Go East!
Ah-nyan, using {Change Human} to imitate Katie"s figure, was standing beside Katie inside the bath.
“Hey hey Katie, could you listen to me for a bit?”
“Nyat Ah-nyan?”
“Actually, I went to Skycastle the other day nya.”
“Hoh hoh, that sounds terrible nyan.”
“Then I, suddenly I started croaking like a frog.”
“That so, what do you mean by that nyan?”
“In other words, I was vomiting in the capitol.”¹
Nyan Nyan!
“Bwahahahahahah!”
“Uwhyahyahyahya!”
The girl and her dragon fell over laughing at their own joke.
………..
The others couldn"t be bothered to comment. And what was ‘Nyan Nyan" supposed to be there?
Ellis was roughly scrubbing her skin, regretting having gone to that Pain Bamboo show and cursing her own fortune at having to listen to these two go on like this ever since it ended. Claire was washing Pi-tan quietly to the side, but her disdain for their act was apparent from the looks she was sending their way. There was however one person who was acting quite strangely to the whole thing.
“No more, please, I"m done.”
Frau"s face had gone as red as a cherry from how hard she was laughing. It looks like such old man humor was her weak point.
A gleam shone in Katie and Ah-nyan"s eyes as they located some juicy prey, and they moved to both sides of her, blocking her in. They stuck out their b.u.t.ts and swung their tails while singing in Frau"s ear.
“Su-chan farts go Bofufufu“²
“No more………please forgive me……..”
Frau was twisting her body around, trying to escape the two cats while catching her breath.
Reeve as usual in the meanwhile wasn"t paying attention to the other performances and was diligently scrubbing Su-chan down.
“It looks like they"re finished, so let me sing the next one.”
She was completely unaware that what Katie and Ah-nyan did was not a song, and she had no clue why Ellis and Claire were giving Katie a dirty look.
And so bath time went by like usual.
While everyone was gathered around for dinner, Frau and Reeve both made reports about the dragon rumors they had heard.
Frau was able to dig up that the Brave Party had already arrived at the eastern pottery city and begun investigating rumors about a dragon there.
Reeve"s information was corroborate the rumor that there was a dragon to the east, but the additional information she had about a chaos dragon gave almost no details.
“Then should we just head to the pottery city?” Ellis mumbled aloud.
Ferdinand had also known about the sighting of a dragon flying through the sky above the eastern pottery city. a.s.suming that the dragon did live nearby, then the Land Dragon Rchin should be able to key in to its location and guide them to it.
The Brave Party has apparently already arrived at the city, and with their magic {Leap City} they can go back at any time.
On the other hand, Ellis and the others could arrive there in a few hours from Warren if they used the high speed flight from the Storm Dragon. Ellis, Reeve, and Katie were all Dragon Maidens, but Frau and Claire would arrive there completely drained if they did that though. Perhaps it would be for the best if they were to stay at the Magical City Wisdom overnight first then.
“Well, let"s head over there and see how things go. Just in case we need to do some covert work, let"s bring a change of clothes for the dragons too.”
And then the next day.
While talking over breakfast, Ellis went over the itinerary and iron out any details. In conclusion, they decided to use the same trick they did in Marsfield and have a dummy party made with Rchin as the party leader in his male human form. With that all agreed and breakfast finished, the girls got to work at coordinating their dragons.
The Land Dragon Rchin would be the heavy fighter at an imposing two meters tall with short cropped blonde hair. His name would be ‘Ellison". Together with the full plate armor that was previously worn by an executive demon, he would also be borrowing Frau"s morningstar and kite shield.
Storm Dragon Su-chan would be acting as the party"s light fighter. He would be just a hair shorter than Rchin with longer blue hair. He would once again be going by the name Revatein for this outing. He was equipped with the same leather armor Reeve had worn when she first came to Warren and her blue saber.
Frost Dragon Ah-nyan came out as the shortest of the three but still large enough to make any ordinary man think twice about picking a fight with him. He was a cat fighter with a platinum colored tinge to the fur that covered his body. His name would be Ca.s.sius. His weapons would be some of Katie"s old cat fighter gauntlets and greaves along with an ordinary white shirt and slim long pants.
“Something like this,” Ellis mumbled.
Ellis took a look at all three of the dragons standing together and nodded in satisfaction. By the way, Rchin wasn"t made to dress as a thief because he simply had no skill as one. If there was ever a time when he was to be made to cancel a trap, it would inevitably blow up in his face. Literally.
The three of them would use these forms and pa.s.s off as a party of adventurers. The girls also visited Cross Town"s boutique to purchase some casual clothes for the dragons as well before heading to the Thieves" Guild.
“Hi Karen. Is Master in?”
“Oh Ellis. And everyone else too. And……um, who are those people in the back?”
‘Those three fearless looking men?" Karen started mumbling to herself as her cheeks started turning red.
