MISTERLP
I peeled Roroa off me and waved a hand in front of Naden's face. "H-
Hey, Naden?"
"Kazuma is Souma, and Souma is Yormajesty, so he's... Yormajesty
Kazuma?" Naden faltered.
"I've got another weird alias now?! Hey, Naden, get it together!"
"Huh?!"
When I grabbed Naden by the shoulders and shook her while calling
out to her, she finally came to her senses. Then, with an angry look on her
face, Naden suddenly grabbed me by the collar.
"Hold it, Kazuma! They're calling you Souma, and Your Majesty, and
what the heck is going on here?!"
"Souma... don't tell me you didn't tell her anything," Liscia said to me,
clearly exasperated.
"Given my position, I didn't know if it was okay for me to give her my
name or not," I said. "But... you're right. It's about time I did. Erm...
Naden?"
"Y-Yeah?"
"My real name is Souma Kazuya. I'm the king of this kingdom, the
Kingdom of Friedonia."
"..."
Naden's eyes went wide, and she froze stiff. I heard that when people
were truly shocked, they lost the ability to speak, and it looked like that
was true of ryuus, too.
If we kept talking in the courtyard at night, we were probably all going
to come down with colds, so we decided to relocate to a conference room.
We sat around a round table, and I gave a rough explanation of how things
had gone.
How Madam Tiamat chose to have me come to the Star Dragon
Mountain Range ahead of the rest.
How there was a "storm" approaching the Star Dragon Mountain
Range.
How she had brought Naden and me together as a means of dealing
with it.
How Naden had been the only ryuu in a group of Western-style
dragons.
How Naden wanted to form a riding contract with me... Basically,
everything.
Liscia and the others hadn't known what happened after I went to the
Star Dragon Mountain Range, while Naden hadn't known about how I'd
gotten there, so I ultimately ended up having to explain everything.
Roroa was the first to open her mouth after hearing everything I had to
say. "Well, darn, looks like Mother Dragon's had ya dancin' in the palm of
her hand all this time. It feels like your meetin' with Nadie, all of it, was
prearranged by her."
"N-Nadie?" Naden's eyes went wide at the sudden nickname.
They met less than an hour ago, but she was already being treated like a
friend. I was amazed, as always, by how adept at socializing Roroa was.
She'll sidle up close to the other person, and not let them feel one bit of
distance from her, after all.
"Well, Mother Dragon of the Star Dragon Mountain Range is known as
a god of matchmaking, you know?" Liscia chimed in.
Roroa shrugged her shoulders. "Even if she is, isn't it all a little bit too
spot-on? For most of the people on this continent, if you say the word
'dragon,' they imagine a big lizard with wings. I'd say Darlin' is about the
only person out there who'd've been able to realize Nadie was a special
and different type of dragon, a ryuu. Since she went and delivered him
right to where Nadie was, I've gotta say the whole thing feels kinda
contrived."
"I believe Lady Roroa is correct," Hakuya said in support of Roroa's
opinion. "If I might add, it could be that Mother Dragon... Madam
Tiamat... is familiar with your world to some degree. If she was certain
that you'd know about ryuus, that means she must have known that the
world you came from had a concept of what a ryuu is."
"Madam Tiamat... knew about the world I came from?" I asked slowly.
She'd known I was a human who came from "Earth," or from "Japan."
I was sure about that. That being the case, she might have also assumed
that I knew about ryuus and the legends of them climbing waterfalls. Was
that why she brought Naden and me together?
"Hrm... That didn't occur to me," I said. "I should've asked more
specific questions, huh."
"I think that would've been difficult," Hakuya replied. "From what
you've told us, sire, if Madam Tiamat claimed not to have the 'authority'
to tell you something, you wouldn't have been able to ask."
I realized he was probably right. It looked like she was doing as little as
possible to influence mankind, after all. It was highly possible.
I noticed Juna was staring hard at Naden's face.
Naden leaned back a little. "Wh-What? Is there something on my
face?"
"No, I just thought your antlers resembled the ones that Grandmother
has..."
"They do?"
"Yes," said Juna. "She's a member of what's called the sea serpent
race, but she has antlers that are smaller than yours."
Excel, huh? If I recalled, the sea serpent race had tails and small
antlers, and were similar in appearance to Naden in her human form.
However, I had a theory about that.
"Excel and the other members of the sea serpent race are said to be
descended from a type of sea serpent that's also called a kouryuu or
jiaolong, right?" I asked. "I think those sea serpents might have been ryuus
like Naden."
For instance, with Juna's family, the Domas, their ancestors were said
to have been loreleis. Because loreleis had a human form, it didn't seem
that out of place for them to have been descended from ryuus.
When it came to sea serpents, they were so much larger and shaped so
differently, I had been somewhat dubious from the beginning about
whether their mating with humans was even possible, much less whether
such a mating could produce something like the sea serpent race. But if
those "sea serpents" had been ryuus like Naden, all such doubts would
melt away.
"The people of this world didn't know about ryuus," I said. "Also,
Naden was so skilled at swimming that she could swim up the Great
Waterfall. If they saw a ryuu who was so skilled at swimming, it wouldn't
be strange for a person in this world to think they were a sea serpent.
Meanwhile, like Naden, those ryuus would've been able to take on human
form, and so they would have been able to leave descendants in the form
of the sea serpent race."
Juna clapped her hands together as if she got it. "I see! So the sea
serpent race isn't half-dragons like the dragonewts, but half-ryuus
instead."
"Well, it's still just a theory, though."
"It made perfect sense to me. Then, that makes Naden like a distant
relative of mine."
"Huh? It does?" Naden asked.
