Gold!

Ume's eyes sparkled as she walked out of the Adventurer's Guild carrying a fat sack of coins. The guild receptionist had given her a hefty reward for her report alongside an extensive amount of criticism, and now she was rich!

Perhaps it was the dragon blood inside of her, but the prospect of treasure got her heart thumping. Even though it was only a hundred coins (and a loan, too), the young dragon's instinctive desire to hoard treasure was already stimulated. It was actually a nesting habit of her species. It simply wasn't a proper dragon's nest unless there was a giant mountain of jewels and treasure, and no dragon would feel comfortable laying eggs without a huge pile of precious valuables.

From a Ryūjin's (竜人) perspective, treasure was actually sexy. It made Ume blush, and her face was slightly hot as she paced furiously around the streets of Aerelieth. She was so scatterbrained that she kept turning right at every intersection, and ultimately she walked circles around the same city block around twenty times.

This was her first treasure!

Ume was so embarrassed!!!

Next she would need a place to hoard her treasure. It would need an advanced automatic magical defense system, SSSS-rank spirit golems, a dungeon core, plasma barrier, and obviously a throne room gilded with mithril. Even if it was only 100 GP, Ume intended to treasure it forever. Nobody could be allowed to steal it, and Ume intended to display those golden coins in a glass case with a pedestal describing it as her first treasure.

She was so excited that if her fiancé showed up right now, Ume would proudly flaunt it in front of him.

Ume's treasure was so amazing!! Zetsubou would probably marvel at her achievements, and Ume would gloat about it to him. She was only 53-years-old and already starting her treasure hoard! He would obviously be incredibly impressed, and for once Ume didn't mind the idea of seeing her fiancé. Where was that stupid evil dragon, anyways?​

+ + +​

Ultimately, Ume dreamily strolled into a tavern. She was still in a feverish state about the treasure she obtained and quite thirsty. She walked up to the bar and climbed onto a bar stool. Since her current human disguise was short, Ume actually struggled to pull herself onto the high seat, and she flailed a little bit before successfully mounting the stool. The young dragon glanced left and right, and the tavern was very crowded. A bird man was right next to her, and it looked like he was drinking something particularly delicious.

Ume flagged down the bartender.

"I'll have some of that!" She said, pointing at the bird man's drink.

The bartender glanced at the new customer. From his perspective, it looked like a young purple-haired human teenager had come up to the bar, and she barely looked fifteen years old.

"We don't sell alcohol to minors," the bartender said.

Ume looked shocked.

"What do you mean?" The dragon human girl said stupendously. "I'm 53 years old!"

The bartender did not appear impressed.

"Tavern policy. No alcohol for minors without parental supervision."

He turned around and walked away without another word.

Ume had an ugly expression on her face. She was quite thirsty, and a shot of something strong would be really nice right now. Moreover, the bartender was clearly mistaken. At 53 years old, Ume was quite positive that she was way older than that silly human with the lifespan of a mosquito. This kind of horrible customer service was completely unwarranted, and Ume instantly decided that humans were an irredeemable and shitty species.

Not only were they slime murderers, but they also refused to serve her alcohol! 

This was clearly discrimination!

+ + +

Fortunately, her disappointment did not last for long, since a creative idea flashed through her head.

If humans were the horribly evil villains, it was important for non-human species to band together and help each other out. Fortunately, Ume was sitting next to a drunk bird-man with an impressive beak, eagle eyes, and beautiful snowy wings, and Ume instantly liked him since he wasn't human. There were way too many humans around here, and the young dragon instantly took comfort in the fact that they were similarly non-mammalian.

In fact, they were clearly comrades!

The young dragon turned to the drunk patron who was sitting next to her.

There was an innocent smile on Ume's face, and she reached over to tap the bird man's shoulder.

"Papa!" She prodded him demandingly. "The bartender is being mean! He won't let me have a drink! Buy me something!"

"Huh?" The avian let out a yelp, as if suddenly woken up from a drunken stupor. "Are you sure you are....not....mistaken?"

Surprisingly, the bird-man was extremely cooperative, and the expression on his eyes quickly changed. Within seconds, he was waving down the bartender and spinning tales to her validate her story. The bird made up an excuse that she was his adoptive daughter, that her mother was a half-elf, and that they had gotten separated during the Worldshift. With a few artful phrases and a deeply skeptical look from the bartender, a lovely alcoholic drink eventually appeared right in front of Ume like magic.

He was such an awesome chad!

Clearly, the avian understood her plight, and he seemed to implicitly agree with her assessment that humans were total shit. Ume decided to privately take note of the fact that bird-people were amazing, and she liked this one a lot. In the future, when Ume set out to conquer the entire world, bird-people would probably make excellent allies of the dragons.

Ume playfully clung to the bird-man's arm, piping in with her own remarks when the bartender questioned their relationship.

"We have the same color eyes! And both of us can fly!! Obviously the two of us are related." Ume said smugly.

Reptiles were closely related to birds, after all. It was rumored that ancient dinosaurs actually had feathers, and Ume also possessed feathers on her tail. The young dragon was quite confident that she had excellent chemistry with the bird-man.

+ + +

"Lady Luna?" A deep voice suddenly came from behind them.

Ume turned around and her eyes immediately went pale.

...It was the massive bulky adventurer who had been on her airship when it it crashed into the tannery. What was his name again...? Sir Gawrgaru...?

He actually looked miserable, as if he had been drinking the tavern ever since the early afternoon. Remarkably, he appeared to be largely uninjured, although he was quite sticky and covered in traces of coal tar. His once-shining armor was covered in dents and leather-working fluid. His ego seemed especially wounded.

"Our airship is in pieces... That's the fourth one we've crashed... I don't know what to say to my father..."

"...aaaha...."

"How did you guys get back from the Slime Rocks so fast? Where's everyone else?"

Sir Gawrgaru glanced at Ume (note: disguised as Lady Luna) and then at the birdman. He seemed to be unfamiliar with avian, but then he suddenly noticed Ume's arms clinging intimately to the stranger.

His eyes suddenly turned dark.

"Can you get your hands off my fiancée?" Sir Gawrgaru said threateningly to the avian. "I don't know what's your deal with Lady Luna, but the two of us are a couple. We've been engaged since we were six years old."

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