Dragoon.

… But that doll princess had a secret. She loved the feel of demi-human ears and tails! You could even say she loved demi-humans as a whole… But even now, the social standing of demi-humans was low in Courtois. If the princess was seen touching one in public, there would be many who wouldn’t think too kindly of it. So she endured it.

Day after day after day… living in close quarters with demi-humans in the academy, she desperately held back.

But one day it did come to pass. As Fina dropped by the academy cafeteria, she bore witness to something outrageous. And she had finally reached the limits of her patience.

Two upperclassmen from the standard curriculum sat sandwiched around an underclassman from a class made up of commoners. The one sitting awkwardly between them was one Fina had already checked up on before, the cutest beast girl of the year, ‘Mii of the White Cat Tribe’. Her lovely smile, and her petite body… Mii wasn’t tall in stature. But that wasn’t to say the white cat tribe were all of small build.

That’s precisely why she was all the more valuable! … In Fina’s head, that is.

And despite her small body, Mii had her womanly features. She stuck out where she was supposed to stick out, and drew in where she should, another large factor behind her popularity. Mii was abnormally popular among the boys… and right now, she was entangled with some upperclassmen.

Her guard slash friend students took up a suspicious formation to hide her, and as she hesitated over what to do, the upperclassman made his move.

“But even so… I’m curious. Can I touch them?”

“I-if it’s just a little, then… u-um…? You’re still touching me?”

“Rudel? Isn’t that enough… why don’t you release her already? You’ve already finished asking what you wanted to, right?”

Right, the two upperclassmen were Rudel and Izumi. Rudel wanted to know how the beast tribes trained every day, so he went and asked Mii who happened to be nearby. But there, Something caught Rudel’s interest… were those ears and tail truly real? Or were they a tribal ornament?

… His interested piqued, of course Rudel… touched them to confirm. But when it came to their feel to the touch… they were fluffy and soft. And Mii’s eyes seemed to grow vacant with pleasure. Rudel continued feeling up… her ears and tail, trying out various methods. As a result,

“Ah! N-noooooaaaah!!!… Ah!”

After shaking a few time, Mii’s body took a single big lurch. And she drooped onto the table… her breath was strangely rough. On top of that, her face was faintly reddened…

“Rudel… we need to talk. Let’s go to the roof.”

Izumi’s mood worsened, and Rudel got the feeling he shouldn’t go against her…

“G-got it. But leaving this child here is a bit…”

“You’re right. Then I’ll take her to the girls’ dorm, so don’t run away.”

Looking over that exchange, Fina honestly didn’t know what to do. But she got the feeling she had to take some sort of action.

(What was that technique!!? I’m freakin’ envious, dammitttt!! Teach me your ways! Pass on your skills to me!! It’ll be much more useful to my future than any of these useless classes!)

“You two! Get away from that girl! How env… I mean, aren’t you embarrassed as upperclassmen!? (Thank you for the meal!!!)”

Fina came out in front of Rudel and Izumi. But Rudel didn’t know about the princess. From her face and aura, Izumi knew who she was, but she didn’t know what to do.

Rudel, on the other hand,

“Who are you? If you’re an acquaintance of hers, then could I leave her to you… I have to go to the roof, apparently.”

The surroundings drew back at that brazen attitude. In that cafeteria with a large number of students around, the big reveal that he didn’t know his own country’s princess was a large problem, but even more than that, he left work to that princess… it was unthinkable.

But at that time, the princes was…

(He’s totally a saint! Leaving this cute little kitten to me… hah, hah… I can barely contain myself!! I can touch her without reservations!!)

“Understood. I shall take responsibility and escort her. From here on, I pray you don’t carry out such acts again. If such a thing is to happen once more… (Wait, huh? If I got him to do it again, could I get an excuse to touch?)”

The princess left for the girls’ dorm, carrying Mii on her own. Completely ignoring the surrounding opinions, she carried her Mii all the way to the cat tribeswoman’s room… feeling her fluff all the way! From then on, she became friends with Mii, and to Princess Fina, it was the best day of her life.

◇

The morning of the next day, a satisfied Fina sat in the classroom, and the man who would always come in and flatter her… Chlust made his appearance. There, she remembered. Chlust’s brother was Rudel of that godly technique!

“Chlust, is your older brother always like that?”

“Hah? Oh, that disgrace of the Arses name? I’m quite troubled by him too. I mean, he’s like a child who speaks of nothing but dreams, never looking at the reality…”

From there, an endless stream of slander flowed from Chlust’s mouth. Hearing that, Fina thought.

(This guy really is useless. Each and every day, his flattery is a right-out bother, and when I thought he could introduce me to the all-important master Rudel… do I have any other connections?)

Yesterday, Fina had pet Mii all over. But… she couldn’t do it like Rudel. No matter how she pet her, Mii would only say, ‘That tickles’… she experienced the difference in ability between herself and Rudel firsthand, even feeling a sense of defeat. And she thought.

‘I’ll become his apprentice!’

And yet, the younger brother Chlust was of no use at all. Inside Fina’s head, Chlust’s stocks were plummeting at a rate never seen before. She had put up her expectations, but she was betrayed beyond her own imagination. Because of that, Fina grew even colder than usual towards him…

Questioning Fina’s behavior, Chlust decided to look into various things. And the reason he reached was his brother Rudel. From his followers, Chlust learned of the events in the cafeteria the previous day.

◇

The evening of that day… on the afterschool roof. With matters left unsettled the previous day, Izumi was conducting her lecture of Rudel.

“What do you have to say about yesterday?”

As Izumi said it coldly, Rudel responded with a serious face. Rudel had spent the whole night thinking over it. He repented over the bad points in his own way, and he thought he could get Izumi to understand him.

“I’m sorry. But I had confidence! You may laugh that I was too hasty, but I read a wonderful book on the art of petting dragons, and I’ve been practicing all this time. So I was sure that beast tribe girl would be delighted… I’ll admit I’ve only ever tested it on my little sister and pet dog. But even so, I’m sure she enjoyed it!”

It was a remark from the left field… at Rudel’s serious expression, Izumi’s head began to hurt.

“… As if simple petting could lead to that! No, that’s also important, but not knowing the princess of your own country… do you know the term lese majeste?”

“What’s this about the princess? Right now, she’s just an underclassman who attends our academy. If her surroundings are too mindful of her, it’ll just wear her out… more importantly, I think my petting technique has reached a considerable level. My little sister praised it highly, and all. Do you want to have a go?”

For a brief instant, Izumi felt she would lose to the temptation. Rallying up her feelings, it was the moment she was to scold Rudel. The door connecting to the roof let out a violent sound as it opened, and leading a few dozen boys along, Chlust made his appearance.

“It’s all your fault, Rudel! It’s because you’re dragging me down!”

Rudel and Izumi didn’t know what was going on… but in chlust and the boys’ hand, they gripped wooden swords and knives.