20 Dragon-chan’s new shop, and a request

AN: Most of this chapter takes place soon after chapter 80 of the main story. Please don't think about scales and such ending up in the food, nor about how sanitary Dragon's Breath would be to cook with... And there's an omake this time

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After I finished building the Dragon's Roost, I spent a day catching a dozen or so chickens... cluckers... and then I, in Dragon form, showed some of the other Dragons, namely Emey (Emerald, a Green Dragon) and Sid (the Black Dragon Obsidian) how to care for them and collect their eggs, after which I worked out a menu while making a freezer for the kitchen (using several Ice and Spatial Magic Stones, turning it into what was more or less a very large item bag, the insides of which would always be at sub-zero temperatures) and stocking it with several dozen dismantled Krakens, meat from thousands of Wolves, and so on. I decided to have the menu include some sandwiches, such as egg and cheese sandwiches, some other egg dishes, such as sunny-side up eggs, scrambled eggs, poached eggs, omelets, and then I added in Kraken and other meat products. I taught other Dragons, numbering about two dozen, how to make some of the different menu items, again, while I was in Dragon form. Other items couldn't be made by dragons, such as bread, so I would have to find a human chef for them. Maybe Morin or Karin could train some of the orphans for me... I also gave lessons to a few others on the system I would use to organize the books in my library, and I took a page from Yuna's book and made some shed Dragon scales into color-coded and numbered tokens that people would buy when they entered and exchange for the food once they were at their table. If people tried to leave with the scales, they would encounter a barrier and be reminded to return said scales by one Dragon or another. The same was true for those who tried to leave the library with a book. I decided to have that job, as well as the job of being a napping advertisement, be given to Aury (Aurum, otherwise known as Gold, the same as his scales) who, when not keeping the scales in the shop, would just be sunbathing somewhere in the front yard of the shop, or on one of the many translucent perches that I added onto the sides of the shop. As I finished explaining that to him and making a sign to indicate whether we are open or not, I noticed Mylene watching me.

"This is truly impressive... When is it going to be open for business?" (Mylene)

"I think it'll be opened once I have sorted out the remaining staff positions, such as the baker or bakers, the receptionists, and the waiters. I'll then have to put out some advertisements, and wait a few days for people to see the advertisements" (Nene)

"You know... I think that this building and the people watching you build it and your house, as well as the Dragons themselves, are enough of an advertisement on their own. I've had people asking me every single day what this building is going to be, and after I told them it was going to be a restaurant, I was asked when it would be opening. I am positive that, within an hour of its opening, it's going to be packed to the brim with people, unless the food is truly bad, not that I think it would be anything less than amazing" (Mylene)

"Really? Looks like I ought to work harder at getting it up and running. In that case, I'm off to talk to Morin and Karin, as well as the orphanage, to see about finding myself a few bakers and such" (Nene)

After I explained to Morin and a dozen of the orphans that didn't have much to do, I got my staff positions filled up quickly. I had Morin teach a few of the kids how to bake all kinds of things, and after a week, I decided to open. Sadly, Yuna had left for an area unknown to me three days earlier. Mylene was right, however. After I opened at about eight in the morning, every table in the entire building was packed by half past eight. Most only asked for a few eggs on toast or something like that, but we still had trouble keeping up with demand. When the crowd started to thin at around noon, I was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when I had a miniature Dragon fly up to me.

"Nene, we have trouble. There isn't enough room for all of the people who want to read in the library! We need to have more room, or else things are going to get ugly!" (Dragon)

"I'll do something about it, I guess" (Nene)

As a temporary measure, I increased the size of the barrier around the library, and then made a low wall to mark its new edge. I informed people about the temporary change, and then I told them that the library would be closed the next morning for renovations, as it needed more space. After the library closed at sunset, I removed all of the books and such from inside, used magic to make it bigger, added a second floor, and another reading area on the roof. After an hour or three of working on that, I decided that there was enough space and that I could open in in the morning, but, I decided to keep to my statement of only opening in the afternoon. I didn't forget to make the barrier fit the new size of the building, and I asked the librarian Dragons to help me put the books back on the shelves.

The next day, I learned that we had gone through all of a Kraken's tentacles, and so I went to the adventurer's guild in the capital to ask if they had any reports of Kraken sightings, as well as making a request for any such sightings to be reported to me via a magic stone I gave to Sanya. Sure enough, the was a group in the sea east of the capital, with an unknown number in it. Two had been confirmed, and there were some unconfirmed reports that four had been seen at once. Sounds like a great opportunity to stock up on Kraken-based ingredients, right?

