Due to Emedra's opinion that it would be dangerous to fly with people on her back while the sun's still not up, Renya's party decided to spend the night at the cave as was initially planned.

The other members felt slightly worried about Renya as they hadn't taken proper shifts in the guard duty, but as Renya provided the excuse that he had forgotten to alternate as he was busy with the adjustment of the scarce firewood, they calmed down by accepting it as being inevitable.

However, for some reason Shion took Croire and Rona to the side as there seemed to be some kind of dispute going on between them, but Renya didn't find out the reason for their dispute nor the conclusion.

Although he didn't understand, he lowered a fist on Emil's head who was grinning broadly next to him.

Isn't that far too unreasonable!? (Emil)

Once Renya grabbed Emil's shoulders, who was stroking her head with teary eyes, and draws her to himself, he checks the vicinity.

Lepard and Kaede said that they would return back into the cave to go sleep, and since Kurz and the two priestesses couldn't be woken up, both likewise carried the young ones into the cave.

Grn is talking with Emedra about something and doesn't look in Renya's direction.

What do you think about Emedra's story? (Renya)

Once he asks that in a whisper, Emil touches Renya's left ear with her right hand after pondering about it for a short moment.

(Emil)

Emil's words held Renya back, who was about to speak up as he thought that he had to voice out his thoughts.

While keeping his mouth shut, which he had almost opened, again, Renya asked Emil anew,

(Renya)

Emil's thoughts were entwined with a somewhat bored feeling.

Probably because this telepathic communication is an exchange of thoughts, the speaker's emotions seem to be directly transmitted to the other party.

(Renya)

Going by the image that Renya possesses, the beings called demon kings are overbearing and arrogant, pressing forward with any kind of method possible.

Once he informs Emil of that, she sighed once while playing around with Renya's ear.

(Emil)

(Emil)

Renya mercilessly drives his right hand's thumb into Emil's left flank, who was looking at him with upturned eyes after quietly leaning in closer as if snuggling up to him a little bit.

Emil, who jumped up with a start out of shock, reflexively removes her hand from Renya's ear, and next crouches down while holding her side due to the pain assailing her.

It's a conversation about catching a demon alive or something like that, right? Even without acting like this, I will comply with your request as we share a reasonably good friendship. (Renya)

Y-Yeah. It's a great help that you catch on quickly, but isn't this treatment way too mean? (Emil)

Renya looks down at Emil, who's looking up at him with teary eyes while still squatting, with his arms folded across his chest.

Renya, who had become desperate to suppress his slightly risen pulsation, didn't notice Shion, who had apparently knocked out Croire and Rona, intently watching them from the shadows while biting a handkerchief.

And then dawn breaks.

When Renya said, Let's depart then?, and after everyone had gathered their luggage and extinguished the fire, he was driven by a somewhat uneasy feelings while looking up at Emedra's huge body.

With Renya in the lead, his party consists of 11 people: Shion, Rona, Kurz, Tsubaki, Botan, Lepard, Kaede, Croire, Grn and lastly Emil.

Once Renya asked, No matter how big your body might be, won't you be overloaded like this, Emedra?, Emedra lifted her long neck, gazed at the own back for a while, and then carefreely said,

(Emedra)

Renya looked sullen after being reprimanded head-on, completely having his naming sense denied, but although none of those present said anything, all of them agreed with Emedra's opinion.

Without throwing a single glance at Renya and his party, the deep crimson dragon starts to hover above their heads and fixedly stares at Emedra.

Emedra returned that stare by looking back at the crimson dragon in the same way.

What's this?

Two dragons that were staring at each other.

One is mannerly sitting on the ground.

The other is floating in the air while flapping its wings powerfully.

Renya's group, which had been completely left out of the loop, has absolutely no idea just what was going on with that staring contest.

(Emedra)

If my knowledge is correct, it's the official way of forming physical bonds with animals. (Renya)

The daredevilry of treating dragons the same as animals shouldn't exist in this world, but even Emedra, who might have set everything on fire in a fit of rage if a normal human had talked to her like that, only feebly laughs at those words coming out of Renya's mouth.

What he's doing is awfully worthless in Emedra's eyes, but the power spent on it not only hindered a dragon's ability to fly away, but also crumpled its entire body. It's something so colossal that it completely rendered the power of a rampaging dragon useless.

Moreover, even though he is using such outlandish power, Renya is still smiling and completely looks as if he's casually doing some odd job.

For just an instant Emedra considered whether she should save her brethren.

But, it was really just for an instant. Emedra decided to leave the dragon, who's in a spiral of agony, alone as is.

Is it because dragons are beings situated close to the top of the food chain in this world? At any rate, they have the tendency to look down on everything other than themselves without even investigating properly.

If the crimson dragon had been careful, it should have realized Renya's existence, who's far beyond common sense even if limited to the aspect of mana, on top of the three heroes among Renya's party.

Its current situation, a consequence of him not doing that, can't be called anything but reaping what you sow according to Emedra.

Emedra secretly shrugged her shoulders while looking at the state of the crimson dragon who had started to spasm in somewhat strange ways.

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