"Ah—!"
After putting away the curse compendium, Raize glanced at the dragon crystal brimming with immense magic power and the Golden Apple emitting a strange fragrance. He casually opened his mouth and swallowed the dragon crystal, followed immediately by the Golden Apple.
In an instant, enormous energy surged through his body. If not for his special constitution, he might have exploded from the sheer power.
Raize could feel the rapid elevation of his human body's very life essence.
"Mm—"
A shudder rising from the depths of his bones made his body tremble.
Once inside him, the colossal energy of the dragon crystal and Golden Apple was devoured frantically by every cell of his powerful body.
As the energy entered the cells, they began to divide and evolve at accelerated speed. Mitochondria rapidly absorbed and assimilated the energy, releasing it as Raize's own, which was then further absorbed throughout his body.
"Ah! Raize, how could you swallow both the dragon crystal and the Golden Apple at once? If you can't withstand that power, something terrible could happen!"
Seeing this, Tohru's expression changed drastically. As if witnessing sheer madness, she instantly teleported behind Raize, trying to extract the swallowed items with magic.
Even Fafnir twitched at the corner of his mouth, watching this human court death. Swallowing both at once—are you insane?
A dragon crystal contained the immense power of an adult dragon. A Golden Apple was even more so. Eating them together—weren't you afraid of bursting apart?
"Tohru, I'm fine. These two won't kill me."
Raize waved his hand, stopping the magic circle forming in Tohru's palm. Using Kirby's power, he instantly assimilated the vast energy of both items. He had never felt better.
Under the astonished gazes of Tohru and Fafnir, Raize's body merely emitted faint golden and blue light. His hair fluttered without wind, and there was no sign of pain or distress on his face.
Tohru anxiously checked his chest, body, and life force. There were no signs of overload—on the contrary, his vitality and life level were rising rapidly.
Two seconds later, the energy within Raize grew even more immense, his reserves now fully comparable to a dragon's. The glow faded.
Fafnir nodded with interest, narrowing his crimson eyes.
"Human, your body is quite special. Even consuming both a dragon crystal and a Golden Apple at once caused you no harm. Humans in our world could never do this."
Indeed, they could not. No sane person would attempt such a suicidal act, nor would anyone realistically obtain both items at once. Raize was the first.
Fafnir grew even more interested in Raize. This human truly had something special.
"You scared me half to death, Raize. Please let me know beforehand next time you do something like this."
Letting out a long breath, Tohru looked at him helplessly. Though astonished by his constitution, she was still shaken.
"Sorry for worrying you, Tohru."
Knowing he was at fault, Raize sincerely apologized. Someone who genuinely cared about him like this was someone he would cherish.
Tohru merely complained lightly. Seeing that Raize had safely absorbed the power, she was actually happy for him. With his lifespan greatly increased, she no longer had to worry about him on that front.
Now she could focus entirely on dealing with Kobayashi—getting Kobayashi to eat her tail meat for immortality, so they could stay together longer.
If tail meat really didn't work, she would find a Golden Apple for Kobayashi instead.
However, Kobayashi, who regarded Tohru as family, found such ideas deeply troubling. What kind of family eats another family member's flesh?
That was Kobayashi's stance—she would absolutely never eat Tohru's flesh.
Raize, for his part, was quite grateful to Fafnir for this opportunity. Even though it was a trade, without Tohru inviting him over, none of this would have happened.
Seeing that this new, seemingly hard-to-get-along-with dragon was interested in games, Takiya promptly pulled out King of Fighters and invited him to play.
"Oh? A mere human dares challenge me in this way?"
Fafnir took the controller, his blood-red eyes narrowing as he locked onto Takiya—the human he had ignored earlier.
Takiya, however, was astonishingly unfazed. With his comical spiral glasses, he deftly deflected the tension, saying—
"Ah, I almost forgot—Mr. Fafnir is a dragon. You probably haven't played games before, right? Do you need me to teach you?"
