We Live in Dragon’s Peak

After satisfying ourselves with the view of the moss-covered plaza and the surrounding trees of the ancient forest from atop of Old Sleigstar’s head, we begin to prepare for our dinner.
Even though evening hasn’t arrived yet, since it is for the long awaited, precious, meat, proper preparations seem necessary for preparing the meal.

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Mistral appears to have heard about the flying dragon meat from Old Sleigstar.
When she returned, she had various cooking utensils and ingredients with her.

“You went out somewhere with Asher-sama.
Tell me about it in detail over dinner, alright?”

At Mistral’s request, I realize I still haven’t told everyone about my encounter with the Decaying Dragon.

Then, when I thought we were going preparing dinner, I was driven out from the preparations.

Ruiseine smiles as she says, “Ernea-kun, we will be preparing the meal with all of our spirit.
So, please look forward to it as you wait, alright?”

She and Mistral then vanish within the ancient forest.

Arere, was I called a hinderance? Even though I was brimming with eagerness earlier, I’m depressed now.

“Thy’s brides are preparing a heartfelt meal for their beloved husband.
Thou should stand back and wait.”
“I- I see.
Right, I should think about this positively.”

That’s right, it’s the cooking of Mistral and Ruiseine.
I’m eagerly looking forward to it.

“How carefree.”
Asher-san looks down at me in shock.

“Arere, Asher-san, you aren’t going back?”
“Funn, is a lowly humanoid trying to drive me away from here?”
“No, no, no, not at all.
Isn’t Nymia also staying here? I was just saying that I was wondering if Asher-san’s business was finished?”
“That it is.
As the Dragon Princess is also here, I believe I can entrust my daughter to you.
Still, can’t I spend the night with her? For a mother to be separated from her cherished daughter is a sorrowful thing.”

Asher-san wipes her forepaws before her weeping eyes.

Fufufu, I won’t fall for that, Asher-san’s true feelings are different.
She also just wants to eat the flying dragon meat.

Asher-san glares at me, girori.

Yep, bullseye.
I laugh out in triumph with my hands on my hips.

A ten-thousand-year-old dragon’s heart, by refining dragon spirit and concentrating on reading said heart, I’m somehow or another able to understand what goes on in it.
Even though Old Sleigstar, Nymia, and Asher-san are always reading my heart, now I can do the reverse.
Still, even though I can read their hearts, any sentiments deeper than what’s on the surface is too difficult.

“Hohou, the dragon’s heart?”
Old Sleigstar looks at me with interest.

“Yeah, apparently, I can understand the hearts of dragons.
Because of that, I was able to communicate with the Decaying Dragon.”
“What this? Thou communicated with the Decaying Dragon?”
“I did.
I was just as surprised.”

I then tell Old Sleigstar about the Decaying Dragon and the dragon tribesmen village.

“This one understands.” Old Sleigstar closes his eyes upon hearing my story.
“The challenges of Dragon’s Peak are relentless.
In olden days, the dragons and dragon tribesmen cooperated with one another.
However, the dragon tribesmen became territorial due to conflict with the mazoku and began disputing with the dragons who should have been their brethren.
Tis a sorrowful tale.”

Old Sleigstar sighs as he finishes.
He’s quite worried about the relationship between the dragon tribe and the dragon tribesmen.

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I too want the dragon tribesmen and the dragon tribes to get along.
Nymia is cute and I am incredibly grateful to Old Sleigstar after all.

Since I can also properly communicate with the dragon tribe, I think I can make friends with them.
I can communicate with the dragon tribe, and I am of the human tribe, therefore it should be this should be easier for the dragon tribesmen.

“Fufun, that’s honestly quite eccentric.” Asher-san pokes me with her nose.
“You’ve taken the dragon tribesmen princess as your bride, received a great deal of instruction from an ancient dragon, and have made friends with a dragon of the next generation.
What exactly is your goal?”

Troubled, I cross my arms at Asher-san’s profound question.
My goal, what exactly is it?

At first, I admired Yuusha Risita and was taught various things by Old Sleigstar.
However, I won’t grow from just admiring.
I need a proper objective to strive towards.
What is my goal? What do I want? This feels like I’m deciding my life from now on.

“Mumum,” while I’m troubled, Mistral and Ruiseine return from the ancient forest.
Their hands are full carrying various dishes.
I set aside what I’m thinking about for a moment and go to help them.

Speaking of which, where are Priscilla-chan and Nymia? While I’m wonder that, they slowly rise up out of Asher-san’s tail.
The smell of food must have awoken them from their sleep.

