The Room in the Water Dragon Palace

  “Ruck, I’m sorry about the water dragons.”


  Leea apologized as soon as we entered the water palace.

  Grand Chamberlain Morris was next to her and also apologized.

  “I have no words to express my embarrassment.”


  “Oh, no. Please don’t be worried about it.”


  I thought that it was a good thing to be able to create a friendly relationship with the water dragons.

  And it would likely be an advantage to have seen all of their faces.

  And they had all simply called me Ruck, so that meant we had been able to get rid of some of the formality.

  Regarding that, Leea was also starting to talk in a more childish voice.

  She must have really been forcing it earlier.

  “I knew Locke was popular!”


  “It’s no wonder!”


  “Aye, how impressive!”


  Said, Kathe, Eric and Goran happily.

  “Those water dragons looked pretty powerful, didn’t they, Shia?”


  “Yes, they did. So many dragons in one place really is a sight to behold. What did you think, Nia?”


  “I was so nervous.”


  “Groof!”


  Grulf licked Nia’s face.

  His tail was wagging, and there was no sign of him being nervous.

  It had taken him much longer to get used to Kathe.

  “Grulf, are you used to seeing dragons now?”


  “Grrr?”


  Grulf tilted his head to the side with a puzzled expression.

  Leea petted Grulf and said,

  “They were all so excited.”


  “I suppose it is because Mister Ruck is so special.”


  Said Grand Chamberlain Morris.

  “They were looking at Ruck in the flesh, so it cannot be helped.”


  “Princess Leea. It is as my daughter says. Even the wind dragons would have acted the same.”


  Kathe nodded vigorously.

  Dorgo agreed with her.

  “Oh, that’s right! Ruck, the room! I prepared a room for you.”


  “A room?”


  “A room you can sleep in whenever you come here!”


  “Ah, thank you.”


  It was very convenient to have a room I could freely use.

  “It’s over here. Over here!”


  Leea sounded very happy as she pulled my arm.

  Her tail was wagging.

  “I want you to use this room.”


  The room was towards the back of the palace. Everyone followed.

  It was a room built for human standards, and not dragon. And so it had furniture that was human-size and comfortable to use.

  But it was still quite big and the ceiling was very high.

  “Ruck, what do you think?”


  “It’s a grand, beautiful room. And so huge.”


  “I’m glad you like it!”


  She said happily.

  “Groof-groof!”


  Grulf ran around the room excitedly.

  It was big enough for him to run in.

  More precisely, the width was the same as the combined height of thirty men.

  But the ceiling went up even higher.

  “A room of this size for just one person?”


  “Of course.”


  Chamberlain Morris said.

  “Thank you. But it really is huge.”


  It was a huge room with a single bed in it.

  There were shelves and drawers near the walls, but it looked like it would be tiring just walking to them.

  As I inspected the room, Kathe started to poke me in the arm.

  “Locke. It is a human-size room in the dragon palace because it is for the royal family.”


  “Ah, so that’s why it’s so big.”


  Because only the royal family could turn into dragons.

  “So it was made so they can easily return to their dragon form.”


  “Exactly. There is a door over there if they wish to exit as a dragon.”


  Kathe pointed to a wall.

  It was so big that it had only looked like a wall to me. But it really was a door.

  Royal dragons were often larger than ordinary dragons.

  And so the doors and rooms were made especially big.

  “Groof-groof!”


  Grulf ran around Kathe as she stood with a smug expression.

  “Grulf. I told you not to jump on anyone but me, but it’s okay if you jump on Kathe, Eric or Goran.”


  “Groof!”


  Grulf happily jumped onto Kathe.

  “Good boy, good boy.”


  Kathe petted Grulf.

  Even when in human form, dragons were strong enough to catch Grulf.

  “Kathe, you sure know a lot about this room.”


  “I often visited here when I was younger.”


  The royals probably visited each other a lot.

  “Ruck, Ruck!”


  Leea grabbed me by the arm.

  “What is it?”


  “My room is next to yours!”


  “I see.”


  “So you can visit when you like!”


  “Thank you.”


  Serulis looked at the room and said,

  “It really is big. Are we all supposed to stay here as well?”


  “That is so!”


  Said Grand Chamberlain Morris after overhearing Serulis’s conversation.

  “We have rooms prepared for you all.”


  “Huh? You have rooms of this size for each one of us?”


  “I am terribly sorry, but aside from the Hero King’s room, the others are… Uh, we really are sorry. But they are not quite as spacious as this one.”


  Grand Chamberlain Morris said fearfully.

  But to be honest, I would have preferred one of the smaller rooms myself.

  “Hmmm. Indeed. It will be a hassle to keep track of everyone. Perhaps it would be better if we all stayed in this room.”


  “Yes. That would be more convenient.”


  Eric agreed with Goran’s idea.

  “In that case, I think you should all use this room!”


  Leea said happily.

  “But…”


  Grand Chamberlain Morris looked disturbed.

  “I’ll stay here too!”


  “Oh, we can be together!”


  Leea and Kathe shouted excitedly.