"..."
Kabe lowered his hands and glared at the mother dragon, whose face was openly brimming with delight, looking every bit like someone reveling in a small victory.
"This is my house. Do not act like you own the place."
"My dearest ally, why be so distant? You are the comrade I trust most."
Pointing at Selene, who was swaying her head around smugly, Kabe turned to Irene and asked,
"I want to hit her. Want to join me?"
Irene said nothing. She simply hugged her staff and, in silence, cast several enhancement enchantments onto Kabe.
The moment she saw that, Selene suddenly felt a very bad premonition.
She let out an awkward laugh and hastily pulled a treasured bottle of sake from her dimensional space.
"Haha, I was joking. Come, come. It has been days since we last met. Let us have a drink together."
As she spoke, she turned toward Brandish, who was hiding behind her and only showing half her head.
"Green-haired girl, pour the drinks for us."
"Y-yes, yes, right away!"
In front of someone at this level, Brandish did not dare utter even half a complaint. She hurried over and obediently picked up the bottle, pouring drinks for the three of them.
Then Selene raised her tiny sake cup first and gestured toward the other two.
"You two, I will drink first in respect."
With that, she held the little cup in both hands and drained it in one gulp, her face instantly filling with pure satisfaction.
"Haah... what wonderful sake~~"
Kabe eyed the bottle suspiciously. Since he had never tried the stuff before, curiosity temporarily won out over the urge to beat her up.
He walked to the tea table, picked up a sake cup barely the size of his palm, sniffed it for a few seconds, then tipped his head back and drank it all in one go.
"Smack... smack... Mm, not bad. Good juice. Though that alcoholic taste really ruins the flavor."
"...Has it occurred to you that it is alcohol?"
"Oh. Then get me a bigger bowl."
"You..."
Selene's face darkened. Hugging the bottle protectively, she decided not to waste any more of her precious drink on such a tasteless barbarian.
Thanks to her nonsense, the anger in Irene's heart had already faded by more than half.
So she also moved over and took a seat on the sofa.
Under Selene's expectant gaze, Irene lifted the small cup, drank the sake, then gave only a simple, restrained evaluation.
"Not bad."
Seeing her reaction, Selene instantly lost interest in showing off the sake. She put the bottle away and switched to red wine instead, which suited the other two more.
Even though neither of them had properly appreciated her recommendation, Selene still seemed to be in an excellent mood.
"Huu..."
She narrowed her eyes, took a long deep breath, then slowly let it out, her expression almost nostalgic.
"Mm... what a familiar scent. After four hundred years, I have finally returned to this land again."
"Oh? So you are actually a dragon born in Ishgar too?"
Kabe shot her a surprised glance, then continued,
"From what I have heard, the dragons who once lived in Ishgar were quite friendly toward humans.
But you do not seem nearly as easygoing as those seniors of yours."
Irene also turned her gaze toward Selene. She cared quite a bit about what Kabe had just said.
After all, even her own surname came from a giant dragon who had lived peacefully alongside humans and had been exceptionally kind to them.
"Am I not friendly enough already?" Selene shot back with an expression that seemed to say, Are you joking?
"Humans gave me the title of a god, yet I have never acted like one of the so-called deities they worship and brought countless disasters down upon them.
On the contrary, I have taken in many human women with nowhere else to go and let them serve me.
I gave them shelter, and at the same time, I even paid them proper wages according to human custom.
With the things I have done, even if I were taken back four hundred years, I could still stand tall and call myself a good dragon."
Neither Kabe nor Irene believed that was the whole story, of course.
But without proof, the two of them still offered a few polite words of praise in response.
Selene clearly enjoyed being flattered by them.
Ever since meeting these two and forming their alliance, the sense of crisis in her heart had eased by more than half, and she herself had become much brighter and more open.
Kabe and Irene had both noticed it, but they silently chose not to point it out.
"By the way, Irene, have you found a place to settle down yet?
If not, once my palace is finished, why not move in and live with me?"
Selene asked this as she casually extended the invitation.
Irene gently shook her head and raised a hand, pointing out through the living room window toward the small estate outside.
"You are too late. My new home was just finished."
"Built?"
Selene turned to look at the elegant residence outside, not especially massive, but still several hundred square meters in size, and her eyes widened in surprise.
But with her experience and knowledge, she quickly understood.
"Construction Magic, hm. Human imagination really is something. You always manage to create such convenient and practical magic."
That was one of the things Selene admired most about humans.
Even though dragons were born with overwhelming advantages over humans, whether in magic power or physical strength, humans always found ways to make up for those weaknesses through intelligence and ingenuity.
Sometimes they even developed terrifying magic capable of threatening, or outright killing, dragons.
Leaning by the window and observing Levy's handiwork, Selene thought for a moment before turning back to the other two and making a request.