Chapter 27
It wasn’t like a disciple could slack off while her Master was working, but Eki grumbled rebelliously anyway.
“You cut my hair without asking, so now it’s uneven.”
“Didn’t we agree to let all potion-related incidents slide?”
Cassius shrugged with a blank expression.
“Then this should be overlooked too.”
“……”
Eki silently glared at the back of her Master’s head.
Damn Cursius. There had to have been a way to untangle her hair without cutting it.
‘Ugh, whatever. He was probably just as flustered when I grabbed his crotch.’
Yeah. Honestly, the one suffering the most from this luck potion was Cassius. Though it hurt her heart that he’d cut her hair, she decided to let it go this time.
“Yaaaawn. I’m so sleepy.”
“Go to bed.”
“Can’t tonight. I have to finish drawing the quota of advanced shield magic circles before I can sleep.”
“…How many are left?”
“Uh… five hundred?”
Cassius gave a short, humorless laugh. It was absolutely not because he found it funny. He muttered as he flipped through a paper mechanically.
“Maybe I should just scrap the whole batch…”
That comment made her sleepiness vanish instantly.
“M-Master, please calm down. I think if I work just a bit more, I can finish it all.”
“Don’t lie. You’ll be working until at least four in the morning.”
“That’s fine. I can sleep tomorrow.”
“Didn’t I tell you before? I can’t draw runes when I see you drooling in your sleep.”
What? Did he just…
Eki shot him a sharp glare, but Cassius closed his mouth.
Though not for long. He soon rose from his seat, inspecting the magic circle circuits floating in the air, and advised her.
“Take a nap, at least for a short while. Humans lose efficiency drastically without sleep.”
“Ah… Right, Master, you’re a dragon.”
“What do you mean, ‘right’?”
“I forgot for a second.”
Cassius stared at her like she was unbelievable.
“How could you forget that? You’re working alongside a monster right now.”
“Well, yeah, but… there’s been so much going on, I can’t help it.”
By ‘so much’, she meant both the Association’s crushing orders and all the unfortunate luck-potion incidents with Cassius. He guessed as much, keeping quiet, but soon asked a sudden question.
“Were you close with that courier?”
“…Courier? You mean Babel?”
“Yes.”
“No. Not really. I barely even saw him at the Academy.”
Why bring him up now? Eki glanced suspiciously at the side of his face, and Cassius explained,
“You just looked tired because of that.”
“Huh.”
Not even close. She’d erased Babel’s annoying face from her memory long ago, thanks to Cassius’ blinding beauty.
“It’s not that. I’m tired because I touched that part of yours earlier, and it was so embarrassing that I… Ah.”
A scorching silence wrapped around them.
Cassius bit his lip and glared at her. Any further mention of this, and he’d probably rip up their contract along with their unspoken agreement to forget everything. Before things got more awkward, Eki grabbed a thick blanket lying nearby.
“I-I’ll just take a nap. I can’t hold out anymore. Hahaha. Wake me if you need anything.”
“…Fine.”
Yawning exaggeratedly, Eki wrapped herself in the blanket and slumped over the desk.
She tried desperately to calm her flushed face, but a faint scent of soap drifted from the blanket.
‘Weird. I haven’t washed this yet.’
Then she remembered that after she’d ripped Cassius’ clothes last time, she’d handed him this blanket to cover himself. She hadn’t seen it since then. He must have washed it himself. Eki buried her face in the soft fabric and sniffed. She’d thought he’d never use cleaning magic, but surely he didn’t hand-wash this… right?
The pleasant scent only made drowsiness sink in faster. Feeling groggy, she suddenly voiced a question to Cassius.
“Master.”
“What.”
“Do dragons, yawn, really… not sleep much or eat much either?”
She’d mentioned it before, that she’d never actually seen Cassius properly sleep or eat a full meal.
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