At the edge of Gilm. Because a large number of spies had been arrested in the city two weeks ago, the guards at the main gate seriously watching the surroundings as snow fell.

As it was approaching mid winter, snow had continued to fall on and off since morning, reaching a depth of 10cm.

In such circumstances, no travelers or merchants were coming to the city. Even though it was already noon, no one had entered or left the city so far. While wearing a magic item coats that had been borrowed from Ranga……or rather forcefully given to them by Ranga, although the guards were vigilantly watching the surroundings while enduring the cold, even they couldn’t notice its existence.

That was because as the guards were looking around the ground, that existence was advancing through the sky. And that said, even if the guards looked up into the sky, it would have been extremely difficult to spot that existence. That was because it was only 20cm in size after all.

「Kyu~, Kyu~」

The existence that was flying while making cute cries could best be described as a chibi dragon. It flew through the air while flapping its small wings and waving its 5cm long tail. Even though it was so small, its flight speed was much faster than an ordinary mounted horseman. If anyone did see it, they would have doubted their eyes.

「Kyu~!」

While making several cries, it saw the city of Gilm appear ahead in its eyes. The dragon like creature gave a loud, delighted cry.

It obviously wasn’t an ordinary monster or a natural dragon.

Young dragons are usually watched over by their parents in secret until they have grown to some extent because of their weak combat strength as young dragons. Yes if it really was a dragon flying towards Gilm now, it would definitely be under the protection of a parent dragon.

However, despite the small size of this dragon, it flew towards its destination at a speed that couldn’t be matched by an ordinary dragon. On its body, it was wrapped in a cloth that looked like a dress.

「Kyuuu~.」

The young dragon was delighted after finally reaching the sky over the city of Gilm and gave a short cry.

It was lucky that at this time, the barriers covering the city had already been lifted as it had been about two weeks since the spy disturbance. However, as the young dragon had the ability to sense magic power, if there were some kind of barrier, it would have entered the city using some other means.

「Kyu~!」

It was relieved that it could enter the city normally, the young dragon gave a short cry as it descended into Gilm.

All in order to carry out the work that had been given to it.

 

 

「……I see. There are a lot of high rank monsters in the sea after all.」

The Dusk Wheat. While lying in bed, Rei was reading a book he had bought from the bookstore the day before. It was titled『Monster Encyclopedia (Sea Edition)』.

Unlike on land, with few to no natural enemies, sea monsters had relatively high ranks. Of course, there were many fights between monster, but even so, there were basically no adventurers. High rank sea monsters were one of the important factors in the development of the sea ecosystem.

「Speaking of which, Axe of the Thunder God said that they were dispatched to a port in the past to reinforce the subjugation of a powerful monster. I’m sure that Elena was also there at that time.」

As he said that, he recalled the faces of the three members of Axe of the Thunder God.

Rhodes had hunted Blue Caterpillars with Rei about half a month ago. However, this activity by the young man who was seen as the successor of Axe of the Thunder God was swept away by the escorted carriage attack that had occurred on the same day. Because of that, the straightforward Rhodes had been left in a rather sensitive mood.

As Rei thought about that, he realised that he had forgotten something. Axe of the Thunder God. Sea. Monster. And……

「……Oops.」

As he closed the book in his hands, he covered his face with his right hand.

(I forgot to write a letter to Elena as Ara had told me.)

It had been more than half a month since he had returned from Baar to Gilm. He had completely forgotten about the letter Ara had asked him to write when he left the city.

「I should write it now I guess?」

He had paper for writing letters and an ink-free pen, a type of magic item, from the Misty Ring.

The pen he had bought at a general store out of interest in the past. He had also bought paper as he thought that it would be useful.

In other words, he could start writing as soon as he wanted to write a letter. However, he wasn’t sure how long it would take to deliver it. It it had been when he had come back to Gilm, there would still have been merchant convoys or peddlers who would want to stock up on goods before it was completely winter. But now, they would have already all left Gilm. In other words, even if he wrote a letter now, it was completely unknown when it would reach Elena. There was also a possibility it would only arrive after the postwar period with the Bestir Empire in the worst case. That would mean he would probably end up meeting Elena before his letter would arrive……

「With that said, I guess there’s no option to not participate in the war with the Bestir Empire.」

Up until now, Rei had hit the Bestir Empire several times. It was obvious that if the Mireana Kingdom lost to the Bestir Empire, he would be in danger. There was also the fact that he didn’t like the Bestir Empire, who had continued to make moves against him. Gilm had originally been the place Rei and Set had accidentally arrived at after leaving the Forest of Monsters, but now it had become a city they like regardless of how they had first come. And more than anything……

「When it comes to war, Elena, the General Princess, will definitely be on the battlefield.」

Rei himself had been captivated by Elena’s beauty. If the Mireana Kingdom lost to the Bestir Empire, as beautiful as she was and with her good figure that men loved, it was not necessary to consider what kind of treatment she would receive as someone who had dealt with the Bestir Empire several times. It would be a relatively good thing for her to be executed as a war criminal. At worst, there was a possibility she would made a plaything for the soldiers with past grudges against her. Or, she could become an experimental subject of the alchemists who had developed the Demon Soldiers, as someone who had completed the inheritance ritual using an Ancient Dragon’s magic stone.

「I can’t afford to let that happen.」

Elena’s expression as the imposing General Princess passed through his mind. That, as well as her expression when her cheeks glowed after being dyed red. And……

When she had reached for Rei’s lips.

It had been just once, but her lips had overlapped with his.

「Wait, what was I thinking about? Not now, first the letter.」

He propped his body up on the bed and took out paper and a pen from the Misty Ring.

