Meanwhile, later on when Lyra was fast asleep…

Carbuncle was staying on guard all alone. Actually, more than staying on guard, she roamed here and there close to the proximity, observing many things. She had already finished exploring the forest more or less, when she was hunting for food, so it wasn’t like she had any inclination to roam far away from the camping site. There was really nothing to see around here. The things she could observe, she had already observed.

 

So, after she finished observing around the vicinity of the forest and the campsite, she sat down on a large, sturdy mushroom that grew a lot around the area, native to Cielle, that they named as Sofshroom. 

It felt as if she was sitting on a sofa. 

“Ah, so it was named after sofa, huh? Sofshroom…,” Carbuncle said to herself as she patted the surface of the mushroom that she was sitting on. 

It was actually named after the elf that discovered the mushroom and found that it could be utilized as a soft chair, back in the ancient days… The elf’s name was Sofia…

Ein, the walking encyclopedia had already explained this even to her, but as expected of Carbuncle, her brain managed to omit the less interesting part, such as the etymology and lengthy history of stuff…

Carbuncle sat on the Sofshroom and enjoyed the nighttime in Cielle’s forest.

 

Night time was a very tranquil one in the place where they camped. 

Since it wasn’t a forest where dangerous monsters would often wander around, the voices they could hear here came from the small monsters and animals, singing insects, and the rustling sound of the plants since it was kind of breezy around the area.

Carbuncle closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The air ‘tasted’ different in different part of the Sphaela. It was truly a wonder. 

Not many might notice if the differences were small, but thankfully Carbuncle was a dragon whose senses were enhanced. One of the things she enjoyed during her pilgrimage around the world was how the air could taste and feel different in each area. It truly made her wonder. 

When she opened her eyes, she felt much calmer. Her eyes darted slowly to take in the scenery around her, as if trying to record everything inside the memory in her mind. 

The only light one could see amidst the dark night was the campfire’s dancing flame, the moon and the stars’ bright shine, and…

 

“Hmm? What is that?”

Carbuncle noticed a dimly glowing blue light fluttering about by the lakeside, so she walked towards the lakeside to find out what it was. From afar, it looked like several small blue light balls flying around, it was a bit peculiar because it didn’t seem like what normal magic light balls would look like.

Upon taking a closer look, Carbuncle widened her eyes.

There were small bugs whose belly part oddly bulged more than their head and bottom part, and the belly part was translucent that one could see their internal organs. Apparently, the fluid in their body was blue and it could glow, and in that moment, most of them were flying with their glowing bodies.

 

“Aquafly!”

Carbuncle excitedly recited its name after finally recalling what it was called.

Native to Cielle, Aquafly could be found near the water source of a place that contained natural mana energy because it fed on the natural mana energy before contributing to the cycle of energy in that place. 

“Can I bring this over as a souvenir? I know a place in the Dragon’s Heritage where it could probably live…,” Carbuncle muttered as she tried to catch the Aquafly, who obviously tried so hard to avoid the frightening grasp of the apex predator…

And thus, it became the game of a cat and a mouse for the dragon and the herd of Aquaflies.

 

Carbuncle could have caught them by force, but since the insects were fragile, she tried her best to hold herself back.

But when the Aquaflies turned so irritating that it seemed by avoiding her clutches, they were making fun of her, Carbuncle exploded.

“Damn you bugs! I could easily catch or even kill you all!!”

She threatened, but sadly the Aquaflies couldn’t understand her words, nor did she understand their language. 

Fortunately for the Aquaflies, Carbuncle still retained a bit of sense of rationality, so she decided to stop. 

 

“Just you wait and see. One day, I’ll bring you back home!” Carbuncle said as she pointed her finger towards the herd of Aquaflies who continued their business without a care in her. 

As Carbuncle walked to return to the campsite, she continued to grumble.

“Damn it, the bugs piss me off. I wonder why it is that none of the dragonkin thought of bringing them to cultivate at home… Are they really that hard to catch?” 

It didn’t cross her mind that the Dragon’s Heritage rarely had other normal living beings due to the extreme climate and living conditions that the Dragon’s Heritage had that not many living beings could survive there, let alone thrive.

 

As Carbuncle walked back to the campsite, she saw the portable clock that Ein brought and laid out next to the campfire. 

“Oh, it’s past my guard shift…,” Carbuncle didn’t even realize how quickly time flew. Perhaps because she was a dragon, who had the longest lifespan among all of the Omness, the sentient and intelligent humanoid races in Sphaela. 

 

Carbuncle then walked to the boys’ tent, trying to remember whose shift was next.

“Was it the Ein boy or the Clav wolf? I can’t remember…,” she muttered as the hand that was lifted up in the air–intended to knock the tent and to call out the next on duty–was put on her head as she scratched her confused head.  

“Oh well, let’s just do it like this,” Carbuncle gave up remembering something that she couldn’t, and instead of calling one of them out from outside, Carbuncle opened the boys’ camp, invading it.

 

“Helloooo?! Wake up, it’s time for work!!” Carbuncle announced with a loud voice as she entered the tent and then closed the tent’s opening back. 

“Gah, you're too loud!” Clavis quickly woke up and scolded Carbuncle.

“Hng…,” Ein slowly woke up and rubbed his eyes. 

“It's your time to stand on guard! Go outside now!” Carbuncle announced as she gestured to the boys to go out. 

