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“Is the guildmaster aware of where the Dragon God lives?”
“No, I’m afraid not.”
“The Dragon God lives in a palace built on a floating island.”
“A floating island…?”
“It’s an island with a huge wind crystal pillar in the center.”

The fact that someone tried to steal the pillar, causing the island to almost fall out of the sky is a story for another time, so I don’t mention it. Of course, I also don’t mention that, as the person who recovered the crystal pillar, I’ve also been made an honorary marriage candidate to the Dragon God.

“Which is why, I initially thought that the egg might have just fallen out of the Heavenly Palace.”
“Would the egg even survive the impact? …Ah, so that’s why you asked about the ground around the egg.”
“Yes. Even if there was something supporting the egg, there had to be some sort of visible effect on the surroundings if it fell from the sky.”

Even if the egg didn’t leave a crater in the ground, there should be some kind of change in the ground. With wind magics like Aerial Body, flying too close to the ground causes pebbles and dirt to be blown away by the wind surrounding the user. And with space-time magic, some of the surrounding air and earth should have been teleported along with the egg.

Plus even if it was some kind of skill I’ve never heard of before, it’s very unlikely that the Heavenly Palace was even above the egg.

“When the Heavenly Palace is in the sky, it looks like a huge rain cloud. At least, it would never be mistaken for clear or just cloudy weather.”
“I see. That would mean it probably didn’t fall…”
“Yes. It was most likely transported over the land.”

Well, I say likely, but I’ve all but figured out who the perpetrator was.

“…and why would someone want to bring the egg down here?”
“I don’t know about that, but I don’t think they were planning to harm the egg.”
“And the reason for that is?”
“The horse with horns and scales we heard about earlier—I think what they saw was a Kirin.”
“A Kirin…?”

There’s no way my translation skill interpreted that as “giraffe”. If that’s the case, Frank probably just doesn’t know what I’m talking about.”

“Yes, it’s a cryptid that serves the Dragon God.”

Cryptids are usually descendants of gods whose existences have not been confirmed. Most are the result of gods like the Dragon God and deities of war creating offspring with members of other races. Whether it be humans, beastmen, or something else, it usually results in the birth of a new species.

As offspring of the Dragon God and a horse beastman, Kirin has a single horn much like dragons do, great magical affinity, and are able to swap between human and their beast forms at will.

“The creatures are incredibly compassionate and will not harm others as long as their own lives are not in danger. Even if they are attacked themselves, they attempt not to hurt their opponents in battle.”
“And why would a creature like that attack them?”
“I think they might have been pretending.”

And why would they do something like that? Frank’s face twists into a puzzled expression. A moment later he seems to have reached the conclusion on his own, and the furrow in his brow deepens.

“…but why Luneville…?”

Were they guided here? I don’t know the answer to that either. …Well, maybe I should say I don’t want to know. I don’t want to think that the Dragon God could be just as stupid as the water dragon that asked me to raise its child.

“So what about the people who attacked them afterwards…?”
“I’m not completely sure, but I think they were working against the Kirin.”

Rather, this might all just be a scheme in order to get me to protect the egg from those very enemies. But if that was the case, why would they be so far from the Heavenly Palace?

From both the Kirin’s actions and how Naga doted on her own child, I doubt the Dragon God would just abandon its own child. This opens up the possibility that there are enemies in the palace itself, but knowing how protective the Dragon God is, I doubt he would just leave them be.

…There just isn’t enough information.

“There’s probably a reason why the Kirin took the time to carry the egg all the way out here. I guess we can’t just give the egg back immediately.”
“We need to know the Kirin’s intentions as well as the current situation in the Heavenly Palace. The easiest way to find out is if we could just ask the people who attacked that party of three.”
“But I’m guessing things aren’t actually going to be that simple.”
“I’m sure we’ll find out in time.”
“…Alright. Is there anything I can help with?”

I think for a moment.

“Was LaShelle in charge of reception this evening?”
“Yeah, if I remember correctly.”
“Okay, then can you ask her to bring me some food in the evening? I think I’ll be busy taking care of the dragon child, so I might not be able to leave my room.”
“That’s it?”
“Yes.”

I nod, then pat the little dragon on the head, which turns to look at me with its clear, blue eyes. It probably didn’t understand a single thing we were talking about, which is probably for the better.

“Want to go for a walk?” I ask the little dragon.
“Pi!”

Maybe a little too carefree for the situation, Frank once again seems to lose some strength in his shoulders. I bow to the guildmaster and take the little dragon with me, heading out of the guild office.

On the way out, I happened upon a certain human girl whose short, red hair frames her face perfectly.

“Ah, Illya, you’re going out?”
“Yeah, I’m counting on you later, LaShelle.”
“Um? Yeah, sure.”

I walk out of the office, the curious little dragon a few steps ahead of me, spurred on by curiosity. An offspring of the Dragon God should be bold, audacious. Being unafraid of the unknown is a good thing.

“Want to run through all of Luneville?”
“Pi!”

I couldn’t understand its baby talk, but I could feel the enthusiasm in its voice.

“Alright, let’s go explore!”
“Pi!”

The dragon child and I take an energetic step forward. The curious dragon showed interest in almost everything we saw, so we were barely even able to walk through half of Luneville before it got tired.

I ended up having to carry a sleeping dragon back to the guild office. When evening arrived, I ate the meal that LaShelle brought to my room, then fed the dragon mana after it woke up from the smell.

In order to confirm my suspicions from last time, I cast a water-attuned spell called Mindworks that raises intelligence (concentration, decisiveness, and logic).

As I expected, those attributes were raised permanently. If I keep casting support spells on this dragon, it might be able to fight an evil god by itself some day.

Before I went to sleep, I opened the window, then crawled into bed with the little dragon. The way the child buried its body into my arms was, in all honesty, quite charming.

For the first time in a while, I enjoyed the warmth of someone else’s body without wearing the Shrine Maiden’s Fetters. Before I knew it, I was asleep.