My Girlfriend Returned as a Dragon - Chapter 58

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Chen

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ My Girlfriend Returned as a Dragon ◈

Chapter 58: Oppa, What Do You Think of This Place?

──────

“Are you saying you plan to create a guild yourself, Lord Rokan?”

Rokan’s bombshell announcement jolted me awake.

I had been debating whether or not to join a guild, but Rokan was thinking of starting one himself?

I had never even considered that possibility.

I didn’t know much about this field, but wouldn’t starting and running a guild leave him with an enormous amount to worry about?

If I were in Rokan’s position, I didn’t think I would go so far as to start a guild.

However, as if he had expected my reaction, Rokan explained why he had decided to make one.

“First, I had thought it might be fun to run a guild myself at least once. I enjoyed many forms of entertainment before coming here, but I had never lived the life of a manager.”

Dragons naturally enjoyed having all sorts of experiences through entertainment. So while humans might wonder why they would bother, dragons could see it as an interesting pastime.

When I still didn’t understand, Rokan added, “You have management simulation games as well, do you not?”

Hearing that, I could understand why Rokan might see it that way.

It was just that this simulation game was on a somewhat larger scale.

“I had only vaguely thought that I should try it someday, but what you said made me decide to put that thought into action.”

Seeing me agonize over whether I should join a guild had reminded him of that old idea.

“In your case, it is most efficient for you to train according to the plans Shasha and I make. But as I said before, that does not mean you should neglect real combat.”

Rather than simply continuing to train, it would be more efficient to hone my dragon power alongside real combat.

But the stronger I became, the harder it would be to find Gates I could clear without a guild.

I was stuck either way.

“So I thought it would not be a bad idea to create a guild while we are at it. Then you will no longer need to worry about that problem.”

Rokan was right.

If I joined a guild Rokan started himself, he could make various accommodations for me, allowing me to take part in Gate raids more flexibly.

And if circumstances allowed, with Rokan’s support, I might even be able to enter A-rank Gates rather than B-rank ones and learn more.

“Yes. Thank you. Truly... truly.”

“Did I not tell you? Even before meeting you, I wanted to try running a guild at least once. I am doing this for my own reasons as well, so there is no need to thank me.”

Rokan smiled warmly as if it were nothing.

Then.

“Lord Rokan, about your plan to start a guild. Have you told Sia as well?”

“No, not yet.”

“Then...”

I suddenly remembered the last time Sia and I had spoken on the phone.

Sia had wanted to tell me herself that she had taken part in modifying the dungeon. More than that, she had wanted the news that the dungeon modifications were complete to come from her, not Rokan.

That was why she had clearly seemed disappointed when I told her I had already heard it from Rokan.

“No, I have not told Shasha yet.”

“Then I’ll pretend I haven’t heard anything. Could you ask Sia to tell me the news herself?”

“You have a surprisingly romantic side.”

Rokan couldn’t have known what had happened between Sia and me before, but perhaps he had roughly grasped my intention. He nodded.

“I will. You must be tired, so go home and get plenty of rest.”

Rokan saw me home, and I didn’t even have the energy to wash up before collapsing onto the floor.

I was pretty sure I had left around lunchtime, but when I checked the clock, it was already well past nine at night.

I was hungry, but I didn’t even have the strength to eat. That showed just how brutal today’s training had been.

This would probably happen every time I trained from now on.

I wanted to sleep just like that, but I still had to wash off the sweat. After taking a quick shower, I lay down on my bed.

Then, before falling asleep, a thought suddenly came to me.

I thought it would be nice to have our next date at the place where I had sparred today.

If Sia had designed that space herself, it had to be meaningful to her.

And while we were there, I wanted to hear more about Sia’s life.

We had talked about many things since reuniting, but I realized I hadn’t heard much about the life Sia had lived as the dragon Shasha.

So before bed, I decided to call her briefly and ask if we could change this week’s plans.

It wasn’t even ten yet, so she probably wasn’t asleep.

As soon as I called, Sia answered.

[Oppa! I heard you trained with Grandpa today. How was it?]

She must have already heard from Rokan, because she asked about today’s training the moment she picked up.

“I learned what hell must be like.”

With exaggerated complaints, I told her about everything that had happened during today’s training.

“But it was too beautiful to call it hell. What kind of hell is that pretty? It was a shame to train in such a nice place without getting much chance to rest.”

[Hmm, I see. Did Grandpa not tell you what place he used as the inspiration for it?]

“He didn’t. Where was it?”

Rokan had told me as soon as we entered the training ground, but I wanted to see Sia excitedly explain it to me, so I decided to lie.

After we hung up, I would ask Rokan to play along.

[Oh, he didn’t tell you. Want to guess, oppa?]

When I told her I didn’t know, Sia gave me a quiz, apparently wanting me to guess.

