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“You little! Look at you acting all cute!”

Lucella got a rough welcome from Viola once she finished her talk with Kafal.

Viola rubbed and ruffled Lucella’s hair.

“W-What? Do you have a problem with it? Actually, you understood Dragonian?”
“No, but I got the gist through nuance.”

It turned out that she had been eavesdropping on their conversation.

“Are you sure you don’t wanna ask her to return your old appearance?”

Tim posed a question.

When Lucella recalled her memories, she had told everything that happened so far to them. Hence, they knew that Lucella wasn’t originally a girl.

“Hmm… Well if she restores my name, I would go back to my old self but my current strength would disappear with it too it seems, so I gave up on it. If I was this strong from the start I wouldn’t have been killed by people like them. I never wanna experience that again.”
“I see.”
“Besides, my current appearance is proof that mom named me, so I’m fine with it.”

Lucella’s words brought warm smiles to the three’s faces.

“…You said ‘mom’, huh?”
“Oh you spoiled little…!”
“Isn’t it fine!”

At that moment, Lucella had called mom without much thought, but now that she was being teased about it, she suddenly felt embarrassed and her face flushed with heat.

Having said that, they weren’t trying to be malicious but were happy for her instead.

“Hehehe… If that’s what you’ve decided, this Viola will lecture you so you can become a proper daughter.”
“Stop it. I can’t see that leading to anything good.”

Wein elbowed Viola whose glasses were shining, nipping her evil schemes in the bud. But as humans remain humans, history could repeat itself.

“I wonder what we should do from now on…”
“We succeeded in annihilating the fellow that sneaked into the mountain, but if Maltgartz is serious about this, they might come again. Since we have means of communicating with a dragon now, why not just follow our original plan and negotiate with Setulev?”
“Yeah, that’s fine, but I didn’t mean that.”

The immediate threat had passed for the time being, so Lucella was thinking about what was next.

She didn’t know what it meant to live as both a person and a dragon’s child. And how she had to do it. She still had questions, but she had one idea.

“Mr. Tim, what do you say about hiring me?”
“What…?”

Tim seemed completely taken by surprise and looked stupefied even by his standards. Wein and Viola were just as surprised.

“W-Wait a second, what kind of turn of events is this?!”
“I-I mean, I have some adventurer manager experience.”
“I don’t mean that! Why are you suddenly looking for employment?!”
“…Well, isn’t it better to have some position in human society? Plus I have a debt for saving me and my mom to repay you guys.”

It wouldn’t do to just stay and spend the days silently on the mountain with just the two of them. They couldn’t obtain peace without any hard work. In order to protect the peaceful life of a human and a dragon, she had to step into human society on her own.

Lucella, who was both a dragon’s foster child and a human, might be the only one who could protect Kafal from threats that even the power of a red dragon couldn’t handle… Her opinion remained unchanged in the end.

For that reason, she couldn’t remain an outlaw. And Lucella was also aware that she wasn’t someone that could fit into common sense.

Adventurer manager was a work she was very familiar with, so she thought starting doing it again wouldn’t be so bad.

“Uhhh…… Well, first forget that thing about returning the favor. It’s not like I helped you out of pure kindness either. But if you still wish to join our party with that considered, then you’re very welcome to. Wise adventurers don’t jump at every too-good-to-be-true deal, but they wouldn’t say no to something actually good.”

Tim pondered for some time and then answered while poking his finger into the visor of his gilded helmet and scratching his head.

One couldn’t go on being an adventurer by just moral obligations and humane feelings alone.
Tim most likely arrived at his decision by evaluating the benefits of having Lucella in the group and the drawbacks of any possible issues she might bring, while only considering the neutral aspects based on his personal beliefs.
If Tim was still willing to welcome Lucella despite all that, she couldn’t be any happier and honored.

“Then, let’s get along.”
“Likewise! In that case, each person’s burden is everyone’s burden in the party. We’ll definitely protect your mother.”
“Thank you!”

Lucella exchanged a firm handshake with Tim. Their handshake drew quite a steep arc.

“Thanks… you.”

Then, another hand overlapped on theirs.

The hand belonged to Kafal’s clone. Her original body was supposed to drive away the Variants from the vicinity of the nest since it was unsafe to venture out at this time. As a result, the three of them would have to spend the night in the nest. However, Kafal’s clone had come back to this location at some point.

“S-Sure… A dragon thanking me feels like it’s wasted on me.”

Kafal, who looked like a noblewoman, thanked him with a carefree smile, so Tim felt a little embarrassed.

“Lucella. Kafal… will… remember… human… words… more.”

Lucella had that convenient ring now, but Kafal still chose to show up in human form and speak as a human. It was clear what this meant.

“We aren’t gonna use the ring?”
“Talking… to… Lucella. Realized… importance. If… ring… gone… would be… trouble.”
“I see… you’re right.”

Thanks to Giselle’s ring, Lucella and Kafal could fortunately talk now. It wouldn’t be unfair or bad to rely on it for sure. But she knew how irritating it was to be unable to convey her feelings, so she wanted to increase the means as much as possible.

Lucella was of the same opinion.

“Right. I’ll also work on my Dragonian, so teach me.”
“Will teach!”

Lucella found the thought of studying together extremely delightful and glomped Kafal, making her spin around.

“You really look like a real parent and child.”
“Because we are. We were strangers only until earlier. Right… mom?”

Kafal was here. Lucella kept hugging her and didn’t let go.