In the evening, we enjoyed our pre-sleep drinks in Mana’s room.
“I never expected to receive an invitation from the Mother Dragon herself. While Mount Wilness is a sacred mountain of Valentia, it’s practically a Dragonian country,” Prim said.
“So, you’re saying I’ve been summoned by the Queen of the Dragonians?” I asked.
The Queen of the Dragonians, meaning the Queen Dragon. I recalled this as I spoke with Prim.
Dragonians are a race that lives longer than Ancient Classes and consists only of females. While they have a lifespan of about 500 years, their numbers are small, and they mature slowly. Around the age of 80, they descend to populated areas to have children, either marrying or becoming single mothers. The resulting child will be either of the father’s race or a Dragonian. If a Dragonian is born, due to their slow growth, they are taken to Mount Wilness shortly after birth and live there. However, family visits are permitted, so they are not separated by death. They say that when their husband dies, they return to Mount Wilness.
Furthermore, Dragonians can use Dragon Transformation Magic, a Bestowed Magic. This allows them to partially transform their arms, tails, or wings into dragon parts, or even become a full dragon. When they completely transform into a dragon, they exhaust nearly all their magic power. Thus, they rarely undergo complete transformation unless absolutely necessary. Nevertheless, it is said they can hunt P-rank monsters alone. It’s also said that if they evolve into Hydragonian or Ancient Dragonian, they can hunt even M-rank or A-rank monsters. However, the cost is magic power, making it difficult to return even if they succeed. There is a story that several Dragonians repelled the Catastrophe Species that attacked Valentia, but only one returned.
“You’re welcome to think so. However, the Mother Dragon Gaia is a very thoughtful being, so I don’t think she’ll say anything unreasonable,” Mana replied.
“Indeed. We’ve been to Mount Wilness several times and met Gaia-sama, and she’s a very gentle person,” Lydia added.
Freya Highwind, the father of Lydia and Ludia, is married to two Dragonians. One of them gave birth to Lydia and Ludia’s older sister, who, being a Dragonian, now lives on Mount Wilness. I heard she looks about six years old. The other Dragonian is their mother. Apparently, the only other person married to multiple Dragonians is Rybart Wellness, a P-rank Hunter of Valentia, so both are quite famous in Valentia, and people often mention them.
“I never imagined I would be going to Valentia myself,” Rika said.
“As Rika is a Lord and Provincial Governor, that’s quite normal,” I replied.
Rika was supposed to return to Feel with us. However, since the Mother Dragon invited her as a future bride, His Majesty has also permitted Rika’s trip to Valentia. Therefore, we will be going to Valentia together. We need to inform Count Sofia and Viscount Archlight, who are also Provincial Governors of Feel, about this. His Majesty will be using a Wyvern to relay the message, but we don’t know how long we’ll be away from Feel. We also need to contact the Marquisate of Amatista. Including preparations for the journey, our departure has been set for a week later.
“Due to matters concerning myself and Yuri, an audience with the Dragon King will probably be unavoidable,” Lydia stated.
“That’s right,” Ludia agreed.
Mana tilted her wine glass, and Yuri, the princess sister, drank apple juice. While there are no age restrictions for drinking Helios Orb, underage consumption is frowned upon, hence Yuri’s juice.
“That can’t be helped, but the problem is that the Alloy hasn’t been introduced to Valentia yet,” I said.
“That’s true. Currently, Amister has a monopoly, but eventually, it will spread to Torencia and Alegria as well.”
“Going back to the previous point, as Hunters of Valentia, both Ludia and I are using it. And in Alegria, the Grand Hunter’s Master is aware of it, so surely Alegria must have some inkling?” Rika asked.
Ludia, who was swirling the contents of her glass, and Lydia, holding hers properly with both hands, answered my thoughts. Although these two are also minors, they will be 17 and come of age in the spring, so this much can be considered within acceptable limits.
“Certainly, Alegria must suspect something has happened. After all, it becomes apparent immediately when the Grand Hunter’s Master goes hunting,” Prim said.
“That’s true. However, it was always intended to be shared with Valentia and Torencia eventually, so perhaps it will spread while we are in Valentia?” Rika mused.
“Or perhaps our going there will accelerate its public release,” Prim added. Prim, placing her glass on the table, pondered this, while Furan, having deactivated his human transformation magic and twitching his tail slightly, and Meena, nibbling on potato chips placed as a snack, offered various speculations.
Oh, and potato chips are a dish popularised by Sayuri-sama, and they are commonly sold in shops in Amister. Because they are easy to make and can be produced in large quantities with the right ingredients, they are also very affordable.
“That’s a possibility. I don’t know about other cities, but I heard that in the Royal Capital, we’ve managed to procure about 70% of the Jade Silver, and nearly half of the Rock Boar have been gathered. So, production has already begun,” Rika said.
Oh, really? In that case, the problem will be the coat for the Order’s Master, the Royal Order, which uses Feather Drake.
“We’ve been notified that everything will be prepared in the Royal Capital for that. However, even with the leather purchased from the Hunter’s Guild, I’ve heard we still haven’t reached halfway,” Prim stated.
Slightly less than half. That means the 18 Feather Drakes we provided, plus the 2 from the Royal Capital’s Hunter’s Guild, are still not enough. If we could find a flock, it would be a quick solution, but the Ideal Mountain Range is about three times the size of Mylight, so finding them isn’t easy. I’d like to find them before heading to Valentia if possible.
