"..."
Happiness sometimes comes just so suddenly.
The "scent" she had been unable to find no matter what just a moment ago, had now appeared on her.
Baobhan Sith's first reaction, was naturally...
"Are you just humoring me?"
That's right.
There's no way something like a "scent" could just appear in an instant.
There was only one possibility.
And that was...
...he was just humoring her.
"I don't understand what you mean, Baobhan Sith," Ian replied, looking at the young woman before him. "But—"
The dragon leaned closer, making a show of taking a deep sniff.
"You just have that kind of 'scent' on you now."
"..."
"Really?"
"Really," Ian confirmed once more.
"This..."
After confirming that he wasn't just talking nonsense, Baobhan Sith suddenly became flustered.
"You, I..."
"How did I suddenly get a 'scent'?!"
"..."
Ian was silent.
Clearly, he didn't know the answer to this question either.
But for Baobhan Sith, that reaction was enough.
However, just as she was about to say something more, Ian seemed to sense something and looked up at the sky.
"They're back?"
The next moment, he leaped, plunging from the ramparts.
For an ordinary person, a jump from this height would surely be fatal.
But he was a dragon.
So, not long after his figure leaped from the ramparts, he transformed into a great dragon and soared towards the sky.
The massive dark shadow even blocked out all the dusk light that had been shining on the streets, only letting it fall back to the ground after it had flown past.
"Hey! Hey! Hey!!!!"
Seeing Ian fly so far away, Baobhan Sith couldn't help but stomp her foot in frustration.
To finally get this approval, only for him to fly off the next moment.
Just what is going on in that guy's head!
Baobhan Sith didn't realize in the slightest that, in her thoughts, she had unknowingly separated Ian from his role as "Father."
Forget it.
Watching the direction Ian had flown, Baobhan Sith composed herself slightly.
At least, she had finally gained his approval. The next step—
—was to find a certain two people.
....
At night, in a tavern in Camelot.
Baobhan Sith, Mélusine, and Barghest were gathered together.
"Well, this is a surprise."
Barghest was chugging her drink, looking very happy.
"Baobhan Sith, you're actually treating us to drinks."
"What's with that tone?" Baobhan Sith glared at Barghest. "Are you saying I'm not allowed to treat you to drinks?"
"No, no."
Barghest waved her hand.
"It's just very rare, so I was just remarking on it."
"Then just shut up and drink. Don't think about so much nonsense," Baobhan Sith said.
"..."
Unlike Barghest's slightly excited state, Mélusine was not drinking.
Her intuition, or perhaps her past experiences, were all telling her that the Baobhan Sith before her wouldn't say such things for no reason.
"If you have something to say, just say it, Baobhan Sith."
"Otherwise, it won't be good if a conflict starts later."
"Eh, that's right!"
At Mélusine's words, Barghest looked as if she'd just had an epiphany.
"For you to treat us to drinks, something must have happened, right?!"
"Baobhan Sith, just say it, let us know!"
"..."
Baobhan Sith revealed a small smile, then nodded and said:
"Mhm."
"There is indeed something I want to announce to you two."
Baobhan Sith's gaze left Barghest and fell upon Mélusine.
"I can be 'scented' by him now, you know."
"..."
"..."
For a moment, there was silence.
But the reasons for Barghest's and Mélusine's silence were not the same.
The former couldn't understand what Baobhan Sith meant by suddenly blurting out such a sentence.
As for the latter—
—she was puzzled by how quickly Baobhan Sith had acted.
"What do you mean?" Barghest spoke first.
"It's exactly what it sounds like, Barghest."
Baobhan Sith twirled a strand of her hair with her finger, a half-smile on her face.
"'Scent'—"
"The 'scent' you two are always talking about, I have it now, too."
"Ah, this..."
After a long mental detour, Barghest finally understood what Baobhan Sith meant.
And Mélusine, who had understood from the start, grew serious.
"What did you do, Baobhan Sith?"
"Before... you couldn't do it, right?"
"Before was before, now is now." Feeling that she was finally on equal footing with Mélusine, Baobhan Sith showed a slightly provocative smile.
"You didn't think I'd stay the same old me forever, did you, Mélusine?"
"..."
"That expression of yours is really asking for a punch," Mélusine said, clenching her small hand into a fist.
"So what exactly happened?"
"..."
After a moment's hesitation, Baobhan Sith finally decided to "reveal" a little "inside information."
She said:
"I just... repeated what my mother, Morgan, did. That's all."
"Just repeated it? That's it?" Barghest was clearly surprised by this answer. "Nothing else?"
"That's right, nothing else."
"But, well, maybe that's not the reason things turned out this way—"
Baobhan Sith placed a hand over her chest.
"Maybe he smelled this 'scent' from the very beginning, he just didn't say it out loud."
"Hehe, try not to be too jealous."
"Who would be jealous of you!" Mélusine glared at Baobhan Sith.
What she didn't notice was that Barghest, at her side, was murmuring what she had just said.
"Just doing what mother did... is that all it takes?"
....
The clamor of the tavern continued.
And the dragon, flying outside the walls of Camelot, also had his own objective.
Beating his wings under the moonlight, he whipped up gust after gust of fierce wind across the lands of Britain.
Trees were thrown into disarray, leaves and branches danced, creating a scene like a storm.
Flying like this—
—somewhere on a mountain path within Britain.
Morgan sensed something.
The moment she realized it, she saw the figure of the dragon fly across the sky above her.
"Lady Morgan, is that..." a female apprentice beside her said with a surprised expression.
But Morgan herself was as calm as ever.
"Heh."
"So it really worked—"
"Everyone, I... seem to have discovered the secret of the 'Tree'."