The morning of the second day after visiting the Trade City Knot Reed .

I woke up with the feeling of something hitting my cheek .

The true ident.i.ty of the furry thing that touched me over and over even when I pushed it away was a cat’s tail .

On my bedside, Palug who had come home unnoticed was sleeping with her legs spread open .

It was safe as she was in her cat form .

No, whichever form she was in, that was no good?

For the time being, I put a suitable cloth to cover her .

Although I wanted to comment about her sleeping posture, I would endure it because she had been working hard .

『Meow~……as the chief of the angels, on the annual Holy Angel’s holidays……I shall demand for a dedicated handsome dancer~……mrrrow . 』

“No, how is that okay?”

Oops, I made a comment without thinking .

Palug woke up while rubbing her face with her forelimb .

『Oh, morning, Erica . You’re early today . 』

“Good morning, Palug . I just happened to wake up early . ”

I purposely didn’t touch on the subject of her sleep-talking or the matter about her tail, letting it go .

Revitalized, I also greeted Tirnanog who was lying on my feet .

“Good morning, is Tir also going to wake up?”

『Nn……umu, I have no problem waking up anytime . 』

There seemed still time before a maid brought the breakfast here .

Let’s hear about the results of last night’s investigation from Palug .

“How was last night, Palug?”

I got off the canopied bed and walked to the built-in writing desk .

I opened the notebook with the summary I put together last night, and prepared a feather pen and ink .

『I went to the pilgrimage destinations written in the book that Erica had bought . 』

『It was probably around a different branch of the Varnalis River . 』

『……It was an interesting result . I went to three places last night . 』

In spite of saying that it was interesting, Palug’s tone of voice seemed to indicate that she didn’t find it amusing at all

.

I could hear a slight irritation and anger .

『There was an altar of the Holy Lord and the angel, though .

The surface part where the believers would make a pilgrimage was still beautiful . 』

“Surface part?”

『The true altar to devote spiritual power as an offering is hidden in the lower part . 』

“Heeh, I see . ”

『The precious true altar seemed to be normal at first glance but the ritual had been corrupted and camouflaged . 』

This was an unexpected information .

Originally this investigation was to check that the importance of the altar had not deteriorate and destroyed .

『The spiritual power that had been gathered was scattered in the sea . 』

“Such a thing, is that okay!?”

『Well, who knows……but there are changes in marine life, especially in the magical beast species . 』

Tirnanog who had been listening quietly while Palug and I talking, opened his mouth .

『Magical beast, huh . By the way I’ve heard about such a thing from the shop owner .

It seems that the damage by kraken has increased in the waters around Knot Reed for nearly three years . 』

There was a premonition that I had poked a bush and found a snake .

What was this .

『Heeh~~ . What an interesting story . 』

Palug say so while looking like she didn’t find it interesting at all .

Well, that was natural .

For example, using a metaphor, if the protection money was not paid, it was natural to be abandoned .

『There was also a shrine of a phantom beast that was probably a subst.i.tute for the local G.o.d, but all the functions had stopped .

It seems that it was completely destroyed along with the phantom beast over hundreds of years ago . 』

“That means, that place is safe for the time being . ”

I opened a list of temples for pilgrims that I had listed last night .

I quickly made check boxes next to the list .

『Last night it was here . 』

For each temple I made two types of check boxes, which were ‘the presence or absence of a camouflage’ and ‘phantom

‘phantom beast’ .

“As for the matter of camouflage, I will contact the church of Ignitia later and have them repaired . ”

『I will be saved if you do so . 』

As we continued our discussion, I heard a knocking sound .

It seemed to be the maid who brought our breakfast .

I would repeat the schedule we had confirmed last night before we had breakfast .

When the maid went away after changing clothes, I subst.i.tuted myself with Palug .

Following the same procedure as yesterday, we went out of Water Palace .

I held hands with the all-black Tirnanog and slipped into the crowd of people .

“The main purpose is to receive the wands, but I’m hoping to see Harold and Gilbert . ”

『Umu, that’s right . 』

After pa.s.sing by a gorgeous horse-drawn carriage as we headed towards Town of All Kinds of Goods, we were stopped from behind .

“Oo~i! By any chance, it’s Erica, right!?”

A familiar voice .

When I turned around, a boy was waving his hand from inside the carriage .

A boy with blonde hair were rus.h.i.+ng towards our direction as he got off from the horse carriage .

The boy was wearing a crimson cloak and was accompanied by three dragons .

The colors of the three dragons were gold, white, and red respectively .

