After triple-checking, Alicia’s doubt prickled like thorns. Ninety Nine Maiden kept thumping her chest, promises rolling like drumbeats. In the end, Alicia couldn’t keep staring at that tide swelling under the girl’s palms, and she chose to believe.

After the sweet rustle of a maiden changing—silk whispering like rain—Alicia cradled a drowsy Ling and stepped out.

Familiarity brushed her like a passing breeze. “By the way... isn’t this the place you used to crash when your mana ran dry?”

Once outside, the courtyard felt like an old dream pulled from mist. She realized she’d slept where she’d delivered the Dragon King before.

Ninety Nine Maiden nodded, a light tap like a pebble in a pond. “Well, can’t be helped. Only a few Dragonfolk can look exactly human; most keep a trace of the dragon—scales like moonlight, horns like river-stones. And not many even like this shape. So human-style houses are rare here. I had you sleep at my place.”

Her body bloomed with black smoke like ink in water; in a blink it swelled into the Dragon King. The wide courtyard tightened like a clenched fist.

The dragon’s head jerked toward her back, a gesture simple as sun and shadow. “Hop on.”

Alicia didn’t fuss. She hugged Ling and clambered up, quick as a cat on a wall. The mount was a mother dragon; if it were a male, she might’ve hesitated. (What are you thinking? I mean male backs bristle with spines. You can’t ride those!)

“Alright—let’s head out~”

Wings snapped open like storm sails, and the cramped yard became a rice bowl to a whale. The eaves nearby showed fresh clawed gashes.

Boom—!!

With a single downstroke, the Dragon King hauled that vast body into the sky; below, timbers and tiles yielded like reeds in flood.

Guilt hooked her gut like cold steel. She should’ve kicked the silly dragon outside before the change. A good building gone in a breath—what a waste.

But what’s done was ink spilled. She gave the house a silent incense-stick of mourning, and spared a thought for the dragon who’d rebuild it.

“Speeding up!” Ninety Nine Maiden’s voice slipped into Alicia’s ear like a silver thread. Before she could answer, the world stuttered into a fast-cut reel. Wind honed into blades shaved past her face. A Yokai’s body could take it; a normal human would reach the underworld’s Pure Land in a minute.

She glanced down at Ling in her arms. The little one floated through the gale like a drifting leaf, sleep unruffled. Alicia moved to wake her, then softened. The kid probably slept badly last night. Let her dream.

A few scattered thoughts later, the short road ran out like a stream to sea. Only then did Alicia nudge the small bundle in her arms awake.

Boom—!!

High above, Ninety Nine Maiden slammed her wings. A gale rolled like a river, and the Dragonfolk below lifted their gazes like stars turning.

Seeing most gathered, Ninety Nine Maiden dropped to the ground and folded back into human shape. She said she wasn’t used to it, yet that smile in a human face bloomed like spring.

Playtime folded away; her air turned solemn as stone. Otherwise, how could she have worn the crown of Dragon King so long?

“Ahem! Everyone! You’ve seen these two ladies fight. I trust you’ve got no objections to their strength?” She was the sort who took the people’s pulse, like rain reading the soil—not like Gill, who turned one nod into a nation’s nod, one denial into everyone’s denial.

The crowd was a lake without ripples; no one objected. Ninety Nine Maiden moved on.

“Then you know why they’re here. They want an alliance. What do you think?” She paused like a held breath, knowing they waited for a yes or no.

“I think we accept. We Dragonfolk have always walked with the strong, like thunder riding a stormcloud. Now someone who beat us and treats us well stands before us—why refuse? They’ve promised we won’t be dragged anywhere. We can stay here like stones in our riverbed. They only want an alliance, no forced demands. Our freedom stays in our own hands; all we carry is the thought that we have an ally. That’s all. Now it’s decision time.”

The dragons traded looks like sparks skipping water, then voices rose like birds at dawn.

“I agree!”

“Same here!”

“So do I!”

“Igi ari!! (Objection!)”