The Dragon Princess

"Ahh…"

Megumin leaned at the edge of the hot spring. This is a real hot spring by the way, not the dream hot spring. She exhaled a breath of relief as the healing water soothes her entire body. Even with her magic ring, her entire body was still sore.

"You okay Okaa sama?" Liz asked.

"No thanks to you…" Megumin muttered.

"You told me not to hold back!"

"But it still hurts though…"

I just chuckled a little at that banter. Megumin shot me an annoyed look, as if wanting to say 'it's your fault too' but doesn't want to break the disguise. So she just groaned in annoyance.

"Still, I still wonder who the masked thief is…" Liz muttered. "I can't recognize any his magic power. He's even powerful enough to fight you to a stalemate, wasn't he, Otou sama?"

I nodded a little. "Yes, both of them at once is as powerful as I am," I told her. "We had a training spar the other day and…" I put a hand on my ribs. "It still stings a little… Grace is the champion of Eris and Karma… I think he's a half devil…"

"Yes, I do feel Vanir san's magic signature from the black one," Liz looked up a little. "I did talk to him after the battle. He said I was one of the mightiest ally he has ever fought with… He also apologized for stabbing you with a magic blade."

"It's okay, I'm completely healed right now," I told her. "What else did he talk to you?"

Liz looked down a little. "Well… I asked who he is and he said he's a traveler from a faraway land…" she smiled a little. "He told me his story about how he was once a disgrace of his country and he came here to redeem himself… It was the truth, I can tell."

Well… That's technically also my backstory Liza chan…

"What do you think about him? You don't hate him for hurting your mom right?"

It was Megumin answered my question.

"Liza chan hurts me far worse than that stupid thief,"

Liza chan giggled at that. "Yes, that's probably why… Though, I kinda felt bad for tricking him like that. He's very nice and charming you know?"

Oh you're not the one doing the tricking Liza chan…

"What about the white one?"

This time Liza grinned a little. "I know who that one is. I remember her magic, that was Chris wasn't it?"

I just laughed in response. Looks like Vanir's disguising magic was stronger Eris's veil. "Yes, it was Chris," I leaned on the smooth stones behind me. "I was supposed to be the one fighting Wrath first, but I guess Mitsurugi isn't a bad substitute."

"Does Chris knows it was Okaa sama?"

"Of course not," I told her. "But she knows that Wolbach works for me. So she knew the entire war was just a massive orchestra."

"I see…" Liz leaned her head on my shoulder. "Still… if only you could watch the battle Otou sama, I awesome back then… The thieves were awesome too, Karma san was super cool."

"Hee…"

"Is it Dust nii sama?"

"Karma? No, Dust was present remember?"

"Oh yeah…"

Liz yawned a little and I put an arm behind her head. She lay down in my embrace and slowly closed her eyes.

"You know Otou sama… We dragons are quite straightforward with our feelings and desires, so… Please forgive your daughter for falling in love with a thief…"

I'm sorry, run that by me again?

---

"VANIR!!!"

I slammed the shop door open, revealing a certain masked devil. He's cackling madly as he sucked up all my negative emotions.

"Hahaha! Welcome Kazuma who managed to get his own daughter to fall in love with his alter ego! Oh, what an exotic taste! The forbidden, unwanted affection! The humiliation! Oh, thank you, thank…"

I punched the archdevil right in the mask and he flew right towards Wiz who just walked out of the storage room. The Lich caught him and looked at me.

"Ah, welcome Kazuma san, how can I help you?"

"Help me kill this bastard!"

Vanir just laughed even louder at that. "Do try Kazuma! Then moi shall feed on thy disappointment as moi returned back to new!"

"Yes… Vanir is right Kazuma san, he's really hard to kill…" Wiz averted her gaze a little. "I can vouch for that…"

I put a hand over my face and just curled down in defeat.

"God fucking dammit, you fucking liar…"

"What's that? Lie?" Vanir wiggled his index finger. "You think moi lied to you about the consequence of your choice? Thou art wrong, Kazuma! Twas the truth! By having her fall in love with thee, thou hath become both her father figure and her idol!"

"SHUT UP!"

Aah… This is bad… this is really bad… I can't just go up and tell her that I'm the masked thief and I can't let her stay in love for me. Aah, what do I do!? Lady Paradox, what do I do?

"You should go back to the kingdom and wrap things up with Iris," a voice came from behind me.

I turned around and saw Paradox walking into the shop.

"Lady Paradox! Please help me! Liza chan, she…"

Paradox simply rolled her eyes. "I can't help you, she's a dragon, their first love is eternal."

