Just as Ian had sensed.
Once his and Mélusine's child could speak, what she presented was her own name.
"Mash?"
Looking at the small, cute girl before her, a hint of shyness appeared on Mélusine's face.
She didn't know why she felt this way.
But...
She was very happy.
"I understand."
"From now on, this will be your name."
"Um—"
Mélusine pointed to herself and began to introduce.
"I am your mama, Mélusine~"
"Mama~"
Without a shred of hesitation, Mash immediately called out as Mélusine had prompted.
Her adorable appearance quickly conquered Mélusine's heart.
"What a cute child."
"Let's go!"
"I'll take you to meet your father!"
....
A dozen or so minutes later.
Clutching the corner of Mélusine's clothes with one hand, Mash cautiously peeked out with half her head.
Unlike the other children, who warmed up to Ian almost instantly, Mash was rather wary of her own father.
"She seems a bit afraid of you, Ian."
Mélusine looked quite awkward.
She had thought that if Mash was close to her, she wouldn't be too distant with Ian.
But reality seemed to be completely different—she wasn't afraid of her mother, but she was afraid of her father.
"..."
Ian didn't answer Mélusine, but instead met Mash's gaze.
But Mash was clearly still very afraid of the burly man before her. Wherever his gaze went, the little girl would hide in the other direction, as if afraid of being discovered by him.
Of course.
This method of avoidance was meaningless to Ian.
After all, a dragon's physical abilities were far beyond what an ordinary person could imagine.
Soon, Mash was caught in Ian's stare.
His blood-red pupils made her tremble, and at the same time, she pleaded with Mélusine for help.
"Mama, she..."
"Ian, don't be like that."
Mélusine immediately intervened.
"She's just a child. If you look at her like that, you'll scare her."
"I'll scare her?"
"Yes!"
Mélusine nodded repeatedly.
"Don't you know that when you're not talking, you're really scary?"
"..."
Ian remained silent, merely crouching down to look at Mélusine before him.
After a long while, he managed to squeeze out a sentence:
"Are you... afraid of me?"
"..."
"Just answer me directly. I want to know what you think."
"..."
Being asked so directly by Ian again, Mash probably knew that if she didn't answer, this big guy wouldn't let her off the hook. So after a moment's hesitation, she said softly:
"Um... I am afraid of you."
"Why are you afraid of me?"
"Have I done something to scare you?" Ian continued to press.
"N-No, nothing like that."
Mash clutched the corner of Mélusine's clothes.
"You haven't done anything to scare me, but just seeing you makes me feel very scared..."
Mash's voice grew quieter and quieter. She seemed worried that if she spoke any louder, it would anger the big guy in front of her.
And it seemed that was indeed the case.
After Mash finished speaking, Mélusine saw Ian reach out his hand.
This time, his target was not her, but Mash!
That's right.
He simply lifted Mash up as if she were a small animal.
"Ian, what are you doing!" Mélusine became anxious.
She might not understand others, but she had some idea of how Ian's mind worked.
This guy might really do something completely beyond imagination!
However—
Faced with Mélusine's shouts, Ian remained unmoved, as if he hadn't heard a word she said.
He continued to hold Mash up high, staring at her without blinking.
Mélusine even suspected that if she weren't there, Ian might just gobble Mash up in a single bite.
But just then, the unexpected happened once again.
After lifting Mash, Ian showed no signs of violent behavior.
On the contrary, he just looked at her and asked softly.
"Do you like flying into the sky?"
"..."
To be honest, Mélusine never expected Ian to say such a thing.
And she found that she didn't understand what he was trying to do either.
Fly into the sky?
What...
...was he planning to do?
Eh?!
In just an instant, Mélusine suddenly realized.
He was a dragon!
For a dragon, flying into the sky was a literal statement!
He was going to take Mash flying?!
"Flying into the sky?!"
Mash's previously fearful eyes suddenly cleared up considerably.
"Does that mean flying up high?"
"Flying up high?"
It was unclear if Ian understood what Mash meant, but he nodded directly anyway.
"Mhm."
"Flying up high."
"As high as you want to fly."
"Really?"
"Mhm, yes." Ian nodded. "I promise you."
"Then—"
Mash extended her cute little pinky towards Ian.
"Pinky promise?"
"After we pinky promise, you're not allowed to do anything bad."
"Okay."
The large and small fingers hooked together.
Uhm...
Although she felt something wasn't quite right, Mélusine didn't say anything more.
At least getting along amicably was better than staring each other down like before.
Soon.
With Mélusine's permission, Ian transformed into a black dragon and flew into the sky with Mash.
"Whoa whoa whoa!!!"
Mash's demeanor clearly became much more excited.
This wasn't hard to understand.
For Mash, this was an extremely novel experience.
Not everyone was as lucky as her to be able to ride a black dragon at this time.
Mélusine felt that if she were in Mash's position, she would probably be shouting even louder.
Honestly...
He found a way to solve the problem again.
How does this guy know how to do everything?
Just as Mélusine was secretly praising her child's father, Morgan appeared beside her without her noticing.
"Mélusine."
"Eh?"
The petite swordswoman turned her head.
"Morgan, you're here."
"Mhm."
"That's Ian flying in the sky, isn't it?"
"Y-Yes, it is." Mélusine nodded. "I couldn't stop him."
"It's fine." Morgan gazed at the sky.
"This is good too."
"But I want to ask you a question."
"What is it?" Mélusine blinked.
"Have you considered letting this child join the order of knights?" Morgan asked.