CH 184

Dragon Maiden

Frau held Ellis’s small body in her arms with Reeve and Katie walking right beside her. Claire followed closely from behind.

Mebett was near Trans Happy with puffy red eyes and the Mechanized Dragon doll in her hands.

The size of the Mechanized Dragon had returned to its original size before the {Create Golem} magic had been placed on it. In other words, when it was first cast from Dark Mithril.

Everyone had seen Ellis perform some unknown technique.

They saw that little girl absorb the dragons into her and summon a giant goddess.

Everyone in the city had witnessed her saving the world.

So they all silently created a path, allowing the Dragon Maidens through without saying a word.

The Dragon Maidens changed Ellis out of her Abyssal equipment and into her favorite negligee. They set her down in her bed and covered her up lightly with her blanket.

Nobody said anything for the rest of the day. None of them wanted to hear anything.

In that final moment, the dragons had told them all what would happen to Ellis here. The dragons said it all alongside their goodbyes.

So the four girls stayed next to Ellis all night long. Praying that the dragons’ words weren’t true.

Hoping that the tears they quietly shed would wash the pain away.

The next morning. The sun shone brightly from the window as if nothing was wrong.

“Well then, we can’t help like this. I’m going to go see Maria about how the city’s doing. Let’s go Su-chan……. Ah……….”

Reeve was willing to try and move forward, but that only ripped open a whole other sadness for them. The fact that their dragons had all disappeared alongside Ellis.

For the first time ever, Reeve had nothing to say, and so she left the room without leaving Ellis any parting words.

“I’ll prepare breakfast.”

Frau lifted herself up as well and made for the kitchen.

“That’s right, we need to clean up any concerns Ellis might have so she can wake up any moment now without any worries. I’ll go check the damage that’s been done to the city at the Workshop Guild.”

Claire muttered to herself while getting ready to leave.

“I’m staying here nya. I’ll examine her for any problems again nya.”

Katie would remain at Ellis’s side. Ellis was breathing regularly, but she wouldn’t wake up. Last night Claire had tried using Ellis’s Full Recovery ring to cast recovery magic, but there was nothing that needed to be healed. In other words, there was nothing physically wrong with Ellis’s body.

“How’s Ellis’s condition?”

“There’s nothing wrong with her body according to Claire. So when she’s going to wake up, or whether she’s ever going to wake up is………”

Maria stared into Reeve’s red, swollen eyes thinking about just how hard last night must have been.

“Well, there’s nothing you need to worry about with the city. Almost none of the citizens were injured.”

“That’s a relief. Then I should head back home.”

“Mm, everyone’s truly grateful for everything you girls have done.”

……………

“I, who am I supposed to report that to………”

When Reeve let slip her real feelings, Maria noticed something for the first time ever.

All this time she had been relying on these girls, treating them like they were adults.

But the young girl in front of her was still just sixteen years old.

So Maria got up out of her chair, and after taking a seat next to the fragile-looking girl without saying a word, held her close, letting her silently cry into her chest.

“Oh Claire, thanks for everything you did yesterday.”

“I didn’t do anything. Ellis is the one you should thank.”

“That’s not true. We saw you taking a last stand atop the Chaos Dragon’s head. You’re truly the pride of the Workshop Guild.”

……………

…………………………

“Uwaaaaaaa……….!”

Everyone was enduring, so Claire had held herself back. She would endure as well. But after coming here, all of her hurt burst forward.

Claire jumped into Flint’s chest, sobbing wildly. She cried while praying for Ellis to wake up. The other members of the Workshop Guild never said anything. Only silently listening while praying for Ellis’s safety alongside her.

After finishing prepping the meals for everyone, Frau peeked out the mansion’s window and saw Ken and the others in the shopping district watching the mansion with worried expressions.

Frau placed a towel soaked in cold water over her eyes to reduce the swelling. After making sure she looked normal and slapping her cheeks a couple times to perk herself up, Frau walked out the front door with a smile.

“Everyone, Ellis is perfectly fine. But I can’t say the same thing for everyone else when Ellis wakes up and sees you all shirking your jobs like this. Everyone should already know how dreadful Ellis’s sermons can be.”

Frau tried to reassure everyone with her cheerful smile. But, that depressed look stayed the same on everyone’s faces.

After a moment of silence, Ken replied.

“We’ll happily take Ellis’s sermon when that day comes………”

“Ah………”

And there it was. Despite doing her best to keep the act going, fresh tears started overflowing. Even though Frau forced herself to keep smiling, she couldn’t stop the tears from rolling down her cheeks.

“Frau…….”

Aiful held Frau close, rubbing her back to offer some small form of comfort.

“Ah…….Ahh…….”

The rest of the townspeople stayed where they were, silently offering some small form of support until Frau’s tears had dried.

