We live at the foothills of Dragon Peak.
“Welcome back, Prince.”
“Well then, be careful and have a good journey.”
Escorted by Mistral and the villagers, we took off, riding on Nimia’s back.
Our destination, of course, is the Wyvern Hunting Ground where Prince Friel is.
We plan to meet with Yugra, who is referred to as “Haku” (Lord/Master), but before that, we apparently need to seek permission from the Carnela tribe, who look after Yugra.
So, Mistral took on that responsibility, and we were to go pick up Prince Friel first.
Nimia soared into the sky above Dragon Peak, passing through a white mist that was indistinguishable from fog or clouds covering the mountain range.
Nimia’s flying ability never fails to impress me.
While the tyrant’s rough flight style is also powerful, Nimia is truly exceptional. The scenery flows by smoothly. She can leap over a mountain with just a few flaps of her wings. Her flight speed is far superior to any wyvern, yet we, riding on her back, only feel a gentle breeze.
Her ability to fly with minimal flapping, the power that shields us from the wind, and her unparalleled flight speed are all due to Nimia’s dragon arts.
Neither I nor even Mistral can come close to Nimia’s latent dragon power.
She’s usually as small and cute as a kitten, but in reality, she’s an unfathomable being.
“Even big, I’m still cute, nya.”
“So cute, so cute.”
Ares-chan, unfazed by the height, moved to Nimia’s head and began to pet her.
Priscilla-chan, seeing this, tried to follow, but Lyra, who was enjoying the sky’s scenery at the front, quickly caught her.
Lyra loves being in the sky. She always rides on Nimia’s back with a happy expression as they head from the Moss Garden to the Chicken Dragon’s nest for her dominance training.
I wonder if Lyra also wants to become a Dragon Knight like Prince Friel. I asked her about it during our conversation last night.
Apparently, she’s no longer interested in being a Dragon Knight. She’s content with just riding a dragon and flying through the sky.
Nowadays, Lyra always took the front seat when riding on Nimia’s back.
Occasionally, when Priscilla-chan wanted to go in front, Lyra would hold her, just like now.
As we were enjoying the sky’s scenery, the Wyvern Hunting Ground came into view before we knew it.
With Nimia, I felt like we could probably reach the Yorttenitos Kingdom easily.
“We can get there in a day, nya.”
… I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that. I heard nothing.
As if sensing Nimia’s approach, several wyverns flew out from the Wyvern Hunting Ground.
However, they couldn’t reach Nimia, who was far above the clouds, and they circled at a lower altitude, as if observing us.
I cautiously looked around, wondering if Prince Friel might be riding a wyvern, but to no avail.
Prince Friel was enthusiastically waving his hand from the wyvern nest, welcoming us.
Nimia slowly descended without agitating the wyverns, landing gently in the Wyvern Hunting Ground.
Immediately after, she shrunk down and moved to Priscilla-chan’s head.
“Hello, everyone!”
We were taken aback by Prince Friel’s energetic greeting.
Prince Friel was incredibly dirty. From the top of his head to the tips of his shoes, he was covered in mud and dust.
There was no trace of princely dignity; he exuded the aura of a wild boy.
What happened?!
Everyone was stunned by Prince Friel’s transformation in just a few days.
Before we parted, Prince Friel was, for better or worse, a “prince.”
His speeches about grand dreams and the exhilaration he inspired in us were befitting a royal. I felt he was truly a leader.
However, he never used his status to assert dominance and spoke and acted with humility towards us. Or so I thought, but in reality, there were some drawbacks from growing up in noble society. There were often times when he spoke down to commoners like us. Moreover, he even seemed to look down slightly on the Twin Princesses, who were older than him. Could he have some latent sexist tendencies?
Since neither we nor the Twin Princesses cared about such things, it was fine, but perhaps this was the negative influence of Prince Grave being around.
Prince Friel clearly had no malice and was likely unaware of it. Still, that somewhat out-of-touch aspect of him made him seem like a true prince.
We were surprised that Prince Friel had cleaned himself up in just a few days, his initial unreliable demeanor completely transformed.
“You’re unrecognizable.”
“What happened?”
The Twin Princesses cleaned off Prince Friel’s dirt. Lyra also rushed to join the Twin Princesses, and Ruiseine cast a purification spell.
Before we could even ask what had happened, Prince Friel was surrounded by the women.
Huh?
Seeing Prince Friel surrounded by Ruiseine and the others, a vague sense of jealousy welled up within me.
I didn’t think I had possessive feelings, but seeing the women who might be interested in me surrounding another man made my chest ache slightly.
If Mistral were also in that circle, I might go crazy.
I was a little flustered, realizing this unexpected side of myself.
“It can’t be helped, nya, so I’ll stay with you, nya.”
Nimia flew onto my head.
“Um, I don’t really understand, but I’ll stay with you, okay?”
“It can’t be helped, it can’t be helped.”
Priscilla-chan and Ares-chan hugged me.
Yes, right now, this is more than enough.
As I smiled and stroked Priscilla-chan and Ares-chan’s heads, Nimia quietly muttered at me from above, “Pervert, nya.”
A moment later, Prince Friel, slightly cleaner, shyly thanked the women and approached me.
“First, I want to express my gratitude.”
With that, Prince Friel bowed his head to me.
“Thank you for cooperating with me on various matters. And thank you for allowing me to meet these wyverns and spend time with them.”
“No. We just did what we could. More importantly, you’ve become quite admirable.”
Not in terms of the remaining dirt or his appearance, but rather, Prince Friel’s heart seemed to have grown.
He must have learned a great deal from living with the wyverns. And fueled by that, he must have grown significantly.
I should learn from him too.
I shook Prince Friel’s hand after he looked up.
