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The water around had receded, turning the small lava island into a hill.

With the dragon aura once stored on the island now depleted, everyone gathered around the small lava pool, resembling a campfire.

The surrounding forest had been uprooted by the storm, with torn trees buried in the mud.

Now, even the insects seemed to have been washed away, their sounds silenced.

The only sound was the occasional crackle of wood thrown into the lava.

“I wonder what ‘love’ really is,” Wein murmured, nibbling on the damp (but fortunately still intact) emergency rations.

“What’s got you thinking all of a sudden?”
“When you think about it, this whole commotion, it’s all because of that, isn’t it? This was on the level of several kingdoms getting blown away…”

Wein shrugged dramatically, eyeing his azure staff.

Even the wildly unleashed “Wisdom Eye Vortex” had quieted down, now lying there like a tired child, transformed into just a staff.

“Legends, who knows how much of them are true, but there are plenty of tales of miracles brought about by love’s power. Conversely, it can also stir up quite a commotion.”
“There are even stories of wars started over tangled love affairs.”
“Love… whether you have it or not, whether you gain or lose it, it sure does stir up trouble! It sure is a frightening thing.”
“Perhaps that’s how it is,” Kafal, who had been listening to the humans’ idle chatter, interjected.

She was squatted a little away from the humans to not get in the way, but she stretched her long neck and drew her triangular head near the bonfire.

Though she usually kept to herself because she wasn’t good at human language, Kafal wasn’t hesitant to speak up when needed.

Using human language wasn’t just for Lucella’s benefit; it was for everyone.

“As long as we live, we’re all at the mercy of love, whether human or dragon… every intelligent being is the same. It is unavoidable. So, you can’t run away, you can’t look away.”

Kafal spoke not from a place of superiority but like a breeze carrying wisdom.

Thinking about it, she too had been “swayed” by fate.

It was a chronic disease that even dragons couldn’t escape. While humans often spoke of love as the highest, most precious thing, it might be something beyond even the notions of good and evil, something inevitable.

Even so.

“Yeah, that’s true. But thanks to it, I’m happy now.”

Even so, Lucella felt overwhelmingly happy about everything—about Kafal, about Kafal’s presence now, about whatever it was that bound Kafal and herself together.

“Thank you, Mom,” Lucella expressed not just gratitude but joy in her words. She gently bumped her forehead against Kafal’s head and nuzzled her cheek.

“Thank you, Lucella,” Kafal narrowed her gem-like eyes, radiating warmth hotter than any breath, then pushed Lucella down and passionately licked her all over.

“Ehehe, haha, hahaha!” Lucella giggled, feeling ticklish, when suddenly someone stepped heavily nearby.

“…Monica?”

Monica looked down at Lucella with an annoyed expression.

Monica roughly pulled Lucella, who had been under Kafal’s head, and leaned in close, licking Lucella’s cheek like a predator attacking its prey.

“Eek!?”
“Oh my, oh my, oh my.”

Monica’s tongue, much smaller than Kafal’s, tickled Lucella’s cheek. Startled, Lucella jumped vertically and then froze in place as if paralyzed.

Viola pushed up her broken glasses, gleaming.

“Salty,” Monica muttered with a disgruntled expression, then walked away.

　＊　＊　＊

The next morning.

With the dawn, Kafal took flight, heading towards Mount Kuguse.

To ensure those riding on her back wouldn’t be thrown off and that she could maintain stable flight even with her injured wings, Kafal flew in a breaststroke-like posture, relatively slowly.

Normally, humans would struggle to breathe due to the thin air and violent winds, but Viola’s magic created a protective barrier against the wind.

Far below, they could see the lands of floating islands and desert areas. Even the grand cities with their magnificent castles appeared like tiny moss clinging to rocks when viewed from above.

“It’s confidential, but Crown Prince Cain seems to have sent a message to the Gufare Union, hinting at peace negotiations.”
“Already?”
“He probably judged it would all end peacefully if he settled everything while the excuse still holds. At present, he can push the responsibility for this defeat at the Prime Minister, after all”

Lucella had a talisman with a magic circle in hand as she sat on Kafal’s back. On the other end of the Caller was Ivar.

