novelraw Chapter 209
Chapter 209
Chapter 209
"Sheffy, you're this tiny now, but your childhood clothes are so big? Don’t tell me you’re a reverse-growing Toro Grass?"
Toro Grass—rumored to grow tallest in spring, then shrink shorter with each passing season, a magical plant known for its reverse growth.
But Sheffy was definitely not some bizarre plant like that!
Sheffy sat up like a spring, her words stumbling, fists clenched tightly—there was clearly a hint of “I’d rather not remember the past.”
"Ugh... Who hasn’t had a dream when they were little? I just made clothes in advance that I might wear in the future... What’s it to you? Nosy!"
"So that’s how it is. You had delusions about the future when you were a kid, imagined you’d grow up to that size, so you made clothes for it. Not bad. Even if there’s a gap between the ideal and reality, I’d still say—not bad."
"Don’t use ‘delusions’! At least call it a vision!"
And stop hooking your finger around the fabric on the chest like that—it’s making this incredibly awkward!
Damn it... When I made this outfit as a child, I was already being daring by imagining myself becoming as powerful as Mother.
But the outfit I boldly designed with all my childish imagination... somehow still looks conservative when worn by Timani!
Imagination truly should be limitless.
Timani stretched her long legs out from under the covers, sitting on the edge of the bed. She stared directly at Sheffy, who was slumped on the floor and refusing to get up—making Sheffy seem even smaller and more ridiculous in comparison.
"Sigh..."
"Fire Lizard... your sigh is dripping with malice."
"No, I was just wondering—are you really okay sitting there doing nothing? Weren’t you talking about a forced march and being some kind of commander?"
"How do you know that?"
"You were mumbling and grumbling to yourself and spilled the whole story... You were so noisy I couldn’t sleep. It’s not like I could not hear it. So—what’s your plan now?"
She said she didn’t want to hear, but if Timani really didn’t, she could have just covered her ears.
Her asking about it—no matter how well she hid it—still couldn’t completely conceal the concern in her eyes.
Alright, alright, Fire Lizard—looks like I wasn’t wrong to treat you as a friend. You're not just someone who eats all the time!
But if Sheffy called her out on it, this fragile friendship might fall apart, so she simply shrugged and cut straight to the point.
"Doesn’t matter. Armies move slowly. Xiarette and I can get there much faster. If I use Super Acceleration, we might be there in a few hours. Getting there ahead of them is pointless. I’d just be standing around in the cold wind of the Northern Territory. Might as well take a nap first."
"What about Xiarette and the others?"
"I told them—I’m sleeping first, and no one’s allowed to stop my afternoon nap."
"Looks like you’re a bit agitated... But me right now..." Timani suddenly turned her head away, leaving only her fiery-colored hair in Sheffy’s line of sight. "Right now... I’m in a pretty good mood, you know?"
"Huh?"
She always wore a stony face, and not even food could make her smile.
But just before she turned away, Sheffy thought she might’ve caught a fleeting trace of a smile on Timani’s lips.
The reason it was just a “might” was because it was really hard to tell whether she’d actually smiled.
Whether she smiled or not didn’t matter.
Timani was simply becoming more certain—this demon girl in front of her, who could unfurl eight wings, possessed strength not only of heart.
As for plans for the future... Timani gradually began to feel that more, broader paths had opened to her.
From the depths of a chaotic night—
Suddenly, there was light.
However...
“Sheffy, if you have the time, teach me how to become stronger too.”
“Swallowing your pride now? Oh ho, how strange—you already know I can fight, so why not just ask for help?”
“One thing has nothing to do with another. My own affairs—I’ll handle them myself.”
“You’re seriously stubborn...”
Timani didn’t respond to that. After finishing her sentence, she curled back under the covers, turned her back to Sheffy, and wrapped herself into a ball in silence.
Time passed, second by second.
Sheffy sat on the cold floor, looking down at the broken plank she’d been gripping...
Her anger began to simmer.
“Hey...”
“Hmm?”
“Give me back my bed.”
“......”
The response came after a brief delay.
It was enough to make the silver-haired dumpling tremble in fury.
“What the Fire Dragon Clan has taken... belongs to the Fire Dragon Clan. Just like food that’s in the stomach—it’s already in the stomach. It can’t be returned.”
“Have some shame, will you?! Ugh... Xiarette seems to be here. I’ll go get the door. Anyway, Fire Lizard, I strongly advise you to return my bed!”
---
39. Or Maybe You Have a Way
Xiarette had come over to check whether Sheffy was actually packing properly.
Xiarette knew her too well—Sheffy’s personality leaned toward what could be called the “progressive collapse” type.
So-called “progressive collapse” meant that at first, she’d have a small lazy thought in her little head. She’d think it was okay to nap just a little while, that she didn’t need a full sleep. Just a short rest, then she’d get up and work hard. She believed that proper rest was the foundation of hard work.
Which wasn’t a bad idea in itself.
But in reality, that short nap would often turn into a full day and night cycle.
When she opened her eyes again, she'd roll over, see the sky had gone dark—and continue sleeping. That’s when the collapse was complete.
That, was the progressive type of giving up.
Yet when Xiarette arrived to check, she found that—for once—Sheffy wasn’t sleeping...?
But she was preparing to sleep.
“Xiarette, just sit here and wait a sec, alright...! I need to reclaim my territory first! Damn lizard! Get off my bed now! This is your third warning!”
“No——way——! You’ve got so many beds in here! Can’t you just pick another one?! How should I know which ones might collapse and which won’t! Yours is definitely the sturdiest, no doubt about it!”
“If I knew which bed was the sturdiest, would I need to fight to keep this one?!”