Prince Friel’s hand was not the delicate, weak hand of someone from a high status who had never known hardship, but rough and calloused.
Upon closer inspection, not only his hands but also the exposed skin had numerous scratches and minor injuries.
He truly worked hard.
I felt a reliability from Prince Friel now, different from the impression I had when we first met.
With this change, I felt I could guide Prince Friel to Yugra’s location.
“Your Highness, actually, the reason we came here today is…”
“Elnea, please let me meet Haku!”
“Eh!?”
We were surprised by his unexpected words.
“I heard from the wyverns. A long time ago, the winged dragon that the first King of Yorttenitos rode is still alive in these Dragon Peaks. If it’s alive, I really want to meet it!”
I see. Prince Friel had already heard about Yugra from the wyverns.
In that case, this will be quick.
“Yes. In fact, we also came here intending to introduce you to Haku.”
“Wow, is that so!”
Prince Friel, beaming with joy, took my hand. For him, Yugra might be a more important dragon than we realize.
After all, she is a legendary winged dragon ridden by the founding king.
“Then, let’s go at once!”
We shared a bitter smile at Prince Friel’s enthusiastic attitude.
While he had grown significantly mentally, his somewhat self-centered royal thinking seemed to remain.
“Your Highness, first you must thank the wyverns who took care of you.”
“Ah, right.”
Prince Friel hurried over to the wyverns.
The wyverns watched us with a calm demeanor.
“I have learned so much. I will never forget this kindness. If there’s a chance, let’s eat meat together again!”
“Fwahaha. These past few days spent with you were surprisingly enjoyable. I look forward to your future endeavors. May your wishes come true. And eat more meat, more meat!”
“Yes, meat for the win!”
What on earth happened…
We exchanged bewildered glances at Prince Friel and the wyverns who kept exclaiming about meat.
“Um. Wyverns, thank you very much for your swift assistance this time. Oh, and would you be willing to join the Dragon Peak Alliance?”
I expressed my gratitude and extended the invitation.
“We are also grateful to you. You have brought us a good encounter carried on the wind. We will gladly cooperate with your objective.”
“Thank you very much.”
After we each thanked the wyverns, we moved back to Nimia’s back, who had grown to her giant size again.
“Let’s return to the village, nya.”
“That’s right. We have to wait for Mistral to return.”
Now that I think about it, we didn’t ask where Yugra and the tribe that cares for her live on Dragon Peak.
Perhaps it will take days to travel back and forth?
I was so focused on the future that I neglected to obtain immediate information.
I regret it.
“We can ask the villagers when we get back, nya.”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“Um…”
As Nimia and I were talking, Ruiseine hesitantly spoke up.
“Hm?”
“Mistral often says this too, but please don’t have conversations that only you two can understand.”
“Ah, that’s right. I’m sorry.”
Nimia can read minds. I’ve become too accustomed to it, and when I converse with Nimia or Sleigsta (Old Man), I tend to send my intended thoughts directly, talking as if my mind-reading is a given.
“Please tell us what you talked about with Nimia-chan in the sky with the wyverns.”
“Yes.”
After waiting for my exchange with Ruiseine to finish, Nimia slowly ascended into the sky.
The wyverns also took flight, seeing Nimia off until she rose above the clouds.
The sky journey was as fleeting as it was on our way here.
Prince Friel happily recounted his days at the Wyvern Hunting Ground to Lyra. Seeing Lyra listen with a smile, we all smiled, thinking how wonderful it was that they had met.
And as we neared the village.
Below the clouds, we spotted a familiar crimson wyvern. Nimia was the first to notice, and she lowered her altitude, moving closer to the wyvern.
The wyvern, roaring aggressively at the giant Nimia descending from high above the clouds.
A fierce roar echoed through the sky, and Prince Friel, who had been happily chatting, panicked upon noticing the crimson wyvern, the Tyrant.
“This is terrible! There’s a very fearsome wyvern nearby!”
Prince Friel clung to Lyra, trembling.
Prince Friel appeared to be genuinely terrified of the Tyrant, who had wreaked havoc at the Wyvern Hunting Ground. Lyra’s words of reassurance were of no effect, and he continued to tremble in fear.
This is a sight I’ve seen countless times. Not only Prince Friel, but everyone living on Dragon Peak feels the same initial fear upon seeing the Tyrant.
But that was in the past.
The Tyrant has repented.
During the commotion at the Chicken Dragon’s nest, Prince Friel had been knocked unconscious by the Twin Princesses early on. Therefore, this was his first encounter with the Tyrant outside of the Wyvern Hunting Ground.
He may have gotten somewhat used to the dragon race after spending a few days at the Wyvern Hunting Ground, but the Tyrant is still scary, I suppose.
Well, it can’t be helped.
Nimia, unfazed by the trembling Prince Friel on her back, approached the Tyrant.
The Tyrant roared, spewing threatening flames from its mouth. The surface of a nearby mountain was scorched black.
“Nyan.”
In response, Nimia let out a cute meow.
An area several times larger than the mountain face scorched black by the Tyrant instantly turned into white ash.
Hey, is this your way of greeting each other?
Seeing this familiar exchange, I couldn’t help but smile bitterly.
However, everyone else, seeing it for the first time, was astounded by the Tyrant’s flames and Nimia’s magic, which far surpassed them.
However, Prince Friel, having somewhat understood that Nimia was stronger than the Tyrant from this exchange, finally began to calm down.
Lyra gently stroked Prince Friel’s back.
“So, why are you flying around here?”
I casually asked the approaching Tyrant, which made Prince Friel’s face contort.
It’s okay, I reassured him, but perhaps he didn’t expect me to know it.
“Hmph. I was summoned by the Dragon Princess.”
Summoned by Mistral? Wondering why, we and the Tyrant all headed towards Mistral’s village.
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