Though Ivar had settled one score during this homecoming, amidst the significant international turmoil, he was already getting back into action.

“Of course, that won’t be enough to satisfy the new territories.”
“Well… that’s no longer my concern.”
“Figured. I’ll stay and make some money for now,” Ivar remarked casually, as if discussing his usual work schedule. However, he was implying his intention to dive into the midst of the impending imperial civil strife.

Lucella sensed that there must be more to Ivar’s risky behavior than mere financial need. Perhaps he had unfinished business to attend to.

“…Be careful.”
“Who do you think I am?”
“Fair point.”

The two shared a knowing chuckle.

Lucella was in a far more precarious situation than Ivar.

“I won’t be away from the office for too long. Look forward to some good stories when I get back.”

The Caller, its purpose fulfilled, decayed into darkness.

Lucella dispersed it into the wind.

“Hey, look over there,” Wein, who had positioned himself near Kafal’s neck, leaned out and pointed towards the ground.

Beyond the thin veil of mist, they could see a city nestled to the south of the green mountain range, clinging to the mountainside with canals and hot springs.

The city grew larger and soon they could observe open space within the forest at the foot of the mountain range, along with a large, dome-like house crafted from magically molded earth.

Kafal gradually descended in altitude.

Just that movement alone made Lucella sense the stirrings around Mount Kuguse. Insects and birds took flight, and even monsters seemed to panic at Kafal’s return, sensing it from her wingbeats.

As Kafal landed in the clearing, the heat generated by her wings swept through the mountain forest, causing a chorus of rustling leaves.

Untying the mane that bound their body and setting their feet on the ground, everyone seemed to be at ease.

A simple yet massive earth house, fit for a dragon.

A plaza stained with scorch marks and traces of beast blood.

Despite returning home, Lucella felt more confused about her presence there than relieved.

“Phew… It feels like it’s been forever since I last came back,” Lucella said.
“It turned out to be quite the journey,” Tim chuckled as he unloaded the baggage strapped to Kafal’s back.

Lucella had embarked on this “journey” prepared for a great adventure, but things had escalated far beyond her expectations.

“Everyone!!”

As they rested, checking for any damage to their belongings from the flight, a voice came from the direction of the road leading to the town, accompanied by a running figure.

A young woman dressed in the formal suit of the Guild, one of the administrators of the Kugutfulm branch of the Adventurer’s Guild.

She was also the former person in charge for the party Lucella had once belonged to.

“Oh, Guild lady?”
“Welcome back, Golden Helmet members! And I’m sorry to do this after you just came back, but please take this!” she said out of breath, handing Lucella a quest form and investigation materials.

The quest form bore the signature of the chief administrator, the real person in charge for the Golden Helmet, who couldn’t leave the branch and had sent this junior staff member in their stead.

Lucella’s companions peered over her shoulder at the documents and all made the same grimace.

“An outbreak of Bomber Apples?”

Bomber Apples were dangerous plant-based monsters that threw exploding apples at passersby, killing them and using the corpses as nutrients. They bore fruit year-round, so they could easily blend in with real apples during certain times of the year. Unknowing victims who approached them would die.

It took about two years for them to mature into adult trees and begin hunting people, so it was best to detect and eliminate them while they were still young saplings.

“Even if you say there’s a massive outbreak… those are trees, right? Where did they come from?”
“I don’t know, but suddenly, mature trees have appeared in large numbers. And since it’s a forest along the canal, shipments have been halted since yesterday… Anyway, we need to resolve the situation urgently.”

Setulev was a canal kingdom, and Kugutfulm was a hub along the canals. Especially now, with many military supplies being transported northward across Mount Kuguse. Although the Emperor and Prime Minister had died in Maltgartz, and the Crown Prince had begun efforts to end the war, the situation didn’t change overnight. The stagnation of logistics could lead to unforeseen chaos.

