CH 125

My name is Mebett Chaffee.¹ I’m six years old, and I live in the Royal Capitol Skycastle. Father is always working inside the castle, and Mother always works at home while telling me to study. I can already do my multiplication tables to the end. Father and Mother praise me for it to no end.

Along with everyone else, they all call me a taro² girl. They say it whenever they brush my head, so I’m pretty sure they’re using taro girl for praise.

One day Father said to Mother,

“We’re going to Warren,”

and then he turned to me and said,

“Mebett, let’s go on a trip to the Trade City!”

Mother was making a grumpy face, but after hearing Father’s story, it seems like she was convinced.

“Mebett, let’s see if you have the qualities to deal with a dragon.”

Because Mother was saying those kinds of things as well, I made a cheerful answer.

“Understood, Father, Mother.”

And then on the day of our departure. Father was ranting about something.

“We don’t have enough guards, the Braves have betrayed us!”

were the words he was shouting.

“Is the Hero who betrayed Father a bad person?”

I asked mother. She responded by putting a finger up to her mouth,

“The Hero isn’t a bad person, however, he’s missing a little bit up here.”

and pointed up to her head. Finally,

“Let’s keep that a secret between us though,”

she said to me with a mischievous smile. Un, it’s a secret Mother.

The carriage ride was really boring. Mother thought it was a good opportunity to have me study, but it is hard to write and calculate in a bumpy wagon.

And then two days after we left the capitol.

“We’ll arrive at Citadel City Marsfield soon, and from there is Trade City Warren.”

While we were riding in the carriage, Father spoke to us from on top of his horse. Father was also helping to protect our carriage.

But then one of the escort uncles suddenly started shouting.

“Monsters are coming!”

I timidly stuck my head out from the back of the carriage.

“Hiii!”

A bunch of scary monsters were chasing after us, some even flying through the air. Looking at them all made me scared, so I hugged Mother.

“It’s all right Mebett. Father and the others will surely keep you safe.”

Mother hugged me close so that I could feel safe. But I could hear the escort uncles’ screams through the walls. And when a few shadows came up from behind the carriage, Mother hugged me even tighter.

“Scary, scary, scary!”

“It’s all right Mebett, just stay calm!”

But then a loud roar cut through the air, and the outside lit up with a dazzling light. All of a sudden the uncles outside started to cheer. Mother’s arms slackened around me, and the two of us went to see what was going on outside.

That’s when I saw the dragon knight gracefully jump off the dragon flying overhead. The dragon knight cut the monsters that were on the carriage one after another with a thin sword. I clasped both my hands together in prayer,

“Dragon knight,”

And then Mother started yelling beside me,

“You! Aren’t you Reeve! Hey, look over here!”

Not being able to hear Mother’s voice, the dragon knight re-mounted the dragon’s back, and flew away.

“Mother, who’s Reeve?”

Mother answered my question.

“That’s the name of my youngest sister. That would make her your aunt. By the way, I suppose she’d already be sixteen now.”

The dragon knight could possibly be my aunt! My heart soared to the heavens, and Mr. Marsfield noticed that fact with a smile. He was the one who told me my aunt was a Dragon Maiden.

Ah, I want to meet you soon. I want to meet you Auntie.

A few days later we finally arrived at the Trade City Warren, and we immediately headed to the council. Mother told me before that Warren didn’t have any lords, and everything was decided by the council members.

After that we were introduced to some people called Warren’s Jewelry Box. These people are, they’re the famous jewelry box people? I continued to just stare at them. And I started to feel uncomfortable. These were all men any way you looked at them. Very handsome men. I thought that the man with long hair was the other day’s dragon knight for a moment, but his hair style and height were different. But then he noticed my gaze, and Mr. Blue Hair gave me a wink. Oh, so embarrassing.

After that, five women came into the room, and Maria introduced us to them.

“Sir Chaffee, these five here are Warren’s Jewelry Box. And Ms. Bizon, Lady Mebett, I do believe one of your relatives is among them.”

And then a beautiful elder sister with long hair greeted us.

“This is our first time meeting Sir Chaffee. And sorry for staying silent Sister Bizon.”

Father was left surprised, but Mother took a step forward to talk to the older sister in front of me.

“It’s been a long time Reeve. And when I finally see you again, you’re a celebrity with the renowned Jewelry Box. What happened to the little sister I had to take care of?”

My aunt was a more beautiful older sister than I ever could have imagined. And then the men that had been brought out before all disappeared. In their places were a group of small dragons; lovely, cute, pretty, charming, and fancy dragons.

Father started using some difficult words, but I kept staring at Aunt Reeve. But then I heard the story about the Dragon Maidens, and I was confident. Because I’m a taro girl. Besides, this beautiful and reliable looking person is my aunt. As her niece I should also be able to become a dragon knight. I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to keep my aunt’s flying dragon’s eye on me.

And then came the test. When I came out into the square, I stood in the middle like all the other women told me to. There was a fancy-sized black dragon hovering in front of me. He was so cute. But then he suddenly got bigger.

What appeared was a huge evil dragon with a horrible figure that I’ve never seen before. I got so scared that I could feel my pants getting wet, and then everything went black.

I could hear a voice in my ear.

“She’s a discerning girl, or so we thought, but after all she isn’t qualified…….”

That was Mr. Marsfield’s voice. I woke up. I found that I was being embraced by someone, and when I slowly raised my face, there was the face of a beautiful lady looking down on me.

“It seems Mebett’s woken up. I’m sorry to have scared you like this.”

There’s no such thing. Certainly that evil dragon was scary looking, but it was all worth it to be held by my aunt.

“Auntie Reeve, would it be alright if I called you Big Sister?”

I worked up my courage and asked for it.

“Ah, I’m not really old enough where people should be calling me Auntie, so I guess Sister would be better.”

Big sister Reeve spoke to me with an honest smile. My head was in complete bliss. I love my new big sister. However, an annoying voice spoke up and interrupted my dreaming.

“Reeve, if we don’t hurry up and get ready the day will be over.”

“Sorry Mistress. I’ll get ready soon.”

There was a blonde-haired girl who seemed a little older than me ordering Big Sister Reeve around. She’s cute, but why is she ordering around my big sister? I don’t like it.

I was promptly returned to Mother and Father. Then Big Sister got on to her flying dragon’s back with the cute blonde girl sitting next to her.

“If you don’t mind waiting, I’ll pick you all up again soon.”

As she was saying so, Big Sister flew off into the air with another birdlike dragon next to her.

1. So apparently Chaffee is their family name. As far as I could tell reading back they never mentioned the father’s first name, so like with Duke Marsfield they’re just showing their respect for him.

2.  Taro root isn’t too common in North America, but it’s actually really tasty. The truth is I’m not too sure what a taro girl is in reference to, but since taro is sweet, I’m assuming that it’s a synonym for ‘sweet as pie’ or other similar idioms.