“Akemi… Don’t tell me you…” Everyone blankly looked at Akemi when they realized that she had forgotten about not having access to the dungeon. If I remember correctly from Akemi’s father's memories, he always entered the dungeon with a chosen dragon. Could it be that he also needed to be inside the dungeon in order for it to work?

“A-anyway, why don’t we take a break first? I'm sure everyone is tired, right?” Akemi tried changing the subject from the way everyone was staring at her. I’m not sure if Akemi was a smart dragon or if she's just joking it off by acting like that. But anyway, Akemi showed us around the massive castle and how she used to live there. Other than being dragons, they lived their lives just as humans used to many years ago. She also explained how dragons had different ranks and how they followed orders of those above them.

“There must have been a lot of dragons living in this place?” While being amazed by the size of the hallways of this massive castle, Ichika kept looking around as she asked that question. Hina was by Ichika’s side the whole time and didn’t seem to separate from one another. It’s not that I was surprised by this kind of combination, it’s just that I never expected them to get along with each other. But suddenly Hina stopped in front of a painting that was ripped in half, but the picture was still visible enough to be recognized. It was a painting of a beautiful woman with silver hair and silver eyes.

“She’s so pretty…” Hina said as she was staring with great attention. Next to her also came Hina and the other girls.

“This painting was made right after my mother died.” Akemi tried placing the ripped parts of the painting together so everyone could have a look at the whole thing.

“Did Angles…” Akemi silently shook her head left and right when Chloe asked that question.

“One of the chosen fiances did this to my mother.” ( Akemi )

“Chosen fiances?!” ( Hina )

“Yeah, many fiances. My father had selected potential dragons to be engaged with me. But in the end it was up to me if I wanted to accept them or not.” Akemi continued explaining her story while crossing her arms.

“But of course, I wasn't going to accept anyone unless they were able to actually defeat me. That was the only rule I had when choosing a fiance.” She looked at me with a smirk on her face after saying all of that. The other girls looked at me and Akemi continuously, realising something important.

“E-eh!? W-wait, you can’t do that!” Ichika suddenly complained as she got between me and Akemi.

‘Hm? Do what? Can you specify what you mean by that?” Akemi was smirking even more than before as she was getting close to Ichika.

“N-no, I don't want any more k-kisses from you.” But at that moment, Ichika freaked out while hiding herself behind Hina.

Kisses? Just what happened between them while I was in the forest?

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We rested for some hours in this castle. After showing us around, Akemi took each of us into separate rooms that weren't destroyed yet. They were surprisingly clean even though most of the houses were destroyed. But when I woke up, I found everyone sleeping in the same bed as me. The bed was pretty big, so there was more than enough space for everyone.

"Eh? You're awake?" Akemi looked up with her eyes half open.

"Wasn't everyone supposed to sleep in their own room?" I asked her as she was crawling towards me, then she laid down next to me. But as she was doing that, she also pushed me down as well. Right now I was lying right next to Akemi and her face was only some centimeters away from me.

"Why does it matter? Let's just relax and sleep." She started sleeping again after saying that to me.

Some more hours passed and everyone was finally waking up. Since I had nothing to do, I also slept soundly without any monsters suddenly entering my 'presence detection'. But after everyone was fully awake, I got the chance to ask them.

“Were your rooms destroyed?” ( Hatsuko )

“Not really, why?” ( Chloe )

“Then why is everyone in my room?” ( Hatsuko )

“I couldn’t sleep so I came here. Angela and Demonica also wanted to sleep with you so they followed me.” I looked at Akemi after Chloe said that.

“I noticed everyone coming to your room so I decided to join as well.” ( Akemi )

When I looked at Ichika, she blushed as she averted her eyes away from me. But I am a bit surprised that Hina was inside this room as well.

“Ichika didn’t want to come here alone so she asked me to tag along.” ( Hina )

“W-wait, don’t tell him that!!” ( Ichika )

While everyone was saying excuses about this, I was trying to think of a way to enter inside the dungeon. I found it weird that only Akemi’s father could open it. Maybe I should check it out before giving up on it.

“Can you show me the entrance of the dungeon?” I asked Akemi but she looked back at me really confused.

“I can, but why? It’s not like we can enter it.” ( Akemi )

“We won’t know that if we don’t try.” ( Hatsuko )

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