When Juna smiled in response, Naden's cheeks started to loosen for a
moment, but then her gaze happened to fall on Juna's voluptuous chest,
and her smile became forced. She looked down to her own modest chest,
and her shoulders slumped so hard, you couldn't help but imagine an
exaggerated sound effect.
"There's no way we're related..." Naden muttered dispiritedly.
"I dunno what it is, but I've got a feelin' I can get along with this girl."
Roroa nodded sympathetically.
I... had some idea as to why, but I wasn't about to put my foot in that,
so I didn't touch upon it.
"Anyway, what I'm concerned about now is this 'storm' that Madam
Tiamat was on guard against," I said. "It seems it may not affect just the
Star Dragon Mountain Range, but this country, too."
I'd turned the conversation back onto a more serious note, so
everyone's sense of tension returned.
"She said you were the 'key' to dealing with that storm, right?" Liscia
asked, and I nodded in affirmation.
"Yeah. If I factor in how she knew about Earth, I guess it may have
something to do with how I was summoned from another world. Also, it
seems she'd chosen Naden as the one to carry me."
Madam Tiamat had mentioned that she needed me, the key to dealing
with it, and a girl who would carry me. It was more or less certain that the
girl she meant was Naden. If there was anything I questioned about it, it
would be why that girl had to be Naden in particular.
Liscia had her head cocked to the side. "It's rather vague. This 'storm'
doesn't seem like a natural phenomenon, does it?"
"There's no way it is," Naden said firmly. She seemed awfully sure of
it. "When I'm in my ryuu form, my whiskers are so sensitive that I can tell
you what the weather in an area will be like for the next week. If a storm
was coming soon, there's no way I wouldn't sense it."
"Seriously?!" I exclaimed. "That's super convenient!"
If we had Naden, we could start a weather forecast! We could start a
weather corner on Chris Tachyon's news program and broadcast it around
the country. In her ryuu form, Naden could probably fly around the
country in a day, so if we could use that to put together even a rough
weather report, it would be a big help to the people.
I had to have Naden come to the kingdom now!
"Souma... it's too easy to tell what you're thinking," Liscia said to me
as I was getting all excited. It was apparently written all over my face.
I felt awkward about it, so I cleared my throat, then got back to the
main issue at hand. "A-Anyway, in order to deal with this 'storm,'
whatever it is, I'm sure I'll need to go back to the Star Dragon Mountain
Range again."
"I don't want you sticking your neck into anything dangerous," Liscia
told me with a look of concern. But I couldn't oblige her.
"If I don't stick my neck in this now, it'll be just as bad if the same
calamity befalls us later as a result. Besides, I don't know if this is a
problem we can put off dealing with. If I'm going to regret it later,
thinking, 'Why didn't I do something back then?' then it's better to resolve
the issue now, while I have Madam Tiamat's guarantee that I can."
"Well, yes... that may be true, but..."
I put a hand on the still-dissatisfied Liscia's shoulder. "Normally, I
leave the things I can't do to those who can. But if there's something that
only I can do, I have to be proactive about doing it. I have to set an
example for the people."
"...Oh, fine, I get it." Liscia reluctantly accepted.
I stood up and walked over behind Naden's seat. Then, placing my
hands on her shoulders, I said, "In order to deal with this situation, I want
to form a dragon knight contract with Naden. What that basically means is
that I'd be taking Naden as my fifth fiancée. Naden's not the type to be a
primary queen, so she'll probably become a secondary queen, which will
give her more freedom." I looked closely at Liscia, Juna, and Roroa's
faces as I spoke. "But I have no intention of ignoring your feelings. If you
have any objections, now is the time to raise them."
"U-Um... I look forward to working with you." Naden stood up and
bowed her head.
Liscia and the other two looked at one another, but Roroa smiled wryly
and threw both of her hands straight up.
"I'm abstainin'. I'll leave this one to Big Sister Cia as the first primary
queen."
"That makes sense," said Juna. "I'm a secondary queen, so I'll abide by
Lady Liscia's decision on this, too."
The first primary queen was in the position of having to lead the other
primary and secondary queens, so this was a natural result, in some ways.
Liscia, who had been entrusted with deciding for the two of them, must
have understood this, too, because she let out a deep sigh.
"...Let me ask you this, Souma. This girl... you want to take her as your
queen, right?"
"Yeah."
"Is that your decision as a ruler? Or is it based on your own personal
feelings?"
"For the moment, I think it's more as a ruler." I didn't want to say this
in front of Naden, but even if I tried to cover it up, Liscia would see right
through me. So I decided to honestly tell them how I felt right now. "As a
ruler, I don't want to let such a capable person go. She'll give me a tie to
the Star Dragon Mountain Range, and by forming a contract with her, I
can appeal to the authority of the first hero king. Besides, Naden's abilities
are appealing, too. Her ability to know the weather, and to manipulate
electricity... both of them will allow this country to make great forward
strides. I don't want to give someone so capable to another country. I want
her for our country."
I glanced over at Naden, who had a slightly pained look on her face. I
was talking about her like some sort of handy tool, so I could hardly blame
her for that. I know it was weird for me to be the one saying it, but it was
sickening. Still... in my position as king, I had to factor things like this into
my decision-making process.
Liscia understood that, so she just nodded. "Then how do you feel
about her on a personal level?"
"I have a good impression of her... but I don't know yet," I admitted.
"We've only just met, after all."
Naden hung her head.
No, I wasn't trying to put that sort of look on her face. I wanted to
make sure she listened to what I had to say until the end, so I placed a hand
on Naden's shoulder.
"But I think I can come to love her."
Naden's face shot up. I smiled at her.
"Unlike all of the other women in this world, Naden isn't tied down by
things like the concerns of her house, or the need to produce an heir. Even
in times like these, she has the power to live all by herself if she chooses.
Her free spirit reminds me of the women back in my homeland.