by Hiro Ainana
“Oh, what a view!”
“Mm. Pretty.”
Arisa and Mia were scared at first, but they had calmed down enough to enjoy the view.
“Tama, let us go faster, I entreat.”
“Okaaay!”
Like Tama, Nana seemed to enjoy the thrill-ride aspect.
But other riders were not so happy.
“It’s not okay, sir! We’re gonna fall! We’re gonna fall, sir!”
“Precisely! Tama, get down at once. We are in the sky, you know. If you fall, you won’t be able to fly on your own.”
Pochi was sitting on my lap, and Liza was glued to my left arm.
“’Sfiiiine.”
Tama was unfazed by their protests.
“I-it’s not fine, sir.”
“Listen, Tama. You’re in for the scolding of your life once we’re back on land.”
Clearly, Pochi and Liza were not good with air travel.
Both their voices were frighteningly serious.
I’d figured Pochi would be scared, but I definitely hadn’t been expecting this from Liza.
“Master! Stop laughing and keep your hand here, sir! If you don’t support me, I might fall, sir!”
Sitting in my lap, Pochi flinched every time the black dragon tilted his body.
Her ears were flat on her head again. Just sitting in my lap didn’t seem to be calming her down, so I let her put my hand on her stomach.
Incidentally, Lulu was silently clinging to my right hand with her eyes closed the whole time.
My hands were occupied, so I used Magic Hand to make a silk glove pat her head reassuringly.
Our mostly pleasant air trip continued halfway across the Black Dragon Mountains to a plateau blooming with flowers.
“
“
The black dragon stretched his wings to the ground, and Nana and the younger kids slid down them into the flower garden below.
Liza and Lulu were still latched on to me, so I carried them down to earth with “Skyrunning,” then sat them gently among the flowers.
The sleeping potions I’d given to the horses and runosaurs to keep them from getting frightened didn’t seem to have worn off yet, so I used the Magic Hands supporting them to lay them down on the ground.
“…M-master, I apologize for my shameful behavior.”
“I’m sorry, master.”
“No need to apologize. It was your first time traveling by air, after all. Anyway, would you help me get the party ready?”
“Understood!”
“Yes!”
Liza and Lulu still looked somewhat pale, but they perked up a little when I gave them jobs to do.
Next, I took out the gifts I’d procured for Hei Long.
Namely, several barrels of liquor and thirty freshly slaughtered goats.
I’d bought these in the old capital in the dead of night. It would’ve looked strange if I’d suddenly shown up there, so I’d disguised myself, of course.
“
The black dragon roared excitedly. Goat was apparently one of his favorite foods.
Everyone else flinched at the black dragon’s roar, but they calmed down once I explained that he was just excited.
Pochi’s tail was still between her legs, but Tama was gazing up at the black dragon with great interest.
“
Hei Long gleefully created a spring of the delicious liquor, then picked up a goat and skillfully roasted it with a small fiery breath.
“
The black dragon proceeded to chomp on the goat from the head down, bones, horns, and all.
“Yummyyy?”
“I-it does look tasty, sir.”
Tama and Pochi started drooling as they watched the black dragon eat.
He certainly knew how to make food look tasty.
The goat wouldn’t last long at this rate, so I decided to bring out some whale meat, too.
I produced from Storage several pieces of whale that I’d divided into two-hundred-pound chunks, cutting them into giant skewers for the black dragon and barbecue-ready pieces for us.
We’d gathered other monster ingredients on the way, too, like land urchins, monster mushrooms, and rocket bamboo.
“Meeeat?”
“The skewers are bigger than I am, sir!”
“What a wonderfully large cut of meat.”
The beastfolk girls smiled brightly when they saw the skewers for the black dragon. I guess they didn’t particularly care whether they got whole-roasted goat or not.
“
Taking a break from chowing down on goats, the black dragon peered at the giant skewers with interest.
“
“
Hei Long’s long neck recoiled in surprise.
“”
“
The black dragon eagerly dug in to the three chunks of meat on the skewer.
“
I’m glad you like it, but please stop firing breath attacks into the sky to express your happiness.
“Yummyyyy!”
Tama bit into a regular-size skewer and imitated the black dragon.
“Dangerlicious!”
“Dragons certainly are lively.”
Pochi and Liza didn’t seem to be quite as relaxed as Tama.
