Chapter 192: A Brief Parting
“Ryuuuu-kun~~~~ I came to hang out~~~~”
Knock, knock. Knock, knock.
“Huh? That’s strange… you usually come out right away. Ryuuuu-kun~~~~”
Knock, knock. Knock, knock.
Knock, knock. Knock, knock.
“Captain Lily, it’s likely that Ryu and his party are currently out. Let’s give up for today and come back tomorrow.”
“And if we don’t hurry, the heroes are going to leave without us, Captain.”
Though her subordinate and Louise tried to stop her, Lily stubbornly refused to back down.
“Ehh~ but I haven’t seen him in days… Heeey—”
Knock, knock.
At that moment, the inn’s general manager appeared from behind them.
“If you’re looking for Ryu-sama’s party, they departed last night.”
Lily’s mouth slowly fell open, her mind blanking out as the words sank in.
And then—
“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH⁉‼”
Her utterly undignified scream echoed throughout the inn.
“To think they would leave without even saying goodbye…”
“Well… that does sound like Ryu.”
“Sniff… Lily-chan is… in shock…”
◇◇◇
“—And that’s what happened‼ Can you believe it⁉ It’s unbelievable‼”
Lily vented her frustrations loudly to the heroes, her arms flailing for emphasis.
“To begin with, you shouldn’t expect that kind of thing from Ryu,” one of them said dryly.
“He’s clearly not the type to give emotional farewell speeches,” another added with a wry smile.
“If he actually went out of his way to say goodbye, that would be the real surprise. Hahaha.”
“Ahh‼ Even you guys are saying that⁉”
Still puffing her cheeks in irritation, Lily was gently restrained by her subordinate.
“Captain, our primary mission is to guard the heroes, after all.”
“I know that, but still…”
“There, there.”
“Don’t treat me like a horse‼”
“Honestly, in your current state, you’re worse than one. And you’re single too.”
“Waaaaaahhhhh‼‼”
Takashi muttered quietly, almost to himself—
“…Still, I did want to see him one last time.”
“Yeah… it’s already been four days since we last met,” Amane added.
“We learned a lot from Ryu,” Kaito said thoughtfully. “If it weren’t for him, we’d probably still be stuck in that Great Desert of Colossal Beasts, going nowhere.”
“That’s right,” Amane nodded. “The fact that he left without saying anything… maybe, in a way, it’s his message to us—to choose our own path from here on.”
“…Yeah,” Takashi agreed. “First, we need to keep an eye on the Demon King’s movements… and deal with the internal situation of the Garcia Kingdom.”
Meanwhile, Lily had collapsed onto the ground, lying face-down as tears streamed from her eyes.
“Fweeeeeh… I’m never going to see Ryu-kun againnnnn…!”
At that moment, the three heroes approached her.
“Captain Lily. Since Ryu and the others are gone, let’s focus on our next plan.”
“…Next plan?” she sniffled.
“Remember what Ryu said?”
‘Sure, dealing with the Demon King is important—but before that, shouldn’t you fix your own country first?’
“…That.”
“………………”
“And if the Demon King ever goes completely out of control and we decide we can’t handle it,” Amane continued, “you can just open the paper Ryu gave you.”
“…The one with the address on it, right?”
“Yes. Even if it’s not a life-or-death situation, we can always just go visit his house. Honestly, he’s pretty kind when it comes down to it.”
“You’re right‼” Lily suddenly sprang to her feet, her tears forgotten. “When we have time, we can all go visit Ryu’s place together‼”
“Exactly. We could even bring Saionji-san and the First Special Unit along.”
“That sounds amazing‼ It’ll definitely be fun‼”
Just like that, Lily’s mood made a complete turnaround.
“Alright then‼ Before diving into the dungeon today, let’s go see the dungeon master‼ Hurry up, or I’ll leave you behind~‼”
And with that, she skipped off toward the Great Desert dungeon, her energy fully restored.
“Nice one, Takashi.”
“As expected of our leader!”
“Perhaps we should leave the captain’s emotional counseling to Takashi-sama from now on.”
“Indeed. Fighting poison with poison—quite fitting.”
“…Did you just call me poison too?”
Lily, her subordinate, Louise.
Takashi, Amane, Kaito.
For now, the six of them would go their separate ways.
◇◇◇
Meanwhile, Ryu and his party were high above the clouds.
Alice rode atop a jade-green dragon.
The rest sat upon the broad, gleaming back of a silver dragon, its scales shimmering beneath the sunlight.
…The reason being—
“To think you ended up in the same situation as us,” Ryu said with a faint chuckle.
“I should be the one surprised,” Ryoma replied. “Leaving aside myself and Alice, things progressed far too quickly for you lot.”
In truth, on that very day, Ryoma had also formally become engaged to Alice—and in doing so, had revealed the truth about his draconic nature.
“Well, I’ve technically known Stingray longer than Lena,” Ryu said thoughtfully.
“And yet she became your third fiancée…”
“Our silver-haired knight is a bit… inexperienced when it comes to these things.”
“Quite different from a certain nocturnal loli, wouldn’t you say?”
“Written as ‘wise forest elf,’ read as ‘succubus.’”
“HEY‼ I can hear you, you insolent lizard-brained fools‼”
At that moment, Stingray spoke up.
“By the way, Ryu-sama… are you really sure it was okay not to say goodbye to Captain Lily and the others?”
“Yeah. If I had, they would’ve clung to me and begged me to stay. I gave them my address, so that’s enough. Besides, we’ve already learned plenty about that other world from the heroes. And honestly, I can get back to the Federation in seconds now, so there’s no real reason to linger.”
“Well… Lena-sama, Alice-sama, and Estelle-sama all have the academy starting in a week, right? There’s probably a lot to prepare, so it makes sense to head back early. And the dungeon master is waiting too.”
────After that.
Lena waved her hand energetically.
“See you~‼ Alice-chan, Ryoma-san‼”
“I look forward to seeing you again soon‼” Estelle called out.
“Goodbye~‼ Please teach me swordsmanship again next time‼”
“Gyao.” “Brrr.” “….” boing
Alice waved back with a bright smile.
“Bye, everyone! Let’s meet again soon!”
“Later, Ryoma. Don’t mess up installing the crystal,” Ryu said.
“That’s my line,” Ryoma shot back. “Someone’s magic capacity is practically impossible to control, after all.”
The two dragons parted ways—
The silver dragon heading toward the Arden viscountcy.
The jade dragon toward Count Blanc’s domain.
Each planned to first construct a dungeon beneath their respective main estates, then return to their secondary residences in the capital, linking the two directly.
—For now, the grand adventure of Dragon Road would take a brief rest.