Traces of the Dragon (2)
Weak and young dragon or not, a dragon is still a dragon. Plus, Eldra wasn't the type to lie. She'd never felt the need to, so she always just spoke the facts. And she was saying that in my territory, in this desert, she could smell something like her own kind.
It probably wasn't body odor. All our territory smelled like was plain old sand. Whereas Eldra...
"Sniff sniff... You smell nice."
"Thanks. I pay attention to hygiene."
I leaned in close to Eldra on purpose, but I didn't get the reaction I was hoping for.
Well, I knew she was like that, so whatever.
Eldra just had this clean, natural scent. Among all the mana I'd encountered so far, only the purest, most refined kinds emanated from her. Hell, just sniffing it cleared my head. A dragon's trait being a diffuser and mental care product? No wonder she didn't stink.
"So what kind of smell are we talking about?"
"Hmm. Hard for me to explain. It's like... I can sense my kin here? Just a gut feeling."
"...Huh."
Dragons. The pinnacle of mana-wielding creatures. Born superior to humans in every way. Unlike monsters, they had superior intellect and observed the world through dragon eyes, but most were mood swings on legs. That's why folks on the continent said it was best to avoid dragons altogether. If you ran into one, you had to stroke their ego and not piss them off—total hassle.
And now one was saying she sensed several of them here?
As lord, I couldn't just let that slide. Dragons didn't treat humans like bugs anymore, but if something irked them, they might swat us with their tail like it was nothing. To them, a light flick. To us? Natural disaster.
"Hmm... Ah. Wanna come with me?"
"Huh? Sure, I'll follow."
I took Eldra out of the mansion and headed toward the village center, where the oasis was.
"Lord, you've arrived."
"Haul, good work. And no one's gone into that house, right?"
"Yes, sir. No one's interested. Plus, watching the water level rise makes me happy. But... who's this with you?"
"Yeah, a dragon. Harmless, though. So relax."
"Ah, got it."
"Yup, totally harmless. Hee."
Eldra flapped her wings a bit at my words, making Haul twitch. Even if I said she was harmless, that was just a normal human reaction.
"Can't polymorph properly?"
"Yeah. My eyes and wings. And nails... oh, and claws on my feet—they won't change right now."
Eldra showed me her nails as she spoke. Dark gray and wickedly sharp.
"Hmm. We'll check the claws later."
"Should I show you my bare feet?"
After some chit-chat, we passed Haul and reached the small house by the oasis pool. No one lived here. Instead, it hid our territory's most precious treasure right now. I opened the hidden door in the floor, led us into the spacious basement, and showed her the thing in the center.
"Oh, so this is where it was."
"......"
I ignored that she recognized the heart. In the original story, Eldra was the one who'd told Arthur about it anyway.
Wait a sec...
Curiosity piqued, I asked her.
"You saw me take this, huh?"
"Yup. I was gonna punish you if you were a bad thief... but you didn't seem like one, so I just watched."
"Why'd you think that?"
"Like I said earlier, you smell like my kin...? Dragons are all nice."
Eldra came close and sniffed me lightly, just like I'd done to her.
"That's why I'm asking—why not use that divine power? It smelled the strongest from that."
"......"
(Panicked squeak!)
Yeah. If she'd been watching since I took the heart, she'd seen Kyu-ing too. I could feel Kyu-ing freaking out after hiding inside me when Eldra showed up.
"The divine power smells like dragon?"
"Kinda, but not quite...? I dunno. I don't know much. Dragons only handle mana anyway. I just assumed it was divine power 'cause it looked like it."
"Hmm. Kyu-ing, looks like we're busted. You wanna come out?"
"Kyu-ing? Cute name. Never heard of divine power with a will of its own."
"Can you keep this a secret? Especially from the saintess or hero."
"Sure. Secret's safe. I'm just curious—no plans to tell anyone."
(Silent sulk)
Even after getting exposed, Kyu-ing wouldn't come out. What was its deal?
"Doesn't look like it's coming."
"Aw, too bad. Hope I see it later."
"Anyway, skipping Kyu-ing for now. Isn't it this heart and the water it makes?"
The moment Eldra said she sensed her kin here, I'd thought of the Dragon Heart first. It sat here in the basement under the oasis house, constantly generating ice that melted in the desert heat to recharge the aquifer.
"Yeah, that's part of it. This heart and the water... pure mana in there."
"Pure mana?"
"Yup. Gotta be, since it's from a dragon heart."
"Any downsides? Like, can't drink it...?"
"Nah, the mana amount's low, so no issue. Actually, drinking it makes you healthier... Plants grown with it might be special too? Even small amounts from a dragon pack a punch."
Oh. In my past life, I'd seen mineral-rich water everywhere and tried it—no real difference. But according to a dragon, this had just the right amount of good mana: healthier drinkers, better crops.
Ah.... As lord, this was music to my ears. I wanted to plant a million kisses on Eldra for spilling it.
"Wanna kiss?"
"No thanks. That's for lovers only."
"Good upbringing."
"Mom's like that."
Tch. Innocent-looking, but firm on this stuff. Yeah, that's the flavor.
"But you said that's only part of it..."
"The heart contributes a bit, but it's not the main source."
"Hmm... No guesses then. You're the only dragon I've met."
"Dragons stick to their lairs. Guess they're not bored."
As we left the house and headed back to the mansion, I probed for confirmation.
"Any spots where you don't sense dragon traces?"
"Yeah, clearer now."
"Where?"
"There."
Eldra pointed her slender finger outside the territory. Nothing special.
"From there to there? It's connected. No traces beyond the line I pointed."
"......"
I pictured the line she'd drawn outside the territory. It matched what I knew.
Because that line was roughly the boundary between our territory's Red Sand and deep sand.
I'd have to verify exactly later, but even so, Eldra's intel was gold. Heroine or not, it didn't matter anymore.
"Eldra."
"Yeah?"
"Wanna kiss?"
"No. We're not lovers. Why?"
"What you told me's gonna help a ton."
"Ooh... Did I do something good?"
"Huge."
"Then groom my wings later. Too hard alone."
"I'll scrub 'em spotless."
I thanked Eldra, and in return, she asked me to groom her wings later. Easy deal.
Because peeling back the veil on the Red Sand could be huge. Like... expanding the Red Sand area and redrawing boundaries....
Just thinking about it made my heart race.
"Help with bathing too?"
"That's embarrassing, no. Wings only."
"Leave it to me."
To Yuran and Eldra, that convo was totally normal, nothing weird. But not to everyone.
Like Hera, who'd just checked the Toypus Mine and was heading back.
Or Hera, who thought it was weird Yuran never groped her.
Or Hera, who'd overheard Yuran and Eldra while going to the mansion to report... er, see Yuran.
K-Kiss...? H-He never even s-said that to me...
All Yuran had done to Hera was grab her waist and butt. Never once suggested a kiss or anything like that.
Minus waist and butt, Hera's chastity was spotless. So she could've been relieved.
But...
...Hngh...
Hera felt oddly bummed.