IPDT 30

“Have you ever seen a face that resembles mine, yo?”

As soon as the words were out, Yul’s eyes, which had been indifferent as if uninterested, turned to me. It was then that an unidentifiable, vivid emotion flared in his black pupils. In an instant, Yul grabbed my neck. It wasn’t that I couldn’t have dodged it, but I let him catch me for the time being. Yul and I needed to have a face-to-face conversation.

“You, what do you know?”

“Ugh.”

Thud! Yul pushed me against the wall and brought his face close. I wrinkled my eyes slightly. I hadn’t expected to hit my head against the wall. The back of my head was throbbing and pounding. I placed my hand over Yul’s, which was gripping my neck.

“It hurts, can’t you let go and we can talk, yo?”

“I asked you what you know.”

“Answering my question comes first, yo.”

“…”

Yul stared at me with a cold face. A face as if trying to distinguish truth from lies. After staring into my eyes for a long while, Yul slowly parted his lips.

“What if I have?”

“What will you do if you meet him, yo?”

My heart pounded with anticipation. What would Yul answer?

To be honest, I had a few answers I was hoping for. Fun things, like he’d want to hug me tight, or give me a kiss, or that he’d want to get caught in the rain together if we met again. And those were things I wanted to do for Yul, too.

Yul, who was looking at me quietly, slowly parted his lips. A rough emotion, like a storm brewing in the sea, swirled in his black eyes.

“I’ll have to gouge out his eyes.”

…Huh?

“I’ll crush him from his knees to his ankles so he can’t walk.”

Uh, wait a minute…

“I’ll lock him up somewhere where not a single ray of sunlight can get in.”

Having finished speaking, Yul looked down at me with a chillingly composed face. I could feel the pressure on his hand gripping my neck gradually increasing.

“So, what are you?”

“That is…”

How should one react when the human you’ve cherished and cared for, worrying if he’d get soaked in the rain or fall in the wind, says he wants to crush you?

There was no reason for me to break out in a cold sweat, but my back felt damp. I rolled my eyes back and forth. It doesn’t seem like anything good will come from revealing my identity right now, does it…?

Right. Then for now, I should hide my identity and re-establish my good image. Then, after gaining his trust, I’ll reveal, ‘Actually, I was the Great Balancer Ilyas.’ It was a perfect plan.

“I asked you what you are.”

…But before the plan, what excuse do I make now?

Yul looked ready to snap my neck at any moment if I mumbled my answer. If that happened, he’d be surprised to see my neck not breaking, right? That could absolutely not happen. I racked my brain frantically. Please, just one plausible excuse…!

“I, I am that person’s familiar.”

Sorry, Fleabag. I’m just borrowing your position for a moment.

“Familiar?”

“Yeah, yeah. That person and I are in a relationship of absolute master and servant.”

‘I am Fleabag, I am Fleabag,’ I chanted internally, and the lies came pouring out. Whether it was because my efforts paid off, Yul didn’t doubt my words. Although he did tighten his grip on my neck a little more.

“Who is ‘that person’?”

“The greatest balancer in this world, the Dragon Ilyas.”

I hid the fact that ‘the dragon is me, right here,’ but this was the first time I had clearly identified myself as a dragon. For some reason, my heart started to pound. How would Yul react?

I stared intently into Yul’s obsidian-like black eyes. Yul’s pupils wavered greatly.

“…”

All composure was gone from Yul’s face, his lips firmly sealed. A face that revealed emotions, a little clumsy and immature. That was the Yul I knew, and the face I liked.

I had thought that Yul, who had become a Hero, had changed somehow. But I was wrong. I was about to reach out to the unstably wavering Yul, just as he used to be.

“An absolute master and servant relationship.”

That is, if Yul hadn’t suddenly spat the words out in a low voice.

“Ugh.”