"Just a human's game…"
Although Takiya meant no harm, those words sounded like provocation to Fafnir. Without another word, he picked up the controller and immediately started a match.
A dragon's comprehension far surpassed that of humans. Within just a few seconds, Fafnir had grasped the simple controls of King of Fighters.
However, this tsundere dragon's actual gaming skills were not very good. Before long, he was caught in a combo by Takiya and taken out with a finishing move.
"Tch. Again!"
"As many times as you like."
Fafnir clicked his tongue in displeasure, while Takiya replied patiently with a smile.
In the following matches, Takiya—an experienced hardcore gamer—began to completely dominate. He pinned Fafnir down with relentless combos, slaughtering him over and over.
After all, this was a game produced by his own company. As someone involved in its development, Takiya was intimately familiar with character frame data, move timing, and priority.
With each loss, Fafnir's already gloomy expression darkened further. Being defeated repeatedly by an ordinary human made him feel both humiliated and irritated.
Takiya had more or less figured out Fafnir's temperament. He was confident and proud, so deliberately holding back would only make him angry.
Takiya could practically predict what Fafnir would say if he did that.
"What?! A mere human dares hold back against a dragon? Are you looking down on me? I'll kill you!"
Both Raize and Takiya could vividly imagine the attitude this male dragon in a black butler outfit would display.
Even if Raize were the one playing, he would never do such a thing. He would go all out as well—there was no such thing as mercy.
Takiya, being someone who knew how to read the room at work, saw Fafnir's sour expression and laughed it off after finishing a round.
"Fafnir-san, would you like to try another game? The one I was playing earlier."
Originally, Fafnir wanted to continue, but recalling how Takiya had been wreaking havoc in Prototype, slaughtering everything in the virtual world, he grew interested. In fact, he had already been curious about that game.
Before long, the tsundere dragon became completely engrossed in Prototype.
"Hahaha! Be destroyed, humans!!"
"With such feeble weapons, you dare challenge me? I'll devour you all!!"
Prototype's emphasis on destruction and slaughter fit Fafnir perfectly. He waved the controller around, utterly immersed, as if he had entered the game world himself.
A wild, arrogant aura radiated from him, and traces of draconic presence began to leak out.
Sweating slightly, Takiya and Raize stepped a bit farther away and exchanged helpless looks.
At that moment, the doorbell rang again. Tohru and Kobayashi went to greet the guest.
"This is Miss Quetzalcoatl," Tohru said as she led in a stunningly voluptuous woman, introducing her to Kobayashi and everyone else.
At first glance, one's eyes were inevitably drawn to her overwhelming bust. In Raize's opinion, only those aircraft-carrier-class women from his future days could rival this.
This unbelievably curvy woman also had a pair of dragon horns on her head and wore a hat. Her long yellow hair faded into green at the tips, and her face bore a gentle, cheerful smile.
"Hello, everyone. Nice to meet you. Just call me Lucoa."
Unlike the oppressive hostility Fafnir had brought earlier, this newly arrived Dragon Lady matched her expression—friendly and warm.
Aside from Raize, both Takiya and Kobayashi let out a sigh of relief. To be honest, no matter how strong their hearts or steady their nerves, being surrounded by dragons was still nerve-wracking.
"Why are dragons always… that big?"
Relaxing slightly, Kobayashi's gaze was completely captured by Lucoa's massive World Cup–class bust. Her tone and eyes were full of envy. This level was downright unfair.
Raize, on the other hand, was unfazed. After regularly spending time playing Azur Lane and facing shipgirls, even enormous chests only earned an "acceptable" reaction from him.
"?" Seeing Kobayashi's odd expression, both Lucoa and Tohru looked confused.
"Ah, I'm Kobayashi. Nice to meet you—um… hello." Realizing she had not properly greeted her yet, Kobayashi introduced herself, but her eyes were once again drawn to Lucoa's distinctive outfit. She looked her up and down, then fell silent.
Lucoa did not understand Kobayashi's silent stare. "What's wrong?"
