Chapter 11

[Magical Girl Daisy, Transformation! (B)]

A pure white light enveloped Iji. It was warm—like a blanket filled with sunlight.

The warmth that wrapped around her hair slowly flowed downward—

Clink—☆

With the cheerful sound of her ankle boots touching the ground, a softly glowing sky-blue frill tickled her legs.

It felt like she had grown wings.

Iji immediately turned around and ran, shouting,

“I’m going to the tea party room!”

[What? You’re giving up on this guy?]

“No! I’m going to find another way!”

[W-wait! I’m coming too!]

Perhaps due to the transformation effect, she could run much faster than usual.

In no time, she arrived at the chaos… no, the tea party hall.

Iji approached them and spoke.

“Excuse me. Is this… a tea party—cough!?”

A foul stench hit her. It was the breath of the Black Rotten Dragon.

The March Hare tied the dragon’s snout shut with rabbit-ear knots and shouted,

“Does this look like a tea party to you?! With a lumpy guest, no one can even have a cup of tea!”

“……”

“If you’re just going to growl in front of the tea, then float in the teacup or something if you don’t know how to drink it!”

The Mad Hatter, clutching a pile of hats, nodded.

“Right! The lumpy guest’s neck is too long, so we can’t even put hats on him anymore. The top hat has to live without a hat—what are we supposed to do!”

Even while spouting nonsense, the residents’ expressions were serious.

Before the strange scene, Iji finally understood the words she had seen at the dungeon entrance.

Protect the tea party from the Black Rotten Dragon’s attack

“So this really was an attack.”

This was a world of nonsense and wordplay. Naturally, the tea party should have been like that too.

But once a serious dragon intervened, the tea party no longer fit this “Wonderland.”

Iji shouted,

“I’ll handle the lumpy guest problem.”

“What?”

“Please step back for a moment.”

The two residents widened their eyes. Even the hibernating dormouse woke up and joined in.

“A little girl? That’s dangerous!”

“She’s going to get swallowed in one bite!”

The residents are making sense for once.

That made her strangely uneasy.

But it would be fine.

Grimoire-sama said I would be safe.

The Grimoire that followed her was also watching her.

She could do this.

[Magical Girl Wants to Talk! (B+)]

“Black Dragon-sama.”

She deliberately left out the word “rotten.”

She didn’t want to call anyone something like “the rotten one.”

“Hello. I’m Iji. A magical girl.”

The March Hare hurriedly untied its ear knot and backed away. The nervous dormouse clicked its teeth.

Soon, the Black Rotten Dragon’s black eyes turned toward Iji…

“…What are you?”

A reply came.

I knew it—he can talk!

Anyone in danger of being beaten up by a rabbit would want peaceful communication.

But just as she felt relieved, another problem appeared.

The breath…!

The stench from the dragon’s mouth was unbearable.

It was on a completely different level from what she had smelled earlier.

But she couldn’t show it.

The dragon might get hurt.

Iji quickly grabbed a teacup—any cup would do. The smell of black tea slightly neutralized the stench.

“I’m a guest of this tea party!”

“I never invited—”

Just as the March Hare interrupted without reading the room, Iji spun in place.

“Look! Isn’t this the perfect tea party outfit?”

Her frills fluttered elegantly like tropical fish fins. The Hare stared blankly.

Even the dragon seemed convinced.

“…I see.”

“Yes! I’d like to greet you, since you arrived first, Black Dragon-sama. Where are you from?”

“I… think I was in a land full of stones.”

The conversation continued.

Good.

There was no need to fight.

The dungeon clear condition was not “defeat the dragon,” but “protect the tea party.”

So what Iji aimed for now was—

A plan to have tea with the dragon!

“Wow, that sounds amazing! Please tell me more. You must be thirsty—I’ll pour you some tea!”

The March Hare shouted,

“We didn’t invite you!”

She didn’t need to care. Even Alice in Alice in Wonderland had been treated like that and still joined the tea party.

