"Feeling better? If you're all right, I'll get back to treasure hunting."
Though he already had what he wanted, Loa still had to keep up the act. He put on an eager look and spoke to Vice Admiral Dalmatian.
Dalmatian waved a hand helplessly. "I'm fine. Go on. I'll find Haisoken in a bit and bring back some game."
"No problem! If I don't find anything after I finish tearing it down, I'll bring some back on my way. Get some rest!"
With that, Loa turned, spread his wings, and flew toward the Temple.
Once he returned to the barely recognizable Temple Ruins and made sure Dalmatian hadn't followed him, Loa carefully took what he had found earlier from his pocket and placed it in his palm.
When he saw it clearly, he couldn't help drawing a sharp breath.
"A dragon scale!!!"
There in his palm was a dragon scale half the size of his hand! As a Dragon Slayer, Loa could recognize it even though he had never seen one before.
It appeared to be a fragment chipped from a much larger dragon scale. It lay in Loa's palm, an irregular polygon.
The scale also seemed almost transparent. In the sunlight, it shone like a brilliant, crystal-clear Diamond, radiating dazzling white light from within. When he tilted it, the colors changed—now vivid red, now blue and yellow. Its shifting hues were beautiful.
"So dragons really do exist in this world! That's..." Loa took a deep breath and suppressed the shock in his heart. Then he extended a sharp nail and dragged it hard down the scale.
Screeech.
With a noise that set his teeth on edge, Loa discovered to his astonishment that a corner of his Dragon Claws, which had yet to meet their match, had been ground away!