“It's Ein's turn. You should've called out for Ein only and leave me be,” Clavis protested. 

Not wanting to admit that she did it because she forgot whose turn it should be, Carbuncle clicked her tongue and said, “I want to sleep, so you guys go out.”

“Here?” Clavis widened his eyes and asked in disbelief. 

“Uh huh,” Carbuncle nodded. 

“The girls’ tent is over there. This is not your place to sleep,” Ein stated as if it was a matter of fact. 

“That place is cramped. I want this whole tent for myself,” Carbuncle covered her lie with another lie without even batting an eye, “I'm a dragon, so I need more space.”

“...”

“...”

Clavis and Ein stared at Carbuncle in disbelief. 

What a lousy excuse… Carbuncle in her humanoid form wouldn't require that much of a space…

 

Feeling like the boys were still reluctant to move, Carbuncle said the ultimate line, “You two call yourselves men?!”

Right after Carbuncle's words entered the boys’ ears, two audible sighs could be heard. 

“Alright, alright,” Clavis said as he opened the tent's flap to go outside. 

“I'm a gentleman so sure, go ahead and have the bed all to yourself… although there should still be enough space for the three of you girls to sleep comfortably with the tent I brought…,” Ein also stood up. 

Carbuncle comfortably didn't register Ein's last line that he mumbled groggily. 

That was how Carbuncle happily hogged a whole tent just for herself. 

 

When Ein and Clavis sat by the fire camp, gathering their soul that were still in dreamland, staring at each other who had the same sleepy expressions on… they decided to break the silence by speaking their mind to each other. 

“Don’t you think you should’ve been kinder when you spoke to Lyra?” Clavis asked.

“Hmm? Aah…”

“I know your feelings towards her.”

“And so am I aware of yours,” Ein said with his sharp eyes on Clavis, as if the groggy and half-hearted response he muttered earlier wasn't from the same person. 

 

“Then, why can’t you treat her kinder? If it were me, to someone I like, I–”

“You just don’t get it, do you, Big Bro Clavis?” Ein didn't even hesitate in interrupting Clavis’ words. 

“What?”

“Big Sis Lyra is already kind and naïve enough. You know how magnet of the same element tend to repel each other while the opposite attract? What Big Sis Lyra needs isn’t someone who can magnify her tenderness. She needs someone who can complement her, to fill up the thing that she lacks. In conclusion, the kind of person who'd be a good match to her is… someone like me. I believe I am better suited for her than you.”

Ein's lengthy explanation startled Clavis, but he quickly got over it to respond to him. 

“I disagree. Birds of the same feather flock together. The more similar people are, the more they are likely to feel familiar and comfortable to each other. You made Lyra feel uncomfortable when you responded to her about Eneida.”

“But that's the truth, right?” Ein didn't respond, but he asked Clavis another question instead. 

“Well…,” Clavis hesitated to answer him, and that was enough for Ein to understand what Clavis was thinking of. 

 

“It seems that there will be no end to our conversation, huh?” Ein asked. 

“Yeah,” Clavis nodded. 

“Let's not continue this conversation, then. Let's just leave it up to Big Sis Lyra, as she's the one who has the final say, don't you think?”

“Glad you're still considering that,” Clavis said. 

“Of course.”

The person that was the center of their conversation had no idea of all this, as she was in a deep sleep at this moment… 

 

The two men then went silent once more, unable to find something they could or wanted to talk about. 

Their eyes would sometimes clash against each other, perhaps the two of them wanted to talk about something but ended up not doing it the moment their eyes met each other…

Eventually, as their eyes darted off, they stared at the same thing: the herd of Aquaflies. 

With tacit understanding, the two of them went to see the herd of Aquaflies together.

“A real life Aquafly, in the wild… There are so many of them, it’s beautiful… This is way better than in the books!” Ein said in awe.

“The lake’s water also faintly glows blue!” Clavis exclaimed.

“It’s because the lake’s the habitat of these Aquaflies. I bet there are Aquaflies deep in there. They live in the water and will fly about from time to time, after all,” Ein said.

“No wonder,” Clavis commented.

“The stars and the moon are so bright that they’re also reflected in the lake water. This is really beautiful. I need to capture this moment. Hang on,” Ein said as he walked away from the place, to the direction of the campsite.

“You brought some magic recording jewels or recording devices?” Clavis asked.

“Both. I think the magic recording jewel is better for this occasion. But I will bring both so the one in the recording device can be shared with everyone as well later,” Ein said.

“That’s great, thanks!” Clavis was happy when he heard Ein’s last sentence that his tail wagged a bit.

 

Ein quickly returned with both the magical and technological recording tools in his hands. He gave the recording device to Clavis while he used the magical recording jewel. 

The two of them harmoniously cooperated well in order to record the stunning moment of the beautiful lake as well as the herd of Aquaflies. It was really a contrast to the atmosphere that was between the two of them before. 

It seemed like a bit of nature worked well!

With this, they were able to pretend as if the conversation earlier never happened and could act like before, not rousing any suspicion from the others.

 

“Maybe we should wake up the others so they can see this moment too?” Clavis asked after finishing the recording.

“Actually, it won’t be long before dawn, so that’s a pretty good idea. Let’s go, before the Aquaflies return to their rest,” Ein nodded.

The two of them had the same thing in their mind.

It would be nice if Lyra could see this beautiful scenery…

She would definitely like it!