"You're Roselia's son and daughter?" Still recovering from the mana drain, Haruki propped himself up in the camp bed to get a better look at the dragonkins.
"How many times do I have to repeat it?" Annoyed, Doroke the dark-winged boy, breathed fire out of his mouth. "We even killed the Dullahan trying to attack your camp, and you're still doubting us?"
Rounded up around a campfire, everyone's eyes turned to the rotting body of the undead warrior Dullahan. Laying to the side, its body was charred like coal. Knowing how much of a threat the monster could've been, the adventurers gave out a prayer to Atlas for sending them the dragonkin siblings.
"Enough about monsters and such!" Complaining to her brother, the white-winged dragonkin called Tiara crawled onto the duke's legs. "Tell me about Mama, how is she?"
Resting on Haruki's knees, she gleamed a smile brimming with innocence. For a moment as he peered back into her eyes, he could've sworn he had seen an icy storm reflected in her bright sapphire eyes.
"Me too, I wanna know too!" Beating his bare chest, Doroke growled like an ape.
'A dragon? Really?' Clutching the brooch hanging by his neck, Haruki couldn't comprehend how he missed such an obvious hint. 'In retrospect, given her violent tendency and appalling strength, it makes a lot more sense than I thought.'
From what he'd been told so far by the unlucky clovers, the dragonkin helped them get to the camp after losing their carriage in a ditch. Not only that, while Haruki was out searching for them with the adventurers, the siblings even took care of the Dullahan trying to assault them on their return. Despite their now obvious signs of benevolence, he still couldn't let go of his suspicion about them.
"I'll tell you how she is, but I have some questions for you before that," Keeping his hands on the brooch, he was ready to use its power at a moment's notice.
Upon hearing Haruki's inclination to tell them about their mother, the siblings grinned eye to eye like any innocent child.
"Sure!" Doroke announced.
"I healed the girl so I want to know more than Doroke!" Her sister followed.
"What?! No!"
"You were the one who attacked the girl!"
Having overseen such quarrels a hundred times amongst the clovers, Haruki knew better than to let it go on any longer.
"Why did you attack Jenna? You might've healed her, but she's still unconscious," Interjecting between the two, Haruki brushed them off his legs.
Taking a quick glance at the others glaring right at him as they listened what he had to ask the siblings, he felt a lot more pressure on him than he otherwise would have. Brushing the hesitance off of his mind, he looked over to Jenna right beside the fire being tended to by Lucy and Asuka.
"It was just a prank! I didn't think she'd be hurt so bad," Doroke' s answer annoyed the hell out of everyone listening, and yet nobody had the galls to go up against him.
"Why were you trying to find me? Did your mother told you to do it?" Knowing there was no value in arguing about Jenna's safety with him, Haruki decided to keep the questions going.
"Mama told us to keep you safe till you reached Daria, but..." glancing sideways at his sister, Doroke attempted to whistle but no sound would come out of his lips.
"We can't cross the tundra you know..." Her eyes hung low, Tiara puffed up a pout. "So we had to wait for you to get out of there."
'Can't cross the tundra, why?' Right as Haruki was about to ask that question, Asuka walked right up beside him with a tray of steaming food in her hands.
Plastered with a smile on her face, she gestured the siblings to make room for the food tray. Once they were at a slight distance away from Haruki she placed it onto his lap before setting a pillow to support his back while eating. Leaning against the zipped cloth of the tent, Haruki could finally feel his body on its way to a complete recovery.
"To think Miss Roselia was a dragon, right?" Asuka mumbled, forcing a contorted smile. The strain on her face, portrayed just how tired she was of the whole thing. And even if she had suggested them to retire back before getting to Daria nobody would've been surprised.
"I'm fine Asuka," She didn't need to tell him, the worries plaguing her mind were obvious in her demenor "I didn't fall ill this time, it was my own negligence, I shouldn't have used my mana so recklessly."
Letting out a false chuckle, Asuka lowered her head to the stew and picked up the spoon inside the bowl. Holding it under her lips, she gave it a few blows then moved it by Haruki's mouth.
"Please, don't do that again," tears strolling down her puffed cheeks, and her hands grew jittery just from the thought of potentially losing her master.
"She was crying while you were passed out," Tiara jumped in and supported Asuka's arm by holding it steady with her little fingers. "You should apologize to her, you know!"
"I think she's right, asking questions shouldn't be the first thing you do after regaining consciousness," Helma added, sitting all the way at the end of the campfire.
Moving Asuka's hand away from his mouth, Haruki laid the tray to the side. Getting the spoon off of her hands, he set it aside as well.
"I'm sorry, I thought we had a real threat on our hands, and if I didn't do anything..." Despite the many glances directed right at him, he decided to apologize with more than just words.
Gently grabbing her by the arms, he pulled her into a much-needed embrace. The very moment his hands wrapped around her shoulders, she broke into tears for her master once again.
'By now, I've been a monster for so long, it's easy to forget that there's someone who still cares for me.'
"Awww!" Like a pure-hearted angel, Tiara puffed up with a smile.
"Ewww!" Doroke on the other hand wasn't too pleased by the sight.
Away from the scene that had taken a hold of everyone's attention, Jenna was staring out into the heavens with tear-filled eyes. Watching the stars right over her, she wished to have never awoken from slumber, so she could've joined her sisters as a gleaming night star.
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