Dragon-san Wants a Friend

Volume 3 Chapter 14: Dragon-san Is Saved by the Demon-sama

Lava POV

In the Sun Room of the Avar mansion, I softly wrap my hands around the brooch holding the artificial magic stone.

I pour my magic inside of it, and the sparkling light spreads across the room like ripples.

I let out a sigh at this sight, and the other ladies surrounding me do the same.

While they were watching this spectacle, I extracted the small grain of sand from the stone, replaced it with my own magic and then returned the brooch to its owner.

「This stone seems to be compatible with water. Should you wear it, it should protect you from any sort of water damage.」

「Thank you very much, Lava-san.」

I answered with a bright smile, and the little girl who received the brooch turned towards Ligurila, who happened to sit at the very same table, and said to her:

「Lily-sama, please advise me on the clothes that would go well with that brooch!」

「Of course, I don’t mind. Also, would you like to know how to utilize this brooch effectively?」

「I would love to!」

「I would also like to know!」

As the ladies began to gather around Ligurila, I used this opportunity to store the demon nucleus inside of the interdimensional storage, and turned towards Lishella, who was sitting right next to me.

「Lishella-sama, are you having fun?」

「Yes.」

But in spite of saying that, her expression was mostly uninterested and soon the conversation was awkwardly cut off.

We were invited to the tea party at the Avar mansion.

It so happened that Lishella was the hostess of this party, but even so, she was just sitting there silently, without taking part in any conversation that’s been happening.

She would occasionally say something or let out a sigh, but overall, all the other ladies present forgot all about her rather quickly.

Well, I guess that they were being drawn to Ligurila naturally.

Having finished my task, I have returned to dealing with the cake that was my on my plate, all the while feeling Lishella’s gaze upon me.

***

The day after we received the letter from Lishella, we arrived at the mansion and were greeted by the Countess Avar and Lishella themselves.

We had a quick talk and we also wanted to say our greetings to Count Avar himself, but unfortunately he was being absent at the moment.

「Oh well, the Count is probably meeting with one of his many mistresses right now, and I don’t expect him to be back before the end of the month. What can you do?」

「Umm, Ligurila-san? Where did you learn such a thing, prey tell?」

For the time being, it was decided that we would leave Countess Avar alone and have a tea with Lishella in the meantime.

「Welcome, welcome. I was so surprised to hear that my daughter invited you, but it seems that she wants to hear more about Ballow’s fashion. Please, feel right at home and relax. Well, Lishella might be stupid and inexperienced, but she will probably not embarrass you in front of the others. Hmm, let’s see......」

And just like that, Countess Avar stood up and left us, so there was no way that either Ligurila or I could have any kind of word on the matter. The tea time passed slowly.

Maybe I was overthinking this, but judging by the way her father and mother behaved, it wouldn’t be all that surprising if they were physically abusing her, but I highly doubt she would admit that even if we asked her about it.

After a while, the obviously tired Ligurila stood up and said that we were leaving, for we had other things to take care off.

Lishella was the only one to see us off.

At first I didn’t quite understand all of that, but sometime later Ligurila told me that it was very rare for the invited ones to stand up and leave whenever they wanted to. She also said that there was some other meaning behind it as well, but I didn’t quite understand that part.

「Is there something wrong?」

「...... Please, do come and visit us again.」

Her expressionless face made it really hard to read her emotions, but the seriousness of her voice made me feel somewhat confused.

What’s the deal with this girl?

While I was obviously at a loss for what to do or say, Ligurila rushed to my help.

「If that’s the case, why don’t you come and pay us a visit at the hotel where we are staying? This place can be way too noisy sometimes.」

Ligurila’s words were clearly referencing the Countess Avar, but it’s unclear whether Lishella understood the meaning. Although, soon enough she nodded her head.

Staying true to the offer she proposed, Ligurila kept on exchanging letters with Lishella, and left some time opened in her schedule so that we could meet up with her on one day.

She was way more experienced in all of this high society mumbo-jumbo, having been to a whole lot of tea parties, dinners, lunches and other events. In the end, they agreed on us hosting a small tea party three days from now on. Honestly, I was beginning to lose myself in all of that.

「Lily-sama, those are the roses that began to bloom early from my house. By all means, please accept them!」

「That’s not fair! I should be the first one, for this is my first dress consultation with Lily-sama!」

「Lily-sama, please have a look at this!」

「Everyone, could you please don’t fight with one another and come to me one at a time?」

「「As you wish!」」

With her mother not here, Lishella technically had no one to be afraid off.

In any case, thanks to Ligurila’s worshippers (she really has those, huh?) fighting over her attention, it was quite easy for me to go and neutralize the artificial magic stones one after another.

My job for the occasions like this was to write the invitations and send them out, and to take care of the artificial magic stones that were sure to pop up at the little social events like the tea party we were having right now.

And apparently, that little trick I performed during Countess’s Avar garden party began to spread around, and more and more people wanted to see it with their own eyes.

After dinner was over, we went to my room and held a short strategy meeting there.

