We Live in Dragon's Peak

We have dinner in a dining room next to the inn. Afterwards, we hurry back. We decide to stay in my room until we go to sleep.

Priscilla-chan, as soon as she was full, fell asleep. Nymia, at the moment, is curled up next to her.

A smile crosses my face as I watch Priscilla-chan, “She really sleeps well.”

“That’s because Long-Eared Tribe lives with nature.”

Mistral tells me.

“They wake with the sun and sleep when it sinks. The human tribe and my people will light fires until nightfall while they won’t get up.”

“Ehh, really? Then, back when we were invited to granny’s birthday, the banquet was held at noon because everyone would sleep in the evening?”

“That’s right.”

At that time, I thought that having a banquet while the sun was still that high was really early. Then again, where I come from, the accepted practice is to go crazy after the sun goes down.

“My, my, well, well, have Ernea-kun and Mist gone to the village of the Long-Eared Tribe?”

“Ah, yeah. That’s also when we first met Priscilla-chan.”

I tell Ruiseine about the time I was invited to the village of the Long-Eared Tribe. Naturally, I confirmed whether doing so was okay with Mistral. Apparently, we doen’t need to keep secrets from Ruiseine anymore.

Ruiseine eyes shine as she listens to my tale.

“What an enviable experience. I also want to go there someday.”

“Un, hopefully we can go together next time.”

That is only possible with permission from the Long-Eared Tribe. I can’t just promise her she can go without any consideration.

“That’s right, I will introduce you to the venerable elder next time.”

Instead, Mistral promises to take her to the moss-covered plaza.

“My, my, well, well, I’ll look forward to it then. Is he the Grandfather-sama whom safeguards the Dragon Forest? Although meeting him might be scary, I certainly want to greet him even just once.”

Even though she seriously considers dragons to be terrifying existences, she must have already heard a bit from Mistral. Hence, Ruiseine can cheerfully say such.

I initially thought that Ruiseine was an honest, innocent, and reserved shrine maiden, but I was wrong. Err, not about the honest and innocent part though. What I mean is, Ruiseine is an unexpectedly assertive girl. She actively comes forward to talk to me, a foolish child, at school. She also shows interest in a lot of things. The gap between image and character might just be Ruiseine’s charm point.

Ruiseine asks Mistral about many other things. Mostly about me and tales Dragon Forest, though.

She is very surprised to hear that my wooden sword is actually a tree spirit and that it is very valuable. I then lend the wooden sword to her and she places it upon her lap. From there, she intently stares at it.

“I always thought it had a very strange presence. Turns out it is because it is a transformed sacred tree that is known as a spirit tree.”

“The reason you can feel it is because you have dragon eyes.”

“Is that so?”

Dragon eyes are amazing. They allow beings like Ruiseine who have no knowledge about dragon spirit or the dragon vein to unconsciously be affected by them.

“By the way, what did you talk about with Ruiseine yesterday?”

It seemed like they had fun in the bath. I’m curious about what they talked about.

“Fufufu, it’s girls’ secret.”

Ruiseine smiles as she returns the wooden sword to me. Mistral, also, just laughs without telling me anything.

Mumumu, not telling me only makes me more curious. T-there’s no way they’re saying things behind my back, right?

“Last night would have been quite fun if Ernea-kun hadn’t gotten swallowed up by a strange affair.”

“Awawawa, don’t say it like that.”

“But thanks to that, we were able to nip a problem between dragon tribesmen and human tribe before it arose.”

“Un, that’s the only blessing from that misfortune. Ah, by the way.”

I suddenly remember a thing.

“The sword that demon was holding was a magic sword, right? What happened to it?”

It is magic sword that resembles the holy sword. We were deceived by it and the fake Ristia.

“Ludriad-san mentioned that he was going to take it back, so I sealed it with a purification and handed it to him.”

“When did you do such a thing?”

“Fufufu, secret.”

I see, so that magical sword has been recovered. Maybe it’ll get reported to the higher ups? After all, it’s not just a magical sword. It’s such a great replica of the holy sword that I couldn’t even tell it was a fake.

This happened before, last time with those magical swords with the dragon slaying attribute. Looks like there are people secretly making magical sword in the Armard Kingdom, how scary.

“Even though that demon told us he was guided into this country by dragon tribesmen, is that really true?”

I wonder if Mistral even wants to talk about that topic and immediately close my mouth.

“Thank you for taking my feelings into consideration.”

Mistral smiles gently at me, seeming to sense what I am feeling.

“No, sorry. It’s not that enjoyable of a topic.”

“No, but it is quite important, regardless.”

Mistral shakes her head.

“May we switch to a somewhat more serious talk?”

Mistral asks that towards Ruiseine and me.

“Yes, I do not mind.”

“Un, I’m also fine with that.”

Ruiseine hands me some water and I drink it.

“Then, I think we should talk a bit about the relationship between the dragon tribesmen and demons first.”

And so, Mistral slowly begins to speak.