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A few days later.

The lunch chaos ended and the union branch had regained a bit of calm. Needless to say, there was no Cathy in the hall or Bard at the counter.

They always say no news is good news. I thought of such things as I brushed Haku.

To be truthful, I wanted to raise the two’s Art of Conversation skill a bit more and put them under Allen. But at their current level, they would’ve just been a hindrance, so I merely opened a path for them to leave the Thieves Guild. Bard calling me the worst was actually pretty on point.

“Pi… Pii!”

Haku pressed its face closer to comfort me.

Due to its healthy (?) growth, small wings started to grow on its back, so the day it would learn to fly was probably not too far away.

Maybe I should fly with it properly when that happens. As I was thinking that, Ria who had just gotten to work showed her face from the entrance. She really looked adorable in her plain clothes.

“Illya, Ector called for you. Said to go to his mansion.”
“Got it. I’ll wait until you change.”
“Thanks!”

When Ector called me without Frank, it usually had to do with commissions.

The only thing that comes to mind would be the monsters that had increased in number and never went down. The registration cards I made for those two had the examiner’s qualifications. There should be no problems there, and I’m ignoring the Dragon God’s periodic telepathy(?) so it shouldn’t even matter here.

“Thanks for waiting. What are you going to do with Haku?”
“Haku, can you stay behind?”
“Pii~”

It didn’t seem like it would release its hand from clinging to me.

“Ahahah, looks like that’s a definite no. Take care.”
“Right. I’ll head off for a bit.”

I headed to the lord’s mansion with Haku as I observed the townscape under construction.

That said, the central district from the union guild, which was at its center, to the lord’s mansion wasn’t getting many innovations. This time the maintenance block was nearly just the residential area near the rampart.

Speaking of which, there were some among the people who came for the construction work that got scared when they saw a dragon’s child, but by now they all got used to it and interacted normally.

It was already winter.

If you walked outside, the dry wind blowing down the Roa Mountain Range would steal your body’s warmth… if you weren’t me, that is.

“Pii…”
“Come here.”
“Pii!”

I hugged Haku who was stirring from the cold and continued walking.

The lord’s mansion looked the same as before. There was a suggestion to have it rebuilt during this block maintenance, but Ector judged it to be unnecessary and turned it down.

I normally asked the gate guard if Ector was around, but this time a maid stood at the gate instead.

“We have been waiting, lady Illya.”
“Hello, Sybill.”
“Hello. Master is waiting inside. Please come.”

A dog beastman with a mixture of black and tawny hair, dark skin, and pointy ears like a german shepherd, guided me through the hallway.

I could see luxurious furnishings all around. It contrasted Ector’s down-to-earth personality, but the reason for that was that this was the preference of the previous lord. I heard he was keeping them be so he could sell them off in case he needed money.

“Thank you for coming, Illya.”
“It’s alright.”

I was led to the reception room. I stared at the man sitting opposite of Ector as a way to suggest I realized the reason I was called so abruptly.

The human-looking male stood up with a wry smile and extended his hand.

“It’s been a while, Illya.”
“It has indeed. I never expected I would be meeting with the prime minister of the kingdom here. Could it be that you’re alone?”

I asked in sarcasm as I shook his hand while still hugging Haku, and the man sat back down on the sofa with a deeper wry smile.

“Coming here with the knights would just be proving my status, right?”

The prime minister of the Rondoville kingdom, Conti. He was a half-elf that managed the kingdom’s national politics through two generations, and it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that he was the reason why the Rondoville kingdom prospered as a multi-race kingdom.

“To tell the truth, I wanted the king to attend this as well. But leaving the throne empty wasn’t an option.”
“Illya, take a seat before we start.”

I hesitated to reject it since I was asked to, so I decided to just sit down and hear what the prime minister had to say.

“First would be the report. You may already be aware, Illya, but the wyverns seem to have safely been returned to their nest. We also received the report that the egg was delivered too.”
“Sounds wonderful. It seems that we can finally have peace of mind.”

I answered in relief as Ector spoke.

The prime minister remained with a wry smile in contrast to the relieved two of us.

“Yes, we were also relieved for a moment, but then we received a different report.”

The prime minister paused at that, leaned back on the sofa, and folded his hands.

This was his “resigned” gesture that people who had some interaction with him would know.

“…It seems that an ice dragon is heading toward Rondoville.”

Ector leaned on the armrest and fell silent with a hand on his mouth.

I guess it took his all to accept the fact that they were up against a disaster, but I found it more bothersome to have the prime minister wait on him so long.

I felt a bit for Ector but I decided to resume the conversation.

“Did Acradist take no measures?”
“You are quick-eared as always. They seemed to have kept leaving it be since there were no human casualties.”