In an instant, Yul drew his sword and swung the sharp blade at me. I hastily grabbed the blade with my hand. Even though I had stopped the sword by catching it, Yul did not withdraw it. The vivid blue blade slowly dug into my palm. The point of contact was starting to hurt. I wrinkled my brow slightly.

“It hurts.”

Yul’s eyes, which had been flickering with intense emotion, momentarily trembled. But then, as if he didn’t know why he had reacted that way, he frowned. With a displeased expression, Yul withdrew the sword he had swung at me. The black sword hummed with a short resonance.

I looked at Yul, then shifted my gaze to my own palm. As if it had been lightly cut by the blade, a thin line of blood formed on my palm.

To be injured by a sword wielded by a human. It was surprising and a little terrifying. How much had my heart influenced Yul? Yul might have already stepped completely outside the bounds of being human.

“The dragon’s location, where is it?”

As I was staring blankly at my palm, I heard Yul’s voice. I quickly lifted my eyes.

“Why do you say ‘dragon’?”

“What?”

“You used to call him Illy. The dragon has a name, too. Just like your name is Yul.”

As soon as the words were out, Yul roughly clamped his hand over my mouth. His hand was so big that it covered not only my mouth but also my nose. I blinked, only my eyes visible.

“Don’t say my name with that face.”

Why?

Since I couldn’t speak, I asked with my eyes. Yul’s expression twisted viciously, but I didn’t back down. I couldn’t understand why he told me not to say his name, so I couldn’t just nod my head. I wasn’t that kind of spineless dragon.

I had a staring contest with Yul for a good while. Of course, at first, it was to not back down on my stance, but… after some time passed, my gaze was stolen by Yul’s pretty eyes. As I was staring blankly at his black pupils, Yul’s expression gradually became strange. The strength in the hand covering my mouth also lessened.

“Follow me.”

Yul removed his hand and whipped around. Whoa. To catch up with Yul, who was quickly striding away in an instant, I hurried my steps.

As we left the inn, the salty sea breeze characteristic of a port washed over us. A past memory suddenly came to mind. The day Yul and I went to a small seaside village and danced.

Lost in thought, I walked slowly, and soon the distance between Yul and me widened. Why does he walk so fast? I quickly tried to catch up, and Yul glanced back at me indifferently. As if to check if I was following him well.

That too was brief, and Yul turned his head to look forward as if he had never looked at me. Then he started to walk far ahead again.

“I wonder if I shouldn’t have shrunk my body. My legs are so short, it’s hard to keep up…”

The regret was immense, but it was not something I could change now. Sigh. I let out a breath and quickened my pace. It was a relief that I could at least keep up by walking quickly.

The reason for coming to the port city of Oberon was simple. It was because going by sea was faster than going by land to get to Margrave Javier’s territory.

At the pier where the ships were docked, many humans were moving about busily. From a human tying a rope to a bollard, to a human carrying goods off a ship, to a human who looked like he was supervising the workers.

We approached the human who seemed to be the supervisor. The supervisor, his skin tanned a copper color, glanced at us as we approached.

“Got something to say?”

The supervisor opened his mouth bluntly. I looked up at Yul. It was because I naturally assumed Yul would state our destination. However, instead of answering, Yul gestured with his head toward me. As if to say I should be the one to speak.

“Tell me the location of the dragon.”

…That dragon is right here, though. I couldn’t bring myself to say it honestly, so I changed the subject.

“Our original destination is the Javier territory, isn’t it? Shouldn’t we stop by the Javier territory?”

“Because it was said that records about the dragon are there. But we don’t need to go anymore, do we?”

“Why do you keep calling him ‘dragon’ instead of his name—”

He called him ‘dragon’ again, not ‘Illy’. A wave of dissatisfaction washed over me and I started to speak, but the supervisor, who was standing with his arms crossed, interrupted in a brusque voice.

“Hey, what are you two whispering about in front of someone? If you have nothing to say, get out of the way. Holding up a busy person to whisper amongst yourselves…”

“I want to go to the Javier territory. Where do I have to go to get a ticket?”