But unexpectedly, the dragon shook his head.

“No.”

“Huh?”

“I don’t… want anything! I don’t want it anymore!”

With a voice like he was vomiting blood, a foul stench burst out again.

The Dormouse fainted.

The Hare and the Hatter shouted,

“Let’s tie his mouth again!”

“I’ll put hats on every tooth he has!”

They rolled up their sleeves and stood before the massive snout.

And then—

Iji realized something through the partially blocked stench.

“March Hare, keep the dragon’s mouth open!”

“Eh? Wait, little girl! That’s my spoon!”

“I’ll borrow it for 10 seconds!”

Spoon in hand, Iji ran across the long table.

Running over a dining table felt strangely thrilling.

Even if a mouth the size of a door waited at the end.

The dragon’s eyes widened.

“You…!”

“Open wideeee!”

The dragon tried to close his mouth, but it was too late. To avoid biting her, he had no choice but to keep it open.

Sliding along his tongue, Iji flipped the spoon deep inside his throat.

One second later—

“…Gghk!”

The dragon’s throat trembled.

The sound grew stronger.

“Ghk! Ghk! Ghk!”

The residents grabbed Iji’s ankles and pulled. Thanks to their grip, she slipped out safely.

“Stinky!”

While the dormouse poured black tea over her head to remove the smell—

The dragon could no longer hold it in.

“Ugh… w-retch—!”

With a roar mixing coughing and vomiting—

Something shot out of the dragon’s mouth and plopped into a soup bowl.

It was a blue stone covered in bumps.

Pus and blood trapped on its surface revealed the source of the stench.

Iji placed another bowl over it to block the smell, then asked the dragon,

“Are you okay?”

The dragon, barely steadying his breath, asked back,

“…What did you make me swallow?”

“Black tea leaves.”

“You were trying to make me vomit. How did you know something was in my stomach?”

“Well… I could smell it.”

A smell like people injured after swallowing something they shouldn’t.

She had learned it from her sister.

The day she swallowed a fish bone, she tried to push it down with rice as she was told—and got severely scolded.

You mustn’t leave something you can’t eat in your body. Terrible things happen!

She had learned that people sometimes end up in hospitals after swallowing strange things.

And what happens if it can’t come out.

“The smell from your mouth was blood and decay. Not like normal bad breath.”

“……”

“And also…”

Iji imagined something cruel.

“Someone forced you to eat this stone, didn’t they?”

“…!”

“You said earlier you didn’t want it anymore. So I thought maybe you were forced to eat something.”

“…You saw correctly.”

The dragon gritted his teeth.

“Someone fed me mana stones. They used my body like soil, exploiting it as they grew.”

“Do you mean… they grew?”

Iji pointed at him, trembling slightly.

The blue lumps on his body were slowly turning pale.

The dragon shook his body. The stones fell off like dead debris.

“That’s right. Mana stones fed on my blood. They’re not even worth pebbles anymore!”

Without gasping, he laughed loudly.

“HAHAHA! My body was this light all along! I can return home in a single breath!”

“Home?”

“I mentioned it earlier. A land full of stones, with tall mountains and deep valleys. Beautiful like teeth.”

“……”

Iji couldn’t say anything.

You can’t go home.

There’s no way a dungeon that has been “broken” would remain intact.

The fluttering wings slowly turned transparent. The Black Rotten Dragon was fading away.

…No.

[Black Dragon]

An adult dragon covered in black scales.

Attacks below C+ rank cannot damage its scales.

In his final moment, he was no longer a “rotting” dragon.

Dungeon Emergency Quest Cleared!

Clear Reward Obtained:

• Trait ability +10% enhancement

A massive reward message appeared compared to previous dungeons.

It was exactly what Iji had wanted.

But now she had something more urgent.

“Hey, Dragon-sama!”

“Oh, I haven’t paid you back for helping me. Do you want something?”