After taking a shower and doing some warm ups, I began to take a leisurely swim. Thanks to the hot weather, the water felt wonderful.

  「The water here is beautiful…」


  The lake was so clear that I could see straight to the bottom, this boosted how wonderful it felt. There wasn’t even any mud floating around in it.

  「Is it this beautiful because Mana is managing it?」


  I asked Mana who was peacefully floating nearby, and she calmly nodded.

  「Yes, I purify it each day with my songs and Katarakta circulates the water. That’s why it can stay so clean……though it isn’t very good for drinking, so I’d say it’s slightly inferior to the water in Daichi-san’s garden.」


  She said with a wry smile before freely swimming around. Actually, her body looked half dissolved.

  「How should I say…that’s an amazing way to swim.」


  「It’s because my body has a high compatibility with water that I can do things like this……though I can swim normally too.」


  Manaril said with a little smile and her body turned back to normal. Then she started to float on the water face up.

  It seems comfortable so I’ll do it too.

  ….I relaxed my body.

  Then I naturally began to float a bit. I relaxed further and floated on the surface of the water when…..

  「Hm?」


  Suddenly I felt my back rest on something.

  I turned my head to look and saw that a small water dragon had placed me on its back.

  「Huh, Katarakta?」


  「Yes……it must be very fond of you Daichi-san, to let you ride on its back.」


  Fumu, is that so? This is nice in its own way. It felt like I had an invisible life preserver on making things much easier.

  I continued to enjoy the feeling of the sun beating down on me as I lay in the water.

  Looking around I saw Manaril and Sakura having a grand time swimming around. This place was perfect for cooling off I thought when…


  「Hm? Hesty what are you doing?」


  Hesty was standing in the shallows, splashing water on herself. Then,

  「n~……..ok.」


  After looking at us for a few seconds and thinking, she looked as if she’d resolved herself and jumped into the deep end.

  And so……


  —Gurgle gurgle gurgle gurgle gurgle gurgle—


  She sunk to the bottom of the lake while letting out bubbles. In fact…


  「Eh? Hesty….?」


  She sunk like a rock.

  I watched as if seeing a strange creature as Hesty walked along the bottom of the lake towards the shore before finally emerging from the water.

  「Are you ok?」


  I approached the shore and looked at Hesty’s face. She was completely soaked, but she didn’t seem to have any signs of oxygen deprivation. Then she shook her body and threw the water off…


  「I’m ok, I can breathe like that.」


  「Well, I can see that…but you sunk right?」


  「Yes……….I can’t…swim.」


  Hesty said looking chagrined.

  「Seriously…..?」


  「n, really.」


  Hesty who seemed to be a master-of-all-trades had this kind of weakness.

  「Ah, I can’t swim either. I’m glad that that Aneue-sama are similar in that way too~」


  Anne took advantage of the opportunity to interject. Her utterly soaked appearance clearly showed that she had jumped into the water too.

  「……It’s not because you’re a dragon that you can’t swim right?」


  I said as my gaze naturally shifted towards Manaril in the cneter of the lake. But…


  「That’s not it. See?」


  Mana said as she turned to normal and did a doggy paddle. That’s right. She was swimming normally just a little while ago after all.

  「Well, it’s just that Hesty and Anne are bad at swimming.」


  Manaril said. I then looked back at the two dragon kings on the shore.

  「I’m a dragon of Earth and Metal, so it’s not really my specialty~」


  「….I’m a dragon that, almost always just flies, so I’m not, very good with, water.」


  They both responded with their excuses.

  …….well the two of them didn’t have trouble with their breath underwater so it was fine.

  I was thinking that when Hesty walked over with small steps and said…


  「Please, could you teach me, how to swim? I want to, swim with you.」


  She said while peeking at my face. I had never thought the day would come when I would teach Hesty something. It had always been her teaching me.

  「Alright, sure. Then why don’t we have a little lesson?」


  「n, thank you.」


  「Ah, me too me too. Daichi-sama~ I’ll be in your care~」


  「Ok ok, I’ll teach both of you.」


  And so it turned into an impromptu swimming class. It was a strange feeling, teaching dragons to swim.