WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Dragon Goes House-Hunting, Episodes 10 and 11, now streaming on Funimation.
With all the wild encounters Letty has had so far in Dragon Goes House-Hunting, it’s strange that he hasn’t really met someone that he could call a friend. Dearia is more of a guardian/caretaker for Letty and Pip is his child. But Letty’s friendless outlook changes in Episodes 10 and 11 when he runs into a human princess, Andriana Ellen Croixdea Margarethe Emmalyn Narsham Felna… or “Nell” for short.
Nell’s first appearance is fitting for a princess: she was kidnapped by a group of bandits who also tried to rob Letty of his organs. Dearia burns all the bandits to a crisp and they find Nell passed out in a box. However, it turns out that Nell was only kidnapped because she ran away from the palace after her dad ate her cupcake without permission.
Nell is as spoiled as she sounds, calling Letty a “drummox” (a combination of dragon and lummox), even though he had just saved her life from the Heroes. Even Dearia is having trouble with her excessive requests for a house with a bath. Nell’s rudeness is targeted at everyone except Pip, but her wicked insults are still endlessly entertaining.
Deep down, Nell is not a bad person, she knows that both Letty and Dearia are going out of their way to accommodate her, they even saved her life several times — she is simply too tsundere to express her gratitude, which ironically makes her quite endearing. When the Heroes mistake Letty for Nell’s kidnapper, she steps up and clears things up, showing that she can actually be a good friend.
Letty is kind enough to invite Nell on his house-hunting journey, and Nell agrees. But they unsuspectingly let Pip choose to go to a dungeon underneath the royal capital, aka Nell’s old home. The dungeon is built as a training ground for Heroes, so non-humans are hired by the government to help them train. If Letty decides to live in this dungeon, he will effectively become a government employee.
Nell is fueled by her curiosity about dungeons and rushes in. However, this place defies everything she used to know about dungeons. For example, it’s not full of treasure boxes or items that she can pick off the ground, since it’s just a normal living space for non-humans. They even run into various non-humans spending their day off either being hungover or relaxing.
However, this dungeon is built by the same dwarf that built the first palace that Dearia and Letty visited in Episode 2, so it is also full of deadly traps and puzzles that need to be solved before they can proceed. Letty and Nell are united in their annoyance at the dungeon and they work together to find the puzzle pieces.
While they search, they get trapped in a room where the ceiling will fall when the puzzle piece is removed. Luckily, Pip finds a hidden door, but Letty is too big to pass through, Nell pulls Letty through just in time to save his tail, their comradery is finally developing after all the bickering.
Letty finds a ladder that leads to a possible exit, and everyone climbs up, finding themselves inside the royal palace — the place that Nell escaped from. Considering Nell’s absolutely ridiculous grudge with her father, she will likely be taken back home soon, so it would mean it’s almost time to say good-bye.
Nell and Letty’s dynamic is unique for the series. They constantly fight and bicker, but they don’t dislike each other. They are both immature and pampered in their own way but they can also help each other grow. Their relationship is the most like a friendship in Dragon Goes House-Hunting because they behave the most like equals, and Nell is definitely a welcome addition to the cast.
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