“But I’m afraid of the bed suddenly breaking! It’s scary!”
“I’m scared too!”
At first, this battle over the sturdy bed played out with Sheffy standing on the floor, tugging on Timani’s arm and the bed sheets, trying to drag her off the bed.
But Timani, after all, had a solid build and center of gravity. She clung tightly to the bedboard without letting go. No matter how strong Sheffy was, all she could manage was to drag the bed along—with the dragon still on it—not making much progress.
She was getting desperate.
Sheffy was truly desperate!
“Ahhh...! In this world, only food and sleep cannot be betrayed! Last chance—just say you’re not getting off!”
“No... hey...! What are you—! Sheffy! Hsss...!”
“I’ll really bite you, you know!”
Timani was stunned.
Because Sheffy had actually clambered directly onto the bed.
Kneeling on top of the covers, she straddled Timani, planning to launch a surprise attack from the high ground.
Timani cried out in pain—because furious Sheffy had bitten her cheek with her little tiger teeth.
Timani shuddered all over as if she’d touched a block of ice, eyes wide open, and her already weak body went completely limp.
“You... you’re just... don’t do that...!”
“Just say it—are you moving or not! Fine, fine, you won’t even budge when I bite, huh? Got guts. Then let’s try this move—works every time!”
“Don’t—! Ahahaha! Hahh—! Stop it...! Stop it already!”
Sheffy threw back the covers and launched her ultimate tickling technique straight at Timani’s underarm.
This was a secret move that Belith had once passed down (or rather, used) on Sheffy herself—effectively curing her of her chronic tendency to stay in bed.
The results were immediate. Timani’s back gradually arched, her limp fingers slowly lost grip on the bedboard, and as the tickling continued, her body began to squirm with increasingly strange gasping sounds.
Right now, Sheffy wasn’t thinking about any of that. She was just acting like a brat, overwhelmed by rage and desperate to reclaim her resting place.
Standing at the door was Xiarette...
At this moment, her face was covered in black lines.
From Xiarette’s point of view... the situation looked very different.
Sheffy’s legs, wrapped in long black over-knee stockings that subtly revealed her skin tone, would now and then brush against Timani’s thighs. Each time they did, it sent a springy, jiggly shock through the air.
Sheffy was pressing down on top of Timani. Her plains-flat chest naturally couldn’t touch Timani, but even lying down, Timani still managed to align perfectly “heart to heart” with Sheffy—and with every accidental press, there were all sorts of unintended deformations!
Sheffy had a fierce look on her face as she fought to reclaim the bed.
But Timani’s face was gradually turning redder and redder, and even her normally proud voice had turned soft and delicate.
Just now, it was Sheffy who had panicked.
But this time, it was Xiarette who was panicking!
She strode quickly and heavily to the bed, grabbed Sheffy by the collar, and just like picking up a kitten by the scruff of the neck, lifted her straight into the air.
Dangling in midair, Sheffy was still waving her little fists, ready to launch one last offensive!
“Xiarette, let me go...! I was so close! If I don’t teach her a lesson now, she’ll keep pushing her luck!”
“You need to shut up, seriously...!”
Maybe... she was really close.
After all the roughhousing, her clothes were a little rumpled, her crimson hair stuck to her flushed cheeks with sweat, and at the corners of her eyes shimmered teardrops of pure embarrassment.
Timani was usually so indifferent and stern—it was nearly impossible to imagine she could look like this.
Maybe... she could have resisted, after all.
But she didn’t resist.
She didn’t know why.
And she didn’t want to know why.
All she knew was that the rhythm of her heartbeat just now... was very different from usual!
After regaining her freedom of movement, Timani instinctively reached up and touched the little tiger tooth mark on her cheek in a daze. When she came back to her senses and noticed Xiarette’s dim and lifeless gaze, she immediately used both hands to tidy her clothes and, at an absolutely unreasonable speed, flipped upright into a sitting position, forcibly composed herself, and swept her messy crimson hair behind her head.
“I... I told you to stop messing around! Xiarette, you saw it too, right? Some people usually have a sense of propriety... but sometimes they act like a child—just fooling around!”
“Who are you calling a child...! Gah!”
Sheffy wanted to speak up and argue, but her right to speak was swiftly revoked.
Xiarette pulled her tightly into her arms, and Sheffy’s face crashed right into that absurd softness—her whole face sank into it.
Can’t breathe... she was going to suffocate!! She was actually going to die from this!!
Xiarette reacted purely on instinct.
At the same time, she "smiled" as she responded on Sheffy’s behalf to Timani’s comment.
“Miss Timani... I happen to think that taking other people’s things isn’t a very proper thing to do, you know?”
“‘Taking’...?! No, what are you even saying! The Fire Dragon Clan has no interest in stealing things from others! I didn’t mean...! Ahem—I mean, this bed... I just wanted to rest for a bit... I didn’t expect Sheffy to overreact this much... right?”
“Well, now you know.” Xiarette, for once, dropped her usual honorifics. The corners of her eyes carried a glint of ice-sharp chill. “There are two things Sheffy absolutely cannot be messed with. One is food. The other is sleep. So, Timani, if possible, I hope you’ll keep that in mind.”
“Wait—are you saying that the two of you... ahhh...! Alright, I get it! What does this even have to do with me! Seriously... I already said it wasn’t me...! Fine, I’ll leave now, is that good enough? This is all so annoying...”
Timani scratched at her head, then slipped on her slippers—decorated with a chibi Fire Dragon design, a handmade craft project Sheffy had made for fun.
The always assertive Fire Dragon Clan girl was now in a very complicated mood.