Pochi’s comment was probably a combination of dangerous and delicious, although I wasn’t entirely sure whether that was on purpose.
It took a while for everyone to get used to the black dragon, but eventually they followed suit after Tama and me.
“
“Th-this is called mustard mayonnaise…”
I interpreted for Lulu.
Lulu put some of her freshly made mustard mayonnaise on one of the giant skewers, and the black dragon gleefully popped it into his mouth.
“
As it turned out, dragons were big fans of mayo. Who knew?
“Hmm? What’s this glass-looking thing?”
“You’ll find out soon enough.”
Dodging Arisa’s question lightly, I used Magic Mold to make an instant kiln, spread some tomato sauce on some thinly stretched dough, and sprinkled shredded cheese and various toppings over it from above.
“N-no way… Could it be?!”
Arisa opened her mouth to guess, but I stopped her by putting a finger over her lips, then slid the covered dough into the flame-filled oven.
As the scent of bubbling cheese filled the air, even the beastfolk girls stopped eating meat long enough to look over curiously.
I took out the finished product with a huge wooden spatula, then cut it into fan-shaped slices.
“All right, it’s ready.”
“I knew it! Pizzaaaaa!”
Arisa shrieked and grabbed a slice with both hands.
I made two kinds to start: a standard pizza with bacon and salami and a veggie pizza with plenty of sliced tomatoes, asparagus, eggplant, paprika, and other toppings.
“Careful—it’s hot.”
“Stretchyyy?”
“So hot, sir.”
“Oh my God, this is so freakin’ good!”
“Mm, yummy.”
The pizza proved especially popular with the younger crowd. Tama and Pochi were dripping with cheese, so I’d have to make sure they washed their faces later.
“Master, I have been burned by the pizza, I report.”
I comforted the teary-eyed Nana with some Healing Magic.
“Master, this would go well with teriyaki chicken, would it not?”
“I think the dwarves’ sausages would be good, too.”
Liza and Lulu correctly guessed some classic pizza toppings.
Those two really were good at cooking.
“
“
I had figured the curious black dragon would want to try it, so I made plenty of pizza dough in advance.
And since the oven was made with Magic Mold instead of physical materials, I could resize it however I wanted.
I used Magic Hand to spin the pizza dough in the air, stretching it to thirty feet in diameter.
“So thiiin?”
“The sunlight goes through it, sir!”
Tama and Pochi gleefully ran around the circumference of the giant pizza.
“Make sure you don’t hit the dough, please.”
“Don’t worry, be happyyy!”
“We won’t, sir.”
The pair barely looked back as they chased the fluttering pizza through the air.
Just then, a mischievous wind blew through, flipping up a few girls’ skirts, like Lulu’s and Nana’s.
And of course, it did more than just that.
“Pochiii!”
Tama’s warning came a little too late: The wind knocked Pochi off her feet, and she tumbled right into the pizza dough.
“Waaah, sir!”
“Yaaargh!”
The impact sent the pizza dough flying around, engulfing the nearby Arisa in the process.
“I’m sorry, sir.”
“Ugh, my hair’s all sticky now…”
I collected the unsullied dough with Magic Hand and used the Soft Wash spell to clean the dough off the two girls.
“Arisa, I’m sorry, sir.”
“As long as you know better now. If you bring me a reeeeally tasty skewer, I’ll forgive you, Pochi.”
“Roger, sir!”
Watching the pair out of the corner of my eye, I finished up the black dragon’s pizza.
“
At first, I thought this meant the dragon didn’t really like it, but then he added, “
We weren’t exactly eating from the same pot, but after spending the party enjoying delicious food together, we all ended up being great friends with Hei Long.
Once the festivities had concluded, we rode dragonback again to cross the Black Dragon Mountains, coming down to earth at the base of the mountains on the Bolenan Forest side.
“
The black dragon grimaced.
I’d gotten the hang of reading the dragon’s expressions over the course of the day.
“
Wow, so the elves’ defenses were strong enough to repel a dragon.
“
Before we parted ways, I wanted to make sure of something.
“
“”
Was he about to say it was payment for the food?
The black dragon carefully looked away, so I decided not to press the matter.
“Bye-bye, Hei Looong.”
“
Tama hugged the black dragon’s nose sorrowfully.
“Tama! Don’t be rude to Sir Hei Long! …Please pardon us, and I pray that you shall triumph in all your battles.”
