Suiren: Raimeiren’s daughter, Hakuren’s younger sister, and Draim’s elder sister. Mark: Marksbergark, Suiren’s husband. Helze: Helzernark, daughter of Suiren and Mark.
It had been quite a while since Suiren, Mark, and Helze had visited as a family. Their human appearances hadn't changed a bit. Apparently, they could shift their human forms at will, so I supposed there was no point in worrying about it.
The reason they had come was at Raimeiren’s request. She seemed dead set on organizing a Collective Flight by the dragons, especially since Hiichiro was so visibly excited for it. She was putting so much effort into the event that she had even forced Giral to stay when he had been trying to head home.
I didn't want to get in their way, so I started by introducing Giral and Guronde to Suiren’s family.
...Except they immediately tried to hide behind me. Please, don't use me as a shield.
"You’ve met Giral in the village before, right?" I asked. "And several times elsewhere too?"
That was good, at least. But wait, what? Giral was the dragon Mark idolized? I see. To me, he just looked like an ordinary dragon who was a total pushover for his wife and daughter, but to each their own.
"Anyway, Mark," I whispered. "Dos’s ears twitched just now when you mentioned your 'idol,' so you might want to smooth things over with him later."
As for why they were using me as a shield against Guronde... Ah, right. Mark had been defeated by her once a long time ago. Well, today was the perfect chance to mend those fences. I told him to do his best.
Suiren and Helze seemed just as terrified of her, but they had only heard rumors. I assured them it was fine. She was just another dragon lady who loved her husband dearly.
"Guronde, I don't mind you getting shy, but please stop punching Giral," I added. Giral looked happy enough, but his wife’s bashful physical outbursts were clearly terrifying Suiren and Helze.
After the introductions, I invited the family for some tea to catch up. I had planned on just serving tea, but they specifically requested rice with sake-like fish. Apparently, Dos and Raimeiren had been bragging about it. I didn't mind serving it.
As a side note, people who eat Salmon Roe—the eggs of the sake-like fish—are rare in this world. Back when I hosted that dinner party in Shashato City... well, it wasn't exactly a party, but a trial to resolve a dispute with the Sea Race. One of the challenges had actually been to eat Salmon Roe.
Because of that, there were very few people in the village who touched the stuff. From the beginning, the only ones who ate it happily were me, the High Ogre maids, and the Mountain Elves. The maids and I didn't have any prejudice against it, and the Mountain Elves simply didn't know what it was. I never forced anyone to eat something they didn't like. If you wanted to eat it, you could.
So, when Suiren’s family asked for Salmon Roe Bowls, I served them without hesitation. Recently, even Dos and Raimeiren had started eating it.
While we were catching up, the conversation turned to the floating island where the Death Mage had lived. Specifically, the fact that the number of islands in the sky had decreased. There used to be twenty islands of various sizes in that region, but one had vanished, leaving only nineteen. Suiren and the others had been wondering where it went.
However, two things were said during that chat that I couldn't simply ignore.
First, Mark mentioned, "My grandfather used to say there were only nineteen islands there for ages, then suddenly it became twenty one day."
Then Suiren added, "I was actually attacked while flying through that area recently. I just dodged and kept going without fighting back, though. I was in a rush."
I didn't catch the implication immediately, but Progenitor-san—who had been lured over by the Salmon Roe Bowls—certainly did. After hearing the details, he drew a conclusion.
The floating island where the Death Mage had lived wasn't a natural one.
I stepped away from Progenitor-san while he was interrogating Suiren’s family and went to ask Lu for clarification. What exactly was a "normal" floating island?
Apparently, there is a substance in this world known as "floating matter." A mass of that material forms a floating island. They stay stable at a specific altitude and rarely move. Even if a typhoon pushes them away, they eventually drift back to their original coordinates. That is a standard floating island.
Their numbers only increase if a massive earthquake or volcanic eruption pushes new "floating matter" out from underground. Their numbers only decrease if a dragon or something equally powerful destroys one. Normally, they don't just fall.
"In other words," Progenitor-san declared, stepping up beside me, "that fallen island was being kept aloft by artificial means, much like the Sun Castle."
I nodded along. I see. That made sense.
Consequently, Progenitor-san decided to go question the Death Mage again. He asked me to come along, and since Hakuren was looking after Suiren’s family, I agreed. We headed to the Hot Spring Area.
Our first question was: how long had the Death Mage been living on that island?
She didn't remember exactly, but based on the events she could recall, Progenitor-san estimated it had been about a thousand years.
And what had she been researching there?
A "Malice Furnace," she said.
I had never heard of it, but Progenitor-san’s face twisted into an expression of pure disgust. It was a device that converted human grudges into power—an incredibly dangerous machine. Lu was eavesdropping with great interest, but I had to tell her to stop.
I figured the Malice Furnace had gone out of control and caused the crash, but the Death Mage disagreed. She explained that she had once been consumed by a terrible grudge and had buried herself in research to fuel her revenge. However, about six or seven years ago, that hatred had simply faded away. Since then, her research had become much more relaxed—like finding ways to make flower petals more vivid.
Lu looked immediately bored when she heard that.
The Death Mage insisted the furnace had nothing to do with the island falling. Progenitor-san seemed to accept that.
"I suppose if the Malice Furnace was properly sealed, it wouldn't just run wild," he mused. "But then, what could have caused the fall...?"
...Wait.
At Progenitor-san’s mumble, the Death Mage suddenly looked incredibly shaken. It was the face of someone who had just remembered something very important.
Apparently, she had left the Malice Furnace completely unsealed and abandoned.