“Ellis, when you wake up, let’s sing a song together again nya. I’ll teach you the true depths of comedy nya. And this time, we can plan a chain link death match nya. And…….Ellis……..Ellis………”

Sticking to Ellis’s side, Katie continued talking to her nonstop as she slept. She truly believed her words would reach Ellis’s heart. And then, Ellis would answer her.

“Ellis……..Ellis………Come back nya…………Everyone’s waiting nya………”

Katie kept whispering, constantly rubbing her eyes over and over again so that no tears could distort her sight of Ellis.

Several days passed. Ellis continued sleeping with short, steady breaths without any changes to her condition.

The town had gradually started resuming business and even began accepting tourists from other cities again. The tears of the Jewelry Box girls had all but dried up, and now with Mebett joining them, all five girls were behaving more confidently.

“Well, I’m going on patrol.”

Reeve finished her breakfast a little quicker than everyone else and got up out of her seat. She then changed into her usual equipment and slipped on her favorite Storm Dragon leather boots.

After the incident with Tenjin, Katie’s Brave Ripper had the name ‘Dark Mithril Roll Arm Claws’ when they were appraised. Perhaps the unusual strength of those claws was due to a god’s power. Meanwhile the Demon Lord’s Mark had disappeared completely.

Also, Reeve’s Falcon long leather boots and Katie’s Battle lingerie had managed to retain their abilities despite them both being unique equipment.

With her favorite pair of boots on, Reeve compassionately stroked the smooth leather before heading outside.

And then, a goofy voice echoed in her mind.

“Uhyoo!”

Something then plopped down on the ground right at her feet.

That little ultramarine object that had fallen out of the sky completely ignored Reeve’s shocked expression. While muttering a short, “Good grief,” under its breath, it then crawled up Reeve’s leg and took its usual spot on Reeve’s chest. And then as if it were the most natural thing in the world,

“I’m home Reeve”

Reeve did her best to appear as calm as she could.

“You’re late Su-chan”

But her tears gave her away, a testament to how terrible an actress she really was.

While Frau was cleaning up the kitchen, a fire suddenly broke out from the stove that was supposed to have only used Fever stones to cook. Frau rushed to grab some water to put out the light.

“Stop! Throwing some water at me right now would be really bad!”

Frau froze just as she was about to dump out the water when a voice echoed in her head. After a moment, the flames extinguished themselves, replaced by a small red figure.

“I’m home Frau”

The little red bird flapped his wings, moving to Frau’s shoulder before shifting over to his reserved spot in her hair.

“Welcome home Fe-rin”

Feeling that usual sensation at her shoulder, Frau went back to cleaning with a smile as if nothing had happened. As her vision blurred, she kept going while not paying it any mind.

“It’s so dark in here!”

Suddenly a strange shout echoed in Katie’s mind while she continued snuggling up by Ellis’s side without moving.

“Oi~, I’m over here!”

Katie cautiously moved towards the direction the voice was coming from. It was sounding from the room that used to be a bathroom before being turned into Reeve’s laundry room.

The voice sounded like it was from a barrel where they stored water, and the lid on top used to keep out dust was rattling a bit.

Katie cleared her throat before slowly opening the lid.

“Why are you playing around in a place like this nya?”

Then something that looks an awful lot like a white muffler floated to the water’s surface and responded with a gruff voice.

“If you plan on making a grand entrance, this is the way to go!”

“Welcome home Ah-nyan.”

“Hold on Katie, I’ve got to say ‘I’m home’ first! Now put me in my spot”

Brushing a few tears from her eye, Katie dredged Ah-nyan from the barrel, and after wringing him out over a drain, wrapped him around her neck.

One moment out of the blue, Claire suddenly had a very familiar weight plop down on her head while she had locked herself away in her design office.

Claire immediately started tearing up right then and there. Because, she knew exactly what words she was about to hear.

“Guess who”

The expected words sounded directly in her mind.

“Eh, who? Am I supposed to know who you are?”

The mystery figure was shocked when they received such an unexpected answer.

“Eh? Huh? You don’t know? You really don’t know? Eh? That’s a little troubling?”

Claire was able to tell that what was sitting on her head was trembling without having to look. So Claire slowly brought her hands above her head, and pulled him down before he got even more upset.

“Eh? Eh? Eh?”

Claire raised the little black dragon in front of her eyes,

“Welcome home Pi-tan,”

and then kissed him right on the nose.

“I’m home Claire”

Just as Reeve was about to go back to the mansion to tell everyone that Su-chan had returned, a small mound of dirt started to swell in front of the door. Reeve paused for a moment to see what was going to happen. From there, a familiar, mole-like creature popped out of the ground.

At the same time, Mebett’s shout echoed across the entire mansion.

“ELLIS IS AWAKE!!”

Reeve understood the reason in an instant. So she bent over and picked the mole-like critter off the ground.

“I’ll bring you to your master right away.”

“Ah, I appreciate it.”

The Land Dragon Ra-chin had dug himself out.