Morning. The day after.

Ume was curled up in a tangle of pearl-white bed sheets.

She was in a private room in Sir Gawrgaru's estate, and the silver-haired knight had shown her to her new living quarters late last night. The bedroom was clean and furnished, rather like the bedroom of any ordinary human teenager who grew up on Earth. It wasn't particularly large — in fact, it was tiny by a rich aristocrat's standards — but it was generously sized for a household servant or maid.

It was plainly adorned with only basic linens and furniture, but it was perfectly livable.

Sir Gawrgaru had been extremely polite.

Less than eight hours ago, he tied the ribbon around Ume's horn without any particular drama or fanfare.

There was a faint shift in the flow of magic — a little bit like the current of a tide pool changing directions — but otherwise there were no fancy lights, glowing sigils, or flashing symbols. In fact, Ume didn't even feel anything particularly dramatic. To an outside observer, there was no sign that anything had changed at all, but the next moment Sir Gawrgaru was already ordering his subordinates to remove the chains and other restraints.

Of course, the minions were extremely apprehensive and fearful, and they seemed to think that Ume would bite their heads off at any moment. A majority of the servants were afraid to approach her, yet the lord of the manor had given a direct order. It was terribly quandary, but eventually a few brave guards approached Ume to unlock the chains.

Fortunately for them, Ume was very quiet.

She didn't know what to think.

Why...?

Ume didn't understand.

The human knight named Sir Gawrgaru made so little sense to her.

Within seconds, she was completely released from those metal bonds.

+ + +

The 53-year-old dragon stared at her hands.

They were human hands with ten fingers and pale skin.

She flexed her joints, opening and closing them as if to test their function.

Sir Gawrgaru had... given nearly all of her magic powers back.

「 Don't hurt anyone.」

It was essentially the only instruction that he had given her.

He didn't even elaborate or explain the command in detail. Before Ume could even mentally process that she was now contractually bound to a human as a pet, the tall knight was already returning the magical energy that had been sucked away. Blood circulated through her long body again, and her bones felt as light as a feather.

Ume could fly again.

In fact, she could even feel the everlasting fire burning deep in her throat.

Her incredible strength returned to her, and Ume was completely free!

...Except... not.

There was a blue and red ribbon tied to her horn.

That tiny bit of cloth marked her as Sir Gawrgaru's contracted servant.

+ + +

A gentle knock arrived on her bedroom door.

"Um... Miss... U-Ume?" An uncertain masculine voice asked from outside.

"...?"

"Is... Is... it okay to come in?"

Ume did not recognize the voice.

"......Yes." She responded apprehensively.

There was a click as the doorknob turned, and a nervous young teenager dressed in a butler's uniform scampered into the room. The blonde servant boy genuinely looked afraid, and his knees were practically shaking. It was quite obvious that he hadn't come here by his own volition. Most likely, he had been forced to visit the terrifying monster's room after unluckily drawing the shortest stick in the lottery.

"I... um... ah..."

The servant stared at Ume like a paralyzed deer frozen in front of bright headlights.

His eyes were literally glued to her. He stared intensely at her current form, almost like he was gawking at a naked goddess from Botticelli's The Birth of Venus. It was the first time of the two of them had met, and Ume's current human form left quite a stark impression on the teenager. He was instantly at a complete loss for words.

Of course, he had heard from the other servants that the giant snake had transformed into a smaller form, but he couldn't quite believe that this stunning young lady was in fact a giant monster. In fact, like many of the household staff, he had witnessed the arrival of the giant snake last night while safely hidden behind one of the mansion's windows,  and the massive creature was absolutely terrifying. 

The boy had also heard many rumors from Aerelieth. The monster had burned down an entire section of the red light district, and it was frightening enough to earn a SS-tier threat rating from the Special Committee on Dangerous Magical Beasts. Even if the snake monster looked harmless and beautiful, and it was actually extremely dangerous. Moreover, its appearance was completely deceiving, since it wasn't even biologically female.

"...Did you sleep well last night?" The boy stammered tensely.

Ume stared back at him.

"I did not sleep." She responded bluntly.

"....Ah!! Um... Sorry.. I... well..."

"Dragons of my kind go to sleep once every thousand years. We hibernate for centuries each time that we take a nap."

"...I see..."

Obviously, the young boy did not believe that Ume was a "dragon". Any person with the slightest amount of common sense knew that dragons had wings, and Sir Gawrgaru had clearly subjugated a flying snake. It was well known that magical snakes were a highly deceptive and manipulative species, so nearly everyone agreed that the Sir Gawrgaru's new pet was definitely not a dragon.

That said, nobody was dumb enough to argue with the giant snake monster right in front of its face.

He was terrified that the monster would suddenly snap and bite off his head.

Virtually everyone in the mansion privately agreed that leaving the monster loose like this was surely a bad idea. Rumors spread like wildfire among the servants, and everyone knew that Sir Gawrgaru had sealed the creature with a ridiculously flimsy piece of ribbon. It was practically guaranteed to fall off at nearly any moment, and the person unlucky enough to be standing next to the creature would surely be dead in an instant.

It went without saying that the lord's decision was extremely controversial in the servant's quarters. Even if Sir Gawrgaru was strong enough to fight off a giant monster, nobody else wanted to be disposable cannon fodder.... 

"You... look very convincingly human... Miss... Ume..." The boy stammered nervously.

"Is that a problem?"

"...Erm..."

"I can change my appearance to basically anything I want."

"...Um..."

"Is this a bad look? Should I change my hair color? Do humans prefer larger mammary glands?"

"I-It's fine! It's totally fine! You don't need to change anything."

"Ah. That's a relief. I was worried that I made them too small for human tastes."

"...Yeah... well... uh..."

"Hm?"

"...Err... You should probably get dressed... probably... I think... since you're still naked..."

"..."

+ + +

Fast forwarding past a very awkward moment, the male servant brought a large box of old clothes into Ume's room while the young dragon got changed. He placed the box near the empty closet and opened the wardrobe. The walk-in closet was full of masculine clothes, mainly shirts and pants for male servants. There was a hefty selection of casual clothes, but a majority were butler uniforms similar to the outfit that the servant was wearing.

"Lord Gawrgaru only employs male servants," the teenager explained. "He doesn't want Lady Luna to think that he's playing with any maids, so there haven't been any female servants in this household for years."

The servant cleared some space in the wardrobe and started to hang up some new clothes.

"Except... well... it seems like Lord Gawrgaru is making an exception for you... The head butler was strongly against hiring you as part of the team, but the master ordered us to include you as part of the staff no matter what... so... um..."

His voice quivered for a moment, as if he seemed doubtful about the words that were coming out of his mouth. In fact, he seemed afraid of  how the monster would react to the sudden news.

"...We'll be teaching you how to be a maid from now on... so... um... it would be best if you didn't eat us. W-We don't taste good. I think! And please don't eat the chickens in the coop either. Or the horses or the cows. If you need to eat something, there's fish in the pond..."

"......"

"..."

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