The type to squander money at a cabaret club

"Hey, should I start callin' ya Stepmother?"

"Please don't? That would make me Aishia's grandma."

"Bah, don't sweat the small stuff! Once ya drink together, party together, and sleep under the same roof, you're family!"

The village chief laughed heartily.

"All I did was give you some dragon materials… Is this really okay?"

"'All'? You went and made the grannies that young, and you're saying 'all'?"

Made them young!? What's that supposed to mean!? I don't know anything about this!?

"Ah. You don't really understand dwarf ages, do you, Master?"

"I don't, but! What's this about making them young!? What did I do!?"

"Well, you put your hands near their eyes and said 'Cosmetic surgery magic, here we gooo.'"

Apparently I erased their fine wrinkles and such. I really did it now!

"And then you had them drink red potions."

"Huh, wait, the Karina-chan Potions I made the other day!? You let people drink those!?"

"Well, we did dilute it with alcohol. One drop per cup. Thanks to that, the mana that had grown stagnant with age was rapidly revitalized, and…"

So I rejuvenated them both inside and out.

The Five Elders, those grannies… even by dwarf standards, maybe not quite loli grannies, but at least ageless beauties.

From a human perspective, they're perfectly loli grannies. Thank you very much.

"The grandmas who got one bottle each in exchange for socks were absolutely thrilled, you know?"

Those were duplicates I made for myself, though… Ugh, well, they were gifts, so I guess it's fine. Since I'm the main ingredient, I can make as many as I want anyway.

… Hm?

Could it be that the gifts I received used my potions as a secret ingredient?

Is that why they had Spatial Magic-like effects rather than dragon-related ones…?

"No wonder the Hero-dono is so popular."

"Ah, yeah. I mean, of course I'm popular. It'd be weird if I wasn't."

I'm the type who'd blow all their money at a cabaret club and ruin themselves.

It's the booze. Everything's the booze's fault!!

I've had enough of alcohol…!! Sigh…

Before any more of my drunken escapades came to light, we left Aishia's hometown, the dwarven village.

Of course, the dwarf aunties, including the Five Elders (my local wives), tried hard to make us stay, but despite my lingering attachment to my loli harem, we departed from the village.

"Man, what an incredible place that was."

"Yes. Things were quite eventful on my end as well."

Dea was apparently super popular in the children's room too.

He even got invited to come back for drinking parties once he's grown up… Should I go back and cut off that kid's whatever right now?

"Master, I apologize for my family."

"Ahaha, they're just kids, so let's let it slide."

"… Well, if you say so, Dea."

I might have actually warped someone's preferences, so I'll let it go this time.

"Besides, Arthur had it harder than I did."

"Yeah… Those brats have no restraint. They plucked one of my scales…"

Ah, so that's why you seemed so worn out. Wait, the kids kept climbing all over you? I see, thanks for the babysitting.

"Apparently there's usually a babysitter granny who stops the pranks, but she wasn't around this time."

"Ah…"

That was probably because I had her attending to me. Yep.

"Oh, this is payment for the plucked scale. The parents went pale when they handed it over, so I accepted it."

"So they didn't give the scale back, huh. Well, you can keep it as pocket money, Arthur."

"Oh, nice! Getting plucked was worth it!"

Arthur was delighted, holding the leather pouch full of coins.

Is that really okay? What about dragon pride? … Then again, if he had pride, he wouldn't become a pet.

"By the way, Sis, those are your own materials, right? Hehe, take good care of 'em!"

"From a dragon's perspective, how do you feel about items made with dragon materials?"

"Hmm, that's hard to explain. I mean, bones or Magic Stones would be one thing, but for stuff like this? It's kinda like how birds make nests with shed feathers. Nothing to get worked up about."

Huh, more tolerant than I expected.

"Well, if someone unworthy had 'em, I'd wanna kill 'em though."

"Ah, so that part's still true."

Being worn by you is nothing but an honor, Sis!! Or so he said.

Well, anyway, we headed toward Akahagane, the capital of the dwarven nation of Tessin.