“Hrmm?” Tailtiu said.
“What is it?” I asked.
She must have been curious about something, because she started sniffing the air. Honestly, it made me feel a bit uneasy. I had just been handling the horny mushrooms; was she picking up on their scent?
“I can smell someone besides Reina and Luna on you, darling. You didn’t get a new woman, did you?”
“Don’t say it like that...”
Though it seemed that this didn’t have anything to do with the mushrooms, I was bewildered by her attitude. It was like she was questioning me about an affair. I somehow felt restless, even though I hadn’t done anything wrong. Regardless, I explained the whole situation to her, and she completely understood.
“But still, I’m impressed you can tell all that just by smell,” I said, detaching her from me. “That’s a descendant of the Ancient Dragons, I guess.”
“Of course! I’m the most powerful dragon species, and my Ancestor is the great Divine Dragon Bahamut after all!” she said with a proud smile. Her side ponytail shook, and her tail wagged along with it. It was a bit amusing, like a subconscious expression of how she was feeling. “Nevertheless... Visitors from the outside world, you say... Perhaps something is going on with the barrier.”
“The barrier... Oh yeah, that’s right, this island has one of those.”
A god had put up a barrier around the island, so visitors from outside were quite rare. Reina and I were already unprecedented examples, and it was apparently a first in the long history of the island for even more humans to arrive.
“It’s a divine power, and even we can’t leave it.”
The island we were on—Arcadia, the Isle of the Gods—had been created by a god in order to imprison beings that were too powerful. As far as I was aware, this god was different from the one who had reincarnated me. Still, they were strong enough to trap someone like Mina, so they had to be tremendously powerful. If there was something wrong with their barrier, then it was unlikely anyone would be able to fix it.
“Now that you mention it, would it be an issue if there actually was something wrong with the island’s barrier?”
“Hrmm...” Tailtiu was silent for a moment. “Actually, maybe not? I have no interest in the outside world, and not many islanders would want to run amok on the outside. Especially not after all this time.”
“So there are a few who would, then?”
“The Divine Beastfolk are mostly peaceful, but the Fierce Ogrefolk and young Ancient Dragonfolk can be quite hot-blooded,” she said. Then, she quietly grumbled, “They’re always fighting, but they still won’t include me...”
The light had gone from her eyes, and she looked as if she were casting a gloomy shadow. I felt like I had caught a glimpse of her darker side.
“Fierce Ogrefolk and Ancient Dragonfolk, huh?” I said.
I hadn’t met any of them besides Tailtiu. However, everyone I had met, including Mina and the Divine Beastfolk, were all good people once you got to know them. Even Gaius, who had seemed menacing at first, wasn’t really a bad guy; he was just childish.
“Well, if it’s only a few, it’ll be all right,” I said. In the unlikely event that they did run wild outside the island, I could stop them. After all, my god-given power was enough for me to do that. “Anyway, I guess there’s no point in worrying about the barrier for now. I think I’ll be going back soon, so would you like to join us for dinner?”
“An invitation from you, darling?! Of course I’ll go! And I’ll take meat!”
“Aha ha ha, I’ll put in your order with Reina, then.”
Tailtiu eagerly climbed onto my shoulders, and I gave her a piggyback ride through the forest, arriving home just as it was getting late. When I got back, I ran across Zelos and Merlyn as they were coming outside, presumably because they had just finished their conversation.
“Ah, are you done talking?” I asked Zelos.
“Oh, it’s just you,” Zelos said. “Well, I guess— Ah?!”
“Wha—?!”
The moment they looked at me, they put a large distance between us and adopted fighting stances. Zelos conjured flames in his hands, while Merlyn conjured water, and they stared at me as if I were a monster.
“Huh? What’s going on?” I said. I couldn’t help but feel confused by this abrupt turn of events. The two of them were scowling, but they appeared more afraid than hostile. As I wondered just what had spooked them so much, Tailtiu on my shoulders poked her face out.
