"You're late..." (Reina)
Quite some time had passed since they arrived at the meeting place, the forest near the royal capital.
Reina was grumbling, but that couldn't be helped. There were no accurate clocks in this world, so meeting times were pretty arbitrary. At best, they could only be expressed as first thing in the morning, mid-morning, before noon, first thing in the afternoon, or in the evening.
Travelling by carriage or horse was also usually delayed by half a day or even several days due to weather, road conditions, damage to the carriage wheels and axles, attacks by monsters or bandits, and so on.
Therefore, no one would complain about a slight delay when meeting outdoors, even if they weren't far from the royal capital.
So even though Reina said that, she wasn't actually angry or upset.
It is mainly because of Mile that Crimson Vow's travels were always relatively punctual.
Being able to instantly free a carriage wheel from the mud or lifting a carriage with a broken axle and easily repairing it, were not things that an ordinary person could do. But they always offered their services to help out, whether they were a stagecoach or a merchant caravan guard.
…Whenever Crimson Vow_ applied to accept an escort request, they would immediately hear from the caravan or carriage maker confirming their employment.
Usually, a certain department within the guild would check a candidate's credibility and abilities and conduct an interview, but with the Crimson Vow, the decision was always made almost immediately.
Well, it's not just their abilities and trustworthiness that count, but also the fact that they're all young women, they're all magicians could use water magic and healing magic, there were things the client wanted to have transported in storage magic, and there were many other reasons as well...
Many clients came to Mile wanting to enjoy her cooking and ask for meals to be provided while they were traveling for an additional fee.
In any case, even humans could end up having to wait several days for a meeting outdoors. But when it came to a long-lived species whose concept of time is vastly different from ours...
However, this time the other party was an ancient dragon, so there was no need to worry about it taking longer than expected to travel, which is a relief.
As Reina and the others were having a tea party, a black dot suddenly appeared in the sky and began to grow rapidly. ...It seemed that Kragon had arrived.
However, they had been kept waiting for quite some time, so this time they thought it would be ok to make the other party wait a little longer. Thinking this, Reina and the others continued to leisurely enjoy their tea and sweets.
"WELL THEN, LET'S GET GOING, MILE-SAMA." (Kragon)
The long-lived ancient dragon didn't mind being made to wait a little.
Normally, one would have been furious at the fact that "An inferior creature had made the ancient dragon wait," but Kragon, who was deeply grateful to Mile, could not have felt that way, and he really didn't care about what felt like just a few seconds to humans.
And since the only person he is truly grateful to was Mile, he respected the other three for their fighting ability and treated them politely because they were "Mile-sama's comrades," but he didn't really respect them. They were merely "Mile-sama's comrades" and were merely treated as an extra Mile. He also let them ride on his back as "Mile-sama's accessories".
Therefore, in situations like these, the only person to call out to was Mile.
"I'm sorry for making you come all the way here..."
"NO, REALLY, DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT. A FEW DAYS TO US IS LIKE A FEW SECONDS TO HUMANS. BUT FOR SOMEONE LIKE ME WHO IS BORED, ANYTHING DIFFERENT FROM MY DAILY ROUTINE IS MORE THAN WELCOME. WHAT'S MORE, IF I CAN BE OF HELP TO YOU, MILE-SAMA, WHO HAS BEEN SO KIND TO ME, THEN THAT'S THE BEST THING I CAN DO. …OF COURSE, I’M ALSO THINKING THAT IF I CURRY FAVOR WITH MILE-SAMA, SHE MIGHT BE ABLE TO HELP ME IF I GET SERIOUSLY INJURED AND LOSE A BODY PART AGAIN, SO PLEASE DON’T HESITATE TO…" (Kragon)
"Ahaha... When that time comes, leave it to me!" (Mile)
It was unclear whether Kragon was serious or joking, but Mile agreed with a laugh, thinking that it was a small price to pay.
