Riding on my wyvern’s back, I flew across the sky, rapidly passing the clouds. I’d left the capital to go and meet Lord Davier.
I was on Charite, a female wyvern, with Kelly right behind me, riding double. Perhaps Charite had realized something a while ago, because she sounded more excited than usual. Maybe she had sensed the presence of Lord Davier, her former partner, with her manabeast intuition.
As we kept flying like that, a loud voice came from behind us.
“Lady Agnes! You’re going too fast! We’ve already passed the provision ship! The plan was for us to reach land together, but we’ll arrive first at this rate!” called Torre, who was riding his pegasus behind us.
“He’s right, Lady Agnes. Not everyone can rush through the sky like you can. Whoa! H-Hey, Geni, stop rotating so suddenly!” Behind Torre, Defi was riding on Geni.
Geni had recognized Charite as his mate, so he’d insisted on accompanying her. He was probably worried; the bond between mates was strong. Therefore, Defi, who could ride a wyvern, had been hastily chosen from among the estate’s staff. We’d contacted him while he was house-sitting and he’d come to the capital in haste. Kelly could also ride mountbeasts, but she usually rode the well-behaved pegasi. When it came to wyverns, she could only ride the particularly docile ones. When Geni was in high spirits, he did rotations mid-flight and suddenly increased or decreased altitude at high speed, so any inexperienced rider would get nauseous. I could have ridden Geni, but since we wanted to have Lord Davier see Charite, we’d decided that it would be better if I rode her instead.
Below us, the regular ship to Peppel Island was riding the waves and advancing smoothly. This ship visited the island periodically, transporting necessary provisions and checking on the islanders’ lives. Peppel Island was surrounded by complex ocean currents, so it was impossible to leave the island using ordinary ships and navigation techniques. Anyone trying to carelessly escape would find their boat or raft grounded. This was exactly why it had been chosen as a penal colony. The regular ship was big and sturdy, and all the crew members had magic suitable for steering the ship. It was thanks to them that the ship could come and go between Peppel Island and the continent Desnim was on.
At present, public order was maintained on Peppel Island and the inhabitants were living peacefully. There should be little chance of any danger while I contacted Lord Davier.
Lord Nazel is hard at work at the royal palace. I will also fulfill my duty properly! As I pumped myself up, a small island came into view. That’s Peppel Island! The island was covered in thick greenery and surrounded by rugged gray rocks.
Charite cried in excitement again. I gently patted the nape of her neck.
“Yes, Lord Davier is close. I’m sure you’ve missed him.”
The closer we approached, the bigger the island looked, and I started spotting what appeared to be houses. It seemed that people waiting for the regular ship had gathered at the beach. Before long, the large ship skillfully avoided the rocks and dropped anchor in a cove. We also descended from the sky and landed on the vast, sandy beach.
The islanders started screaming when they saw our mountbeasts.
“What the heck?! A-Are those manabeasts?!”
“They’re huge!”
“Wait, those are mountbeasts. But why did they come to Peppel Island?!”
“Aren’t there more sailors than usual on the ship too?!”
A big group of young islanders gathered, all of them looking very curious. I heard a familiar voice among them.
“Charite?” came a calm, deep voice. Its owner—Lord Davier—came running across the sandy beach, which had driftwood scattered here and there. I hadn’t expected to meet him so soon.
When Charite noticed him, she cried in joy and also started running across the beach with her wings spread, her footsteps echoing loudly.
I’ve never seen Charite so lively!
And then, Charite vigorously tackled Lord Davier. She was moving very aggressively, like a completely different person—or rather, different wyvern—from when she was at the estate. Lord Davier was pinned under her, but he still looked happy to see her—he had a gentle smile as he broke free of her embrace.
When Lord Davier noticed me, he walked up to me, looking a little surprised. While he’d once been a duke, he now wore the same kind of clothes as the islanders, looking great in them. Just like Lord Nazel, he looked refined no matter what he wore.
Princess Mia and the former queen didn’t seem to be here—I was a little relieved.
“It has been a while, Lord Davier. I apologize for the sudden visit... I’ve come to discuss something with you.”
“Yes, it’s been a long time, Lady Agnes. Thank you for bringing Charite here. I’m happy to see her doing so well.”
“She lives in our estate now. She also has a mate.”
“A mate?!”
Behind Charite, Geni flapped his wings assertively. Lord Davier realized everything once he saw that.
“I see, so it’s Nazelbart’s wyvern... No, Charite is free to choose whoever she wants as her mate. I won’t say anything more than that.” Was it out of parental love? Lord Davier wore a somewhat conflicted expression.
“They’ve both grown a darker color too, so she might lay an egg before long.”
“An egg... What joyous news. In any case, you said you wanted to speak with me, Lady Agnes?”
“King Bertrand has entrusted me with a letter for you. Here you go.” I handed Lord Davier the letter I had been given back at the capital.
“A letter, you say...”
The letter contained a secret request from King Bertrand, summoning Lord Davier to the palace. Normally, it would have been my job to read the letter out to him, but loudly announcing the letter’s contents in a place with so many people was a bad idea, so I decided to let him read it himself.
“Did you come here as the king’s representative, Lady Agnes?”
“Truth be told, he ordered Lord Nazel at first. But having him come here would be kind of...”
“There would certainly be a lot of problems with that. First of all, the former queen and princess wouldn’t stay quiet.”
“Yes, so I thought that we could avoid any commotion if I came instead.”
“Thank you for your considerate judgment. May I look over the letter here?”
“Go ahead.”
Lord Davier quietly stared at the letter and soon covered his face with his hand.
“Haaah, how terribly selfish.”
“I-I know.” I understood how he felt.