"With all these demon beasts crawling around the forest, I thought you had died, jii-san. I never thought I'd find my missing daughter here."

Girori, the dragon, Asher-san, glares at Nymia. That sharp look petrifies her.

"The demon beasts of the forest have their circ.u.mstances. Thy's meddling is unneeded."

"Yeah, I miss my days as jii-san's helper."

Kutsu kutsu, Asher-san's throat quivers from laughter.

Looks like Asher-san was looking for the run-away Nymia. Then, upon pa.s.sing by the Dragon Forest, she noticed it's unusual circ.u.mstances. She thus decided to pay Old Sleigstar a visit. From the way they talk, they seem to be old friends.

"At any rate," Asher-san looks from Nymia to the rest of us. "You've brought humanoids to this place. You're still alive, but it seems like you're going senile."

Asher-san intimidates me with her sharp eyes. Ruiseine has already fainted and is laying by my feet while Priscillchan covers her ears while she takes shelter between my legs.

"Ahaha, nice to meet you. I am called Ernea Isu."

I greet her with a polite laugh. As she is Nymia's mother, I make sure to properly mind my manners.

This is completely unrelated to things like her expressing her blood l.u.s.t at us or her scorning humanoids.

I mean, there's a terrifying intensity behind it, but it doesn't seem to work against me. Maybe it's because I faced Old Sleigstar's true power first? After experiencing his overwhelming presence back when I first wandered into the moss-covered plaza and that heard his dreadful ferocious roar that I'm pretty sure shortened my life span, I get the feeling my threshold towards fear and despair got a lot higher.

Oh yeah, since I am also often chased by a demon beasts and have my life in danger, I can tell when someone's killing intent is real or not. Although Asher-san's strength is genuine, her killing intent comes off as fake. I think she's just intimidating me.

Actually, since Asher-san is Nymia's mother, she must also be an ancient dragon. Then, people like us are probably no different than insects to her. I doubt any living being would seriously direct killing intent at bugs.

Therefore, no matter how much Asher-san intimidates me, I won't give in to fear.

"Haan, aren't you an interesting human."

Looks like I had my thoughts read. Asher-san stops intimidating me and turns to Old Sleigstar.

"Right, anyhow, please inform me of the current state of affairs.

"Fumu, the state of affairs?"

Old Sleigstar closes his eyes as he thinks over the question.

"These people…"

Not good. This time, I'm getting a bad feeling from Old Sleigstar.

"An envoy of the Dragon G.o.d-sama was dispatched."

"Gaburi."

"Agyaaaaaah."

Asher-san bites Old Sleigstar's long neck at the pointless dialogue.

"Wait, wait, wait, what are thou doing?"

"The heck are you saying jijii, claiming something as foolish like a messenger from the Dragon G.o.d-sama?"

Asher-san releases an astounded sigh as she separates from Old Sleigstar's neck.

So, others beside Mistral will fill in for the straight man role with Old Sleigstar. Actually, what's a dragon G.o.d?

"So, who are these people?"

"Fumu, these people all have their reasons, all of which stem from myself."

I'm Old Sleigstar's pupil. He's teaching me the dragon sword dance and how to use the dragon vein. Ruiseine, who's fainted at my feet, is my bride. We brought her here to meet Old Sleigstar. Finally, the small girl is Priscillchan. She's a kid from the Long Ear Tribe living in the Dragon Forest. She's staying close to me in order to communicated with the spirit living in my wooden spirit tree sword.

Asher-san snorts, "fuun," at Old Sleigstar's words and my thoughts.

She continues to maintain her hold over Nymia.

"How surprising and amusing. You're bustling around just like the rotted dragon king did."

Then, Asher-san knows the rotted dragon king? Going off of that, she got to know Old Sleigstar before the founding of the Armad Kingdom.

"None the less, more importantly, why is my daughter in a place like this?"

"Nyaaa~"

Asher-san's gaze returns towards Nymia, frightening her. I don't know why she ran away from home, but maybe it had something or another to do with fear?

"This young la.s.s, she seems to have merely lost her way and ended up in the village of the Long Ear Tribe."

"Is that really what happened?"

"Re-really, nyan~"

"She's the splitting image of thou when thy were her age. A curious tomboy br.i.m.m.i.n.g with vim and vigor."

"Except, I was never so cowardly."

Nymia quivers, piku, at Asher-san's words.

"Thou's daughter is still young. Does thy not agree that her timid nature is just right for protecting herself?"

"That said, we are combat dragons. Even if she's a child, there are no tales of a combat dragon fearing battle."

"Nyaa~"

Within Asher-san's hold, Nymia's eyes moisten with sorrow.

"What's a combat dragon?"

Asher-san glares at me at my question. She's telling me not to intrude on their conversation.

Right, back when I met Old Sleigstar, he introduced himself as a guardian dragon. He mentioned that he was protecting the spirit tree. So then, what about combat dragons?

I recall Old Sleigstar calling Nymia a protective combat dragon.[1] Is that a combat dragon that protects something? I really don't get it.

"Fumu, you've learned it well."

Old Sleigstar nods at me.

"This one does exactly that. Due to this one's protecting of the spirit tree, this one is a guardian dragon. Asher is also one who protects an ancient city despite having originally been a combat dragon. Simply stated, a combat dragon is a dragon who is better at attacking than protecting."

What, so it's because of that? So, they're dragons who prefer to fight.

But to think Asher-san's duty is to protect a place like an ancient city. Still, I wonder if originally she was more like a ferocious dragon of the skies.

Even though Nymia is also a combat dragon, she's timid. She might have been so terrified of fighting that she ran away from home.

"That isn't it, nyan. It was because mother is scary, nyan~"

T/N: Xiao Mii is a bit busy at the moment, so I will be posting translations fro this series every now and then. Best regards until Xiao Mii returns.

~Gandire Alea

[1] 守護闘竜

54.2 Nymia's Melancholy>