Chapter 20

The sound of the room door opening drew both me and Bahamut's attention towards it. We saw Lili staring at us through the space of the half opened door. Her face seemed to express shock and a hint of fear, I quickly realized why. It was because I didn't have my cloak on and Bahamut was also visible to her. She probably hadn't seen a dragon kin and had every right to wary.

"Hi, I am Draco a dragon kin, the adventurer that saved you from the dungeon" I said while smiling.

"Lili" she muttered in a quite voice as she looked at my goddess in the room with eyes asking for some explanation. I was patient as I had siblings too.

"No need to be wary now, this is my goddess Bahamut. After I brought you from the dungeon, I reported the incident to the guild. I wanted to return you to the orphanage but I felt it better to bring you home" I said in the most calming voice that I could muster.

"Thank you" she said in almost a whisper.

The room then became silent and awkward as I did not know how to approach the subject of her joining the familia. Seeing our awkwardness, Bahamut couldn't take it anymore and walked up to Lili.

"What Draco meant is that he wants you to join our familia" she said as she hugged Lili. Lili didn't seem to dislike it and returned the hug while crying.

*growling*

A few minutes later she stopped after her belly made a loud rumble. She felt embarrassed as her face turned red in contrast to her chestnut coloured hair.

"Draco go make something to eat" said Bahamut as she dragged Lili somewhere while I entered the kitchen. I decided to try making noodles as the base ingredient were available.

While Lili and Bahamut were in the bathroom.

"Alright take off all your clothes, you need a bath" said Bahamut as she filled the tub with water.

"Ok um Bahamut sama" said Lili as she stripped of her clothes only to notice that there was no scar from the wound that she received in the dungeon. She then hopped in the tub with Bahamut as they both cleaned up.

"Tell me about yourself, Draco seems to want you to join my familia so I have to know what kind of person you are before allowing that to happen" said Bahamut in a serious tone.

Lili seemed scared at first but she knew not to lie to a goddess, so she started telling Bahamut everything about her life that she could remember. The story was sad and filled with things that a child her age didn't have to bear. But this was just how the world worked as some are fortunate while others are not.

"It must have been hard but now everything is ok. Release everything" Bahamut said in a motherly tone as Lili started crying again. They spent a few minutes that way before they got out of the bathroom.

Lili didn't have spare clothes so Draco's shirt was used as a makeshift dress.

"Anyway make up your mind about if you want to return to the dungeon as an adventurer or remain a normal person. We will give you some time to think. You maybe young but the world doesn't care, so decide if you will confront the dungeon once more despite you trauma or run away from it" Bahamut said to Lili before they exited the room.

Hearing Bahamuts words, Lili fell into her thoughts as she entered the makeshift dining room to eat. she was very hungry.

"So what did you prepare today" asked Bahamut as Draco seemed to always make something interesting and tasty. But his new stuff tended to be a hit or miss every-time.

"Hmm, it's just noodles with some twists" said Draco acting all mysterious.

'What could possibly go wrong with noodles' Bahamut thought as she watched Draco serve the food to both her and Lili. Something about her food felt different from Lili's, but she couldn't tell what and dug in.

"Fuuuunyaaa" were the words that slipped out of Bahamuts mouth as she tasted the food. The dish looked like stir fried noodles with cheese, peppers, eggs, spices and a lot of well seasoned meat, at least that's what she could identify but something was there that gave it a special taste. She couldn't tell what it was.

Lili just seemed to be stuffing her mouth with food but Bahamut could tell that Lili loved the taste.

"Can you guess the secret ingredient" said Draco with a smug smile as this was a game he and Bahamut played anytime he made weird food.

"I don't know this time, just tell me" Bahamut replied while pouting as Lili seemed to be almost done with her meal.

"The secret ingredient today is Lime" Draco said while laughing at Bahamuts cute pouting face. Bahamut was a foodie and prided herself in the fact that she could tell what was used to make any food as she had eaten a lot of different food from different places. But Draco kept adding ingredient that she knew into meals but she still couldn't tell that it was added as the flavours mixed. Well it wasn't all losses as she did win sometimes.

The three talked and had fun eating before cleaning the house while Lili seemed to be thinking about something the rest of the day. They soon had dinner and went to bed as the next day, Draco would go back to grinding in the dungeon. Draco didn't want to check his status as he had already made plans to keep leveling for three more months, before fighting an infant dragon solo to level up.

The next day I woke up and to my surprise Bahamut wasn't on top me but her tail did wrap around mine still with Lili at the middle. Maybe she was considerate of Lili as it seemed they talked about something in the bathroom.

Lili had been lost in thoughts about something since she went to the bathroom with Bahamut. I gently unwrapped my tail and carefully got up from bed to clean up and make breakfast.

I soon noticed that Lili was awake after I came out from the bathroom while Bahamut still slept.

"Go clean up, I am going to make breakfast" I said to which Lili just nodded.

I then entered the kitchen to make eggs, bacon, sausage and toasted bread in a pan. After which I squeezed some oranges as a drink because we tend to finish things quick and we didn't have a good storage method. Magic devices that functioned like a modern world device existed but they were ridiculously expensive. But I commissioned some to be added to our new familia house under construction, so had to wait till it was completed.

While I was still making breakfast, Lili walked up to me and asked if she could help. I then told her to set up the small table.

Serving breakfast, Lili seemed like she wanted to say something to me but always shut her mouth after opening it.

"You can talk to me" I said softly.

"Um Draco sama, why did you save me. I did something bad but you still saved me, healed my wounds and gave me a place to stay with food. I am a bad girl" Lili said while sobbing. I wasn't sure how to answer in a way that would not break her further but I didn't wish to lie.

"Hmm, that a tough question, but I saved you to save me" I replied. She seemed confused at my words so I continued.

"You see those men that made you do bad things, were once saved by me in the dungeon. I didn't know they were bad people at the time but me saving them cost other adventurers their life and almost cost you yours. What saved me from my inner demons upon that realization was saving you. So I saved you to save myself. Also I felt like I knew you the moment I heard your name". I replied as truthfully as I could. Lili seemed to understand a bit but was confused about the last part.

"So don't feel like you are a bad girl, you were just unfortunate at the time. You are not a bad girl and I am on your side". I said as she burst into tears once again. Seeing this I hugged her. Stroking her head gently as she calmed down after a while. Cleaning her tears away, her face looked like she had found a resolve.

" Please let me join your familia and make me an adventurer Draco sama" she said with great determination and conviction. These weren't words one would hear from a 7 year old but it seemed reality and circumstance had matured her a bit earlier than her age mates.

"I will and welcome to the Bahamut familia. Training will be tough but I will make you the best adventurer that you can be" I said, while patting her head to which she smiled for the first time since I met her. I then urged her to finish breakfast as I would be heading to the dungeon after eating.

"Oh and you can just call me Draco or Onii chan" I said as it felt somewhat thrilling to be called that by a non sibling.

Note: See ya all Monday. Feel free to read ahead in patreon. Have a great weekend nd gimme yer stones.