Sheryl, who was left sleeping on Iris’ bed, started muttering a few minutes after.
「Un, munyamunya…….Iris-sama is naked today as always……」
「What kind of dream are you seeing!? I’m properly wearing my pajamas! 」
Iris tried to protect her honor.
Then, Sheryl woke up and came back to reality.
「Good morning, Iris-sama. Is today 「naked but sometimes in pajamas」 day? 」
「Shut up! You aren’t wrong and this is irritating! 」
「Puni」
「I’m always naked, so we are comrades」Punigami tried to comfort her in a weird way.
Having been comforted by a slime on for such reasons, Iris felt as if she fell as low as possible.
「All of this happened only because Marion incinerated my clothes!」
「W-What!? It was a duel, so it couldn’t be helped! It’s your fault for wearing clothes that easily burn! On a side note, the clothes worn by me and my mother are made from magical power. They can regenerate even after being burnt. How is it? Amazing, right? 」
Marion puffed her humble chest.
「Clothes made of magical power……so there was that option! I should utilize this next time! 」
「Do not!」
「Not gonna! After all, I don’t want to stay naked! 」
Let’s make a set of inflammable clothes from magma. With this, anti-naked measures should be completed.
「Well, leaving aside the problem of Iris-sama’s clothes………so, emm……..I seem to have a recollection of this person turning into a dragon…….was this a dream of mine? Dragons aren’t supposed to be friendly with Iris-sama in this place……..ahaha」
「Nope, I’m a dragon」
Said Marion as she swung her tail.
「Hieee…….it wasn’t a dream…….please don’t eat meee……..」
「I won’t! What do you think dragons are!? But don’t misunderstand, I’m only here to bring my mother back. I’ll go back in no time, you can relax」
「Ha……..I presume that this person is your mother then」
Being watched by Sheryl, Julia put her hand to her cheek and laughed. [1]
「That’s right. I’m Julia. This girl is Marion. We are parent and child. I became Iris-sama’s servant」
Introducing herself as such, Julia began petting Iris’ head.
「Mother! I won’t become something like a servant! I’m going to bring mother back! 」
「Even if you say that……..then I have no choice but to bring Iris-chan to the Village of Dragons」
The moment Julia muttered so, Sheryl jumped out of the bed with a great momentum.
「I won’t allow that! Iris-sama is this land’s Guardian Deity! Without Iris-sama, all kinds of misfortunes are sure to fall upon this land! 」
As far as misfortunes go, I will probably revert back to the wilderness.
As for Iris herself, she had no intentions of leaving a place with such a luxurious bed.
Besides, leaving Sheryl alone so far in the game would be rather inhumane.
Even though she wasn’t a human.
「Hee……..Iris-sama is idolized as the Guardian Deity……..It seems that I have no choice but to stay here after all」
「Mother! Then I’ll live here until you leave with me! I lived here long before Iris came! 」
The dragon duo progressed with their conversation on their own volition.
「Sheryl. Present me with your opinion as the lord」
「Emm……..new people are always welcome to our village…….as for dragons……..emm, you won’t rampage, right? 」
「We won’t. Didn’t we behave at the lake a while back? 」
「Mumu, indeed. That was you being considerate! 」
「That’s right」
「I see, then it’s okay!」
Sheryl gave her a thumbs-up.
「Is it fine deciding so carelessly…….?」
Even Iris became worried.
「Isn’t it fine? Julia-san is a good person……a good dragon, at least she seems to be. Marion-san too seems to be nice! 」
「I-I’m not nice at all!」
Said Marion as her face turned red.
Her expression was indeed nice.
「Well then. For your housing, we are going to erect a temporary tent……but how are we going to explain Marion-san’s tail and horns to the rest of the villagers……..?」
Sheryl thought with her hand on her chin.
「Can’t you just say『dragon』and be done with it? If you deceive them and it comes out it would become troublesome」
「Umu….however, dragons caused such a panic by simply appearing, and when it comes to living beside one……..we need something to convince everyone. For example……they submitted to Iris-sama’s strength, beauty, and cuteness and became the Dragons of Justice! Or something like that」
「Ara. Isn’t it how it went in reality? After all, we did lose to Iris-chan」
「Ha! So it was like that! If we include this episode, the villagers should be convinced! 」
「Even though I’ve been alive for three hundred years, I never lived amongst humans. I look forward to it」
「Eh, you are so beautiful at three hundred years old!? Please, tell me your secret」
Sheryl’s eyes turned round.
「There are no secrets. Dragon have long lifespans, that’s it」
「Does that mean that Marion-san is much older than me……..?」
「No, I’m fifteen」
「She was younger than me! What are the principles behind dragons’ growth!?」
「Let’s see. I grew properly until twenty and, from then on, I aged veery slowly, I guess? If you care about your health, you can live for at least a thousand years」
In short, it resembled demons.
「A thousand years……amazing…….」
Having been overwhelmed by the word『thousand』, Sheryl had a clueless expression on her face.
That being said, Iris had the same expression.
Most likely, Iris would live just as long but, having been born only recently, she had no idea what a thousand years feel like.
「Let’s come to the village and tell everyone about me and Marion losing to Iris-chan and swearing loyalty」
Julia seemed to be having fun.
Perhaps she liked the idea of a dragon-human cultural exchange.
「Mother! I don’t want everyone to know about my loss! It’s embarra.s.sing! 」
「Me too…….I’m embarra.s.sed to become the main topic in everyone’s conversations」
Marion and Iris both objected.
「In the first place, telling everyone about your defeat, won’t something like that hurt your dragon’s pride!? Even though you always told me to cherish our pride, Mother! 」
「Eeh, pride is important. That’s precisely why. For every monster, finding the right demon to serve in the greatest honor. Right, Punigami-chan? 」
「Punipuni!」
「That’s right, that’s right」Punigami nodded in response.
「What are you doing, Mother…….getting all friendly with this slime……I don’t think of this defeat as an honor! This, this……..kuh, I’m tempted to pet and hug her! I won’t succ.u.mb! 」
Marion was very busy getting red in the face, trembling, worrying, and being angry all by herself.
Living a life so full of emotions must be pretty tiring.
Iris once more affirmed her decision to live a vegetative indoors life.
ReferencesWho the h.e.l.l is Julia, right? Well, sit back and listen, my friend. For some reason, the author changed Jessica for Julia in this chapter. I was, of course, “What the h.e.l.l?”, and went to double-check earlier chapters in the raws. It was totally Jessica. Now it’s Julia though. Why? No clue. ↩