“I came here to explain just that. Could we see Master?”
The five girls and their three guests were quickly guided to the back room where Baltis was waiting. Ellis hid nothing as she told introduced the three men behind her to the guild master and explained where they would be going. She didn"t get very far before Baltis interrupted her though.
“Oi you three, you have a third dragon…….?”
“What kind of tone is that you s.h.i.tty old man! If you have some complaints, then look me in the eye and say it!”
‘Ca.s.sius" Ah-nyan was picking a fight like usual and cut off Baltis before he could say anything else. Katie was quick to try and put a stop to him.
“Stop Ah-nyan! That"s my boss nya!”
“But I thought Katie"s boss was President Ellis?”
“Wrong nya. This person is the guild master for the Thieves" Guild which I belong to nya!”
“I see, then if was kill this old b.a.s.t.a.r.d, Katie will become the new leader of the Thieves" Guild! Right, I"m going to kill you!”
Baltis was stunned at Ah-nyan"s forceful interruption, and he was even more taken aback by the words that followed. But soon a smirk came to his lips. He slammed his hands on his desk and rose up out of his chair.
“Interesting! Come on then, but don"t think I"ll give up my seat that easily!”
“Don"t encourage him nya! {Reset Body}! {Change Size}!”
*Shurushurushurushurushuru*³
Katie rattled off a number of incantations, releasing Ah-nyan from his human form and causing him along with all the equipment he was wearing to fall to the ground. She then picked him up by his tail, shaking him a little while forcing him around her neck.
Baltis looked just a little disappointed.
“Please forgive him nya. I"ll straighten him out later nya.”
Katie squeezed Ah-nyan"s tail a bit to punish him some more as she apologized to Baltis. The guild master was looking forward to fighting a dragon, but he knew he had no choice but to nod his head here and sit back down.
Since the trouble had settled with just that, Ellis was able to finish her explanation and asked that he spread the word to the other guild masters.
“You girls are seriously funny. I understand, I"ll try to keep your absence a secret. However, there have been some worrying moves from Skycastle recently. Don"t be gone long.”
“Thank you Uncle.”
Ellis gave Baltis her customary kiss on his cheek before everyone left the guild hall. With this their preparations were all ready finished, and they could now head for Wisdom first using Su-chan"s high speed flight.
Ellis"s group landed right outside the suburbs of Wisdom. It took only a moment for the dragons to take their fully-equipped human forms, and after that, everyone rode in to the city on their normal horse-drawn carriage as if nothing was out of the ordinary. Pi-tan was resting comfortably in Claire"s arms.
Everyone headed straight for the university to meet with Claire"s parents. However it wasn"t that long ago that they had caused a huge commotion in these streets, and they were stopped before reaching their destination.
“Yo, it"s been a while.”
It was Alphonse, the guild master for the Magicians" Guild.
“Hm? Aren"t there more of you now than before?”
“Yes, you could consider these guys as our guards.”
Ellis responded immediately and as casually as she could, but Alphonse wasn"t the type of person to just obediently believe what he was told. His eyes looked like a hawk"s as he looked the the three dragons over, and slowly began to speak again.
“Hmm. By the way, you all are headed to Ares"s place right now right?”
They had become involved with the most troublesome guy possible, but there was nothing they could do. Trying to throw him off now would just cause even more suspicions. and besides, if Alphonse was with them, then they could avoid getting embroiled with any other people who might recognize them. Ellis didn"t like it, but she decided to accept Alphonse"s intrusion silently.
And then they soon arrived at the university afterwards. Ellis asked the gatekeeper for permission to visit Ares and Izerina, and having recognized them, he quickly gave them permission to enter.
“Yo, Ellis, everyone, it"s been too long. How are you all doing? Claire looks like she is doing fine at least.”
As expected of an adult. They made sure to give the proper greetings and thank their daughter"s friends before smothering their poor daughter with questions and love.
Ares had taken Claire into his arms and looked like he was going to crush her. Seeing that this wasn"t going to end any time soon, Ellis tried to ask Ares about his business. The a.n.a.lysis of magic used back in Warren and any possible information he might have had on some dragons.
“Welcome home everyone.”
Izerina came into the room at this time. n.o.body said it aloud, but everybody was wondering if she was looking just a bit more plump than she had the last time they were there.
“The number of people in your party looks to have increased. An eight person party, are these men friends of yours?”
The girls had all ready talked about this. Claire had insisted it was better to come clean and tell Ares and Izerina about the Dragon Maidens if they were going to stay in Wisdom. The problem here was what to do about Alphonse.
“Alphonse, hearing a secret you can never repeat aloud or quietly walking out of this house right now, which do you prefer?”
Ellis tried to sound as serious and threatening as she could, but her words only made Alphonse"s interest increase all the more.
“In that case, I suppose I better learn how to keep my mouth shut.”