“Say, Priscilla, you come help too or you won’t be given any precious meat.”
At Mistral’s threat, Priscilla and Nymia spring forward to help in a fluster.

Numerous meat dishes are arranged atop a narrow cloth spread over the moss carpet.
The sight of all the various dishes has me swallowing my saliva.

There is meat that has been cooked soft and tender, meat that has been well roasted on its bones, meat wrapped around thinly sliced vegetables, thick slabs of meat placed between slices of bread, and so forth… It’s all sorts of meat, meat, meat, and meat!
 

How did they prepare all this in such a short amount of time?

I’m not the only one left staring by the wonderous and diverse meat dishes.

Priscilla-chan’s eyes glitter as she takes everything in.
“Nntto, so much meat!”

Mistral and Ruiseine are incredible for creating all of this on their own.
I try telling them that, but my mouth is stuffed.

“Gununu.”

A rare show of frustration crosses Ruiseine’s face.
“How unexpected, Mist-san, for you to possess such skill in cooking.”
“Ruiseine, you still have a ways to go.”

Mistral glows with triumph.

What that? I have the strangest feeling those two had a battle between woman.

“In the first bridal showdown, Mist-onee-chan wins, nyan.”
“Kiii, just a moment, Nymia-chan.”
“Nyaa.”

Nymia, upon having teased Ruiseine, leaps away and she chases her.
Nymia hurries and escapes towards Priscilla-chan.

We bust out laughing at the sight.

“Say, let’s eat before our food gets cold.”
At Mistral’s prompting, Ruiseine gives up trying to catch Nymia and both of them sit down.

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We all sit wherever we please.
“Itadakimasu.”
With that, we all begin to eat.

“Hey, Priscilla.
Don’t stuff your cheeks, slowly chew your food.
There’s plenty of food here, so there’s no need to rush.”
“Nntto, mogu mogu[1].”

The area around Priscilla-chan’s mouth gets dirtier and dirtier as she shoves in any piece of meat she can grab.
Beside her sits Mistral who is unable to eat due to having to care for Priscilla-chan.

“Yes, Ernea-kun, ‘aahn,’ please.”
“Wai— Ruiseine, what are you doing?”

Ruiseine comes to my side and feeds me tender meat stew.
I, unable to refuse, eat with an, “aahn”.

 

Ruiseine comes to my side and feeds me tender meat stew.
I, unable to refuse, eat with an, “aahn”.

“Ernea, you traitor!”
“Fufufu, Mist-san, please make sure to look after Priscilla-chan.”

A smile elated with success floats across Ruiseine’s face.
Mistral, for some reason, glares at me with frustration.
Despite that, she can’t move due to having to look after Priscilla-chan.

Just what are these two women up to? With a forced smile, I look forward to the various meat dishes Ruiseine will give me.

“Nyaa, this is tasty, nya.”
“Hyaa, Nymia-chan, my clothes will get dirty if you put meat there!”

Nymia hopped onto Ruiseine’s lap with some meat and dirtied her shrine maiden garments.
Ruiseine, with a ghastly pale face, struggles to remove the stain with a cloth.

“Nymia, I’ll have that meat.”
“Nyan.”

Nymia, not the slightest bit shy, flies over to Priscilla-chan at her call.
She then lands on Mistral’s lap.

“Ahh, Nymia, what are you doing?”
 

This time, Nymia stains Mistral’s clothes.

“Yara yare, what a noisy meal.”
From a short distance away, Asher-san makes a wry smile as she watches us eat our meal.

“Such liveliness is good.”
Old Sleigstar, too, gently watches over us.

Old Sleigstar and Asher-san aren’t eating.
Do they not need to eat anything?

“Thy’s concern is unnecessary.
Continue to eat.
We fill ourselves merely by watching thou eat.”
“I already eat some meat.”

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Ah, Asher-san is bluffing.
She really wants to eat some.

“Nyaa, don’t wipe with my tail, nyan.”
“Nntto, onii-chan eats too?”

Nymia, having been caught by Mistral, is troubled at Mistral using her long tailed to wipe her clothes.

Priscilla-chan then comes up to me and feeds me.

“Thank you, it was delicious.”
“First time eating something this tasty.”

Priscilla-chan cheeks puff out like a squirrel as she smiles, showing just how happy she is.
I place Priscilla-chan on my lap and then eat until I’m so satisfied, I collapse.

Even though Mistral and Ruiseine are here, the meal we have this night is extremely lively.

We eat and eat, but the meat dishes just don’t vanish.
Even though my tongue demands that it still wants to eat, my stomach can’t take any more.
And so, we finish eating.