I spoke to the supervisor, who was grumbling and about to leave. But Yul reacted before the supervisor. Yul grabbed my shoulder, spun me around, and growled.

“I told you to tell me the location of the dragon.”

“You said there was a hint in the Javier territory. It’s a place with information about my ma… master, so we have to go!”

Phew, I barely managed to say ‘master’. I let out a sigh of relief and looked at Yul with a much more at-ease heart.

To be honest, I wasn’t curious about what kind of records were left in the Javier territory. Since I’m a dragon, there’s no way I’d be curious about things concerning dragons. The reason I wanted to go to the Javier territory despite that was because I needed time. Time to re-establish my good image with Yul!

“You…”

Yul, frowning, was about to pick at my words. The supervisor cleared his throat with a loud “Ahem,” drawing our attention.

“You look like travelers heading to the Javier territory. But you’ve come at the wrong time. You won’t be able to go there for a while. No, is it just the Javier territory? Search this whole town, and you won’t find a single madman willing to go out to sea for the time being, so give it up.”

“All the ships are stopped? Why?”

As soon as my words ended, the supervisor frowned.

“Hey, you’re obviously just a kid, stop with the informal speech…”

However, the supervisor’s words did not reach their end. Having glanced toward Yul, the supervisor’s face turned pale.

Huh? When I turned my head, I saw Yul’s expressionless face. He wasn’t even making a particularly scary face, so why is he like that? The supervisor, perhaps embarrassed by his own excessive fear, let out a dry cough.

“Ahem! Th-that’s because a downpour is coming soon.”

“A downpour?”

“That’s right. The ocean currents have been unusual starting this season, and the number of ship accidents has increased a lot during this time. A little while ago, a whole ship was even lost to the sea. But look at the sky. Dark clouds are rolling in, aren’t they? There isn’t a single madman here who would take a ship out at a time like this.”

At that story, I looked up at the sky. Just as the supervisor said, I could see dark clouds rolling in from far away. Why? I’m not particularly sad or happy right now. …Or am I? Did I feel sad without realizing it because Yul has become so cold? I tilted my head, then decided to set this matter aside for now.

“So we can’t leave at all?”

“That’s right. It probably won’t happen even if you offer three times the fare.”

The supervisor shook his head firmly. I was gauging the valuables I had and was about to ask, ‘What about a hundred times?’

“Ugh!”

Thud! One of the workers unloading goods from the ship dropped a box. Because he dropped it on a slope, the box rolled over and over and fell into the sea. Splash. As soon as the sound of the water parting was heard, the supervisor’s face turned deathly pale.

“You idiot, do you know how much that costs!”

The supervisor ran off in a flurry, and only Yul and I were left on the pier. I glanced up at Yul.

“Looks like we’ll have to stay here a little longer… Yul?”

Yul’s expression was not good. It wasn’t that he was scowling fiercely, but he had his lips pressed firmly together and his fists clenched tightly, as if he were enduring something.

“Yul, you don’t look well.”

“Don’t come near me until the rain stops.”

“Where shouldn’t I come near?”

“Don’t cling to me.”

Yul said only what he had to say and was about to turn away. I quickly blocked Yul’s path and opened my mouth.

“Why specifically ‘until the rain stops’?”

Yul’s black eyes turned to me. Gloomily sunken eyes—they were the eyes of someone who was hurt.

Why? As I widened my eyes in surprise, Yul brushed past me.

“Yul.”

Without realizing it, I called Yul’s name like I used to. However, Yul did not look back. I tried to reach out and grab him, but in the end, I couldn’t. It was because I remembered having my wrist grabbed and then shaken off. In that time, Yul had gotten far away, and now not even a single strand of his hair was visible.

“…”

I blinked my eyes blankly. Yul was hurt. From what, exactly? I couldn’t even guess. I could only tell that ‘the falling rain’ had triggered something in Yul.