Contrary to my concerns, her face was not covered in tears but filled with a bright smile. Although she seemed to be wearing a special dress today, even though her dress was ruined, there was no sign of sadness.

Suddenly, such a thought occurred to me. If only I had magic, I could have followed her, such a thought.

“When I almost fell into the quicksand, and when I burned the dress like a fool. I’m really indebted.”

Esmeralda’s bright face, recalled, was so beautiful that it seemed to emit light, but I couldn’t smile as easily as she could.

Even in the original work, they became so close. Adventuring to places where other fairies wouldn’t dare to go, with Kyrion.
Esmeralda clasped her hands over her chest and looked at Kyrion with sparkling eyes.

“Thank you so much, Master Kyrion. I really want to repay you, but…”

“Oh, no need.”

As Kyrion promptly declined, Esmeralda’s cheeks flushed even more. Ignoring the slightly embarrassed Esmeralda, Kyrion smiled at me.

“See? It wasn’t me.”

I glanced at Kyrion, and Esmeralda looked at us with somewhat uneasy eyes.

“Master Kyrion! Over here!”

A farmer pulling a cart pointed to a wheel stuck in the drainage ditch, and Kyrion went to remove the wheel without a word.

“Ohoho.”

The Duchess, who had been watching from the side, laughed loudly. And she repeated the words she had been repeating since the morning of the festival.

“Ask anything of Kyrion, anything.”

Thanks to the Duchess’s enthusiastic promotion, Kyrion had no time to rest and worked as a laborer throughout the festival.

On the other hand, Hiss and I were sitting in a cool gazebo prepared by the Duchess, sipping iced tea with ice clinking in it.

I tried to help Kyrion, but due to the strong opposition from the Duchess, I couldn’t move a muscle and had to sit here.

“Our daughter is too kind.”

The Duchess grabbed my hand, even shedding tears.

“But if I send you to such a harsh place, you’ll surely die. Absolutely not!”

It was a bit exaggerated, but the Duchess’s words were not entirely wrong.

Kyrion’s tasks were nothing more than carrying loads that could fold a spine in half if an ordinary person did it or doing things that should be done by cattle or horses.

If I intervened, it would only cause trouble.

“Feel free to enjoy the sightseeing.”

The Duchess waved her hand towards us, and as she left immediately, only Hiss and I remained in the gazebo.

“By the way, where’s Esmeralda…?”

Although the table was set with Esmeralda’s share of tea, Esmeralda herself was nowhere to be found.

“Madame Marquise?”

When Hiss pointed, Esmeralda was loitering next to Kyrion.

Kyrion, who had taken out the cart, was silently reloading the fallen luggage, ignoring Esmeralda. However, Esmeralda did not give up and enthusiastically searched through her spellbook.

“This is it!”

With a triumphant smile, Esmeralda found the spell she was looking for. And the next moment, one of the lightest loads rose gently and slowly settled into the cart.

“Oh!”

The farmer watching clapped his hands.

“What are you doing?”

“Flight magic. I’ve been practicing hard these days.”

At Esmeralda’s proud words, the farmer widened his eyes in surprise.

“Flight magic? I’ve never heard of it before.”

“It’s rarely used because it’s difficult to control.”
While sipping on a refreshing iced tea with a straw, I reminisced about what kind of spell it was to fly. Perhaps the easiest spell among flight magic was solving a cubic equation.

Esmeralda glanced at Kyrion, who was silently moving the luggage.

“I heard that even the Duchess of Isty couldn’t master flying. Is that true, Master Kyrion?”

Kyrion shrugged.

“Well. I’ve never really thought about it, but it seems so.”

Though his face showed no particular interest, Esmeralda persistently struck up a conversation.

“Someday, I will succeed in flying, and I’ll teach you, Master Kyrion! By the way, the courtyard where the lizards gathered looks like a great place for practice. The grass is soft, so even if you fall, it won’t hurt.”

With no response from Kyrion, Esmeralda cast another spell on a different box. The box enchanted with flight magic slowly rose into the air again.

“If you find it challenging to do it alone, I’ll help you!”

I started gulping down the iced tea through the straw. The day was hot, making it feel stifling inside.

“Reyna, are you okay? You seem overheated.”

Hiss asked with concern, but while crunching on ice, I shook my head.

“No, I got excited because the iced tea is really delicious.”

Crunch. As I joyfully chewed the last piece of ice, Hiss took my empty cup. Her green eyes, looking at me as always with affection, persistently followed my gaze.

“Let’s go have some fun.”

I nodded after giving Esmeralda, who was still lingering around Kyrion, a final look.

“Yes.”

“Sprinkle the powder of the desired color into the lizard’s mouth, holding its snout tightly.”

Eliza, in charge of the lizard shop, enthusiastically explained to Hiss, who was seeing a lizard for the first time.

Although the lizard in her hands bit her finger several times while she was explaining, Eliza nonchalantly forced open the lizard’s mouth each time.

After putting a spoonful of blue powder into the lizard’s mouth, Eliza grabbed its tail.

“Then, pull the tightly coiled tail until it stretches taut. The more forcefully you pull, the farther the lizard will fly, so pull as hard as you can.”

As Eliza aimed for the sky, the lizard flapped its limbs desperately, but it was no match for Eliza’s strength.

“And if you let go of the tail first.”

With a “kweeak!” sound, the lizard streaked across the twilight sky. A few seconds later, with a final “kweeak!” the lizard spewed out blue flames. The blue flames embroidered on the crimson sky were quite beautiful.

“You can create such beautiful flames like that.”

With a proud face, Eliza followed with her eyes the fallen lizard beyond the forest.

“I’ll have to catch that guy again at the next festival.”
Eliza, brushing off her hands stained with blue powder, pointed to the makeshift shop displaying lizard cages.

“Alright, Your Highness and Lady, pick a few. Just so you know, the big ones produce larger flames, but be careful as their temper can be quite dirty due to going through numerous festivals. When you shoot them up, listen carefully; the smaller ones cry out in fear like ‘kki-eek!’ while the bigger ones roar angrily like ‘kkweeak!’. If you get bitten by the big ones, you might get severed, so be especially cautious.”

Eliza fervently explained while waving her unharmed hand, just bitten by a lizard that cried out ‘kkweeak!’ moments ago.

Upon closer inspection, the small lizards were trembling in the corners, but the larger ones were scratching the bars with their claws and munching on the hay spread on the floor.

The glare they gave us seemed to say, “I’ll chew on your fingers like this hay if you just step out of here.”

I didn’t know what courage possessed me. I couldn’t even go lizard hunting or help with the luggage. Maybe that’s why I insisted even more.

“Give me that one.”

I pointed to the largest lizard among us.