Fio lay on the hay, wrapped in the robe Leon had tossed her.

“I can’t sleep…”

Fio opened her eyes and turned around. Leon was asleep in a corner, sitting cross-legged against the wall with his weapon held in his arms.

With each steady breath, his strong chest rose and fell.

His slightly long, glossy black hair fell over his eyes. Long lashes showed through the gaps in his bangs, and his sharply defined features looked as if an artist had carefully carved them, every line pleasing to the eye.

It wasn’t hard to understand why he was so popular with girls.

“Fine, I admit you’re pretty handsome, even if your hobbies are hard to approve of,” Fio muttered under her breath.

When she remembered how Leon had turned down the landlady earlier, Fio felt a strange flutter in her heart. She didn’t understand why, and she was even starting to think of Leon as a friend.

But then she shook her head. She felt like an idiot of a husky, ready to follow anyone who offered her a little bone! This was the scumbag who’d tried to do all sorts of awful things to her. How could she possibly be developing a soft spot for him?

Fio simply blamed it all on Leon. It was all part of his schemes, she thought—using both the stick and the carrot to get her completely under control. So she absolutely shouldn’t thank him. Besides, wasn’t this only what he was supposed to do?

She was the noble Ice Dragon King. What was wrong with a human taking care of her?

Wait, why not take this chance to escape? Fio stood up. The hay rustled, and Leon’s eyebrow twitched. Startled, Fio hurriedly lay back down.

Damn bastard. He even keeps an eye on me in his sleep! With no other options, and her thoughts getting more and more tangled as she looked at Leon’s face, Fio rolled over to face the wall and shut her eyes. Out of sight, out of mind.

…

The next morning, Leon took Fio to buy breakfast.

Fio held a chicken wrap in both hands, sauce smeared all over her mouth.

“Is it to your taste?” Leon asked.

“Mm, mmm…’s good…”

Fio’s cheeks were stuffed full, and her words came out muffled.

“Good. I thought a Dragon King might be really picky.”

“I… I’m not picky…”

Fio was easy to please. In this cold, materialistic world, the chicken wrap was the only thing that could warm her heart a little.

“Good. Oh, there’s a gathering in Donglin City today. Want to go take a look?”

Fio finished her wrap, licked her fingers, and looked at Leon.

She was interested in this world, but between her identity and her social anxiety, she’d barely had a chance to learn about it.

Her eyes had lit up with interest, but after a moment’s thought, the light faded.

“Forget it. I hate crowded places. When people stare at me, I can’t breathe.”

“Oh, I see… Then come with me.”

Leon glanced around, spotted a magic supply shop, and led Fio inside.

“There’s so much stuff!”

Fio found the magical supplies on display fascinating.

As a member of the Dragon Clan, Fio was different from humans. She didn’t need a focus to cast spells, so she’d rarely seen things like these.

Leon went over to the shop attendant and said something. The attendant nodded.

When the shop attendant came back, they were holding a robe and a wizard’s hat. They handed them to Leon, and Fio realized they were both her size.

“Put them on.”

“Are they for me?”

“Yeah. You’re always so tense and acting so strange that you could cause trouble for me, too. We don’t want the patrol guards taking an interest in you.”

Fio put on the linen-colored robe and hat, then stood in front of the mirror, fascinated by her reflection.

The outfit covered most of her exposed skin. Her silver hair was tied up and hidden beneath the hat, making Fio much less conspicuous.

And she totally looked like a little mage from an RPG! This was so cool!

“Like it?”

“Mm-hmm!”

Fio smiled at Leon. He stared at her, speechless.

“What’s wrong? Do I still look weird?”

“No. It fits you well. Let’s go.”

After Leon paid the shop attendant, he asked Fio again if she wanted to go sightseeing. Now that she was outside, nobody paid her any attention. Unable to resist her curiosity, she decided to take a look.

“By the way, why don’t you take the mage certification exam sometime?” Leon said.

“What’s that?”

“It’s a ranking test run by the Mages’ Association in the human kingdoms. Pass it, and you’ll get an official mage rank. You could probably become the highest-ranked mage. Then you could come with me on missions—”

“Uh! We’ll talk about it later, if I get the chance!” Fio dodged the question.

Fio finally understood why Leon had suddenly offered to buy her mage clothes. He’d been planning all along to get her working and earning money!

Don’t even think about making me work! I’ll never get a job in this life. The only way I can keep living is by lying around at home, eating for free, and waiting to die.

“Sure. We’ll talk about it when we get back to the capital of the Donghui Kingdom,” Leon said with a nod.

As they chatted, they reached the gathering. The crowd suddenly thickened, with all kinds of races from this other world coming together to trade.

Fio’s eyes were opened by all the strange new things from this world. At every stall, she exclaimed in wonder and peppered Leon with questions about what everything was.

To her surprise, Leon patiently explained it all.

“Th-this world has dirty books too! And this one’s a Leon fanbook?! Sword Saint x Crown Prince?”

At a little bookstall, a cover caught Fio’s eye. She opened the book, flipped through it, and sucked in a shocked breath.

The owner of the stall was pretty crafty. They’d slipped dirty books in among a whole pile of normal ones and were selling them that way.

“Leon’s the bottom? What the hell kind of thing is this—suspended upside down?”

In her previous life, Fio had been exposed to all sorts of things, but she hadn’t expected there to be fujoshi in this world too—and the content was this intense. Her face flushed red as she read, but her curiosity about the bizarre stuff kept her turning the pages.

“What are you reading?”

“Huh? N-nothing—!”

Leon had been browsing another stall for a while. When he came over, Fio jumped and quickly shut the book, putting it back.

This time, she looked at Leon with a little more reverence. The Sword Saint had no idea why.