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“Levia!”
“No, that can’t be!”
The two screamed and ran toward Levia. They knew better than anyone that Levia did not have much in the way of defense.
“I took her for some kind of scoundrel, but… apparently she had a decent side after all.”
“This leaves a bad taste, Brother…”
The man closed his eyes as though offering a silent prayer, while the boy wore an awkward expression.
They were still people of unknown background, but the fact that they had not taken hostages suggested they were not complete cowards. Perhaps this outcome was not what they had wanted either.
“Let’s go. We have to find the Spirit Stone.”
“Y-yeah.”
“Oh my, where do you think you’re going?”
The two attackers spun around. It was a familiar voice: the woman who had spent the whole fight provoking them.
“Levia! You’re alive?!”
“Yes. I’m not sure why, but apparently I survived.”
She came striding through the flames without any sign of injury.
“Impossible… She’s completely unharmed?!”
“It’s not just that, Brother. The fire doesn’t seem to be affecting her at all.”
It would have been impossible even if she had protected herself with magical reinforcement or water magic. Neither could completely block out heat.
The two watched Levia with even greater caution. Then, when she finally emerged from the flames—
““““Pfft?!””””
Everyone present burst out at once.
And no wonder.
Levia stepped out of the flames—
completely naked.
“You really did it this time. For some reason I haven’t taken even the slightest bit of damage, but…”
“W-wait, Levia!”
“Liz, there is no need to worry. As you can see, I am completely unharmed. More importantly, we need to deal with those ruffians.”
Levia narrowed her eyes and muttered, “The crime of frightening me carries a heavy sentence,” before leaping at the man.
Completely naked.
“W-wait! Don’t come any closer!”
“What fool stops merely because someone tells them to?”
The man backed away. Levia did not let the opening go to waste and swung her sword.
Something bounced with the motion.
A thin line of red began running from the man’s nose. He raised his left hand to stop it, but it refused to stop. Levia looked puzzled. Perhaps he was simply prone to nosebleeds.
“Levia! Clothes! Your clothes!”
Liz came running over in a panic with a piece of cloth in her hands.
“Huh?”
Levia looked down in confusion.
“What?! Why am I naked?!”
She looked genuinely shocked. Apparently she really had not noticed.
“My clothes! …Don’t tell me they burned? They burned?! Those clothes were ridiculously expensive!”
She flew into a rage, but made no attempt to cover herself.
Even a man would normally cover at least his crotch, but Levia had possessed enormous confidence in her own body even back when she was Shinnosuke. As a result, she felt no embarrassment whatsoever at being seen naked. There was nothing about herself she considered shameful.
She might charge people for the privilege, though.
“Theo! Retreat! We’re retreating!”
“Huh? O-okay! Get on, Brother!”
While Levia was distracted, the man, still holding his nose, jumped onto the dragon’s back. Theo joined him, and the two fled while a furious voice shouted from the ground, “You’re paying for my clothes!”
And so, despite the thoroughly ridiculous conclusion, the crisis came to an end.
For one particular person, however, the crisis was not yet over.
“…Amazing. She beat the dragon!”
Lulu stared from behind the wagon with sparkling eyes.
Levia’s standing in her mind had risen enormously. She had already thought Levia was amazing before, but what she had seen today was on another level.
After all, Levia had driven off a dragon.
Dragons were among the most common monsters in stories. Sometimes they were allies and sometimes enemies, but in the picture books Lulu knew, dragons were evil monsters. A righteous knight would defeat the dragon that had kidnapped a princess and then marry the princess. It was a common sort of story.
In other words, Lulu understood things simply as “dragon = bad guy” and “person who defeats dragon = righteous knight.” Considering she had nearly been killed by one herself, that understanding was not particularly wrong. Levia had put herself in harm’s way to protect Lulu from that evil creature and then driven the dragon away. It was only natural that Lulu would admire her.
“Daddy! Levia was amazing! She’s a princess, but she’s strong like a knight too!”
Lulu turned to her father for agreement. He had been saved by Levia too, so she assumed he must feel the same way.
But no answer came.
“Daddy! Daddy! …Daddy?”
Something seemed wrong.
Lulu looked up at her father.
What she saw there was—
“Honestly, this is ridiculous. Do you have any idea how much those clothes cost?”