I took up the collected nuclei and lined them up nicely, while Ligurila raised her face to me.

「Ah, so that’s it, huh? Some of these things were being mixed with the normal stones around the streets.」

「Well, it seems that there are fake artificial magic stones circulating around the market as well, but in reality they are just your plain and ordinary gemstones. But even so, the look on those nobles faces when you pulled that number with the fake stones was simply priceless to watch.」

「Your hobbies are truly twisted, Ligurila. You know that?」

I smiled at Ligurila, who had a somewhat jealous expression on her face.

「Ara, is that what you think? You may have become well known with little to no effort, but I, on the other hand, had to work hard to make my name known far and wide.」

Hearing Ligurila say that made me really surprised.

No, that’s right. I earned such a nickname after I made the magic stone shine as a result of disarming the demon that was inside of it.

「A mysterious beauty with dark hair has a magic hand, making the magic stones shine even brighter and bringing about happiness. This must surely be a gift from heavens itself. What do you think about that?」

「No, if I were to just pull it out I would risk breaking the stone apart, so I had no real choice but to pour my magic inside of it instead...... Besides, I’m not nearly as well known as you, the Golden-Haired Tailor.」

Ligurila earned such title for herself thanks to her radiant golden hair and her outstanding skills as a tailor.

In fact, those who were following her advice would be very successful in their societal circles, and the letters with thanks were endlessly coming to her.

「I was surprised by that as well. My skills and advices were really welcomed, as well as advices regarding accessories and tips on how one would look their cutest in front of their love interest.」

「The way they are fighting for your attention is similar to how soldiers fight on the battlefield, and their words are as deadly as any other weapon. And those words can be truly deadly sometimes.」

They may have looked elegant, but those noble ladies were a true force to be reckoned with.

「I’m just giving people what they desire, and since I’m doing a very good job at it, it is small wonder that it attracts attention. Honest efforts bring about honest payment. And my efforts are of the highest quality.」

「Umm, this is, I guess I’m sorry.. It was insensitive of me to not realise how hard you have to work, Ligurila.」

「It doesn’t really bother me that much. This is just like you, Lava.」

Should I believe her?

For the time being, Ligurila looked to be satisfied, smiling brightly while the tentacles extending from her hair were working tirelessly with threads and needles.

During the day she was doing her official job for both men and women, and during the night she was coming to various parties. Needless to say, the bulk of her work needed to be done either in the morning or late at night, when she would come back from her escapades.

There were also design drawings and accessories to be made, so even for the demon who had no need for sleep it was a lot of work.

「You sure you’re okay?」

「It’s not a problem for me. Tailoring is my hobby, and so it is not something that is tiring for me.」

She said that, while her tentacles kept on working on different kinds of elaborate handiwork, such as embroider handkerchiefs, lace ribbons, corsages and gloves.

I wanted to turn in for the night, but looking at her work was simply fascinating.

「But still, I can’t really put my finger around Lishella. Why is she even participating in all of those events if she stays silent all the time?」

I let out a sigh, to which Ligurila, who just happened to take out a new material from the interdimensional storage, shrugged her shoulders.

「I don’t know either. However, all I know is that the hotel was too small and besides, being in good relations with Avar family can prove to be really advantageous for me if things go smoothly.」

Yes, right about now we were not at our hotel.

We were in one of the rooms at Avar mansion.

***

Lishella visited us in the hotel the day after our visit to the Avar mansion.

Initially, there was about twenty minutes of awkward silence, which wasn’t all that long according to Ligurila’s words sometime later, before we could get anywhere.

I have little to no idea about the customs of the nobles in this area, but apparently if a costumer was visiting you at your house, you were to care for that person and assume full responsibility for them.

That is why if Ligurila wanted to invite her for some tea here, she was to take care of everything, and the girl didn’t really have to do anything......

「I know, but it is not so simple as that. At the tea party, even if you don’t talk much to anyone, you are still sharing a meal with them. No, not that I mind, but if you invite someone, that person shouldn’t really be bothered. So you should accept the invitation either way?」

I was wondering about that for a couple of days after meeting that girl for the first time, but so far I was unable to come up with any kind of answer.

Looks like I was not alone on that subject.

First thing first, I decided to get to know this girl better, for there is a lot more things you can do with someone if you know them well enough.

To that end, I tried to spend as much time with her as I possibly could, but so far we’ve only exchanged a few nods and single words at best.

Is this something that nobles do on a daily basis? For me, it seems like they would even go for a walk together and stay silent for the whole duration of the outing.

But the fact that she accepted our invitation was a good thing. If she didn’t take kindly to us, she would have refused on the spot...... I think.

Being perfectly honest, this whole situation was new to me, and the fact that my communication skills were awakened only recently certainly wasn’t helping. Like, at all.

It’s more like, no conversation at all! How the hell am I supposed to communicate with this child!?

Maybe we should stay here, to avoid anything unnecessary happening, but the fact that Lishella was an enigma for me remained ever unchanged.

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