Ume averted her eyes and sipped quietly at her mug of alcohol.

...How troublesome.

If she had known that Lady Luna was engaged to the massive muscle head of their party, the 53-year-old dragon definitely wouldn't have chosen to disguise herself as the purple-haired healer. Ume already had one evil dragon fiancé that she was trying to run away from, and she certainly didn't need to add another crazy nonsensical suitor to her list.

Unlike a certain isekai protagonist by the name of Raul, Ume wasn't a harem protagonist.

Objectively speaking, Sir Gawrgaru had the build of a hero. With silvery blue hair and chiseled face, he was genuinely handsome, and his rock-hard muscles were comparable to an Olympic athlete or the statue of Apollo. In full armor, the young knight stood at seven feet tall, and he generally towered over any ordinary human. He reminded Ume of a certain video game character called Master Chief ("John-117"), and Ume imagined that he was similarly inspiring on the battlefield with his enchanted warhammer.

Based on Ume's prior encounter at the Slime Rocks, she judged that Sir Gawrgaru was probably "unkillable" by conventional means. He had easily leapt over 100 meters and survived a crash landing inside an airship traveling as fast as a race car. Moreover, the young knight seemed entirely unscathed, which was totally overpowered by any degree of normal reasoning.

In fact, Ume couldn't help but feel a premonition that Sir Gawrgaru resembled a "dragon-slaying hero" from the legends. Of course, the notion of anyone killing a dragon was absolutely fictional and completely absurd, but some kind of mysterious sixth sense gave Ume a chilling feeling. It made her feel particularly uneasy, and the 53-year-old dragon went silent.

+ + +

Fortunately, the wonderful birdman continued to shield Ume like the ideal escort.

"I believe the Lady herself doesn't seem to recognize you, Sir Gawrgaru. And, unless there is some proof of your earlier claim, I am afraid that I cannot let the Lady leave with you." The birdman (apparently named Gargan) said without budging an inch.

The two men were surprisingly civilized despite their obviously intoxicated state, and they even introduced themselves to each other. Neither of them of gave any ground, which was actually quite impressive since the the knight named himself as a duke's heir. Gargan — an avian of the Aarakocra species — was an explorer from another world, but Ume understood him to be a commoner nonetheless.

Shouldn't a commoner be afraid of an aristocrat?

There were many ways that a noble could make a commoner's life miserable, and Gargan was particularly audacious in this particular situation. Ume wasn't familiar with the the laws of this particular kingdom, but she knew from reading books like the Scarlet Letter that humans considered infidelity to be especially serious business. Neotare (NTR) was one of the most hated genres in fiction, and in certain human countries, an exposed affair could result in the death penalty.

She would feel pretty guilty if Gargan was sent to the guillotine because on her behalf.

...In fact, she probably needed to say something so the massive knight didn't think everything was the birdman's fault. Ume was a 'good' dragon, and at the end of the day, she couldn't let an innocent birb get slaughtered by evil humans. Ume was a defender of chickens, and she couldn't sit still while nefarious human organizations like KFC were responsible for the deaths of 350 million innocent chickens every year.

Ume took a large gulp of alcohol from her mug. She was already taking enormous gulps of the hard liquor that had arrived in front of her. It was a decisively un-ladylike way of drinking, and she easily drained more than three quarters of the mug in one large swig. Given her short stature, it was quite hard to imagine a young girl chugging such a large quantity of alcohol, but truthfully Ume was holding back.

For a dragon, this was basically like a thimble's worth of alcohol, and it only felt like a tiny water droplet.

Sir Gawrgaru had an incredulous look on his face.

"How could Luna not recognize me?!" He exclaimed in disbelief. "Luna... ever since we were little..."

"You ain't my fiancé." Ume interrupted. "My real fiancé is way bigger and scarier than you."

She slammed her empty mug onto the table and stood up abruptly.

+ + +

Sir Gawrgaru's face was pale as a ghost, and it looked as if his brain had stopped working. He was clearly flabbergasted and unable to formulate words. It had been an especially rough day, and the knight simply didn't understand why the universe was doing this to him. First, his airship's anchor had snapped with no reason. He knocked himself out falling through the ship's floor, and when he woke up, the Atlantis Trident had crashed into a tannery in Aerelieth which was over 300 kilometers away.

By any degree of common sense, it was impossible for his airship to drift from the Slime Rocks to Aerelieth in such a short period of time. If anything, his airship must have zigzagged around all the islands in between. Sir Gawrgaru was convinced that some kind of witchcraft was at work, and now it had claimed his fiancée as well.

Ume tugged quite forcefully on Gargan's arm and whined childishly.

"I don't like this tavern. Let's go and find another one!"

The bird-man's drunken act lapsed for a moment, and he appeared equally perplexed as Sir Gawrgaru. Ultimately, the 53-year-old disguised dragon was the only wildcard at this table, and she suddenly wanted to leave. Gargan seemed to perceive that there was some kind of strange relationship between the two, except he was somehow caught in the middle of a lover's spat.

What in the world had happened here?

The knight's brow darkened several shades, but Sir Gawrgaru remained silent. He was easily the largest hero in the tavern, but he was neither aggressive nor inflammatory. Despite the full suit of armor, his meticulous sitting posture and strict adherence to table etiquette seemed to suggest that he was actually a cultured and thoughtful individual rather than a battle-crazed barbarian. In fact, he definitely seemed to be more of an introvert, and he certainly wasn't the type of aristocrat to explode in seething anger.

"...Luna..." He whispered, his voice nearly dejected.

"I am sorry, Sir Gawrgaru, but without the Lady's consent, I'm affair that there is nothing I can do." Gargan stood up and bowed apologetically, ultimately siding with Ume. "Now, if you would excuse us..." 

The drunk birdman and dragon turned away with their arms linked. Ume gripped her escort's arm quite firmly, and any outside observer could easily tell that that the young purple-haired lady was pulling (half-dragging) the Aarakocra out the door.

The silver-haired knight was left sitting alone at the table, surrounded by three empty mugs of alcohol.

The blank expression on his face was impossible to discern.

∎