Eventually, the airship arrived at its scheduled destination. It was a cluster of islands known as the Conshire Isles, which was a famous and popular place for the nobility of Sky Archipelago to construct estates and other summer villas. Sir Gawrgaru had a residence here, and the young silver-haired knight quietly explained that his fiancée (Lady Luna) was from these islands. He had moved here as soon as possible after he graduated from the Royal Academy of Sky Harbor to be close to her.

Sir Gawrgaru mentioned Lady Luna at least once every five words that came out of his mouth. He was literally obsessed with his fiancée, and he wouldn't stop gushing about her. Ume was convinced that the stupid muscle-head was a total creep. Being attracted to your girlfriend was one thing, but the idiot just wouldn't shut up.

For instance, Ume was muzzled so she couldn't really respond, so Sir Gawrgaru was basically one-sidedly rambling to himself for two whole hours. It was an endless stream of Lady Luna did this. Lady Luna did that. When they were seven years old, Lady Luna broke the bathtub. Lady Luna ate a pineapple for lunch. Lady Luna has a small freckle on her left thigh. Her favorite underwear was pink polka-dots —

Holy fuck it was weird as hell and Ume had a legit stalker sitting on her head.

Ume was extremely grateful that Sir Gawrgaru wasn't her fiancé.

Zetsubou (絶望) was way cooler and at least he wasn't a stalker or a creep. Where was that evil dragon, anyways? It had already been several days, and there was no sign of Ume's fiancé whatsoever. That said, by the Ryūjin (竜人) cultural standards, he wasn't really late. Arriving a few years late to a business meeting was considered perfectly normal, and showing up several centuries after the party started was "fashionably late". Ume didn't expect to see her fiancé for a while, but that was because Zetsubou was a perfectly conventional and despicably evil dragon.

Expecting to get rescued by Zetsubou anytime soon was unreasonable, and Ume had zero expectations of the sort.

Moreover, Ume was annoyed.

She wasn't a damsel in distress!

Ume was committed to finding a way to murder that stupid human at the earliest opportunity. She was going to outlive him anyways if she waited a handful of years, except letting that weirdo die of old age was incredibly unsatisfying. Sir Gawrgaru needed to die a painful death of a thousand everlasting hellfires, and Ume wanted to torture him personally until his soul was screaming for mercy at the black gates of Makai. Zetsubou probably had several thousand guidebooks on demonic sadism and animal cruelty, and maybe she could borrow them for research purposes later on.

As for being a 'good' dragon...

...uh...

Well, it was okay to overlook something now and then. >__>

It was like going on a diet, and it was okay to have have chocolate cake every once in a while.

Overall, Ume was quite confident she was still a 'good' dragon.

+ + +

While the 53-year-old dragon was fantasizing about her sweet revenge, Sir Gawrgaru's airship lowered Ume in the central courtyard of a large, perfectly trimmed estate. Apparently, the household staff had been anticipating their arrival, and the mansion's courtyard had been transformed into a military landing zone with flashing magical lights and hard points for securing chains. A barrier had been erected around the central space, and pond (or swimming pool?) had been drained to accommodate Ume's size.

There were at least two dozen workers who immediately got busy with handling the logistical nightmare.

There were countless soldiers standing guard with pointy sticks and other armaments.

However, compared to the prior episode at Aerelieth's red light district, Ume was significantly calmer. She did not struggle meaninglessly or flail against her restraints. At this point, she had a much better grip on her own nerves. While approaching the ground made her feel claustrophobic as before, she did not burst into panic from uncontrolled terraphobia. The flight had given her some time to process and reflect on her current situation in captivity.

A dark-robed stranger floated up to them from the ground and bowed. They were dressed like a dark magician, or perhaps a warlock or powerful sorcerer.

"My lord, welcome home."

"Thank you, Rushial." Sir Gawrgaru responded.

"Your father has requested that contract magic be used on the monster. He says that it is not safe to keep a violent creature at home without those precautions, and he sent me to set up a ritual."

"Contract magic?"

"Yes. The kind that are used by necromancers and summoners to bind demons and prevent betrayal." 

"I see... Sir Gawrgaru sounded troubled. "Is it really necessary?"

"Absolutely. Your father insists."

The silver-haired knight appeared sheepish all of sudden, as if he was embarrassed. The seven-foot tall hero scratched the back of his head awkwardly, and he truly looked like an oversized teenager at this moment. There was a faint blush on his face — the type that shy young boys often had when discussing something taboo or forbidden.

"I wouldn't want Lady Luna to misunderstand this, you see...?" He began hesitantly.

"Misunderstand?" Rushial responded quizzically.

"Making a contract with another woman... that is..." Sir Gawrgaru confessed awkwardly. "An ownership ritual and turning someone into private property... in a master/servant arrangement... it's a bit uh.... questionable... and it's weird!!! x_x I wouldn't want to make this type of contract with another woman... especially without discussing it with Lady Luna first."

The magician had a deadpan look on his face.

"Woman?" Rushial seemed perplexed.

The green-haired warlock glanced at Ume and then turned back to Sir Gawrgaru.

"Err... that snake isn't biologically female." Rushial stated matter-of-factly.

"What?!"

Sir Gawrgaru appeared shocked.

"You mean they were male all along?!"

The hero's face was pale all of a sudden, as if he couldn't believe this sudden revelation. His enemy had put on such a convincing act, and at first he had totally believed that the imposter was his fiancée. Even when it turned out that Ume was a fake, Sir Gawrgaru was quite confident that Ume was female. Moreover, Sir Gawrgaru did in fact see Ume as a human being, and he felt somewhat uncomfortable watching his defeated opponent hauled around and chained like a dumb beast by the Special Committee on Dangerous Magical Beasts.

Even if they were enemies, Sir Gawrgaru did feel slightly sorry for the shapeshifting serpent.

He wasn't entirely heartless.

"Actually, it's genderless," Rushial corrected him.

"Huh?"

The confusion on Sir Gawrgaru's eyes slowly turned into understanding, but then acute distress appeared on his face again.

...Even if the snake was genderless, it didn't make this situation even easier!!! D:

He still wasn't mentally prepared to become this intelligent monster's owner.

"I don't get why you're so hesitant about this," Rushial spoke up with a frown. "It's just a monster. An animal. Didn't we used to to play Pocket Monsters together when we were kids? Back then, you had no problem whatsoever with owning a Charmander or a Squirtle. They're basically just pets. In fact, didn't you become an adventurer because you thought monster hunters were cool? What about your fantasies of becoming a wyvern knight?"

"This is totally different!" Sir Gawrgaru protested in distress.

"My lord... please be serious..."

The green-haired wizard appeared to be losing his patience.

"I'm very busy," Rushial snapped. "I have many responsibilities to attend to, and it annoys me to be sent here for no reason at all. Either decide on a contract spell or stop wasting my time, Gawr."

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