This dramatic greeting was apparently a common saying in Liza’s tribe.
“Good-bye for now, sir.”
“I am saddened to part with such a good friend, I report.”
“See you.”
Pochi, Nana, and Mia all gave friendly farewells.
“E-erm, Sir Hei Long, please take this pot. It’s the mustard mayonnaise that you liked from before.”
“
“Th-thank you.”
Lulu gingerly accepted the spike, which looked like an iron spear.
Seeing this, Arisa and Mia seemed a little envious.
“
“
With these casual parting words, the black dragon took to the air.
He circled around us a few times as we waved, then headed back toward the peak of the Black Dragon Mountains.
I’d set up a few seal slates at the peak and the plateau there, so I could visit anytime with the use of a Return spell or two.
Magic really was convenient.
Bolenan Forest
Satou here. My city-born friends sometimes envied me for having a hometown in the country. Personally, though, I believe that as long as you have a place that can evoke some happy childhood memories, there’s nothing to envy other people about.
“
“Is this Bolenan Forest? It’s kind of…normal.”
Mia and Arisa muttered in front of the forest, the former speaking Elvish.
Riding on four horses, two runosaurs, and one hornless unicorn, we had arrived at the outermost edge of the forest, the Bolenan Forest barrier.
Since Arisa couldn’t ride horses on her own, she was riding with Mia on the unicorn.
Mia dismounted and spoke the words open gate in Elvish, and ripples appeared on the barrier, creating an opening about ten feet around.
Looking too excited to stand still, Mia rushed inside.
“Hey, Mia, wait!”
Arisa ran after her, followed by the rest of us.
Aside from the giant trees in the distance that messed with my sense of perspective and the World Tree that definitely still looked like an orbital elevator, it was a decidedly ordinary forest.
As we followed Mia down the narrow path, it led into a slightly more open area. There were no other paths leading out of the clearing.
Throughout the clearing were little rings of mushrooms.
They looked exactly like the fairy rings that served as travel gates in the Cradle, where I’d rescued Mia.
Mia’s eyes wandered around the grove.
Maybe she didn’t know the way from here?
“
A green-skinned young girl emerged from one of the trees: a dryad.
“
“
“
Mia was asking the dryad to activate the right fairy ring.
“
“
Mia looked distraught at the unexpected refusal.
“
“
The dryad grabbed my cheeks to plant a kiss on my lips.
Quickly, I held her back by the forehead.
“
“
The dryad looked around thoughtfully, then nodded.
“
With that, she stole a kiss from my lips, and the fairy rings in the clearing started to glow phosphorescent green, one af
ter another.
Soon, two human forms emerged from one of the rings.
It was a young boy and a young girl, only slightly bigger than Mia.
“
As soon as she saw them, Mia rushed toward them so fast it looked like she would trip and fall.
Their full names displayed in the AR were Lamisauya and Lilinatoa—the names of Mia’s parents.
Mia tripped on the grass and tumbled to the ground.
““
The pair hurried over to her and crouched down.
Pulling herself up, Mia embraced them, repeating their nicknames.
“Master, look over there.”
“Lots of Miaaas?”
“So many elf people, sir.”
The beastfolk girls pointed at the other fairy rings.
Elves were appearing from them one after another.
“Master, I have located winged larvae. Permission to capture!”
“Oh, how cute!”
Nana and Lulu squealed as they looked at the fairies that appeared next to the elves.
They were accompanied by an elf in shrine-maiden clothing and the beautiful platinum-blond woman I saw using Clairvoyance on me before.
The latter was definitely my type, so I started examining her AR information, but then Arisa yanked my head back.
“E-excuse me, master! How long were you planning on kissing her?!”
“
I was so distracted by Mia’s reunion with her parents that I forgot the dryad was still sucking up my magic.
Since I wasn’t resisting, she ended up stealing almost a third of it.
“
The dryad waved her hand, and the trees and shrubs in the clearing all lit up with green light.
“
The light kept spreading throughout the forest.
Even the giant trees in the distance started to grow.
The grass at our feet began to sprout and bloom flowers.
The trees sprouted, too, colorful blossoms springing from the branches.
The leaves of the trees swayed gently and began to play soft music.
“
The dryad grinned triumphantly, and a blizzard of glowing petals whirled through the clearing.
The elves began to sing a song celebrating Mia’s return, and the fairies danced through the air with the petals.
