"Well, I know humans are a diverse society, but it seems like it's not so busy these days. What's up with all these other species on the same boat as this?"
Cicerius asked as I finished my exchange with the captain and headed towards my family, who were enjoying a tea party.
"Actually, there was a big war among races a while ago."
"Really? A war? Speaking of which, there was a big clash of magical forces in the southern part of the continent recently. Was that it?"
…Rogard Empire was located in the southern part of the continent.
I guess, if these dragons were as powerful as they claimed to be, they would feel such a thing even if they were far away.
"It's possible. After that, it was a big war. That war also changed relations between humans and other races a lot, and they are interacting with each other more than before."
"Hmm… and they call you Your Majesty?"
"Hmm, yeah, well, a lot happened, and I ended up becoming the emperor of the Rogard Empire."
"What kind of event resulted in that?"
"We were also surprised when we first heard about it."
The two wives laughed and interjected.
"I see…you were a Demon Lord, became a Dragon King, and now even became the emperor of the humans. You seem to have quite a strange fate."
I think so myself.
I was also born from another world.
"So… let's pick up where we left off, shall we?"
"Well, you wanted to ask about the Gods, right? But I've already told you most of what I know. In the world, there lived a creature called [God]. And there are many legacies of the [Gods] left in this world."
"The Gods…"
The age of the Gods.
The age in which the Gods lived.
…Come to think of it, Lefi mentioned it some time ago.
The Demon Forest was the place where a God died.
That God was probably a creature that had lived long enough to be called as such and had the power to achieve that title.
I wondered if the Demon Forest had something to do with it.
"You are right to go to the mountain people's village to learn about them. There are ruins there that most likely date back to the age of the Gods. You can see those ruins with your own eyes and listen to what the mountain people have to say about them."
Mountain people was another name for dwarves.
I see.
This trip was perfectly in line with my purpose, right?
"And…right, I'll show you this as well."
And with that said, she quickly waved one hand to create a tear in the space there and plunged her arm inside.
That thing was the equivalent of my item box.
After a few moments of rummaging and pretending to fish around, she pulled it out.
"Oh, that…"
My analysis skills informed me of the identity of the item she was holding.
No…even without using my analysis skills, I could tell what it was at first glance.
She was holding a bone-like cane in her hand…
The design was similar to something I had seen before, but it had this terrible, intimidating presence.
I knew it all too well.
Then Cicerius continued.
"This a [Divine Staff]."
Divine Staff: ???
Quality: ???
Divine Staff, huh?
…From the looks of it, it could be more, like a divine sword or a divine axe.
"I found this on a neighboring continent… though your face tells me that you recognize it?"
"Yeah."
Nodding, I also opened my item box and took out the Divine Spear from inside.
"…! That's…"
"This is the Divine Spear. It was given to me by Rhodanus, the oldest dragon in the Dragon Village."
"I see… old Rhodanus, he's been hiding something like this?"
From the story, I assumed that Cicerius was also from the Dragon Village, but from this reaction, I wondered if she didn't know about this thing?
"Wow, what's that? When did Onii-san have a weapon like that?"
"What a terrifying weapon…"
"Yeah, it's a very dangerous weapon, so I rarely take it out of the item box. Didn't you know something about this?"
Cicerius replied to my words with a pained expression.
"It was only a few decades ago that I acquired the staff. I never showed it to the village, and if I knew that they had the spear, I would have told them about this as well. Well… that spear was probably given to you by some oral tradition when you became the Dragon King, right?"
"Yes, I heard that it was left to the Dragon King by a human Dragon King some dozen generations ago."
"If that was the case, he certainly would have never told me, no matter what happened. That old man is pretty stubborn. I see, so there was one in the village too. I was pleased when I discovered the staff."
I let out a big sigh and smiled wryly at her slightly disappointed face.
"Well, I guess we're both glad to have met here, right?"
"Hmm, it certainly is. I'm glad to have found some good knowledge today. May I see it, Dragon King?"
After I handed the sacred spear to Cicerius, she carefully checked every inch of it.
"Same design, no doubt, the same maker as the Divine Staff. It seems to be made of bone as well, but there is a slight difference in the quality of the magic power it contains. Is it made of different materials? And the precision of the magic circuitry throughout. This is definitely not something a mere mortal can create…"
Her eyes, immersed in the analysis of the spear, gradually shined.
Her smile became wider, and eventually, a full-blown smile formed on her mouth.
"This is fun, isn't it? This is why everything in the world is so wonderful. What a heart-pounding experience. Thank you, Dragon King. You've shown me something good."