With nothing else to be done, Ellis and the others began to divulge their secrets. The three men each reverted back to their mini-dragon forms, and they took their usual positions at Ellis"s knee, Reeve"s chest and Katie"s neck respectively.
The three Wisdom magicians naturally couldn"t understand the situation just from seeing a group of men turn into a group of lizards, so next came the long explanation from Ellis. A feat that was only made more difficult with the fact that there was no way they could have the dragons grow into their regular sizes here. Ellis explained to them all that all five of them, including Claire, had the ability to form a contract with a dragon, and they were doing it so that the dragons wouldn"t fall under the order of the Demon Lord again.
She then asked them about any information they might have on dragons.
Ares calmly listened to their story without interrupting them once, but before answering their questions about the dragons, he first gave them what he had learned so far from the records of the previous Demon/G.o.d war.
When it came to the magic used in Warren, the {Flame Bullets} most likely had the same power as Claire"s {Homing Missiles}, but the number of them suggested the prosper using them had near infinite mana.
Next was the light that had extinguished every normal demon and almost all of the high demon"s. Although no records for the spell were found, they were still able to figure it out as an attack that immediately purified the demons" mana, thus instantly killing them. Ellis figured it as a surgical strike comparable to a labyrinth"s purpose in clearing out the previous Demon Lord"s corrupted mana from the ground.
The light that descended down from the sky was actually the easiest spell to figure out. It was something called {Comet}, and there were numerous reports of it devastating armies in ancient texts.
The lateral dimension creation and the summoning magic were still unknown. As the research stood, Izerina was theorizing that the dimension creation may be a type of barrier and was looking in to a spell that could break through while Ares continues to pour over texts to see if he can find any mention of those demon dogs.
And as for the dragons.
In the Demon/G.o.d war, it was recorded that there was a dragon on both the Demon Lord and the Hero"s side. It was also recorded that there was another dragon who was convinced by the Hero to a.s.sist him although that dragon never directly confronted the Demon Lord"s forces.
“The ally to the Hero would be Ah-nyan, and the ally to the Demon Lord would have been Rchin. Does that mean Su-chan was the dragon the Hero convinced to aid them?”
Su-chan gave Ellis a sharp look, as if the very question itself was insulting.
“No it doesn"t Ellis. I sided with neither the Hero or the Demon Lord.”
That means it was either this eastern dragon or the horror dragon that showed up in Ferdinand"s story.
“Thank you very much Ares.”
“Sure. The rumors about Warren"s guardian dragon had all ready reached here, but I never thought them to be true though.”
Ares, Izerina, and Alphonse all shared a look before turning back to the girls.
“We will stay in town overnight at an inn and make for the city of pottery in the early morning. If you"d like, we could show you what these dragons really look like then.”
“Well if that"s the case, then you should just stay overnight here at the school. We"d be overjoyed to have you, and we know a few places that would be deserted in the early morning.”
“We might just take you up on that offer.”
And so Ellis and everyone else spent the rest of the night at Claire"s parents" home. Telling them all about everything else that had happened since they last saw them.
Everyone greeted the early morning inside the university, and after a breakfast together, they all headed to an open s.p.a.ce behind the university"s main building.
“I am the contract dragon for Ellis, Land Dragon Rchin.”
A large dragon covered in golden scales stood large and proud.
“I am the contract dragon for Reeve, Storm Dragon Su-chan.”
A bluish green dragon stood on top of the first one, wings spread out like a large umbrella.
“I am the contract dragon for Katie, Frost Dragon Ah-nyan.”
What appeared here was a snake-like dragon covered in white fur, coiled around the first dragon"s legs.
Ares, Izerina, and Alphonse were stunned at the majestic sight of three ma.s.sive dragons standing before them like this. The girls in the meanwhile were wondering why the three of them felt the need to pose like this, and why they thought having Ah-nyan lay on the ground like an ornamental carpet was the best idea.
After the demonstration, Rchin and Ah-nyan returned to their original sizes as Ellis, Frau, Claire, Katie, and Pi-tan climbed up on Su-chan"s back and Reeve took her position up near his head.
“Farewell Mother, Father, and Alphonse too. I"m off.”
Claire waved goodbye just as Su-chan kicked himself off the ground and started rising into the sky. No reply was ever given back to her as all three of the adults" jaws remained dropped long after the girls could no longer be seen on the horizon.
1. This is meant to be a double joke. ゲロ吐 is croaking like a frog and 嘔吐 is vomiting so they look similar, and the p.r.o.nunciation for throwing up in the capitol is otou de otou de, so there is a sound joke there as well. It is a terrible pun in both content and the fact that it is a pun.
2. I"m pretty sure the joke here is just that Su-chan is a wind dragon.
3. The j.a.panese sfx for loosening a tie or in this case, clothes falling to the ground.