Chapter 81.

After offering the chair to me, Xenovia called out to the people in the neighbouring room .

「Regina, Dion, Milt! Master has arrived! Come quickly」

Apparently, all four of my disciples were assembled here .

Not much time has passed since dawn, yet it was surprising that all of them were assembled .

「Everyone got up early, I see」

「Going to bed early and rising early is good for the health after all」

Xenovia said with a self-satisfied look .

My disciples are all advanced in age . Even though Xenovia has a youthful outward appearance, she is already beyond 130 years old .

The saying that old people rise early seems to be true .

However, I do not put those thoughts into words .

「…old people wake up early!」

「Rubeum, stop that」

「Ehー, whyー?」

Rubeum climbed onto my shoulder and flapped his wings .

Rubeum is still a newborn .

Despite that, whom did he hear that from?

As I was thinking that, Dion appeared from the back of the room .

「That’s right, old people wake up early」

「Dion!」

Rubeum flew from my shoulder onto Dion’s .

Rubeum gets spoiled as Dion tenderly petted Rubeum .

It would seem that, Dion was the one who taught about old people waking up early .

Shiro, who also likes Dion very much, ran up to him .

「Dion sure is popular among the god-beastsー」

「The beasts probably like me because I am large」

「Pigi」

「Fluffy is the only one who stayed with me」

As I was petting Fluffy who was sitting on my lap,

「JukooJukooJukokoko」

Regina comes along .

Clad in full-face helmet and armour . And she had the giant club with her .

「……ha, haha……wahahhahahaha」

I burst out laughing .

Perhaps due to me laughing out, Fluffy also got excited and wiggled around intensely .

「Master, what happened?」

Regina asked and approached me while producing the funny “juukojuuko” noise .

After laughing for some time, I told Regina .

「…I’m absolutely sure, you are trying to make me laugh on purpose!」

「You found out?」

Regina promptly took off her helmet and armour, and placed her giant club on the floor .

「Regina, midway through you always tried to make me laugh!」

「Because the sight of Master enduring your laughter is cute」

「It’s not cute . If I had laughed, I would’ve been treated as a person without common sense」

To laugh in a serious situation, furthermore at the appearance of the most powerful person in the world, would be exceedingly rude .

「Really, cut me some slack here」

「I’ll be careful from now on」

Regina said so while grinning .

She is definitely planning to do it again . There is nothing more troublesome than this .

Looking at Regina, Xenovia sighed deeply .

「Regina, cut it out . You are causing trouble for Master」

「O-k」

Regina hugged and picked me up from behind, and then she sits on the couch as is .

Xenovia and Dion took a seat facing Regina and me .

Immediately, Shiro attempted to climb up on Dion .

Conversely, Rubeum flew from Dion’s shoulder onto my lap and yawned .

As he is still a baby, he’s probably feeling sleepy .

As Rubeum came on to my lap and shifted places with Fluffy, Fluffy climbed onto Regina’s head .

At that time, Milt appeared from the neighbouring room .

「Master, sorry for making you wait」

Milt looked a little tired .

The youngest among my disciples, Milt, who is also an ordinary human, looks to be the most advanced in age .

「Milt, are you alright? Are you sleeping properly?」

「Yes, sorry for making Master worry . I had something to investigate」

「You must sleep properly, you know? You are no longer young after all」

「Thank you very much」

I really hope he would take better care of his health .

After that, while petting Rubeum who was falling asleep, I asked Dion .

「Rubeum, ah, I named this dragon child as Rubeum…」

「That is a good name」

「Thank you . How did you come to find him?」

「It is a long story…」

Dion, who was on a business trip to a distant place; decided to come back to the academy when he heard the news about my return .

En route, he dropped by a dragon newt settlement near the academy .

Although he said near the academy, it would take at least five hours on foot .

Dion usually drops by the settlement on the way back to the academy it seems; so long as it wasn’t an utmost emergency .

That settlement was Dion’s stronghold, in other words, the nearest dragon newt settlement to the academy .

Coincidentally, it was the largest dragon newt settlement on the continent .

For that reason, many different dragon newts gather there to rely on Dion .

Also, the information acquired by the dragon newts is gathered in this settlement .

「As I dropped by the settlement to visit the Temple of the Dragon God as usual……」

While Dion is the beloved child of the Water God, he is also a priest of the Dragon God .

Incidentally, although he is the beloved child of the Water God, he is not a priest of the Water God .

「Rubeum, who just hatched from the egg, was at the innermost part of the temple before the statue of Dragon God-sama」

「Hou?」

「It was evening at the time, but going by the testimony of the priests who live in the temple, the egg wasn’t there in the morning」

「So it appeared somewhere between morning and evening…」

「I had thought that this child was entrusted to me by Dragon God-sama」

「Well, it’s normal to think that」

「However, as I picked up Rubeum, he called out『Vill Bolms?』」

「Rubeum called out my name?」

「Although, the pronunciation was quite strange . But I realised it was Master’s name that I had heard from Xenovia」

「So that is why you readily believed me when we met for the first time」

「That’s right」

Dion said and smiled .