CH 15

Chapter 15: An entry pass to the Empire

Translator: yuzu

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【…】

After hearing Luya’s request, the red dragon seemed alert, and it stared at Luya with wide eyes of shock.

It was silent for a while. Finally, it spoke up hesitantly, as if defending itself, although it lacked confidence.

【Why do you want to do this? I1 will clean my body in the magma.】

So the red dragon usually bathed in lava?

Luya was a little surprised, as this was an unexpected discovery. Speaking of lava, it was basically high-temperature sterilization. No matter how many parasites there were, they would all die, and the heat would also dissolve the dirt between the dragon’s scales… but even so, there was still a lot of ash on the dragon’s body. She still felt like it didn’t take baths very often!

“Right now the air quality outside is bad. Since you’re flying around every day, you’re collecting dust, so I think it’s better for you to take a rinse before returning to the nest.

Luya raised the brush in her hand with no intention of giving up, “I can help you brush your back!”

【…】

The red dragon fell into a long silence. Luya didn’t know if it felt embarrassed, but it suddenly unfolded its enormous wings and took off from the dragon’s lair.

???

Why was it running away?!

Luya waited in place for a long time, but she did not see the red dragon coming back. She felt a little unhappy, but it was stupid to keep waiting, so she got a bucket of hot spring water and prepared to clean the dragon’s lair together with the living broom. They could fix up the living quarters a little.

When she was about to go back to the dragon’s lair, she ran into the half-dead dog fleeing from inside. Its once beautiful coat had become plastered in gray.

Luya looked at the dog curiously, and realized that it was madly trying to shake off dust from its body. She went into the cave to take a look, and found that the entrance was chock full of dust that had been swept up and piled into mountains of sand.

The living broom had already gotten to work, and the inside was practically billowing with dust. Luya had to find an empty pot to start pouring dust down a cliff. After all, it wasn’t necessary to sort trash in another world, and no one would complain if she dumped it randomly.

The dog was still trying to shake the dust off its body, and it looked like it really wanted to take a bath. However, Luya didn’t care about the dog right now, and her own body was extremely dirty, so they could go wash together afterwards.

After running back and forth dumping ash several times, they finally managed to sweep a good amount of the dust out of the dragon’s lair. At this point, the dragon who had flown away without warning finally returned.

It looked radiant and glorious, and it seemed to glow with hot energy. The dust covering its body was gone, and the scales on its back sparkled and reflected the light of the blazing sun. The dragon was thoroughly dazzling, and it looked like a powerful dragon that shouldn’t be trifled with.

It had just gone to take a bath, Luya suddenly realized.

…

It seemed that the red dragon really cared about others’ opinions…

…

Whatever, it was good that it took a bath.

“You’re very handsome now.” Luya praised the red dragon.

The red dragon glanced at Luya, and then slowly returned to its original spot and laid down. It continued to doze off as if nothing had happened before.

Luya had no idea what the red dragon was thinking. Even with the dragon language translator, it was still difficult to understand him.

Anyhow, it was time to continue cleaning. There were too many things that Luya wanted to do today.

She didn’t know how long the red dragon had been living here. Perhaps the size of a dragon made it difficult for it to clean its living space. It felt like the amount of dust inside was endless. Luya considering “moving out2” multiple times while she was mopping the floor, but it was seriously too dangerous outdoors. She only felt safe staying next to the dragon.

She and the living broom continued to work until the sun was about to set, and by that point they had just barely managed to clean the nest to a presentable state. However, the mountain of golden treasures was not easy to clean, and truthfully she hadn’t finished sorting through them all. She still didn’t know if there was other good stuff in there, and she would have to leave it to another day to organize it all.

She was a bit dizzy after working. Fortunately, she had made quite a lot of slime noodles, so she prepared another bowl to eat. However, when she started serving herself, she realized the dog had disappeared once again.

Huh? Where did it go?

“Lu Dahuang! Lu Dahuang!”

“Lu Dahuang! Where are you? It’s time to eat!”

Luya cried out the name she had just given the dog as she walked. However, there was only her voice around the dragon’s nest. The red dragon opened its eyes slightly to look at her, but it didn’t seem very interested in the dog, so it closed its eyes and continued to rest.

Luya shouted for a long time, but she didn’t see any trace of the dog. She couldn’t help feel upset.

What a stupid dog. She treated it so well, but why did it keep running away?

That said, what the heck was it doing running around as soon as it woke up? Normally, wouldn’t you expect it to thank its master first?

She always felt like this dog seemed to have some kind of secret objective, and it had too many troublesome ideas.

Fortunately, she had put a collar on this stinky dog before it ran away.

She remembered that Old Berg had said it wasn’t an ordinary collar. As long as it was still wearing the collar, no matter how far away the dog ran, she’d be able to find him using the leash.

It was time to test it out!

Luya took out the leash, and she tried to figure out how to use it. But suddenly the leash seemed to be attracted by some unknown force, and it abruptly went flying in one direction, hauling Luya along with it.

