“Home really is the most comforting place,” Favna said.

As she spoke, she flopped onto the sofa, pulled out her phone, and started playing a game by herself. Her little feet in white stockings swung up and down in a carefree rhythm.

Hearing her sigh like that, Alte just couldn’t tear his eyes away from Favna’s pair of white-stockinged “ice cream cones,” and silently complained in his heart.

This is my house.

“Heaven, heaven~ First, I should grab a bottle of happy water.”

Muttering to herself, Favna started climbing off the sofa. She stepped over the mess on the floor, walked to an empty corner, then scratched her head in confusion.

“Huh? I remember the fridge being here... Did I go the wrong way?”

The lights in the room still weren’t on, and the curtains were drawn, so the whole place was quite dim. For Favna, without using night vision magic, she could only vaguely make out what was in front of her.

But for Alte, he could still clearly see Favna fumbling around.

Watching her feel along the wall for ages without finding the light switch, Alte could only let out a sigh. Then, with a click, he turned on the lights.

The sudden sound scared Favna half to death.

She quickly turned around to look. There stood Alte, one hand on his forehead, looking completely helpless.

The moment she saw him, Favna instinctively jumped far away and said with a flushed face,

“Why are you in my house, you pervert captain?!”

“This isn’t your house. It’s mine.”

Alte held his head. On the way here, he’d already felt that something was off with her. She’d been absent-minded the whole time, like she was so nervous her soul had gone missing.

And now it seemed... she really hadn’t noticed at all that this wasn’t her home?

“Ah...”

After hearing that, Favna, still hiding in the corner, looked around with half-believing eyes.

The atmosphere here really was exactly like her own dragon den. Junk and documents were scattered all over the floor. The whole place was in a state of extreme sloth and total neglect.

But judging from the layout, this was absolutely not her dragon den!!

She’d been scared the whole way here, thinking about how to get Alte to forgive her. Then her tightly wound nerves suddenly ran into an atmosphere that felt so reassuring.

So she’d subconsciously—really, truly subconsciously—treated this place like her own home!

“Miss Favna, I didn’t see anything.”

With that, Alte turned around and deliberately acted like nothing had happened while pouring himself a cup of coffee.

In her heart, Favna roared back.

Didn’t see anything my ass!

No matter what, she had to make herself look a little more decent first, but seriously... she wanted to die.

“I should just end it...”

Realizing she’d embarrassed herself beyond saving, Favna’s face turned gray. She wished she could dig a hole on the spot and bury herself in it.

Still drowning in shame, she threw the black robe back over herself. On top of that, she even wrapped herself in Alte’s bedsheet. Layer after layer, inside and out, she bundled herself up so tightly it couldn’t possibly get any thicker.

“Good thing I’ve got air conditioning here. Otherwise, dressed like that, you’d die of heat.”

After spending some time around Favna, Alte had figured one thing out.

This little dragon girl was extremely shy. She didn’t dare talk to people, and she didn’t even dare show her face.

Even though she was clearly this pretty. It really was a bit of a waste to keep it hidden.

As he sighed, Alte noticed that Favna had already sat down across from him. Even wrapped up this thickly, he could still tell that her body and nerves were stretched tight like a drawn rope. She was incredibly tense and scared.

So Alte didn’t hesitate. He switched the lights off and said to Favna,

“This should make you feel a little better, right?”

“Mhm...”

Once the light was gone, the little head hidden beneath the black robe finally poked out.

Dragons didn’t have night vision by default, but Favna had learned night vision magic.

Usually, when she was home alone, she rarely used it because she was so used to the dark. She hadn’t expected it to come in handy here.

Seeing that Favna was finally a little less afraid, Alte continued,

“Miss Favna, are you here to pay compensation? I remember you said before that you were going to get the money.”

“Yes...” Favna nodded lightly. Then she remembered something, quickly shook her head, and said to Alte, “No, no! Um... I’m really sorry.”

There was no point in lying. For Favna, maybe honesty and leniency was the only path left.

“I don’t have any money. I’m sorry!”

By the end of it, the timid little thing had shrunk her head so far down it was almost disappearing into her neck.

Honestly, seeing her act so timid, like a little hamster, Alte didn’t feel angry at all.

What he did find strange, though, was why that Enchanted Short Spear had shattered in the first place. Even the highest-ranking mages of the Fallen Empire couldn’t have damaged it to that extent.

Or was it simply because the spear had gone through too many years of battle and too little maintenance?

“I-I-I can go get a job and earn money! I can definitely pay you back.”

Seeing that Alte still hadn’t spoken, Favna grew even more nervous. If this captain really insisted on compensation, then she truly had no money at all!

She couldn’t seriously have to sell herself, right?!

“But Miss Favna, aren’t you still in school?”

Even though Alte knew Favna was already an adult, she still didn’t look like someone with independent financial means. Those 120,000 gold coins were practically an astronomical sum to her.

There was no way she could pay it back.

“Mhm...”

Favna nodded.

She really was a student, though she was about to graduate. It was summer break right now, so she had a fair amount of free time.

This world didn’t have those ridiculously annoying exams.

Most of the time, as long as you kept training and improving your strength, you’d pass.

But none of that was the point. Even with free time, there was no way she could repay 120,000 just by power-leveling in games and selling bits of information.

Luckily, the other party was the Dragon Knight Captain. If it had been anyone else...

She probably would’ve already been dragged off to become some bed-warming little maid.

Of course, how could that kind of thing possibly happen?

Leaving aside Alte’s upright character, she herself had hands and feet. She could fly and run too.

“Come to think of it...” Favna glanced around at the messy room and said to Alte, “Don’t rich people usually have maids or something? Why not hire one to help clean your room?”

But before she could finish, she noticed that Alte’s gaze had somehow locked onto her.

It made her scalp tingle. A bad feeling rose in her heart. In the end, she couldn’t help but ask in a trembling voice,

“Um? Why are you looking at me?”

“Hmm. I really should find someone to help clean up.”

Facing the somewhat frightened Favna, Alte nodded thoughtfully.