As Tohru cried out in pain, Hayashi watched the divine sword fly free.
He quickly adjusted his grip to the hilt and jumped down from her back, landing on the ground.
Now that the divine sword was no longer suppressing her—
Tohru's magic began rapidly recovering, visible to the naked eye.
She lifted her head and saw Hayashi casually wielding the gigantic sword, her face filled with shock.
"You... you actually pulled it out!"
At that moment, Hayashi was swinging the divine sword back and forth.
It looked unassuming, but considering it had once pierced Tohru, it was definitely a terrifying weapon.
Ghouls, CCG agents, demons—none of them would stand a chance against a single swing!
With the massive sword in hand, Hayashi looked at Tohru.
"So, this sword's mine now. You're okay with that?"
"Mhm!" Tohru nodded eagerly.
Having had enough fun with it, Hayashi stored the divine sword into his system's storage space.
With the danger past, the two of them finally started chatting.
Tohru, staring curiously at the handsome human before her, asked,
"I'm Tohru, from the dragon race. What about you?"
"I'm Hayashi. Human race, I guess."
"Thank you for saving me."
"No need to thank me—I already got my reward."
"That's different! Besides, why did you even save me?"
"Why? Hmm... give me a second."
Hayashi thought for a bit, then explained the whole story.
Didn't want to wash dishes → went out in the middle of the night to buy a dishwasher → overheard some ghouls planning to hunt a dragon → got curious and came to take a look → ended up saving Tohru.
And that's it...
Tohru was stunned. "You saved me because... you didn't want to wash dishes?!"
"Well, yeah." Just thinking about the pile of dirty plates in the sink gave Hayashi a headache. "Every day, those damn dishes are enough to ruin my mood."
Tohru asked again, "So, are you a chef or the owner of a restaurant?"
"Yep," Hayashi nodded.
"Business doing well?"
"Not bad."
"How long have you been open?"
"Not long."
"Is that your home too?"
"Yeah."
One curious dragon without a home...
And one patient human treating the conversation like babysitting—
The two of them sat there chatting.
Tohru asked question after question, and Hayashi answered everything he could.
The more they talked, the more excited Tohru became.
She thought about how she still didn't have a place to live in this world...
And how this human had saved her—and she still hadn't properly repaid him.
She looked at the man before her.
Dragons had universal aesthetic standards.
No matter the species, a dragon could instantly tell who was beautiful and who wasn't.
And in Tohru's eyes—Hayashi was definitely on the top tier of good-looking.
Short black hair, deep eyes, handsome features, a pleasant personality, and the patience to talk to her for so long!
After a brief moment of thought—
Growing more and more excited, Tohru suddenly asked,
"Do you have any maids in your restaurant?"
"Maids?!" Hayashi blinked. "You mean staff? No, it's just me."
Hearing that—
Tohru lit up. "Then how about I be your maid?!"
"...?"
Hayashi corrected her, "You mean staff member."
"Maid!"
"That's just what you call it in your world. Here, we call them employees."
"Then I'll be the head maid!"
The rank of "head maid" was basically the same as a chief steward.
Seeing that she refused to give up the term, Hayashi thought it over—it didn't really matter. Staff promotions would follow a proper structure anyway.
"Alright, fine."
"Yay~!"
Upon hearing his agreement—
Tohru became visibly excited.
By now, her magic had completely recovered.
She recited a spell.
The next second—
A flurry of glowing lights sparkled around them.
The massive dragon vanished from Hayashi's sight.
And in her place, descended a maid with full golden hair, a generous chest, long twin horns on her head, and a neat maid outfit.
She landed in front of Hayashi, lifted the edges of her skirt slightly, and gave a polite bow.
"Good day, Hayashi-san."
Tohru liked using "-san" simply because she liked it—not due to any cultural convention.
And Hayashi was honestly surprised by how ceremonial it all felt.
He reached out a hand, pulled her up, and said,
"No need to be so formal. Just live normally, even in the shop."
"Aye~ I got it!" Tohru stood up cheerfully.
Hayashi took a few steps back to get a better look at her.
Tohru grew a little shy under his gaze, her face slightly flushed as she twirled her hair with her fingers.
"What is it?"
"Nothing, just curious," Hayashi replied, inspecting her outfit and body. "Turning from a massive dragon into a pretty girl—and even that outfit—is all that magic?"
"Pretty girl, huh..."
Tohru was overjoyed at being called that.
She lifted the hem of her outfit and explained, "Part of it is magic, but part of it's instinct. This outfit—it's actually made from my dragon scales!"
"Amazing," Hayashi praised with a nod.
The more skilled an employee is and the more they can do, the more Hayashi himself will learn as they become more central to the restaurant. This was what you'd call mutual benefit.
So, he actually hoped his staff would become more and more capable.
"Guuu~~"
At that moment, Tohru's stomach let out a long growl.
She held her belly with both hands and pursed her lips.
"All that fighting earlier used up a ton of magic and stamina… now I'm starving."
Hayashi heard this and grinned, "Hungry? What are you afraid of?"
Tohru blinked, confused.
"My place is a restaurant, Tohru."
"Oh, right!"
"Let's go, I'll cook you something."
"Yokatta~!" (That's great!)
On this little outing—
He didn't get the dishwasher.
But he brought back a dragon!
Yeah, you could still call that a huge win.
…
Meanwhile, in a luxurious mansion bedroom—
Makima suddenly opened her eyes and sat up in bed.
She gazed toward a certain direction that gave her a strong sense of disturbance and murmured softly—
"That feeling again…"
Sure enough—
Her phone buzzed with a message.
"Lady Makima, a ghoul riot has broken out in the mountains of the 20th Ward. It's not linked to Aogiri Tree or other known groups. Preliminary reports suggest they were fighting over a dragon. Yes, a real dragon. But there's no trace of it on surveillance."
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