“Well, personally… If you are tired, I think we should assign this to someone else…”
“No… it’s fine, let’s go. Everyone’s out on business up north, and you’re short-handed here, right?”

While the young staff was hesitant to assign the task to the top party, Tim made a quick decision. In Maltgartz, the government had employed adventurers… In other words, in the occupied territories, there was a high demand for adventurers. Many from Kugutfulm, near the northern occupied territories, were working as migrant workers. Those who stayed behind had to work even harder than usual to keep the city running.

“Yeah, it’s an emergency. We can’t afford to send half-baked folks out there without knowing what’s going on.”
“T-Thank you…!”

Wein also agreed, and the manager bowed deeply, almost too deeply.

“Lucella, what about you…?”
“I’ll go too.”
“Don’t you think you should rest?”
“I’ve got the energy for it, I’ll be fine!”

Lucella appreciated her companions’ concern, but she had recovered enough to handle ordinary monsters without a problem. If anything, she was more worried about her companions. Despite being superhuman, they were still human.

“Alright! Then, the Golden Helmet, four of us will tackle this!”

At Tim’s command, everyone nodded in agreement.

“You’re really something… I’ll just wait here,” Monica watched the adventurers with an incredulous expression.

The day after such a battle, and after flying long distances on Kafal’s back, Monica looked completely exhausted as she sprawled lazily on a magic beast’s skin.

Monica often spent time at Kafal’s nest while Viola was away working on quests. It was a place where even the authorities couldn’t intervene.

As a result, Monica had already brought in various personal items here. She likely planned to laze around until everyone returned.

Kafal lowered her head and nuzzled up to Lucella.

Lucella eagerly leaned into her.

The glossy red scales covering Kafal’s angular head had been damaged in battle, but they would soon heal.

“Alright then, I’m off.”
“Take care. Be back by dinner.”
“…Sure thing!”

After rubbing their cheeks together, Lucella then dashed off with her companions.

Author’s Note:

Thank you for reading along up to this point!
The fourth arc ends here, and this will also be the tentative conclusion of the story itself.

Below is the link to my post about the conclusion.
https://mypage.syosetu.com/mypageblog/view/userid/977381/blogkey/3154727/

TL Note: summary of the blog post

The manga is on hiatus because of the mangaka’s health problems, but it’s not “axed” and hence possible to resume. That said, there’s little hope that it will actually continue, realistically speaking.
The Light Novel has a lot of content based on the manga version, so with the manga on hiatus, they see no point in releasing it (because of sales/etc I guess). V3 was supposed to be released with the completion of the fourth arc, but forcing a release now wouldn’t be beneficial.
The reason the author called it a “tentative conclusion” is because of the aforementioned reasons. That is, since it’s not clear whether the publishing will continue, the author doesn’t have enough free time or money to keep writing it, but is prepared to do so if there’s an opportunity. But the possibility for that to happen is very slim, just not zero.

Some potential story bits that the author planned/plans to write if the novel were to continue:

Did the Prime Minister Manuel and the senile Emperor Richard really die?
Why can’t the ancient people be resurrected using the modern holy magic?
Did the Human-Dragon war really end on a draw? Are the Ancient Dragons hiding something?
What even is Giselle’s ring?
What are Dragons?
What are the Demons doing? What is their goal?
Who killed Kafal’s husband?
Who will be Kafal’s new marriage partner?
And so on…

He was considering stuff like that, but didn’t want to leave unresolved points so only kept the ideas in the background until he was sure that he would be able to follow through with them. He wrote Dragon’s Daughter in a way that it could be ended at any point, so he was careful not to include anything that couldn’t be properly resolved.

He suggested the fans who have too much free time to ponder answers to those.

He also mentioned that the head maid Joanna who worked in Monica’s mansion and got fired was reemployed by Viola somewhere between the third and the fourth arc and moved to Kugutfulm (I don’t remember if she appeared in the WN, maybe in the LN).