"Well…"
Looking at Lucoa's impressive bust, Kobayashi asked with a subtle expression, "Did you… walk here dressed like that?"
"Yes."
"…You'll be completely mistaken for a pervert, you know."
Kobayashi reminded her bluntly. As expected, this seemingly easygoing Dragon Lady was also astonishingly airheaded in certain respects—or perhaps she simply did not care.
"Eh?!"
Hearing this, Lucoa's expression stiffened slightly in surprise. She naturally knew what "pervert" meant. Ever since arriving in this world dressed like this, she had received many strange looks, but she had not paid them much mind.
She never imagined that, in human eyes, her casual outfit was considered perverted.
---
The impressive new Dragon Lady soon became acquainted with everyone present.
Leaving Takiya to keep Fafnir company with games, Raize went to help Tohru prepare the special ingredients he had brought. Although Tohru's cooking skills were excellent, there were some unfamiliar ingredients that he preferred to handle personally.
After all, he was entertaining dragons—he could not afford to be stingy.
Originally, Tohru was supposed to handle all the cooking, but it turned into her assisting Raize instead. She was unfamiliar with the fantasy ingredients he had brought and could not properly prepare them.
"Ah, Tohru, let me handle that fish."
"It's just a fish. My knife skills can handle it—eh?! What's going on?!"
Raize was busy preparing a rich soup when he saw Tohru cutting the River Puffer Whale he had placed on the cutting board. He tried to stop her, but he was too late—the knife had already fallen.
This River Puffer Whale was something he had cultivated through regeneration in a small world, deliberately grown under high-pressure conditions. Otherwise, it would have been the size of an actual whale, making preparation time-consuming and diluting its flavor.
With just that single cut, the carefully cultivated River Puffer Whale immediately turned purple, losing its original luster—it had been completely poisoned.
Tohru immediately noticed that the fish was now filled with deadly poison. Cooking it was no longer possible.
"Uh… it's already poisoned."
Taking the now-purple River Puffer Whale, Raize looked at it with a headache. In this state, it could not be eaten without special treatment.
Standing close behind Raize, Kanna stared intently at the fish in his hands, drool quietly forming at the corner of her mouth.
"Raize, why did this fish suddenly…" Tohru asked in confusion. It had been fine just moments ago.
"This is a River Puffer Whale. Like a pufferfish, it contains toxins and needs special processing before it can be eaten."
Raize patiently explained, without blaming Tohru.
Sitting at the table chatting with Lucoa, Kobayashi was drawn over by the commotion and walked into the kitchen with her.
"What happened? Raize, what kind of strange fish is that? It doesn't look edible."
Kobayashi stared at the ominously purple fish. Could something like that really be eaten?
"It's a special ingredient. It just needs processing."
Raize suddenly took out Yamato, gently placing the River Puffer Whale on the cutting board. He lightly touched the fish with the blade. A flash of energy shimmered at the tip as the power of separation activated.
The purple poison rapidly faded from the fish, completely separated and drawn out, then wrapped in Raize's energy.
Splash—
All the toxins were extracted. The River Puffer Whale immediately began to shine with a dazzling golden light, like pure, flawless gold.
"All right. Now it can be cooked."
Raize nodded in satisfaction. At that moment, the Yamato blade in his hand suddenly vibrated violently, making his expression turn awkward.
Using Yamato's separation power for cooking—Yamato clearly had objections.
Lucoa watched with a gentle smile, easily sensing the extraordinariness of Raize's blade. Using one's own weapon for cooking, and it protesting in response—how amusing.
Kanna, Tohru, and Kobayashi stared wide-eyed at the gleaming fish. Kanna's drool was no longer subtle—she wanted to eat it right now.
"Raize, what exactly is this River Puffer Whale?"
Tohru asked with keen interest, while Kobayashi looked equally puzzled.
She had heard of pufferfish and whales, but what kind of creature was a River Puffer Whale?