「Even if I can write a letter now……well, what should I write about?」

Rei had originally lived in the countryside, behind mountains. He had almost no opportunities to write letters. And as he also lived in a place where it was difficult for radio waves to reach, he hadn’t had made many email exchanges either. If any communication was needed, it was normal to speak about it face to face.

Because of that, he was lost for several minutes before he felt something and turned his eyes to the window.

「……Is that, a dragon?」

Rei muttered unintentionally. The creature, that was only about 20cm in length, stared at him with circular eyes while flying outside the window. Its form was definitely that of a dragon, but rather than looking threatening, it looked cute due to how small it was.

「Kyu?」

Realising it had been noticed at last, the dragon gave a small cry. It seemed it wanted to open the window as it knocked it several times with its autumn leaf colour claws, making a peta~ peta~ sound.

「……?」

Because he was puzzled by its behaviour, Rei didn’t think a dragon of its size would be hostile to him as he approached the window and opened it with a key while thinking to himself doubtfully.

「Kyu~!」

The dragon, about 20cm in length, entered the room through the window after it had finally been opened before using its wings to fly towards Rei.

「-!?」

Rei didn’t think that the small dragon was an ordinary monster and hesitated to attack it, catching it instead.

「Kyu, Kyu~!」

The dragon rubbed its face against Rei while making happy cries to indicate it was happy that Rei had caught it.

It’s appearance when rubbing its face against him was strangely similar to the feeling when Set did the same thing, so Rei brushed its head……

「……Mm?」

He noticed that a cloth was wound around it in a way that was tight to its body.

「This is……?」

「Kyu~!」

The dragon might have noticed that. Giving a short cry, it turned its back to Rei.

「I should open this cloth?」

「Kyu~!」

That’s right, the dragon seemed to say as it repeatedly nodded its head.

Seeing that, Rei noticed that the dragon in front of him understood his words completely.

(Are dragons normally this smart when they are young? Or, is the fact that this dragon can understand human words an indication that it is a high level dragon. Why would such a high ranking young dragon come to me?)

While pondering over that question in his mind, he unwrapped the cloth that had been tied around the young dragon’s torso. Inside the cloth was an envelope.

Dragon, envelope. Those pieces combined rapidly in Rei’s mind.

「It can’t be-!?」

The person that went through his mind was the one he had been thinking about just a few minutes ago. And as if proving that, the envelope was sealed with a certain emblem.

And Rei, of course, was very familiar with that emblem. The crest of a dragon and a sword placed diagonally over the face of the dragon. That was because it had been inscribed on the carriage of a certain noble he had gone with to a dungeon. That was……

「Elena, is it?」

「Kyu!」

Correct!　The young dragon seemed to say that as it shook its short tail.

Involuntarily slackening his cheeks, he tore the seal on the sealed letter with the Mithril Knife he took out of the Misty Ring before taking out the letter inside.

The moment he took out the letter, he could definitely small the scent of Elena’s perfume, which was really nice. ……That perfume was something he had only smelled before when Elena had kissed him before leaving Gilm. As his memory of that was clear, the scent remained strong in Rei’s mind.

Rei opened the letter and read it slowly while remembering that.

『Greetings, Rei-dono.

It is not uncommon for me to write documents to submit to my superiors, including the Chief of Knights. However, this is my first time writing a letter to a private acquaintance. Because of that, it may sound rude at some points, but I would be grateful if you could close your eyes to them.

Well, I was very surprised to hear that you and Ara had met again in the city of Baar. As far as I heard from Ara, it seems that Magic Fever had been prevalent there and I am a little worried if you might have been infected. However, I’ve heard that Magic Fever won’t affect people with a certain level of magic power. I’ve heard that you spent a week in the city of Baar without showing any symptoms, but I’m still worried. I hope your body is fine.

Anyway, I heard that Ara had spoken you about a letter when you returned to Gilm from Baar. I was also interested in exchanging letters and decided to write in this way.

Changing the topic, I’ll talk about the events after leaving you in Gilm. Most of the Sails family was killed by the knights of Duke Kerebel, but some still managed to flee to the Bestir Empire. It was said that Vel wasn’t seen among them, but regarding that, there is no doubt that he would have also escaped to the Bestir Empire. I will be sure to show him the price of his betrayal. Deceiving us for such a long time, playing around and taking Kuust’s life, I will deal with him with my own hands. He will know it with his own body. This is my duty as Elena Kerebel, for not seeing through his guise.

The topic has become a bit heavy. Let’s change the subject.

You remember that I inherited the Ancient Dragon’s magic stone on the Alter of Inheritance, but right now I am focusing on training to use that power. My physical ability is steadily increasing and my magic power has been amplified as well. It is hard to make good use of this power, but I have no doubts that it will be worthwhile. In addition, I can also use Dragon Language magic that only people with the magic power of a dragon can use. As for that, it will take a long time to learn because there isn’t enough information about it, but we are steadily making progress learning it.

With regards to the little dragon that carried this letter, he is an entity created from my magic using Dragon Language. For his name, I named him Yellow. He can only be such a small dragon because I’m not accustomed to it yet, but it seems that it is possible to eventually create more splendid dragons as I become more skilled with Dragon Language. However, this dragon is not a real creature. It is something that is partially shaped with magic, a pseudo life form. You can consider it as a familiar of some sorts. As an existence created with all my magic power, it seems to have acquired some special abilities by accident. I hope to show you in future. However, the influence of the special ability is quite low, to say nothing about its potential offensive power. In this area, I still need training. Even with Yellow’s special abilities, it seems to have been obtained almost purely by accident.

I’m looking forward to receiving a letter written from you as he will carry it back to me.

Now then. I’ve been writing for a long time and will have to finish soon.

Perhaps we will be able to meet in spring, I hope you will stay alive until then.

With love, Elena Kerebel』

[Previous Chapter] [Table of Contents] [Next Chapter]