"AAAA-"

"I'm joking! Stop crying! It's just a crush, she'll get over it soon."

"Okay… okay, she'll get over it soon…"

Goddammit…

---

I returned to my room in the capital via teleportation. There's no one there, so took it as a chance to just get on to the bed and try to calm myself down.

A knocking sound came from the door.

"Onii chan, are you in there?"

"Come in Iris chan…"

The door slowly opened, revealing Iris stepping into the room with a tired look on her face. "Ahh… this is the opposite of what I expected," she muttered before plopping her on to my bed. "Onii chan… what do I do?"

"Not now Iris chan… I'm also having a crisis right now…"

"I bet it's not as bad as mine,"

"Fine, you go first,"

Iris exhaled a deep breath before explaining her problem.

"Well, the nobles reported my actions to my father and brother. They then decided that judging at my actions, I am well equipped to be the queen," she looked at me with a pained look on her face. "My coronation will be held the moment I hit legal age, that's like, next year!"

Okay, that does sound like a worse problem than mine.

"Then, what's your problem, Onii chan? Maybe I can help,"

"Actually, after hearing that, it's not as bad as yours. Just that Liz, my own daughter, fell in love with Karma. I guess I just feel a little bit awkward…"

Iris gave me the 'I told you so' look before plopping her face down on the bed once again. "I was hoping to have the chivalrous thieves prove that the castle is unsafe for me and that I have to be sent somewhere safer, that is your mansion in Axel City."

"I see… You can still do it right?"

"I can, but I'm a queen in a year!"

A knocking sound came from the door.

"Karma kun, Iris sama, are you in there?"

"Come in Grace!"

The door opened, revealing Chris in her casual uniform. She closed the door behind her before opening the face mask. She then looked at me and the princess who both looked like we just went through hell.

"Am I… interrupting something?"

"No," we both said.

"Okay so…" Chris cleared her throat. "Princess, I believe that it's time we do something about the Divine Artifact around your neck," she said.

Iris sat up and looked at her necklace. "You mean this?"

"Yes, it is an artifact that lets the user switch bodies with the one who says the code word in it," Chris explained. "It's only temporary, but it wouldn't switch back if one of them dies, can you guess what that means?"

Iris looked for a moment before her eyes widened in realization. "Immortality!"

"That's right, immortality, and with it comes the death of a dynasty…"

"Can I have a look?" I grabbed the necklace around her neck and began scanning it. There's also a code written in plain hiragana in there. "I think this is the code… Also, this magic pattern is quite interesting, can I have a piece paper?"

"Kazuma, you've replicated the Cursed Sword Gram, is one divine artifact not enough for you?"

"Aww, come on Chris chan, I'm just a little curious,"

Chris relented and let Iris fetch me a paper and a pen. I then started writing the magic pattern of this magic item. It's rather complicated really, but there's not as many parts as the Gram so it didn't take long for me to map it out.

"Hmm…" I looked at the piece of paper in my hand and a bright idea came to me. "Iris chan, I think I've found the solution of all your problems."

---

"What's that nii chan?" Komekko asked after grabbing a stool and peeking at my working table. "Uwaah, so pretty, is it for Liz?"

"No it's for the princess of Belzerg," I told her while putting a finishing touch on the necklace. "This one, is for Liz," I grabbed a black and red bracelet and showed it to her.

"So cool! Make one for me nii chan!"

"I already give you a sword didn't I?"

Yes, I gave the Chunchunmaru, Crimson Wrath's Great Sword, to Komekko. I decided that keeping it around with me in Axel or the Capital might put the truth of our performance at risk, so I put it here instead.

Crimson Demons are notorious for safekeeping deadly artifacts anyway…

Soon enough, I finished Iris's necklace. I leaned back to take a look at my masterpiece. Both jewelries are vastly different in appearance. The princess's necklace is pure white with diamond jewelries while Liz's bracelet resembles chain and has black and red gems.

Both serves the same function. To switch the bodies of the users. This way, Liz and Iris can switch bodies every once in a while. Since both has the same power level and both are around the same age (kinda) and both are an aspiring dictator, I decided that they're a perfect match to switch.

"Okay Megumin, I finished the necklace,"

"Alright, we'll be waiting in the palace's reception room,"

I turned to Komekko and waved my hand. "I'll see you later, Komekko chan!"

"Bye, bye, nii chan!"

I teleported myself back to the capital. There, I saw Aqua, Megumin, Liz, Iris, Claire, and Rain. The latter two is a bit unexpected, but I guess Iris trusts them so why not?