Right at the end, Priscilla-chan shares meat with Old Sleigstar and Asher-san.
Her action is very cute.

I, now full, lay down.

“Hey, if you lay down immediately after eating, you’ll get fat!”

With Mistral telling me off, I reluctantly get up.

“Cleaning up… tomorrow is perfectly acceptable.”
Ruiseine gives a wry smile to the scattered remains of our meal while sipping hot water.
She seems to have given up on her stained shrine maiden’s garment.

“Yeah, I can’t move either.
Tomorrow morning, before I leave, we can clean up.” (Mistral)
“I shall help.” (Ruiseine)
“Ah, I’ll help clean up too.” (Ernea)
“I’ll be counting on you.” (Mistral)
“Nntto, Nymia will help too.”

Priscilla-chan, what are you nominating Nymia for instead of volunteering yourself?

We all smile at Priscilla-chan slipping in Nymia as a helper in the confusion instead of declaring her own name.

“When my stomach is full, I get sleepy.”

Regardless of whether Priscilla-chan says eat, sleep, or play, she makes us smile.

“You can go to sleep, but only after properly brushing your teeth.”

With those words, Mistral holds Priscilla-chan in her arms and takes her to a nearby swamp.
We follow right after her and go together.
We all then, except for the Old Sleigstar and Asher-san, brush our teeth.

Then, upon returning to the moss-covered plaza, I notice that the sky is starting to get dark.
Ruiseine provides light with her law while Mistral distributes water to everyone.
Since this water was gathered by collecting droplets from the spirit tree, it is more than enough to serve as a drink.
It’s tastier than even drinks made from squeezed fruit.

“Alright, now then, how about telling me what happened while I wasn’t here?”

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At Mistral’s urging, I tell her about my encounters with the Decaying Dragon and dragon tribesmen village along with my newly discovered dragon heart.
Ruiseine earnestly listens to me and, along with Mistral, asks me questions.

“My, my, well, well, what an envious personal experience.
I too would like to hurry and visit a dragon tribesmen village.”
“I see, it seems like you have resolved the issue with the Decaying Dragon.
Thank you.”

Ruiseine and Mistral stare at me with deep emotion once I finish telling them what happened.

I bite down a yawn while saying, “After so many first time experiences, I’m exhausted.” With my stomach full, I’m overcome with drowsiness.

“Once I return to my village, I will report about the Decaying Dragon.
Everyone will be overjoyed that one of our problems has been resolved.”
“About that, how will you be describing Ernea-kun? Will it be as, ‘My future husband’?”

Mistral’s face turns red at Ruiseine’s blatant teasing.
“Tha— That’s something I’ll think about later.”
“In that case, saying it will be easier on the day you introduce them to Ernea-kun.”

Mistral, at Ruiseine’s smile and, “Fufufu,” turns away.
“Sa— say, it’s late, we should go to sleep.
Look, Priscilla is already sleeping.”

Unable to withstand Ruiseine’s pursuit, she stands up in a fluster.
Afterwards, she heads towards Priscilla-chan who is sleeping with Nymia on Asher-san’s stomach and lays down beside her.

Whenever Mistral is with me, she gives the impression of being a composed onee-san.
But when she is with Ruiseine, she acts more like a girl her age.
How incredibly strange.
Still, I get the feeling Ruiseine and Mistral get along quite well with each other.

Arere, except, aren’t they showing a girlish attitude towards me? I still have a ways to go…

Somehow or another, it makes me sad.

“Well then, how about we also get to sleep? But sleeping on an ancient dragon’s stomach, this is something not even Risita-kun has experienced.”
“Yeah, that’s true.
By the way, since Nymia is also an ancient dragon, we’ve already tasted that precious experience.”
“My, my, well, well, that does seem to be the case.”

As Ruiseine gives a wry smile, we line up before Asher-san’s stomach.

Haa, Mistral is glaring at me.
Sc— scary.

I call out to Asher-san as we pass by her face.
“Asher-san, excuse our intrusion.” She only looks at us before closing her eyes.

We pass by her forelegs and bury ourselves on her fluffy stomach fur.
On my right is Mistral while on my left lays Ruiseine.

“Good night.”

When I say that, both of them look at me at the same time.
“Night.”
“Yes, good night.”

Maybe, I’ll get a kiss on my cheeks!?

My faint hope is betrayed when Ruiseine extinguishes the light and the moss-covered plaza becomes pitch black.

How disappointing.
Why couldn’t I get a kiss!? While screaming that out in my heart, I fall asleep.

Afterwards, in the middle of my dream, I wonder if doing it myself would have been manlier.