?!?!

“Aaahhhh—!!”

W-Wait! Hold on!

Luya felt like she was sucked by something, and her body went flying forwards. The leash was practically glued to her hands, and she couldn’t even let go of it. She could only cry out for help at the red dragon, who abruptly opened its eyes when it heard her screams. It immediately spread its wings and chased after her.

The magical dog leash flew extremely fast, and it seemed to be taking Luya to the dog who was wearing the collar.

Apparently, the dog had run down the mountain again. Trees zoomed past her, and she had to be very careful to avoid crashing head-first into a tree. Even with the dragon following close behind, it couldn’t stop Luya, and it had to fly parallel to her.

Damn, that shitty dog!

After catching it, she was definitely going to give it a beating!

Her head spinning, Luya couldn’t help but question how stupidly irrational this equipment was. Why couldn’t the dog be sent flying to her? Instead, she had to be the one dragged to the dog?

Figure out the master-pet relationship properly!

But since it was something that the demons came up with, there probably wasn’t any product testing or product manager reviews. It wasn’t surprising that there were design flaws that hadn’t been fixed. After being dragged around in the air for nearly ten minutes, Luya slowly realized that she had been pulled into goblin territory.

This place was sort of like a village, not far from where the dragon lived. When the red dragon appeared, the goblins sentries carrying bows immediately scattered and hid themselves in various hiding places.

Luya was surprised. She couldn’t help but wonder why the dog had run all the way over here?

In her memories, even a whole group of mercenaries wouldn’t dare attack a goblin settlement so rashly. Those creatures were natural bandits, and they liked to live in groups. Even though they had a low IQ and had poor fighting power, they were very vicious. The strong ruled the weak, and they naturally obeyed entities stronger than them. This made them very suitable for suicide units or construction projects.

But since they couldn’t be brought out in public, most high-ranking demons preferred to use gnomes for labor. As a result, most goblins were scattered around in the wild, and they looted wherever they went like bandits.

Thankfully, she had appeared together with the red dragon. If a human girl was caught by goblins, the outcome would be horrible.

Under their instinctive fear of the dragon, the goblins quickly fled. Even the goblin in the chieftan’s tent scrambled to escape, leaving behind its sceptre.

At this point, Luya finally found her dog.

“Lu Dahuang! What are you doing?!”

That rascal Shiba Inu was underneath a bush, secretly digging at something. Frankly, Luya was surprised that it hadn’t been discovered by the goblins and turned into a pot roast. When leash dragging Luya finally reached to the Shiba Inu’s side, it attached with a click, and Lu Dahuang was finally tethered to the leash. It stopped digging at the soil with a dumbfounded expression, and it slowly lifted its head to stare at Luya. Then it looked at the dog leash in her hand.

The Shiba Inu, which was carrying something in its mouth, looked stunned.

“Walking a dog without a leash is basically the same thing as a dog walking itself. Starting today, I will raise you properly, so stay right there.”

After the red dragon landed on the ground, Luya finally regained her confidence and started to scold the dog.

“Reflect on it Lu Dahuang! Why do you make us worry so much? Why do you keep running away, even deep into goblin territory?”

“If I hadn’t found you, you would have been turned into a pot of dog meat. This has already happened a few times, and you clearly haven’t learned your lesson.”

“If this happens again, I’m ditching you. I’m really going to ditch you.”

She had no idea if the Shiba Inu understood her anger. After realizing that it had been tied to a leash, its expression became a little dark. It made one wonder what it was thinking.

“Fine, I’ll give you a chance. Why don’t you explain yourself?”

Luya felt a little tired. No matter how close she got to this dog, it didn’t even respond. There wasn’t even a single bark.

She opened the monster translator, wondering if it could translate dog speak, but unfortunately, the Shiba Inu didn’t talk. Suddenly, it spat out a golden insignia from its mouth. It clattered on the ground in front of Luya.

“Huh? You want to give me something to say you’re sorry? Unfortunately, gold is useless in this kind of place. You better think of another way to apologize.”

Luya tilted her chin up, very satisfied that Lu Dahuang seemed to recognize the error of his ways. Honestly, her expectations weren’t high. She just wanted an obedient and sensible dog to accompany her!

Thinking that she’d make up with the dog later, Luya bent down and picked up the insignia that the dog had dropped in front of her.

But after she saw the insignia clearly, she was speechless.

This wasn’t an ordinary insignia… it was a high-level pass that allowed you to enter and exit any district in the Asdra Empire. Only aristocrats and soldiers above the rank of Centurion could have an insignia like this.

She stared at the insignia in her hand. When she returned to her senses, she looked at the Shiba Inu who had been sitting obediently on the ground, watching her very calmly.

Why… would a dog find something like this?

Author’s notes:

The dragon is an old-fashioned man! But as soon as it was mentioned, he went to take a bath with a guilty conscience!

Heroine: I really want to scrub the dragon’s scales

Translator’s notes: