IPDT 47

“He’ll be kicking himself with regret later, you know? The Mr. Hero doesn’t know the first thing about living on the streets.”

Jibril clicked his tongue. I tilted my head and asked.

“You’re a prince too.”

“A prince of a fallen kingdom. And a prince with no one left to serve him. I didn’t want to end up like this either, you know.”

Jibril, who had shrugged his shoulders, scanned my clean appearance from top to bottom.

“Do you not need to wash because you’re a dragon’s familiar?”

“Yes.”

“Then this oasis is all mine.”

Jibril, who had grinned, splashed into the water with a plop and dived in. I was watching Jibril swim like a frog when I spotted a stone lying nearby.

“A stone…”

The flat stone was enough to stir a corner of my memory. When I entered the mental world with Yul, he had taught me how to skip stones on water. I bent my knees and picked up the stone.

“Will it work?”

I failed every time when I was in the mental world. Half-believing, half-doubting, I tried throwing the stone to the side opposite of Jibril. The lightly thrown stone skipped on the water’s surface with a plip.

“Huh?”

Plip, plip, plunk. The stone, having skipped twice, sank into the water. My eyes widened. I had succeeded for the first time. And in the real world at that! I jumped to my feet without realizing it.

“You’re good at that.”

“I know, right!”

Excitement rushed to the top of my head, so I answered first, but I felt a strange chill. This voice was definitely…

“…Yul?”

When I cautiously raised my head, I saw Yul. As soon as I saw his face, backlit by the sun, my excitement completely vanished, leaving only bewilderment. When did he get next to me? As I was just opening and closing my mouth, Yul spoke first.

“I didn’t know there was someone else in this world besides me who knew how to skip stones.”

“Oh, yeah…?”

My lips curled inward with nervousness. How do I explain this situation? As Yul said, only he and I knew how to skip stones. But if he finds out I’m a dragon right now… My toes curled. I was scared, not knowing how Yul would react.

“Did you learn it from the dragon?”

As I was just anxiously darting my eyes around, Yul gave me an out first. I felt like I had found an exit in the darkness. I quickly nodded my head.

“Yes!”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. But do you really think I’m good at it?”

When I looked up at Yul with eyes full of anticipation, Yul smiled. His handsome lips drew an arc, and his eyes creased beautifully. Uh oh.

“Yes. Very.”

“Yul, your smile…”

Yul’s pupils, visible between his crinkled eyes, were jet-black. In the moment I was blankly blinking my eyes, Yul wrapped his large hand around the nape of my neck. As if that wasn’t enough, he roughly gripped my arm with his other hand.

Swoosh!

Just then, the sound of water splashing came from behind. My mind, which had been bewitched by Yul’s face, belatedly came to its senses. As I flinched and my shoulders trembled, Yul’s brow furrowed slightly.

“Aaargh!”

“Jibril?”

On top of that, Jibril’s scream. Something unusual had clearly happened behind me. I tried to turn my head quickly, but Yul gripped my chin.

“Where are you looking.”

“Huh?”

“I’m right here, and you’re trying to look somewhere else?”

Yul’s face came right up to mine. Ugh. His sparkling face was dazzling. Yul’s beautiful-face-attack was incredibly effective. For a moment, it was enough that I didn’t even care about Jibril’s scream.

“He-help me! A monster, aaargh!”

“A monster?”

As soon as I muttered the word, the grip of Yul’s hand on my arm tightened. It was a grip so strong that a normal human’s arm would have already been broken. Of course, my arm was perfectly fine, aside from a slight handprint.

“Aaaargh! Someone’s dying!”

“Yul, wait a second! Please let go of this hand, okay?”

Yul tilted his head with an innocent face.

“Why?”

“We have to save Jibril!”

As soon as my words ended, Yul’s black eyes took on a cool light. It seemed something had twisted his mood. However, soothing Yul was something to do after saving Jibril. For now, I had to save Jibril. Because Jibril was our precious guide who would lead us to the flower patch.

“Yul, wait just a little bit. I’ll go defeat it quickly!”

“Don’t go.”

“It’ll be over in the blink of an eye. You said that sword would protect you if you were scared.”

Yul’s expression turned icy as I glanced at the black sword. Whoops. I hastily added.

“I didn’t say that, my Master did!”

“…”

“I’ll be right back! Just wait a little.”

I swiftly pulled off Yul’s hands that were holding me and quickly turned my back. The monster that had emerged from the middle of the oasis was none other than an octopus. An octopus in the desert, not the sea.

The octopus, which had its maw full of jaggedly grown teeth wide open, was putting the unconscious Jibril into its mouth. Oh, no. Jibril has to guide us!

“Kruk?”

The octopus, which was about to excitedly swallow Jibril whole, made a questioning sound. It was understandable. I had just cast a binding spell on the octopus, and thanks to that, the octopus was now in a state where it couldn’t even move a single sucker.

“Let’s end this in one blow.”

Because Yul is waiting. I sent blades made of wind at the tentacle wrapped around Jibril. The octopus’s tentacle was severed.

Kieeeek! The giant octopus screamed and thrashed. I changed the direction of the blades and slit the octopus’s throat. Slice, the octopus’s throat was cut like a soft peach, and black ink shot up like blood.

That is to say, the ink was covering the entire sky and pouring down like rain.

“Huh?”

I blinked my eyes, looking at the ink scattering over my head. This wasn’t in my calculations? I belatedly tried to spread a mana barrier to block the ink, but someone snatched my body.

“Yul?”

Yul, who had lifted me up like a princess, instantly escaped the range of the pouring ink. No, that wasn’t all; he was going somewhere. While still holding me.

“Wait, Yul. Where are you going?”

Yul walked on briskly without answering my question. I quickly looked behind me. I saw Jibril floating like a piece of debris in the ink-soaked water. I had to take Jibril with me, even if we were leaving. I held Yul’s cheeks with both hands and turned him towards me.

“Yul!”

Yul’s jet-black eyes turned to me. They were pupils that seemed unfocused for some reason. Gasp, I did it again. I quickly removed my hands that were cupping Yul’s cheeks.

“I’m sorry for touching you so freely. I didn’t mean to, I was in a hurry.”

“You can touch me.”

“H-huh?”

I can touch him? My eyes grew wide.

“Yul, is something wrong? Why are you suddenly like this?”

“…”

Yul just looked at me without a word. I didn’t know what sudden change of heart this was, but it must mean I can touch him, right?

I carefully reached out my hand and moved the hair that had fallen onto Yul’s forehead. Yul’s eyes followed my hand. Being like this, it felt like we had gone back to how we were before. Right now, it felt like if I were to stroke his head, he would quietly allow it… Wait, Jibril?

“Yul, can you put me down for a second?”

When I belatedly came to my senses and asked, Yul answered with a blank face.

“Why? You said it’s all for me anyway. It would be a problem if I can’t even have my way with something like this. Isn’t that right?”

“Well, I suppose that’s true, but.”

I glanced at the oasis filled with ink.

“I want to walk on my own two feet. So can we agree on just holding hands instead?”

“Why should I do that.”

“Then what do you want me to do for you to put me down?”

Only then did a faint smile appear on Yul’s lips. As if he had been waiting for just those words.

Because of the unconscious Jibril, we decided to stay in the capital for one more day. Embers sparked, crackle, crackle, from the lit campfire. The desert, where night had fallen, was quiet. I hugged my knees and rolled my eyes. For some reason, my heart was fluttering.

“Uuugh…”

Just then, a sound broke the silence. Jibril, who had been lying unconscious, began to stir. His brow was deeply furrowed, as if he was having a nightmare.

“…Monster!”

Jibril, who shot up with a scream, looked around with a face full of fear. I opened my mouth to reassure him.

“Jibril, you’re not dead yet. Don’t worry.”

“W-what.”

Jibril looked towards me, no, towards us. Jibril’s eyes widened when he saw Yul and me. Then, as if he had seen something he shouldn’t have, he started rubbing his eyes vigorously.

“No, what in the world are you two doing.”

“What do you mean, what are we doing? Your words are insolent.”

I wanted to jump up and argue, but I couldn’t because of Yul’s arm wrapped around my waist.

To be precise, I was currently sitting between Yul’s legs with my knees drawn up. And Yul’s head was resting on my shoulder. I just scowled and glared threateningly at Jibril.

“You said you two weren’t dating. No, it’s not like I particularly believed that, but… Still, don’t people usually separate by now? How long are you going to stick together?”

“Yul said sitting like this is the most comfortable, because of this.”

I held up my hand. A golden ring was sparkling on my wrist.

“What’s that?”

“A handcuff.”

“A handcuff? What kind of handcuff looks like that?”

“This is a special handcuff, so if I get more than a certain distance away from Yul, my head will explode. Of course, I don’t die, so it’s not that it explodes, but my head just hurts a little?”

As soon as my words ended, Jibril recoiled in horror.