Plus, she hugged me while wearing thin pajamas so I couldn’t help my thoughts running in certain directions.

  「Well, thank you for waking me. Thanks to that I’m wide awake.」


  Hesty’s body touching me helped, but our conversation really helped clear up my mind. The fog in my mind had been blown away.

  I thanked her for that, but Hesty scratched her cheek shyly.

  「……I’ve never been praised, for things like this. But, don’t mind it. It’s just, because I woke up early.」


  「Woke up early………Oi you really woke up early!」


  I looked outside the window and it was still dark out.

  I listened for a moment and everything was peaceful and quiet.

  There wasn’t even any sounds coming from the other cottages.

  「How did you manage to get up without any kind of outside stimulus?」


  I asked and Hesty slightly shook her head as she looked at me.

  「n, normally I would, sleep longer. But sleeping here with you really, sped up my, recovery. My fatigue disappeared.」


  「Eh? There was that kind of effect?」


  I had no idea that could happen.

  「n, it was my first time, experiencing that. Even for a Dragon King class creature, just sleeping for some time next to you significantly, increases recovery. Most likely, just by staying by your side, Dragon Kings can drastically reduced their need, for sleep.」


  「That being the case, it makes me feel weird…like I’ve turned into an alarm clock…..」


  Actually I take issue with the fact that this effect doesn’t seem to apply to me myself.

  「Well, you’re recovery powers, are already ridiculous, so if we added a reduced need for sleep, it’d be insane you know? Even now I think it’s more than enough.」


  「Really? That much?」


  「Yes that much. When I woke up you, were already full on magic. No matter how little magic you used, it’s still abnormal you know?」


  Even if you look at me like that I can’t change what I do while I’m asleep.

  「n, well, it was the first time I was, able to seriously look at you while you sleep. It feels a bit, strange.」


  「Ahh….now that I think about it, it’s the first time Hesty’s woken me up.」


  We had taken afternoon naps together, but usually I woke up before her or we woke up around the same time.

  In short, today was a rare occurrence.

  「Well, it was a nice experience. Now I’m completely awake.」


  After speaking for a while my mind had sobered up.

  Then I sat up and looked at the table. I saw some cups of hot tea. Plus…


  「Master, Hesty-chan. Good morning. I’ve prepared breakfast.」


  The door to the cottage opened and Sakura entered carrying a tray laden with breakfast.

  It seems she had prepared our meal perfectly.

  「Thank you Sakura…ok then, let’s eat and set off Hesty.」


  「n, got it.」


  Then, after filling my empty stomach, I set off for my morning fishing.