the next morning
　As we were having breakfast in the inn's dining room, Chief of the Guard Eel came in with about ten men in tow.
'These men will be the captive force.
　Yale said, and introduced everyone to me.

　Although they all look like people.
　They are all ancient monster races, and in their original form, they are giant monsters.

　By the way.
　As the commander of these ten men, Eel will be coming with us.
'I'll be looking forward to working with you for a while.
　And Eel.
　For me, it's nice to have someone who is familiar to me accompany me.

　After shaking hands with Eel and finishing breakfast, we
　They moved on to the frontier city of Guianacombe, where the magic ship is located.

　There.
　After loading up the captors' luggage, we left for the frontier small city of Liberty.

　Everyone of the ancient monster tribe...
　It seems that this magic ship was the first time for all of them.
I've heard rumors but I never expected it to be so soon.
　They were both impressed and amazed.

　To all of those ancient monster tribes.
How's the bear?　Awesome bear?
　And for some reason, Korok was looking very smug, which was somewhat amusing.

　On the way.
　I stopped at the Quinn Trading Company in King's Landing.

　I showed Quinn the stone jewelry.
　It was that accessory that Moffaveratta had made, from Lexpona's shop.
　Then Quinn, his eyes widened.
This technology is amazing!　It's like a gem that shines in the rough when it's polished...
　I marveled at that.

　With relief that the reaction was just as I imagined it would be.
　I explained to Quinn what had happened.

　Then Quinn nodded with a humph.
All right, I'll see Mr. Moffaveratta at Guianacombe in a few days.
　Yes, he promised me.

　To Guianacombe.
　Although the number of flights is small, there are regular flights on the magic ship.
　They were going to use that to their advantage.

　After such a conversation with Quinn.
　We returned safely to the small frontier city of Liberty.

　When we arrived at the town hall's magic ship depot by the dragon scale mining cave
Welcome back.
　And Eldena was the first to greet me.
　I feel bad for Biblina and the others who are waiting behind them, but I'm still very happy to be greeted by Erdena.

　To me like that.
Well I'll let you have your real wife.
　And I don't know, I don't know, I think it's kind of like what Biblina was muttering about.
　Anyway, the first thing to do is to direct the guests.

　They've been gathering to greet us.
　I'm going to briefly explain to Eldena and the others what happened.
　I told him that I was going to take this captive team of 11 people, including Eel, to investigate the area around the site of that settlement village again.

　After that
　We arranged for an innkeeper in town to accommodate these eleven people.
　We chose a restaurant with a dining room and the owner of the restaurant.
You'll have to charge the town hall for these people's lodging and meals.
　And I asked for it.

　Even though my stay was short.
　So I figured that since they had done so in Guianacombe, I should do so.

　While Yale and the others were taking a break at the inn, I went to the office of the town hall.
　Even though the number of cases to be processed has decreased considerably thanks to the manpower shortage being eliminated considerably thanks to the migration of the Charles family, there was a good amount of paperwork piled up, so I look through it.
''Thank you for your hard work, Bocchan.
　Wunya brought me a cup of tea with her usual smile.
　She has been taking care of me since her time in the capital, so she knows exactly what I like in a tea.
　On this day, I was a little tired after my long journey, so she took care of me
　She serves me a slightly sweet tea.

　I'm bringing the tea to my mouth while thanking Unja for that.
　That Wunya was sort of wandering around me, sniffing and humming.
Hey, little man, are you looking for a new girlfriend over there?
　And one word.

　Huh?
　I don't remember that at all, but...

Is that so? .........or is it a strange woman's scent coming from around here.......
　And Unja smells all over my pants pocket.

　Oh.

　Speaking of which, I've got some accessories made by Moffaveratta.
　I brought some home with me, I thought I'd take some home with me.

"Here you go.
　As I said this, I handed the accessory to Unja and explained the process.
　Then Unja, smiling.
Well, all right, then.
　As he said this, he happily wore the accessory, which was a necklace.
　Unja, smiling at me.
I'll pay you back in kind, my dear. Just let me know when you're ready.
　And just as he said that, he put his mouth to my ear
It's been a good day for the last three days.
　She whispered to me with a bewitching smile instead of her usual innocent smile.

　For a moment, my heart skipped a beat.
Thanks for your consideration.
　And soon she's back to her usual routine again, bowing and leaving the room, Unja.

　It's something.
　Una always gets me down, and that's why I think that....

◇ ◇.

　which reminds me ...
　I wondered what happened to the girl born from the egg of the ancient monster race that I brought back with me.
　
　That's what I thought.
　I went to Chief of the Guard Googs' room.

'Oh, my lord, uh...'
　And Gugsu, whose upper body is half-naked, responds to you in a somewhat clipped manner.

　It seems he just took a shower.
'Don't get me wrong. It wasn't like that, you know.
　He takes me inside the room, repeating the words, "I'm not going to be able to do that.

　In

　In that room.
　There was Lil Pop, naked, wiping that girl's body.
''Ah, my lord. Good work, my lord.''
　Lil Pop doesn't care that he's naked, but he's putting clothes on the girl.
'Father, do you have any prettier clothes?　The goop looks lovely in this kind of outfit.
　And throwing words at Googs.

　....What?　Father.

Oh, it can't be helped.
　When Lil' Pop called me 'captain', he made a sad face, you know.
　I asked him, "Why don't you call him 'Papa', Mom? So I don't have any choice...
　And googly eyes.

　And so it was explained to me.
　It's true that even the ancient monster tribe has asked me to take care of this child.
　It's reassuring and gratifying to have two people who accept me like family.
If the town needs help, just let me know and we'll see what we can do. Let us know if the town needs help, and we'll see what we can do.
　I tell him that.
　He left the Googs' room at a quick pace.

　After all, Lil Pop was still naked.
　I've been scavenging for clothes to dress my goop.
　To be honest, it's partly because I had trouble finding a place to look.

　However.
　And before you know it, they even named it Goopop...

　Probably taken from Googs and Lil Pop, though.
　The way Lil' Pop, who had never shown any interest in anything other than fighting, was looking for Goupop's clothes in a single-minded effort to find them was a refreshing sight.

　What was I thinking?
　For some reason, Erdena's face came to mind, and...

　I am.
　I made up my mind to take Erdena out to dinner in the evening, and hobbled back to the town hall.