"Did you learn anything?"
I asked her as I shoved the returned spear into my item box, and she answered me with bright, shining eyes.
"Aside from the staff, the spear is a perfect tool for battle. It means that there was an enemy to fight with it. It's certainly unlikely that they would have made an item this powerful just for show. Something happened… Something in the far past that required the creation of such weapons."
"…"
"I don't know what that is. I've seen and researched many things, but I've never seen any mention of it. But…with the information I have now, I should be able to get more information than before. I guess I'll have to start my research all over again from here. Well, this is becoming a lot more fun all of a sudden!"
Saying this, she stood up.
"What's wrong?"
"I've been here for quite a while, so I'm going to leave now. If I stay here too long, I would feel sorry for the other girls, not to mention you. Above all, now I have a big reason not to sit still!"
"Too bad. I wanted to talk to you some more."
"I'm sorry, Enne, but I'm going to say goodbye for now. But this is not a permanent farewell. I'm interested in the Demon Forest where you live, so I'll come visit you sometime soon."
"We'll treat you to a nice cup of tea next time!"
"We'll give you lots of hospitality!"
"Thank you, Mistress Nell and Mistress Lyuuinne."
After Cicerius and my wives exchanged a few words, I called out to them.
"Well…if your curiosity was piqued, I can't blame you. Thank you for teaching me all of this."
"I'm just as grateful as you are, Dragon King. If I learn anything, I'll be sure to share it with you, and please give my regards to Lady Leficios. Bye, you guys. Enjoy your time, and thank you."
With those last words, she left the place and asked the sailors who were waiting nearby where the hatch to the outside was located, and soon a huge dragon appeared outside the airship, and it slowly drifted away from the airship.
***
A few days had already passed since Cicerius' departure.
That meeting was really meaningful.
I could say that the trip was a good decision just because of that.
Although we had many troubles at the beginning, everything was uneventful after that, and it was a pleasant flight.
Except for a few people who started to break down.
"Bath~ bath~ going on a bath~! Bath~ bath~ bath~ Ba~wait~! Ah, I miss a bath~"
"Master, it's not good. Nell's intelligence has begun to regress significantly due to the outburst of her love for the bath!"
"Nn, it can't be helped. Shii would have gone limp by now if she was here."
…It was taking longer than the previous trip on the airship, but it seemed to have caused Nell's bath patience gauge to run out of steam.
"The Dwarven village we're heading to now is in a volcanic area, which means it has hot springs, so we will head for the hot springs as soon as we get there. So endure it for a bit, okay?"
I heard this story from a merchant dwarf on the airship, with whom I became a little friendly.
The village was located beneath a volcano, and therefore had natural hot springs all over the place, which they used as a source of revenue from tourism.
At my words, Nell, who had been sitting on a chair and leaning against the wall in an odd position, stood up stiffly.
"Really! Wow, it's a hot spring! Lyuu, Enne-chan, bath, bath! Our staple sustenance, the healing essential to our daily lives! Yes, a bath is a calming agent!"
"Nell, we love baths too, but unfortunately Nell and Shii are the only ones who use them as sustenance. No, I don't think Shii is actually consuming it as sustenance, so technically it's only Nell."
"Don't worry about the details! We are all kept alive by the bath and protected by the bath. Yes, let us all worship the bath…"
How could you be protected by a bath?
"How can you stand it in your country when you're like that? It's not like the houses over there are specifically equipped with baths, right?"
Nell told me before that the Inns in Allysia Kingdom did not have baths in their rooms.
In fact, in this world, baths themselves were a luxury item.
Only a house in a special environment, such as a volcanic area, could afford the luxury of taking a bath every day.
"Ah, let's see, I used to put up with it before, but… now that life with a bath in the dungeon has become so ingrained in me, I can't stand it any longer, so I actually asked for a bath in the dormitory. It was a rare selfish request, so it was pretty easy to fulfill. Hehehe."
I knew that she was a big bath lover, but I had no idea that she was such a bath extremist…
Well, there was no doubt that Nell was also a [Hero] and an important figure, so such a demand might be acceptable, but… I felt a little sorry for the people in the church.
I was certain that Nell had a serious look in her eyes at that time when she made the request.
The atmosphere was definitely not one where they could say no.
"I guess Nell is one of us, after all."
"I agree. She has the same eyes I often see at home."
"They say that about you, Nell."
"Fuhahaha, you can say I am the Demon Lord of the bath! Everything is just for the bath!"
And so, a few hours later, while the three of us did our best to appease the bath extremist.
The airship finally arrived at the dwarf village.