“Hmm, I don’t know. I think there was a mountain like that in China. Was it inspired by that? Or was it where you lived, Sia?”

[That’s right! How did you know?]

Sia clapped in surprise, and I shamelessly lied without missing a beat.

“I just knew.”

[They do say love lets you understand each other. That must be why you knew right away. What did you think of it, oppa? Tell me more.]

Sia seemed eager to hear more of my impressions of the scenery, so I told her exactly how I had felt.

“...So I thought it would be nice to go there with you at least once. I thought it would be nice to have a date there instead of training in such a pretty place.”

[Why didn’t I think of that? Oppa, should we have our date there this week?]

That was what I had been about to suggest, but Sia must have liked the idea too, because she brought it up first.

“Then what about our date this week? We made plans last time.”

[We can go there later. If you’re okay with it, oppa, we can go later. Or we can stick to this week’s plan and have a picnic there next week.]

Sia said either option was fine and that she would respect my decision.

The date we had originally planned wasn’t bad, but there was nothing wrong with going somewhere while the feeling was still there.

“Then let’s do that this week. We can go where we originally planned another time.”

[Okay! I’ll pack gimbap and sandwiches so it feels like a picnic.]

“Then I’ll prepare a picnic mat and fruit.”

[Right, oppa. Bring tteokbokki too!]

“No problem.”

Seeing how excited Sia was, I was glad I had brought it up.

I was already looking forward to our date.

* * *

At last, the long-awaited date arrived.

Right on time, I entered the training ground, which had recreated Sia’s hometown and was far too beautiful to call a training ground.

The fact that it was a virtual space connected to the imperial tomb was a little unsettling, but it was still truly beautiful no matter how many times I saw it.

Beautiful enough to make me completely forget what this place had originally been.

I didn’t know whether it would be possible, but someday, I wanted to visit the world where Sia had been born and raised as a dragon.

Not right away, though. Only after I could completely control my dragon power.

From the perspective of Sia’s parents, her parents in this life, it would be a little awkward if their precious daughter came back from another dimension and introduced the person she wanted to marry, only for him to be an ordinary human...

So I thought I should only bring it up to Sia after I had become dragon-like enough to be recognized by other dragons.

Well, I wasn’t even sure whether it was possible for me to cross over to that world in the first place.

Even if Sia knew dimensional travel magic, traveling between dimensions alone and traveling with someone else could be entirely different matters.

Anyway, after slowly taking in the scenery, I spread out a picnic mat at a spot with a good view before Sia arrived.

Just as I was putting the tteokbokki I had brought into a pretty bowl...

“Oppa! I’m here!”

Sia arrived.

A beige sweater and ivory pants.

The outfit itself was simple, but perhaps because Sia wore it, it looked amazing on her.

As always, Sia ran straight into my arms as soon as she saw me. I hugged her tightly and gently patted her back.

“I missed you.”

“Me too. I have no idea why one week felt so long.”

“Exactly. I think I missed you even more because this week was so hectic.”

As Sia said, so many things had happened since we reunited that neither of us had had time to catch our breath.

“And you must have been busy helping your grandfather modify this place too.”

“Yeah. We checked it all the way to the end in case anything was wrong. Once all the inspections were done and I properly looked around, it really was beautiful.”

“It is. I think I said it before, but it really is beautiful. Knowing that you grew up looking at scenery like this in another world makes me happy too.”

How many places on Earth could boast scenery this magnificent?

“When I first saw it, I reacted just like you, oppa. When I first left my lair, I never imagined even the view of the front yard would be so beautiful. My mouth just fell open.”

Perhaps because she was recalling a long-ago memory, Sia’s eyes looked somewhat wistful.

“Do you know what I thought when I first saw it?”

“What did you think?”

“I thought I wanted to show this beautiful scenery to you too, oppa.”

Sia gazed at the scenery with a calm expression.

Though this was not truly the front yard of Sia’s lair, standing here with me in a place so much like it seemed to have given her a lot to think about.

After gazing at the view with one arm around my shoulders, Sia seemed to finish her thoughts and took out a picnic basket from her pocket dimension.

“But I guess that dream has half come true. I never imagined I’d get to come on a picnic with you and see scenery like this.”

Sia took out the food she had made herself from her pocket dimension one by one.

But then.

I had said I would bring the fruit, yet Sia took out some tangerines from the basket.

“Tangerines?”

“Yeah. My lair is on Jeju Island, right? And Jeju Island means tangerines. So I bought some. You can take the leftovers home, oppa.”

She hadn’t even lived on Jeju Island that long, but she had become a complete local already.

I took out the things I had prepared from my pocket dimension too.

Fruit, of course, along with drinks and the tteokbokki Sia had wanted.

Once everything was laid out, it really felt like we had come on a picnic.

“It’s been a really long time since we went on a picnic like this, right?”