It shot straight up into the clear blue sky. When it was no more than a speck, Lacey quickly pulled out her staff and hummed an incantation.
“Wait, hold on. Doesn’t that bomb only have a flower fragrance? We didn’t put in the mini-dragon’s scent.”
“...Huh?!”
Wayne looked up at the bomb with his arms folded. Lacey had already finished casting her spell. “Oh crap!” she exclaimed. Not even a moment later, they were hit by an intense shock wave from Lacey’s explosion magic.
“Grroink-oink-oink-oink-oink!” The boar braced his four legs and hung on for dear life. Behind it, the mini-dragon shrieked and Tee fell over backward, flapping its wings.
Lacey stooped down and held on to her hat so that it wouldn’t get blown away. Beside her, Wayne was the only one who hadn’t budged. His bangs just got wildly swept up.
“How did that happen?” he asked.
“I was so focused on getting it to fly as far as possible that I overdid it...”
“I get where you’re coming from, but don’t do that again.”
He was right. It was a good thing that just in case, they’d moved out to a nearby field instead of staying in the mansion’s backyard.
After a short delay, there came a mild flower fragrance and droplets of water like a sun shower.
“I messed up,” Lacey said finally.
“Seems like it.”
The two humans murmured to each other, dumbfounded. Out of the corner of their eyes, they could see the monsters running around.
Water! Water! Tee was trying to evade the horrid stuff, whereas the boar and mini-dragon were having a great time.
All they had done was spread a nice smell around. The fragrance was much weaker than expected. It was carried off by the breeze and vanished, leaving only a faint trace.
“It’s tough doing this outside,” Lacey sighed and was about to consider her next move when a shadow appeared in the sky.
It was backlit, so she couldn’t see it well. Lacey squinted and lifted the brim of her hat. The shadow quickly grew larger, and another blast of air accompanied it. This time, Wayne pulled on Lacey’s arm and shielded her behind him. His other arm reached for the sword at his waist.
With a loud flapping sound, a dragon big enough for a person to ride came down from the sky. In fact, there was a child mounted on the dragon. The child looked to be the same age as or slightly younger than Lacey. It was hard to tell because one eye was hidden by long bangs, but judging by his figure, he seemed to be male. The boy jumped down from the dragon’s back. Wayne immediately became even more wary, but soon relaxed his guard.
“You’re a tamer?”
“Yes! You’re the hero Sir Wayne, correct? I’m familiar with the scent of all persons who are registered as an individual with the Dragon Postal Service!”
Wayne made a dismayed face. Few people would be happy to hear that their scent was recognizable. Lacey poked her head out from behind Wayne’s back and noticed that the boy was wearing an armband. It had the insignia of the tamer guild: a likeness of a dragon and a letter.
The boy kept his greeting short. He looked around, calling out someone’s name. “Piana!” The mini-dragon bounded out. Apparently its name was Piana.
It happily cried out, “Pyuu-ee, pyuu-ee!” like a darling child. The boy’s expression softened and he meant to indulge it, but then he quickly tried to scowl. “Hey! You can’t join the Dragon Postal Service with this kind of performance!”
Piana made a pitiful “pyu-eek” sound and cowered.
“The Dragon Postal Service...?” Lacey tilted her head in confusion.
“Yes!” the boy responded enthusiastically.
Wayne had inquired to the Dragon Postal Service about whether there were any missing mini-dragons, but they had responded that there weren’t any. Wondering what was going on, Lacey and Wayne looked at each other. The boy had no idea why they were making these expressions and blinked repeatedly at them.
All their questions would be answered shortly after this.
∗ ∗ ∗
In short, Wayne’s inquiry to the tamer guild had come too early.
Piana didn’t belong to the Dragon Postal Service. It was just a monster who had been tamed by the tamer guild and had been in the middle of its examination to join the postal service. The goal of the exam was to protect the bag and deliver it to the examiner.
Wayne had contacted the tamer guild regarding a lost mini-dragon, but at that moment, Piana was taking the exam. Therefore, it had been too early to declare it lost.
Additionally, the mini-dragon in charge of Wayne’s mail was an express one. If it had been just a little slower, perhaps news of Piana would have reached the guild. But since they had been in too much of a hurry, they had ended up missing the information that came in later.
While everybody looked at each other in confusion, another letter came in from the guild elucidating the situation.
The boy, who was Piana’s owner, had arrived right away because of the bomb that Lacey had launched. They’d completely forgotten to imbue Piana’s scent, but since Piana had helped make it and then fallen asleep while holding it, enough of its scent had seeped in.
Apparently, the boy had known where Piana was all along, but the massive shock wave had startled him enough to make him come check in on the situation.
“That’s a full-blown dragon, right? Those are rare,” Wayne commented while observing the dragon that the boy had ridden in on.
Mini-dragons like Piana didn’t have much of a size difference between juveniles and adults. While mini-dragons and dragons shared similar names, they were actually different species. Wayne stroked his chin and looked up at the dragon that was taller than him. The dragon made a nickering sound.
“Yes, it’s specifically a wind dragon,” the boy confirmed. “It’s not one of those legendary ancient dragons that show up in fairy tales or a temperamental red dragon. I think that phoenix is far more unusual. This is the first time I’ve seen one.”
The boy looked at Tee with a sparkle in his eyes, but Tee just apathetically moved onto Lacey’s head and squatted down. Lacey was upset that it was acting so standoffish, but the tamer boy still seemed to be having fun. He was probably used to this. However, he quickly stiffened his expression and bent down in front of Piana by his feet.
“Piana, I hear you lost your bag during the exam. That’s an automatic disqualification. Plus you lost track of where you were and didn’t notice our scents nearby.”
“Piyahhh...” Piana hung its head dolefully.