Ferantur.
The long street lay silent. Rows of dieval gray-eaved buildings rose and fell unevenly, their upturned eaves like black waves on a nocturnal sea, frozen beneath moonlight whiter than frost.
With matters concluded, two figures walked out of the church, followed by a squad of silver-armored knights.
Bishop Andehi walked slowly with his hands clasped behind his back, while Vieya followed in silence. After this whole affair, she finally understood why bishops from the human Royal Capital would travel thousands of miles, leading a team all the way to the western lands to investigate the Monster Forest.
Turns out, among the invaders she had killed that day, one had been a heretic hidden within the upper echelons of human society. If she hadn’t killed him, fine—but once she did, the human side was thrown into turmoil. Pull one hair, and the whole body moved. The dark lines that heretic had laid down over many years were all exposed at once, plunging the Royal Capital into massive chaos.
The Royal Capital in upheaval—just because of sothing she’d done offhandedly?!
But that had little to do with her. Bishop Andehi’s primary purpose this ti was simply to confirm so information, to make sure that Vieya, the holder of the holy sword, was not a problem. And while he was at it, to see if he could arrange an audience with the current Elven Queen.
An audience with the Elven Queen.
‘That’s easy enough. I’ll just dump all the trouble on Aislin. Call it pressure training—she’ll thank in the future.’
Vieya reached a perfectly harmonious understanding with Bishop Andehi. After that, unable to refuse their hospitality, she also shared a dinner with the other bishops and the knight captain nad Miali—just simple rations: large flatbread, fruit-and-vegetable soup.
Not exactly lavish, but it did fill the stomach.
“Then I’ll have to trouble Miss Vieya regarding the matter of eting the Elven Queen,” Bishop Andehi said calmly, with impeccable courtesy.
“I can’t make that decision,” Vieya paused, then said with so difficulty. “But I can introduce you. Whether the two sides can reach an agreent after that—I can’t guarantee it.”
Bishop Andehi smiled faintly. “An introduction alone is already an imnse help.”
Vieya shook her head, took a bite of flatbread, then looked up and asked, “How is Lilian doing?”
“Her Holiness the Saintess?”
Bishop Andehi froze for a mont, then answered with so surprise,
“Her Holiness has been active on the northern front. The climate there is bitterly cold, the roads long and horses dying. The last news we received was over a month ago.”
So that was that. Probably not much different from the letter Lilian had sent a month ago.
Thinking this, Vieya asked again, “Have you heard of dragons? Pure-blooded dragons.”
“Dragons?”
Bishop Andehi narrowed his eyes, thought for a while, then shook his head with a sigh.
“Sorry. True dragons have been extinct for a long ti. What’s active and commonly seen now are dragon-blooded demon races with impure lineages. Perhaps there are traces of them on certain divine mountains in the seas ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) of the Eastern Continent. But you know— the deep sea is far more dangerous than land, and our human exploration of the deep sea doesn’t even reach one thousandth of what we know of the land.”
“...I know that. But I once heard that the Tower of Erudition had research projects on incubating dragon eggs. If possible, I’d like to borrow a copy to look through.”
Vieya paused, then added,
“A few days ago, I picked up a dragon egg in the Monster Forest. The Elven Queen said it was a mixed-blood pig-dragon egg, not worth anything, and told to throw it away—but I still want to try hatching it.”
“A pig-dragon?”
Bishop Andehi nodded.
“That should be fine. When I next visit the Elven Royal Court, I’ll apply for a copy of the relevant materials and bring them to you.”
......
......
By the ti Vieya returned to the Elven Royal Court, it was already very late.
The elves standing guard and patrolling with spears had already rotated shifts. Fortunately, although Vieya didn’t recognize these elves, they all recognized her. After a brief identity check, they escorted her inside.
The mont she left the elves’ sight, the dragon egg stored inside the Golden City started bouncing.
“Hey. What you said earlier about pig-dragons—wasn’t that you beating around the bush to insult ?”
Vieya said nothing and simply went ho.
On the day reconstruction of the Elven Royal Court began, Aislin had allocated her a small house there—a place she could live in permanently.
Supposedly to thank her, the sli hero who had helped the elves drive off the invaders.
“Hey↓hey↑, don’t just stay silent. Look in the eyes and answer my question!”
“You’re an egg! You don’t even have eyes. How am I supposed to look you in the eyes?”
Helpless, Vieya could only calm the constantly bouncing dragon egg first.
“Actually, this is a trick from the 《Classic of Deception》—mixing truth and lies. If I say things that way, they’ll be kept in the dark forever, never able to see the truth. I’m doing this for your own good, Afu.”
“......Are you lying to ?”
“I like you.”
“Mm↓hm↑～”
Seeing the dragon egg finally quiet down, Vieya quickened her pace and returned to her cottage.
Outside the window, thin moonlight was blocked by the paper window, leaving the room dim.
Jasmine was wrapped in her blanket, leaning against the bed as she slept, breathing evenly. It seed that while waiting, she’d been unable to fight off her drowsiness and had fallen asleep.
Vieya gently pushed open the door. It creaked softly—only for the door to the adjacent guest room to also open slowly.
The maid Isabelle stood behind it, blinking playfully at her returning mistress.
Then she whispered,
“Master, Miss Jasmine was exhausted from practicing magic all afternoon. She waited for you until midnight, so I used a drowsy-bug spell to get her to sleep.”
Vieya nodded and gave the maid a thumbs-up.
‘Well done. From now on, I’ll co to you for insomnia treatnt.’
Receiving approval, the maid curtsied and retreated to her room, closing the door and not disturbing the rest of the master’s and young mistress’s night.
Jasmine slept deeply, unaware of the faint rustling sounds in the room. Only when she sensed soone approaching did she instinctively reach out and hug them.
“Look. This is our daughter. Cute, right?”
Vieya pinched her daughter’s chubby cheek and asked the dragon egg in her heart.
“But the first ti you t her, you two started fighting right away—needle against awl. I didn’t even know who to side with.”
“Well then, you really are a great father and a great husband,” the dragon egg said sarcastically.
“What else was I supposed to do?” Vieya pouted, tucking the blanket corners in around her daughter.
“I can’t exactly give each of you a slap... She’s a good kid. I can’t bring myself to do it.”
“Heh heh.” The dragon egg chuckled twice.
The sound made Vieya feel uncomfortable all over. She lay down, pulled the blanket over herself, closed her eyes, and said,
“Stop bothering . Lights out. Sleep.”
......
......
The next day.
When Jasmine woke up, she was delighted to find her mother beside her.
When had Mom co back? She couldn’t rember. Jasmine slapped her forehead—oh no, she must’ve been too tired last night and fallen asleep first.
But since Mom was here now, she could sleep a little longer.
She imdiately tossed aside the idea of getting up on ti to wash up, curled back into the sli girl’s arms, and basked in that soft, warm maternal embrace.
So big. So soft...
Jasmine rubbed around in her sli mom’s arms like a restless little cat, her limbs fidgety—but her movents were light, afraid that if she woke her mom, she wouldn’t get to enjoy it anymore.
But in less than a quarter of an hour, the maid from the next room ca knocking.
Thump thump thump!
Jasmine jolted in fright. She imdiately stopped touching and squeezing indiscriminately, shrank into the blanket, squeezed her eyes shut, and started playing dead.
At the sa ti, the maid’s voice ca from outside the door,
“Master, it’s getting late. You should wake up and have breakfast.”
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