“Auguste-sama! Long time no see . Those are the children that have just hatched, right!?”

“Aah, the red one is Briar and the white one is Blumbell . ”

“I’m glad they hatched, congratulations . ”

Auguste smiled very happily .

I was glad that he had succeeded in hatching the dragons, it made me happy too .

The golden dragon Goldberry on Auguste’s shoulder peered into Tirnanog’s face and her expression suddenly turned bright .

Did she found out his true ident.i.ty?

What should I do if Auguste noticed it .

As I thought that, Goldberry remained still on Auguste’s shoulder in a stance just before she leapt .

She seemed to be suffering while looking at mine and Tirnanog’s face alternately .

Ah, she was reading our expression and atmosphere .

Perhaps because she had become an older sister,

older sister, she seemed to be smarter than when I saw her before .

Looking at the state of Goldberry, Tirnanog gently held his hand out in front of her .

When Goldberry jumped onto his arm with a joyful expression, Tirnanog placed her on top of his head .

“Kyuu……”

『Fumu . It was as I heard, it seems that she likes the golems Ojou-sama made . 』

Goldberry seemed to be full of tranquillity on Tirnanog’s head .

Tirnanog looked at her and murmured .

It seemed that he was going to mislead with this direction .

I nodded while making eye contact with Tirnanog .

“Is this person your escort? Heeh, is this a golem prosthesis made by Erica?”

“Yes, this is my employee .

I made some golem prosthesis for his body because of a major accident, but my guardian is strong enough . ”

『Umu . I have died once, but I was helped by Ericojousama .

Since then, I regard the fact that being a guardian of Ericojousama is the reason for my existence . 』

Fully human golem and homunculus were illegal .

Adding two more layers to my face’s thickness, I lied smoothly .

Tirnanog added words that were not lies, but were likely to be misunderstood .

Before I knew it, the two red and white dragons began hovering while flapping their wings in front of my eyes .

Their round and clear eyes were staring at us with curious appearances .

Both of them had jewel-like sparkling eyes, they were very beautiful .

“Nice to meet you . Please take care of me, Briar and Blumbell . ”

“He~y, come and introduce yourselves, you two . ”

“Kuu……”

“Kyu~! Kyu~~!”

Red Dragon Briar and White Dragon Blumbell bowed their heads to me .

I felt a subtle character difference from their cry .

The one with red scales and spessartine eyes, Briar, had a modest and quiet character .

The one with white scales and ruby-colored eyes, Blumbell, was an active and energetic child .

“Uwah, uwaaah, how cute! Your dragons are cute, Auguste-sama……!!”

“Right~?”

Unlike the refined style of the small dragon Goldberry, these two felt bulky .

The body that

The body that had the atmosphere of ‘I’m getting bigger now’ was very lovely .

“Nice to meet you, Briar and Blumbell . ”

I held my arm out to become a scaffolding for the young dragons, and Blumbell quickly got on .

This child had a quicker movement .

“Kyu!”

“Ku~……”

Because Briar who missed it looked so sad, I put Blumbell on my head and called Briar .

Then Briar jumped into my arms timidly .

Auguste who was watching the situation raised his voice in admiration .

“Heeh, you’re hugging already?”

“They are good children . ”

While enjoying the feeling of the smooth scales of the young dragon, I asked Auguste .

“By the way, did Auguste-sama come to Knot Reed for the launching ceremony?”

“Aah, I subst.i.tuted for my father . I just arrived yesterday evening . ”

“Yesterday? Huh, what about the other people from Ignitia?”

Incidentally, the aristocrats from Ignitia supposed to arrive today using the old aircraft carrier .

Did he arrive at Knot Reed earlier?

“Certainly, I was supposed to come using the old-style aircraft carrier this afternoon .

I came through the Varnalis River after doing an examination in Lindis . ”

I see, s Auguste was using a different route, huh .

Since Lindis was in the upper stream of Varnalis, he only had to came down the river from there .

“Since I have arrived in Knot Reed with great troubles, I was about to go out to buy supplies for these children . ”

“And then you found me . ”

“You seem to have come out to shop . Oops, don’t do that, Blumbell . ”

As the naughty Blumbell began to pull my hair with her mouth, Auguste lifted her up .

“Yes, I was also trying to buy a bit of alchemy tools . ”

“I see, alright, why don’t I send you to your destination with my carriage as I also have something to talk to you about?”

“Thank you very much, Auguste-sama . ”

Because he had generously offered it, I got on the carriage .

It was hard to give up the boat, but since he wanted to talk then a closed s.p.a.ce would be better .