“What’s their problem?” she asked me.
“I just told you about them. They’re Reina’s acquaintances, the ones who were unconscious on the beach.”
“Oho, so Reina knows them? I bet the food they get to eat tastes amazing!”
At Tailtiu’s words, Zelos’s and Merlyn’s expressions became even more dire.
“A-Are you gonna eat us?!” Zelos shouted.
How did he get that from our conversation just now? I wondered.
“Hey, you! What’s with that monster?!” Zelos yelled, stepping back in fear.
“It has so much mana! The Hellfire Dragon that took three of us to defeat is like a baby in comparison,” Merlyn said. “This could get dangerous...”
“Oh, I see,” I said. It seemed that Tailtiu was frightening them. Wanting to clear up their misunderstanding, I took her down from my back and stepped up to the two magicians. “Calm down, okay? She isn’t a bad girl... Hm?”
Just then, I sensed an unusual pressure coming from behind me.
“Tailtiu, what are you doing?” I said, turning around.
“Heh heh heh...”
Tailtiu had crossed her arms as if she were the leader of an evil organization, and she was giving off an undulating cloud of black mana. She spread her wings, which she usually didn’t show in her human form, and made herself look bigger like a wild animal intimidating an enemy. I could tell from her bared canines and delighted laugh that she was just teasing Zelos and Merlyn. However, she had released an extraordinary amount of mana.
“Ngh... Such ominous mana... There’s so much of it!” Merlyn said.
“Th-This monster’s ready to attack!” Zelos shouted.
I was silent. Practically nothing could make me feel afraid. Even on this island, the only living things I’d thought were a bit scary were Mina, who was a True Ancestor Vampire, and Suzaku, who still retained her Divine Beast powers. Everyone generally suppressed their power, which meant that even Reina could interact with them normally. To tell the truth, I’d become desensitized, and I hadn’t known just how powerful Tailtiu could be. So, seeing her flaunt her power to a third party made me keenly aware of how threatening she was.
“Mwa ha ha... I am having so much fun right now! Yes, now and then, we Ancient Dragonfolk must be feared and worshipped!”
Tailtiu’s black mana surged along with her heightened emotions. It was enough to make my back tingle, so it had to be quite powerful. When she took a step forward, Zelos and Merlyn fearfully backed up. Their reactions delighted her. However, I didn’t really like it when people got pleasure out of scaring others.
“Hey, Tailtiu...I don’t like girls who do that, you know,” I said, giving her a stern look.
She extinguished her mana with incredible speed, and in a complete about-face, she approached the two magicians while forcing a smile.
“My bad, new visitors! Welcome to our empty, boring island! I am glad to have you here!”
Zelos and Merlyn had frozen stiff, unable to keep up with this sudden change. Tailtiu grabbed their hands and jerked them up and down while repeatedly glancing at me. It seemed that she was trying to show me that they were all getting along well.
An awkward smile crept onto my face. This side of her sure is adorably sincere.
“Okay, darling... I’ll, umm, be nice to them,” Tailtiu said hesitantly.
“They’re Reina’s acquaintances, so please do.”
Tailtiu looked relieved, maybe because she saw that I wasn’t angry anymore. Meanwhile, Zelos and Merlyn looked pale, like prisoners standing at the scaffold. They were trapped here, after all.
“Such crazy strength!” Zelos said.
“Sh-She won’t let go!” Merlyn said.
“Anyway, I’ll say it again, but she isn’t a bad girl,” I said.
“O-Of course...”
“Yes, we understand! So...could you make her let go?” Merlyn said. “I feel like I’m dying...”
Tailtiu could crush their hands if she really wanted to, so I could understand where they were coming from.
“Come here, Tailtiu,” I said.
“Mhmm!”
She rushed up to me, seemingly already losing interest in those two. With a thump, she crashed into my stomach as usual.
“Darliiing,” she said, nuzzling her head up against me.
I stroked her hair. “Yeah, yeah.”