"Well then, I'm off to stock up on some food. Again, if you ever hear of other Kraken sightings, or any Dragons or Wyverns showing up somewhere, please tell me. I'll take care of them for you, no problem. They taste good, after all, and they are a simple way to gain a lot of food at once. It's worth the small amount of effort" (Nene)

"I knew you were irrational, but... actively going out of your way to kill A ranked threats for INGREDIENTS, of all things, and calling it a small amount of effort... I give up" (Sanya)

"See you later. I'll be back once I take care of those Krakens!" (Nene)

"Wait, how do you plan to get there?" (Sanya)

"I'll fly. It's been a while since I stretched my wings..." (Nene)

"Fly... with wings? You would call on a Dragon, even if it is your summon, just for transportation? I... I'll make sure nobody worries about the fact that a damned Dragon is flying around... It's the least I can do..." (Sanya)

"It'll be one small Gold-bordered Purple Dragon. Therefore, you can distinguish between me and other Dragons, and send the reports of any others to me, please!" (Nene)

"Understood... honestly... this girl has no common sense..." (Sanya)

I'll pretend I didn't hear that... I used {Gate} to leave the capital, and then I shifted into my Dragon form, being about 10 meters long from my nose to the base of my tail, and then I took to the skies, forgetting about the fact that there were guards and passers-by who could see me. Fortunately, none of them believed that they saw a person turn into a Dragon, and none of them recognized me despite my winning the tournament.

Omake?:

However, less than an hour later, in the guild...

"What do you mean, there's a Purple Dragon near the capital, but nobody should go after it? Is there something more important to do? Some other emergency quest?" (Adventurer A)

"No, it's more like that Dragon is not only under the control of someone I, Eleanora, and even the king, all trust, but it is also so strong that nobody here could hope to even hurt it, besides the [Draconic Empress]" (Sanya)

"[Draconic Empress]... I've heard that before... and the first time was quite recently..." (Adventurer B)

"What do you mean, none of the adventurers could beat it? We have ASTRA here! She's -" (Adventurer A)

"Astra LOST to Nene, and she doesn't do very well against Ancient Dragons at all-" (Sanya)

"But this isn't an Ancient Dragon. This is just an ordinary Purple!" (Adventurer A)

"You are correct that this isn't an Ancient Dragon. Astra could handle anything weaker than one, but-" (Sanya)

"EXACTLY! SEND OUT ASTRA! SHE CAN HANDLE IT!" (Adventurer A)

"Interrupt me again... I dare you... next time, you drop a rank... As I was saying, Astra could handle anything weaker than an Ancient Dragon, but... this isn't an ordinary Purple. This one is Gold-bordered Purple. And besides, this Dragon is under the protection of the [Draconic Empress]. It's no threat to us if we don't attack it. In fact, it's on its way to deal with an A ranked threat, as requested by me" (Sanya)

"..." (Several Seconds of Silence)

*blink.sfx* *blink.gif* *blink.meme*

"EEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHH???!?!?!?!??!!?!??!?!?!?" (Just about everyone in the guild building)

"God... Dragon... I... Uh... I... MOMMY!!!!!!!" (Adventurer A, among others now needing to change underwear)

"They're real!?!? DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS?!?!?! I CAN MAKE THE GOAL OF MY FAMILY, PASSED DOWN FOR 17 GENERATIONS, COME TRUE! I CAN BE THE FIRST T-" (Adventurer C)

"Damian. Be quiet. You can't be the first to discover a God Dragon, its rider... the [Draconic Empress], was it? She's already been in contact with one for a while, right?" (Adventurer B)

"Actually, isn't that Dragon too small to have a rider? Not unless said rider were to be the size of a little girl. So what's the deal with it? Why is its master using it?" (Adventurer D)

"AHA! I remembered where I'd heard the name [Draconic Empress] before! At the tournament, there was a little foreigner girl, who went on to win the whole thing, with several names, including [Draconic Empress], who could use Dragons as her summons to fight for her! She used a Blue Dragon there, but I think I remembered thinking that its scales were Gold-bordered, but I dismissed that thought due to it meaning that Dragon, one used quite casually, would then be of a much higher rank than has ever been documented" (Adventurer E)

"I had the same thought when I saw that, actually. So, does this mean that this God Dragon is one of Nene's summons, with Nene on its back?" (Adventurer D)

"Pretty much. She's on her way to pick up some ingredients for her shop... I mean, kill some Krakens... whoops... sorry Nene... didn't mean to let that bit slip..." (Sanya)

*blink.sfx* *blink.gif* *blink.meme*

"TALK ABOUT IRRATIONAL!!!" (everyone-perfectly-in-sync.cliché)