“Just in case, I’ve also asked the messengers sent to other cities to procure Feather Drake hides, so I don’t think we’ll need that much,” Rika said.
“Really?” Prim asked.
“Yes. There are several other cities where Feather Drakes inhabit nearby. While I don’t expect it to cover the rest, it should help,” Rika replied.
The messengers are traveling by Wyvern, so they should be back in the Royal Capital in about two days. Flying through the sky really does speed up travel. Come to think of it, we’re traveling by land, but Valentia is an island nation located on Dragoon Island, so we’ll have to use a ship at some point. Where do we board that ship?
“Hey, where do we board the ship to Valentia?” I asked.
“Ships also depart from the Royal Capital. Although it makes a stop in Bacion for resupply, it connects Amister, Bacion, and Valentia, making it the fastest route,” Rika explained.
So, it was a sea route, not a land route as I had thought. But that’s beside the point. Since the Royal Capital faces the sea, it’s quite logical to expect ships to depart from there.
“I see. I thought we would travel south by Beast Carriage and then board a ship from there,” Ludia said.
“Ships also depart from there, but it takes longer from the Royal Capital,” Rika replied.
That makes sense. The Royal Capital, Float, is located near the center of Amister. It takes nearly two weeks to reach Feel even by Beast Carriage. So, it would take about the same amount of time to reach the city where ships depart further south. Incidentally, it takes about five days by ship from the Royal Capital to the port town of Valentia, and less than a week from there to the Dragon Capital, Dragunia. So we can arrive nearly ten days earlier. Naturally, people would use the ship service departing from the Royal Capital.
“By the way, when did Lydia and Ludia leave Valentia?” I asked.
“Three months ago. Ships go to Baliente, but from there to Centro, my sister and I traveled together, and that’s where we met Sir Yuri,” Lydia said.
“Of course, we intended to go to Amister as well. However, there are many monsters that only inhabit the forests of Baliente, so we planned to hunt them to earn travel expenses and then buy magic silver weapons in Amister,” Ludia explained.
Is that so? But walking from the port of Baliente to Centro would mean traversing forests, and on foot, it would probably take nearly a month. Moreover, considering they were a pair of female B-rank Hunters, the journey must have been quite arduous. Frankly, I’m surprised they made it through safely. Is it just me?
“The port of Baliente, where Valentia ships stop, is Ovest, right? You two walked from there to Centro?” I asked.
“No, we received escort requests along the way, so it wasn’t just the two of us,” Lydia replied.
“Walking through the forests of Baliente, just the two of you, would be too frightening,” Ludia added.
That’s understandable. The Haura Great Forest, which occupies one-third of Baliente’s land, is home to not only B-rank but also S-rank monsters, and they occasionally cause damage to populated areas. If they encountered one of those, two B-rank Hunters wouldn’t stand a chance.
“From any perspective, to get from Centro to Amister, one must pass through the Haura Great Forest. It would have been nice to have an escort request, but unfortunately, there weren’t any such requests even in Centro, so my sister and I were pondering what to do,” Ludia said.
“It was at that moment that we met Sir Yuri, who was returning to Amister,” Lydia added.
I see.
“Since I hadn’t seen the two of them for a while and they wanted to go to Amister, I hired them as my escorts and they accompanied me,” Rika explained.
Along the way, they encountered S-rank monsters as I had feared, but with the presence of six members of the High Order, including Muse-san, they arrived at Zack, the border town with Baliente, without any major injuries. After resting briefly, they proceeded to Emosion.
“From there, it’s as we discussed before,” Lydia said.
“I see. So, if you hadn’t met Yuri, you wouldn’t have come to Feel,” I said.
“That’s right. We were even considering returning to Ovest and then going to Float via Valentia,” Lydia replied.
That’s the normal way to think about it. I feel a sense of destiny, even though I was once engaged to her.
“I’m happy you say that,” Lydia replied.
“Yes. Thanks to that, I was able to get engaged to Yamato. I never thought I’d be returning to Valentia so soon, though,” Ludia added, finishing her drink.
The twin sisters said something happy as they finished their drinks. However, I honestly didn’t expect to be greeting their families directly so soon. I’m starting to feel nervous, but since we won’t actually arrive for more than two weeks, I need to think carefully about my greetings by then.
“Well, the alcohol is gone, so let’s go to sleep,” Mana suggested.
“Let’s do that,” Rika agreed.
Hmm? It’s already gone. Well, Yuri doesn’t drink, but with eight of us, it’s understandable that it disappeared so quickly.
“Whose turn is it today?” Meena asked.
“It’s… mine…” Meena raised her hand timidly. With four wives and four fiancées, the order of who to be with first has been decided. After that, it’s based on the flow of things, but we’re all guaranteed to have a turn, and I intend to make sure that happens, so every night is quite demanding.
Flam and Lydia, who become bolder at night, were the first to shed their clothes. Prim and Yuri followed suit, and Meena, albeit shyly, also became completely naked. Rika and Ludia followed, and finally, Mana, her face bright red, revealed herself as she was born. They were all waiting for me on the bed. As I also took off my clothes, I went to Meena and began the act.
