As the waves gradually climbed higher up the beach, the sun reached the highest point in the sky.

In the beachside bathhouse, Aya was working hard to rinse away the salt left behind after the seawater on her body had evaporated. The crystallized salt had clumped her hair together into little tufts, making her look downright hilarious.

“A strange gaze?”

Aya raised an eyebrow in surprise as she chatted with Tiran, who was washing herself in the women’s shower room on the other side, about their leisurely fun at the beach just now.

“Yeah. It disappeared in an instant, but it definitely wasn’t my imagination.”

“Maybe Xiaofei went on a killing spree and demolished the other kids, so their parents started holding a grudge…”

“Wouldn’t they be staring at Xiaofei, then? What’s it got to do with me?” Tiran shook her head.

“Who knows? Maybe they found out you’re Chirp’s guardian?”

“If you put it that way, you count too. (¬_¬) Why isn’t anyone staring at you?”

Well, it probably wasn’t anything important, right? Thinking about it carefully, aside from that guy Yuan, I shouldn’t have any grudges with anyone else. Whatever. I’ll stop thinking about it.

“Are we going to the harbor later?”

“Yeah. Yesterday, we asked the manor staff to reserve a fishing boat for us. Apparently, they can cook the seafood right on board, fresh from the catch.”

“Oh! That sounds great! I absolutely love seafood!”

As if she could already smell the seafood’s aroma, Xiaofei, who was showering in the stall next to Tiran’s on the other end of the contract, called out cheerfully.

Come to think of it, should I try talking Xiaofei out of it? Now that she’s already become such a goofball, that chuuni way of addressing herself feels even more out of place.

Thinking this, Aya twisted the water control shut. She wiped her wet hair with a towel, walked out of the shower stall, and came to the storage lockers to retrieve the clothes she’d left there.

Just then, footsteps sounded outside the door.

After all, this was a public shower room. With noon already here, it was perfectly normal for someone to come in, wash up, and leave. So Aya paid it no special attention, continuing to dry herself and get dressed at her own pace.

However…

Clap.

After a string of slippers smacking against the floor, a panicked young man’s voice came from the passage behind her: “W-W-W-Why are you here?!”

“Huh?”

Aya turned around in confusion and happened to see a young man in his early twenties staring at her in alarm. He was carrying a cloth bag filled with a change of clothes and wearing only swim trunks, clearly having just come in from the beach as well.

He’d entered intending to take a shower and change clothes in peace, only to find a half-naked, short-haired, white-haired beauty standing in front of the lockers. Of course he was scared half to death.

“Is there a problem with me being here?”

“This is the men’s shower room!” The young man desperately turned his face away so he wouldn’t look at Aya, loudly confirming it with his face bright red.

“It is the men’s shower room… So what?”

Aya still hadn’t realized what the problem was. With a puzzled look on her face, she continued walking toward the man.

“What do you mean, ‘so what’?! You—”

Unable to hold back, the man turned around to scold Aya. But the moment he did, he happened to see Aya with only a bath towel wrapped around her lower half. He didn’t even dare take a closer look to confirm whether her chest had the parts it was supposed to have before turning around and running for his life.

“Is that a **?! It’s definitely a **! D-Don’t come any closer! I have a girlfriend! Stay away from me!”

He ran off screaming, leaving Aya alone in utter disarray. Only then did she finally understand.

No way. Again?! I even cut my hair short! Do I really have to shave my head bald?!

In a foul mood, Aya got dressed and went to wait beside the freshwater basin outside the shower room for Tiran, the little Angel, and Chirp to come out. However, since they were girls, they seemed to be taking a little longer than expected.

“Hmm, what should we make to eat later? I hear seafood risotto is pretty good. If we get the chance, we should buy some rice and take it onto the boat.”

Aya was stroking her chin and seriously considering lunch when she suddenly sensed another strange gaze.

“Who’s there?”

Aya immediately turned around, but all she saw were tourists and townsfolk coming and going along the street near the beach, as well as the vendors passing back and forth.

Could this be the kind of gaze Tiran had been talking about?

But… it also seemed a little different. At the very least, Aya couldn’t sense the slightest trace of hostility.

“Aya? What are you looking at?”

As Aya searched all around for the source of the gaze, the girls came out of the shower room, changed back into their summer clothes.

“N-Nothing. Just looking around.”

It was just her imagination, right? Probably.

……

That was close. I almost got discovered.

Heh heh. As expected of a Golden Dragon—their senses really can’t be compared to those of ordinary Dragons.

And besides… with that woman there, making a move would be extremely difficult.

Stay calm. Don’t rush. There’ll always be another chance.

The figure hidden among the crowd lowered their head, cutting off their line of sight. Reassuring themselves, they vanished into the flow of people.

……

“Hello there, miss! You’re the honored guest the manor mentioned, right… Huh?”

At the small town’s harbor, Tiran met the captain who was in charge of taking her out to sea. He was standing aboard a medium-sized schooner with two masts.

“What are you doing here?”

After getting a clear look at the man’s face beneath his sunglasses, Tiran couldn’t help showing her surprise.

Hmm… how should she put it? They were acquaintances, but only barely.

“It’s a vacation, sure, but I’m used to staying out at sea, so I came here and found myself an easy part-time job.”

The captain scratched his head and laughed twice. “But I really didn’t expect Her Highness the Silver War Maiden to come here on vacation in disguise.”

“Captain, since the guests are here, you should leave entertaining them to me… Ah! Your Highness Tiran?”

The girl who came up from the lower deck wore a sailor uniform. With shoulder-length hair and wheat-colored skin, she still looked as energetic as ever.

Tiran honestly never expected to find the captain of the Fareast Star here, along with the martial-arts-type girl Fatina at his side.

Aya and the little Angel were just as surprised.

“Uh… Who’s this?”

Aya looked completely confused.

“The captain of the ship I took when I went to East Land.” Tiran summed it up in one sentence.

“Oh, so this must be the Dragon Rider who serves as Her Highness’s partner?”

This time, the captain didn’t scratch his head. He stroked his beard instead, carefully sizing Aya up as he tried to figure out what made her different from an ordinary human.

“Wait… Captain, are you saying she’s a Dragon?” Fatina asked in shock.

“Stay calm, stay calm, girl. So what if she’s a Dragon? It’s not like you’ve never seen one before.” Taking advantage of the moment, the captain patted the girl on the shoulder, then let his finger slide past her waist and sneak a touch. But Fatina was too shocked to notice.

“I really have never seen one before!”

“Mm.” Tiran nodded, then pointed at Xiaofei. “By the way, this is a Seraph. She’s from Heaven, loves delicious food, and will be making us something tasty later.”

“What the heck? An Angel?!”

This time, even the captain lost his composure.