Julian was now standing in front of the headmaster, feeling his judgeful gaze. Prior to this, he had never spoken to or even seen the headmaster before.
The headmaster was a very simple-looking man. Slicked, black hair, with gloomy dark eyes and heavy eyebags. He had an aquiline nose.
"Breaking a door comes with the most severe of consequences, Julian Vaen."
His voice was cold and almost threatening. Naturally, Julian shivered.
"Normally, you would be punished for this. But instead, I will be giving you a very simple task.
"Go fetch me some banana milk."
Huh?
"B-Banana milk?"
"Banana milk."
"I know of the school's strawberry milk. Along with the chocolate milk. But... a delicacy like banana milk, if it were a thing, as the number 1 banana-flavored meal fan, I would've most certainly known about it!-"
"It truly exists."
Julian's black eyes widened.
"Yes, believe it or not, banana milk does exist, within the school's auxiliary freezer. It's underneath the school. I need you to retrieve."
He threw a hallway pass at Julian, which Julian quickly grabbed.
"Y-Yes sir!"
. . .
. .
.
(Julian)
The headmaster let me off incredibly easily. Wow. Would you look at that? Hah, looking for a bunch of banana milk will be as easy as... well, it'll just be easy! And, I might even just sneak a sip or two. Boy, I'm just salivating at the thought.
"Oof!"
I crashed, falling to the ground.
Damn, I had been so lost in thought that I hadn't even realized where I was walking. The woman whom I had crashed into got up, with her head hung on her shoulders. Her hair was long and silky, dark, completely obscuring her face.
"Ah... I'm sorry."
"It's fine."
"Don't you have any respect for your elders?" Another voice suddenly came up.
My head sprang back up.
It came from a student wearing a black version of the school uniform.
If I remember correctly, that's the student council uniform, right?
"Who are you?"
"Who am I? Insolent! I'm Arum H-"
"Let it go, Arum. It was an obvious mistake."
The student council member stayed quiet. And the two went on their way.
That was weird. What an odd couple.
. .
.
It took quite a bit of strength for me to twist the door open, even with my demon strength. As the large metal door slowly opened, a squall of cold air shot into my face.
Jeez... it's incredibly cold.
Will I even... be able to stay here and look for it?
Ah, what am I thinking? This demon body is superior to a lot of things! It can definitely insulate me, right?
With a single look, I could tell that this freezer was... huge.
Impossibly huge.
Clack!
The door slammed behind me.
...
I'm not scared.
The freezer was filled with shelves upon shelves, all storing different things. I began climbing the shelves.
But something isn't right.
With this freezer being beneath the school, at the height I'm at right now, I should be inside the school. But I am still inside the freezer. And there is still more space for me to climb to.
"Th-this makes no sense."
My footing was off. I suddenly slipped.
"Aagh!"
Crsh!
"Fuck..."
My whole body hurts... hell.
I was lucky enough to land on a humongous pile of ice, but it still hurts. Damn it!
Damn you headmaster!
Okay, calm down, Julian. I need to focus on finding that banana milk. I get the chance to skip class while doing this. Why does the headmaster want something so troublesome anyway?
Well, it is banana milk.
The headmaster truly is a mysterious man.
Ba-dump. Ba-dump.
Why is my heart beating so fast?
Is Umilythe nearby?
No... that's not it.
Fwsh!
I narrowly dodged! On the basis of pure instinct!
A large tail slammed into the area where I was previously standing, knocking a few boxes astray. My heart began beating faster. I started sweating, uncontrollably, even in the cold.
Wh-what is causing this physical reaction?
My eyes fell upon a strange, but familiar creature. A large, reptile-like thing, with large wings that crashed and pushed shelves aside, and scales. It was grey in color, with sharp teeth and large, reptile eyes.
I-It's a dragon.
But what the hell is a dragon doing in a freezer!?
It let out a deafening roar before breathing fire.
Whoosh!
Narrowly dodging it, the warm air near the fire was actually soothing.
"Keep that up, haha!"
The dragon growled.
"S-So you can understand... me?"
The temperature of its warm breath dropped drastically, inflicting a painful chill.
Agh... I have to get out of here!
This guy is-
"Ack!"
Bsh!
My train of thought was interrupted by a tailwhip to the side of my body.
"Damn it..."
My breath grew heavier, without me even knowing it. I could barely feel the pain, luckily. The chill of the freezer allowed me to not pay attention to it. But it was still hard to move.
It was hard to move, yet I kept on!
If I don't... I'll die.
The dragon followed closely.
I picked up a butcher knife and threw it at the dragon. It bounced off the dragon's thick scales.
"Are you kidding me...?"
. .
***
"Hey, Julian. Have you ever seen a dragon before?" Ian said as we walked down the hallway.
"Dragons no longer exist. They're a dying breed. I would expect at least you to pay attention in class, Ian."
"Dying breed, you said it yourself. The chances of seeing them are low, but they definitely exist. Do you think you could beat one?"
"No way! Those things are huge. I'm already not strong. A dragon would swallow me in one bite."
"It's quite simple. A stab in the heart could kill them, pretty easily."
"Really? Are you an expert, or something?"
"My uncle came across a dragon, along with his squad. He managed to take it down."
"Yeah, I doubt that. Your uncle was definitely spouting crap."
"You could never know. But there's one thing you should never do while handling a dragon."
"What is it?"
"Eating its heart. The mana will be too much for your body and your Velian to handle, ripping you to shreds."
"I don't have a Velian, remember? I can't even store mana."
"Right. Now that I think about it, aren't you quite weak?"
"Shut up!"
***
I'm about to die... and I'm remembering... a boy. Isn't my life supposed to flash before my eyes? Why am I thinking about Ian?
...
Which side is the dragon's heart on?
(---)
Julian's legs contracted. He eyed the dragon with furious intent. At this point, the dragon was at a full-on sprint toward Julian, which looked a bit weird, as everyone is usually accustomed to dragons flying.
Julian's knees extended with tremendous force. He did not hold back any power and zipped toward the dragon with an unhinged jaw.
Crck!
He chomped down at the dragon's chest, instinctively chewing to the heart.
"No... way... I'm... dying here! Not when... Ian... Cera... and Umilythe are all still alive!"
The dragon roared, screaming in pain. Until it finally stopped, falling to the ground on its back. Julian fell with it.
"..."
He couldn't really move his limbs or anything like that. It was really cold, and he couldn't feel his fingertips. He crawled downwards to see the crate of banana milk that he had fought for originally.
With a skilled tongue, he opened the banana milk, chugging it down.
"..."
A tear slid down his cheek.
"It's... completely worth it."