Black Iron Magician

「…… The dragons aren’t showing at all, huh. What’s going on?」

We had assumed that we would be attacked by dragons as we traveled by sea. Haru and Chinatsu have readied their weapons, Doggan Staff and Iwatōshi, to respond to any attack at any time. However, the anticipated attack didn’t start at all, and as mentioned before, we will reach the island soon. Haru’s question is natural.

「W-Well… they can’t keep up with Hund-san’s swimming speed, I guess? Haruna, even you can’t swim this fast, right?」

「Oh, I see! Hund-kun, you’re amazing!」

「U-Umu. I want to believe that you’re right, but…. I mean, that’s right, Haruna. I will teach you how to swim next time.」

「Really? Yay, I’m looking forward to it!」

Chinatsu and Hund-kun guessed something and they answered Haru like that to change the subject. Thus, the topic was shifted to a swimming lecture. Well, to put it simply, they were brilliant. Let sleeping dogs lie, there is no better pre-defense measure than this.

「Uwaah, it’s leaking….」

What Touko just muttered is the answer as to why the dragons that should protect the sea aren’t appearing at all. As for what’s leaking――

「――Urp…」

「Hey, are you okay?」

「I’m okay… but don’t talk to me right now…!」

「Y-Yeah. We will arrive soon. Hang in there.」

Nell, who’s in seasickness + hangover condition, is irritated and she’s releasing bloodlust to the surrounding area. The clear bloodlust becomes a form that’s easier to understand than usual and becomes pressure. Chinatsu turned pale, so it’s obvious at first glance how bad the situation is. Even the dragons, who were supposed to greet us, were exposed to this bloodlust and ran away.

「…… No enemies will come out, so let’s reconfirm the trial while we can now. Haru, tell us the contents of the trial and the conditions for clearing it.」

「Yes! We have to cross the seventh island from the sixth island to the eighth island! Then, we have to climb the rocky mountain on the eighth island and obtain the golden fruit impaled on a rock at the top!」

「Okay, you understand it properly. Then, Chinatsu, what are the important points in the trial?」

「The first thing is to fight off the dragons that may try to interfere with us along the way. Even though they are enemies who will disturb us with all their might, they are the same as the children of the Great Eight Demons Rimudo. We have to avoid unnecessary killing as much as possible and repel them as someone superior to them―― this is a great opportunity for us to learn how to adjust our strength as we’ve grown up, right?」

「That’s right. The most important thing to remember is that you can’t simply brute force everything, even if you’ve become level 8. You should think that you will lose if you kill even one dragon. I mean, the cleaning up will be troublesome for me, so please don’t kill them. Instead, if there’s a level 8 dragon, which is the same level as you…. Touko.」

「We can knock them down with everything we’ve got!」

When Touko shouted vigorously, the Hund Ship arrived at the sixth island. Everyone got off at the beach, and Hund-kun returned to his original humanoid form.

「A perfect answer. I and Nell will follow you from behind, so we’ll leave all the actions to you. …… Don’t you lose to someone of the same level, okay? Then, begin.」

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The beautiful jade green scales reflect the sunlight and shine in the sky like jewels. While Deris and the others were crossing the sea, Weerel was flying in the sky on the back of Satella, who has become a dragon, looking down on the challengers of the trial.

「Uwaah, how scary.」

Satella suddenly muttered so. Weerel understands that she was talking about Nell. The dragons, who were supposed to guard the sea, were completely shriveled up by the high density of bloodlust emanating from her. Let alone attacking, they didn’t even show themselves to Deris and the others. It was so different from when she did it, so Weerel couldn’t believe it.

「In the past, I was having a hard time just to cross the sea…. After all, it’s a dark history….」

「Don’t be so depressed, Wee-chan. Rather, you should throw out your chest, you know?」

「I don’t even have that much chest to throw out…. I’m no good…」

Weerel was depressed as if her secret note was being seen by others. For her, who has a slightly different sensibility than other people, this event was a shock that made her lose her spirit. Satella, with a wry smile on her face, gently cheered Weerel up.

「Still, this development was unexpected even for me. The children who protect the sea are all recognized as full-fledged dragons. If even one of them appears in a country, it would cause quite a commotion. To think that those children would be overwhelmed with just the aura around her…. Hmm, I was surprised at their wedding, but I was surprised again now. I thought Deris-san was extraordinary as a human being, but Nell-san might be more than him. No wonder she could compete with Maria-san.」

「……? The wedding of Deris-san and Nell-san…. Did Satella-san come too…?」

「Yes, I did. And I took several children who could transform into a human. I came as my husband’s attendant and he was hiding his status as the Great Eight Demons, so we were trying to not stand out. Wee-chan too?」

It seems that Weerel and Satella didn’t know that they were there.

「I see…. But I’m surprised…. I thought Satella-san would have noticed by my smell….」

「I couldn’t do that. Although harmless and odorless, there was incense burning there that would confuse the dragon’s sense of smell. I think that it was mostly to prevent our family from doing bad things. Most of the time, I was busy looking for the lost children and taking the children, whose human form was about to be undone, into the shadow in a hurry.」

「Oh… I understand…」

It seems that taking care of children is not easy no matter what their race is. Rimudo, the main guest, couldn’t take that role, so Satella was doing her best to take care of the children instead.

「In the end, I didn’t get to see much of the ceremony…. Ah, but I did get to see Nell-san in her dress and the surprise battle with Maria-san! Fufu, it was so amazing that it made me laugh.」

「That event was amazing even for Satella-san, huh…. Ah, by the way… it’s a little surprising… that you use 『san』 instead of 『chan』 to call Maria Irygal, the third rank of the Great Eight Demons…」

「Ara, it’s not surprising, you know? Even I can’t call someone above me like that. Even if she looks like that, Maria-san has lived at least several times as long as I am. I and my husband have lived for a long time, but Maria-san and Vakala-san are extraordinary.」

「S-Several times…!?」

In Weerel’s mind, Maria’s smug face that she saw during the ceremony comes to mind. With the addition of her own image, Maria in her mind begins to laugh like Therese. Well, the direction is not wrong.

「Still, that battle was probably nothing more than a child’s play for Maria-san, and in fact――」

――――BAAAAAM!

As if to interrupt Satella’s words, a roaring sound resounded from the ground. Apparently, the trial of Rimudo has begun in earnest.