"Dragons?!" Old Bloom was so startled by those words that his jawbone nearly dropped.
The others wore grave expressions as well, swiftly drawing bows and staffs, ready to meet battle.
Isolde raised her staff and quickly called out, "Mr. Arthur, you never said dragons would be coming to greet us."
Arthur stared blankly at the black speck in the sky, the soul fire in his eyes stalling with hesitant flickers. "That seems to be His Majesty."
At that moment, the sharp-eyed elven ranger suddenly gave a soft cry of surprise.
"No, that dragon isn't far away. It's just rather tiny, which makes it look like it flew from afar."
"In other words, it's only a young dragon?" Isolde asked.
"It seems even smaller than a young dragon. And on its back, there's... a Slime?"
While everyone remained on guard, the young dragon in the air suddenly dove down. Its four limbs flailed as it tried to land, and after gliding forward for a stretch, it happened to touch down right before them.
"Stop!" Isolde called softly. The tip of her staff glimmered faintly, as though she would cast a spell the moment the young dragon took another step forward.
"..."
Little Card blinked at the wary crowd before hastily tucking in its limbs and sitting upright with solemn dignity, as if saying, "I'm not an evil dragon." Then it obediently lay down.
Plop.
A green Slime hopped down from the dragon's back with a crisp sound, finally pulling the stunned crowd back to reality.
Isolde froze for a moment before recovering. She placed a hand over her chest and performed an elven greeting.
"Treant territory, Isolde, greets Lord Slime."
Chen Yu secreted a Slime, which hopped into her palm and sent out a thought.
"Welcome to the Slime Kingdom."
"Thank