"Now, Zara, I don't think it's fair to laugh at them. Please remember that they are rulers of a country, and no matter how amused you are, you can't let your behavior be misconstrued as mocking them." (Mizuki)
"Fufufufu…yes, Zara, you need to learn to show more restraint before mocking people." (Nina)
Ohhh, that's rich coming from Nina, the disaster dragon of discourtesy. Zara somehow manages to sober herself up and nod apologetically at me.
"King Dargo and Queen Elira, I apologize. It's just that your unawareness of what's going on, even now, it baffles me. Your impression that Mizuki is Lady Nedonera's servant is wrong. Mizuki is our leader, and even the Elder Dragon shows him deference." (Zara)
Elira and Dargo give me alarmed looks, then direct their gazes at Nina questioningly. Elira's voice rings out, nearly squealing it's so shrill.
"Great Dragon, is what the wolf-kin says true!? You really serve a human!?" (Elira)
Nina smirks back and shrugs.
"Fufufufu…serve is not quite right. My situation is more like how Dargo admires and trusts you, to the point that he'd do almost anything you asked. Mizuki's antics are also quite fun to be involved in, and he commonly consults me for them." (Nina)
"Even so, Great Dragon! Regardless of how rare his magic talent is, how much you may admire him, and how non-subordinate your relationship is, I've never heard of Elder Dragons being so deferential to weaker creatures that they'd take orders!" (Elira)
"Queen Elira, you still seem to be misunderstanding. What I tried to explain…" (Zara)
Nina cuts off Zara with a response to Elira.
"You're correct, Queen Elira. Dragons don't take orders from the weak, even if we like them. However, Mizuki is not weaker than me. In fact, he could kill every Elder Dragon on this planet if he wanted." (Nina)
Nina stares at Elira with a wicked smile as she makes her point explicit.
Slowly, the color drains from Elira's face and she looks over at me with a mix of disbelief and fear. Hearing this conversation, Dargo follows suit. I decide that shrugging and smiling is a good response.
"Mother, Father, it's true. You know how much magic power I have, and the teleporting you saw earlier almost drained me completely. Mizuki can teleport all the way from here to Elmesia and back repeatedly without even noticing the magic drain. More importantly, that spell that crushed Alara to the point of blacking out…it must be ten times stronger for Mizuki to even notice that I'm using it on him. If he wanted, he could destroy our entire country." (Ilina)
Elira looks completely terrified now. Jeez…Ilina, you're making me sound like a monster. I should try to get ahead of this.
"Queen Elira, please calm down and reflect on my behavior over the course of my visit so far. After all, I haven't changed. Do my actions seem like that of an unreasonable person that's quick to anger or become violent?" (Mizuki)
Elira seems to be calming herself, but the fear is still evident in her eyes.
"M-Mizuki, you've been treated with prejudice at every step in my country, my own daughter constantly degraded you, and then she even tried to kill you. What's more, I've ignored these slights whenever possible. Your entire race is even banned from my country without exception. How could I not be terrified about your future actions towards the Elven Kingdom?" (Elira)
"Well, let's put aside the fact that I just don't operate that way. Ilina is a close friend, one who knows all my secrets and has my unreserved trust like Alto and Nina. I'd never turn against the Elven Kingdom while she remains in her current position of power. If you need more evidence of this, consider that Alara wasn't justly executed for her crime. That's entirely thanks to Ilina." (Mizuki)
[Sorry, Ilina, I assumed that if you were telling them all this other stuff that our friendship was also fair game.] (Mizuki)
Ilina turns to face me and smiles earnestly, then shakes her head, like 'don't worry'. Elira seems to have transitioned to an expression of relief mixed with confusion.
"Ilina, is your relationship with Mizuki really as familiar as he says? What does he mean that Alara not being executed is thanks to you?" (Elira)
Ilina looks like she's embarrassed and nervous.
"Yes. We're close, and I trust him. Before I invited him to our country, he gave me his word that he would not act on new information without allowing me to influence his decisions. Alara is an example of this. Last night he visited me secretly and told me about her assassination attempt. His inclination was that race and status were irrelevant, and that Alara should be executed for her crime as any other person would. What happened instead…that was our compromise." (Ilina)
Elira's eyes go wide in shock.