There was the sound of leaves rustling. When the wind blew, the greenery bent over, making it obvious to see where it had passed through. A small figure flew over. It was barely flapping its wings and seemed somewhat unsteady. At last, it dropped down over the field.
“Pyuu-ee...”
It flopped, out of energy. It crashed down into the middle of the medicinal herb garden, getting dirt all over itself. The first to notice it was Tee, who was waddling around.
Tee spread its wings and flapped them, checking their condition before flying—but on second thought, that was too much hassle, so it tottered over instead.
Tee’s duty was to protect Lacey’s field. Any ruffians that sought to harm the field would be justly punished. After all, the herb garden was an important food source for Tee and the boar as well. Hm? It noticed something strange and waddled closer. But since the herbs were too tall to easily walk through, it flew up a little. And then...
“KYEW-KWHUUUUUUUUUH?!”
What the heck?! it screamed.
∗ ∗ ∗
Around the same time, Lacey was peacefully savoring the last vestiges of the spring winds along with Wayne again today. They’d set a table outside the mansion and were enjoying tea, almost like they were having a picnic.
She had recalled the Starseeking sign that Allen had made for her and kept inadvertently glancing outside the window. “If you’re thinking about it that much, why not just go outside and look at it for a while?” Wayne had suggested. Thus they were spending teatime looking at the sign. It seemed kind of bizarre, but she partially felt proud as well. It was a strange feeling.
As Lacey talked about inconsequential things with Wayne, she occasionally looked over at the sign and her cheeks loosened up with bashfulness. She’d finally stepped forward. It made her heart pound with anxiety, but she was simultaneously ecstatic. When she noticed her own feelings, she felt embarrassed.
Wayne’s expression said that he could read Lacey like a book. He laughed a bit in amusement and nibbled on the souvenir snacks he’d brought. “Oh yeah, since you wrote letters to everyone, that means you must’ve successfully registered your address,” he nodded, impressed.
But this seemed to be unfamiliar terminology. “R-Regist...addre...?”
“You’re kidding me. You used the dragon post, right?”
“N-No. There’s a collection box in Plume Village, so I just...put them in there.”
The “dragon post” was the short name for the Dragon Postal Service, a system where mail was delivered by a smaller subspecies of dragons: mini-dragons. Lacey had used one of the public boxes placed in villages and towns, which were picked up in bulk. However, nobles could get a contract for direct pickup service from their homes. Additionally, people like Wayne who held an important position in the country, and others who had been approved by the tamer guild that managed the dragon post could have letters delivered to them wherever they were, and they could call for a pickup as well. Mini-dragons had a strong sense of smell and wouldn’t forget a human’s scent once they’d learned it.
Lacey was aware of that much. At the moment, Wayne was staring at her from across the table, giving her a vague look that hovered somewhere between disbelief and total plausibility. His silence added to her anxiety. She gulped her saliva and her stomach grumbled. Did I do something weird?
Lacey’s gaze darted around suspiciously. Being as timid as she was, it had taken a great deal of courage and preparation to write letters to her companions. She couldn’t possibly have gotten something wrong. She desperately tried to stay strong.
“S-So what’s the matter with that? I checked the addresses on the envelopes multiple times before putting them into the box. I think they should’ve gotten there fine!”
“Yeah, they’ll get there. But once they arrive, you should expect a reply. If you don’t register your home address, the mini-dragons can’t deliver any mail you get back.”
She crumbled in an instant.
“I-I’ve never gotten a letter from anyone besides you before, so I didn’t even think about that...”
“That thing I made with magic? When you tried it, it went fast enough to kill me, so you made the right choice in sending your mail by dragon post. Well done.”
“W-Wahhh...”
Wayne complimented her on even small things. But Lacey was just too clumsy, and that made her feel a little suffocated. She had thought she was going forward, but she’d just marched right into a ditch instead. She felt so mortified that she just wanted to curl up in a hole and stay there.
“All you have to do to register is send your address to the tamer guild, so it’s pretty easy. Wait, does this mansion even have a mailbox?”
Lacey was already on the verge of death. In order to receive mail back, she’d have to start by making a mailbox. That had been completely outside of her expectations. She covered her face with both hands and silently drooped.
Wayne frantically tried to cheer her up. “W-Well, if you tell them that you’re the Dawn Witch, you might be able to register individually even without a mailbox, like me. And if that doesn’t work, we can just make you one. Yeah, I can make one for you!” He patted Lacey’s shoulder. “Just let me handle it!”
Wayne was an all-rounder hero who had repaired the mansion roof and was now even going to craft a mailbox. Lacey almost felt that he was too versatile, but this wasn’t the time to bring it up.
“You’re right. A reply might be coming even as we speak! We can’t just sit down and relax!”
“Precisely.”
“But in the first place, I might not get any replies back. I wonder if I’m just getting way, way ahead of myself...”
“Doesn’t swinging from high to low like that wear you out?”