It was highly unlikely that an ancient dragon would be seriously injured like that, so it was most likely just lip service from Kragon so that Mile would feel free to rely on him in the future, but having a means of super-fast travel with friends was a great source of security in case of an emergency, so Mile decided to gratefully accept Kragon's kindness.
...Besides, it seemed like he was really bored with his daily life and wanted something interesting.
"…SO, WHAT CAN I HELP YOU WITH THIS TIME?" (Kragon)
Their destination had been announced, so this was not about something Kragon had business with, but rather he wanted to know what Mile and the others were going to do in the demon-inhabited area.
Even though he said they were about to depart, he continued to talk ramblingly and showed no signs of wanting to let Mile and the others ride on his back, so it seemed he wanted to ask before departure, since once the flight began, he would no longer be able to talk to Mile and the others on his back. If he asked beforehand, he could have fun imagining all sorts of things during the flight, and he could also ask any questions that came to mind after arriving.
It seemed like he was really enjoying his role as a workhorse this time.
So, in an attempt to meet those expectations, Mile decided to teach him some simple things... because if he went into too much detail, it would take away from the fun.
"First, Reina-san and Mavis-san have been invited by a male demon." (Mile)
"Huh!!" (Reina + Mavis)
"HOO HOO……" (Kragon)
Reina and Mavis looked a little red and seemed to disagree with what Mile had said.
And for some reason, Kragon seemed a little interested.
Kragon probably thought nothing of human love affairs in the same way that humans think of salmon spawning, but from what Beldetes said when they first met, Mile knew that Kragon's age was equal to the number of years he had been single, so she thought that maybe he was hoping that this information might be of some use in his own search for a partner, and brushed it off.
"And next, we will be gathering information on the research you ancient dragons are conducting into prehistoric civilizations." (Mile)
"HUH…" (Kragon)
Kragon seemed a little surprised by Mile's words this time, but the demons were only using them as field workers... and it seemed they were being compensated in some form, so they weren't being used like slaves without pay, and the demons seemed to be happy to cooperate. Well, it's not like they could refuse a request or order from an ancient dragon... so it's not like they have much information. Besides, it's not like the demons would blather about ancient dragons to humans. So, after only being a little surprised for a moment, Kragon lightly ignored Mile's words this time.
In the first place, Kragon was formerly a member of the Warrior Corps, and was currently merely a liaison between the excavation site and the Ancient Dragon Village, so the fact that "It seems that humans are conducting some kind of independent research into ancient civilization" was completely irrelevant to him, and he was not even obligated to report it, so it was probably not something he was particularly concerned about.
In the first place, the Ancient Dragons Investigation Team didn't care what humans, who were inferior lifeforms, did, so even if Kragon had tried to report it, he was certain that they wouldn't listen to him.
It's like a security guard reporting to a professor at a famous university that "Kindergarteners from the neighborhood are trying to investigate the same thing that the professor is investigating and researching." It would be better if they laughed it off, but in most cases they would be scolded with "Don't get in the way of my research with your silly pranks!"
"And the third one is for my complete collection! Now, after visiting humans, elves, dwarves, beastmen, and fairies, I only need to visit the final demon village to complete my collection of all races!" (Mile)
"…OH, OOOH…" (Kragon)
Kragon had no idea what Mile meant by "Complete collection" or what value it had, but he was an intelligent Elder Dragon who understood very well that even Ancient Dragons had different values, and because he was fascinated by Mile, he let it go without delving too deeply into the matter...
And finally the group departed.
Their destination was on the other side of the mountain range in the northern part of the continent.
"Full speed on both sides. Target: Demon settelment area. Kragon, take off!"
And then, Mile's standard line.
"...I thought she'd say something..." (Reina)
"She's Mile-chan after all. She wouldn't miss an opportunity to say a famous line or catchphrase from stories..." (Pauline)
"The last scene of the sequel to 'Space Battleship Yamato'. That made me cry... But a suicide attack ending is not a good omen..." (Mavis)
It was the same old Crimson Vow line...