"It is done! Aqua you've sealed the original right?"

The goddess gave me a thumb up.

"Good," I turned to Liz and Iris. The latter has that excited look on her face. "Okay you two, time for a switch," I took a deep breath and silently prayed to Eris. Oh wait, never mind, she's watching there in the corner of the room.

"This one's for you and this one's for you."

They both put on their respective jewelries.

I took out a piece of paper out of my pocket. "I am going to show you a sentence. For safety reason, it is imperative that you say it at the same time, it doesn't have to be a perfect sync, just say it at the same time."

I looked at everyone else, mainly at Aqua who's an expert at screwing things up.

"Megumin, make sure she doesn't say a word, break her jaw if you have to,"

"Got it,"

Aqua who has learned time and again that mine and Megumin's threat isn't a bluff, clamped her mouth shut and closed her eyes.

Everyone else watched in perfect silence.

"Okay, here's the sentence, now say it out loud, both of you."

Liz and Iris began saying the sentence in perfect sync.

"I am you and you are me, we are one and we are many, I am Iris and I am Elizabeth, I am a Dragon and I am a Human,"

Both of their necklace lights up with magic. I grinned a little and put away the paper. "Okay, it has been locked, now you two are connected," I told them. "You should now be able to speak telepathically like me and Megumin. Go ahead, try it, imagine yourself speaking with each other."

Iris's eyes suddenly widened and she turned to Liz. "Yes!" she said.

Liz nodded in response and they both started their mental conversation.

"Okay, now, for the switch, you just have to say, 'Change' out loud or telepathically at the same time. I gave it a half a second delay tolerance."

"Change!" they both yelled at the same time.

The one in white dress looked at her hands with wide eyes. She then turned to the one wearing ceremonial uniform who looks as surprised as she is. The winged one started moving her wings around in curiosity.

"Ano, your highness?" Claire asked carefully.

The dragon turned to Claire. "Yes? Nee chan?"

Claire gulped a little. "Okay so… You're the princess and you're Elizabeth dono…" she put a hand over her forehead. "This is rather confusing, is there a way to tell when they're switched?"

"There is," I gestured at necklace and the bracelet. "The necklace will take shade of red when Liz is in charge."

Claire looked at the necklace and nodded. "Alright, I got it,"

The dragon took out the gun strapped around her waist. The princess has that panicked look on her face and tried to grab the gun. But it suddenly dropped on the ground the moment she touched it.

"So, Kazuma…" Claire said. "They are speaking telepathically now?"

"Yes," I looked at the two. "Oi, try not to speak telepathically, you're confusing everyone here, including the readers."

"Okay, Onii chan" the dragon said.

"Alright, Otou sama," the princess said.

Then the dragon picked up the gun. "So, how do you use this?"

The princess waved her hand a little. "You mustn't! It is a dangerous weapon, even more dangerous than bow and arrow," she said in a Chuuni tone.

The dragon peeked into the muzzle with her finger at the trigger. "What's in here? Do you put an arrow in here?"

The princess quickly sneaked behind the dragon and grabbed two power source from her pocket. "I shall confiscate this," the princess handed me the power source. "Here, Otou sama, for safe keeping."

"Aww, come on Liz, that's gotta be the arrow right? Come on, show it to me?"

"No,"

"What about the big one? The one you use to shoot down Wyverns?"

"You are forbidden to touch Fantasia Mark IV!"

"Eh? But it's your hands,"

"Forget it! Give me back my body! Change! Change!"

"Wait, Liza chan at least let me try flying!"

The princess lunged at the dragon and they began squabbling with each other. Claire who has sworn to protect the princess moved forward to help her.

"Elizabeth dono! Stop! Do not…" her words faltered when she realized that the one's she's protecting is technically the dragon. "Hurt… the princess… I mean, princess! Stop hurting your own…" she put a hand over her head and groaned a little. "Aah, just stop fighting you two!"

After a moment, the dragon finally relented. "Okay, fine, fine,"

"Change!"

The necklace and the bracelet glows. Liz quickly inspected her body. She unstrapped her rifle from behind her back. Dismantled her handguns before handing the core component to me. Get rid of a bunch of explosives, magic items, and more.

I never realized how much I've been spoiling Liz with magic items until now. The magic items and tools piling up on her feet is a prove of that.

Soon enough, all that's left is her ceremonial uniform and hat. The dragon nodded in satisfaction before turning to Iris. "Okay Iris, it's safe for us to switch now,"

"Change!"