“I don’t know. And wearing something like that outside the city in the first place was your own fault.”
Levia grumbled as she changed clothes.
Her own clothes had burned, so she was wearing Ney’s. They were considerably too large, but still better than Liz’s, which would have been far too short. Muttering, “Ugh, ugly,” she buttoned them up.
“But why were you unharmed?” Ney asked. “Were you hiding something else?”
“Not exactly… I think it was probably thanks to this.”
After finishing changing, Levia walked over to the scorched ground and picked up something red.
“This stone. It started glowing right before the attack hit me.”
The Spirit Stone.
That was what the attackers had called it. It was once again giving off the same faint light as before.
“I see. So it was the stone. What exactly is this thing?”
“Maybe it has some kind of barrier effect… Wait. Why is it here? You threw it earlier, didn’t you?”
“That was a fake. I just threw something random I had in my pocket. Who in their right mind would throw something worth hundreds of millions?”
“Oh…”
“Well, of course.”
The two accepted the explanation immediately. Throwing something that hard would destroy most objects. There was no chance Levia would do something so wasteful with an item that valuable.
“In any case, the danger has passed. Let’s get moving. There’s no guarantee they won’t attack us again.”
“Right. Let’s go.”
The three walked back toward the wagon. Fortunately, there did not seem to be any damage, and both Land and Lulu looked unharmed. Protecting them had been worth it.
“Ah, thank goodness you’re all safe! That was incredible! I never imagined you would actually drive off a dragon!”
Land welcomed them with his arms spread, looking as though he had just witnessed something extraordinary.
“As expected of A-rank adventurers. When the dragon appeared, I was prepared to die… Truly, that was incredible. Thank you.”
“This attack happened because of our own circumstances,” Ney replied. “There is no need to thank us. If anything, we should apologize.”
Ney lowered her head. Land gave a wry smile in response.
“Well, I won’t say I have no feelings about that, but the fact remains that you protected us. Miss Levia in particular put herself in harm’s way for us. After everything you’ve done, I can hardly complain.”
“I see. Thank you. We will continue to protect you properly for the rest of the journey.”
“I’m counting on you. Come on, Lulu, you should thank them too.” Land reached out to lower Lulu’s head.
…But for some reason, she smoothly dodged his hand. While Land wondered what that was about, Lulu ran over to Levia.
“Thank you, Levia! You were so cool!”
“My, thank you. You did very well too, Lulu. You didn’t cry, did you?”
“I didn’t! You said I shouldn’t cry when monsters show up! That’s what… Daddy said.”
“?”
Lulu’s voice trailed off toward the end. Everyone tilted their heads at the sudden drop in enthusiasm.
“Haha, it’s because crying makes you stand out and draws attention. The people being protected have to do what they can too. You did very well, Lulu.” Land reached out to pat her head as he praised her… only for her to dodge him again.
Wondering why, Land peered at Lulu’s face.
She looked thoroughly disgusted.
“L-Lulu…”
“Yes. Did you need something?”
“Why are you talking to me like that?!”
He had no idea what was happening. Land searched his memory for an answer, but nothing came to mind.
Ignoring him as he puzzled over it, Lulu walked over to Levia and began pushing her away while saying, “Levia, no.” When Levia asked what was wrong, Lulu answered with the same displeased expression.
“Levia, you shouldn’t get too close to Daddy.”
“Why? Does he smell old?”
“That’s not it…”
Lulu seemed to be remembering something. After glancing at Land for a moment, she muttered:
“Daddy’s a pervert.”
“—!”
Land understood everything. Unfortunately, he understood everything.
In his defense, men were simply built to look when they saw a beautiful woman, regardless of whether they had feelings for her. If such a woman suddenly ended up completely naked right in front of him, staring was unavoidable. If his expression loosened a little in the process, that too was only natural. In other words, as a man, Land had done nothing wrong.
As a father, however, that was another matter. He should not have shown that side of himself in front of his daughter. He had let his guard down precisely because she was still young. If, for example, Lulu’s older sister had seen him like that, there was no need to imagine what would happen.
“L-Lulu…”
Land held out a hand as though pleading for salvation. Lulu merely stared back at him with disgust and contempt. Any father would have understood what was going through her mind.
“Dad, you’re gross.”
Lulu, age six.
Her separation from her father had come far too early.