"It's a fish that doesn't exist in this world. Originally, it was a large whale-like creature, but due to environmental pressures, its body was compressed down to the size of a pufferfish. Its flavor, however, is a concentrated version of whale meat. Because it's concentrated, its toxins are also concentrated, forming a poison sac."
"However, it's extremely timid. Even a light touch can frighten it, causing the poison sac to rupture and poison the entire body. To cook it, the poison sac must be removed with absolute precision."
As he explained, Raize put away Yamato and picked up a kitchen knife. His hand blurred, and in an instant, he sliced the entire fish into sashimi.
To clarify further, he took another pure white River Puffer Whale and cut it open smoothly, revealing the purple poison sac inside.
With a swift motion, he removed it, placing it into a container along with the previously extracted toxins. The fish once again gleamed gold.
With exquisite knife work, he sliced the fish into evenly cut pieces, arranging them neatly on a plate in the shape of a blooming flower.
"What a fascinating fish. So earlier, Tohru accidentally cut the poison sac, causing it to become toxic, right?"
Having already accepted the supernatural nature of this world, Kobayashi voiced her amazement. She now understood that Tohru had accidentally ruined the dish, and Raize had removed the poison.
"Sorry…" Tohru apologized sheepishly.
Raize did not blame her. This meal was meant to entertain dragon friends. He lightly simmered the sashimi to fully bring out its rich flavor, then poured a special sauce over it.
The appetizer was complete.
"Everyone, please give it a try."
He placed the large plate of River Puffer Whale slices before them, inviting everyone to taste it.
The translucent, crystal-like slices glistened under the sauce, releasing an enticing aroma that made mouths water.
Naturally, everyone could not wait.
Takiya was called over as well, dragging Fafnir along. They took the chopsticks Raize handed them and began eating.
"Mmm—so delicious!"
Tohru closed her eyes in bliss as the explosive flavor filled her mouth. Compared to the fantasy ingredients Raize had previously cooked for them, this was on an entirely different level.
"The sashimi I've eaten before is completely inferior!"
"Kanna, don't grab it with your hands!"
"Mm… I never thought human cooking could be this delicious…"
"Anyone want a drink? It's my special brew."
Raize prepared another alcohol-based dish using River Puffer Whale as the main ingredient. The warmed liquor, combined with the whale's fin, released an intoxicatingly rich fragrance that rushed toward the nose.
Beside it was a bottle of rainbow fruit wine that Raize had brewed himself, made primarily from rainbow fruits.
The aroma lingered long, the flavor was full-bodied, sweet and refreshing on entry, with the various tastes perfectly balanced.
"Alcohol?" Lucoa, who had been smiling contentedly while enjoying the sashimi, suddenly let her expression cool. She lowered her head slightly and opened those heterochromatic eyes etched with strange patterns. Her tone lost its warmth and became deep and subdued. "That's fine. Let me confirm if it's cursed."
"Cursed?"
Kobayashi repeated the word with an odd expression, then looked toward Tohru, wanting to understand what was going on.
Fafnir glanced at Lucoa while eating sashimi. He knew what it was about, but had no interest in speaking up.
After all, it was someone else's embarrassing past. Bringing it up was hardly appropriate. However, Tohru was the straightforward type and immediately explained the reason to Kobayashi and Raize.
Lucoa's expression, which had been gloomy, changed the moment her embarrassing story was exposed in public. Caught completely off guard by this betrayal, she stared at Tohru in shock and blank disbelief, feeling rather embarrassed inside.
"Miss Lucoa lost her divinity in the past because of alcohol. Her colleagues made her drink cursed wine, and while she was drunk, she—"
"Don't say it!!"
Unable to let Tohru continue, Lucoa began flailing her arms to stop her from explaining further. How could something like this be said out loud in front of everyone!?
She absolutely did not want to be treated as a drunken joke!!
Raize and Kobayashi exchanged speechless looks. Raize had originally wanted to treat the dragons, but in his excitement, he had forgotten about Lucoa's situation.